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Summer Books for Serious Readers
We asked our colleagues at The New School for summer book ideas for Urban Matters readers.
Rachel Meltzer, assistant professor of urban policy at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy
“My recommendations are: If Mayors Ruled the World by Benjamin Barber; and City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age by Richard Schragger.
“Both books are, to a certain extent, about the organizing, political, and governing role of cities in an increasingly globalized world. The Barber book presents a fascinating set of case studies to make the point, from a political economic perspective, that cities can overcome nation-state obstacles and rigidities to make real differences on the ground. The Schragger book makes a historical-legal case for the unrealized potential of cities, under conditions where they are given the authority to govern effectively and productively. Great reads for people interested in the history and contemporary challenges of cities in governing and effecting change.”
David Howell, professor of economics and public policy and director of the Doctoral Program in Public and Urban Policy at The New School
"One of the great books in recent years on the rise and evolution of capitalism is Sven Beckert's Empire of Cotton: A Global History. Beckert shows how central the production of cotton and the manufacture and merchandizing of cotton textiles were to what he calls ‘war capitalism,’ slavery, colonialism, and much else. Beckert ranges from big picture profound pronouncements on the course of history to the most fascinating granular details of cotton plantations and textile factories, and the people who worked in them and ran them. I now use this book in two courses!"
Manjari Mahajan, Assistant Professor of International Affairs
"I am looking forward to reading two books, both of which interrogate how new technology and knowledge are being accompanied by changing modes of democratic governance. The first book, Reordering Life by Stephen Hilgartner, has a narrative mainly situated in the United States. It probes how the Human Genome Project and the modern life sciences have led to new institutional and cultural arrangements of property, exclusion, and control. The second book, Pharmocracy: Value, Politics and Knowledge of Global Biomedicine by Kaushik Sunder Rajan, examines the multinational pharmaceutical industry as it lands in India. The book puts a spotlight on struggles within Indian institutions around issues of access to medicines. The experience of the world’s largest democracy holds important insights for the United States; it underlines that debates around health are seldom about merely technical matters regarding medicines, insurance, and budgets. At stake are fundamental questions of democratic institutions and representation."
Erica Kohl-Arenas, assistant professor at the Milano School
“I am so excited to read Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. She just gave a very powerful commencement speech at Hampshire College: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Delivers Keynote at Hampshire College's 2017 Commencement Ceremony."
Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President for Social Justice at The New School and the Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy
“My book is Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert - a political economy of cotton at a global scale. I’m reading it for a global perspective on a driver of the slave trade.”
Cover Photo credit Simon Cocks
Faculty Photos Courtesy of The New School
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Featured @ AMS
Cougar Community
City of Asheville
Cougar News
Super Bowl LII
An Eagles player with his daughter.
On February 4th, 2018, the Philadelphia Eagles played off against the New England Patriots in the 52nd Super Bowl. Each team had a great game and even broke records. The score ended up being 41-33 with the Eagles on top. Eagles were led by head coach Doug Pederson and Patriots were led by Head coach Bill Belichick.
Many records were broken on both teams. The Patriots had a total of 613 yards. Both teams broke the record for combining for most yards in a Super Bowl and most first downs. It also had the fewest punts which was just one.
Even though the Patriots were favored to win the game, the Eagles came in with pride and took the game over. This was the Eagles first Super Bowl win, which especially in Philly is a BIG deal. This year no one could really predict who was going to be in the Super Bowl until late playoffs. So who knows maybe your team will make it next year.
Story by Winston Sloan
Picture and Text source:
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/2/5/16972206/super-bowl-records-broken-patriots-eagles
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Posted on February 7, 2019 by Gordon Mann
On Wednesday the NCAA released its first set of regional rankings, which provide a look at teams have the best chance of receiving at-large bids to the 2019 NCAA Tournament if they fail to win their conference’s automatic qualifying bid.
If you want to dig into the ranking process, here are a few shovels to get you started.
• NCAA Tournament FAQs
• Discuss Regional Rankings on the message board
• Regional ranking archive
The first set of publicly released regional rankings is sometimes described as a dry run because it doesn’t include one important criterion, records against regionally ranked opponents. It’s hard for the eight geographically based regional ranking committees to take that into consideration because they don’t know which teams are being ranked in other regions. And while you eventually can solve that through an iterative process on Selection Sunday, that’s not worthwhile for this first set.
But to what degree is first set of regional rankings a good predictor of which teams will eventually get one of the coveted at-large bids? I made a list of all the at-large selections over the last five seasons on the men’s side and then compared that to their regional rankings. You can download and play with that data here.
I don’t know how well the first set of regional rankings predicts which teams will get the at-large bids but it’s a very good predictor of which ones won’t. If your team wasn’t listed in the first set regional rankings, it’s almost certain they aren’t getting one of those bids, no matter what happens over the next three weeks.
For a large part of Division III, this is a missive from Captain Obvious. By virtue of their relatively low winning percentage or their weak strength of schedule, a lot of teams should already know their only path to the NCAA Tournament is the conference’s automatic qualifying bid.
But for those teams that weren’t ranked on Wednesday and are nursing hopes that they are right on the cusp of being in the at-large conversation — if they can just get hot and the right teams above them get cold – recent history is not on their side.
Over the last five seasons only three teams ultimately received at-large bids despite not appearing in the first set of regional rankings:
• New York University received an at-large bid in 2016 despite not being in the first set of East Region rankings. The East Region was also one of Division III’s smallest, so there were only six teams ranked in the East that year.
• Endicott received an at-large bid in 2017 despite not being in the first set of Northeast rankings. The Northeast is Division III’s largest region so they ranked 11 teams in 2017. The Gulls were unranked in the first set and then only ranked 10th in the next three sets of rankings. The National Committee went deep into the list of Northeast candidates that year, including taking Keene State at No. 9.
• UW-Oshkosh received an at-large bid in 2017 despite not being ranked in the first set of regional rankings. The Titans weren’t ranked in the second set of rankings either. They are the unicorn of the at-large selection process, earning an at-large bid despite finishing with double-digit losses.
Last season was unusual in that it had two teams that appeared in the first set of regional rankings, dropped out in the second and still earned an at-large bid less than two weeks later – North Central did that in the Central and LeTourneau did that in the South.
The cut-off point for being a strong at-large candidate also differs by region. The Atlantic Region has only had four at-large bids in the last five years and only one of those bid recipients was ranked lower than third in the first set of rankings.
Based on the historical data, here are the apparent cut-off points within each region.
• Atlantic: 4 at-large bids with an average ranking of 2.8; lowest bid recipient was 2017 New Jersey City (5th)
• Central: 15 bids with an average ranking of 4.4; lowest recipient was 2017 Oshkosh (unranked)
• East: 9 bids with an average ranking of 3.3; lowest recipient was 2016 New York U (unranked)
• Great Lakes: 14 bids with an average ranking of 3.6; lowest recipient was 2015 John Carroll (8th)
• Mid Atlantic: 13 bids with an average ranking of 3.8; lowest recipient was 2018 Franklin and Marshall (7th)
• Northeast: 27 bids with an average ranking of 4.3; lowest recipient was 2017 Endicott (unranked)
• South: 8 bids with an average ranking of 4.3; lowest recipient was 2018 LeTourneau (8th)
• West: 10 bids with an average ranking of 2.4; lowest recipient was 2018 St. Olaf (4th)
So in the West region it’s not just a matter of whether you’re ranked, but whether you’re ranked in the top four teams.
Turns out that dry run is a pretty good predictor of which teams aren’t going to cross the line.
Posted in General, Regional rankings | 1 Comment
Posted on February 4, 2019 by Pat Coleman
Greenville coach George Barber has seen and heard it all about his team’s 200-point outing on Saturday, and how the team got to that final point total. He shared his thoughts with D3hoops.com, and they run below, unedited.
With 173 points and with roughly 6 minutes to go, I said “Go for it.” I had never seen that many points on a scoreboard with that much time left in the game.
I knew I would take heat; I deserve any scorn people might have, and hope I respond well. I said, “If they keep trying to score, we will keep trying to score.”
There was a palpable shift in the crowd in the final minutes from “Will they win?”, to “Will they get 200?” You could feel it.
With 10 seconds to go, opponent’s ball and at 198 points, I called time out. I told the team, “You will never be this close again. Never. So go for a steal or foul but give yourself a chance. If we don’t get it (200) no problem, but being this close, you will regret if you don’t try.”
They got it.
A lot of the angst centers around winning and losing, and where sportsmanship fits in once one of those possibilities is certain. This brings up a point we make with our team all the time. Is winning an idol? We have a wallpaper sign in our locker room that says: “De-emphasize the Win, Play with Freedom.” If you take away the possibility of winning, (or losing) will you still play hard? Is it only about winning and losing? With our style we can be up 30 and lose, down 30 and come back and win, and even if there is no possibility of one or the other, will you give it your best? Will you give it your absolute best?
This was a conference game against a team that has beaten us often. Earlier in January we beat them by 12, and were losing with about 10 minutes to play.
I was nervous because it was Senior Day with a lot of distractions and was just hoping we would play well. One of my starting point guards (we rotate 10-15 players a game and call anyone in the top 10 a starter) was out with an injury (he literally told me as we sent him to the scorer’s table checking in – I can’t go). So instead, we played a JV point guard (2nd Varsity game ever) all game. We had suspensions, ineligibility due to lack of financial aid and unpaid bills, and academic dismissals, etc. The bench was full of guys in street clothes. I was just hoping to survive. We caught fire from the three, and as the game wound down, I remember thinking, I’ve never seen a score this high (173), with this much time on the clock (just over 6 mins) and that’s when I made a decision: If they (opponents) keep trying to score, we’ll keep trying to score and see what happens. I knew some people would crucify me, but with seniors playing in front of their parents, some for the first time live in a college uniform, we would go for it. I emphasized trying (for the goal), not necessarily getting it (the 200), in the last five minutes.
After the game we had, as I expected, some negative feedback. I deserved all of that. After the time out with 10 seconds to go (we rarely call a time out in System play) I told the team to, by all means, possible (steal or foul) get the ball back and to give yourselves a chance to get 200. As I sat down beside my assistant after the time out, I said, “No matter what the outcome, I will never regret calling that time out. I want to give the kids a chance to do something amazing.”
At that point I felt 198 to whatever the opponents had would not have been as memorable as 200 would be.
We had no idea that the D-III record was 201, and didn’t care and still don’t. As a System coach, pushing the edges of what’s possible you wonder if that’s possible. System Patriarchs ask that question about scoring 200 in the book “The System,” and in calls. The authors said they never got 200, although they tried, but never were able to achieve it, so that’s all we were going for when it got close. As long as they kept trying to score (and they did) we would keep trying to score as well. That was the only way we would go for it. It’s like doing anything extraordinary you have to have co-facilitators, otherwise it’s not any fun, or as legit. Since this was a conference game, and against a team that beat us last year in a double overtime NCAA combined scoring record setting game, and not in any way an inferior team we scheduled to run the score up against, I thought, this is as legit as it gets. It’s as fair as it gets, it’s how we play, it’s the last 5 or 6 minutes of the game and we are close enough for me to say, “I’ll let the kids go for it.”
George Barber and his seniors, who were honored before the game. (Greenville athletics photo)
They (the team) hate it when I pull the press off. We don’t even practice, ever, defense without a press.
Side note, a couple of weeks ago, we were up 40 with 10 mins to go and my assistant said maybe we should consider taking off the press. I agreed and you could see a real let down in the kids. I told them we don’t want any hard feeling with the opponent’s coach. The opponent from that point on stormed back in the game, however we held on to win by 12 or 13. In that game, we had two players in the same shift (unusual) with a lot of points. One had over 30, and one had 28. I asked the one with 28 (and the entire team) not to shoot allowing him to go for 30. He was frustrated, but he complied and dribbled out the last 30 seconds. I felt bad for him, but was so proud of his compliance and deference to me and my decision to put team goals and relationships above his personal goals.
In the 200 point game, I wondered if people might understand the desire to reach that goal. Some do not, at least for now. I truly feel bad about that because I think preserving relationships is important. I just felt I would take that risk since 200 was such a “way out there, number.”
After the game, we introduced parents and guests, and follow that our usual “Put-up’s” (we do this whether we win or lose), where we let players give each other compliments about things they did well during the game, followed by an “ATTAWAAAY!” cheer from the team. After our Put-Up’s I told them, “You just went to the moon! Not very many people get to go to the moon! (Scoring 200) Also, not everyone likes it that you went to the moon. Their will be some that don’t like it and will say negative things. Our job will be to respond graciously to both compliments and negative comments.” They all nodded, we had a little further conversation, and it was a great teaching moment.
I almost feel like I have to apologize for doing this, and certainly that’s fair for some to think. I remember the first time we played System basketball, and the agonizing decisions I had to make after thoroughly researching this style of play before making that decision to go for it. I knew, once we went for it, there was no going back. On long, silent, in the dark early morning jogs, trying to contemplate all the implications of playing this style of basketball, and fully aware of the possible negative reactions, I decided to paint Picasso style. I felt we needed it in our game and at least for me and our program. It had the possibility to take some of the holy emphasis off winning. It could “release” the energy of the young people, as opposed to “harnessing” that energy. It would increase participation from traditional 8-man rotations to possibly double that number. I felt all these were positive things. Plus, I felt it would be exciting and fun. It would require super buy-in (a good thing), require super unselfishness (a good thing), and allow more people to get on the floor and in the game when the game was on the line. Increased participation would allow me to at least engage more guys, believe in more guys, and have ministry with more guys.
When we unfurled The System for the first time to an unsuspecting Illinois Wesleyan team coached by my friend Ron Rose in the Shirk Center in Bloomington. I had a prepared apology for Ron after the game. We lost 150 something to 117, and as planned, I apologized in the line shaking hands after the game. To my surprise Ron hugged me and said, “This looked good, keep it up!”. That was a great encouragement to me. I wondered if he would have said that if somehow, we would have come out victorious over the Titans. Either way, it meant a lot to me. After the game, in the locker room at IWU, I said, “I know you lost by 30-something, but I am proud of how you fought the entire game! And, you just set a record for the most points scored by an opponent in the Shirk Center.” It was a start!
Another weird side note. During President Lincoln’s tenure, Secretary of War Stanton has to order executions for deserters. I read that wives, mothers, and children would go to his office to plea for a pardon. He felt though that to keep discipline and for the larger purpose, he would not choose to give the pardon. As he families left, he would retreat to a back room and weep. I made the decision to let my guys go for 200, because in the end I thought it would be special. Some may disagree with what I did, and I have to take that responsibility and shoulder that reality. I do not want it to permanently damage relationships, and would weep about that. I hope I respond graciously to both those who agree and those that disagree with what I did.
Posted in General | Tagged 200 points, George Barber, Greenville | Leave a comment
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Schools take different approaches to budget cuts
College of Communication
Marilyn Kameen
McCombs School of Business
Roderick Hart
Published on August 11, 2011 at 1:33 am
By William James Gerlich, Huma Munir, Matthew Stottlemyre, Katrina Tollin
After losing three prominent professors in the past year, the School of Architecture’s answer to balancing a difficult budget has been to replace two positions with entry level professors and leave one vacant.
Kent Butler, the school’s associate dean of research, passed away in mid-May and administrators said his loss will affect research moving forward this upcoming year.
The architecture program, which was ranked fifth in the nation, dropped to seventh this past year after the budget cuts were made. Steiner said you cannot lose the caliber of faculty that has been lost within the past year and also have less funding for graduate students and still be ranked as highly as before.
“We are not able to offer as many competitive packages to our graduate students now because of these cuts,” Steiner said. “Graduate assistantships will be cut back, which will also impact our research abilities.”
Administrators said the teaching budget was cut to balance the budget as well, which will have an immediate effect on the students. The number of courses will decrease and class sizes are expected to increase.
“It’s been painful to make the cuts we’ve made, but we’ve been able to make them in a systematic way with good planning and coordination,” Steiner said.
As one of the top business schools in the nation, the McCombs School of Business may drop ranks this April once the next biennium’s budget cuts are factored in, administrators said.
Arthur Allert, assistant dean of the undergraduate programs at the McCombs School of Business, said the administration is trying to keep cuts from affecting the academic excellence of the school but that the budget cuts have been transformative, and not in a good way.
The main change students will notice is an increase in class size. Undergraduate classes were capped at 65 students, with an average class size of 49, but this fall class sizes will increase to a maximum of 70 students.
To balance the budget, the office eliminated an academic advisor and an administrator last year. The school also transferred two employees to the department of business centralization, resulting in four employee positions vacant at the school.
The undergraduate school lost about $200,000 in addition to the cost of the four employees within the undergraduate school.
Roderick Hart, dean of the College of Communication, said he will meet with the provost on Aug. 30 to discuss a five-year budget plan for the college.
Hart said he does not have a clear idea of how much the college will be losing for the next few years, but reductions are inevitable because the budget is not increasing.
He said the college’s administration will have to decide if it can afford to replace the position of every faculty member that leaves.
If the number of students stays constant and the college keeps losing faculty members, it has the potential to dilute the quality of education being offered, Hart said.
Another area that might be impacted is buying new technology and equipment, he said. The College of Communication is a very equipment intensive college and technology tends to be perishable. It is not clear if the college will have enough money to replace every broken camera or piece of equipment, Hart said.
“Another category of expense is facilities and maintenance,” he said. “We have a new building that we are helping to pay for.”
He said the college has been encouraging faculty to bring in more external funds in research that will create additional revenue for the budget. Hart said he has been engaged in philanthropic efforts for years even though that is only part of his job.
“I worry about it more than anything,” Hart said.
The College of Education will be losing $835,000 in funding for the year 2011-12. The cuts will impact the college’s departments, faculty and students as it prepares to reduce unnecessary services and academic programs, said Marilyn Kameen, the college’s senior associate dean.
“We are really scaling back on hiring faculty, especially tenure track,” Kameen said. “We are not doing any hiring right now.”
Tenure or tenure track faculty members will be teaching more classes each semester, Kameen said. If a professor was teaching two classes a semester in the past, he or she will teach at least four per semester in the future, Kameen said. The college has to maximize teaching loads, because it is not able to replace adjunct or clinical professors that retire or leave, she said.
The Kinesiology Department will eliminate its aquatics course, because it is too expensive and is not a requirement for any major, Kameen said. The Kinesiology Department will also hire fewer full-time faculty and use more doctoral students to teach courses, she said.
The college will reduce the size of doctoral programs because some of them are too expensive to run, Kameen said.
Some academic programs are headed by one person and department chairs are looking to merge those with other programs, Kameen said.
Cockrell School of Engineering
The Cockrell School of Engineering will bring in 15 tenure and tenure track faculty members through next year, said Dean Gregory Fenves.
Although there have been reductions in staff, adjuncts, teaching assistants and lecturers in the past year, the school is continuing a moderate growth path for faculty hiring, he said.
The school has lost 17 percent of its operational budget in a year and a half, Fenves said, and these reductions primarily targeted staff and administration.
“In our supplemental budget, [there is a] 10- to 15-percent reduction in funding for adjunct professors and teaching assistants,” Fenves said.
Some of these reductions took place last year and some will take effect on Sept. 1, he said. These reductions have made it possible for the School of Engineering to absorb budget cuts and hire top-talent faculty that are expected to bring in more money in external research funds, Fenves said.
Fenves said the school has had a slight reduction in student advisers in the career services area but most of the reductions do not impact students.
Jackson School of Geosciences
Compared to other schools on campus, the Jackson School of Geosciences has managed to keep its head above water despite harsh budget cuts.
Spokesman of the Geosciences School, J.B. Bird, said the school faced a reduction of several staff members within the dean’s office, but did not have to cut faculty or the courses offered to students.
Research will also not be affected by the cuts, since most of the school’s research funding comes from outside sources such as the National Science Foundation, Bird said.
The school’s rankings are also not expected to change in any way, Bird said, leaving the school in good shape for
The Graduate School is absorbing its share of the University’s budget cuts by not filling vacated positions, downgrading positions and cutting back on print materials for new students.
Assistant Dean John Dalton said the school is an administrative unit and is only responsible for scheduling a small number of specialty classes that don’t fit into other college or school programs.
Four positions — an associate dean, the director of communication for the school, a tech position and a human resources position — have been vacated and not filled since the first cuts began in 2009, Dalton said.
He said other positions’ titles and salaries have been downgraded when possible as employees leave the University and their spots have to be refilled.
“The crux of what we are doing is staff based, and those are the most difficult cuts to make,” Dalton said. “People still here are doing more work for the same pay.”
He also said the school has reduced the cost of printed material for incoming graduate students by moving much of the material online. The school was able to reduce the book-length material that cost $13,000 to print each year to a single front-and-back page that costs $775 each year.
The School of Information
The School of Information will cut 10 percent of its teaching assistant positions this fall semester to balance its budget, administrators said.
Dean Andrew Dillon said the School of Information made cuts where it could, but found flexibility within the TA program and also had to cancel a new position that would have accelerated research within the school — the associate dean of research.
“There’s no doubt our competitors are doing better than we are,” Dillon said. “The uncomfortable part of this is we don’t know what the next few years will bring. It’s that lack of ability to plan the future which adds to the disquiet and it’s the worry that it could get worse.”
Dillon said he dreads the future because if further cuts come, the school will not be able to distribute the cuts, and will have to target individuals.
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Our Chiefs
Scotland's Admiral - ebook
History of the Name
Famous Woods - Then and Now
Australasian Contact
The Clan Shop
Welcome to the new Clan Wood Society Blog
Posted on Tuesday Nov 11 0:00:00 GMT 2008
Hello and welcome to the Clan Wood Society Blog space. My name is Steve Wood and I am one of your elected Council Members. I will also be one of the Moderators for the Blog Space. From time to time, the Society will post here articles of interest to members. Some of these articles may be available in other parts of the Society website and some may not. The difference about this space is that you as a member can comment on the posts found here. You can also post informative items or questions of your own that are relevant to the Clan and the Society. We would, however, like to ask you to remember that your posts are visible to members of many different age groups and backgrounds, so please help us to keep the Blog space family friendly. Posts will be monitored for content, and any inappropriate posts will be removed by moderators. Thank you for your assistance, and enjoy the Blog. Tutus in Undis!
O Canada ( From a member there. )
Posted on 12:00am Thursday 5th Apr 2012
From Nick Wood (Secretary)
One of our Canadian colleagues has just sent in the following, asking me to circulate it to our Society members. I do so with pleasure. I am a huge admirer of his great and beautiful country.
From J Wood
A British newspaper salutes Canada . . . this is a good read. It is funny how it took someone in England to put it into words... Sunday Telegraph Article From today's UK wires:
Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers, 'The Sunday Telegraph' , LONDON:
Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.
And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.
Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.
That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts.
For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.
Yet its surely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle
Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular Memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British'.
The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.
Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth-largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.
Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.
It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.
Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces.
Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.
Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.
So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan ?
Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.
Please pass this on to any of your friends or relatives who served in the Canadian Forces or anyone who is proud to be Canadian; it is a wonderful tribute to those who choose to serve their country and the world in our quiet Canadian way.
From Wayne Wood
I don't know how to reply to the person that wrote this.But I wish I could.
I, like many millions of Americans, appreciate Canada today as well as in the past. Both for its proud citizens, soldiers and sailors and their great sacrifices. Unfortunately they should be mildly happy that they are under the radar in today's battles against Terrorism. The US's contributions seem to be only creating such a vast hatred that we are in danger and will be for a long time. We in the US even come under ridicule from the French for sending an aircraft carrier to help flood/tidal wave victims around the world. (They forget the over 100,000 soldiers buried on their soil so they aren't speaking German today) We had to explain that an aircraft carrier had 5000 men to help, a complete hospital, enough food to feed a small city for a month, clean water making ability to supply a small city, many helicopters to aid victims. So we understand Canada's problems. I truly wish we Americans had the distinction of having a visibility problem.
But mainly once again from all good Americans, Thank you.
From Steve Wood
I would assure this Lady/Gentleman, that while the average American citizen may not be aware of Canada's involvement in wars that the U.S. has involved itself in, they don't really understand the involvement of their own country either. The high profile nature of the U.S. has brought it nothing but general disdain in many countries, and experiences like September 11 2001. I can also assure him that there are many American citizens who know of and appreciate Canada's undying dedication to the freedom of the North American Continent, her friendship with the U.S., and the sacrifices of her sons and daughters to this end. - Steve.
From Nick Wood
In the Netherlands town of Bergen op Zoom (major employer, Philip Morris) is a Canadian Cemetery where thousands of that country's nationals who led the Allied invasion assault along that sector of the Front lie buried. There is no doubt whom the local population thank most for their liberation from Nazi enslavement. The measure of any civilisation today is how well its minorities are regarded and its needy are cared for, and Canada consistently passes that acid test with flying colours! Nick.
Jerry Oven UEL
I am a US citizen. My Wood lineage was proved to a revolutionary war loyalist Jonas Wood. UEL's are some of Canada's first war heros. I remember what Canada did in Rwanda, Do you? Canada is NOT the US. Its a good thing they are not. I am glad they keep their own personality and culture. I wan't canadian style healthcare but we all worry that we will end up commies...
Posted on 5:15am Saturday 6th Jun 2009
Steve Wood
I am interested in opinions on this letter. Also if you are a previous or current service member from a Country other than Canada and have stories of Canadian service members assisting you or your unit in combat we would be interested in hearing about them on this thread. - Steve :)
Posted on 2:59am Sunday 5th Apr 2009
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Witham Hall School Case Study
Clarke Group Construction were awarded the contract to build a state of the art Sports Facility at Witham Hall School in March 2016. The design of the exterior was crucial to Clarke Group’s success; ensuring the new sports facility reflected the historic charm of the School. The entire facility measuring circa 2000m2 has been built to encompass both traditional features and modern clean lines. The combination of stonework, large glass panels and stainless-steel finishes allows for a stunning fusion of ‘old’ and ‘new’. This can be seen clearly within the bespoke oak staircase with stainless steel and glazed balustrading.
The extensive and high-specification facility incorporates a 630m2 Sports Hall fitted with Juncker’s hardwood sprung sports flooring and LED lighting, the dance studio also features this specialist flooring and lighting. There is also a fully equipped gym with large changing rooms and contemporary shower facilities. As well as a relaxing and modern balcony with views over the extensive school grounds. A kitchen is also incorporated to ensure the facility is completely self-contained and offers the students every element they require.
The facility has been installed with PV panels and a heat exchange system to improve the energy efficiency.
Matthew Chamberlain, Construction Manager for Clarke Group discussed the project:
‘The new Sports Facility at Witham Hall School has provided us with an excellent opportunity to showcase our extensive skill set. We have faced challenges along the way but are extremely proud of the finished article. Our determination to provide a fantastic facility has not only been driven by the client themselves, but also a desire to provide the students with a space they can truly enjoy.’
‘Clarke Group Construction Ltd have recently completed the School’s largest ever project: a 20,000 square foot £3million Sports Centre. The project had various difficulties peculiar to the project, not least the historic context of being set immediately adjacent to a grade-listed Queen Anne stately home and surrounded by specimen trees of such a parkland. To complement its historic setting, the building boasts stone pilasters and entablature, with mahogany doors and sympathetic roof materials; however, to testify to its modernity, the building employs retractable glass walls, a roof-space mezzanine Fitness Suite, and roof-top terrace sports viewing areas. Two very different manners of building, both well-handled by Clarke Group.
It should also be noted that the project was in part a new-build but also in part an adaptation of an existing structure which itself presented obstacles of different building and foundation methods, accommodating the irregularities of the older building, and phasing the whole project to allow the school to continue using the older building until the last possible moment. All of these anomalies Clarke Group handled in their stride, allowing the school to achieve the best new facility at the least inconvenience to the client.
The contractor’s adherence to health and safety, best practices on site and the managing of deliveries, workers and the compound were all exemplary. This is borne out by the fact that a school of children (4year and up) could continue to operate safely even with such a large building site right in the heart of its campus. As with many projects there were some difficulties with timeframe; however, each concern raised by us the client was quickly and resolutely responded to.
The school would happily invite Clarke Group to tender on future projects again. Potential clients of Clarke Group are invited to schedule (via Clarke Group) a viewing of the Sports Centre to view their work and to talk to a satisfied client.’
Luke Graham, Bursar – Witham Hall School
Witham Hall School
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Thinking of a new project?
Call us today on 01205 354 629 or drop us a message below
DowntownConstruction
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Nigeria: Opposition Alliance May Head for Rocks
The political alliance of top opposition politicians made up of General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Sokoto State governor Attahiru Bafarawa and former Lagos State governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu may be heading for the rocks as a fresh dispute has emerged over the proposed new platform.
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Just Say "No", Danielle...
Nation, as you've no doubt heard by now, Danielle Smith is getting a bit of flack over past positions she and her party have expressed.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, really - and I don't feel that it does. Everyone knew that, if polls suggested a possible Wildrose victory, the media, political opponents and common voters alike would start to take a good, long look at what (and who) they were being asked to vote for. It's our democratic "due diligence".
A growing list of Wildrose candidates are having past statements, associations, and business dealings dredged up. Which is not only fair politics, it's the way the system is supposed to work. If politicians in office are crooked or have appalling personal views, someone's supposed to expose them. If politicians STRIVING for office are crooked or have appalling personal views, someone's supposed to expose that, too. It's part of asking the public to make an informed choice.
This post isn't about those candidates, though. This post is about Danielle.
We've spent the last 6 months being told by Danielle and the Wildrose Party how Alison Redford "feels" about issues. About how, regardless of what she does or says, she "doesn't care" about this, or she "wants" to do that. Her party's policies on the issue be damned. Her stated position on the issue be damned. We, the Wildrose Party, know what's in Alison's heart on this issue, and we're going to tell you about it.
Now, that's either okay... or it's not. We're each going to make up our own minds about that. But clearly, Wildrose and Danielle think it's okay, or they wouldn't be doing it.
The Wildrose Party is in favour of binding, citizen-initiated referendae. Supporters say this is the essence of democracy. Detractors say it's a way to get controversial issues brought forward, without having to sully the hands of the governing party by taking a stand on the issue. Both points are valid ones. When the notion of such a referendum being brought forward to de-list abortion in Alberta came up this week, Danielle responded like so:
"The advice I’ve been given from legal scholars is that there are certain issues that would be offside with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms... This is the reason why it has to go to a judge. Because we can’t be having public referenda on things that can’t be instituted."
Which is true. Except, what if the referendum question was "Should Alberta invoke the Notwithstanding Clause to..."? Then, the BINDING referendum would NOT be offside with the Charter. Which means it would be allowed under that standard. And, if it passed, it would become law in Alberta.
Here's the thing, though: When she does this dance around de-listing abortion, or conscience rights, Danielle repeatedly goes out of her way to NOT say how she personally feels about the issue. It's something the media have started to notice. The same (liberal, eastern, elite, lamestream) media who have been fawning all over Danielle for months and crapping on Alison Reford's every sentence are using phrases like "Smith dodged the question". That's not good. We're being told "My personal opinions don't matter, the Party's policies are this...".
Okay. Sounds reasonable.
Just one problem, though...
We've spent the last 6 months having it crammed down our throats by Danielle and the Wildrose how Alison Redford, that mean evil nanny-state tax-and-spend ghost of Joe Clark elitist human rights lawyer FEELS about every issue that comes up. What's in her heart. Not what she says, or what her party's policy is, but how she feels, in her heart, about an issue. THAT'S the important thing, and the Wildrose somehow knows what she truly feels, and they're going to tell us about it.
So... how Alison Redford personally feels about an issue is of paramount importance. But... how Danielle Smith personally feels about an issue isn't relevant?
There's more, though. Danielle, Vitor, and the braintrust at Wildrose HQ know we're not stupid. They know we see the dissonance between what they tell us we should expect of Alison and what they tell us we're entitled to from Danielle. In fact, they're counting on it... because they know someone ELSE sees that dissonance, too.
The same special interests who would be spearheading the push to de-list abortion in Alberta. The same groups that would be pushing to codify conscience rights. Danielle isn't saying what she thinks, because she wants those people to think she's with them, and "obviously, she can't come right out and say it... but we know she's one of us. So we'll vote for her, and donate our money and time."
She wants to reap the reward, without taking the risk of endorsing the viewpoint publicly.
She's playing COY with them.
So Danielle, here's my challenge to you: Just say "NO".
Don't give us "This is a divisive issue, and we don't discuss those". Don't come at us with "That sort of thing wouldn't withstand a Charter challenge". And spare us the insufferable "We won't legislate on that", because if it's passed by a referendum you'll be obligated by your own law TO legislate on it. You know it, and we know it. You'll try to distance yourself from it afterwards - JUST far enough to make it clear it wasn't your idea. But you'll take the support, and the votes, from the special interests who were behind the effort. and because they got their way, you'll take that support and those votes in the next election, too. And the one after that.
Say "NO", Danielle.
We keep getting told what a great communicator you are. Get in front of a bank of cameras, look dead centre into the biggest one, and say "I am not in favour of de-listing abortion. This issue has been dealt with by the courts, and I say NO. I say it as Danielle Smith, private citizen. I say it as Danielle Smith, Leader of the Wildrose Party. We will not entertain referendae on this issue. If you are someone who is going to support me or my party based on the belief that a Wildrose Government will provide a way to get this legislated, I want you to stay home and not send us money. I don't want your vote, if to get it I have to pretend to be in favour of this issue."
THAT would be courage. THAT would be leadership. And you know what? No member of the media would ask you about it, EVER AGAIN. It would put the issue to bed, forever.
Right now, with this "we have no plans on this, that was an old policy book our staffer was reading from, we don't discuss those things", it looks for all the world like you're playing coy to get the votes and bucks from the special interest groups, without having to take a position that would make some people think twice about voting for you.
What you personally think about this MATTERS, Danielle. It matters, because of the standards you've spent six months setting for Alison Redford. And every day that goes by without you making it 100% clear where you stand, and risking some support by taking a solid and clear position, you're seeming less like the "kicking butt and taking names, second-coming-of-Ralph Klein" Danielle Smith we were told was coming to save us as Albertans, and more like THIS guy:
"I'm Jerry Boyle, and if you can mark an X, you're my kind of people!"
Posted by Enlightened Savage at 4:32 p.m.
Great post. Here's something else interesting. It's not paranoia. The de-fund campaign is all ready.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/alberta-pro-life-rolls-out-defund-abortion-campaign. And by the way, this source is incorrect on av. cost of abortion in AB. It is $580and much less than cost of bringing pregnancy to term. This cost issue is a red herring.
The primary difference, obviously, is that in Red Redford's world the government tells the citizenry how to act. As the most powerful person in government, Redford has used her position to foster a view on the populace of what their lives should be like. Her predecessor was much of the same. We constantly kept hearing how "Alberta needs to be changed" to whatever sick "progressive" ideal Redford had signed onto at the moment. That kind of attitude by government, an emotional tug-of-war where the biases and desires of the individual at the top is filtered down to the populace who need a few more nannying billboards telling them how to think and how to behave, is one that real conservatism, the belief that individuals have the innate ability to somehow decide how to live their lives without reading the latest fiat from the Legislature-on-high, was designed to fight.
In a world where the Wildrose mindset is exercised (a place that we used to know of as "Alberta"), it's certainly interesting to know what Danielle Smith's opinion is: she won't be the Queen, unable to express her personal viewpoints by convention. But she will be a citizen legislator in all senses of the term. She may think that more than a half-glass of wine at dinner is excessive, or that the amount of money a landscaper is paid is too little, or that doctors are prescribing too much medication as a substitute for healing. As an influential person, she's certainly a leader who some people are going to turn to for insight or suggestions or even "the answer" (whether she wants to call it that or not). But that's certainly all it would (or should) be.
"We don't have plans for this" isn't in this sort of a framework as an evasion as much as an invitation. You, the brave yeomen of Alberta, can stand up in a year, or two years, or forty-one years, and say "I think government policy should be X" and you aren't told that if you want that to be government policy you should try running for Premier. Wildrose is standing firm against four other parties who all insist that government should do what they want it to do, and that individuals in Alberta should behave the way that they (Redford/Sherman/Mason/Taylor) think we should behave, and that the Alberta that we have all lived in should be changed based on their horrible personal beliefs. In a battle like that, the personal beliefs of Danielle Smith or the specific referenda that Albertans may try to propose are irrelevent.
We know where you stand. We know where we stand. And we're tired of having to look at each leader and pick which one is most likely to have agreeable answers to random whims on topics they never bothered to mention during the campaign.
As one who has been close to infertility issues, it is quite possible that Danielle, her husband and others who have gone through the heartbreaking process of not being able to conceive, find it very difficult to understand why human life can be treated so casually when it is unborn.
Except the word "binding" does not appear in the link you provide to the Wildrose policy.
"I am not in favour of de-listing abortion. This issue has been dealt with by the courts"
Except it *hasn't* been dealt with by the courts.
Apr. 8, 2012, 10:28:00 p.m.
Robert G. Harvie said...
Ho. Hum.
Don't think the electorate is all that concerned with the issue of de-listing abortion - to begin with.
But - when Smith says emphatically, that her party will not introduce such legislation.. I think the electorate has even less concern over this non-issue.
Those who are rabid pro-choice advocates wouldn't vote Wild Rose anyway - those, like me, who are soft pro-choice supporters, will likely park their vote for other more pertinent reasons.
NIk said...
To F and C's Love Child:
So, you'd like a government that doesn't govern. That's fine, but that's by no means a "real conservative" stance. Real conservatives tend to want a government that actually has governing policies that align to various conservative ideals, whether social or economic or otherwise. It's a form of anarchy to have a government that blows with the wind of the mob rule.
Okay. She's said no now. So what else do you think she has to do.
Apr. 11, 2012, 2:24:00 a.m.
The Race for Calgary-Greenway
The Race for Calgary-Fort
Free Votes
The Race for Calgary-Elbow
The Race for Calgary-East
Alberta Leaders' Debate Drinking Game
The Race for Calgary-Buffalo
The Race for Banff-Cochrane
The Race for Airdrie
Hamilton Bows Down To Special Interests in Calgary...
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Posted on January 1, 2014 by A.T. Groom under Current Production, Partagás
Sunday afternoon, Hong Kong. I had planned to catch the tram up Victoria Peak and smoke a Partagás Serie D No. 4 on the walk down, taking it on a tour of leafy little back paths, colonial era fortifications, and some of the most expensive real estate in the world, but unfortunately the tram had a 90 minute wait and I don’t have time for that nonsense. My next thought was the nearby Hong Kong Park, in front of the puffin cages perhaps, but alas, Hong Kong prohibits smoking in its parks and gardens. The result is this, a dusky beauty brought to you from the miscellaneous streets and alleyways of this sweaty metropolis.
The Partagás Serie D No. 4 is about as default a cigar as exists in this world. The Monte 4 is still, as far as I know, the biggest mover, but number two, and by all accounts gaining fast, is the D4. It’s a good size for today’s punter, which is to say it’s short and fat, and honestly it’s not a cigar I’ve ever had much fondness for. This example though opens well, with mild tobacco and straw, and I swear that I can detect a hint of spring onion in the back palette.
Hong Kong and I go back a long way, back to the old Hong Kong before 1997, when it was the last remaining diamond in the crown of the British Empire. It was early 1989, and my father was ready to change his life. He had applied for a highly paid position on an Australian government aid quango, setting up an accounting university in Wuhan, China. It was a job for which he was vastly underqualified. An accountant by training he’d worked for six months as an auditor with KPMG before deciding that he couldn’t spend his life counting boxes. Those who can’t do teach, and he’d spent the next decade or so teaching high school accounting, mainly as a volunteer abroad in third world island nations. In the year before his application for the Wuhan job he was working as a first year accounting tutor at a second rate technical school. Unsurprisingly, his application was turned down.
His second choice was to move his young family to an acreage outside of Frankston in Melbourne, where I was to be enrolled in Frankston Primary, and later Frankston High (non-Melbourne readers will not understand this reference, but suffice to say, Frankston High has produced a far greater number of teenage mothers and career criminals than it has globetrotting cigar aficionados). And then came June 4th. And then came the incident in Tiananmen Square.
An inch or so to the wind and the D4 is still quite mild, with a little peppery spice and a muddy overtone. There is just a tang of diesel exhaust on the back end, which is more pleasant that it sounds. The D4 is the descendant of a grand old line of lettered cigars, begun sometime in the 19th century and discontinued in the 1930s. In the original incarnation there were sixteen cigars, running letters A to D and numbers one to four. The letter represented the ring gauge, with A being 38, B 42, C 48 and D 50; the numbers represent the lengths: one is 170mm, two 156mm, three 140mm and four about 125mm. The D4 was revitalised in the 1970s to fulfil a perceived need for a Partagás robusto. Over the coming weeks and months I plan to smoke my way through a few different Partagás specials and limiteds, many of which are revitalised members of the original letter series, or latter day expansions of the line. Expect the factoids mentioned in this paragraph to be referred to a lot.
After Tiananmen Square the project that had so roundly rejected my father was in turmoil. The chosen staff had spent a couple of months in cultural training in Australia, and were just weeks from their scheduled departure when they saw footage of tanks in China’s capital and heard reports of thousands of students being massacred by the Red Army. Frantic phone calls were made. Letters of resignation appeared on desks. With the hard targets of their joint venture contract to meet the quango heads were forced to go down their list of rejected applicants looking for anyone who was still willing to go. My father was, and by August I was a resident of Red China.
Even in 1989, Wuhan was a major metropolis, but it was by no means a cosmopolitan city. Today its business district is all mirrored glass high rises, but back then the entire city was row after endless row of utilitarian concrete apartment blocks. Lying deep in the heartland on the banks of the Yangtze, Wuhan is known as one of the three furnaces of China, firstly because of its oppressively hot and humid summers, but also because of Red Steel Town, a district to the north of the city where a great deal of China’s steel is smelted. The river was a short bicycle ride from my home and from the top of the levy bank I watched an endless parade of tugs and barges: coal and ore going in, giant steel girders going out.
China in 1989 was making its first faltering steps toward openness, but particularly in the provinces it still had a long way to go. White people were almost unheard of; when my sister and I ventured out to the market outside of our compound old women would point to us and whisper in their grandchildren’s ears. Both brunettes we had it easy: the children next door were blond haired and blue eyed, and wherever they went strangers would reach out and touch them. Cars were a rarity back then, every street crowded with thousands upon thousands of bicycles. Every night when the traffic died down platoons of old ladies would emerge from the high rises to sweep the streets with wicker brooms, their only discernible purpose to move the dust from the ground into the air.
China, in a word, was chaos. Every month or so we would need a break, a brief gasp of the rarefied (unpolluted) air to which we westerners were accustomed. Air travel in China was a rare privilege in 1989, reserved only for high ranking party members and those lucky enough to travel on business. The only airline was the government CAAC (which the expats jokingly referred to as China Airlines Always Crashes), flying old Russian jets that groaned and rumbled and landed hard. You could fly to Hong Kong only from Shanghai and Beijing, and so for us escaping China for a few days generally meant a train ride to Guangzhou. Today a high speed train makes the journey in a few hours, but 1989 was the era of the Iron Rooster; steam trains, with classes ranging from Hard Seat (a wooden bench in with the livestock) to Soft Sleeper (six to a cabin, bloodstained sheets). The journey took an unpredictable amount of time, variable depending on how often and where the train broke down. You knew you were going to be stationary for a while when you saw the engineer pedal past your window on a bicycle, heading back in the direction you’d just come from. Once in Guangzhou you made your way to the border, where, within a giant Stalinist gothic edifice you would fight your way through the crowd of peasants to the window for your permission to cross. Once granted you would be herded through a series of large cages, your papers checked again and again, being jostled by Chinamen all the while, before finally, some hours after you first began, you would be granted permission to leave Red China.
Released from the cages you would cross the bridge over no-mans-land, over a well mown killing field and a tall, razor wire topped fence. At the end of the bridge some glass doors would slide open with a smooth hiss, revealing a pristine white tiled customs hall, the Union Jack hung proudly over an aspidistra in the corner. “Welcome to Hong Kong” the guard, resplendent in his crisp blue uniform, would say, his accent a plummy, well-practised British. Moments later you would step onto a monorail and glide silently through the lush forests of the New Territories, disembarking twenty minutes later in the heart of Kowloon, back in civilization. It always felt like you were waking from a bad dream.
I finish the cigar on public pier number nine, overlooking Kowloon, watching the Star Ferries come and go. The cigar has remained mild and pleasant the whole way through, only turning on the heavy tar in the final puffs. In the final analysis it is a fine Cuban smoke, a good hallmark for the Partagás marque, but unfortunately, to my palette at least, it’s not as good as a Montecristo No. 4.
Partagás Serie D No. 4 on the Cuban Cigar Website
This entry was posted in Current Production, Partagás. Bookmark the permalink.
← On Hiatus
Partagás Serie D No. 5 Edición Limitada 2008 →
Its great to have you back, Mr Groom
I look forward to your next review
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World Finance » Dividend, Dividend & Payment » Dividend Definition
Dividend Definition
A dividend is a payment made by a company to its shareholders.A company can retain its profit for the purpose of re-investment in the business operations (known as retained earnings), or it can distribute the profit among its shareholders in the form of dividends.
A dividend is not regarded as an expenditure; rather, it is considered a distribution of assets among shareholders. The majority of companies keep a component of their profits as retained earnings and distribute the rest as dividend.
The different types of dividends include:
Special dividend: Normally, public companies declare their dividends on a specific schedule; however, they also have the option to declare a dividend at any time. This type of dividend is referred to as a special dividend.
Cash dividend: Paid in checks, this is the most basic form of dividend. Cash dividends considered a type of investment earnings, and are taxable.
Stock dividend: Given in the form of bonus shares or stocks of the issuing company or a subsidiary company. Normally, they are offered on the basis of a prorata allotment.
Property (in kind) dividend: Distributed in the form of assets by the issuing company or a subsidiary company.
Other types of dividend: Warrants and financial assets having market value are also distributed in the form of dividends.
The distribution of dividends requires the approval of the board of directors, who declare the time or date when the dividend will be distributed.
The dates are categorized into four types:
Ex-dividend date: The ex-dividend date is defined as the date subsequent to which every share that is traded does not have any right to claim the dividend, which has been declared in the immediate past.
Declaration date: The declaration date is defined as the date on which the board of directors declares its aim for payment of dividend. On this date, the payment date and the record date are also announced.
Record date: The record date is defined as the date on or before which the shareholders who have officially recorded their ownership and are entitled to get the dividend.
Payment date: The payment date is defined as the date on which the checks of dividend will be sent to shareholders or deposited to brokerage accounts.
Dividend, Dividend & Payment
Dividend Tax
Dividend Stock
Global Investing Dividend
Company Dividends
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One Bag, One Child, One Year
Nov 08, 2012 Causes Shopping Gear
A solution for putting impoverished kids through school? It's in the bag.
Last year, Oliver Shuttlesworth returned home to Austin, Texas, from a trip to rural Central America asking himself a burning question: "If an education can cost as little as $20 a year, and yet 75 million children lack access to it, what can we do to help and why aren't we doing it?"
The "what," for Shuttlesworth, was to connect with a reputable micro-finance institution and provide tuition to kids who need it. The "how" came in the form of selling totes ($60), backpacks ($70) and t-shirts ($22) through a company he named "Esperos," derived from the Spanish word for "hope." And as for the "why" -- well, Esperos is flying in the face of that question by providing a solution.
Partnering with a non-profit called Fonkoze to help families out of poverty while funds from Esperos send their kids to school, the brand channels 50% of its proceeds directly into kids' tuitions in Haiti, giving them opportunities that were once closed off to them. And the math is as elementary as arithmetic can get: each bag puts a child through school for an entire year.
Shop the Esperos line by clicking here and you'll have today's good deed in the bag. We'd say it's an investment worth shouldering.
CausesShoppingGearAll Finds
More About Fonkoze
Fonkoze is Haiti’s alternative bank for the organized poor. It's a family of three institutions working together, shoulder to shoulder, toward a single mission: building the economic foundations for democracy in Haiti by providing the rural poor with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. It helps with literacy and business skills training, as well as education in the areas of health, children's rights, environmental protection and disaster risk reduction.
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Introduction: Malta 2017
Claudia Faniello was born in Qwara in 1988. Her brother Fabrizio has represented Malta twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. They have an Italian father and a Maltese mother. So it was clear for Claudia to become passionate for music since she was a little girl and at one day she would step into the footpaths of her brother. In the age of 12 she appeared in TV shows and on national festivals. In 2002 she sang live with Malta's National Orchestra in aid of impoverished children at the University of Malta. She is also started to write songs. Claudia is well known in Malta thanks to her participations in the “Song For Europe” show. In 2006 she sang in the national final, where she came 12th, while her brother won the ticket to the ESC in Athens.
Participant(s): Claudia Faniello
Song: "Breathlessly"
Writer(s): Gerard James Borg
Composer(s): Philip Vella & Sean Vella
This year Malta is celebrating its 30th anniversary in the Eurovision Song Contest. Congratulations! The Maltese broadcaster PBS has arranged a national final like in previous years. This year’s winner is no stranger in the Maltese music scene and in particular in the “Song For Europe” show - Claudia Faniello. She could convince the juries and televoters with her song “Breathlessly”.
For Claudia it’s not her first time at “Song For Europe”, she had ten previous attempts since 2006:
2006 "High Alert", 12th / her brother Fabrizio made the first place
2007 "L-Imħabba Għamja", 7th
2008 "Caravaggio", 2nd
2008 "Sunrise", 3rd
2009 "Midas Touch", no qualifier (Heat 2)
2009 "Blue Sonata", 4th
2010 "Samsara", 8th
2011 "Movie in my Mind", 9th
2012 "Pure", 2nd
2013 "When it's Time", 7th
Now a dream comes true for Claudia. She will perform the Maltese song “Breathlessly” in Kiev at the Eurovision Song Contest. The song is a typical love ballad which has often been heard at the ESC, nothing really outstanding. This song needs a really great show to convince in Kiev. The video clip is greatly made, a story filmed backwards, very interesting. The 28 years old singer will start in the Semi Final 2 and the song is written by the well-known composers Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg, who had several songs for Malta in the ESC.
Participations: 30
Victories: 0
Finals: 23
Top 10: 13
Chances for Top 10: 45 %
Chances for Final: 62 %
For Malta it’s the 30th anniversary this year in the Eurovision Song Contest. Malta had its debut in 1971 with a song in the Maltese language called "Marija L-maltija" by Joe Grech. The Maltese have only used their native language twice, due to the fact that English is the second official language it has always been used as advantage. Nowadays every country can chose the language of their entries by preference. Over the years Austria has send a song in French, Latvia in Italian or Cyprus in French. But English has been the main language in the Eurovision Song Contest for most of the countries. That's why Malta does not enjoy the language advantage anymore.
There has been a long pause in the Maltese participation between 1976 until 1990. Then Malta returned in 1991 with "Could it be” by Paul Giordimaina and Georgina and achieved a good 6th place. With this new enthusiasm and energy the Maltese reached a lot of good positions. Out of 29 participation, Malta reached the Top10 for 13 times, so the chance to reach a Top10 position for Malta is approx. 45%, statistically. And to reach the Grand Final is approx. 62%.
Unfortunately, Malta has never won the ESC, but made a second place two times and a third place two times as well. Malta is so eager to win the contest one day, rumours said it should be the first open air contest in history. At least Malta won and hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 and thanks to this occasion the Maltese broadcaster could show off a little bit what to expect if Malta wins the ESC, the introduction, the postcards were perfectly made. This is what we could expect if one day Malta will host the ESC.
Author: Timo StutzEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Technical Director, Editor, Webmaster
I'm the technical director of eurovisionlive.com and editor for our German corner. I watched my first ESC in 1998 (Birmingham) in London, so I was able to vote for Guildo Horn. Since this moment I was infected with the ESC virus. In 2011 I met Torsten & Jens from eurovisionlive.com and they asked me to create a new homepage for them. Until 2011 eurovisionlive.com was only a "hard coded" HTML page. In 2012 we started with a redesign based on a modern content management system called Joomla. In 2014/2015 we worked hard on a re-redesign, launched it on 13 February 2015.
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Somerset House strengthens Corporate Events team with new appointments
Somerset House announces the appointment of two new members of staff to its Corporate Events Team.
Amy Bowden joins the eight-strong team at Somerset House as Business Development Manager following the promotion of Kara Clark and Stephanie Bevan-Moss to Co-Heads of Corporate Events, while Jenny Freestone takes maternity leave.
Amy joins Somerset House from the Royal Horticultural Halls, where she worked as Senior Sales Executive. Previously, she was Event Manager at ExCeL London Hospitality (part of Compass Group UK & Ireland).
In her new role, Amy’s objectives are to raise awareness of venue hire opportunities at Somerset House, focusing on corporate clients. As well as working with local businesses, Amy plans to utilise her knowledge of London Fashion Week clients to generate new leads for Women and Men’s Fashion Week. She will also be looking at tactical marketing strategies through promotion of the venue’s newly released Day Delegate Rate packages.
Amy comments: “I am extremely excited to join the existing accomplished and creative Corporate Events Team at this iconic central London venue. The diversity of clients who have held events with us are exceptional, and I cannot wait to expand on this.”
Another new member of the team is Rebecca Moore, who takes on the role of Event Planner. Rebecca previously worked for two years as Events and Facilities Coordinator at Asia House, where she was responsible for running a diverse range of events.
Kara Clark, Co-Head of Corporate Events, comments: “We are delighted to welcome Amy and Rebecca to our creative and dynamic Events team at Somerset House. We know they will contribute to the phenomenal success we have been enjoying over the last year, and are looking forward to seeing the valuable new initiatives they plan to bring to their roles.”
About Somerset House
Somerset House is an iconic neo-classical 18th century building situated on the north bank of the River Thames, which has become a leading centre for contemporary culture in London. Somerset House also offers a wide variety of venue spaces and services, accommodating any event from press days to product launches, receptions and dinners, to presentations and conferences. Corporate and private events can also be connected with Somerset House’s diverse cultural programme, through private tours and viewings. Somerset House is run as a charity by the Somerset House Trust and events held at the venue directly contribute to its cultural programme and commitment to a new generation of artists based in Somerset House Studios, as well as its education and outreach work. The grandeur and heritage of Somerset House’s range of buildings and event spaces, coupled with the expertise of the Corporate Events team, offer an unrivalled location for an unforgettable event.
Somerset House offers 13 highly versatile indoor and outdoor event spaces including:
Indoor Spaces
Portico Rooms – Somerset House’s most popular private hire venue offers balcony views over both The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court and the River Thames. With a capacity for 200 standing, 80 people for a seated lunch and dinner and 100 people for theatre-style seating, Portico Rooms provide a flexible yet grand space for all kinds of events from press days and receptions to dinners and wine tastings.
Navy Board Rooms – These four inter-connected rooms were originally home to the Navy Board, overseeing British naval affairs at the start of the Empire. The layout offers great flexibility - from one specific room to the use of all four spaces for a range of purposes with capacity for 100 standing, 50 people for seated lunch and dinner and 32 for cabaret-style seating.
West Wing – Entered via the striking grandeur of the Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, guests experience a feeling of calm and space as they enter the West Wing Galleries. With 15 newly renovated rooms, this expansive area boasts light wooden flooring, sweeping high ceilings and plenty of natural light. The understated elegance of the West Wing Galleries has something to suit all tastes, with the blank canvas galleries providing a fantastic backdrop for showcases, press days, product launches and experiential events.
River Terrace – The River Terrace location offers glorious views of the South Bank across the River Thames, offering a spectacular setting for al fresco events from summer parties to outdoor receptions. The space holds a capacity of 500 standing. Included in the hire is Seamen’s Hall, a wet weather option with a capacity of up to 200.
The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court – The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court is situated around Somerset House’s elegant fountains and is surrounded on all sides by glorious 18th century buildings. This space is home to some of the best-loved events such as Film4 Summer Screen, Summer Series and Skate, the winter ice rink. This exclusive outdoor space with a capacity of 1500 is available for bespoke evening events on a limited number of specific dates throughout the year.
Lightwells and Deadhouse – The Lightwells and Deadhouse are a favourite for film location managers for film and television and have frequently been used as a backdrop for film and TV including Downton Abbey and Sherlock Holmes. This unique subterranean space, full of atmosphere and charm, is the ideal location for out-of-the-ordinary events. The unique space is available for receptions, press days and launches and capacity varies for each event.
Somerset House also houses one of the largest communities of creative organisations in London including The Courtauld Gallery and Institute of Art, King’s College London Cultural Institute and over 100 other creative businesses. In October 2016, Somerset House launched Somerset House Studios, a new experimental workspace connecting artists, makers and thinkers with audiences. The Studios provide a platform for new creative projects and collaboration, promoting work that pushes bold ideas, engages with urgent issues and pioneers new technologies. Somerset House is one of the top ten leading visitor attractions in the UK and currently attracts approximately 3.4 million visitors every year.
Connect with Somerset House:
Website: www.somersethouse.org.uk
Twitter: @SomersetHSVenue
Facebook: @SomersetHouse
© 2017 Eveleen Hatch PR
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Dispatch Log
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Info/Extras
Scotts Valley Middle School renovation
By Edita McQuary
Families that have waited decades for a new Scotts Valley Middle School finally have some good news, as officials say demolition and construction work could begin this fall. That’s more than two years after voters overwhelmingly approved $35 million in bonds for the project.
The new projected completion date is late 2018. That means the complex demolition, construction and renovation project at the Bean Creek Road campus likely will require further patience on the part of Scott Valley Middle School students, faculty and staff as they adjust to two years of construction disruptions.
Students who were eighth-graders at the school at the time of the June 2014 bond vote likely will have graduated high school before the new gym and library are opened at their old middle school.
Officials had hoped to begin construction last fall, but environmental studies required to show construction would not disturb the endangered Mount Hermon June Beetle caused a nearly one-year delay in the construction start.
Many of the middle school buildings are 70 years old. The campus is the site of the original Scotts Valley one-room school house built in 1872.
In the June 2014 election, 72 percent of Scotts Valley School District voters approved the $35 million bond measure for repairs, upgrades, and new construction at the campus, which serves about 620 students at the corner of Scotts Valley Drive and Bean Creek Road. The project provides classrooms and facilities provide a capacity for 650 students.
The bond provides $33 million for the renovation/construction of the middle school and $2 million for seismic projects at the elementary schools. School officials now say they need another $7 million from the State of California to complete the work, for a total price tag of $42 million.
A state initiative “School Bonds: Funding for K-12 School and Community College Facilities” is on the November 2016 ballot. The initiative seeks voter approval for a $9 billion State Construction Bond. If it passes, Scotts Valley will apply for $7 million from the state.
As required by state law under Proposition 39, an Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee has been formed to work with the school district on the renovation and construction project. They must review the District’s expenditure reports, inform the public of the expenditures, and present an annual written report to the Board of Education in a public session.
The final site plan for the middle school project shows four new buildings (gym, prefab administration building, library and prefab classrooms) to be constructed. It also calls for three classroom buildings and the multi-purpose room to be upgraded. Temporary modular classrooms also will be built.
An entomological consultant’s report on the June Beetle is expected to be completed in August, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has indicated it will approve a habitat conservation plan allowing the construction to begin.
The project then goes to the Department of State Architecture and, if approved, permits will be issued and construction should start in the fall. It will have to be built in phases over two years and should be finished near the end of 2018.
What does this mean for the home owner’s real estate tax bill? It means that the home owner will pay approximately $57.00 per each $100,000 of assessed value of the property. It is good to remember that assessed value is based on the County’s official tax rolls, and not on the home’s market value, which is generally much higher.
The Scotts Valley Unified School District, through the efforts of students, teachers and parents, is an award-winning district. Last year the high school and middle school won the California Gold Ribbon Award and this year two elementary schools were awarded the same by the California Department of Education.
New Flight Path to Impact SLV & Scotts Valley
An Interview with Boulder Creek Author Max Mobley
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Press Banner, July 12, 2019
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San Lorenzo Valley | Scotts Valley, CA
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Alex Tremulis' Induction into The Automotive Hall of Fame: A Circle of Life with Deep Historical Connections
Induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame is reserved for those who have made a significant impact on the automobile. This is the single greatest honor in the automotive business. Inductee contributions are chronicled among the great men and women who have had a positive influence on the industry.
For Alex Tremulis, induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame completes a full circle of a long and storied career. First, the induction ceremony was held in the same building and same auditorium where the great Harley Earl directed the continuing efforts of his famous “Art and Colour” styling studio, one of the most advanced styling teams in automotive history, and the same general area where a young Alex Tremulis first took art classes at GM's training school in 1933 and then refined his techniques while designing for Earl’s Oldsmobile Division in 1937.
GM's Argonaut Building, the home of Harley Earl's Art and Colour from 1937 to 1955, and where Alex Tremulis first worked in Harley Earl's Oldsmobile styling studio. GM would later donate the building to the College for Creative Studies.
Today, the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education houses the College for Creative Studies, the same school where Alex Tremulis taught automotive design in the 1960's and the site for the 2014 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Tremulis' start was somewhat less auspicious than the remainder of his career: The fancy drafting pencil sharpener was like none that he had been familiar with and he had to ask for assistance to use it. It turns out that a simple cap covered the hole for the business end of the pencil. Not the best way to make a first impression, but his tenure within Harley Earl’s organization would be short-lived anyway. He spent three months in GM's school and then returned to Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg where he would soon become the Chief Stylist at the age of 22, after Gordon Buehrig (Hall of Fame Inductee, 1989) left the company. Following the close of A-C-D, Alex would again return to General Motors, this time as a designer for the Oldsmobile Division in the Argonaut Building, but again, that relationship would end rather abruptly.
Alex tells the story of his brief stay with Oldsmobile:
"When Auburn-Cord folded I went to the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors. One of the first things they wanted me to do was to buy a new Oldsmobile at special employee rates. I think they offered the car to us for $600. I still couldn’t afford a new car so I kept on driving the same old 1935 Ford Roadster, the first car I owned.
I really liked that Ford, especially after I put on the twin intake manifolds that came off of one of the 10 Ford Indianapolis race cars in 1935. At that time I had the only Ford on the street with dual intake carburetors. And because I couldn’t afford a Duesenberg, I had two exhaust pipes coming out the side. I had a lot of fun with that car. But unfortunately I did a dumb thing, which was a stupid mistake on my part:
We had a big styling department picnic for the Oldsmobile Division. All of the stylists had just bought their new $600 1938 Oldsmobiles. All of them had 6 cylinders except the boss’s car which had eight cylinders. On the way to the picnic, the boss went by all the six’s, and then I made the mistake of going out after him, and passing him. I guess he was pretty embarrassed.
The next day I was called into my supervisor’s office where I was told what I had done had been in very poor taste. And that I should not have embarrassed the entire styling section with an old 1935 Ford. They even accused me of cheating because my car was practically a race car. I was told I had to give up the car. This I refused to do. In a matter of a month I was laid off."
2002 Student Show at CCS: Aston Martin by Rudolf Gonzalez
By 1955, Harley Earl’s design team had left the Argonaut Building, but the buliding's future lease on life would yet again have a deep connection to Tremulis. In 2007, General Motors donated the building to the College for Creative Studies, a design school that had its roots in the early 1900's. They restored and upgraded the Argonaut Building in 2008. Back in the 1950’s, CCS was known as the Detroit Society for Arts and Crafts. As it turns out, while Tremulis was a studio head for Advanced Design at Ford, he recruited students from the top automotive design schools to bring into Ford’s automotive styling groups. Ford’s freshmen designers would begin their careers in his studio and learn the tricks of the trade prior to being assigned to other areas where they showed the most potential.
By the mid-1960’s, Tremulis had left Ford, yet maintained his teaching at the school under the direction of a much-loved Homer LaGassey. There he would often bring in guest speakers such as Art Arfons, as shown below, who talked of Tremulis’ advanced streamlining ideas as they applied to his record-setting Green Monster. Other future Hall of Famers would be in several of Tremulis’ classes. As he would often say, he was most proud of the successes that his many students enjoyed throughout their own storied careers.
c.1965, Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Alex Tremulis (far left) brings in Art Arfons (immediate right of illustration) to lecture on the aerodynamics of land speed record vehicles. On the left of Tremulis' Green Monster rendering a young Jerry Palmer is soon to graduate and head off to his own illustrious career in automotive design.
So it was with great reverence that Jack Telnack, one of Tremulis’ former students and Automotive Hall of Fame member (2008), would introduce many of Tremulis’ irreverent antics to the induction ceremony’s audience. Upon graduation from Art Center College of Design, Telnack would rise quickly through the ranks at Ford to become the Vice President for Global Design and is supremely qualified to talk of Tremulis' impact on automotive styling and design history.
For such a long career spanning over half a century, it's important to gain insight into what kept him inspired through the tough times, of which he had many. Two photographs were etched in Alex's memory from a very early age, and these images helped keep the designer focused throughout his life.
Both photographs hung on the office wall of Alex's father, a physician, where the young future designer would often accompany his Dad. The streamlined image of Tommy Milton's twin-engine Duesenberg racer setting a land speed record on the Daytona beach in 1920 would work its way into many of Tremulis future designs, each one a bit lower and more streamlined than the last. For Tremulis, it would form the basis for over half a century of automotive design incorporating the most advanced concepts in streamlining. It would also be his first introduction to the Duesenberg marque that would be interlaced throughout his entire half-century of automotive design.
The second image of Ralph DePalma pushing his race car to the finish of the 1912 Indianapolis 500 taught the young Tremulis to be tenacious and to never give up. DePalma had led the race for over 196 of the 200 laps and when his Mercedes finally gave out and he had to push his car over the finish line. In those days, if you didn't complete the entire 500 miles, you didn't get paid. As fate would have it, DePalma's feat was heroic, yet all for naught, as the rules stated the car had to finish under its own power, negating the laps logged while the car was broken down. It only served to further the point that no matter what the outcome, you have to give your best effort and never give up, a lesson he would revisit many times throughout his career, especially as an early pioneer of streamlining and aerodynamics.
In still yet another twist of fate, perhaps it's serendipity, that Preston Tucker and Alex Tremulis are reunited in the Automotive Hall of Fame, as they'll be linked side-by-side alphabetically for what will probably be a very, very long time.
Tremulis’ induction had such great historical significance with amazing coincidences: The ceremony was in the same building where he worked for Harley Earl, recruited the students from the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts (now CCS) into Ford, taught automotive design for Homer LaGassey at the College for Creative Studies, and he was introduced by fellow Hall of Famer and former Tremulis student Jack Telnack. It truly was a Circle of Life.
Add to all this, it was 32 years ago that the Automotive Hall of Fame awarded Tremulis the Distinguished Service Citation. And just who would be among those congratulating Alex on his award? It would be none other than fellow 2014 inductee, Keith Crane!!!
Finally, Alex's induction into the Hall of Fame concluded with a passage from one of his many literary works:
“From the days when I got my first inspiration for drawing the lines of an automobile from my father, I was fascinated with that form of vehicular travel and the speed and excitement that went with it. Even though as a boy I did not translate the thought into words, I knew that the very instant I picked up my pencil from a car sketch, that particular idea was already obsolete and I must go on to another and another, each new one discovering some combination of curves, lines and angles to achieve a result.
A lifetime of working within the exciting environs of the auto industry has brought me into contact with so many fine and great people I feel greatly rewarded, rich though I am not.
There have been achievements aplenty to give me pleasure, but failures and set-backs in sufficient quantity to prevent me from being complacent.
I look back at my many auto models, prototypes, drawings and production cars with great fondness and pride and feel that each of them, in their particular way, was great. But my wildest feeling of excitement and raw pleasure comes from anticipating what that car, the car of tomorrow, will be..."
All the members of the Tremulis family, both in attendance and in absentia, give our sincere thanks to Bill Chapin and the nomination committee at the Automotive Hall of Fame, the entire crew of the College for Creative Studies for their magnificent and historic facilities, Jack Telnack for his wild recollections and insight into Alex Tremulis, and to all those who have shared and supported Alex's vision for a better tomorrow.
And heartfelt congratulations to fellow Hall of Fame inductees Keith Crane, Ferdinand Piech, Dave Power, and to Distinguished Service Citation recipients Ken Gross and Frank Venegas Jr., and also Industry Leader of the Year James Lentz. What great company with which to be inducted...
To learn more about Alex Tremulis' involvement with Preston Tucker and the iconic Tucker automobile, just click the photos below linked to the articles:
Click here to visit the Gyronaut's Facebook page to keep up-to-date on all things related to Alex Tremulis, the Gyronaut X-1, and the people who shaped automotive history...
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Dr. Strangelove - Free Film & Discussion
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political black comedy which satirizes the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The film was directed, produced and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, and stars Peter Sellers in 3 different roles.
Stanley Kubrick's brilliant satire remains as funny and razor-sharp today as it was when it first appeared. It has been rated by IMDB as one of the greatest 100 movies in cinema history.
"There had been nothing in comedy like Dr Strangelove ever before. All the gods before whom the America of the stolid, paranoid 50s had genuflected – the Bomb, the Pentagon, the National Security State, the President himself, Texan masculinity and the alleged Commie menace of water-fluoridation – went into the wood-chipper and never got the same respect ever again." (John Patterson, The Guardian)
The film will be followed by a discussion and a clip from Daniel Ellsberg, the famous Pentagon Papers whistleblower who recently wrote The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner: "…for the first time, former high level defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveals his shocking first-hand account of America’s nuclear program in the 1960s. From the remotest air bases in the Pacific Command, where he discovered that the authority to initiate use of nuclear weapons was widely delegated, to the secret plans for general nuclear war under Eisenhower, which, if executed, would cause the near-extinction of humanity, Ellsberg shows that the legacy of this most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization–and its proposed renewal under the Trump administration–threatens our very survival."
Space Jam [in the Snug]
HPJC Presents: Nefaerious [madame jazz special]
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22nd Annual African American Marketplace & S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase
I'm always excited when I get the chance to cover events celebrating the arts. In fact, when I got the call earlier last week to attend opening night of the 22nd Annual African American Film Marketplace I couldn't have been more stoked. As you may know, I'm a creative writer (Number of completed scripts: 75% of a feature and 25% of a short - but that's not the point), so you know I was anticipating rubbing elbows with a few black film pioneers.
Opening night, commonly referred to as the Black Academy Awards, was held at the Harmony Gold Theater on Sunset, and was dedicated to honor those who've paved the way for many black entertainers. The red carpet was lit with some of the brightest up and coming filmmakers in black Hollywood.
Floyd Marshall, a filmmaker from Philly, was excited to be in attendance. His project, entitled A Child of God, explores one of the many taboo topics in the black family. It’s a story about a young man who’s transitioning, and the obstacles he faces with acceptance in his community. Although his mother is supportive, his father’s acceptance doesn’t come as easy seeing as he runs one of the largest African American churches in their community.
Whoever said that black films aren’t diverse, lied. I had the chance to chat with a few other filmmakers on the carpet, and their stories were just as compelling as Marshall’s. Joy Parris’ film Sexless after 40, No. was also on the roster to show this past weekend and from the looking at the title, I’m sure it wasn’t one to be missed. Penda Diakite is a young filmmaker from Portland, by way of Mali, West Africa, showed two shorts in the festival – Words from a Silence and Diary of Reflection.
Hosted by William Allen Young (aka Frank Mitchell, bka Moesha's dad), the event kicked off with a beautiful performance by Korie Davis, an outstanding violinist from Antioch. Young presented the first award of the night, Community Service Award, to LaRita Shelby, a media professional with a heart of gold whose mission is of ensure that students have access to music and the arts. Jazzy Rita’s acceptance speech set the tone for the rest of the night: Inspirational, Celebratory and REAL.
The beautiful Vanessa Williams (Soulfood) presented the Lifetime Achievement awards to a few major entertainment pioneers: Ron Brewington, seasoned radio broadcaster; Billy Woodberry, independent filmmaker and educator; and the incomparable Julie Dash, filmmaker extraordinaire.
Thoroughly impressed with the night, I left feeling motivated to continue sharing the stories of our people. I wish the best to all of the filmmakers sharing their art, some for the first time.
Visit the BHERC’s website for more information on the annual festival and for a detailed schedule of the films showcased, here.
In I Am Current Events Tags BHERC, African American Film Festival, S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase, William Allen Young, Janet Dubois, Vanessa Williams, Julie Dash, Billy Woodberry, Ron Brewington, Korie Davis, Mother Love, Penda Diakite, Joy Parris, Floyd Marshall, Short films
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Antonio Preto Prize ceremony for “Young scholar” and "Personality" to be held on 19th July in Rome
On the 4th February a call-for-tender was published by the Agcom, the Italian Authority for Communications, related to the “Young scholar” category of the Antonio Preto Prize, jointly organized with the IIC Italy Chapter. Three young scholars, less than 33 years old, graduated in the disciplines of communication science, economics and law, will be awarded by a Jury composed by prominent personalities. Each of the three winners will receive a scholarship of €1,500 and an internship at the Agcom for six months. The Antonio Preto Prize include also a further category - "Personality" - devoted to two people, who have distinguished themselves for their contribution to the development of communications culture. The award ceremony of the Antonio Preto Prize winners in both categories will be held in Rome on the 19th July, hosted by Rai, the Italian public broadcaster. The event will benefit from the support of the main industry players and will see the participation of the European Commission, Italian Government, National Authorities representatives and international and national players in the area of media, telecommunications and the internet.
IIC Themes
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The King's Agent by Donna Russo Morin
Historical Fiction fantasy with the thrill of adventure!
Welcome to all the guests of the blog tour for The King's Agent!
Also visit History and Women
The tour scheduleTour schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011/11/donna-russo-morin-on-tour-for-kings.htmlhttp://hfvirtualbooktours.blogspot.com/2011/11/donna-russo-morin-on-tour-for-kings.html
Links for author Donna Russo Morin: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
An adventurous quest in Renaissance Italy with undercurrents of the supernatural, powers that could change the balance of supremacy throughout Europe.
To the casual observer, Battista della Paglia is an avid art collector, or perhaps a nimble thief. In reality, the cunning Italian is an agent for François, the King of France, for whom he procures the greatest masterpieces of the day by any means necessary. Embroiled in a power struggle with Charles V, the King of Spain, François resolves to rule Europe's burgeoning cultural world. When he sets his sights on a mysterious sculpture, Battista's search for the elusive objet d'art leads him to a captivating woman on a mission of her own. . .
Having spent her life under the controlling eye of her protector, the Marquess of Mantua, Aurelia longs for freedom. And she finds it in Battista. Together, they embark on a journey to find the clues that will lead him to the sculpture-- a venture so perilous it might have spilled from the pen of Dante himself. From the smoldering depths of Rome to a castle in the sky, the harrowing quest draws them inextricably together. But Aurelia guards a dark secret that could tear them apart--and change the course of history. . .
THE KING’S AGENT is based on the real life of Battista della Palla—a patriotic plunderer, a religious rogue—of the 16th century, a lifelong friend to the great Michelangelo. To some he is an avid art collector, or perhaps a nimble thief. In reality, the cunning Italian is an agent for François, the King of France, for whom he procures the greatest masterpieces of the day by any means necessary. When François sets his sights on a mysterious sculpture, Battista’s search for the elusive object leads him to a woman with a mission of her own.
As the cloistered ward of the Marquess of Mantua, the Lady Aurelia is a woman with a profound duty, and a longing for adventure. In search of the relic, Battista and Aurelia cross the breathtaking landscape of Renaissance Italy. Clues hide in great works of art—symbols that speak of other worldly forces—political forces collide, secret societies and enemies abound, and danger lurks in every challenge, those that mirror the passages of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
The King’s Agent by Donna Russo Morin is a fun historical fantasy adventure set in Renaissance Italy. At the heart of the story is Battista della Palla, a true historical figure, who is an art aficionado/procurer who is searching for a sculpture that will convince the King of France to lend his support to defend Florence. While committing an art theft, Lady Aurelia comes to his rescue and convinces him to take her with him in his adventures. As they work to unlock the mystery based upon Dante’s Divine Comedy, they trek perilously in dark corridors beneath dark castles, muddle through labyrinths, find openings to secret doors, and discover mysterious clues that lead to dark secrets.
Michelangelo is a minor character and his relationship with Aurelia is quite endearing as the story unfolds. The pages of this novel are filled with brilliant descriptions and dazzling details, typical of Donna Russo Morin’s style. This novel is a remarkably intricate and captivating romance sprinkled with intrigue, adventure, gothic style labyrinths, history, art, mystery, and much more. Rich and complex, there is something here for every reader. As inspiration for this work, the author reveals her passion for the video game Zelda, which helped her build a strong foundation with her this sons as they were growing up. I also enjoyed following Dante's Inferno as the mystery of the story was revealed.
This was a novel to savour and enjoy the richness that leaps off every page as you read it. Highly recommended.
Donna Russo Morin was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1958. Her writing endeavors began at age six and covered such timely topics as The Pink Pussy Cat for President and The Numbers 2 and 4 are in Love.
Traveling through adolescence on the wings of the ‘60s gave Donna a lot of grist for her writing mill. Feminism, civil rights, the Vietnam War were all a disturbing yet highly motivating muse. Donna found her voice in fiction and with the appearance of a new horror writer on the book scene, a little known author named Stephen King, she turned her pen to the gruesome and the grotesque.
After graduating from the University of Rhode Island, Donna worked in marketing and advertising for large corporations and small non-profit arts organizations. When she had her children, she knew with a certainty that she needed to show them, by example, that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible.
In addition to writing and teaching writing, Donna has worked as a model and actor since the age of seventeen, when she did her first television commercial for Sears. Since then she has appeared in more than thirty television spots and print ads, everything from changing the oil in her car (that was acting) to modeling fur coats. She also appeared in three episodes of Showtime’s THE BROTHERHOOD, as well as in Martin Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED.
Donna lives peacefully, close to the beautiful shoreline of Rhode Island that she loves so much, with her two sons, Devon and Dylan, her greatest works in progress.
Labels: 16th Century, Historical Fantasy, Italy
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Image: CHL Images
Burlington Ontario
4th round (95th overall), 2012
2010-11: Josh Anderson played in five games with the Burlington Cougars in the Ontario Junior Hockey League – spending the bulk of the season with the Burlington Eagles Midget AAA team. In five games with the Cougars, including one playoff game, he had 2 assists.
2011-12: Anderson was signed as a free agent by the OHL’s London Knights. In his first season he skated in 64 games and scored 12 goals with 10 assists and was plus-17 with 34 penalty minutes. The Knights finished with the OHL’s best record in the regular season and reached the playoff finals. In the first 16 playoff games Anderson scored 2 goals with 3 assists and was plus-3with 4 penalty minutes. Anderson was among the 105 players invited to the NHL Combine prior to the 2012 NHL Draft and was ranked 57th amongst North American Skaters in Central Scouting’s final rankings (up from 161st at mid-season).
2012-13: One of three players to skate in all 68 regular season games for the London Knights in his second OHL season, Anderson scored 23 goals with 26 assists and was +10 with 77 penalty minutes. London had the league’s best record and reached the Memorial Cup after winning the playoff title. Anderson had 1 goal with 2 assists and was minus-1 with 23 penalty minutes in 19 playoff games. In five games at the Memorial Cup he had 1 assist and was minus-2 with 2 penalty minutes.
2013-14: Anderson was an assistant captain for the London Knights in his third OHL season and played for the Canada U20 team in the 2014 World Juniors. He scored 27 goals with 24 assists and was +31 with 81 penalty minutes in 59 regular season games for the Knights — with 11 of his 27 goals scored on the power play. London, the Memorial Cup hosts, finished third in the Midwest Division before falling to eventual OHL champion Guelph in a second-round playoff series. Anderson scored 5 goals with 4 assists and was minus-1 with 14 penalty minutes in nine OHL playoff games. He scored 1 goal in three Memorial Cup games; finishing minus-2 with 6 penalty minutes. Anderson signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets in November 2013.
2014-15: Anderson made his NHL debut as a 20-year-old in a January 16th game against the Rangers — skating in six games with Columbus before being returned to the AHL’s Springfield Falcons. He had 1 assist and was -1 with 2 penalty minutes, averaging 13:27 minutes of ice time during his stint with the Blue Jackets. Anderson scored 7 goals with 10 assists and was +1 with 76 penalty minutes in 52 regular season games for Springfield. The Falcons missed the AHL playoffs, finishing third in the Northeast Division and one point behind Portland for the final playoff berth.
2015-16: Anderson received a mid-season call-up by Columbus — appearing in 10 games with the Blue Jackets — and played for the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters in his second pro season. Anderson scored 1 goal with 2 assists and was -1 with 2 penalty minutes, averaging 10:36 minutes of ice time with Columbus. After missing time with an eye injury to start the season, Anderson was among the Monsters’ team leaders in penalty minutes and provided supplementary scoring.
Anderson has so far shown the drive and determination to turn himself into an NHL-caliber player. Anderson has the size to eventually become a power forward at the NHL level, but he isn't simply a big body as there is also some skill in his game to go along with his solid frame. Anderson isn't afraid to go into the corners to battle for the puck and has the size to often win those battles. He also has bloodlines on his side as he is related to Frank and Peter Mahovlich, two NHL stars from the 60's and 70's.
Anderson was assigned to new Columbus AHL affiliate Lake Erie to start the 2015-16 season — spending time with the Blue Jackets in mid-season. Anderson played with toughness while providing some secondary scoring for the Monsters and that is expected to be his role at the NHL level.
2011 NHL Draft: Columbus Blue Jackets find relative success with every selection
by Chris Roberts
Photo: The Columbus Blue Jackets found tremendous success with their first selection, 37th overall, in the 2011 draft, taking eventual 30-goal scorer Boone Jenner (courtesy Philippe Bouchard/Icon Sportswire).
After missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season and looking to turn the corner as a franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets made the biggest splash at the 2011 NHL Draft, acquiring Jeff Carter from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Jakub Voracek, the eighth overall pick in 2007, and the team’s first and third round selections in 2011. Read more»
Columbus Blue Jackets prospect awards dominated by the young pros
Photo: The Lake Erie Monsters have been dominant to start the Calder Cup playoffs, bolstered by Blue Jackets prospects like Oliver Bjorkstrand (courtesy of Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)
Despite a horrendous start to the 2015-16 campaign that the team simply couldn’t recover from, a number of young players received quality playing time with the Blue Jackets this season and get to continue their seasons now. It might be hard to hear for a fanbase that was expecting playoffs this season, but a bright future in Cleveland means good things for the Columbus Blue Jackets. A deep playoff run builds crucial experience for young players and instills winning habits. But beyond the pro level, the organization has had impressive prospect performances at both the junior and amateur level, as well as overseas.
AHL Western Conference Notebook, April, 2016: Western, Midwest series include notable prospect performers
by Sean Shapiro
Photo: Lake Erie Monsters goaltender and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Joonas Korpisalo was a top performer for the Monsters in their opening round sweep of the Rockford IceHogs in the 2016 AHL playoffs (courtesy of Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)
Four teams remain in the AHL Western Conference playoff race that kicks off Thursday in California and in Cleveland.
The two matchups feature teams that met several times in the 2015-16 season, so both series could potentially go the full seven games. Read more»
Columbus Blue Jackets boast abundant pool of prospects
Photo: Zach Werenski finished with 36 points in 36 games for the University of Michigan. (Courtesy of Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
The Columbus Blue Jackets may have had a disappointing 2015-16 campaign, but there is plenty of organizational depth in the system in terms of prospects. It’s not as though the team is due for another few years of rebuilding either. General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen is committed to building a winner and he showed that last summer by trading for budding star Brandon Saad. Read more»
Columbus Blue Jackets rookies get into lineup during disappointing season
Photo: William Karlsson has graduated from Hockey’s Future prospect status after completing his first full season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. (Courtesy of Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire)
What was supposed to be a promising, playoff-bound season for the Columbus Blue Jackets turned into a disappointing, tumultuous year. Once pegged as the franchise’s star center, Ryan Johansen was dealt to the Nashville Predators in a swap for Seth Jones and the team exercised a goaltending carousel of Sergei Bobrovsky, Curtis McElhinney and rookie Joonas Korpisalo. Oh, and Todd Richards was fired in the first month of the season and his replacement was the much-maligned John Tortorella. Read more»
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Ashley Graham to host American Beauty Star
Ashley Graham is making the move into television presenting after being tapped to host make-up artist talent show American Beauty Star.
The catwalk queen has previously made appearances on TV shows such as Celebrity Undercover Boss as well as acting as a judge on America’s Next Top Model.
However, this will be Ashley’s first leading gig when the talent-driven reality show returns for its second series, and in an interview with WWD, she exclaimed she “jumped” at the chance to be a part of it.
“TV is definitely a career goal,” the 30-year-old continued. “Growing up, I didn’t see a lot of women my size when I watched my favourite shows and it’s so important that we change that for the next generation and really show them our diverse world.”
Contestants go head-to-head in challenges involving hair and wardrobe styling as well as make-up, while cosmetics guru Sir John, who is currently busy touring with Beyonce, will return to the programme as their mentor. Ashley will also serve as an executive producer in addition to Victoria’s Secret Angel, and season one host, Adriana Lima.
“I only take on projects I feel passionate about and for American Beauty Star, I wanted to be as involved as possible,” the plus-sized model explained, adding that her successful fashion career means she understands the value of make-up artists more than most.
“Having worked in the fashion industry for a while, I know the importance of the people behind the scenes like hairstylists and make-up artists. They are true artists responsible for creating iconic looks and moments, and they play a big role in bringing art to life.”
#ashley-graham
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Andrew S. Michalko
Host of Eclectic Audiophile
Thursday 12-1am
1:00 pm -
8:00 am -
On Generation whY
How the Market has Quantified our Worth
by Andrew Tint
Join host, Andrew Tint as he highlights the issues facing Generation Y.
This week 'Generation whY' will start with a serious discussion with Sarah Kendzior about the devaluing of millennials, and her recent article "Surviving the post-employment economy". After that Matt Segal stops by to discuss the outcome of FEC vs Mccutcheon.
Sarah Kendzior is a writer best known for her critical takes on the “prestige economy” and for her work on authoritarian states in Central Asia. As an op-ed columnist for Al Jazeera English, Ms. Kendzior writes about exploitation, particularly in higher education, and the diminishing opportunities of America’s youth. She also cover internet privacy, political repression, and how the media shape public perception.
Ms. Kendzior April 2013 article “The wrong kind of Caucasian” is the most popular AJE op-ed of all time. Since October 2013, she’s been a monthly columnist for the Vitae section of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Ms. Kendzior has also written for Foreign Policy, Slate, Registan.net, Medium, POLITICO, Radio Free Europe, Opinio Juris, Alternet, Ethnography Matters,The Atlantic, and La Stampa. In August 2013, Foreign Policy named her one of “the 100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events”. In October 2013, St. Louis Magazine profiled her as one of 15 inspirational people under 35 in St. Louis.
OURTIME.org co-founder Matt Segal will return to discuss the voter fraud and voter suppression. Find out more about their efforts here.
As president and co-founder of OurTime.org, Matthew leads campaigns to expand job opportunities, voting rights, and civic education among his generation while devising strategic partnerships with media brands to enhance the voice of his peers. Matthew is also a regular TV commentator, contributing most frequently to MSNBC, and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, and the CBS Evening News among several other cable and broadcast news programs.
Andrew Tint's blog
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Review: Bingley Music Live @ Myrtle Park, Bingley, August 30 to September 1
It was one of the last festivals of the summer, and Bingley Music Live didn’t disappoint.
The opening night performance by the Neville Staple Band got everyone in the festival with some classic tracks by the Specials including Gangsters, A Message to You Rudy, and a dub-tinged rendition of Ghost Town.
Friday headliners The Human League have a formidable back catalogue. Like being in the ring with Floyd Mayweather, the hits came thick and fast. Their set was a lot of fun, and the performance of their single Don’t You Want Me saw virtually every member of the audience singing the chorus at the top of their lungs – it was certainly one of the highlights of the festival.
Saturday was a somewhat sombre affair. Lovable Rogues played early afternoon, and were anything but lovable or roguish. After finding fame on one of those tedious talent shows they have nowadays, Lovable Rogues charmed a small crowd of teenage girls with laddish lyrics and the type of twee ukulele playing that you’ll find on your average insurance commercial. It was horrible, but the kids seemed to lap it up.
Former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson played a passionate set which was initially hampered by sound problems. Earlier this year, Johnson announced that he was dying of terminal cancer – Bingley Music Live was his last scheduled show. It was humbling to see a man so aware of his mortality just going out there and doing what he loves. By the closing notes of his encore performance of Bye Bye Johnny, there were very few dry eyes in the front rows.
Saturday headliners Primal Scream put on a lacklustre performance. A decade or so ago, the band had a reputation for their stunning live performances. But with their Bingley performance, it was difficult not to feel short-changed. Although their set was biased towards some of the tracks from their classic album Screamadelica, many of the songs felt tired and dreary, with much of the instrumentation coming from a backing track.
The Wonder Stuff provided a perfect Sunday afternoon treat. Again, there were a few sound problems early on, but frontman Miles Hunt was clearly at ease and the band seemed to have a lot of fun. It was clear from the quality of songs like Caught in My Shadow, Circle Square and Size of a Cow, that The Wonder Stuff should have been higher up on the bill.
Festival closers Chic featuring Nile Rodgers put on a truly excellent performance. Rodgers has written or produced countless classic records including David Bowie’s Let’s Dance and Madonna’s Like a Virgin, which fit perfectly into the set. Like The Human League, the hits came thick and fast, but it was the disco classics by Chic such as Le Freak and Good Times that really got the crowd moving. It was an honour to be dancing only metres away from one of the greatest musical minds of the last 40 years and was the perfect close to a very good weekend.
This article was originally published by Yorkshire Evening Post on September 3, 2013.
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Iraqi Sister who fled Islamic State is denied entry to Britain for the second time
A report in the Catholic Herald tells of how a Dominican Sister, Ban Madleen, has been trying to visit her sister who is sick in the UK. Ban Madleen was forced to flee Islamic State in 2014 and has been denied entry to Britain for a second time.
Sister Ban Madleen previously applied for a UK visa to visit her sick sister but was refused permission in March. A second application for a month-long trip to see her sister and sister’s family was denied earlier this month.
A letter from the UK Visas and Immigration division of the Home Office said she had not satisfied immigration rules – in essence, not proving she had sufficient funds and that she was genuinely seeking to visit her family rather than trying to make Britain her main home. (It cited immigration rules V4.2 and V4.3.)
Fr Benedict Kiely, founder of Nasarean.org, wrote on Twitter: “The UK has, for the second time, denied a visa to my friend, Iraqi nun Sister Ban Madleen – driven out of her convent by ISIS but unacceptable for a month’s visit to the UK. What is wrong with Britain?”
Sister Ban, whose Dominican convent in the Christian town of Qaraqosh on the Nineveh plain was occupied by ISIS for two years, settled in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, where she set up pre-school centres.
In December 2016 three archbishops from Iraq and Syria were refused entry into Britain despite being invited by the country’s Syriac Orthodox Church for the consecration of the UK’s first Syriac Orthodox Cathedral, attended by Prince Charles.
According to Fr Kiely, another Iraqi Dominican nun with a PhD in biblical theology from Oxford has similarly been refused a UK visa twice.
Last year the Institute of St Anselm, a Catholic institute training priests and nuns in Margate, Kent, said it had been forced to close because of problems with visa applications for foreign students. See this story here http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/06/21/iraqi-sister-who-fled-islamic-state-is-denied-entry-to-britain-for-the-second-time/
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Story Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - © Noela Cowell 2019
It’s been some time since I wrote a blog. In fact, it’s been three years. A lot has happened for me during the three years and I just want to share with you what I have been doing. I have moved house twice. Yes, I am still living a fluid lifestyle, allowing the wind to blow me around like a dandelion flower seed.
I moved to the gorgeous country town of Maleny, where I worked for an accountant, and wrote and learned to paint on the weekends. Unfortunately, I felt extremely isolated in that environment. I missed the city buzz. A lot of people can’t believe I left the country to return to the city. Everyone has their special place.
I came to Brisbane, right in the middle of the city. Immediately, I felt as if I had come home. I worked for an accountant again for a year and then realised I needed to get back to my writing. Since writing Kate’s choice I felt as though I was blocked creatively. I have been called to write, that’s a no-brainer, but doors opened for my technical skills, helping other writers revise and edit their writing for ebooks. So I started my coaching and editing business to dovetail with writing fiction.
This decision has unblocked the creative juices and I am again back to writing. These two years have involved a lot of soul searching and digging deep to find the person I am. There were times when I was lost, alone and confused. Why was I in this position? I was undergoing transformation and I didn’t know it. All I knew was that I was lost, and unsure of where to turn to next. I have come through the fire and have renewed enthusiasm and commitment for my future writing life.
So what’s next? I am settled, for the moment, here in the heart of Brisbane, until the wind picks up and wants to take me elsewhere. This stability for the moment means I am writing the sequel to African Hearts and I am loving it. This is Justin and Kizza’s story. They are off to university to study medicine so they can return to Gumboli and help Kam in the hospital. Living in Australia in Gold Coast in Aunt Gina’s apartment is not easy for them. They are tempted by the fun and easy lifestyle of the Gold Coast. Will they be able to handle the temptations put before them and the influences of the young people who have grown up in Australia? For those of you who have read African Hearts, you will be aware Justin and Kizza are orphans. Each of them struggle with their identity. Justin more than Kizza.
Our identity is important to us. Identity assures us of our existence, who our parents and grandparents are and where we got our hair colour, eye colour and body shape, what diseases run in our genes and the different parts of our character can be traced back to our forefathers. Identity is important to all of us.
Identity for Justin is important because his father was Marco, Gina’s brother who was of Italian descent. Marco married Ella who was German, so Justin’s identity is mixed up with Italian, German and Australian cultures. it’s no surprise Justin is confused about his heritage.
Identity for Kizza is different. She was born in Uganda of indigenous parents, so naturally her skin is dark. She was raised by elders of the village, Moses and Lulu, but who is Kizza really? What’s her identity? Who were her parents? Where did they live? Who were her grandparents? Kizza doesn’t know. She was raised in the culture of her parents, but still she has no identity as to who her parents were.
I’d like to refer to the movie, Lion, about the Indian boy who got separated from his brother and got on a train in the hope he would find his way home. Saroo was his name. This little boy, having grown up in a poor area of India had survival skills. He was lucky, he found his way to an orphanage and from there he was adopted by a couple in Melbourne where he lived with a loving family until adulthood. But Saroo knew he had another life, and he hungered to know where he came from. He spent twenty-five years searching, first for his mother. By searching in his free time with the help of Google maps he was able to finally reconnect with his mother. To date he is still searching for his father. Saroo is tenacious, he will find his father, I hope sooner rather than later.
Justin and Kizza’s parents are dead. How will they find out the important information about their genetic make up? The African Hearts sequel is about the search for identity. Are you comfortable with your identity, or are you searching for answers? Have you completed your search to find who you are? Did finding the answers help you to understand yourself? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a message.
Tagged: African Hearts, Orphan, india, Saroo, Google maps, identity, Germany, Moses, Melbourne, Melbourne Australia, Brisbane, Maleny, Gold Coast, forefathers, coaching, editing, Kizza, Justin
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MOSES BOTAREL (called also Moses Bonyak Botarel of Cisneros):
By: Joseph Jacobs, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach
Spanish scholar; lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was a pupil of Jacob Sefardi (the Spaniard), who instructed him in the Cabala. He studied also medicine and philosophy; the latter he regarded as a divine science which teaches the same doctrines as the Cabala, using a different language and different terms to designate the same objects. He extols Aristotle as a sage, applying to him the Talmudic sentence, "A wise man is better than a prophet"; and he censures his contemporaries for keeping aloof from the divine teachings of philosophy. Yet despite his reverence for this science, which he pretended to have mastered, Moses Botarel was in many respects a man of very limited intellect. He believed in the efficacy of amulets and cameos, and declared that he was able to combine the names of God for magical purposes, so that he was generally considered a sorcerer. He asserted that by means of fasting, ablution, and invocation of the names of God and of the angels prophetic dreams could be induced. He also believed, or endeavored to make others believe, that the prophet Elijah had appeared to him and appointed him as Messiah. In this rôle he addressed a circular letter to all the rabbis, asserting that he was able to solve all perplexities, and asking them to send all doubtful questions to him. In this letter (printed by Dukes in "Orient, Lit." 1850, p. 825) Botarel refers to himself as a well-known and prominent rabbi, a saint, and the most pious of the pious. Many persons believed in his miracles, including the philosopher Ḥasdai Crescas.
Botarel was one of those who attended the disputation at Tortosa (1413-14), and he is said to have written a polemic against Geronimo de Santa Fé. In 1409, at the request of the Christian scholar Maestro Juan, Botarel composed a commentary on the "Sefer Yeẓirah." In the preface he excuses himself for having revealed the divine mysteries of this work to Maestro Juan by quoting the saying of the sages that a non-Jew who studies the Torah is equal to a high priest. In his commentary he quotes earlier cabalistic works, including some ascribed to the old authorities, such as the amora R. Ashi. It is interesting to note that he does not quote the Zohar. Botarel's commentary on the "Sefer Yeẓirah" was printed at Mantua in 1562, with the text and with other commentaries; it was republished at Zolkiev, 1745; Grodno, 1806; and Wilna, 1820.
This Moses Botarel must not be confounded with Moses b. Leon Botarel, who lived at Constantinople in the sixteenth century and wrote the "'En Mishpaṭ," containing predictions and being a free paraphrase of a Latin work of Michael Nostradamus.
Jellinek, Biographische Skizzen, in Orient, Lit. 1846, pp. 187-189;
N. Brüll, in Ha-Maggid, 1878, pp. 198-199;
Grätz, Gesch. viii. 98;
idem, in Monatsschrift, 1879, pp. 78-83;
Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, pp. 110, 128;
idem, Cat. Bodl. cols. 1780-1783.
J. J. Z. L.
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A team of seasoned executives and longtime collaborators contribute to Jigsaw’s body of work and are integral to the company’s success. Below is a short list of current staff and key collaborators.
Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Production
Richard Perello oversees the production for all of the company’s film and television projects and the company’s finance and business operations. He has been serving as an executive in the entertainment industry and has been producing studio and independent feature films and projects for network television for over 25 years (including Warner Bros, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, HBO, Showtime, CNN, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, AMC, A&E, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, NBC Television, MTV, Bravo, Saturday Night Live and the Coca Cola Company). His financial industry experience as an investment banker includes working with the New York firms Kidder, Peabody & Co and Benedetto, Gartland & Company in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Mr. Perello is an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University.
Senior Vice President of Development & Production
Stacey Offman joined Jigsaw in 2012 as the executive in charge of production, and development and works alongside Jigsaw founder, Alex Gibney. As Senior Vice-President, Offman oversees and develops the company’s dynamic slate of documentaries including the critically acclaimed HBO film Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind,the insightful biopic of the actor’s life directed by Marina Zenovich, which premiered at Sundance; China Hustle, directed by Jed Rothstein, which unearthed a multi-billion dollar financial fraud; Emmy Nominated City of Ghosts, directed by Matthew Heineman; Zero Days, a Peabody-Award winning Alex Gibney film investigating the story of the classified Stuxnet attack on Iran; Emmy Nominated Elián, co-directed by Tim Golden and Ross McDonnell; and the documentary Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes directed by Alexis Bloom.
Offman also oversaw the launch of the company’s television branch, and the creation of a robust vertical of non-fiction episodic series, notably Dirty Money, an explosive series on Netflix, which unveils corruption and financial malfeasance in some of the most influential companies and industries; The New Yorker Presents for Amazon Studios produced in collaboration with Conde Nast Entertainment, COOKED, a Netflix series based on the Michael Pollan bestseller book; provocative short doc series The 4%:Film’s Gender Problem for Epix highlights absence of female directors in Hollywood, Enhanced for ESPN which looks inside the secret world of modern sports training, technology and recovery, Rolling Stone, an anniversary event mini-series for HBO directed by Alex Gibney and Blair Foster on the iconic magazine; Death Row Stories, a popular CNN true-crime series produced by Alex Gibney and Robert Redford; and Emmy nominated Parched for National Geographic, which zeroes into the world’s most vulnerable hot spots for water-related conflict. Recent projects include: Salt, Fat, Acid Heat, a four-part culinary travel series based on Samin Nosrat’s James Beard Award winning and New York Times Bestselling book, which premiered on Netflix on Oct. 19; The Clinton Affair which premiered on A&E November 18; Enemies: The President, Justice and the FBI, an in-depth look into the long history of conflict between American presidents and the FBI, which premiered in November 2018; and upcoming project Why We Hate, an investigation of the human capacity and science behind hate, set to debut in 2019 on Discovery.
For these productions, Offman collaborates with a diverse array of filmmakers, interweaving their talent with Jigsaw’s extensive body of work. With each new documentary, Offman cultivates those relationships, putting together the teams that create award-winning films.
With over twenty years in the business, Offman has worked across both film and TV producing numerous high-profile documentaries and non-fiction series across major networks. Prior to joining Jigsaw, Offman was Morgan Spurlock’s producing partner (Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, What Would Jesus Buy? and 30 Days for F/X). Previously, she served as supervising producer for Emmy-nominated Borderline TV and Head of Production & Development at Academy Award® nominated Paperny Entertainment.
Joey Marra
Vice President of Development
Joey joined Jigsaw’s development team in 2015. As Vice President, Joey manages the company’s non-scripted television series development arm, creating and developing a diverse slate of premium documentary series and films. Joey is also helping launch the Jigsaw’s audio storytelling unit. Joey has played an integral role in the development of a wide range of projects at Jigsaw, including the acclaimed docuseries Dirty Money on Netflix, the Emmy- nominated miniseries Parched for National Geographic, Enhanced for ESPN Films, Hip-Hop: Songs that Shook America with Questlove and Black Thought of The Roots for AMC, the feature documentary City of Ghosts directed by Matthew Heineman, as well as forthcoming projects set to premiere on Showtime and Facebook. He is also an active producer on select Jigsaw projects currently in production for HBO and Netflix.
Prior to Jigsaw, Joey was a freelance writer and producer on documentary series including National Geographic’s Emmy-nominated Brain Games and AMC’s Making of the Mob. As a development executive at National Geographic Channel, he contributed to a wide range of docuseries and blue-chip science specials, including COSMOS, Wicked Tuna, The ‘80s: The Decade the Made Us, and James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth. His film assignments have taken him across the United States, South America, and Southeast Asia.
Blair Foster
Producer and Director
Blair Foster is a filmmaker who won two Emmys for her work on the Academy Award winning film, Taxi to the Dark Side as well as an Emmy for Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison: Living in the Material World. In 2017 she directed and produced, along with Alex Gibney, Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge for HBO. She also produced the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Foster produced the Emmy nominated Sinatra: All or Nothing at All and the Peabody Award winning Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown both directed by Alex Gibney.She is the Executive Producer of The History of the Eagles as well as We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks. In 2012 Foster produced Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, part of the Peabody Award winning International Why Poverty series. She is the co-creator and director of The Conversation, seven short films about race published by the New York Times Op-Doc series. Blair attended graduate school for history and has a Master’s degree in documentary film from Stanford University.
Maryse Alberti
Maryse Alberti is an award-winning cinematographer, with over twenty years of experience in both fiction and documentary filmmaking. Her work with Jigsaw includes Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, My Trip to Al-Qaeda and, most recently, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Outside of Jigsaw, Alberti’s credits include films such as When We Were Kings, Todd Solondz’s Happiness, Richard Linklater’s Tape and Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. In 1995, she won the Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her work on Terry Zwigoff’s documentary Crumb. She has also been honored with two Independent Spirit Awards—in 1999, for Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine, and in 2008, for Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler.
Alison Ellwood
Editor, Producer, Director
Alison Ellwood’s feature film directing credits include American Jihad, History of the Eagles Parts 1 & 2, Spring Broke and Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place. Her television directing credits include “The Osbournes: The Price of Reality” for the A&E series Culture Shock, Locked In: The Victoria Arlen Story for ESPN’s 30 for 30 Shorts, CNN’s Death Row Stories, “No Limits” for ESPN’s Nine for IX series, The Human Behavior Experiments, the Emmy Award-winning series American High, The Travelers, and Sixteen. She has produced and edited several feature documentary films including Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Catching Hell, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, My Trip to Al Qaeda, and Casino Jack and the United States of Money. She was co-producer for the feature documentary Finding Fela and for HBO’s Brett Killed Mom: A Sister’s Diary. She was consulting producer for the Sundance series Brick City and two feature documentaries The September Issue and Food Chains. She was supervising producer for The Residents and 30 Days. She has edited for Bill Moyers Specials, the Discovery Channel, Sundance Channel, Showtime, and HBO’s America Undercover series. Ellwood is set to direct Laurel Canyon, a documentary feature produced by Jigsaw and Kennedy/Marshall Company.
Sloane Klevin
Editor, Partner at Union Editorial
Sloane Klevin, ACE has been an editor of films, television, commercials, music videos, and trailers for nearly 30 years. Her work with Jigsaw includes The Blues, Freakonomics, Taxi to the Dark Side, and Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, for which she won the Emmy for best editing of a nonfiction program. Her other longform credits include the 2002 Sundance Audience Award winner Real Women Have Curves, Merchant Ivory’s Heights, Pumpkin, starring Christina Ricci, and Paramount’s Harriet the Spy. Sloane is an editor and partner at Union Editorial, a commercial post-production company with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Austin, and she produces films through Union Entertainment Group. She was an Adjunct Professor of Film Editing at Columbia University for ten years, and she is active on the advisory board of the Educational Video Center, which teaches inner-city youth the art and craft of documentary filmmaking. She’s served on the documentary juries of the Woodstock, Ashland and Sundance Film Festivals, and the Cinema Eye Awards. She has also edited at the Sundance Narrative Filmmaker’s Lab and was a 2015 mentor in the TFI/A&E Indiefilms StoryLab.
Andy Grieve, ACE
Editor and Director
Andy Grieve is an accomplished editor and director. His ongoing collaboration with Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney has spanned almost a decade, and includes Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, The Armstrong Lie, We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Zero Days, and most recently Gibney’s upcoming film The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, following the rise and fall of Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes which will have it’s world premiere at Sundance 2019. Andy’s other credits include a short film for the Stand Up To Cancer prime time special, winner of the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Picture Editing; The Carter, a feature documentary about rap-sensation Lil’ Wayne that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival; Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), winner of the 2007 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary and the 2008 Cinema Eye award for Best Editing; Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure, winner of the 2008 Berlin Film Festival Grand Jury Prize; and director and editor of the 2012 feature documentary, Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police.
Antonio (Tony) Rossi
Antonio Rossi was born in a small mountain village in southern Italy and was raised in South Philadelphia. He began his career as a still photographer. After graduate study in anthropology and ethnographic film, and training in narrative film and television, he has focused on documentary. Tony has been thrilled to work with Alex Gibney and other members of the Jigsaw team on a great number of projects over the last decade, including Mr. Dynamite, Zero Days, Death Row Stories, and the upcoming Divide and Conquer, The Impeachment of Bill Clinton, and Theranos. In addition to his work at Jigsaw, Tony has served as Director of Photography on dozens of projects, including Charles Ferguson’s No End in Sight, Fisher Stevens’ “Before the Flood,” and “The Black Panthers” and “Freedom Summer” by Stanley Nelson.
Tony is endlessly amazed by the variety and complexity of human stories. He seeks out projects that embrace complexity, nuance and subtlety. Tony is inspired by the powerful history of image making, from the frescoes at Pompeii to Rembrandt to the masters of 20th century street photography. He remains cautiously optimistic that the forces of freedom, justice and equality will triumph over divisiveness and oppression, though he admits we all have a lot of hard work ahead of us.
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The Western Psyche on Resistance: An Analysis of the Egyptian Human Rights Movement — Shaimaa Abdelkarim (Leicester)
Melbourne Law School, Room 920 185 Pelham Street Carlton, VIC 3053 Australia (map)
Ania Szremski, I’d prefer not to. Townhouse: Ugly Feelings Exhibition
In the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian uprisings, the Egyptian Human Rights movement was struck by an ambivalence that took over the spirits of the uprisings. This ambivalence manifested itself through the loss of the movement’s capacity to function.
This seminar traces this loss through analysing the western psyche on resistance that reduces the 2011 Egyptian uprisings to an instantiated act that seeks more human rights. The western psyche, on one level, necessitates a form of recovery from the uprisings; and on another, affirms that the excess desires, which arise from the possibilities that come with the uprisings, are unattainable, lamenting: the streets had to be dispersed into normalcy. The seminar looks at the stakes of theorising the human rights subject as a resisting subject, firstly through uncovering the limits of a right to resistance; and secondly by offering an analysis of the Egyptian Human Rights movement and its space of operations after the uprisings.
The presenter will disrupt the linearity of the seminar through their own experience of Tahrir Square juxtaposed with other experiences during the uprisings. This disruption aims to signpost the sonorous desires that the presenter attempts to bring to presence beyond the legitimised desires within the human rights discourse.
Shaimaa Abdelkarim is a PhD student and tutor at the School of Law, University of Leicester. Her research explores the stakes of theorising the human rights subject as a resisting subject through an intersection between critical legal studies and psychoanalysis. She was as a Visiting Researcher at Warwick Law School. She is currently a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellow at the Laureate Program in International Law, Melbourne Law School. She holds an LLM from the American University in Cairo and an LLB from Cairo University. Beyond institutions, she sometimes dabbles with poetry in Burning House Press.
The Crisis of Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Increasing Use of Human Enhancement Technologies in Conflict: A Critical Feminist Analysis — Emily Jones (Essex)
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Bahraini regime officials have handed down death sentences to three Shia clergymen and condemned eight others to life imprisonment as the ruling Al Khalifah regime continues with its repressive measures and heavy-handed crackdown on members of the religious community.
Bahrain’s dissolved main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, announced in a statement that Shia religious figures are being systematically subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, trials, revocation of citizenship as well as forced deportation.
The statement added that al-Wefaq has recorded more than 347 cases of arrests, summons and various security prosecutions of Shia clerics in Bahrain.
It added that Bahraini security authorities have summoned more than 156 Shia clergymen over their speeches, ideological tendencies or political views. They have also arrested 99 religious scholars arbitrarily.
Al-Wefaq further noted that “harsh and unfair verdicts” have targeted more than 50 clerics, ranging from hefty fines and abolition nationality to life imprisonment and death penalty.
The statement went on to say that three Shia scholars have been sentenced to death, eight to life imprisonment and a number of others been stripped of their citizenship. Among those whose nationality has been revoked are prominent Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim and Sheikh Hussein Najati.
Al-Wefaq then dismissed the Al Khalifah regime’s policy of persecution and discrimination, stressing that authorities have no meaningful reform initiatives at the level of human rights, especially concerning freedom of religion and belief.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.
On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.
Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year
- (PressTV)
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Album Reviews : Monuments – Phronesis
By Rod Whitfield on September 12, 2018
It may be hard to believe, but this band is well over a decade into their career, although this is only their third album. They are a band that emphasises quality over quantity, and this record is no exception.
Phronesis finds them in a ‘we’re plenty pissed off, let’s destroy all in our path’ type of mood. No, age has not blunted this band’s sharpness and sting whatsoever, all ten tracks on this record smash you hard right between the eyes. The djenty, proggy and grandiose guitars pump, grind and bark, the drums pound like thunder (especially on Vanta) and frontman, the great Chris Baretto, howls like his very life depends upon it, sings like an angel and generally puts in one of the best-recorded performances of his distinguished career.
At the same time, the songs soar to the very heavens. Yes, this band has that uncanny knack of rocking harder than a ten-ton slab of granite but writing tunes that are anthemic and catchy as all hell at the same time. Check out the enormous choruses on Mirror Image and Jukai for proof. It’s always a winning combination.
Elsewhere, the album sure does have a serious set of bookends, A.W.O.L. is a melodic brute of an opener and signals the band’s intentions in no uncertain terms from the get-go, while The Watch is one of the strongest, most fist-pumping album closers of recent times. There’s virtually no filler in between however, it’s all killer.
Call it djent, dump whatever label on it that you must, to me it just sounds like powerhouse progressive metal with strong melodic inclinations, excellent, catchy songs and illustrious level musicianship. What more could you want?
Band: Monuments
Album: Phronesis
Label: Century Media
Origin: United Kingdom
About Rod Whitfield
Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.
Hymns To The Dead (Dark Mofo) @ Odeon Theatre, Hobart 19/06/2019
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Psychostick - "IV: Revenge of The Vengeance" (CD)
"IV: Revenge of The Vengeance" track listing:
1. Revenge of The Vengeance (0:42)
2. Obey the Beard (3:53)
3. President Rhino (2:12)
4. H-Flat (0:20)
5. So. Heavy. (4:48)
6. Dogs Like Socks (1:09)
7. Super Legit OFFICIAL Teaser #2 Explode (0:31)
8. Quack Kills (3:29)
9. Blue Screen (4:37)
10. NSFW (3:13)
11. Danger Zone (3:50)
12. New To The Neighborhood (0:53)
13. Loathe Thy Neighbor (4:57)
14. AWESOME! (3:32)
15. Choking Hazard (3:14)
16. Fight to the Death (3:18)
17. Bruce Campbell (2:40)
18. Trick or Treat (0:40)
19. Dimensional Time Portal (3:21)
20. The Power of Metal Compels You (2:04)
21. Outtakes IV: The Outtakening (3:47)
Reviewed by xFiruath on December 3, 2014
"If you love beards – and you DO love beards – or have ever wanted to dangerously stalk Bruce Campbell, “IV: Revenge Of The Vengeance” is the album for you."
It's time to find your sense of humor, metal heads (you probably left it in that Deathspell Omega CD case or dropped it in the bathroom at a Cannibal Corpse show), because Psychostick is back to get revenge for some stolen vengeance (and elect a Rhino to the white house). If you love beards – and you DO love beards – or have ever wanted to dangerously stalk Bruce Campbell, “IV: Revenge Of The Vengeance” is the album for you.
Although clearly a comedy metal outfit, here's the thing about the band: the comedy isn't there to cover up a lack of talent. The Pyschostick lads perfectly play a huge range of styles, from technical to thrash to groove to deathcore to rock, and it's all spot-on. That massive range isn't just limited to the instrumentation though, as the vocals cover all the aforementioned styles, and there are parts that make me think Psychostick's vocalist could give anybody from the big power or melodic metal bands a serious run for their money.
On the comedy side, I haven't been this amused by a tongue-in-cheek album since Steel Panther's “Feel The Steel,” and the jokes come from every direction, even skewering/saluting standards of the metal scene. “So Heavy” deconstructs the typical deathcore song, explaining everything that's happening through the vocals (“a little bit higher gain, a little more brutal now, doooooooouble bass!”). The track “Blue Screen” is then an emotional ballad about a man's computer dying that is on a Weird Al level of word play hilarity. “Quack Kills” deals with one man's descent into madness as he realizes the shrink he's seeing for being terrified of ducks is “a quack.”
The crowning achievements of the album are easily “Obey The Beard” and the jaw-droppingly amazing “NSFW.” No foolin', that track deserves some kind of fucking award, like a fucking Grammy or something. “NSFW” somehow smoothly transitions between just about every sub-genre out there, all while only using the word “fuck.” The spot-on Green Jello impression parroting “Three Little Pigs” (all still to just the word “fuck”) is an added bonus that fans of '90s music will love.
As a comedy album, of course there are tracks that will fall flat for some listeners. “Dogs Like Socks” is less amusing without the accompanying video, but hey, it's only a minute and nine seconds long, so it's not a huge burden to listen through. The all voiced tracks “New To The Neighborhood” and “Trick Or Treat” were probably funny in theory, but it didn't really work for me and just interrupted the actual musical humor. “Dimensional Time Portal” is also sort of a scatterbrained mess, but it gets funny at the end, and its necessary to understand what's happening in next track “The Power Of Metal Compels You.”
With only a couple of misses and mostly stunning hits, Psychostick doesn't just have a hilarious comedy release, but an all-around entertaining listen that works for metal heads musically as well, and that's quite the achievement.
Highs: Nearly every track is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and the music is spot-on to boot!
Lows: The voiceover tracks are less amusing than intended.
Bottom line: Psychostick elects a rhinoceros president, stalks Bruce Campbell, loses loads of porn in a computer crash, and then saves the world!
Get more info including news, reviews, interviews, links, etc. on our Psychostick band page.
"We Couldn't Think Of A Title" (CD)
"Skyforger" (CD)
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Red Sutkoski
"It will never happen" - Vermont town honors World War II veterans
West Rutland, VT
By Mary Reczek, West Rutland, Vt.
Red Sutkoski, a 93-year-old veteran of World War II, said it would never happen. Joe Czachor was also a skeptic: “I’ve heard these ideas before, but it’s never happened." It was October 2013; Joe and Red had just participated in a panel discussion hosted by the West Rutland Historical Society. Along with six of their peers, they had shared their experiences of WW II with a standing room only audience in the West Rutland Town Hall. They spoke quietly, with memories flooding over their faces. Members of the audience were moved by the humbleness of these men who answered the call to defend the free world after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tears shone in the eyes of the audience as they first listened, and then shared their own memories of fathers, uncles and brothers who had unselfishly left their families, their work and possibly given up their futures to fight in lands they had only read about as students in elementary schools. Some in the audience lost uncles and fathers and recalled how the tragic news was delivered to their families who would never see their sons again, even in death.
At the end of the meeting, audience members, without saying the words, knew that the town of West Rutland had to honor their veterans individually, even though only about a dozen survived.
In November 2013, 16 individuals held a meeting. We had only a vague idea of what we hoped to accomplish. We were teachers, nurses, laborers and lawyers. We owned businesses, were mothers and fathers and town officials. At the time, all we had in common was the fact that a father, uncle or brother had served in the war, and that we all hailed from West Rutland.
Two groups formed during that meeting. One was interested in what the monument should look like and where it would be placed. The other wanted to find the names of all who had served and inscribe them on the monument. We agreed to proceed with four goals to direct our decisions. First, the monument should be configured so as to resemble the earlier wooden wall of honor that was erected on the high school property in 1943. Second, the monument would be located in a place of honor, where everyone passing through town would see it and remember. Third, that the names of any men and women who were born in West Rutland, or who had lived in West Rutland prior to entering military service and who had served during the war years between the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the signing of the peace treaty on Sept. 2, 1945, would be included. Fourth, that all money raised for this monument should come from families of the veterans and businesses with ties to West Rutland or someone who had served in WWII.
After two years of research, planning and many, many meetings, the monument was dedicated on VJ Day, Aug. 15, 2015. It featured three polished black granite stones, with an eagle atop the centerpiece. A mini-park with small evergreens and bushes, and benches for reflection made of native West Rutland marble, surrounded the three stones. A crisp flag, atop a new flag pole, moved slowly in the breeze; it mirrored the deliberate movements of the veterans who attended that day: Red Sutkoski was there, as was Joe Czachor. Charles Kotomski, Leo Digangi, Stanley Wos, Bill Jacobs, whose names were on the wall, also attended, as did several other World War II veterans from the Rutland area. It was a solemn and dignified ceremony, honoring the 611 men and women who served. The very generous contributions of so many families, friends and businesses had made possible the remarkable monument and the memorable dedication.
Joe Czachor passed away two months after the dedication, Red Sutkoski several months later. Within a year after the dedication, another eight veterans whose names were on the wall had also died. There is consolation in knowing that at least some of our heroes knew that the townspeople valued their service and were able to honor their sacrifice in a small way.
Joe Czachor with family
West Rutland World War II Veterans
West Rutland Post 87 at the West Rutland World War II Dedication Ceremony
Presentation and unveiling of the monuments: Mary Reczek and Ken Heleba
Laying of the wreath: Ceil Scott and John Socinski
West Rutland World War II Memorial
View of the West Rutland World War II Memorial with the Town Hall
Air view picture of the Cannon, World War I, Spanish American, Civil War, World War II Memorials with West Rutland Town Hall in background
Ken Heleba
Local D-Day heroes honored
Korean War veteran makes memorial to fallen comrades
Four past department commanders participate in Four Chaplains program
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Category: Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning
ALL FOUR COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PERMITS MOVES FORWARD
ST. JOHN- Members of the Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management and Planning, chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden, held a meeting at the Cleone Henrietta Creque Legislative Conference Room on Wednesday, and voted favorably for Coastal Zone Management (CZM) permit Nos. CZJ-2-14(W), CZJ-14-16W, CZJ-24-16W, and CZJ-29-16W. All permits approved will be forwarded to the full body for further consideration.
“All of the CZM Permits are for continued use. Thus far, there hasn’t been any complaints or violations by the permittees. I do not see any issues with the CZM Permits that are before me today,” said Sen. Marvin Blyden.
CZM Permit No. CZJ-14-16W-allows continued use and occupancy of an existing 50’x6’ floating dock in Fish Bay, St. John. CZM Permit No. CZJ-29-16W- allows for the installation of a 70’x6’ floating dock in the nearshore area of Cruz Bay, St. John. CZM Permit No. CZJ-2-14W-allows continued use and occupancy of an existing 100’x5’ dock and 6500 ft2 of submerged lands surrounding the dock structure seaward of Lovango Cay, St. John. CZM Permit No. CZJ-24-16W-allows for the continued use and occupancy of an existing 12’x12’ rectangular floating swim platform, an existing 6’x4’ water access walkway and three swim buoys near Cruz Bay, St. John.
“The reason for the docks are significant. Some of the docks will alleviate stress for the elderly and disabled population,” said Sen. Brian Smith.”
Similarly, Gregory Richards, Representative for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) noted that DPNR supports all the CZM permits because the permittees were compliant over the years. “DPNR Commissioner and the St. John Committee of the V.I. Coastal Zone Management Commission has found these four CZM permits consistent with the policies and standards of VIC Title 12 Chapter 21 for the V.I. Coastal Zone Management Program.”
Sen. Sammuel Sanes asked, “At any time were there any complaints on any of these entities?” In response, Richards stated that although there was not a public outcry, in the past some residents submitted letters of complaint. “Was there a physical inspection conducted for the CZM permits?” asked Sen. Sanes. Richards stated that an environmental inspection was done prior.
As it pertains to CZM Permit No. 29-16W, Sen. Myron Jackson inquired about the community contributions of Low Key Watersports. Ann Marie Estes, President of Low Key Watersports, said, “The company donated snorkel gear for a Snorkeling Program that taught residents how to snorkel. Post-Hurricanes Irma and Maria Low Key covered 100% of medical and dental insurance for employees.”
Senators present are Marvin Blyden, Janette Millin Young, Sammuel Sanes, Myron Jackson, Janelle Sarauw, and Neville James.
August 22, 2018 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By Africah Harrigan / Leave a comment
COMMITTEE UPDATED ON THE STATUS OF HOUSING IN THE TERRITORY
St. Thomas – The Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden, held a meeting on Wednesday, at the Capitol Building to receive an update on the status of the condition of housing communities, homelessness and emergency housing post-Hurricane Irma and Maria.
The St. Thomas-St. John District and the St. Croix public housing communities have suffered severe structural damages post-hurricanes. There were approximately 150 public housing apartments that were adversely affected by the storms. The breakdown is as follows: 130 public housing apartments damaged on St. Thomas and 20 wrecked on St. Croix. The estimated cost to repair them is $20 million.
“It hurts my heart that we do not have any emergency housing in the St. Thomas-St. John District. This is unacceptable. There are no homeless shelters or transitional housing on St. John for displaced residents. Residents who are homeless on St. John are relocated to housing on St. Thomas,” said Sen. Blyden.
“Do you believe we need more emergency housing in the St. Thomas-St. John District?” asked Sen. Blyden. Daryl Griffith, Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority (VIHFA) said, “Yes, unfortunately, the hurricanes highlight the fact that emergency housing stock in the Virgin Islands is inadequate to meet the needs of the population.”
“Can you expound on solutions for providing adequate emergency housing?” inquired Sen. Blyden. Griffith stated that VIHFA has plans to increase emergency housing in both districts. “There are plans to build two emergency apartment complexes on St. Thomas in Anna’s Retreat and Taarneberg, and a vacant multi-unit property will be rehabilitated on St. Croix,” said Director Griffith.
Separately, lawmakers were updated on actions taken by VIHFA and the Virgin Islands Housing Authority (VIHA) to assist newly homeless residents displaced as a result of Hurricane Irma and Maria. Director Griffith stated that due to the severity of the storms, a moratorium is in effect from September 6, 2017, to December 31, 2017.
“VIHFA offered mortgage customers four months’ moratorium on mortgage payments and property foreclosures to all of its borrowers impacted by the hurricanes. Regular payments are expected to resume on January 1, 2018. Residents are still responsible for paying accrued interest at the end of the loan term,” said Griffith. “HUD also offered rent abatements for multi-family Housing Communities.”
Similarly, Robert Graham, Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority stated that HUD distributed 283 Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPV) to pay for the relocation of families formerly housed at Ras Valley and Tutu “Turnkey building. TPV assists residents in getting an apartment with private landlords in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the United States. Furthermore, there is an availability of 2,050 Housing Choice Vouchers. To date 1,000 were distributed on St. Thomas and 600 on St. Croix.
“Moving forward, what are the plans to rebuild Ras Valley and Turnkey?” asked Sen. Jean Forde. Director Graham said, “Long-term plans include demolishing obsolete public housing and building better housing with less density designed to meet the needs of families and seniors.”
Sen. Janette Millin Young inquired if the Tutu Hight Rise buildings are condemned. Director Griffith stated that the complex has structural damages, but it is not wholly destroyed. Fifteen families are currently residing there. VIHFA is working on relocating them to a new home.
Senators also received an update from the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority (VIWMA). Geoffrey Watson, Engineering Manager for VIWMA, stated that damage assessments were completed on the wastewater and solid waste facilities and the results are not favorable.
“The sewer line had completely collapsed. As a result, there are sewer lines with leaks or blockages, while others have excess debris that has accumulated after the storms,” said Watson. Additionally, the wastewater facilities such as the LBJ Pump Station was moderately damaged. For the disposal of solid waste, there are bin sites that are operational, but there are challenges. Temporary bin sites are needed, there is a suspension of the house to house services as a result of displaced poles and power lines. Therefore, it hinders VIWMA from collecting and disposing of solid waste.
December 13, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By Africah Harrigan / Leave a comment
COMMITTEE UPDATED ON THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS POST-HURRICANE IRMA AND HURRICANE MARIA
St. Thomas – The Committee of Housing, Public Works, Waste Management and Planning chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden, held a meeting at the Capitol Building on Thursday, to receive testimony from the Department of Public Works (DPW) on the status post-Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. Lawmakers also considered and voted on a bill and CZM Permits.
Post-hurricane restoration efforts of DPW included removal of 130,000 cubic yards of debris on St. Croix while partnering with the Army Corps of Engineers for the debris removal of 50,000 cubic years in the St. Thomas-St. John District. Thus far, Rumina Construction removed 5,000 cubic yards of debris on Water Island; according to Nelson Petty, Commissioner Nominee of DPW.
On the St. Thomas-St. John District, the Army Corps of Engineers are responsible for guts maintenance, and roadside cleaning and DPW is working on that on St. Croix. The update on traffic lights includes the need to re-install a traffic light system that meets storm requirements. Despite the damage to traffic lights system at major intersections, some traffic lights are operational.
In addition to the DPW update, policymakers also considered Bill. No. 32-0008- as it relates to mooring and anchoring fees to provide for fee reductions for senior citizens and persons with a disability and veterans.
“This bill calls for a 50% reduction of fees for veterans and senior citizens who are boat owners.,” said Sen. Dwayne DeGraff. “This should not have a major financial impact on the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR).” However, the reduction of mooring fees will reduce the department’s ability to hire and manage daily operations stated Jean Pierre Oriol, Director of DPNR for the Division of Coastal Zone Management.
“How many years has it been since mooring fees implemented?” asked Sen. Blyden. In response Director Oriol, said, “It has been twenty-five years since the fees increased. It was imperative that the new fee schedule is implemented to begin collecting revenues to assist the Division of Environmental Enforcement in meeting its mandates.” Sen. Blyden inquired if DPNR has data on the number of seniors who own boats. Director Oriol stated that DPNR does not collect information on individuals, but the fees are based on the class and size of the vessels.
Ultimately, senators voted to hold the bill in committee. Lawmakers stated that although they support seniors, the fee reduction needs to be examined holistically to make a decision that will have a positive outlook for all parties affected by the measure.
Separately, committee members voted and approved the following CZM Permits: CZT-2-16 (L&W)-allows for the continued use and occupancy of the existing reverse osmosis plant, CZX-1-17W- authorizes the maintenance dredging of the Krause Lagoon and Cross Channels to return to an operating depth of -36 ft. and, CZX-36-16 (L&W)-brings Gallows Bay Marine Terminal into compliance with the CZM Act and authorizes the demolition and reconstruction of the 3.020 square foot arrival building.
All approved items will be forwarded to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration. Committee Members present are senators Marvin Blyden, Janette Millin Young, Jean Forde, and Brian Smith. Non-Committee senators present are Dwayne DeGraff and Positive Nelson.
November 2, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By Africah Harrigan / Leave a comment
SENATE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES POSTPONEMENT OF MEETINGS DUE TO IRMA
ST. THOMAS – Senate President Myron D. Jackson announces that legislative meetings scheduled for the week of September 4 to 8 are postponed, due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Irma. The public will be informed of new dates. A final determination regarding the Legislative Session scheduled for September 8 will be made once the storm passes and its impacts are determined, he said.
Regarding the operations of the Legislature on all three islands, legislative employees are expected to report to work for 8 a.m. on Tuesday to secure their offices and, upon completion, will be allowed to leave at noon to continue their hurricane preparations at home. Casual wear is encouraged.
Based on reports from the National Hurricane Center and VITEMA, President Jackson said the Virgin Islands will likely be impacted by wind, rain, and ocean surge, particularly in the northern areas.
“As those reports are received I shall inform the public, all senators and our staff as to the operations of the Legislature,” he said. “All persons should therefore carefully monitor the media, including LEGIT TV – which can be accessed on Channel 5 throughout the territory, for announcements which may inform as to the operational status of the Legislature during the affected period.”
President Jackson said that the Legislature shall operate during this period only as weather conditions permit.
“Should the weather dictate the cessation of our operation for safety and health concerns, those decisions shall be made promptly and specific announcements shall be made,” he said. “I offer a prayer that all persons in the Virgin Islands, the Leeward and Windward Islands, and elsewhere be spared from Hurricane Irma. Please look to protect your families, friends, and properties be safe.”
September 3, 2017 / In Committee of the Whole, Economic Development & Agriculture, Education, Youth & Recreation, Finance, Government Affairs, Veterans, Energy & Environmental Protection, Health, Hospitals & Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety, Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Legislative Session, Press Releases, Rules & Judiciary, Senator Myron D. Jackson, Senators, Workforce Development, Consumer Affairs & Culture / By admin / Leave a comment
COASTAL ZONE PERMITS MOVE FORWARD
St. John – The Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden, held a meeting on Wednesday, at the Cleone Henrietta Creque Legislative Conference Room to vote and approve several zoning permits.
One of the permits that lawmakers considered and approved was David McDaniel and Cheryl McDaniel (CZJ-20-11) – This permit allows the use and occupancy of a rectangular shaped floating dock with 153ft of water area. The floating dock is permitted to be in the water during the months of November through May. The structure is located seaward of parcel No. 200-C-2A Estate Fish Bay, St. John in Fish Bay.
McDaniel stated that the dock is going to be used seasonally between the months of November through May and it is solely for personal use. He added that the material used to build the dock is environmentally friendly. “The dock will be made with high density cubes that will have little impact on the shoreline. The materials used to build the dock are environmentally compatible. The floating dock will not rust, corrode or leak chemicals into the water,” added McDaniel.
Similarly, Assistant Director of Coastal Zone and Management of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Gregory Richards, stated the surrounding area is currently sandy and rocky. “The dock will not negatively impact the environment but will provide safe access to the boat. The permit will be issued for ten years and there will be a rental fee of a $1,000 that will eventually increase,” said Richards.
“If the permit is not renewed after ten years, can the public access it?” asked Sen. Dwayne DeGraff. Richards stated that since the dock will be built on McDaniel’s property, anyone using the dock without permission will be trespassing.
“You stated that the dock will have no impact on the environment,” said Sen. Blyden. He asked, “Are you familiar with the materials used to build the dock?” In response, Richards said, “No, not particularly this one. However, there are other environmentally friendly docks in the territory.”
“What type of impact whether big or small will the dock have on the environment?” inquired Sen. Jean Forde. McDaniel stated that the only impact will be the installation on the shoreline in which two sand screws will be placed on the shoreline above ground that will connect to the dock.
Sen. Brian Smith shared his suggestion to enhance safety measures to the dock that will deter crimes and boating accidents. “There needs to be a light around the dock that will prevent accidents and criminal activity,” he said. McDaniel stated currently there is reflective tape on the dock. However, the lights can be added.
Separately, lawmakers voted favorably for the following:
WVJD, LLC. (CZJ-22-16(W) – This permit allows installation of four swimming buoys spaced approximately 40 feet apart, and one (1) channel marker to create a 190-foot wide swimming area and a 38-foot wide dinghy access channel seaward of parcel No. 4A Estate Cruz Bay. In addition, this permit authorizes the installation of two (2) private moorings (Nos. 1 and 2 on the referenced drawings) a minimum of 15 feet off of the swimming area.
Lovango Shores, LLC. (CZJ-27-16(W) – This permit supersedes minor CZM Permit CZJ-O1-03W and allows the continued use and occupancy of an existing 5′ wide ‘L’ shaped dock (434’ 2” ft of water area). The dock is located in Pillsbury Sound, seaward of Parcel I Remainder, Lovango Cay, St. John, as depicted on OLG Map# D9-71 38-T002.
Bill No. 32-0008- An Act amending title 25 Virgin Islands Code chapter 16, section 405, relating to mooring and anchoring fees to provide for fee reductions for senior citizens and persons with a disability and veterans
All items approved will be forwarded to the Committee of the Whole for further consideration.
July 20, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By Africah Harrigan / Leave a comment
MAJOR CZM PERMITS SENT TO FULL BODY AND $150 MILLION ROADS PROJECTS ON THE MOVE
ST. CROIX–The Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management and Planning, chaired by Senator Marvin A. Blyden, met Monday in the Frits E. Lawaetz Legislative Conference Room, St. Croix where two major permits were considered and updates on road projects were given by the Commissioner of Public Works, Gustav James.
Henry L. Feuerzeig with the law firm of Dudley, Topper and Feuerzeig, LLP, said that AT&T is asking the Committee to approve Permit CZX-31-16W which would constitute a renewal of Coastal Zone Permit No.CZX-28-94W.
According to Feuerzeig, CZX-28-94W was issued and approved in 1995 by the Legislature for a term of 20-years. The permit specifically authorized AT&T to drill eight (8) 5.75 inch cable conduits to a water depth of 45 feet and placement of cable on the ocean floor seaward of Plot No.4-A, 37BA of Estate Northside Quarter A, St. Croix consisting of 10.95 acres near the town of Frederiksted.
In his testimony, Jean –Pierre Oriol, the Director of Coastal Zone Management for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) said if the AT&T Permit is approved, it would allow for the continued use of the five conduits housing communication cables seaward of Plot No. 4-A Estate Northside, St. Croix.
According to Oriol, a rental fee of $250,000 per year, with increases beginning in the 6th year of the permit’s term, has been negotiated with the permittee for the occupancy of the submerged lands covered under the permit.
It was noted to the committee that the presence of the cable landing does not result in any negative impact to the water quality, nor does it affect other oceanographic characteristic. Furthermore, the renewal of the permit will maintain public access to the shoreline.
Permit CZX-2-16W issued to Garden Beach Recreation Association allows them to replace the wooden decking on the 120-foot long, by 8-foot wide approach bridge which has a 110-foot long by 9-foot wide “T” head dock.
CZM Director Oriol said if approved, the CZX-2-16W Permit will allow for the repair and use of a 120’x8’ pier with a “T” head seaward of Plot No.21 Estate Coakley Bay, St. Croix. Furthermore, as mitigation for the project, the permittee will be removing the un-colonized debris and piles from previously existing boats lift on the dock.
A rental fee of $7,500 per year, with increases beginning in the 6th year of the permit term, has been negotiated. The term of the permit is for 20 years.
Other testifiers were Amy Dempsey, Bioimpact, Inc; Vincent Colianni, Member of Law Firm, Colianni and Colianni; and Gregory Richards, Assistant Director DPNR-CZM;
The Committee voted in favor of both permits and sent them to the Full body for further consideration.
The Commissioner of Public Works said his department is currently managing numerous road projects at various stages of completion. He added that the value of these road projects exceeds $150 million. He along with his Assistant Commissioner Roan Creque, laid out their ambitious plans; the bidding process; and pointed to those roads that are in process and dates of completion both in the districts of St. Croix and St. Thomas.
Committee members at Monday’s meeting were senators: Marvin A. Blyden, Chairman; Sammuel Sanes; Neville A. James; Jean A. Forde; Janette Millin Young; Alicia “Chucky” Hansen and Brian A. Smith.
July 10, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By Winston Nugent / Leave a comment
WASTE MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE BILLS VOTED OUT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE
ST. CROIX–The Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Kurt A. Vialet, met Thursday in the Frits E. Lawaetz Legislative Conference Room, St. Croix. The committee took testimonies on two pieces of proposed legislations, Bill No.32-0066 and Bill No.32-0042.
Bill No.32-0066 proposed by Senator Marvin A. Blyden is an act making an appropriation of $500,000 from the Anti-Liter and Beautification Fund to the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority (WMA) for the purchase of surveillance cameras to be installed at selected bin sites.
Senator Blyden said the appropriation was necessary due to individuals that are going to bin sites and are illegally dumping garbage in all sorts of manner without regards to littering. He added that it’s time we start to issue citations to violators and the best way we can do this is by installing surveillance cameras at the sites.
Testifying in support of Bill No.32-0066 was Vincent Ebbesen, Solid Waste Director, WMA, who said unmanned bin sites are open to the public for use throughout the day and night. He added that surveillance cameras will help the Authority monitor the unmanned bin sites for illegal dumping, unsanitary practices and other activities that pose a health risk.
According to Ebbesen, the cameras will help WMA assess fines for littering and illegal dumping activities. In addition, the cameras will allow WMA to monitor the bin sites for cleanliness by scheduling additional pickup services.
Clarina Modeste Elliott, Executive Assistant Commissioner of Finance, appearing on behalf of Commissioner Valdamier Collens said based on their review of the condition of the proposed funding source and the relevance of its use, they support the legislation as proposed. She pointed out that with the collection of these fines or fees generated would afford the opportunity for the replenishment and sustainability of the Anti-Liter and Beautification Fund.
Bill No. 32-0042, proposed by Senator Neville James, is an act repealing the Virgin Islands Code where necessary and adding a chapter entitled, “The Virgin Islands Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act.”
This repeal, according to Senator James, is to meet the accreditation standards established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and update the insurance laws of the Territory placing them on par with other United States jurisdictions, and providing greater and more effective protection to the policyholders of the Virgin Islands.
Gwendolyn Hall Brady, Director of the Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation said in her testimony that the territory is required to adopt Bill No.32-0042 as part of the requirements to obtain accreditation by the NAIC.
Director Brady said the NAIC is the U.S. standard-setting and regulatory support organization created and governed by the chief insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. Territories, which includes the U.S. Virgin Islands.
According to Director Brady, accreditation is the designation given by NAIC to a state or territory that has demonstrated that it has met and continues to meet all required legal, financial and organizational standards. A significant aspect of the Bill pointed out Director Brady, is that it gives to the Commissioner of Insurance the authority to examine, not only the insurance companies within the holding company system, but all of the insurer’s affiliates that are also a part of the holding company system whether or not they engage in the business of insurance.
Director Brady drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that, the Territory’s adoption of Bill No.32-0042 is vital in the context that because Guardian Insurance Company, one of the leading insurance companies in the Territory, is part of an insurance holding company system and is at present the Territory’s only domestic, multi-state insurer, meaning that Guardian is domiciled in the U.S. jurisdiction and is also licensed to conduct business in other U.S. jurisdictions.
Other testifiers at Thursday’s meeting; for WMA was Rasheed Hodge, Network Administrator and for Banking and Insurance were: Atty. Glendina Mathew, Assistant Director and Legal Counsel; Atty. Monica Williams Carbon, Division Legal Counsel; and Cheryl Charleswell, Chief Financial Service Examiner.
The Committee voted in favor of both Bills and sent them to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration.
Committee members in attendance were: Chairman Senator Kurt A. Vialet, Marvin A. Blyden, Neville A. James, Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly, Brian A. Smith, and Dwayne M. DeGraff. Non-Committee member was Senator Novelle E. Francis Jr.
June 1, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Kurt A. Vialet / By admin / Leave a comment
COMMITTEE ON HOUSING PUBLIC WORKS, HOUSING, WASTE MANAGEMENT & PLANNING CONSIDERS COASTAL ZONING MANAGEMENT PERMITS
ST. THOMAS— Members of the Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning met on Wednesday at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall. Chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden, the meeting was held to consider CZM permits for the island of St. Thomas.
The following Coastal Zoning permits were considered:
RC Hotels VI, Inc. (CZT-3-16W) – to allow the Permittee the continued use and occupancy of an existing 8” diameter x 130’ long seawater intake line to the RO Plant. The line extends seaward of Parcel Nos. 1&3 Estate Nazareth, St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
Reef Ecology Foundation (CZT-05-15W) – This permit allows the continued use and occupancy of the permanent moorings for day use only at frequently used dive site locations in the territorial waters surrounding the Island of St. Thomas and St. John. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
Anchorage Condominium Assn. (CZT-10-16W) – This permit allows the continued use and occupancy of a 120-foot, three-inch (3”) seawater intake line which services its reverse osmosis plant. In addition, this permit allows for the continued use and occupancy of the submerged lands for six (6) swimming buoys. This activity is located seaward of parcel No. 8-57-4 Estate Nazareth, St. Thomas. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
St. Thomas Yacht Club (CZT-4-16(W) – This permit supersedes major Coastal Zone Management Permit No. CZT-12-89(W), and allows for the continued use and occupancy of a 110-9” x 7’-8” dock with a 39’-6” x 8’-6” “1”, a 335 ft2 concrete bulkhead with a length of 58 linear feet, 3,500 ft2 of submerged land surrounding the dock and (1) one wooden pile. The dock is located seaward of Parcels Nos. 8-1-1 & 8-58 Estate Nazareth, St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
Sanctuary Holdings, LLC (CZT-25-16W) – This permit allows for the installation of eight (8) moorings in two phases. Phase One includes moorings numbered I 4 on Exhibit 8; Phase Two includes moorings numbered 5—8 on Exhibit B. This activity is located seaward of Parcel No. 23, Estate Frenchman’s Bay, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
True Crew VI, LLC (CZT-33-16W)-This permit allows for the installation of a private mooring and the operation of a 37-foot “food boat’ known as Pizza Ri. This activity will occur at 1818’33.464”N / 6449’54.955”W in the Christmas Cove area of Jersey Bay, St. Thomas. The permit was passed favorably and will move for consideration to the Full Body.
Before concluding the meeting, Sen. Blyden encouraged everyone to have a safe and wonderful Easter holiday.
April 12, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By admin / Leave a comment
COMMITTEE RECEIVES TESTIMONY ON HOMELESSNESS AND CONDITION OF HOUSING COMMUNITIES IN TERRITORY
ST. THOMAS- Members of the Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden met on Wednesday at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall to receive status updates and discuss challenges within our territory.
Louise Peterson, Executive Director of the Methodist Training and Outreach Center and President of the V.I. Continuum of Care began her testimony describing homelessness in our territory as a “revolving door crisis”. This crisis can be directly attributed to a variety of underlying, unmet needs — physical, economical, and social.
The Continuum of Care program was designed to promote community-wide goals to end homelessness; provide funding to quickly rehouse homeless individuals (including unaccompanied youths) and families while minimizing trauma and dislocation to those persons; promote access to, and effective utilization of mainstream programs; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The program is composed of transitional housing, permanent housing, supportive services, and the Homeless Management Information Services (HMIS).
On Friday, January 27, 2017, the COC conducted the required count of the sheltered andunsheltered homeless in our territory. The unsheltered homeless reflected an unduplicated total of three hundred seven (307), individuals, and the sheltered homeless shows sixty-six (66) individuals. The 2017 demographics of the homeless population has remained relatively consistent with previous counted years; with 90% Blacks/African Americans making up majority of the homeless count, 76% with Non-Hispanic, and 96% comprising of males. “The population that is increasing in homelessness are ages 0-17. They are categorized under youths without parents or unaccompanied minors. On St. Thomas, there are 39 individuals, 15 on St. John and 7 on St. Croix,” said Petersen.
Andrea Shillingford, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Virgin Islands, noted that provides services to the homeless and poor in the territory through its shelters, soup kitchens and street outreach programs, which serve approximately 800 persons annually. Bethlehem House Shelters for the Homeless provide safe, drug free environments and two daily meals to temporarily homeless individuals. The agency’s soup kitchens and outreach programs provide meals and clothing to members of the community in need. A free medical clinic, staffed by volunteer doctors, provides medical and dental screening and treatment to the homeless population on the second Saturday of every month.
The clinic is held at the St. Thomas shelter. Homeless individuals and families that reach out to Catholic Charities for assistance often have endured severe hardships such as eviction from housing by relatives or friends, job loss, family disputes, illness, physical, sexual and emotional trauma, and hunger. Most of these hardships may be attributed to a limited education. People who come to Catholic Charities start out with an emergency period of thirty (30) days, where once they are initially stabilized, they can begin to address many of the underlying problems that may have led to their homelessness. Exec. Director Shillingford added, “We continue to have discussions with the Virgin Islands Housing Authority to determine the availability of appropriate housing units for those participating in the Home at Last program.”
Robert Graham, CPM and Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, stated that the VIHA is enthusiastic to partner with all stakeholders who desire to work together to improve the living conditions of Virgin Islanders. The VIHA Transition Agreement Action Plan, was designed by HUD to ensure the sustainability of the authority and address any unresolved performance and compliance deficiencies. “Since several tasks required more time to complete than the original document allowed, HUD extended the timeline to complete unresolved tasks.
Although VIHA expects to significantly complete the tasks during the extension period, the enhanced monitoring by HUD will continue through the HUD report card called Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS). Currently, VIHA has a score of (77) on HUD’s PHAS report card,” said Graham.
The Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, will experience a $300 million reduction according to recent reports on the federal budget. Coupled with rent increases, this could result in the loss of thousands of vouchers and threaten currently housed families with homelessness.
VIHA receives approximately $14 million annually that provides housing assistance to approximately 1,600 families and seniors. If the average annual subsidy is $9,000 per household, we could lose 111 families for every $1 million in subsidy cuts to the voucher program. Currently, over 838 landlords participate in the program. The public housing operating fund covers day-to-day operational and maintenance expenses not covered by resident rents.
The reported cut to HUD’s operating fund of $600 million is a 13% percent reduction from last year’s funding, and approximately 72% of what is needed. However, for VIHA the operating budget is $25 million in two components; $21 million is federal funding and $4 million is from tenant rent. Thus, a 13% reduction in HUD operating funding would reduce VIHA’s operating budget by $2.7 million.
According to their physical needs assessment, over $333 million is needed to effectively operate and maintain the old public housing inventory. Through the Capital fund program, the Authority has $11.4 million available, with $6.7 million expended for capital projects and operations. Sen. Alicia “Chucky” Hansen urged the VIHA to resume their once vigorous approach to clean up the communities overrun with criminal activity and efforts to make the residents safer. “The residents of William’s Delight are living in fear. Students have to walk through vacant places like Chabert, totally unprotected, just to get their education.”
Daryl Griffith, Acting Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority, presented status updates on the Emergency Housing, Low Income Housing Tax Credit and Affordable Housing Programs in the territory. Acting Director Griffith noted that there is a serious need for more emergency and affordable housing within the territory, in addition to listing the current capital projects underway. The meeting concluded with a brief summarization of the VIHFA’s 2nd Amendment to its 3-Year plan.
The measure will be presented at a later time.
April 5, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / By admin / Leave a comment
SENATE COMMITTEE RECEIVES UPDATE ON CAPITAL PROJECTS FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT, DPNR AND PUBLIC WORKS
ST. THOMAS– The Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management and Planning, chaired by Sen. Marvin Blyden met on Wednesday at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall to receive testimony and current status reports from the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority (WMA), the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR), and the Department of Public Works.
Roger E. Merritt, Jr., Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, assured the body that under his direction, “The Authority will implement several strategies to overcome our current fiscal constraints.” Merritt Jr., accompanied by Chief Operating Officer Steve Aubin and Chief Engineer Jim Grum, indicated that a significant percentage of their General Fund appropriation is used to maintain critical operational costs for public health, safety and compliance regulations.
The Waste Management Authority noted their appreciation for the $1.7 million appropriation by the 31st Legislature, which delayed the implementation of tipping fees and was used to pay outstanding fees to contractors, provide public hearings and informational handouts for the public. The Public Services Commission (PSC) approved the petition for tipping fees on solid waste collection and disposal services on April 20, 2016. The Authority expects to generate $6.9 million from this plan, that cannot begin until the end of Fiscal Year 2017, due to additional scale-house modifications, weighing scale, compactor repairs and technological systems needed.
The PSC also approved a petition submitted by the WMA to collect special waste fees on electronic waste, freon, lubricating oil and fluorescent light bulbs. The Authority anticipates they will be ready to collect special waste fees by the end of Fiscal Year 2017 and expects to generate $1.2 million annually. The Wastewater User Fee (Sewer Fee), which is collected with property taxes, falls short of its expected collection of $3 million annually. To date, the WMA has not received any funds for Fiscal Year 2017, collected $576,000 total for FY 2015 and $856,000 total for FY 2016.
Last fiscal year, a petition was submitted to the PSC to for various miscellaneous wastewater operation fees, specifically overdue septage disposal fees. The fees are expected to cover costs of services in an effort to expand and improve services offered to all residents in our territory. In recent news, the District Court approved the motion to remove the remaining wastewater treatment plants from the 1984 Consent Decree, which brings the WMA closer to full termination of the decree. “The Authority continues to search and apply for grants to upgrade the wastewater infrastructure, improve solid waste operations and eliminate public unmanned bin sites in the territory,” stated Executive Director Merritt, Jr.
On St. Croix, the Anguilla Landfill is in the process of stabilizing the final slopes of the site, utilizing approximately 160 tons of waste per day and awaiting approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a redesign that will develop 2 years worth of airspace available for new waste placement. Upon completion of capital improvements required by the Consent Decrees, the Bovoni Landfill on St. Thomas will be approved by the EPA for 3 years of airspace available for new waste placement.
The Committee on Housing, Public Works, Waste Management and Planning received testimony from Commissioner Dawn Henry of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources on their ongoing initiatives. The Division of Environmental Protection (EP) recently implemented a new application process that requires all pest companies and applicators to obtain a permit before purchasing Restricted Use Pesticides and specifying where they will be applied in the territory.
The EP officially manages the territory’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program and receives $4.8 million annually from the U.S. EPA to assist in improving the territory’s municipal wastewater facilities and storm water systems. To date, the improvements made thus far have resulted in a reimbursement of $7 million to the Department and recoupment of $1.5 million in indirect costs. The Division of Fish and Wildlife received funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Services for repairs in St. Croix to the Gallows Bay, Altona Lagoon, and Frederiksted docks. All repairs are estimated to be completed by the end of FY 2017. The Division of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) joined efforts with the Virgin Islands Port Authority to expedite the application process by making forms available online.
Commissioner Gustav James of the Department of Public Works provided updates on the status of the major capital projects in progress within the territory. Over 25 major roadway projects are in progress or slated to begin in both districts, notably Veterans Drive and the Moravian Highway on St. Thomas, Bordeaux Mountain and Fish Bay on St. John, along with Mahogany Road and Hamm’s Bluff on St. Croix. Commissioner James concluded his testimony by briefly outlining the 5 major non-road projects in progress, such as the St. Croix Fish Market and Fort Christian on St. Thomas.
While commending the testifiers and their employees for their hard work and commitment within their respective agencies, Members of the 32nd Legislature raised serious concerns with the lack of reasonable compensation for employees of the Government of the Virgin Islands.
February 8, 2017 / In Housing, Public Works, Waste Management & Planning, Press Releases, Senator Marvin A. Blyden / Tags: DPNR, Housing, Planning, Public Works, Waste Management / By admin / Leave a comment
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NCTO Pays Tribute to Late AFMA President Paul O’Day
Jun 5, 2017 Comments (0) Press Releases, Recent News, Uncategorized Like
WASHINGTON, DC – Paul O’Day, President of the American Fiber Manufacturers Association (AFMA) since 1984, died on June 1. He was 82.
“It is a sad day for the U.S. textile industry,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman William V. McCrary Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of William Barnet & Son, LLC, a synthetic fiber/yarn/polymer firm with plants and/or offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“I’ve been proud to call Paul a friend for decades and worked with him closely during my two-year stint as AFMA chairman. He was a strategic thinker who safeguarded the U.S. fiber industry’s interests in Washington during very tumultuous times,” McCrary continued.
“Many important policy issues arose during Paul’s three decades as president at AFMA that would not have been resolved favorably without his wise counsel and resolute, steady leadership,” McCrary added.
NCTO President and CEO Auggie Tantillo, who worked directly with O’Day since the early 1980s said, “For 33 years, Paul O’Day exhibited an unmatched dedication to AFMA and the industry he loved.”
“Paul represented his constituency with a style and level of decorum virtually unheard of in the current Washington environment. Famously courteous and humble, Paul won heated policy debates through the power of his extraordinary intellect, his expansive institutional knowledge and his total command of the subject matter at hand. Completely secure in his role and the critical contribution he made to every project, Paul was always quick to defer credit and to shower praise on his colleagues,” Tantillo added.
“Fiber manufacturers and the U.S. textile industry lost a priceless asset who will be greatly and deservedly missed,” Tantillo finished.
AMFA’s press statement on Paul O’Day’s passing is at this link, and his obituary can be found here.
NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.
· U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 565,000 in 2016.
· The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $74.4 billion last year, a nearly 11% increase since 2009.
· U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $26.3 billion in 2016.
· Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which data is available.
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CONTACT: Lloyd Wood
lwood@ncto.org
Like Press Releases, Recent News, Uncategorized NCTO Pays Tribute to Late AFMA President Paul O’Day
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Home » Latest News in Nigeria » Nigerians in Diaspora » Nigerian Ambassador, Bashua among 157 others who died in ill-fated Ethiopian air
Nigerian Ambassador, Bashua among 157 others who died in ill-fated Ethiopian air
9:36 PM CuteNaija 0 Latest News in Nigeria, Nigerians in Diaspora
The Ethiopian Airlines management has confirmed that a retired Nigerian Ambassador, Abiodun Bashua, was among other nationalities aboard the ill-fated Ethiopian air which crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Addis Ababa on Sunday, March 9, 2019.
He was a retired Ambassador and on contract with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Kenya’s Transport Secretary, James Macharia, said passengers from at least 35 nations were aboard the Ethiopian airlines’ flight 302.
The Ethiopian airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet was en route to Nairobi, Kenya when it crashed, killing all passengers and eight crew on board. The plane is the latest version of the Max 8 B737, described as the world’s bestselling modern passenger aircraft and one of the industry’s most reliable.
Meanwhile, U.S. aerospace giant, Boeing, said on Sunday it was “deeply saddened” about the deaths of all 157 people aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and would provide technical assistance to find out why its aircraft crashed.
The brand new Boeing 737 — which was delivered just last year — was heading from Addis Ababa to Nairobi when it crashed.
“Boeing is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of the passengers and crew on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a 737 MAX 8 airplane,” the company said in a statement.
“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board and stand ready to support the Ethiopian Airlines team,” it said.
The single-aisle Boeing 737 MAX is one of the world’s newest and most advanced commercial passenger jets. But the company has come under fire for possible glitches with the plane, which entered service in 2017.
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Home News People Research Datasets Publications Code Teaching
Cristian Sminchisescu
Mathematical Sciences, Lund University Sölvegatan 18, Rm. 562A, Lund
cristian.sminchisescu@math.lth.se
Overview Publications
Cristian Sminchisescu is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Engineering at Lund University, working in computer vision and machine learning. He has obtained a doctorate in computer science and applied mathematics with focus on imaging, vision and robotics at INRIA, France, under an Eiffel excellence doctoral fellowship of the French Ministry of Foregin Affairs, and has done postdoctoral research in the Artificial intelligence Laboratory at the University of Toronto. He holds a Professor equivalent title at the Romanian Academy and a Professor rank, status appointment at Toronto, and advises research at both institutions. During 2004-07, he has been a Faculty member at the Toyota Technological Institute, a philanthropically endowed computer science institute located at the University of Chicago, and later on the Faculty of the Institute for Numerical Simulation in the Mathematics Department at Bonn University. Cristian Sminchisescu is a member in the program committees of the main conferences in computer vision and machine learning (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICML, NIPS), an Area Chair for ICCV, ACCV and CVPR during 2007-15, a Program Chair for ECCV 2018, and a member of the Editorial Board (Associate Editor) of IEEE Transactions for Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) and the International Journal of Computer Vision (IJCV). He has offered tutorials on 3d tracking, recognition and optimization at ICCV and CVPR, the Chicago Machine Learning Summer School, the AEFRAI Vision School in Barcelona, the Computer Vision summer school at ETH in Zurich and Prague, and Visum in Porto. Over time, his work has been funded by the US National Science Foundation, the Romanian Science Foundation, the German Science Foundation, the Swedish Science Foundation, the European Commission under a Marie Curie Excellence Grant, and the European Research Council under an ERC Consolidator Grant. Cristian Sminchisescu’s research goal is to train computers to `see’ and interact with the world seamlessly, as humans do. His research interests are in the area of computer vision (articulated objects, 3d reconstruction, segmentation and recognition) and machine learning (optimization and sampling algorithms, structured prediction and kernel methods). The visual recognition methodology developed in his group was a winner of the PASCAL VOC object segmentation and labeling challenge over the past four editions, 2009 - 2012, as well as state of the art and winner, respectively, in the Reconstruction Meets Recognition Challenge (RMRC) 2013 and 2014. His work on deep learning for graph matching has received the best paper award honorable mention at CVPR 2018.
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Uncovering Concealed Objects
This month at Museum Textile Services we were excited to conserve a set of four concealed garments: a shoe, a shoe sole, a boot, and a bonnet. The objects were found during renovations to a 1725 Ledyard, CT, house, and were located in the floorboards of an attic above the birthing room. The boot and bonnet are 19th century, while the shoe could be even older. The bonnet closely resembles silk crepe spoon caps from the Civil War era.
Interior of a Civil War era bonnet, before conservation.
Exterior of a Civil War era bonnet, before conservation.
When items such as these are hidden in secular or religious buildings, they are often placed close to doors and fireplaces, or under floorboards. These areas were considered the weakest parts of the house, where malevolent spirits might enter. Concealed garments are often interpreted as protective symbols. As Dinah Eastop and Charlotte Dew explain in their article Secret Garments: Deliberately Concealed Garments as Symbolic Textiles:
…The concealed garment is symbolic in
that it stands in for the wearer; the former wearer stands for his/her community of interest (e.g. their household/trade). Arguing by analogy moves the protective role of garments for the body to the protective role of the house for these inhabitants.
A similar Civil War spoon bonnet.
Deliberately concealed garments are often heavily worn and bear the imprint of the wearer. The objects we conserved show many indicators of heavy use including separating layers of leather and abrasion to the fabric at the interior of the shoe, holes, heavily caked on mud and dirt, and evidence of re-soling on multiple occasions. The bonnet was generally deformed and was missing layers of fabric at its interior.
Concealed boot, before conservation. Courtesy of private collector.
The shoes and bonnet were carefully surface cleaned with a micro-vacuum attachment, toothbrushes, and vulcanized rubber sponges. During the process, we found different types of beans in the toe of the boot. While they easily could have been transported into the shoe by way of rodents, it is also possible that the beans were put there by the people who originally concealed the garments. Beans, seeds, and corn cobs symbolize fertility, and are often found in historic homes along with concealed objects.
Interior of shoe, before conservation. Note the separating layers of leather. Courtesy of private collector.
Bottom of shoe, before conservation. Note the multiple layers of the shoe sole. Courtesy of private collector.
After cleaning, the garments were humidified in a Gore-Tex chamber to facilitate reshaping. We were concerned with the leather hardening, or crosslinking, in the presence of water, so the objects were very carefully monitored. When dry, the leather was treated with renaissance wax, a micro-crystalline wax conditioner and cleaner. This did not change their appearance greatly, but will help to coat the leather and aid in its preservation. Support mounts were made for the two shoes and the bonnet from pieces of Ethafoam covered with knit jersey. A custom box protects them all and allows the owner to easily show them to friends.
Concealed objects, after conservation and mounting. Courtesy of private collector.
We are excited that the concealed objects will be returning to the house in which they were found, and continue to tell the history of the home. For more information about deliberately concealed objects, see the the website developed by Dinah Eastop and Charlotte Dew.
Morgan Carbone has a BA in Art History from Grinnell College. She recently finished her Master of Arts degree in Fashion and Textile Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Morgan's interests include lace knitting and cats.
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Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11 [43:22]
Grigory Sokolov (piano)
Münchner Philharmoniker/Witold Rowicki
rec. November 1977, Bürgerbräu München, Germany
SONY 88875194722 [43:22]
This is a very welcome release from Sony. I originally got to know this recording of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in its first incarnation on LP. In 2006 it was released on CD in Japan by Denon, coupled with Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 played by Shura Cherkassky (COCO-70842). Set down in November 1977 in Munich when the pianist was 27, it has added value in the fact that Sokolov has never subsequently recorded it. Neither, as far as I know, are there any live airings of him in this work doing the rounds.
Rowicki takes the first movement tutti with great nobility and breadth, and when the pianist enters the fray, his opening chords are similarly heroic and magisterial. In contrast, the lyrical passages are imbued with poetry and elegance. All the while, Sokolov’s impressive and flawless technique is taken as read. The central Romanza is more broadly paced and measured than most, but works very well. In this deeply probing account, Sokolov caresses the bel canto line with a translucent, gossamer touch, giving it an otherworldly and ethereal quality. Rubato is never excessive but is sensitively applied, with Rowicki instinctively responding to the subtleties and nuances with flexibility, allowing the music to breathe. The Rondo, in the form of a Krakowiak, has vim and vigour and sparkles with energy. The pianist’s mercurial playing has rhythmic drive and buoyancy.
This performance stands up with the best in the catalogue, including those by Pollini/Kletzki (review ~ review) and Zimerman/Giulini (review).
Sound quality throughout is up to the mark and balance between piano and orchestra is ideal. At 43 minutes, this may seem a meagre offering but, for me, music-making at this level is worth the cost. Sokolov has made it clear that there will be no more studio recordings, and he no longer plays with orchestras, explaining that he doesn’t get enough rehearsal time, so what we have here is priceless.
Stephen Greenbank
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On Religion - Informed discussion on religion, faith and society.
DNA as Destiny? 8 December 2013
Chris Bateman examines how modern attitudes towards genetics can influence discussions about discrimination.
Do the arguments mounted against religion rely upon a naive understanding of DNA?
Few people today appreciate being called a bigot, and for most of us racism is something to be judged harshly. Yet we have become accustomed in recent decades to reading diatribes against religion as a whole from individuals who purport to hold liberal ideals of equality and diversity. Are the people espousing such views not guilty of a kind of bigotry?
The argument mounted in their defence rests on the idea that to be prejudiced against (say) skin colour or gender is a genuine kind of racism whereas religion, as something potentially subject to change, is open to unlimited critique. But this claim runs counter to the understanding of the United Nations, which makes no distinction between ethnic and racial discrimination. And yet it seems to many people to have an intuitive justice behind it.
To be prejudiced against a black woman because she is black or because she is a woman (the argument runs) is irrational, but to be prejudiced against a black woman because she is Muslim or Christian is not to be bigoted towards her but rather to pursue rational criticisms against those faith traditions. The tacit basis for this kind of claim is that those aspects of our selves that are not subject to change or choice are the fixed points of reference for our identities, whilst everything else is open to appraisal and can be rejected if it is irrational. While rationality is certainly part of the ideal being applied here, beneath this sort of argument lies a dependence on genetics to resolve questions of diversity.
Misunderstanding DNA
The role of DNA in such accounts is seldom – if ever – noticed. To say that gender, skin colour, and other physical aspects of ethnicity are inviolable aspects of an individual, and that any prejudice against these kinds of traits is bigotry, seems so completely obvious that few people consider the implications of understanding racism in these terms. All of these aspects of a person’s being originate in genetics, and hence in DNA. Religion, on the other hand, is clearly not genetic, which is precisely why it is judged to be something amenable to change and choice, and hence why rational arguments mounted against religions are taken to not constitute racism, no matter what their content.
Unfortunately, this argument rests upon a mythological understanding of ‘DNA as destiny’. It relies upon a division into those things that are unchangeable because they are genetic, and those things that are a matter of individual choice because they are not. Yet our genes do not possess the incredible powers that are being claimed here, nor is the power of choice so great that it can remake us entirely. Our existence as individuals cannot be so neatly divided into fixed genetics on one hand and variable culture on the other. There is of course a trace of scientific fact behind this perspective – but it quickly exceeds the boundaries of the factual and becomes something rather different.
The clearest way of seeing this problem is to look at that other great cultural battlefield – gay rights. It is, I suspect, no coincidence that the conflict over homosexuality in the United States and elsewhere has ended up being couched in terms of ‘lifestyle choices’. As with opposition to religion, the same genetically-influenced premises are being brought to bear upon the situation: if being gay is a matter of personal choice (this argument goes), then opposition to homosexuality can be made a matter of critique, whereas if it were shown that people were gay as a matter of genetics the case would be foreclosed. This, at least, is the assumption. Liberal voices in support of the gay community have tended to assert that the people in question were ‘born this way’, and that we must therefore accept them – to do otherwise is bigotry. How ironic that this depends upon the same premises as the argument mounted against religion by certain liberal agitators!
The problem here is that no-one is ‘born gay’ (since babies have no sexuality of any kind) and neither is homosexuality purely a ‘lifestyle choice’. In the case of sexuality, the nice clean lines of unchangeable genetics against mere choice don’t stack up with the evidence. Scientists have never been able to identify a ‘gay gene’, and twin studies have demonstrated quite convincingly that, even though genes have an influence on how sexuality develops, homosexuality is not simply a matter of genetics. Yet research goes on (now turning to the emerging sciences of epigenetics) in order to secure some scientific basis to include being gay in that list of physical traits that are immune from criticism because they are genetic. Again, the idea of ‘DNA as destiny’ is in play here – and on both sides of the debate, since both liberals and conservatives are depending on this idea, albeit in different situations.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider what would have happened if the situation had turned out differently – if a gay gene had been discovered, and homosexuality had been revealed to be an unequivocal product of genetics like skin colour or gender. Would conservative resistance towards the gay community have been resolved in this situation? Absolutely not. Indeed, it was not long ago that the prevailing narrative in respect of homosexuality was that it was a disease – which might even have been the fallback position for the ‘lifestyle choice’ camp had this link been made as robustly as had once been expected. Traits that originate in genetics are not, after all, automatically subject to uncritical acceptance: sociopathic behaviour has been linked to DNA by some researchers, but no-one would defend sociopaths from criticism on this basis.
Desiring Certainty
The likely reason that people get caught up on questions of genetics in the context of prejudice is that the sciences are among the few practices left that seem to have the power to answer questions in a manner beyond dispute. Thus both liberals and conservatives hope that the work of researchers will end political stalemates in their favour. But this is almost never the case – there is very little that scientists can report that has this strange power to trump ethics and politics. When it comes to prejudice, it doesn’t matter if a trait originates wholly in genetics – what matters is our moral commitments towards the trait in question, not its origins. This is obviously true in the case of liberal support of homosexuality – no scientific evidence is going to weaken the commitment towards the acceptance of gay people in our societies – and it is equally true in the case of religion. It’s just harder to see it, because the underlying assumptions about DNA aren’t in play in these cases.
Religious Nurture
Oddly, the idea of being ‘born this way’ does apply in the case of religion – it simply doesn’t have any genetic component. When a child is born into, say, a Hindu family in India, it is an utterly unchangeable part of their life that their parents are Hindu, and that they will be raised in a cultural context that includes the traditions of this religion. Of course, the child may grow up and reject Hinduism – but nothing they do will change who their parents were, and what their family was like. This rather obvious point is obscured only when people get hung up on the idea that DNA is the only true determinant of diversity; the only solid, factual basis for celebrating individuality. This appears to be why liberal activists were so keen to demonstrate a genetic basis for homosexuality – it would purportedly secure its protection from critique. But this mythic idea of ‘DNA as destiny’ overstates the power of biology to shape individual lives, which have long been known to be a product of both environment and genetics. Indeed, two seeds with identical DNA become different plants when they are grown under different conditions. Who we are is never just a matter of genes; it is always a matter of place and time, of people and things.
Those of us who are committed to accepting diversity and seek to minimize the amount of bigotry in the world cannot afford to cede the moral dimension of this struggle to the sciences. Indeed, it would be foolish to do so because the rhetorical force of the opposing concepts of ‘disease’ and ‘choice’ are always available as putative justifications for prejudice. It should be noted that arguments against religion have even managed to utilise both of these complaints in parallel – conceptualizing religion as a disease some of the time, and justifying bigoted opinions at other times by painting religious identities as a pure matter of choice. The only constant is the commitment to demonizing religion, or, equivalently on the other side of the political fence, to demonizing homosexuality. The unstated reliance on DNA in all these conflicts is little more than post-hoc justification for pre-existing enmity and discrimination.
Does this mean that religious traditions are immune from critique? Certainly not. Neither is the gay community immunized from criticism, or for that matter black communities, scientific research groups, or even nations. We are all subject to moral judgement for our actions, but this must not be confused with the many aspects of our personal identities, and we certainly should not make the mistake of thinking that we can replace ethical discussions about how we shall live together with simple genetic tests. This is a horrific simplification of the difficult task facing us. Prejudice against religion as a whole is a form of bigotry just as much as skin colour prejudice or homophobia, and turning to DNA as arbiter does not evade this. That anyone ever thought genetics could serve as the index of acceptable diversity illustrates that even those who are well-educated in the sciences are capable of making horrendous moral errors.
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About Chris Bateman
Chris Bateman is a game designer, outsider philosopher and author, currently working on a trilogy of philosophy books concerning the role of imagination in human life. The books are titled Imaginary Games, The Mythology of Evolution and Chaos Ethics and are due for publication in 2014. He is also researching the neurobiological basis for play preferences at the University of Bolton.
all, Commentary, Ethics, Philosophy
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Practitioners' Voices in Classical Reception Studies
PVCRS Home
Issue 10 (2019)
David Raeburn
David Raeburn has had a long and distinguished career as a teacher in schools and universities and as a translator and director of Greek plays. He is also the author of books on tragedy and joint author of a commentary on Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. He has worked extensively with school and university students at summer schools. In this interview he looks back on his career and comments on his current work and future plans.
This interview with Lorna Hardwick was recorded in Oxford on Monday 16thJuly, 2018.
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More Die At The Hands Of Miltants As Ogun Is Invaded
Three policemen and four residents of waterside local government area of Ogun state have been reportedly killed by suspected militants. According to news reports, the police officers lost their lives while trying to secure the release of an abducted Chinese expatriate. A resident was said to have been hit by a stray bullet when the…”
Three policemen and four residents of waterside local government area of Ogun state have been reportedly killed by suspected militants.
According to news reports, the police officers lost their lives while trying to secure the release of an abducted Chinese expatriate.
A resident was said to have been hit by a stray bullet when the police officers engaged in a shootout with the suspects.
The gang also struck at the residence of a businessman identified as Rafiu Daramola, carting away N4.7 million.
Three residents were reportedly shot dead before they left the area.
Abimbola Oyeyemi, a spokesperson of the Ogun state police command, confirmed the killing, saying a suspected was arrested and the vehicle used by the suspects was recovered.
“They invaded the businessman’s house, but our policemen were able to repel them. At the end of the encounter, we arrested one of the suspects, while their operational vehicle was recovered,” Oyeyemi said.
“The suspect is helping with the investigation. The state commissioner of police, Ahmad Iliyasu, has deployed some special units of the police, including men from the Federal SARS, mobile police force, anti-kidnapping unit, and other conventional policemen, in the scene to ensure the security of lives and property.”
Source: The Cable
Is FG’s School Feeding Programme Making Impact?
Sanwo-Olu Picks Former Contestant, Femi Hamzat As Running Mate
LG poll: A Massive Triumph For Osun – APC
Court Issues Bench Warrant Against Surety
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Wendy Reaves Bemenderfer - Little Tyrant of Purdy, WA
I had an interesting conversation last night. Wendy Reaves Bemenderfer made a somewhat animated comment about getting in a man's face in public, breathing fire, because she didn't approve of that man's diction. Then decided to brag about it on Facebook. She informed us that she has never been more angry.
Perhaps she is more angry now?
I share this conversation not only because I think it's an interesting look into the heart of a value system that can explain so much in our larger society, but also because a simple conversation that should have been long forgotten by now, has become a contest of free speech. On one side is a woman, Wendy Reaves Bemenderfer, who will get three inches into your face in the public sphere if you use a word she doesn't permit you to use, and will attempt to have you and your speech removed from the public sphere if you do not conform.
When I made the comments above, the self described fire breather defriended me. That is a fine response. Nobody has a duty to provide a platform for others to disagree with them or to criticize them. People may construct whatever bubble they wish to live in. But I felt it was an interesting conversation on parenting and the public sphere, so I brought up the topic on my own private Facebook page. Not wanting Wendy Reaves to feel like she couldn't join in the conversation or defend herself, I made the thread public and sent her the link in case she wanted to join in. She made it clear she was not interested in joining in, so I made the thread private once again.
A long conversation started after I invited several mothers to offer their thoughts. Some supported Wendy, while others did not. It was a worthwhile thread about parenting and civic duty in the public sphere. It was a valuable discussion with differing viewpoints. Or as one of my peers described the conversation:
The post generated nearly 100 thought- provoking comments from many different people, some on her side, some on his. It made everyone involved think about the issue at hand and discuss it in detail.
This morning, however, I was informed that:
This was the one and only mention of Wendy Reaves Bemenderferfor ever made on my Facebook page. While I was critical of her physical intimidation of others in public for their speech, I did not use any hate speech, and did not harass or "cyber bully" her. I didn't even use any, oh my, profanity. I simply disagreed with her.
But it's never really about a particular magically bad word. It's about wanting to control your neighbors.
For some, differing viewpoints cannot be allowed. It's okay for them to get "three inches from [your] face telling [you] what [they think]." But it's not okay for you to tell them what you think, even when far from their physical space. We are all equal, just some are more equal than others.
So an anonymous individual made unspecified allegations about me to Facebook. I was never told who the individual was that made the claim, or the nature of the allegations other than the charge that I had violated "community standards."
Yet another company sides with an individual who wishes to control others in the public sphere, and to censor speech they personally do not like. We see the dangerous fruits of these un-American values throughout our society today, and I believe conversation and debate is vital to change that.
At any rate, for these efforts, the anonymous individual has earned a blog post. Perhaps they will try to have this post censored, too. Either way, the contest of free speech will continue!
Liam McPoyle August 13, 2014 at 11:28 PM
Rick, I philosophically agree with you 100% on this issue but you handled with like a fucking prick. Do you really think that you're going to persuade someone to see things your way by using the same irrational, incendiary tactics that they are? From reading your posts over the last few years, I know that you are much more intelligent and much more rational than this quintessential Facebook poster and you should have approached it with the Socratic method. If you really wanted this lout to see things your way, you should have restrained your emotion and applied reason. I've been guilty of the same so I don't want to come off as sanctimonious and judgmental, but I don't have a dog in this fight so I'm trying to provide an unbiased voice of reason.
"Do you really think that you're going to persuade someone to see things your way..." - Nope. I don't think people at age 40 are persuaded on matters of values. Nothing will convince somebody who wants to censor their neighbors at our age, to become respectful of the liberties of others, and certainly not a person who thinks that words are "bad." That is a level of ignorance that cannot be undone.
"...using the same irrational, incendiary tactics that they are?" - Which tactics are those? I don't remember getting in a person's physical space, I don't remember convincing a restaurant owner to kick out a person who used a word I didn't like, and I don't remember getting a company to delete commentary on somebody's private Facebook page. I remember responding in a conversation.
"If you really wanted this lout to see things your way,..." - See above. What I want, is for the lout to fail in her attempt to censor the speech of others.
Thanks for your response. Reminds me of, well, my response. And it's welcomed here.
PickYourBattles.Net August 18, 2014 at 12:20 PM
The disease of "words in front of kids, bad / violence or the threat of violence in front of kids in response to words, good" is not limited to Wendy Reaves. It stems from a lack of thinking. http://reason.com/blog/2014/08/18/no-fucking-way-woman-arrested-for-cursin
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PYB on Fox News Again
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Museum Campus
“The Past and Future of Manned Space Exploration”
Please join Rick Wallace, Ph.D., who will discuss early space exploration, the Apollo moon landing missions, as well as current and future manned space exploration efforts.
NASA videos will provide a feeling of what it is like to live in space, take a shower and eat dinner on spacecraft, as well as work aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
He will also discuss the plans of private companies interested in establishing bases on the moon and Mars and the prospect of mining asteroids for natural resources that are becoming scare on Earth.
Additionally, the audience can view a variety of scaled model rockets on display for the talks.
Richard Wallace
Rick Wallace has a Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from U.C. Santa Cruz (Lick Observatory), with concentration in numerical calculations of stellar explosions (Novae, Supernovae, Gamma Ray Bursts), and nuclear fusion.
He is currently one of the astronomers who develops and presents presentations for the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium, and is President of the Board of Directors for the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, which runs the Los Alamos Nature Center.
He retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory after 30 years, where he worked on physics simulations, security of Russian nuclear material after the fall of the USSR, and international safeguards. He is currently involved in nature photography, STEM and astronomy education.
Free Auditorium event-bottled water only please.
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Copyright © 2008-2019 New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
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Home > The Private Sector > Figures and Facts About Uk Private Healthcare
Figures and Facts About Uk Private Healthcare
By: Kathryn Senior PhD - Updated: 25 Aug 2012 | *Discuss
Facts and figures about the private health sector in the UK are surprisingly hard to come by.
There is no central authority or organisation responsible for collating data from the many different private healthcare providers and private hospitals.
Some of the statistics are published but in the form of reports and analyses that are then provided for a fee, often quite a large one.
Also, because of the scale of private medicine and the frequent changes that occur within the sector and between private medicine and the NHS, data is often out of date when published.
Looking at the provision of health services as a whole in the UK in 2008, which provides 7% of all the jobs in Britain, 21% of health professionals were employed in the private sector compared to 73% of health professionals who worked within the National Health Service. The remainder were made up from volunteer workers.
The number of beds available in the private sector, in acute hospitals, has increased during the last decade. The number of beds available in the NHS has decreased over that period. However, the greatest number of beds in the private sector is still within the private nursing homes.
UK Private hospitals provide around 11,200 beds for in-hospital stays.
The number of beds available in private hospitals for treating mental illness rose to 8647 in 2008, which represents an increase of 35% in just 5 years. The private sector provides 24% of all beds for mental health patients with the remainder in the NHS.
Spending on Private Healthcare
The amount of money that people spent on private health care in 2008 dropped compared 2007 because of the economic recession. In 2007, people spent £520 million on private health with £146 million and that going on cosmetic surgery bills. In 2008 the total had fallen to £515 million but the spending on cosmetic procedures had increased to £170 million. This suggests that people are spending less on treatments for their health and more on treatments for their physical appearance.
The overall income for the private health sector in the UK in 2007 was £3.2 billion.
Private Medical Insurance
Four and a quarter million people in the UK had private medical insurance as the start of 2008. Private medical insurance and schemes for self-insurance was in place for nearly 7.5 million people, over 12% of the UK’s population.
Private Healthcare Providers
Private healthcare in the UK is dominated by the NHS (which has the largest number of private beds in its private patient units) and the five largest private companies BMI Healthcare, Nuffield, BUPA, Capio Healthcare UK and HCA International. There are small groups that run private hospitals that operate regionally in the UK.
Costs of Treatment
The costs of different operations vary depending on their complexity and also which hospital carries out the surgery. Some examples of common operations and their likely costs are: Hip replacement £7000 - £9000; Cataract removal £1800 - £2900; Facelift £4200 - £5800; Knee replacement £8800 -£10 300; Ear correction (for ears that stick out) £1100 - £2800.
Costs of medical treatment are in general very high because of the equipment and number of medical staff required. Cancer treatment is possible in the private sector but the treatments required such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy are incredibly expensive and a course of treatment can run into the hundreds of thousands.
Access to Private Medicine
Some types of treatment that are available privately cannot be accessed without going through your GP first. However, for others, you can make an appointment directly with a doctor in a private hospital. Examples include screening tests, courses of physiotherapy and cosmetic surgery.
People who pay for medical treatment in the private sector using health insurance may need to have their insurance claim form signed off by their own doctor. Some doctors make a charge for this.
Self Pay: Important Considerations
Facts and Figures: Costs of Private Treatment
Paternity Testing in the Private Sector
Sports Injury Clinics in the Private Sector
Private Healthcare Regulations
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Schreuder, Dr Pieter Juriaan van der Heyde (animal science)
Born: 1885, Boshof, Free State, South Africa.
Died: 12 May 1950, Pretoria, South Africa.
Pieter Juriaan van der Heyde Schreuder attended the high school at Franschhoek, Western Cape, and passed the matriculation examination of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1906. He continued his studies at Victoria College, Stellenbosch (forerunner of the University of Stellenbosch) and in 1911 was awarded the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in literature and science. He then proceeded to the United States to study further at Cornell University at Ithaca, New York State, which awarded him the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1915. His thesis was entitled The Cape horse, its origin, breeding and development in the Union of South Africa.
Upon his return to South Africa Schreuder appears to have been employed in the Department of Agriculture, for during 1916-1917 he compiled notes on the production and export of beef. During the late nineteen-twenties he worked in South West Africa (now Namibia). With D.H. Thompson he wrote an article on 'Karakoel-skaapboerdery' (Karakul sheep farming) in the South West African Farmer (1928). The article was reprinted as a pamphlet by the Department of Agriculture of the territory (Windhoek, 1928, 14p). At this time Schreuder was a member of the South West Africa Scientific Society and served on its council for 1928/9. Back in South Africa twenty years later he and F.B. Wright wrote The horse on the farm (Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 293, 1948).
Schreuder married Helena Elizabeth Jacomina Lewis, but they were divorced in 1938. He was survived by his second wife, Olive Claudine Bosscher, but had no surviving children.
Google Scholar, at http://scholar.google.co.za Publication by P.J.v.d.H. Schreuder.
Journal of the South West Africa Scientific Society, 1928/9, Vol. 4: Council.
Logan, R.F. Bibliography of South West Africa, geography and related fields. Windhoek: SWA Scientific Society, 1969.
National Archives Repository (TAB), Source MHG, Vol. 0, Ref. 2477/50. Death notice, Pieter Juriaan van der Heyde Schreuder.
National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS), at http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Pieter Juriaan van der Heyde Schreuder.
University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1907/8 to 1917/8.
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Hailing Gay Spokesman’s Resignation, Religious Right Keeps up the Pressure on Romney
By Brian Tashman | May 3, 2012 11:00 am
Following the resignation of openly gay Romney campaign foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell, who was roundly criticized by conservative activists for his sexual orientation, the Romney campaign has tried to spin the issue by saying that his resignation had nothing to do with him being gay. However, the campaign told him to keep quiet on a major foreign policy call with reporters and never defended him from the attacks. When Grenell announced his resignation he noted, “My ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign.”
As one Republican adviser told the New York Times that while campaign staffers didn’t see Grenell’s sexual orientation as an issue, “they didn’t want to confront the religious right.”
After Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association called Grenell’s resignation a “huge win” for the Religious Right, he later wrote that since Romney is partial to “political convenience” over “political conviction,” conservatives must keep up the pressure on him “since the governor has demonstrated in the Grenell affair that he is maneuverable”:
So Romney went the full Etch-A-Sketch on us twice. He campaigned in the primary as a champion of natural marriage. Then as soon as he locked up the nomination, he shook the tablet clean and hired a same-sex marriage zealot as his spokesman. Then when the windsock shifted directions again, he shook the tablet once more and all traces of Richard Grenell disappeared. If the governor is not careful, he’s going to sprain his wrist one of these days shaking that thing.
Gov. Romney is a politician rather than a statesman. While he will not do the right thing out of political conviction, he will do the right thing out of political convenience. This represents both a great challenge and a great opportunity for the pro-family community, since the governor has demonstrated in the Grenell affair that he is maneuverable.
The Grenell resignation represents a huge win for the forces defending the family in America, since it will be a long time before the governor appoints another homosexual activist to a prominent position in his campaign.
Since Gov. Romney will do the right thing when it is politically expedient, it’s our job to make it politically expedient for him to do the right thing on as many issues as possible. Let’s get cracking.
Yesterday, conservative talk show host Janet Mefferd also welcomed the news of Grenell’s resignation, saying that Republicans shouldn’t hire God-hating gays because they intend to trample over the rights and freedoms of Christians.
Like Fischer, Mefferd also went after Romney, saying that since “he evolves all the time, he flips all the time, he comes to new understandings all the time” and “doesn’t seem to have much of a core,” he may be willing to side with either “gay activists” or opponents of gay rights depending on who carries the most political weight.
Mefferd said, “I don’t what to be misunderstood on this, but if you continue to push the Republican Party to the left on the gay rights issue, we’re all dead—I mean, not dead literally—but Christians will pay the price for this”:
I think it was appropriate that he resigned, I think it was inappropriate to put him in that position in the first place as the presumptive presidential nominee for the GOP, the reason I say this and I’m going to reiterate it because I want to be clear what my objection is, my objection is the whole issue we’re seeing in our culture with gay rights trumping freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and it’s on the march, and we’ve seen it in a lot of different instances across the country. I think it’s foolish for the party that has stood up in defense of marriage so strongly, oh by the way the Democrats stood up for marriage once upon a time in DOMA although it’s fallen out of favor now, but you can’t be the party of freedom and the Constitution if you’re not going to understand that the Constitution enshrines the First Amendment and not gay rights.
When you have people who are gay activists on the Republican side, what happens? What do you think is going to happen? You’re going to have people, especially somebody like Mitt Romney, he evolves all the time, he flips all the time, he comes to new understandings all the time, this is the problem with having a nominee that doesn’t seem to have much of a core and that ends up being a problem for people who actually want principle to trump votes. Not every Republican feels that way, by the way, and I’m not trying to be mean to individual people, I don’t what to be misunderstood on this, but if you continue to push the Republican Party to the left on the gay rights issue, we’re all dead—I mean, not dead literally—but Christians will pay the price for this.
They hate the Bible, they hate God, they hate you, but that doesn’t mean we have to roll over and die, it doesn’t mean we have to be quiet on the issue, it’s about freedom, it’s about freedom for Christians to follow the word of God.
Tags: Bryan Fischer Janet Mefferd Mitt Romney Anti-Gay Election 2012
Religious Right Activists: God Will Punish America For Gay Marriage
Ted Cruz: Gay Community Waging ‘Jihad’ Against Religious Freedom
Jim Garlow: Religious ‘Onslaught’ Needed To Fight ‘Demonic’ Gay Marriage
Religious Right Lawyer Debunks Religious Right’s Favorite Talking Point On Gay Marriage
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Patent application title: METHOD FOR DISPLAYING MULTIPLE DEPTH PLANES THROUGH VARIABLE FOCUS ELEMENTS
Inventors: Brian T. Schowengerdt (Seattle, WA, US) Brian T. Schowengerdt (Seattle, WA, US)
Assignees: Magic Leap, Inc.
IPC8 Class: AG06T1900FI
USPC Class:
Class name:
Configurations are disclosed for presenting virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to users. The system may comprise an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a light modulator configured to transmit light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a substrate to direct image information to a user's eye, wherein the substrate houses a plurality of reflectors, a first reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect transmitted light associated with a first frame of image data at a first angle to the user's eye, and a second reflector to reflect transmitted light associated with a second frame of the image data at a second angle to the user's eye.
1. A system for displaying virtual content to a user, comprising: a light source to multiplex one or more light patterns associated with one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner; a waveguide to receive the one or more light patterns and direct the light patterns to a first focus; and a variable focus element (VFE) coupled to the waveguide to direct at least some of the light patterns to a second focus, wherein the VFE is integrated into the waveguide.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is telecentric.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is non-telecentric.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a compensating lens such that the user's view of the outside world is undistorted.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of frames are presented to the user at a high frequency such that the user perceives the frames as part of a single coherent scene, wherein the VFE varies the focus from a first frame to a second frame.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the light source is a scanned light display, and wherein the VFE varies the focus in a line-by-line manner.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the light source is a scanned light display, and wherein the VFE varies the focus in a pixel-by-pixel manner.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is a diffractive lens.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is a refractive lens.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is a reflective mirror.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the reflective mirror is opaque.
12. The system of claim 10, wherein the reflective mirror is partially reflective.
13. The system of claim 1, further comprising an accommodation module to track an accommodation of a user's eyes, and wherein the VFE varies the focus of the light patterns based at least in part on the accommodation of the user's eyes.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the accommodation module tracks accommodation indirectly, by tracking the vergence or gaze of the user's eyes.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the partially reflective mirror has relatively high reflectance for the polarization of light provided by the light source, and relative low reflectance for the other polarization states of light provided by the outside world.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of partially reflective mirrors comprises a dielectric coating.
17. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of reflective mirrors has relatively high reflectance for the waveguides for the wavelengths of light provided by the light source, and relatively low reflectance for the other waveguides of light provided by the outside world.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is a deformable mirror, the surface shape of which can be varied over time.
19. The system of claim 1, wherein the VFE is an electrostatically actuated membrane mirror, and wherein the waveguide or an additional transparent layer comprises one or more substantially transparent electrodes, and wherein a voltage applied to the one or more electrodes electrostatically deforms the membrane mirror.
20. The system of claim 1, wherein the light source is a scanned light display, and wherein the VFE varies the focus on a line segment basis.
21. The system of claim 1, wherein the waveguide comprises an exit pupil expansion function, wherein an input ray of light is split and outcoupled as multiple rays of light exiting the waveguide at multiple locations.
22. The system of claim 1, wherein the image data is scaled by a processor in accordance with and to compensate for changing optical image magnification, before the waveguide receives the one or more light patterns, such that the image magnification appears to remain substantially fixed while adjusting focus level.
[0001] This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/555,585, filed Nov. 27, 2014, entitled VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEMS AND METHODS, which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/909,774, filed Nov. 27, 2013, entitled "VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEMS AND METHODS". The contents of the aforementioned applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present application their entireties.
[0002] The present disclosure relates to virtual reality and augmented reality imaging and visualization systems.
[0003] Modern computing and display technologies have facilitated the development of systems for so called "virtual reality" or "augmented reality" experiences, wherein digitally reproduced images or portions thereof are presented to a user in a manner wherein they seem to be, or may be perceived as, real. A virtual reality, or "VR", scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information without transparency to other actual real-world visual input; an augmented reality, or "AR", scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information as an augmentation to visualization of the actual world around the user. For example, referring to FIG. 1, an augmented reality scene (4) is depicted wherein a user of an AR technology sees a real-world park-like setting (6) featuring people, trees, buildings in the background, and a concrete platform (1120). In addition to these items, the user of the AR technology also perceives that he "sees" a robot statue (1110) standing upon the real-world platform (1120), and a cartoon-like avatar character (2) flying by which seems to be a personification of a bumble bee, even though these elements (2, 1110) do not exist in the real world. As it turns out, the human visual perception system is very complex, and producing a VR or AR technology that facilitates a comfortable, natural-feeling, rich presentation of virtual image elements amongst other virtual or real-world imagery elements is challenging.
[0004] Referring to FIG. 2A, stereoscopic wearable glasses (8) type configurations have been developed which generally feature two displays (10, 12) that are configured to display images with slightly different element presentation such that a three-dimensional perspective is perceived by the human visual system. Such configurations have been found to be uncomfortable for many users due to a mismatch between vergence and accommodation which must be overcome to perceive the images in three dimensions; indeed, some users are not able to tolerate stereoscopic configurations. FIG. 2B shows another stereoscopic wearable glasses (14) type configuration featuring two forward-oriented cameras (16, 18) configured to capture images for an augmented reality presentation to the user through stereoscopic displays. The position of the cameras (16, 18) and displays generally blocks the natural field of view of the user when the glasses (14) are mounted on the user's head.
[0005] Referring to FIG. 2C, an augmented reality configuration (20) is shown which features a visualization module (26) coupled to a glasses frame (24) which also holds conventional glasses lenses (22). The user is able to see an at least partially unobstructed view of the real world with such a system, and has a small display (28) with which digital imagery may be presented in an AR configuration to one eye--for a monocular AR presentation. FIG. 2D features a configuration wherein a visualization module (32) may be coupled to a hat or helmet (30) and configured to present monocular augmented digital imagery to a user through a small display (34). FIG. 2E illustrates another similar configuration wherein a frame (36) couple-able to a user's head in a manner similar to an eyeglasses coupling so that a visualization module (38) may be utilized to capture images and also present monocular augmented digital imagery to a user through a small display (40). Such a configuration is available, for example, from Google, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. under the trade name GoogleGlass®. None of these configurations is optimally suited for presenting a rich, binocular, three-dimensional augmented reality experience in a manner that will be comfortable and maximally useful to the user, in part because prior systems fail to address some of the fundamental aspects of the human perception system, including the photoreceptors of the retina and their interoperation with the brain to produce the perception of visualization to the user.
[0006] Referring to FIG. 3, a simplified cross-sectional view of a human eye is depicted featuring a cornea (42), iris (44), lens--or "crystalline lens" (46), sclera (48), choroid layer (50), macula (52), retina (54), and optic nerve pathway (56) to the brain. The macula is the center of the retina, which is utilized to see moderate detail; at the center of the macula is a portion of the retina that is referred to as the "fovea", which is utilized for seeing the finest details, and which contains more photoreceptors (approximately 120 cones per visual degree) than any other portion of the retina. The human visual system is not a passive sensor type of system; it is configured to actively scan the environment. In a manner somewhat akin to use of a flatbed scanner to capture an image, or use of a finger to read Braille from a paper, the photoreceptors of the eye fire in response to changes in stimulation, rather than constantly responding to a constant state of stimulation. Thus motion is required to present photoreceptor information to the brain (as is motion of the linear scanner array across a piece of paper in a flatbed scanner, or motion of a finger across a word of Braille imprinted into a paper). Indeed, experiments with substances such as cobra venom, which has been utilized to paralyze the muscles of the eye, have shown that a human subject will experience blindness if positioned with his eyes open, viewing a static scene with venom-induced paralysis of the eyes. In other words, without changes in stimulation, the photoreceptors do not provide input to the brain and blindness is experienced. It is believed that this is at least one reason that the eyes of normal humans have been observed to move back and forth, or dither, in side-to-side motion in what are called "microsaccades".
[0007] As noted above, the fovea of the retina contains the greatest density of photoreceptors, and while humans typically have the perception that they have high-resolution visualization capabilities throughout their field of view, they generally actually have only a small high-resolution center that they are mechanically sweeping around a lot, along with a persistent memory of the high-resolution information recently captured with the fovea. In a somewhat similar manner, the focal distance control mechanism of the eye (ciliary muscles operatively coupled to the crystalline lens in a manner wherein ciliary relaxation causes taut ciliary connective fibers to flatten out the lens for more distant focal lengths; ciliary contraction causes loose ciliary connective fibers, which allow the lens to assume a more rounded geometry for more close-in focal lengths) dithers back and forth by approximately 1/4 to 1/2 diopter to cyclically induce a small amount of what is called "dioptric blur" on both the close side and far side of the targeted focal length; this is utilized by the accommodation control circuits of the brain as cyclical negative feedback that helps to constantly correct course and keep the retinal image of a fixated object approximately in focus.
[0008] The visualization center of the brain also gains valuable perception information from the motion of both eyes and components thereof relative to each other. Vergence movements (i.e., rolling movements of the pupils toward or away from each other to converge the lines of sight of the eyes to fixate upon an object) of the two eyes relative to each other are closely associated with focusing (or "accommodation") of the lenses of the eyes. Under normal conditions, changing the focus of the lenses of the eyes, or accommodating the eyes, to focus upon an object at a different distance will automatically cause a matching change in vergence to the same distance, under a relationship known as the "accommodation-vergence reflex." Likewise, a change in vergence will trigger a matching change in accommodation, under normal conditions. Working against this reflex, as do most conventional stereoscopic AR or VR configurations, is known to produce eye fatigue, headaches, or other forms of discomfort in users.
[0009] Movement of the head, which houses the eyes, also has a key impact upon visualization of objects. Humans move their heads to visualize the world around them; they often are in a fairly constant state of repositioning and reorienting the head relative to an object of interest. Further, most people prefer to move their heads when their eye gaze needs to move more than about 20 degrees off center to focus on a particular object (i.e., people do not typically like to look at things "from the corner of the eye"). Humans also typically scan or move their heads in relation to sounds--to improve audio signal capture and utilize the geometry of the ears relative to the head. The human visual system gains powerful depth cues from what is called "head motion parallax", which is related to the relative motion of objects at different distances as a function of head motion and eye vergence distance (i.e., if a person moves his head from side to side and maintains fixation on an object, items farther out from that object will move in the same direction as the head; items in front of that object will move opposite the head motion; these are very salient cues for where things are spatially in the environment relative to the person--perhaps as powerful as stereopsis). Head motion also is utilized to look around objects, of course.
[0010] Further, head and eye motion are coordinated with something called the "vestibulo-ocular reflex", which stabilizes image information relative to the retina during head rotations, thus keeping the object image information approximately centered on the retina. In response to a head rotation, the eyes are reflexively and proportionately rotated in the opposite direction to maintain stable fixation on an object. As a result of this compensatory relationship, many humans can read a book while shaking their head back and forth (interestingly, if the book is panned back and forth at the same speed with the head approximately stationary, the same generally is not true--the person is not likely to be able to read the moving book; the vestibulo-ocular reflex is one of head and eye motion coordination, generally not developed for hand motion). This paradigm may be important for augmented reality systems, because head motions of the user may be associated relatively directly with eye motions, and the system preferably will be ready to work with this relationship.
[0011] Indeed, given these various relationships, when placing digital content (e.g., 3-D content such as a virtual chandelier object presented to augment a real-world view of a room; or 2-D content such as a planar/flat virtual oil painting object presented to augment a real-world view of a room), design choices may be made to control behavior of the objects. For example, the 2-D oil painting object may be head-centric, in which case the object moves around along with the user's head (e.g., as in a GoogleGlass approach); or the object may be world-centric, in which case it may be presented as though it is part of the real world coordinate system, so that the user may move his head or eyes without moving the position of the object relative to the real world.
[0012] Thus when placing virtual content into the augmented reality world presented with an augmented reality system, whether the object should be presented as world centric (i.e., the virtual object stays in position in the real world so that the user may move his body, head, eyes around it without changing its position relative to the real world objects surrounding it, such as a real world wall); body, or torso, centric, in which case a virtual element may be fixed relative to the user's torso, so that the user can move his head or eyes without moving the object, but that is slaved to torso movements; head centric, in which case the displayed object (and/or display itself) may be moved along with head movements, as described above in reference to GoogleGlass; or eye centric, as in a "foveated display" configuration, as is described below, wherein content is slewed around as a function of what the eye position is.
[0013] With world-centric configurations, it may be desirable to have inputs such as accurate head pose measurement, accurate representation and/or measurement of real world objects and geometries around the user, low-latency dynamic rendering in the augmented reality display as a function of head pose, and a generally low-latency display.
[0014] The systems and techniques described herein are configured to work with the visual configuration of the typical human to address these challenges.
[0015] Embodiments of the present invention are directed to devices, systems and methods for facilitating virtual reality and/or augmented reality interaction for one or more users. In one aspect, a system for displaying virtual content is disclosed.
[0016] In one or more embodiment, the system comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a light modulator configured to transmit light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a substrate to direct image information to a user's eye, wherein the substrate houses a plurality of reflectors, a first reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect light associated with a first frame of image data at a first angle to the user's eye, and a second reflector of the plurality of reflectors to reflect light associated with a second frame of image data at a second angle to the user's eye.
[0017] In another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data in a time-sequential manner, a display assembly to project light rays associated with the one or more frames of image data, the display assembly comprises a first display element corresponding to a first frame-rate and a first bit depth, and a second display element corresponding to a second frame-rate and a second bit depth, and a variable focus element (VFE) configurable to vary a focus of the projected light and transmit the light to the user's eye.
[0018] In yet another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content comprises an array of optical fibers to transmit light beams associated with an image to be presented to a user, and a lens coupled to the array of the optical fibers to deflect a plurality of light beams output by the array of optical fibers through a single nodal point, wherein the lens is physically attached to the optical fibers such that a movement of the optical fiber causes the lens to move, and wherein the single nodal point is scanned.
[0019] In another embodiment, a virtual reality display system comprises a plurality of optical fibers to generate light beams associated with one or more images to be presented to a user, and a plurality of phase modulators coupled to the plurality of optical fibers to modulate the light beams, wherein the plurality of phase modulators modulate the light in a manner that affects a wavefront generated as a result of the plurality of light beams.
[0020] In one embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content to a user comprises a light projection system to project light associated with one or more frames of image data to a user's eyes, the light project system configured to project light corresponding to a plurality of pixels associated with the image data and a processor to modulate a size of the plurality of pixels displayed to the user.
[0021] In one embodiment, a system of displaying virtual content to a user, comprises an image-generating source to provide one or more frames of image data, a multicore assembly comprising a plurality of multicore fibers to project light associated with the one or more frames of image data, a multicore fiber of the plurality of multicore fibers emitting light in a wavefront, such that the multicore assembly produces an aggregate wavefront of the projected light, and a phase modulator to induce phase delays between the multicore fibers in a manner such that the aggregate wavefront emitted by the multicore assembly is varied, thereby varying a focal distance at which the user perceives the one or more frames of image data.
[0022] In another embodiment, a system for displaying virtual content to a user comprises an array of microprojectors to project light beams associated with one or more frames of image data to be presented to the user, wherein the microprojector is configurable to be movable relative to one or more microprojectors of the array of the microprojectors,
a frame to house the array of microprojectors, a processor operatively coupled to the one or more microprojectors of the array of microprojectors to control one or more light beams transmitted from the one or more projectors in a manner such that the one or more light beams are modulated as a function of a position of the one or more microprojectors relative to the array of microprojectors, thereby enabling delivery of a lightfield image to the user.
[0023] Additional and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are described in the detail description, figures and claims.
[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates a user's view of augmented reality (AR) through a wearable AR user device, in one illustrated embodiment.
[0025] FIGS. 2A-2E illustrates various embodiments of wearable AR devices.
[0026] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the human eye, in one illustrated embodiment.
[0027] FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate one or more embodiments of various internal processing components of the wearable AR device.
[0028] FIGS. 5A-5H illustrate embodiments of transmitting focused light to a user through a transmissive beamsplitter substrate.
[0029] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate embodiments of coupling a lens element with the transmissive beamsplitter substrate of FIGS. 5A-5H.
[0030] FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate embodiments of using one or more waveguides to transmit light to a user.
[0031] FIGS. 8A-8Q illustrate embodiments of a diffractive optical element (DOE).
[0032] FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a wavefront produced from a light projector, according to one illustrated embodiment.
[0033] FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a stacked configuration of multiple transmissive beamsplitter substrate coupled with optical elements, according to one illustrated embodiment.
[0034] FIGS. 11A-11C illustrate a set of beamlets projected into a user's pupil, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0035] FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate configurations of an array of microprojectors, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0036] FIGS. 13A-13M illustrate embodiments of coupling microprojectors with optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0037] FIGS. 14A-14F illustrate embodiments of spatial light modulators coupled with optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0038] FIGS. 15A-150 illustrate the use of a wedge type waveguides along with a plurality of light sources, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0039] FIGS. 16A-16O illustrate embodiments of coupling optical elements to optical fibers, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0040] FIG. 17 illustrates a notch filter, according to one illustrated embodiment.
[0041] FIG. 18 illustrates a spiral pattern of a fiber scanning display, according to one illustrated embodiment.
[0042] FIGS. 19A-19N illustrate occlusion effects in presenting a darkfield to a user, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0043] FIGS. 20A-200 illustrate embodiments of various waveguide assemblies, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0044] FIGS. 21A-21N illustrate various configurations of DOEs coupled to other optical elements, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0045] FIGS. 22A-22Y illustrate various configurations of freeform optics, according to the illustrated embodiments.
[0046] Referring to FIGS. 4A-4D, some general componentry options are illustrated. In the portions of the detailed description which follow the discussion of FIGS. 4A-4D, various systems, subsystems, and components are presented for addressing the objectives of providing a high-quality, comfortably-perceived display system for human VR and/or AR.
[0047] As shown in FIG. 4A, an AR system user (60) is depicted wearing a frame (64) structure coupled to a display system (62) positioned in front of the eyes of the user. A speaker (66) is coupled to the frame (64) in the depicted configuration and positioned adjacent the ear canal of the user (in one embodiment, another speaker, not shown, is positioned adjacent the other ear canal of the user to provide for stereo/shapeable sound control). The display (62) is operatively coupled (68), such as by a wired lead or wireless connectivity, to a local processing and data module (70) which may be mounted in a variety of configurations, such as fixedly attached to the frame (64), fixedly attached to a helmet or hat (80) as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4B, embedded in headphones, removably attached to the torso (82) of the user (60) in a backpack-style configuration as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4C, or removably attached to the hip (84) of the user (60) in a belt-coupling style configuration as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4D.
[0048] The local processing and data module (70) may comprise a power-efficient processor or controller, as well as digital memory, such as flash memory, both of which may be utilized to assist in the processing, caching, and storage of data a) captured from sensors which may be operatively coupled to the frame (64), such as image capture devices (such as cameras), microphones, inertial measurement units, accelerometers, compasses, GPS units, radio devices, and/or gyros; and/or b) acquired and/or processed using the remote processing module (72) and/or remote data repository (74), possibly for passage to the display (62) after such processing or retrieval. The local processing and data module (70) may be operatively coupled (76, 78), such as via a wired or wireless communication links, to the remote processing module (72) and remote data repository (74) such that these remote modules (72, 74) are operatively coupled to each other and available as resources to the local processing and data module (70).
[0049] In one embodiment, the remote processing module (72) may comprise one or more relatively powerful processors or controllers configured to analyze and process data and/or image information. In one embodiment, the remote data repository (74) may comprise a relatively large-scale digital data storage facility, which may be available through the internet or other networking configuration in a "cloud" resource configuration. In one embodiment, all data is stored and all computation is performed in the local processing and data module, allowing fully autonomous use from any remote modules.
[0050] Referring to FIGS. 5A through 22Y, various display configurations are presented that are designed to present the human eyes with photon-based radiation patterns that can be comfortably perceived as augmentations to physical reality, with high-levels of image quality and three-dimensional perception, as well as being capable of presenting two-dimensional content.
[0051] Referring to FIG. 5A, in a simplified example, a transmissive beamsplitter substrate (104) with a 45-degree reflecting surface (102) directs incoming radiation (106), which may be output from a lens (not shown), through the pupil (45) of the eye (58) and to the retina (54). The field of view for such a system is limited by the geometry of the beamsplitter (104). To accommodate the desire to have comfortable viewing with minimal hardware, in one embodiment, a larger field of view can be created by aggregating the outputs/reflections of various different reflective and/or diffractive surfaces and using, e.g., a frame-sequential configuration wherein eye (58) is presented with a sequence of frames at high frequency that provides the perception of a single coherent scene. As an alternative to, or in addition to, presenting different image data via different reflectors in a time-sequential fashion, the reflectors may separate content by other means, such as polarization selectivity or wavelength selectivity. In addition to being capable of relaying two-dimensional images, the reflectors can relay the three-dimensional wavefronts associated with true-three-dimensional viewing of actual physical objects.
[0052] Referring to FIG. 5B, a substrate (108) comprising a plurality of reflectors at a plurality of angles (110) is shown, with each reflector actively reflecting in the depicted configuration for illustrative purposes. The reflectors may be switchable elements to facilitate temporal selectivity. In one embodiment, the reflective surfaces would intentionally be sequentially activated with frame-sequential input information (106), in which each reflective surface presents a narrow field of view sub-image which is tiled with other narrow field of view sub-images presented by the other reflective surfaces to form a composite wide field of view image. For example, referring to FIGS. 5C, 5D, and 5E, surface (110), about in the middle of substrate (108), is switched "on" to a reflecting state, such that it reflects incoming image information (106) to present a relatively narrow field of view sub-image in the middle of a larger field of view, while the other potential reflective surfaces are in a transmissive state.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 5C, incoming image information (106) coming from the right of the narrow field of view sub-image (as shown by the angle of incoming beams 106 relative to the substrate 108 input interface 112, and the resultant angle at which they exit the substrate 108) is reflected toward the eye (58) from reflective surface (110). FIG. 5D illustrates the same reflector (110) active, with image information coming from the middle of the narrow field of view sub-image, as shown by the angle of the input information (106) at the input interface (112) and its angle as it exits substrate (108). FIG. 5E illustrates the same reflector (110) active, with image information coming from the left of the field of view, as shown by the angle of the input information (106) at the input interface (112) and the resultant exit angle at the surface of the substrate (108). FIG. 5F illustrates a configuration wherein the bottom reflector (110) is active, with image information (106) coming in from the far right of the overall field of view. For example, FIGS. 5C, 5D, and 5E can illustrate one frame representing the center of a frame-sequential tiled image, and FIG. 5F can illustrate a second frame representing the far right of that tiled image.
[0054] In one embodiment, the light carrying the image information (106) may strike the reflective surface (110) directly after entering substrate (108) at input interface (112), without first reflecting from the surfaces of substrate (108). In one embodiment, the light carrying the image information (106) may reflect from one or more surfaces of substrate (108) after entering at input interface (112) and before striking the reflective surface (110); for instance, substrate (108) may act as a planar waveguide, propagating the light carrying image information (106) by total internal reflection. Light may also reflect from one or more surfaces of the substrate (108) from a partially reflective coating, a wavelength-selective coating, an angle-selective coating, and/or a polarization-selective coating.
[0055] In one embodiment, the angled reflectors may be constructed using an electro-active material, such that upon application of a voltage and/or current to a particular reflector, the refractive index of the material comprising such reflector changes from an index substantially matched to the rest of the substrate (108), in which case the reflector is in a transmissive configuration, to a reflective configuration wherein the refractive index of the reflector mismatches the refractive index of the substrate (108) such that a reflection effect is created. Example electro-active material includes lithium niobate and electro-active polymers. Suitable substantially transparent electrodes for controlling a plurality of such reflectors may comprise materials such as indium tin oxide, which is utilized in liquid crystal displays.
[0056] In one embodiment, the electro-active reflectors (110) may comprise liquid crystal, embedded in a substrate (108) host medium such as glass or plastic. In some variations, liquid crystal may be selected that changes refractive index as a function of an applied electric signal, so that more analog changes may be accomplished as opposed to binary (from one transmissive state to one reflective state). In an embodiment wherein 6 sub-images are to be presented to the eye frame-sequential to form a large tiled image with an overall refresh rate of 60 frames per second, it is desirable to have an input display that can refresh at the rate of about 360 Hz, with an electro-active reflector array that can keep up with such frequency. In one embodiment, lithium niobate may be utilized as an electro-active reflective material as opposed to liquid crystal; lithium niobate is utilized in the photonics industry for high-speed switches and fiber optic networks and has the capability to switch refractive index in response to an applied voltage at a very high frequency; this high frequency may be used to steer line-sequential or pixel-sequential sub-image information, especially if the input display is a scanned light display, such as a fiber-scanned display or scanning mirror-based display.
[0057] In another embodiment, a variable switchable angled mirror configuration may comprise one or more high-speed mechanically repositionable reflective surfaces, such as a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) device. A MEMS device may include what is known as a "digital mirror device", or "DMD", (often part of a "digital light processing", or "DLP" system, such as those available from Texas Instruments, Inc.). In another electromechanical embodiment, a plurality of air-gapped (or in vacuum) reflective surfaces could be mechanically moved in and out of place at high frequency. In another electromechanical embodiment, a single reflective surface may be moved up and down and re-pitched at very high frequency.
[0058] Referring to FIG. 5G, it is notable that the switchable variable angle reflector configurations described herein are capable of passing not only collimated or flat wavefront information to the retina (54) of the eye (58), but also curved wavefront (122) image information, as shown in the illustration of FIG. 5G. This generally is not the case with other waveguide-based configurations, wherein total internal reflection of curved wavefront information causes undesirable complications, and therefore the inputs generally must be collimated. The ability to pass curved wavefront information facilitates the ability of configurations such as those shown in FIGS. 5B-5H to provide the retina (54) with input perceived as focused at various distances from the eye (58), not just optical infinity (which would be the interpretation of collimated light absent other cues).
[0059] Referring to FIG. 5H, in another embodiment, an array of static partially reflective surfaces (116) (i.e., always in a reflective mode; in another embodiment, they may be electro-active, as above) may be embedded in a substrate (114) with a high-frequency gating layer (118) controlling outputs to the eye (58) by only allowing transmission through an aperture (120) which is controllably movable. In other words, everything may be selectively blocked except for transmissions through the aperture (120). The gating layer (118) may comprise a liquid crystal array, a lithium niobate array, an array of MEMS shutter elements, an array of DLP DMD elements, or an array of other MEMS devices configured to pass or transmit with relatively high-frequency switching and high transmissibility upon being switched to transmission mode.
[0060] Referring to FIGS. 6A-6B, other embodiments are depicted wherein arrayed optical elements may be combined with exit pupil expansion configurations to assist with the comfort of the virtual or augmented reality experience of the user. With a larger "exit pupil" for the optics configuration, the user's eye positioning relative to the display (which, as in FIGS. 4A-4D, may be mounted on the user's head in an eyeglasses sort of configuration) is not as likely to disrupt his experience--because due to the larger exit pupil of the system, there is a larger acceptable area wherein the user's anatomical pupil may be located to still receive the information from the display system as desired. In other words, with a larger exit pupil, the system is less likely to be sensitive to slight misalignments of the display relative to the user's anatomical pupil, and greater comfort for the user may be achieved through less geometric constraint on his or her relationship with the display/glasses.
[0061] As shown in FIG. 6A, the display (140) on the left feeds a set of parallel rays into the substrate (124). In one embodiment, the display may be a scanned fiber display scanning a narrow beam of light back and forth at an angle as shown to project an image through the lens or other optical element (142), which may be utilized to collect the angularly-scanned light and convert it to a parallel bundle of rays. The rays may be reflected from a series of reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) which may be configured to partially reflect and partially transmit incoming light so that the light may be shared across the group of reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) approximately equally. With a small lens (138) placed at each exit point from the waveguide (124), the exiting light rays may be steered through a nodal point and scanned out toward the eye (58) to provide an array of exit pupils, or the functional equivalent of one large exit pupil that is usable by the user as he or she gazes toward the display system.
[0062] For virtual reality configurations wherein it is desirable to also be able to see through the waveguide to the real world (144), a similar set of lenses (139) may be presented on the opposite side of the waveguide (124) to compensate for the lower set of lenses; thus creating a the equivalent of a zero-magnification telescope. The reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) each may be aligned at approximately 45 degrees as shown, or may be configured to have different alignments, akin to the configurations of FIGS. 5B-5H, for example). The reflective surfaces (126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136) may comprise wavelength-selective reflectors, band pass reflectors, half silvered mirrors, or other reflective configurations. The lenses (138, 139) shown are refractive lenses, but diffractive lens elements may also be utilized.
[0063] Referring to FIG. 6B, a somewhat similar configuration is depicted wherein a plurality of curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be utilized to effectively combine the lens (element 138 of FIG. 6A) and reflector (elements 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136 of FIG. 6A) functionality of the embodiment of FIG. 6A, thereby obviating the need for the two groups of lenses (element 138 of FIG. 6A). The curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be various curved configurations selected to both reflect and impart angular change, such as parabolic or elliptical curved surfaces. With a parabolic shape, a parallel set of incoming rays will be collected into a single output point; with an elliptical configuration, a set of rays diverging from a single point of origin are collected to a single output point. As with the configuration of FIG. 6A, the curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) preferably are configured to partially reflect and partially transmit so that the incoming light is shared across the length of the waveguide (146). The curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may comprise wavelength-selective notch reflectors, half silvered mirrors, or other reflective configurations. In another embodiment, the curved reflective surfaces (148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158) may be replaced with diffractive reflectors configured to reflect and also deflect.
[0064] Referring to FIG. 7A, perceptions of Z-axis difference (i.e., distance straight out from the eye along the optical axis) may be facilitated by using a waveguide in conjunction with a variable focus optical element configuration. As shown in FIG. 7A, image information from a display (160) may be collimated and injected into a waveguide (164) and distributed in a large exit pupil manner using, e.g., configurations such as those described in reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, or other substrate-guided optics methods known to those skilled in the art--and then variable focus optical element capability may be utilized to change the focus of the wavefront of light emerging from the waveguide and provide the eye with the perception that the light coming from the waveguide (164) is from a particular focal distance. In other words, since the incoming light has been collimated to avoid challenges in total internal reflection waveguide configurations, it will exit in collimated fashion, requiring a viewer's eye to accommodate to the far point to bring it into focus on the retina, and naturally be interpreted as being from optical infinity--unless some other intervention causes the light to be refocused and perceived as from a different viewing distance; one suitable such intervention is a variable focus lens.
[0065] In the embodiment of FIG. 7A, collimated image information is injected into a piece of glass (162) or other material at an angle such that it totally internally reflects and is passed into the adjacent waveguide (164). The waveguide (164) may be configured akin to the waveguides of FIG. 6A or 6B (124, 146, respectively) so that the collimated light from the display is distributed to exit somewhat uniformly across the distribution of reflectors or diffractive features along the length of the waveguide. Upon exit toward the eye (58), in the depicted configuration the exiting light is passed through a variable focus lens element (166) wherein, depending upon the controlled focus of the variable focus lens element (166), the light exiting the variable focus lens element (166) and entering the eye (58) will have various levels of focus (a collimated flat wavefront to represent optical infinity, more and more beam divergence/wavefront curvature to represent closer viewing distance relative to the eye 58).
[0066] To compensate for the variable focus lens element (166) between the eye (58) and the waveguide (164), another similar variable focus lens element (167) is placed on the opposite side of the waveguide (164) to cancel out the optical effects of the lenses (166) for light coming from the world (144) for augmented reality (i.e., as described above, one lens compensates for the other, producing the functional equivalent of a zero-magnification telescope).
[0067] The variable focus lens element (166) may be a refractive element, such as a liquid crystal lens, an electro-active lens, a conventional refractive lens with moving elements, a mechanical-deformation-based lens (such as a fluid-filled membrane lens, or a lens akin to the human crystalline lens wherein a flexible element is flexed and relaxed by actuators), an electrowetting lens, or a plurality of fluids with different refractive indices. The variable focus lens element (166) may also comprise a switchable diffractive optical element (such as one featuring a polymer dispersed liquid crystal approach wherein a host medium, such as a polymeric material, has microdroplets of liquid crystal dispersed within the material; when a voltage is applied, the molecules reorient so that their refractive indices no longer match that of the host medium, thereby creating a high-frequency switchable diffraction pattern).
[0068] One embodiment includes a host medium in which microdroplets of a Kerr effect-based electro-active material, such as lithium niobate, is dispersed within the host medium, enabling refocusing of image information on a pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line basis, when coupled with a scanning light display, such as a fiber-scanned display or scanning-mirror-based display. In a variable focus lens element (166) configuration wherein liquid crystal, lithium niobate, or other technology is utilized to present a pattern, the pattern spacing may be modulated to not only change the focal power of the variable focus lens element (166), but also to change the focal power of the overall optical system--for a zoom lens type of functionality.
[0069] In one embodiment, the lenses (166) could be telecentric, in that focus of the display imagery can be altered while keeping magnification constant--in the same way that a photography zoom lens may be configured to decouple focus from zoom position. In another embodiment, the lenses (166) may be non-telecentric, so that focus changes will also slave zoom changes. With such a configuration, such magnification changes may be compensated for in software with dynamic scaling of the output from the graphics system in sync with focus changes).
[0070] Referring back to the projector or other video display unit (160) and the issue of how to feed images into the optical display system, in a "frame sequential" configuration, a stack of sequential two-dimensional images may be fed to the display sequentially to produce three-dimensional perception over time; in a manner akin to the manner in which a computed tomography system uses stacked image slices to represent a three-dimensional structure. A series of two-dimensional image slices may be presented to the eye, each at a different focal distance to the eye, and the eye/brain would integrate such a stack into a perception of a coherent three-dimensional volume. Depending upon the display type, line-by-line, or even pixel-by-pixel sequencing may be conducted to produce the perception of three-dimensional viewing. For example, with a scanned light display (such as a scanning fiber display or scanning mirror display), then the display is presenting the waveguide (164) with one line or one pixel at a time in a sequential fashion.
[0071] If the variable focus lens element (166) is able to keep up with the high-frequency of pixel-by-pixel or line-by-line presentation, then each line or pixel may be presented and dynamically focused through the variable focus lens element (166) to be perceived at a different focal distance from the eye (58). Pixel-by-pixel focus modulation generally requires an extremely fast/high-frequency variable focus lens element (166). For example, a 1080P resolution display with an overall frame rate of 60 frames per second typically presents around 125 million pixels per second. Such a configuration also may be constructed using a solid state switchable lens, such as one using an electro-active material, e.g., lithium niobate or an electro-active polymer. In addition to its compatibility with the system illustrated in FIG. 7A, a frame sequential multi-focal display driving approach may be used in conjunction with a number of the display system and optics embodiments described in this disclosure.
[0072] Referring to FIG. 7B, with an electro-active layer (172) (such as one comprising liquid crystal or lithium niobate) surrounded by functional electrodes (170, 174) which may be made of indium tin oxide, a waveguide (168) with a conventional transmissive substrate (176, such as one made from glass or plastic with known total internal reflection characteristics and an index of refraction that matches the on or off state of the electro-active layer 172) may be controlled such that the paths of entering beams may be dynamically altered to essentially create a time-varying light field.
[0073] Referring to FIG. 8A, a stacked waveguide assembly (178) may be utilized to provide three-dimensional perception to the eye/brain by having a plurality of waveguides (182, 184, 186, 188, 190) and a plurality of weak lenses (198, 196, 194, 192) configured together to send image information to the eye with various levels of wavefront curvature for each waveguide level indicative of focal distance to be perceived for that waveguide level. A plurality of displays (200, 202, 204, 206, 208), or in another embodiment a single multiplexed display, may be utilized to inject collimated image information into the waveguides (182, 184, 186, 188, 190), each of which may be configured, as described above, to distribute incoming light substantially equally across the length of each waveguide, for exit down toward the eye.
[0074] The waveguide (182) nearest the eye is configured to deliver collimated light, as injected into such waveguide (182), to the eye, which may be representative of the optical infinity focal plane. The next waveguide up (184) is configured to send out collimated light which passes through the first weak lens (192; e.g., a weak negative lens) before it can reach the eye (58); such first weak lens (192) may be configured to create a slight convex wavefront curvature so that the eye/brain interprets light coming from that next waveguide up (184) as coming from a first focal plane closer inward toward the person from optical infinity. Similarly, the third up waveguide (186) passes its output light through both the first (192) and second (194) lenses before reaching the eye (58); the combined optical power of the first (192) and second (194) lenses may be configured to create another incremental amount of wavefront divergence so that the eye/brain interprets light coming from that third waveguide up (186) as coming from a second focal plane even closer inward toward the person from optical infinity than was light from the next waveguide up (184).
[0075] The other waveguide layers (188, 190) and weak lenses (196, 198) are similarly configured, with the highest waveguide (190) in the stack sending its output through all of the weak lenses between it and the eye for an aggregate focal power representative of the closest focal plane to the person. To compensate for the stack of lenses (198, 196, 194, 192) when viewing/interpreting light coming from the world (144) on the other side of the stacked waveguide assembly (178), a compensating lens layer (180) is disposed at the top of the stack to compensate for the aggregate power of the lens stack (198, 196, 194, 192) below. Such a configuration provides as many perceived focal planes as there are available waveguide/lens pairings, again with a relatively large exit pupil configuration as described above. Both the reflective aspects of the waveguides and the focusing aspects of the lenses may be static (i.e., not dynamic or electro-active). In an alternative embodiment they may be dynamic using electro-active features as described above, enabling a small number of waveguides to be multiplexed in a time sequential fashion to produce a larger number of effective focal planes.
[0076] Referring to FIGS. 8B-8N, various aspects of diffraction configurations for focusing and/or redirecting collimated beams are depicted. Other aspects of diffraction systems for such purposes are disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/845,907 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/331,218), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Referring to FIG. 8B, passing a collimated beam through a linear diffraction pattern (210), such as a Bragg grating, will deflect, or "steer", the beam. Passing a collimated beam through a radially symmetric diffraction pattern (212), or "Fresnel zone plate", will change the focal point of the beam. FIG. 8C illustrates the deflection effect of passing a collimated beam through a linear diffraction pattern (210); FIG. 8D illustrates the focusing effect of passing a collimated beam through a radially symmetric diffraction pattern (212).
[0077] Referring to FIGS. 8E and 8F, a combination diffraction pattern that has both linear and radial elements (214) produces both deflection and focusing of a collimated input beam. These deflection and focusing effects can be produced in a reflective as well as transmissive mode. These principles may be applied with waveguide configurations to allow for additional optical system control, as shown in FIGS. 8G-8N, for example. As shown in FIGS. 8G-8N, a diffraction pattern (220), or "diffractive optical element" (or "DOE") has been embedded within a planar waveguide (216) such that as a collimated beam is totally internally reflected along the planar waveguide (216), it intersects the diffraction pattern (220) at a multiplicity of locations.
[0078] Preferably, the DOE (220) has a relatively low diffraction efficiency so that only a portion of the light of the beam is deflected away toward the eye (58) with each intersection of the DOE (220) while the rest continues to move through the planar waveguide (216) via total internal reflection; the light carrying the image information is thus divided into a number of related light beams that exit the waveguide at a multiplicity of locations and the result is a fairly uniform pattern of exit emission toward the eye (58) for this particular collimated beam bouncing around within the planar waveguide (216), as shown in FIG. 8H. The exit beams toward the eye (58) are shown in FIG. 8H as substantially parallel, because, in this case, the DOE (220) has only a linear diffraction pattern. As shown in the comparison between FIGS. 8L, 8M, and 8N, changes to this linear diffraction pattern pitch may be utilized to controllably deflect the exiting parallel beams, thereby producing a scanning or tiling functionality.
[0079] Referring back to FIG. 8I, with changes in the radially symmetric diffraction pattern component of the embedded DOE (220), the exit beam pattern is more divergent, which would require the eye to accommodation to a closer distance to bring it into focus on the retina and would be interpreted by the brain as light from a viewing distance closer to the eye than optical infinity. Referring to FIG. 8J, with the addition of another waveguide (218) into which the beam may be injected (by a projector or display, for example), a DOE (221) embedded in this other waveguide (218), such as a linear diffraction pattern, may function to spread the light across the entire larger planar waveguide (216), which functions to provide the eye (58) with a very large incoming field of incoming light that exits from the larger planar waveguide (216), i.e., a large eye box, in accordance with the particular DOE configurations at work.
[0080] The DOEs (220, 221) are depicted bisecting the associated waveguides (216, 218) but this need not be the case; they could be placed closer to, or upon, either side of either of the waveguides (216, 218) to have the same functionality. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8K, with the injection of a single collimated beam, an entire field of cloned collimated beams may be directed toward the eye (58). In addition, with a combined linear diffraction pattern/radially symmetric diffraction pattern scenario such as that depicted in FIGS. 8F (214) and 8I (220), a beam distribution waveguide optic (for functionality such as exit pupil functional expansion; with a configuration such as that of FIG. 8K, the exit pupil can be as large as the optical element itself, which can be a very significant advantage for user comfort and ergonomics) with Z-axis focusing capability is presented, in which both the divergence angle of the cloned beams and the wavefront curvature of each beam represent light coming from a point closer than optical infinity.
[0081] In one embodiment, one or more DOEs are switchable between "on" states in which they actively diffract, and "off" states in which they do not significantly diffract. For instance, a switchable DOE may comprise a layer of polymer dispersed liquid crystal, in which microdroplets comprise a diffraction pattern in a host medium, and the refractive index of the microdroplets can be switched to substantially match the refractive index of the host material (in which case the pattern does not appreciably diffract incident light) or the microdroplet can be switched to an index that does not match that of the host medium (in which case the pattern actively diffracts incident light). Further, with dynamic changes to the diffraction terms, such as the linear diffraction pitch term as in FIGS. 8L-8N, a beam scanning or tiling functionality may be achieved. As noted above, it is desirable to have a relatively low diffraction grating efficiency in each of the DOEs (220, 221) because it facilitates distribution of the light, and also because light coming through the waveguides that is desirably transmitted (for example, light coming from the world 144 toward the eye 58 in an augmented reality configuration) is less affected when the diffraction efficiency of the DOE that it crosses (220) is lower--so a better view of the real world through such a configuration is achieved.
[0082] Configurations such as those illustrated in FIG. 8K preferably are driven with injection of image information in a time sequential approach, with frame sequential driving being the most straightforward to implement. For example, an image of the sky at optical infinity may be injected at time1 and the diffraction grating retaining collimation of light may be utilized; then an image of a closer tree branch may be injected at time2 while a DOE controllably imparts a focal change, say one diopter or 1 meter away, to provide the eye/brain with the perception that the branch light information is coming from the closer focal range. This kind of paradigm can be repeated in rapid time sequential fashion such that the eye/brain perceives the input to be all part of the same image. This is just a two focal plane example; preferably the system will be configured to have more focal planes to provide a smoother transition between objects and their focal distances. This kind of configuration generally assumes that the DOE is switched at a relatively low speed (i.e., in sync with the frame-rate of the display that is injecting the images--in the range of tens to hundreds of cycles/second).
[0083] The opposite extreme may be a configuration wherein DOE elements can shift focus at tens to hundreds of MHz or greater, which facilitates switching of the focus state of the DOE elements on a pixel-by-pixel basis as the pixels are scanned into the eye (58) using a scanned light display type of approach. This is desirable because it means that the overall display frame-rate can be kept quite low; just low enough to make sure that "flicker" is not a problem (in the range of about 60-120 frames/sec).
[0084] In between these ranges, if the DOEs can be switched at KHz rates, then on a line-by-line basis the focus on each scan line may be adjusted, which may afford the user with a visible benefit in terms of temporal artifacts during an eye motion relative to the display, for example. For instance, the different focal planes in a scene may, in this manner, be interleaved, to minimize visible artifacts in response to a head motion (as is discussed in greater detail later in this disclosure). A line-by-line focus modulator may be operatively coupled to a line scan display, such as a grating light valve display, in which a linear array of pixels is swept to form an image; and may be operatively coupled to scanned light displays, such as fiber-scanned displays and mirror-scanned light displays.
[0085] A stacked configuration, similar to those of FIG. 8A, may use dynamic DOEs (rather than the static waveguides and lenses of the embodiment of FIG. 8A) to provide multi-planar focusing simultaneously. For example, with three simultaneous focal planes, a primary focus plane (based upon measured eye accommodation, for example) could be presented to the user, and a + margin and - margin (i.e., one focal plane closer, one farther out) could be utilized to provide a large focal range in which the user can accommodate before the planes need be updated. This increased focal range can provide a temporal advantage if the user switches to a closer or farther focus (i.e., as determined by accommodation measurement); then the new plane of focus could be made to be the middle depth of focus, with the + and - margins again ready for a fast switchover to either one while the system catches up.
[0086] Referring to FIG. 8O, a stack (222) of planar waveguides (244, 246, 248, 250, 252) is shown, each having a reflector (254, 256, 258, 260, 262) at the end and being configured such that collimated image information injected in one end by a display (224, 226, 228, 230, 232) bounces by total internal reflection down to the reflector, at which point some or all of the light is reflected out toward an eye or other target. Each of the reflectors may have slightly different angles so that they all reflect exiting light toward a common destination such as a pupil. Such a configuration is somewhat similar to that of FIG. 5B, with the exception that each different angled reflector in the embodiment of FIG. 8O has its own waveguide for less interference when projected light is travelling to the targeted reflector. Lenses (234, 236, 238, 240, 242) may be interposed between the displays and waveguides for beam steering and/or focusing.
[0087] FIG. 8P illustrates a geometrically staggered version wherein reflectors (276, 278, 280, 282, 284) are positioned at staggered lengths in the waveguides (266, 268, 270, 272, 274) so that exiting beams may be relatively easily aligned with objects such as an anatomical pupil. With knowledge of how far the stack (264) is going to be from the eye (such as 28 mm between the cornea of the eye and an eyeglasses lens, a typical comfortable geometry), the geometries of the reflectors (276, 278, 280, 282, 284) and waveguides (266, 268, 270, 272, 274) may be set up to fill the eye pupil (typically about 8 mm across or less) with exiting light. By directing light to an eye box larger than the diameter of the eye pupil, the viewer may make eye movements while retaining the ability to see the displayed imagery. Referring back to the discussion related to FIGS. 5A and 5B about field of view expansion and reflector size, an expanded field of view is presented by the configuration of FIG. 8P as well, and it does not involve the complexity of the switchable reflective elements of the embodiment of FIG. 5B.
[0088] FIG. 8Q illustrates a version wherein many reflectors (298) form a relatively continuous curved reflection surface in the aggregate or discrete flat facets that are oriented to align with an overall curve. The curve could a parabolic or elliptical curve and is shown cutting across a plurality of waveguides (288, 290, 292, 294, 296) to minimize any crosstalk issues, although it also could be utilized with a monolithic waveguide configuration.
[0089] In one implementation, a high-frame-rate and lower persistence display may be combined with a lower-frame-rate and higher persistence display and a variable focus element to comprise a relatively high-frequency frame sequential volumetric display. In one embodiment, the high-frame-rate display has a lower bit depth and the lower-frame-rate display has a higher bit depth, and are combined to comprise an effective high-frame-rate and high bit depth display, that is well suited to presenting image slices in a frame sequential fashion. With such an approach, a three-dimensional volume that is desirably represented is functionally divided into a series of two-dimensional slices. Each of those two-dimensional slices is projected to the eye frame sequentially, and in sync with this presentation, the focus of a variable focus element is changed.
[0090] In one embodiment, to get enough frame rate to support such a configuration, two display elements may be integrated: a full-color, high-resolution liquid crystal display ("LCD"; a backlighted ferroelectric panel display also may be utilized in another embodiment; in a further embodiment a scanning fiber display may be utilized) operating at 60 frames per second, and aspects of a higher-frequency DLP system. Instead of illuminating the back of the LCD panel in a conventional manner (i.e., with a full size fluorescent lamp or LED array), the conventional lighting configuration may be removed to accommodate using the DLP projector to project a mask pattern on the back of the LCD (in one embodiment, the mask pattern may be binary in that the DLP either projects illumination, or not-illumination; in another embodiment described below, the DLP may be utilized to project a grayscale mask image).
[0091] DLP projection systems can operate at very high frame rates; in one embodiment for 6 depth planes at 60 frames per second, a DLP projection system can be operated against the back of the LCD display at 360 frames/second. Then the DLP projector is utilized to selectively illuminate portions of the LCD panel in sync with a high-frequency variable focus element (such as a deformable membrane mirror) that is disposed between the viewing side of the LCD panel and the eye of the user, the variable focus element being used to change the global display focus on a frame by frame basis at 360 frames/second. In one embodiment, the variable focus element is positioned to be optically conjugate to the exit pupil, to enable adjustments of focus without simultaneously affecting image magnification or "zoom." In another embodiment, the variable focus element is not conjugate to the exit pupil, such that image magnification changes accompany focus adjustments, and software is used to compensate for these optical magnification changes and any distortions by pre-scaling or warping the images to be presented.
[0092] Operationally, it's useful to consider an example again wherein a three-dimensional scene is to be presented to a user wherein the sky in the background is to be at a viewing distance of optical infinity, and wherein a branch coupled to a tree located at a certain location closer to the user than optical infinity extends from the tree trunk in a direction toward the user, so that the tip of the branch is closer to the user than is the proximal portion of the branch that joins the tree trunk.
[0093] In one embodiment, for a given global frame, the system may be configured to present on an LCD a full-color, all in-focus image of the tree branch in front the sky. Then at subframe1, within the global frame, the DLP projector in a binary masking configuration (i.e., illumination or absence of illumination) may be used to only illuminate the portion of the LCD that represents the cloudy sky while functionally black-masking (i.e., failing to illuminate) the portion of the LCD that represents the tree branch and other elements that are not to be perceived at the same focal distance as the sky, and the variable focus element (such as a deformable membrane mirror) may be utilized to position the focal plane at optical infinity so that the eye sees a sub-image at subframe1 as being clouds that are infinitely far away.
[0094] Then at subframe2, the variable focus element may be switched to focusing on a point about 1 meter away from the user's eyes (or whatever distance is required; here 1 meter for the branch location is used for illustrative purposes), the pattern of illumination from the DLP can be switched so that the system only illuminates the portion of the LCD that represents the tree branch while functionally black-masking (i.e., failing to illuminate) the portion of the LCD that represents the sky and other elements that are not to be perceived at the same focal distance as the tree branch. Thus the eye gets a quick flash of cloud at optical infinity followed by a quick flash of tree at 1 meter, and the sequence is integrated by the eye/brain to form a three-dimensional perception. The branch may be positioned diagonally relative to the viewer, such that it extends through a range of viewing distances, e.g., it may join with the trunk at around 2 meters viewing distance while the tips of the branch are at the closer position of 1 meter.
[0095] In this case, the display system can divide the 3-D volume of the tree branch into multiple slices, rather than a single slice at 1 meter. For instance, one focus slice may be used to represent the sky (using the DLP to mask all areas of the tree during presentation of this slice), while the tree branch is divided across 5 focus slices (using the DLP to mask the sky and all portions of the tree except one, for each part of the tree branch to be presented). Preferably, the depth slices are positioned with a spacing equal to or smaller than the depth of focus of the eye, such that the viewer will be unlikely to notice the transition between slices, and instead perceive a smooth and continuous flow of the branch through the focus range.
[0096] In another embodiment, rather than utilizing the DLP in a binary (illumination or darkfield only) mode, it may be utilized to project a grayscale (for example, 256 shades of grayscale) mask onto the back of the LCD panel to enhance three-dimensional perception. The grayscale shades may be utilized to impart to the eye/brain a perception that something resides in between adjacent depth or focal planes. Back to the branch and clouds scenario, if the leading edge of the branch closest to the user is to be in focalplane1, then at subframe1, that portion branch on the LCD may be lit up with full intensity white from the DLP system with the variable focus element at focalplane1.
[0097] Then at subframe2, with the variable focus element at focalplane2 right behind the part that was lit up, there would be no illumination. These are similar steps to the binary DLP masking configuration above. However, if there is a portion of the branch that is to be perceived at a position between focalplane1 and focalplane1, e.g., halfway, grayscale masking can be utilized. The DLP can project an illumination mask to that portion during both subframe1 and subframe2, but at half-illumination (such as at level 128 out of 256 grayscale) for each subframe. This provides the perception of a blending of depth of focus layers, with the perceived focal distance being proportional to the illuminance ratio between subframe1 and subframe2. For instance, for a portion of the tree branch that should lie 3/4ths of the way between focalplane1 and focalplane2, an about 25% intensity grayscale mask can be used to illuminate that portion of the LCD at subframe1 and an about 75% grayscale mask can be used to illuminate the same portion of the LCD at subframe2.
[0098] In one embodiment, the bit depths of both the low-frame-rate display and the high-frame-rate display can be combined for image modulation, to create a high dynamic range display. The high dynamic range driving may be conducted in tandem with the focus plane addressing function described above, to comprise a high dynamic range multi-focal 3-D display.
[0099] In another embodiment that may be more efficient on computation resources, only a certain portion of the display (i.e., LCD) output may be mask-illuminated by the DMD and variably focused en route to the user's eye. For example, the middle portion of the display may be mask illuminated, with the periphery of the display not providing varying accommodation cues to the user (i.e. the periphery could be uniformly illuminated by the DLP DMD, while a central portion is actively masked and variably focused en route to the eye).
[0100] In the above described embodiment, a refresh rate of about 360 Hz allows for 6 depth planes at about 60 frames/second each. In another embodiment, even higher refresh rates may be achieved by increasing the operating frequency of the DLP. A standard DLP configuration uses a MEMS device and an array of micro-mirrors that toggle between a mode of reflecting light toward the display or user to a mode of reflecting light away from the display or user, such as into a light trap--thus they are inherently binary. DLPs typically create grayscale images using a pulse width modulation schema wherein the mirror is left in the "on" state for a variable amount of time for a variable duty cycle in order to create a brighter pixel, or pixel of interim brightness. Thus, to create grayscale images at moderate frame rate, they are running at a much higher binary rate.
[0101] In the above described configurations, such setup works well for creating grayscale masking. However, if the DLP drive scheme is adapted so that it is flashing subimages in a binary pattern, then the frame rate may be increased significantly--by thousands of frames per second, which allows for hundreds to thousands of depth planes being refreshed at 60 frames/second, which may be utilized to obviate the between-depth-plane grayscale interpolating as described above. A typical pulse width modulation scheme for a Texas Instruments DLP system has an 8-bit command signal (first bit is the first long pulse of the mirror; second bit is a pulse that is half as long as the first; third bit is half as long again; and so on)--so that the configuration can create 2 to the 8th power different illumination levels. In one embodiment, the backlighting from the DLP may have its intensity varied in sync with the different pulses of the DMD to equalize the brightness of the subimages that are created, which is a practical workaround to get existing DMD drive electronics to produce significantly higher frame rates.
[0102] In another embodiment, direct control changes to the DMD drive electronics and software may be utilized to have the mirrors always have an equal on-time instead of the variable on-time configuration that is conventional, which would facilitate higher frame rates. In another embodiment, the DMD drive electronics may be configured to present low bit depth images at a frame rate above that of high bit depth images but lower than the binary frame rate, enabling some grayscale blending between focus planes, while moderately increasing the number of focus planes.
[0103] In another embodiment, when limited to a finite number of depth planes, such as 6 in the example above, it is desirable to functionally move these 6 depth planes around to be maximally useful in the scene that is being presented to the user. For example, if a user is standing in a room and a virtual monster is to be placed into his augmented reality view, the virtual monster being about 2 feet deep in the Z axis straight away from the user's eyes, then it makes sense to cluster all 6 depth planes around the center of the monster's current location (and dynamically move them with him as he moves relative to the user)--so that more rich accommodation cues may be provided for the user, with all six depth planes in the direct region of the monster (for example, 3 in front of the center of the monster, 3 in back of the center of the monster). Such allocation of depth planes is content dependent.
[0104] For example, in the scene above the same monster is to be presented in the same room, but also to be presented to the user is a virtual window frame element, and then a virtual view to optical infinity out of the virtual window frame, it will be useful to spend at least one depth plane on optical infinity, one on the depth of the wall that is to house the virtual window frame, and then perhaps the remaining four depth planes on the monster in the room. If the content causes the virtual window to disappear, then the two depth planes may be dynamically reallocated to the region around the monster, and so on--content-based dynamic allocation of focal plane resources to provide the most rich experience to the user given the computing and presentation resources.
[0105] In another embodiment, phase delays in a multicore fiber or an array of single-core fibers may be utilized to create variable focus light wavefronts. Referring to FIG. 9A, a multicore fiber (300) may comprise the aggregation of multiple individual fibers (302); FIG. 9B shows a close-up view of a multicore assembly, which emits light from each core in the form of a spherical wavefront (304) from each. If the cores are transmitting coherent light, e.g., from a shared laser light source, these small spherical wavefronts ultimately constructively and destructively interfere with each other, and if they were emitted from the multicore fiber in phase, they will develop an approximately planar wavefront (306) in the aggregate, as shown. However, if phase delays are induced between the cores (using a conventional phase modulator such as one using lithium niobate, for example, to slow the path of some cores relative to others), then a curved or spherical wavefront may be created in the aggregate, to represent at the eyes/brain an object coming from a point closer than optical infinity, which presents another option that may be used in place of the variable focus elements described above. In other words, such a phased multicore configuration, or phased array, may be utilized to create multiple optical focus levels from a light source.
[0106] In another embodiment related to the use of optical fibers, a known Fourier transform aspect of multi-mode optical fiber or light guiding rods or pipes may be utilized for control of the wavefronts that are output from such fiber. Optical fibers typically are available in two categories: single mode and multi-mode. Multi-mode optical fiber typically has larger core diameters and allows light to propagate along multiple angular paths, rather than just the one of single mode optical fiber. It is known that if an image is injected into one end of a multi-mode fiber, that angular differences that are encoded into that image will be retained to some degree as it propagates through the multi-mode fiber, and for some configurations the output from the fiber will be significantly similar to a Fourier transform of the image that was input.
[0107] Thus in one embodiment, the inverse Fourier transform of a wavefront (such as a diverging spherical wavefront to represent a focal plane nearer to the user than optical infinity) may be input so that, after passing through the fiber that optically imparts a Fourier transform, the output is the desired shaped, or focused, wavefront. Such output end may be scanned about to be used as a scanned fiber display, or may be used as a light source for a scanning mirror to form an image, for instance. Thus such a configuration may be utilized as yet another focus modulation subsystem. Other kinds of light patterns and wavefronts may be injected into a multi-mode fiber, such that on the output end, a certain spatial pattern is emitted. This may be utilized to have the equivalent of a wavelet pattern (in optics, an optical system may be analyzed in terms of what are called the Zernicke coefficients; images may be similarly characterized and decomposed into smaller principal components, or a weighted combination of comparatively simpler image components). Thus if light is scanned into the eye using the principal components on the input side, a higher resolution image may be recovered at the output end of the multi-mode fiber.
[0108] In another embodiment, the Fourier transform of a hologram may be injected into the input end of a multi-mode fiber to output a wavefront that may be used for three-dimensional focus modulation and/or resolution enhancement. Certain single fiber core, multi-core fibers, or concentric core+cladding configurations also may be utilized in the aforementioned inverse Fourier transform configurations.
[0109] In another embodiment, rather than physically manipulating the wavefronts approaching the eye of the user at a high frame rate without regard to the user's particular state of accommodation or eye gaze, a system may be configured to monitor the user's accommodation and rather than presenting a set of multiple different light wavefronts, present a single wavefront at a time that corresponds to the accommodation state of the eye. Accommodation may be measured directly (such as by infrared autorefractor or eccentric photorefraction) or indirectly (such as by measuring the convergence level of the two eyes of the user; as described above, vergence and accommodation are strongly linked neurologically, so an estimate of accommodation can be made based upon vergence geometry). Thus with a determined accommodation of, say, 1 meter from the user, then the wavefront presentations at the eye may be configured for a 1 meter focal distance using any of the above variable focus configurations. If an accommodation change to focus at 2 meters is detected, the wavefront presentation at the eye may be reconfigured for a 2 meter focal distance, and so on.
[0110] Thus in one embodiment incorporating accommodation tracking, a variable focus element may be placed in the optical path between an outputting combiner (e.g., a waveguide or beamsplitter) and the eye of the user, so that the focus may be changed along with (i.e., preferably at the same rate as) accommodation changes of the eye. Software effects may be utilized to produce variable amounts blur (e.g., Gaussian) to objects which should not be in focus to simulate the dioptric blur expected at the retina if an object were at that viewing distance and enhance the three-dimensional perception by the eyes/brain.
[0111] A simple embodiment is a single plane whose focus level is slaved to the viewer's accommodation level, however the performance demands on the accommodation tracking system can be relaxed if even a low number of multiple planes are used. Referring to FIG. 10, in another embodiment, a stack (328) of about 3 waveguides (318, 320, 322) may be utilized to create three focal planes worth of wavefronts simultaneously. In one embodiment, the weak lenses (324, 326) may have static focal distances, and a variable focal lens (316) may be slaved to the accommodation tracking of the eyes such that one of the three waveguides (say the middle waveguide 320) outputs what is deemed to be the in-focus wavefront, while the other two waveguides (322, 318) output a + margin wavefront and a - margin wavefront (i.e., a little farther than detected focal distance, a little closer than detected focal distance) which may improve the three-dimensional perception and also provide enough difference for the brain/eye accommodation control system to sense some blur as negative feedback, which enhances the perception of reality, and allows a range of accommodation before an physical adjustment of the focus levels is necessary.
[0112] A variable focus compensating lens (314) is also shown to ensure that light coming in from the real world (144) in an augmented reality configuration is not refocused or magnified by the assembly of the stack (328) and output lens (316). The variable focus in the lenses (316, 314) may be achieved, as discussed above, with refractive, diffractive, or reflective techniques.
[0113] In another embodiment, each of the waveguides in a stack may contain their own capability for changing focus (such as by having an included electronically switchable DOE) so that the variable focus element need not be centralized as in the stack (328) of the configuration of FIG. 10.
[0114] In another embodiment, variable focus elements may be interleaved between the waveguides of a stack (i.e., rather than fixed focus weak lenses as in the embodiment of FIG. 10) to obviate the need for a combination of fixed focus weak lenses plus whole-stack-refocusing variable focus element.
[0115] Such stacking configurations may be used in accommodation tracked variations as described herein, and also in a frame-sequential multi-focal display approach.
[0116] In a configuration wherein light enters the pupil with a small exit pupil, such as 1/2 mm diameter or less, one has the equivalent of a pinhole lens configuration wherein the beam is always interpreted as in-focus by the eyes/brain--e.g., a scanned light display using a 0.5 mm diameter beam to scan images to the eye. Such a configuration is known as a Maxwellian view configuration, and in one embodiment, accommodation tracking input may be utilized to induce blur using software to image information that is to be perceived as at a focal plane behind or in front of the focal plane determined from the accommodation tracking. In other words, if one starts with a display presenting a Maxwellian view, then everything theoretically can be in focus, and to provide a rich and natural three-dimensional perception, simulated dioptric blur may be induced with software, and may be slaved to the accommodation tracking status.
[0117] In one embodiment a scanning fiber display is well suited to such configuration because it may be configured to only output small-diameter beams in a Maxwellian form. In another embodiment, an array of small exit pupils may be created to increase the functional eye box of the system (and also to reduce the impact of a light-blocking particle which may reside in the vitreous or cornea of the eye), such as by one or more scanning fiber displays, or by a DOE configuration such as that described in reference to FIG. 8K, with a pitch in the array of presented exit pupils that ensure that only one will hit the anatomical pupil of the user at any given time (for example, if the average anatomical pupil diameter is 4 mm, one configuration may comprise 1/2 mm exit pupils spaced at intervals of approximate 4 mm apart). Such exit pupils may also be switchable in response to eye position, such that only the eye always receives one, and only one, active small exit pupil at a time; allowing a denser array of exit pupils. Such user will have a large depth of focus to which software-based blur techniques may be added to enhance perceived depth perception.
[0118] As discussed above, an object at optical infinity creates a substantially planar wavefront; an object closer, such as 1 m away from the eye, creates a curved wavefront (with about 1 m convex radius of curvature). The eye's optical system needs to have enough optical power to bend the incoming rays of light so that they end up focused on the retina (convex wavefront gets turned into concave, and then down to a focal point on the retina). These are basic functions of the eye.
[0119] In many of the embodiments described above, light directed to the eye has been treated as being part of one continuous wavefront, some subset of which would hit the pupil of the particular eye. In another approach, light directed to the eye may be effectively discretized or broken down into a plurality of beamlets or individual rays, each of which has a diameter less than about 0.5 mm and a unique propagation pathway as part of a greater aggregated wavefront that may be functionally created with the an aggregation of the beamlets or rays. For example, a curved wavefront may be approximated by aggregating a plurality of discrete neighboring collimated beams, each of which is approaching the eye from an appropriate angle to represent a point of origin that matches the center of the radius of curvature of the desired aggregate wavefront.
[0120] When the beamlets have a diameter of about 0.5 mm or less, it is as though it is coming through a pinhole lens configuration, which means that each individual beamlet is always in relative focus on the retina, independent of the accommodation state of the eye--however the trajectory of each beamlet will be affected by the accommodation state. For instance, if the beamlets approach the eye in parallel, representing a discretized collimated aggregate wavefront, then an eye that is correctly accommodated to infinity will deflect the beamlets to all converge upon the same shared spot on the retina, and will appear in focus. If the eye accommodates to, say, 1 m, the beams will be converged to a spot in front of the retina, cross paths, and fall on multiple neighboring or partially overlapping spots on the retina--appearing blurred.
[0121] If the beamlets approach the eye in a diverging configuration, with a shared point of origin 1 meter from the viewer, then an accommodation of 1 m will steer the beams to a single spot on the retina, and will appear in focus; if the viewer accommodates to infinity, the beamlets will converge to a spot behind the retina, and produce multiple neighboring or partially overlapping spots on the retina, producing a blurred image. Stated more generally, the accommodation of the eye determines the degree of overlap of the spots on the retina, and a given pixel is "in focus" when all of the spots are directed to the same spot on the retina and "defocused" when the spots are offset from one another. This notion that all of the 0.5 mm diameter or less beamlets are always in focus, and that they may be aggregated to be perceived by the eyes/brain as though they are substantially the same as coherent wavefronts, may be utilized in producing configurations for comfortable three-dimensional virtual or augmented reality perception.
[0122] In other words, a set of multiple narrow beams may be used to emulate what is going on with a larger diameter variable focus beam, and if the beamlet diameters are kept to a maximum of about 0.5 mm, then they maintain a relatively static focus level, and to produce the perception of out-of-focus when desired, the beamlet angular trajectories may be selected to create an effect much like a larger out-of-focus beam (such a defocussing treatment may not be the same as a Gaussian blur treatment as for the larger beam, but will create a multimodal point spread function that may be interpreted in a similar fashion to a Gaussian blur).
[0123] In a preferred embodiment, the beamlets are not mechanically deflected to form this aggregate focus effect, but rather the eye receives a superset of many beamlets that includes both a multiplicity of incident angles and a multiplicity of locations at which the beamlets intersect the pupil; to represent a given pixel from a particular viewing distance, a subset of beamlets from the superset that comprise the appropriate angles of incidence and points of intersection with the pupil (as if they were being emitted from the same shared point of origin in space) are turned on with matching color and intensity, to represent that aggregate wavefront, while beamlets in the superset that are inconsistent with the shared point of origin are not turned on with that color and intensity (but some of them may be turned on with some other color and intensity level to represent, e.g., a different pixel).
[0124] Referring to FIG. 11A, each of a multiplicity of incoming beamlets (332) is passing through a small exit pupil (330) relative to the eye (58) in a discretized wavefront display configuration. Referring to FIG. 11B, a subset (334) of the group of beamlets (332) may be driven with matching color and intensity levels to be perceived as though they are part of the same larger-sized ray (the bolded subgroup 334 may be deemed an "aggregated beam"). In this case, the subset of beamlets are parallel to one another, representing a collimated aggregate beam from optical infinity (such as light coming from a distant mountain). The eye is accommodated to infinity, so the subset of beamlets are deflected by the eye's cornea and lens to all fall substantially upon the same location of the retina and are perceived to comprise a single in focus pixel.
[0125] FIG. 11C shows another subset of beamlets representing an aggregated collimated beam (336) coming in from the right side of the field of view of the user's eye (58) if the eye (58) is viewed in a coronal-style planar view from above. Again, the eye is shown accommodated to infinity, so the beamlets fall on the same spot of the retina, and the pixel is perceived to be in focus. If, in contrast, a different subset of beamlets were chosen that were reaching the eye as a diverging fan of rays, those beamlets would not fall on the same location of the retina (and be perceived as in focus) until the eye were to shift accommodation to a near point that matches the geometrical point of origin of that fan of rays.
[0126] As regards patterns of points of intersection of beamlets with the anatomical pupil of the eye (i.e., the pattern of exit pupils), they may be organized in configurations such as a cross-sectionally efficient hex-lattice (for example, as shown in FIG. 12A) or a square lattice or other two-dimensional array. Further, a three-dimensional array of exit pupils could be created, as well as time-varying arrays of exit pupils.
[0127] Discretized aggregate wavefronts may be created using several configurations, such as an array of microdisplays or microprojectors placed optically conjugate with the exit pupil of viewing optics, microdisplay or microprojector arrays coupled to a direct field of view substrate (such as an eyeglasses lens) such that they project light to the eye directly, without additional intermediate viewing optics, successive spatial light modulation array techniques, or waveguide techniques such as those described in relation to FIG. 8K.
[0128] Referring to FIG. 12A, in one embodiment, a lightfield may be created by bundling a group of small projectors or display units (such as scanned fiber displays). FIG. 12A depicts a hexagonal lattice projection bundle (338) which may, for example, create a 7 mm-diameter hex array with each fiber display outputting a sub-image (340). If such an array has an optical system, such as a lens, placed in front of it such that the array is placed optically conjugate with the eye's entrance pupil, this will create an image of the array at the eye's pupil, as shown in FIG. 12B, which essentially provides the same optical arrangement as the embodiment of FIG. 11A.
[0129] Each of the small exit pupils of the configuration is created by a dedicated small display in the bundle (338), such as a scanning fiber display. Optically, it's as though the entire hex array (338) is positioned right into the anatomical pupil (45). Such embodiments are means for driving different subimages to different small exit pupils within the larger anatomical entrance pupil (45) of the eye, comprising a superset of beamlets with a multiplicity of incident angles and points of intersection with the eye pupil. Each of the separate projectors or displays may be driven with a slightly different image, such that subimages may be created that pull out different sets of rays to be driven at different light intensities and colors.
[0130] In one variation, a strict image conjugate may be created, as in the embodiment of FIG. 12B, wherein there is direct 1-to-1 mapping of the array (338) with the pupil (45). In another variation, the spacing may be changed between displays in the array and the optical system (lens 342, in FIG. 12B) so that instead of getting a conjugate mapping of the array to the eye pupil, the eye pupil may be catching the rays from the array at some other distance. With such a configuration, one would still get an angular diversity of beams through which one could create a discretized aggregate wavefront representation, but the mathematics regarding how to drive which ray and at which power and intensity may become more complex (although, on the other hand, such a configuration may be considered simpler from a viewing optics perspective). The mathematics involved with light field image capture may be leveraged for these calculations.
[0131] Referring to FIG. 13A, another lightfield creating embodiment is depicted wherein an array of microdisplays or microprojectors (346) may be coupled to a frame (344; such as an eyeglasses frame) to be positioned in front of the eye (58). The depicted configuration is a nonconjugate arrangement wherein there are no large-scale optical elements interposed between the displays (for example, scanning fiber displays) of the array (346) and the eye (58). One can imagine a pair of glasses, and coupled to those glasses are a plurality of displays, such as scanning fiber engines, positioned orthogonal to the eyeglasses surface, and all angled inward so they are pointing at the pupil of the user. Each display may be configured to create a set of rays representing different elements of the beamlet superset.
[0132] With such a configuration, at the anatomical pupil (45) the user is going to receive a similar result as received in the embodiments discussed in reference to FIG. 11A, in which every point at the user's pupil is receiving rays with a multiplicity of angles of incidence and points of intersection that are being contributed from the different displays. FIG. 13B illustrates a nonconjugate configuration similar to that of FIG. 13A, with the exception that the embodiment of FIG. 13B features a reflecting surface (348) to facilitate moving the display array (346) away from the eye's (58) field of view, while also allowing views of the real world (144) through the reflective surface (348).
[0133] Thus another configuration for creating the angular diversity necessary for a discretized aggregate wavefront display is presented. To optimize such a configuration, the sizes of the displays may be decreased to the maximum. Scanning fiber displays which may be utilized as displays may have baseline diameters in the range of 1 mm, but reduction in enclosure and projection lens hardware may decrease the diameters of such displays to about 0.5 mm or less, which is less disturbing for a user. Another downsizing geometric refinement may be achieved by directly coupling a collimating lens (which may, for example, comprise a gradient refractive index, or "GRIN", lens, a conventional curved lens, or a diffractive lens) to the tip of the scanning fiber itself in a case of a fiber scanning display array. For example, referring to FIG. 13D, a GRIN lens (354) is shown fused to the end of a single mode optical fiber. An actuator (350; such as a piezoelectric actuator) is coupled to the fiber (352) and may be used to scan the fiber tip.
[0134] In another embodiment the end of the fiber may be shaped into a hemispherical shape using a curved polishing treatment of an optical fiber to create a lensing effect. In another embodiment a standard refractive lens may be coupled to the end of each optical fiber using an adhesive. In another embodiment a lens may be built from a dab of transmissive polymeric material or glass, such as epoxy. In another embodiment the end of an optical fiber may be melted to create a curved surface for a lensing effect.
[0135] FIG. 13C-2 shows an embodiment wherein display configurations (i.e., scanning fiber displays with GRIN lenses; shown in close-up view of FIG. 13C-1) such as that shown in FIG. 13D may be coupled together through a single transparent substrate (356) preferably having a refractive index that closely matches the cladding of the optical fibers (352) so that the fibers themselves are not very visible for viewing of the outside world across the depicted assembly (if the index matching of the cladding is done precisely, then the larger cladding/housing becomes transparent and only the tiny cores, which preferably are about 3 microns in diameter, will be obstructing the view. In one embodiment the matrix (358) of displays may all be angled inward so they are directed toward the anatomic pupil of the user (in another embodiment, they may stay parallel to each other, but such a configuration is less efficient).
[0136] Referring to FIG. 13E, another embodiment is depicted wherein rather than using circular fibers to move cyclically, a thin series of planar waveguides (358) are configured to be cantilevered relative to a larger substrate structure (356). In one variation, the substrate (356) may be moved to produce cyclic motion (i.e., at the resonant frequency of the cantilevered members 358) of the planar waveguides relative to the substrate structure. In another variation, the cantilevered waveguide portions (358) may be actuated with piezoelectric or other actuators relative to the substrate. Image illumination information may be injected, for example, from the right side (360) of the substrate structure to be coupled into the cantilevered waveguide portions (358). In one embodiment the substrate (356) may comprise a waveguide configured (such as with an integrated DOE configuration as described above) to totally internally reflect incoming light (360) along its length and then redirect it to the cantilevered waveguide portions (358). As a person gazes toward the cantilevered waveguide portions (358) and through to the real world (144) behind, the planar waveguides are configured to minimize any dispersion and/or focus changes with their planar shape factors.
[0137] In the context of discussing discretized aggregate wavefront displays, there is value placed in having some angular diversity created for every point in the exit pupil of the eye. In other words, it is desirable to have multiple incoming beams to represent each pixel in a displayed image. Referring to FIGS. 13F-1 and 13F-2, one way to gain further angular and spatial diversity is to use a multicore fiber and place a lens at the exit point, such as a GRIN lens, so that the exit beams are deflected through a single nodal point (366); that nodal point may then be scanned back and forth in a scanned fiber type of arrangement (such as by a piezoelectric actuator 368). If a retinal conjugate is placed at the plane defined at the end of the GRIN lens, a display may be created that is functionally equivalent to the general case discretized aggregate wavefront configuration described above.
[0138] Referring to FIG. 13G, a similar effect may be achieved not by using a lens, but by scanning the face of a multicore system at the correct conjugate of an optical system (372), the goal being to create a higher angular and spatial diversity of beams. In other words, rather than having a bunch of separately scanned fiber displays as in the bundled example of FIG. 12A described above, some of this requisite angular and spatial diversity may be created through the use of multiple cores to create a plane which may be relayed by a waveguide. Referring to FIG. 13H, a multicore fiber (362) may be scanned (such as by a piezoelectric actuator 368) to create a set of beamlets with a multiplicity of angles of incidence and points of intersection which may be relayed to the eye (58) by a waveguide (370). Thus in one embodiment a collimated lightfield image may be injected into a waveguide, and without any additional refocusing elements, that lightfield display may be translated directly to the human eye.
[0139] FIGS. 13I-13L depict certain commercially available multicore fiber (362) configurations (from vendors such as Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd. of Japan), including one variation (363) with a rectangular cross section, as well as variations with flat exit faces (372) and angled exit faces (374).
[0140] Referring to FIG. 13M, some additional angular diversity may be created by having a waveguide (376) fed with a linear array of displays (378), such as scanning fiber displays.
[0141] Referring to FIGS. 14A-14F, another group of configurations for creating a fixed viewpoint lightfield display is described. Referring back to FIG. 11A, if a two-dimensional plane was created that was intersecting all of the tiny beams coming in from the left, each beamlet would have a certain point of intersection with that plane. If another plane was created at a different distance to the left, then all of the beamlets would intersect that plane at a different location. Then going back to FIG. 14A, if various positions on each of two or more planes can be allowed to selectively transmit or block the light radiation directed through it, such a multi-planar configuration may be utilized to selectively create a lightfield by independently modulating individual beamlets.
[0142] The basic embodiment of FIG. 14A shows two spatial light modulators, such as liquid crystal display panels (380, 382; in other embodiments they may be MEMS shutter displays or DLP DMD arrays) which may be independently controlled to block or transmit different rays on a high-resolution basis. For example, referring to FIG. 14A, if the second panel (382) blocks or attenuates transmission of rays at point "a" (384), all of the depicted rays will be blocked; but if only the first panel (380) blocks or attenuates transmission of rays at point "b" (386), then only the lower incoming ray (388) will be blocked/attenuated, while the rest will be transmitted toward the pupil (45). Each of the controllable panels or planes may be deemed a "spatial light modulator" or "fatte". The intensity of each transmitted beam passed through a series of SLMs will be a function of the combination of the transparency of the various pixels in the various SLM arrays. Thus without any sort of lens elements, a set of beamlets with a multiplicity of angles and points of intersection (or a "lightfield") may be created using a plurality of stacked SLMs. Additional numbers of SLMs beyond two provides more opportunities to control which beams are selectively attenuated.
[0143] As noted briefly above, in addition to using stacked liquid crystal displays as SLMs, planes of DMD devices from DLP systems may be stacked to function as SLMs, and may be preferred over liquid crystal systems as SLMs due to their ability to more efficiently pass light (with a mirror element in a first state, reflectivity to the next element on the way to the eye may be quite efficient; with a mirror element in a second state, the mirror angle may be moved by an angle such as 12 degrees to direct the light away from the path to the eye). Referring to FIG. 14B, in one DMD embodiment, two DMDs (390, 390) may be utilized in series with a pair of lenses (394, 396) in a periscope type of configuration to maintain a high amount of transmission of light from the real world (144) to the eye (58) of the user. The embodiment of FIG. 14C provides six different DMD (402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412) plane opportunities to intercede from an SLM functionality as beams are routed to the eye (58), along with two lenses (398, 400) for beam control.
[0144] FIG. 14D illustrates a more complicated periscope type arrangement with up to four DMDs (422, 424, 426, 428) for SLM functionality and four lenses (414, 420, 416, 418); this configuration is designed to ensure that the image does not become flipped upside down as it travels through to the eye (58). FIG. 14E illustrates in embodiment wherein light may be reflected between two different DMD devices (430, 432) without any intervening lenses (the lenses in the above designs are useful in such configurations for incorporating image information from the real world), in a hall-of-mirrors type of arrangement wherein the display may be viewed through the "hall of mirrors" and operates in a mode substantially similar to that illustrated in FIG. 14A. FIG. 14F illustrates an embodiment wherein a the non-display portions of two facing DMD chips (434, 436) may be covered with a reflective layer to propagate light to and from active display regions (438, 440) of the DMD chips. In other embodiments, in place of DMDs for SLM functionality, arrays of sliding MEMS shutters (such as those available from vendors such as Pixtronics, a division of Qualcomm, Inc.) may be utilized to either pass or block light. In another embodiment, arrays of small louvers that move out of place to present light-transmitting apertures may similarly be aggregated for SLM functionality.
[0145] A lightfield of many small beamlets (say, less than about 0.5 mm in diameter) may be injected into and propagated through a waveguide or other optical system. For example, a conventional "birdbath" type of optical system may be suitable for transferring the light of a lightfield input, or a freeform optics design, as described below, or any number of waveguide configurations. FIGS. 15A-15C illustrate the use of a wedge type waveguide (442) along with a plurality of light sources as another configuration useful in creating a lightfield. Referring to FIG. 15A, light may be injected into the wedge-shaped waveguide (442) from two different locations/displays (444, 446), and will emerge according to the total internal reflection properties of the wedge-shaped waveguide at different angles (448) based upon the points of injection into the waveguide.
[0146] Referring to FIG. 15B, if one creates a linear array (450) of displays (such as scanning fiber displays) projecting into the end of the waveguide as shown, then a large angular diversity of beams (452) will be exiting the waveguide in one dimension, as shown in FIG. 15C. Indeed, if one contemplates adding yet another linear array of displays injecting into the end of the waveguide but at a slightly different angle, then an angular diversity of beams may be created that exits similarly to the fanned out exit pattern shown in FIG. 15C, but at an orthogonal axis; together these may be utilized to create a two-dimensional fan of rays exiting each location of the waveguide. Thus another configuration is presented for creating angular diversity to form a lightfield display using one or more scanning fiber display arrays (or alternatively using other displays which will meet the space requirements, such as miniaturized DLP projection configurations).
[0147] Alternatively, as an input to the wedge-shaped waveguides shown herein, a stack of SLM devices may be utilized, in which case rather than the direct view of SLM output as described above, the lightfield output from the SLM configuration may be used as an input to a configuration such as that shown in FIG. 15C. One of the key concepts here is that while a conventional waveguide is best suited to relay beams of collimated light successfully, with a lightfield of small-diameter collimated beams, conventional waveguide technology may be utilized to further manipulate the output of such a lightfield system as injected into the side of a waveguide, such as a wedge-shaped waveguide, due to the beam size/collimation.
[0148] In another related embodiment, rather than projecting with multiple separate displays, a multicore fiber may be used to generate a lightfield and inject it into the waveguide. Further, a time-varying lightfield may be utilized as an input, such that rather than creating a static distribution of beamlets coming out of a lightfield, one may have some dynamic elements that are methodically changing the path of the set of beams. They may be done using components such as waveguides with embedded DOEs (e.g., such as those described above in reference to FIGS. 8B-8N, or liquid crystal layers, as described in reference to FIG. 7B), wherein two optical paths are created (one smaller total internal reflection path wherein a liquid crystal layer is placed in a first voltage state to have a refractive index mismatch with the other substrate material that causes total internal reflection down just the other substrate material's waveguide; one larger total internal reflection optical path wherein the liquid crystal layer is placed in a second voltage state to have a matching refractive index with the other substrate material, so that the light totally internally reflects through the composite waveguide which includes both the liquid crystal portion and the other substrate portion). Similarly a wedge-shaped waveguide may be configured to have a bi-modal total internal reflection paradigm (for example, in one variation, wedge-shaped elements may be configured such that when a liquid crystal portion is activated, not only is the spacing changed, but also the angle at which the beams are reflected).
[0149] One embodiment of a scanning light display may be characterized simply as a scanning fiber display with a lens at the end of the scanned fiber. Many lens varieties are suitable, such as a GRIN lens, which may be used to collimate the light or to focus the light down to a spot smaller than the fiber's mode field diameter providing the advantage of producing a numerical aperture (or "NA") increase and circumventing the optical invariant, which is correlated inversely with spot size. Smaller spot size generally facilitates a higher resolution opportunity from a display perspective, which generally is preferred. In one embodiment, a GRIN lens may be long enough relative to the fiber that it may comprise the vibrating element (i.e., rather than the usual distal fiber tip vibration with a scanned fiber display)--a configuration which may be deemed a "scanned GRIN lens display".
[0150] In another embodiment, a diffractive lens may be utilized at the exit end of a scanning fiber display (i.e., patterned onto the fiber). In another embodiment, a curved mirror may be positioned on the end of the fiber that operates in a reflecting configuration. Essentially any of the configurations known to collimate and focus a beam may be used at the end of a scanning fiber to produce a suitable scanned light display.
[0151] Two significant utilities to having a lens coupled to or comprising the end of a scanned fiber (i.e., as compared to configurations wherein an uncoupled lens may be utilized to direct light after it exits a fiber) are a) the light exiting may be collimated to obviate the need to use other external optics to do so; b) the NA, or the angle of the cone at which light sprays out the end of the single-mode fiber core, may be increased, thereby decreasing the associated spot size for the fiber and increasing the available resolution for the display.
[0152] As described above, a lens such as a GRIN lens may be fused to or otherwise coupled to the end of an optical fiber or formed from a portion of the end of the fiber using techniques such as polishing. In one embodiment, a typical optical fiber with an NA of about 0.13 or 0.14 may have a spot size (also known as the "mode field diameter" for the optical fiber given the NA) of about 3 microns. This provides for relatively high resolution display possibilities given the industry standard display resolution paradigms (for example, a typical microdisplay technology such as LCD or organic light emitting diode, or "OLED" has a spot size of about 5 microns). Thus the aforementioned scanning light display may have 3/5 of the smallest pixel pitch available with a conventional display; further, using a lens at the end of the fiber, the aforementioned configuration may produce a spot size in the range of 1-2 microns.
[0153] In another embodiment, rather than using a scanned cylindrical fiber, a cantilevered portion of a waveguide (such as a waveguide created using microfabrication processes such as masking and etching, rather than drawn microfiber techniques) may be placed into scanning oscillatory motion, and may be fitted with lensing at the exit ends.
[0154] In another embodiment, an increased numerical aperture for a fiber to be scanned may be created using a diffuser (i.e., one configured to scatter light and create a larger NA) covering the exit end of the fiber. In one variation, the diffuser may be created by etching the end of the fiber to create small bits of terrain that scatter light; in another variation a bead or sandblasting technique, or direct sanding/scuffing technique may be utilized to create scattering terrain. In another variation, an engineered diffuser, similar to a diffractive element, may be created to maintain a clean spot size with desirable NA, which ties into the notion of using a diffractive lens, as noted above.
[0155] Referring to FIG. 16A, an array of optical fibers (454) is shown coupled in to a coupler (456) configured to hold them in parallel together so that their ends may be ground and polished to have an output edge at a critical angle (458; 42 degrees for most glass, for example) to the longitudinal axes of the input fibers, such that the light exiting the angled faces will exit as though it had been passing through a prism, and will bend and become nearly parallel to the surfaces of the polished faces. The beams exiting the fibers (454) in the bundle will become superimposed, but will be out of phase longitudinally due to the different path lengths (referring to FIG. 16B, for example, the difference in path lengths from angled exit face to focusing lens for the different cores is visible).
[0156] What was an X axis type of separation in the bundle before exit from the angled faces, will become a Z axis separation, a fact that is helpful in creating a multifocal light source from such a configuration. In another embodiment, rather than using a bundled/coupled plurality of single mode fibers, a multicore fiber, such as those available from Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd. of Japan, may be angle polished.
[0157] In one embodiment, if a 45 degree angle is polished into a fiber and then covered with a reflective element, such as a mirror coating, the exiting light may be reflected from the polished surface and emerge from the side of the fiber (in one embodiment at a location wherein a flat-polished exit window has been created in the side of the fiber) such that as the fiber is scanned in what would normally be an X-Y Cartesian coordinate system axis, that fiber would now be functionally performing the equivalent of an X-Z scan, with the distance changing during the course of the scan. Such a configuration may be beneficially utilized to change the focus of the display as well.
[0158] Multicore fibers may be configured to play a role in display resolution enhancement (i.e., higher resolution). For example, in one embodiment, if separate pixel data is sent down a tight bundle of 19 cores in a multicore fiber, and that cluster is scanned around in a sparse spiral pattern with the pitch of the spiral being approximately equal to the diameter of the multicore, then sweeping around will effectively create a display resolution that is approximately 19× the resolution of a single core fiber being similarly scanned around. Indeed, it may be more practical to have the fibers more sparsely positioned relative to each other, as in the configuration of FIG. 16C, which has 7 clusters (464; 7 is used for illustrative purposes because it is an efficient tiling/hex pattern; other patterns or numbers may be utilized; for example, a cluster of 19; the configuration is scalable up or down) of 3 fibers each housed within a conduit (462).
[0159] With a sparse configuration as shown in FIG. 16C, scanning of the multicore scans each of the cores through its own local region, as opposed to a configuration wherein the cores are all packed tightly together and scanned (wherein cores end up overlapping with scanning; if the cores are too close to each other, the NA of the core is not large enough and the very closely packed cores end up blurring together somewhat and not creating as discriminable a spot for display). Thus, for resolution increases, it is preferable to have sparse tiling rather than highly dense tiling, although both will work.
[0160] The notion that densely packed scanned cores can create blurring at the display may be utilized as an advantage in one embodiment wherein a plurality (say a triad or cores to carry red, green, and blue light) of cores may be intentionally packed together densely so that each triad forms a triad of overlapped spots featuring red, green, and blue light. With such a configuration, one is able to have an RGB display without having to combine red, green, and blue into a single-mode core, which is an advantage, because conventional mechanisms for combining a plurality (such as three) wavelets of light into a single core are subject to significant losses in optical energy. Referring to FIG. 16C, in one embodiment each tight cluster of 3 fiber cores contains one core that relays red light, one core that relays green light, and one core that relays blue light, with the 3 fiber cores close enough together that their positional differences are not resolvable by the subsequent relay optics, forming an effectively superimposed RGB pixel; thus, the sparse tiling of 7 clusters produces resolution enhancement while the tight packing of 3 cores within the clusters facilitates seamless color blending without the need to utilize glossy RGB fiber combiners (e.g., those using wavelength division multiplexing or evanescent coupling techniques).
[0161] Referring to FIG. 16D, in another more simple variation, one may have just one cluster (464) housed in a conduit (468) for, say, red/green/blue (and in another embodiment, another core may be added for infrared for uses such as eye tracking). In another embodiment, additional cores may be placed in the tight cluster to carrying additional wavelengths of light to comprise a multi-primary display for increased color gamut. Referring to FIG. 16E, in another embodiment, a sparse array of single cores (470); in one variation with red, green, and blue combined down each of them) within a conduit (466) may be utilized; such a configuration is workable albeit somewhat less efficient for resolution increase, but not optimum for red/green/blue combining.
[0162] Multicore fibers also may be utilized for creating lightfield displays. Indeed, rather than keeping the cores separated enough from each other so that the cores do not scan on each other's local area at the display panel, as described above in the context of creating a scanning light display, with a lightfield display, it is desirable to scan around a densely packed plurality of fibers because each of the beams produced represents a specific part of the lightfield. The light exiting from the bundled fiber tips can be relatively narrow if the fibers have a small NA; lightfield configurations may take advantage of this and have an arrangement in which at the anatomic pupil, a plurality of slightly different beams are being received from the array. Thus there are optical configurations with scanning a multicore that are functionally equivalent to an array of single scanning fiber modules, and thus a lightfield may be created by scanning a multicore rather than scanning a group of single mode fibers.
[0163] In one embodiment, a multi-core phased array approach may be used to create a large exit pupil variable wavefront configuration to facilitate three-dimensional perception. A single laser configuration with phase modulators is described above. In a multicore embodiment, phase delays may be induced into different channels of a multicore fiber, such that a single laser's light is injected into all of the cores of the multicore configuration so that there is mutual coherence.
[0164] In one embodiment, a multi-core fiber may be combined with a lens, such as a GRIN lens. Such lens may be, for example, a refractive lens, diffractive lens, or a polished edge functioning as a lens. The lens may be a single optical surface, or may comprise multiple optical surfaces stacked up. Indeed, in addition to having a single lens that extends the diameter of the multicore, a smaller lenslet array may be desirable at the exit point of light from the cores of the multicore, for example. FIG. 16F shows an embodiment wherein a multicore fiber (470) is emitting multiple beams into a lens (472), such as a GRIN lens. The lens collects the beams down to a focal point (474) in space in front of the lens. In many conventional configurations, the beams would exit the multicore fiber as diverging. The GRIN or other lens is configured to function to direct them down to a single point and collimate them, such that the collimated result may be scanned around for a lightfield display, for instance.
[0165] Referring to FIG. 16G, smaller lenses (478) may be placed in front of each of the cores of a multicore (476) configuration, and these lenses may be utilized to collimate; then a shared lens (480) may be configured to focus the collimated beams down to a diffraction limited spot (482) that is aligned for all of the three spots. The net result of such a configuration: by combining three collimated, narrow beams with narrow NA together as shown, one effectively combines all three into a much larger angle of emission which translates to a smaller spot size in, for example, a head mounted optical display system which may be next in the chain of light delivery to the user.
[0166] Referring to FIG. 16H, one embodiment features a multicore fiber (476) with a lenslet (478) array feeding the light to a small prism array (484) that deflects the beams generated by the individual cores to a common point. Alternatively one may have the small lenslet array shifted relative to the cores such that the light is being deflected and focused down to a single point. Such a configuration may be utilized to increase the numerical aperture.
[0167] Referring to FIG. 16I, a two-step configuration is shown with a small lenslet (478) array capturing light from the multicore fiber (476), followed sequentially by a shared lens (486) to focus the beams to a single point (488). Such a configuration may be utilized to increase the numerical aperture. As discussed above, a larger NA corresponds to a smaller pixel size and higher possible display resolution.
[0168] Referring to FIG. 16J, a beveled fiber array which may be held together with a coupler (456), such as those described above, may be scanned with a reflecting device (494; such as a DMD module of a DLP system). With multiple single fibers (454) coupled into the array, or a multicore instead, the superimposed light can be directed through one or more focusing lenses (490, 492) to create a multifocal beam; with the superimposing and angulation of the array, the different sources are different distances from the focusing lens, which creates different focus levels in the beams as they emerge from the lens (492) and are directed toward the retina (54) of the eye (58) of the user. For example, the farthest optical route/beam may be set up to be a collimated beam representative of optical infinity focal positions. Closer routes/beams may be associated with diverging spherical wavefronts of closer focal locations.
[0169] The multifocal beam may be passed into a scanning mirror which may be configured to create a raster scan (or, for example, a Lissajous curve scan pattern or a spiral scan pattern) of the multifocal beam which may be passed through a series of focusing lenses and then to the cornea and crystalline lens of the eye. The various beams emerging from the lenses are creating different pixels or voxels of varying focal distances that are superimposed.
[0170] In one embodiment, one may write different data to each of the light modulation channels at the front end, thereby creating an image that is projected to the eye with one or more focus elements. By changing the focal distance of the crystalline lens (i.e., by accommodating), the user can bring different incoming pixels into and out of focus, as shown in FIGS. 16K and 16L wherein the crystalline lens is in different Z axis positions. In another embodiment, the fiber array may be actuated/moved around by a piezoelectric actuator. In another embodiment, a relatively thin ribbon array may be resonated in cantilevered form along the axis perpendicular to the arrangement of the array fibers (i.e., in the thin direction of the ribbon) when a piezoelectric actuator is activated. In one variation, a separate piezoelectric actuator may be utilized to create a vibratory scan in the orthogonal long axis. In another embodiment, a single mirror axis scan may be employed for a slow scan along the long axis while the fiber ribbon is vibrated resonantly.
[0171] Referring to FIG. 16M, an array (496) of scanning fiber displays (498) may be beneficially bundled/tiled for an effective resolution increase, the notion being that with such as configuration, each scanning fiber of the bundle is configured to write to a different portion of the image plane (500), as shown, for example, in FIG. 16N, wherein each portion of the image plane is addressed by the emissions from a least one bundle. In other embodiments, optical configurations may be utilized that allow for slight magnification of the beams as they exit the optical fiber so that there is some overlap in the hexagonal, or other lattice pattern, that hits the display plane, so there is a better fill factor while also maintaining an adequately small spot size in the image plane and understanding that there is a subtle magnification in that image plane.
[0172] Rather than having individual lenses at the end of each scanned fiber enclosure housing, in one embodiment a monolithic lenslet array may be utilized, so that the lenses can be as closely packed as possible, which allows for even smaller spot sizes in the image plane because one may use a lower amount of magnification in the optical system. Thus arrays of fiber scan displays may be used to increase the resolution of the display, or in other words, they may be used to increase the field of view of the display, because each engine is being used to scan a different portion of the field of view.
[0173] For a lightfield configuration, the emissions may be more desirably overlapped at the image plane. In one embodiment, a lightfield display may be created using a plurality of small diameter fibers scanned around in space. For example, instead of having all of the fibers address a different part of an image plane as described above, have more overlapping, more fibers angled inward, etc., or change the focal power of the lenses so that the small spot sizes are not conjugate with a tiled image plane configuration. Such a configuration may be used to create a lightfield display to scan lots of smaller diameter rays around that become intercepted in the same physical space.
[0174] Referring back to FIG. 12B, it was discussed that one way of creating a lightfield display involves making the output of the elements on the left collimated with narrow beams, and then making the projecting array conjugate with the eye pupil on the right.
[0175] Referring to FIG. 16O, with a common substrate block (502), a single actuator may be utilized to actuate a plurality of fibers (506) in unison together. A similar configuration is discussed above in reference to FIGS. 13-C-1 and 13-C-2. It may be practically difficult to have all of the fibers retain the same resonant frequency, vibrate in a desirable phase relationship to each other, or have the same dimensions of cantilevering from the substrate block. To address this challenge, the tips of the fibers may be mechanically coupled with a lattice or sheet (504), such as a graphene sheet that is very thin, rigid, and light in weight. With such a coupling, the entire array may vibrate similarly and have the same phase relationship. In another embodiment a matrix of carbon nanotubes may be utilized to couple the fibers, or a piece of very thin planar glass (such as the kind used in creating liquid crystal display panels) may be coupled to the fiber ends. Further, a laser or other precision cutting device may be utilized to cut all associated fibers to the same cantilevered length.
[0176] Referring to FIG. 17, in one embodiment it may be desirable to have a contact lens directly interfaced with the cornea, and configured to facilitate the eye focusing on a display that is quite close (such as the typical distance between a cornea and an eyeglasses lens). Rather than placing an optical lens as a contact lens, in one variation the lens may comprise a selective filter. FIG. 17 depicts a plot (508) what may be deemed a "notch filter", due to its design to block only certain wavelength bands, such as 450 nm (peak blue), 530 nm (green), and 650 nm, and generally pass or transmit other wavelengths. In one embodiment several layers of dielectric coatings may be aggregated to provide the notch filtering functionality.
[0177] Such a filtering configuration may be coupled with a scanning fiber display that is producing a very narrow band illumination for red, green, and blue, and the contact lens with the notch filtering will block out all of the light coming from the display (such as a minidisplay, such as an OLED display, mounted in a position normally occupied by an eyeglasses lens) except for the transmissive wavelengths. A narrow pinhole may be created in the middle of the contact lens filtering layers/film such that the small aperture (i.e., less than about 1.5 mm diameter) does allow passage of the otherwise blocked wavelengths. Thus a pinhole lens configuration is created that functions in a pinhole manner for red, green, and blue only to intake images from the minidisplay, while light from the real world, which generally is broadband illumination, will pass through the contact lens relatively unimpeded. Thus a large depth of focus virtual display configuration may be assembled and operated. In another embodiment, a collimated image exiting from a waveguide would be visible at the retina because of the pinhole large-depth-of-focus configuration.
[0178] It may be useful to create a display that can vary its depth of focus over time. For example, in one embodiment, a display may be configured to have different display modes that may be selected (preferably rapidly toggling between the two at the command of the operator) by an operator, such as a first mode combining a very large depth of focus with a small exit pupil diameter (i.e., so that everything is in focus all of the time), and a second mode featuring a larger exit pupil and a more narrow depth of focus. In operation, if a user is to play a three-dimensional video game with objects to be perceived at many depths of field, the operator may select the first mode; alternatively, if a user is to type in a long essay (i.e., for a relatively long period of time) using a two-dimensional word processing display configuration, it may be more desirable to switch to the second mode to have the convenience of a larger exit pupil, and a sharper image.
[0179] In another embodiment, it may be desirable to have a multi-depth of focus display configuration wherein some subimages are presented with a large depth of focus while other subimages are presented with small depth of focus. For example, one configuration may have red wavelength and blue wavelength channels presented with a very small exit pupil so that they are always in focus. Then, a green channel only may be presented with a large exit pupil configuration with multiple depth planes (i.e., because the human accommodation system tends to preferentially target green wavelengths for optimizing focus level). Thus, in order to cut costs associated with having too many elements to represent with full depth planes in red, green, and blue, the green wavelength may be prioritized and represented with various different wavefront levels. Red and blue may be relegated to being represented with a more Maxwellian approach (and, as described above in reference to Maxwellian displays, software may be utilized to induce Gaussian levels of blur). Such a display would simultaneously present multiple depths of focus.
[0180] As described above, there are portions of the retina which have a higher density of light sensors. The fovea portion, for example, generally is populated with approximately 120 cones per visual degree. Display systems have been created in the past that use eye or gaze tracking as an input, and to save computation resources by only creating really high resolution rendering for where the person is gazing at the time, while lower resolution rendering is presented to the rest of the retina; the locations of the high versus low resolution portions may be dynamically slaved to the tracked gaze location in such a configuration, which may be termed a "foveated display".
[0181] An improvement on such configurations may comprise a scanning fiber display with pattern spacing that may be dynamically slaved to tracked eye gaze. For example, with a typical scanning fiber display operating in a spiral pattern, as shown in FIG. 18 (the leftmost portion 510 of the image in FIG. 18 illustrates a spiral motion pattern of a scanned multicore fiber 514; the rightmost portion 512 of the image in FIG. 18 illustrates a spiral motion pattern of a scanned single fiber 516 for comparison), a constant pattern pitch provides for a uniform display resolution.
[0182] In a foveated display configuration, a non-uniform scanning pitch may be utilized, with smaller/tighter pitch (and therefore higher resolution) dynamically slaved to the detected gaze location. For example, if the user's gaze was detected as moving toward the edge of the display screen, the spirals may be clustered more densely in such location, which would create a toroid-type scanning pattern for the high-resolution portions, and the rest of the display being in a lower-resolution mode. In a configuration wherein gaps may be created in the portions of the display in a lower-resolution mode, blur could be intentionally dynamically created to smooth out the transitions between scans, as well as between transitions from high-resolution to lower-resolution scan pitch.
[0183] The term lightfield may be used to describe a volumetric 3-D representation of light traveling from an object to a viewer's eye. However, an optical see-through display can only reflect light to the eye, not the absence of light, and ambient light from the real world will add to any light representing a virtual object. That is, if a virtual object presented to the eye contains a black or very dark portion, the ambient light from the real world may pass through that dark portion and obscure that it was intended to be dark.
[0184] It is nonetheless desirable to be able to present a dark virtual object over a bright real background, and for that dark virtual object to appear to occupy a volume at a desired viewing distance; i.e., it is useful to create a "darkfield" representation of that dark virtual object, in which the absence of light is perceived to be located at a particular point in space. With regard to occlusion elements and the presentation of information to the eye of the user so that he or she can perceive darkfield aspects of virtual objects, even in well lighted actual environments, certain aspects of the aforementioned spatial light modulator, or "SLM", configurations are pertinent. As described above, with a light-sensing system such as the eye, one way to get selective perception of dark field to selectively attenuate light from such portions of the display, because the subject display systems are about manipulation and presentation of light; in other words, darkfield cannot be specifically projected--it's the lack of illumination that may be perceived as darkfield, and thus, configurations for selective attenuation of illumination have been developed.
[0185] Referring back to the discussion of SLM configurations, one way to selectively attenuate for a darkfield perception is to block all of the light coming from one angle, while allowing light from other angles to be transmitted. This may be accomplished with a plurality of SLM planes comprising elements such as liquid crystal (which may not be the most optimal due to its relatively low transparency when in the transmitting state), DMD elements of DLP systems (which have relative high transmission/reflection ratios when in such mode), and MEMS arrays or shutters that are configured to controllably shutter or pass light radiation, as described above.
[0186] With regard to suitable liquid crystal display ("LCD") configurations, a cholesteric LCD array may be utilized for a controlled occlusion/blocking array. As opposed to the conventional LCD paradigm wherein a polarization state is changed as a function of voltage, with a cholesteric LCD configuration, a pigment is being bound to the liquid crystal molecule, and then the molecule is physically tilted in response to an applied voltage. Such a configuration may be designed to achieve greater transparency when in a transmissive mode than conventional LCD, and a stack of polarizing films is not needed as it is with conventional LCD.
[0187] In another embodiment, a plurality of layers of controllably interrupted patterns may be utilized to controllably block selected presentation of light using moire effects. For example, in one configuration, two arrays of attenuation patterns, each of which may comprise, for example, fine-pitched sine waves printed or painted upon a transparent planar material such as a glass substrate, may be presented to the eye of a user at a distance close enough that when the viewer looks through either of the patterns alone, the view is essentially transparent, but if the viewer looks through both patterns lined up in sequence, the viewer will see a spatial beat frequency moire attenuation pattern, even when the two attenuation patterns are placed in sequence relatively close to the eye of the user.
[0188] The beat frequency is dependent upon the pitch of the patterns on the two attenuation planes, so in one embodiment, an attenuation pattern for selectively blocking certain light transmission for darkfield perception may be created using two sequential patterns, each of which otherwise would be transparent to the user, but which together in series create a spatial beat frequency moire attenuation pattern selected to attenuate in accordance with the darkfield perception desired in the augmented reality system.
[0189] In another embodiment a controlled occlusion paradigm for darkfield effect may be created using a multi-view display style occluder. For example, one configuration may comprise one pin-holed layer that fully occludes with the exception of small apertures or pinholes, along with a selective attenuation layer in series, which may comprise an LCD, DLP system, or other selective attenuation layer configuration, such as those described above. In one scenario, with the pinhole array placed at a typical eyeglasses lens distance from the cornea (about 30 mm), and with a selective attenuation panel located opposite the pinhole array from the eye, a perception of a sharp mechanical edge out in space may be created. In essence, if the configuration will allow certain angles of light to pass, and others to be blocked or occluded, than a perception of a very sharp pattern, such as a sharp edge projection, may be created. In another related embodiment, the pinhole array layer may be replaced with a second dynamic attenuation layer to provide a somewhat similar configuration, but with more controls than the static pinhole array layer (the static pinhole layer could be simulated, but need not be).
[0190] In another related embodiment, the pinholes may be replaced with cylindrical lenses. The same pattern of occlusion as in the pinhole array layer configuration may be achieved, but with cylindrical lenses, the array is not restricted to the very tiny pinhole geometries. To prevent the eye from being presented with distortions due to the lenses when viewing through to the real world, a second lens array may be added on the side of the aperture or lens array opposite of the side nearest the eye to compensate and provide the view-through illumination with basically a zero power telescope configuration.
[0191] In another embodiment, rather than physically blocking light for occlusion and creation of darkfield perception, the light may be bent or bounced, or a polarization of the light may be changed if a liquid crystal layer is utilized. For example, in one variation, each liquid crystal layer may act as a polarization rotator such that if a patterned polarizing material is incorporated on one face of a panel, then the polarization of individual rays coming from the real world may be selectively manipulated so they catch a portion of the patterned polarizer. There are polarizers known in the art that have checkerboard patterns wherein half of the "checker boxes" have vertical polarization and the other half have horizontal polarization. In addition, if a material such as liquid crystal is used in which polarization may be selectively manipulated, light may be selectively attenuated with this.
[0192] As described above, selective reflectors may provide greater transmission efficiency than LCD. In one embodiment, if a lens system is placed such that it takes light coming in from the real world and focuses a plane from the real world onto an image plane, and if a DMD (i.e., DLP technology) is placed at that image plane to reflect light when in an "on" state towards another set of lenses that pass the light to the eye, and those lenses also have the DMD at their focal length, the one may create an attenuation pattern that is in focus for the eye. In other words, DMDs may be used in a selective reflector plane in a zero magnification telescope configuration, such as is shown in FIG. 19A, to controllably occlude and facilitate creating darkfield perception.
[0193] As shown in FIG. 19A, a lens (518) is taking light from the real world (144) and focusing it down to an image plane (520); if a DMD (or other spatial attenuation device) (522) is placed at the focal length of the lens (i.e., at the image plane 520), the lens (518) is going to take whatever light is coming from optical infinity and focus that onto the image plane (520). Then the spatial attenuator (522) may be utilized to selectively block out things that are to be attenuated. FIG. 19A shows the attenuator DMDs in the transmissive mode wherein they pass the beams shown crossing the device. The image is then placed at the focal length of the second lens (524). Preferably the two lenses (518, 524) have the same focal power so they end up being a zero-power telescope, or a "relay", that does not magnify views to the real world (144). Such a configuration may be used to present unmagnified views of the world while also allowing selective blocking/attenuation of certain pixels.
[0194] In another embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 19B and 19C, additional DMDs may be added such that light reflects from each of four DMDs (526, 528, 530, 532) before passing to the eye. FIG. 19B shows an embodiment with two lenses preferably with the same focal power (focal length "F") placed at a 2F relationship from one another (the focal length of the first being conjugate to the focal length of the second) to have the zero-power telescope effect; FIG. 19C shows an embodiment without lenses. The angles of orientation of the four reflective panels (526, 528, 530, 532) in the depicted embodiments of FIGS. 19B and 19C are shown to be around 45 degrees for simple illustration purposes, but specific relative orientation is required (for example, a typical DMD reflect at about a 12 degree angle).
[0195] In another embodiment, the panels may also be ferroelectric, or may be any other kind of reflective or selective attenuator panel or array. In one embodiment similar to those depicted in FIGS. 19B and 19C, one of the three reflector arrays may be a simple mirror, such that the other 3 are selective attenuators, thus still providing three independent planes to controllably occlude portions of the incoming illumination in furtherance of darkfield perception. By having multiple dynamic reflective attenuators in series, masks at different optical distances relative to the real world may be created.
[0196] Alternatively, referring back to FIG. 19C, one may create a configuration wherein one or more DMDs are placed in a reflective periscope configuration without any lenses. Such a configuration may be driven in lightfield algorithms to selectively attenuate certain rays while others are passed.
[0197] In another embodiment, a DMD or similar matrix of controllably movable devices may be created upon a transparent substrate as opposed to a generally opaque substrate, for use in a transmissive configuration such as virtual reality.
[0198] In another embodiment, two LCD panels may be utilized as lightfield occluders. In one variation, they may be thought of as attenuators due to their attenuating capability as described above; alternatively they may be considered polarization rotators with a shared polarizer stack. Suitable LCDs may comprise components such as blue phase liquid crystal, cholesteric liquid crystal, ferroelectric liquid crystal, and/or twisted nematic liquid crystal.
[0199] One embodiment may comprise an array of directionally-selective occlusion elements, such as a MEMS device featuring a set of louvers that can change rotation such that they pass the majority of light that is coming from a particular angle, but are presenting more of a broad face to light that is coming from a different angle (somewhat akin to the manner in which plantation shutters may be utilized with a typical human scale window). The MEMS/louvers configuration may be placed upon an optically transparent substrate, with the louvers substantially opaque. Ideally such a configuration would have a louver pitch fine enough to selectably occlude light on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In another embodiment, two or more layers or stacks of louvers may be combined to provide yet further controls. In another embodiment, rather than selectively blocking light, the louvers may be polarizers configured to change the polarization state of light on a controllably variable basis.
[0200] As described above, another embodiment for selective occlusion may comprise an array of sliding panels in a MEMS device such that the sliding panels may be controllably opened (i.e., by sliding in a planar fashion from a first position to a second position; or by rotating from a first orientation to a second orientation; or, for example, combined rotational reorientation and displacement) to transmit light through a small frame or aperture, and controllably closed to occlude the frame or aperture and prevent transmission. The array may be configured to open or occlude the various frames or apertures such that they maximally attenuate the rays that are to be attenuated, and only minimally attenuate the rays to be transmitted.
[0201] In an embodiment wherein a fixed number of sliding panels can either occupy a first position occluding a first aperture and opening a second aperture, or a second position occluding the second aperture and opening the first aperture, there will always be the same amount of light transmitted overall (because 50% of the apertures are occluded, and the other 50% are open, with such a configuration), but the local position changes of the shutters or doors may create targeted moire or other effects for darkfield perception with the dynamic positioning of the various sliding panels. In one embodiment, the sliding panels may comprise sliding polarizers, and if placed in a stacked configuration with other polarizing elements that are either static or dynamic, may be utilized to selectively attenuate.
[0202] Referring to FIG. 19D, another configuration providing an opportunity for selective reflection, such as via a DMD style reflector array (534), is shown, such that a stacked set of two waveguides (536, 538) along with a pair of focus elements (540, 542) and a reflector (534; such as a DMD) may be used to capture a portion of incoming light with an entrance reflector (544). The reflected light may be totally internally reflected down the length of the first waveguide (536), into a focusing element (540) to bring the light into focus on a reflector (534) such as a DMD array, after which the DMD may selectively attenuate and reflect a portion of the light back through a focusing lens (542; the lens configured to facilitate injection of the light back into the second waveguide) and into the second waveguide (538) for total internal reflection down to an exit reflector (546) configured to exit the light out of the waveguide and toward the eye (58).
[0203] Such a configuration may have a relatively thin shape factor, and is designed to allow light from the real world (144) to be selectively attenuated. As waveguides work most cleanly with collimated light, such a configuration may be well suited for virtual reality configurations wherein focal lengths are in the range of optical infinity. For closer focal lengths, a lightfield display may be used as a layer on top of the silhouette created by the aforementioned selective attenuation/darkfield configuration to provide other cues to the eye of the user that light is coming from another focal distance. An occlusion mask may be out of focus, even nondesirably so, and then in one embodiment, a lightfield on top of the masking layer may be used to hide the fact that the darkfield may be at the wrong focal distance.
[0204] Referring to FIG. 19E, an embodiment is shown featuring two waveguides (552, 554) each having two angled reflectors (558, 544; 556, 546) for illustrative purposes shown at approximately 45 degrees; in actual configurations the angle may differ depending upon the reflective surface, reflective/refractive properties of the waveguides, etc.) directing a portion of light incoming from the real world down each side of a first waveguide (or down two separate waveguides if the top layer is not monolithic) such that it hits a reflector (548, 550) at each end, such as a DMD which may be used for selective attenuation, after which the reflected light may be injected back into the second waveguide (or into two separate waveguides if the bottom layer is not monolithic) and back toward two angled reflectors (again, they need not be at 45 degrees as shown) for exit out toward the eye (58).
[0205] Focusing lenses may also be placed between the reflectors at each end and the waveguides. In another embodiment the reflectors (548, 550) at each end may comprise standard mirrors (such as alumized mirrors). Further, the reflectors may be wavelength selective reflectors, such as dichroic mirrors or film interference filters. Further, the reflectors may be diffractive elements configured to reflect incoming light.
[0206] FIG. 19F illustrates a configuration wherein four reflective surfaces in a pyramid type configuration are utilized to direct light through two waveguides (560, 562), in which incoming light from the real world may be divided up and reflected to four difference axes. The pyramid-shaped reflector (564) may have more than four facets, and may be resident within the substrate prism, as with the reflectors of the configuration of FIG. 19E. The configuration of FIG. 19F is an extension of that of FIG. 19E.
[0207] Referring to FIG. 19G, a single waveguide (566) may be utilized to capture light from the world (144) with one or more reflective surfaces (574, 576, 578, 580, 582), relay it (570) to a selective attenuator (568; such as a DMD array), and recouple it back into the same waveguide so that it propagates (572) and encounters one or more other reflective surfaces (584, 586, 588, 590, 592) that cause it to at least partially exit (594) the waveguide on a path toward the eye (58) of the user. Preferably the waveguide comprises selective reflectors such that one group (574, 576, 578, 580, 582) may be switched on to capture incoming light and direct it down to the selective attenuator, while separate another group (584, 586, 588, 590, 592) may be switched on to exit light returning from the selective attenuator out toward the eye (58).
[0208] For simplicity the selective attenuator is shown oriented substantially perpendicularly to the waveguide; in other embodiments, various optics components, such as refractive or reflective optics, may be utilized to have the selective attenuator at a different and more compact orientation relative to the waveguide.
[0209] Referring to FIG. 19H, a variation on the configuration described in reference to FIG. 19D is illustrated. This configuration is somewhat analogous to that discussed above in reference to FIG. 5B, wherein a switchable array of reflectors may be embedded within each of a pair of waveguides (602, 604). Referring to FIG. 19H, a controller may be configured to turn the reflectors (598, 600) on and off in sequence, such that multiple reflectors may be operated on a frame sequential basis; then the DMD or other selective attenuator (594) may also be sequentially driven in sync with the different mirrors being turned on and off.
[0210] Referring to FIG. 19I, a pair of wedge-shaped waveguides similar to those described above (for example, in reference to FIGS. 15A-15C) are shown in side or sectional view to illustrate that the two long surfaces of each wedge-shaped waveguide (610, 612) are not co-planar. A "turning film" (606, 608; such as that available from 3M corporation under the trade name, "TRAF", which in essence comprises a microprism array), may be utilized on one or more surfaces of the wedge-shaped waveguides to either turn incoming rays at an angle so that they will be captured by total internal reflection, or to turn outgoing rays as they are exiting the waveguide toward an eye or other target. Incoming rays are directed down the first wedge and toward the selective attenuator (614) such as a DMD, LCD (such as a ferroelectric LCD), or an LCD stack to act as a mask).
[0211] After the selective attenuator (614), reflected light is coupled back into the second wedge-shaped waveguide which then relays the light by total internal reflection along the wedge. The properties of the wedge-shaped waveguide are intentionally such that each bounce of light causes an angle change; the point at which the angle has changed enough to be the critical angle to escape total internal reflection becomes the exit point from the wedge-shaped waveguide. Typically the exit will be at an oblique angle, so another layer of turning film may be used to "turn" the exiting light toward a targeted object such as the eye (58).
[0212] Referring to FIG. 19J, several arcuate lenslet arrays (616, 620, 622) are positioned relative to an eye and configured such that a spatial attenuator array (618) is positioned at a focal/image plane so that it may be in focus with the eye (58). The first (616) and second (620) arrays are configured such that in the aggregate, light passing from the real world to the eye is essentially passed through a zero power telescope. The embodiment of FIG. 19J shows a third array (622) of lenslets which may be utilized for improved optical compensation, but the general case does not require such a third layer. As discussed above, having telescopic lenses that are the diameter of the viewing optic may create an undesirably large form factor (somewhat akin to having a bunch of small sets of binoculars in front of the eyes).
[0213] One way to optimize the overall geometry is to reduce the diameter of the lenses by splitting them out into smaller lenslets, as shown in FIG. 19J (i.e., an array of lenses rather than one single large lens). The lenslet arrays (616, 620, 622) are shown wrapped radially or arcuately around the eye (58) to ensure that beams incoming to the pupil are aligned through the appropriate lenslets (else the system may suffer from optical problems such as dispersion, aliasing, and/or lack of focus). Thus all of the lenslets are oriented "toed in" and pointed at the pupil of the eye (58), and the system facilitates avoidance of scenarios wherein rays are propagated through unintended sets of lenses en route to the pupil.
[0214] Referring to FIGS. 19K-19N, various software approaches may be utilized to assist in the presentation of darkfield in a virtual or augmented reality displace scenario. Referring to FIG. 19K, a typical challenging scenario for augmented reality is depicted (632), with a textured carpet (624) and non-uniform background architectural features (626), both of which are lightly-colored. The black box (628) depicted indicates the region of the display in which one or more augmented reality features are to be presented to the user for three-dimensional perception, and in the black box a robot creature (630) is being presented that may, for example, be part of an augmented reality game in which the user is engaged. In the depicted example, the robot character (630) is darkly-colored, which makes for a challenging presentation in three-dimensional perception, particularly with the background selected for this example scenario.
[0215] As discussed briefly above, one of the main challenges for a presenting darkfield augmented reality object is that the system generally cannot add or paint in "darkness"; generally the display is configured to add light. Thus, referring to FIG. 19L, without any specialized software treatments to enhance darkfield perception, presentation of the robot character in the augmented reality view results in a scene wherein portions of the robot character that are to be essentially flat black in presentation are not visible, and portions of the robot character that are to have some lighting (such as the lightly-pigmented cover of the shoulder gun of the robot character) are only barely visible (634)--they appear almost like a light grayscale disruption to the otherwise normal background image.
[0216] Referring to FIG. 19M, using a software-based global attenuation treatment (akin to digitally putting on a pair of sunglasses) provides enhanced visibility to the robot character because the brightness of the nearly black robot character is effective increased relative to the rest of the space, which now appears more dark (640). Also shown in FIG. 19M is a digitally-added light halo (636) which may be added to enhance and distinguish the now-more-visible robot character shapes (638) from the background. With the halo treatment, even the portions of the robot character that are to be presented as flat black become visible with the contrast to the white halo, or "aura" presented around the robot character.
[0217] Preferably the halo may be presented to the user with a perceived focal distance that is behind the focal distance of the robot character in three-dimensional space. In a configuration wherein single panel occlusion techniques such as those described above is being utilized to present darkfield, the light halo may be presented with an intensity gradient to match the dark halo that may accompany the occlusion, minimizing the visibility of either darkfield effect. Further, the halo may be presented with blurring to the background behind the presented halo illumination for further distinguishing effect. A more subtle aura or halo effect may be created by matching, at least in part, the color and/or brightness of a relatively light-colored background.
[0218] Referring to FIG. 19N, some or all of the black intonations of the robot character may be changed to dark, cool blue colors to provide a further distinguishing effect relative to the background, and relatively good visualization of the robot (642).
[0219] Wedge-shaped waveguides have been described above, such as in reference to FIGS. 15A-15D and FIG. 19I. With a wedge-shaped waveguide, every time a ray bounces off of one of the non-coplanar surfaces, it gets an angle change, which ultimately results in the ray exiting total internal reflection when its approach angle to one of the surfaces goes past the critical angle. Turning films may be used to redirect exiting light so that exiting beams leave with a trajectory that is more or less perpendicular to the exit surface, depending upon the geometric and ergonomic issues at play.
[0220] With a series or array of displays injecting image information into a wedge-shaped waveguide, as shown in FIG. 15C, for example, the wedge-shaped waveguide may be configured to create a fine-pitched array of angle-biased rays emerging from the wedge. Somewhat similarly, it has been discussed above that a lightfield display, or a variable wavefront creating waveguide, both may produce a multiplicity of beamlets or beams to represent a single pixel in space such that wherever the eye is positioned, the eye is hit by a plurality of different beamlets or beams that are unique to that particular eye position in front of the display panel.
[0221] As was further discussed above in the context of lightfield displays, a plurality of viewing zones may be created within a given pupil, and each may be used for a different focal distance, with the aggregate producing a perception similar to that of a variable wavefront creating waveguide, or similar to the actual optical physics of reality of the objects viewed were real. Thus a wedge-shaped waveguide with multiple displays may be utilized to generate a lightfield. In an embodiment similar to that of FIG. 15C with a linear array of displays injecting image information, a fan of exiting rays is created for each pixel. This concept may be extended in an embodiment wherein multiple linear arrays are stacked to all inject image information into the wedge-shaped waveguide (in one variation, one array may inject at one angle relative to the wedge-shaped waveguide face, while the second array may inject at a second angle relative to the wedge-shaped waveguide face), in which case exit beams fan out at two different axes from the wedge.
[0222] Thus such a configuration may be utilized to produce pluralities of beams spraying out at lots of different angles, and each beam may be driven separately due to the fact that under such configuration, each beam is driven using a separate display. In another embodiment, one or more arrays or displays may be configured to inject image information into wedge-shaped waveguide through sides or faces of the wedge-shaped waveguide other than that shown in FIG. 15C, such as by using a diffractive optic to bend injected image information into total an internal reflection configuration relative to the wedge-shaped waveguide.
[0223] Various reflectors or reflecting surfaces may also be utilized in concert with such a wedge-shaped waveguide embodiment to outcouple and manage light from the wedge-shaped waveguide. In one embodiment, an entrance aperture to a wedge-shaped waveguide, or injection of image information through a different face other than shown in FIG. 15C, may be utilized to facilitate staggering (geometric and/or temporal) of different displays and arrays such that a Z-axis delta may also be developed as a means for injecting three-dimensional information into the wedge-shaped waveguide. For a greater than three-dimensions array configuration, various displays may be configured to enter a wedge-shaped waveguide at multiple edges in multiple stacks with staggering to get higher dimensional configurations.
[0224] Referring to FIG. 20A, a configuration similar to that depicted in FIG. 8H is shown wherein a waveguide (646) has a diffractive optical element (648; or "DOE", as noted above) sandwiched in the middle (alternatively, as described above, the diffractive optical element may reside on the front or back face of the depicted waveguide). A ray may enter the waveguide (646) from the projector or display (644). Once in the waveguide (646), each time the ray intersects the DOE (648), part of it is exited out of the waveguide (646). As described above, the DOE may be designed such that the exit illuminance across the length of the waveguide (646) is somewhat uniform (for example, the first such DOE intersection may be configured to exit about 10% of the light; then the second DOE intersection may be configured to exit about 10% of the remaining light so that 81% is passed on, and so on; in another embodied a DOE may be designed to have a variable diffraction efficiency, such as linearly-decreasing diffraction efficiency, along its length to map out a more uniform exit illuminance across the length of the waveguide).
[0225] To further distribute remaining light that reaches an end (and in one embodiment to allow for selection of a relatively low diffraction efficiency DOE which would be favorable from a view-to-the-world transparency perspective), a reflective element (650) at one or both ends may be included. Further, referring to the embodiment of FIG. 20B, additional distribution and preservation may be achieved by including an elongate reflector (652) across the length of the waveguide as shown (comprising, for example, a thin film dichroic coating that is wavelength-selective); preferably such reflector would be blocking light that accidentally is reflected upward (back toward the real world 144 for exit in a way that it would not be utilized by the viewer). In some embodiments, such an elongate reflector may contribute to a "ghosting" effect perception by the user.
[0226] In one embodiment, this ghosting effect may be eliminated by having a dual-waveguide (646, 654) circulating reflection configuration, such as that shown in FIG. 20C, which is designed to keep the light moving around until it has been exited toward the eye (58) in a preferably substantially equally distributed manner across the length of the waveguide assembly. Referring to FIG. 20C, light may be injected with a projector or display (644), and as it travels across the DOE (656) of the first waveguide (654), it ejects a preferably substantially uniform pattern of light out toward the eye (58); light that remains in the first waveguide is reflected by a first reflector assembly (660) into the second waveguide (646). In one embodiment, the second waveguide (646) may be configured to not have a DOE, such that it merely transports or recycles the remaining light back to the first waveguide, using the second reflector assembly.
[0227] In another embodiment (as shown in FIG. 20C) the second waveguide (646) may also have a DOE (648) configured to uniformly eject fractions of travelling light to provide a second plane of focus for three-dimensional perception. Unlike the configurations of FIGS. 20A and 20B, the configuration of FIG. 20C is designed for light to travel the waveguide in one direction, which avoids the aforementioned ghosting problem that is related to passing light backwards through a waveguide with a DOE. Referring to FIG. 20D, rather than having a mirror or box style reflector assembly (660) at the ends of a waveguide for recycling the light, an array of smaller retroreflectors (662), or a retroreflective material, may be utilized.
[0228] Referring to FIG. 20E, an embodiment is shown that utilizes some of the light recycling configurations of the embodiment of FIG. 20C to "snake" the light down through a waveguide (646) having a sandwiched DOE (648) after it has been injected with a display or projector (644) so that it crosses the waveguide (646) many times back and forth before reaching the bottom, at which point it may be recycled back up to the top level for further recycling. Such a configuration not only recycles the light and facilitates use of relatively low diffraction efficiency DOE elements for exiting light toward the eye (58), but also distributes the light, to provide for a large exit pupil configuration akin to that described in reference to FIG. 8K.
[0229] Referring to FIG. 20F, an illustrative configuration similar to that of FIG. 5A is shown, with incoming light injected along a conventional prism or beamsplitter substrate (104) to a reflector (102) without total internal reflection (i.e., without the prism being considered a waveguide) because the input projection (106), scanning or otherwise, is kept within the bounds of the prism--which means that the geometry of such prism becomes a significant constraint. In another embodiment, a waveguide may be utilized in place of the simple prism of FIG. 20F, which facilitates the use of total internal reflection to provide more geometric flexibility.
[0230] Other configurations describe above are configured to profit from the inclusion of waveguides for similar manipulations and light. For example, referring back to FIG. 7A, the general concept illustrated therein is that a collimated image injected into a waveguide may be refocused before transfer out toward an eye, in a configuration also designed to facilitate viewing light from the real world. In place of the refractive lens shown in FIG. 7A, a diffractive optical element may be used as a variable focus element.
[0231] Referring back to FIG. 7B, another waveguide configuration is illustrated in the context of having multiple layers stacked upon each other with controllable access toggling between a smaller path (total internal reflection through a waveguide) and a larger path (total internal reflection through a hybrid waveguide comprising the original waveguide and a liquid crystal isolated region with the liquid crystal switched to a mode wherein the refractive indices are substantially matched between the main waveguide and the auxiliary waveguide), so that the controller can tune on a frame-by-frame basis which path is being taken. High-speed switching electro-active materials, such as lithium niobate, facilitate path changes with such a configuration at gigahertz rates, which allows one to change the path of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
[0232] Referring back to FIG. 8A, a stack of waveguides paired with weak lenses is illustrated to demonstrate a multifocal configuration wherein the lens and waveguide elements may be static. Each pair of waveguide and lens may be functionally replaced with waveguide having an embedded DOE element (which may be static, in a closer analogy to the configuration of FIG. 8A, or dynamic), such as that described in reference to FIG. 8I.
[0233] Referring to FIG. 20G, if a transparent prism or block (104; i.e., not a waveguide) is utilized to hold a mirror or reflector (102) in a periscope type of configuration to receive light from other components, such as a lens (662) and projector or display (644), the field of view is limited by the size of that reflector (102; the bigger the reflector, the wider the field of view). Thus to have a larger field of view with such configuration, a thicker substrate may be needed to hold a larger reflector; otherwise, the functionality of an aggregated plurality of reflectors may be utilized to increase the functional field of view, as described in reference to FIGS. 8O, 8P, and 8Q. Referring to FIG. 20H, a stack (664) of planar waveguides (666), each fed with a display or projector (644; or in another embodiment a multiplexing of a single display) and having an exit reflector (668), may be utilized to aggregate toward the function of a larger single reflector. The exit reflectors may be at the same angle in some cases, or not the same angle in other cases, depending upon the positioning of the eye (58) relative to the assembly.
[0234] FIG. 20I illustrates a related configuration, wherein the reflectors (680, 682, 684, 686, 688) in each of the planar waveguides (670, 672, 674, 676, 678) have been offset from each other, and wherein each takes in light from a projector or display (644) which may be sent through a lens (690) to ultimately contribute exiting light to the pupil (45) of the eye (58) by virtue of the reflectors (680, 682, 684, 686, 688) in each of the planar waveguides (670, 672, 674, 676, 678). If one can create a total range of all of the angles that would be expected to be seen in the scene (i.e., preferably without blind spots in the key field of view), then a useful field of view has been achieved. As described above, the eye (58) functions based at least on what angle light rays enter the eye, and this can be simulated. The rays need not pass through the exact same point in space at the pupil--rather the light rays just need to get through the pupil and be sensed by the retina. FIG. 20K illustrates a variation wherein the shaded portion of the optical assembly may be utilized as a compensating lens to functionally pass light from the real world (144) through the assembly as though it has been passed through a zero power telescope.
[0235] Referring to FIG. 20J, each of the aforementioned rays may also be a relative wide beam that is being reflected through the pertinent waveguide (670, 672) by total internal reflection. The reflector (680, 682) facet size will determine what the exiting beam width can be.
[0236] Referring to FIG. 20L, a further discretization of the reflector is shown, wherein a plurality of small straight angular reflectors may form a roughly parabolic reflecting surface (694) in the aggregate through a waveguide or stack thereof (696). Light coming in from the displays (644; or single MUXed display, for example), such as through a lens (690), is all directed toward the same shared focal point at the pupil (45) of the eye (58).
[0237] Referring back to FIG. 13M, a linear array of displays (378) injects light into a shared waveguide (376). In another embodiment a single display may be multiplexed to a series of entry lenses to provide similar functionality as the embodiment of FIG. 13M, with the entry lenses creating parallel paths of rays running through the waveguide.
[0238] In a conventional waveguide approach wherein total internal reflection is relied upon for light propagation, the field of view is restricted because there is only a certain angular range of rays propagating through the waveguide (others may escape out). In one embodiment, if a red/green/blue (or "RGB") laserline reflector is placed at one or both ends of the planar surfaces, akin to a thin film interference filter that is highly reflective for only certain wavelengths and poorly reflective for other wavelengths, than one can functionally increase the range of angles of light propagation. Windows (without the coating) may be provided for allowing light to exit in predetermined locations. Further, the coating may be selected to have a directional selectivity (somewhat like reflective elements that are only highly reflective for certain angles of incidence). Such a coating may be most relevant for the larger planes/sides of a waveguide.
[0239] Referring back to FIG. 13E, a variation on a scanning fiber display was discussed, which may be deemed a scanning thin waveguide configuration, such that a plurality of very thin planar waveguides (358) may be oscillated or vibrated such that if a variety of injected beams is coming through with total internal reflection, the configuration functionally would provide a linear array of beams escaping out of the edges of the vibrating elements (358). The depicted configuration has approximately five externally-projecting planar waveguide portions (358) in a host medium or substrate (356) that is transparent, but which preferably has a different refractive index so that the light will stay in total internal reflection within each of the substrate-bound smaller waveguides that ultimately feed (in the depicted embodiment there is a 90 degree turn in each path at which point a planar, curved, or other reflector may be utilized to bounce the light outward) the externally-projecting planar waveguide portions (358).
[0240] The externally-projecting planar waveguide portions (358) may be vibrated individually, or as a group along with oscillatory motion of the substrate (356). Such scanning motion may provide horizontal scanning, and for vertical scanning, the input (360) aspect of the assembly (i.e., such as one or more scanning fiber displays scanning in the vertical axis) may be utilized. Thus a variation of the scanning fiber display is presented.
[0241] Referring back to FIG. 13H, a waveguide (370) may be utilized to create a lightfield. With waveguides working best with collimated beams that may be associated with optical infinity from a perception perspective, all beams staying in focus may cause perception discomfort (i.e., the eye will not make a discernible difference in dioptric blur as a function of accommodation; in other words, the narrow diameter, such as 0.5 mm or less, collimated beamlets may open loop the eye's accommodation/vergence system, causing discomfort).
[0242] In one embodiment, a single beam may be fed in with a number of cone beamlets coming out, but if the introduction vector of the entering beam is changed (i.e., laterally shift the beam injection location for the projector/display relative to the waveguide), one may control where the beam exits from the waveguide as it is directed toward the eye. Thus one may use a waveguide to create a lightfield by creating a bunch of narrow diameter collimated beams, and such a configuration is not reliant upon a true variation in a light wavefront to be associated with the desired perception at the eye.
[0243] If a set of angularly and laterally diverse beamlets is injected into a waveguide (for example, by using a multicore fiber and driving each core separately; another configuration may utilize a plurality of fiber scanners coming from different angles; another configuration may utilize a high-resolution panel display with a lenslet array on top of it), a number of exiting beamlets can be created at different exit angles and exit locations. Since the waveguide may scramble the lightfield, the decoding is preferably predetermined.
[0244] Referring to FIGS. 20M and 20N, a waveguide (646) assembly (696) is shown that comprises stacked waveguide components in the vertical or horizontal axis. Rather than having one monolithic planar waveguide, the notion with these embodiments is to stack a plurality of smaller waveguides (646) immediately adjacent each other such that light introduced into one waveguide, in addition to propagating down (i.e., propagating along a Z axis with total internal reflection in +X, -X) such waveguide by total internal reflection, also totally internally reflects in the perpendicular axis (+y, -Y) as well, such that it is not spilling into other areas. In other words, if total internal reflection is from left to right and back during Z axis propagation, the configuration will be set up to totally internally reflect any light that hits the top or bottom sides as well; each layer may be driven separately without interference from other layers. Each waveguide may have a DOE (648) embedded and configured to eject out light with a predetermined distribution along the length of the waveguide, as described above, with a predetermined focal length configuration (shown in FIG. 20M as ranging from 0.5 meters to optical infinity).
[0245] In another variation, a very dense stack of waveguides with embedded DOEs may be produced such that it spans the size of the anatomical pupil of the eye (i.e., such that multiple layers 698 of the composite waveguide are required to cross the exit pupil, as illustrated in FIG. 20N). With such a configuration, one may feed a collimated image for one wavelength, and then the portion located the next millimeter down producing a diverging wavefront that represents an object coming from a focal distance of, say, 15 meters away, and so on, with the notion being that an exit pupil is coming from a number of different waveguides as a result of the DOEs and total internal reflection through the waveguides and across the DOEs. Thus rather than creating one uniform exit pupil, such a configuration creates a plurality of stripes that, in the aggregate, facilitate the perception of different focal depths with the eye/brain.
[0246] Such a concept may be extended to configurations comprising a waveguide with a switchable/controllable embedded DOE (i.e. that is switchable to different focal distances), such as those described in relation to FIGS. 8B-8N, which allows more efficient light trapping in the axis across each waveguide. Multiple displays may be coupled into each of the layers, and each waveguide with DOE would emit rays along its own length. In another embodiment, rather than relying on total internal reflection, a laserline reflector may be used to increase angular range. In between layers of the composite waveguide, a completely reflective metallized coating may be utilized, such as aluminum, to ensure total reflection, or alternatively dichroic style or narrow band reflectors may be utilized.
[0247] Referring to FIG. 20O, the whole composite waveguide assembly (696) maybe be curved concavely toward the eye (58) such that each of the individual waveguides is directed toward the pupil. In other words, the configuration may be designed to more efficiently direct the light toward the location where the pupil is likely to be present. Such a configuration also may be utilized to increase the field of view.
[0248] As was discussed above in relation to FIGS. 8L, 8M, and 8N, a changeable diffraction configuration allows for scanning in one axis, somewhat akin to a scanning light display. FIG. 21A illustrates a waveguide (698) having an embedded (i.e., sandwiched within) DOE (700) with a linear grating term that may be changed to alter the exit angle of exiting light (702) from the waveguide, as shown. A high-frequency switching DOE material such as lithium niobate may be utilized. In one embodiment, such a scanning configuration may be used as the sole mechanism for scanning a beam in one axis; in another embodiment, the scanning configuration may be combined with other scanning axes, and may be used to create a larger field of view (i.e., if a normal field of view is 40 degrees, and by changing the linear diffraction pitch one can steer over another 40 degrees, the effective usable field of view for the system is 80 degrees).
[0249] Referring to FIG. 21B, in a conventional configuration, a waveguide (708) may be placed perpendicular to a panel display (704), such as an LCD or OLED panel, such that beams may be injected from the waveguide (708), through a lens (706), and into the panel (704) in a scanning configuration to provide a viewable display for television or other purposes. Thus the waveguide may be utilized in such configuration as a scanning image source, in contrast to the configurations described in reference to FIG. 21A, wherein a single beam of light may be manipulated by a scanning fiber or other element to sweep through different angular locations, and in addition, another direction may be scanned using the high-frequency diffractive optical element.
[0250] In another embodiment, a uniaxial scanning fiber display (say scanning the fast line scan, as the scanning fiber is relatively high frequency) may be used to inject the fast line scan into the waveguide, and then the relatively slow DOE switching (i.e., in the range of 100 Hz) may be used to scan lines in the other axis to form an image.
[0251] In another embodiment, a DOE with a grating of fixed pitch may be combined with an adjacent layer of electro-active material having a dynamic refractive index (such as liquid crystal), so that light may be redirected into the grating at different angles. This is an application of the basic multipath configuration described above in reference to FIG. 7B, in which an electro-active layer comprising an electro-active material such as liquid crystal or lithium niobate may change its refractive index such that it changes the angle at which a ray emerges from the waveguide. A linear diffraction grating may be added to the configuration of FIG. 7B (in one embodiment, sandwiched within the glass or other material comprising the larger lower waveguide) such that the diffraction grating may remain at a fixed pitch, but the light is biased before it hits the grating.
[0252] FIG. 21C shows another embodiment featuring two wedge-like waveguide elements (710, 712), wherein one or more of them may be electro-active so that the related refractive index may be changed. The elements may be configured such that when the wedges have matching refractive indices, the light totally internally reflects through the pair (which in the aggregate performs akin to a planar waveguide with both wedges matching) while the wedge interfaces have no effect. Then if one of the refractive indices is changed to create a mismatch, a beam deflection at the wedge interface (714) is caused, and there is total internal reflection from that surface back into the associated wedge. Then a controllable DOE (716) with a linear grating may be coupled along one of the long edges of the wedge to allow light to exit out and reach the eye at a desirable exit angle.
[0253] In another embodiment, a DOE such as a Bragg grating, may be configured to change pitch versus time, such as by a mechanical stretching of the grating (for example, if the grating resides on or comprises an elastic material), a moire beat pattern between two gratings on two different planes (the gratings may be the same or different pitches), Z-axis motion (i.e., closer to the eye, or farther away from the eye) of the grating, which functionally is similar in effect to stretching of the grating, or electro-active gratings that may be switched on or off, such as one created using a polymer dispersed liquid crystal approach wherein liquid crystal droplets may be controllably activated to change the refractive index to become an active grating, versus turning the voltage off and allowing a switch back to a refractive index that matches that of the host medium.
[0254] In another embodiment, a time-varying grating may be utilized for field of view expansion by creating a tiled display configuration. Further, a time-varying grating may be utilized to address chromatic aberration (failure to focus all colors/wavelengths at the same focal point). One property of diffraction gratings is that they will deflect a beam as a function of its angle of incidence and wavelength (i.e., a DOE will deflect different wavelengths by different angles: somewhat akin to the manner in which a simple prism will divide out a beam into its wavelength components).
[0255] One may use time-varying grating control to compensate for chromatic aberration in addition to field of view expansion. Thus, for example, in a waveguide with embedded DOE type of configuration as described above, the DOE may be configured to drive the red wavelength to a slightly different place than the green and blue to address unwanted chromatic aberration. The DOE may be time-varied by having a stack of elements that switch on and off (i.e. to get red, green, and blue to be diffracted outbound similarly).
[0256] In another embodiment, a time-varying grating may be utilized for exit pupil expansion. For example, referring to FIG. 21D, it is possible that a waveguide (718) with embedded DOE (720) may be positioned relative to a target pupil such that none of the beams exiting in a baseline mode actually enter the target pupil (45)--such that the pertinent pixel would be missed by the user. A time-varying configuration may be utilized to fill in the gaps in the outbound exit pattern by shifting the exit pattern laterally (shown in dashed/dotted lines) to effectively scan each of the 5 exiting beams to better ensure that one of them hits the pupil of the eye. In other words, the functional exit pupil of the display system is expanded.
[0257] In another embodiment, a time-varying grating may be utilized with a waveguide for one, two, or three axis light scanning. In a manner akin to that described in reference to FIG. 21A, one may use a term in a grating that is scanning a beam in the vertical axis, as well as a grating that is scanning in the horizontal axis. Further, if radial elements of a grating are incorporated, as is discussed above in relation to FIGS. 8B-8N, one may have scanning of the beam in the Z axis (i.e., toward/away from the eye), all of which may be time sequential scanning.
[0258] Notwithstanding the discussions herein regarding specialized treatments and uses of DOEs generally in connection with waveguides, many of these uses of DOE are usable whether or not the DOE is embedded in a waveguide. For example, the output of a waveguide may be separately manipulated using a DOE; or a beam may be manipulated by a DOE before it is injected into a waveguide; further, one or more DOEs, such as a time-varying DOE, may be utilized as an input for freeform optics configurations, as discussed below.
[0259] As discussed above in reference to FIGS. 8B-8N, an element of a DOE may have a circularly-symmetric term, which may be summed with a linear term to create a controlled exit pattern (i.e., as described above, the same DOE that outcouples light may also focus it). In another embodiment, the circular term of the DOE diffraction grating may be varied such that the focus of the beams representing those pertinent pixels is modulated. In addition, one configuration may have a second/separate circular DOE, obviating the need to have a linear term in the DOE.
[0260] Referring to FIG. 21E, one may have a waveguide (722) outputting collimated light with no DOE element embedded, and a second waveguide that has a circularly-symmetric DOE that can be switched between multiple configurations--in one embodiment by having a stack (724) of such DOE elements (FIG. 21F shows another configuration wherein a functional stack 728 of DOE elements may comprise a stack of polymer dispersed liquid crystal elements 726, as described above, wherein without a voltage applied, a host medium refraction index matches that of a dispersed molecules of liquid crystal; in another embodiment, molecules of lithium niobate may be dispersed for faster response times; with voltage applied, such as through transparent indium tin oxide layers on either side of the host medium, the dispersed molecules change index of refraction and functionally form a diffraction pattern within the host medium) that can be switched on/off.
[0261] In another embodiment, a circular DOE may be layered in front of a waveguide for focus modulation. Referring to FIG. 21G, the waveguide (722) is outputting collimated light, which will be perceived as associated with a focal depth of optical infinity unless otherwise modified. The collimated light from the waveguide may be input into a diffractive optical element (730) which may be used for dynamic focus modulation (i.e., one may switch on and off different circular DOE patterns to impart various different focuses to the exiting light). In a related embodiment, a static DOE may be used to focus collimated light exiting from a waveguide to a single depth of focus that may be useful for a particular user application.
[0262] In another embodiment, multiple stacked circular DOEs may be used for additive power and many focus levels--from a relatively small number of switchable DOE layers. In other words, three different DOE layers may be switched on in various combinations relative to each other; the optical powers of the DOEs that are switched on may be added. In one embodiment wherein a range of up to 4 diopters is desired, for example, a first DOE may be configured to provide half of the total diopter range desired (in this example, 2 diopters of change in focus); a second DOE may be configured to induce a 1 diopter change in focus; then a third DOE may be configured to induce a 1/2 diopter change in focus. These three DOEs may be mixed and matched to provide 1/2, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 diopters of change in focus. Thus a super large number of DOEs would not be required to get a relatively broad range of control.
[0263] In one embodiment, a matrix of switchable DOE elements may be utilized for scanning, field of view expansion, and/or exit pupil expansion. Generally in the above discussions of DOEs, it has been assume that a typical DOE is either all on or all off. In one variation, a DOE (732) may be subdivided into a plurality of functional subsections (such as the one labeled as element 734 in FIG. 21H), each of which preferably is uniquely controllable to be on or off (for example, referring to FIG. 21H, each subsection may be operated by its own set of indium tin oxide, or other control lead material, voltage application leads 736 back to a central controller). Given this level of control over a DOE paradigm, additional configurations are facilitated.
[0264] Referring to FIG. 21I, a waveguide (738) with embedded DOE (740) is viewed from the top down, with the user's eye positioned in front of the waveguide. A given pixel may be represented as a beam coming into the waveguide and totally internally reflecting along until it may be exited by a diffraction pattern to come out of the waveguide as a set of beams. Depending upon the diffraction configuration, the beams may come out parallel/collimated (as shown in FIG. 21I for convenience), or in a diverging fan configuration if representing a focal distance closer than optical infinity.
[0265] The depicted set of parallel exiting beams may represent, for example, the farthest left pixel of what the user is seeing in the real world as viewed through the waveguide, and light off to the rightmost extreme will be a different group of parallel exiting beams. Indeed, with modular control of the DOE subsections as described above, one may spend more computing resource or time creating and manipulating the small subset of beams that is likely to be actively addressing the user's pupil (i.e., because the other beams never reach the user's eye and are effectively wasted). Thus, referring to FIG. 21J, a waveguide (738) configuration is shown wherein only the two subsections (740, 742) of the DOE (744) are deemed to be likely to address the user's pupil (45) are activated. Preferably one subsection may be configured to direct light in one direction simultaneously as another subsection is directing light in a different direction.
[0266] FIG. 21K shows an orthogonal view of two independently controlled subsections (734, 746) of a DOE (732). Referring to the top view of FIG. 21L, such independent control may be used for scanning or focusing light. In the configuration depicted in FIG. 21K, an assembly (748) of three independently controlled DOE/waveguide subsections (750, 752, 754) may be used to scan, increase the field of view, and/or increase the exit pupil region. Such functionality may arise from a single waveguide with such independently controllable DOE subsections, or a vertical stack of these for additional complexity.
[0267] In one embodiment, if a circular DOE may be controllably stretched radially-symmetrically, the diffraction pitch may be modulated, and the DOE may be utilized as a tunable lens with an analog type of control. In another embodiment, a single axis of stretch (for example, to adjust an angle of a linear DOE term) may be utilized for DOE control. Further, in another embodiment a membrane, akin to a drum head, may be vibrated, with oscillatory motion in the Z-axis (i.e., toward/away from the eye) providing Z-axis control and focus change over time.
[0268] Referring to FIG. 21M, a stack of several DOEs (756) is shown receiving collimated light from a waveguide (722) and refocusing it based upon the additive powers of the activated DOEs. Linear and/or radial terms of DOEs may be modulated over time, such as on a frame sequential basis, to produce a variety of treatments (such as tiled display configurations or expanded field of view) for the light coming from the waveguide and exiting, preferably toward the user's eye. In configurations wherein the DOE or DOEs are embedded within the waveguide, a low diffraction efficiency is desired to maximize transparency for light passed from the real world; in configurations wherein the DOE or DOEs are not embedded, a high diffraction efficiency may be desired, as described above. In one embodiment, both linear and radial DOE terms may be combined outside of the waveguide, in which case high diffraction efficiency would be desired.
[0269] Referring to FIG. 21N, a segmented or parabolic reflector, such as those discussed above in FIG. 8Q, is shown. Rather than executing a segmented reflector by combining a plurality of smaller reflectors, in one embodiment the same functionality may result from a single waveguide with a DOE having different phase profiles for each section of it, such that it is controllable by subsection. In other words, while the entire segmented reflector functionality may be turned on or off together, generally the DOE may be configured to direct light toward the same region in space (i.e., the pupil of the user).
[0270] Referring to FIGS. 22A-22Z, optical configurations known as "freeform optics" may be utilized certain of the aforementioned challenges. The term "freeform" generally is used in reference to arbitrarily curved surfaces that may be utilized in situations wherein a spherical, parabolic, or cylindrical lens does not meet a design complexity such as a geometric constraint. For example, referring to FIG. 22A, one of the common challenges with display (762) configurations when a user is looking through a mirror (and also sometimes a lens 760) is that the field of view is limited by the area subtended by the final lens (760) of the system.
[0271] Referring to FIG. 22B, in more simple terms, if one has a display (762), which may include some lens elements, there is a straightforward geometric relationship such that the field of view cannot be larger than the angle subtended by the display (762). Referring to FIG. 22C, this challenge is exacerbated if the user is trying to have an augmented reality experience wherein light from the real world is also be to passed through the optical system, because in such case, there often is a reflector (764) that leads to a lens (760); by interposing a reflector, the overall path length to get to the lens from the eye is increased, which tightens the angle and reduces the field of view.
[0272] Given this, if one wants to increase the field of view, he must increase the size of the lens, but that might mean pushing a physical lens toward the forehead of the user from an ergonomic perspective. Further, the reflector may not catch all of the light from the larger lens. Thus, there is a practical limitation imposed by human head geometry, and it generally is a challenge to get more than a 40-degree field of view using conventional see-through displays and lenses.
[0273] With freeform lenses, rather than having a standard planar reflector as described above, one has a combined reflector and lens with power (i.e., a curved reflector 766), which means that the curved lens geometry determines the field of view. Referring to FIG. 22D, without the circuitous path length of a conventional paradigm as described above in reference to FIG. 22C, it is possible for a freeform arrangement to realize a significantly larger field of view for a given set of optical requirements.
[0274] Referring to FIG. 22E, a typical freeform optic has three active surfaces. Referring to FIG. 22E, in one typical freeform optic (770) configuration, light may be directed toward the freeform optic from an image plane, such as a flat panel display (768), into the first active surface (772), which typically is a primarily transmissive freeform surface that refracts transmitted light and imparts a focal change (such as an added stigmatism, because the final bounce from the third surface will add a matching/opposite stigmatism and these are desirably canceled). The incoming light may be directed from the first surface to a second surface (774), wherein it may strike with an angle shallow enough to cause the light to be reflected under total internal reflection toward the third surface (776).
[0275] The third surface may comprise a half-silvered, arbitrarily-curved surface configured to bounce the light out through the second surface toward the eye, as shown in FIG. 22E. Thus in the depicted typical freeform configuration, the light enters through the first surface, bounces from the second surface, bounces from the third surface, and is directed out of the second surface. Due to the optimization of the second surface to have the requisite reflective properties on the first pass, as well as refractive properties on the second pass as the light is exited toward the eye, a variety of curved surfaces with higher-order shapes than a simple sphere or parabola are formed into the freeform optic.
[0276] Referring to FIG. 22F, a compensating lens (780) may be added to the freeform optic (770) such that the total thickness of the optic assembly is substantially uniform in thickness, and preferably without magnification, to light incoming from the real world (144) in an augmented reality configuration.
[0277] Referring to FIG. 22G, a freeform optic (770) may be combined with a waveguide (778) configured to facilitate total internal reflection of captured light within certain constraints. For example, as shown in FIG. 22G, light may be directed into the freeform/waveguide assembly from an image plane, such as a flat panel display, and totally internally reflected within the waveguide until it hits the curved freeform surface and escapes toward the eye of the user. Thus the light bounces several times in total internal reflection until it reaches the freeform wedge portion.
[0278] One of the main objectives with such an assembly is to try to lengthen the optic assembly while retaining as uniform a thickness as possible (to facilitate transport by total internal reflection, and also viewing of the world through the assembly without further compensation) for a larger field of view. FIG. 22H depicts a configuration similar to that of FIG. 22G, with the exception that the configuration of FIG. 22H also features a compensating lens portion to further extend the thickness uniformity and assist with viewing the world through the assembly without further compensation.
[0279] Referring to FIG. 22I, in another embodiment, a freeform optic (782) is shown with a small flat surface, or fourth face (784), at the lower left corner that is configured to facilitate injection of image information at a different location than is typically used with freeform optics. The input device (786) may comprise, for example, a scanning fiber display, which may be designed to have a very small output geometry. The fourth face may comprise various geometries itself and have its own refractive power, such as by use planar or freeform surface geometries.
[0280] Referring to FIG. 22J, in practice, such a configuration may also feature a reflective coating (788) along the first surface such that it directs light back to the second surface, which then bounces the light to the third surface, which directs the light out across the second surface and to the eye (58). The addition of the fourth small surface for injection of the image information facilitates a more compact configuration. In an embodiment wherein a classical freeform input configuration and a scanning fiber display (790) are utilized, some lenses (792, 794) may be required in order to appropriately form an image plane (796) using the output from the scanning fiber display; these hardware components add extra bulk that may not be desired.
[0281] Referring to FIG. 22K, an embodiment is shown wherein light from a scanning fiber display (790) is passed through an input optics assembly (792, 794) to an image plane (796), and then directed across the first surface of the freeform optic (770) to a total internal reflection bounce off of the second surface, then another total internal reflection bounce from the third surface results in the light exiting across the second surface and being directed toward the eye (58).
[0282] An all-total-internal-reflection freeform waveguide may be created such that there are no reflective coatings (i.e., such that total-internal-reflection is being relied upon for propagation of light until a critical angle of incidence with a surface is met, at which point the light exits in a manner akin to the wedge-shaped optics described above). In other words, rather than having two planar surfaces, one may have a surface comprising one or more sub-surfaces from a set of conical curves, such as parabolas, spheres, ellipses, etc.).
[0283] Such a configuration still may produce a shallow-enough angles for total internal reflection within the optic; thus an approach that is somewhat a hybrid between a conventional freeform optic and a wedge-shaped waveguide is presented. One motivation to have such a configuration is to get away from the use of reflective coatings, which do help product reflection, but also are known to prevent transmission of a relatively large portion (such as 50%) of the light transmitting through from the real world (144). Further, such coatings also may block an equivalent amount of the light coming into the freeform optic from the input device. Thus there are reasons to develop designs that do not have reflective coatings.
[0284] As described above, one of the surfaces of a conventional freeform optic may comprise a half-silvered reflective surface. Generally such a reflective surface will be of "neutral density", meaning that it will generally reflect all wavelengths similarly. In another embodiment, such as one wherein a scanning fiber display is utilized as an input, the conventional reflector paradigm may be replaced with a narrow band reflector that is wavelength sensitive, such as a thin film laserline reflector. Thus in one embodiment, a configuration may reflect particular red/green/blue wavelength ranges and remain passive to other wavelengths, which generally will increase transparency of the optic and therefore be preferred for augmented reality configurations wherein transmission of image information from the real world (144) across the optic also is valued.
[0285] Referring to FIG. 22L, an embodiment is depicted wherein multiple freeform optics (770) may be stacked in the Z axis (i.e., along an axis substantially aligned with the optical axis of the eye). In one variation, each of the three depicted freeform optics may have a wavelength-selective coating (for example, one highly selective for blue, the next for green, the next for red) so that images may be injected into each to have blue reflected from one surface, green from another, and red from a third surface. Such a configuration may be utilized, for example, to address chromatic aberration issues, to create a lightfield, or to increase the functional exit pupil size.
[0286] Referring to FIG. 22M, an embodiment is shown wherein a single freeform optic (798) has multiple reflective surfaces (800, 802, 804), each of which may be wavelength or polarization selective so that their reflective properties may be individually controlled.
[0287] Referring to FIG. 22N, in one embodiment, multiple microdisplays, such as scanning light displays, (786) may be injected into a single freeform optic to tile images (thereby providing an increased field of view), increase the functional pupil size, or address challenges such as chromatic aberration (i.e., by reflecting one wavelength per display). Each of the depicted displays would inject light that would take a different path through the freeform optic due to the different positioning of the displays relative to the freeform optic, which would provide a larger functional exit pupil output.
[0288] In one embodiment, a packet or bundle of scanning fiber displays may be utilized as an input to overcome one of the challenges in operatively coupling a scanning fiber display to a freeform optic. One such challenge with a scanning fiber display configuration is that the output of an individual fiber is emitted with a certain numerical aperture, or "NA", which is like the projectional angle of light from the fiber; ultimately this angle determines the diameter of the beam that passes through various optics, and ultimately determines the exit functional exit pupil size; thus in order to maximize exit pupil size with a freeform optic configuration, one may either increase the NA of the fiber using optimized refractive relationships, such as between core and cladding, or one may place a lens (i.e., a refractive lens, such as a gradient refractive index lens, or "GRIN" lens) at the end of the fiber or build one into the end of the fiber as described above, or create an array of fibers that is feeding into the freeform optic, in which case all of those NAs in the bundle remain small, and at the exit pupil an array of small exit pupils is produced that in the aggregate forms the functional equivalent of a large exit pupil.
[0289] Alternatively, in another embodiment a more sparse array (i.e., not bundled tightly as a packet) of scanning fiber displays or other displays may be utilized to functionally increase the field of view of the virtual image through the freeform optic. Referring to FIG. 22O, in another embodiment, a plurality of displays or displays (786) may be injected through the top of a freeform optic (770), as well as another plurality (786) through the lower corner; the display arrays may be two or three dimensional arrays. Referring to FIG. 22P, in another related embodiment, image information also may be injected in from the side (806) of the freeform optic (770) as well.
[0290] In an embodiment wherein a plurality of smaller exit pupils is to be aggregated into a functionally larger exit pupil, one may elect to have each of the scanning fibers monochromatic, such that within a given bundle or plurality of projectors or displays, one may have a subgroup of solely red fibers, a subgroup of solely blue fibers, and a subgroup of solely green fibers. Such a configuration facilitates more efficiency in output coupling for bringing light into the optical fibers; for instance, there would be no need in such an embodiment to superimpose red, green, and blue into the same band.
[0291] Referring to FIGS. 22Q-22V, various freeform optic tiling configurations are depicted. Referring to FIG. 22Q, an embodiment is depicted wherein two freeform optics are tiled side-by-side and a microdisplay, such as a scanning light display, (786) on each side is configured to inject image information from each side, such that one freeform optic wedge represents each half of the field of view.
[0292] Referring to FIG. 22R, a compensator lens (808) may be included to facilitate views of the real world through the optics assembly. FIG. 22S illustrates a configuration wherein freeform optics wedges are tiled side by side to increase the functional field of view while keeping the thickness of such optical assembly relatively uniform.
[0293] Referring to FIG. 22T, a star-shaped assembly comprises a plurality of freeform optics wedges (also shown with a plurality of displays for inputting image information) in a configuration that may provide a larger field of view expansion while also maintaining a relatively thin overall optics assembly thickness.
[0294] With a tiled freeform optics assembly, the optics elements may be aggregated to produce a larger field of view; the tiling configurations described above have addressed this notion. For example, in a configuration wherein two freeform waveguides are aimed at the eye such as that depicted in FIG. 22R, there are several ways to increase the field of view. One option is to "toe in" the freeform waveguides such that their outputs share, or are superimposed in, the space of the pupil (for example, the user may see the left half of the visual field through the left freeform waveguide, and the right half of the visual field through the right freeform waveguide).
[0295] With such a configuration, the field of view has been increased with the tiled freeform waveguides, but the exit pupil has not grown in size. Alternatively, the freeform waveguides may be oriented such that they do not toe in as much--so they create exit pupils that are side-by-side at the eye's anatomical pupil. In one example, the anatomical pupil may be 8 mm wide, and each of the side-by-side exit pupils may be 8 mm, such that the functional exit pupil is expanded by about two times. Thus such a configuration provides an enlarged exit pupil, but if the eye is moved around in the "eyebox" defined by that exit pupil, that eye may lose parts of the visual field (i.e., lose either a portion of the left or right incoming light because of the side-by-side nature of such configuration).
[0296] In one embodiment using such an approach for tiling freeform optics, especially in the Z-axis relative to the eye of the user, red wavelengths may be driven through one freeform optic, green through another, and blue through another, such red/green/blue chromatic aberration may be addressed. Multiple freeform optics also may be provided to such a configuration that are stacked up, each of which is configured to address a particular wavelength.
[0297] Referring to FIG. 22U, two oppositely-oriented freeform optics are shown stacked in the Z-axis (i.e., they are upside down relative to each other). With such a configuration, a compensating lens may not be required to facilitate accurate views of the world through the assembly; in other words, rather than having a compensating lens such as in the embodiment of FIG. 22F or FIG. 22R, an additional freeform optic may be utilized, which may further assist in routing light to the eye. FIG. 22V shows another similar configuration wherein the assembly of two freeform optics is presented as a vertical stack.
[0298] To ensure that one surface is not interfering with another surface in the freeform optics, one may use wavelength or polarization selective reflector surfaces. For example, referring to FIG. 22V, red, green, and blue wavelengths in the form of 650 nm, 530 nm, and 450 nm may be injected, as well as red, green, and blue wavelengths in the form of 620 nm, 550 nm, and 470 nm; different selective reflectors may be utilized in each of the freeform optics so that they do not interfere with each other. In a configuration wherein polarization filtering is used for a similar purpose, the reflection/transmission selectivity for light that is polarized in a particular axis may be varied (i.e., the images may be pre-polarized before they are sent to each freeform waveguide, to work with reflector selectivity).
[0299] Referring to FIGS. 22W and 22X, configurations are illustrated wherein a plurality of freeform waveguides may be utilized together in series. Referring to FIG. 22W, light may enter from the real world and be directed sequentially through a first freeform optic (770), through an optional lens (812) which may be configured to relay light to a reflector (810) such as a DMD from a DLP system, which may be configured to reflect the light that has been filtered on a pixel by pixel basis (i.e., an occlusion mask may be utilized to block out certain elements of the real world, such as for darkfield perception, as described above; suitable spatial light modulators may be used which comprise DMDs, LCDs, ferroelectric LCOSs, MEMS shutter arrays, and the like, as described above) to another freeform optic (770) that is relaying light to the eye (28) of the user. Such a configuration may be more compact than one using conventional lenses for spatial light modulation.
[0300] Referring to FIG. 22X, in a scenario wherein it is very important to keep overall thickness minimized, a configuration may be utilized that has one surface that is highly-reflective so that it may bounce light straight into another compactly positioned freeform optic. In one embodiment a selective attenuator (814) may be interposed between the two freeform optics (770).
[0301] Referring to FIG. 22Y, an embodiment is depicted wherein a freeform optic (770) may comprise one aspect of a contact lens system. A miniaturized freeform optic is shown engaged against the cornea of a user's eye (58) with a miniaturized compensator lens portion (780), akin to that described in reference to FIG. 22F. Signals may be injected into the miniaturized freeform assembly using a tethered scanning fiber display which may, for example, be coupled between the freeform optic and a tear duct area of the user, or between the freeform optic and another head-mounted display configuration.
[0302] Various example embodiments of the invention are described herein. Reference is made to these examples in a non-limiting sense. They are provided to illustrate more broadly applicable aspects of the invention. Various changes may be made to the invention described and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation, material, composition of matter, process, process act(s) or step(s) to the objective(s), spirit or scope of the present invention. Further, as will be appreciated by those with skill in the art that each of the individual variations described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which may be readily separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present inventions. All such modifications are intended to be within the scope of claims associated with this disclosure.
[0303] The invention includes methods that may be performed using the subject devices. The methods may comprise the act of providing such a suitable device. Such provision may be performed by the end user. In other words, the "providing" act merely requires the end user obtain, access, approach, position, set-up, activate, power-up or otherwise act to provide the requisite device in the subject method. Methods recited herein may be carried out in any order of the recited events which is logically possible, as well as in the recited order of events.
[0304] Example aspects of the invention, together with details regarding material selection and manufacture have been set forth above. As for other details of the present invention, these may be appreciated in connection with the above-referenced patents and publications as well as generally known or appreciated by those with skill in the art. The same may hold true with respect to method-based aspects of the invention in terms of additional acts as commonly or logically employed.
[0305] In addition, though the invention has been described in reference to several examples optionally incorporating various features, the invention is not to be limited to that which is described or indicated as contemplated with respect to each variation of the invention. Various changes may be made to the invention described and equivalents (whether recited herein or not included for the sake of some brevity) may be substituted without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, where a range of values is provided, it is understood that every intervening value, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within the invention.
[0306] Also, it is contemplated that any optional feature of the inventive variations described may be set forth and claimed independently, or in combination with any one or more of the features described herein. Reference to a singular item, includes the possibility that there are plural of the same items present. More specifically, as used herein and in claims associated hereto, the singular forms "a," "an," "said," and "the" include plural referents unless the specifically stated otherwise. In other words, use of the articles allow for "at least one" of the subject item in the description above as well as claims associated with this disclosure. It is further noted that such claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element. As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as "solely," "only" and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a "negative" limitation.
[0307] Without the use of such exclusive terminology, the term "comprising" in claims associated with this disclosure shall allow for the inclusion of any additional element--irrespective of whether a given number of elements are enumerated in such claims, or the addition of a feature could be regarded as transforming the nature of an element set forth in such claims. Except as specifically defined herein, all technical and scientific terms used herein are to be given as broad a commonly understood meaning as possible while maintaining claim validity.
[0308] The breadth of the present invention is not to be limited to the examples provided and/or the subject specification, but rather only by the scope of claim language associated with this disclosure.
Patent applications by Brian T. Schowengerdt, Seattle, WA US
Patent applications by Magic Leap, Inc.
2016-01-28 Calibrachoa plant named 'kleca13251'
2016-01-28 Phalaenopsis orchid plant named 'phalcisbik'
2016-01-28 'creme brule'
New patent applications from these inventors:
2016-04-28 Architectures and methods for outputting different wavelength light out of waveguides
2016-04-21 Modifying a focus of virtual images through a variable focus element
2016-04-21 Delivering viewing zones associated with portions of an image for augmented or virtual reality
2016-04-21 Projecting images to a waveguide through microprojectors for augmented or virtual reality
2016-04-21 Combining at least one variable focus element with a plurality of stacked waveguides for augmented or virtual reality display
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Tip: Rebalancing Schedule. When to rebalance? There is no set rule. Some rebalance when their portfolio’s allocation is off by a specific percentage — say 5%. Others may be comfortable setting the target higher or lower.
Everyone loves a winner. If an investment is successful, most people naturally want to stick with it. But is that the best approach?
It may sound counter intuitive, but it may be possible to have too much of a good thing. Over time, the performance of different investments can shift a portfolio’s intent — and its risk profile. It’s a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “risk creep,” and it happens when a portfolio has its risk profile shift over time.
When deciding how to allocate investments, many start by taking into account their time horizon, risk tolerance, and specific goals. Next, individual investments are selected that pursue the overall objective. If all the investments selected had the same return, that balance — that allocation — would remain steady for a period of time. But if the investments have varying returns, over time, the portfolio may bear little resemblance to its original allocation.
How Rebalancing Works
Rebalancing is the process of restoring a portfolio to its original risk profile.
There are two ways to rebalance a portfolio.
The first is to use new money. When adding money to a portfolio, allocate these new funds to those assets or asset classes that have fallen. For example, if bonds have fallen from 40% of a portfolio to 30%, consider purchasing enough bonds to return them to their original 40% allocation. Diversification is an investment principle designed to manage risk. However, diversification does not guarantee against a loss.
Fast Fact: Expert Insight. “The four most expensive words in the English language are, ‘This time it’s different.’”
–Sir John Templeton,
Renowned Investor
The second way of rebalancing is to sell enough of the “winners” to buy more underperforming assets. Ironically, this type of rebalancing actually forces you to buy low and sell high.
Periodically rebalancing your portfolio to match your desired risk tolerance is a sound practice regardless of the market conditions. One approach is to set a specific time each year to schedule an appointment to review your portfolio and determine if adjustments are appropriate.
Shifting Allocation
Over time, market conditions can change the risk profile of an investment portfolio. For example, imagine that on January 1, 1997, an investor created a portfolio containing a mix of 50% bonds and 50% stocks. By the end of 2017, the mix would have changed to 44% bonds and 56% stocks.
Source: Thomson Reuters, 2018. For the period December 31, 1996, to December 31, 2017. Stocks are represented by the S&P 500 Composite index (total return), an unmanaged index that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market. Bonds are represented by the Citigroup Corporate Bond Composite Index, an unmanaged index that is generally considered representative of the U.S. bond market. Index performance is not indicative of the past performance of a particular investment. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Individuals cannot invest directly in an index. When sold, an investment's shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. Bonds that are redeemed prior to maturity may be worth more or less than their original stated value. The rate of return on investments will vary over time, particularly for longer-term investments. Investments that offer the potential for high returns also carry a high degree of risk. Actual returns will fluctuate. The types of securities and strategies illustrated may not be suitable for everyone.
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Faster Pussycat + Emperors Of The Wasteland
Date: September 1, 2017 - 7:30 pm
Tickets £15 ADV / £17 OTD …… get up close and personal with these LA Rockstars !!
Sleaze: immoral, sordid, and corrupt behavior or material.
No band epitomizes Hollywood sleaze more than Faster Pussycat. Countless bands have adopted their look and demeanor in order to try and ride the Hollywood wave to success. Most fail. For those bands it’s a costume…an act. For Faster Pussycat it’s a way of life. They said it best in their own song “Sex, drugs & Rockn-Roll” off their 2006 album “The Power and the Glory Hole”. However don’t be mistaken, they are much more than an image. First and foremost they are a rock n roll band that has put out consistently great records and given it all on stage, where it counts the most.
Singer Taime Downe formed the band in 1985, taking its name from the cult classic Russ Meyer film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! In 1987 they released their selftitled debut album which went gold. The album was loaded with sexual innuendo and bravado and struck a nerve in the glam rock community, though they were always a little more down and dirty than glam. During that time they were interviewed and played two songs (Cathouse and Bathroom Wall) in the documentary film “The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. The documentary captured the general vibe of the Sunset Strip bands during that time period, with Faster Pussycat being featured front and center.
In 1989 they released the album “Wake me when it’s over”, which spawned the massive top 25 hit single “House of Pain” propelling them beyond the sunset strip to worldwide acclaim. They received substantial airtime on MTV for the video and toured with some of the biggest bands in history: Guns n Roses, Motorhead, Motley Crue, Kiss, Alice Cooper and many more. They were able to reach fans all across the world and the sunset strip seemed endless as fans clamored for a taste of the famed Faster Pussycat sleaze. The album went gold and to this day many hail “House of Pain” as one of the greatest power ballads of all time. The band’s line-up during this time was Taime Downe (vocals), Greg Steele (guitar), Brent Muscat (guitar), Kelly Nickels (bass) and Mark Michaels (drums).
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NH REAL ESTATE|NH HOMES|LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE REAL ESTATE|NH LAND|NH REALTORS Tim & Pam (603) 651-8806
Interested in LACONIA NH REAL ESTATE?
We've compiled information about the Town of Laconia for you here. There are useful links for Town and School Information, Area Links, Featured Properties, and All Laconia NH Real Estate Listings currently on the market.
Use our CUSTOM SEARCHES to jump start your search, and be sure to CONTACT US if you need any additional information on the Town of Laconia or area Real Estate!
LACONIA NH
Incorporated: 1855
The name Laconia was first used in documents granting the land between the Merrimack and Sagadahock Rivers to Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Some documents call the grant the Province of Maine, others call it the Province of Laconia, named after a region of Greece. In the 1620s explorers had hoped to follow the Piscataqua River north to Lake Champlain, in search of the great lakes and rivers of Canada told of in Indian lore. These explorers were known as the Laconia Adventurers.
The town was originally a portion of Meredith and Gilford named Meredith Bridge, and was incorporated as Laconia in 1855. Incorporated as a city in 1893, Laconia includes the villages of Lakeport and Weirs Beach, which bears the name of primitive fishing devices discovered at the outlet of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Known as the "City on the Lakes," Laconia is the largest year-round populated center in the Lakes Region. Avisit to the pedestrian-friendly downtown area offers a plethora of shops, eateries and historic buildings, including the Belknap Mill - the oldest brickside textile mill in the country that has since been restored and now serves as a year-round cultural arts center.
From the free outdoor family concerts along the riverside to the friendly annual sidewalk sale days, the city is constantly bustling with activity.
In the mood for some fun in the sun? Make sure to include a visit to the city's Weirs Beach, located at the water's edge of Lake Winnipesaukee between Laconia and Meredith.
Visitors can board the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad for a two-hour ride along the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. For those who prefer to spend time on the water rather than at its edge, regular day family cruises and theme-centered evening cruises are offered on the M/S Mount Washington.
With a beam length of 35 feet, weighing in at 750 tons and a carrying capacity of 1,250 passengers, the M/S Mount Washington began servicing the Lakes Region in 1940 after its predecessor burnt to the hull line. After 63 years of operation, barring a halt of operation during World War II, the Mount has long been offering sightseeing excursions on the Big Lake's 44,586 acres for the entire family. No matter what age you are, the Mount Washington has something to interest you, all while traveling about the great Lake Winnipesaukee with easy access at its ports in Weirs Beach, Alton Bay, Wolfeboro Bay, Meredith and Center Harbor.
At the outlet of the lake, the oldest public monument in New England, the celebrated Endicott Rock was graced in 1901 by a bronze statue of an Indian placed atop the rock's granite canopy. The statue suffered damage over the years and has been replaced by a six-foot bronze Native American figure that welcomes all to its waterways.
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Adoption in ancient Rome
Title: Adoption in ancient Rome
Subject: Nerva, Curia, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (consul 111 BC), Roman law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi
Collection: Adoption History, Ancient Roman Society, Family Law in Ancient Rome, Roman Law
Possibly the most famous Roman adoptee, Augustus first Emperor of the Roman Empire
In ancient Rome, adoption of boys was a fairly common procedure, particularly in the upper senatorial class. The need for a male heir and the expense of raising children — and the Roman inheritance rules (Falcidia lex) strictly demanding legitimes — were strong incentives to have at least one son, but not too many children. Adoption, the obvious solution, also served to cement ties between families, thus fostering and reinforcing alliances. Adoption of girls, however, was much less common.
In the Imperial period, the system also acted as a mechanism for ensuring a smooth succession, the emperor taking his chosen successor as his adopted son.
Practice 2
Imperial succession 3
As Rome was ruled by a select number of powerful families, every senator's duty was to produce sons to inherit the estate, family name and political tradition. But a large family was an expensive luxury. Daughters had to be provided with a suitable dowry and sons had to be pushed through the political stages of the cursus honorum.
The higher the political status of a family, the higher was the cost. Roman families therefore typically restricted their families to three children. The six children of Appius Claudius Pulcher (lived 1st century BC) were considered unusual. Sometimes, not having enough children proved to be a wrong choice. Infants could die and the lack of male births was always a risk.
For families with too many sons and the ones with no boys at all, adoption was the only solution. Even the wealthy Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus did not hesitate in giving his two oldest boys up for adoption, one to the Cornelii Scipiones (Scipio Aemilianus, the conqueror of Carthage during the Third Punic War) the other to Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator.
In Roman law, the power to give children in adoption was one of the recognised powers of the paterfamilias. The adopted boy would usually be the oldest, the one with proven health and abilities. Adoption was an expensive agreement for the childless family and quality had to be ensured. Adoption was agreed between families by the mother giving the boy they wanted to adopt (for the most part) equal status, often political allies and/or with blood connections. A Plebeian adopted by a Patrician would become a patrician, and vice versa; however, at least in Republican times, this required the consent of the Senate (famously in the case of Publius Clodius Pulcher[1]).
A sum of money was exchanged between the parties and the boy assumed the adoptive father's name, plus a cognomen that indicated his original family (see Roman naming convention). Adoption was neither secretive nor considered to be shameful; nor was the adopted boy expected to cut ties to his original family. Like a marriage contract, adoption was a way to reinforce inter-family ties and political alliances. The adopted child was often in a privileged situation, enjoying both original and adoptive family connections. Almost every politically famous Roman family used it.
Probably the most famous adopted man in Republican times was Augustus Caesar. Born as Gaius Octavius, he was adopted (by testament) by his great-uncle Julius Caesar and acquired the name of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (hence his common name of Octavian).
As in the case of Clodius, one could be adopted by a man younger than oneself (which is in fact not a case of adoptio but an adrogatio[2]); his sister Clodia is also one of the known examples of a Roman woman being adopted.
Although not technically adoption, it was common for a dying man to leave guardianship of his children to another man, thus granting him the power of a paterfamilias over what were now effectively his foster children. Examples include the Dictator Sulla leaving his children in the care of Lucullus, and Mark Antony's children being left in Augustus' care.
Imperial succession
In the Roman Empire, adoption was the most common way of acceding to the throne without use of force. The second emperor, Tiberius, was the adopted son of Augustus, beginning a general tradition that the Emperor adopt his successor. During the Roman Empire's first 200 years, this tradition was common, with Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus all becoming Emperor through adoption.
^ "Clodius Pulcher, Publius." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2004. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 12 Oct. 2005 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9024422 (paid subscription required)
^ http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dadrogatio-cn
Ancient Roman Family
Adopted child syndrome
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Cultural variations in adoption
Genealogical bewilderment
Interracial adoption
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Adoption and Safe Families Act (USA)
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Foster Care Independence Act (USA)
Hague Adoption Convention
Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (India)
Islamic adoptional jurisprudence
Uniform Adoption Act (USA)
Putative Father Registry (USA)
Dima Yakovlev Law (Russia)
Fosterage
Baby Scoop Era
Home Children
Adoption history
Ancient Roman society
Family law in ancient Rome
Project Rover, European Space Agency, Nuclear thermal rocket, Nasa, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio (consul 111 BC)
Roman Republic, Adoption in ancient Rome, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio, Praetor, Roman consul
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi
Cicero, Roman Republic, Roman Empire, Crisis of the Third Century, Adoption in ancient Rome
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Hans von Bülow
Title: Hans von Bülow
Subject: Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Franz Liszt, Berlin Philharmonic, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Collection: 1830 Births, 1894 Deaths, 19Th-Century Classical Composers, 19Th-Century Conductors (Music), Academics of the Hochschule Für Musik Und Theater München, Barons of Germany, Bülow Family, German Classical Composers, German Classical Pianists, German Conductors (Music), German Male Classical Composers, German Roman Catholics, Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society, People from Dresden, People from the Kingdom of Saxony, Pupils of Friedrich Wieck, Pupils of Louis Plaidy, Pupils of Moritz Hauptmann, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner, Romantic Composers, Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
Baron[1] Hans Guido von Bülow (January 8, 1830 – February 12, 1894) was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. One of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, especially Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Along with Carl Tausig, Bülow was perhaps the most prominent of the early students of Hungarian virtuoso pianist, conductor and composer Franz Liszt. He became acquainted with and eventually married Liszt's daughter Cosima, who later left him for Wagner. Noted for his interpretation of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, he was one of the earliest European musicians to tour the United States.
Quotations 2
Notable premieres 3
As conductor 3.1
As pianist 3.2
Piano transcriptions 5
Bülow was born in Dresden, to members of the prominent Bülow family. From the age of nine, he was a student of Friedrich Wieck (the father of Clara Schumann). However, his parents insisted that he study law instead of music, and they sent him to Leipzig. There he met Franz Liszt, and on hearing some music of Richard Wagner—specifically, the premiere of Lohengrin in 1850—he decided to ignore the dictates of his parents and make himself a career in music instead. He studied the piano in Leipzig with the famous pedagogue Louis Plaidy. He obtained his first conducting job in Zurich, on Wagner's recommendation, in 1850.
Bülow had a strongly acerbic personality and a loose tongue; this alienated many musicians he worked with. He was dismissed from his Zurich job for this reason, but at the same time he was beginning to win renown for his ability to conduct new and complex works without a score. In 1851, he became a student of Liszt, marrying his daughter Cosima in 1857. They had two daughters: Daniela, born in 1860 and Blandina, born in 1863. During the 1850s and early 1860s he was active as a pianist, conductor, and writer, and became well known throughout Germany as well as Russia. In 1857, he premiered Liszt's great Piano Sonata in B minor in Berlin.
In 1864 he became the Hofkapellmeister in Munich, and it was at this post he achieved his principal renown. He conducted the premieres of two Wagner operas, Tristan und Isolde and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, in 1865 and 1868 respectively; both were immensely successful. Meanwhile, however, Cosima had been carrying on an affair with Richard Wagner and gave birth to their daughter Isolde in 1865. Two years later, they had another daughter, Eva. Although Cosima and Wagner's affair was now open knowledge, Bülow still refused to grant his wife a divorce. Finally, she gave birth to one final child, a son Siegfried and it was only then that the conductor at last relented. Their divorce was finalized in 1870, after which Cosima and Wagner married. Bülow never spoke to Wagner again and he did not see his former wife for 11 years afterwards, although he apparently continued to respect the composer on a professional level, as he still conducted his works and mourned Wagner's death in 1883. In July 1882 he married the actress Marie Schanzer.
In 1867 Bülow became director of the newly reopened Königliche Musikschule in Munich. He taught piano there in the manner of Liszt. He remained as director of the Conservatory until 1869.
In addition to championing the music of Wagner, Bülow was a supporter of the music of both Brahms and Tchaikovsky. He was the soloist in the world premiere of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor in Boston in 1875. He was also a devotee of Frédéric Chopin's music; he came up with epithets for all of Chopin's Opus 28 Preludes,[2] but these have generally fallen into disuse. On the other hand, the D-flat major Prelude No. 15 is widely known by his title, the "Raindrop." (The complete list of titles is given in Schonberg 1987, pp. 136–37).
He was the first to perform the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas, which he did from memory,[3] and he also produced a scholarly edition of the sonatas which is still in print.
From 1878 to 1880 he was Hofkapellmeister in Hanover but was forced to leave after fighting with a tenor singing the "Knight of the Swan [Schwan]" role in Lohengrin; Bülow had called him the "Knight of the Swine [Schwein]". In 1880 he moved to Meiningen where he took the equivalent post, and where he built the Meiningen Court Orchestra into one of the finest in Germany; among his other demands, he insisted that the musicians learn to play all their parts from memory.
It was during his five years in Meiningen that he met Richard Strauss (though the meeting actually took place in Berlin). His first opinion of the young composer was not favorable, but he changed his mind when he was confronted with a sample of Strauss's "Serenade". Later on, he used his influence to give Strauss his first regular employment as a conductor.[4] Like Strauss, Bülow was attracted to the ideas of Max Stirner, whom he reputedly had known personally. In April 1892 Bülow closed his final performance with the Berlin Philharmonic (where he had been serving as Principal Conductor since 1887) with a speech "exalting" the ideas of Stirner. Together with John Henry Mackay, Stirner's biographer, he placed a memorial plaque at Stirner's last residence in Berlin.[5]
Some of his orchestral innovations included the addition of the five-string bass and the pedal timpani; the pedal timpani have since become standard instruments in the symphony orchestra. His accurate, sensitive, and profoundly musical interpretations established him as the prototype of the virtuoso conductors who flourished at a later date. He was also an astute and witty musical journalist.
In the late 1880s he settled in Hamburg, but continued to tour, both conducting and performing on the piano.
Bülow suffered from chronic neuralgiforme headaches, which were caused by a tumor of the cervical radicular nerves.[6] After about 1890 his mental and physical health began to fail, and he sought a warmer, drier climate for recovery; he died in a hotel in Cairo, Egypt at the age of 64, only ten months after his final concert performance.
"A tenor is not a man but a disease".[7]
To a trombonist: "Your tone sounds like roast-beef gravy running through a sewer".[7]
Upon being awarded a laurel wreath: "I am not a vegetarian".[7]
"Always conduct with the score in your head, not your head in the score".[8]
"Bach is the Old Testament and Beethoven the New Testament of music".[8][9]
"In the beginning was rhythm".[8]
Notable premieres
As conductor
Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Munich, June 10, 1865
Wagner, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Hofoper, Munich, June 21, 1868
As pianist
Beethoven, complete cycle of piano sonatas
Liszt, Sonata in B minor, Berlin, January 22, 1857
Liszt, Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra
Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1, Boston, October 25, 1875
6 Lieder, Op. 1
Rigoletto-Arabesken, Op. 2
Mazurka-Impromptu. Op. 4
Invitation à la Polka, Op. 6
Rêverie fantastique, Op. 7
Song cycle Die Entsagende, Op. 8
Overture and March to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Op. 10
Ballade, Op. 11
Chant polonais (after F. H. Truhn), Op. 12
Mazurka-Fantasie, Op. 13
Elfenjagd. Impromptu, Op. 14
Des Sängers Fluch, Ballad for orchestra, Op. 16
Rimembranze dell'opera Un ballo in maschera, Op. 17
Trois Valses caractéristiques, Op. 18
Tarantella, Op. 19
Nirvana: symphonisches Stimmungsbild, Op. 20
Il Carnevale di Milano, piano, Op. 21
Vier Charakterstücke, orchestra, Op. 23
Two Romances, Op. 26
Lacerta. Impromptu, Op. 27
Königsmarsch, Op 28
5 Gesänge for mixed choir, Op. 29
3 Lieder von August Freiherrn von Loen, Op. 30
Christoph Willibald Gluck—Iphigenie in Aulis
Richard Wagner:
Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Paraphrase of the quintet from Act III of Die Meistersinger
Faust Overture
Weber:
Konzertstück in F minor
two piano concertos
^ Regarding personal names: Freiherr was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Baron. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.
^ ChopinMusic.net
^ Carnegie Room Concerts; the next pianist to do so would be Artur Schnabel in 1927.Naxos
^ Marek, George R. (1967). Richard Strauss - The Life of a Non-Hero. London: Gollancz. p. 52.
^ Charles Dowell Youmans, Richard Strauss's Orchestral Music and the German Intellectual Tradition, Indiana University Press, 2005, p 91; The story of Bülow discussing Stirner from the conductor's podium is also described by Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker in "Beethoven Unbound", by Alex Ross, The New Yorker, Oct. 22, 2001; Hans von Bülow's participation in placing a memorial plaque on Stirner's last residence is reported in a New York Times Saturday Review of Books article on Stirner, "Ideas of Max Stirner", by James Huneker, New York Times Saturday Review of Books, April, 1907
^ Wöhrle J, Haas F, "Hans von Bülow: Creativity and Neurological Disease in a Famous Pianist and Conductor", in Bogousslavsky J, Hennerici MG (eds): Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists - Part 2. Front Neurol Neurosci. Basel, Karger, 2007, vol 22, pp 193-205
^ a b c Walker, p. 174
^ The quotation is out of context. Walker p. 175 wrote "To pianists he said 'Bach is the Old Testament and Beethoven the New Testament of music'". Walker gives no further reference for this, but as von Bülow had done an edition of Beethoven's piano sonatas which remains in print even now, it is not surprising in context. Large domains of music, such as opera, which might seem to be neglected by the out-of-context quote, are not relevant in advice to pianists.
Literature by and about Hans von Bülow in the German National Library catalogue
Holden, Raymond (2005). The Virtuoso Conductors: The Central European Tradition from Wagner to Karajan. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Walker, Alan (1993). Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848–1861. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Walker, Alan (2009). Hans von Bülow: A Life and Times. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Warrack, John; Sadie, Stanley ed. (1980). "Hans von Bülow". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 20. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Harold Schonberg, The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present. New York: Simon and Schuster 1987 (pp. 136–37)
Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
Free scores by Hans von Bülow at the International Music Score Library Project
Bayerisches Staatsorchester General Music Directors
Franz Lachner (1836)
Hans von Bülow (1867)
Franz Wüllner (1870)
Hermann Levi (1872)
Richard Strauss (1894)
Hermann Zumpe (1901)
Felix Mottl (1904)
Bruno Walter (1913)
Hans Knappertsbusch (1922)
Clemens Krauss (1937)
Georg Solti (1946)
Rudolf Kempe (1952)
Ferenc Fricsay (1956)
Joseph Keilberth (1959)
Wolfgang Sawallisch (1971)
Peter Schneider (1992)
Zubin Mehta (1998)
Kent Nagano (2006)
Kirill Petrenko (2013)
Berlin Philharmonic Principal Conductors
Ludwig von Brenner (1882)
Arthur Nikisch (1895)
Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922)
Leo Borchard (1945)
Sergiu Celibidache (1945)
Herbert von Karajan (1954)
Claudio Abbado (1989)
Simon Rattle (2002)
Copy to Wikiquote
19th-century classical composers
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Pupils of Moritz Hauptmann
Pupils of Friedrich Wieck
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Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Bayreuth Festival, Tannhäuser (opera)
Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Berlin, Gustav Mahler, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Classical music, Cholera, Johannes Brahms, Swan Lake, Opera
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Home > Facts > Animal Facts > Barracuda Facts
Barracuda Facts
Barracuda is a type of marine fish. There are around 20 species of barracuda that can be found in the oceans throughout the world. Majority of species live in warm, tropical and subtropical waters. Barracuda can be seen in different parts of the ocean: near the coral reefs, in the open sea, in the shallow water of mangrove forests and on the depth of up to 325 feet. Major threats for their survival are recreational fishing and killing due to barracuda's delicious meat. Luckily, number of barracudas in the wild is stable and they are not on the list of endangered species.
Interesting Barracuda Facts:
Barracudas vary in size, depending on the species. Largest species of barracuda can reach 6 feet in length and weigh up to 103 pounds.
Upper part of the body is covered with scales that can be black, brown, grey or blue in color. Belly is always white. Irregular dark spots are located on both sides of the body.
Barracuda has elongated body with pointed head. It has two dorsal fins and tail fin shaped like a fork.
Barracuda has very sharp, dagger-like teeth which prevent slipping of the prey from the mouth.
Barracuda's diet consists of different types of fish: groupers, anchovies, mullets, snappers… Besides fish, barracuda sometimes eats squids and crustaceans.
Shiny objects attract barracuda's attention. Because of that, barracuda usually hunts fish with golden or silver scales.
Barracuda is known as dangerous fish that can attack divers without any obvious reason.
Barracuda can act as an ambush predator that attacks using the factor of surprise. When there is no place to hide, barracuda will chase its prey actively.
Barracuda is nocturnal animal (active during the night).
Barracuda can swim at the speed of 25 miles per hour. This feature is useful both for hunting and for escape from predators.
Even though barracuda is one of the greatest predators in the sea, it can be prey of some large marine animals. Biggest enemies of barracuda are killer whales and sharks.
Barracuda prefers solitary life, but it sometimes gathers in groups called "schools". Life in a group provides safety and facilitates hunting (group of barracuda hunts cooperatively).
Mating season of barracudas takes place in the spring. Males and females release eggs and sperm cells in the water where they will combine to form fertilized eggs. Females produce and release more than 1000 eggs but only few eggs will manage to survive until the adulthood.
Barracuda's age can be determined by counting the rings on the scales and on the otolith (structure in the inner ear). Number of rings matches the age of the fish.
Barracuda can survive from 10 to 15 years in the wild.
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Listen | Cowboy Junkies - My Only Guarantee
Cowboy Junkies have released a boxed set called Notes Falling Slow, and it contains three remastered studio albums, Open, One Soul Now, At The End Of Paths Taken, and "a fourth disc that contains newly recorded songs that were written during the making of the three albums." You can find more information about it here.
The Junkies' music is a huge reason why Speakers in Code exists, mainly because of no-bullshit songs such as "My Only Guarantee," which you can find on At The End of Paths Taken. It boasts this line:
My only guarantee:
I will fuck you up.
In 2008, I asked Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies about "My Only Guarantee," and here's what she said:
Your last album, At the End of Paths Taken, closed with "My Only Guarantee," a song about parenting. Is that a personal song for you? Do you not play that one live?
Well, it was in our repertoire to play live. We didn't pick it up, though; it sort of stayed dormant. But not for any reason, only because we have so many songs. You know, yeah it's personal in that we all have kids. Do you have kids?
No, I don't.
Well, it's an adventure. I think anybody with kids who is honest about being a parent would connect with that song. You spend so much time trying to make the right decision for your children, whether you should go organic or not, or they should go to this school or that school, or take dance or not take dance, sleep in your bed, not sleep in your bed... (Laughs) And, I think that, really, in the end, and I think that we—this generation of parents—are even worse about making these decisions; we're just so worried about our children's psyche all the time. I think in the end, no matter how hard you try, you're going to fuck up your children, because...you just are. Certainly you are more so if you abuse them, but even if you're just trying your hardest, in the end... I'm now in my mid-40s —I don't know anyone who is not normal, I mean, we're all mental! (Laughs)
That song is almost "Do your best," but they're going to be screwed up—not by you, by the world—because you can't make all the right decisions. I mean, you put them in piano, maybe they would have been Jimi Hendrix if you'd have given them a guitar. So, who knows, and I think just give yourself permission to realize you're doing your best, but it's going to be fucked up.
Tags: Cowboy Junkies, Jason Gonulsen, Listen, Notes Falling Slow
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» Sir Alister McIntyre: Grenadian/Caribbean Scholar Has Passed On
#1 Apr 21, 2019 11:27 am
Sir Alister McIntyre: Grenadian/Caribbean Scholar Has Passed On
The "Titan of the post-Independence Caribbean" is well-remembered in the following tribute:
https://www.nowgrenada.com/2019/04/sir- … -has-died/
Here are segments of other tributes to the late Mr. McIntyre:
"Shocking is the news that our Sir Alister has passed. Larger than life in his long sojourn, it is difficult to embrace the finality of this existential fragility. The people of the Caribbean, and their University of the West Indies — which he served as Vice-Chancellor— will not be impoverished by his transition because the phenomenal richness of his contributions to their growth and transformation will continue to yield development dividends deep into the future,” Sir Hilary said in a condolence message. . .
The Grenadian born, Sir Alister served as Vice Chancellor emeritus of the UWI. An economist by training, he graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with first class honours." Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestne … r_McIntyre
Condolences to "Puggy" and Mr. McIntyre's entire family.
#2 Apr 22, 2019 1:44 pm
Re: Sir Alister McIntyre: Grenadian/Caribbean Scholar Has Passed On
gripe wrote:
Mixed-race men like Sir Alister, Busta, Manley, etc from the Caribbean really made an impact on the history of the region. Many have asked me, why mixed-race? i mentioned that they were the educated class, a legacy left by European colonialism. When the British came, they brought with them a rigid class system like the Spaniards' Ecomienda heirarchy. The Negroes were at the lowest of the scale. The mixed-race came before us. They, with their African blood, paved the way for authentic blacks to enter the middle-class.
Calypso, by your response, I will assume that you knew about Mr. McIntyre's contribution to the region even before the lead post. Even if you didn't, it is enough that you've responded to the post.
Maybe the Grenadians on this forum have so far chosen to remain silent on Mr. McIntyre's passing but still appreciate his accomplishments and efforts on behalf of the Caribbean.
Your point, Calypso, about "Mixed-race men" in the Caribbean touches a reality that West Indians can't ignore. Grenada's relatively recent history is testament to your comment.
Calypso, your racism really stinks each and every time you post.
What exactly is an authentic black?
You claim to be an educator. Really hope that you are not in charge of teaching young ones.
Houston, I did not see a negative slant in Calypso's statements about the Slavery-generated "rigid class system" where slaves were at the bottom and "the mixed-race came before us". The fact that Calypso included herself among the "us" should leave no doubt about those with whom she identifies. Calypso goes further, I believe, to see those individuals, her own, as "authentic blacks" (those that are not "mixed race").
While the term "authentic blacks" can, on the surface, be controversial for lack of clarity, no hurt should be felt if the term was intended by Calypso to describe all Blacks who are not "mixed-race".
The fact is that slavery created many labels.
Slavery also ensured that favoured skin color benefitted consistent with established privileges.
With her post to which you responded, Houston, I do not consider Calypso to be sowing any racist seeds.
#6 Apr 23, 2019 2:58 am
houston wrote:
I think what is so sad is how blasted ignorant you are!! You lack knowledge like my 12 year-olds who profess to know it all. The Caribbean has a color shade hierachy that was left by the colonial powers. If you have some European blood you were considered better than a person with pure African blood. Latin American countries have it worst because they were colonized by the Spaniards who invented the system to keep down the Indians. " Busta" and Manley, etc are from that class. They paved the way for people with mosly african bood to get into politics.
Oh come on, it's the 21st century. Are people really still being measured by the shade of thier skin? Not so much in North America and Europe anymore but more likely in South America, Central America and the Caribbean does skin colour, ethnicity and religion matter on the scale of hierarchy.
But Kaiso, what the F$%k mixed race have to do with it? I met the man on ah number of occasion, and he never saw himself as race. He did not even see himself as ah Grenadian, he saw himself as ah Caribbean man. When are we going to stop injecting race in every aspects of ourselves?
#9 Apr 30, 2019 11:37 pm
Slice, the following excerpt on the history of the races in Jamaica following Emancipation -- https://scholar.library.miami.edu/emanc … lture4.htm -- should put into proper perspective Calypso's statement to which both you and houston have objected:
"Following the emancipation of all enslaved Africans in 1834, the island of Jamaica was left in a stage of rebuilding. Religion, education, and family structure were all in disarray and were in need of reconstruction. With their new-found freedom, people also had the task of establishing a new way of life that would allow them prosperity and fulfillment. However, the group that faced the most complex rebuilding process was the so-called “people of color.” People of color, who were a result of “miscegenation,” or sexual relationships between people of African and European descent, faced the challenge of readjusting in the midst of distinct color lines on the island. They faced particular challenges in the areas of politics, marriage and family, and child education.
During slavery, white slave owners fathered numerous children with black slaves, and generations of children of mixed race heritage were the result. White observers tried to subdivide these people of color into various categories. Mulattos were one half-black and one half-white. Samboes were black and mulatto (three fourths black and one fourth white). Quadroons were the offspring of whites and mulattos (three fourths white and one fourth black). Mestees were the offspring of whites and quadroons (one eight black). After the Mestees few could perceive a color distinction because it is unlikely that one could detect “black” characteristics if an individual had less than one eighth African ancestry. Observers also believed that one could detect the differences between the various subdivisions of people of color based on particular qualities, in addition to physical appearance. The Sambo, although three-fourths black and one fourth white, was still seen differently from the “Negro” in various manners and habits. Generally, people believed that people of color were less subject to disease than whites or “Negro.” White observers also firmly adhered to the idea that most people of color felt a distinct advantage and pride in being slightly removed from the “Negro race” and attempted to take on manners and customs of whites. [1]
Regardless of the distinctions that observers made among people of color, they still enjoyed many advances politically. When James Thome went on a sixth month tour of the island of Jamaica following emancipation, he observed Harbour Streetthe activity of people of color in various social institutions. By 1831, free people of color had all of the political offices open to them, and after emancipation they were represented in an array of offices in Kingston. They were justices of the peace, alderman of the city, justices of the peace, public institution inspectors, and school trustees. At a local legislature meeting, Thome noticed that there were fifteen members present, and just as many different shades of complexion. A planter who clearly had aristocratic blood was sitting next to a “deep mulatto,” born in the same parish as a slave. Yet they all conversed freely as though they were one color, providing a sense of “harmony, confidence and good feeling.” [2] There were ten colored special magistrates and four colored members of the Assembly at the time of his visit. However they occupied only one third of the seats in the Assembly, as whites filled the others. Yet as people of color filled seats, they voted for white alderman and city officers. Thome observed, “The influential men among them, have always urged them to take up white men, unless they could find competent men of their own color. As they remarked to us, if they were obliged to send an ass to the Assembly, it was far better for them to send a white as than a black one.” [3] Nonetheless, colored people were gradually participating in political and civil bodies on the Island and dividing the legislative and judicial powers with whites.
In a community that is rebuilding, marriage and family are important because those institutions are essential for its growth. However, few marriages took place among people of color because many females believed that it was more Native Domestic Servantsreputable to be the kept mistress of a wealthy white man than to marry a “Negro” or another person of color. Beautiful women of color were “fortune-made if they got a place in a white man’s harem.” [4] When females of color were asked why they did not generally intermarry with men of their own class, the typical response was that most brown men were either too poor or indolent to support a wife and children and that as husbands they could be jealous and tyrannical. Many women also disliked the idea of marriage and viewed it as an unnecessary and unnatural restraint. Yet numerous females of color found themselves as a “housekeeper” to white men, while men of color found for themselves the comfort of a black woman. [5]
James Stewart, an Englishman who lived for some time in Jamaica, also observed that men of color were divided by society into three classes. The first was the offspring of men of fortune, who were sent to Great Britain to receive a liberal educated and expected to inherit independent fortunes. Next came the offspring of men in moderate circumstances, who gave their children a plain education and left the bulk of property among their children at their death. Finally, there were the men who did not have the means or inclination to provide for their children, which he noted as the most numerous class. These children lived in idleness and were what Stewart considered a burden to themselves and the community. Few men of color were elevated above their social stratum by the advantages of fortune and a liberal education and received into the white population. [6]"
Again,"Few men of color were elevated above their social stratum by the advantages of fortune and a liberal education and received into the white population." Hard, harsh facts!
#10 May 01, 2019 9:42 am
Good post Gripe.
Information , Education , that's what's missing from this TS .
But .... I remember the deliberate effort , to run the few that dared to express themselves from this TS.
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History of Taiwan
Taiwan Culture
Taiwan Cuisine
Taiwan Geography
Taiwan Government
Taiwan Economy
Taiwan Communications
Taiwan Transportations
Taiwan Military
Taiwan Transnational Issues
Taiwan Healthcare
Taiwan Education
Taiwan Environmental Issue
Taiwan Flora & Fauna
1(USD) = 29.2095(TWD)
Sun | 02:23AM
Taiwan religions
Taiwan practices freedom of religion, generously accepting foreign religious ideas while honoring traditional beliefs: even within the same family, it is common for different faiths to exist. As a result, Taipei has welcomed the development of many different religions.
Traditional Chinese religions include Buddhism, Taoism, and folk beliefs. Taoism is indigenous to China, while Buddhism was introduced from India. Taoists and Buddhists originally worshipped separately in Taiwan, but during the period of Japanese occupation (1895-1945) Taoists were singled out for severe persecution and began worshipping their deities secretly in Buddhist temples. By the time Taiwan was returned to Chinese administration at the end of World War II, the two religions had blended together; while a few temples today are purely Buddhist, most Taiwanese continue worshipping a variety of Buddhist, Taoist, and folk deities in a single temple.
Christianity was brought to Taiwan in the early 17th century by Spanish and Dutch missionaries. A number of Presbyterian missions were founded in early times, including the Panhsi Church of Tataocheng (today known as Tachiao Church) in 1874 and Manka Church in 1884; during the Japanese occupation period, the Chungshan Presbyterian Church, Chinan Church, and Chengchung Church were established.
Numerous other religions took hold in Taiwan in the atmosphere of religious freedom than followed retrocession; in addition to the Chinese religions and Christianity, Taiwan today also has followers of many other religions.
Traditionally, Chinese society has always used a lunar calendar (based on the phases of the moon). The biggest holidays celebrate the changing of the seasons, revealing China's ancient agrarian roots.
Because most major festivals are timed by the traditional calendar, the dates that they fall on according to the Western, solar, calendar vary from year to year. Some holidays, however, have come to be associated with the Western calendar and occur on the same predictable date.
Some holidays may be of little interest to non-Taiwanese. Unless you have an ancestor who died and was buried in Taiwan, for example, you probably won't find yourself directly participating in Tomb Sweeping Day. But many holidays are spectacular public events that can easily engage and fascinate visitors from abroad.
Though we won't cover all the many days of note in the year (click here for a full list of holidays and festivals), here are some of the more interesting occasions you might want to observe:
(1) Chinese New Year
The biggest event on the Taiwanese calendar, like everywhere else in the Chinese world, is the New Year, which marks the beginning of spring. It is a festival of renewal, in preparation for which families clean their houses top to bottom and cook elaborate feasts. It is also very important to settle all personal debts before the end of the year.
On New Year's Eve, families gather together at home, eat heartily and let loose a lot of firecrackers. Children and elders receive gifts of money, in red envelopes called hungpao. A visit to a Taoist temple is sure to be a fascinating adventure, as crowds gather to pay homage to the gods. Temples dedicated to Kuan Kung are particularly active.
Much like Christmas, Chinese New Year is a family-oriented holiday, when homes are full of life and public places are boarded up tight. So the very best way to experience Chinese New Year is as a guest of a Chinese family.
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Ethical Chocolate Companies
Harkin Engel Protocol
Watch Dark Side of Chocolate
Articles from around the globe
Slave Free Chocolate
Latest articles about the child labor and the cocoa industry.
Ayn Riggs
Child Labor, Chocolate
Indebted Ivory Coast Farmers by Ange Aboa of Rueters Africa
Indebted Ivory Coast cocoa farmers unable to prepare for next season
By Ange Aboa-Reuters Africa
SOUBRE, Ivory Coast Feb 13 (Reuters) - A wave of defaults by cocoa exporters in top producer Ivory Coast has left farmers with unsold beans, indebted and unable to purchase fertiliser and pesticides to prepare their plantations for next season's harvest.
Cocoa has piled up at the ports for weeks and has been left to rot on trees as exporters, having wrongly speculated that world cocoa prices would extend years-long gains, declined to purchase beans to fill unprofitable contracts.
The stocking of beans, often in poor conditions, is already likely to have a negative impact on quality for the current harvest. But the financial pressure on farmers and cooperatives is set to have a knock-on effect for the 2017/18 season which will open in October.
"Right now I'm not interested in buying fertiliser or other products. I don't even have 1,000 francs in my pocket in order to eat, so how could I think of that?" said Ali Diabate, 58, who farms six hectares near the town of Soubre in the southwest.
Of 23 farmers interviewed last week across Ivory Coast's western cocoa heartland, none said they planned to invest in fertiliser or pesticides.
The Ivorian government introduced a forward sales system in 2012 allowing it to set a minimum price for farmers with the primary aim of encouraging growers to reinvest in their plantations.
Farmer incomes had steadily risen in line with world prices. However, as the system has broken down this season causing a glut of cocoa and fewer buyers, many farmers have failed to sell their crops while others have been forced to accept less than the 1,100 CFA francs ($1.79) per kg dictated by the government.
Many farmers are now saddled with debt, and farmer cooperatives, which typically distribute fertiliser and other products to their members, are struggling as well.
All 18 co-op directors interviewed by Reuters said they would be unable to help their members prepare their plantations for next season.
"We don't have any money. We haven't even paid for last year's fertiliser because of this situation and our suppliers won't take credit this year," Germain Kabore, who manages a co-op near the town of Daloa, told Reuters.
Across western Ivory Coast, shops selling fertiliser and pesticides have largely closed due to a lack of customers.
"All the stock I've had from January is still there. I haven't sold a single box or bag of fertiliser. It's all still there. No one is coming to buy," said Mamadou Keita, who runs a shop in the town of Soubre.
($1 = 615.9500 CFA francs) (Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Jason Neely)
Tagged: Chocolate, Cote D'Ivoire, child trafficking, child labor, Africa, cocoa
C.R.E.E.R. Africa is looking for an intern.
Duration: Four months minimum.
Location: Abengourou, Moyen-Comoe, Cote d'Ivoire
Your role will be different, this is a chance to sow the seeds for the start of this centre. You can really make an impact. Depending on your skill set and experience, volunteers at C.R.E.E.R can take on a variety of roles and responsibilities. You will have an Outreach Worker living on site with you.
We're looking for our 2nd Coordinator with ideas, drive & initiative for our NGO; after four years of preparation, C.R.E.E.R is finally starting! Our current Coordinator is doing a fantastic job but will sadly be leaving us!
You might be wanting a change in life or a post-graduate student looking to get some experience; it could give someone the chance to write a thesis at the same time.
We are working to prevent young girls and boys from being trafficked into exploitative working conditions. We're offering a shelter to rehabilitate those children who have escaped their situation & living on the streets.
We will be providing education, vocational training, shelter, protection, community outreach, and youth leadership training to at-risk individuals and communities.
We are always open to new ideas and projects that utilize volunteers' unique strengths and creativity! This position is ideal for someone with long-term goals or interests related to alternative education, nonprofit administration, communications and media, child protection, or human trafficking prevention.
Your role which will take about 2-3h per day may include:
• Coordinating finances & administration on site
• Facilitating extracurricular activities with the children
• Producing and coordinating social media and communications,blog and newsletter
• Photography and/or videography for social media
• Writing grant reports and proposals
• Actively fundraising and marketing
• Meeting dignitaries & receiving visitors, possibly giving presentations on the organisation
• Attending events and meetings
• Helping in other areas based on your skill set, such as DIY
• Directly reporting to the Founder & Ivoirian Board; on site & off site
Preferred Experience:
• Background, coursework, or demonstrated interest in issues of child protection, statelessness, gender inequality, nonprofit administration, and/or international development
• Outstanding communication and organizational skills
• Ability to work independently and proactively identify solutions to problems
• Ability to work in a cross-cultural environment and navigate language and cultural barriers
• Flexibility, patience, and adaptability
• Ability to manage a wide array of tasks and priorities
• Excellent spoken and written English or French but with a reasonable spoken profiency in both
• Sense of humor and a positive attitude
• Teaching/Social work experience and/or experience working with children and young people
• Experience in a developing country
• Experience volunteering and/or working for a nonprofit or NGO
• Experience in an office environment and/or in administration
• Bilingual English/French language skills a major plus
If you've read this far & are still interested in applying, please e-mail us a cover letter explaining what you are able to offer us along with your CV to c.r.e.e.r.rci@gmail.com
Compensation details
C.R.E.E.R does not provide any salary or living stipend to volunteers, nor do we charge any fees to volunteer with us.
Volunteers must be able to fund their flight, visa, transportation & living costs but you will have a room to live in (although fairly basic at this early stage)
A motorbike is provided to get around town (shared with Outreach Worker).
Volunteers should be able to finance their stay with private fundraising and grants.
[8/30/15, 8:46:31 AM] Anglais Aerien Afrique: Volunteer Coordinator
Chance to sow the seeds at a new rehabilitation centre for street & trafficked children.
Contact Chole Grant for more information. You can find contact information at C.R.E.E.R. Africa.org
Tagged: Cote D'Ivoire, child labor, child trafficking, Child slavery
Responses From Companies, Child Labor
Nestlé tackles PR troubles and publicly promises change.
Nestlé announced that their KitKat bars in Japan are going to only have ethically sourced cocoa. This comes right off of the report that the the amount of children working in the cocoa fields of West Africa has risen from 1.8 million to 2.3 since it was last reported.
Child labour on Nestlé farms: chocolate giant's problems continue
Auditors completing their annual report continue to find evidence of child labour on Ivory Coast farms supplying Nestlé
Children younger than 15 continue to work at cocoa farms connected to Nestlé, more than a decade after the food company promised to end the use of child labour in its supply chain.
A new report by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), commissioned by Nestlé, saw researchers visit 260 farms used by the company in Ivory Coast from September to December 2014. The researchers found 56 workers under the age of 18, of which 27 were under 15.
The rest of the article on The Guardian
Tagged: Nestlé, Cote D'Ivoire, Chocolate, Child slavery, child trafficking
Lawsuits, Child Labor
Bloomberg picks up story about Hershey Investors Suing over Child Labor
Last fall two law suits came out with decisions that went in favor of the cocoa kids and not in favor of the chocolate companies. We are happy to see that Bloomberg picked up the following story! --SFC
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files by Jeff Feeley Bloomberg News
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor.
A Louisiana pension fund raised legitimate questions about Hershey executives’ knowledge of how much of the company’s cocoa, grown in West Africa, may have been produced by child slaves, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Travis Laster said yesterday. He overruled a master’s recommendation that the shareholders’ request to see cocoa-supply chain records be denied.
West Africa, including top growers Ghana and Ivory Coast, accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s cocoa-bean production. Pressure to manufacture chocolate without harming children may grow as global sales of sweets head toward a record in 2014 and candy makers process more beans, according to data by Euromonitor International Ltd.
The suit’s allegations create “a reasonable inference about the possibility” some cocoa Hershey officials bought from Ghana and Ivory Coast suppliers may be tainted by the use of illegal child labor, Laster said at a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware. Those questions may be “sufficient to warrant further investigation,” he said.
See rest of the article at Bloomberg News
Tagged: Hershey, Chocolate, Child slavery, child labor, cocoa kids, child trafficking, Africa, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire
Stateless and crying for help from the beloved country by: UNHCR
DUÉKOUÉ, Côte d'Ivoire, November 27 (UNHCR) – When asked about his past, Ousmane* hesitates, clearly reluctant to talk about it. He has suffered a great deal in his life, and it pains him to recount bad memories.
Once he realizes that his UNHCR visitors are friends, he begins to open up and tell his harrowing tale of life without a nationality. His recollections of childhood are hazy– he knows only that he was born in a small village in south-east Côte d'Ivoire, across the border from Ghana, that his mother was a citizen of Burkina Faso, or Burkinabé, and that his father disappeared when he was young.
But when asked what nationality he has, Ousmane cannot answer. Like many other children born in rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire, the 33-year-old was not registered at birth. He was born out of wedlock, but his mother died shortly after his birth and Ousmane's father was never identified. He was raised in the Burkinabé community.
To make matters worse, he cannot produce any documents that confirm his parents' identity or prove his own nationality. Neither the Ivorian nor the Burkina Faso authorities recognize him as a national of their country. Like more than 10 million other people in the world, he is stateless.
But rather than accepting his legal limbo, Ousmane is trying to do something about it. And he has the support of UNHCR, which is lobbying the authorities to resolve his status, either through the recognition of Burkinabé citizenship or as a stateless person in Côte d'Ivoire entitled to rights, including the right to an ID.
UNHCR earlier this month launched a campaign to end statelessness by 2024, urging governments to change their laws and recognize stateless people. Without legal recognition, many stateless people lack access to basic rights, including travel, education and employment.
The government of Côte d'Ivoire in April launched a special programme to enable certain groups who have been living on Ivorian soil for generations to acquire nationality by declaration. This new temporary procedure is intended to resolve the problem of historical migrants who were legally entitled to acquire Ivorian nationality, but failed to do so in time.
Ousmane discovered how difficult life without a nationality could be, when he tried to escape a life of exploitation. In 1987, aged just six years, he was taken from his village by a woman who claimed to be an aunt and sold him to a landowner in Gbapleu, about 650 kilometres north-west of the Côte d'Ivoire capital Abidjan.
Over the next eight years, he was forced to work in the cocoa plantations of an abusive landowner. He had to clear brush, plant and pick cocoa beans and plough fields, and was severely beaten if he complained or was too slow. "They would hit me across the face, across the chest, over and over again," he says.
Being stateless made him more vulnerable; without legal status it was difficult for him to make a formal complaint. But one day, when he was about 14, Ousmane escaped and made his way to his birth village in search of relatives. Since he had no documents, he did what many stateless people desperate for some kind of legal identity do.
He obtained the consular card of a young Burkinabé man who had recently died and used it to cross the country and get past checkpoints. The card is issued by the Burkina Faso authorities to Burkinabés living in Côte d'Ivoire to confirm their citizenship. There was no sign of his elusive father, so Ousmane had little choice but to return to Gbapleu, where he at least knew people.
He realized more and more over the ensuing years that his lack of documentation was a serious problem– if he was caught using someone else's identity card, he could face criminal charges. So he eventually decided to apply for a consular card from the Burkinabé mission in Duékoué, one of the main towns in western Côte d'Ivoire.
With this document, he would be able to prove that he was recognized by the authorities as a Burkinabé citizen and receive assistance from the Burkina Faso authorities. But, with no documents to confirm his identity other than a stolen ID card, his application was immediately rejected.
To avoid further abuse and stigma, he contacted staff at a local social services centre and they put him in touch with UNHCR. At the time, he was planning to leave Gbapleu the next day, in search of assistance but mostly to escape further forced labour or beatings. He hopes that, with UNHCR support, his case will be successful, but he remains stateless and will continue to live on the margins of society, vulnerable, poor and easy to ignore.
* Name changed for protection reasons.
By Nora Sturm in Duékoué, Côte d'Ivoire
Source: http://www.unhcr.org/547747c26.html
Tagged: Nora Strum, UNHCR, Human trafficking, Cocoa slaves, Ivory Coast, Cote D'Ivoire
760-715-4618ariggs523@gmail.com
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Welcome to the Cloaca Maximus and the Gowanus Canal.
I’m writing this, five days (it ended this evening on the eighth day) into the loss of my internet service. I don’t know how long it will take to get it restored. Down here where I am, such things are a mystery. I don’t think there’s any foul play involved. Two companies are merging and it could be that new technology is being installed or it could be another example of the strange modus operandi of this charming culture where ass backwards is known as full speed ahead.
It’s been occurring to me that I don’t really care when it goes back on and that’s a very good thing. It’s stress free and it accommodates the circumstances which are always unpredictable. It also puts me into the situation of imagining what is happening out there. I don’t watch TV so, without the internet, the only news I have is the on site weather report which involves my going outside and taking a look around.
I’ve been harvesting my olive trees and it looks like I’m going to have what amounts to about two fifty gallon oil drums. That’s a lot of oil and as much as it has been raining lately, I could invite a few of Bruce Willis’s stripper friends and a couple of Eddie Murphy’s transvestites and have a real whoop de do of a hot oil and mud wrestling match. It would put a real dent in my pesto production but it would also heighten my credentials as a wild and crazy guy. It’s a tough call.
Wild and crazy doesn’t have the appeal that it used to because the world has cornered the market on wild and crazy and the world doesn’t possess the collective élan to do it with the necessary je ne sais quoi. The world’s idea of wild and crazy is much less fun than mine. It’s more Hellraiser oriented with Pinhead as the master of ceremony. Why is that do you think? Are we essentially sadists and masochists down deep? Do we prefer swimming in sewers without scuba gear?
If life is the sum total of all of us then it can be said that what we get is the sum total of all of us. If you’re rich and powerful than you probably don’t notice what’s going on from behind the walls of your private world. Regardless of what’s happening to the economy your scene isn’t altered that much and you can always depend on topping up the tank again when the need is upon you. As someone once said, “You’ll never go broke underestimating the taste of the general public. “ Those aren’t the exact words but the meaning is the same.
I guess my problem is that I always want to fix things. It seems to me that things could be a lot better than they are. In fact, I’m sure of it. I wonder why it has to be the way it is and that always causes me to look more closely at the people involved. I’ve found you can get a pretty clear idea of how the world comes to be the way it is by watching the people you run into. I’ve noticed that people lie and steal in all kinds of ways and that a lot of the time they aren’t even aware of it. When I hire a vendor, whether it is here or on Maui where I used to live or anywhere that I’ve been, I notice that they don’t show up when they say they will more than half the time. I notice that they try to get more than was agreed on... often. I notice that they don’t do what they say they were going to do either.
I listen to people when they are talking to me. I watch them. This is a dying art. It’s such a dying art that people take it for granted that you aren’t listening to them or watching them. That can be very revealing. I once heard that listening is not just waiting for your turn to speak. Well... people didn’t get the way they are all by themselves. They had help. I’ve turned this thing over in my mind for some time, looking at it from all of the angles and it seems like the world in which we live has been designed for the purpose of corrupting the inhabitants. People want the power to exercise their will and that invariably leads to pursuing power over others. And, as we have heard, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is a basic life drive. You see it in the animal kingdom but they sort it out a little better than we do. It’s become an obvious truth to me that it’s not the people running the sewers that are responsible for all of the shit. That shit is the sum effluvia of all of us. As long as we think shit and talk shit and do shit we are going to have a whole lot of shit. Some of it is pretty shit and some of it is ugly shit but it’s all shit. Right now, somebody is thinking, “Man, that’s a grim view of the situation.” No shit.
Okay... so some of you want to put wrapping paper and ribbons on the shit and some of you prefer shit tartare. Some of you like to gold plate it and for some of you it’s marine varnish cause you like the natural look. Some of you want to romance it and some of you just want to screw it but it’s the same thing colored and coiffed according to taste and according to the capacity and direction of your imagination.
There are people who object to the use of the word ‘shit’ but I think it’s a fantastic word. These people are the ones who get out of the shower to take a piss. ‘Piss’ is another word some people object to. It’s funny because these are the same people who think nothing of making money off of the deaths of people in distant lands or poisoning their fellows with whatever new form of shit they come up with for the marketplace. These are the cultured folk who don’t like rough talk and using the wrong fork.
I can understand the motive force behind the alchemists who wanted to turn shit into gold. It was Paracelsus who displayed ‘the first matter’ for the right fork people of his time. He lifted the top off of a silver chafing dish and there was the real McCoy in all its resplendent glory. I’ve wondered on occasion if it was his own but I don’t suppose I will ever know.
Turning shit into gold is an interesting concept and something worthy of investigation but it would probably be a good idea to get a fix on what is real gold and what is not. See, I think what everyone calls gold is the real Fool’s Gold and a commodity that will definitely land you in the shit sooner or later. I’ve never understood the attraction for gold, or diamonds for that matter. I don’t own either and wouldn’t consider any lasting engagement with a woman who did.
Yes... as we approach this holiday season it is the best of times to see what kind of shit we are in. Why we are in shit and not in clover can be understood in the simplest of terms and that term(s) is self interest. It’s ironic that this is the season of giving. It’s more than passing strange too that there is a season of giving. What are the other seasons? Are they seasons of not giving... ...seasons of taking? ...seasons of maybe giving and maybe not giving?
It’s true that there’s a hardcore contingent of materialistic psychopaths that manipulate you and shape the world in which you live... with your help ...but they can’t make you buy their shit and they can’t make you believe in the glamour and attraction of their world where you are not presently a member. You do that. You like the shine on the shitmobile and you are the one who wants the shit bling and shit chateau of emptiness that sits in the center of your crucified heart and gets all lit up from the blood that you shed for shit.
Not everyone is panicked or unhappy or afraid. People have found solace and peace of mind. Those for whom wisdom is the preeminent goal will find some measure of tranquility in the midst. It’s another one of those mysterious laws of nature, just like the one that makes your paddles disappear when you’re up shit creek. There’s no real injustice. We did it to ourselves, one way or another.
Visible sings: ♫ Right Thru My Heart ♫
'Right Thru My Heart' is track no. 5 of 12 on Visible's 2007 album 'Almost A Capella'
Lyrics (pops up)
I didn't believe the Headlines in the National Enquirer but I guess it is true--Gerry Seinfeld and George Carlin did have a love child--
No Shit!!
Friday, December 19, 2008 7:53:00 PM
Hello Les: Good to see you again !! You know Les, i am a person who respects other people's personal choices. And i respect whatever people want to do and think about with their own personal lives. However i like to critisize society and its problems. For example, i critisize how USA society puts so much emphasis on food, on extracting a hedonic pleasure out of eating. I mean i think that it is time for USA as a whole to find other hobbies, to motivate people to do other pleasurable hobbies other than eating. I was at the supermarket today and i am outraged by the excess of cakes, pies, fattening junk christmas foods literally all over the supermarkets, forcefed on our eyes. And no wonder why America is fat. And i really think that this *slavery to food* kills the will of people to participative in other more healthy addictions other than eating.
Here is an article which talks about the excess of eating and gluttony around christmas time
THE GHOSTS OF CAPITALIST CHRISTMAS, AND THE BINGE-EATING OF APPLE PIES, PECAN PIES, EGG-NOG, HAM, BREADS, TURKEY, AND DESSERTS, IN CHRISTMAS
By Charles Sullivan
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18785.htm
11/28/07 "ICH" - --- Everything about America is done to the max—super sized—including ourselves. Americans are fond of excess, fond of glitz and glitter, the bright beads and trinkets of capitalism; the symbols of conspicuous consumption. Millions of us live in McMansions, drive fast cars and hulking tanks and work at high stress glamorous jobs that provide enormous financial reward but leave us spiritually empty.
We tell ourselves that these events signal that we have arrived and achieved greatness worthy of respect and envy. They are a declaration that we have played the game and won; that we have acquired economic power that results in elevated socio-economic status and disproportional influence over the lives of the less successful; and those who have utterly failed or refused to participate.
We love to consume and waste with an appalling sense of entitlement. Our lives are enacted amid heaping mounds of swelling garbage and filth, while some of our fellow human beings pass lives of quiet desperation in cardboard boxes beneath our nation’s highway bridges, like beetles that move beneath the bark of trees: out of sight, out of mind, inconsequential—or so we think.
It’s a jungle out there where only the fittest survive. Those who cannot compete must not survive to reproduce; they must be expelled from the gene pool. Modern capitalism is economic Darwinism carried to the extreme.
America is a land of extraordinary contradictions. She has produced not only George Bush and Dick Cheney but also George Carlin, Upton Sinclair, Eugene Debs and Howard Zinn. This is a land of extremes; enigmatic even to itself. It is a place of posh surroundings with all of the amenities money can buy; but it is also a land of unknowable hardship and destitution that often exists in close proximity to stupendous wealth.
Just as the continent holds lush temperate rain forests, so it also harbors deserts where only the strong and well adapted survive the harsh conditions of heat and drought and oscillating cold.
Surely the national pastime must be shopping, which has acquired the stature of a genuine addiction; a disease on a par with alcoholism and played with the passion of a competitive sport. Witness the insanity of black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year where people are annually trampled at the doors of Wal-Mart in the quest for the latest incarnation of the X-Box. He with the most toys wins and the losers are trampled underfoot, ground into dust. Possessions matter more than people.
And we are a restless, fiercely competitive people—constantly on the move; a people that cannot countenance open spaces or unmanaged nature.
Hundreds of thousands of shopping centers and strip malls bear ample testimony to our excess, as do the mountains of debt that rise out of our spending habits like a newly spawned volcano swelling above a rising column of molten magma. Eventually they will become our gravestones—monuments to our lack of empathy and testaments to our unbridled greed and contempt for the earth.
The developers cannot relax until every inch of the earth is urbanized and paved and there is a McDonald’s and Wal-Mart on every street corner; a development in place of every orchard and farm. We cannot relax until everything wild and natural has been eradicated or imprisoned in zoos and admission is charged. Imagine a continent sized gated community for the well-heeled and the wealthy. The poor and destitute need not apply.
More than democracy, more than liberty, more than life—give us our shopping malls so that we can purchase happiness and fill our empty lives with possessions. Our senses are incessantly assaulted by merciless commercialism—we are programmed to consume and to be consumed by our programmers in the advertising industry whose job it is to plant the seeds of want in our all too receptive minds. Conspicuous consumption is the cornerstone of mature capitalism and no people in history have been more prominent consumers than we Americans—as measured by the girth of our waistlines and the girth of our mounting debt.
But as much as we are the products of Madison Avenue advertisers, we are also products of arrested psychological and spiritual development. We exhibit extreme pathologies because our lives are not rooted in nature and community; nor are they rooted in reality. Like spoiled adolescents, we have locked ourselves away with our box of toys and we call the world our own. We are a danger not only to ourselves but to the entire world. Quarantine should be drawn around us lest we infect the rest of the world with our madness.
Oblivious to the consequences of our own excess, our sphere of caring rarely extends beyond the self and our immediate families to the communities in which we are embedded that in turn spill into the great world beyond. We have erected psychological and physical barriers that isolate us from the rest of the world which have given rise to pathological visions of grandeur and exceptionalism. And, like a run-away virus, we are replicating our madness to the rest of the world which is, thanks to the disciples of Milton Friedman, seeking to emulate our example.
Better the world turn away and run for their lives as if we were infected with a new strain of pox or rabies. Better they should save themselves and let us perish, as will surely occur when we are consumed by the festering sewers of our swelling vanity.
We call ourselves a free people but we are prisoners of our own petty desires; prisoners of greed and excess and manufactured want; the products of capitalism taken to the extreme—replicating with the ease of cancer cells unrestrained by reason or empathy for others and for the earth. The world cannot tolerate another America . She cannot much longer sustain the one she already has. We have a carbon footprint vastly disproportional to our numbers and we are not only blotting out the sun; we are stamping out countless species of plants and animals and casting them into the abyss of eternal extinction. The ecological cost of our excess is incalculable.
We go on as if there are no consequences to what we do, ignoring the wolves baying at our door and the grim reaper peering at us through the curtain. We tell ourselves they are only apparitions of conspiracy theorists and alarmists, the ghosts of misplaced conscience.
Millions of Americans are experts at self-denial and delusional to the extreme, while others are realists and components of active resistance. But, cause and effect rarely enters our vocabulary. History, science and ethics are not our strengths—we prefer to go shopping or watching television, giving no thought to the kind of world we are leaving our children and their off spring, much less the offspring of other species. We hold that the universe turns on its axis and we are its center; but it is not so.
As a result of our excesses, terms such as ‘peak oil’ and ‘peak water’ have come into existence. Gluttony occurs on one end of the supply chain at the expense of the other; just as food webs are affected by events occurring at all parts of an ecological web the size of the world. One cannot pluck a flower without also troubling a star. All things are interconnected.
How easily we forget that commercial exuberance rests on the broken bodies of the exploited worker; it rests on the scrolls of flora and fauna that have been pushed out of existence because there isn’t enough room for them and us with all of our precious, energy consuming toys.
Thus we live in a world that is not enriched by our example but is diminished by us. Injustice is a byproduct of commercial exuberance as manifested by declarations of superiority through class warfare and other avenues of inequality. And it is felt in the dimly lit sweatshop somewhere in the belching slums of industrialized China , engulfed by the droning hum of sowing machines that never cease behind bolted doors; and guided by gnarled hands attaching Nike labels to athletic apparel destined for upscale Target and Macy’s stores in the US .
True, capitalism has made cheap products available to the voracious American consumer; but it has also given the world preemptive war and famine, global corporatism, pestilence and wage slavery; it has stoked the fires of mass extinction, global warming and ecological collapse—all of which have acquired an unstoppable momentum of their own with unimaginable consequences that extend indefinitely into an already uncertain future. There are consequences to everything we do, just as there are consequences to inaction.
Yet it is increasingly obvious that too few of us care enough to take action, as long as we are free to buy and to consume. We keep the consequences of gluttony out of sight and out of mind and pretend they aren’t there. But they are present and they matter.
And this brings me to the main point of my essay: it cannot go on. The age of exuberance—like the age of cheap oil—is mercifully drawing to a close. So I will say what was never meant to spoken aloud in the land of excess; and I will say it loud and clear so that it cannot be mistaken: Americans must dramatically simplify their lives to want less and learn more. We constitute less than five percent of the of the world’s population while usurping more than a quarter of her bounty. This is not acceptable—nor is it ethical.
No one has a moral right to take more than their fair share when that taking jeopardizes the chances of others of living a decent life, or makes nil their chances for survival—including other species.
Contrary to what one might think, we do not have to live like third world nations or like the hunters and gatherers of the past. But we must dramatically reduce our consumption and shrink our carbon footprint. Not only must we live within our own means but within the means of the planet to support us.
The majority of our food should be locally grown and mass transit must supplant the gluttonous and polluting automobile that proliferates on our nation’s highways. Moratoriums on development and urban sprawl must be enacted in order to protect critical habitat and rainwater recharge areas. Cities and towns must be redesigned and revitalized with sustainable industry. Goods and services, including work and jobs must again, as they were in the past, be rooted in vibrant, small scale local economies; and free trade agreements revoked.
Technological advances—no matter how boldly they are touted as saviors of humankind cannot increase the world’s carrying capacity and they cannot invoke justice. The latter is entirely up to us as sentient beings endowed with conscience. And this brings me to a second point: we must reduce the human population through adoption and cease to procreate for at least one generation—so that the earth can recover her carrying capacity. What better way to save the world, literally.
Simultaneously simplifying our lives by wanting less and reducing the human population will allow room for other people and other beings to share the bounty of the earth. And it will almost certainly have a beneficent rather than pathological social and psychological consequence: it will end our isolation and reconnect us to the rest of the world. We could finally realize our enormous potential to become world citizens and good neighbors worthy of respect and love.
Rather than an economy based upon savage greed and exploitation, let us create an economy based upon justice and equality, need rather than excess; a society that does not leave people behind but invites the full participation of everyone and recognizes that, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Let it be all inclusive and worthy of respect: where every woman, man, and child, every being of this earth is the same under the law and equally respected and valued—a great global community seeking harmony rather than competitive advantage.
In the end, equality is beholden to the system we choose. Did we ask that the world be run on the profits of greed, or the prophets of wisdom? Where was that democratic choice? The profits of greed have given us voracious greed, consuming everything in sight; but they didn’t give us a choice; they took away our freedom and made us into lesser beings. But, if we are to muster ourselves to call ourselves Human one last time, where the prophets of wisdom really did have something to say, where people and the planet are put before profits in the Golden Rule, and where we have one large collective foot standing on the profit of greed then maybe, maybe YES we will turn this thing around: http://www.planetization.org/.
Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, free-lance writer, and community activist residing in the Ridge and Valley Province of geopolitical West Virginia . He welcomes your comments at http://us.f362.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=csullivan@phreego.com.
jbpeebles said...
H.L. Mencken (link said something to the effect that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Lord Acton said absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sounds like Les needs a change of scenery. Go somewhere it's cold.
They say people in more temperate zones were forced to have to lay supplies in for the winter and thus became more efficient, specialized, etc. over the generation--a sort of prepare or perish thing. If you are craving some Yankeee-style efficiency, I suggest going to where Yankees live. Now of course, the people tend to be much more uptight up here, and you'll undoubtedly freeze your ass, as well as deal with the usual collection of thugs, criminals, evangelicals, and dirty poltiicians, but hey, you probably get that where you are
You're not making any sense and-
there aren't any of those here which why I am here and not there.
I have been reading Les for nigh on a year (about a year for the rest of you) and thought you could understand that the wholefuckingworld is in deep shit for lack of knowledge found in this site http://moneyaswealth.blogspot.com/
A friend of mine wrote it and it is my wish that you pass it on. The bankers have had it their way for far too long.
notamobster said...
مرحبًا Merhaba, les visible! Glad to hear you had a good haul on the olives. Also, glad to see you're up and running again. Glad the respite was a good one. When you take a break (intended or otherwise) the shit will always be there, waiting for you to return to it.
Marxilist - I agree with "YOUR" words, entirely. The people are such gluttons, they won't see the hammer when it drops, because they'll be too busy shoving a f*&%ing cookie in their collective mouth.
Give my best to the consort, for picking up your slack... ;-)
Still alive said...
Funny thing on monday I too lost my internet connection and just got it back an hour ago.
Friday, December 19, 2008 10:24:00 PM
Severed Cables in Mediterranean Disrupt Communication (Update3)
Email | Print | A A A
By Malcolm Fried and Lars Klemming
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Internet and telephone communications between the Middle East and Europe were disrupted after three submarine cables between Italy and Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea were damaged.
The failures cut the flow of ``data of various kinds'' between Europe and the Middle East, and there's no timeframe for when communications will be restored, said Sanjeev Gaur, director of assurance at Reliance Globalcom Ltd. in India. France Telecom SA, which plans to send a maintenance boat to fix the problem, said the situation should be back to normal by Dec. 31.
Three cable systems carrying more than 75 percent of traffic between the Middle East, Europe and America have been damaged, according to the U.K.'s Interoute Plc, which operates a fiber- optic data network connecting 92 cities. The cables run from Alexandria in northern Egypt to Sicily in southern Italy. In January, an anchor severed the cables outside Alexandria after bad weather conditions forced ships to moor off the coast.
``The information we have is a bit sketchy, but chances are that it will have been an anchor again,'' Jonathan Wright, Interoute's director of wholesale products, said in a telephone interview. ``Close to 90 percent of all the data traffic between Europe and the Middle East is carried on these three cable systems.''
Interoute said the January incident brought down 70 percent of the Internet network in India and the Middle East
Your gifts are remarkable and ever changing. You're a kaleidoscope. I wish I had the relationship that you have with the muse. There are never more than a handful of people on the Earth at any one time who have this and you are one of them. I imagine that you have had a difficult life. You do know where you are headed though because you would not be going in that direction otherwise. As you said once, "Bon Voyage".
paolocaruso said...
Ciao Les, I have found my solace, in the face of relative poverty. Yes, I have no more need for shit. A good woman, good wine and food and friends that are not full of shit. I am one of the lucky enlightened ones. And as bad as the future looks, the shit has only begun to hit the fan. I'm ready... and enjoying the show. Paolo
kikz said...
thanks.. just what i needed.
glad ta see ya bak.. missed ya.
pot said...
Like they say, don't sweat the stuff you can not control. What is, is, what will be, will come.
The trip is in trying to figure out what those in the shadows are up to, and seeing through the smoke and fogged up mirrors they use to hide it. The internet helps if you can filter the crap from the nuggets of truth, but sometimes a break is needed if what you find bothers you too much.
What helps me is I am pretty sure if we had global democracy there would be chaos. Lets face it, there are many dumb selfish beasts among us, majority rule always leads to anarchy and then tryranny, thats why our founding fathes gave us a republic, rule of law regardless of what the majority want or not. The republic is no more after a short period of democracy which led to our current benevolent or not dictatorship via the deified Presidency. Could it be any other way? I doubt it, tis mans nature that the powerful and capable among us in the end assume power. Those who are driven to assume the most power, tend to be those with little empathy for the less capable folks, and some of them are psychopaths (the smart ones do not get locked up).
So todays world is certainly not what I imagined it would be 40 years ago when I was a bit naive and more optimistic about mans nature, but it could be worse, and maybe it will be, but since all you really have is today, and tommorow is what it will be, if it is at all, just enjoy it.
Of course, I do not know if those citizens living in Iraq or Zimbabwe, or those who lost close friends/relatives in 9/11, and those who have had their homes foreclosed on can enjoy today as much as others. So I guess it depends on how well you have escaped the shit flying, and how much or little empathy you have for those who have been hit by it. Kind of dampens the enjoyment for those who have the empathy for those hit by the shit and know what is lurking for the rest of us. So enjoying today is easier said than done for some, but shutting down when it gets too hard helps to restore the balance needed to avoid whatever shit might be flying around you.
Of course, then I read the neo-malthusian propaganda of the psychopathic elite in a comment above. This is being used by them as justification to depopulate the world and reduce the standard of living for the rest of us while the elite like Fat Albert indulge in gluttony in homes using more electricity than in some some small cities. Peak oil, peak water, Global Warming (doomsday scenarios attributed to man) dupe the folks like marxist-socialist into following the new age religion of Gaia worship, a religion pretending to be science, but a religion all the same, requiring man to acknowledge himself as a sinner against Gaia and face punishment for not changing his sinful ways, while the high priests of the religion, politicians and their pseudo scientist lackeys tell us what is sinful (sin tax = carbon tax = carbon credits that banskers get rich on).
I sometimes wonder if man is undergoing de-evolution and is losing the ability to think or reason. If we are stupid enough to believe this shit as a race, then maybe the psychopaths should rule.
Shutting it down, suns up.
Saturday, December 20, 2008 12:01:00 AM
'GIVE UP WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE"
Susana's latest post at her site--take the time to read it.
http://easyidler.blogspot.com/
I keep coming back to the Oscar Wilde quote that Rivero had at the top of WRH the other day:
"If you are going to tell people the truth, you had better make them laugh or they will kill you"
You definitely made me laugh with this one.
I particularly liked your line "ass backwards is full speed ahead". I've never been to S Italy, but I've traveled and lived many places like that; so far, Venezuela tops them all. You have to experience it to believe it, but one starts to wonder how anything works or gets done. I just laugh and bless their hearts. No, they are not doing the best they can. They aren't even trying to.
I'd like to stand up for gold and diamonds while I'm here. This is why I like them:
Diamond is so much harder than anything else that nothing comes close. The Mohs scale is used to rate hardness of minerals; things that your fingernail can scratch are like 2 or 3 on the Mohs scale; ruby and sapphire are 9, and they are very hard stones. Diamond is 10. Except that diamond is around 50 times harder than rubies and sapphires or anything else. If the numbers were to scale, ruby would be 9 and diamond would be 450. It's hard. (how hard is it, M_?) It is so hard that it cuts any other stone with ease. One can do any amount of chiseling and futzing around with abrasives, but when you really want to slice up some stone, having a diamond saw is the difference between a wooden knife and Damascus steel.
Diamond also refracts light very strongly. When it's faceted right, any light that enters the stone gets concentrated and beamed back with high intensity. That's what makes the sparkle.
And finally, diamond is pure crystallized Carbon. Carbon is the building block of all life forms; there are life forms that can exist without all kinds of other elements, even Oxygen, but nothing lives without Carbon. One can make of that what they will.
As for gold, gold is the incorruptible metal. You can throw gold into the foulest sewer or even that canal in Brooklyn and leave it there for a thousand years; it will still come out uncorroded and uncorrupted.
All metals have the property of malleability, they can be bent and stretched, unlike rock minerals or ceramics. Some are more malleable than others, but gold stands as far above the other metals for malleability as diamond is above other crystals for hardness. Y'know when you bend a wire coat hanger in the same place over and over how it gets hard and breaks? Gold doesn't do that; it just keeps on bending. Gold can be pounded or rolled into gold leaf that is so thin a 4" x 4" sheet can barely be weighed; one has to handle such gold leaf with a squirrel hair brush charged with static electricity from one's own hair as it will smear into nothingness if one tries to pick it up with their fingers. A single ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire over five miles long. It is a sweet and cooperative metal to work, yet strong for all its softness and has a very high melting temperature. In olden times the page-edges of bibles and fine books had gold leaf applied to them, as that protected them from attack by corrosive elements in the air.
Diamond is the hardest and most brilliant of crystals, gold is the most malleable and incorruptible of elements. Despite whatever shit values a shit society has piled on them, they are still intrinsically wonderful.
So that's what happened to you ... welcome back to the intertubes! We've missed you.
It's good to know I'm not the only one who questions the necessity of getting out of the shower to pee. Though I've learned not to share that information with those I share a shower with, as most of the people I know, regardless of whether they know which fork is which, are pretty convinced their own shit doesn't stink (which doesn't stop them from demanding I use febreeze.)
Take a deep whif, I say. That's the pungent reek of life. "We are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world!" Try to pretend life is something it isn't, and you're living an illusion, and no illusion can be sustained without cruelty of some kind: to oneself if you really believe the bullshit, to others if the bullshit's just a mask. Of course, if you call people on their bullshit you get covered in shit....
OK, I'll stop now. Man, it's fantastic what a rich vein of material that one word is.
Greencrow said...
re: "shit bling"
Funny, I was just wondering about the origin of the new word 'bling' the other day. It's often used as a substitute for the word 'jewellery'.
Now, who do you suppose made it up?
Duke said...
Peace be with the reader.
Make sure to also read "Spiritual War"
on The Truth Seeker website.
RC said...
Love a thoughtful rant.
My own sense is that the world would be a splendid place if we simply screened and then exiled to some appropriate place those who were born without or those who somewhere along the way forgot to maintain and therefore lost their consciences.
Egotists, egoists are one thing, psychopaths something else entirely. Far too dangerous to allow intermingling with average, caring folks.
G.B.Shaw said there are some two-legged animals just as dangerous as four-legged ones, and they should be shot.
Humanely, . . . . maybe he had a point.
Maybe exile isn't the safest for the rest of us.....
Fletch said...
Welcome Back Les,
Missed your mind.
Great posts people.
I thought that matter could not be created or destroyed. I'm not a scientist, but won't our spirits and everything else just continue on?
This is what I try over and over: to move with love every heartbeat henceforth.
simon said...
We are, mostly, what we do.
We do, mostly, what is in our minds.
What is in our minds depends, mostly, on what we see and hear.
Mostly we watch TV
No shit?
Apologies for the pronoun, I know it doesn't fit people at this site, mostly.
Substitute TV with mass media of your choice where appropriate.
And finally - I knew that if you hadn't been here for some time, then you must have had pressing business elsewhere.
Happy Solstice.
In my paean to diamonds and gold above, I exaggerated the relative hardness of diamond to ruby/sapphire. Diamond is really only about 4 times as hard as ruby.
On the scale of absolute hardness, the mineral talc is 1, ruby (corundum) is 400, diamond is 1500.
Gee... M Astera, thanks for clearing that up (grin).
Of course you know what I actually meant but I'm glad you went ahead and said what you did in that lyrical way that you have because I found it fascinating. Thank you for that.
There is a new Visible Origami up-
Christmas and Karma, Surrender and Love.
Saturday, December 20, 2008 12:35:00 PM
Dave Hastings said...
A thoughtful post, as expected from you. keep trying, you are making things better, small increments at a time. I foresee a quick demise to American obsessive consumption, forced upon us. No loss.
But, as another has already posted, I think you might want to rethink the " I've never understood the attraction for gold..." statement.
First, I would prefer taking gold (or silver), whether flake, bar or coin, in exchange for my labor, my production, my services, than a piece of paper created by debt. My opinion.
Secondly, down through the ages, some of the most beautiful, magnificent artwork was fashioned from gold. The ease of forming mentioned before, the non-corrosive attribute, is hardly something "modern man as feverish consumer" thought up, Les. It has beauty.
Tell me, you don't really have a problem appreciating these, do you?
http://www.amwest-travel.com/awt_kingtut.html
http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/torc/Broighter_Torc.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Agamemnon
http://www.precolumbiangold.com/sipan.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priam%27s_Treasure
And one of my favorites, the ORIGIN of the "Father of the Jews" story, from Ur (the city where his father fashioned statues, according to the bible , "Abraham" being in fact a priest of Brahma, or "A Braman" his city being on the ancient road from India, btw). Even his wife, and Brahma's goddess consort, had same name. Perhaps you know the myth I speak of?
http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/RoyalTombsofUr/Ram-in-the-Thicket.htm
Quite magnificent, isn't it? Especially when you consider it is over 4000 years old....
Me? I'll happily take gold in payment.
Saturday, December 20, 2008 2:08:00 PM
Once again people are having problems getting their comments posted here. This isn't an accident, by this time it's sure that someone at the source is messing with the machine. I could list a dozen things that are blocked now and can't be fixed and there's no way to reach the people in charge. So... once again, email me your comments and I will put them up just as I did Dave's.
gold.. haven't i read somewhere that gold possesses an extra atom? headscratch..
sorry, i'm a goldbug and a diamond diva...but wouldn't kill anyone to get them...
i guess part of their attraction besides their beauty is the aspect of security they represent to me...someone will always want them in trade for other things of necessity. at least that's how it's worked thru history thus far.... :)
THERE ARE NO ISLAMIC TERRORISTS. THE TERRORISTS OF THIS WORLD ARE AMERICANS AND ISRAELITES !!
"Divide et impera - divide and rule." (Roman strategy)
Islam and Terrorism?
http://www.cam.net.uk/home/nimmann/peace/islam.htm
Despite the media propaganda, Islam has nothing to do with the current world crisis or international terrorism. Fethullah Gülen, one of Turkey's most well-known and respected scholars writes:
"Islam does not approve of terrorism in any form.... Islam respects all individual rights and states clearly that none of them can be violated, even if doing so would be in the community’s interest. The Qur’an declares that one who takes a life unjustly has, in effect, taken the lives of humanity as a whole.... For this reason, no one—and certainly no Muslims—can approve of any terrorist activity."
The Roman strategy: "Divide et impera - divide and rule." is applied again today.
"Islam never approves of any kind of terrorism.. " - by Fethullah Gülen
Fethullah Gülen is one of Turkey's most well-known and respected scholars. The article below was on his web site in 2001.
I would like to stress that any terrorist activity, no matter who does it and for what purpose, is the greatest blow to peace, democracy, humanity, and all religious values. For this reason, no one—and certainly no Muslims - can approve of any terrorist activity. Terror has no place in one’s quest to achieve independence or salvation. It costs the lives of innocent people.
Even though at first sight such acts seem to harm the target, all terrorist activities eventually do more harm to the terrorists and their supporters. This latest terrorist activity, which is a most bloody and condemnable one, is far more than an attack on the United States of America - it is an assault against world peace as well as universal democratic, humanistic, and religious values. Those who perpetrated this atrocity can only be considered the most brutal people in the world.
The world should be assured that, although there may always be some who exploit any religion for their interests, Islam does not approve of terrorism in any form. Terrorism cannot be used to achieve any Islamic goal. No terrorist can be a Muslim, and no true Muslim can be a terrorist. Islam orders peace, and the Qur’an demands from each true Muslim that he or she be a symbol of peace and support the maintenance of basic human rights. If a ship is carrying nine criminals and one innocent person, Islam does not allow the ship to be sunk to punish the nine criminals, for doing so would violate the innocent person’s rights.
Islam respects all individual rights and states clearly that none of them can be violated, even if doing so would be in the community’s interest. The Qur’an declares that one who takes a life unjustly has, in effect, taken the lives of humanity as a whole, and that one who saves a life has, in effect, saved the lives of humanity as a whole. Also, our Prophet Muhammad says that a Muslim is one who does no harm with either his or her hand or tongue.
I strongly condemn this latest terrorist attack on the United States. It only deserves condemnation and contempt, and it must be condemned by every person in the world. I believe that before America’s leaders and people respond to this heinous assault, I would like to express that they surely understand why such a terrible event occurred and how similar tragedies can be avoided in the future.
I feel the pain of the American people from my heart, and assure everybody that I pray to God Almighty for the victims and that He may equip their sorrowful beloved ones and all other American people with patience.
I take this opportunity to present my due regards to everybody.
Fethullah Gülen
See latest article on his web site: http://www.mfgulen.com/books/article.php?id=1077
Divide and rule - an old political tactic
The Romans' policy was very much following the motto: "Divide et impera - divide and rule." Today, some political forces follow the same lines:
Brandmark Islam - and get the Christian world to face the so called 'enemy'. The result shows immediately: racist attacs and prejudices harden. People are busy blaming each other: The Islamic world is split into condemning terrorism and understanding and sympathising with their motivation of fighting against injustice and an arrogant superpower. The result is, that the Islamic world feels guilty and is paralysed. This comes handy for others.
The real agenda behind this war against international terrorism is safe from being uncovered, is hidden behind a curtain of falling bombs and downpours of media propaganda. As long as the people fight eachother, they are busy and not likely to calm down, sit back, think and investigate. Ralph Nimmann, December 2001
Hello all: Here is a good article about the latest crisis from a worker's point of view:
The crisis of world capitalism is gathering speed
By In Defence of Marxism Editorial Board
http://www.socialist.net/crisis-world-capitalism-gathering-speed.htm
The crisis is unfolding relentlessly and with gathering speed. In November the USA shed jobs at the fastest pace in 34 years. World GDP has registered a sharp fall. The recession was preceded by a financial crisis (the so-called credit crunch). However, this was merely a prelude to the real crisis. As always, the bourgeois economists draw the conclusion that the cause of the crisis is a lack of credit. In reality, the lack of credit is caused by the crisis.
During the boom, everyone is prepared to borrow and lend, confident of obtaining handsome profits. As always there was a large element of speculation in all this. The dizzying rise of stock market prices bore no relation to the real situation. It must be borne in mind that, in the last analysis, the profits of the capitalists can only be derived from the unpaid labour of the working class. As long as surplus value is extracted, the capitalists, landlords, bankers and stock exchange speculators, can all make a profit. The illusion is created that this merry carnival can go on forever. But this process sooner or later comes up against the inherent contradictions of the capitalist system.
The second phase has now begun - the crisis of the real economy. Millions of workers face short-time working, cancellation of overtime or sackings and closures. The bosses are demanding wage cuts, under threat of closure. This means a general reduction in living standards, which in turn means a new fall in demand, with more closures, unemployment and new cuts. Falling activity means a fall in tax returns, which in turn must mean new cuts in social spending.
Payroll employment in the USA fell by 533,000 in November - the biggest monthly drop since December 1974. Unemployment has risen to 6.7 percent. However, this understates the seriousness of the situation. A broader definition that includes people who have given up looking for work, would mean a figure of 12.5 percent. There is now a spate of closures. The Bank of America is to sack 35,000 workers after it took over Merill Lynch. Dow Chemicals is closing 20 plants with the loss of 5,000 jobs in the USA and Europe. A further 2,300 jobs will go in 3M. Anheuser-Busch InBev is axing 6 percent of its US workforce (three quarters in St. Louis).
Nobody now repeats the nonsense that the crisis would be confined to the USA. This is an international phenomenon. The big Japanese company Sony is to shed a further 16,000 workers, cut back on investments and outsource some of its production. It has halved its annual profits forecast as a result of a slump in demand for its LCD televisions. The Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto is cutting capital expenditure and selling assets to pay back $10 billion of debts. It will cut 14,000 jobs by the end of 2009. Woolworth, a major department store in Britain, is closing after a hundred years, with the loss of 30,000 jobs. The list is never-ending and growing all the time.
The growing alarm of the ruling class is reflected in the succession of panic measures adopted by governments and central banks, which are no longer aimed at preventing recession but only of blunting its effects. But despite all these measures, the crisis is deepening and spreading all the time. The world economy has entered a downward spiral, and nobody knows where the bottom lies or when it will be reached.
In the past the bourgeois economists denied the possibility of a recession. Now the only question before them is whether it will be a deep recession or a depression. For the millions affected by factory closures, bankruptcies, sackings and evictions, however, the difference is merely semantic. The bourgeois and their pet economists imagine that all crises are caused by the lack of "confidence" and that therefore a few encouraging speeches (accompanied by large donations of public cash) will solve the problem. They do not understand that confidence does not drop from the skies but reflects actual conditions. Contrary to this superficial and idealist explanation (which explains nothing), we reply: it is not the lack of confidence that causes the crisis, but the crisis that gives rise to a lack of confidence.
It is necessary to bear in mind that unless the capitalists sell their commodities, no surplus value can be realised. The ability to find markets is limited by the limited consumption of society. Sooner or later a point is reached where markets are saturated and no buyers can be found. In the crises of 1990-91 and 2001 demand did not fall much. In the first case the rapid development of Asia (China) provided a cushion that prevented the recession from developing into a slump. After this, the huge increase in credit and the speculative housing bubble kept the whole thing going. But the basis was completely unsound.
This situation could not be maintained. In effect, the capitalists avoided a deep slump for two decades but only at the cost of creating the conditions for an even more serious recession in the future. This explains the alarm with which the bourgeois view the present crisis.
During the boom, when big profits are being made, people will buy and sell, loan and borrow, cheerfully acquire debts in excess of their earnings. If anybody notices that this is all based on speculation and swindling, nobody minds. Are we not rich? Are we not all making money? Live for today and to the Devil with tomorrow! But when the boom reaches its limits - which it must do - this "irrational exuberance" turns into its opposite. Confidence evaporates together with the mirage of never-ending enrichment. Instead of the old cheerful optimism, we have panic and despair. Not greed, but an equally primordial emotion, fear, becomes the predominant mood of the market.
Contradicting all their previous analyses, the bourgeois economists now say that this recession will be longer and deeper than anything since the Second World War. The capitalists are paying the price for the "irrational exuberance" they displayed in the previous period. Terrified of the social and political consequences, they are resorting to desperate policies, which will only serve to exacerbate the problems in the long run. At every juncture the spokesmen of the bourgeois announce that the "worst is now over." Such declarations, which were also made at regular intervals after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, are always followed by further falls on the stock markets and further cutbacks in production.
The bourgeoisie has dug itself into a deep ditch, from which it will not be easy to extricate itself. The banks are sinking under the weight of bad debts. Nobody knows how much these are and therefore nobody knows which (if any) of the banks is viable. This is why the economists say that this recession is not "normal". Some economists now look back nostalgically to the "good old days" of the gold standard, but a return to the gold standard is impossible now. It would lead to a complete collapse and an even deeper slump than the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Before the Second World War the world economy was based on the gold standard, which made sense as a means of regulating money markets. Governments had to hold a certain quantity of gold bullion as a backup to their national currencies. Ultimately, creditors could demand repayment for debts in gold, which, like every other commodity, has an objective value.
The abolition of the gold standard was only possible because after the Second World War, the USA held two thirds of the world's gold in Fort Knox and its industry was intact. It could dictate its conditions to the rest of the world. Everybody wanted dollars because at that time the dollar was as good as gold. The dollar became the international currency (with the pound sterling as a second-class partner). This was a factor in the upswing of world trade after 1945 - the real basis of the economic upswing in world capitalism at that time.
Now, however, all that has changed. The USA has been transformed from the world's biggest creditor to the world's biggest debtor. The dollar remains the world currency, but nobody can be sure how much it is really worth. Unimaginable amounts of fictitious capital have been pumped into the world economy over the last two or three decades. The world market in derivatives alone is more than 500 trillion dollars, most of it of a speculative and fictitious character. The derivatives market amounts to 36 times the value of total US GDP [US GDP stood at $13.8 trillion in 2007] or roughly 10 times the value of entire world output.
The unprecedented expansion of credit in the last period served to maintain high levels of demand in the USA and other countries. But now this has reached its limits. The whole process is thrown into reverse. Now nobody wants to lend money and few wish to borrow. Society is seized with a parsimonious and miserly mood. The masses have no money to spend - only debts to repay. Those who previously lent money cheerfully are now calling in their debts. Many of those who took out mortgages to buy homes are unable to pay and find themselves evicted. Since the price of their homes has fallen, they are saddled with huge debts, which unlike house prices, do not fall.
The bankers, who yesterday were anxious to lend money to anyone, are now anxious to hoard money and not to part with a cent. This miserly and distrustful attitude applies not only to private house owners and small businesses, but also to other banks and big firms. They are not prepared to lend money to other banks because they are not sure the money will ever be returned. Nor are they prepared to advance money to firms to buy raw materials and equipment. They are quite prepared to pull the plug and force businesses to close as if they were matchboxes, throwing thousands out of work without blinking an eyelid.
Since credit is the life-blood of the capitalist system, the interruption of the supply of credit means that not only "bad" businesses will be made bankrupt but "good" ones also. The drying up of credit threatens the whole productive process of society with slow strangulation. The effects can be seen in a sudden spate of bankruptcies and closures, affecting not only small businesses but also major companies, like Ford, General Motors, Sony, Nissan and many others. The main reason for this is the collapse of demand, aggravated by the drying up of credit. Suddenly there is too much steel, too much cement, too many cars, too many empty offices, too much oil... In other words, what we are seeing is a classical crisis of overproduction.
The big US car companies attempted to boost their share of the market by ferocious discounting. This worked temporarily but only at the cost of cutting into profit margins. Ultimately, the result was bankruptcy. Now they are compelled to go, cap in hand, to the US government, which initially agreed to give them a large slice of taxpayers' money to keep them afloat. Coming after the bailout of the banks, this was an unprecedented action, especially if we bear in mind that the Republicans were supposed to be the Party of Free Market Economics par excellence. It was a measure of desperation.
This proposal of a generous donation to the big car companies was dictated by fear of the social and political consequences of firms like Chrysler and GM going bankrupt, which would mean the loss of millions of jobs. It was also a protectionist measure, directed against foreign car manufacturers. If it is passed, it will undoubtedly lead to similar measures in Europe and Japan. However, the government insisted on wage cuts in return for the package, which the unions rejected. The Republicans therefore voted against the proposal, which was defeated in the Senate. This is a repeat of the earlier conflict between the White House and Congress over the bank bailout. It exposes deep contradictions at all levels of US society.
We are entering into a period of growing protectionism and tensions between the main capitalist nations. The tendency towards protectionism will be even more pronounced under Obama, who will be under pressure to "save American jobs". Let us remember that the Democrats were always inclined towards protectionism. This will provoke retaliation from America's rivals. Already Volkswagen is demanding state aid. Others will follow.
The crisis is revealing deep fissures in the EU. The British and French are putting pressure on Germany to reflate its economy (that is, to increase its deficit in order to create more demand for British and French goods). But Germany is resisting. They see no reason why Germany should pay the price for other people's problems. But the participation of Germany is absolutely necessary if the plans for recovery in Europe are to be successful. They must all reflate simultaneously, or else Germany would benefit "unfairly" from the efforts of the others.
But these proposals have not been well received in Berlin. The German Finance Minister, Peer Steinbrueck derided the general yearning for what he called "the great rescue plan" as futile, saying such a plan "doesn't exist" and dealing with the unprecedented crisis is a puzzle that will be solved by trial and error. The European authorities who believe the answer is lavish spending programs are saying, in effect, "let's get the Germans to pay because they can," he added.
In reality, what Herr Steinbrueck said was correct. He pointed out that while policies can ameliorate the situation, the recession is unavoidable, whatever any government does. The policies of Brown and Bush amount to an attempt to reflate the bubble that caused the present mess in the first place. They have thrown billions at the banks in the hope that they will begin to lend again. But they have failed. The bankers are not prepared to lend under the present circumstances and no amount of interest cuts or state subsidies will make any difference. In any case, the scope for such cuts is minimal. In the case of the USA it is practically zero. One by one, the bourgeois in the richest countries in the world are using up all their resources in a vain attempt to halt a recession that is unstoppable.
In effect the bourgeois are trapped. Whatever they do now will be wrong. If they do not intervene to pump money into the banks and failing businesses there will be a deep slump with massive unemployment as in the 1930s. But if they resort to Keynesian methods of deficit financing, they will create huge debts that will undermine any future recovery and act as a tremendous drag on productive investment, creating the conditions for a long period of cuts and austerity.
The unsoundness of the policies pursued in the previous period is now revealed by a colossal hangover of debts. This has meant that the recession will be deeper and longer than it would otherwise have been. The bourgeois has now to pay the price for the "successes" of the last twenty years. Whole countries now face insolvency. Iceland is already bankrupt. Bank liabilities now represent 700 percent of the GDP of Switzerland, hitherto regarded as a safe haven for capital. The figure for Britain is 430 percent. That of the USA is just under 100 percent - after the huge bailout of the banking sector.
The intensification of the recession will mean a sharpening of tensions between Europe and the USA, between the USA, China and Japan and between Russia and the USA. In the past such tensions would have led to a world war. It was the Second World War that solved the economic crisis of the 1930s through massive arms spending and the wholesale destruction of the means of production during the war. However, the situation now is entirely different. The collapse of the USSR and the colossal power of US imperialism mean that a world war is ruled out. With an annual arms expenditure of about $600 billion, no power on earth can stand against the USA. But there will be constant "small" wars, like the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Congo and so on. The conflict between Russia and the USA can lead to wars like the war in Georgia.
The diplomatic clashes and tensions will add a further ingredient to the general instability. The uncontrollable spread of terrorism is a symptom of the underlying crisis. All these phenomena, which sentimental pacifists bemoan, are merely an expression of the underlying cause, which is the contradiction between the colossal potential of the productive forces and the narrow limitations of private property and the nation state. The bigger powers (especially the USA) will try to use their muscle to intimidate their rivals and grab markets and sources of raw materials, but the capitalists cannot find a way out of the crisis by taking the road of war as they did in 1914 and 1939. Therefore, all the contradictions will be expressed internally, through a growth of the intensification of the class struggle.
The eyes of the bourgeois are now fixed on China, from whence they hope that salvation may come. But China is now firmly embedded in the capitalist world market and must suffer the consequences of the downturn along with all the rest. In order to keep unemployment at its present levels a growth rate of at least eight percent is required. If growth falls below this level, the prospect arises of serious social conflict. The latest IMF estimate for China's growth in 2009 is now only 5 percent. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, said: "We started with China at 11% growth, then 8%, then 7%, then China will probably grow at 5% or 6%." This is still high when compared to the growth rates in the USA and Europe. But it is a sharp fall in comparison to the kind of growth rate of around 10 percent enjoyed by China in the last period. And it is not clear that even this level will be reached.
China has a large internal market, probably about 300 million. But this is insufficient to absorb the huge productive capacity that Chinese industry has built up over the last two or three decades. The falling demand in the US market is hitting China's exports. The contraction in Chinese industrial production deepened in November with steel production down 12.4% from a year earlier, steel mill product deliveries down 11.3%, generation of electricity off by 9.6% and petrochemicals output down as well. In November year-on-year exports fell sharply by 2.2 percent, whereas analysts had expected them to rise by 15 percent. To understand the change, it must be remembered that between 2000 and 2006 China's exports grew at an annual rate of 26 percent. In the same month imports fell by 18 percent. This was the first time since 2001 that imports have fallen.
There are emerging signs of overproduction and overinvestment in China, whose internal market, though considerable, is not big enough to absorb the colossal productive potential built up over the last two or three decades, and which is now reaching its limits. The first warning of a crisis was the sharp fall on the stock exchange, which has lost about 60 percent of its value. But the crisis is not confined to the stock markets. House prices are falling, construction is slowing and industry is slowing faster than GDP. Car sales in November in China fell by over 10% year on year. Power generation, generally regarded as a reliable index of economic growth, fell by 7 percent.
These figures have altered the views of western economists on China. The previous optimism is fast turning to pessimism. The Economist (13th December 2008) stated: "Optimists even hoped that these huge emerging markets (India and China) might provide the engines that could pull the world out of recession. Now some fear the reverse: that the global downturn is going to drag China and India down with it, bringing massive unemployment to two countries that are, for all their successes, home to some two-fifths of the world's malnourished children."
It is true that China has huge reserves, which it can use to foment public works schemes to develop the infrastructure. In November the government announced a four trillion yuan (nearly $600 billion) fiscal stimulus package. But according to some estimates, this would add up to an increase of GDP by just over one percent. This is insufficient to get the kind of results that China needs. Beijing only has one other option: to try to solve the crisis by exporting more. This brings it into a direct collision with Europe and the USA, which is pressurising China to reflate in order to import more. Paulson visits Beijing to ask China to revalue the yuan, but Beijing is more likely to support a devaluation, which will deepen the contradictions between China and the USA.
The leaders are afraid that the worsening economic situation will produce what one of them referred to as "a reactive situation of mass-scale social turmoil". The Economist (13th December 2008) reports: "Each week brings fresh reports of factory closures, particularly in the industrial belt around the Pearl River Delta in Southern China. Unpaid workers have been staging violent protests." The same journal adds: "Indeed, demonstrations and protests, always common in China, are proliferating, as laid-off factory workers join dispossessed farmers, environmental campaigners and victims of police harassment in taking to the streets."
The slowdown in China is hitting Japan, for whom the Chinese market has become increasingly important. In the three months to September the Japanese economy shrank at an annualised rate of 1.8 percent. Other emerging economies are even less able to provide the necessary stimulus to the world economy than China. All will be dragged down in the next period. This signifies social and political convulsions on a huge scale. The chaos in Thailand is a further indication of this.
After a five-year period in which India grew at 8.8 percent, exports fell in October by 12 percent compared to the same period last year. Hundreds of small textile firms have gone out of business. But big firms are also in crisis. The car industry has suspended production. Sales of the Ambassador, India's most popular car, have slumped. Pakistan already stands on the verge of bankruptcy. The central bank has revised its projected figures for growth to 7.5 percent and this is too optimistic. The real growth may fall to 5.5 percent - the lowest since 2002.
With a budget deficit of about 8 percent of GDP, India, unlike China, has very little room to manoeuvre. If China needs a growth rate of 8 percent in order to absorb the seven million people entering the labour market each year, how can India absorb a workforce that is expanding at a rate of about 14 million annually? Its main growth has been in sectors like information technology, which does not employ large numbers of workers. A rapid growth in youth unemployment in India will produce explosive conditions in society. "And as in China unrest and even insurgency are widespread." (The Economist)
The fall in world demand is being expressed in a general fall in commodity prices. Oil has fallen from a peak of $147 to about $40 in a few months. This will affect all the oil producing economies in the Middle East, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia and Venezuela. Russia has the third highest surplus in the world but this has fallen by $144 billions since August. There is a flight from the rouble, underlining the fears of the bourgeois for the future. The ruling clique is trying to distract the attention of the masses from the crisis through foreign adventures (such as Georgia). But the developing crisis must sooner or later express itself in a crisis of the regime and the growth of opposition, strikes and protests.
The Ukrainian economy is in crisis and the country has to borrow $16 billion from the IMF. The economic crisis is deepening the political crisis, which has an endemic character. The impasse of the regime expresses the complete failure of capitalism to solve the problems of the Ukraine or any other of the former Soviet Republics. The pro-US government has avoided elections but in reality it is hanging by a thread. Most of the other former Soviet Republics are in an even worse position.
The sharp fall in the price of oil will intensify the pre-revolutionary ferment in Iran, where the regime of Ahmadinejad is hanging by a thread. There is already widespread discontent and anger among the youth, but also among the workers and middle class. There has been a wave of strikes. The fact that the Americans have decided to withdraw from Iraq means that they will be forced to open negotiations with Iran and Syria to cover their rear. This deprives Ahmadinejad of his main card - anti-American chauvinism and war-mongering rhetoric. Deprived of the external enemy, the contradictions within Iran will come to the fore with revolutionary implications.
In the poorest countries of Africa elements of barbarism have begun to appear and in some cases threaten to engulf society and push it back to savagery. In the Congo five million people have perished in a murderous civil war. In Zimbabwe people are faced with the horrors of starvation and cholera. In Sierra Leone over 70 percent of the population live on 70 cents a day and two-thirds of the women are illiterate. To the nightmare of hunger and poverty are added the scourge of malaria and AIDS. Everywhere the productive forces stagnate or decline, creating more unemployment, poverty and despair.
It is not difficult to portray the whole world as a nightmare or a lunatic asylum. These are the symptoms one associates with the senile decay of a system that has outlived its historical usefulness, like the Roman Empire in the period of its decline. But there is another side to the picture. There is ferment in society and the beginnings of revolt. This naturally begins with the youth, which on the one side are the first victims of the crisis, in the second place are highly sensitive barometer for the moods of discontent that are maturing silently in the bowels of society.
It is true that the suddenness of the crisis has shocked not only the bourgeois but also the workers. There will be a certain tendency to cling to jobs and even accept cuts in the short term, especially as the union leaders offer no alternative. But there will also be a general mood of anger and bitterness, which will sooner or later find its way to the surface. It is inevitable that the first layers to move into action will be the youth. It was always the case. The youth, beginning with the students, are always a sensitive barometer of the moods developing in society. They can anticipate big movements of the workers, as in 1901-3 in Russia and 1968 in France.
In Italy and Germany there have been big protest movements of the youth. In Spain the students strikes this autumn were organised and led by the Marxist-led Students' Union. There have also been upheavals of the youth in Hungary and earlier in France. But in Greece this movement has acquired an explosive and semi-insurrectionary character and was combined with a general strike of the workers. This is a serious warning to the bourgeois of what can happen in other countries. It shows the falsity of the argument that the onset of economic crisis will inevitably lead to a paralysis of the working class.
The bourgeoisie would like to resort to repression. This is shown by the recent declarations of Cossiga in Italy, which have a clearly Bonapartist character. But Greece shows the limitations of this policy. It was the murder of a young school student by the police that brought the masses onto the streets. The right-wing government considered a state of emergency but Karamanlis could not use force to impose order on the streets because that would have taken Greece to the brink of a civil war. He had to back down. The government was paralysed.
What the Greek events show is the weakness of reaction and the enormous strength of the working class at the present time. If the leaders of the Greek labour movement had had a revolutionary policy, they could have taken power. But without adequate leadership the movement will be reduced to pointless rioting, which the government will eventually bring under control. Nevertheless, the movement was a serious warning to the Greek capitalists of the mood of rage and frustration that exists in society. The ND government is finished. A new stage in the class struggle is opening in Greece. And tomorrow the same process will emerge in one country after another.
In Latin America the revolution has already begun. This is not an accident, and we explained it a decade ago, when we decided to orient the IMT towards Latin America. In this continent capitalism has broken at its weakest link. The Venezuelan Revolution has reached a critical point, where its future direction must be resolved one way or another.
The crisis of capitalism hits Latin America hard, although it is unfolding unevenly, affecting some countries more than others. Brazil, the economic giant of the region, expects to grow by 4 percent (which is probably optimistic) whereas Mexico, closely linked to the US economy, is expected to grow by only 0.4 percent. However, at different rates and at different times, all will be affected.
In October, the IMF forecast a growth rate of 3.5 percent for Latin America in 2009. Two months later, the World Bank cut its estimate to 2.1 percent and Morgan Stanley is predicting a fall of 0.7 percent for the seven biggest economies of the region. In the last two months there have been stock market and monetary crises and shortages of credit. This has followed a fall in exports and sharp falls of commodity prices. The slowdown in China affects demand for Venezuelan oil, Peruvian minerals, Argentine soya and Brazilian iron ore and orange juice.
The crisis in the USA affects the continent in a more direct way. Whole towns, villages and even regions of countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador depend on the remittances of their nationals working in the USA or Europe. Since the immigrant workers are the first to be sacked, these are now forced to return home. So these countries are at the same time deprived of foreign currency and obliged to absorb an influx of labour when unemployment is already rising.
The reformists have argued that the "Venezuelan model" would guarantee immunity from the problems associated with the "neo-liberal model". But this is a reformist illusion. Because the revolution has not been carried through to the end, Venezuela is still subject to the vicissitudes of the capitalist world market. The falling price of oil means that the reforms of the past period are under threat. Morgan Stanley predicts an economic contraction in both Venezuela and Argentina in 2009, of 1 percent and 2 percent respectively. This will mean that the reforms and misiones will be in difficulty. In addition to the general crisis of capitalism, the Venezuelan economy is suffering from sabotage and a strike of capital aimed at destabilising the Bolivarian government and causing mass discontent. Despite all the appeals to the capitalists, private investment is practically non-existent and there is a flight of capital. Only the state sector maintains the economy.
Sooner or later the Revolution will have to decide whether to advance and carry out the socialist transformation of society, or else be driven back, one step after another, to ignominious defeat. The demand for drastic measures against the counterrevolution and expropriation under workers' control is growing, and matters must be settled. In the past US imperialism would have intervened militarily to abort the process, but now this is very difficult. The US is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and cannot open another front in Latin America, which would have revolutionary consequences inside the USA itself.
It is now a question of either-or for the Venezuelan Revolution. The forces of the counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie have taken heart from their partial advance in the November election, which has given them important points of support from which to launch a new offensive. The economic crisis will give them further impetus. Chavez has called for more expropriations and proposes to stand again for President. Chavez could use his majority in the National Assembly to approve this even without a referendum. This would provoke clashes on the streets, which would pose the question of power point blank. The battle lines are drawn that will settle the fate of the Revolution one way or another.
This will be a period of enormous turbulence and instability - a period of revolution and counterrevolution that can last for years, with ebbs and flows. In the past, a pre-revolutionary or revolutionary situation would not last long. It would either end in the victory of the revolution or of the counterrevolution in the form of fascism or Bonapartism. But under present day conditions that is not the case. In the past, the bourgeoisie in Europe and elsewhere had important reserves of support in the population, particularly the class of small peasant proprietors. This is no longer the case. The middle layers of small proprietors has been whittled away by the development of capitalism, while the working class has grown and become the majority of society in many countries. In the past the students were drawn from rich families and were inclined to fascism. Now in most cases, the students are on the left. The ruling class is not strong enough to move towards reaction, but the working class is being held back by its leadership. This means that the present situation of unstable equilibrium between the classes can last for some time.
The revolution never moves in a straight line. There will inevitably be ups and downs in the movement, as there were in the Russian and Spanish Revolutions in the past. Between February and October 1917 there were periods of enormous upswing, but also other periods of tiredness, despair and even reaction (July-August). The same was true in Spain between 1931 and 1937, where we had the Two Black Years (El Bienio Negro) in 1934-5. But in a situation where the pendulum is swinging to the left, such "lulls" are only the prelude to a new and even stormier revolutionary upsurge.
The objective situation that we have now entered will be far more similar to the interwar period, or the 1970s, than to the last twenty years. Similar conditions will tend to produce similar results. The masses will be far more open to our ideas than they were in the past.
The degeneration of the mass organizations has reached unheard-of depths in the last period. The Social Democrats have abandoned all pretence to standing for socialism and the former "Communists" have abandoned all pretence to standing for communism. It is an irony of history that precisely at this moment they have renounced all claims to stand for a revolutionary change of society. Now history is taking revenge on them.
The striking successes of the Marxists in Rifondazione Comunista in Italy and in the French Communist Party are an indication of the profound change that is taking place. In the past such a turn in events would have been unthinkable. It shows the existence of deep discontent in the rank and file. The same discontent exists in all the mass organizations. It will grow as the crisis unfolds and the policies of the leadership are exposed in practice.
It is true that consciousness tends to lag behind events, but sooner or later it catches up with a bang. That is precisely the meaning of a revolution. We are approaching that critical point now. There is a general development of an anti-capitalist mood in society, not just in the working class but also in the middle class. People who never questioned capitalism before are now increasingly discontented. This is a very dangerous situation for the ruling class. And the crisis has only just begun.
The occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago (which has now been settled) shows the revolutionary potential that is being prepared in the USA itself. These were mainly poor paid Latino workers. The factory was forced to close because the banks were refusing credit, and the bosses were not going to give the workers redundancy pay. This is what sparked off the occupation. The workers said: "we have no money to pay our mortgages; we will lose not only our jobs but our homes!" So they occupied. But then the question of property was raised. The idea took root among the workers: these assets belong to us! This is how consciousness is rapidly transformed in the course of struggle.
In Belgium the big banking concern Fortis collapsed, and the company was plundered by French and Dutch capitalists. Fortis was regarded as the "People's Bank". 700,000 people had shares in it. But the shares collapsed and lost 90 percent of their value. This provoked a wave of anger directed against the banks. Everywhere we see the same indignation against the bankers and capitalists, who are obliged to lean on the leaders of the working class to hold onto power.
In the crisis of capitalism, the workers' parliamentary leaders cling to the ruling class and the trade union leaders cling to the parliamentary leaders. In such periods the ruling class prefers the reformist workers' leaders in government. Their policy is to use and discredit. They will use these leaders to do the dirty work and then cast them aside like a dirty dishrag. Then they will say to the masses: "Now you see what socialism means!" Thus, a contradiction opens up between the tops of the movement, which are moving to the right, in the direction of class collaboration, and the rank and file, which is moving to the left, looking for radical solution and militant action. Sooner or later this internal contradiction must be resolved. The coming period will see all sorts of crises and splits in the traditional organizations of the working class.
Big possibilities are opening up for the Marxists, and the social crisis is still at the early stage. As the crisis develops, the radicalization of the working class will reach levels not seen for decades. Ideas that were listened to by tiny handfuls will find a mass audience. The basis will be laid for the creation of mass Marxist tendencies everywhere. This is ultimately the only guarantee of the future socialist transformation of society.
You were not the only one - the Net here in Egypt went down yesterday morning, and until someone told me why I had a moment of sheer panic, along the lines of AAAHHHHGGGGG! So I guess we are each and every one in hock to a little bit of materialism; in my case, my omputer! Couldn't live without the Net. (Well, I could, but it would be one long AAAHHHHGGGGG! moment.
Also appreciated the comments on gold and diamonds as things intrinsically useful as well as beautiful, but like kikz, I wouldn't kill or harm anyone to get even the teeniest tiniest milligram.
Love your posts as always, les, and I'm really glad you're back. Thought the bad guys ahd got hold of you for a few seconds.
I just watched a video documentary about Chavez on Free Speech TV called "Hugo Chavez: On The Path to socialism" and Chavez put it straight, he claimed that all nations that have capitalist systems concentrate wealth in a minority and suffering in the many, like the current corporate bailouts
Let's remember what a De Beers "whistle blowing" insider said a handful of years ago: the real market value of a near perfect 1 carat diamond should be no more than $75 USD, based on what the cartel actually mines. Which is why I almost laughed out loud at movies like "Blood Diamond" and "Flawless". Similar things could be said for gold. As well, I am fairly certain that there is tech that can produce both substances, main through modern advances in what used to be termed "alchemy". Let's also recall the literal descriptions of some of the gold in South America hundreds of years ago: a life size "corn field" entirely out of pure gold; entire buildings of solid gold??!! And the current Jew gold traders would have us believe that is more than currently exists in the entire World... Sure. Just another example of the entire System being completely gamed. We truly live in illusion, and the only "real" things of value probably being love, compassion, and understanding as manifested in feelings, actions, and words. As sappy as this sounds, I now believe it to be true. In terms of the physical, I believe a source of fresh water without all the toxins, heavy metals, chlorine, floride, arsenic, hormones, drug residues, etc. will be far more valuable than any diamond or gold mine, and the relatively recent action of the criminal elite prove that they know this as well.
Dr.F
Hey Les, its good to have you back. However, your temporary absence gave me the opportunity to write with one of the posters who frequents this blog. You are right, the art of conversation spoken or otherwise is rare nowadays, and when it does occur some people can’t help but hear you speak but they aren’t necessarily listening.
Your European Internet service must be contagious because communication cables connecting Europe with the Middle East have been accidently (?) cut, and gmail in the States has been crashing, which BTW also ended the great sidebar email correspondence I had with another poster.
In 1992 my family and I had experienced a massive isolated storm cell in our remote South Carolina mountain valley, which left us without the services of phone, power, and water. It was a great learning experience of survival and un-preparedness, and having only verbal communication as a means of entertainment. You learn a lot about your family when you are trapped in a house buried up to your ass in trees, with all roadways blocked, and enduring single-digit temperatures huddled by a fireplace. In retrospect, it was probably one of the best and warmest memories we have ever had together as a family and, an experience that we all shall never forget.
Visible stated:
“See, I think what everyone calls gold is the real Fool’s Gold and a commodity that will definitely land you in the shit sooner or later. I’ve never understood the attraction for gold, or diamonds for that matter. I don’t own either and wouldn’t consider any lasting engagement with a woman who did.”
I totally agree with your statement. If you look back on the historical lessons regarding the ownership of gold and silver, it was outlawed in the USA before, with the Presidential coup in 1934: Roosevelt’s Gold Reserve Act that outlawed private ownership of gold. And since all precious metals purchased recently are registered, then the Establishment knows where to kick-in doors to retrieve it when history once again repeats itself… and history always repeats itself eventually. What good is gold or silver? People say that it’s used for dental work; but plastics are less expensive and work better than metals on teeth. Others say that industry uses it for electronics circuitry and components; but there are many composites (superconductors) that are cheaper and better than gold or silver. People say that it can be used for money in hard times when paper money is rendered worthless, which is an ignorant assumption because if I have food, I will trade (barter) my food for anything I may need such as batteries or Band-Aids; not metal coins. Neither gold nor silver will have the value of a can of beans, or a can of gravy, or even a manual can opener when you are starving. I will tell any bearer of gold and silver to eat their coins if they are hungry because the only thing you can do with those coins is melt them down to make bullets and arrow tips. Perhaps these hoarders of precious metals should have invested in blocks of lead instead… it will go farther for a less invested cost.
I also have a hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit when we are blowing the fucking shit out of unarmed women and children in the Middle East and in other parts of the World we are spreading "democracy". The Neocons have taken the Christ out of Xmas and, furthermore, the fact that the “Greatest Story Ever Told”, is also one of the biggest fictional myths ever fabricated.
I will admit that I have hung strings of jingle bells on my front and back doors because if I hear these bells jingling in the middle of the night, I know it won’t be St. Nick at the door… and I won’t be giving that uninvited person Christmas cookies and milk.
As of the 8:10 pm comment from in retrospect, 31 comments so far.
Total words: 13,877
Total spam from marxist: 9,527 words (counting only the paste jobs).
Percent of total comment section devoted to spam from marxist: 68.65%
Down here in the 21st Century Socialist Bolivarian Democratic Republic Workers Paradise of Venezuela we have something a little like this called the "cadena". The cadena is when Saint Hugo the Infallible commandeers all radio and television broadcasts in the country to wax eloquent about whatever he feels like talking about. So far this year, as of the middle of last week, Venezuelan residents have been gifted with 170 hours of cadena, just a bit over four 40 hour workweeks worth.
Castro is pretty famous for these monologues too; it appears to be SOP for marxists.
Hope everyone else is learning a lot. I think maybe I have better things to do.
Michael;
I understand your frustration, especially since it hits close to home with your perception of it but... there's no requirement to read any of it and you know that. The key here is to let everyone express themselves within the wide parameters that this place provides for.
You've got a lot of contained brilliance and a great deal of savvy. Even taking the time to take the time to say what you said when you could have done another of your gold and diamonds monologues (which I enjoyed a great deal) cheats us all of the spectacle.
M.S. is just doing it from where he's at at the moment. Eventually we all put everything aside... willingly or... more commonly... unwillingly but willingly finally at that fine moment within and ahead.
I'm not telling you anything you don't know but I can hardly censor something like this. This place rubs off on people and no matter what anyone is in to it eventually will change and not because of me you may be sure.
I did know what you meant about the gold and diamonds, Les. Not good values to base one's life upon. I've read that the Aztecs called gold the excrement of the gods, the original holy shit. On topic?
I do like gems and jewelry for their beauty, though I don't wear it and I'm not a diamond fan; rubies are much prettier to my eye, and much more rare. In retrospect's comment about the diamond market is true; it's all artificial because it's a monopoly. As for gold, no. There are pretty good tallies of the world's gold supply; best estimates put total above ground gold at 4 billion ounces, or 2/3 of an ounce per person alive today.
I've bought and sold silver and gold since the late 1980s; not to make money, but as a store of value. Greenbacks spend too easy, gold and silver tend to stick around until you really need the cash. Perhaps there are records kept of internet gold sales, but I've always dealt with friends and local coin shops, cash transactions, no paper trail, and that's how everyone else I know does it too.
One can't eat it, but it's a good medium of exchange. It's hard to make change for a whole cow when all one wants is a pound of hamburger. (did that make sense?) Most are willing to take pretty coins made of precious metals, knowing they can trade them to someone else for something they want. In many traditional societies, women can't inherit property, but their jewelry remains their own no matter what. India is a good example.
Sunday, December 21, 2008 12:05:00 AM
Les I absolutely love what you do here.
And I thank you wholeheartedly for allowing me to participate.
I really like the people who come here and have the get up and go to comment.
The opportunity you afford us is most generous.
Thank you Tony. Imagine my gratitude for what you've done for me.
Michael... yes, it does make sense. I'm just not into jewelry. I shave my head for the same reason that I don't wear jewelry and there are some great tales I could tell on how I personally learned the virtue of this. On the occult side I have a great appreciation for gems although diamonds are not one of them. I like emeralds, rubies and something can Tanzanite (I think) it is like sapphire. That might be my favorite.
I like gems for their healing properties which are much magnified by certain states of mind but I must admit that was all long ago. Now the only jewel I care for shines in my heart and it dwarfs all others. I don't want to put the world down; after all, we have to live here and I myself and still captive due to things I discussed at Origami today. One should never bullshit themselves.
There are many marvels here but the greatest marvel is the appreciation of their true use. That's over for me too but it was fun for awhile... right up to the point where I got saved from myself.
As for coin of the realm in times of chaos. I have what I need for that and it's inner.
m_ 12:05 AM, thanks for the gold lesson mate.
My family have owned/worked/managed Gold/Copper and Diamond mines in Aus. for generations. I thought I was up on all of the current info but thanks to you I have now caught up.
The natives must be so thankful for you being in their land instructing them on how to go about their daily business. Much appreciated.
Sunday, December 21, 2008 1:17:00 AM
I already wrote and posted the followup on gold and diamonds above before I read your note.
I have no problem at all with those who have an opinion or an axe to grind. I have a problem with cut and paste spam that takes up most of the space. If the person commenting doesn't understand their subject enough to tell it like it is in their own words, they don't know their subject. I would think a link and a brief synopsis would be sufficient for those who are interested, and I can't say I've noticed anyone else pasting 9500 words of off-topic spam.
I've seen little evidence that Marxist socialist even reads his own spam, viz the Henry Makow piece posted the other day. There is even less evidence that there is anything going on other than waiting for his turn to speak. Apparently you didn't go to my agriculture blog the other day when I linked to the three shit fuck piss cocksucker "comments" that Marxist/Socialist spewed there to show his method of discourse when someone disagreed with him on YOUR blog. He didn't post his sewage here or he would have been banned, I'd venture to say. He searched out my blog and took a big shit in the middle of it.
Guess I should have followed my first impulse and just pasted them back to Smoking Mirrors instead of deleting them after a day.
There's a new piece here 9/11 Dreaming in a World of Flesh.
Actually, those in control and who create these crisis have evolved from the Marxist Global Communists of the past.
They have subverted Democracy while pretending to fight for it, and calling any developing nation resembling a Democracy as socialist, so they could justify the attack as part of the Cold War(regime change, invasion, war).
They have corrupted democratic capitalism with Fascism, and called it neo-liberalism. The fascism of the Nazis and Mussolini was a creation of the elite who financed them so thye could fight the war against communism. The elite backed Commuinsism in the war which was the real winner of WW II, and created fascism in the US with FDR;s New Deal policies. FDR used to call Stalin Uncle Joe and was a great communist. It seems a great contradiction.
The elite are the creators and leaders of the terrorist organizations to justify a war against terrorism over there, before bringing the fight home, and to take away democratic freedoms to keep democracy safe.
To them, anyone who does not go along with their plan for One World Government (Marxist style) is a terrorist. The Muslim Brotherhood for example has it's headquarters in London. At the top of the pyramid, these leaders are not even practicing Muslim. At the bottom are zombies fueled by hatred created by injustice and hardship who are prepared to blow themselves up, fully duped by the elite of their kind that their actions can facilitate change.
This pyramid structure of power is in every level of government, terrorist organizations, corporations, religous and educational institutions, secret and not so secret societies, think tanks, military. Only those at the top of the pyramid see the whole picture and know the real plan.
Those at lower levels of the pyramid are on a need to know basis and know less the further they are from the top of the pyramids power structure. Those at the bottom are just as clueless as anyone else outside these organizations or institutions, but all are given reasons that make sense to them to do evil, if indeed they even recognize it as such, being told it is for a greater good, the end justifying the means.
So anyone seeing events of today as an opportunity for Marxism is partially correct, but should know that those behind the chaos and evil are themselves Marxists.
Many of the elite in the US today are devout followers of Leo Strauss who was simply a Trotskyite, a slight deviant of Marxism.
McCarthy was right in the 50's about the threat from Communism within, he was simply wrong about who was behind it. The elite created the communism of the Soviet Union and made sure China went communist to give us the Cold War. This spread communism through 1/2 the globe and ended religion in these regions. The illusion of it's defeat is pervasive by flawed.
Global Communism pre-requisite is that industrialization must already be created by capitalism in order to work. So the barriers to Chinas and the Soviet Unions industrialization had to be brought down by the illusion that they were no longer Communists or that trade would force China to become more democratic and capitalist. The essential point though is that fascism or corporatism is the essential stepping stone to Global Communism.
So today we see fascism and corporatism and not liking it too much even though it's been essential in the industrialization of the East, because it has come at the expense of the deindustrialization of the West which is lowering Americans and now Europeans standard of living in order that we may be comfortably merged with the rest of the world.
We are not far away from the end of history, or a History of the sort in Orwells 1984. They been at this for 160 years and the mission is almost accomplished. Maybe things will be better after, but do not count on it, as mans nature is what it is, and those with absolute power tend to abuse it.
To m_astera who wrote:
What you said m_astera makes perfect sense in a controlled civilized environment… but very few who are posting here today (including me) has ever witnessed total anarchy, and neither gold nor silver will fulfill the essential staples of life for survival. Furthermore, a cow would be transacted through the exchange of several families at a time… there won’t be food stores like Wal-Mart, Food Lion, or 7-11 convenience stores.
In all of these posts I have not read a single clue that explains the unsubstantiated value of gold or silver (I didn’t mention diamonds because most people could not tell a real diamond from an artificial Zirconia). Other than the acceptance of precious metals as a medium of exchange, gold has always been an excepted tender for exchange of goods or services… but why?
Like a broken record, I have constantly pointed-out that the truth behind the factors which brought our economies to where they are today, and where we shall be in the not too distant future, has occurred in the historical past and is evidenced in the uncovered archeological ruins from over 5000 years ago (before the Egyptian Pharaohs).
Gold has been used since the dawn of man because Homo sapiens were created to mine it. Therefore, gold does have “historical” value because we would still be spear chucking hunter-gatherers living in caves - if gold had no value. We were created to be slaves for the mining of gold, and some of us are still slaves to the superficial allure of its manipulated intrinsic value. History always repeats itself, and the more things change, the more they stay the same… even after 250,000 years.
(see link: http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2006/01jan/annunaki.html
Perhaps we are playing post tag. I've said what I wanted to say. It is of course your blog, and I wouldn't be here if I didn't respect what you do and have done. This is the place to argue the shallow values of maya. I honor those who play their roles with impeccable gusto and convincing passion.
The coin of the realm that I have in these times of chaos? This realm of flesh requires coin at the food store for me these days, but less for me than for most. Give the body the food it needs to go another day forward with the memo, but carrying the message is the task, not the food or the lures that I can thankfully appreciate just by observing. I need not own Fujisan to view it from my garden.
Take this sword and conquer yourself is what I heard once. Or twice. Who was that who fought the Hydra of endless heads, which grew two more each time one was cut off? And did he need a friend to hold the blazing torch, to cast the brilliant light and to cauterize the bleeding stumps?
And so we come to this new place, where the Hydra has lost its strength, where there are no new vicious heads arising, and those that do arise are feeble, easily dismissed. How now, friend? As we survey the now quiet battlefield that once seemed so impossible to even survive, much less prevail. But prevail we have, and it is time to remember the objective, whatever that was. It has not lost its importance.
In the great plains of the country now called America, where this body was born into this world, there are great spiral maelstroms of air that come out of boiling green skies with the sound of a thousand oncoming freight trains. They explode the proud strong dwellings of man into powder and kindling, they rip great trees from the earth, they suck up the water and life from lakes and rivers and leave them momentarily dry. Powerful forces, powerful storms, and none may defy them. Yet, sometimes in the midst, from out of the path of chaos and destruction, a tiny baby is lifted gently in its cradle, and set down unharmed miles away, its cradle perhaps now swaying gently in a high treetop. The sweet baby will live; the storm had other objectives, as does the baby. This is where I put my trust, as I know the impermanence of walls however stout. This is the coin of my realm.
How's this for a compromise? Any C&P that gets excessive in length (like say beyond what it takes to illustrate the point of the writer or is okay within some mysterious way that only I understand (grin). Sorry, heh heh, you know what I mean... is no longer permitted. Links are okay and if someone wants people to read something then they should put it in a link.
I'll enforce this. It's just that it's really difficult for me when I have to play policeman here and every time I please one person I piss off someone else. But it does make sense for this place not to be subjected to missing children posters and 'old' furniture for sale.
People get angry at me for various things but the one thing that is most difficult is when they get angry at me for not being omniscient and instantly, telepathically picking up on what they want and acting on it. It's always a good idea to ask me about anything because I often don't do anything unless I am asked.
Thanks Les. Methinks it will only make us better writers and communicators. I'm certainly not angry with you, nor have I been. It's that passion thing, y'know. :)
Ricky Nelson knew what he was talking about when he sang "You can't please everyone, you got to please yourself." If yourself is not happy, what matters it if you make everyone else happy? (which you won't anyway.)
pot-
I've been following your analyses of the world's manipulators and their agenda and want to compliment you on the clarity and succinctness of your presentation. If the readers don't know about Adam Weishaupt, haven't read the Protocols, and don't know about the Tavistock Institute or the Fabian Society then they are being duped and are too ignorant to realize it.
Just lately I've been considering whether or not there are possibly some players at the top level who have the survival of humanity and the planet as their prime directive, yet are forced to work with the crude tools available. I think most of us would agree that a functional and benevolent system of administration for the necessarily interconnecting parts of our world would be a good thing. Note I didn't say government, and I don't think cultural homogeneity would be a good thing at all. The family and the tribe are basic effective units and they will only become more important in a truly abundant and peaceful world. Any form of life higher than a slime mold is composed of different types of cells. As below, so above.
My overall outlook for humanity and planet Earth is very hopeful and positive.
in retrospect-
I've been what's called a survivalist for most of my life. In the USA I carved a homestead out of the wilderness that approached self-sufficiency, but I always still needed a convenient medium of exchange. When I left the USA and moved alone to a new country where I knew no one and didn't speak the language, I brought some FRNs but also a little gold and quite a bit of silver. The paper money was soon gone but the gold and silver have lasted. I have sold some, given some as gifts, used them for security deposits, and even pawned them for quick cash then redeemed them. Very handy. If nothing else, there are always some around who appreciate their beauty.
I'm familiar with the Annunaki scenario from many sources. As I have no personal evidence to prove it right or wrong, I have to accept the information I get from those whose opinions and expertise I trust. Sitchin would be at the bottom of that list, BTW.
I think there is good evidence that mankind was not only genetically manipulated, but that it happened a number of times, and also that the planet has been colonized on more than one occasion by humans from other planets.
Very recently I read a synopsis of some info supposedly from the NSA that talked about the purpose of the gold that was mined on Earth; that it was used to create a protective layer in the atmosphere of the planet Niburu to stabilize its climate over its eccentric orbit.
Thunderbolts.info has some interesting theorizing about the past history of the Earth, that possibly it used to exist in the atmosphere or corona of a small brown dwarf star or perhaps very large gas-giant planet with different gravitational fields than we now experience; that could explain how the huge dinosaurs could live here, something they couldn't do under the present gravity.
The newest and most interesting data I've read about the Annunaki and the creation of humans is the Project Camelot interview with James of the Wingmakers web site. That is only a very small part of what he talks about in the interview; the rest of it pertains to the spiritual evolution of mankind and this planet; I would rate it five stars plus. Already it is pushing a lot of buttons due to the threat the concepts pose to the spiritual hierarchy of the galaxy. Those interested in such heresy may find it here:
http://www.projectcamelot.org/james_wingmakers_sovereign_integral.html
I found this post almost too clear--no rings around the rosy or meanderings through the twilight. A "Cut to the Chase"--if you will. You won't find diamonds or gold in the Jj household--we know folks who are wealthy and their diamonds just stay in the safe or hidden in the underwear drawer because when it comes down to it, where do you wear them--not too many high society parties out here in the sticks-- Like so much, they twinkle in your eye--a brief orgasm of "This is It"--and then hidden away for fear that they may be stolen or lost.--like a great book that sits on the shelf collecting dust--and your hoping someone will see it--hoping that it makes you look like more than you are--more illusion.
Like that outfit you bought that was going to change your world--get you your dream job--dream girl--or guy. Well, it went out of style--whatever that means-- and now it just sits--$800.00 on a hanger waiting for someone to say its cool to wear again.
It's the flavor of the day--book of the month--that never gets tasted or read--we live in a cut and paste world--why think for your self when you can just point to the book on the shelf that you've never read, or if you did, didn't understand-- so as to make people think you're somehow more enlightened--a ponzi scheme of the mind until you're asked a question by someone who did read, and understand.
It's the bullshit world of the bullshitter--never saying much because that might lead to an actual discussion where you would have to back up what you say--afraid you will be found out as a fraud--but the unspoken among most folks is that you don't ask those questions or everybody might start to and then people would be seen for the liars they are--24-7....
We live in a cocktail party world--15 second commercials or political candidate messages creating an illusion of stoic granduer--something you just gotta have because it's new and improved--really--trust us
The world has a 15 second attention span--and thats being generous--
We don't want more than the abreviated text message life--the "high, how are you"--"Good, real good" dance--Let me get you a drink----
Do not lay up treaure here on earth (unless you're the catholic church or a mega-church pastor)
"The streets in heaven are paved with gold and the buildings are encrusted with diamonds...........
Well, now you know they are an illusion-----or bullshit--either will do.
Share with me a song, a poem, a work of art, a thought or a realization, a memory that i can take with me wherever i go--that doesn't rely on anything but the moment i saw it or heard it--therein lies true value and worth
m astera, I do not rule out that we have been colonized by aliens, perhaps 6000 years ago, maybe longer, and these fallen angels were in fact aliens. Man of today was then genetically engineered from the life that existed on this planet at the time they came, from a species that was dumb and primarily satisfied as hunter gatherers, to a war like, intelligent race that dispersed on a mission to globalize the planet. The sons of god were said to find the daughters of man pleasing.
Much of our mythology suggests as much, representing the aliens or their descendents with great powers and beings, half animal and half human, that presumably were failed bioengineering experiments.
The Bible possibly was code and a blue print of the plan, and Ancient Mysteries were locked in the pyramids built by very large and powerful beings to protect them until we were advanced enough to obtain and understand them. This information is likely transmitted among the elite via the secret societies from generation to generation.
The end purpose may be for good or bad. Who knows, but the methodolgy being used suggests there is a time table and it is not looking good.
Perhaps they have a taste for humans and are preparing to turn us into an intergalactic stop-over for fine dining or perhaps fast food and human burgers and french fingers.
Perhaps we will be enslaved to serve the aliens once they arrive in bunches after the elite have prepared the world for them.
Or maybe this world will be a paradise and simply needed to take a path that has a lot of rough spots in order to get there.
Being optimistic or pessimistic is largely a matter of faith. The odds favour the latter IMO. But I think many of the players below the elite level think they are doing good.
And those at the top may have no say in the matter. Perhaps they have been told to have a stable world government by 2012 or else when they return they will consider this to be a failed project and end life as we know it so as to begin again.
Or maybe we are just being ruled by pychopaths that have been homegrown.
I do find the push for DNA testing food for thought. Perhaps they want to find out who has alien blood, and how much, as this might dictate their place in society, or as a food source. LOL.
Monday, December 22, 2008 2:14:00 AM
The closest to perfect galactic alignment at the winter solstice occurred in 1998. Ten years ago. The 2012 thing applies to the Mayans (or Olmecs) who created the calendar back then because the triple rebirth of the sun happens close to sunrise in the southern Yucatan where they lived on Dec 21, 2012. Simple astronomical data, and the solar system is several million years away from a closer alignment.
I gave you the interview link because it has something to say about Nibiru, as in Nibiru isn't coming back this time.
IMO, Joseph Davidovits put to rest the mystery of how the great pyramids were constructed back in the 1980s. They are poured concrete, made from the aggregate broken up from the Giza plateau and cement. The Romans built with the same material or close to it.
I'm not talking about other-species alien blood colonizing planet Earth; I mean humans as in blonde white skin. They showed up around the end of the last ice age and everything changed.
The astronomical data is easily checked, the pyramids have been tested by independent labs and deemed artificial stone. The rest, of course, is simply speculation.
To m_astera who said:
Many have the same opinion about Sitchen as you, and yes, there are many who now have more profound knowledge about the Annunaki and Niburu than Sitchin. However, in my recollection, Sitchen was one of the first to transcribe and write a book about the ancient Sumerian writings. So in my opinion Sitchen’s work on the Annunaki, is similar to what Henry Ford was to the automobile… one of the first to break new frontiers of historical knowledge.
I did start to read the link you supplied to the Project Camelot Interview, and it is very good. I read a book recently which parallels the answers of “James” in the Project Camelot interview. I heard the interview of Lawrence R. Spencer at Rense.com (free mp3 file), and then read Lawrence’s e-book which can be downloaded here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/2144178
Thank you for the Project Camelot link.
m_astera Like I said, I have an open mind to the possibilities. I have not studied other theories and do not much about Niburu, having not yet read/heard the link.
My reference to 2012 had nothing to do with the Mayan calendar, but is my guess as to when Global Government will be officially imposed on us given it ends Obamas 1st term and is when the UN Secretary General comes up for election, and thus that could be the deadline. But that is an interesting coincidence.
As for the pyramids, the issue is not what they were made of. That seems a red herring issue. The issue is it seemed well beyond what man was capable of at the time, and the geometry, dimensions, precision and orientation suggest a knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and engineering somewhat advanced for the time. I am not sure we could duplicate it today using the tools, materials and resources they had at the time, and an incredible amount of horse (man)power was needed, and mythology and the old testament suggest large men of great strength (Goliath) existed in the past. Myths and superstition sometimes have an element of truth.
We build tunnels today where ceilings collapse and leak using modern materials and technology.
But it is hard enough to know what is the truth in the present, let alone thousand of years ago, especially if there are elements of this truth that are being kept secret by the elite. So one can only speculate based on the information and literature such as the Book of Enoch, etc., available.
Thanks for the link to the Spencer book. I'll check it out right away.
Sitchin does deserve credit for popularizing the Annunaki concept, but I have a couple of reasons to doubt his veracity. The first is some friends who went to hear him speak on his books; they told me he was very evasive and refused to answer any difficult or straightforward questions. Their impression was that he was hiding something.
The second was an article I found on line written by a scholar of the languages Sitchin claimed to be translating; this scholar wrote that Sitchin's translations were completely off base, and that he believed Sitchin had either poor or no knowledge whatever of those languages. This scholar was not averse to the idea of UFOs, alien intervention, genetic manipulation etc; he was willing to look at it all with an open mind; his point was that Sitchin's translation and interpretation was junk. He also said that he had contacted Sitchin and Sitichin's webmaster about this a number of times and gotten no response. Sorry I don't have the link, but I came across it with a google search so it's out there.
Just checked out the Spencer book. Looks excellent and I will get the download. I think Ellis posted a link to it here a month or so ago and I didn't follow up then. What fun!
RE the pyramids: Davidovits is a French geochemist; he specializes in geopolymers and holds many international patents on them; well over a hundred last I checked. When he started creating artificial stone using natural processes (back in the 1970s I think) he began wondering about some ancient stone structures, the great pyramids in particular.
His book The Pyramids, an Enigma Solved came out in the late 1980s; I ran into it at Powell's technical books in Portland OR and bought it. According to his conservative calculations, the great pyramid could have been built by about 1100 men over a period of 20 years, using limestone rubble broken up from the shallow underlying bedrock at Giza with bronze or wooden tools. He suggests that part of the Nile was diverted to the area to soften the limestone bedrock. The cement mix used to bind it was a mixture of burnt lime (mason's lime), natron (sodium bicarbonate) from alkaline lakes in the area, and copper ore from the Sinai. His book has photos of pyramid blocks that still show the marks of the form boards, still show cold pours (where the mold was filled in two stages) and show the random jumble of the fossil-containing limestone rubble. Natural fossil shell limestone does not show random jumbles, but rather sedimentary parallel layers.
All of this could have been done with relatively primitive technology, the only advanced part being the knowledge of geopolymer chemistry. Davidovits credits Akhenaton as the probable chemist/alchemist who discovered the process.
All of these giant hard-stone constructions were done during the Old Kingdom. Davidovits thinks the building of the Great Pyramid depleted the copper mines in the Sinai, and only small hard-stone sculptures etc. were made using the technique after that. Why carve granite or diorite when you have the knowledge to pour it? Almost all of the New Kingdom work was carved out of soft stone like sandstone and soft limestone.
I've done personal research on it to the extent of examining eqyptian stone "carvings" from the Berlin museum. Many of them were crudely done and showed chisel marks, but there was one highly detailed bas-relief in hard red granite that was perfect and looked like it was cast in a mold to me.
The Romans had some of this knowledge and used it to pour the Coliseum and the Pantheon; after the fall of Rome the knowledge was lost until the invention of Portland cement in the 1800s, though Portland cement is nowhere close to the quality that the Egyptians and Romans employed.
We could easily build the Great Pyramid today if we poured it in blocks using the technology that Davidovits re-discovered.
The same technique could possibly explain some of the South American work such as Sacsahuaman, but Baalbek in Lebanon remains a mystery.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 12:35:00 AM
m-astera, So the knowledge of geopolymers was then lost for thousands of years until the 20th century. Kind of supports my alien theory. LOL.
Thanks for the information, one more book I got to read.
The dimensions, location, precision of the corners and orientation are also of interest and suggestive of an intelligence or knowledge beyond what might be expected, but I may not be up to snuff here, a bit outdated. I better read up some more about it before discussing further.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:55:00 AM
The Rise of the Anti-Christ in the Nation from Hel...
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How do they do It? I Really want to Know.
Thank you, Bernie Madoff for your Kind Christmas G...
Welcome to the Cloaca Maximus and the Gowanus Cana...
Waiting for Dawn in the Graveyards of Night
Out the Door and Innuendo
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They Live, they Control and they Feed.
Whistling Past the Graveyard in the Night of the L...
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Mostly cloudy early. Scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High near 90F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Thunderstorms likely. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Michael Song, left, of Guilford, looks on as Gov. Ned Lamont signs Ethan’s Law in Guilford last Thursday.
Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media
Kristin Song, of Guilford, tells her personal story of dealing with her son's death before the signing of Ethan's Law by Governor Ned Lamont in a ceremony at the Guilford Fire Department on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Songs' son Ethan, 15, fatally shot himself with an unsecured gun in January of 2018.
Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz fights back tears after listening to the emotional testimony of Kristin Song before the signing of Ethan's Law in a ceremony at the Guilford Fire Department on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Songs' son Ethan, 15 of Guilford, fatally shot himself with an unsecured gun in January of 2018.
Holding the last photo taken of his son Ethan, Michael Song, of Guilford, listens as his wife Kristin speaks before the signing of Ethan's Law in a ceremony at the Guilford Fire Department on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Songs' son Ethan, 15, fatally shot himself with an unsecured gun in January of 2018. At left is Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz.
Holding the last photo taken of his son Ethan, Michael Song, of Guilford, puts his face in his hand as his wife Kristin speaks before the signing of Ethan's Law in a ceremony at the Guilford Fire Department on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Songs' son Ethan, 15, fatally shot himself with an unsecured gun in January of 2018.
Safe gun storage law remains ‘bittersweet’ for Connecticut family
By Jack Kramer CTNewsJunkie.com
GUILFORD — Even though he’s already signed gun safe storage legislation, Gov. Ned Lamont felt it was important to come to Guilford Thursday to recognize those who fought so hard to make the law reality.
“Ethan’s Law” — which would require all firearms, loaded and unloaded, to be safely stored in homes occupied by minors under 18 years of age — was the signature gun control legislation passed, with bipartisan support, in the House and Senate in the recently completed General Assembly session.
On Thursday, Lamont joined Kristin and Mike Song, Ethan’s parents, Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, Guilford First Selectman Matt Hoey and others at Guilford fire headquarters to celebrate the achievement.
“It’s important we have laws like this to see if we can save even one life. Millions of kids are living in homes with unsecured weapons,” Lamont said.
Connecticut’s current safe storage law only requires that loaded firearms be properly stored “if a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian of the minor.”
Ethan Song, of Guilford, died of a self-inflicted gunshot. The 15-year-old accidentally shot himself in the head in January 2018, the Waterbury state’s attorney’s office said after concluding its investigation.
A juvenile friend of Ethan’s was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death.
Ethan’s parents have become nationally known advocates for stronger gun storage laws since their son’s death. In Guilford, the couple is beloved for their advocacy on behalf of their son. Last Saturday, more than 1,000 runners took part in a 5K run/walk to raise funding for efforts on behalf of gun control organizations, among others.
Kristin Song repeated a term she used often at the state Capitol to describe her emotions about the bill signing ceremony: “bittersweet.”
“Thank you to everyone who came out to support Ethan’s Law — know that you are part of saving children,” Kristin Song said. “I stared into those beautiful green eyes the morning he died and thought this kid is going to make a big impact — never thought it would be like this. We love you Ethan.”
Kristin Song told the crowd at the firehouse that she is ready to take what has so far mostly been a Connecticut issue and make it a national one.
“Ethan’s death brought me to my knees,” Kristin Song said, stating in her darkest moments she has even considered suicide because “the physical pain can be so intense.” Many in the audience teared up listening to her talk about missing her son.
“But I am not a victim, not a survivor,” Kristin Song insisted. “I am a warrior, and here we come D.C.,” said Kristin Song as the crowd roared.
The Songs already have made two trips to Washington, D.C., where U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced federal legislation modeled after Connecticut’s “Ethan’s Law” bill.
The Songs met Republicans on Capitol Hill to discuss Ethan’s Law. So far, only Democrats are backing the proposal, which is not supported by the National Rifle Association.
Lamont told Kristin Song, “I’ll go to Washington with you,” to fight for a national Ethan’s Law.
DeLauro and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who is introducing a Senate version of Ethan’s Law, said the federal bill would include fines for unsafe storage of guns and possible jail time and exposure to civil liabilities if the improperly stored weapon results in injury or death. Their bill would also provide law enforcement grants to states to implement similar laws on the state level.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2017 at least 2,696 children and adolescents were unintentionally shot after a gun was improperly stored; more than 100 were killed. Another 1,110 children took their own lives, many with unsecured firearms.
The Harvard School of Public Health found that adolescents who die by suicide are twice as likely to have access to a gun at home than those who survive suicide attempts.
Scanlon, who called working on Ethan’s Law legislation “one of the greatest honors of my life,” said the Songs are to be forever admired “for taking their grief and turning it into something beautiful. Because of their courage Connecticut will be a safer state.”
Scanlon and others talked about how much bipartisan support the bill had and gave credit to Rep. Vincent Candelora of North Branford for helping to make that happen.
“We all put down our party labels,” said Candelora, who has said more than once that he has never backed gun control legislation in the past. “We worked toward making a bill that could help the state of Connecticut.”
Mike Song, as he often does, credited his wife with being the one who worked 24/7 to ensure the legislation’s passage. But referring to the night he had to tell his other children about their sibling’s death, Mike Song added: “I don’t want anyone else to have to make that phone call.”
Ethan’s Law wasn’t the only gun bill that made it through the General Assembly this year.
Also winning approval were laws requiring a person to secure their pistol or revolver in a motor vehicle and another that regulates so-called “ghost guns” which are handmade guns or 3-D printed guns without serial numbers.
This law comes as many cities in the United States see rising numbers of gun thefts from cars, seeing year-to-year increases of up to 40 percent; in Atlanta, up to 70 percent of all reported gun thefts are guns stolen from cars.
The ghost gun bill requires the person building the gun to obtain a serial number from the Department of Public Safety and Protection. The bill also prohibits the transfer of the handmade guns and doesn’t allow the manufacture of a 3-D printed gun if it can pass undetected through a metal detector.
These types of guns have been seized in Connecticut towns including Torrington and Waterbury.
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National 512644162
House approves 9/11 victims bill, sends it to Senate
By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a bill ensuring that a victims compensation fund for the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money.
The 402-12 vote sends the bill to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to call a vote before Congress goes on its August recess.
Lawmakers from both parties hailed the House vote, which comes a month after comedian Jon Stewart sharply criticized Congress for failing to act. Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, told lawmakers at an emotional hearing that they were showing "disrespect" to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses as a result of their recovery work at the former World Trade Center site in New York City.
Stewart called the sparse attendance at the June 11 hearing "an embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution." He later targeted McConnell for slow-walking previous version of the legislation and using it as a political pawn to get other things done.
Stewart said Friday that replenishing the victims fund was "necessary, urgent and morally right."
Replenishing the fund will not fix the health problems of emergency workers and their families, but it would remove "a 15-year, unnecessary burden placed by their own government upon them," Stewart said at a Capitol news conference.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers credited Stewart for raising the profile of the issue, which has lingered on Capitol Hill for years.
"You made it too hot to handle" in the Senate, Pelosi, D-Calif., told Stewart, praising him for shining his "celebrity spotlight" on the issue.
Eleven Republicans and independent Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan opposed the bill. No Democrat voted against the measure.
The bill would extend a victims compensation fund created after the 2001 terrorist attacks through 2092, essentially making it permanent. The $7.4 billion fund is rapidly being depleted, and administrators recently cut benefit payments by up to 70%.
The Congressional Budget Office said in a report this week that the bill would result in about $10.2 billion in additional compensation payments over 10 years, including more than $4 billion for claims already filed. The bill would require that victims whose compensation payments were reduced because of the fund's declining balance be made whole.
"This was not a hurricane or a flood or a tornado. This was the largest terrorist attack ever on American soil," Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., said in a floor speech before the House vote. "As Jon Stewart testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee, these terrorists weren't saying 'Death to Tribeca'. This was an attack on all of us as Americans and we all should be voting yes today as Americans."
Zeldin and other lawmakers noted that one of the bill's most prominent advocates, former New York City police detective Luis Alvarez, did not live to see its passage. Alvarez, who testified with Stewart at last month's House hearing, died June 29 at age 53.
Alvarez, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2016, traced his illness to the three months he spent in the rubble of the World Trade Center's twin towers after the attacks.
Alvarez "shouldn't have had to come down here to fight on behalf of all of these other victims and first responders in the first place," Zeldin said. "Month after month, year after year ... how many first responders have made dozens of trips (to the Capitol) educating, advocating, passionately asking members of Congress for their support?"
The bill was renamed to honor Alvarez and other first responders.
McConnell said in a statement after the House vote that the Senate will take up the legislation soon.
"The first responders who rushed into danger on September 11th, 2001, are the very definition of American heroes and patriots," he said. "The Senate has never forgotten the victim compensation fund and we aren't about to start now."
More From Politics
Washington negotiators are closing in on a deal that would stave off the chance of a government shutdown this fall and allow Congress to approve legislation to increase the government's borrowing limit.
With tweets and a vote, President Donald Trump and House Democrats established the sharp and emotionally raw contours of the 2020 election campaigns.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday that a planned vote by the Democratic-controlled House to hold him and Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress was nothing more than "political theater" intended to embarrass and harass the Trump administration.
Trump v. Dems: 'Racist' and 'socialist' lines drawn for 2020 • National
House condemns Trump 'racist' tweets in extraordinary rebuke • National
Court upholds death sentence for man who killed 10-year-old • National
AP FACT CHECK: Trump falsely claims Omar praised al-Qaida • National
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Tonight at Ten Reviews
"Tonight at Ten was a fantastic read, like interviewing the interviewer, but with added insight you'd never otherwise see. So many incredulous stories, so much emotion, and a credible glimpse into the amount of time and effort that goes into a short broadcast. I really enjoyed that you provided so much closure that often never comes with the original story. You are missed on the air, but thank you for sharing your unique perspective on the news stories of my time."
Rick Stein
"The mere fact that I finished this book over two evenings is testament to how compelling a read it is. I normally read periodicals because I don't have the attention span to read most books! Each story in your book compelled me to read the next. The stories varied so much in their content...some made me laugh (We Can't, We're Broke), some were inspiring (Forty-eight hours in a Hole) and several brought tears to my eyes (Horror in a Boxcar). I was very interested to learn about your association and friendship with Jim Dunlap - my girlfriend from many years ago volunteered at the Outdoor Learning Center and thought so very highly of him. She introduced me to him once when I visited there. This, like many of the stories in the book drew me in because I kept thinking about where I was and what I was doing when some of these stories unfolded. And you were there! I can't pay higher praise than to say your book took me on an emotional roller coaster with tracks that journeyed down memory lane. Great read Steve and best wishes on your sales and upcoming book signings!"
Frank W. Morgan
"Reading it now and loving it. Touches the heart in so many ways. Thanks for sharing these special memories."
Andre Davidson
"I loved it! I laughed, I cried, and was flooded with memories of news stories I had forgot about."
"If one enjoys non-fiction, personal accounts of life's dramas as much as I do, this is a great edition to your library."
Rick Grady
"Well written, witty, and full of his honesty. I cried and laughed. I loved this book!"
Becky Stalcup
"I thought it was a balanced mix of some really funny stories and some tragic ones. I can't imagine reporting on something like the boxcar. That's just so heartbreaking. But on the other hand, there are some really great moments of triumph as well. I think especially now when media is sort of demonized, it offers a fresh take. And it's pretty real too. I've never thought about the pressure to get a good shot, even at the expense of the news crew. We news watchers take that for granted."
Alex Cronin
"Strap in because this a fun ride with thrilling moments, all told through the eyes of a compassionate storyteller. Steve is a gem of a journalist who illustrates that fairness and goodness can be partners".
Dawn Tongish, Former Anchor
KDAF-TV CW 33
"Steve Stoler is a familiar face and voice for those of us in North Texas. This book does an amazing job describing many of the noteworthy events that have shaped the past 30 years in the DFW Metroplex. Steve was definitely a hometown reporter who happened to work in a very large region. His stories provide a great glimpse at the work behind the camera as well as insight into the approach of a seasoned television anchor and reporter. From battles with Mother Nature, to technical difficulties, and workplace conflicts, Steve shares a unique and entertaining behind the scenes approach to life in the news.
"I couldn't decide if this book was more about the stories behind the stories or the man behind the stories behind the stories. Either way, it was an enjoyable read written by one of the good guys. Sorry to see it end."
Regina Ryan
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Fast Retailing profit surges 93pc
Business | Tracy Hu 13 Jul 2018
Japanese holding company Fast Retailing (6288), which owns UNIQLO, yesterday said it earned 23.48 percent more for the nine months ended May, to 148.3 billion yen (HK$10.35 billion).The company yesterday halted the trading of its shares before releasing its results for the nine months. Revenue during the period rose 15.31 percent to 1.7 trillion yen.For the latest three-month period, the company's...
Japanese holding company Fast Retailing (6288), which owns UNIQLO, yesterday said it earned 23.48 percent more for the nine months ended May, to 148.3 billion yen (HK$10.35 billion).
The company yesterday halted the trading of its shares before releasing its results for the nine months. Revenue during the period rose 15.31 percent to 1.7 trillion yen.
For the latest three-month period, the company's third fiscal quarter, net profit surged 93.1 percent to 44.1 billion yen while total revenue rose to 517.3 billion yen, a 12.4 percent increase.
UNIQLO Greater China generated significantly higher-than-forecast profits. Same-store sales attained double-digit growth following a strong launch of the new spring/summer line-up.
GU, its casual-wear label, reported increases in both revenue and profit in the nine-month period, with revenue totaling 166.6 billion yen.
Meanwhile, Chow Tai Fuk Jewellery Group (1929) said that the same-store sales in Hong Kong and Macau rose 26 percent year on year for the three months ended 30 June, while that in the mainland increased 4 percent.
The growth in the Hong Kong and Macau markets is attributed to improving local consumer spending and a revival in mainland visitors, the company said.
Chow Tai Fuk opened a net of 71 sales points in the mainland during the quarter, while in Hong Kong, Macau and other markets, it opened one Chow Tai Fook T Mark retail outlet in Hong Kong and three Chow Tai Fook jewellery shops in Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
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Thibault Serlet
Book Reviews, Interviews, and Articles
Ride the Tiger
by Julius Evola
Thibault’s Score: 2/5
Julius Evola is an insane Italian author from the 1940s and one of the ideological architects of the modern reactionary intellectual movements. After reading Nick Land’s Dark Enlightenment, and being thrilled and fascinated by what I read, I decided to turn to Evola.
Evil’s style of writing is incomprehensible. The book reads like the rant of a crazed - perhaps intoxicated nut job. Evola does have very neat ways of wording his sentences and explaining his ideas, but his arguments are lost in the mess.
While Evola does have some insights as to why reactionaries and traditionalists are always swept away by the liberals, I had to put the book down and stop reading it because I didn’t like the writing.
The Dark Enlightenment
The Dark Enlightenment
by Nick Land
Nick Land makes the case for right wing exitism - that conservatives and reactionaries should seek to exit the current political systems rather than futilely fight for a voice.
“The state isn’t going anywhere, because, to those who run it, its worth far too much.”
Land cites everyone from Richard Dawkins to Ludwig von Mises. Land has, for a long time, captured my imagination.
Land criticizes traditional enlightenment values. He argues that Christian and post-Christian universal egalitarianism is the worst amongst these values. Land also criticizes the virtue of tolerance as hypocritical as tolerance requires the intolerance of tolerance. Because of universalism and tolerance’s impossibility, these virtues in fact serve as social policing functions, with the state fundamentally determining wrong from right.
Land is very critical of the various factions of the right: the libertarians, the religious right, the neonazis, the ethane nationalists, the paleo conservatives, and the mainstream republicans. No ideological subgroup is sparred from the chopping block.
Nick Land also has a unique insight on race relations. He suggests that the reason why whites are becoming more staunchly republican is because as dominant groups become minorities, tribalism and in-group preference increases. He also argues that tribalism is exemplified by stereotypes about racial differences in behavior. His history of the word “cracker” is particularly interesting.
I recommend the Dark Enlightenment to anyone who is knowledgable enough to know who Nick Land is before picking up this review - otherwise I would instead suggest something else.
The Uniqueness of Western Civilization
by Ricardo Duchesne
Published in August 2012
The central thrust of the book is that only Western Civilization industrialized, because only the West had the unique characteristics required to adopt free markets.
He extensively criticizes cultural relativists who argue that all cultures are equal, arguing that non-material measurements of human progress are irrational. A starving, diseased, and violently oppressed population, Duchesne argues, can never be free or prosperous.
He also criticizes Sinocentrism, a theory that argues that for most of human history China was the world’s primary center of commerce. Duchesne argues that the classical Western world’s richest areas were more prosperous than China’s, although China was more advanced on a whole.
Fundamentally, the West’s aristocratic moral character is the main reason why the West is superior. He argues that this is compounded by various biological, environmental, and cultural factors.
I found Duchesne’s arguments to be compelling, but the writing style to be boring and repetitive. Overall this book is worth reading if you are into advanced libertarian thought, but has little interest for the general public.
King Leopold's Ghost
King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonia Africa
by Adam Hochschild
This book certainly changed by perspective of the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country which has fascinated me for several months.
The book opens with the history of the heroic explorers who braved numerous dangers such as hostile natives, disease, starvation, rugged environments, and “worms that burrow in the feet.” Hochschild covers their victories, their personal tragedies, as well as their heinous crimes.
Hochschild also devotes much ink to the life of King Leopold, and explores the character of Europe’s most murderous monarch. He talks about his life history, and paints Leopold as not just a murderer, a complex 3-dimensional human being with rational motives.
Finally, he also devotes many pages to the dissidents and activists who went to the Congo and condemned the exploitation of the natives. He also reflects on the current situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I found the writing style to be very clear and pleasant to read. The book is well-paced but still remains very information-dense.
By the end of this book, I truly understood the title. The ghost of King Leopold still haunts the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most of my articles are book reviews, but I also write about many other topics.
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Categorized | Featured, News, Press Release, Uncategorized
MP urges employers in Derbyshire to recognise the potential of disabled people
A new campaign launched by the charity Leonard Cheshire is calling for better support for disabled people on their journey to employment and whilst in work. Chesterfield MP, Toby Perkins, has joined the campaign and is urging employers in Derbyshire to recognise the potential of disabled people when recruiting new staff.
Toby said: ‘There has been significant progress in improving access to the workplace for disabled people but there is still a lot of work to do to level the playing field and break down barriers caused by stigma, prejudice and a lack of understanding about the capabilities of disabled people, and the support that is available.’
A Government fund, ‘Access to Work’, exists to support businesses with adaptations to help disabled people in the workplace. The fund can help with everything from mobility ramps or lifts to sign language translators.
Recent research conducted by Leonard Cheshire revealed that one in five employers said they would be less likely to employ a disabled person. Of those employers who are less likely to employ a disabled person, almost three in four said they would be concerned they would struggle to do the job.
Toby added, ‘I am delighted to support Leonard Cheshire’s Untapped Talent campaign, and would encourage employers to investigate the Access to Work would help them. I urge employers in Chesterfield to recognise the skills and knowledge that disabled people have and that make them an asset to our workplaces.’
Toby at the launch of Leonard Cheshire’s Untapped Talent campaign
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Home » Club News » Pete Healey of Tewkesbury RFC nominated for Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer of the Year Awards
Pete Healey of Tewkesbury RFC nominated for Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer of the Year Awards
15 Jun, 2018 in Club News by admin
Pete Healey of Tewkesbury RFC has been nominated for the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer of the Year Awards for their work as a rugby volunteer and their dedication to the game.
The awards are part of the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer Recognition Programme which provides grassroots rugby clubs and the rugby community with opportunities to recognise and reward the volunteers who make up such an integral part of the game.
Pete has been involved for over 15 years as Coach, Junior and senior committee member, Safeguarding officer and Grounds coordinator. He does a lot of work behind the scene which includes securing a number of grants for the Club.
Pete said “I was very proud to be part of the presentation by the GRFU and to meet the rest of the worthy volunteers.”
Pete is one of a select group of rugby volunteers in the area who attended an awards event held at Mitsubishi Cheltenham on June the 14th. At this event, one volunteer will be announced as a Volunteer of the Year finalist – earning them a place at the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer of the Year Awards night at Twickenham Stadium on Friday 7 September 2018. Three overall winners will be announced on the evening and each one will receive a Mitsubishi car for a year as a thank you for their continued support of the game.
As well as the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer of the Year Awards, the programme offers a number of opportunities to say thank you to the thousands of volunteers who give back to grassroots rugby, week in, week out. Find out more about how you can show your appreciation for a volunteer in your rugby community by visiting www.englandrugby.com/mitsubishivolunteers.
← June 2018 200 club winners
July 2018 – 200 club winners →
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Trade Policy Review 2015: New Zealand (New Zealand)
Bulk Discounts for Trade Policy Review 2015: New Zealand (New Zealand)
Trade Policy Reviews analyze the trade policies and practices of every member of the World Trade Organization. As well as analyzing by sector and by trade measure, the reports also look into the country’s wider economic environment. The reviews consist of three main parts: an independent report by the WTO secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the chair of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body following discussion of the review by the WTO membership.
A key trade facts section at the front of the review provides a handy visual overview of the country’s major exports/imports, its main export destinations, the main countries of origin for its imports and other key economic data.
Each Trade Policy Review consists of three parts: a report by the government under review, a report written independently by the WTO Secretariat, and the concluding remarks by the chair of the Trade Policy Review Body. A highlights section provides an overview of key trade facts. 15 to 20 new review titles are published each year. The reviews consist of detailed chapters examining the trade policies and practices of the member and describing trade policy-making institutions and the macroeconomic situation; these chapters are preceded by the Secretariat's Summary Observations, which summarize the report and presents the Secretariat's perspective on the member's trade policies. The Secretariat report and the member's policy statement are published after the review meeting, along with the minutes of the meeting and the text of the Chairperson's Concluding Remarks.
World Trade Organization WTO
Brookings Institution Press (May 24, 2016)
Trade Policy Review 2016: China (China) $70.00
Brookings Institution Press (January 17, 2017)
Trade Policy Review 2016: Singapore (Singapore) $70.00
Brookings Institution Press (December 27, 2016)
Trade Policy Review 2016: Maldives (Maldives) $70.00
Trade Policy Review 2016: Honduras (Honduras) $70.00
Trade Policy Review 2016: Albania (Albania) $70.00
Brookings Institution Press (October 25, 2016)
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Everyone knows the old adage that declares "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This time-honored wisdom certainly makes sense. We wouldn't wait until we were riding on the wheel rim before we repaired a leaking automobile tire. We wouldn't wait until there were obvious signs of termite damage to our home before calling in the pest control experts. But, in contrast, many of us fail to implement the same kinds of straightforward preventive measures to help ensure appropriate levels of physical fitness and ongoing good health.
Owning Your Health
Recent discussions in the scientific literature are focusing on monitoring and possibly improving cardiovascular health in children. There's been a lot of conversation and a lot of controversy. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association1 argued that universal screening of children
Principles of Posture
Long ago and far away, a fourth-grade teacher told a student to "stand up straight - you look like a pretzel". The unthinking adult only offered criticism. The child was left to try to unkink himself in the ways that probably caused more structural damage. Most of us think good posture involves thrusting
Rise and Shine!
We all know people who get up with the first rays of the sun. Some people wake up even earlier, bouncing out of bed before there is even a glimmer of Homer's famous "rosy- fingered dawn" in the eastern sky. In contrast, for many people leaving the confines of their comfortable bed is a daily exercise
The Luck of the Draw
Some people do all the right things and still develop serious health problems. Others flaunt their bad habits and are able to live long lives, dying peacefully in their sleep at the age of 95. For example, high blood pressure (hypertension, HTN) is a common chronic disease in the United States. With
Your New Reality
Is it possible to create a new personal reality? So-called unscripted television shows say you can - "The Biggest Loser" being one of the more popular of these tell-all and show-all programs. But most of us realize that these shows don't closely represent reality as we experience it. What causes us to
Bad Habits Lead to Bad Health
Did you know that drinking too much soda or other carbonated beverages could interfere with calcium absorption - a problem that could eventually lead to osteoporosis? Or that slouching at a desk all day or tapping away at a computer keyboard can lead to painful strains in your wrists, shoulders, elbows
Sleep Better: 8 Simple Steps
Ten to fifteen percent of Americans suffer from chronic insomnia. Do you? Most of us experience an occasional sleepless night, but prolonged bouts of insomnia can lead to decreased mental function, frazzled nerves, and lowered immunity. The good news is that you don’t have to pop
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In the Common Core, Is there a Place for Domain Specific Vocabulary in the Discipline of English/Language Arts?
The Common Core standards consistently emphasize "general academic and domain-specific vocabulary," in equal measures. They are almost always used together.
One thing I've noticed in the standards, however, is both a peculiar lack of domain-specific vocabulary within the discipline of English and Language Arts, and inaccuracy when it is used.
For example, Ye Olde Massachusetts Standards:
Identify and analyze characteristics of genres (satire, parody, allegory, pastoral) that overlap or cut across the lines of genre classifications such as poetry, prose, drama, short story, essay, and editorial.
That sort of genre analysis -- fundamental to the discipline of English (and the humanities in general) -- is conspicuously absent from the Common Core.
This is a more typical formulation for the CC:
Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
Is it my imagination, or is this written in such a way to require as little domain-specific knowledge or vocabulary within English Language Arts as possible?
When domain-specific vocabulary is used in the standards, it is mangled. For example according to CC, "informational texts" = "literary nonfiction" which is defined as:
Includes the subgenres of exposition, argument, and functional text in the form of personal essays, speeches, opinion pieces, essays about art or literature, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience.
That's just a mess on stilts, none of those definitions fits their "domain-specific" definition or makes any sense.
What I'm realizing now is that all this is a bit more intentional than I thought.
Here's what Achieve is telling secondary school leaders:
Academic Vocabulary: Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words (such as “discourse,” “generation,” “theory” and “principled”) and less on esoteric literary terms (such as “onomatopoeia” or “homonym”), teachers constantly build students’ ability to access more complex texts across the content areas.
This argument by Achieve has no basis in the text of the standards, which gives general academic and domain-specific terms equal weight, but it is becoming the standard interpretation.
SHIFT 6: Academic Vocabulary from EngageNY on Vimeo.
What I have come to realize over the years is that I teach discreet [sic] genre-related skills for poetry, drama, “the novel and memoir.[sic] Why was I sending kids off to college and work without teaching them how to engage in complex, informational and non-fiction text? Now I have partners in that effort in other content classes down the hall. it makes sense.
Now, I'm actually sympathetic with their general point about "tier 2" words being relatively under-taught, and I can see how this could especially be an issue with disadvantaged students. And I can imagine liking a set of standards which de-emphasized some academic vocabulary because they were less narrowly academic overall.
But these standards are not only very narrowly academic in their goals, but with a particular emphasis on close reading and textual analysis. Are we really dead set on doing this without using "esoteric literary terms (such as “onomatopoeia” or 'homonym')?" Why, exactly? In the video, David Coleman talks about the subtlety of meaning lost in over-emphasizing synonyms. Is it ok to teach the word "synonym" but not "homonym?" Or should we just use "words that mean almost the same thing" and "words that sound the same but are different" instead to prepare kids for college?
I think Coleman genuinely wants students and teachers who love words and language, but I don't understand the hostility toward words used to describe and analyze other words.
To the extent there is an explanation to this, I think it can be attributed to the rivalry between ELA and Literacy experts and teachers. Literacy people heavily outnumbered ELA people on these standards, and they're using the process to disarm their institutional rivals by literally removing their words -- their tools -- from schools.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 10:48 PM 2 comments:
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 3:22 PM No comments:
It's been a Helluva Year for Central PA in the National News
(CNN) -- Three females and a male shooter were killed Friday in central Pennsylvania, authorities said.
Three Pennsylvania State Police officers were hurt while responding, according to Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio. One of them was wounded when a bullet hit his armored vest, another was hurt in a vehicle accident involving the unidentified shooter, and the third was hit by flying glass as the shooter fired through the windshield of the officer's vehicle.
Blair County Coroner Patty Ross said that three females and one male, the shooter, were dead. It was not immediately clear whether all four fatalities were from gunshot wounds or where they were killed.
Trendspotting with John Thompson
John Thompson:
But, perhaps there is a simpler method of holding the "reformers" accountable. The World, the New Jersey Star Ledger and the Chicago Tribune have recently published confidential documents that provide glimpses of the motives of these accountability hawks. All three sets of documents reveal their deep suspicion of the public and of public schools, and provide evidence that the "reform" movement is morphing into an effort to privatize schools.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 4:21 PM 2 comments:
Achieve's Common Core ELA Benchmarking
I guess I never noticed these two documents published by Achieve in 2010:
Comparing the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects and the Standards of Alberta, Canada and New South Wales, Australia
Comparing the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects to California and Massachusetts Standards
Not surprisingly, both are too general and slanted to be of any real value. Achieve, Fordham, and the rest of the current US standards activists have a double standard for evaluating ELA standards compared to math. They believe that other, higher scoring, countries have better math standards than us, and that generally we should emulate them. In ELA, they just don't really like other countries' standards, high performing or not. They are quite confident that they've got some new ideas that are even better than those of the proven high performing states in the US.
So in the report you get a lot of comments like this:
The other state standards tend to apply such close reading to literary texts and not to informational material.
Of course, the reason other states and countries do not apply close reading techniques to informational material is that it is mostly a waste of time. The vast majority of "informational text" simply does not reflect enough care or craft to be worth the bother. Where informational text is very rich, it tends to yield more easily to literary techniques anyhow. There's no reason to think that a student who can perform a close reading of Poe and Melville can't handle the Gettysburg Address. There is something to be said for close reading in analyzing argument and persuasion, but I'd rather see that in a separate set of standards on rhetoric (for which there is ample precedent).
Anyway, if someone other than Achieve tried to add a major new task in math that high performing states and countries omit, their benchmarking would almost certainly frown upon it. That's the point of this enterprise, isn't it?
Here's some more stuff about Alberta vs. Common Core.
Here's a nice quote from the New South Wales standards which for some reason omits the phrase "college and career readiness:"
English involves the study and use of language in its various textual forms, encompassing written, spoken and visual texts of varying complexity, including the language systems of English through which meaning is conveyed, interpreted and reflected.
The study of English enables students to recognise and use a diversity of approaches and texts to meet the growing array of literacy demands, including higher-order social, aesthetic and cultural literacy. This study is designed to promote a sound knowledge of the structure and function of the English language and to develop effective English communication skills*. The English Stage 6 courses develop in students an understanding of literary expression and nurture an appreciation of aesthetic values. Through reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and representing experience, ideas and values, students are encouraged to adopt a critical approach to all texts and to distinguish the qualities of texts. Students also develop English language skills to support their study at Stage 6 and beyond.
In Stage 6, students come to understand the complexity of meaning, to compose and respond to texts according to their form, content, purpose and audience, and to appreciate the personal, social, historical, cultural and workplace contexts that produce and value them. Students reflect on their reading and learning and understand that these processes are shaped by the contexts in which they respond to and compose texts.
The study of English enables students to make sense of, and to enrich, their lives in personal, social and professional situations and to deal effectively with change. Students develop a strong sense of themselves as autonomous, reflective and creative learners. The English Stage 6 syllabus is designed to develop in students the faculty to perceive and understand their world from a variety of perspectives, and it enables them to appreciate the richness of Australia’s cultural diversity.
The syllabus is designed to develop enjoyment of English and an appreciation of its value and role in learning.
Not very Common Core-y at all, is it?
Also True In Education
Atrios:
We have two things going on here. One is the understood rule that Democrats must be civil and nice and never commit the sin of accurately describing the views of Republicans. Second is the entrenched pundit utterly unconcerned with actual policy or judicial outcomes because, you know, they won't actually impact him.
You might have to substitute "reformer" for "Republican" here.
What's Cooking at the College Board?
Kati Haycock:
I’m writing to let you know that, after 16 years at the Education Trust, Amy Wilkins will be leaving early next year to take a new position at the College Board.
That'll be working under new College Board president David Coleman, of course.
The Common Core, particularly "if implemented correctly" as we say, undercuts the argument for The College Board's two best known products, the SAT and AP (at least in English and Math). They're not going to be sitting on their hands over in that wealthy non-profit.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 3:27 PM 1 comment:
Grifters Gotta Grift
Kathleen Porter-Magee:
Earlier this year, the GE Foundation awarded an $18 million, four-year grant to Student Achievement Partners—the group co-founded by the chief CCSS architects David Coleman, Sue Pimentel, and Jason Zimba—to support (among other things) the development of Common Core–aligned curriculum and instructional resources. In addition to being developed under the careful guidance of the lead authors of the standards themselves (and all signs seem to suggest that these materials will be top-notch), SAP-developed resources will be open source and provided at no cost to teachers around the country.
This week, Student Achievement Partners announced a new partnership with the NEA and AFT, which will be funded with a three-year, $11 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, “to jointly design tools and digital applications to support teachers in their practice.”
I haven't seen any evidence at all that Student Achievement Partners has the capacity to create successful curriculum and instructional resources (and plenty to the contrary). The only thing that is clear is that they excel at turning connections in to cash.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 11:16 AM No comments:
Apparently Eli Broad isn't the Only One Funding a Fifth Column Within Our Public Institutions
Rajiv Chandrasekaran:
Petraeus allowed his biographer-turned-paramour, Paula Broadwell, to read sensitive documents and accompany him on trips. But the entree granted the Kagans, whose think-tank work has been embraced by Republican politicians, went even further. The four-star general made the Kagans de facto senior advisers, a status that afforded them numerous private meetings in his office, priority travel across the war zone and the ability to read highly secretive transcripts of intercepted Taliban communications, according to current and former senior U.S. military and civilian officials who served in the headquarters at the time.
The Kagans used those privileges to advocate substantive changes in the U.S. war plan, including a harder-edged approach than some U.S. officers advocated in combating the Haqqani network, a Taliban faction in eastern Afghanistan, the officials said.
The pro-bono relationship, which is now being scrutinized by military lawyers, yielded valuable benefits for the general and the couple. The Kagans’ proximity to Petraeus, the country’s most-famous living general, provided an incentive for defense contractors to contribute to Kim Kagan’s think tank. For Petraeus, embracing two respected national security analysts in GOP circles helped to shore up support for the war among Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
Or maybe Eli and Bill got the idea from AEI.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Burkins and Yaris:
One main idea we gathered from reading the PARCC text and test items (Pun intended!) is that PARCC seems to be confusing text complexity with text that is difficult because it is poorly written. Complexity is not the only reason a text may prove challenging, but it is the purpose of the PARCC assessments, as they clearly state that every item in the test is designed to assess text complexity. Making something complex involves more than making it “hard.”
This to me was always the risk of emphasizing "text complexity."
Also, text complexity in assessments is one of the few things in this whole process which can be "objectively" enforced. Not that each text has some Platonic true complexity, but you can write an algorithm to spit out a number which "proves" your case. So you can add in the commentary to the standards "Also, this has to be a genuinely valuable, well written, virtuous, whatever" text, but at the end of the day, that's not going to carry much weight in the test writing process. But they will get the complexity numbers to come out right.
TIMMS, Effort and Shovel-Ready Science
In my first look at the 2011 TIMMS and PIRLS results, I asserted that we've put much more effort into reading -- especially 4th grade reading -- than math and science, despite all the hand-wringing about STEM and STEAM. Among all the survey data and other analysis in the TIMMS and PIRLS reports, I did notice one table that backs me up.
For each test, principals were polled on the question of how much resource shortages affected instruction in the relevant subject area. In 4th grade reading, we have the fewest principals reporting their schools are "not affected," at 45%. This is the lowest percentage of all participating countries in reading; our scale score in the subject is a very competitive 6th.
I looked at the same rankings in math and science and compared us to Korea in each.
In math we have 42% and 43% not affected by resources shortages in 4th and 8th grade, ranking #6 and #8, respectively. Our scores rank #11 and #9.
Korea has 22% and 15% fewer schools reporting affects of resource shortages in math in those grades. They rank in the top three for both resources and overall scores.
In science we have 34% and 39% reporting their schools are not affected by resource shortages, ranking us #6 and #10 for resources and #7 and #10 for scores.
In 4th grade science, Korea is #1 in both resources and scores; in 8th grade they are #3 in each. They have 29% fewer schools with resource shortages in science in 4th grade, 18% fewer in 8th.
Now, the first cherry I picked there worked out pretty neatly, I'm sure the overall correlation is considerably less tidy. My point isn't that this is the decisive point or spending X million dollars would vault us to the top of the rankings.
But, you can certainly look to this while pulling your hair out and fighting back tears about what could possibly be done to improve math and science education in America, when everything we're trying seems like a triple-bank shot with our eyes closed. It might work to write new standards, then new tests, then new VAM models, use them in new evaluation systems, which we then tie to teacher training programs, which we use to rank schools of education, and then maybe create an entirely new alternative system of ed schools, etc., etc., etc.
In the meantime, it certainly couldn't hurt to shell out a little cash to make sure math and science teachers have all the resources they need. Right now 2/3rds of elementary principals believe that science instruction in their schools is affected negatively by resource shortages.
Sure, some of it will end up going into gold-plated telescopes and short-toothed clam rakes, but of all the things we could be doing, it is the easiest and most "shovel-ready," and it seems to have helped in early reading.
You Can Count Me as "Anti-David Coleman"
Cedar Riener:
None of these points are tangential, they get to the core of the philosophical disputes in these cases. The reason Michelle Rhee was so despised in DC was that she openly and bluntly dismissed the value of dialogue, diplomacy and consensus. (“I think if there is one thing I have learned over the last 15 months, it’s that cooperation, collaboration and consensus-building are way overrated.”) Part and parcel of this attitude is maintaining tha tyou have nothing ot learn from understanding The reason David Coleman is so despised is that his language indicates a disgust with his opponents. To me, this represents not just a disconnect between sides of an emotional issue, but a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of your own job. David Coleman, if you treat teachers who use Huck Finn as an entrance to modern racial identity as if they are training shallow navel-gazers, they will stop listening to you. I am not anti-David Coleman, and neither is Rachel, we are probably natural allies if you look at our support of Core Knowledge and the role of background factual knowledge in critical thinking. but the cursing in this case says “I am not taking people who disagree with me seriously.”
Where Would A People's History of the United States Fit in the Common Core?
American Educator has a critique of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. I find the AFT's traditional conservative slant to be tiresome, but Wineburg makes some good points, and A People's History is certainly a polemic, but as usual I think Wineburg's perspective overstates the overall influence of Zinn in actual American classrooms.
Regardless, it does provide a good context for thinking about how the Common Core is supposed to work.
For starters, perhaps this essay should just be seen as an argument that A People's History is not a sufficiently high quality text to satisfy the exhortations of the authors of the Common Core standards. This would be especially true since the Common Core history standards emphasize primary or at least secondary sources, and A People's History, which, according to Wineburg, mostly cites other secondary sources, when it has citations at all.
On the other hand, A People's History is indisputably in the Core's wheelhouse of "informational texts" aka "Literary Nonfiction" aka "...historical accounts written for a broad audience," especially given that commentary around the standards emphasizes evaluating arguments and rhetoric. You can't learn to critique arguments if you are only given pre-selected texts with airtight logic and ample factual evidence. Or maybe that's what the CC authors have in mind.
So instead, perhaps you'll read A People's History in English instead of History class, with an English teacher guiding you through a set of tasks primarily focused on close reading and analysis of the text itself, with only part of one standard addressing whether "the evidence is relevant and sufficient." This might work out fine, in fact Wineburg's own analysis is more about how Zinn constructs his text as a whole than a point by point refutation.
Or perhaps not. Maybe students will sit through watered down history (and science) lessons taught by English teachers in the name of meeting the "informational text" requirement. It is difficult to say what the Common Core's vision of disciplinary and interdisciplinary literacy really is, or how it will play out in tests and classrooms.
A Few Words About Mr. Round
I had the pleasure of working a bit with Stephen Round at Fortes Elementary 10 years ago, back when they were winning national praise (and grants) for their use of technology and particularly for their ongoing schoolwide project to build museum displays throughout the school telling the history of the neighborhood and the restored mill that housed the school. Steve's class's particular passion was ice harvesting, which is still documented online.
PIRLS 2011: We've Succeeded at What We've Truly Focused On
From where I sit, we've only truly had an all hands on deck, we're going to spend whatever needs to be spent, this nation is at risk, I'd consider it an act of war if imposed upon me by an unfriendly foreign power, kind of response in one sliver of education reform over the past 15 years or so, and that is in elementary reading. I'm not going to marshal statistics to prove it; it should be obvious to anyone with a good view of the process.
To me this is symbolized in the elementary school down the street where the new literacy/data center sits in the ruins of the formerly state of the art science center (itself within the original library).
That is not to say I agree with a lot of our literacy strategy, but there is a vast difference between the amount of push in early reading instruction now and decades earlier.
And, importantly, we've traditionally had good professional capacity in this area.
So... the scores for the 2011 PIRLS 4th grade international reading test is out, and we killed it. Killed it.
These two graphs lay it out pretty well. First, the overall score distribution (red = 5th-25th and 75th-95th percentile, black = 95% confidence interval for the average). Click to expand:
When you break out the scores by economic background, we do even better:
There's a name for the effect when you outscore everyone else in each subcategory but get a lower overall score because of the relative distribution of each group (i.e., you have too many in the most disadvantaged group). I'm not going to look up the name right now, but that's what's going on here. We're #1 in the top two groups and 5th in the third, by my scan. Against Finland we're +15/+3/-4. Against Russia we're +15/+8/-12. Against Singapore we're +1/+14/-4. We just have a low number of "more affluent" schools and a lot of "more disadvantaged" ones.
I guess Florida is the only state that took the PIRLS to be scored individually, and their scores are gaudy. First, first, and second by income group.
Yes, I know Florida's 4th grade reading scores are suspect because of their retention policies, but the whole northeast does as well or better than Florida on 4th grade NAEP, so some states would do even better, and Rhode Island might even look pretty good.
Ultimately, no, I don't put that much stock in any one test, etc., and we know our scores tend to decline at higher grade levels, and we don't do as well in math and science.
But, this is still an impressive indication of what we can do if we set our minds to it and invest real money and effort -- without the whole privatization agenda. I don't see us beating the world in math for pretty much the same reason we won't win the World Cup anytime soon; we do pretty good in soccer, for a country that doesn't really like soccer that much. And I'm not convinced we're even really trying in science at this point (heck, it's only 1/4th of STEM).
But Jeez Louise, this is probably the best we've ever done on any international test in K-12, ever. You'd think people would be happy. Especially the people who profess to think international comparisons are extremely important.
I Didn't Know Staff Writers Got Tenure
Prachi Gupta:
Stewart, who was told that he could not change the jokes, called his agent, saying “get me the fuck out of this. These people are insane.” He admitted that he “had to be talked down from a moderately high cliff” from quitting. Fortunately for America, Stewart stuck it out — but it took him “about two and a half years for the ‘natural winnowing process’ to leave him with a fully supportive staff.”
Apparently The Daily Show didn't qualify for a SIG-funded turnaround.
Good Thing Rhode Island Hasn't Tried Following Massachusetts' Strategies
James Vaznis:
Massachusetts eighth-graders outperformed most countries on a highly regarded international math and science exam, according to results being released Tuesday, offering fresh evidence that the state’s educational system rivals academically powerful nations around the globe.
In the science part of the test, only Singapore outscored Massachusetts eighth-graders. In math, Massachusetts trailed only South Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and Japan; 63 countries took the test.
For that matter, Massachusetts isn't sticking with what got them there either. I'm sure we're both better off becoming more like Florida, Texas or Tennessee.
It Isn't Just About Skills
Krugthulu:
So the story has totally shifted; if you want to understand what’s happening to income distribution in the 21st century economy, you need to stop talking so much about skills, and start talking much more about profits and who owns the capital. Mea culpa: I myself didn’t grasp this until recently. But it’s really crucial.
You also need some leverage to demand higher wages. Maybe a little collective action.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 9:55 AM No comments:
I Figured the Point was to Keep Each Episode Manageably Short
Dana Stevens:
When I heard Jackson was taking on The Hobbit as a three-parter, my first thought wasn’t to snicker at his hubris but to look forward to the chance to spend more time in Middle Earth.
More time in Middle Earth is exactly what The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey provides—so much more that the movie starts to feel like some Buddhist exercise in deliberately inflicted tedium. Before we ever set foot in the hobbits' shire or lay eyes on any of the main characters, there’s a 20-minute long CGI prologue that provides a Bayeux Tapestry-length account of the mythic fall of Erebor, the dwarves’ once-glorious homeland. Bilbo doesn’t actually pack his bag and leave the damn shire until about an hour in to the movie, which clocks in at just 10 minutes short of three hours.
Apparently not.
Buying the Conventional Wisdom
Dan Froomkin:
Most reporters, however -- including many widely admired for their intelligence and aggressive reporting -- simply refused to blame one side more than the other. Mann said he was struck in conversations with journalists by how influenced they were by the heavily funded movement to promote a bipartisan consensus around deficit reduction and austerity. Such a bipartisan consensus doesn't actually exist, Mann pointed out. But if you believe it does, than you can blame both parties for failing to reach it.
"The Peterson world, I think, has given journalists the material to keep doing what they're doing," Mann said of the vast network of think tanks and other influential Washington groups underwritten at least in part by Wall Street billionaire Peter Peterson.
Peterson's vast spending has given rise to an environment of contempt among the Washington elites for anyone who doesn't believe the government is dangerously overextended. And by that reckoning, the Democrats are therefore more out of touch with reality than Republicans, who at least pay the concept ample lip service.
First Fluke, Now Fleck
Rebecca Berdar:
Pennsylvania’s 81st District is a diverse place — a three county territory that encompasses Appalachian, Amish and liberal arts cultures in the midst of the urban and academic centers of Altoona and State College. It’s a diversity mirrored by its elected representative Mike Fleck, a conservative Christian who is disclosing that he is also gay.
It is unfortunate that the whole article in The Huntingdon Daily News is behind their paywall because it is really very well done. I had to chuckle over Berdar's description of the "diversity" in my home town -- Appalachia, Amish and liberal arts. Pretty accurate except there really aren't that many Amish around.
The Short Explanation: They Didn't Give it Much Thought
Leonie Haimson:
Coleman’s comments lead me to suspect that he and other supporters of the Common Core have not thought their prescription out carefully. Traditionally, in high school English classes, two novels, at least one play and several poems are regularly assigned; that works out to 700 pages of text or more. In order to achieve the 70% ratio without sacrificing huge chunks of literature that would mean that more than 1500 pages of non-fiction would have to be parceled out across all subjects.
They must have talked about the issue when writing the "range of reading" standards, though, and decided not to include the lit/informational ratio in there. Why?
What They Mean By "Multiple Measures," Take 27
Bruce Baker:
What we have here is NYSED threatening that they may enforce a corrective action plan on the district if the district uses any other measures of teacher or principal effectiveness that are not sufficiently correlated WITH THE STATE’S OWN BIASED MEASURES OF PRINCIPAL AND TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS!
This is the icing on the cake! This is sick- warped- wrong! Consultants to the state find that the measures are biased, and then declare they are “fair and accurate.” The Chancellor spews propaganda that reliance on these measures must proceed with all deliberate speed! (or ELSE!!!!!!!). Then the Chancellor’s enforcers warn individual district officials that they will be subjected to mind control – excuse me – departmental oversight – if they dare to present their own observational or other ratings of teachers or principals that don’t correlate sufficiently with the state imposed, biased measures.
Tell us how you really feel, Bruce.
Standards for Curricula
The Common Core standards are, of course, standards for what students should know and be able to do. The marketing of the Common Core ELA standards has been almost entirely focused on using the Common Core as standards for curricula, particularly the content of published curricula.
Coleman, Pimentel, etc., do not see teachers as the lever to implement the reforms they are interested in. They don't think like teachers at all. What they are clearly interested in is changing textbooks, instructional materials and tests. This is, I might add, a much more direct approach to changing America's classrooms.
For example, if you create an elementary reading program, or a high school ELA textbook, or a reading assessment, you pretty much understand what you're supposed to be doing when you manipulate the ratio of literature to informational texts. It's like changing the recipe a bit. Add 35% more "creative non-fiction?" I'll grab some more content from the cabinet, no problem.
But for teachers and schools, particularly high schools, a lot of this rhetoric just doesn't make sense. It does not apply, at least without a heck of a lot more explanation than has been offered thus far. What, exactly constitutes a unit of reading? A "passage?" How many passages in a book? Pages? How many Gettysburg Addresses equal one novel? Are all texts in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects also informational texts for this purpose despite the fact that they are defined separately in the standards? Do you have to analyze the text for it to count or just read it? How does Euclid count? If it counts, why not your math text? If these are annoying questions for which there are no answers, whose idea was it to start talking about percentages in the first place?
Do you really expect the whole school to change its practices to suit a comment in the introduction to one set of standards used by the school? To whom should anyone be held accountable for this?
Anyhow, that's one source of this confusion: they spent their big rollout on messages aimed at publishers, not schools. Now it is biting them in the ass.
David Coleman is Washing His Hands of this Mess
Lyndsey Layton:
The standards explicitly say that Shakespeare and classic American literature should be taught, said Coleman, who became president of the College Board in November. “It does really concern me that these facts are not as clear as they should be,” he said.
The Disciplinary Literacies Necessary to Read Literacy Standards
If Coleman is complaining that no one understands his 66 page document with a key fact in a foot note on page 5, maybe HE needs some remedial non-fiction writing instruction so that the core of his core statement is actually understood – rather than misunderstood.
Rick Hess Beats Me to the Punch
Rick Hess:
First, politicians will actually embrace the Common Core assessments and then will use them to set cut scores that suggest huge numbers of suburban schools are failing. Then, parents and community members who previously liked their schools are going to believe the assessment results rather than their own lying eyes. (In the case of NCLB, these same folks believed their eyes rather than the state tests, and questioned the validity of the latter--but the presumption is that things will be different this time.) Finally, newly convinced that their schools stink, parents and voters will embrace "reform." However, most of today's proffered remedies--including test-based teacher evaluation, efforts to move "effective" teachers to low-income schools, charter schooling, and school turnarounds--don't have a lot of fans in the suburbs or speak to the things that suburban parents are most concerned about.
I also wonder how the low performing southern states will react, although there is more variation within the between states, so maybe it won't be very noticeable.
I've been kind of amazed at how everyone just assumes the NECAP 11th grade math cut scores are just fine, even though it seems to be twice as hard to pass as the MCAS, so who knows.
Maybe the Problem is Your Policies are Unpopular and Ineffective
Ben Wieder:
Speaking in Washington, D.C. at the fifth annual Excellence in Action National Summit on Education Reform Tuesday (November 27), John Podesta said that major electoral defeats in Indiana, Idaho and South Dakota showed the folly of painting unions as the enemy.
I don't think the unions did anything different this time around, it is just that people are starting to understand what the "reform" agenda actually is, and in particular, that it is only appealing when applied in the abstract to other people's children/schools. Try to apply it state-wide and people start to look more closely.
M-What?
Roger Schank:
A few years ago I was asked for my annual prediction my e-learning magazine and I predicted the death of m-learning. I was attacked by everyone. Funny we don’t hear so much about m-learning any more. Learning is a field that is very trendy. There is always the latest greatest that everyone must do. Today this is “social learning” and “on the job learning.”
There is one problem with this. None of this stuff is ever new in any way. Learning hasn't changed in a million years. Did I say a million? Too conservative. How do chimp babies learn? Socially? Of course. They copy what their mothers do and what their playmates do. (Amazingly they do this without Facebook.)
Test Scores for Teacher Effectiveness SCREENING
Douglas N. Harris:
But they also made one decision that I think was a mistake. They encouraged—or required, depending on your vantage point—states to lump value-added or other growth model estimates together with other measures. The raging debate since then has been over what percentage of teachers’ final ratings should be given to value-added versus the other measures. I believe there is a better way to approach this issue, one that focuses on teacher evaluations not as a measure, but rather as a process.
This is depressingly obvious. Too bad we're ruled by malicious idiots.
What Exactly is Not STEAM?
So the cool kids have decided to add the Arts to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to make STEAM. Who could be against that? Indeed, what does it leave out? Literacy? I presume not. Literature? Isn't that an Art?
It seems like the only thing left out is History & Social Studies, which is already the red-headed stepchild of American education, so... ?
STEAM = more of everything? More of what we already do? Just adding Engineering?
Flogging a Dead Horse
Stephen Downes:
Content (under whatever license) is 'enclosed' when it is contained behind a barrier such as proprietary encryption, a digital lock or a paywall. Enclosure does not restrict the content itself, but restricts access to the content; access is granted (typically under some other name) only via some concession, such as payment, or provision of personal information.
To my understanding, all of Flat World's content will now be enclosed behind a paywall. OERu assessments enclose assessment content. This mailing list (OER-community) encloses content behind a subscription requirement (I can't even link to discussions in my newsletter; all non-subscribers see is a barrier).
Enclosure is an important concept because it leads to 'conversion'. The process of conversion is one where what was once a resource that could be freely accessed is (for all practical purposes) accessible only through a barrier of some sort; in other words, the content is free, but has been effectively completely enclosed. This is what happened (for example) to many UseNet newsgroups. It almost happened to Wikipedia, and would have happened, has Google not intervened.
It seems to me that this is only a problem insofar as the cost of making and publishing a copy of "enclosed" but openly licensed material outweighs the value of doing so for each person in the world. It must be a problem on both ends.
There is a lot with format, etc., you can do to make copying a pain in the ass, and I don't think you are required to provide access to the "source code" in the same way you are with software, despite the fact that an educational resource may use a lot of software.
But I also suspect that OER's just aren't seen as that valuable. Is there an open educational resource as important as, say, BASH? Not that I'm aware of.
Also, the possibility of commercially re-distributing free content would be one of the main incentives to un-enclosing it. If Pearson is charging you $10 to access an OER, maybe I should copy it and offer it for $1. That might not be exactly what Stephen has in mind, but its a step.
I suspect a big part of the problem is just cultural at this point. It is well established that I can take a Red Hat Linux CD, change the name and try to sell it to you, or just give it away. I wouldn't win a lot of praise for that, but it is accepted. Would the same apply in the OER world if I was just copying openly licensed resources from behind paywalls?
I would note that it would be pretty easy for, say, Gates or Hewlett, to fund a project to just copy all OER's from behind paywalls and publish them.
Two Perspectives from the Urban Hellhole (Philly)
Chris Lehmann:
But the thing is – whether it is Michelle Rhee or Rahm Emmanuel or <-Insert Corporate Ed-Reformer Here->, they don’t hate the kids.
They really do want to starve your granny.
Both are right, and you have to be able to hold both ideas in your head at the same time. In part they're both right because there is a wide range of people in each camp. There are plenty of people who hate kids, and some of them support school reform. There is a punitive, sadistic streak in American politics and economic life. There's a lot of hubris and ambition. Also, too, racism.
On the other hand, "they're wrong because they don't care about kids as much as we do" isn't going to win the argument, because privatizers have invested heavily in turning that argument against "the teachers' unions." It might never carry the day, but right now it is like a frontal assault on the Maginot Line.
It is important though, to not approach this situation as if both sides can come together over a common concern for kids. Or that, once the other side sees the damage their policies are doing in the lives of real kids, they'll reconsider. That's not going to happen. They're way, way, way past getting the benefit of the doubt on anything like that.
And at bottom, it isn't really about ideology. The kernel of this thing is tribal, getting the right kind of people in charge of schools and schools' money. Their people. I just see too many cases where one year they close something down only to replace it a few years later with the same damn thing, just run by their people.
It's a Good Thing Checker Finn Hasn't Read the Common Core ELA Standards
Chester E. Finn, Jr., commenting on the CCSSO's "Vision for the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Inquiry in Social Studies State Standards," aka Common Core for Social Studies:
Did you spot the missing words? I’ll bet you did. They are the verb “know” and the noun “knowledge.”
If he checks, Mr. Finn might find that the CCSS ELA/Literacy standards make rather light use of "know" and "knowledge" as well, particularly in the standards themselves.
My biggest concern about this initial draft is that it just overlaps the CCSS Literacy Standards for History/Social Studies so much:
At the heart of the C3 Framework is an inquiry arc — a set of interlocking and mutually supportive ideas that feature the four dimensions of informed inquiry in social studies: 1) developing questions and planning investigations; 2) applying disciplinary concepts and tools; 3) gathering, evaluating, and using evidence; and 4) working collaboratively and communicating conclusions.
It would be nice if someone was actually coordinating this process so we don't end up with two redundant sets of standards.
Stand Up. Live Better.
Natasha Lennard:
Employees at 1,000 Walmart stores across the country are planning to strike on Black Friday. The holiday period industrial action comes in the wake of a string of strikes by Walmart workers in several states and involving employees throughout the retailer’s supply chain.
Looks like right now the closest planned solidarity demonstration is in Seekonk.
Woonsocket Voted for Mayoral Control, btw
Rob Borkowski:
Come November 2013, new Woonsocket School Committee members will get appointed to the board instead of elected.
City voters agreed to make the switch, casting approve votes on Question 8 — Amendments to the Woonsocket Home Rule Charter:"Shall the City of Woonsocket Home Rule Charter, Chapter XIV, be amended to provide for an appointed School Committee?"
Did You Say TWENTY DOLLARS AN HOUR?
The Mustache of Understanding:
Tapani eventually found a welder from another firm who had passed the American Welding Society Certified Welding Inspector exam, the industry’s gold standard, and he trained her welders — some of whom took several tries to pass the exam — so she could finish the job. Since then, Tapani trained a woman from Stacy, who had originally learned welding to make ends meet as a single mom. She took on the challenge of becoming a certified welding inspector, passed the exam and Tapani made her the company’s own in-house instructor, no longer relying on the local schools.
“She knows how to read a weld code. She can write work instructions and make sure that the people on the floor can weld to that instruction,” so “we solved the problem by training our own people,” said Tapani, adding that while schools are trying hard, training your own workers is often the only way for many employers to adapt to “the quick response time” demanded for “changing skills.” But even getting the right raw recruits is not easy. Welding “is a $20-an-hour job with health care, paid vacations and full benefits,” said Tapani, but “you have to have science and math. I can’t think of any job in my sheet metal fabrication company where math is not important. If you work in a manufacturing facility, you use math every day; you need to compute angles and understand what happens to a piece of metal when it’s bent to a certain angle.”
Who knew? Welding is now a STEM job — that is, a job that requires knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math.
Applying my STEM skills, $20/hr x 40 hrs x 52 weeks = $41,600, which is nice, I suppose, but for a specialized array of physical and mental skills, couldn't they just pay more? $20/hr. might sound like a lot if you haven't been paid an hourly wage since a summer job 20 years ago, but it doesn't go so far today.
What's particularly aggravating about this case is that it is in the defense industry. How many other people with fewer and more commonly held skills are making way more money off this Humvee armor? Pretty much everyone else probably. It isn't like they have to shave off pennies here to compete with Walmart Humvee armor.
Also, note that they "solved the problem by training our own people," anyhow. So why was this article even necessary?
A Realistic View of the Impact of Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies
Marc Brasov:
As policymakers move forward with the implementation of the Common Core, it is important to ensure that schools have the freedom to balance instruction and assessment with a high-quality curriculum, in history classes especially. But I fear that the Common Core's requirement for literacy skills in both history and English classrooms could have a very different effect.
The standards, as of now, suggest that more non-fiction texts be examined in English classes, while requiring history classes to increase their focus on reading and writing skills. Although such collaboration between subjects at first may seem like progress, recent history with NCLB and high-stakes testing suggests another possible outcome: more focus on literacy, less focus on history.
While specifying some examples of great primary texts that students should read and learn to analyze, the Common Core standards do not actually require that any history content be taught. Students might read history texts but fail to receive history instruction. It may very well be that English classes be mandated to act as history classes.
In other words, at some future point, will history and civic education classes be replaced with longer English classes in low-performing schools in order to improve test scores?
We Need New Ideas for Secure Digital Testing
Maybe we could use something like the Cotton Candy. Basically it is a little computer running Android or Ubuntu in a USB stick, with its own wireless network connection, that you can plug into a pc. With some client software on a Mac, PC or Linux, it will essentially take over the host computer's screen, keyboard and mouse, with all the software running on the stick. Or you can run it off a TV with a USB or Bluetooth mouse or PC.
At testing time, HQ would ship out the testing sticks to schools, with as much of the bandwidth-intensive media files as might be needed by the tests already loaded to cut down on network requirements. Every student could have an identical, secure testing environment regardless of the vagaries of the local PC stock.
Presumably people paid to think about this kind of thing are already doing so. I don't know.
Too Bad Everything isn't Like Math
Strategic Data Project:
Generally, we do not present ELA results in this report for two reasons. First, the variation in effects among ELA teachers is substantially smaller than that among math teachers. This finding is consistent with other research on teacher effects and may suggest that other factors outside of the classroom have a larger influence on children’s ELA performance than is the case in other subjects. Current research also suggests that ELA state tests may also be less sensitive to instruction. Second, we do not present results among ELA teachers because, in most instances, they are very similar to our findings concerning math teachers (though some are smaller in magnitude). We explicitly make note of instances where ELA and math results diverge.
That's a big asterisk. History, social studies, science (esp. elementary school science), the arts, and pretty much everything else you want to teach is more like ELA than math.
My Years of Posthumous PR Finally Pay Off
Dana Goldstein:
The whole saga at Crenshaw reminds me of the sad story of another creative public high school that bucked the prevailing reform winds of the day: Feinstein High, in Providence, Rhode Island. Feinstein was founded as a Ted Sizer-inspired “Essential School” organized around the principles of civic engagement and volunteer work. Serving just 360 students, Feinstein was highly nontraditional: It stressed long-form writing, not test scores, and there were no sports teams, class periods, or even grades. Every student had every teacher’s cell phone number, as well as a laptop they could carry between home and school. Although test scores were uneven, Feinstein demonstrated consistently impressive graduation and college-going rates compared to other high-poverty high schools in Rhode Island. For awhile, the school was recognized as a rare success story within an otherwise failing district. In 1999, the Gates Foundation gifted Providence $13.5 million to experiment with creating more small neighborhood high schools, using Feinstein as one model.
Over time, however, Gates, disappointed with stagnant test scores and graduation rates at some Foundation-funded small schools, decided to change his focus. In 2005, he stopped funding non-charter small schools and began investing heavily in school choice and standards-and-accountability reforms, such as charter schools and data-driven teacher evaluation. As the largest private foundation in the world, the Gates Foundation’s priorities are powerfully influential over the entire non-profit sector, and certainly help shape federal and state education agendas, too -- in part through the seeding of Foundation alumni, like Deasy, in important policy-making jobs. It didn’t take long for Feinstein to fall out of favor with Rhode Island’s political and philanthropic elite, and in 2010, despite emotional protests from students and teachers, the Providence school district shut Feinstein down.
Pick One or the Other, Please
Erik Robelsen:
Under revisions to South Carolina's social studies standards finalized last year, Mr. Huffman said, one addition was a suggested set of social studies literacy skills, some of which were derived from the common core.
Look, if you're going to adopt the Common Core Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, that at least excludes you from having to repeat them in the social studies subject area standards. You don't have to put the chocolate in your peanut butter and the peanut butter in your chocolate.
One big change, she said, is that students are expected to tackle a higher level of text complexity than before. "You're basically bumping up things by two years in a lot of cases," she said.
That's what led her to introduce Einstein's article for Science Illustrated magazine, "E=MC²: The Most Urgent Problem of Our Time."
Using the text is "one of the best ways that we have found" to address content goals in a unit on nuclear chemistry, Ms. Poeppelman said, while also "incorporating and weaving in common-core-standards goals." In particular, she identified two reading standards, one on analyzing text structure, the other on author's purpose.
That's nice, but if you're really concerned with "college and career readiness" it makes no damn sense to turn away from reading your textbook to analyze a magazine article, even one by Einstein. Correct me if I'm wrong, but STEM majors and professionals will primarily read textbooks, technical manuals and journal articles, which have a very standard text structure and a couple utilitarian purposes.
If your goal is to get kids ready to survive freshman chemistry on their own, you'd be better off just making them read their high school chemistry textbook and skip the literary analysis, right?
And actually taking a look at the Einstein text, it is arguably more interesting as a primary source document in history than a science text. This is pretty cool but not the kind of thing you have to be able to parse to pass freshman Physics:
‘What takes place can be illustrated with the help of our rich man. The atom M is a rich miser who, during his life, gives away no money (energy). But in his will he bequeaths his fortune to his sons MÅå and MÅç, on condition that they give to the community a small amount, less than one thousandth of the whole estate (energy or mass). The sons together have somewhat less than the father had (the mass sum MÅå+ MÅç is somewhat smaller than the mass M of the radioactive atom). But the part given to the community, though relatively small, is still so enormously large (considered as kinetic energy) that it brings with it a great threat of evil. Averting that threat has become the most urgent problem of our time.”‘
If this reminds you of the current influence of ed reform philanthropy, it is not my fault.
Depends on What You Mean by "Leading Indicator"
The most insightful line in CAP's new report Teacher Absence as a Leading Indicator of Student Achievement is surely:
Yet very little is known about the properties of this new school-level measure.
If, for example, teacher absence is a leading indicator of student achievement, you might expect the state with the lowest rate (Utah, 21% absent more than 10 days) to have significantly higher 8th grade NAEP scores than the state with the highest (RI, 50%). Alas, they don't.
This is the kind of think tank report where nobody really disputes the basic points -- a lot of teacher absences aren't good and they're influenced by direct policy choices (rules about taking absences) but also an indicator of problems with the culture of a school -- but you know in the end it is just going to be a hammer used to make teaching a worse job.
Also, there's pretty obviously a lot of potential slop in the data (e.g., If a teacher quits after two weeks, how many days of absence is it? If their long-term sub misses 10 days, is that two absent teachers for one job? etc...) and not a lot of explanation of its rigor.
The Blended Learning Product That Cannot Be Named
Michael Horn:
On the one hand, several blended-learning programs are continuing to use curriculum from one online provider, and although it doesn’t give them the customization they may prefer ideally, its simplicity and reliability are worth the tradeoff. Carpe Diem schools and the Flex Academies exemplify this–and neither seems to be complaining nearly as much about the technology.
Horn's post as a whole is a handwavy cop-out, but I'd say the above paragraph illustrates just how fucked K-12 ed-tech is. Which products, exactly, is Horn referring to? You will never know in ed-tech, because that might upset somebody actually important. God forbid educators might have a drop of honest opinion even accidentally fall on their lap regarding a Holy Vendor.
Paying for Modern Industrial Labor
Kevin Drum:
Companies like this all like to say that American manufacturing is too competitive with anyone in the world. But look. If you can't afford to train workers, and you can't afford to pay the wages it takes to attract good workers, then by definition that means you aren't competitive. You're only competitive if a recession has made people desperate and the government helps you out with training. And who knows? Maybe that's a good use of taxpayer money. Wall Street certainly benefits from the training provided by state universities. But it's still a subsidy no matter how you slice it. Without it, apparently, American manufacturing just isn't very competitive.
Part of the reason US unions eventually made progress in steel and other heavy manufacturing is that labor costs were a relatively small percentage of the companies costs. You can give out raises and benefits (and in the medium term especially retirement benfits!) without cutting into the bottom line too much.
You'd think that in high tech manufacturing, since you'd have fewer, higher skilled workers and a lot of investment in equipment, you'd also be able to pay the remaining workers more, but apparently not. Or maybe management would just prefer not to.
It is the Fall of 2015, Common Core Shows Seven Years of Reform Have Failed, Now What?
This is the central question of education policy in Obama's second term. Everyone expects that a switch to new Common Core-based tests will show in the fall of 2015 that more students than ever are failing. That is, as we're rolling up toward the first presidential primaries and caucuses, we'll have a freshly (re-)created crisis, in which seven years of Obama's policies and 15 or so years of intensive national reform efforts will be shown decisively to have failed.
This is a foregone conclusion for at least three reasons:
the aim of primary and secondary education has been changed to require more academic rigor than ever before;
scores always go down when you change standards and tests, as it takes several iterations to optimize the system;
making scores go down is clearly a design goal for Common Core advocates and accountability hawks in general. They have no language or conceptual framework that can possibly explain why scores going up could be anything but a sellout failure. Anyone who tries to set the cutscores at a point where proficiency goes up will be relentlessly attacked.
So the scores are going to go down, the question is, what now?
Sloyd: The Early Roots of Manual Training
Makerspace:
We can look back to Sloyd, a technology education approach from Northern Europe dating back to the late 1800s. They specified everything from the workbench (shown right), tools, tool storage, room layout, tool use, and sequence of projects increasing in complexity. The approach was applied to paper, cardboard, wood, and metal, with many books written to support making progressions in each medium.
Indiana's Old Standards Were Way Better
One thing about Indiana’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett's ouster is that Indiana's old ELA standards were truly the pinnacle of Achieve's 15 year project to improve state standards. At least, that was my impression when I read through them a couple years ago. Good luck finding the 2006 version now.
But anyone who compared the two would see how much better Indiana's were than the Common Core (including Fordham). Everything about them was just better thought out, better organized, better executed. And they were probably a bit more refined and fresh than those of Massachusetts, California and other pretty good ones.
Anyone who cared to look knew Bennett was selling them an inferior product at the behest of outside (if not literally federal) interests.
Also, Jim Stergios.
A Few Post Election Thoughts
Progressives are more prepared now than in 2008 to push Obama and congress from the left. We're a heck of a lot more on alert to resist Democratic attacks on public education and support for the privatization agenda. The unions aren't even fully mobilized, but we're not completely on our heels.
After the past four years, a mixed bag of tactical wins and losses adds up to a limited strategic victory. If a year ago the tanks were rolling unopposed toward your capital, counterattacking them to a standstill is a victory.
Pouring outside money into local elections will produce some wins for privatization, but in the long term it kills the pretense that this is about anything other than concentrating power in the hands of the wealthy. I think the "parent trigger" is the only thing they can think of to counter that, but that approach just isn't going to work.
We're walking back from a freakish event where Republicans, independents, and about 2/3rds of the Democratic party suddenly decided to beat up on teachers and urban schools. We don't need to win this back from the center. Roll it back from the left, survive the current reforms running their course to no good effect, reassemble the traditional constituency for public education.
More than any election I can remember, the Democrats won by being Democrats. Nobody thinks today that the Democratic party can only win by tricking people in to thinking they're Republicans. We just need to apply that to education (and a few other things).
The Bizarro 2004
Andrew Leonard:
Eight years ago, on the morning of November 3, Democrats blundered through the aftermath of an election gone horribly awry in a state of fog and shock. The confused dismay extended beyond the normal disappointment that comes with backing the losing candidate in a presidential race. There was something else going on, a sense of horrible surprise, as if we’d all been terribly misinformed. We were sad and bewildered.
I wrote about that feeling for Salon that morning, seeking some understanding from the wreckage. I blamed the Internet, not for Kerry’s loss, but for my false hopes. I wasn’t alone. For many of us, Bush’s victory over Kerry delivered an unforgettable lesson on the dangers of getting caught in the Internet-enabled echo chamber.
Oh sure, it had been a lot of fun — all those hours we spent with Atrios and DailyKos, Donkey Rising and Talking Points Memo. It was all so new, exciting — and most of all, liberating. We had been freed from the chains of mainstream media! We could pick our own narratives, and not have them forced on us. Even better, we now had amazingly granular access to information about the state of the campaign — any and every campaign! We all became instant poll experts, and sallied forth each day into the political flamewars better armed with factoids and polished spin than ever before.
What a blast that was. Good times, good times.
And then came Election Day. And we realized that we’d been living inside a cocoon of self-defeating complacency. By confining our information sources to places that told us only what we wanted to hear, we had divorced ourselves from reality. And reality sucked.
I suspect that on this morning a good many conservatives are facing up to the same bleak sense of hornswoggled dismay. Some of them won’t admit it, but in their heart of hearts, they’ve got be wondering what the hell just happened. Indeed — judging by the tone of the conservative info-sphere in the weeks leading up the election, and combined with the data we have already accumulated with respect to how insular and self-reinforcing the conservative echo chamber is, it could be that this morning delivered an ever deeper sucker punch to the gut to the right than the left endured in 2004.
So here’s the question: Will Obama’s victory be a wakeup call for the right?
This is not just wishful thinking. For many people on the left, the 2004 election was a watershed moment. Yeah, the Net was great, but we had to be more careful in how we embraced it. We realized that the echo chamber had led us astray, and we learned that it would behoove us to be more wary. The whole rise of Nate Silver in 2008 was in part a response to this phenomenon. We didn’t want to get burned again. We wanted numbers we could trust.
Complacency went out the window. Right up until the polls started closing on Election Day 2012, and even with Nate Silver giving Obama a better-than-90 percent chance to win, Democrats were feeling anything but confident.
Will conservatives have the same come-to-Jesus moment?
Nate Silver, Bayes, Teacher Evaluation, VAM, etc.
The whole Race to the Top driven system of teacher and school evaluation is a tall, steaming pile of shit, the wrong premise, wrong theory of change, wrong ideas about human motivation, management, measurement, philosophy of education, the meaning of life, etc. There are a few layers of clean straw in there maybe (yes, student surveys provide useful data, that's why RI has done them annually for many years), but on the whole, it is stinky on top of stinky.
From my outside perspective, however, the most annoying layer was the top one, where some formula turns a bunch of data into a score for the school or teacher. Even if accept everything leading up to that point, and you accept that it is useful to reduce all that stuff to one number or letter or rating, the systems themselves look like they were pulled out of the rectum of some jackass from The New Teacher Project.
Other, more statistically adept bloggers like Bruce Baker and Matt DiCarlo have written about these things in more detail. What's screamingly obvious to me is the lack of serious literature about how this kind of analysis should be done.
Meanwhile, I've been reading Nate Silver's new book, The Signal and the Noise, which centers on the role of Bayesian analysis in his work and its usefulness in general. I'd note that since this is not a book about education, he apparently does not feel the need to try to convince you that he or his friends invented it. A refreshing changes after, say, Paul Tough.
Anyhow, basically, Bayesian probability is good for turning an ongoing stream of noisy data into a high probability hypothesis. Like, for example, turning a sequence of close, high margin of error polls into a forecast with 90% confidence. It should work pretty well for teachers and schools too.
For example, say you have a teacher that you've got a high level of confidence in. Then you get a VAM report with a high margin of error that says she's a Bad Teacher. A Bayesian analysis would conclude that after this single unreliable data point there is still a high probability she's a Good Teacher. Whereas, what we're doing now is just throwing that dubious number in with a few other dubious numbers collected this year and hoping that the errors average each other out. You could also do things like weight the probability of a good teacher having an anomalously bad observation higher than a bad teacher having a good outlier (a likely hypothesis to me, at least).
The thing is, this change is not going to happen, because it would generally emphasize the unreliability of the data and specifically make it harder to get rid of good experienced teachers. That's much more important to the privatizers than accuracy.
Sherman Dorn also has a good post today on Silver's book.
Needed: Better Analysis of Last Name Distribution in Providence
MartinH in ProJo comments saves me typing:
Similar long line at Martin Luther King this morning. The A-L line was very long and it took me 1 1/2 hours. The M-Z line was much shorter, although the lack of a "greeter" at the door to help new arrivals led to many waiting longer than they needed to in the wrong line.
Here too, the voting machine broke down, leaving me feeling queasy (perhaps unjustifiably) about my vote being counted.
It didn't seem to me that the voter ID was responsible for the delay. Too few supervisors, and antiquated paper lookup procedure, were more the issue.
Pretty much exactly what happened at the Elmwood Community Center, too.
Where is Jim Willis when you need him (hopefully not washed away by Sandy...)?
Pretty Much a Rounding Error Either Way
Linda Borg:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Highlander Charter School in Providence has applied to open a high school.
The school hopes to open with 29 ninth-graders in the fall of 2013 and gradually expand to include 160 students.
Thats... really small.
They haven't posted the application on RIDE's site yet, but we're supposed to be less than a month away from the deadline for 2014 prospectuses (prospecti?). I don't get RIDE's rolling charter application policy.
I Have No Idea What Anyone Is Even Talking About
Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen:
Every morning, the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders at Paul Cuffee Middle School in Providence, R.I. join together in what’s called a Circle of Power and Respect. In this “CPR,” they discuss anything from an upcoming science project to how to get boys to stop purposefully clogging the toilets. Last spring, when a beloved teacher left the school, one classroom used their CPR time to process the change. “He said he’s leaving because this is good for his family,” a seventh-grade boy reassured his classmates. “It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
If this kind of frank, organized discussion of feelings sounds odd for middle schoolers, it is. But, experts say, if middle schools can give as much attention to emotions and values as they give to academics, the double focus pays off in surprising ways.
Unfortunately, when it comes to our national conversation about what makes great schools, middle schools (which can serve any configuration of grades five through nine) and junior highs (usually grades seven, eight, and nine) are often like the overlooked middle child.
That's funny, because in the world I inhabit, the national reform conversation has been initiated and dominated by an authoritarian middle school model ("no excuses") that is an explicit reaction to and repudiation of the kind of school design they're attributing to Cuffee, which should be familiar to most people who attended middle schools in the seventies and eighties.
Sarah D. Sparks:
In most districts, researchers voiced concern that evaluation systems do not take into account the time it will take for even the most effective teachers to adapt to new areas of focus in the standards—not to mention that the common core deliberately omits guidance on specific teaching strategies to meet the new requirements.
Maybe they were talking about math, but on the ELA side, the authors go about as far as they can, through their voluminous official commentary to promote specific teaching strategies to meet the new requirements. Of course, nobody knows if those strategies are the most efficient or effective; your mileage may vary.
This Just Going To Be A Thing That Happens From Now On
The Onion nails it:
NEW YORK—Following Hurricane Sandy’s destructive tear through the Northeast this week, the nation’s 300 million citizens looked upon the trail of devastation and fully realized, for the first time, that this is just going to be something that happens from now on.
Gradually comprehending that this sort of thing is now just a fact of life, citizens all across America stared blankly at images of destroyed homes, major cities paralyzed by flooding, and ravaged communities covered in debris, and finally acknowledged that this, apparently, is now a regular part of the human experience.
“Oh, I see—this is just going to be how it is from here on out,” said New York City resident Brian Marcello, coming to terms with the fact that an immense storm that cripples mass transit systems and knocks out power for millions in the nation’s largest metropolitan area can no longer be regarded as an isolated, freak incident, and will henceforth be just a normal thing that happens. “Hugely destructive weather events are going to keep happening, and they are going to get worse and worse, and living through them is something that will be a part of all our lives from now on, whether we like it or not.”
“I get it now,” Marcello added.
Faced with the prospect of long months before any of the widespread damage is truly repaired, the millions who reside along the Eastern Seaboard told reporters today they fully understood, for the first time, that natural disasters killing scores of Americans and costing billions of dollars are going to be routine events, not just in the immediate foreseeable future, but permanently.
Things That Don't Work Anymore: Comments
You may have noticed that comments don't work very well here anymore. I almost always get duplicates. I think Google is hinting they really want us to use Google+ instead of Blogger. Regardless, we're going to suffer with this indefinitely.
I'm finding leaving comments to be increasingly hit or miss in general. Capchas are getting too difficult. People are probably getting a little too tricky with Javascript and introducing subtle browser incompatibilities.
It isn't the end of the world but it is a little bizarre to see something so simple falling apart.
Also, for some reason I usually can't leave a comment on This Week in Education. Here's what I was just trying to post:
I guess they (50Can) figure they can get the most bang for their buck in Rhode Island, but jeez, RI districts are really small, and the only challenger they're backing is someone who lost her seat in 2010. I guess reform == the status quo in RI.
I'd say this supports your "they're not really that scary" narrative.
The Banality of KIPP
Mr. Dolan:
Create curiosity gaps with your design. Above the bulletin board Ryan Weaver of KIPP Academy Boston creates a series of visual anchors to preview the units of study for students throughout the year. This is a marvelous example of dual purpose design. It builds curiosity (one of the character strengths key for future success) and it makes long term planning evident. This builds students’ confidence in the teacher and makes the process of learning more transparent to kids who often feel like they are lurching from subject to subject without any clear path.
The simple touch on Elizabeth Vetne’s Visual Arts I board is used in many classrooms across KIPP Massachusetts. Giving each lesson a title makes the content stickier and also draws reading skills across the content areas. Much more to come about this classroom and the mind-blowing power of great arts teaching.
Find dual purposes for your design. Fernando Acostas’s bulletin board for problem solving is a lovely example of tying math problem solving strategies to the character strengths the school is working on.
SchoolTool 2.3 & CanDo
We released SchoolTool 2.3 last week, which wasn't a big update because most of or work this year was focused on re-writing CanDo, our skills, outcomes, standards, competencies, etc. based assessment system.
We've actually been working on CanDo with the Arlington Career Center and the Virginia CTE Resource Center since 2005. Virginia CTE has an absurdly complex set of competencies spanning 15 or so career clusters, hundreds of courses, cross-course competencies, and a rolling update cycle and no formal versioning process. With CanDo you can import the competencies (via a spreadsheet), associate them with courses (including a new feature to automate that process I came up with), score them in section gradebooks, create groupings of competencies for project-based grading, track changes in student acheivement over time and across sections, and generate graphical reports at the student and section level.
A lot of what we were doing was taking an open source application that was paid for, designed for and used only in Virginia schools, and, with philanthropic support from Mark Shuttleworth, creating a new version that would work just as well or better in Virginia and as many other scenarios as possible.
There's a pretty wide range of cases where you need to track student achievement of a list of outcomes, for example, in addition to 25 Virginia CTE sites, the Virginia Commonwealth University's Autism Center for Excellence is using SchoolTool to track social skills development in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, the Alexandria Seaport Foundation is going to record achievement of math standards via boat building projects in sites across the country, and the Fab Academy is going to monitor student progress in their sites across the globe.
For the current SchoolTool community, this is a big new addition to our standard application, yet it is also the most complete and tested.
Now that this is out I have to take off my project manager hat and put on my promotional juggernaut hat.
Never Forget What a Virus-Ridden Mess Windows Made of Your School Network
Brad Reed:
“During [the time that Apple was building the iPhone], Windows went through a difficult period where we had to shift a huge amount of our focus to security engineering,” said (Microsoft's) Mundie. “The criminal activity in cyberspace was growing dramatically ten years ago, and Microsoft was basically the only company that had enough volume for it to be a target. In part because of that, Windows Vista took a long time to be born.”
“We had a music player before the iPod,” he said. “We had a touch device before the iPad. And we were leading in the mobile phone space. So, it wasn’t for a lack of vision or technological foresight that we lost our leadership position. The problem was that we just didn’t give enough reinforcement to those products at the time that we were leading. Unfortunately, the company had some executional missteps, which occurred right at the time when Apple launched the iPhone. With that, we appeared to drop a generation behind.”
This has mostly been mocked as a lame excuse, and it is, but you're also going easy on Microsoft if you forget how completely and utterly they screwed the pooch on security, and you shouldn't underestimate the extent to which Apple's strategies are driven by security concerns. Security is a bigger driver for the App Store concept than getting a cut of all your $1.00 apps (although that cut is nice to have). Part of the reason all your iPhones are not part of a Russian botnet is sandboxing and other security features, but a lot of it is that they can review the code you can install on your phone and remotely disable it if the have to.
It is hard to imagine Microsoft getting away with that sort of thing in the first few years of the 20th century, so you can imagine how much their heads had to be spinning.
The Lack of Capacity for Any of This
Sherman Dorn:
The difference between outsourcing critical services and hiring employees to do one of your essential jobs is that you do have resident expertise when you hire people directly, when you staff up for what you say is essential. And for a state department of education, you would think that curriculum development and support for teachers comprise a core part of what it is supposed to do, the type of technical assistance that the majority of districts could not invest in before the recession, that even fewer can now. On occasion, it might be helpful to hire somebody in a state capital who knows what is in the Constitution and what is in the Declaration of Independence. For U.S. historians, that’s sort of like knowing your keister from your … well, you understand. Some things can be outsourced. Some things should not be. Florida’s gone too far in the direction of outsourcing important jobs to for-profit companies that have no commitment to the state.
Charter Schools are Not an Anti-Corruption Strategy
Trailer for John Merrow's upcoming film on New Orleans:
If you meet a starving man and all you have is a bag of Cheetos, by all means, give him the Cheetos, but it does not follow that Cheetos are the answer for malnutrition.
Merrow begins with the corruption of the New Orleans public school system before Katrina. I have no reason to think it wasn't that bad, but I don't really know. Perhaps it is less corrupt now; I can at least imagine that it is. But the idea that in general the right strategy to fight public corruption is to remove civil service protections in hiring and firing, reduce transparency, base high stakes decisions on tests which are often gamed or cheated on outright, and generally put control of the system in private hands, makes no sense on its face.
Maybe this is better for New Orleans right now (maybe not), but will it hold up in 10 years? It should be obvious that the end of these market-based reforms will be corruption, and while we may not notice it or care in, say, privatized prisons, we will notice and care in our children's schools. There are already many, many examples.
Here's a nice closing quote from Paul Carr:
And there’s the rub. Given their Randian origins, we kid ourselves if we think most Disruptive businesses are fighting government bureaucracy to bring us a better deal. A Disruptive company might very well succeed in exposing government crooks lining their pockets exploiting outdated laws, but that’s only so the Disruptor can line his own pockets through the absence of those same laws. A Disruptive company may give you free candy in your 50-dollar cab but, again, that’s only because doing so is good business. If poisoning that same candy suddenly becomes better business (like encouraging New York cab drivers to be distracted by their phones, or putting vulnerable people at risk of attack is better business)… well maybe that’s an option worth exploring too. After all, food safety legislation is just another attempt by the government to drive Disruptive businesses off the road.
Posted by Tom Hoffman at 11:47 AM 1 comment:
Learning Styles are a Myth That Warns Us That Not All of Our Students are the Same
If we think about learning styles as the magic shortcut to more effective learning, we are deluding ourselves. Even if it is true that people learn differently, and it is true that people learn differently, we don't achieve magical results simply by catering to that.
A learning style isn't a shortcut to memory because learning isn't about remembering at all. It's a myth, but it's useful. It's a myth that tells us, that warns us, that not all of our students are the same. They're not going to react the same, and most importantly, they're not like us.
What if the Value for Big Data in Education is Not in Learning, But Testing?
Dan Meyer:
I don't have a lot of hope for a system that sees learning largely as a function of time or time of day, rather than as a function of good instruction and rich tasks. It isn't useless. But it's the wrong diagnosis. For instance, if a student's clickrate on multiple-choice items declines at 9:14 AM, one option is to tell her to click multiple-choice items later. Another is to give her more to do than click multiple-choice items.
It seems to me that the low hanging fruit here might not be relying on this kind of data to teach better, but to increase test performance. If the learning software tells the data warehouse that a student will score highest on an assessment of standard 3 administered Tuesday at 10:00 in the morning, if the subject of the prompt is basketball, and the answer is multiple choice, is there any reason the high stakes test couldn't or shouldn't use that to increase (or decrease) the student's score (in math or ELA)? If we're going to have high-stakes embedded, adaptive assessments, this all gets pretty blurry.
The Green Lantern Theory of School Reform
John Merrow:
If you had the power to make one change in public education right now, what would it be? I’m not talking about some sort of magic wand fantasy, so suggestions like “End Poverty” are not appropriate. What I am looking for are changes that could be made.
Dave Levin (of KIPP) had the simplest — and perhaps the most profound — suggestion. “Change the sign,” he said. He reminded us that virtually every school has signs trumpeting a familiar slogan, “All Children Can Learn.” That should come down, Dave said, and be replaced by signs reading “All Will Learn.” Not ‘can’ but ‘will,’ reflecting a new determination and responsibility. And ‘all’ means ‘all,’ he said, including the adults! Changing the sign was, for Dave, an important first step toward changing the way adults in schools approach their jobs.
We certainly could "end poverty," at least to the extent that European social democracies have, and that would be virtually guaranteed to increase aggregate academic achievement over time, barring some other simultaneous screw up. And while we may not have the political will for the task, actually executing it would not be that hard. Increase the scale of various extant social programs.
On the other hand, Levin's plan is pure fantasy. Levin is literally calling for a triumph of the will in American education. Believe and it will happen!
How did we get to the point where such things are taken seriously?
Too Bad There are No Educational Technology Standards for TECHNOLOGY
Carl Franzen:
“The almost instantaneous obsolescence of the new iPad was a bit of a surprise,” said Vineet Madan, senior vice president at McGraw Hill Education, in a phone interview with TPM. “If I were a teacher who had spent the last pennies of his or her budget buying new iPads for students a few months ago, I don’t know if I’d be too happy waking up and finding out that there’s a new iPad with a completely different connector cable now.”
What's especially galling is the way Apple's decision flies in the face of the National Educational Technology Plan which specifically calls for portable devices in schools to standardize on mini-USB chargers by 2014... oh, no, I'm sorry, I forgot, there is nothing of the sort in the plan, because the people who work on those kind of things are much, much too smart and important to waste their beautiful minds on such issues, especially since it may inconvenience present or future corporate (or recently corporate) benefactors.
As a consumer, I applaud Apple's willingness to always rip open the scab to move forward. I can afford to keep up. Schools have entirely different requirements.
In the Common Core, Is there a Place for Domain Sp...
It's been a Helluva Year for Central PA in the Nat...
Apparently Eli Broad isn't the Only One Funding a ...
Where Would A People's History of the United State...
PIRLS 2011: We've Succeeded at What We've Truly Fo...
Good Thing Rhode Island Hasn't Tried Following Mas...
I Figured the Point was to Keep Each Episode Manag...
The Short Explanation: They Didn't Give it Much Th...
The Disciplinary Literacies Necessary to Read Lite...
Maybe the Problem is Your Policies are Unpopular a...
It's a Good Thing Checker Finn Hasn't Read the Com...
A Realistic View of the Impact of Literacy Standar...
It is the Fall of 2015, Common Core Shows Seven Ye...
Needed: Better Analysis of Last Name Distribution...
This Just Going To Be A Thing That Happens From No...
Never Forget What a Virus-Ridden Mess Windows Made...
Charter Schools are Not an Anti-Corruption Strateg...
Learning Styles are a Myth That Warns Us That Not ...
What if the Value for Big Data in Education is Not...
Too Bad There are No Educational Technology Standa...
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The Varsity Reds have released ticket information regarding the upcoming 2016-2017 AUS hockey season, and it is mostly unchanged from previous years.
The main points:
- Season passes are valid for all Varsity Reds home events, including regular season, tournament, exhibition, and AUS playoff games.
- Seating at the Aitken Centre remains reserved, except for sections 9-10-11, which are general admission only.
- Season pass prices are $225 for an adult, $200 for seniors, $75 for non-UNB students (13 years+) with a valid ID, and $50 for K-5 for a hockey reserved seat.
- Once again, all seats for Elementary School nights will be reserved.
- Previous (2015-2016) season ticket holders must renew their reserved their hockey seats between August 22nd and September 2nd ONLY, at the AUC box office between 11AM-4PM.
- Public sale of season passes begins September 6th at the AUC box office from 11AM-4PM. If you are a first time season pass purchaser and a CAA member, you will receive a $25 discount on your pass. This does not apply to renewals.
- Season tickets cannot be purchased online.
- You can purchase a V-Reds all sport season pass AND a CIS Men's Hockey Championship pass, to be hosted by UNB at the Aitken Centre from March 16th-19th, for $300 for adults or $250 for seniors. This represents a savings of $100.
- Individual game tickets will be $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $4 for students 13 years+ with a valid ID, and free for UNB students and youth 12 and under.
Labels: 2016-2017 Regular Season, tickets
V-Reds To Face McGill In Exhibition Action
According to their recently released schedule, the McGill Redmen will host the defending University Cup champion University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds for an exhibition game on Saturday, September 24th. The game will be held at McConnell Arena in Montreal and is scheduled for a 5PM EST puck drop.
This will mark the 2nd time in 4 years UNB has traveled to face the Redmen, having won 7-2 in 2012. Overall, the Varsity Reds are 9-1 against McGill, including 7 consecutive victories. All but three of those games have been held in Fredericton.
With UNB most likely playing two games against NCAA competition in the pre-season as well as two games over Christmas as part of the annual Pete Kelly Cup this announcement means the V-Reds will only have one more exhibition game due to the new rule of AUS teams only being allowed to play a maximum of 6 exhibition games per season. Hopefully this will be pre-season game at the AUC or we won't get to see the V-Reds in action until the season opener on October 7th.
Labels: 2016-2017 Exhibition, 2016-2017 Regular Season
AUS Releases 2016-2017 Schedule
The AUS has released the 2016-2017 men's hockey schedule with the 30 game regular season kicking off on Wednesday, October 5th.
We will have a more in-depth look at the V-Reds schedule in the coming weeks, but here are some general highlights:
- The only game on opening night features the UPEI Panthers visiting Moncton.
- UNB will raise their 6th National Championship banner to the rafters in their home - and season - opener on Friday, October 7th against Moncton.
- The V-Reds will play 18 games (9 home, 9 away) before Christmas and 12 (6 home, 6 away) after the break.
- UNB will play every team 5 times. They will get the extra home game against Acadia, Saint Mary's, and UPEI this year while playing an extra road game against St. FX, Dalhousie, and Moncton. It will be reversed next season.
- The season ends on Saturday, February 11th.
- The playoffs remain unchanged with a best-of-three quarterfinals, best-of-five semi-finals, and best-of-three final round.
- The AUS will once again be guaranteed three berths at the University Cup, which will be hosted by UNB from March 16th-19th.
The AUS has also confirmed three important changes that will have an impact on every team moving forward, especially UNB:
- Perhaps the biggest change is that to off-set the longer regular season teams can now only play a maximum of 6 exhibition games. UNB has played more than 6 exhibition games every season since 2003/2004, with many of those years featuring 10+ games.
- All exhibition games must be held either before the season begins or over the Christmas break. Last season UNB played Maine and Harvard in late October during a week off from AUS regular season competition. This will no longer be allowed.
- The first day an exhibition game can be scheduled is fourteen days after Labour Day. This season that will fall on Monday, September 19th. This isn't a huge change as the V-Reds have played their first exhibition game between September 15th and 19th every season since 2007-2008.
Labels: 2016-2017 Regular Season
MacDougall Signs With Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Capitals of Britain's Elite Ice Hockey League has signed recent UNB graduate Taylor MacDougall to a two year contract the team has announced.
MacDougall just wrapped up a very successful five year career with the V-Reds, helping lead UNB to its 6th National Championship in school history in March. The 26 year old centre, known more for his prowess in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill, posted a career-high 13 points (7 goals, 6 assists) in 27 regular season games this year. Overall, he amassed 49 points in 118 career regular season games while at UNB.
He was held scoreless in four contests after signing with the ECHL's Brampton Beast after the V-Reds season ended.
The EIHL features some familiar faces to AUS fans as Edinburgh recently signed former UPEI Panther Mason Wilgosh and former V-Reds Travis Fullerton, Thomas Nesbitt, and Chris Culligan all played in the league last season.
Labels: Taylor MacDougall
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Community Right-to-Know in the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union: Ending the Culture of Secrecy Surrounding the Environmental Crisis
By Katherine M. Harman-Stokes
The legacy of the Soviet empire as created by Joseph Stalin and perpetuated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from the mid-1920s through the mid-1980s includes an unprecedented environmental crisis which threatens the global environment. Stalin's attempt to quickly and forcefully industrialize the feudalist Soviet Union controlled all other aspects of society, including the environment. Today, the newly independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union must address environmental problems such as the radiation poisoning from nuclear energy accidents, nuclear weapons testing and nuclear waste dumping. Additionally, air, water, and other natural resources have been contaminated by decades of toxic emissions, wanton discharges of toxic wastes into waterways, poorly planned river diversion projects, and excessive use of pesticides.
The long-term solutions to the major environmental problems of the NIS will at least require a significant efforts within the NIS and abroad. Given that many NIS environmental difficulties have serious global ramifications, wealthier nations cannot afford to passively allow NIS society to deteriorate. Long-term environmental solutions to these problems will require pollution control measures at least as stringent of the U.S., such as the Clean Air Act and Solid Waste Disposal Act.
In addition to these problems, the NIS faces devastating legacies from its social traditions. Built upon secrecy, fear, and intimidation, Stalin's totalitarian leadership developed a culture devoid of democratic characteristics. Although the Communist Party Central Committee was the country's principal authority, its unanimous decisions demonstrate a lack of republicanism. Laws were often enacted without any enforcement authority, solely to pacify international concerns. The judicial system was infiltrated by Communist Party directives. Central authorities in Moscow controlled factory production, including the inputs, outputs, and prices. Indeed, life at all levels was controlled by the “Five-Year Plan,” which directed the centralized economic activity and set goals for industrial, energy, and military weapon production. The extensive administrative bureaucracy controlled all aspects of Soviet life, including where each of the nearly 250 million citizens lived and worked. During totalitarian rule, officials prohibited fledgling free market development, as evidenced by the millions of peasants ousted for farming their own small plots of land.
Through fear, intimidation, and official pressure to withhold information from the public, a culture of secrecy developed. Today, NIS citizens have a tradition of withholding accurate information from the public and other bureaucrats. Under Soviet rule, many managers with legitimate fears of punishment withheld or falsified manufacturing data or allowed shipments of defective or incomplete goods to disguise failures and attain centrally mandated production goals. A tradition of misinformation developed throughout the government and the party bureaucracy and led the people to distrust “official” information sources. Stalin's legacy is a citizenry without free market traditions, a “rule of law,” a “civil society,” a democratic culture, or even a tradition of public free thought, free choice, or free speech.
Before shaping solutions to the environmental crisis, the NIS must be viewed in the context of its history and other societal problems: a weak judiciary, a struggling economy, a nascent democratic culture, and a legacy of secrecy. While it may take decades and a Marshall Plan-type foreign aid effort to strengthen the ailing states of the NIS, the severity of their environmental crisis demands immediate solutions. At the very least, short-term solutions would heighten public awareness of the existing and potential dangers, risks, and preventative strategies, thus laying the foundations for long-term solutions. The interconnectedness of the economy, the environment, natural resources, and the public health, moreover, strengthens the case for concerted action and highlights the absurdity of the idea of environmental sacrifice in the name of economic prosperity.
Given the NIS needs emergency measures to heal the people and environment, the question remains: What, if anything, can be done now? In addition to carefully revising current laws, devising new ones, and attempting to allocate the massive necessary resources for increasing official environmental law enforcement, the government should enable the citizens to address local hazards and risks, promoting local and more efficient enforcement while protecting their home environments. The easiest means to facilitate citizen action is to provide the public with access to current, credible information about the environment and harmful local activities. Today, more information is available about NIS environmental problems than ever before. In addition, the Russian Parliament enacted general information disclosure legislation in January 1995 which attempts to provide a legal framework for protecting citizens' access to information. Nevertheless, available information is often outdated, unreliable, or otherwise unusable. The totalitarian culture of secrecy, reinforced by contradictions within the new “Information Act,” continue to impede public access to information.
To facilitate political participation and destroy the culture of secrecy surrounding the environmental crisis, environmental information must be accurate, timely, comprehensive, and affordable. Full environmental disclosure will encourage citizens to effectively participate in the political process and make agency and elected officials accountable. In addition, disclosure will strengthen fledgling grassroots environmental groups and promote individual autonomy, which, on a moral level, inspires citizens to become notified of hazards that may affect them. With full disclosure of environmental information, the people will be able to help enforce environmental laws and take initiative to prevent further environmental degradation in their communities.
Part II of this paper illustrates the breadth of the NIS environmental and public health crisis and the extent of NIS natural resources abuse. Part III discusses previous and current environmental protection efforts reviewing official action and noting trends in grassroots environmental movements. Part III also explores the lack of reliable, up-to-date environmental information, the continuing NIS societal restructuring, and how this reinforces trends in activism. Part IV suggests that ensuring public access to information will facilitate environmental protection and stimulate the environmental movement by giving people the information necessary to establish public priorities, hold government officials accountable, and enforce environmental laws through the judicial system. This section also analyzes the “Information Act” and the internal contradictions that undermine its goal of guaranteed access to information. Part IV concludes by proposing the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRTKA) as an appropriate model for enhancing information disclosure in the NIS. An information disclosure strategy similar to EPCRTKA will provide the people of the NIS with the tools they need to end the culture of secrecy and rationally shape their future.
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DISSERTATION - CONCLUSION
Why is it that brutalist architecture knows an upswing these days? Because of the transcendent architecture, its heroic attitude and the way these buildings dominate their surroundings?
Maybe there is the additional possibility that younger people might have gotten a little bored with the sleek towers and bland quality of a lot of new architecture. We are unconsciously falling in love with the nostalgic aspect of the movement and the fascination for concrete.
Brutalist buildings function well when things are shared, when there is a social cohesion, because that’s what the architects intended. This shows particularly in the tower blocks and high density building schemes with shared amenities. That’s what is part of the philosophy of the development: a sense that apartments are for immediate functional needs, whilst the cultural and social components of living are out ‘in the open’.
Nowadays, most buildings are either for corporate use or impossibly expensive apartments in the private sector. In the Barbican there is a ‘public’ feeling in a way that very few modern developments have. This is of course an illusion, because the apartments are private and very expensive, but there is a sort of welcoming quality to the public space and a sense of exploration in three dimensions. This is certainly because of the beautiful open public terrace, the public arts centre and the path walks.
When brutalism started, it was everywhere and in everything. All things were brutal, all things were concrete. Today, brutalism is still alive. Nowadays, it doesn’t only use concrete, but also adds steel, glass and other materials. Architects still design and build brutalist buildings.
Architects like Liebeskind, Mies Van Der Rohe and even Zaha Hadid call themselves modernists, but are in a way also brutalists. They have a certain brutalist attitude and aesthetic in the use of powerful, repetitive graphic shapes.
During this search about why there is a revival I figured out why I love brutalism so much and why I have such a big interest in this style. I love the abstract, clean, geometric forms that are used, the story of repetition, the maze-like feeling. I like the way tower blocks are communities where all different kind of people are living and sharing at least one common thing: the tower, their building. The way this whole movement became an evolution of a certain way of thinking, of how we live together and how different cultures are brought together. When you’re on the balcony of a tower block you feel like you’re part of something larger.
I associate the Stoic cool of Brutalism with the fact that we are looking to the essence today. Materialism has had its day and sobriety and tranquillity are the new luxury. The building and its construction is shown for what it is and celebrates its simplicity and poetry.
Nowadays the progressive brutalist architecture seems to get the recognition it deserves.
After my whole research into what a brutalist Interior is, I found out that the question should not be ‘What is a brutalist Interior’, but should rather be ‘How could the spirit of brutalism be rendered in interior design?’. It’s difficult to define a brutalist interior, because every architect has a different approach to the interior design.
Brutalism is all about the impression of the outside: a chunky block of concrete in different shapes. The inside of tower blocks is not as impressive as the outside volume of concrete. It’s about creating more living surface, high-density housing. In tower blocks the interior is trying to create a liveable place within a small surface area. In Lampens’ house this is not the case: his houses are large dwellings built in a completely different context. In all cases however the architect tries to create a more spacious vibe by using big windows. The relationship between outside and inside feels really important. In the Barbican and Arlington House, the less important rooms (in the architect’s eyes) such as the hallway, the kitchen and the bathroom don’t deserve direct light and views to the outside. That’s where Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower created an excellent solution by bringing the light in every room. The same thing happens in the Lampens house. Because of the window play, he creates incidences of light in every place of the house.
In the tower blocks, the designer let the owner decide how to furnish the flat. In the house Van Wassenhove, Juliaan Lampens designed the totality, even the chairs. In both cases it’s almost impossible to change anything because of the structure. All the systems, like heating, ventilation, electrics, water and the rubbish disposal are processed in the building. The problem being that today, these systems are outdated, which creates difficulties.
The outside is very dense and overwhelming, but because of the big windows becomes airy again. The same thing happens inside, so in a way the exterior is reflected into the interior. In the tower blocks there’s no cohesion between the exterior and the interior, but in the house Van Wassenhove there’s a complete cohesion between them. However, in a way they are also juxtaposed, because the house is a play of geometric forms and the landscape is organic.
This idea goes beyond just the interior. For most of the brutalist architects it’s more a political statement they want to make by building these chunky concrete buildings and megastructures. It was all about the utopian belief in making new cities, making cities within cities and making a city within a building, creating high-density buildings. It’s about creating communities within a building. It’s about breaking loose with tradition. In most of the cases the exterior gets reflected into the interior. Brutalism goes back to the pre-historic way of thinking, of admiring the materials for their inherent qualities as they are found.
The socialist organisations had great belief in the future, progress, technology and this all starts with understanding the world and its needs. Concrete symbolised this future and technology.
This dissertation will be a starting point for next year’s project. I will try to apply something of the brutalist heroism to the idea of a new kind of interior.
In ARCHITECTURE, BELGIUM, INTERIORS, LONDON, ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART Tags Dissertation, conclusion, Brutalism, Brutalist Architecture, nostalgic, Architecture, Interior, heroism, Concrete, The Barbican, Trellick Tower, House Van Wassenhove, Arlington House, London, Belgium
← RAGNAR KJARTANSSONDISSERTATION - HOUSE VAN WASSENHOVE →
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Akande, Alex Tayo
Alex’s story is perhaps one of Forest’s greatest rags to (relative) riches stories.
After playing for the Eastbourne Borough youth teams, and twice for Forest in 2007-8, Alex made a rather interesting move… to Hong Kong! There he became one of the Hong Kong Premier League’s leading strikers, and even a Hong Kong international.
After a brief spell with Eastern on his arrival in Hong Kong, Alex signed for Tai Chung (now fantastically named Resources Capital FC), scoring three goals in 10 games.
The next season, Kitchee’s front duo of Albert Virgili Fort and Raul Torres left, so Alex made the step up, giving him the opportunity to play in the 2010 Lunar Year Cup, where he was named the Most Valuable Player.
Spells at Dream Matro Gallery (latterly renamed Dreams) Wofoo Tai Po (where he was relegated) followed, after which Alex signed for Kitchee at the start of the 2013-14 season.
One of his first games was against Manchester United, when he was on the score sheet in a 5-2 defeat. Kitchee made the quarter final of the AFC Cup (Asia’s equivalent of the Champions’ League) and went the entire league season unbeaten.
Paris St Germain were the visitors at the start of the 2014-15 season, and Alex was again on the score sheet, this time losing 6-2. However, this season was cut short by injury.
After seven years living in Hong Kong, Alex obtained citizenship and was immediately called up by the national team, scoring on his debt against Myanmar.
Another Hong Kong Premier League title followed in 2016-17, and aged 28 Alex showed no sign of letting off taking Hong Kong by storm.
But at the end of the 2017-18 season, Alex embarked on a new adventure, moving to China to play for Yanbian Funde in League One, the second tier of Chinese football.
Following the bankruptcy of Yanbian Funde, Akande moved to Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang on 28 February 2019. He made his debut three days later in a 1–1 draw against Henan Jianye.
Season Club League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
2007-8 Waltham Forest 2 2 0
2008-9 Eastern 3 0 3
2009-10 Tai Chung 10 3 10 3
2009-10 Kitchee 9 4 9 4
2010-11 Tai Chung 17 3 1 18 3
2011-12 Dreams Metro Gallery 3 2 3 2
2011-12 Dreams 10 7 2 12 7
2012-13 Wofoo Tai Po 18 13 11 6 29 19
2013-14 Kitchee 16 7 7 4 23 11
2014-15 Kitchee 1 0 1 1 2 1
2016-17 Kitchee 11 5 3 2 14 7
2018-19 Yanbian Funde 15 2 15 2
2019-20 Dalian Yifang 2 2
Overall 147 64 40 18 187 82
International Apps Goals
Hong Kong 22 10
All Leyton Pennant and Waltham Forest stats compiled by, and used with the permission of Steve Howe. If you’ve got any of the missing statistics for this player, please contact us.
Ahmed, Mohamed
Waltham Forest 1-4 Redbridge
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Notice on the Picket in Lithuania
Submitted by admin on Monday, 12 April 2010. 1,625 views No Comment
Vilnius board of “Sajudis“, Reform Movement of Lithuania (Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis*), informed our editors that on April 21th, there will be a picket in front of the Russian embassy in remembrance of killing President Dzhokhar Dudaev and genocide in Chechnya.
The message of the Board of Lithuanian “Sąjūdis” Vilnius Branch:
NOTICE ON THE PICKET
RE: THE GENOCIDE IN CHECHNYA
Vilnius/11 April 2010
On 21 April 2010 at 12 o’clock, Vilnius Board of “Sąjūdis” will arrange a picket in remembrance of killing President Dzhokhar Dudaev on 21 April 1996 and the genocide in Chechnya at the Embassy of Russian Federation in Vilnius (Latvių St. 53). The picket will begin at 12 o’clock. At 1 o’clock pm, the participants of the picket will move towards the Dudaev Square. At 01:20 pm, PRAYER and CONCENTRATION at the monument of Dzhokhar Dudaev.
On 11 December 1994, Russian Federation started the total aggressive war against Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Russia violated THE PEACE TREATY in 1999 signed by President of Russia B. Yeltsin and President of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov on May 1997.
In addition, Russia ignores the requirements and recommendations of the International law, the regulations for decolonization and the United Nations on termination of the military actions and supporting subjugated nations. Within that period, Russia killed about 250 thousand citizens of Chechnya. A damage of about USD 300 billion was caused to the state. In course of implementing orders of Russian militarists, about 40 thousand Russian military men were killed. Heads of the Great Powers, the United Nations, NATO, European Parliament, European Safety and Cooperation Organization and other famous world organization had not prevented the genocide in Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Chairman of the Board L.Kerosierius
Executive secretary A. Budriūnas
*Sąjūdis initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis) is the political organization which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on June 3, 1988 and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis. Its goal was to seek the return of independent status for Lithuania.
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Rodrigo Cortés - DDB
Cinematic Narrative
Action & FX
& Comedy
Rodrigo is simply a master of the craft. As well as a true renaissance man. A director with a superb storytelling ability, as well as a strongly defined visual character that leaves no detail, large or small, untouched or forsaken. He poses an unbelievable knowledge of the language of filmmaking, from the narrative to the technical, yet also holds degrees in Music Composition and Art History. He is also a successfully published writer.
Winner of multiple awards for his work as a screen writer (“Apartment 143”) and as producer ("Grand Piano” starring Elijah Wood and John Cusack). Yet it is his directing work in the feature films ("Red Lights", staring Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and Robert DeNiro), and his much lauded film (“Buried” starting Ryan Reynolds) that has garnered him world-wide attention and acclaim. As Ann Hornaday writes for The Washington Post in her review of “Buried” and Rodrigo’s work: “...Buried delivers the kind of immediate experience too often missing in movies that are simply pictures of people talking… it represents cinema at its most intensely physical and psychological….Cortés's ingenious visual and sound design are plunged into the protagonist's plight with claustrophobic verisimilitude."
Note - to see the videos with subtitles, please click the cc button on each video to activate it. The cc button is next to the volume button on each video.
"Red Lights" Trailer
"Buried" Trailer
Cruzcampo "UFO"
Qualities "Pierce Brosnan"
Please contact us for project or genre specific reels
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Avi Bell on Bill Moyers on Richard Goldstone
Bill Moyers of PBS interviewed Richard Goldstone two days ago. The transcript of the interview is here. (You can also watch the interview from the same page, the link is in the upper left corner).
I haven't even read the entire Report yet, it's so long; once I eventually finish it I'll write my thoughts. However, Professor Avi Bell, law professor at Bar-Ilan and at University of San Diego, has e-mailed his responses to the interview to a list I get. (That would be the group behind the Understanding the Goldstone Report website).
Avi Bell:
1. The Goldstone report draws its conclusions on the basis of 36 incidents it says it investigated. The report says that incidents are illustrative and therefore justify the broader conclusions made by the report. But Goldstone admits that the report lied in saying that the incidents are “illustrative” and in saying that the Mission worked according to its self-described neutral mandate rather than the official biased one. Goldstone says “We chose those 36 because they seemed to be, to represent the most serious, the highest death toll, the highest injury toll. And they appear to represent situations where there was little or no military justification for what happened.” In other words, the Mission chose incidents that were seen as NOT ILLUSTRATIVE, and, rather, most likely to support a finding of war crimes.
2. Goldstone repeatedly misstates the law in the interview.
a. Goldstone implicitly misstates the rule of distinction. Goldstone rightly says that the rule of distinction requires combatants to distinguish between “combatants and innocent civilians.” But then, he “proves” that Israel violated the rule of distinction by saying “We found evidence in statements made by present and former political and military leaders, who said, quite openly, that there's going to be a disproportionate attack. They said that if rockets are going to continue, we're going to hit back disproportionately.” Stating that a counter-attack will be disproportionate to the attack isn’t a violation of the rule of distinction. The rule of distinction requires that Israel not aim its fire at civilians as such. It has nothing to do with how much fire Israel can aim at legitimate targets.
b. Regarding the rules of distinction and proportionality, Moyers asks Goldstone, “Who is to say that? Who is to make that distinction?” Goldstone answers, “Well, that distinction must be made after the event.” That is absolutely, positively, not the law. The law is that commanders must make judgments on the basis of knowledge they have at the time, not that one second-guesses them after the event and judges them guilty on the basis of knowledge they may not have had. Thus, for example, Newton testified “In order to properly assess a real proportionality assessment therefore, the relevant question is what did the commander know? What information was available to him?”
This is not an isolated misstatement by Goldstone. Throughout the interview, he keeps giving examples of judging after the fact. For example, he says: “We spoke to the owner of a home in Gaza City. He said he looked out of his window and he saw some militants, whether Hamas or other Palestinian groups, setting up their mortar launchers in his yard. He ran out and said, "Get out of here. I don't want you doing this here. You're going to endanger my family, because they going to bomb. Get out." And in fact, they left. Whether that was typical or atypical, I don't know, we didn't, obviously, cover the field. But assuming they had disobeyed them, assuming they had launched the rockets from over the objections of the household owner, and his family, they launched the rockets and disappeared. It would be a war crime, as I understand it, for Israel to have bombed the home of that innocent household, who didn't want this to happen.” Goldstone again, is wrong. Even if the facts were as Goldstone stated them, and the owner was absolutely innocent, the launching point of rockets would still be a legitimate target, and it would be permissible to attack it if the collateral damage were proportionate to anticipated military advantage, notwithstanding the damage to an innocent owner.
Here’s another example. Moyer prompts “so there was intention,” meaning Israel deliberately violated the rule of distinction. Goldstone responds: “Well, certainly. You know, one thing one can't say about the Israel Defense Forces is that they make too many mistakes. They're very, a sophisticated army. And if they attack a mosque or attack a factory, and over 200 factories were bombed, there's just no basis to ascribe that to error. That must be intentional.” Goldstone again is arguing that he can determine whether there was a crime by looking after the fact at what was destroyed, without any evidence of what the commander thought was the military advantage in attacking the site and what the commander thought would be the collateral damage. In Goldstone’s favor, here he at least tries to provide an excuse for his misstatement of the law: his preposterous assumption of Israeli omniscience.
c. Goldstone falsely states that the only legal way to fight in an urban area is with commando actions. Moyer asks him: “But when the terrorists, the militants, whatever one wants to call them, are known to be embedded in, as you say, those tight, complex, concentrated areas, what's the other army to do?” Goldstone says: “It's for example, to launch commando actions, to get at the militants and not the innocent civilians.” This is clearly not in line with the practice of any other state in the world.
3. Goldstone says that NATO fighting in Yugoslavia was basically legal (Goldstone’s comment: “Take the United States fighting wars in Kosovo and Iraq and Afghanistan. They have certainly at a high level, gone to extremes to protect innocent civilians. Where they've made mistakes, and mistakes have been made, in Kosovo, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, apologies have followed. The United States, in general, has accepted and tried its best, with the assistance of military lawyers, has tried its best to avoid violating international humanitarian law.”). But Israel’s government specifically said, and the report noted that “The Israeli Government states that this expression of its objectives is no broader than those expressed by NATO in 1998 during its campaign in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” (paragraph 1201). And the report responded by intimating that Israel’s objectives were therefore illegal (paragraph 1202 – “The Mission makes no comment on the legality or otherwise of NATO actions there”), before then saying explicitly that Israel’s objectives were illegal.
4. It’s interesting to see what Goldstone calls a good investigation. He dismisses the more than 100 Israeli investigations now ongoing because, he says, “it's now, what, seven months since the end of the war. There's only been one successful prosecution against a soldier, who stole a credit card, which is really almost fodder for cartoonists, in the plethora of alleged war crimes.” In other words, Israeli investigations will only be credible if they find Israelis guilty. The other reason he advances for attacking the Israeli investigations is “in those military investigations, as far as I've read, in only one cases have the military even approached the victims in Gaza. And obviously, to have a full investigation, one needs, as you say, to hear both sides.” This is rich, considering that Goldstone never spoke to any of the persons he accuses of committing crimes. Goldstone adds that Israeli investigations shouldn’t be trusted because they are done in “…secrecy? And, you know, I always quote Justice Brandeis, who said, "The best disinfectant is sunlight." And this is happening in the dark. And even with the best good faith in the world on the part of the military investigators, the victims are not going to accept decisions that are taken in the dark, and don't involve them.” But Goldstone is still refusing to refuse the evidence (written submissions, etc.) on the basis of which the report was written.
5. Goldstone states of Israel, “It's got a wonderful legal system, its got a great judicial system, its got retired judges who certainly, in my book, would earn the respect of the overwhelming number of people around the world, including the Arab world, who, if they held open, good faith inquiries, would put an end to this.” It’s worth reciting this in relation to Goldstone’s claims of the inadequacy of Israeli investigations. As paragraph 1803 of the report admits, the Israeli investigatory system ends at the High Court of Justice. Anyone who is disappointed with a decision not to investigate an incident or bring charges against an individual, or failure of a military court to convict may appeal to the High Court of Justice. This includes non-citizens, like alleged Palestinian victims, and interested observers like Goldstone himself. And the High Court of Justice has no standing requirement, so anyone may bring suit, even if they are not directly harmed. If Goldstone really cares to have new investigations, and has any real evidence to show that crimes were committed aside from the conclusory statements in the report, why doesn’t he file a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice? Why doesn’t he suggest it to any of the alleged Palestinian victims? Is he afraid to put his alleged evidence to the test of a court?
Posted by Yaacov at 11:48 AM
Labels: Goldstone Report
SnoopyTheGoon said...
In the light of this and many other reports showing numerous weaknesses in Goldstone report, unwillingness of (part of) our establishment to set up our own commission of inquiry that should make easy mincemeat of Goldstone and his report, is hard to understand.
Victor said...
Ditto, Snoopy. It seems inevitable now. Someone needs to get through to Netanyahu soon. We're paying the price of not having an inquiry, only to have one and lose credibility through the delay.
My original advice stands: invite respected experts in the laws of war and armed conflict from the US, Canada, Europe, anywhere they can be found, to join the Israeli commission in some official capacity. This will lend the inquiry great credibility and should be leveraged to establish an updated set of rules of war against non-state combatants for modern democracies.
Yaacov, check out this Jefferey Goldberg interview with Jeremy Ben-Ami of JStreet. Ben Ami actually sounds centrist!
as I've only listened to Goldstone i.e. not been distracted by pictures but fully concentrated on tone of voice. Consequently my reaction is a completely emotional one and intentionally so.
I fear no matter how careful the experts will be selected Goldstone will want to see convictions, after all he even kind of hinted that if Israel shouldn't do it, Israelis would be in danger of getting arrested by the international court. I found his voice strangely wavering between hints of held-back tears and a kind of hubris, the absolute wish to have his world-view dominate once and for all.
Using the language in which subalterns at the cubicle level communicate I'd say he sounded like somebody on a vendetta because he had had this great victory of the Human Rights Council bending to his wishes and then the Israelis dared to not bend to the super judgel.
He is going to force the issue.
My wild guess is only a committee whose members have been picked by Goldstone and approved by him alone will satisfy him, anything else will make matters worse. He maybe but just maybe will be generous enough to agree to not chair the commission.
Has any other since 60 years established state ever have to submit to something similar? If not, one shouldn't set an example. The crowd who wants to be able to do away with borders is gathering momentum and one day it may find justification to invade Israel in the name of human rights.
Gavin said...
Snoopy. It may not be that easy. I've been following the legal arguments for quite some time and it is very, very difficult to establish a clear legal framework to work from. The problem isn't so much the Goldstone report itself but the legal perspectives it is based on.
In brief; Israel approached Cast Lead as a conventional war, albeit against a party who refused to abide by the rules of war. They held the government of Gaza responsible for the attacks on Israel, as such they were entitled to attack the Gazan infrastructure such as military forces, munitions factories producing rockets etc etc. The military advantage in regards to rules of distinction extended to forcing a cessation of hostilities by the Government of Gaza, that widened the parameters substantially.
It's rather apparent that Goldstone and his cohorts approached cast lead as a Police action by the occupying power. As such Israel would have severely limited options for how they can conduct military operations against non government-sponsored actors. They literally would have to be of the commando-raid type that Goldstone alluded to. If the Goldstone scenario was true Israel likely has committed war crimes.
Israel and Goldstone et al really aren't even talking the same language, there's no common legal ground. If a commission of enquiry took Israels view on cast lead, as it probably would, it would almost certainly absolve Israel of any war crimes. It has to be said it is the only practical view that makes sense. But if Israel had an enquiry with different terms of reference to Goldstones what would it achieve? It would just be rejected as a whitewash & the screeching would get louder.
Israel does need to play smart on this, it's a tricky situation to manouevre out of.
Regards, Gavin
as I heard it Goldstonee was talking at Moyers a lot about the right to self-defense - am I naive/ignorant to associate self-defense with war and not with a police action?
btw I do not think playing smart is going to help much. Rightful indignation at being wronged, not given one's due in respect as a state seems the most promising route to me.
It's only about legal definitions Silke. Gaza is presently in a kind of legal limbo. It's not legally a nation state but it very much is functioning as one since Israel withdrew. If Gaza was a genuine independent state then few of the accusations against Israel would have merit.
It's last (declared) legal status was as part of the occupied territories however, so Israels foes use that last status as the foundation from which to fabricate war crimes charges against Israel.
One of the interminable 'experts on international law' used the police action argument to accuse Israel of war crimes in the Lebanon 2006 war. Hizbolllah wasn't a state actor, ergo full war wasn't justified so the attacks were disproportionate. That may have been Chinkin, not sure there.
The legal manouvering by the Goldstone mob is infuriatingly hard to pin down. They twist & turn like a trophy fish on a 2kg line. The Goldstone mission seemed like a deliberate trap to me, and meeting any demands by Goldstone could lead one further into it.
I'll just add to my last comment. Anyone interested in the legal arguments I'd recommend reading the 4th Geneva Conventioon. It is the source of most of the war crimes accusations against Israel. Not all, but most. Can find it here;
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5
Read it twice, once from the perspective of Israel having withdrawn completely from Gaza, and once from the perspective of Israel being still (legally) the occupying power. As an occupier Israel is indictably liable under a great many of the articles, as a non-occupier they are not.
Yaacov,
Natan Sharansky has written a new op-ed worth a read, which covers some of the issues you've been discussing.
Have you read his book, Defending Identity?
Gavin,
thanks for your reply and the link - I'll have it for breakfast tomorrow
- and as to the Moyers interview just count how often Goldstone says "flower factory" - can there be anything more innocent than a flower factory? really, really and even the Americans have never bombed a flower factory he implies. But don't flower factories use fertilizer? and isn't fertilizer useful for making Qassams?
I admit to being paranoid but having witnessed and survived office intrigues of all possible kinds I find comparing Goldstone's maneuvering to them quite useful - and yes those office campaigns have taught me that attacks like these are likely to be very efficient and very hard to get off target.
Just note his voice when he tells that after he got the HRC to obey Israel didn't budge. That's the one point that he will neither forgive nor forget.
Yaacov said...
Gavin -
You've made this comment before, and eventually I'll get around to investigating it. Assuming you're right, it's interesting that I'm not seeing it widely noted. In any case, Thanks for the input.
I'm just trying to offer a broader perspective Yaacov in the hope it will help the battle, I hope you don't mind me doing so. I've noticed the tendency of people is to react directly against the accusations whereas I think it's a good idea to get into the heads of the accusers & figure out just what they're up to. Look beyond the accusations to the source of them.
Anne Herzberg of NGO Monitor has a good handle on it, she wrote an interesting report called NGO “Lawfare”. Basically the NGOs have teams who scour the statutes for war crimes and then create legal arguments which enable them to accuse Israel of committing them. It's not about guilt or innocence, it's about stretching legal definitions far enough to make them cover Israel.
I've been informed that the International Red Cross used to label Gaza as an autonomous territory this last few years. Just before the Goldstone report came out the ICRC removed all references from their website to Gaza being an autonomous territory and now call Gaza part of the occupied territories. They even edited the map on their website. Now why would they do that?
Now why would they do that?
ever since I read Paul Berman on Bernard Kouchner I live with the vague feeling/fear that there is a trend/Zeitgeist about that wants international institutions with the capability to wield "holy" power independent of by them defined as fallible state governments.
That the UN in its publicly perceived parts is turning more and more into a hybrid between "imperialism" (the Security Council) and majority vote probably fires "them" up that "they" may be able to do a better job at creating authorities that will domante the world into everlasting bliss and harmony. And what better guinea pig for testing their ideas than the forever willing to doubt/second guess its actions state of Israel.
Yes I think it is very necessary to look on the fertile ground, the compost, but when reading legal texts with a lay mind one should always remember that there are law comments also and there are phrases on which there are shelves and shelves of definitions/interpretations.
i.e. chances are good that the lawyers will always succeed at out-interpreting "us" and eachother
- so maybe looking back to time-tested ethical standards is not a bad idea (btw I found out the other day that the 10 commandments seem not to be the same in German and in English, maybe writing a modernized unified version in oh so beautiful old language;-) could do some good because it could provide a reference point for people to judge the prodding of media pundits on)
фото школьница мастурбирует http://free-3x.com/ порно видео просмотр в онлайне студентов free-3x.com/ 18 ти летние [url=http://free-3x.com/]free-3x.com[/url]
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Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region
Drew Angerer, Getty Images
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press
AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq (AP) — President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Wednesday, leaving behind a partially shuttered U.S. government to greet American troops helping hold off extremists in a country where thousands of Americans died during the recent war.
It comes a week after Trump stunned his national security advisers by announcing that he would withdraw U.S. troops from neighboring Syria where they have been fighting Islamic State militants. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis abruptly resigned following the announcement, and Trump's decision rattled allies around the world, including in Iraq.
Trump's trip was shrouded in secrecy. Air Force One flew overnight from Washington, landing at an airbase west of Baghdad under the cover of darkness Wednesday evening. It is his first visit with troops stationed in a troubled region.
Fifteen years after the 2003 invasion, the U.S. still has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq supporting the government as it continues the fight against remaining pockets of resistance by the Islamic State group. IS has lost a significant amount of territory in Iraq and Syria but is still seen as a threat.
Trump, who speaks often about his support for the U.S. military, had faced criticism for not yet visiting U.S. troops stationed in harm's way as he comes up on his two-year mark in office. He told The Associated Press in an interview in October that he "will do that at some point, but I don't think it's overly necessary." He later began to signal that such a troop visit was in the offing.
Trump had planned to spend Christmas at his private club in Florida, but stayed behind in Washington due to the shutdown. It's unclear whether his trip to Iraq was added after it became apparent that the government would be shut down indefinitely due to a stalemate between Trump and congressional Democrats over the president's demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Adding to the tumult, the stock market has been experiencing heavy losses over concerns about a slowing global economy, Trump's trade war with China and the president's public slamming of the Federal Reserve and its chairman over interest rate hikes by the independent agency.
Trump's visit comes at a time when his Middle East policy is in flux. He went against the views of his top national security advisers in announcing the Syria withdrawal, a decision that risks creating a vacuum for extremists to thrive.
There are dire implications in particular for neighboring Iraq. The Iraqi government now has control of all the country's cities, towns and villages after fighting its last urban battles against IS in December 2017. But its political, military and economic situation remains uncertain, and the country continues to experience sporadic bombings, kidnappings and assassinations, which most people attribute to IS.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi recently said Iraqi troops could deploy into Syria to protect Iraq from threats across its borders. Iraq keeps reinforcements along its frontier to guard against infiltration by IS militants, who hold a pocket of territory along the Euphrates River.
Trump campaigned for office on a platform of ending U.S. involvement in foreign trouble spots, such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Syria decision will ultimately affect all of the approximately 2,000 troops deployed in the war-torn country. The Pentagon is also said to be developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 American troops still serving in Afghanistan.
During the presidential campaign, Trump blamed Democrat Hillary Clinton for the rise of IS, due to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 during her tenure as secretary of state.
President George W. Bush is the one who set the 2011 withdrawal date as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government to gradually shrink the U.S. footprint and slowly hand off security responsibilities to the government and Iraqi security forces.
His successor, President Barack Obama, wanted to leave a residual force in Iraq to help the government manage ongoing security challenges. But he ultimately went ahead with the scheduled pullout in 2011 after Iraqi's political leaders rejected terms the U.S. sought for legal protections for the U.S. troops that would have remained.
Two of Trump's recent predecessors visited Iraq early in their terms.
Bush visited Iraq in November 2003, about eight months after that conflict began. Due to security concerns, Bush waited until 2006 to make his first visit to Afghanistan.
Obama visited Iraq in April 2009, the first year of his eight years in office, as part of an overseas tour. He visited Afghanistan in 2010.
Vice President Mike Pence visited Afghanistan in December 2017, not long after Trump outlined a strategy to break the stalemate in America's longest war. Pence met with Afghan leaders and visited with U.S. troops stationed in the country. Trump has not visited Afghanistan.
Associated Press writer Philip Issa contributed to this report.
Source: Trump in Iraq on first visit to troops in troubled region
Categories: National News
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Pol Pot quotes
Pol Pot (1925 – 1998)
Born Saloth Sar, was the General Secretary of the Cambodian Communist Party and the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 to 1979.
He was always a good husband. He tried his best to educate the children not to be traitors. Since I married him in 1985, I never saw him do a bad thing...What I would like the world to know was that he was a good man, a patriot, a good father.
"Only several thousand Kampucheans might have died due to some mistakes in implementing our policy of providing an affluent life for the people."
In Cambodia, the Cambodian people, communists and patriots, have risen against the barbarous government of Pol Pot, which was nothing but a group of provocateurs in the service of the imperialist bourgeoisie and of the Chinese revisionists, in particular, which had as its aim to discredit the idea of socialism in the international arena... The anti-popular line of that regime is confirmed, also, by the fact that the Albanian embassy in the Cambodian capital, the embassy of a country which has given the people of Cambodia every possible aid, was kept isolated, indeed, encircled with barbed wire, as if it were in a concentration camp. The other embassies, too, were in a similar situation. The Albanian diplomats have seen with their own eyes that the Cambodian people were treated inhumanly by the clique of Pol Pot and Yeng Sari. Pnom Pen was turned into a deserted city, empty of people, where food was difficult to secure even for the diplomats, where no doctors or even aspirins could be found. We think that the people and patriots of Cambodia waited too long before overthrowing this clique which was completely linked with Beijing and in its service.
He said that he knows that many people in the country hate him and think he’s responsible for the killings. He said that he knows many people died. When he said this he nearly broke down and cried. He said he must accept responsibility because the line was too far to the left, and because he didn't keep proper track of what was going on. He said he was like the master in a house he didn’t know what the kids were up to, and that he trusted people too much.
I was responsible for everything so I accept responsibility and blame but show me, comrade, one document proving that I was personally responsible for the deaths.
There's what we did wrong and what we did right. The mistake is that we did some things against the people — by us and also by the enemy — but the other side, as I told you, is that without our struggle there would be no Cambodia right now.
It is good that Pol Pot is dead. I feel no sorrow. Pol Pot was a Vietnamese agent. I have the documents...The world community should stop talking about this now that Pol Pot is dead. It was all Pol Pot. He annihilated many good cadres and destroyed our movement. I hope he suffers after death.
Everything I did, I did for my country.
Pol Pot makes a very powerful impression on those who hear him for the first time. After that, they want to come back... Those who attend his seminars feel enlightened by his teaching, his explanations and his vision... He's like a father to us.
I came to join the revolution, not to kill the Cambodian people. Look at me now. Am I a violent person? No. So, as far as my conscience and my mission were concerned, there was no problem.
Exterminate the 50 million Vietnamese... and purify the masses of the [Cambodian] people.
We did not yet have laws or order. We were like children just learning to walk.
The first time I heard of Tuol Sleng, it was on the Voice of America. I listened twice.
We want only peace, to build up our country. World opinion is paying great attention to the threat against Democratic Kampuchea. They are anxious. They fear Kampuchea cannot oppose the Vietnamese. This could hurt the interests of the Southeast Asian countries and all of the world's countries.
Whoever wishes to blame or attack me is entitled to do so. I regret I didn't have enough experience to totally control the movement. On the other hand, with our constant struggle, this had to be done together with others in the communist world to stop Kampuchea becoming Vietnamese.
Podolsky, Boris
Poehler, Amy
Pogrebin, Letty Cottin
Pogue, David
Pohl, Oswald
Poincare, Henri
Poinsot, Louis
Poisson, Simeon Denis
Poitier, Sidney
Polanski, Roman
Polanyi, John
Polanyi, Michael
Politkovskaya, Anna
Polk, James K.
Polkinghorne, John
Pollan, Michael
Pollard, John Garland
Pollok, Robert
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Posted on August 11, 2018 August 19, 2018 by Robert Daniels
‘BlacKKKlansman:’ Spike Lee Isn’t Done Yet
No director has been written off more than Spike Lee. For a man that’s made cinematic classics, such as Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, and Jungle Fever, he’s often disregarded. Most directors with that kind of filmography would be hailed as geniuses, yet Lee has been left for dead time-and-time again. Much of that has to do with the blunt and honest nature of his films, especially with respect to race. He’s “polarizing” to some, but his voice has always been important. Here, with BlacKKKlansman, from the novel of the same name, he creates not only one of his best films, but the biggest salvo in a year filled with much needed meditations on race.
Opening with a spoof of Gone with the Wind, Lee makes his statement. He takes what’s considered a cinematic classic and re-opens what black audiences have always known about the film, and is often forgotten, that it eulogizes the south. Though its pernicious message is subtler than D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (a film that’s routinely referred to throughout BlacKKKlansman), it still basks in the “rebel” motif of the “noble cause.” This opening will galvanize audiences and tickle film aficionados.
Lee then transitions to Dr. Beauregard (Alec Baldwin), a white nationalist who is filming a newsreel. Lee uses hues of red over Baldwin’s face, as his character does take-after-take, complaining of black rights and “MLcoon.” It’s a sequence that may be funny to some, but shouldn’t. As Beauregard spews slur after slur, it’s a haunting reminder of how common such speech once was.
BlacKKKlansman is filled with many of these vignettes. Lee throughout the film is trying to accomplish numerous aims. The film shifts from film criticism, to slight bits of satire, to a rallying cry. It covers Gone with the Wind, Birth of a Nation, and the Blaxploitation films of the 70’s.
However, the central story of the film is Ron Stallworth’s. He’s the first black officer of the Colorado Springs police force and he wants to go undercover in the Klu Klux Klan. Stallworth, played by John David Washington, is intelligent and keen. Stallworth was a real person, and the film is based on his autobiography. Here, Washington is deceptively cool and looks like a veteran in his short career. Stallworth’s story is supported by Flip (Adam Driver), his partner in an undercover assignment, which begins with Stallworth finding the KKK’s phone number on an ad and calling it. He becomes the voice, while Flip is the stooge. It’s a treat to see what role Driver will take, as there’s no actor on a hotter run than him. His name is almost a harbinger of quality right now, and he delivers a workman like performance here.
In the background is Stallworth’s relationship with Patrice (Laura Harrier), a “militant” organizer. Their sequences provide a dichotomy in BlaKKKlansman, between Stallworth’s white and black world. With Patrice, he debates the best Blaxploitation films, such as Superfly, Cleopatra Jones, and Shaft. However, their most powerful scene is in their first meeting. Stallworth, uncover, comes into contact with her at a Stoakley Carmichael/ Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins) rally. Hawkins appears in the film for less than 8 minutes, but his time is well spent. The scene is a “wow” moment as Ture gives a fiery speech, a moment that causes even the undercover Stallworth to mutter in agreement. The scene is going to be studied in film for years to come, as shots of Ture delivering his speech are interspersed with profile shots of the audience listening to him. It’s stunning, chilling, and brilliant, and will be received warmly or halfheartedly depending on the audience.
One of the better scenes is also the dance sequence following the speech, between Stallworth and Patrice, reminiscent of a Soul Train line. Lee does these callbacks to black heritage with exuberance and reverence. Often it feels as though Lee wants to dwell on these moments longer and more intimately, and sometimes I wish he would. Indeed, many of these vignettes would make for stunning shorts. And in these sequences, Lee does some work of recovery. Taking the genre of Blaxsploitation and returning it back its political and proud cultural roots.
Lee’s film is so jammed that the actual undercover scenes sometimes take a backseat. The switching between the KKK meetings and these meditations on black culture sometimes creates an uneven tone, but it’s often mended by Lee making connections between the protests done by the black students and the KKK (though the ending is still tonally deaf).
Lee’s vision of the KKK is that of dangerous buffoons. The very nature of an organization duping themselves into believing that they can tell the difference between whites and blacks, and then being fooled into accepting a black man into their ranks feeds into it. Topher Grace as David Duke is perfectly cast. Jasper Pääkkönen and Ashlie Atkinson as the Kendricksons are batty true believers, while Pääkkönen in particular is down right frightening. The line detector sequence is another vignette that will leave audiences at the edge of their seats. Also, Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe is making a career out of playing stupid, inhabiting a character much like the one he played in I, Tonya. We rarely see these Klan members in their white hoods, but the “normalization” of them is the exact fear that Lee is playing off here. The racists aren’t caught by their garb or the signs on their lawn, they are caught by the flags they fly and behind closed doors. They’re caught not by burning crosses, but by Tiki torches.
Lee realizes this. That racism is camouflaged, yet cogent, and often hides behinds the highest of offices. The score, written by Terence Blanchard, mixes these sentiments as images of the Klan are often accompanied by patriotic music. In the background to every Klan moment is usually a picture of Nixon. It’s one of the subtle ways that Lee makes a film about the 70’s that’s really about today.
And in 5 years, there will be those who will write off Lee. They will call him overrated. They will say that his message has lost its sheen or that his films play on race too often. However, Spike Lee is one of the best directors of his generation. BlacKKKlansman assures him of that title, even if his coronation has come 10 years too late.
Tagged with:Adam Driver, Alec Baldwin, Ashlie Atkinson, BlacKKKlansman, Corey Hawkins, film, Film reviews, Jasper Pääkkönen, John David Washington, Laura Harrier, movies, Paul Walter Hauser, reviews, Topher Grace
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Listen to ‘Black Dog’ From Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Song Remains the Same’ Reissue
Atlantic / Swan Song
Led Zeppelin have released a remastered version of "Black Dog" from the upcoming expanded box set of their 1976 live album and soundtrack The Song Remains the Same.
Even though it was not included on the original release of the album, the song was featured on the 2007 reissue. The new version features remastered sound by Jimmy Page.
You can listen to it below.
Arriving on Sept. 7, the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppelin's first concert, The Song Remains the Same will be reissued on two CDs, four 180-gram vinyl LPs and Blu-ray audio with 5.1 surround sound. It will also be available as a digital download and on streaming services.
A "Super Deluxe" box set combines all of these along with a DVD of the movie that adds previously unreleased performances of "Celebration Day," "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Misty Mountain Hop" and "The Ocean," along with a replica of Led Zeppelin's 1977 Japanese tour program, a print of the album's artwork and a 28-page book with photos and an essay by Cameron Crowe.
This release wraps up the most recent Led Zeppelin reissue campaign, which began in 2014.
The reissue is one of a trio of projects the band has prepped to mark its 50th anniversary. Arriving in October is Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, a 368-page hardback book written by Page and the other two surviving members of the band, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones. Earlier this year, they reissued a remastered version of another live album, 2003's How the West Was Won.
Led Zeppelin Albums Ranked
Next: Top 50 Led Zeppelin Songs
Source: Listen to ‘Black Dog’ From Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Song Remains the Same’ Reissue
Filed Under: Led Zeppelin
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Why May 15th Matters In Rock History
posted by Emily Lee - May 15, 2019
It’s May 15th and here are some reasons why this day matters in rock history:
In 1994, Blur scored their first number one album in their homeland, the U-K, with Parklife. It would go on to spend over two years on the charts over there.
In 1975, Fleetwood Mac debuted their new lineup in El Paso, Texas. It was the first incarnation of the band that included Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie.
In 1997, Courtney Love sold the Seattle mansion she shared with the late Kurt Cobain. A local family bought the home for three-million dollars.
In 1997, Oasis became one of the first artists to attempt to exert censorship over the Internet. The band worked with Sony to put an end to unofficial websites carrying lyrics, sound files or photographs of the band.
In 1976, The Rolling Stones had the number one album in the country with Black and Blue.
In 1971, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young went to number one on the chart with 4 Way Street.
In 1982, Asia had the number one album with their self-titled LP. It would go on to spend a total of nine-weeks on top of the chart and become the best-selling album of the year.
In 1982, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder started a seven-week run on top of the singles chart with “Ebony and Ivory.”
And in 1984, Nils Lofgren was drafted into the E Street Band by Bruce Springsteen to replace “Little” Steven Van Zandt.
And that’s what happened today in rock history.
(H/T: This Day in Music)
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Offseason shopping on a budget: Relievers
For the second straight offseason the Twins need relief help. Last winter they ignored the free agent market, trusted various in-house options, and wound up with a fire-starting bullpen that had the worst ERA in baseball. Joe Nathan and Matt Capps are free agents and Glen Perkins is the only reliable holdover, so here are 14 worthwhile bullpen targets who figure to be cheap enough to fit into the Twins' budget assuming they don't bust it on Nathan or another closer.
Frank Francisco: If other teams pursue Francisco as a closer the Twins should bow out, but if he's available for setup man money it could be a nice fit. He can't be counted on for more than 50 or 60 innings, but over the past four seasons Francisco has a 3.54 ERA, 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings, and a .226 opponents' batting average while averaging 94.1 miles per hour with his fastball. If the Twins are serious about adding power arms, he's an obvious target.
Jonathan Broxton: After a four-year run as one of baseball's most dominant relievers Broxton began struggling in mid-2010 and fell apart this season, missing the final five months with an elbow injury. He underwent minor surgery in September, but is expected to be fully recovered by spring training and is still just 28 years old. Broxton had a 2.92 ERA with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings through his first five years. He's a big risk, but the reward could be just as huge.
Mike Gonzalez: After a long history of arm problems Gonzalez is recovering from knee surgery, but if healthy he's an elite left-handed reliever. Gonzalez had 51 strikeouts in 53 innings this season and has averaged 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings for his career, which ranks second among all active lefties. His control can be shaky and offering more than a one-year deal would be a mistake, but Gonzalez is capable of getting high-leverage outs versus lefties and righties.
LaTroy Hawkins: At age 38 and eight years after leaving the Twins as a free agent Hawkins posted a 2.42 ERA and 28/10 K/BB ratio in 48 innings for the Brewers, giving him a 3.43 ERA in 444 total innings since exiting Minnesota. He's lost fastball velocity, but Hawkins still averaged 92.6 miles per hour this season and served up just one home run while inducing more than 60 percent ground balls for the second time in his career.
Brad Lidge: Once an elite closer with a devastating mid-90s fastball and high-80s slider, Lidge averaged just 88.9 mph on his fastball and 80.9 mph on his slider this year while being limited to 19 innings following elbow surgery. At age 35 his velocity likely isn't coming back, but Lidge still racked up 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings throwing in the high-80s and his slider remains one of the best pitches in baseball. If the price is right he'd be a nice boom-or-bust pickup.
Octavio Dotel: I suggested signing Dotel last offseason, when he got a one-year, $3.5 million deal and logged 54 innings with a 3.50 ERA and 62/17 K/BB ratio. He has the highest strikeout rate of all time among right-handers with 800-plus innings and even at age 37 got more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings for the fifth straight season. Dotel struggles against left-handed power hitters, but if spotted mostly versus righties he can be a major late-inning weapon.
Joel Peralta: Another of my suggested signings last winter, Peralta got a one-year, $925,000 deal from the Rays and tossed 68 innings with a 2.93 ERA and 61/18 K/BB ratio. His raw stuff has never been particularly impressive and Peralta is a 35-year-old extreme fly-ball pitcher, but his secondary numbers have always been excellent and he's got 110 strikeouts versus just 20 non-intentional walks in 117 innings since the beginning of 2010.
Takashi Saito: Saito is 41 years old and missed nearly the entire first half with hamstring and back injuries, but was his usual unhittable self after returning in July with a 1.46 ERA and .186 opponents' batting average in 25 innings. After a brilliant career in Japan he's played six years in the majors, posting ERAs of 2.07, 1.40, 2.49, 2.43, 2.83, and 2.09. Aging and injuries make him a risk, but Saito remains incredibly effective and would surely accept a one-year contract.
Jon Rauch: Rauch pitched much better than he got credit for as Nathan's replacement in 2010, converting 21 saves in 25 chances before the misguided deal for Capps bumped him back into a setup role. He left as a free agent last winter and had a mediocre season for the Blue Jays on a one-year, $3.5 million contract, but Rauch posted a 2.82 ERA and 60/20 K/BB ratio in 73 innings during one-and-a-half years for the Twins and remains a capable setup man.
Chad Qualls: Also on my list of suggested bullpen targets last winter, Qualls inked a one-year, $2.55 million deal with the Padres and threw 74 innings with a 3.51 ERA and 43/20 K/BB ratio. Because he called pitcher-friendly Petco Park home that ERA isn't as impressive as it appears and Qualls' strikeout rate was the worst of his career at age 32, but aside from a fluky 2010 season his annual ERAs are 3.55, 3.28, 3.76, 3.05, 2.81, 3.63, and 3.51 dating back to 2004.
Dan Wheeler: Yet another reliever I suggested last offseason, Wheeler signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Red Sox and threw 49 innings with a 4.38 ERA and 39/8 K/BB ratio. Much like Dotel he's susceptible to left-handed power hitters, but righties hit just .200/.233/.379 off Wheeler during the past three seasons, producing a 104/18 K/BB ratio. As an extreme fly-ball pitcher Target Field is a good fit and at age 33 he should be available for a one-year deal.
George Sherrill: Before missing the final six weeks of the season with elbow problems Sherrill tossed 36 innings with a 3.00 ERA and 38/12 K/BB ratio, and if healthy the 35-year-old would fit nicely as a left-handed specialist. Combined over the past three seasons lefties hit just .192 with two homers and an 80/17 K/BB ratio off Sherrill, who has a 3.68 ERA and 320 strikeouts in 323 career innings.
Todd Coffey: With his sizable gut and sprint to the mound Coffey seems like a sideshow, but over the past three seasons he posted a 3.68 ERA and 167/64 K/BB ratio in 206 innings. That includes a 3.62 ERA and 46/20 K/BB ratio in 60 innings for the Nationals, who signed him to a one-year, $1.35 million deal after Coffey was non-tendered last offseason. I wanted the Twins to sign him then and he'd make sense again now as a hard-throwing righty setup man.
Michael Wuertz: Wuertz was injured and ineffective this season, convincing the A's to decline their $3.25 million option on the 32-year-old right-hander. When healthy the Minnesota native was an extremely effective setup man from 2004-2010, throwing 381 innings with a 3.45 ERA and 9.7 strikeouts per nine frames. His velocity has declined recently, so anything more than a modest one-year deal would be too risky, but Wuertz's fastball-slider combo is worth a flier.
Brad Lidge
Chad Qualls
Dan Wheeler
Frank Francisco
George Sherrill
Joel Peralta
Jonathan Broxton
LaTroy Hawkins
Michael Wuertz
Mike Gonzalez
Octavio Dotel
Takashi Saito
Todd Coffey
Picking through the non-tenders
Thursday's deadline came and went without the Twins non-tendering anyone, but a total of 52 arbitration-eligible players were non-tendered by other teams and that group hitting the open market provides a secondary class of free agents worth picking through. There are no stars to be had and for the most part all 52 players were cut loose for a reason, but with the Twins in search of bullpen help and perhaps a backup outfielder there are options worth considering.
Bobby Jenks: Cut loose by the White Sox because he would have been due for a raise on his $7.5 million salary, Jenks remains a very good reliever and pitched much better than his 4.44 ERA this year suggests. His average fastball still clocked in at 95 miles per hour, he racked up 61 strikeouts in 53 innings, and served up just three homers while inducing 58 percent ground balls. Jenks could end up being a tremendous bargain if his ERA and weight scare teams off.
D.J. Carrasco: Arizona had MLB's worst bullpen ERA by a full run and Carrasco was only due for a raise to around $1.5 million, so it's tough to explain why they cut him loose. Whatever the case, after spending 2006 and 2007 in the minors and transitioning to the bullpen full time he's had ERAs of 3.96, 3.76, and 3.68 with 157 strikeouts in 210 innings and a .255/.327/.356 opponents' line in the past three years. He'd be a nice low-cost replacement for Matt Guerrier.
Joel Peralta: After back-to-back rough years Peralta had to earn his way back to the majors with a dominant stint at Triple-A as a 34-year-old and then pitched brilliantly for the Nationals with a 2.02 ERA, .170 opponents' average, and 49-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 49 innings. That somehow got him non-tendered, but as a fly-ball pitcher with excellent control and a 4.22 career ERA he'd fit perfectly working the middle innings for the Twins.
Todd Coffey: Another right-handed middle-reliever candidate, Coffey was non-tendered by the Brewers despite a 3.52 ERA and 128-to-46 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 153 frames for Milwaukee. Coffey's slider is his best pitch, but his average fastball also clocks in at 94 miles per hour and he's induced 52 percent ground balls to go along with missing plenty of bats. Turning to the bad-control, good-stuff spectrum, Jose Veras and Manny Delcarmen could be decent fliers.
Hideki Okajima: After posting a 2.72 ERA in his first three seasons Okajima was relegated to mop-up duties following a terrible first half, angered the Boston media by avoiding interviews, and admitted to being homesick without anyone to talk to in the bullpen. All of which explains why he was non-tendered, but a rebound playing alongside Tsuyoshi Nishioka seems doable. He pitched well down the stretch and has always been more setup man than lefty specialist.
George Sherrill: With a 6.69 ERA this season Sherrill earned his non-tender from the Dodgers, but he was an All-Star in 2008, had a 1.70 ERA in 2009, and still looks plenty capable of being a good left-handed specialist in 2011. Right-handed batters crushed Sherrill this year, but he held lefties to .192/.286/.288. And that's actually worse than his ridiculously great career mark of .167/.235/.265 versus lefties.
Matt Diaz: Ron Gardenhire has unfortunately shown zero willingness to actually bench Jason Kubel versus lefties despite a miserable .236/.313/.352 career line against them, but if he did Diaz would be an ideal platoon partner. He's stretched thin when asked to play every day, but Diaz is a lifetime .335/.373/.533 hitter off lefties. With an overall career line of .301/.350/.456 he may be out of the Twins' price range for a part-time player, but he'd be very useful.
Scott Hairston: He doesn't destroy lefties quite as convincingly as Diaz, but Hairston hits them well enough (.278/.331/.498 despite calling MLB's most severe pitcher's ballpark home) to be a strong platoon partner for Kubel and also brings significantly more defensive versatility to the table than Diaz with extensive center field and second base experience along with nearly two thousand innings as a corner outfielder.
Lastings Milledge: Yet another nice fit as a possible platoon-mate for Kubel, although Milledge is different than Diaz or Hairston in that he's still just 25 years old. While coming up through the Mets' system he twice ranked among Baseball America's top dozen prospects, but Milledge has already been let go by three teams while hitting just .269/.328/.394 in 1,655 trips to the plate. Within that he's been solid off lefties and has a good glove when playing a corner spot.
Fred Lewis: As a left-handed hitter Lewis obviously wouldn't work at all as a platoon-mate for Kubel, but he'd have value if the Twins are looking for a more traditional fourth outfielder. He's hit .272/.348/.418 in 1,518 plate appearances, has 20-steal speed, and is solid defensively in the corners while having some experience in center field. Not exactly the ideal fit roster-wise, but useful enough that he'd be worth adding anyway if the price was right.
Tony Gwynn Jr.: Despite a Hall of Fame father with seven batting titles and 3,141 hits Gwynn Jr.'s bat is his weakness. He's hit just .244/.323/.314 in 1,054 plate appearances and at age 28 seems unlikely to develop further. He does have the plate discipline to avoid being a total non-factor offensively and Gwynn is an elite defensive outfielder with 30-steal speed. Batting left-handed (and Jason Repko's presence) keeps him from being a better fit for the Twins.
Bobby Jenks
D.J. Carrasco
Fred Lewis
Hideki Okajima
Jason Kubel
Lastrings Milledge
Matt Diaz
Scott Hairston
Tony Gwynn Jr.
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Fintech Company Take 7,160 sq. ft. In Clerkenwell
Anton Page and Edward Charles & Partners, acting on behalf of TH Real Estate are delighted to announce that TrueLayer, a leading fintech startup who have just raised an £5.8 million venture capital round, have let 7,160 sq. ft. at 1 Hardwick Street in Clerkenwell, paying £65 per sq. ft.
TrueLayer, who have taken the office, are a leading provider of financial APIs which allows companies to securely access consumers’ bank transaction details if they consent, make payments and verify their identity. Since launching in 2016, TrueLayer has raised over £9 million in venture capital, allowing them to rapidly expand in the UK and press forward with plans to expand across Europe over the course of the year.
1 Hardwick Street is a striking former warehouse building situated in a charming Clerkenwell location, just two minutes from Exmouth Market. The building has undergone a comprehensive refurbishment by TH Real Estate, directed by the award winning architects practice HUT to offer contemporary office accommodation whilst still retaining many original features.
For more information on our available properties, click here.
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A Few Best Men Review
Picture this, before one of them gets married a group of guys go out to celebrate, get drunk, wake up with no memory of the many things they did the previous night and then have to try fix everything in time for the wedding. While this may seem like a totally original, never seen anything like it before plot to some, others may notice some striking similarities with a little known movie called The Hangover. However, don’t worry because A Few Best Men does plenty to set itself apart from The Hangover franchise, like having a story that isn’t completely predictable.
When David (Xavier Samuel) returns home his friends are shocked to discover that he is engaged to his holiday romance, Mia (Laura Brent). David then brings his friends to Australia, where Mia is from, so that they can all meet Mia’s family a few days before the wedding, but will the English lads fit in? After they there, David goes off with his bride to be while his friends take a detour to get something extra special for the bachelor party. From here there’s a bunch of crazy stuff involving sheep, alcohol, gun violence and some missing cocaine, but let’s not spoil all that. However, even with all the wild stuff that happens at, and because of, the bachelor party the most unrealistic thing in the movie is how quickly the wedding was put together.
Despite the obvious comparison to The Hangover, A Few Best Men didn’t feel like a rip off. The characters are likeable and their friendship seemed much more real than those in The Hangover, particularly David and Tom (Kris Marshall) who seemed more like brothers than friends. As the movie progresses so do the characters and you can see the relationship between Mia and David begin to show cracks as they start to realise how little they know about each other and maybe their holiday romance should have ended at the airport.
The best thing about the movie is that no matter what crazy problem the boys bring on themselves, the characters always seem real. They are believable as a group of people that grew up together and care about each other. They took in David, who doesn’t have any family, ‘even though everyone though he was gay’ and they all just became brothers, which is what motivates them to try keep the wedding on track. Then again, if male bonding and crazy bachelor parties don’t get you to the cinema, go for Olivia Newton-John who plays the hilariously crazy mother-in-law.
A Few Best Men hits cinemas today so be sure to check it out if you like comedies, even if The Hangover wasn’t your favourite movie you’ll definitely find a laugh or two at this English/Australian mix, which is brought to you by the people behind Death at a Funeral (the English version).
August 31, 2012 | Categories: Comedy | Tags: a, best, few, hangover, men, movie, plot, review, the | Leave a comment
Vergil in DmC
Though it’s not yet clear if any other characters will be returning, Capcom have confirmed that Vergil will play a big part in the upcoming reboot of the Devil May Cry franchise.
Vergil appeared as a boss in the first DMC game and was the main antagonist in the prequel Devil May Cry 3. His role in the third game has made him a fan favourite, rivalling Dante as the most popular character in the series. It isn’t surprising that Ninja Theory are bringing him into the new franchise, but will they be able to do justice to the original Vergil?
As with Dante, Vergil has undergone some changes. The old Vergil sought power and wanted to rule, while this new version seems to have the opposite in mine. While Dante grew up in orphanages and detention centres, Vergil was adopted by a wealthy family and the two haven’t seen each other since. Vergil grew up living it large and getting properly educated, but then demons killed his adoptive parents igniting hatred in him. Determined to take down the demons that secretly run society, Vergil began the order and became the masked man that has been shown in previous DmC trailers.
Vergil’s appearance has been altered in keeping with the new character designs, though he still has blond, silver/grey, hair. In fact, an old family photo, shown in the new trailer, shows that he has always had this colour hair while Dante’s has always been dark. This essentially puts to rest the idea of Dante’s hair turning lighter as the game goes on. As with the original Vergil, the colour blue is still a big part of his costume. Interestingly, he is also shown to have a katana sword, Yomato, like he did in the previous titles.
Though he may be on the good side Vergil does not seem to have the same regard for human life as Dante. Vergil is willing to let Kat, who is working for him, die while Dante insists on saving her. This may be a sign that Vergil might not be as good as he’d like Dante to think and may actually have an evil plan up his sleeve, one that he needs to use Dante to complete.
What do you think? Are you happy that Vergil is part of the new DMC franchise? Who else would you like to see featured the reboot? Would you prefer if the original characters were left alone? Let me know by voting and leaving a comment below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and like the like button.
August 14, 2012 | Categories: Games | Tags: backstory, cry, devil, dmc, may, pictures, reboot, trailer, vergil | Leave a comment
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Book Review-The Infamous Rogue
The Infamous Rogue by Alexandra Benedict
Also in this series: The Notorious Scoundrel
Series: Hawkins Brothers #2
Published by Harper Collins on July 28th 2009
They paid no mind to society's prying eyes . . .
The daughter of a wealthy bandit, Sophia Dawson once lost herself in the arms of Black Hawk, the most infamous pirate ever to command the high seas. But now, determined to put her sinful past behind her, she prepares to enter society as the bride of a well-born nobleman who knows nothing of her scandalous youth. All goes according to plan until her ex-lover—now a respectable sea captain but just as handsome and dangerous as ever—appears and once again tempts her with desire.
From the moment he sees Sophia again, James Hawkins wants only one thing: Revenge. He'll see to it that the reckless beauty pays for abandoning their heated affair. And so begins a battle of wills that can end only in utter ruin . . . or wicked surrender . . .
Sophia Dawson, daughter of a pirate, seven years ago fell in love with Pirate Black Hawke, one of the most infamous pirates but when she fell in love, she found she couldn’t stay without marriage, and she wanted more than to be his mistress and being shunned by everyone surrounding her, she deserves more than that. Now she is in England, and respectable, and is very close to winning the hand of a Duke, but then James enters into her life once more, and she knows that he can destroy everything that she has worked for to get to this point. James, once the Black Hawke Pirate, has retired from pirating for his sisters sake, and hates being in Society, but then he sees the one woman that he has vowed for revenge, thinking she is cold and unfeeling. However both Sophia and James, are headstrong and stubborn, and when they enter into a battle of wills which could lead to scandal or the most exquisite pleasure to be found in one another’s arms once more.
James, who once was the Black Hawke infamous pirate, has retired from piracy due to his sister marrying and now he must be respectable for her sake, but resents every moment in society’s sight. James has always been the one to take care of his siblings and now he has come face to face with the one woman who had once held his heart. But now he has a shield around himself, as protection, not wanting her to hurt him once more. Yet now he vows for revenge for leaving him in the first place.
The Heroine:
Sophia Dawson, is a daughter of a pirate, now her father has passed away, but despite that she has recently been scorned by her lineage. She once fell in love with James, but wanted more than just to be in his bed, but to spend the rest of her life with him. But when he refused marriage to her, she knew she couldn’t live this way, so she left him taking her broken heart with her. Now seven years later, she is in Society, and managed to look respectable and is hoping to win the hand of a nobleman. But then James enters her life, and she knows that any pursuit of the hidden passion she once buried, could destroy everything she has built her life for.
Although The Infamous Rogue was a wonderful romance to read, it was one of those that I had to push myself into reading. It didn’t draw me in as other books of this author has. I think the problem was the characters in this book. It just seemed off to me the way they interacted with each other, especially at the beginning of the book. Maybe its just me, or.. I don’t know, but this is probably one of my least favorites of this author that she has written. Although I do like reading from this author, The Infamous Rogue just doesn’t do it for me. It did have some good points though, I did enjoy the plot of the story and although I liked the book it was a bit more than an average read, although I will be reading the rest of her books that are related to this one though. I hope I will enjoy them much more. But if you like historical romances with a handsome rogue pirate, than you will enjoy this one.
About Alexandra Benedict
ALEXANDRA BENEDICT is the author of several historical romance novels. Her work has received critical acclaim from Booklist and a rare and coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly. Romantic Times awarded her a "Top Pick" review and raved: "There is nothing quite as exciting as finding a fresh, vibrant new voice, and Benedict has it!" All of Alexandra's books are translated into various languages.
Alexandra also writes young adult fantasy fiction with a romantic twist under the pen name ALEX BENEDICT. Don't miss SO DOWN I FALL, the "Broken Fins" series starter (now available!).
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Company News - 15 March 2017
AMTD Calvin Choi named 2017 Young Global Leader by WEF
On Mar 15, 2017, The World Economic Forum ( “WEF”, or “Davos Forum”), also known as “Economic United Nations” and “vane of the world economy”, announced the 2017 class of Young Global Leaders (“YGLs”) in its headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland. AMTD Group Chairman & CEO Mr. Calvin Choi has been named as one of the YGLs, who is also the first Hong Kong based financial sector leader to be recognized.
Launched by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2004, the YGLs are selected by the WEF and a board of world and industry leaders chaired by Queen Rania of Jordan. Every year, thousands of candidates from around the world are nominated and assessed according to rigorous selection criteria. Only the very best candidates who have demonstrated an innovative mind in their respective field and have made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the society are selected. Reflecting the diversity of stakeholders, the YGLs include leaders from politics, business, civil society, academia, and arts and culture across the globe.
Distinguished members and alumni of the YGLs include Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Oscar winner and actor Leonardo Di Caprio, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, German Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai, Russian composer and poet Lera Auerbach, as well as acclaimed filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and former Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.
Mr. Calvin Choi delivered his speech in a roundtable discussion in the World Economic Forum.
This year, the YGLs consist of a community with different background ranging from politics, technology, environmental protection, business and public welfare. More than half of this year’s YGLs come from the emerging market and 54% are women leaders. Apart from Mr. Calvin Choi, other YGLs of the year include California’s youngest mayor in history, Aja Brown; Apple Inc.’s Global Supply Manager - Energy Katie Hill; Artificial Intelligence specialist Richard Socher and Jamila Abass, a computer scientist in Kenya who applies technology to enhance the productivity of agricultural chains.
Besides leading the AMTD Group since 2016, Mr. Calvin Choi also serves as the Senior Assistant President of China Minsheng Investment Group – the largest Chinese privately–owned investment firm and a shareholder of AMTD Group, as well as the Executive Chairman and President of China Minsheng Investment Hong Kong International Headquarters.
Under Mr. Choi’s leadership, AMTD has been widely recognized as the new powerhouse in Asia’s financial services industry.
In the capital markets field, AMTD is among the top bookrunners in both equity and debt capital markets and is emerging as a pre-eminent player that is on par with multinational bulge brackets. Over the past 12 months, AMTD has successfully assisted numerous Chinese and Hong Kong corporates to tap the international market, including the Hong Kong IPO of Meitu, Everbright Securities, Bank of Qingdao and Bank of Tianjin; nearly 30 USD bond offerings for companies such as China Huarong Asset Management, China Minsheng Investment Group, Fosun International, Sun Hung Kai & Co. and Regal Hotels, with the total fundraising size in excess of USD 30bn.
On the asset management side, AMTD is one of the largest local asset management firms in Hong Kong and manages rapid-growing asset portfolios for the discretionary accounts of institutions and family offices.
In the insurance brokerage field, AMTD also owns the largest share in Hong Kong corporate insurance brokerage market and provides risk solutions alongside the globalization of numerous Chinese companies.
Meanwhile, AMTD has a long history of promoting technological innovation and the development of the sharing economy, especially in the field of Fintech investment. The Group was selected by the "Institutional Investor" magazine as " 2016 Fintech Finance 35" – one of the world’s top 35 Fintech investors.
Over the past 12 months, AMTD is rapidly expanding its global footprint. In China, AMTD has extended its presence in the commercial banking industry as well as the financial services sector in the Greater China region, through its strategic investment in Bank of Qingdao, and has lodged formal application to set up the first Guangdong-HK full-licensed JV securities company under CEPA. Moreover, AMTD is increasing its presence in North America, Europe and the Southeast Asia region, through the completion of its debut USD bond offering (representing the first ever and the largest international USD bond offering by an unrated and unlisted Hong Kong-based financial services company) as well as the establishment of AMTD - LendIt Joint Global Office with LendIt, the world’s largest FinTech organization.
In addition, Mr. Choi is active in volunteering and community servicing, with a long-term commitment to promote the international exchanges of young people in Hong Kong, cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and support corporate global citizenship. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Professions and the Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Youth Association.
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American Musical Theatre LIVE! Paris
Support Us – Global Giving Fundraiser for Franco-American Musical Theater Center
Next Thing You Know/Un jour ou l’autre
Crossroads/La croisée des chemins
It’s Only Life
Songs For A New World
Audition for a show
Let’s Do It : Cavorting with Cole Porter
Say Magnifique
In celebration of Women Composers & Lyricists
Cher Père Noël / Dear Santa
Andrew Byrne Cabaret
Broadway Love Songs
Studio Classes
Studio Musical Theatre Classes
Voice lessons & Coachings
Art As Life Workshops & Private Coaching
Movement for the Performing Artist
2015 Summer Musical Theatre Intensive
January 27, 2015 · by American Musical Theatre LIVE! Paris · in musical theatre classes, paris. ·
June 20 – July 5, 2015
Click Here to download the PDF brochure
Cliquez ici pour le programme en Français
Studio AMT Live presents a welcoming professional environment in the heart of Paris to explore musical theatre performance while diving into French culture. This program is geared for young and emerging performers who want to combine challenging, integrated musical theatre training with cultural experiences available in the City of Lights.
Contemporary Musical Theatre Focus
This two-week summer musical theatre intensive will focus on the works of contemporary American composer/lyricists and will culminate in a public Showcase Performance.
Our musical theatre training includes sessions in vocal technique and interpretation, song coaching, applied acting techniques, script and song analysis, movement and voice work, daily dance class, and integrated rehearsals to prepare a final showcase performance.
Cultural excursions and cross-cultural exchange are also a major part of the experience. Students will participate in quintessentially Parisian cultural excursions to Montmartre and the historic city centre, a French language lesson (for beginners or more advanced students), an Artist’s Way creativity workshop, two traditional French dinners with the AMT Live Company Members, and will attend a show during their stay. Performers will also have two days off in order to explore more of Paris or take day-trips to the surrounding areas.
The primary language of instruction will be English. All administrative staff is bilingual or fluent in both English and French. Les participants francophones qui cherchent à jouer en anglais sont encouragé à postulé pour le stage même s’ils ne parle pas couramment l’anglais.
AMT Live! is a non-profit, professional theatre company located in Paris, France. Our educational wing, Studio AMT Live, is a nationally accredited training organization specializing in musical theatre. The AMT Live association mission emphasizes collaborative exchange through musical theatre performances, educational opportunities, and community outreach programs. Our resident artists and staff members are professional musical theatre artists in France, the USA, or in the UK, and are dedicated to a positive, professional collaborative environment.
APPLICATIONS & AUDITIONS:
Priority Application & Audition Deadline – March 22, 2015
Final Application & Audition Deadline – May 15, 2015
To apply for this program, please fill out the REGISTRATION FORM and submit a performance resume and recent photo by email to studio@amtlive.org. These documents constitute your application to the program. At the time of application, please submit payment of your application fee ($35) via Paypal by clicking here
To complete your audition, please submit an audition video or link by email to studio@amtlive.org (See below for audition video requirements. If your video files are too large to email, you may send us a link to your audition video on youtube or vimeo or share through google drive, for example).
Once we have received all application/audition materials, we will will email a confirmation of receipt and further information regarding your admission status. Applicants are accepted on a rolling-admissions basis, therefore it is most advantageous to submit your materials early. Students who apply after the program is filled will be placed on a wait list.
A limited number of applicants will be invited to attend live auditions.
Live auditions:
March 15, 2015 – Paris, France
April 12, 2015 – Paris, France
A limited number of live auditions may be announced in the USA coming soon…
Audition video requirements:
Introduction and two contrasting audition songs. Please state your name, the date, your hometown, and the pieces that you are going to perform.
Song selections should be no longer than 4 minutes long each and should come from musical theatre repertoire, accompanied. (Please, no a capella singing). At least one of the selections should be a contemporary musical theatre piece.
The video does not need to be professional quality – a standard resolution video capture will be sufficient.
Application fee: $35 due at the time of application
Tuition and Housing: $3790
Tuition alone: $3190
Deposit: $250 deposit is due two weeks after your acceptance notification to secure your spot in the workshop.
Tuition balance deadline: The full tuition balance is due by May 15, 2015.
Prix de stage avec bourse pour résidents européens – 750€ ou 950€ AFDAS/DIF ** (N’inclut pas de hébergement)
PROGRAM TUITION INCLUDES
Housing (optional)
Unlimited local transportation via RATP Metro, Bus, and Tram (Central Paris)
Cultural excursions in and around Paris, France
Welcome Dinner with AMT Live Company Members
Traditional French “Au Revoir” Dinner with Full Company
Tickets to a show
French Language Lesson
Artist’s Way Workshop creativity session
TUITION DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Daily meals (Special Welcome and Au Revoir Dinners included in tuition)
Optional excursions and day-trips (TBA)
Airfare/Travel to Paris
75 hours of training (group format and individual coaching)
4-5 sessions per day between 10h-18h
Showcase performance production
2 tours of Paris
Attendance to the AMT Live performance on June 23
Welcome and Au Revoir dinners
SKYPE Q&A sessions with
Kait Kerrigan (Henry&Mudge, Party Worth Crashing…)
Ryan Cunningham (I Love You Because, Next Thing You Know)
Adam Kantor (Broadway actor : Last 5 Years, Rent, Avenue Q…)
Saturday, June 20:
Arrival in Paris, escort to your lodging, explanation of city transit and distribution of transit passes, get settled in.
Sunday, June 21:
All performers will gather in the afternoon for a tour of the city, followed by a welcome dinner.
Workshop Week 1
Daily sessions will run Monday through Friday from 10h – 18h with a one-hour break for lunch each day. Morning sessions will focus on dance/movement, vocal technique & interpretation, and group musical numbers. Afternoon sessions include solo coaching time, song interpretation and analysis, and special break-out sessions such as the Artist’s Way Workshop and acting techniques sessions. There will be two morning French language lesson sessions and a tour of the Montmartre neighborhood (optional) this week. Workshop artists will be welcomed as VIP audience members at the AMT Live Off Broadway à Paris performance.
Saturday/Sunday June 27/28 will be off so that artists may enjoy the city, take a day-trip, or hop to London on their own adventure.
Monday morning (June 29) will be off for all artists to explore, visit museums, or return from day-trips. We will gather Monday evening for a boat cruise along the Seine. Sessions this week run from Tuesday through Saturday from 10h-18h with mornings focussed on dance/movement and song interpretation & analysis in group and individual format. Following the one-hour lunch break each day, afternoon sessions will focus on integrated rehearsals for the cabaret showcase. There will be two French lessons (optional) prior to rehearsals, and a special Au Revoir dinner following the showcase performance.
APPLICATION CHECK LIST:
Complete online Registration Form
Email performance resume and a current headshot or snapshot photo to studio@amtlive.org
Remit payment of application fee via Paypal
Submit audition video by email to studio@amtlive.org
Accepted candidates must confirm participation and submit Deposit Fee within two weeks of their acceptance notification.
“I’m learning to take risks, dare, try, and stop apologizing in the process! This opportunity with AMT Live has been the perfect place to do that. I’ve never been in such a positive environment with fellow artists who truly encourage and bring out the best in one another!”
Lauren (Scottsdale, Arizona, USA). In 2013, Lauren participated in the AMT Live! Professional Training Program and was a cast member of our Paris premiere of Edges (Pasek & Paul). Since then, she has become a company member of AMT Live and co-host of our renowned Open Mic Soirée. This season, she premiered several of Andrew Byrne’s works in his recent Paris cabaret with AMT Live’s “Broadway Chez Nous” cabaret series and she performs regularly at the Carré Parisian.
“…a truly gracious adventure which helped me to progress technically in my work… it’s as though it was all connected and this work helped us to tap into things we didn’t know we were capable of accomplishing!”
Adam (Paris, France) was selected for the 2013 Professional Training Program to star in the Paris premiere of Edges. After training with AMT Live, he wrote and directed an original French musical “Le Reflet de Peter Pan” in Paris, France.
“When I arrived in Paris to pursue musical theatre, I found myself full of doubt. Through working with AMT Live, I was able to discover a focussed release that has been indispensable in my work. All of this was thanks to a welcoming, supportive environment where the faculty knew how to listen and respond with support and precision.”
Vincent (Lausanne, Switzerland) has been a regular participant in our Studio AMT Live educational programs since his arrival in Paris. Immediately following his first intensive training with AMT Live, Vincent was cast as the White Rabbit in the successful Paris premiere of “Alice, la Comédie Musicale.” Vincent is now a member of AMT Live, he assists with our Open Mic Soirée.
“The team and their mastery is impressive; the precision they require and direction is communicated with care and professionalism. It’s so wonderful that I’m eager to get to rehearsal.”
Eddy (Paris, France). Eddy was part of our 2013 Professional Training Program and Edges Paris premiere cast. He works regularly as a singer/songwriter in Paris, France.
Miranda Crispin (Director)
Miranda is a founding member of AMT Live Paris. Recently, she directed the Andrew Byrne Cabaret and was seen onstage in the Paris premieres of The Last Five Years and Songs for a New World. She served as the Vocal Director for the Paris premiere of the Pasek & Paul musical, Edges and for the new French musical Sleepin’ Bee, directed by Franck Harscouët, as well as for intensive musical theatre workshops with Adam Kantor (RENT, Avenue Q) and David Gardiner (West End, The Works of Stephen Sondheim). In 2013, she coordinated the Paris workshops with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and was the co-founder of Paris’ first monthly open mic soirée.
Miranda has served on the artistic staff for several musical productions including A Little Night Music, Smokey Joe’s Café, The Wiz, Urinetown, Godspell, The Last Five Years, Violet, I Got Rythym!, A Funny Thing Happened…, Blood Brothers, Honk!, and The Full Monty. Currently a member of the Acting & Musical Theatre Faculty at the University of Arizona, she has also served on faculty at American Conservatory of Paris (France) and as a guest artist at the Cambridge School of Performing Arts (Cambridge, England) and several American university programs and theatres.
She holds a MM in Music Theatre/Opera Performance from Arizona State University and a BFA in Music Theatre from Illinois Wesleyan University. This year, she contributed to TSF Jazz (French national radio) specials on Irving Berlin and Cole Porter and she can be heard as a guest presenter on musical theatre every month on French R2R radio.
Elizabeth Nantais (Music director, pianist)
A native of Canada, Liz has spent many years as Associate Conductor and Vocal Coach on tour with major musical productions including US National and World Tours of Fosse, European Tour of Hair – the Love and Rock Musical, and US National Tour of Sweet Charity. She also has also been a musical director and/or vocal coach on over 40 regional productions in three different countries.
Liz holds a Bachelor of Music Degree (Honours) from the University of Windsor (Canada) as well as two Masters of Music degrees, one from Arizona State University (Music Direction/Conducting, 2002) and the other from New York University (Piano Performance – Collaborative, 2009).
Currently the Head of Music at the Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts, Liz has taught at universities, colleges, and led workshops in Canada, the US, and the UK.
Darcy Smith (Administrative Director)
As a founding member of AMT Live, Darcy has co-produced our Off Broadway à Paris series (including Songs for a New World, Edges, and The Last Five Years), and manages the administration of our Studio AMT Live courses and workshops. A dancer and choreographer by training, she also teaches in our Broadway Song & Dance series. Originally from Houston, Texas, she became a professional company member of Discovery Dance Group (at age 14) after studying classical ballet, modern jazz, tap, gymnastics, and musical theatre, with specialization in lifts and choreography (under director Pamela Yburgen-Stockman).
In 2000, she leapt across the ocean (for a year!) and has been in Paris ever since. She graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in International Corporate Communications from The American University of Paris. At AUP, she choreographed Mamma Mia!, Chicago, West Side Story, Cabaret and HAIR. Darcy then taught and coordinated the musical theater department at the American Conservatory, LʼEcole Koenig, in addition to being a full-time administrator, where she organized musical theater summer camps in the south of France, and coordinated with 350 international families and faculty members. Darcy also holds a diploma in Business French (DFP B2 (DFA1) from the “Chambre de Commerce et dʼIndustrie de Paris”.
Maggie Cornyn (Dance & Choreography)
Maggie is a dance instructor, choreographer and personal fitness trainer originally from Illinois, USA. She teaches Ballet and Modern dance for the School of Theatre Arts at Illinois Wesleyan University and owns Stages Fitness, a personal training business for private clients. She marries her dance and fitness backgrounds by focusing on core strength, form and function.
Maggie taught dance technique and production at Vincennes University, where she also managed the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center during its inaugural seasons. Choreography credits include Blood Brothers, 1776, the world premiere piece Moonlight on the Wabash, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, as well as modern works in a dance concert setting. She holds a B.A. in Dance from Illinois Wesleyan University and has professional experience in the Chicago theatre scene, notably with the Bailiwick Theatre.
Quentin Bruno (Assistant Director)
Both French and American, Quentin Bruno has been singing on stage since a very young age. After having studied piano he discovered dance, which he then went on to study at the University of Nice, where his research focused on choreographic plurality and multidisciplinary art forms. After a semester abroad at the University of Oklahoma, Quentin moved to Paris and continued to train in musical theatre at the 9th arrondissement conservatory.
Quentin has taken part in multiple performances in France and abroad as a singer, dancer and actor. His credits include productions with Disneyland Paris (A Frozen Sing-along, Swing into spring…) and Musidrama (Légendes Parisiennes, Troyes : Ville en Lumière) as well as Cabaret (Victor), Island Song (Cooper) and many others.
In 2015, he was one of Mika’s talents on The Voice France.
Quentin has worked with AMT Live! as a performing artist (Sondheim Showcase in 2013) but has also been a member of the creative teams (Choreographer / Assistant Director) for the Broadway chez Nous concert series (Kristina Love’s Love Songs and the Andrew Byrne Cabaret).
Chris McKay (Acting)
Chris McKay has worked in the UK as a performer in theatre, radio, film, and television and as a writer and director, specializing in creating unique and bespoke productions to suit the ensemble. Trained an an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Chris has advanced certification in stage combat and is highly experienced in movement, dance, singing, and voice for the Actor.
Shows include; 101 Dalmatians, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Oliver, The Sound of Music, The Last Days of Mankind, Cold Comfort Farm, Twelfth Night and Posh.
Chris has also written versions of Robin Hood, Cinderella, Jack and The Beanstalk and Aladdin. He is currently writing/developing a verbatim production called ‘Mind the Gap’ – an exploration of the Mind and our thoughts in space..!
Andrea Offner (Artist’s Way Workshop Leader)
Andrea Offner is a native Texan who grew-up singing in East Texas. She attended SMU in Dallas to study music with a vocal performance scholarship and earned her BM in Music Therapy in 1983. For the next 15 years she would work with a variety of populations such as alcohol and drug rehab, Altzheimer’s unit, adolescent and adult psych and pain patients – in locked psychiatric settings as a Music Therapist – and she loved every minute of it!
In 1991 she married and moved to France. While living in Paris, she volunteered at local schools, and studied the Arts and Humanities to receive her Masters and a teaching certificate. She also completed training as a Psychodrama Director from the Swedish Moreno Institute.
In 2009 the family moved to Stuttgart, Germany. Her collaboration with German composer Felix Loewy resulted in the release of her latest CD – Life’s Too Short. She is also working with other artists to continue to create original arrangements of her music. Andrea and her family returned to live in France, where she continues to offer classes and support to people who are interested in improving the natural quality of their lives. Andrea’s musical skills, leadership qualities and nurturing disposition, combined with advanced studies Expressive Arts Therapies, Teaching, and Bodywork, give her the unique ability to work with people – body, mind, and spirit.
Lauren Berkman (Assistant)
Originally from Scottsdale, Arizona Lauren came to Paris after receiving her bachelor of Music from the Boston Conservatory in 2011. After falling in love with the French language and music during her studies in Boston, she took a job as an au pair and packed her bags to head to the City of Lights.
Lauren made her Paris stage debut in the American Musical Theatre LIVE! musical production of EDGES after winning a spot in the AMT Live! Professional Training Program. Currently co-organizer and co-host of AMT’s monthly open mic, Lauren has also performed in AMT special master classes with guest artists Carmel Dean, Adam Kantor, Pasek & Paul, and David Gardiner, where she was a featured artist in the Sondheim Showcase Performance (October 2013).
Lauren has studied at L’école de comédie musicale de Paris and she teaches children English through music and singing (and they teach her French too!). Lauren spends her free time exploring the magnificent streets of Paris, reading Fitzgerald short stories, and going to the cinema or theatre!
Kait Kerrigan
Kait Kerrigan is a playwright and a lyricist and composer of musicals. Originally from Kingston, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Wyoming Valley West Senior High School in Plymouth, Pennsylvania in 1999. Kait is a 2003 graduate of Barnard College with a degree in English Literature. She is the 2009 winner of the Edward Kleban Award as the most promising musical book writer in America. She is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
Kerrigan’s most recent musical works have been collaborations with Brian Lowdermilk. Their collaborations include The Woman Upstairs, The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown (with Zach Altman) and Wrong Number. She and Lowdermilk also collaborated on TheaterworksUSA’s adaptation of Henry and Mudge, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2006 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Her plays include Imaginary Love, Her Old Possessions, Tender Wars in the Green-Gold Room and Transit.
Kerrigan and Lowdermilk made their London debut at the St James Theatre in February 2014 in a concert series produced by United Theatrical – a London based theatrical production company run by Stuart Matthew Price and James Yeoburn. The featured singers included West End performers Rachel Tucker, Julie Atherton, Daniel Boys, Chloe Hart, Jodie Jacobs, Lauren Samuels and Anton Zetterholm.
Ryan Cunningham
Ryan Cunningham is a native of Needham, MA, and he holds a B.A. in Theatre and Graphic Design from the University of Notre Dame and an M.F.A. from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. At Notre Dame Ryan wrote the book to Chance at Love with Composer/Lyricist Tommy Curtin, which toured nationally in the summer of 2001.
With Composer Joshua Salzman, he wrote the book and lyrics for the Off-Broadway musical I Love You Because, for which he received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Lyrics. Salzman & Cunningham are also Jonathan Larson Award winners as well as MAC Award-nominated writers. Their new musical, Next Thing You Know, has been produced at CAP 21 in New York, across America and in Europe. Their song Just Not Now was featured on Lauren Kennedy’s solo album Here and Now.
Ryan is a member of The Dramatists Guild and the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.
Adam Kantor
Adam Kantor is an internationally recognized actor and singer, with roots in New York City. He starred in RENT on Broadway, playing “Mark”, the final performance of which was captured by Sony Pictures for “RENT: Filmed Live On Broadway”. He subsequently played “Henry” in the Pulitzer prize-winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL on Broadway, as well as “Princeton/Rod” in the smash comedy AVENUE Q. Most recently, he starred as “Jamie” in the acclaimed New York revival of THE LAST FIVE YEARS, directed by the composer Jason Robert Brown. Adam is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago, and also studied at the British American Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and Stella Adler Studio in NY. He is a co-founder of the nonprofit arts education organization Broadway In South Africa.
CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY:
Application fee and Deposits are non-refundable.
The balance of tuition of refundable as follows:
100% until March 15
50% until April 12
Non-refundable after May 10
Note: We are unable to refund fees for any reason beyond the stated parameters.
In the rare event that this workshop must be cancelled, all tuition will be refunded in full. (In this case, application fees remain non-refundable.)
Tags: amt live, classes, cultural, france, french, intensive, musical theater, paris, studio, studyabroad, summer
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Thanks to everyone for being at the last open mic of the season... see you on October 7 at the next musical theatre… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
AMT Live welcomes Kerrigan & Lowdermilk & Tysen for a one-day only musical theatre master class in Paris on April 1… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 months ago
Still time to register: Musical theatre intensive week long workshop in Paris May 28 to June 4, 2019… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 months ago
Thanks to all for the fab April musical theatre open mic - check out photos here: facebook.com/AmericanMusica… https://t.co/zsESdxps9I 3 months ago
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AMT Live Paris - Our mission is to create musical theater performances, educational opportunities and community outreach programs for international artists, fostering cultural exchange and development of the whole artist.
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New meta-analysis checks the correlation between intelligence and faith
1614 posts •
Operative Me
Tribus: Apx 1.496 x 10 ^8 kilometers NW of Sol
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:53 am
Hack-n-Slash wrote:
I agree with the last sentence as a generalization, but not the one before it.
The notion of an absolute, infallible moral authority has become/been the specific goal of theism.
And it worked so well that many atheists also tend to believe, axiomatically, certain truths about morality without questioning them?
Just look at copsewood in this very thread, trying to justify Biblical passages on slavery.
Do we pull the same nonsense with regard to the founding fathers (tradition)?
No, we call *them* their hypocrisy, without making excuses.
Uh, no. People ret-con history and the founding fathers beliefs in order to invoke their beliefs all the time. People try to downplay the fact that many of the founding fathers were, in fact, slaveowners, who demanded freedom for themselves, but did not see fit to grant it to others, giving a litany of reasons as to why their hypocrisy wasn't really all that hypocritical.
Nationalism, of course, is another belief many people hold without a single thought to question why that might be.
ToolGuy3
Operative Alex wrote:
You keep claiming that atheists don't question morality. Bullshit! That is precisely what we are doing right now.
We DEMAND the right to question morality.
Tribus: Sou Cali
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:35 am
ToolGuy3 wrote:
You have the right.
But when those who make the positive claim that one basis for morality is objectively superior to another are asked to provide evidence on why this is so, no proof is given.
The side claiming superiority is acting exactly the same as the side they claim superiority over, and (the best part, in my opinion) in the same breath as they decry that other side for doing exactly the same thing.
It's hypocritical and dogmatic and those who fight so hard to be "right" should really take a moment to step back and look at what they're really saying and doing and realize that it's a mirror for everything they claim to find fault with the other side.
Andara wrote:
Chuckstar wrote:
No. You're purposefully missing the point. We're not saying "do it our way because 'science'". We're saying "why should we do it your way without evidence?"
And, there go the goalposts.
Nobody was talking about making anyone else do anything their way.
The question has been for a dozen pages now, "What makes a moral system that invokes God inherently less valid than one that doesn't?" So far, nobody has managed to actually provide any evidence or proof that would stand up to a proper scientific review. It's been a lot of hand waving and appeals to science with precious little actual science involved.
Uh ... No! The question really should be, "What makes a moral system that invokes God valid at all?"
Everyone has beliefs and everyone has reasons for those beliefs. The question is, are those reasons good or bad? Because, really, every reason for every belief boils down to "It seems to work". I imagine the first religion started many thousands of years ago when some shaman noticed an apparent correlation between dancing under a full moon and a good harvest, or some other coincidence. And he kept dancing, because "it seemed to work", at least part of the time.
But this is exactly where the scientific method that you seem to disparage is so valuable. Because Science asks the question "Does it really work?", and then proceeds to prove it one way or the other. No one has ever shown a better way to tell a good reason from a bad reason to believe something.
Operative_Alex keeps demanding that we "prove" that one moral system is better than another (while simultaneously insisting it's impossible), and perhaps we can't in any absolute sense. But what we can do is observe the results of the application of any moral code and then ask the question "Does it work"?
All of us live under a de facto moral code called "the real world", and "it seems to work". Admittedly, far from perfect, but better than it used to be. There is a whole lot less "smiting and stoning" of innocent people going on.
And the reason it gets better is because society as a whole keeps asking the question (either explicitly or implicitly) "Does It Work"? And then we make adjustments to try to make it better. Science helps quite a bit here as well, because understanding actual cause and effect is a whole lot more effective than just guessing.
But, for any moral code or social contract to actually get better, we have to be able to ask the question "Does It Work"? And that is the entire problem. Not just religious belief, but ANY arbitrary unquestionable belief system makes it impossible to ask the question in the first place.
Nope, you are making a straw man argument. NO ONE is saying their moral code is better than anyone else's, except possibly you and Operative_Alex. We just object to being asked to accept your's unquestioningly.
ToolGuy, you're wasting your time at this point. The level of argument here has been reduced to 'nothing can be proven with 100% certainty, therefore no one can claim their position is better'. It's an all-or-nothing stalemate with no possible resolution.
mausium
dlux wrote:
It's funny how much religious conservatives insult "liberal thought" but stick to sophistry and postmodernism exclusively for their apologetics.
True enough, but I'm actually testing a theory.
See, I suspect that Operative_Alex is actually some grad students AI program trying to pass the Turing test.
He acts like he understands language and logic so well that it gets to the point where he almost convinces me he is a real person, but then he turns around and acts exactly like the "Eliza" program, in that no matter what I say, he simply picks some random part of my response and demands that I justify it. "Tell me more"
Edited for clarity to non-IT people who might not get the joke.
Last edited by ToolGuy3 on Fri Aug 23, 2013 11:22 am
mausium wrote:
It's funny how you think Alex and I are religious conservatives just because we don't think blanket condemnation is reasonable.
I'm about as far left as you can get while still being a theist and Alex isn't even religious at all.
I hope you're not referring to Operative Alex or Andara with 'religious conservative' because that is the exact presumption that Alex has been debating against.
I am asking you to prove your system is better because you keep saying you won't accept anyone else's system without justification or evidence. All I am asking you to do is put yourself on the other side of the debate for a bit. I am asking you to provide the same information about your system of beliefs that you ask religious people to provide. Tit for tat.
My point is that asking a religion to provide evidence that it's the "right" answer is like me asking you to provide evidence that your system of beliefs is better than religion. So asking others to provide evidence and refusing to do the same is asking for exceptionalism. Which is a something religions are (rightly) accused of doing.
My point is simply to point out that the same behavior, in the secular world, isn't any more logical than it is in the theist world.
Quite frankly, that's bull. The Church has itself undergone MANY reforms, by asking those same questions. Do religious bodies move more slowly than society at large? Sure, that's probably a charge you can find some good evidence for. But calls for the abolition of slavery came from (among other places) the Catholic Church (the Jesuit order has some good history on this). Believing that it is impossible to ask the question "does it work" when one involves God however, makes the statement hyperbolic and ultimately false.
I think one of the problems between you and I is that you frequently take absolutist stances against religion that overreach and turn from a logical argument into what amounts to an edict against religion that is devoid of merit. I will happily agree that there are many historical examples of religious groups falling behind the rest of society. There are also a lot of religious groups that surge ahead of society. Your statement here would seem to imagine a homogeneous religious mass. Reality, however, is the ultimate refutation of your ideas.
Hack-n-Slash
Except he's not asking them to accept his belief system... he's asking them to not impose their belief system on others.
What moral code have I asked you to accept unquestioningly? Stop and think about it, and give me a real answer, please. You've reduced yourself to unnecessary ad hominems twice on this page already. It actually really detracts from the merits of your argument. So please, lay out a list of morals I've tried to get you to live by that I haven't provided an explanation for.
He already said he liked rules and he wanted rules that benefitted him and his family. Rules are just codified morals, which are just beliefs. Thus, saying "I want rules that benefit me" is, implicitly, a desire to ask others to live under the rules of your belief system.
INSOFAR AS IT DIRECTLY AFFECTS HIM.
You're pretending that there's no difference between "asking you not to do things that affect me" and "asking you not to do things".
Dude, do you speak the same language as the rest of us? Exactly no one in this entire thread has ever had a problem with someone who was willing to change. Nor has anyone ever claimed that the church or religions in general never changed. The only thing we have a problem with is people that refuse to change because of some supposedly infallible authority.
Especially, since the fact that some of them are willing to change at all, proves that even they realize their own supposedly infallible authority isn't.
I wasn't trying to tar them with that, though there is certainly similar handwaving about the inherent good of supernatural belief and the success of using it to dictate moral behavior for the world.
I don't, really. Though to the latter, if you're devils' advocating, what's the difference? You're taking on arguments as if you believed.
My mistake for not clarifying, any way.
Seriously, you're complaining because I said you were "possibly" asking me to accept your rules when you have spent this entire thread apparently trying to justify the concept of unsubstantiated belief as somehow being legitimate.
Although you have accused me of it numerous times, I have not ever proposed ANY specific rule or moral code that I expected you to accept. I've stated on numerous occasions that I'm more than willing to live under a set of rules mutually agreed-upon by society as a whole, but never once have I so much as even implied that I expected anyone to accept my beliefs unquestioningly.
Dude, do you speak the same language as the rest of us? Exactly no one in this entire thread has ever had a problem with someone who was willing to change. Nor has anyone ever claimed that the church or religions in general never changed.
Let me walk you through you logic. You said things only get better (which is change) because people ask the question "does it work". You then argued that religions make it impossible to ask that question. Unless you think the only change to religions are negative (they get worse), your own absolutist statements imply that yes, the Church, or any religion cannot change for the better.
The only thing we have a problem with is people that refuse to change because of some supposedly infallible authority.
You refuse to change because the "other side" isn't providing you evidence that their morals are right, correct? Yet we've done this dance enough that you should be willing to admit that you can't provide evidence that your morals are right. So why, if you yourself are unwilling to change without evidence, should anybody else change if YOU don't provide evidence?
You also didn't answer my question.
Nor has anyone ever claimed that the church or religions in general never changed.
Actually, I will claim that the Bible has not substantially changed since it was first released (pubished?). There have been no incremental deletions or annotations of clearly absurd passages indicating that the followers no longer hold those parts as true. Genesis is still held as the truth by a significant number of followers today because they have not read or been told otherwise.
One might point to more liberal sects that will say that a lot of it is 'alegory' or some other amorphous interpretation, but the original Bible with the absurd parts intact and unannotated is still the one that guides the majority of christians today. (And fundamentalists will tell you outright that it cannot be changed, under any circumstances.)
So then, you're okay with countries that are majority one religion and people agree to live by religious laws? Just checking.
The book has not changed. The way it is used, of course, has. But just so we're all on the same page, I agree that the Bible hasn't changed in quite some time. Although, as we went through earlier, some of the supposedly small changes can have a big effect on how people interpret passages (whether they are against heterosexual acts of anal sex or homosexual acts of any kind), and this does depend on translation and small changes.
Last edited by Operative Me on Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:32 pm
I have already answered the question numerous times. I have NEVER asked anyone to accept my moral code unquestioningly.
What the hell does have this have to do with anything? If someone else voluntarily chooses to live under religious edict, then that's their privilege (and also their mistake, I believe) but it is still their business and if they're not asking me to live by their rules, it is completely irrelevant.
You had apparently replied while I was typing (the question was about what specific things I "possibly" asked you to follow), so that one is my fault. I actually meant to delete that before I posted (even before it proved to be false, it was also just plain rude), but I apparently forgot. I apologize.
The way this discussion is going, every single word has to be meticulously parsed to get everyone to agree to its meaning. By the time someone covers every possible interpretation of what they write to ensure that there is no misunderstanding, the preamble for each post will read like a 100-page legal contract. And to make sure that no statements are phrased as absolutes, there will be endless qualifications and verbal hedges that can later be used to shift meaning one way or another. It really has gotten tiresome.
on and people agree to live by religious laws? Just checking.
I'm feeling out your boundaries. You're apparently okay with people imposing their set of rules as long as it doesn't affect you. You propose that society all agree upon a single set of rules (which, I mean...if you want to talk about myths...). The point of that question was this: what if society all agrees that living under religious rule is best? I'm still pretty sure that the religiously affiliated are the majority in this country.
If the majority of people agree that living under God is the best way to run this country, are you still okay with the concept of the population deciding which morality to follow?
You can say you don't want to impose your will on others, but what would you do if society disagreed with you? I'm earnestly curious.
I already live in a country where the majority of people seem to agree that living under God is the best way to run this country. It's called America.
And I would do exactly what I'm trying to do right now. Which is, try to convince people that logic and evidence are a much better way to live your life than submitting to the unverifiable pronouncements from some hypothetical deity.
If it ever gets to the point where I can't stand it any longer, then I will move to Sweden.
Okay, so logically, and with evidence, why is your way of living life better? What is better about your system, from their perspective?
From their perspective, there may be no convincing argument to the contrary (depending on who 'they' are and how hard-line their beliefs may be).
As for the merits of a secular democracy versus a theocracy, that's simply outside the scope of a single argument. The greater point is the former can be substantially changed (assuming it's structured to do so), whereas the latter has historically been highly averse to change. The former can better adapt to human progress.
Though to the latter, if you're devils' advocating, what's the difference? You're taking on arguments as if you believed.
Actually, neither of us is actually doing that.
All we're saying is that what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. No more, no less.
If one morality system is to be considered superior, there needs to be some sort of objective proof that it is, not just hand waving that because the other invokes a god it's automagically inferior.
If one morality system is to be considered superior, there needs to be some sort of objective proof that it is...
In what form would this 'objective proof' satisfy you?
Any at all would be good.
But, as I suspect that it's actually impossible to give proof that one morality system is superior to another without resorting to any of a number of logical fallacies, just an admission that it can't be proven would be nice.
Of course, such an admission would also necessarily mean that a morality system based on theism isn't inherently better or worse, objectively speaking, just different.
I have to ask:
1. Who do you think is arguing the italicized part?
2. What context, exactly, do you mean by 'inferior'?
1) I don't have the time to skim back over the last 15 pages or so to pull this data right now. Remind me in about 6 hours and I'll try. But one argument stated, specifically, that he would accept anything other than something that included "god."
2) I leave that up to those claiming that a morality system based on theism is inherently inferior to determine. It would necessarily have to be part of proving that claim, after all.
Like evidence for God, I personally feel there is no objective proof of an inherently superior morality system, because the evidence is always going to be skewed in favor of the morality of the person presenting the proof. For example: if I said "my morality system results in less deaths", that's valid proof if you presuppose that less deaths is good. Which is why morality ultimately isn't any different than other beliefs.
I have morals, too. I hold self-examination to be on a pretty high pedestal. I admit that it's something that makes me feel good because I do try to be introspective. Thus, my morality is self-serving. It's also consistent with my predilection towards formal logic and legal standards. I use these because I believe the United States was formed with very good ideals towards the elimination of faction and towards the free exchange of ideas. Once again, I admit, these beliefs come from my upbringing from an attorney, and a writer of collegiate-level textbooks on nursing research and statistical analysis. Once again, they are self-confirmatory and likely self-serving, as these are skills that I have at least a moderate grasp on.
Be that as it may, I try not to hold myself above other people for not having these same beliefs, or for not having the same skills I purport myself to have. I try to judge them on their actions and intentions. Once again, I have no universally acceptable platform with which to judge others. I have chosen to accept the Constitution of the United States of America as my standard-bearer, because it appeals to the things I value (or, more likely, my values have been ingrained into me from living in a country that was founded on these ideals, meaning that I was indoctrinated into them without choice).
So I can use these values to tell someone that their actions are wrong. If, however, they deny that the Constitution is a valid set of beliefs and morals, if they fundamentally disagree with my worldview, I cannot tell them that they need to examine their beliefs and not do the same for my own, or I risk hypocrisy. I can't PROVE the Constitution is a good set of values to anyone that denies it is without sinking into a logically fallacious argument. So instead of trying, I accept that there is no evidence that proves my way of living is right.
The point is, I value the concept of evidence and logic. However, there is a point in time when you have to realize that these, too have limits, and if you value consistency and logic, you can't tell a person with a different set of beliefs that they have to provide evidence to you of their beliefs and not expect to be required to do the same.
Then again, if you don't care about logic and consistency as a "good" thing...you won't care, and I can't prove to you that you should.
So Sharia Law is morally equivalent to the (secular) laws of the US?
Last edited by dlux on Fri Aug 23, 2013 3:35 pm
Why? Because it matches reality.
Seriously, it sound like you're asking me to justify the scientific method. The proof is all around you. Science works. Magic ... not so much.
I don't have, and I have never claimed to have any magic recipe for utopia. As I have said previously, society as we know it today, is nothing more or less than the sum total of a bunch of individual needs and aspirations tempered by the sieve of natural selection. I probably couldn't prove that, but it is a hypothesis that fits all available evidence, as well as Occam's Razor.
If EVERYONE made good, rational decisions all of the time the world would be a better place. I doubt that anyone could prove that in the affirmative, but there is a LOT of negative data that strongly implies it is very likely to be true.
Even if one or more magical belief systems is actually true, we know, by definition, that most of them are not because they all contradict each other. We also know of many, many instances of outright fraud and victimization perpetrated on gullible believers.
While it is impossible to guarantee that any one person's life would be better, it is a reasonable assumption to make that, on average, most people will have a much better chance of reaching their goals and aspirations if they actually understand how the world works and make the correct decisions accordingly.
And if everyone uses the best available tools to make decisions, the total aggregate of "happiness" in any particular society will be maximized. At least from an individual perspective.
Note: I'm specifically NOT claiming that this is the "best" of all possible worlds or even a "good" one. I don't think anyone has any idea how to even measure that. But that doesn't matter. People DO know how to measure their own happiness, and everyone I've ever met has tried to maximize their own personal happiness, however they define it.
Crap ... I wish I had read this before I wasted so much time on my last post.
Nicely put!!
Uh ... for point 1. that would be me. And what I actually said was that I would accept anything that did not consist exclusively of "God said so", unless of course, you are willing to prove that he really did.
As for point 2, as I already mentioned, NO ONE said a theistic morality system is inherently inferior, only that it is impossible to judge it at all, if you claim to have an infallible source.
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How An Independent Event Is Bringing Much-Needed Diversity To The Cannes Film Festival
"I will continue my efforts until there’s a seat at the proverbial table for those who look like me."
Jill O'Rourke
Starting this week, movie lovers around the world are turning their gaze to the Cannes Film Festival, which is celebrating its 71st year on the French Riviera. At the same time, an independent event in the city is promoting the work of diverse filmmakers — and encouraging much-needed inclusion at one of the film industry's most prestigious gatherings.
Beyond Borders: Diversity in Cannes was created in 2010 by event producer and entertainment publicist Yolonda Brinkley. The event is held every year in Cannes during the festival, and features panel discussions, networking, and a short film showcase.
Brinkley was inspired to start the movement after her first visit to the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, having previously studied at the College International De Cannes as an undergrad at Clark Atlanta University.
"Although I spoke the language and was familiar with the city, I felt like an outsider," Brinkley told A Plus via email. "With video camera in tow, I approached all other Black people, only to learn that many of them felt exactly the same way. At that moment, I decided that I could either never return, or do something about the lack of diversity present and the even greater lack of inclusion."
Diversity Day at the #CannesFilmFestival
•Two Short Film Showcases
**General Diversity**
**Women in Formation**
• Film Panel
• Awards Reception
• Tickets 👇🏾https://t.co/j848Lj87d4 pic.twitter.com/rBW7KpgXDQ
— Diversity in Cannes (@diversencannes) April 21, 2018
All are welcome to attend the organization's Diversity Day on Monday, May 14, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cannes. Attendees can RSVP on the Diversity in Cannes social media. This year's panel discussion will focus on millennials, responding to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements with the question #WhatsNext.
"Emerging filmmakers will have a chance to discuss their strategies to ensure a safe, healthy, and equal environment for all those with whom they connect throughout their career," Brinkley told A Plus. She also shared her wish to speak with industry players such as Jordan Peele, Spike Lee, Michael B. Jordan, and Annemarie Jacir. (The symposium previously welcomed Jacir, a Palestinian filmmaker, in 2012.)
Introduced in 2013, the Short Film Showcase features six to eight films or web series made by filmmakers who are diverse in "thought, race, gender, age, religion, physical ability and sexual orientation." Awards are given in various categories, and prizes include industry consultations, social media promotion, and possible distribution. This year, there will be two showcases — Women in Formation and General Diversity.
"My ultimate goals for the Diversity in Cannes Short Film Showcase are to promote the work of underrepresented stories from marginalized populations and provide a platform to assist with their international network expansion," Brinkley explained. "Filmmakers benefit from global exposure of their films to audiences they otherwise may not reach and the subsequent relationships built in the process, which lend themselves to limitless possibilities."
Lack of diversity continues to be an issue at Cannes. As Variety reports, only 18 of the nearly 180 films to compete at the festival in the past 10 years have been directed by women. Only one film directed by a woman has ever received the prestigious Palme d'Or award (Jane Campion's The Piano in 1993), and last year, Sofia Coppola became the first woman in more than 50 years to win the Best Director award. Meanwhile, Dazed pointed out last year that not a single film by a Black director has won the Palme d'Or or the Best Director prize at the festival.
This year, the festival made some progress in appointing a mostly female jury, headed by president Cate Blanchett and also including Kristen Stewart, Ava DuVernay, Léa Seydoux, and Khadja Nin. However, Brinkley told A Plus that she has not witnessed a significant change in the state of diversity at the festival in the years since she started attending.
"While many countries are represented, and women and people of color have been invited to participate in the festival's official programming, I've seen very little effort to ensure inclusion is woven into the fabric of the organization," Brinkley said. "Without numbers and an organization chart, I can't speak confidently about the diversity of its staff, but If I had to guess, I'd say it's lacking, and until the internal issue is addressed and resolved, the public will not see positive shifts in the state of diversity at the Cannes Film Festival."
That's why the work of Diversity in Cannes is so important. Brinkley credits her supporters, such as fellow Clark Atlanta alum Fannie Bakon, as well as Viola Davis' JuVee Productions, CBS Entertainment Diversity, and Ajuua Entertainment, with helping her in her years-long effort.
"I have been on the ground promoting diversity and inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival long before they were trending in Hollywood, long before #OscarsSoWhite, #MeToo and #TimesUp. Beyond Borders: Diversity in Cannes is my contribution to the plight of marginalized populations globally," Brinkley said, adding, "I will continue my efforts until there's a seat at the proverbial table for those who look like me and all other underrepresented groups!"
You can learn more about Diversity in Cannes by visiting its website, or by following it on Twitter.
Cover image: Twocoms / Shutterstock.com
Tags: cannes film festival, diversity in film, yolonda brinkley, beyond borders diversity in cannes, cannes film festival 2018, film forward
News Dominique Jackson
Transgender Singer Hit Red Carpet For First Time Since Coming Out. Here’s Why That Matters.
"Love it or hate this is who I have been for a loooong time."
Matthew Chambers
An Open Letter To Lonely Caregivers And Parents
"This open letter won’t magically fix everything [...] It’s just to remind you that you are not invisible."
Family Claire Peltier
Mom 'Ugly Cried' The Moment Her Daughter With Nonverbal Autism Said Her First Word
“We were told that it’s possible that Taylor may never speak.”
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Lao People's Democratic Republic : Third Review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion and Extension of the Arrangement
Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) showed commendable growth owing to its strong macroeconomic performance and structural reforms under the economic program. Executive Directors commended the fiscal performance, bank restructuring, and the private sector developments, and stressed the need to strengthen monetary and exchange rate policies. They welcomed the poverty reduction strategy and emphasized the need to accelerate structural reforms. They agreed that Lao PDR successfully completed the third review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), and approved a waiver and an extension of the PRGF arrangement.
Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Third Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion and Extension of the Arrangement--Staff Report; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Third Review under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion and Extension of the Arrangement
IMF Completes Third Review of Lao P.D.R.’s PRGF-Supported Program and Approves US$6 Million Credit
Statement by Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Executive Director for Lao People’s Democratic Republic
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 12, 2003, completed the third review of the performance of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic under a three-year Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF—see Press Release No. 01/18) arrangement. The Board also approved a waiver for the performance criterion on external debt, and an extension of the PRGF arrangement for one year, through April 24, 2005.
In reviewing the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Preparation Status Report, the Board also determined that progress on the development of the full PRSP is satisfactory and provides a sound basis for continued access to the Fund’s concessional financial assistance.
The completion of this review will enable Lao P.D.R. to draw an amount equivalent to SDR 4.53 million (about US$6 million) from the IMF, which would bring total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 18.12 million (about US$25 million).
The PRGF is the IMF’s concessional facility for low-income countries. PRGF-supported programs are based on country-owned poverty reduction strategies adopted in a participatory process involving civil society and development partners, and articulated in a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. This is intended to ensure that each PRGF-supported program is consistent with a comprehensive framework for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies to foster growth and reduce poverty. PRGF loans carry an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent, and are repayable over 10 years with a 5 ½-year grace period on principal payments.
After the IMF Executive Board’s discussion on Lao P.D.R., Agustin Carstens, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chairman, made the following statement:
“Under their PRGF-supported program, the Lao authorities have continued to make progress at strengthening macroeconomic performance and implementing structural reforms in key areas. Economic growth remains relatively robust and inflationary pressures have eased.
“The tax measures recently adopted by the authorities are important initial steps to strengthen the fiscal position, but further efforts are needed to generate additional resources for poverty reduction. In this connection, it will be essential to implement fully the planned institutional reforms in the tax, customs, and treasury areas. However, care will need to be exercised in designing the implementing regulations for new tax incentives in order to avoid undermining revenue raising efforts. On the expenditure side, the priorities include strengthening management and efficiency by tightening the procedures for monitoring and ensuring accountability. These actions will help to better assess and formulate cost-effective poverty programs. Continued strengthening of the fiscal position will also require closer monitoring of the external debt, especially debt contracted by the state-owned enterprises.
“The central bank has continued to pursue appropriate monetary and exchange rate policies, which have contributed to an easing of inflationary pressures. It will be important that state commercial banks remain prudent in granting new credits so as to strengthen their loan portfolios.
“Regarding structural reforms, the authorities have made a start on state bank restructuring, including improved credit appraisals and the stricter enforcement of loan repayments. Greater competition in this sector, and enhanced banking supervision, will provide further impetus to these reforms. To address the vulnerabilities identified in the safeguard assessment report, it will be important that the central bank continue to improve its accounting system, and conduct an audit of its accounts for 2003 in line with international standards. In the state-owned enterprise sector, there is a pressing need to speed up the pace of reform, including by establishing hard budget constraints, divestiture, and a strengthening of management—including through partnerships with the private sector.
“The authorities are moving toward a full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), and the PRSP preparation status report provides a basis for continued concessional assistance to the Lao P.D.R. by the international community. The Fund looks forward to the final PRSP, expected by late 2003,” Mr. Carstens said.
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Equity and Efficiency in the Reform of Price Subsidies : A Guide for Policymakers
Juan Cordoba, Robert Gillingham, Sanjeev Gupta, Ali Mansoor, Christian Schiller, and Marijn Verhoeven
This text provides guidance to policymakers on how to design and implement sound price-subsidy reforms. It draws on the experience of price-subsidy reform in 28 countries. The authors discuss economic and political considerations and make several recommendations concerning the speed of reform and social protection mechanisms. They discuss how the social impact of reform can be limited by establishing cost-effective and well-targeted temporary social protection mechanisms, and how governments can reduce the risk of political disruption by distributing the initial burden of reform fairly and by clearly explaining the costs and benefits to the public.
Equity and Efficiency in the Reform of Price Subsidies
2. Economic Issues in the Reform of Price Subsidies
3. Checklist of Economic Considerations in Price-Subsidy Reform9
4. Political Considerations
5. Key Lessons
Appendix 1 List of Examined Countries14
Appendix 2 The Nature of Price Subsidies
Appendix 3 Examining the Short-Term Impact of Reducing Price Subsidies on Real Household Incomes: An Illustration
Speed of Price-Subsidy Reform
Temporary Mechanisms to Protect the Poor
Targeting of Compensation and Consumer-Price Subsidies
4. Subsidy reform entails price liberalization or adjusting controlled prices of subsidized goods and services, often during macroeconomic adjustment. The economic goals are to correct fiscal imbalances and to improve allocative efficiency. Since the removal of subsidies may have adverse consequences for the poor, these effects must be analyzed and, to the extent feasible, mitigated or offset. In this context, the principal—and interrelated—issues that arise are the speed of price-subsidy reform and the options for protecting the real consumption of the poor.
5. There is a trade-off between rapidly cutting budget-financed subsidies and avoiding an adverse impact on the poor. A one-time adjustment of prices to eliminate subsidies can yield immediate budget savings and quickly correct distortions in resource allocation. However, it can also result in a sudden and significant drop in standards of living, especially for low-income households. The need to compensate households implies that fiscal savings from price-subsidy reform are usually less than the amount spent on generalized subsidies before the reform.
6. Gradual reform is not without drawbacks. Apart from the fact that it takes longer to reap budgetary and economic gains, progress under gradual reform may falter, or even be reversed. A number of small price increases may engender more public opposition to continuing reforms than a single large increase. In addition, the continued presence during the phase-out period of institutions needed to administer the price subsidies contributes to the risk of a reversal of the reforms (this was a factor in the reappearance of the bread subsidy in Jordan in 1999, after five years of gradual reform).1 Finally, a gradual approach may fail if it is adopted to postpone politically difficult reforms. Such failure can be avoided by publicly adopting a detailed timetable of measures.
7. The speed of price-subsidy reform depends on a number of elements (see Box 1). They are:
Fiscal considerations. A high share of explicit subsidies in spending implies a greater potential for rapid budgetary savings. However, as noted above, the budgetary savings will be offset in part—at least in the short run—by compensation for the poor. Elimination of implicit subsidies, on the other hand, will not generally yield budgetary savings, although the revenues of public-sector agencies could increase. Consequently, the speed of reform of implicit subsidies should reflect the availability of resources, including from external sources. One way to generate resources for targeted compensatory programs is to charge market prices for donor-provided commodities. This policy would also avoid disincentives for domestic production.
Availability of social protection instruments and administrative capacity. Compensating the poor for the elimination of subsidies requires not only resources, but also a system to deliver compensation to those who need it. Price-subsidy reform can be rapid when countries already have social protection instruments that can be adapted to the needs of the poor during reform (see Section 3). If new social safety net instruments need to be established, the administrative capacity to design and implement adequate and well-targeted social protection will affect the speed of reform. Availability of information on the socioeconomic and demo-graphic characteristics of the poor will also influence the speed.
Willingness of governments to act on a technically sound reform package. Political considerations have an impact on whether reforms are implemented in a timely manner. In part, they are determined by the popularity of the government and by the level of organization of the middle class (see Section 4 for more details). But, even under favorable conditions, governments may opt for a slower pace of reform in order to assess and react to unintended consequences, including any adverse political repercussions, and adjust the timing and speed of reforms accordingly. (As noted above, however, this runs the risk of reform reversal.)
Box 1.Speed of Subsidy Reform: Country Experience
An examination of 23 countries that underwent price-subsidy reform and for which data are available (see Appendix 1) indicates that most countries did not rapidly reform generalized subsidies. Only two countries eliminated generalized price subsidies in one fiscal year, while an additional six countries achieved budgetary savings in excess of 2 percent of GDP over a two-year period (see below). The speed of reform in the countries studied was affected by:
Administrative capacity and availability of social protection instruments. Many countries adopted a gradual approach to subsidy reform so as to adapt existing social protection instruments or to establish a social safety net (e.g., Algeria, 1992–96; Egypt, 1980–97; Hungary, 1992–94; Indonesia, 1997–2000; Jamaica. 1984–93; Jordan. 1994–99; Sri Lanka, 1978–82; Tunisia. 1990–99; and Ukraine, 1995–2000). In the case of Indonesia, a system of generalized subsidies on food items and petroleum products was introduced in 1997 as the country lacked an effective social safety net. In late 1998, when the budgetary cost of subsidies ballooned to 4.2 percent of GDP, the government began replacing the generalized food subsidies with a targeted subsidy for lower-quality rice. The reduction in the subsidy on petroleum products was delayed because of disagreement between parliament and government on the mechanism for delivering protection to the poor.
In the short term, fiscal arrangements between the federal and subnational governments can complicate the implementation of price-subsidy reform. In the Russian Federation (1995–2000). the federal government has established the standard for cost recovery for housing and communal services provided by subnational governments. However, it is up to the subnational governments to apply this standard; they can choose to squeeze other (more productive) programs or accumulate arrears instead.
Lack of political support. Even when countries have had the institutional and administrative capacity to protect the poor, the lack of political support has stalled or reversed reform efforts in some cases. For instance, in Ukraine, the objective of achieving full cost-recovery of housing and communal services is delayed, despite the availability of a well-functioning means-tested program targeted to the poor (see Box 2). A change in government led to the reversal of reforms in Sri Lanka (1982) and Mauritius (1995), although targeted income-support programs in lieu of generalized price subsidies had been established.
On the other hand, reform has been rapid where governments were politically strong and the social consequences of reform were largely ignored. Newly elected governments with mandates to deal with economic crisis sharply increased prices in Peru (1990) and Zambia (1991), effectively eliminating generalized subsidies in one fiscal year. Other quick reformers obtained important savings over a two-year period (Algeria. 1991–93, Egypt, 1991–94, Jordan, 1990–92. Sri Lanka. 1978–80, Yemen, 1997–99, and Zimbabwe. 1990–91). These latter reforms were aided by a relatively small social disruption—large-scale millers were the main losers in the elimination of the maize subsidy in Zimbabwe (1990) and government officials were the main losers in the elimination of the wheat subsidy in Yemen (1997–99) (Razmara and others, 1999). Reform can also be more rapid under favorable exogenous circumstances, such as low prices for imported staples.
8. Poor households can be temporarily protected from the effects of reforming implicit and explicit price-subsidies by:
Providing cash compensation to all or selected consumers—perforce including the poor—in lieu of the subsidy. This can take the form of a separate benefit or be merged with existing social benefits (e.g., by increasing the minimum pension).2 Cash transfers have many advantages. They allow for consumer choice, the cost to the budget is known with greater certainty than in the case of generalized subsidies, and they can be targeted to the poor. However, their real value may erode quickly during periods of high inflation and they may be prone to corruption.
Limiting price subsidies to a subgroup of the population—again, including the poor. If the target group is carefully selected and the scheme is effectively implemented, targeting can produce substantial budgetary savings with minimal social disruption (e.g., in Jamaica in 1984).
9. These temporary measures should be phased out and eventually subsumed under existing or new social assistance programs as the economic adjustment envisaged under economic reforms is completed. As the social impact of price-subsidy reform dissipates over time, the imperative of providing a coherent system of social protection for the poor overtakes the need to provide special protection to those affected by the reform. In practice, however, it has proven difficult to phase out temporary social safety nets.3 To avoid this, their temporary nature should be addressed at the outset, through public pronouncements and, where feasible, sunset provisions. Alternatively, the cash compensation or targeted subsidy, as well as the qualifying criteria, can be held constant in nominal terms. In this case, the real value of the transfer and the number of recipients will decline over time with increases in the price level and the growth of nominal household incomes (e.g., as happened with the food stamp program in Sri Lanka during 1979–82; Edirisinghe, 1988).
10. During reform of producer subsidies, selected small producers and workers can be compensated for lower output prices or higher input prices by targeted cash transfers. Producers can be given income support (e.g., in relation to the size of landholding in agriculture). Unemployed workers can receive severance payments or benefits from an existing or adapted unemployment scheme.
11. The primary issues in deciding how to target compensation and price subsidies are the ability to identify the poor, the administrative capacity to deliver assistance, and the political support for the targeting scheme (see also Chu and Gupta, 1998a). The first two issues are discussed below and in Section 3; the third issue is taken up in Section 4.
12. The following economic objectives should guide the design of a targeting mechanism:
Promote efficient targeting. Targeting is subject to two types of errors. If the targeting is too tight, some people in the target group are excluded from the subsidy (errors of exclusion); conversely, if the targeting is too loose, the subsidy is granted to people for whom it is not intended (errors of inclusion). In this context, targeting should provide adequate protection to the poor, while minimizing leakage of benefits to the nonpoor in a cost-effective manner.4
Emphasize economic incentives and ensure consistency with overall fiscal and macroeconomic targets. The disincentive to work stemming from income transfers should be recognized in the design, and the time and cost of travel to claim benefits should not be so high that it discourages participation by the poor (although it can be helpful if it limits participation by the well-off).
13. The goals of efficiency and equity can best be served if the government can limit its assistance to those truly in need. This requires the ability to design and implement an effective means test. A means test sets an income threshold above which benefits are phased out (see Box 2 for its application to Ukraine). Simple means tests do not value in-kind or seasonal income, or consider other individual adjustments. More sophisticated tests adjust family income according to, for instance, family size or the costs of major items such as housing and major medical expenses. A means test should be graduated, with benefits declining as income rises, to avoid discontinuities in labor supply.
Box 2.Ukraine: Targeting of Housing and Communal Services Subsidy
Since May 1995, the government of Ukraine has successfully implemented a targeted income-transfer program to cushion the impact on the poorest segments of the population of the gradual tariff increases to achieve full cost-recovery of housing and communal services. The objective of this program is to limit outlays on housing and communal services to 20 percent of total household income. Targeting is based on total household income (total reported income of all family members over age 16). Households have to requalify every six months by submitting income statements for the previous three months. The subsidy takes the form of a budget transfer to the providers of housing and communal services which in turn accept a discount on the amount households have to pay for these services.
In 1999, approximately 4.7 million households (25 percent of the population) were covered at a budget cost of 0.8 percent of GDP, down from 5.5 percent of GDP in untargeted subsidies in 1995. In addition to providing income support, this program established the administrative structure necessary to means test a general poverty benefit.
14. Means tests have been difficult to implement in developing countries and transition economies because of the difficulty of observing income earned in the informal sector. A clustering of incomes around a narrow range, implying a large change in the number of beneficiaries with a small change in the threshold, can also add to design and administration difficulties. In countries that are devolving responsibilities to lower levels of government, weak administrative capacity of subnational jurisdictions can limit the effective implementation of transfer programs.
15. In countries that are unable to establish an efficient means test, the poor have to be targeted indirectly.5Table 1 provides stylized examples of how to choose among the indirect targeting options listed below (see also Chu and Gupta, 1998b).
Table 1.Stylized Options for Targeting
Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of the Poor
Administrative Capacity
Existing Social Protection Instruments
Available Targeting Options
Rural landless workers and small-holders who are net purchasers of food; workers in the urban informal sector. Information on the poor is lacking; weak governance and administrative capacity. Nonexistent or limited. Food-for-work and public works programs; commodity targeting; food transfer programs that build on existing efforts by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); guaranteed minumum amount for all, equivalent to amount consumed by the poor using coupons.
Pensioners living alone; large families headed by single mothers; disabled. Weak governance and administrative capacity. Well-functioning social protection programs, including pensions, unemployment insurance, and family allowances. Means-tested cash compensation; categorically targeted cash compensation and subsidies; public works programs; guaranteed minimum amount for all, equivalent to amount consumed by the poor using coupons.
Rural and urban informal sector workers and long-term unemployed. Information on the poor is lacking; weak governance and administrative capacity. Pensions with limited coverage of formal sector workers and limited social assistance programs. Commodity targeting, as well as guaranteed minimum amount, for all, equivalent to amount consumed by the poor using coupons; public works programs.
Urban unemployed and low-skill formal sector workers; rural smallholders. Information on the poor is lacking; governance and administrative capacity is somewhat weak, but there is experience with targeted social protection schemes. Pensions for public sector workers. Commodity targeting; limiting subsidies to amount consumed by the poor using coupons; public works programs.
Note: In all cases, the subsidy to be reformed is assumed to be a generalized subsidy for basic food staples. The targeting options are meant to provide an indication of what may be appropriate under different circumstances. The choice would crucially depend on prevailing conditions, such as the incidence of corruption and available financing.
Target benefits to population groups that are likely to be poor on the basis of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. These groups could include the elderly, children, or the unemployed (categorical targeting), or those residing in specific areas within a country (geographical targeting). Categorical and geographical targeting are associated with relatively low administrative and economic costs but tend to suffer from relatively large targeting inefficiencies. In some countries, including Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and a number of transition economies, categorical targeting has been further developed by using a combination of household indicators that are correlated with poverty but are more easily observed (proxy targeting). These indicators may include housing characteristics and location, family structure, occupation, education, gender of household head, and ownership of durable goods. Using more indicators can improve targeting efficiency and reduce program cost but will raise administrative costs.6
Link the subsidy or cash benefit to a self-targeting work requirement. The benefit payment can be made in-kind through, for example, foodfor-work programs (e.g., in Bangladesh, India, and Mexico). The obligations for the recipient can also come in the form of the requirement to send children to school (e.g., in India). Alternatively, beneficiaries can receive wage payments for participating in public-works programs (e.g., in Indonesia). The (monetary or in-kind) wage rate must be sufficiently low so that only those workers who are in need are willing to trade their time for the assistance (the wage rate should, in general, be below the prevailing wage for unskilled labor).7 This would also allow more families to be helped. Such self-targeting also provides an exit incentive: once the economic situation of the participating families or individuals has improved, they will opt out of the programs. Self-targeting also requires less information than other targeting mechanisms. As a result, program and administrative costs can be low. A major drawback is that coverage of the poor may be imperfect because public works and foodfor-work programs may not be available in all areas in which the poor live and because of the social stigma associated with such programs (e.g., in Brazil and Korea) (Alderman and Lindert, 1998). Moreover, such programs cannot target the working poor or those who are unable to work (e.g., the disabled, elderly, and mothers with young children).
Self-target through subsidization of lower-quality items. Commodity targeting limits price subsidies to items that are viewed as necessities for low-income families, but consumed in very low quantities—or not at all—by other groups (e.g., “inferior” items in the sense that the quantities consumed, and thus the subsidies, go down as household income rises). It is self-targeting in that benefits are available to all, but the program is specifically designed so that only the poor elect to participate. Brown sugar, coarser varieties of rice and wheat, and generic medicines are attractive options for commodity targeting.8 The choice of packaging can also enhance the efficacy of self-targeting. Commodity targeting suffers from the same problems as other self-targeting schemes (imperfect coverage of the poor and, in some cases, lack of political support). Further, if the targeted commodity is consumed by the nonpoor, leakage of benefits will occur. In practice, at least one-third of the commodity-targeted subsidy can be expected to benefit the nonpoor (Alderman and Lindert, 1998).
Limit a generalized subsidy to or below the amount consumed by the poor. A uniform benefit to all households at a low level equivalent to the consumption of the poor protects those below the poverty line and is likely to attract more political support than a scheme targeted just to the poor. On the other hand, by covering the nonpoor, the targeting is imperfect and the budgetary costs are raised. However, improvements can be made through the choice of delivery mechanism (e.g., the provision of food subsidies via health clinics in Jamaica—see Box 3). This kind of targeting has been used in various rationing schemes for administrative ease, including direct quantity rationing (e.g., the provision by the government to the consumer of a fixed quantity of the subsidized item at zero or below-market cost, as in India), cash transfers (at a value equal to or below the loss to poor households from price-subsidy reform as in Mauritius), and the issuance of coupons as in Sri Lanka. This principle also underlies the establishment of two-tier tariffs for electricity and water. In this case, households pay a lower tariff up to a certain level of consumption.
Box 3.Successful Price-Subsidy Reforms
A successful price-subsidy reform should achieve significant budgetary or quasi-fiscal savings within a relatively short period of time, while avoiding social and political disruptions.
Tunisia realized substantial budgetary savings from increased targeting of its generalized system of food-price subsidies, reducing spending from 2.8 percent of GDP in 1990 to 1.0 percent in 1999. Reform was gradual and involved repeated price adjustments, sensitizing the population to the need for reform, introducing compensatory measures (e.g., higher social assistance benefits, minimum wage adjustments, and increased student aid), and limiting subsidies to items perceived to be of lower quality (e.g., subsidized milk, bread, and wheat flour were packaged unattractively).
Jamaica implemented a food stamp program in 1984 to provide staples to pregnant and lactating women, young children, the poor, the elderly, and the handicapped, in lieu of a generalized food-price subsidy. The cost to the budget fell from about 6 percent of GDP in the late 1970s to around 0.1 percent since 1993. Moreover, the innovative delivery mechanisms (such as the distribution of benefits through the health care system) allowed for a substantial increase in targeting efficiency. In 1998 the real value of the food stamps was only 73 percent of its value in 1990, and the program covered only a small share of the low-income consumption basket.
Targeting in Hungary during the early 1990s relied on social assistance offices to target housing allowances to poor households, while raising housing rents to market levels and eliminating interest subsidies.
The price-subsidy reforms in Jordan and Ukraine were successful in that they achieved reductions in government outlays while providing protection to vulnerable groups. Sustainability of the reform has been a problem in Jordan, however, while progress in Ukraine toward achieving full-cost recovery for communal and housing costs has been slow.
16. The choice among targeting options depends on the ability and willingness of governments to target subsidies and cash transfers. In cases where the country lacks both the administrative capacity to target price subsidies and social protection instruments that can be quickly adapted to compensate the poor, self-targeting mechanisms or provision of a limited subsidy to all are likely to be the only available options for compensating the poor, at least in the short run. Box 3 lists selected examples of countries where price-subsidy reform has been successful.
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This! Is! JEOPARDY! On handhelds!
Game Show a Go Go
One idea I had during my game show research was to cover most of the notable adaptations of game show games, such as Jeopardy! There’s one problem, though:
There are a lot of Jeopardy! games. I mean a lot of them. MobyGames doesn’t even list all of them. Plus for a game as simple as Jeopardy!, there isn’t much to say about each one. So I decided to go smaller. Much smaller.
I kinda loved that starburst GameTek logo more than the later one…
Today, I’m gonna talk about Jeopardy! on the Game Boy. Jeopardy! was one of the few game show games that made it to Nintendo’s greenscale handheld in 1991, alongside Wheel of Fortune. Naturally GameTek published this outing, and it boasted “Over 1,500 new questions!” on the box. Though technically they’re answers, but I’m not gonna get too nitpicky here.
I remember getting both Jeopardy! and Wheel in a combo pack at Target for about $10 each. This was the mid-90s, and Target was chock full of excess copies, so selling one to a young budding game show/video game nut like me was a treat. It also helped during vacation trips, such as the one time I went to a resort cabin with my family and was happily having fun with this, and probably Pokemon Red. There wasn’t much to do in the times before everybody had the internet in their pockets. 😛
But enough reminiscing. Let’s play Jeopardy! on the Game Boy.
We’re off to a rough start where it shows these three options: Play against the computer, go head to head, or use a link cable to go head to head. The problem with the last one is that it’s ultimately pointless. Jeopardy! is not an intense head-to-head game like Tetris or Dr. Mario, and you already have a two players on one system option already in place. It just seems like a feature they slapped onto the box just to say they had it.
Notice that so far I’ve mentioned only two players. Well, here’s why.
As opposed to allowing three players, like every other Jeopardy! game in existence, this game is two players only. This is baffling, considering it probably wouldn’t be hard to support three players on the handheld. Oh well, let’s move on.
Sadly no Alex Trebek in this version. Nintendo Power once described the host as “Guy Smiley” from Sesame Street, but I’d say he more resembles Mr. Game Show‘s dorkier brother. Also, our intrepid not-Trebek is not at a podium, magically reading all the clues from a single question card, and occasionally teleporting to the board when a Daily Double is chosen. This guy certainly has some voodoo magic.
Now let’s get into the game itself. It handles pretty closely to the TV show, having all the clues, Daily Doubles, stuff like that. Though I can tell the clues aren’t nearly as refined or polished as the TV show’s. Guess they didn’t want to crib from old episodes for material.
Since I’m a loner, I decided to go solo with an AI opponent. We’re at this one clue, when suddenly he buzzes in with a few seconds remaining.
Oh right. Instead of programming a potential wrong answer, the game opts for a generic gibberish term. Now that I saw the clue and he guessed wrong, maybe I can buzz in-
What? Oh, that’s incredibly lame. The in-game timer resumes from where it left off. Since the AI buzzed in just before time ran out, it basically blocked me out of buzzing in and guessing. This also seems like an easy way to piss off your opponent by buzzing in and guessing wrong just to screw them out of money. Though it’s not the best strategy if you wanna stay in the black for Final Jeopardy.
These avatars are goofy even by 1991 standards.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this one. It’s Jeopardy!, but with a few differences that don’t make it nearly as cool as the other versions. But did you know there was more than one Jeopardy! game on the Game Boy? There wasn’t just one Jeopardy! game, there were FOUR versions of Jeopardy! on the Game Boy. Four.
Love how the later ones have a glitched logo and the subtitle in Arial, like they put so little effort into it.
Apparently Jeopardy! must have been cheap as hell to make for GameTek, so they pumped out a few more of them during the Game Boy’s long lifespan. In addition to a Sports-themed Edition, there was a Platinum Edition with new questions, and a new Teen Tournament version with easier questions for the younger crowd.
There are differences between this and the original, though. Sports Edition added a delay when showing the clue to avoid quick autobuzzers, as well as resetting the timer to 5 seconds on a wrong answer to avoid cheating players out of buzzing in. The later Platinum Edition and Teen Tournament versions removed link play, and added Super Game Boy support! Wowsers!
It’s not even *good* Super Game Boy support, as they just changed the colors and tweaked the sound slightly! There’s not even a fancy border like other SGB games!
I’m not exactly sure who made these versions. The credits have changed very little from version to version, but I doubt the two designers credited were brought back every few years to add new clues. I guess we’ll never know who wrote the material, but they do make it important on the back of Sports Edition that Merv Griffin Enterprises didn’t write the clues for this version. I guess that was to avoid any legal trouble, but it’s weird to see on the back of the box.
Now the Game Boy wasn’t the only portable to get the fast-paced quizzer. The Game Gear also received Jeopardy! as well as a Sports Edition. Let’s see if there’s any major differences between them.
Need an 8-bit Alex Trebek in your life? Here you go.
Wow. They actually sprung the money to actually get Alex frickin’ Trebek’s likeness in the Game Gear version. Wonder why they didn’t get him sooner.
Though in-game he looks more like his present-day counterpart than his 1993 self…
Anyway, the Game Gear game is similar to the other versions, but with some fancy enhancements. The game looks nicer, resembling the TV show more. The developers of this version decided that the SN76489 chip was so much better than the dinky sound chip the Game Boy used, because there’s DIGITIZED SPEECH! Hear Trebek say things occasionally while playing, as well as hear some of the sound effects from the show. It’s like the real thing!
However, it’s still two players, which is a shame. It also looks a bit… choppy animation-wise. I assume the designers were trying to work around the LCD screen that the Game Gear used, but it just looks weird outside of that. It’s better than the Game Boy version by a long shot, but that’s not saying a whole lot.
That’s one creepy-ass smile, Trebek.
It would take many many years and several portable systems before Jeopardy! would grace the handheld scene once more, when THQ released it alongside Wheel of Fortune in 2010. Maybe I’ll get around to those one day, but we can’t forget the GameTek era of Jeopardy! handheld games, where not-Trebek gave the answers, and you had to come up with the questions. Or if all else failed, yell “ZWXYZ” in a panic.
I’m using this as a response from now on.
Tags: Game BoyGame Geargame showsgamesGameTekgaminghandheld gamesJeopardy!Jeopardy! Platinum EditionJeopardy! Sports EditionJeopardy! Teen Tournamentportable gamesportable gamingvideo gamesZWXYZ
B.J. Brown
B.J. Brown is the creator and sole writer on You Found a Secret Area. Casually writing since 2010, I'm fascinated by dumb things like game shows, music, and of course, video games.
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Game Show a Go Go: TRL Trivia.
Andrew Z. says:
I’m guessing the reason why the Game Boy and Game Gear versions of Jeopardy only had two contestants, and also why there’s only support for two players via link cable, is a combination of these factors:
1.) The screens are far too small to fit all three contestants unlike the home console versions of the games, and the developers were either incapable of or couldn’t be asked to find some way around this obstacle.
2.) The GB and GG link cable tech being based, in part, off of the serial communication standard, and is such unable to communicate between any number of units that aren’t in base-2 (which is why most multiplayer GB/GG games were 2-player only, and why any GB games that used the 4-player adapter where 4 players only).
3.) The Zilog Z80 microprocessor that powered both the original Game Boy and Game Gear might not have been capable to handle two sets of AI in the same vein as the home console varieties of Jeopardy in single player, and having a third CPU player playing concurrently during link cable play.
Super Jeopardy! for the NES: Just as fun as the real show! | You Found a Secret Area!
[…] around making loads of these games as probably their #1 source of income. I already covered the Game Boy and Game Gear versions of Jeopardy! in the past, and thought, might as well come back to the well once […]
High Rollers: A DOS game of CGA high stakes. – You Found a Secret Area!
[…] of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, I’ve actually written about some Jeopardy! games, such as the Game Boy/Game Gear installments, as well as Talking Super Jeopardy! on the NES. Surprisingly, when it comes to Wheel, so far […]
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The Life and Death of Natgeo Wallpaper Downloader
NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader clearly was the most popular app the last time this website was up and running. As its biggest fans surely know, since its latest release, I've worked on a new version. A version that not only offered a wallpaper downloader, but also a wallpaper manager and even a theme creator. As the title already stated and the downloads area can prove, that version will most probably not see the light of day. Why? Simply put, there's no point, if you ask me.
Back when I first started working on this cool utility, National Geographic didn't offer wallpapers with resolutions above 1600x1200 - and even those weren't that many. Now, 10 years later, when we use 2K monitors and even 4K monitors... nothing has changed! That is the primary reason I just gave up work on the project. 10 years later and we still don't have FULL HD wallpapers. Seriously, NatGeo?
To top it all off, they've decided to make life a living hell for wallpaper enthusiasts. Most of the wallpapers downloaded by the app are now gone - at best, they've been relocated to completely different locations - and getting new ones is a harrowing task, which probably could only be solved by creating a web crawler - and that's such a stupid way of solving a problem...
2018 will be dedicated to new apps, TV Episodes Renamer to start, and if nothing changes on NatGeo's side I don't think too many people would still be interested in a revamped version of NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader. If I'm wrong and, by some miracle, enough fans will encourage the release of a new version, I'll do my best to make time for it, but, seriously, who still uses 1600x1200 wallpapers? Nonetheless, in the Downloads section you'll still be able to find the old version, to which I've fixed and improved the download function, but that's about it, most wallpaper links are dead (again, thanks, NatGeo!), so the app is pretty much useless right now.
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New Day Sunday
CNN Newsroom
New Day Saturday
4:30am Newscast
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SFGTV
KOFY
ABC7 News at 9:00PM on KOFY : KOFY : April 2, 2014 9:00pm-10:01pm PDT
by KOFY
just one month on the job. fred blackwell is leaving to become ceo of the san francisco foundation which distributes money to community organizations. blackwell applied for the job in november while he was still an assistant city administrator for oakland. blackwell was appointed after deanna santana left. his replacement has alrea been named. mayor kw tweeted "i'm pleased to name henry gardner as oakland's city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves we'll seek council confirmation." some may remember henry gardner, city manager in the '80s and early '90s. he starts work in mid have may. >>> a lot more to get to here on abc 7 news at 9:00. coming up next, another protest against tech company shuttle buss in san francisco. this time protesters take things a step further. >>> the new grocery super stores opening up in the bay area despite cheaper prices, not everyone is celebrating the decision. >>> also, spencer christian will have the accuweather forecast. >> tracking the approaching system, not quite a storm. mainly clear skies now. rain is on the way. forecas
just one month on the job. fred blackwell is leaving to become ceo of the san francisco foundation which distributes money to community organizations. blackwell applied for the job in november while he was still an assistant city administrator for oakland. blackwell was appointed after deanna santana left. his replacement has alrea been named. mayor kw tweeted "i'm pleased to name henry gardner as oakland's city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves we'll seek...
KTVU Morning News : KTVU : April 3, 2014 6:00am-7:01am PDT
. >>> it looks like they will be looking for a new city administrator again. fred blackwell is leaving to take a new job as a ceo of the san francisco foundation. it is a philanthropic organization and he will replace santana who left after three years as the city administrator. she is hadn'tpy for blackwell -- happy for blackwell and this is a great opportunity for him. >>> and a new report that says san francisco mayor who traveled paid for by private owners and found stations among the trips to paris with his wife, a $22,000 trip to china and south korea, and a 19,000 dollars trip to korea again with his wife. >>> smarming outrage the reason of driver is going so fast. >>> they are becoming agreeing problem and we will tell you why and where health officials tell you why they are here and why rats chased her down the street. >>> right now we are looking at a commute which is getting busier by the moment. as you can see 237 is slowing down and we will tell you what other parts of the valley looked like. am the higher clouds, did they leave any rain? [doorbell rings] hey. hey. what's
. >>> it looks like they will be looking for a new city administrator again. fred blackwell is leaving to take a new job as a ceo of the san francisco foundation. it is a philanthropic organization and he will replace santana who left after three years as the city administrator. she is hadn'tpy for blackwell -- happy for blackwell and this is a great opportunity for him. >>> and a new report that says san francisco mayor who traveled paid for by private owners and found...
SFGTV : April 28, 2014 11:00pm-11:31pm PDT
people have helped with the san francisco foundation and i'm so existed fred blackwell could be and join us you are fantastic partners. i want to thank supervisor cowen for being a wonderful, wonderful supervisor out here. she's out here from the corridor to the nonprofits and our work in the valley to help visit lists the grocery store and having great arts programs and singing and dancing along third street she's wonderful to work with and i know the people in the district deserve here leadership. i want to thank her for our boldness on this. also david lee we share the same basketball team. thank you for your leadership at the department of housing and working with the whole are portfolio sf is fantastic it's something i think more and more every time we mention the title and word it give us hope to hundreds of thousands of people in the city by gives hope to washington, d.c. to see models and models after we get stimulus money and federal appropriations to help us we can only do with with a wonderful commitment and fellow through by nancy pelosi she's been there ever step of the
people have helped with the san francisco foundation and i'm so existed fred blackwell could be and join us you are fantastic partners. i want to thank supervisor cowen for being a wonderful, wonderful supervisor out here. she's out here from the corridor to the nonprofits and our work in the valley to help visit lists the grocery store and having great arts programs and singing and dancing along third street she's wonderful to work with and i know the people in the district deserve here...
Book Discussion on Takeover : CSPAN2 : April 27, 2014 4:04pm-4:46pm EDT
blackwell and others were there after 1964 defeat of gold water and nixon's resigning and jimmy carter's election in 1976. there was a darkness of biblical p proportion. it was tough. we didn't have jim demitt there and rand paul and mike lee and ted cruz and marco rubio and all of these wonderful governors. we didn't have scott walker or talk radio or cable television or the internet. we have so much going for us that we didn't have. we are close to prevailing conservatives. i think in 2016, the conservatives, if you remember, it is the primaries, stupid, it is the primaries. if we do that we can score victories in 2014 and in 2016 we can nominate a conservative person to be the nominee and lect them and be governoring america by 2017. so this is the cliff note of my book "takeover: the 100-year war for the soul of the gop and how conservatives can finally win it." read the book and understand the problem, where we are now, and how we go forward. we have a website called conservativehq.com that is focused on building and relaunching the conservative movement. thank you very much and i a
blackwell and others were there after 1964 defeat of gold water and nixon's resigning and jimmy carter's election in 1976. there was a darkness of biblical p proportion. it was tough. we didn't have jim demitt there and rand paul and mike lee and ted cruz and marco rubio and all of these wonderful governors. we didn't have scott walker or talk radio or cable television or the internet. we have so much going for us that we didn't have. we are close to prevailing conservatives. i think in 2016,...
KTVU Morning News Early Edition : KTVU : April 3, 2014 5:00am-6:01am PDT
good shape. >>> they will be looking for a new city administrator again. fred blackwell has take an new position on the ceo she realized a statement saying she is happy for blackwell and quote, this great opportunity for him. >> san francisco mayor ed lee and his wife were treated to more than 9 5,000 and private found dation. they are reported pie sap frap to 2001 again with his wife. >>> and with fort hood at the army base in texas they are trying to figure out why an iraq war veteran would turn on his fellow soldiers. they are knew looking into his behavior issues. he is identified as army specialist ivan lopez. he brought a gunshot and killed 15 others before killing and wounding himself. now i talked about a possible shooting at fort hood several years ago. >> as a mom to not be able to get to your kid, yes, it is tearing me up inside and all i want to do is get on base but they will not let us. >> three people of are in critical companies. injuries range from the arms, chest legs, they have not ruled out any motives but they believe it was the the shooting of up with man noon
good shape. >>> they will be looking for a new city administrator again. fred blackwell has take an new position on the ceo she realized a statement saying she is happy for blackwell and quote, this great opportunity for him. >> san francisco mayor ed lee and his wife were treated to more than 9 5,000 and private found dation. they are reported pie sap frap to 2001 again with his wife. >>> and with fort hood at the army base in texas they are trying to figure out why an...
Early Start With John Berman and Christine Romans : CNNW : April 15, 2014 1:00am-2:01am PDT
happening right now. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> i'm christine romans. nice to see you again today, victor. >> good to be here. >> it's tuesday, april 15th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with the latest in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 and the news breaking overnight that an unmanned underwater vehicle, this bluefin-21, found nothing of interest during its first search of the floor of the indian ocean. that journey ended abruptly after just six hours, when the unmanned sub had to surface after going too deep. this morning, crews preparing again to put the vehicle back in the water for another 16-hour trip, they hope, scanning for wreckage from that jet, missing now 39 days. erin mclaughlin is live in perth with the latest on the search. erin, they reached the maximum depth this submersible could go. >> reporter: that's right, christine. it's also important to note that it had only been searching the ocean floor for about two hours in total. it takes it about two hours to get down and then two hours to get back up, so, two hours in
happening right now. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> i'm christine romans. nice to see you again today, victor. >> good to be here. >> it's tuesday, april 15th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with the latest in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 and the news breaking overnight that an unmanned underwater vehicle, this bluefin-21, found nothing of interest during its first search of the floor of the indian ocean. that...
4:30am Newscast : KTVU : April 3, 2014 4:30am-5:01am PDT
served for three years, mayor jean quan released a statement saying she is happy for blackwell, treat were treated to more than 9 $5,000 paid for by private donations and that's a card cording, and among the trips, a trip to perimeter much a 90 day trip to and san francisco -- to san francisco with his wife.$♪. >> they came out into the open during to the cop crux project and coming up, the response from the health department. >>> and many will be looking for drivers without and they will be held in south santa rosa and pacifica. the chp is hoping a program called start smart will help shows teen drivers of being door more as well as graph if he can image in cover the terrible county high school. witnesses said at the time 17- year-old anthony grass so was driving more than 100 miles per 100-mile-per-hour before the cross. >> we don't have this experience at our school because they don't want it and they are at fault for all 66% of highway crashes. >>> it should be a smooth ride and that 42,000 of the 50,000 miles of state highways or 84% are in good operating and 880 in oakland and
served for three years, mayor jean quan released a statement saying she is happy for blackwell, treat were treated to more than 9 $5,000 paid for by private donations and that's a card cording, and among the trips, a trip to perimeter much a 90 day trip to and san francisco -- to san francisco with his wife.$♪. >> they came out into the open during to the cop crux project and coming up, the response from the health department. >>> and many will be looking for drivers without...
victor blackwell. it is good to be with you this monday morning. >> good morning. >> it is april 21st, 4:00 a.m. in the east. >>> and we're beginning this morning with the search for more than 200 missing passengers from that south korean ferry disaster. the actions of the captain and crew described as akin to murder by south korea's president, with four more crew members arrested this morning. we're also getting new information about the chaos that unfolded in the moments before the vessel capsized and ultimately sank. let's get the latest from will ripley, live off the coast of jindo, south korea. akin to murder. strong words from the president, will. we're having problems with will's shot? all right, we'll try to get back to will ripley in just a moment. >> and we will. >>> so, breaking overnight, a massive, unprecedented operation targeting al qaeda in the peninsula is ongoing at this hour. at least 30 militants killed by air strikes, part of a joint u.s./yemeni offensive. let's get the latest from international correspondent mohammed jamjoom, joining us on the phone. good mo
victor blackwell. it is good to be with you this monday morning. >> good morning. >> it is april 21st, 4:00 a.m. in the east. >>> and we're beginning this morning with the search for more than 200 missing passengers from that south korean ferry disaster. the actions of the captain and crew described as akin to murder by south korea's president, with four more crew members arrested this morning. we're also getting new information about the chaos that unfolded in the moments...
live. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> nice to see you again today. i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, april 16. it's 5:00 a.m. on the nose in the east. >>> breaking news overnight. a desperate rescue off the coast of south korea where a ferry capsized and sank, carrying hundreds of students. many have been rescued but nearly 300 are missing. two are confirmed dead. witnesses say they heard a loud bump before the ship began to lift. the navy warship is enroute to help with the rescue. we'll take you live in a few minutes. >>> deep in the indian ocean, an unmanned vehicle, bluefin 21 scanning the ocean floor looking for debris from flight 270 missing for 40 days. this is a slow process set to go on several more hours. they may not know for hours longer, just what it found, if anything. erin mclaughlin is live in perth. it came back to the surface for technical problems and they downloaded the data from the earlier search. did they find anything? >> reporter: hi, christine. no, they did not find objects of interest. the good news here is they put, d
live. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> nice to see you again today. i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, april 16. it's 5:00 a.m. on the nose in the east. >>> breaking news overnight. a desperate rescue off the coast of south korea where a ferry capsized and sank, carrying hundreds of students. many have been rescued but nearly 300 are missing. two are confirmed dead. witnesses say they heard a loud bump before the ship began to lift....
Ten O'Clock News : KTVU : April 2, 2014 10:00pm-11:01pm PDT
foundation. a major philanthropic organization. blackwell named to replace ed santana. she reportedly felt stymied in work by jean quan and other city leaders. blackwell said being the city administrator, and leading the foundation are both dream jobs and it was difficult to pick one. >>> 18 resident life staff members are now out of a job. the staffing changes happened over the past few weeks. the former staffers worked at various dorms over campus. they're invited to undergo training. in a statement, said quote, these changes are not linked to the hate crime allegations. last fall, an african american student said he was harassed by four white roommates. >>> leeland yee has hired a new attorney to represent him. his new attorney is james lassert, a former prosecutor now in private practice. he said there was no conflict, or disagreement, and that yee is in good hands now. yee is due back in court for arraignment next tuesday. codefendant, raymond chow was appointed today. martha birch is a former federal prosecutor. she wouldn't speak directly about the case, but she did suggest other at
foundation. a major philanthropic organization. blackwell named to replace ed santana. she reportedly felt stymied in work by jean quan and other city leaders. blackwell said being the city administrator, and leading the foundation are both dream jobs and it was difficult to pick one. >>> 18 resident life staff members are now out of a job. the staffing changes happened over the past few weeks. the former staffers worked at various dorms over campus. they're invited to undergo...
KICU
10 O'Clock News : KICU : April 2, 2014 11:00pm-12:01am PDT
by KICU
. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's 4:00 a.m. >> let's begin with breaking news. a desperate search for a ferry that capsized and sank. it was carrying hundreds of people. up to 300 people still missing. two confirmed dead. it's unclear what caused the boat to sink. witnesses heard a loud bump before it began to sink. some had to jump into water to swim to safety. >>> deep in the indian ocean, an unmanned vehicle, the bluefin 21 is searching for debris from the plane missing 40 days now. we may not know for hours what, if anything, is found. erin is live in perth. we understand it had to surface because of a technical issue. talk about that. >> reporter: that's right, victor, it was a technical issue that brought it to the surface. we are trying to get more information on that. we'll bring it to you as soon as we have it. we understand it was brought on board the australian vessel. they downloaded the data and found no objects of interest. they put it back into the water and it went back to work. many are questioning whether the bluefin 21 is up to the task at hand given that it is operat
. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's 4:00 a.m. >> let's begin with breaking news. a desperate search for a ferry that capsized and sank. it was carrying hundreds of people. up to 300 people still missing. two confirmed dead. it's unclear what caused the boat to sink. witnesses heard a loud bump before it began to sink. some had to jump into water to swim to safety. >>> deep in the indian ocean, an unmanned vehicle, the bluefin 21 is searching for debris from the plane missing 40...
New Day Saturday : CNNW : April 19, 2014 3:00am-6:01am PDT
paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> you feel for the families. the heart break and frustration is growing as divers try to recover more bodies from the ferry this morning. >> the parents are frantic, as you would imagine asking them to raise the vessel filled with their children. diver plan 40 attempts today to get inside. the death toll is rising at 32. 272 people are still missing after the ship capsized earlier this week. >> divers did see, we understand, three bodies floating on the submerged third deck. they attempted to breakthrough the glass and couldn't get to them. here are the latest pictures of relatives giving dna samples helping to identify anybody that is found. >> delaying evacuation though he was rescued from his own sinking ship. he feared passengers would be swept away. the ship's captain and crew members face charges. >> one is the third mate. that is who prosecutors say was at the help when the ferry capsized. let's go to paula hancox who is in south korea. tell us what you know about the crew members at this hour. >> reporter: there are five charges against th
paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> you feel for the families. the heart break and frustration is growing as divers try to recover more bodies from the ferry this morning. >> the parents are frantic, as you would imagine asking them to raise the vessel filled with their children. diver plan 40 attempts today to get inside. the death toll is rising at 32. 272 people are still missing after the ship capsized earlier this week. >> divers did see, we understand, three bodies...
New Day Sunday : CNNW : April 6, 2014 3:00am-5:31am PDT
christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. we want to welcome viewers to our special breaking news coverage of missing malaysian airlines flight 370. we are beginning with two major breaking developments that happened overnight, including startling new details about the jet's possible path. a senior malaysian government official tells cnn that flight 370 may have been flown on purpose along a route designed to avoid radar detection. >> look at this new map we put up for you. comes from a new analysis of radar data. this new flight path does that shows the plane flew north of indonesia and around indonesian air space after it made that mysterious left turn we were talking about. investigators reached this conclusion after reviewing radar trap data from neighboring countries. >> on to our second big development a british naval vessel is now rushing to the area where a chinese ship reported twice picking up signals underneath the surface. it is due to arrive in eight hours. >> a brief signal that lasted 90 seconds were about a mile apart and would be consistent with the flight recorders. in th
christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. we want to welcome viewers to our special breaking news coverage of missing malaysian airlines flight 370. we are beginning with two major breaking developments that happened overnight, including startling new details about the jet's possible path. a senior malaysian government official tells cnn that flight 370 may have been flown on purpose along a route designed to avoid radar detection. >> look at this new map we put up for you. comes from...
. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is "new day" saturday. we have a lot going on this morning. you know, this is being called one story we're following, the worst security hole the internet has ever seen. now your most vulnerable information may be at risk. we'll talk about that. >> and have you heard about the president's tax returns? well, they're in. he took a hit in income last year. we're going to talk about that too. >> yeah, making less money. but we're going to start with the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it's now been 36 days since that flight vanished. investigators -- good news here -- may be closer than ever to locating that missing jetliner. >> we know right now at least 10 planes and 14 ships are scouring the smallest search zone to date. that's the good news. crews are focused on an area in the indian ocean that's about the size of massachusetts and connecticut combined. you may recall at one point the search zone was about the size of the continental u.s. definitely making progress. >> yes, progress there and a boost of confidence overnight from australian pri
. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is "new day" saturday. we have a lot going on this morning. you know, this is being called one story we're following, the worst security hole the internet has ever seen. now your most vulnerable information may be at risk. we'll talk about that. >> and have you heard about the president's tax returns? well, they're in. he took a hit in income last year. we're going to talk about that too. >> yeah, making less money. but we're going to...
is also facing criticism by friday blackwell that he is leaving the post. >> it's a very poor sign you can't keep your managers and the managers you do have do not speak highly of her leadership. >> and oakland has had trouble finding a new police chief. three have stepped down while quan has been mayor. spokesman for the mayor's office says a turn over in leadership is something that happens in many cities. >>> it was a late night at the oakland coliseum but thanks to cocoa crisp who has the best name in baseball they are are opening up the series against the mariners with a strong start. there she goes. crisp opened the 12th inning with his 109th career home run that led the a's to a 3-2 victory. after the game josh reddic stuck a pie in chris' face and drenched him with ice water. the san francisco giants wrapped up their road trip to arizona yesterday. in the first inning brandon whacked the solo home run to give the giants an early 1-0 lead. the giants will go back down in the seventh. giving the giants the 8-5 win over the diamond backs. they head to l.a. today for a three-ga
is also facing criticism by friday blackwell that he is leaving the post. >> it's a very poor sign you can't keep your managers and the managers you do have do not speak highly of her leadership. >> and oakland has had trouble finding a new police chief. three have stepped down while quan has been mayor. spokesman for the mayor's office says a turn over in leadership is something that happens in many cities. >>> it was a late night at the oakland coliseum but thanks to...
SFGTV : April 28, 2014 2:00am-2:31am PDT
blackwell and director olsen lee. and also want to recognize the executive director of the housing authority barbara taylor smith. thank you barbara i know you've had quite a year and at least i want to thank the hunter's view residents thank you so much for being patient. and recognize the hunter tenants association and as we help our people with walk it's a new organization that's been be born out of the entire process. to our housing authority and commissioners thank you very much for your services and mothers against crime we wouldn't be her without you and uplift our educational macomb x institution and we wouldn't be here for the leadership of then mayor gavin newsom and my predecessor between the two of them i also want to welcome the secretary back to san francisco thank you for being here. and thank you, everyone (clapping.) as we've heard so far take the village i was to invite our next village person secretary thank you. now we'll do the ymca. so good morning to you all. thank you congresswoman and supervisors and mayor and residents for the invitation to celebrate this grand open
blackwell and director olsen lee. and also want to recognize the executive director of the housing authority barbara taylor smith. thank you barbara i know you've had quite a year and at least i want to thank the hunter's view residents thank you so much for being patient. and recognize the hunter tenants association and as we help our people with walk it's a new organization that's been be born out of the entire process. to our housing authority and commissioners thank you very much for your...
KTVU News at 7pm on TV36 : KICU : April 3, 2014 7:00pm-7:31pm PDT
.. >>> the latest shakeup at oakland city hall has some critics blaming the mayor. fred blackwell says he is resigning after only 1 month on the job. he's leaving for the job at the san francisco found daugz. it comes after a number of other personnel changes in the city. some critics say that the leadership style is the blame. his spokesman defended the mayor today. >>> a conford police officer is under scrutiny accused of actions. he is suspended after allegedly receiving prescription drugs from senior citizens. >> he's a wonderful police officer. >> reporter: helen says officer matthew is a good man. >> you take him off the road and you've lost a good police officer. >> reporter: a trusted officer who was always nice to her. >> he asked me if i was taken norcotics and i said yeah. i he wanted to borrow some. >> reporter: he borrows her drugs on several different occasions sometimes coming with his canine partner and family. >> he brought his boys over when he wasn't working. when he'd come over to borrow some pills. >> reporter: conford police chief says it's an administrative
.. >>> the latest shakeup at oakland city hall has some critics blaming the mayor. fred blackwell says he is resigning after only 1 month on the job. he's leaving for the job at the san francisco found daugz. it comes after a number of other personnel changes in the city. some critics say that the leadership style is the blame. his spokesman defended the mayor today. >>> a conford police officer is under scrutiny accused of actions. he is suspended after allegedly receiving...
Sanjay Gupta, MD : CNNW : April 27, 2014 4:30am-5:01am PDT
christi paul and victor blackwell. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> sunday is upon us. we're so glad to be sharing it with you. >> this is "new day" sunday. >> we want to take you to see what is happening in vatican city right now. what a celebration and truly historic as two new saints are cannonized. these are live pictures from vatican city. you can see how many people are there. >> millions of people there. beyond the historical relevance, the pomp and circumstance, the spectacle is amazing. last hour, pope francis made his way through the crowds, greeting the faithful who gathered to witness pope john xxiii and pope john paul ii become saints. we'll have more on that in a moment. first we want to start with the controversy getting attention outside the nba, the root of it, but the athletes, fans and politicians including president obama. today during his visit to malaysia he spoke out about the firestorm in the u.s. this man, donald sterling, the long-time owner of the l.a. clippers, he's at the center of this. the team is a contender for the nba championship. ste
christi paul and victor blackwell. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> sunday is upon us. we're so glad to be sharing it with you. >> this is "new day" sunday. >> we want to take you to see what is happening in vatican city right now. what a celebration and truly historic as two new saints are cannonized. these are live pictures from vatican city. you can see how many people are there. >> millions of people there. beyond the historical relevance, the...
security. >> good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> and i'm alison kosik. >> and i'm john berman. i'm live in hop kinton, massachusetts, and at the starting line of the boston marathon, where just in a few hours right now, this race will kick off. it is monday, april 21st, 5:00 a.m. in the east. and as i said, this is the spot where just a few hours from now thousands and thousands of runners will hear the starting gun. it's just right back there. some 36,000 runners will pack this very small town and take to the 26.2-mile course, this a year after terror marked the end of the race, but this year, very, very different, feelings of joy, anticipation for so many people. and i'll have the story of one family of survivors coming up. but first, victor and alison have the rest of the day's headlines. >> all right, john, thank you. we'll check back. >>> up first, new developments in the south korean ferry disaster. four more crew members have just been arrested. their actions and the captain's now described as akin to murder by south korea's president. and we're
security. >> good morning, and welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> and i'm alison kosik. >> and i'm john berman. i'm live in hop kinton, massachusetts, and at the starting line of the boston marathon, where just in a few hours right now, this race will kick off. it is monday, april 21st, 5:00 a.m. in the east. and as i said, this is the spot where just a few hours from now thousands and thousands of runners will hear the starting gun. it's just right...
finishing this sunday night. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> nice to see you! >> yes, good to see you. >> i'm christine romans. it's monday, april 14th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. and it may be early, but still a lot to get through this morning. >>> we begin with breaking news in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it's now been 38 days since the boeing 7 77 went missing and this morning officials are switching their strategy, preparing to launch an unmanned submarine to look for wreckage on the ocean floor after admitting they have not heard any other sounds that could be from the black box pingers. they have not heard any other sounds in a week. that sub's movements will be slow, it will be painstaking, the process covering just a few miles a day, as the search zone has widened again, and the head of the search revealed overnight that they found an oil slick in the ocean that could be connected to this crash. michael holmes for us this morning live in perth, australia, where it's evening there, late afternoon there. he's got the latest on the se
finishing this sunday night. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm victor blackwell. >> nice to see you! >> yes, good to see you. >> i'm christine romans. it's monday, april 14th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. and it may be early, but still a lot to get through this morning. >>> we begin with breaking news in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it's now been 38 days since the boeing 7 77 went missing and this morning officials are switching their...
Caught on Camera : MSNBCW : April 20, 2014 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT
uncertain. when you meet bubba blackwell you are immediately bowled over by his southern charm. >> hey, i'm bubba blackwell. harley davidson world record jumper. i'm making a living riding a motorcycle because the men's club kicked me out in alabama. >> bubba has been riding bikes for as long as he can remember and he's the first to admit jumping motorcycles for a living is a pretty cool gig. >> you know, when you are going through your routine in the dressing room, you are putting on the gear, putting the leathers on, the boots on, you are zipping them up, part of me kind feels like, you know, dad gum, this is the coolest job in the world. i'm like fonz, you know? >> he'd like you to think that he's just a good old boy from alabama, but all joking aside, what bubba does takes talent, skill, planning and a lot of guts. >> when i do a big jump, anything can happen. >> on july 4th, 2001, the worst happens. >> the last thing i remember is putting the bike in gear and letting the clutch up. >> bubba attempts to jump 22 cars at the del mar fair where he performed a crowd pleasing sh
uncertain. when you meet bubba blackwell you are immediately bowled over by his southern charm. >> hey, i'm bubba blackwell. harley davidson world record jumper. i'm making a living riding a motorcycle because the men's club kicked me out in alabama. >> bubba has been riding bikes for as long as he can remember and he's the first to admit jumping motorcycles for a living is a pretty cool gig. >> you know, when you are going through your routine in the dressing room, you are...
blackwell, tuesday, april 15th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. and we begin with latest on malaysia airlines 370. and breaking news overnight, that an unmanned underwater vehicle, the bluefin-21, found nothing of interest during its first search of the ocean floor, the indian ocean there. and that journey ended abruptly after just six hours when the unmanned sub had to surface after going too deep. and this morning, crews are preparing again to put the vehicle back in the water for another 16-hour trip scanning for wreckage from the jet missing for 39 days now. erin mclaughlin is live in perth with the latest on the search. erin, also, there was some news, aside from the bluefin, that aerial search and what that means moving forward. erin? >> reporter: hi, victor. well, i really don't think it's too surprising that they didn't find anything, that the bluefin-21 didn't find anything during that search. it really only lasted about two hours on the ocean floor, covering what must have been a fraction of the 15-square-mile area that was designated for the day's mission, that area being the most
blackwell, tuesday, april 15th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. and we begin with latest on malaysia airlines 370. and breaking news overnight, that an unmanned underwater vehicle, the bluefin-21, found nothing of interest during its first search of the ocean floor, the indian ocean there. and that journey ended abruptly after just six hours when the unmanned sub had to surface after going too deep. and this morning, crews are preparing again to put the vehicle back in the water for another 16-hour...
KRON 4 Morning News : KRON : April 3, 2014 7:00am-10:01am PDT
month on the job. oakland city administrator fred blackwell says he is leaving to become the ceo of the nonprofit san francisco foundation. blackwell says the new job was too good to pass up. oakland's zero city manager henry gardner will replace blackwell on a temporary basis in june. in a big ruling from the supreme court that will affect how money flows to political candidates. in a 5 to 4 ruling the court eliminated limits on how much people can donate to political campaigns in a single election season. the court did a poll the $5,200 limit on how much one can give to any single candidate. supporters said the decision is a win for free speech. opponents call it legalized bribery the about administration secretly financed a social network in cuba to stir political unrest and undermine the country's commute communist government. an associated press investigation found a program he vedic cuba's internet restrictions the project was launched shortly after american contractor alan gross was arrested in cuba for undertaking covert work to expand internet access. the senate intelligence co
month on the job. oakland city administrator fred blackwell says he is leaving to become the ceo of the nonprofit san francisco foundation. blackwell says the new job was too good to pass up. oakland's zero city manager henry gardner will replace blackwell on a temporary basis in june. in a big ruling from the supreme court that will affect how money flows to political candidates. in a 5 to 4 ruling the court eliminated limits on how much people can donate to political campaigns in a single...
christine romans. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's monday, april 14th, 5:00 a.m. in the east, and we're beginning this morning with the breaking news in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it has now been 38 days since the boeing 777 disappeared, and this morning, officials are shifting their strategy. right now they're launching an unmanned submarine to look for wreckage on the ocean floor after admitting they have not heard any sound that could be from the black box pingers in a week. now, the sub's movements will be a slow, painstaking process, covering just a few miles a day. as the search zone this morning has widened again. and the head of the search revealed overnight that they have found an oil slick in the ocean that could be connected to the crash. michael holmes is live in perth, australia, with the latest on the search. michael, catch us up on all the latest developments during the day. >> reporter: yeah, there was a briefing here earlier, about four or five hours ago now, and some headlines coming out of that. as you mentioned there, they had those four pings that
christine romans. >> i'm victor blackwell. it's monday, april 14th, 5:00 a.m. in the east, and we're beginning this morning with the breaking news in the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. it has now been 38 days since the boeing 777 disappeared, and this morning, officials are shifting their strategy. right now they're launching an unmanned submarine to look for wreckage on the ocean floor after admitting they have not heard any sound that could be from the black box pingers in a...
New Day Saturday : CNNW : April 5, 2014 3:00am-6:01am PDT
you're looking at? >> that would be speculative. >>> good morning. christi paul and victor blackwell here. an intense search this morning as they frantically try to find malaysia airlines flight 370 before the black box stops pinging. you are watching a live press conference from malaysia right now. let's continue to listen. >> -- four days. individuals have tolds that you none of the family members have been able to listen to it that recording. it would seem that apparently a commercial pilot or the first officer would be able to identify the voice on the recording. why have you not allowed the families of those individuals listen to the recordings? >> it was first a transcript of the conversation between the pilots and the tower. and i managed to convince the investigating authorities to release that. on the audio, i've been told that they are still investigating the audio evidence that exists. and it's still pending investigation. it cannot be released at the moment. is that it? >> okay. ladies and gentlemen that concludes this session for today. >> thank you very much. >>> okay.
you're looking at? >> that would be speculative. >>> good morning. christi paul and victor blackwell here. an intense search this morning as they frantically try to find malaysia airlines flight 370 before the black box stops pinging. you are watching a live press conference from malaysia right now. let's continue to listen. >> -- four days. individuals have tolds that you none of the family members have been able to listen to it that recording. it would seem that...
and victor blackwell. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm randi kaye. >> now 8:00 here on the east coast, this is "new day sunday." and first this morning, divers are back in the murky waters off south korea's coast. >> they are inching through a sunken ferry hoping to find survivors. but so far, they're only coming across bodies. they're bringing those bodies back to shore one-by-one as heartbroken families are watching. >> the death toll from wednesday's disaster has been climbing all morning. right
and victor blackwell. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm randi kaye. >> now 8:00 here on the east coast, this is "new day sunday." and first this morning, divers are back in the murky waters off south korea's coast. >> they are inching through a sunken ferry hoping to find survivors. but so far, they're only coming across bodies. they're bringing those bodies back to shore one-by-one as heartbroken families are watching. >> the death toll from wednesday's...
SFGTV : April 1, 2014 4:30am-5:01am PDT
with the wrong vote today. thank you. (applause) >>> hello, my name is fred blackwell. i'm the city administrator for the city of oakland. and had to leave my job to come here today, and i'm actually sad, disappointed, and upset that i have to do so. i've known juliet for about 16 years as well. i first got to know juliet when she was a fellow at the san francisco foundation and i was working there as well. juliet -- i also served on the board of urban habitat when juliet was the executive director, and served as a colleague of hers when i was the executive director in san francisco's redevelopment agency. juliet is one of the most hard working, dedicated, committed people that i have ever worked with when it has come to issues having to do with low-income communities, communities of color. and in general, people who are in need of the kind of work and the kind of hard work and smart work that juliet bring to the table. as i said, i was the executive director here at the redevelopment agency. before that i was the director of the mayor's office of community development, and currentl
with the wrong vote today. thank you. (applause) >>> hello, my name is fred blackwell. i'm the city administrator for the city of oakland. and had to leave my job to come here today, and i'm actually sad, disappointed, and upset that i have to do so. i've known juliet for about 16 years as well. i first got to know juliet when she was a fellow at the san francisco foundation and i was working there as well. juliet -- i also served on the board of urban habitat when juliet was the...
New Day Sunday : CNNW : April 20, 2014 5:00am-5:31am PDT
right now with randi kaye and victor blackwell. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm randi kaye. >> now 8:00 here on the east coast, this is "new day sunday." and first this morning, divers are back in the murky waters off south korea's coast. >> they are inching through a sunken ferry hoping to find survivors. but so far, they're only coming across bodies. they're bringing those bodies back to shore one-by-one as heartbroken families are watching. >> the death toll from wednesday's disaster has been climbing all morning. right now, it's at 58, but likely could go much higher. 244 people are still missing. many of them are teenagers who all went to the same high school. >> grief-stricken families tried to get to the capital seoul, they want to tell the government about their situation. they were stopped by police. >> and prosecutors reportedly are seeking to keep the captain and two crew members in custody for as long as 30 days. the "new york times" reports the third mate was steering the ship through a difficult waterway for the first -- and began sinking. there have been a lot of quest
right now with randi kaye and victor blackwell. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm randi kaye. >> now 8:00 here on the east coast, this is "new day sunday." and first this morning, divers are back in the murky waters off south korea's coast. >> they are inching through a sunken ferry hoping to find survivors. but so far, they're only coming across bodies. they're bringing those bodies back to shore one-by-one as heartbroken families are watching. >> the death...
. >> i'm victor blackwell. the search for malaysia airlines 370 is growing and growing more desperate. it is has been five days since crews detected what may have been a ping from the airliner. many fear the worst that the batteries inside the black boxes, the pingers may be dead, and the jet possibly may never be found. >> today the search area expanded yet again by 43% in fact. it was about 15,000 or 16,000 yesterday. today it's 22,000 square miz, that's about the size of maryland and vermont combined. just yesterday the search area had shrunk as i said to 16,000 square miles, that was the smallest size so far. >> today, 12 planes, 14 ships are scouring the southern indian ocean in a dire attempt to find any sign of the plane and that search grows more complicated by the hour. currents in the indian ocean can move a piece of debris up to 25 miles in a single day. >> also not getting any smaller a list of suspects. the country's transportation minister is once again saying no one can be ruled out until the black boxes are found. >> for more erin mac laughlin is live in perth, australia.
. >> i'm victor blackwell. the search for malaysia airlines 370 is growing and growing more desperate. it is has been five days since crews detected what may have been a ping from the airliner. many fear the worst that the batteries inside the black boxes, the pingers may be dead, and the jet possibly may never be found. >> today the search area expanded yet again by 43% in fact. it was about 15,000 or 16,000 yesterday. today it's 22,000 square miz, that's about the size of maryland...
CNNI Simulcast : CNNW : April 6, 2014 2:00am-3:01am PDT
with us here. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. we want to welcome viewers to our special breaking news coverage of missing malaysian airlines flight 370. we are beginning with two major breaking developments that happened overnight, including startling new details about the jet's possible path. a senior malaysian government official tells cnn that flight 370 may have been flown on purpose along a route designed to avoid radar detection. >> look at this new map we put up for you. comes from a new analysis of radar data. this new flight path does that
with us here. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. we want to welcome viewers to our special breaking news coverage of missing malaysian airlines flight 370. we are beginning with two major breaking developments that happened overnight, including startling new details about the jet's possible path. a senior malaysian government official tells cnn that flight 370 may have been flown on purpose along a route designed to avoid radar detection. >> look at this new map we put up...
ABC7 News on KOFY 7PM : KOFY : April 2, 2014 7:00pm-8:01pm PDT
. henry gardner is named as oakland's city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves, will seek council confirmation. some may remember henry gardner, the city manager in the '80s and '90s. he starts work in mid-may. >>> an ex-san francisco firefighter charged with hitting a motorcyclist while driving drunk appeared in court the first time today. michael quinn is free on $100,000 bail for last june's accident. he was reassigned shortly afterward. the i-team first brought you the surveillance tape of the crash at fifth and market. really hard to watch. quinn faces felony counts that could put him in prison for three years. >> the first count is driving under the influence causing injury. the second count is driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher causing injury. and the third count is driving a commercial vehicle with a 0.04 or higher causing injury. >> 49-year-old jack frazier is recovering from broken ribs and a punctured lung he suffered when thrown into a fire hydrant. >>> a big change in the defense team in the corruption case against state s
. henry gardner is named as oakland's city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves, will seek council confirmation. some may remember henry gardner, the city manager in the '80s and '90s. he starts work in mid-may. >>> an ex-san francisco firefighter charged with hitting a motorcyclist while driving drunk appeared in court the first time today. michael quinn is free on $100,000 bail for last june's accident. he was reassigned shortly afterward. the i-team first...
ABC7 News 6:00PM : KGO : April 2, 2014 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT
city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves, will seek council confirmation. some may remember henry gardner, the city manager in the '80s and '90s. he starts work in mid-may. >>> an ex-san francisco firefighter charged with hitting a motorcyclist while driving drunk appeared in court the first time today. michael quinn is free on $100,000 bail for last june's accident. he was reassigned shortly afterward. the i-team first brought you the surveillance tape of the crash at fifth and market. really hard to watch. quinn faces felony counts that could put him in prison for three years. >> the first count is driving under the influence causing injury. the second count is driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher causing injury. and the third count is driving a commercial vehicle with a 0.04 or higher causing injury. >> 49-year-old jack frazier is recovering from broken ribs and a punctured lung he suffered when thrown into a fire hydrant. >>> a big change in the defense team in the corruption case against state senator leland yee. his attorney was replaced
city administrator, effective june 15th. as mr. blackwell leaves, will seek council confirmation. some may remember henry gardner, the city manager in the '80s and '90s. he starts work in mid-may. >>> an ex-san francisco firefighter charged with hitting a motorcyclist while driving drunk appeared in court the first time today. michael quinn is free on $100,000 bail for last june's accident. he was reassigned shortly afterward. the i-team first brought you the surveillance tape of the...
Fareed Zakaria GPS : CNNW : April 20, 2014 7:00am-8:01am PDT
. i'm victor blackwell. "reliable sources" starts right now. >> good morning and welcome to "reliable sources." up first this morning, serious accusationsjournalastic accusations. they come from a resignation of someone who was hired with fox twice. attkisson left cbs because she sensed liberal bias. in other words, because supposedly liberal exec tutive producers didn't like her stories critical of the obama administration like health care overall and the killing o
Reliable Sources : CNNW : April 20, 2014 8:00am-9:01am PDT
he delivered a speech from the balcony of st. peter's basilica at the vatican. i'm victor blackwell. "reliable sources" starts right now. >> good morning and welcome to "reliable sources." up first this morning, serious accusationsjournalastic accusations. they come from a resignation of someone who was hired with fox twice. attkisson left cbs because she sensed liberal bias. in other words, because supposedly liberal exec tutive producers didn't like her stories critical of the obama administration like health care overall and the killing of four americans in benghazi, libya. when i sat down to talk to attkisson this week, it turns out she had a story to tell she had not told before. a new organization that she claimed will cave corporate interests and that political bias tell what stories have to air. i also told her important questions fox news had not asked her, about claims of accuracy and rigor in her own work. listen to her story. sharyl, thank you for joining me. you worked for 28 years for cbs. what led you to end it? >> there was a climbing requirement for reporting of the
he delivered a speech from the balcony of st. peter's basilica at the vatican. i'm victor blackwell. "reliable sources" starts right now. >> good morning and welcome to "reliable sources." up first this morning, serious accusationsjournalastic accusations. they come from a resignation of someone who was hired with fox twice. attkisson left cbs because she sensed liberal bias. in other words, because supposedly liberal exec tutive producers didn't like her stories...
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown : CNNW : April 12, 2014 2:00am-3:01am PDT
because now we're not here by ourselves. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is "new day" saturday. we have a lot going on this morning. you know, this is being called one story we're following, the worst security hole the internet has ever seen. now your most vulnerable information may be at risk. we'll talk about that. >> and have you heard about the president's tax returns? well, they're in. he took a hit in income last year. we're going to talk about that too. >> yeah, making less money. but we're going to start with the search for malaysia airlines flight
because now we're not here by ourselves. i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. this is "new day" saturday. we have a lot going on this morning. you know, this is being called one story we're following, the worst security hole the internet has ever seen. now your most vulnerable information may be at risk. we'll talk about that. >> and have you heard about the president's tax returns? well, they're in. he took a hit in income last year. we're going to talk about that...
ABC7 News 5:00AM : KGO : April 3, 2014 5:00am-6:01am PDT
which distributes money to community organizations. blackwell applied for the job in november while he was assistant city administrator for oakland and appointed after the woman in the previous position left. and now henry gardner is named effective june 15th. this is a position that gardner is familiar with as he previously held the city manager position in the 80's and usually 1990's. >> close to 5:09 and time for the forecast. mike? >> we will start with what is going on in the midwest and we could have flight delays into kansas city, st. louis and chicago with severe weather rolling through the area and possibly indianapolis and cincinnati and cleveland also in the next couple of hours. at home, it is quiet and lock how clean the air is as we look from sutro back to oak hand with pollen to contend with and tree presidenten is high and mold spore is moderate and u.v. index is pot road because of the high clouds. we are mostly cloudy this morning with some sunshine, and beautiful and colorful sunrise and 56 to 60 by noon and mostly cloudy conditions and we will stay that way throu
which distributes money to community organizations. blackwell applied for the job in november while he was assistant city administrator for oakland and appointed after the woman in the previous position left. and now henry gardner is named effective june 15th. this is a position that gardner is familiar with as he previously held the city manager position in the 80's and usually 1990's. >> close to 5:09 and time for the forecast. mike? >> we will start with what is going on in the...
. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye in this morning for christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. happy easter. it is 6:00 on the east coast. it's been a while. >> it's been a while. >> it's good to have you with us. we'll start with what's happening in south korea, the situation for the distraught parents, they're waiting and praying near a harbor in south korea hoping their children will come back to them alive and safe. >> instead, body after body is being brought back to shore today. divers are bringing them back from a sunken ferry. the death toll has risen to 58 from wednesday's disaster. 244 people are still missing, many of them high school students who were on a field trip. >> the grief and frustration here turned into anger. parents tried to march in protest to seoul from jindo at the site of the search operation. you see here they were blocked by dozens of police. >> and again today divers are combing through the capsized vessel racing against time to find any survivors. nearly three dozen aircraft and more than 200 ships are aiding in the seven. >> passengers on this
. >>> good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye in this morning for christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. happy easter. it is 6:00 on the east coast. it's been a while. >> it's been a while. >> it's good to have you with us. we'll start with what's happening in south korea, the situation for the distraught parents, they're waiting and praying near a harbor in south korea hoping their children will come back to them alive and safe. >> instead, body after body is...
victor blackwell. good to be with you. the world's largest christian church has two saints this morning to new saints. pope john paul ii and john xxiii were canonized about two hours ago in an unprecedenteder cerey at st. peter's square. >> this is the first time two popes had been made saints on the same day. d delia gallagher is outside of vatican city. give us a sense of what it's like there now. >> christi and victor, i can tell you, it has been an amazing morning. as you said it's a first. we've seen pope francis do lots of firsts about ever but this is the first time we've had two saints. john paul ii already had a great following and it probably would have drawn a large crowd but put it together with john xxiii who was beloved by italians and well respected in the catholic church and you have what you see behind me, a huge crowd upwards of 1 million people who slept overnight out on the street with their sleeping bags to wait for the moment that we saw this morning, when pope francis officially declared john xxiii and john paul ii saints of the catholic church. >> beyond
victor blackwell. good to be with you. the world's largest christian church has two saints this morning to new saints. pope john paul ii and john xxiii were canonized about two hours ago in an unprecedenteder cerey at st. peter's square. >> this is the first time two popes had been made saints on the same day. d delia gallagher is outside of vatican city. give us a sense of what it's like there now. >> christi and victor, i can tell you, it has been an amazing morning. as you said...
Jansing and Co. : MSNBCW : April 14, 2014 7:00am-8:01am PDT
scott reference obamacare and the numbers and conwoman marcia blackwell also brought it up on "face the nation." >> burwell is an interesting choice, and many of us and a growing consensus, i believe, that they know that they have a math problem with obamacare, and the numbers are not going to work out so that the program is going to be actuarially sound, and they have to have somebody to kind of spin the numbers, and in is something with burwell coming from the omb, i think that they are expecting her to do it for them. >> and jackie, there is no one questioning the number of people who sijed up. so i guess that the suggestion is that sillylvia burwell who h an impeccable reputation would be spinning the numbers of whether or not the money is saved or the affordable health care act is affordable, and if the people who sign have paid, and what do you make of the comments? ? swe >> well, i don't nknow about that, because she was chosen in an overwhelming confirmation hearing in the senate last year. she is someone who has brought out some of the good stories, but you will see some of the
scott reference obamacare and the numbers and conwoman marcia blackwell also brought it up on "face the nation." >> burwell is an interesting choice, and many of us and a growing consensus, i believe, that they know that they have a math problem with obamacare, and the numbers are not going to work out so that the program is going to be actuarially sound, and they have to have somebody to kind of spin the numbers, and in is something with burwell coming from the omb, i think...
CBS This Morning : KPIX : April 3, 2014 7:00am-9:01am PDT
stepping down. fred blackwell is taking the reins across the bay here in san francisco for the san francisco foundation. it's a group that grants money to community organizations across the region. the change could hurt mayor jean quan's re-election campaign. >>> san jose police say they don't have enough recruits. the department says it received roughly half the applications it normally gets. hundreds passed basic physicals but background checks and interview boards wiped most of them out of contention. we have traffic and weather coming up. stay right there. >>> a five-car chain reaction crash on southbound 101 near woodside road. everything clear to the shoulder. check this tweet showing some of the backups just moments ago approaching the accident scene. but again, things should start to recover, they just cleared everything out of lanes. traffic also very heavy 101 through san jose. that's traffic. here's roberta. >> let's head outside partly to mostly cloudy skies currently from san francisco looking out towards the bay into oakland where currently air temperatures are in the
stepping down. fred blackwell is taking the reins across the bay here in san francisco for the san francisco foundation. it's a group that grants money to community organizations across the region. the change could hurt mayor jean quan's re-election campaign. >>> san jose police say they don't have enough recruits. the department says it received roughly half the applications it normally gets. hundreds passed basic physicals but background checks and interview boards wiped most of...
violent weekend are coming our way. >>> saturday sunshine here. i'm kristi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. 3:00 out west. first this morning, an historic visit, president obama just arrived in malaysia's capital. >> his visit is seven weeks to the day when flight 370 vanished in air. the u.s. is still fully committed to this search. >> he's warning russia is new targeted sanctions are ready to go as tensions in ukraine ramp up. but, he cautioned earlier, they may not get moscow off its back. >> i think it's important for us not to anticipate that the targeted sanctions that we are applying now necessarily solve the problem. >> we'll talk more about russia and ukraine in a moment. as the president arrives in malaysia, a warmer message. >> we want to bring in will in kuala lumpur. good morning to you. we know the president is the first u.s. president to visit malaysia in a half century. how is he received this morning? >> definitely a rock star welcome. it's been 48 years since johnson visited malaysia. if you look at the front pages, "welcome mr. president." there's another headline here,
violent weekend are coming our way. >>> saturday sunshine here. i'm kristi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. 3:00 out west. first this morning, an historic visit, president obama just arrived in malaysia's capital. >> his visit is seven weeks to the day when flight 370 vanished in air. the u.s. is still fully committed to this search. >> he's warning russia is new targeted sanctions are ready to go as tensions in ukraine ramp up. but, he cautioned earlier, they may not...
KPIX 5 News Early Edition : KPIX : April 3, 2014 5:00am-6:01am PDT
official who only a month ago became the city's top administrator has accepted a new job. fred blackwell is going to run the san francisco foundation, a group that grants money to community organizations across the region. he starts in june a change that could hurt jean quan's re- election campaign. >>> the first mayoral candidate debate of the season is happening tonight at the temple sinai at 6:30. the candidates will discuss public safety options. with the recent rise in violent and theft, residents will get a chance to hear each candidates' ideas on how to make the city safer >>> caltrans has reached a major milestone in the dismantling of the old bay bridge. crews sliced the cantilever section in half yesterday. over the next few weeks, you should notice a separation between the old and the new spans. >>> you're looking at bart of the future. the trains are due for an overhaul. this is a sneak peek of the inside. the official unveiling comes in two weeks. riders will be able to walk through a new car and tell bart what they like and don't like. >>> 5:10. drivers can't miss it. the n
official who only a month ago became the city's top administrator has accepted a new job. fred blackwell is going to run the san francisco foundation, a group that grants money to community organizations across the region. he starts in june a change that could hurt jean quan's re- election campaign. >>> the first mayoral candidate debate of the season is happening tonight at the temple sinai at 6:30. the candidates will discuss public safety options. with the recent rise in violent...
Early Start With John Berman and Christine Romans : CNNW : April 5, 2014 1:00am-3:01am PDT
? >> that would be speculative. >>> good morning. christi paul and victor blackwell here. an intense search this morning as they frantically try to find malaysia airlines flight 370 before the black box stops pinging. you are watching a live press conference from malaysia right now. let's continue to listen. >> -- four days. individuals have tolds that you none of the family members have been able to listen to it that recording. it would seem that apparently a commercial pilot or
? >> that would be speculative. >>> good morning. christi paul and victor blackwell here. an intense search this morning as they frantically try to find malaysia airlines flight 370 before the black box stops pinging. you are watching a live press conference from malaysia right now. let's continue to listen. >> -- four days. individuals have tolds that you none of the family members have been able to listen to it that recording. it would seem that apparently a commercial...
Smerconish : CNNW : April 5, 2014 6:00am-7:01am PDT
blackwell. 10:00 on the east coast of the u.s. 7:00 out west. again, to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world, you are in the "cnn newsroom." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> a breaking news this morning, a huge very possibly for search teams hunting for flight 370. >> chinese ship has detected what's called a pulse signal. that's how they're characterizing it. a pulse signal in the indian ocean. this could be the flight locator beacon pinging that could lead searchers to those black boxes, possibly to the wreckage of the
blackwell. 10:00 on the east coast of the u.s. 7:00 out west. again, to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world, you are in the "cnn newsroom." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> a breaking news this morning, a huge very possibly for search teams hunting for flight 370. >> chinese ship has detected what's called a pulse signal. that's how they're characterizing it. a pulse signal in the indian ocean. this could be the flight locator beacon pinging that could...
Disrupt With Karen Finney : MSNBCW : April 27, 2014 1:00pm-2:01pm PDT
champion of the poor absolutely impossible. we're joined by our panel and angela blackwell, and congresswoman gwen moore, who will be in the meeting this week. she serves on the budget committee with mr. ryan. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. >> oh, thanks for having me with this powerful panel. >> that's right! we're going to get to the bottom of this, one way or the other. congresswoman, the obvious question is what do you expect to get out of this meeting? >> well, clearly we don't -- the budget -- the house version of the budget is already passed and it's $791 billion even below sequester levels and i mean it cuts everything from w.i.c. to subsidies for amtrak, to health care for veterans. it hurts not only the very, very poor, but the middle class as well. it raises taxes on the average american by $2,000 and lowers taxes on the very wealthy by $200,000. so we don't expect him to walk back from that. but, he has seemed to be interested in having a conversation about ending poverty and we certainly agree on that. so we see this as a tremendous opportunity to
champion of the poor absolutely impossible. we're joined by our panel and angela blackwell, and congresswoman gwen moore, who will be in the meeting this week. she serves on the budget committee with mr. ryan. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. >> oh, thanks for having me with this powerful panel. >> that's right! we're going to get to the bottom of this, one way or the other. congresswoman, the obvious question is what do you expect to get out of this meeting?...
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In Galilee
by Thornton Chase
LibriVox recording of In Galilee, by Thornton Chase. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Thornton Chase (1847 – 1912) is commonly recognized as the first convert to the Bahá'í Faith of Occidental background. During his life he organized many Bahá'í activities in Chicago and Los Angeles and was considered a prominent Bahá'í. In 1907 Chase was able to go on pilgrimage. Though Chase was able to be with `Abdu'l Bahá in Akka for only three days, the experience transformed him. `Abdu'l...
Topics: librivox, audiobook, non fiction, religion, faith, Bahá'í
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
The Persian Hidden Words
by Bahá'u'lláh
LibriVox recording of The Persian Hidden Words, by Bahá'u'lláh. Translated by Anton Haddad. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Kalimát-i-Maknúnih (کلمات مکنونه) or The Hidden Words is a book written in Baghdad around 1857 by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. This work is written partly in Arabic and partly in Persian. The Hidden Words is written in the form of a collection of short utterances, 71 in Arabic and 82 in Persian, in which Bahá'u'lláh claims to have...
Topics: librivox, audiobook, religion, faith, Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Kalimát-i-Maknúnih,...
The Mysterious Forces of Civilization
by Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás
LibriVox recording of The Mysterious Forces of Civilization (Persian: Risálih-i-Madaníyyih), read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. It was written before 1875 by ‘Abbás Effendí, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the Servant of Bahá) (1844-1921). The Persian text was first lithographed in Bombay in 1882 and printed in Cairo in 1911. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the eldest son and appointed successor of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. The original text of this work was written and...
Topics: Bahai, Baha'i, Bahá’í, Bahá’í Faith, religion, history, philosophy, modernization, divine...
A Brief Account of the Bahai Movement
by Ethel J. Rosenberg
LibriVox recording of A Brief Account of the Bahai Movement, by Ethel Jenner Rosenberg. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. “Many believe that we, in this century,” writes Ethel Rosenberg, “ are witnessing the dawn of a new spiritual epoch or era. A renewal of the Spirit is making itself felt in the Churches and in the religious and social life of all lands. This is in harmony with the teachings of the Bahais, and of their Great Leaders, now represented by Abdul Baha the ‘Servant of...
Topics: Bahai, Baha'i, Bahá’í, Bahá’í Faith, Bahai Movement, brief account, Ethel Rosenberg,...
A Bahá'í Glossary and Pronunciation Guide
by Amin Banani
(1 x 45 min segments / MP3) Excellent introduction to the pronunciation and meaning of Persian names, place names, religious concepts and cultural artifacts in the Baha'i writings. Read by Amin Banani, with the assistance of his daughter Layla. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, religion, audiobook, Bahá'í Service for the Blind, Bahá'í Study...
The Universal Religion: Bahaism - Its Rise and Social Import
by Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney
LibriVox recording of The Universal Religion: Bahaism - Its Rise and Social Import by Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. “Bahaism is not a new religion,” writes Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, “It is religion renewed… it does not pretend to represent the whole Truth; on the contrary, it recognises Truth in fundamental principles which are the basis of all former dispensations, and which for that very reason form the standpoint of concord too long lost sight of. And...
Topics: Bahá’í, Bahá’í Faith, Bahaism, Universal Religion, World Peace, House of Justice, Hippolyte...
The Arabic Hidden Words
LibriVox recording of The Arabic Hidden Words, by Bahá'u'lláh. Translated by Hussein Rouhy. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. Kalimát-i-Maknúnih (کلمات مکنونه) or The Hidden Words is a book written in Baghdad around 1857 by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. This work is written partly in Arabic and partly in Persian. The Hidden Words is written in the form of a collection of short utterances, 71 in Arabic and 82 in Persian, in which Bahá'u'lláh claims to have...
Messages to the Baha'i World: 1950 - 1957
by Shoghi Effendi Rabbání
"From early 1922 until 1950, the letters and cablegrams written by Shoghi Effendi in his capacity of Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith were addressed to individual National Spiritual Assemblies or national Bahá'í communities conveying directives or explanations of matters reported to him as Head of the Faith and Interpreter of its Message. For example, the letters written to the American Bahá'í community between 1927 and 1932 were later published under the title, Bahá'í Administration....
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian, messages to the baha'i world, 1950-1957,...
Prosperity of Humankind
by Universal House of Justice
(2 x 45min segments / MP3) Statement on promoting the well-being of the world. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í Service...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Prosperity of Humankind, Universal House of Justice, religion,...
Citadel of Faith
A collection of messages from Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í Service...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Citadel of Faith, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian, religion, audiobook,...
Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh
A collection of prayers and meditations by Bahá'u'lláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, prayer, prayers, meditation,...
Vision of Race Unity
by National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States
Statement on the vital importance of race unity. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í Service for the Blind for allowing us...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, compilation, National Spiritual Assembly, religion, race unity, racism,...
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh is a compilation of selected tablets and extracts from tablets by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. Shoghi Effendi, head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 to 1957, made the selection and performed the translation, which was first published 1935. The work consists of "a selection of the most characteristic and hitherto unpublished passages includes from the outstanding works of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation," according...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, gleanings, religion, audiobook,...
The Reconciliation of Races and Religions
by Thomas Kelly Cheyne
LibriVox recording of the Reconciliation of Races and Religions, by Thomas Cheyne. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater “The primary aim of this work is twofold,” writes Thomas K. Cheyne. “It would fain contribute to the cause of universal peace, and promote the better understanding of the various religions which really are but one religion. The union of religions must necessarily precede the union of races, which at present is so lamentably incomplete…. I have endeavoured to study the...
Topics: Brahmaism, Buddhism, Bahai, Baha'i, Bahá’í, Bahá’í Faith, Bahai Movement, religion,...
Memorials of the Faithful
by 'Abdu'l-Bahá 'Abbás
(8 x 45min segments / MP3) Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í Service for the Blind for allowing us to use these tapes! The...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, 'Abdu'l-Bahá 'Abbás, 'Abdu'l-Baha, 'Abbas Effendi, 'Abbás Effendi,...
الكتاب الأقدس (al-kitabu'l-aqdas)
by حضرة بهاءالله
الكتاب الأقدس هو أمّ الكتاب في الظّهور البهائيّ، نزّل باللّغة العربية من قلم حضرة بهاءالله وهو جوهر ولبّ الآثار البهائيّة، ويشتمل على الحدود والأحكام والنّصائح الأخلاقيّة، وأسس تشييد مؤسّسات ستعمل على إيجاد نظام عالميّ مبنيّ على مبادئ روحانيّة وأخلاقيّة. إنّه أحد آثار...
Topics: حضرة بهاءالله, الكتاب الأقدس, al-kitabu'l-aqdas, Kitab-i-Aqdas, most holy...
by Research Department of the Universal House of Justice
Compiled by the Research Department at the Bahá'í World Centre, a selection of extracts on scholarship. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, compilation, Research Department, Universal House of Justice, religion,...
Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá
A seminal document, written in three stages by `Abdu'l-Bahá. Several sections were written under imminent threat of harm. The first section was probably written in 1906. This document constitutes one of the central and defining pieces of Bahá'í primary source literature, and is considered to be intimately connected to Bahá'u'lláh's ('Abdu'l-Bahá's father) Most Holy Book. The Will and Testament, along with the Tablets of the Divine Plan and the Tablet of Carmel, were described by Shoghi...
Foundations of World Unity
Foundations of World Unity is a collection of talks and writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá, dated prior to his death in November 1921, and first published in 1945. The introduction to the 1945 edition is dated 1927. It includes mainly selected talks from Promulgation of Universal Peace, and a few passages from Bahá'í Scriptures, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Some Answered Questions. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html)....
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
The Kitáb-i-Aqdas is referred to as "the Mother-Book" of the Bahá'í teachings, and the "Charter of the future world civilization". It is not, however, only a 'book of laws': much of the content deals with other matters, notably ethical exhortations and addresses to various individuals, groups, and places. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas also discusses the establishment of Bahá'í administrative institutions, Bahá'í religious practices, laws of personal status, criminal law, ethical...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Kitab-i-Aqdas,...
The Advent of Divine Justice
by Shoghi Effendi Rabbání
Stresses spiritual, intellectual and social qualifications for Baha'i life and service, with special guidance on teaching. Originally addressed to the Baha'i community of North America shortly after the launching of the First Seven Year Plan in 1937. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, First Seven Year Plan, religion, divine justice, religion, audiobook,...
Paris Talks
Paris Talks is a book transcribed from talks given by `Abdu'l-Bahá while in Paris. It was originally published as Talks by `Abdu'l-Bahá Given in Paris in 1912. `Abdu'l-Bahá did not read and authenticate the transcripts of his talks in Paris, and thus the authenticity of the talks is not known. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith has said that while the texts are not authenticated, the compilations can still be used by Bahá'ís and in the future work will be done to find which...
Two Wings of a Bird
by National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States
Statement on the equality of women and men. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we have not devised an order to the list. Thanks to the US's and UK's Bahá'í Service for the Blind for allowing us to use...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, compilation, equality of women and men, equality, National Spiritual...
The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
The Seven Valleys (Persian: هفت وادی Haft-Vádí) is a book written in Persian by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. The Four Valleys (Persian: چهار وادی Chahár Vádí) was also written by Bahá'u'lláh, and the two books are usually published together under the title The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. The two books are distinctly different and have no direct relation. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, seven valleys, four valleys, haft...
Century of Light
The conclusion of the twentieth century provides Bahá'ís with a unique vantage point. During the past hundred years our world underwent changes far more profound than any in its preceding history, changes that are, for the most part, little understood by the present generation. These same hundred years saw the Bahá'í Cause emerge from obscurity, demonstrating on a global scale the unifying power with which its Divine origin has endowed it. As the century drew to its close, the...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, House of Justice, Century of Light, twentieth century, 20th century,...
Ten Days in the Light of Acca
by Julia M. Grundy
LibriVox recording of Ten Days in the Light of Acca by Julia M. Grundy. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. This work is the story of a pilgrimage made over a hundred years ago by a group of American pilgrims. They were not headed for Canterbury, Rome or Jerusalem. Rather, they were headed for an historical but remote prison-city in a far corner of the Ottoman Empire. ‘Akká (Akko), now a city in Israel which attracts thousands of Bahá’í pilgrims each year, was but little thought of in...
Topics: Bahá’í, Bahá’í Faith, Baha'i, Bahai, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Abdu'l-Baha, Abdul-Baha, Abbas...
The Fire Tablet
A lengthy prayer revealed by Bahá'u'lláh during a time of great trouble, known commonly as The Fire Tablet (Lawh-i-Qad Ihtaraqa'l-Mukhlisún). Read by Roger Coe. Originally available at the Bahá'í Study Centre (http://www.bahaistudy.org/audio-books.html). "You may listen to the audio books on your computer, download them onto an mp3 player or record them onto a tape (45 minute per side) by plugging your cassette recorder into the headphones jack on your speakers. Unfortunately, we...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, fire tablet, lawh-i-ihtiráq,...
The Bahá'í Faith
by Mary Perkins; Philip Hainsworth
Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers, whose teachings guide and educate us and provide the basis for the advancement of human society. These Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. Their religions come from the same Source and are in essence successive chapters of one religion from God. Bahá’u’lláh, the latest of these Messengers, brought new spiritual and social teachings for our...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Baha'i Faith, Bahá'í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, Muhammad, Jesus,...
Message to the World's Religious Leaders
"TO THE WORLD’S RELIGIOUS LEADERS "The enduring legacy of the twentieth century is that it compelled the peoples of the world to begin seeing themselves as the members of a single human race, and the earth as that race’s common homeland. Despite the continuing conflict and violence that darken the horizon, prejudices that once seemed inherent in the nature of the human species are everywhere giving way. Down with them come barriers that long divided the family of man into a Babel...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, message to the world's religious leaders, religious leaders, Universal...
Some Answered Questions
Some Answered Questions was first published in 1908. It contains questions asked to `Abdu'l-Bahá by Laura Clifford Barney, during several of her visits to Haifa between 1904 and 1906, and `Abdu'l-Bahá's answers to these questions. Prominent among the topics are detailed explanations of Christian subjects, including interpretations of chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Revelation, chapter 11 of the Book of Isaiah, the story of Genesis, and many other subjects. Topics covered include God,...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Baha, 'Abbás Effendi, Abbas...
The Secret of Divine Civilization
The Secret of Divine Civilization is a book written in 1875 by `Abdu'l-Bahá, addressed to the rulers and the people of Persia. It is considered to be part of the authoritative religious text of the Bahá'í Faith. The original text was written under an anonymous author, and the first English translation was published in London in 1910, and Chicago in 1918, under the title Mysterious Forces of Civilization written by "an Eminent Bahai Philosopher." The currently used translation was...
The Constitution of the Universal House of Justice
In April 1963 the first Universal House of Justice was elected, six years after the passing of Shoghi Effendi, by 56 national spiritual assemblies. The date of the election coincided with the completion of the Ten Year Crusade and also with the first centenary anniversary of the public declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Garden of Ridvan in April 1863. Since then the Universal House of Justice has acted as the head of the religion; in 1972 it published its constitution. According to its...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Constitution of the Universal House of Justice, Universal House of...
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters (tablets) written between September, 1916 and March, 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá, to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8, 1916, and all the tablets again after World War I in Vol. IX, No. 14, November 23, 1918, before being presented in again at the Ridván meeting of 1919. Four of the letters were...
A Traveller's Narrative
“This book is the history of a proscribed and persecuted sect written by one of themselves,” writes Professor Edward Granville Browne, the Cambridge Orientalist who translated this narrative. “After suffering in silence for nigh upon half a century, they at length find voice to tell their tale and offer their apology. Of this voice I am the interpreter.” This work is the story of the life of the Siyyid ‘Alí-Muhammad-i-Shírází (1819-1850), known as the “Báb”, which is Arabic...
by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás
LibriVox recording of Some Answered Questions, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás (1844 - 1921). Some Answered Questions was first published in 1908. It contains questions asked to `Abdu'l-Bahá by Laura Clifford Barney, during several of her visits to Haifa between 1904 and 1906, and `Abdu'l-Bahá's answers to these questions. Prominent among the topics are detailed explanations of Christian subjects, including interpretations of chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Revelation, chapter 11 of the Book...
Topics: Some Answered Questions, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Christianity, Bahá'í, Bahai, Isaiah, Revelation,...
Summons of the Lord of Hosts
Beginning in September 1867, Bahá'u'lláh wrote a series of letters to the world leaders of His time, addressing, among others, Emperor Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Emperor Franz Joseph, Pope Pius IX, Sultan 'Abdul-Azíz, and the Persian ruler, Násiri'd-Dín Sháh. In these letters, Bahá'u'lláh openly proclaimed His station. He spoke of the dawn of a new age. But first, He warned, there would be catastrophic upheavals in the world's political...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, Suriy-i-Muluk, Surat al-Muluk,...
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh is a collection of letters and messages from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, first published in 1938. While the letters to the American Bahá'í community from Shoghi Effendi between 1922 and 1929, published under the title of Bahá'í Administration, explained and encouraged the development of the administrative institutions created by Bahá'u'lláh and further elaborated by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the letters published in The World Order of...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, House of Justice, world order, new world order, World Order of...
Selections from the Writings of the Báb
by Sayyid 'Alí-Muhammad Shírází al-Báb
Selections from the Writings of the Báb is a book of excerpts from notable works of the Báb, the forerunner-Prophet of the Bahá'í Faith. It was compiled and published in 1976 by the Universal House of Justice. Before this publication, an authentic comprehensive selection of the Báb's writings had not been available to the Bahá'ís of the West. The Báb's writings were reviewed by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, and the selected passages were translated by Habib...
Topics: Bábí, Babi, Bayán, al-Báb, The Báb, Sayyid 'Alí-Muḥammad Shírází, Bahá'í, Baha'i,...
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf is the last major work of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, before his death in 1892. It is a letter written to a Muslim cleric, a violent opponent of the Bahá'ís who, along with his father (called by Bahá'u'lláh "the wolf"), also a Muslim cleric, had put to death a number of Bahá'ís. In this work Bahá'u'lláh quotes extensively from his own previously revealed scriptures. This makes a large portion of the work a summary of...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, epistle, Son of the Wolf, Islám,...
The Promise of World Peace
Released in October 1985, on the eve of the United Nations International Year of Peace, this statement of the Universal House of Justice , the international governing council of the Bahá'í Faith and its international community, was addressed "To the Peoples of the World." Presented to over 160 heads of state and government over the past 10 years, it outlines the major prerequisites for, as well as the obstacles working against, the establishment of world peace. "The Great...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, Universal House of Justice, great...
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
The Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas are selected tablets written by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and published together as of 1978. As his mission drew to a close after his writing of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1873, he continued to write unnumbered tablets and letters, doing so until the last days of his life in 1892. Six of the tablets in this volume were translated into English and published in 1917. The translations were improved upon by Shoghi...
Topics: Bahá'í, Baha'i, Bahai, Bahá'u'lláh, Baha'u'llah, Bahaullah, Tablets, Alváḥ, Alwáḥ,...
A year amongst the Persians; impressions as to the life, character, and thought of the people of Persia, received during twelve month's residence in that country in the years 1887-8
by Edward Granville Browne
LibriVox recording of A year amongst the Persians; impressions as to the life, character, and thought of the people of Persia, received during twelve month's residence in that country in the years 1887-8, by Edward Granville Browne. Edward Granville Browne (1862 – 1926), born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature. His works are respected for their...
Topics: audiobook, librivox, travel, Iran, Persia, Persian, Istanbul, Trebizonde, Erzeroum, Tabriz, Zanjan,...
A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb
LibriVox recording of A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. “This book is the history of a proscribed and persecuted sect written by one of themselves,” writes Professor Edward Granville Browne, the Cambridge Orientalist who translated this narrative. “After suffering in silence for nigh upon half a century, they at length find voice to tell their tale and offer their apology. Of this voice I am the...
Topics: Bahá'í, Bahá'í Faith, Baha'i, Bahai, Bábí, Babi, Babism, Bayán, al-Báb, The Báb,...
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Tag Archives: BBC World News
Hamas once again given a platform on the BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’
The BBC ‘frequent flyer’ who told audiences in July 2018 that Israel prevents the people in Gaza from “having fresh air” – Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad – was invited back for a ‘Hardtalk’ interview aired on BBC World Service radio and two BBC television stations on May 22nd.
“Stephen Sackur interviews Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for Hamas. The surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza earlier this month was relatively short-lived, and the status-quo remains intact. But could change be afoot? Hamas’s internal grip on Gaza is threatened by rising economic discontent. The Trump Administration will soon unveil a peace plan built on economic incentives for the Palestinian people. The movement’s rhetoric is unbending, but do the Palestinian people long for new ideas?”
Following a similar introduction, presenter Stephen Sackur asked his guest: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
Sackur: “…when the people of Gaza ask you how you and the Hamas movement are going to make their lives better, what do you say?”
It is of course entirely predictable that an interview with a spokesman for a terrorist organisation would yield nothing more than a recitation of that group’s misinformation and propaganda. Hence one would expect an interviewer representing a Western media organisation obliged to provide its audiences with “duly accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming” in order to “build people’s understanding” to robustly challenge all such propaganda.
However, it took Stephen Sackur a full four minutes to present any sort of challenge to the misinformation repeatedly touted by Hamad.
Hamad: “I think we are struggling, we are working day and night in order to ease the life of the people in Gaza. But I think the people they understand very well that the reason of this crisis is the occupation, is the policy of the siege, is the policy of the blockade, is the pressure on Gaza everyday because Israel look to Gaza as hostile region and they try to keep Gaza under siege and blockade, sanctions and striking every day. I think we are trying to stop this.”
There is of course no such thing as a ‘siege’ on the Gaza Strip and there has been no ‘occupation’ in the Gaza Strip for 14 years.
Hamad went on to claim that Hamas was trying to “stop this” by means of reconciliation with Fatah and through a “ceasefire agreement”, concluding:
Hamad: “If we put end for the occupation in Gaza I think people could create freedom, dignity and respect and they can move everywhere, they can do everything that they want.”
Sackur: “Yeah. We understand that there are lots of things that you in Gaza are not able to deliver and you talk about what you call the Israeli blockade and you know that we on ‘Hardtalk’ talk to very senior figures in the Israeli government about their policies towards the Gaza Strip but I’m interested in what you can control…”
Hamad’s reply claiming that Hamas “is not so interested to keep control [of] Gaza” did not elicit a response from Sackur and audiences were not told that the Gaza Strip also has a border with Egypt.
Hamad: “It is a big challenge for us. It’s not easy because Gaza’s like prison. It’s closed from all sides. The gates of Gaza are controlled by the occupation. Gaza’s under sanctions, under the control of the occupation so it’s not easy to find a genius solution for this situation unless we put end for the occupation in Gaza.”
Sackur: “There’s no genius solution; I agree of course with that. But it does raise questions about the sense of your particular strategy. For example, you know, just a couple of weeks ago Hamas’ military wing – along with Islamic Jihad – took the decision to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel. Now I’m just wondering how you can convince anybody that that is in the long-term best interests of the people of Gaza, given that it just gives license to the Israeli government to yet again impose the sort of economic blockade, maintain the blockade that you’ve just talked about.”
Hamad had obviously not “talked about” an “economic blockade” (which in fact only restricts the entry of dual-use goods which can be used for the purpose of terrorism). Hamad had referred to a ‘siege’ and an ‘occupation’ which do not exist.
Hamad: “Look I think we are living in the big dilemma. We are under occupation and then we have to resist against this occupation because the occupation is the source of all evils and all kinds of troubles in Gaza here. And I think we are fighting the Israeli occupation in order to live in freedom and dignity. I think this is something we could not be blamed for this. I think this is the responsibility of the international community. They should as Israel you have to put an end for the occupation. You have to stop this.”
Only at 05:25 minutes into the conversation did Sackur present any form of challenge to that repeated use of the term ‘occupation’.
Sackur: “Hang on, let’s go through this in detail. You talk about ‘the occupation’. Of course Gaza is not occupied. Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza many years ago. You can talk, as you do, about the economic policies the Israelis implement towards you…”
Hamad: “No, no, you misunderstand. You misunderstand. You have to ask yourself who control the borders? Who control the export and import to Gaza?”
Sackur: “No, I understand what you are saying but there is not…there is not an Israeli military troop occupation of Gaza. There used to be. The Israelis pulled out…”
Of course the main issue hindering audience understanding of this interview is that – as an experienced journalist such as Sackur surely knows – Hamas uses the term ‘the occupation’ as a synonym for Israel, reflecting the fact that it rejects the existence of the Jewish state. Sackur later passed up another opportunity to enhance audience understanding by challenging Hamad on that subject.
06:30 Hamad: “Look, Stephen, you have to understand: we are a peaceful people. We want to live like any people in the world. We want to live in freedom. It is enough for us to live in the seventy years of occupation and dilemma and troubles every day…”
Neither did Sackur challenge Hamad’s subsequent claim that there is “no armed struggle in the West Bank” or his bizarre allegation that Israel “abuse” Mahmoud Abbas and “now dismantle the Palestinian Authority”. Moreover, Sackur had nothing to say about this diatribe:
Hamad: “I think this is Israeli mentality that they want to punish, they want to delete the Palestinian identity, they want to destroy our future. They don’t want Palestinian to establish our state, our future, so I think what happen in the Gaza is the same. It’s the policy of the occupation. They want Gaza starving, suffering, people asking for a piece of bread. They want Gaza to be like this. They want Gaza to be oppressed and to be broken….”
Later on in the interview (from 12:47) Sackur brought up the topic of “a very careful coordination by Hamas security forces of this ‘March of Return’”. He however failed to challenge Hamad’s repeated portrayal of the ‘Great Return March’ as “peaceful” or the following falsehoods:
Hamad: “…people they went to the borders and they took peaceful people. They don’t have guns, they don’t have even stones, they don’t have grenades, they have nothing – just people protest in order to get the attention of the world that there is a crisis in Gaza, that people they deserve a state, people deserve dignity…”
Hamad’s subsequent false claims concerning the identities of those killed during the ‘Great Return March’ violent rioting likewise went unquestioned by Sackur.
Hamad: “Most of them are children, most people are innocent people and most of them are women…[…] It is not a military march and you will never find anyone he is a military.”
Notwithstanding Stephen Sackur’s few symbolic and tepid challenges, this interview failed to provide BBC audiences with accurate and impartial information which would contribute to their understanding of a complex issue. It did however once again provide a member of a terrorist organisation with a platform from which to disseminate misinformation and propaganda.
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Public Purposes Tagged 'Great Return March', 'Hardtalk', 2005 Gaza strip disengagement, BBC, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, blockade, Gaza Strip, Ghazi Hamad, Hamas, Israel, Rocket Attacks, Stephen Sackur, terrorism
How many falsehoods did BBC ‘Dateline London’ viewers hear in 13 minutes?
The BBC’s charter sets out the five public purposes to which it is obliged to adhere with the first one being: [emphasis added]
“To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them
The BBC should provide duly accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming to build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. Its content should be provided to the highest editorial standards. It should offer a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers, using the highest calibre presenters and journalists, and championing freedom of expression, so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues and participate in the democratic process, at all levels, as active and informed citizens.”
Readers can judge for themselves to what extent “people’s understanding” was enhanced by statements made by some of the participants in the April 13th edition of the programme ‘Dateline London’ (aired on the BBC News channel and the BBC World News channel) during a discussion (from 13:26 here) about the outcome of the general election in Israel.
‘Dateline London’ regular Abdel Bari Atwan told viewers that:
The US president worked for Binyamin Netanyahu as campaign director – obviously not true.
Netanyahu is “creating an apartheid state” and “establishing” an “apartheid state in Israel” – Israeli citizens enjoy equal rights and Israel is not an ‘apartheid state’.
Israel’s Nation State law states that “anybody who is non-Jew, he wouldn’t have a place in this state” – the Nation State law says nothing of the sort.
Netanyahu “said Israel is a state of the Jews. Non-Jews they are not actually citizens of this state” – that is false.
Netanyahu is “going to annex the West Bank” – Netanyahu did not say that. He did say (days before the election) that he was considering applying Israeli law to Israeli communities in Judea & Samaria.
Israel has “300 nuclear warheads” – that of course is pure speculation.
Israel has the “fourth biggest army on earth” – the fourth biggest army belongs to North Korea. Israel is in 29th place.
Palestinians don’t have the support of the international community – it is of course enough to look at the UN’s record on Israel to refute that claim.
Netanyahu is “re-stabilising, recreating, re-encouraging radicalism in the Arab world” – Atwan mentioned Algeria, Sudan and Yemen before making that claim. None of those uprisings have anything to do with Israel.
Times journalist Iain Martin claimed that Netanyahu’s re-election is a “tragedy” and no less than a “potential geo-strategic catastrophe”.
Italian filmmaker and journalist Annalisa Piras claimed that:
Israel has a “prime minister who’s going to be indicted in the next few months” – no: Netanyahu may be indicted in the next few months but that decision has not yet been made because it depends on hearings that have yet to take place.
The Oslo peace accord “would create a two-state solution” – the Oslo Accords in fact do not mention the two-state solution.
Programme presenter Carrie Gracie did very little indeed to relieve viewers of the inaccurate impressions created by those statements and others from members of her panel. It is of course worth remembering that – in relation to the same programme – the BBC has in the past claimed that the promotion of such unchallenged falsehoods is part of “a legitimate debate”.
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Public Purposes Tagged 'apartheid' trope, 'Dateline London', Abdel Bari Atwan, BBC, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, Carrie Gracie, Elections 2019, Nation State Law, Oslo Accords, The Apartheid Smear, Two-state solution
BBC’s Stephen Sackur does ‘the Israeli psyche’
The guest appearing in the March 13th edition of the BBC’s interview programme ‘Hardtalk’ was Israeli author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen who has previously appeared in BBC content.
Hosted by Stephen Sackur, the programme was aired on the BBC World News television channel, on BBC World Service radio and is also available as a podcast. A clip from the programme was posted on the BBC News website.
“Stephen Sackur speaks to Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, a prize-winning Israeli novelist who brings a trained psychologist’s eye to compelling stories set in her home country. Hers is a world of moral ambiguity where truth, memory, right and wrong aren’t necessarily what they seem. Does her work tell us something important about the Israeli psyche?”
On several occasions throughout the interview, Stephen Sackur employed fictional characters and quotes from Gundar-Goshen’s novels to try to support his own narratives concerning Israel and Israelis and many of his questions were – predictably – aimed at framing Israel in a specific fashion. [emphasis in italics in the original]
0:40 Sackur: “That is interesting ‘cos it’s searching for the nuance, for a deeper understanding of actions and events. It seems to me that may be difficult in a country, Israel, which I know from personal experience is such a very intense place where people, in a sense, always feel there are existential questions and there are always sides to be taken – our side, their side, good against bad.”
8:29 Sackur: “In some ways your books have magic in them but they also have very difficult, dark stuff in them and when we come back to this theme of your take on truth and lies, you examine and challenge some of the truths that all Israelis think they know and hold very dear, some of them connected with the Holocaust which in your books hangs over so much of your fiction and it’s interpreted in different ways and frankly some people tell lies about what happened […] But also, the story of Israel’s creation. The coming about of the state, the fight in ’47 and ’48 that established the nation. You suggest in one of your books that people who fought in that war don’t always tell the truth about it. That there are serious lies told about how Israel was created.”
11:41 Sackur: “Do you think Israel has a problem with empathy with those who are not – well, we’re talking about Israeli Jews – those who are not Jewish?”
18:46 Sackur: “You live in a country where, if one looks at politics, the majority opinion right now is pretty Right-wing. Binyamin Netanyahu’s been prime minister for a long time. The Likud party looks like it, you know, might well win the next election too. You and a whole bunch of Israeli writers – if I can put it this way – of the progressive Left seem to be out of sync with the majority of the people in your own country.”
In one part of the conversation Sackur brings up the topic of African migrants in Israel in relation to one of Gundar-Goshen’s books. After his guest has clarified that the dilemmas raised in that novel do not apply solely to Israelis, Sackur goes on to contradict her with some obviously pre-prepared material.
13:45 Sackur: “I think that is a really powerful point you make but nonetheless there are some interesting statistics around this which do suggest there’s a difference between Israel and some European countries. For example many people won’t know but there is a significant number of Eritreans and other Africans – but mostly Eritreans – who illegally migrated into Israel in search of a better life. They’re mostly kept in detention centres. Some live illegally in the country. There are believed to be 40 – 50 thousand of them. Israel has recognised the refugee status…actually I think literally of a handful of Eritreans. In…in Europe the EU says that Eritreans who actually make it onto European territory, 90% of them – because of the way Eritrea is – are given refugee status. So there is a difference and it does seem that Israel is absolutely adamant that it doesn’t want to help the outsider in that way.”
Let’s examine Sackur’s claims one by one. Firstly, according to the government office responsible, there were 37,288 migrants in Israel at the beginning of 2018 rather than “40 – 50 thousand” as claimed by Sackur. Those migrants are not “mostly kept in detention centres” – the Holot detention centre was closed a year ago – they “mostly” live in southern Tel Aviv and in additional towns.
While failing to clarify how many of the people he admits “illegally migrated into Israel in search of a better life” have actually made applications for refugee status, Sackur compares an unspecified number – “a handful” – with a percentage. He quotes an EU statistic but without clarifying that in 2017 for example, “90%” in fact related to some 26,900 Eritreans granted protection status (rather than exclusively “refugee status” as claimed by Sackur) in 28 EU countries with a collective population of well over 500 million. So while in 2017 for example Croatia accepted 100% of the applications made by Eritreans, that actually amounted to ten people. Lithuania also accepted 100% of applications – 25 people – as did Latvia – 20 people in all.
Of course those familiar with Stephen Sackur’s track record when interviewing Israelis would not be in the least surprised by this latest promotion of his long evident chosen narrative concerning their country.
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality Tagged 'Hardtalk', African migrants, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, BBC, BBC News, BBC Online, BBC World News, BBC World Service radio, Israel, Stephen Sackur
BBC ‘Global Questions’ from Jerusalem rescheduled
Readers may recall that last November the BBC invited members of the public to take part in an edition of ‘Global Questions’ to be broadcast from Jerusalem the following month. That broadcast was however subsequently cancelled.
Now the BBC is advertising that event – and another in Arabic – once again.
“Global Questions is your chance to put questions to a high-level panel of politicians and decision makers. Moderated by Zeinab Badawi, one of the BBC’s most respected journalists, the discussion is shaped by questions from the audience.
The Future for the Israelis and Palestinians
The Middle East awaits President Trump’s much vaunted peace plan – billed as the ‘deal of the century’. But the Palestinians say it was dangerously provocative to declare the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital, and to move the American Embassy there. A quarter of a century on from the Oslo Accords, what chance is there now of the ‘two-state solution’, where an independent Palestinian state sits alongside Israel?
Having marked the 70th anniversary of its creation, Global Questions travels to Israel to ask what the next 70 years might bring.
Ever since its birth, the country has been mired in conflict with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours. Is further conflict inevitable or could there be a lasting peace that allows the next generation to live without war
BBC Global Questions will record a debate in English on Wednesday 27 February followed by a debate in Arabic on Thursday 28 February. You are welcome to join one or both programmes.
On the panel:
Naftali Bennett Israel’s Minister of Education
Diana Buttu Palestinian lawyer and former PLO spokesperson
Jake Walles Former US ambassador and peace negotiator
Jawad Anani Former Deputy PM of Jordan”
Registration and further details here.
BBC WS Newsday’s one-sided ‘peace process’ reporting – part one
Guardian op-ed by Diana Buttu claims Palestinians are arrested for ‘criticising Israel’ (UK Media Watch)
Diana Buttu is at it again, Harvard Edition (CAMERA)
Countering Propaganda: Focus on Diana Buttu (CAMERA)
By Hadar Sela Posted in BBC Tagged 'Global Questions', BBC, BBC World News, BBC World Service, Diana Buttu, Israel, Jerusalem, MEPP, Two-state solution, Zeinab Badawi
BBC ‘Hardtalk’ interview highlights presenter’s Israel fixation
h/t RH, DK
A recent edition of the BBC programme ‘Hardtalk’ was presented to viewers of the BBC World News channel and the BBC News channel on January 10th as follows:
“HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and president of the Conference of European Rabbis. There is plenty of disturbing data pointing to a significant rise in overt anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States but why? How should the Jewish community respond? And how much reassurance and protection is being offered to Jews whose past has so often been written in blood? Is rising anti-Semitism a symptom of a liberal democratic order that is starting to crumble?”
A similar synopsis was presented in an audio version of the programme aired on BBC World Service radio on January 11th.
While the first part of the programme largely stuck to some of the subject matter presented in that synopsis, from around the middle of the interview presenter Stephen Sackur shifted the focus of the discussion, beginning by questioning whether opposition to the existence of the Jewish state is antisemitism. [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
[14:07] Sackur: “Interesting you put it in the historical context throughout this interview. I felt from you a consciousness not just of the present but of the past in Europe and what has happened to Jews in the past. And it’s interesting that the former Chief Rabbi in Britain, Jonathan Sacks, he said, you know, ‘in the Middle Ages Jews were persecuted because of their religion, in the 19th and 20th centuries they were reviled because of their race and today in the 21st century Jews are attacked because of the existence of their nation-state, Israel’. Do you feel that Israel has now become front and centre in ways in which people who have antisemitic intent are now using the Israel issue to get at the Jewish people?”
Pointing out that not everyone who criticises Israel is an antisemite, Rabbi Goldschmidt went on:
Goldschmidt: “However, if you go and you delegitimise Israel […] and you say that every people in the world have a right to a nation-state besides the Jews, so that’s also another form of politically correct antisemitism which…”
Sackur [interrupts] “Is it? It’s anti-Israel and its government and its policies in occupied territory but is it antisemitism?”
Sackur – who is apparently embarrassingly unaware that the IHRA working definition of antisemitism adopted by his own government categorises “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” as a form of antisemitism – next moved on to the topic of the leader of the British Labour party.
[15:44] Sackur: “When you observe in Britain the fall-out between the Jewish community and the leader of the main opposition party in the United Kingdom – Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party – with clear overt allegations from the Jewish establishment that Jeremy Corbyn has aided and abetted antisemitism, do you worry about the degree to which there is now this gulf between one of the main political parties and the Jewish community in Britain?”
When Rabbi Goldschmidt stated that the meaning of security for Jews is that they would fare equally well regardless of which political party was elected Sackur interjected:
[16:51] Sackur: “Well only if you’re suggesting to me that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party is an existential threat to the future of the Jewish community in Britain. Are you seriously saying that?”
Goldschmidt: “I think that the British Jewish community is the best to answer that. However I’ve seen the turbulence….”
Sackur [interrupts] “Let us remember that despite all of the allegations about Jeremy Corbyn and his actions in the past and his words in the past, Jeremy Corbyn insists that throughout his political career he has been a fighter against, an enemy of all forms of racism including, he always says, antisemitism.”
The remainder of the programme saw Sackur focus somewhat obsessively on one political figure who is of course unconnected to the supposed topic of the programme, beginning with employment of the ‘some people I’m not going to name say’ tactic.
[17:54] Sackur: “You see some observers of this debate and this argument and this rift that has developed see a fundamental hypocrisy amongst many Jewish people because while they castigate Jeremy Corbyn for some of his associations in the past, they look across the water to Israel, to the leader of Israel prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu who just recently hosted for five days of warmth and friendship prime minister Viktor Orban of Hungary who has long associations with far right elements including antisemitic elements in Hungary. Also they see Binyamin Netanyahu making a point of journeying all the way to Brazil to declare his friendship, alliance and partnership with the new president of Brazil, Mr Bolsonaro, who has a record – a long record – of making statements which are deeply troubling in terms of his attitude to minorities, to gay people, to women. Where’s the consistency here?”
The Hungarian prime minister’s July 2018 visit to Israel in fact lasted two days rather than five as inaccurately claimed by Sackur, who predictably had nothing to say about the representatives of 59 additional counties who attended the recent inauguration of Brazil’s new president.
When Rabbi Goldschmidt pointed out that British Jews do not vote for the prime minister of Israel Sackur interrupted him again:
Sackur: “But nobody’s accusing Binyamin Netanyahu of antisemitism because he develops a very warm friendship with Viktor Orban, who many Jews regard as deeply dangerous to the future of Jewish communities in Europe.”
Sackur did not provide any evidence for his claim of “a very warm friendship” between the prime ministers of Israel and Hungary and did not clarify whether or not he believes that, by the same standard, the British prime minister should be criticised for hosting the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince last year.
Interrupting his guest yet again, Sackur pursued his point:
[20:04] Sackur: “…let me ask you a very blunt question. What do you – as the chief of the Conference of European Rabbis – what do you think of Binyamin Netanyahu cosying up to Viktor Orban and the leadership in Poland, both of which have very troubling attitudes to many Jews in Europe?”
Goldschmidt: “I think that…”
Sackur [interrupts] “Just tell me what you think.”
Sackur then posed his fourth question relating to Israel’s prime minister.
[20:55] Sackur: “Just a final thought and it involves your personal life as well. You’ve made a life for the last 3 decades in Russia and actually the position for Jews in Russia appears on the face of it to have improved over the last 30 years. I dare say you’ve been involved in that. Binyamin Netanyahu – again quoting him – when there are serious, horrible terror attacks which involve Jewish people being killed in Europe, he always says to the Jews of – in this case I’m quoting France but the Jews of Europe – he says ‘listen, Israel isn’t just the place in whose direction you pray; the State of Israel is your home and Israel is waiting for you with open arms’. As a European Jew who’s made a life in Russia, do you think it is wise and helpful for the Israeli prime minister to constantly tell Jews that ultimately, by implication, the only safe place for Jews is in Israel?”
Failing to listen to Rabbi Goldschmidt’s answer – which included clarification of the importance of the existence of Israel “to all Jews” – Sackur interrupted him again.
Sackur: “I’m not sure you’re answering my specific point. Is it your perspective that Israel is ultimately the only safe place – truly safe place – for the Jewish people?”
This programme could have provided BBC audiences – both domestic and international – with some insight into the issue of antisemitism in Europe and how the Jewish minority living on the continent perceives its future.
Unfortunately, Stephen Sackur’s often aggressive focus on getting his own points across – including promotion of the notion that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, defending Jeremy Corbyn, downplaying the fears of British Jews and his bizarre but long-held obsession with the current Israeli prime minister – meant that viewers and listeners lost a good deal of the opportunity to hear from one of the better informed voices on those issues.
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality Tagged 'Hardtalk', anti-Zionism, antisemitism, BBC, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, BBC World Service radio, IHRA, Israel, Jeremy Corbyn, Stephen Sackur, UK Labour party
BBC audiences materially misled by inaccurate claims from ‘Hardtalk’ host
Earlier this month we noted that the BBC had ignored a protest march organised by teenagers living in communities close to the border with the Gaza Strip.
“Since the BBC began reporting on the ‘Great Return March’ violent rioting over seven months ago, BBC audiences have seen the grand total of one minute and twenty seconds of coverage reflecting the point of view of residents of the Israeli communities close to the Gaza Strip-Israel border who are affected by the violence.”
That particular protest did eventually get a very brief mention in one radio programme over a week later but BBC audiences have heard nothing of the many additional protests organised by those affected by terrorism from the Gaza Strip, both before and after the last serious incident in mid-November.
“Residents of the Gaza border and their supporters protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday night [August 18th 2018 – Ed.], demanding the government to “restore the sense of security.”
The protesters called out “We’re not cannon fodder” and “Bibi, Bibi, wake up, the south is burning”—referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.
They carried signs saying: “The south is on fire” and “We’re tired of burned fields and weeping children.””
“Hundreds of residents from southern communities, which were battered by recent rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, protested in Tel Aviv on Thursday [November 15th, 2018 – Ed.] against a truce reached with the Hamas terror group and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. […]
It followed two days of protests in which southern residents burned tires and blocked the entrances to cities battered by Gaza rocket fire in protest of the ceasefire, which they say has left Hamas poised to renew attacks at will. […]
The truce prompted Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to resign on Wednesday and has drawn criticism from some residents of southern Israel who accuse the government of being soft on Hamas.”
That serially withheld context is critical to audience understanding of the subject matter of an edition of ‘Hardtalk‘ that was aired on the BBC World News and BBC News channels on November 23rd (available in the UK here) and on BBC World Service radio on November 26th.
“Israel’s seemingly indestructible Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dodged another political bullet. After the recent flare up of violence in Gaza, his defence minister quit and another key cabinet hawk- Naftali Bennett, said he would go too if he wasn’t given the defence portfolio. The prime minister called his bluff, and Mr Bennett, who speaks to HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur has decided to stay put after all. What’s behind the chaos in Israeli politics? Are the right wing factions putting their own interests before those of the nation?”
A similar introduction was given by presenter Stephen Sackur. [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
Sackur: “Israeli politics is always fractious but the last few days have taken the plotting and manoeuvering to another level. The spark was a major flare-up of violence in and around Gaza. An Israeli Special Forces raid [sic] was followed by a sustained volley of militant rockets fired into Israel, with Israeli bombers then responding from the air. The violence ended in an uneasy ceasefire which the hawkish defence minister opposed and prompted his resignation. Another key Israeli cabinet hawk said he would go too if Prime Minister Netanyahu didn’t give him the defence job. The PM called Naftali Bennett’s bluff. Rather than prompt a government collapse, the education minister then backed down. So what on earth is causing this political chaos in Israel? Why is there so much mutual mistrust and loathing on Israel’s right-wing? Well the man at the centre of recent storms, Naftali Bennett, joins me now from Jerusalem.”
The programme followed the usual format employed by Sackur when interviewing an Israeli official or public figure in which he lays out pre-prepared lists of things he considers to be wrong with Israel based on quotes from usually predictable sources – in this case mostly the UN. The opening third of the programme was devoted to domestic Israeli politics: a topic which to most viewers and listeners would be unfamiliar and of little interest.
At 08:15 minutes into the interview, Sackur posed a question-cum-monologue which promoted inaccuracies that are materially misleading to audiences.
Sackur: “You’ve decided to stay in the government. You’ve said – and I’m quoting you again – ‘the ship of Israel’s security has sailed in the wrong direction’. It seems to me that what you’re saying is that – particularly with regard to Gaza – what Israel has done in recent years – including, let us not forget, several wars, the last of which in 2014, Protect…Operation Protective Edge, killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, the UN says at least 65% of those Palestinians were civilians and we know that hundreds of them were children – you’re saying that Israel’s besieging tactics in Gaza – the fact that Gaza doesn’t really have power supplies that work, it doesn’t have clean water, it has a jobless rate of 60% or more – you’re saying all of this isn’t tough enough; that Israel should be hammering Gaza harder. Is that it?”
As long-time readers know, the BBC has made absolutely no effort to independently verify the casualty figures and the debatable civilian-combatant ratios that it has been quoting and promoting for over four years, despite their dubious and partisan sourcing.
Notwithstanding the BBC’s efforts to persuade audiences otherwise, the Gaza Strip is not subject to “besieging tactics” and – as the BBC well knows – the chronic shortages of electricity and potable water in the territory have nothing to do with Israel’s counter-terrorism measures but are the result of internal disputes between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Equally misleadingly, Sackur presented the youth unemployment rate (age 15 to 29) as the general unemployment rate, which is actually lower.
After his interviewee had clarified that his calls for firmer action relate to Hamas rather than the people of the Gaza Strip, Sackur interjected with a re-run of his questionable statistics.
Sackur: “Just look at the record, Mr Bennett. I don’t want to repeat myself but the last big assault on Gaza killed more than two thousand Palestinians, most of whom were civilians. We see in our media every week the images of the stand-off between Palestinian protesters who have…sometimes they have stones, sometimes they have flaming torches. They go to the fence. They are shot by Israeli service personnel. We have seen hundred…more than a hundred killed, thousands wounded. And you’re telling me that you want the Israeli army and the Israeli air force to up the ante and kill more people? That’s what you’re saying.”
Readers may recall that just two months ago in an interview with another Israeli official, Sackur used a very similar and equally inaccurate portrayal of what he – and the BBC in general – portrays as ‘protests’, thereby erasing both the severity of the violence and the fact that a significant proportion of those killed had links to the Gaza terror factions which initiated, organise and facilitate the violent rioting. The conversation continued:
Bennett: “I have a better suggestion: that the Palestinians stop shooting rockets at Israel.”
Sackur: “I’m…I don’t know if you’re maybe not understanding my question but when you respond to the rocket fire that we saw as part of that recent flare-up in Gaza, you respond with your air force. Sometimes you respond with troops on the ground. But the reality is – and the record shows it – that the people who suffer are the civilian population, including children. That is the reality. And you want more of it.”
Sackur later pursued his chosen theme further:
Sackur: “Let’s talk about the reality of the UN reaction. We’ve seen the recent – now he’s retired – but the recent UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Zayd Raad al Hussein, say that Israel’s response is suggestive of something entirely and wholly disproportionate and he looks at the casualty figures on the Palestinian side. We also know that the International Criminal Court is still investigating what you did in Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Do you understand that the scrutiny being brought to bear upon Israel goes right through the international community and runs the risk of tarnishing Israel’s reputation in a very significant way?”
Further on in the programme audiences heard Sackur misrepresent Bennett’s proposals concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before claiming that “if Israel pursues your vision it will end up being an apartheid style state”. When Bennett noted the failure of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip to bring calm, Sackur retorted with yet another inaccurate and misleading reference to a ‘siege’ which does not exist.
Sackur:”If, if you intended to besiege…if you intended to lay siege to the West Bank as you did to Gaza, there might be some relevance to that but of course that’s not on the table because you’ve got all these Jewish settlements which you intend to annex…”
photo credit: Sderotnet
Leaving aside the issue of Sackur’s style of interviewing, it is perfectly obvious that his aim in this programme was not to provide BBC audiences with insight into the context to the defence minister’s resignation, not to explain the differences between the approaches of different Israeli politicians to the 17 year long plight of Israeli civilians living under the shadow of terrorism that includes attacks using military grade projectiles and not to answer the questions posed in its own synopsis:
“What’s behind the chaos in Israeli politics? Are the right wing factions putting their own interests before those of the nation?”
Rather – as usual – Sackur was intent on promoting his own agenda: in this case primarily to focus audience attentions on civilian suffering in Gaza and allegedly ‘disproportionate’ Israeli actions. In promoting that agenda, Sackur tossed accuracy and impartiality out of the window, citing dubious casualty ratios, promoting the notion of a non-existent ‘siege’, distorting unemployment figures and falsely claiming that Israel’s actions have brought about power and potable water shortages.
So much for the BBC’s obligation to provide audiences with “accurate and impartial news, current affairs and factual programming of the highest editorial standards…”
The Gaza related protest the BBC ignored
BBC’s Hardtalk presenter claims Israel ‘slaughters civilian protesters’
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Omission, Public Purposes Tagged 'apartheid' trope, 'Great Return March', 'Hardtalk', BBC, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, BBC World Service radio, blockade, casualty figures, civilian casualties, Gaza power plant, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Naftali Bennett, proportionality, Rocket Attacks, Stephen Sackur, terrorism, Water
A BBC programme from Jerusalem – and you can take part
The BBC television and radio programme ‘Global Questions’ will be visiting Jerusalem next month.
“As the state of Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its creation, Global Questions travels to Jerusalem to ask what the next 70 years might bring.
Ever since its birth, Israel has been dominated by conflict with Palestinians and its neighbouring Arab states. Is more conflict inevitable or could there be a lasting peace that allows the next generation to live without war?
The Middle East is awaiting President Trump’s much anticipated peace plan – billed as the “deal of the century”. But the Palestinians see America’s Embassy move to Jerusalem as a dangerously provocative gesture.
Global Questions brings together a high-profile panel and an audience of young Palestinians and Israelis to see whether they believe the next 70 years could bring an end to the conflict that has scarred the region for so long.”
Members of the public can take part in that December 5th programme by emailing globalquestions@bbc.co.uk.
Alternatively, questions can be submitted using the webform here.
By Hadar Sela Posted in BBC Tagged 'Global Questions', Arab-Israeli conflict, BBC, BBC World News, BBC World Service radio, Jerusalem, MEPP, US Administration, US embassy, Zeinab Badawi
BBC Gaza ‘documentary’ makes no pretence of impartiality
The September 22nd edition of the documentary series ‘Our World’ aired on the BBC World News channel and the BBC News channel was titled ‘Gaza Dreams’.
“With nearly two million people living in miserable conditions in Gaza, the Israeli blockade has taken its toll on mental health there.
Against the backdrop of the border clashes earlier this year this film goes deep inside the minds of the people of Gaza to explore the mental health issues affecting many there.”
Produced by Christine Garabedian of BBC Arabic, the film is remarkable for the fact that it fails to mention the all-important context of Hamas terrorism even once – despite opening by telling viewers that:
“Gaza has been under a strict blockade for eleven years. Israel and Egypt say that the blockade is in place for their security.”
Garabedian, however, failed to provide audiences with the information which would help them understand why “Israel and Egypt say” such a thing. Moreover, audiences repeatedly heard various interviewees use Hamas-preferred terminology as they referred to a non-existent “siege” of the Gaza Strip.
Viewers were also told that the film was made “between the 30th March and 15th May 2018 during the ‘Great March of Return’ protests” but Garabedian failed to provide any background to inform audiences who organised that violent rioting and why.
Moreover, despite viewers being told that “protesters were demanding the right to return to what is now Israel and calling for an end to the blockade”, they were not informed that the aim of the so-called ‘right of return’ is to eliminate the Jewish state.
And so what BBC audiences saw in this film is twenty-three minutes of unverifiable, completely context-free stories told by inadequately identified interviewees and accompanied by ominous music and carefully selected imagery such as shots of birdcages.
Amazingly, that exercise in blatantly one-sided politicised messaging which contributes nothing to audience understanding of what lies behind the picture Garabedian chose to paint is classified by the BBC as a ‘documentary‘.
Stats defy the BBC’s repeated portrayal of a ‘siege’ on Gaza
BBC Arabic film on collaborators promotes Hamas messaging – part one
BBC Arabic film on collaborators promotes Hamas messaging – part two
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Omission, Public Purposes Tagged 'Great Return March', 'Our World', BBC, BBC Arabic, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, blockade, Christine Garabedian, Gaza Strip, Israel, terrorism
The September 5th edition of the BBC programme ‘Hardtalk‘ was devoted to an interview with Israel’s ambassador at the UN, Danny Danon.
“In the turbulent recent history of the Middle East, has there ever been a time when Israel has seemed more powerful – militarily, diplomatically and economically? Israel has the fulsome support of the Trump Administration and also has common strategic interests with Saudi Arabia and Arab nations preoccupied with perceived threats from Iran. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. Is Israel making wise choices from its position of strength?”
The interview – which was aired on the BBC World News channel, the BBC News channel and on BBC World Service radio, with a clip also posted on the BBC News website – followed the usual format employed by presenter Stephen Sackur in which he lays out pre-prepared lists of things he considers to be wrong with Israel in front of an Israeli official or public figure based on claims from a particular brand of sources – in this case including Michael Sfard, UNRWA’s Chris Gunness, the EU, Amnesty International and the FMEP‘s Lara Friedman.
However, one section of this programme is particularly noteworthy because it once again provides evidence of the BBC’s efforts to rewrite the narrative concerning one particular recent news story in the minds of its audiences.
[03:37] Sackur: “Yeah but…but of course many of the engagements and conflicts that we see Israel…ah…occupied with are actually not about Israel in an existential struggle for survival – in fact, quite the contrary. Since March of this year we’ve seen 5 months of the Israeli military lining up along the border with the Gaza Strip using live fire ammunition against Palestinian protesters. More than 165 have been killed including 23 Palestinians under the age of 18. I guess Mr. Netanyahu just regards that as proof that the Middle East is, again, quote ‘no place for the weak. The weak crumble and are slaughtered’. And that’s what Israel’s doing.”
As Danon then tried to explain, the out of context and edited quote employed by Sackur in fact related to Iranian threats against Israel. Interrupting him, Sackur however persisted.
Sackur: “No, no Ambassador. With respect my question…my question is not about Iran. My question is about civilian protesters in the Gaza Strip who for many months have been protesting along the border fence. They do not carry guns. Admittedly some of them throw stones; they even fly kites with flaming torches on them at times. But what they do not have is guns and the Israeli military responds with live fire.”
After Danon had noted that the ‘Great Return March’ is “orchestrated by Hamas”, that violent rioters have indeed used guns and Molotov cocktails and tried to infiltrate Israeli territory and that calling the events of the past five months a peaceful demonstration “is a lie”, Sackur retorted:
Sackur: “You’re sitting in New York. I’m sitting in London. I’m inclined to take the word of a very experienced Israeli human rights lawyer, Michael Sfard, who has looked at cases where the Israeli military opened fire in the last five months and he says it is quite clear lethal force against unarmed civilians who do not pose a danger is illegal and this is the crux of many cases there on the Gaza border.”
Sackur of course did not bother to inform BBC audiences of the fact that the “human rights lawyer” whose word he is “inclined to take” and the political NGOs cast as ‘human rights groups’ which Sfard represents come from a very specific side of the political spectrum.
As regular readers know the BBC refrained from providing its audiences with information concerning the organisations and motives behind the ‘Great Return March’ events that have been staged since March 30th – even though that information was publicly available in advance.
The BBC has repeatedly whitewashed the links of terror factions to the weekly agitprop, downplaying and erasing their role in its encouragement, organisation, financing and facilitation.
The fact that a significant proportion of those killed during the violent rioting – including under 18s – have been shown to have links to Gaza Strip based terror factions has been downplayed and ignored by the BBC.
Violent incidents have also been serially ignored and the BBC’s editorial approach to this story has been to repeatedly portray it as one that is about ‘peaceful protesters’ killed by Israel’s armed forces.
As we see, Stephen Sackur has fully taken that editorial policy onboard. Carefully avoiding mentioning the name of the pre-planned violent rioting – the ‘Great Return March’ – he inaccurately told BBC audiences that a project with the self-proclaimed aim of having millions of people categorised as Palestinian refugees ‘return‘ to Israeli territory is “actually not about Israel in an existential struggle for survival”.
Describing violent rioters and would-be infiltrators – including proven members of terror factions – as “Palestinian protesters” and “civilian protesters” who are being “slaughtered”, Sackur twice inaccurately told BBC audiences that they “do not carry guns” while making a facetious reference to “stones” and “kites“. In order to present that distorted picture, Sackur deliberately ignored numerous border infiltrations, hundreds of petrol bomb attacks, scores of IED attacks, dozens of shooting attacks, at least nine attacks with grenades.
It is all too obvious that Sackur’s inaccurate portrayal is not merely the product of months of shoddy news reporting or uninformed discussion of current affairs. It is part and parcel of the BBC’s creation and promotion of a politically motivated false narrative which does nothing to serve its public purpose of helping audiences understand this story.
Palestinian envoy’s falsehoods go unchallenged on BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ – part one
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Omission, Public Purposes Tagged 'Great Return March', 'Hardtalk', 'right of return', BBC, BBC News, BBC News Channel, BBC Online, BBC World News, BBC World Service radio, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Stephen Sackur, terrorism
Palestinian envoy’s falsehoods go unchallenged on BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ – part two
As we saw in part one of this post, in the first part of the July 19th edition of ‘Hardtalk‘ (aired on the BBC News channel and the BBC World News channel and available to viewers in the UK on BBC iPlayer for the next eleven months) BBC audiences were exposed to a series of falsehoods, distortions and whitewashing of the ‘Great Return March’ violence that has been taking place throughout the past four and a half months.
After presenter Stephen Sackur had allowed his guest the PA envoy Riyad Mansour to get away with pretending not to have heard violent threats against Israelis from Hamas’ top man in the Gaza Strip, he changed the topic of the conversation.
Sackur: “You earlier referred to Gaza as a prison. You talked about the desperate conditions – humanitarian conditions – that people live in; pretty much 2 million people inside the Gaza Strip. In that circumstance, why is it that over recent months the Palestinian Authority has been imposing its own financial punishments and sanctions on the people of Gaza?”
Mansour retorted “I would not use, you know, these words that you are using” before going on to state that the Palestinian National Council had authorised the payment of salaries to employees of the Palestinian National Authority in Gaza.
Viewers were not told that those employees – who have not worked since 2007 – have repeatedly had their salaries cut and withheld by the Fatah dominated PA since April 2017. Instead, interrupting Mansour, Sackur went on:
Sackur: “Well forgive me Ambassador; maybe it’s slipped your mind but you know in recent months, after the failure it seems of the last reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah, what we’ve seen is Mahmoud Abbas – the president of the Palestinian Authority – impose different punishments on Gaza including holding shipments of medicine, cutting payments for Gaza’s electricity; all sorts of different ways in which the people of Gaza are suffering – not at the hands of Israel or even Egypt which closes its border crossing with Gaza – but at the hands of fellow Palestinians.”
As regular readers will be aware, BBC audiences have not been informed of the PA’s cuts of medical supplies and treatment referrals to Gaza Strip residents. Moreover, since that PA policy began, the BBC has continued to mislead audiences with regard to the background to the chronic crisis affecting healthcare in the Gaza Strip by leading them to believe that it is connected to Israel’s counter-terrorism measures.
Similarly, with the exception of one report on the BBC News website, audiences have been repeatedly led to mistakenly believe that the chronic electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip is also related to those same counter-terrorism measures. It is therefore highly unlikely that viewers of this programme would be able to recognise Mansour’s denial as the falsehood it is.
Mansour: “I don’t think that this is accurate but if you’re saying that there is much more that can be done to help our people in Gaza, that is true. And the Palestinian government – including President Mahmoud Abbas – is trying with many parties, including the Egyptians and the United Nations and other parties, to alleviate the situation, the difficult situation of our people in the Gaza Strip.”
Sackur then asked:
Sackur: “I mean you say you represent all Palestinians: have you seen the various protests and demonstrations by Palestinians against the policy of the Palestinian Authority inside Gaza? Have you also heard another senior Palestinian – I’m sure a man you know well; Mohamed Dahlan – who has called the PA government corrupt, fascist for punishing the Palestinians of Gaza. He says ‘I can understand the hardships facing the Palestinians. I cannot understand that the Palestinian leadership is imposing additional burdens on the people of Gaza’.”
Seeing as the internal Palestinian power struggles that are the background to Sackur’s chosen quote have been completely concealed from BBC audiences, it is highly unlikely that viewers would be able to put Mansour’s reply into its appropriate context.
Mansour: “Well I wouldn’t use quotation from the individual that you refer to. He used to be representing the Palestinian National Authority in the Gaza Strip. If he is referring to his conduct at that time then one can talk more of that. But he cannot speak with authority or respect about the behaviour of the Palestinian National Authority and the leadership of the Palestinian people, whether in the Gaza Strip or other parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Sackur went on to pose two questions relating to Hamas-Fatah reconciliation and viewers heard Mansour state that the PA’s top priority is reuniting the “land of the State of Palestine”, even though no such state currently exists. Despite the BBC’s style guide recognising that fact – “There is no independent state of Palestine today” – viewers then heard Sackur use the same term.
Sackur: “There is another development which may or may not come to fruition in the next few weeks and that is the grand plan, the ultimate deal, the deal of the century that Donald Trump and his team say they’re going to put on the table to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. Jared Kushner, his son-in-law is in charge of it. He said recently after a trip to the Middle East where he saw the Israelis, he saw the Saudis, he saw the Gulf leaders – he didn’t see any Palestinians ‘cos you appear to be absolutely unwilling to talk to the Trump team – Kushner said this: ‘the Palestinian leadership is scared that we will release our peace plan and the Palestinian people will actually like it’. Are you scared?”
Referring to Kushner, Mansour claimed “He is on one hand talking tough and on the other hand he is begging for us to engage with him” before going on:
Mansour: “For us if Jerusalem is off the table, refugees off the table and those who say that they are concerned about our people in the Gaza Strip they cut off $300 million from the budget of UNRWA, so how could you be helping the people in the Gaza Strip by depriving them of this large sum of money that helps 1.2 million Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip? And also they say settlements now is not objectionable and they don’t refer much to the occupied Palestinian territories. What is left on the table to talk about?”
Sackur “Why are the Saudis, the Gulf State leadership, the Egyptians and the Jordanians all very happy to talk to the Americans and appear to be involved in trying to figure out how a peace plan might work? It seems you’re dangerously isolated.”
Mansour: “We are not isolated. They are engaging them for their own reasons including things related, you know, to the role of Iran in the region.”
Mansour went on to state that the PA wants to convening “an international conference” of “all relevant parties including the Americans, including the Europeans, the Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese and others” while claiming that the Americans “disqualified themselves from being honest broker”.
Sackur pointed out that there “won’t be a process without the Americans”, asking:
Sackur: “Are you Palestinians seriously saying that as long as Donald Trump’s in the White House you will not in any way whatsoever engage with the Americans?”
Mansour: “We will engage with them in collective process, through an international conference.”
Mansour then claimed that the UN Security Council had “legislated a decision to call for an international conference to be convened in Moscow”. Sackur did not clarify to viewers that he was apparently referring to the decade-old UN SC resolution 1850 which Abbas tried to resurrect in February of this year.
Sackur next raised the subject of opinion polls showing dissatisfaction with Palestinian leadership, stating “more than 60% of Palestinians…think Abbas should resign” and pointing out that he has “no obvious successor”.
Unchallenged by Sackur, viewers heard Mansour promote the fiction that the Palestinians have been ‘peacefully’ negotiating with Israel “for more than 20 years”.
Mansour: “One cannot blame the Palestinian people for their frustration. We tried the peaceful negotiation process for more than 20 years after the Oslo agreement and instead of putting an end to this occupation and enjoying independence, the reality on the ground moved from bad to worse, especially in the field of settlements. So one cannot but, you know, understand this frustration and the negative feeling among the Palestinian people.”
In response to Sackur’s statement that a generation of Palestinian leaders have failed, Mansour claimed “we assume our share of the responsibility” and went on to say that as a result the Palestinian National Council decided “to dissociate ourselves from the occupation and also not to continue on the path that did not lead us to the end of occupation, meaning the old style of negotiation.”
When Sackur again asked why Mahmoud Abbas has no obvious successor his guest replied:
Mansour: “I am confident that the Palestinian people will be able to elect the appropriate leader to lead us for the ongoing stage.”
Refraining from pointing out that the Palestinian people have not been able to elect their leaders for over twelve years, Sackur ended the interview there.
As we see, BBC audiences did not see any serious challenge from Stephen Sackur in response to Riyad Mansour’s lies about the ‘Great Return March’ and although Sackur twice insisted in the course of the interview that it was his job to ask ‘hard questions’, he continued to allow him to promote falsehoods on numerous other issues and to whitewash Palestinian violence.
It is of course difficult to see the point of an interview which includes questions relating to topics which the BBC has serially seriously under-reported (such as internal Palestinian power struggles and corruption) or inaccurately reported (such as medical supplies and electricity shortages in the Gaza Strip) – meaning that viewers do not have the basic knowledge necessary to understand the background to the question or form an opinion on the answer.
By Hadar Sela Posted in Accuracy, BBC, Impartiality, Omission, Public Purposes Tagged 'Great Return March', 'Hardtalk', BBC, BBC News Channel, BBC World News, Gaza power plant, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, medical supplies, MEPP, Palestinian affairs, Palestinian Authority, Riyad Mansour, Stephen Sackur, UN SC
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Great Movies of the 1980s
#Great Films: Alex Cox’s “Walker” (1987) depicts Yankee Imperialism in Central America (Starring Ed Harris and with soundtrack by Joe Strummer)
WALKER (1987). A Film By Alex Cox. Based on a true story. Click to buy at Amazon.
DEVILS THAT CAN QUOTE SCRIPTURE
by Eduardo Carli de Moraes
Unfortunately, ours ears nowadays continue to be used as toilet seats by demagogues and warmongers who have shit for brains. They talk righteously about their intentions of exporting Democracy and Humanitarianism, when they actually mean Imperial Power and Mass Robbery Of Foreign Natural Resources. But I’m not even gonna start giving vent to my fury against the Yankee’s Petroleum Wars that followed the September 11th attacks, nor will I comment on the use of such techniques of interrogation used in Abu Ghraibs and Guantánamos; nor I’ll waste much time denouncing once again the fact that the Bush administration justified the Iraq War with a lie (no, the whole thing had nothing to do with Sadam’s weapons of mass destruction! And, by the way, it’s the U.S. Army who is written down in history as the only one ever to drop an atom bomb another country’s civil population…). But I won’t even get started on the theme of Hiroshima and Nagasaki being bombed to ashes at the end of the II World War, for what I intend to express here is something else, tough closely related to all these horrors here briefly refered to – here I would like to attempt to explain why I deem Alan Cox’s Walker to be an awesome, deeply provocative film, excellent both as an historical depiction of U.S. Imperialism in the 19th century and as a witty satire of a dangerous neurosis that can turn a man into a Fascist pig. This is a film that continues to have a lot to say to us at the dawn of the 21st century A.D.
The reason that explains why Walker isn’t so widely recognized as a masterpiece of cinema in the 1980s, as I think it deserves to be, has to do with its very punkish depiction of a Yankee Fascist Pig. Audiences in the U.S. can’t find here any reason to be proud and patriotic. Watching it, one becomes acquainted with crimes against humanity so great that can rob someone of sleep: the bloody scenes may be filmed in Spaghetti-Western style, but they have the power to communicate to the audience the stature of this tragedy (and it’s huge). This is an unusual picture because it doesn’t have a hero as its protagonist, but much to the contrary: Walker is starred by a villanous mass-murderer and a Imperialist filibuster. Actually, according to Wikipedia, “the English term FILIBUSTER is derived from the Spanish filibustero, itself deriving originally from the Dutch vrijbuiter, and means “privateer, pirate, robber” (also the root of English “freebooter”). The Spanish form entered the English language in the 1850s, as applied to military adventurers from the United States then operating in Central America and the Spanish West Indies such as William Walker…”. Behind Ed Harris’s blue eyes and blond hair and mild manners, there’s a “crazy gringo”, as many people in Nicaragua referred to him.
Possessed by delusions of grandeur, Walker believes that’s it’s a God-given duty for the United States of America to be leaders of the whole continent, to expand their way-of-life was widely as possible – and by the American Way he means a system quite similar to the one then dominant in U.S.’s South in the years leading up to the American Civil War (1861-1865). Walker is pro-slavery, but not only that: he thinks Slavery is so great an institution that the United States should export it. God up in the heavens wanted the U.S. to use military force, invasion of foreign countries with tanks and bombs, and the burning down of whole villages, believes Walker, in order that the “primitive” people of Nicaragua or Guatemala could be “enlightened” by a Superior Civilization. Alex Cox’s film is a satire because it shows how ridiculous this man’s ambitions and ideals are – he poses as a righteous man-of-God, but he’s in favour of a system of slavery, racial segregation, obscene economical inequalities etc. The Nicaraguans, when they discovered what sort of shit the gringos were trying to enforce upon them, fought against it with all their might. The film permits us to see that, in the perspective of the Nicaraguans, the invasion of the Americans, “the crazy gringos”, was similar to the sudden arrival of a plague of destructive insects, or an attack by a savage horde of barbarians.
British director Alex Cox previous movie had been the bio-pic Sid & Nancy (1986), in which he captured quite authentically the downward spiral of The Sex Pistols’s musician Sid Vicious and his groupie-girlfriend Nancy Spungen, embodiments of the “live fast, die young” motto. For his next project after Sid & Nancy, Cox teamed-up with Joe Strummer, who composed the original soundtrack of the film, in one of his greatest works after The Clash had disbanded and The Mescaleros hadn’t yet been born. Ed Harris played the lead role as William Walker (1824-1860) and as usually displayed his high excellence in acting. If Cox’s film can be called punk it’s not because its production is cheap or faulty – on the contrary, this is was a 5-million-dollar budget film, and technically it looks so great as Sergio Leone’s or Gillo Pontecorvo’s films did. It is quite punk for its courageous and rebellious attitude of denouncing, and covering in ridicule, an authoritarian war-criminal such as Walker. In other words: this is punkish left-wing cinema that portrays The Enemy. Walker is a guy devoted to the dogma of Yankee superiority, and to the right of the United States to rule the whole world, and who puts his neurosis to practice in such murderous ways that I hope that you, dear readers, will agree with me in calling him by the un-polite but very fitting term “Fascist Pig”.
But one may ask: why make a movie, in the mid 1980s, about the international relations between the United States and Nicaragu ? Well, it was then a very urgent and pulsating theme in the public debate and on the media, and director Alex Cox remembers as follows the situation when Walker was made – the era of Ronald Reagan (in the U.S.) and Margaret Tatcher (in the U.K.):
“Reagan and Thatcher’s maniac front was working overtime to destroy the Sandinista revolution by any means. Thatcher had even attempted to criminalize the word ‘Sandinista’ – hence The Clash album of the same name. It would be a mistake to underestimate the power of the punk movement at that time. The Clash, The Jam, The Pistols, and their successors were almost the only beachhead many of us had against a tidal wave of reactionary politics.” (ALEX COX, in Let Fury Have The Hour, pg. 80)
That’s what makes Walker such an interesting and exciting movie: it feels like a manifesto written by British punks, in which they make a very powerful political statement about Imperialism and War Crimes. Even tough The Clash’s Sandinista was regarded by many as a lousy follow-up to one of the greatest albums in the history of popular music (1979’s London Calling), it was also a political statement right from its title: “sandinista” was then a forbidden word, and the sandinistas were painted by Reagan and Tatcher’s obedient dogs at the commercial media as dangerous and deadly “commies”. By doing an album like Sandinista, The Clash was trying to make several statements: firstly, they refused to record commercial bullshit only to sell records and honour contracts with CBS; they wouldn’t accept being censored in their language or themes, not they would accept quietly all the lies that were being spread about Nicaragua and the Sandinistas and the need for an Humanitarian Military Intervention by the Yankee’s armies; The Clash would stay rooted in rebellion against a establishment that, after Vietnam and Camboja, after spreading Military Dictatorships all over Latin America (Chile in 1973, Brazil in 1964…), was acting once again with murderous villany against other countries.
In “Washington Bullets”, one of Sandinista’s greatest songs, Joe Strummer asks The Clash’s audience to remember, among other things, the plots to kill Fidel Castro and to sabotage the Cuban Revolution, and also depicts what happened in Chile, in September 11th, 1973, when Salvador Allende’s regime came tumbling down (with lots of Washington Bullets and CIA agents helping out the installment of Pinochet’s dictartorship). “Eevery prison cell in Chile will tell”, sings Strummer, “the cries of tortured men…”. Chile, after 3 years under the yoke of democratically-elected president Allende, was plunged in dark times while Pinochet’s system killed and tortured all around, in order to be able to enforce all the policies that Mr. Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys deemed excellent for profitable markets (Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine tells the whole history quite well).
Joe Strummer, in the 1980s, was moving away from the mainstream arena, venturing into of a shadowy underground where music and social activism were together as one: he didn’t want much to do with the music industry and its hit-producing machinery. Strummer was interested in radical political films – such as Gillo’s Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers and Burn! – and he wanted music to act as a helping hand in the struggles for social justice around the world. Strummer wanted to be punk’s Woody Guthrie and in Sandinista, for example, he took his characters from recent History – in “Washington Bullets”, he was singing in memory of Chilean singer, songwriter, poet and teacher Victor Jara (1922-1973), who had been murdered by the fascists in Santiago, September 11th, 1973. With “Washington Bullets”!
Joe Strummer, after The Clash had disbanded, wrote the soundtrack for Alan Cox’s Walker and acted in a supporting role. He would also be an actor in Cox’s next film, “Straight to Hell”.
William Walker is the embodiment of a very dangerous characteristic, that some insist on calling a virtue, but that should be looked upon with skepticism and suspicious, methinks: Walker is a deeply righteous and arrogant man. He believes he’s on the side of Civilization, of Goodness, of God. But in reality he acts like a mad assassin who won’t refrain from shooting his own brother down. Anyone who dares question his authority is treated like a beast that deserves to be spanked or shot dead. He invades Nicaragua backed-up materially by big-money, big capitalist interests, greedy Yankee businessmen wanting to rule over Central America and control the territory that links the oceans. But he always tries to pretends he’s a saint and a god-send, who has just descended from Heaven to help the ignorant and uncivilized peoples of Central American (actually, Walker didn’t descend from Eden, but came out of Nashville, Tennessee…). Even tough he preaches lofty sermons as if he was the Messiah, the Chosen One that will lead his sheep to salvation, what he actually does is only to bring disaster and death to all those around him, including himself. Thus Alan Cox’s intermingles satire with tragedy – to impressive aesthetic effects.
Maddened by his Messiah Complex, delusional like those Insane Asylum Napoleons, Walker acts as if he is a Roman Emperor (he has even his moments of Nero-like incendiary behavior). Deeply racist, he tries to enforce slavery into Nicaragua and be the tyrant of an enslaved nation. He stinks of hypocrisy and agressiveness, and yet he seems to think of himself as a lofty idealist, a revolutionary of a New Enlightenment… He can’t see how blind and dumb he has become by his faithful obedience to his ideals: his righteousness is in fact an embodiment of Right-Wing politics, of Imperial Power acting to enslave and rob other nations. Smells like Bush, right? Walker calls himself a “social democrat”, but the democracy which he wishes to impose on Nicaragua is a bloody bad joke: after ordering the firing squad to get rid of the opposition to his presence in Nicaragua, he decrees himself president without any need for elections. He “democratically” proclaims himself president of Nicaragua, a country he had just invaded with murdering soldiers and mercenaries, and orders the newspapers to print that he has been elected (with only one vote – his own).
These occurrences that Alex Cox’s films depicts so well are also a interesting portrayal of an archetype, of a paradigm. What I mean is this: in many Historical occasions, methinks, men acted very similarly to Walker. If we push the forward button of the remote control of History’s Newsreel, and take a look some years ahead, we’ll discover very similar episodes – for example, as I tried to express in the previous paragraphs, Salvador Allende’s death in 1973 and the beginning of Pinochet’s dictartorship in Chile. But Walker still has a lot to say about much more contemporary events like The War on Terror. Walker is a great historical epic with a punkish mood and filled with witty satire. It’s a film that will be particularly tasty to those who enjoy violent Westerns such as Leone’s or Peckinpahs’s. But its great value lies in its denounciation of the inner machineries and outer actions of an archetypical fascist pig. Behind his blue eyes, this blondie is a “crazy gringo” that invades, plunders, murders and burns while always clinging to the belief that God is on his side and that he knows what’s better for the peoples of the whole globe. He’s just one more example of that archetypical figure, so common in History, of a human devil that can quote Scripture.
WALKER (1987). A Film By Alex Cox. Based on a true story. Click to buy at Amazon. Or download it at Pirate Bay.
Posted in Film Criticism, Filmes / Movies / Cinema, Films / Cinema, International Relations, Punk Rock, Sociology | Tagged Alex Cox (British film director), British Punk movement, Burn! (film), Central America, Crimes Against Humanity, Critique of Fascism, Devils Than Can Quote Scripture, Ed Harris (actor), Gillo Pontecorvo (Italian filmmaker), Great Movies of the 1980s, Imperialism, Imperialist Powers, Joe Strummer (composer), Let Fury Have The Hour, London Calling (1979), Margaret Tatcher Era in the U.K., Milton Friedman and Chicago Boys, Napoleon, Nero, Nicaragua, Pinochet's Dictartorship, Righteousness as Neurosis, Roman Empire, Ronald Reagan era, Sam Peckinpah, Sandinista (punk rock album), Sergio Leone, Sid & Nancy (1986 film), Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, Slavery, The American Civil War (1861-1865), The Battle of Algiers (film), The Clash, Victor Jara, Walker (1987), War on Terror, William Walker (1924-1960), Woody Guthrie | 1 Comment
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Great "Moon on a Silver Spoon"- Eudora Welty Essay Example
Jan 25, 2018 in Literature
American literature has witnessed the emergence of writers with universally acclaimed reputation for centuries now. Many of their works still enchant many people in this century. With both passion and sincere love for their work, many American writers have made their ideas and beliefs heard globally. Eudora Welty is of the American writers whose works have continued to influence many, the young, and the old alike. She is a writer with a self-confessed love for reading, who has placed herself in the American literature history books or time immemorial, and whose works possess unrivaled level of originality.
Eudora Welty’s love for reading is not a baseless claim. The writer has attempted to justify the claim by giving several reasons and indicators. Welty, as a young girl of two years, realized that their house was naturally designed for reading as all rooms in the house “were ready to read in or to be read” (Welty, 1998, p. 78). At the age of six, the writer was put in bed rest for a heart problem. During this time, she claims, her bed was filled with all sorts of books. She read as many books as she could to pass the time. Long before the writer could know how to read the alphabet, she claims she fell in love with how various letters looked like. She describes the alphabets as “…various winding, enchanted-looking initials” (p. 79). Another justification the writer has given for her love for reading is her early life experience when she could keep her mother awake until late to read for her. Though she was not able to read, she loved listening to her mother read for her. She also claims that she grew in a middle-income family that could not afford to buy all the books she needed. However, because of her unending demand for books, her parents could fix to buy for her a few books to read. Eudora Welty also claims that books united them as a family, and that their family was one of people with a great passion for reading. The writer also claims that her early introduction into reading was a result of “begging for it.” This is an assertion that she was madly in love with reading.
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Eudora was not just in love with the stories in the books she read, but also the books themselves. She claims the feeling of carrying a book in her hands brought her immeasurable pleasure. She loved the smell of books, their binding work, and even shape. Despite an early start with books, the writer’s belief on how books were produced was interesting. She believed that books were like grass, natural wonders that grew without human intervention or effort. Her realization that books were written by people was both “startling and disappointing” (Welty, 1998, pg. 80).
Writing short stories is quite challenging; perhaps more challenging than writing novels. However, given the opportunity to write short stories, I could include all my significant life experiences and occurrences. Such childhood stories could include, my enrolment in school and the challenges I faced in my first days at school, my understanding of religion, and the existence of a supreme God as a child, and my childhood convictions, especially in the belief that my parents were the most powerful people on earth. Finally yet importantly, I could include my childhood understanding of politics and the power vested on the country’s president.
In conclusion, Eudora Welty’s story "Moon on a Silver Spoon," may be a personal life story, but it is highly encouraging and challenging, especially to the young people. It encourages early life interaction with books and reading, thereby dispelling the belief that education begins at specific ages. Using Eudora Welty’s life, we can easily conclude that early interaction with education models us to become better people.
Welty, E. (1998). Moon on a Silver Spoon. Welty (pp. 78-81). New York: Library of America.
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Your favorite TV shows may be going off the air
April 14th, 2017 at 2:46 PM
The Golden Age of Television has been a boon for viewers but the same can’t exactly be said for writers. While there are undoubtedly more writing jobs available than ever before, the cultural shift in the way we actually consume TV has had a direct impact on how much money TV writers actually manage to take home. Consequently, a writers strike is looming on the horizon if screenwriters and Hollywood studios can’t reach a new deal before early May.
There are two main reasons why TV writers are unhappy. First, the way media companies monetize digital content today is far different — and more lucrative — than it was back when the two sides put an end to the 2007-2008 writers strike. And with more and more consumers digesting TV content via mediums like Netflix and YouTube, writers are getting shortchanged with a contract that doesn’t really take into account how much money is actually being made via non-traditional distribution methods. In short, writers want their compensation to reflect the new viewing dynamics and economics of the TV industry.
Bloomberg adds:
“The digital revolution is catching up with TV, but the economic models haven’t,” said Darrell Miller, a managing partner and head of the entertainment practice at law firm Fox Rothschild LLP. “They are fighting because the new media groups are reluctant to transition faster than they have to.”
Second, writing for a TV show is typically accompanied with an exclusivity agreement that prevents a writer from working on another show while their show remains in production. While this wasn’t much of an issue back when sitcoms and network dramas were pumping out upwards of 22 episodes per season, the trend these days is for a season of a particular show to feature anywhere from 8 to 13 episodes.
Most cable channels, premium cable channels and streaming services order fewer episodes per season, yet still require writers to work on them exclusively and often pay less for the same period of work. The number of series with fewer than 14 episodes grew by 40 between the 2013-2014 TV season and the 2015-2016 seasons…
The net result is that TV writers are, on average, earning less than before and are now threatening to go on strike on May 2 if they can’t hammer out a new deal that will take into account the new TV landscape.
Tags: Televison
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Newfound species of ancient piranha-like fish would have made a meal of you, very slowly
Mike Wehner @MikeWehner
It goes without saying that you could find some pretty dangerous animals if you were to travel back in time tens of millions of years ago, but not all of the creatures that lurked in prehistoric times were dramatically different from what we can still find on Earth today.
A newly-discovered species of ancient fish that swam Earth’s waters roughly 150 million years ago actually doesn’t look all that different from some that still exist today, but that doesn’t mean you’d ever have wanted to take a swim with them. The species has been named Piranhamesodon pinnatomus, and if you couldn’t tell from its name, it was a lot like a piranha.
The fish, which was found in Germany, would have lived during the late Jurassic period. That means it would have been around at roughly the same time as some pretty iconic dinosaurs, like the allosaurus, stegosaurus, and brachiosaurus, but the animal itself was not a dinosaur.
What it was, however, was a pretty serious nuisance for fellow fish. The researchers that discovered the species — whose work is published in Current Biology — found what they believe are some of the fish’s victims nearby. Rather than being torn apart and feasted on, the prey fish weren’t outright killed. Instead, the sharp-toothed predator apparently nibbled away at their fins, allowing them to regrow before biting away once again.
“This is an amazing parallel with modern piranhas, which feed predominantly not on flesh but the fins of other fishes,” Dr. David Bellwood, a co-author of the research, said. “It’s a remarkably smart move as fins re-grow; a neat renewable resource.”
Piranhas tend to be portrayed as bloodthirsty beasts that swarm to attack anything that comes close, but the reality is that most of the time the carnivorous fish take small meals whenever they can. This new discovery would seem to suggest that the same was true of similar fish going back 150 million years. Maybe time doesn’t change that much after all?
Image Source: tanozzo
Tags: discovery, Fossil, Germany, piranha
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