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Climategate: This is the worst scientific scandal of our generation
November 29, 2009 November 29, 2009 by Infinite
Thanks to James Delingpole and to all the other blogs on the internet we now have a discussion.
Those criminals would have just covered it all up.
Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with the Climategate whitewash
CO2 emissions will be on top of the agenda at the Copenhagen summit in December Photo: Getty
A week after my colleague James Delingpole, on his Telegraph blog, coined the term “Climategate” to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, Google was showing that the word now appears across the internet more than nine million times. But in all these acres of electronic coverage, one hugely relevant point about these thousands of documents has largely been missed.
The reason why even the Guardian‘s George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated, What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Professor Philip Jones, the CRU’s director, is in charge of the two key sets of data used by the IPCC to draw up its reports. Through its link to the Hadley Centre, part of the UK Met Office, which selects most of the IPCC’s key scientific contributors, his global temperature record is the most important of the four sets of temperature data on which the IPCC and governments rely – not least for their predictions that the world will warm to catastrophic levels unless trillions of dollars are spent to avert it.
Dr Jones is also a key part of the closely knit group of American and British scientists responsible for promoting that picture of world temperatures conveyed by Michael Mann’s “hockey stick” graph which 10 years ago turned climate history on its head by showing that, after 1,000 years of decline, global temperatures have recently shot up to their highest level in recorded history.
Given star billing by the IPCC, not least for the way it appeared to eliminate the long-accepted Mediaeval Warm Period when temperatures were higher they are today, the graph became the central icon of the entire man-made global warming movement.
Since 2003, however, when the statistical methods used to create the “hockey stick” were first exposed as fundamentally flawed by an expert Canadian statistician Steve McIntyre, an increasingly heated battle has been raging between Mann’s supporters, calling themselves “the Hockey Team”, and McIntyre and his own allies, as they have ever more devastatingly called into question the entire statistical basis on which the IPCC and CRU construct their case.
The senders and recipients of the leaked CRU emails constitute a cast list of the IPCC’s scientific elite, including not just the “Hockey Team”, such as Dr Mann himself, Dr Jones and his CRU colleague Keith Briffa, but Ben Santer, responsible for a highly controversial rewriting of key passages in the IPCC’s 1995 report; Kevin Trenberth, who similarly controversially pushed the IPCC into scaremongering over hurricane activity; and Gavin Schmidt, right-hand man to Al Gore’s ally Dr James Hansen, whose own GISS record of surface temperature data is second in importance only to that of the CRU itself.
There are three threads in particular in the leaked documents which have sent a shock wave through informed observers across the world. Perhaps the most obvious, as lucidly put together by Willis Eschenbach (see McIntyre’s blog Climate Audit and Anthony Watt’s blog Watts Up With That), is the highly disturbing series of emails which show how Dr Jones and his colleagues have for years been discussing the devious tactics whereby they could avoid releasing their data to outsiders under freedom of information laws.
They have come up with every possible excuse for concealing the background data on which their findings and temperature records were based.
This in itself has become a major scandal, not least Dr Jones’s refusal to release the basic data from which the CRU derives its hugely influential temperature record, which culminated last summer in his startling claim that much of the data from all over the world had simply got “lost”. Most incriminating of all are the emails in which scientists are advised to delete large chunks of data, which, when this is done after receipt of a freedom of information request, is a criminal offence.
But the question which inevitably arises from this systematic refusal to release their data is – what is it that these scientists seem so anxious to hide? The second and most shocking revelation of the leaked documents is how they show the scientists trying to manipulate data through their tortuous computer programmes, always to point in only the one desired direction – to lower past temperatures and to “adjust” recent temperatures upwards, in order to convey the impression of an accelerated warming. This comes up so often (not least in the documents relating to computer data in the Harry Read Me file) that it becomes the most disturbing single element of the entire story. This is what Mr McIntyre caught Dr Hansen doing with his GISS temperature record last year (after which Hansen was forced to revise his record), and two further shocking examples have now come to light from Australia and New Zealand.
In each of these countries it has been possible for local scientists to compare the official temperature record with the original data on which it was supposedly based. In each case it is clear that the same trick has been played – to turn an essentially flat temperature chart into a graph which shows temperatures steadily rising. And in each case this manipulation was carried out under the influence of the CRU.
What is tragically evident from the Harry Read Me file is the picture it gives of the CRU scientists hopelessly at sea with the complex computer programmes they had devised to contort their data in the approved direction, more than once expressing their own desperation at how difficult it was to get the desired results.
The third shocking revelation of these documents is the ruthless way in which these academics have been determined to silence any expert questioning of the findings they have arrived at by such dubious methods – not just by refusing to disclose their basic data but by discrediting and freezing out any scientific journal which dares to publish their critics’ work. It seems they are prepared to stop at nothing to stifle scientific debate in this way, not least by ensuring that no dissenting research should find its way into the pages of IPCC reports.
Back in 2006, when the eminent US statistician Professor Edward Wegman produced an expert report for the US Congress vindicating Steve McIntyre’s demolition of the “hockey stick”, he excoriated the way in which this same “tightly knit group” of academics seemed only too keen to collaborate with each other and to “peer review” each other’s papers in order to dominate the findings of those IPCC reports on which much of the future of the US and world economy may hang. In light of the latest revelations, it now seems even more evident that these men have been failing to uphold those principles which lie at the heart of genuine scientific enquiry and debate. Already one respected US climate scientist, Dr Eduardo Zorita, has called for Dr Mann and Dr Jones to be barred from any further participation in the IPCC. Even our own George Monbiot, horrified at finding how he has been betrayed by the supposed experts he has been revering and citing for so long, has called for Dr Jones to step down as head of the CRU.
The former Chancellor Lord (Nigel) Lawson, last week launching his new think tank, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, rightly called for a proper independent inquiry into the maze of skulduggery revealed by the CRU leaks. But the inquiry mooted on Friday, possibly to be chaired by Lord Rees, President of the Royal Society – itself long a shameless propagandist for the warmist cause – is far from being what Lord Lawson had in mind. Our hopelessly compromised scientific establishment cannot be allowed to get away with a whitewash of what has become the greatest scientific scandal of our age.
Christopher Booker’s The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is the Obsession with ‘Climate Change’ Turning Out to be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History? (Continuum, £16.99) is available from Telegraph Books for £14.99 plus £1.25 p & p.
By Christopher Booker
Published: 6:10PM GMT 28 Nov 2009
Source: The Telegraph
Climategate:
– Climategate: The great climate change science scandal (The Times)
– Climategate Scandal: The Whitewash Begins (Telegraph)
– Climategate: Hacked emails include calls for ‘Earth Government’ as foundation of new world order, splitting of America
– Lord Christopher Monckton on Climategate: ‘They Are Criminals’
– Climategate: George Monbiot – aka the Great Moonbat – makes it all suddenly OK through medium of satire (Telegraph)
– Climategate: Scientists Would Rather Change Facts Than Their Theories (RT)
– Climategate on Lateline: Private climate documents hacked, published
– Climategate Bombshell: Dr. Tim Ball on the hacked CRU emails
– Climategate: The Day Science Died (TBR)
– Climategate: how the MSM reported the greatest scandal in modern science (Telegraph)
– Climategate: CRU director admits the emails flying all over the internet appear to be genuine (Herald Sun)
– Climategate: The Final Nail in The Coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?! (Telegraph)
Follow the money and the New World Order:
– EU President Herman Van Rompuy Announces 2009 as ‘First Year of Global Governance’
– Congressman Ron Paul on the Copenhagen Treaty and the Cyber Security Act: ‘They are doing everything in the world to control the internet.’
– Al Gore could become world’s first carbon billionaire
– Lord Christopher Monckton: Is President Obama Poised to Surrender the Constitution and US Sovereignty to World Government? (!!!)
– EU Proposes €50bn Climate Change Deal Ahead of December’s Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
So global warming is really about the elite finding more ways to take away your freedom and your money!
Man-made global warming is a scam:
– Climate crunch: David Bellamy on global warming fraud
– Global Warming Scam Exposed
– Study: CO2 levels remained constant since 1850! (University of Bristol)
– What happened to global warming? The warmest year recorded globally was 1998 (BBC News)
– Global Warming Expert Prof. Latif: Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering “one or even two decades during which temperatures cool.” (The Calgary Herald)
– Solar Physicist Predicts Ice Age: “SOLAR CYCLE 24 HAS NOW GONE CLEARLY BELOW DALTON LEVEL.” (The Examiner)
– The Great Global Warming Swindle (Documentary)
– Ron Paul: Global Warming Petition Signed by 31,478 Scientists (Lew Rockwell)
– NASA Study: Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Gobal Warming (DailyTech)
– Global warming alarmists out in cold (Herald Sun)
– Nobody listens to the real climate change experts (Telegraph)
– Climate ‘denial’ is now a mental disorder (Telegraph)
– Japan’s boffins: Global warming isn’t man-made (The Register)
– Al Gore sued by over 30.000 Scientists for fraud (Video)
– World is getting colder: It’s the sun, not CO2, that’s to blame (Washington Times)
– Global warning: We are actually heading towards a new Ice Age, claim scientists (Daily Mail)
– Scientists find greenhouse gas hysteria to be myth (World Net Daily)
– 2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved (Telegraph)
– Army: Sun, Not Man, Is Causing Climate Change (Wired)
– World might be heading towards Ice Age (Economic Times)
– Flashback: David Ballamy: ‘BBC shunned Me For Denying Man-Made Global Warming’ (Daily Express)
– US: Cheyenne records snowiest October on record
– Autumn record-setting snowstorm wallops Rockies, Plains
– US: Freak Summer Storm Dumps Snow in Yonkers
Nature knows exactly how to deal with CO2:
– Carbon Dioxide Air Fertilization Improves Plant Growth and Quality, Cuts Operating Costs While Increasing Production:
If you really want to change the climate on this planet then:
– Environment: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert
– Greening the Desert
Categories Environment, Politics, Science Tags Climate Change, CRU, Fraud, Global Warming, IPCC, Politics, Science, U.N. Post navigation
80 new cases of child abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland: Inquiry
Lord Cristopher Monckton on Climategate: Shut Down The UN, Arrest Al Gore
1 thought on “Climategate: This is the worst scientific scandal of our generation”
squodgy
Global Corporatism, the bullying of nations to facilitate the corporations’ need to meet the shareholders/banksters’ greed, will be the undoing of our planet, starting with all those associated with monsatan.
https://www.intellihub.com/geoengineering-deliberate-melting-arctic/
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Smart money reaches $1 trillion
The Economist reports that hedge fund assets under management have reached $1 trillion, even while returns have diminished. Only qualified investors (an SEC classification) are eligible to invest - the requirement is $1M in net worth or $300K per year of family income. I guess most physics profs are stuck with mutual funds, which might not be so bad given the 2/20 fee structure charged by hedge funds ;-)
If your kid is mathematically gifted, I suggest pointing him (or her :-) to the nearest "relative value arbitrage" fund, rather than grad school in physics :-) With the glut of money heading into hedge funds, I've been told that the number one shortage is in investment ideas! You can see this in the graph below - the variation in returns is going down as more and more funds pile onto similar strategies.
Institutional Investor's obsessively read list of most-highly-paid hedge-fund managers starts with familiar names (George Soros: $750m), but 16 others made at least $100m in 2003... Successful managers become rich, possibly too rich to care about work, in just a few years.
I've discussed the role these funds are playing in the bond market, plying the carry or curve-flattening trades: sell the short end and buy the long end of the yield curve. Hedge funds are the third largest holders of US Treasury debt after Japan and China.
Carson Chow said...
I just read the Economist article and it sounds like one big pyramid scheme. What ever happened to wanting to do something good for society?
What do you make of Warren Buffet's comments about derivatives being 'financial weapons of mass destruction'?
Also, my understanding is that the Fed can (usually) prevent a run of the banks which are well-regulated. Is it true that there is less regulation of the hedge funds, and the Fed could be powerless to handle major collapse (which persumably hapens when they stop hedging and start taking greater risks)?
(Of course, LTCM had to bailed out by the Fed and a crisis was averted.)
Correct me, but I understand that Long Term Credit was "saved" not by selling its assets at a discount to an asset rich corporation. Berkshire Hathaway has the deepest of pockets and might have bought LTCM, but decided there was not enough in protected discount assets for the purchase. The New York Federal Reserve Bank and Robert Rubin had to get Wall Street competitors of LTCM to agree to limit going against LTCM open positions. The Wall Street finance houses that took control of what assets there were acted together to allow LTCM position to recover. A buyer like Berkshire Hathaway could have been further hurt if competitors had continued going after LTCM position.
No; I did not explain this properly, but there may be no value at all in derivative positions that go wrong and add many times the assets of the holder in liabilities.
General Re, the Berkshire Hathaway catastrophe insurer probably no longer has derivative positions.
Now, please explain to me what I have tried to write :)
When an investment style becomes the market, as hedge funds are becoming, the retuns that will be gained will be market returns. But, the cost of hedge funds assures they will perform considerably more poorly than index funds. My guess is Berkshire Hathaway will have much the edge.
A foolish foolish question. Lots of these in philosophy. Suppose the Bank of Japan loses 20% on dollar reserves. A 20% increase in the value of the Yen more than makes up for the loss in reserve value. Where then is the problem from this foolish perspective?
The mention was of hedge fund fees that run 2 and 20. Think about how much hedge funds had better out-perform the market. Berkshire Hathaway by the way has management fees of about 3 basis points. The owned companies pay well, but there are no options, and directors have minimal salaries. There have seldom been cuts in employment.
Carson: efficient markets are good for society ;-)
Re: LTCM, their positions eventually came back and the bank consortium that bailed them out evntually made money. I will post something about LTCM in the future...
Anne: Firstly, BoJ would then have been better off having ALL their reserves in Yen, no? If they can see the 20% correction coming, why not shift to Yen earlier? A loss is a loss :-) Also, BoJ may have obligations (issued bonds) denominated in Yen. If the capital backing up those bonds is in dollars, they might be in trouble if the dollar falls. (Imagine you have to make your rent payments in Yen but you foolishly have your savings in dollars. What happens if the dollar drops vs the Yen?)
The prolem them is that assets and liabilities must be properly matched. Yes, yes. Yen debt can not be matched with dollars that are losing value. Thank you :)
My underststanding was that the LTCM only recovered because Wall Street Banks did not take positions against the portfolio, and so allowed for the recovery. Yes, the consortium made money on the portfolio, but no portfolio that could not rely on others to lay off could have made money. Is this correct?
http://www.roubiniglobal.com/setser/archives/2005/02/monty_python_de.html#comments
Brad Setser:
consider the following example.
a "speculator" manages to buy renminbi from China's central bank.
the speculator ends up with 8.28 renminbi, the central bank with a dollar.
the central bank's balance sheet shows a renminbi liability, and a dollar asset. (I could make this more complicated by introducing sterilization, but that more or less just means that the speculator sells its renminbi cash to the central bank for a renminbi denominate treasury bill, so the amount of cash in circulation does not go up; similarly, rather than holding a dollar cash the central bank could buy a treasury bill and get some interest).
now suppose the renminbi is revalued, so one renminbi is now worth say 6 to the dollar.
The speculator then sells its renminbi to the central bank for dollars. The speculator has 8.28 renminbi, so the speculator can, after the revaluation, now buy 1.38 dollars -- a nice profit.
the central bank effectively sold renminbi at 8.28 to the dollar (one renminbi = 12 cents), and then bought the renminbi back at 6 to the dollar (one renminbi = 17 cents).
So look at it from the central bank's point of view. before the revaluation, it held a dollar (an asset) worth 8.28 renminbi against a 8.28 renminbi in cash (cash = a central bank liability), after the revaluation, it held a dollar worth 6 renminbi against 8.28 renminbi in cash. Its assets no longer cover its liabilities.
that is a problem is all holders of the central bank's liabilities decide they want to trade their liabilities for the central bank's assets.
If all the holders of renminbi wanted to exchange their renminbi for dollars, they could not. there are no longer enough dollars to go around.
Now throw in a twist -- a central bank's balance sheet includes both foreign assets (dollars) and domestic assets (usually government debt), which are held against its liabilities (domestic currency cash, or money). If after, a revaluation, foreign assets are worth 6 renminbi (going back to the example) and domestic liabilities are worth 8.28 renminbi, the central bank's balance sheet can be made solvent if the central bank is given a government bond (a domestic asset) worth 2.28 renminbi. That bond has to be a gift -- the central bank does not buy it, the government just gives it to the central bank. That bond is worth 0.38 dollars (2.28/ 6). so if the central bank sells the bond along with its dollar asset, the central bank has enough money to fully repay speculator who initially bought 8.28 renminbi for a dollar, and now wants to trade the 8.28 renminbi for 1.38 dollars.
The government -- the taxpayer's -- have to service the bond that the government gave the central bank that the central bank then sells in the market to pay off the speculator. That is the real cost of the central bank's loss.
Make any sense?
the central bank's technical insolvency (liabilities in excess of assets) matters if the holders of central bank liabilities (cash) decide they want to trade their liabilities (cash) for the central bank's assets (dollars and government debt). to assure that the central bank has enough assets to cover its liabilities, the government has to give it an additional asset (government debt).
In my story, I left out lots of twists -- notably sterilization -- and I suspect the last transaction (selling the "recap bond" to generate the extra 38 cents I need) is rather unrealistic. It would be more realistic to assume that the extra government bond went to back domestic currency in circulation, and the central bank just ran down its dollar assets. but I hope I still got the basics right. any monetary economist out there should feel free to provide a better explanation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/business/worldbusiness/24offshore.html?pagewanted=all&position=
Medical Companies Joining Offshore Trend
By ANDREW POLLACK
Bala S. Manian rarely looked back when he left India to attend graduate school in the United States. Since 1979, he has started one medical technology company after another in Silicon Valley.
But Dr. Manian is now rediscovering his native country. His newest medical venture, ReaMetrix, which makes test kits for pharmaceutical research, is still based in Silicon Valley. But 20 of its 28 employees are in India, where costs for everything from labor to rent are lower.
The exporting of jobs by ReaMetrix is telling evidence that the relentless shifting of employment to countries like India and China that has occurred in manufacturing, back-office work and computer programming is now spreading to a crown jewel of corporate America: the medical and drug industries.
It could be a worrisome sign. The life sciences industry, with its largely white-collar work force and its heavy reliance on scientific innovation, was long thought to be less vulnerable to the outsourcing trend. The industry, moreover, is viewed as an economic growth engine and the source of new jobs, particularly as growth slows in other sectors like information technology.
'What I see in India is the same kind of opportunity I saw in the Valley in 1979,' said Dr. Manian. In the United States, he said, 'a million dollars doesn't go more than three months.' In India, by contrast, 'I can run a group of 20 people for a whole year for half a million dollars.'
While life sciences jobs may be less vulnerable to outsourcing than jobs in information technology, industry officials say many companies are looking at that option as pressures mount to control drug prices and cut development costs....
sjfromm said...
steve said, Carson: efficient markets are good for society ;-)But the efficiencies you're talking about are 10th order effects.
SJF,
Yes, I agree. That comment was a bit tongue in cheek.
More seriously, as the world economy becomes more globalized and sophisticated, it seems inevitable that money management (e.g., for pensions, endowments, wealthy individuals) will be a growth industry. Indeed, this activity is an absolutely necessary one. So, I think it is unavoidable that some individuals who are talented in this area are going to become very wealthy.
Information technology and sophisticated markets play a role in this trend - a group of 5 guys with a support staff of 10 can easily manage $1B. For those lucky few in this industry, the compensation is likely to be off-scale.
Nice use of a misleading graph. The "downward trend" is for the standard deviation of returns, not the actual returns implied by your text.
www.vsxl.com
Risk-adjusted return
LTCM (and the *real* smart guys)
Housing and Inflation
The shadow of LTCM
Null energy condition
First FX domino?
"Easy Al" Greenspan
Finance for beginners
Out on the tail
Summers firing
Asperger watch
Evolutionary timescales
Housing revisited
Place your bets...
Liquidity feedback
Fed symposium on China exchange rate
A tale of two geeks
Path integrals
Carly Fiorina no longer HP CEO
Science funding
China-Japan relations
Cosmic accounting
The myth of fingerprints
Coming soon: the $4K car from China
Virtual meetings overdue
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Kamloops to rezone if necessary for apartment building for homeless - InfoNews
for Kelowna and Area
Infotel News Kelowna
Kamloops to rezone if necessary for apartment building for homeless
By Mike McDonald
KAMLOOPS - Kamloops city council may be asked to do some rezoning in order to come through on a promise to build a modular apartment building for homeless people.
The announcement was made earlier this week, one of the several new initiatives from the city to deal with the homelessness crisis.
The project would follow the lead of a pilot project in Vancouver where space was made available for an apartment building comprised of several modular units and staffed around the clock.
While news the program is coming to Kamloops is great, according to ASK Wellness executive director Bob Hughes, he has concerns about what options will be available when it comes time to pick a site for the building.
"For example, anything on Tranquille or any of these areas where you'd think you want to put it, you have to put commercial on the ground," Hughes says.
The City of Vancouver waived its zoning requirements, he says.
The city's chief administrative officer David Trawin says if the best available site for the apartment is zoned for commercial or anything else that could get in the way, the city will take steps to make it work.
"If our zoning says it needs commercial on the bottom floor, the only way not to put commercial on the bottom floor would to undertake a rezone process," Trawin says. "If we find a suitable location and zoning needs to be changed then I think from an administrative perspective... if we feel it's the right thing for that area, then administration will recommend supporting such to council."
He says they are in the process of looking at city-owned properties and locations not owned by the city for the modular apartment.
Hughes at Ask Wellness is also worried about the possible "not in my backyard" response once a location is picked out.
"It'll be interesting to see whether that appetite exists," he says. "We know with that last round there were six properties that were going to be rezoned for the purposes of affordable housing... none of them flew because the public said 'sorry, won't do it.' So it will be interesting when we try to put these initiatives in, will it fly?"
Hughes says with this new commitment from the city to find people housing in Kamloops, there should be no more excuses.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Mike McDonald or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
Tags: ASK WellnessKamloops homelessnessKamloops newskmoct2017Mike McDonald
Central Okanagan authorities cracking down on sloppy recyclers
KELOWNA - In an effort to clean up its recycling act, the Regional District of the Central Okanagan is sending “ambassadors” to look into as many as 21,000 blue recycling bins this sum
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How To Change Your Phone Settings So Apple, Google Can't Track Your Movements
Written by Jen King
Your phone tracks your movements all the time. grapestock/Shutterstock.com
Technology companies have been pummeled by revelations about how poorly they protect their customers’ personal information, including an in-depth New York Times report detailing the ability of smartphone apps to track users’ locations. Some companies, most notably Apple, have begun promoting the fact that they sell products and services that safeguard consumer privacy.
Smartphone users are never asked explicitly if they want to be tracked every moment of each day. But cellular companies, smartphone makers, app developers and social media companies all claim they have users’ permission to conduct near-constant personal surveillance.
The underlying problem is that most people don’t understand how tracking really works. The technology companies haven’t helped teach their customers about it, either. In fact, they’ve intentionally obscured important details to build a multi-billion-dollar data economy based on an ethically questionable notion of informed consent.
How consumers are made to agree
Most companies disclose their data protection practices in a privacy policy; most software requires users to click a button saying they accept the terms before using the program.
But people don’t always have a free choice. Instead, it’s a “take-it-or-leave-it” agreement, in which a customer can use the service only if they agree.
Anyone who actually wants to understand what the policies say finds the details are buried in long legal documents unreadable by nearly everyone, perhaps except the lawyers who helped create them.
Often, these policies will begin with a blanket statement like “your privacy is important to us.” However, the actual terms describe a different reality. It’s usually not too far-fetched to say that the company can basically do whatever it wants with your personal information, as long as it has informed you about it.
U.S. federal law does not require that a company’s privacy policy actually protect users’ privacy. Nor are there any requirements that a company must inform consumers of its practices in clear, nonlegal language or provide consumers a notice in a user-friendly way.
Theoretically, users might be able to vote with their feet and find similar services from a company with better data-privacy practices. But take-it-or-leave-it agreements for technologically advanced tools limit the power of competition across nearly the entire technology industry.
Data sold to third parties
There are a few situations where mobile platform companies like Apple and Google have let people exercise some control over data collection.
For example, both companies’ mobile operating systems let users turn off location services, such as GPS tracking. Ideally, this should prevent most apps from collecting your location – but it doesn’t always. Further, it does nothing if your mobile provider resells your phone’s location information to third parties.
App makers are also able to persuade users not to turn off location services, again with take-it-or-leave-it notifications. When managing privileges for iOS apps, users get to choose whether the app can access the phone’s location “always,” “while using the app” or “never.”
But changing the setting can trigger a discouraging message: “We need your location information to improve your experience,” says one app. Users are not asked other important questions, like whether they approve of the app selling their location history to other companies.
And many users don’t know that even when their name and contact information is removed from location data, even a modest location history can reveal their home addresses and the places they visit most, offering clues to their identities, medical conditions and personal relationships.
Why people don’t opt out
Websites and apps make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for most people to say no to aggressive surveillance and data collection practices. In my role as a scholar of human-computer interaction, one issue I study is the power of defaults.
When companies set a default in a system, such as “location services set to on,” people are unlikely to change it, especially if they are unaware there are other options they could choose.
Further, when it is inconvenient to change the location services, as is the case on both iOS and Android systems today, it’s even less likely that people will opt out of location collection – even when they dislike it.
Companies’ take-it-or-leave-it privacy policies and default choices for users’ privacy settings have created an environment where people are unaware that their lives are being subjected to minute-by-minute surveillance.
They’re also mostly not aware that information that could identify them individually is resold to create ever-more-targeted advertising. Yet the companies can legally, if not ethically, claim that everyone agreed to it.
Overcoming the power of defaults
Monitor your phone’s default settings. Georgejmclittle/Shutterstock.com
Privacy researchers know that people dislike these practices, and that many would stop using these services if they understood the extent of the data collection. If invasive surveillance is the price of using free services, many would rather pay or at least see companies held to stronger data collection regulations.
The companies know this too, which is why, I argue, they use a form of coercion to ensure participation.
Until the U.S. has regulations that, at a minimum, require companies to ask for explicit consent, individuals will need to know how to protect their privacy. Here are my three suggestions:
Start by learning how to turn off location services on your iPhone or Android device.
Turn location on only when using an app that clearly needs location to function, such as a map.
Avoid apps, such as Facebook Mobile, that dig deeply into your phone for as much personal information as possible; instead, use a browser with a private mode, like Firefox, instead.
Don’t let default settings reveal more about you than you want.
Jen King, Director of Consumer Privacy, Center for Internet and Society, Stanford University
{amazonWS:searchindex=Books;keywords=personal privacy;maxresults=3}
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How Much Is Your Data Worth To Tech Companies?
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Edition #4: Gambling harm
Jodi Clarke, photo: Paul Jeffers
Five minutes with ...
Gambling counsellor, Jodi Clarke
by Jodi Clarke and Linley Kensitt
After 14 years as a Gambler's Help counsellor, working with gamblers and their families, Jodi Clarke recently joined the foundation in a role to support her former colleagues at the coalface. Here she reflects on helping family members and friends of gamblers, and looks forward to continuing to make a difference.
How have you seen someone's gambling affect people close to them?
The big issue is often betrayal and loss of trust. When a partner or other family member finds out, there can be a lot of grief that the relationship wasn't what they thought it had been. Financial stress is also a factor. So repairing or rebuilding relationships is an important part of recovery.
The people I saw were often in crisis. Their partner was threatening to leave or they were about to lose their house, so they were very motivated to change their gambling and get some help.
Do partners or family members come to counselling with gamblers?
This has evolved over the time. When I first started at Gambler's Help, people mostly came individually – either a gambler or a family member. But gradually, more couples started coming, and then later, I saw more families.
Hopefully we can encourage more family work because it's a really powerful medium for change.
When counselling couples or families, are there typical sticking points?
Often a partner finds it difficult to give up their anger, which is understandable. I would have individual sessions with that person, helping them get to where they could take the next step – to move on to rebuilding their relationship or sometimes deciding to leave the relationship.
Another sticking point is when parents bring in adult children whose gambling is out of control. The parents are often stuck because their primary focus is their child's recovery, which is out of their control. Often, they find it difficult to step back and focus on their own lives.
Is it common for partners and family members to have counselling?
Often non-gambling family members think, 'I don't have the problem'. They don't recognise they might need support, too, and this is an important part of the healing. It's valuable to work with them either in the session with the gambler or by themselves.
I ask them: What are your needs? What's going on for you? I also raise practical needs, like protecting money and assets, and protecting other family members, especially if there are children involved.
One of the most distressed clients I ever worked with was a woman whose parents had gambling issues in her formative years. It can be equally, if not more, destructive for family members. Especially for children who are dependent. My work with her was long term and it helped her understand what had happened and to link in with a lot of our support services, like peer support.
How can you help clients stop history repeating across generations?
We go through their family history and create a genogram, which is a family tree with detail about the relationships between individuals. This is often really insightful for clients.
Identifying a gambling culture within the family and talking about other family members who have had gambling problems can help clients understand what might be driving their gambling issue.
More often than not, there is a history of gambling. It's important to talk about it as a cycle that might perpetuate and to help them work out how to break it.
What do you like most about counselling? Any inspiring stories?
The best part about it is seeing people feel better about themselves, get stronger and be happier. It's a very satisfying career in that respect.
One former client I'd seen ten years before came into my service and said she was really grateful for the work we did together. She told me all about her life and how she was going very well in her relationships. Her daughter, who was young when I first met her, was now doing very well in school. It's lovely to get that feedback.
What are some of the challenges?
One of the issues with counselling is self-care because you can get burnt out easily without proper support.
It is an occupational health and safety issue and, I think, an area for improvement within the services. Not just for the sake of counsellors, but also for clients. If the counsellor is not supported and functioning well, it's not going to benefit the client.
In my new role I can ensure Gambler's Help providers get the support they need.
If you are experiencing problems with gambling, or someone close to you has a problem, call Gambler's Help on 1800 858 858. Find out more about getting help.
#Counselling and treatment
#Family and friends
#Health and welfare professionals
#Mental health and gambling
Linley Kensitt
Linley Kensitt is a senior communications officer at the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation and managing editor of Inside gambling.
‘At times, she was a complete stranger to me …’
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Home » Healthcare » The Word at HIMSS: Healthcare Organizations Making Progress toward the Cloud
The Word at HIMSS: Healthcare Organizations Making Progress toward the Cloud
February 27, 2019 David Williams
Cloud-based healthcare is a reality, and it's growing quickly.
The cloud was a popular topic at HIMSS again this year. Cloud computing, long a staple in many industries, has faced a slower uptake in U.S. healthcare for several reasons, including the fragmentation of health information systems and concerns over data security and cybersecurity. At least until very recently, the transition to the cloud has been happening slowly. However, several leading organizations are moving very quickly in that direction – giving them a significant advantage in the marketplace and necessitating others to do likewise.
Datica's 2018 CIO Cloud Perspective Survey titled Healthcare Cloud Take-off: Waiting for the Fog to Clear reflected these challenges but also confirmed the emergence of cloud as a priority. About 55% of survey respondents reported that they do not host their primary electronic health record (EHR) system outside of their data center; about 35% said they are using the HER vendor’s hosted offering and about 10% are using a third-party hosting solution. And even though new tools and changes in the regulatory environment have made cloud a safe option for storing sensitive information, including Protected Health Information (PHI), the survey found that the majority of survey respondents do not have a strategy for moving their data centers to the cloud. Despite all the concerns, about 80% of the survey respondents said that cloud hosting is in the top 20 priorities within their organizations.
Recent technology innovations are addressing those barriers and concerns, and an increasing number of healthcare organizations are broadening and deepening their use of cloud technology. We heard a lot about that progress throughout the discussions at HIMSS19 — and the research backs it up. According to a recent HIMSS Analytics survey, 83% of healthcare organizations are already using some form of cloud technology.
Making the shift - strategically
Moving to the cloud can be driven by many reasons - desire to cut data center costs, deploy new applications quickly, and access flexible and scalable resources. A healthcare organization’s decision to implement cloud-based solutions requires a careful assessment of all the systems already in place, as well as which systems to lift and shift, which to retool, and which to abandon in favor of born-in-the-cloud solutions. In addition, tough decisions have to be made about which kind of cloud solutions will best serve the organization’s needs: public (including multi-cloud), private, or hybrid. Answering those questions is the key to creating a more coherent digital ecosystem in which information can flow freely among all stakeholders.
What does the cloud mean for patient care?
The cloud holds great promise for connecting today’s fractured healthcare system. Even within organizations, interoperability across diverse systems, including legacy systems, is a significant challenge. As systems and organizations are able to share data, healthcare leaders and clinical teams will be able to access a spectrum of relevant data and use it to optimally support patients, achieve better outcomes, and operate much more cost effectively.
Cloud computing is also going to be a core component of what we call “data humanization” — the ability to use data to make healthcare choices and decisions more proactive. In our recently released Executive Brief: The Emerging Landscape of Data in Healthcare, we discuss healthcare organizations’ growing need to be able to connect patients’ identities across the continuum of healthcare. For example, a person may go to one health system on a particular day to see a specialist in a clinic; then later go to an urgent care clinic for prompt care; and then to the emergency department at another time following a car accident, which may lead to surgery. Across all these needs and stops along the healthcare delivery continuum, everyone — the clinicians, the employer, the health plan — needs to be connected into the data.
All this is being driven by the unrelenting push toward real-time availability of data, and toward access at every point in the continuum of care and in operations. The technologies that are helping this include cloud computing platforms, mobile applications and other solutions.
The end goal is to leverage the power of the cloud to make significant improvements in processes and care. As healthcare platforms utilize advanced cloud-based technologies like machine learning and AI, we can look forward to more patient-centric, outcome-based, personalized healthcare.
At Conduent, we partner with healthcare organizations to help them transform their operations and better serve their constituents. To explore our cloud based solutions, please visit us online at https://www.conduent.com/healthcare-provider-solutions/ or contact us at healthcare@conduent.com.
David is the Vice President & General Manager of Conduent Healthcare Provider Solutions.
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Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. 32(3):134–140, MAR 2018
DOI: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000001048
Risk of Hip Arthroplasty After Open Reduction Internal Fixation of a Fracture of the Acetabulum: A Matched Cohort Study
Patrick D. Henry;Sam Si-Hyeong Park;J. Paterson;Hans Kreder;Richard Jenkinson;David Wasserstein;
*Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Holland Orthopaedic and Arthritic Center, Toronto, ON, Canada;†Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, ON, Canada; and‡Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), ICES Central, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Objectives:To determine what proportion of operatively treated acetabular fracture patients proceeded to total hip arthroplasty (THA), over what time period, and quantify the influence of patient, provider, and surgical factors on rates of THA.Design:Retrospective matched cohort prognostic study using administrative data.Setting:This study used the large population database of Ontario (population 13,125,000 in 2010), Canada.Participants:Patients who underwent open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of an acetabulum fracture between 1996 and 2010 in the province of Ontario were identified from administrative health databases.Method:Each patient was matched to 4 individuals from the general population according to age, sex, income, and urban/rural residence. The rates of THA at 2, 5, and 10 years were compared using time-to-event analysis. The influence of patient, provider, and surgical factors on the risk of eventual THA was examined using a Cox model.Intervention:The primary intervention was ORIF of the acetabulum.Main Outcome Measurement:The primary outcome measurement was THA.Results:A total of 1725 eligible patients were identified and were matched to 6900 controls. Among cases, there was a 13.9% (N = 240) rate of hip arthroplasty after a median of 6.25 (interquartile range 3.5–10.1) years, compared with 0.6% (N = 38) among matched controls (relative risk = 25.26). The greatest difference in risk of eventually undergoing a THA was in the first 10 years, after which time the risk in the group that had undergone ORIF acetabulum trended down toward that of the control group. Among surgical patients, risk factors for eventual hip arthroplasty included older age [hazard ratio (HR) 1.035 (1.027, 1.044); P < 0.0001]; female sex [HR 1.65 (1.257, 2.165); P = 0.0003]. Higher surgeon volume revealed a 2.6% decreased risk of arthroplasty for each acetabulum ORIF performed above 10 per year [HR 0.974 (0.960, 0.989); P = 0.0007].Conclusion:Patients who underwent acetabulum fracture ORIF had a 25 times higher prevalence of hip arthroplasty compared with matched controls. THA rate was greater in women, older patients, and patients whom had ORIF performed by low-volume surgeons.Level of Evidence:Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
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TelevisionGame of Thrones
Game of Thrones Saved Its Most Tragic, Vicious, and Devastating War for Last
Rob Bricken
Filed to: TV RecapFiled to: TV Recap
TV Recap
game of thrones recap
Davos (Liam Cunningham), Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) get ready to see some bleak stuff.
Photo: HBO
The final battle between Daenerys and Cersei. Other long-awaited confrontations. Major character deaths. Justice. Heartbreak. Much more than the fight against the White Walkers, this penultimate episode of Game of Thrones had everything it needed to have. And while it wasn’t perfect, it was still perfect for Game of Thrones.
That’s a counterintuitive way to say that based on what the show has become over the past few years—as it transformed into its own unique identity once it left the training wheels of George R.R. Martin’s novels behind—last night’s next-to-final episode felt right. Like, yes, this is the way the show is supposed to go down. No, not all of the plot or character decisions or deaths were completely satisfying, but they were as satisfying as Game of Thrones generally gets. The result is the best episode of the season so far, and I’d be pleasantly surprised if next week’s finale is as good.
So much happens in “The Bells,” but when it begins it’s all about Daenerys, who is…not in a good place. She’s suffered loss after loss, and I don’t just mean her many defeats on the battlefield. Jorah died protecting her, then Cersei killed her dragon Rhaegal and her friend/counselor Missandei. She lost the romantic affection of Jon Snow, but also her rightful claim to the Iron Throne. You wouldn’t need to have the blood of the Targaryens in you for all this to start driving you crazy.
But it gets worse for poor Dany. It turns out she’s also surrounded by traitors, including Jon, for revealing the truth of his identity to Sansa. Dany knows that the Lady of Winterfell told Tyrion, who told Varys, who is now actively conspiring against his queen, and trying to talk Jon into claiming the throne for himself. Tyrion is forced to tell Daenerys of Varys’ activities, which earns the eunuch an execution. Both Jon and Tyrion stand, albeit uncomfortably, by their queen as she orders her dragon to roast Varys alive. Varys’ final words are perfect: “I hope I deserve this. I hope I’m wrong.”
Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) is not in a good place right now.
Image: HBO
Varys is not wrong. Daenerys is angry and alone, desperate for revenge and to seize the throne she believes she’s owed. When she tells Jon that she inspires no love in Westeros, only fear, Jon replies, “I love you.” But after Daenerys tries to kiss her nephew, Jon can’t help but break it off and back away. Dany has a rueful smile when she says, “Let it be fear.” That’s ominous, but Daenerys gets, uh, ominous-er. When she tells her small council that “mercy” is the strength that sets her forces apart from Cersei’s, she specifies it’s mercy for “future generations” who won’t have to suffer future tyrants—the poor, present-day smallfolk who are going to get killed in the crossfire of the upcoming battle will not be nearly so lucky.
Tyrion, who has spent so much of the last two seasons trying to convince Daenerys not to kill everyone in King’s Landing, has one last, desperate hail mary play: If the city bells ring after the first assault, it will mean that the city has surrendered and the attack can stop. The queen only begrudgingly agrees, but with no real conviction. Tyrion decided to commit some treason of his own, and free his brother Jaime (who had been captured on the road to King’s Landing by Dany’s armies). Tyrion tells his brother about the secret passage from the cove into the Keep, and begs him to find their sister Cersei, convince her to ring the bells, and then the two of them can run, hopefully to find a quiet life together outside of Westeros.
Tyrion has a really good line here: “Tens of thousands of innocent lives…one not particularly innocent dwarf…it seems like a fair trade.” But it’s the acting between Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau that makes this scene so affecting. Despite all the random Lannister family reunions over the last two seasons, none of them have really had any emotional weight; here, though, Tyrion, knowing one or both of them is likely about to die, tearfully thanks Jaime for being the only person who didn’t treat him like a monster when they were kids. If all the sadness and gratitude Dinklage puts into it doesn’t put a tear in your eye, or the emotional hug between the brothers, you may be a White Walker.
Tyrion could also be better.
Photo: Helen Sloan (HBO)
At daybreak, the war begins. Interestingly, “The Bells” chooses to start from Cersei’s forces’ point of view: There’s Euron and his fleet in Blackwater Bay; the Golden Company mercenaries guarding the main gate to the city; all the men manning the scorpions; and there are archers and soldiers, all running to get ready…and then they wait. It’s a great choice to spend the time looking through their eye because it makes it far more terrifying when Dany comes screaming out of the heavens with Drogon and starts killing all of them.
Here’s something I expect people to have a problem with: Despite the fact that the giant crossbow scorpions tore a dragon apart like it was fresh bread just last week, Daenerys and Drogon literally destroy every single one of Euron’s ships and all the giant scorpions on every single parapet surrounding King’s Landing without any problem whatsoever. They don’t even have help! All of Cersei’s careful preparations which have been plenty deadly in season eight? Useless, because Dany managed to grab the Invincibility Star from Super Mario Bros. for the scene.
And here’s why I’m fine with it: Because while watching Daenerys and Drogon have a careful, protracted battle to take out the scorpions one-by-one might be “realistic” in terms of battle, it would also be boring. Jettisoning verisimilitude to keep things moving briskly is simply part of what Game of Thrones has become over the last few years (for better or worse), and there’s absolutely no point in fighting it now. Besides, without that dedication to keep things moving at top speed we might not have seen Drogon open the front gate, by which I mean explode the front gate, raining flaming rubble onto the backs of the Golden Company, whose survivors are hacked down by the onrush of Unsullied, Dothraki, and Northmen.
Honestly, the whole battle is a one-sided affair. Once there’s no fleet or danger to the dragon, it’s a rout, and many of the Lannister soldiers surrender. Daenerys’ forces win handily, but until someone rings those bells, Dany won’t call off the attack. It takes a very long time—there are a lot of shots of Cersei looking out her tower, hearing occasional peasants begging her to surrender—but eventually the bells peal. King’s Landing has fallen. Cersei is defeated. Daenerys has her throne.
Unfortunately, Daenerys doesn’t care.
Davos and Jon look at something, I dunno. Probably something Dany set on fire.
She’s too locked into what’s she’s lost, too focused on what she hates. With the Red Keep looming before her, Cersei inside, Daenerys gives into her passion and her rage, and starts destroying King’s Landing anyway—the town, the castle, the people, all of it. An equally angry and bitter Gray Worm starts attacking the Lannister soldiers who had already surrendered. And then everything descends into horrific chaos.
It’s the smallfolk who are the collective star of the rest of the episode, as it spends most of its time following the commoners who came to King’s Landing hoping for safety, and found they’d only trapped themselves. Men, women, and children are burned alive by dragonfire, or crushed by buildings toppled by it. Crowds run blindly, trampling each other. Dany’s soldiers take her destruction as a sign they can go wild, and Jon is horrified to watch the men he led start murdering innocents, looting, or worse. Sometimes a few folks find a place they think they’re safe, and then die there anyway. It’s all exactly as horrible as it’s supposed to be, especially when you remember that Daenerys came to Westeros with the intent of protecting these people.
While Daenerys starts to bring down the Red Keep, the Hound and Arya manage to get in. In a facsimile of a tender scene, the Hound manages to convince Arya to go, mostly because the crumbling castle makes Cersei’s death a certainty one way or another. Arya’s revenge is/will be achieved, and she can try to live for something else—something more than the Hound managed to. Arya departs, and Sandor eventually finds his brother Gregor descending a stairwell, guarding the queen. Once the two brothers lock eyes, though, the Mountain has a new priority. He crushes Qyburn for trying to stop him from fighting the Hound, while the pointedly silent Cersei is allowed to sneak past them.
Personally, I think “Cleganebowl” lived up to the hype. It was plenty brutal, and we got to see how messed up the Mountain was underneath his mask and armor. (Answer: plenty messed up.) Since the Mountain was some kind of zombie, Sandor got to inflict many, many wounds on his horrible brother with no effect. The part where the Hound simply stabbed the Mountain repeatedly, while trying to keep his eyes from being crushed, was great—as was the reveal that even when the Mountain gets a dagger shoved in his eye, he’s more confused than hurt. So the Hound takes out his undead brother in the most thematically appropriate way possible. After Gregor stuck Sandor’s face into a fire, scarring him all those years ago, now Sandor tackles Gregor, knocking them both off the ledge of the tower, and the two fall over a hundred feet into the raging fires below.
Cersei (Lena Headey), in blissful ignorance of the shitstorm that’s about to come down.
Unfortunately, Cersei’s fate wasn’t quite so satisfying. After leaving the Hound and the Mountain, she finds Jaime, who came up from the tunnels—after a fight with Euron, who very conveniently washed up at that exact place at that exact time. (Jaime got stabbed a few times, but ultimately killed Euron, who was a narcissistic prick til the end). But when the twins get down to the tunnels, Daenerys’ reign of destruction has sealed off their escape, and they both know what’s coming next. Lena Headey does a good job showing Cersei finally come to grips with reality, but after all these seasons watching her trials and losses and mental deterioration, it felt like Cersei’s final moments should have been bigger—not with a grander or more exciting death, but something more emotionally powerful as she realized that her destruction was of her own doing. Still, it’s kind of nice that she and Jaime get to die holding one another, as the ceiling of the keep collapses in upon them.
After leaving Sandor, Arya spends the rest of her time trying to escape King’s Landing, which is no small feat, especially with everything on fire and/or falling apart and also Daenerys still raining down hell. If you thought it was weird that the show would have Arya come to King’s Landing to kill Cersei, only for the Hound to easily talk her out of it minutes before they found the queen, well, you’re right. But Arya really came to King’s Landing so we could watch a character we care about try to escape the apocalyptic nightmare that is the fall of King’s Landing (as pointed out in “Inside the Thrones”) instead of just the smallfolk.
It’s a lot of scrambling, a lot of dust, and a lot of nameless smallfolk characters getting killed all around her. It goes on for so long that it’s genuinely stressful…and then it goes on for a bit longer than that. But the weirdest part is that it, and the episode, ends when she wakes up after the destruction has ended to find a very pretty (and very clean) white horse just standing there in the middle of the rubble, and she rides off on it. This seems extremely weird, but we’ll have to wait until next week to see if it’s an ominous sign for Arya or just a bit of really hokey storytelling.
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Given that next week is the series finale, I’m hoping the weird clean horse is just a weird clean horse, because there’s so much else left to get to! The old queen is dead, and the new queen just murdered tens of thousands of innocent people and may be the most hated woman in Westeros. Her advisor Tyrion just committed treason against her by setting his brother Jaime free. Her lover, because of his superior claim to the throne, is now the biggest threat to her reign. And after what she did to the innocent people of King’s Landing, I can’t imagine what she wouldn’t do to the people that crossed her, like Tyrion, or Jon, or Sansa, or Bran, or Samwell, or…anyone, really.
Daenerys was supposed to be the queen that was going to “break the wheel,” and end the cycle of oppression that constantly crushed the commoners no matter who was battling up top for supremacy. Last night, Daenerys proved without a doubt that the wheel had broken her instead, and she has become part of the problem she had wanted to fix. Now she might have become as paranoid and compassionless as her father was. Maybe more so.
Daenerys played the game of thrones, and won, while all those who’ve played it against her have died. Even though the game is over, nothing’s better, and nothing’s been fixed. So what else can people do in next week’s season finale, other than to begin a brand-new round?
Actor Marc Rissmann as the leader of the Golden Company mercenaries, who I want to call... Bertie? Bertie.
Assorted Musings:
Special credit to the “Previously On,” which did a terrific job of giving viewers a crash–course in the history of Targaryen insanity/cruelty and all the things that have pushed Daenerys to the breaking point. It was so good it should have been in the episode, but I understand voice montages don’t really fit there.
Let’s see, major character deaths: Varys, Qyburn, the Hound, the Mountain, Cersei, and Jaime. Am I missing anybody?
Before Varys died, he was 100 percent sending letters telling people about Jon’s real parents. I wonder if he sent them somewhere special, or just as a general raven-based email blast?
That shot of Drogon’s head appearing out of the shadows behind Dany just before blasting Varys was goofy but highly effective.
Uh, Jaime, you didn’t think to take your golden hand off before trying to slip past enemy lines? You truly are the dumbest Lannister.
Man, who else got crazy excited when the bursts of green flames started erupting in tiny blazes across King’s Landing? If you don’t recall, that’s wildfire—the stuff Cersei used to blow up Baelor’s Sept with the High Sparrow and Margaery and the rest in it back in season six. I’m assuming the reason it kept popping up is because Daenerys’ father, the “mad king” Aerys, scattered it through King’s Landing with the plan of destroying it in some sort of nuclear option. In fact, Aerys was about to use it to blow up the city when Jaime betrayed his oath and killed his king, saving tens of thousands of lives.
Clearly the wildfire is still strewn about the city, and there’s absolutely no way Game of Thrones would have made sure we saw all those green flames if it was only a brief nod to the past. I’m betting Aerys’ self-destruct sequence comes back in the final episode, but who uses it, and why? Does a disgusted Daenerys also feel like getting rid of the city she conquered and destroyed? Will someone use it to try to take out Daenerys and Drogon? Hoo boy.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.
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The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal Shares the Common Thread Between Star Wars and Game of Thrones
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8 More Game of Thrones Goofs That Show Maybe We Shouldn't Take the Coffee Cup So Damn Seriously
Rob Bricken was the Editor of io9 from 2016-18, and currently writes the column "Nerd Processor" on Medium. It, like everything else he's ever written, is about nerd stuff. https://bit.ly/2OiCVGL
Recent from Rob Bricken
Legion Is Back, and It Knows What It Did
The Game of Thrones Finale Got the Important Stuff Right
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Yuja Wang at Strathmore
by Charles T. Downey | Sunday, October 27, 2013
We have heard Yuja Wang with both of the region's leading orchestras, and in recitals in smaller venues. Until Friday night, that is, when Washington Performing Arts Society presented the young Chinese virtuoso in the Music Center at Strathmore. Given her previous performances, we knew to expect fireworks but the poetry in her playing came as a pleasant surprise, a sign perhaps that this fiery, sometimes bombastic musician has reached a new level in what she can do.
That change came across in just about everything she played. She still showed an uncanny ability to pull apart the wildest thickets of notes with a defiant technique, revealing hidden details or unexpected lines, as in her opener, Prokofiev's miniature third sonata (A minor, op. 28). It was the tender, slightly distracted slow section at the heart of this piece that stood out, though, a ruminative inner monologue. Things were much the same with Chopin's third sonata (B minor, op. 58), in which Wang did not press the fast tempos as fast as other pianists sometimes do, making the chromatic left-hand lines at one point transparent and velvety, drawing out especially the delicacy of the second theme and closing theme of the first movement, so forlorn. The scherzo was appropriately fast but also light as a feather, with the slow movement given a sotto voce melancholy but never allowed to be mawkish. The fourth movement was also not as fast as it could be, moreover given a decidedly legato touch to the almost deliberate statements of the main theme.
Anne Midgette, World-class pianist Yuja Wang dazzles in recital at Strathmore, but at a distance (Washington Post, October 28)
Matthew Guerrieri, Pianist Yuja Wang displays power and precision (Boston Globe, October 19)
David Wright, Yuja Wang delivers more heat than light in Boston recital debut (Boston Classical Review, October 19)
Ken Iisaka, Yuja Wang Settles for Astonishing (San Francisco Classical Voice, October 15)
Timothy Mangan, Yuja Wang swings for the fences (Orange County Register, October 15)
Nikolai Kapustin's bubbly Variations for Piano (op. 41) had the same function at the start of the second half as the Prokofiev had had at the first, a jazzy overture, with the effect of an encore, just in prelude. Another Chopin set followed, with Wang holding the audience from applauding between the C minor nocturne (op. 48/1) and the third ballade (A-flat major, op. 47). Opening with Kapustin seemed to put these pieces in a different light, drawing a parallel in terms of the sense of improvisation and dance. Wang gave the nocturne a similar breezy charm in some ways, and with neither piece really -- and thankfully -- did one hear what other pianists do with this music. In particular, her rubato was not lathered on so thick that the pulse disappeared, especially in the ballade, where the sense of poetic recitation was still evident, the melody given a playful lilt, still nostalgic but without any goopy slowness. Through Wang's supreme control of touch -- indeed, it was the sense of control of sound that was foremost in this recital -- many interesting inner details came to the fore.
Wang closed the program with something more in line with her first strengths as a showman, Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka, a tour de force of technical prowess. The details were all in place, the clamor of the Russian dance, the doll's mania, the lacy ballerina's music, all with fireworks a-plenty, especially in the astonishing blur of the third movement's succession of moods, with not a single missed target in the left-hand crossings. Although the audience seemed less than engaged, the ovation earned two encores, Rachmaninoff's Vocalise (op. 34/14, in the arrangement by Zoltán Kocsis, I think) and Art Tatum's high-flying arrangement of Fats Waller's Tea for Two. For those who keep track of such things, Yuja Wang can wear a tiny dress and wear it she did, although I care as much about her sartorial choices as I do about the fact that she likes Rihanna. I am much more impressed by her reading interests and thoughts on film, about which she tweets from time to time.
Filed under Concert Reviews, Frédéric Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Strathmore, WPAS
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Coolidge!
Cappella Romana @ NGA
Ionarts-at-Large: OSESP & Alsop in Vienna
In Brief: Cold Snap Edition
Ionarts-at-Large: A Girl From the West in Vienna
Dip Your Ears, No. 159 (Praise for the Lobgesang)
Classical Music Agenda: November 2013
There's a New Girl in Town
Review Round-Up: 'Two Boys'
Beijing Symphony Orchestra
The Met's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'
'Ainsi font-elles toutes'
In Brief: Shutdown Over Edition
Dip Your Ears, No. 158 (Le Travail du Peintre)
Cameron Carpenter
Les Violons du Roy
Mariinsky Orchestra at the Ballet
Jeremy Denk's 'Goldberg Variations'
Cursed Production of 'La forza del destino'
In Brief: Second Flood Edition
Good Friday Magic: 'Parsifal' Round Two
Dip Your Ears, No. 157 (René Jacobs in New Pergole...
Eschenbach's 'Parsifal' (Act III)
Cameristi della Scala
Braque at the Grand Palais, True Love
Hidden Places
Welcome to the Dover Quartet
In Brief: Hot October Edition
Osmo Vänskä Quits Minnesota
Dip Your Ears, No. 156 (Gergiev's Early Tchaikovsk...
national symphony ORCHESTRA in World Premiere
Emerson Quartet: Tan, Rested, Ready?
'Tristan': Thoughts on Fifth Performance
NSO Opens Fourth Season with Eschenbach
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The Great Chain Interview, Part 2: Metroid Guy To Xbox Guy To PS3 Guy
Filed to: QuestionsFiled to: Questions
Chain interview
Yoshio Sakamoto
John Schappert
Peter Dille
When last we left off, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto was asking me to ask Metroid designer Yoshio Sakamoto when he wants Miyamoto to retire…
The Great Chain Interview, Part 1: Miyamoto Questions Metroid Director
Over the course of three days in Los Angeles earlier this month, one Kotaku reporter spoke to nine…
[This post is the second in a series that recounts the chain of questions I solicited from the people I interviewed during E3. I asked each of my interviewees to ask a question of the next one. Hence: Chain Interview.]
Yoshio Sakamoto, longtime designer of many Metroid games responds: "I want him to be there forever. [pause] That's quite a question!"
Sakamoto gave me this answer over much laughter. But Miyamoto had it easy, asking a question of one of his co-workers. Sakamoto had a tougher challenge. I explained that I was next going to interview Xbox Live software and services corporate vice president John Schappert (aka the guy who delivered most of Microsoft's E3 press briefing.) I needed a question. Sakamoto, through his translator, obliged.
Yoshio Sakamoto asks Microsoft corporate vice president of Xbox Live software and services John Schappert: "Do you like Metroid?"
And he can't resist throwing in a second question: "Do you like Mr. Miyamoto?"
Later in the day, in a meeting room on the second floor of Microsoft's always-gleaming, always-white E3 Xbox 360 booth, Schappert reached the finish line of my interview with him when I sprang Sakamoto's two questions.
John Schappert responds: "I do like Metroid. And I think Nintendo has made absolutely amazing games. I grew up playing Nintendo. I grew up as a Nintendo SNES programmer… the Metroid on the SNES was phenomenal."
Note that Schappert founded Madden development studio Tiburon and had been making games for multiple hardware generations. The SNES was not an alien object to him. And to the second question about Miyamoto?
"He's my hero. And I proudly have an original Mario drawing that he made for me in my office. He is my inspiration in the industry. I think he crafts some amazing experiences and I think that he is an icon for us all to look up to."
Schappert was my final interview of the day. I'd start the next day with a Sony interview. I needed a Schappert question for it.
John Schappert asks Sony Computer Entertainment of America senior vice president of marketing Peter Dille: "What do you think of Xbox Live?"
Peter Dille's answer will run tomorrow, along with two more links to the chain.
Recent from Stephen Totilo
The Division 2's next big content update, which includes two new story missions and a more puzzle-oriented challenge called…
Assassin’s Creed’s Original Director Is Back With A Weird Game About Human Evolution
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s final chapter of paid downloadable content, “The Fate Of Atlantis: Judgment Of Atlantis,” will be…
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Directed by: Magdalena Łazarkiewicz
Cinema program "Powrót" in Kielce
No showtimes for movie "Powrót" for today
Original title: Powrót
Cast: Sandra Drzymalska, Agnieszka Warchulska, Katarzyna Herman, Miroslaw Kropielnicki
Return - the latest film by Magdalena Łazarkiewicz (The Last Bell, Maids from Wilko) is inspired by real events, the story of 19-year-old Ula, a girl from a small town who was kidnapped and forced to prostitute in Germany. After 2 years, she manages to escape and return to her hometown, where she meets with social rejection. It does not receive support even among the closest family. Ula, although she has been mentally and sexually abused, does not intend to play the role of victim. He rebels against the ubiquitous hypocrisy of the community. In her surroundings, the Christian principles of charity are proclaimed, but nobody uses these principles in their daily lives. What is more, Christian mercy is misunderstood and falsely, because it allows hurting under the banner of faith. Even the closest ones.
A moving drama about loneliness and exclusion, about the psychological effects of living in family and environmental terror. Asking whether it is acceptable to accept violence in a society that declares that everyday life is guided by the principles of the decalogue.
3 votes. | Rate movie
Movie trailer: Powrót
jaga 12. April 2019, 21:38
Beznadziejny.......
Add new comment Powrót
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The Joe Mayfield/Louise Napolitani series currently includes three novels. Fatal Score and Skins and Bone are complete. Fail Deadly is in rewrite, to be complete in 2019. A fourth novel, Fatal Cure, is in development.
Fatal Score was published in November, 2018 and is available as a trade paperback, an e-book and an audiobook at Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo and Apple Books.
Fatal Score: Joe Mayfield’s happy, ordinary life comes apart when his wife is denied cancer treatment. It’s a few years from now. All critical data is stored behind a national firewall called the Yak. Genetic research has created HealthScore, which determines medical treatment. When Joe’s wife’s HealthScore is slashed, it becomes a death sentence. Frantic to save her, Joe hacks into the Yak and becomes the target of Phoenix, one man’s plot to skim billions in medical payments at the cost of thousands of lives. Joe’s wife dies, and Phoenix sends a pair of toughs to erase Joe. He goes off the grid, living on cash in out-of-the-way places. But his hack attempts pique the interest of a brilliant Yak tracker called Weezy. She runs him down, skeptical of his good intentions, but becomes an ally. Finally, in a single wide trailer in Panacea, Florida, Joe and Weezy work to destroy Phoenix before Phoenix destroys them. Read Chapter One
Return to Contact Page
Other novels in the series:
In Skins and Bone, Joe Mayfield lands his dream job: Move from Florida to New York, go to work for the respected investment bank ZCG, fly with the finance eagles—and be a train ride away from Weezy, his lover, who is chief tracker for the national data base called the Yak. ZCG uses complex financial derivatives called ‘Skins’ to craft protection for firms working in politically unstable regions. Strangely, disaster seems to follow creation of Skins, and someone is raking in millions. Joe, curious, begins to dig. Murders follow. Undaunted, Joe and Weezy dig deeper. A financial conference in Vienna and a sumptuous cruise down the Danube to Budapest provide the opportunity for the man making the millions to eliminate Joe and Weezy.
Skins and Bone is a thriller with an eye to international finance, European elegance, and simple greed.
Fail Deadly: HelioCorp’s public offering is going to be the tech finance deal of the decade—cheap and easy solar power for all. Joe Mayfield has engineered the deal and is on his way to a weekend with Weezy, hacker extraordinaire and his too-long-distance lover. The HelioCorp project crashes. The lights go out in Maine, then Georgia, and a ransom note demands one billion dollars. As Weezy, Joe, and the government struggle to find out what’s going on, Weezy gets a cryptic note from a hacker friend, HoHumJr. He has been kidnapped by a Russian mafia group called Sobaki, but has managed to send the address of a file that will destroy them, wrapped up in a fail-deadly he hopes will protect both him and Weezy. Sobaki captures Weezy. Her disappearance makes her the NSA’s prime suspect. Joe is soon a Sobaki prisoner, too, the better to force Weezy to keep the file hidden. Weezy is tortured but stands firm. Weezy’s hacker friends zero in on her location, and the NSA rescues her. She is freed, but not from the cruel agony of her torture and her fear of losing Joe.
Fail Deadly is a thriller that speaks to a current threat to our country and to the strength of two lovers’ bond.
Fatal Cure: Gene therapy is a wonderful thing. But even good things can be turned to evil purposes …
Background: The Mayfield/Napolitani novels take place a few years from now. Technology has marched forward, rolling computers, pads and phones into a device called an e-pad; replacing earbuds with bluetooth mastoid bone implants; building semi-self-driving cars … nothing too surprising. Except the Yak and HealthScores.
The Yak: Election tampering in the United States and Europe has been followed by a tidal wave of misinformation and infrastructure attacks building across cyberspace. In the wake of fires, dam breaches, power-grid failures and a small nuclear episode, the United States has rushed to develop a national firewall. Called the Interagency Channel, or IAC, it has become the Yak in popular speech. Critical information about infrastructure, the financial system, the military, and medical files for all citizens has been pulled inside its protective shell. The designers recognized that algorithms can’t always deter hackers; thus, the Yak includes a cadre of anti-hackers called Trackers. Louise Napolitani – Weezy – is the best of the Trackers.
HealthScores: Advancing genetic research has provided markers for many fatal diseases. The private sector has used these advances to calculate probabilities of successful treatment called HealthScores. Treatments have become ever more successful but ever more expensive. Congress has seen the opportunity to “rationalize” health care cost using HealthScores. A high HealthScore for a disease means cutting-edge care; a low score, painkillers and prayers at the end.
Play, Write, and Learn
“I’m going to go home and sell my guitar.”
This is the standard and appropriate form of reverence when a journeyman guitar player hears someone truly gifted. It is now common to believe that repetition (Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, for example) will bring greatness. Maybe. But hard to believe when you hear a truly talented person play.
I have played guitar for many years, probably put in nearly 10,000 hours. I am still a journeyman player – decent, good on my best days. But I’m not selling my guitar … it gives me joy to play.
And I’m not quitting writing, either.
I’ve just finished two books that are so well written that I cringe when I compare them to my writing. Golden State (Ben Winters) is a mystery novel set in a future California that looks a lot like current LA. The descriptive writing and development of the main character is so good that the holes in the plot don’t matter a bit. The Tsar of Love and Techno (Anthony Marra) is entirely different: a book-length series of short stories loosely but masterfully connected. The descriptions, aphorisms and observations are brilliant. The book is not something one reads all at once any more than one eats a whole box of chocolates in one sitting. The words are so carefully chosen that they must be appreciated at slow speed.
Play, Yes, that’s it … admire and learn. And keep the guitar.
Posted in Music, Technique, Writing | Tagged anthony marra, ben winters, fiction, getting started, Golden Gate, reviews, Tsar of Love and Techno | 2 Replies
Write, Judge and Learn Leave a reply
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Kayla Ray
Yesterday & Me
Love & Liquor
Listen to Kayla Ray
Download via itunes or Apple Music Here
More Upcoming Shows
by Kayla Ray 2018
“Probably the album Ashley Monroe, Kasey Musgraves, and even Margo Price should have made. Quite possibly a perfect album and, one you really don’t want to miss”. -Duncan Warwick of “Country Music People Magazine”
Magnolias in Springtime
Hell Of A Day To Drink All Night
Once A Week Cheaters feat. Colton Hawkins
Love and Liquor
by Kayla Ray
2014 Debut Album
South Side of Town feat. Jason Eady
I'd Rather Drive
Little While
Kayla Ray delivers country music with rawness and honesty. Kayla was raised around worldly experience and heartache, and this rings loud and clear in her genuine delivery of pure country music. With her grandmother’s musical tastes a strong influence, growing up Kayla surrounded herself with music from our past. She poured over the work of country music giants such as: Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Tanya Tucker, Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Willie Nelson. Although the influence of these artists is prominent in her strong delivery and original truth filled lyrics, she has developed a truly unique and captivating style that is all her own.
Growing up in the Waco,Texas area, Kayla began seeking any opportunity to perform. Kayla played off and on with the legendary fiddle player Johnny Gimble and his family band simple called, “The Gimbles”. Johnny’s son Dick Gimble remains one of Kayla’s strongest mentors.
It is also worth noting that, Kayla played her first paying gig at Papa Joes in Lorena, Tx where as she puts it, “Billy Joe Shaver shot that guy in the face and got away with it.”.
In 2012 Kayla began tour managing and performing artist Jason Eady and his full band. Certainly you can imagine the kind of fire it takes a young woman in her budding twenties to manage touring male musicians twice her age. In this role, Kayla did not disappoint. It seems as if she thrives in adversity, loving every moment and singing with conviction, every mile.
In August 2014, Kayla released her first full length album “Love and Liquor”. This album, produced by her then employer Jason Eady, is a collection of all original country songs, not the new wave “country music” that exploits marketing tactics, the kind of country music that sticks to your ribs and involves the human design.
“Love and Liquor” was reviewed by countless bloggers and industry professionals. A few mentions are :
“Kayla embodies everything that was and should still be country music. Kayla is a sweet spirit with a love of music and the songwriting and performing ability to let the good times and the tough times of her upbringing shine through.” -Brian Strickland Music of New Braunfels
"Kayla Ray is a breath of fresh COUNTRY air. In music genre filled with people trying to sound like other people, Kayla forges her own sound. Much like Loretta and Tammy, before her, she writes and sings from her HEART. Real life is what Country Music is all about, and Kayla Ray sings and writes REAL Country Music, and that's hard to find in this day and age." -Jim Nash 106.9 The Ranch
In 2015 Kayla was named TRRMA’s “New Female Vocalist of the Year”. She is a 5 time MACT Female Vocalist of the year and the album “Love and Liquor” made many top ten lists in both 2014 and 2015.
Outside of her time with Eady, Kayla began her performing in the Central Texas regions and has now grown to national touring. Opening for a conglomerate of acts, as well as headlining many of her own shows, despite her youth, has lifetimes of experience.
In 2014 Kayla left the Eady camp to tour independently. Since then she has has tackled legendary venues such as Billy Bob's Texas, Luckenbach Texas, and Knuckleheads in Kansas City, Mo. Kayla stays busy touring nationally at the pace of 150 plus dates a year.
Kayla has shared stages with artists, writers, and bands such as the Turnpike Troubadours, Cody Jinks, Zane Williams, Whitey Morgan, Erin Enderlin, Jamie Lin Wilson, Jason Eady, Whiskey Myers, Mo Pitney, Marcia Ball, Reckless Kelly, Mickey and the Motorcars, Jason Bolen, and countless others.
May 4th of 2018 Kayla’s sophomore album “Yesterday and Me” released. This album is a collection of hard lived truths set to moving melodies. From honky tonk dance tempos, to sit you down and contemplate life ballads this album does not disappoint. Critically acclaimed this album has had success in both the United States and the UK. Among this albums accolades Kelly Gregory critic for “Country Music People Magazine” listed “Yesterday and Me” as the #1 ALBUM OF 2018!
Heather Little
Songwriter Accredited with multiple miranda lambert hits
“If y'all need me, I'll be falling face first in love with Kayla Ray, who is apparently the musical love-child of Brandi Carlile and Willie Nelson, and Angelina Presley must've been the baby sitter who was having an affair with Merle Haggard. Good GRIEF y'all go listen to Kayla Ray."
Duncan Warwick
Country Music People Magazine
“Kayla Ray seems to have perfected that rare knack of walking the line between singer-songwriter and hard core country. Something that many strive for but few achieve.”
Music In Jail
Kayla Ray creates 6 week music based therapy curriculum for jail inmates. See the full article from the Associated Press here.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/apr/9/music-based-program-helps-inmates-at-central-texas/
For booking and press inquiries please contact:
Banned Booking
Troy Thraikill bannedbooking.troy@gmail.com
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Slain RTD security officer remembered at memorial service
Posted 11:36 am, February 6, 2017, by Amanda Zitzman, Updated at 12:03PM, February 6, 2017
LOVELAND, Colo. -- Family and friends remembered the life of an RTD security officer who was shot and killed while on duty in Lower Downtown Denver last week.
The Denver Police Department said Scott Von Lanken, 56, was shot "execution style" on Tuesday night while helping to give directions to two women near Union Station.
A service was held Monday morning at Resurrection Fellowship Church in Loveland. His family said he wasn't just a security officer, but also a husband, father, former police officer and pastor.
He is survived by his wife, Shellie, and two children.
“He just had such a passion to reach out to people in this area and see their lives change,” Shellie Von Lanken said.
Scott Von Lanken previously was a pastor and police officer.
“He always had a connection with being a police officer and pastor because he had such a heart to help people," Shellie Von Lanken said. "When he was a pastor, he would help people, but he felt like when he was a police officer or security officer, he always felt like he could really help people."
The alleged shooter, 37-year-old Joshua Cummings, has been charged with first-degree murder. He is due back in court March 3.
The Denver Muslim community said it warned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about Cummings late last year. The FBI has yet to comment on the case.
A memorial fund to help support Von Lanken’s wife and two children has been established through the Rocky Mountain Law Enforcement Credit Union. It’s under Scott Von Lanken’s name on the credit union’s website or by calling 303-458-6660.
A co-worker at RTD also set up a GoFundMe account for the family.
Yummy, healthy treats
Scattered storms for metro area; record heat possible later in week
Denver police: Man fired into the air before being shot by officer on Lincoln Street
Man killed in officer-involved shooting near downtown Denver identified
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Armed suspect killed in officer-involved shooting at 11th Avenue and Lincoln Street
Bus passenger used RTD app to alert authorities to suspect in officer-involved shooting
Corrections officer arrested on suspicion of murder in July 4 death of Aurora man
Police: California Costco shooting took place after man hit officer
Memorial grows at fallen CSP Trooper’s patrol car, online
4 people, including children, hit by drive-by BB gun shooter in Lakewood
Rattlesnake and radioactive uranium found during Oklahoma traffic stop
Replica handgun found where California officer shot teen driver
Aurora police officers save couple from burning home
News On Channel 2 On FOX31 On-Air Problem Solvers
Body Cam footage reveals controversial arrest: Problem Solvers Investigation
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Home California Sacramento County Sacramento Hal David Bartholomew
Hal David Bartholomew
Bartholomew & Wasznicky LLP
Arbitration & Mediation, Divorce, Family Law...
Mr. Bartholomew, a native of Elk Grove, California, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of California, Davis, in 1968 and his Juris Doctor in 1971 from the same institution. Formerly a partner for 15 years with the law firm of Desmond, Miller, Desmond & Bartholomew, he co-founded the firm of Bartholomew & Wasznicky in 1989. He is a retired captain in the United States Army Reserve and is a licensed real estate broker. In addition to membership in the California Bar, he is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Tax Court, and the United States Court of Claims. Mr. Bartholomew is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, as well as the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and is certified by the State Bar of California as a Family Law Specialist.
Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of California, Davis, in 1968
Juris Doctorate from University of California, Davis, School of Law, 1971
Admittance to the California State Bar in 1972
Retired captain in the United States Army Reserve
Licensed real estate broker
Partner for 15 years with the law firm of Desmond, Miller, Desmond & Bartholomew
Co-founded the law firm of Bartholomew & Wasznicky LLP in 1989 and limits his practice exclusively to family law
Certified by the State Bar of California as a Family Law Specialist since certification commenced in 1980
Service as fee arbitrator for the Sacramento County Bar Association
2007 Eureka Award Collaborative Practice California
Served on the Family Law Executive Committee of the State Bar of California, 1994-1997
Advisor to the Family Law Executive Committee of the State Bar of California, 1998
Past Chair (1993), Vice Chair (1992), Treasurer (1991), and Secretary (1990) of the Family Law Section of the Sacramento Bar Association
Member, Academy of Professional Family Mediators.
Life Member of the Academy of Family Mediators
Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
President (2010) Northern California Chapter American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
Certified Mediator, AAML
Fellow, International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
Member of the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists
Certified Mediator by Mediate.com
Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)
Member of the Conference of Lawyer Mediators
Member of the Northern California Mediation Association
Member of the American Bar Association and its Family Law Section
Member of the State Bar of California and its Family Law Section
Member of the Sacramento County Bar Association and its Family Law Section
President and Co-Founder - Sacramento Collaborative Practice Group
Secretary (2007) Northern California Chapter American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
Treasurer (2008) Northern California Chapter American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
Co-Founder & 1st President (2006 - 2008) - Collaborative Practice California
Director (2006 - 2011) - Collaborative Practice California
Super Lawyer 2004 - 2011 - Northern California
Avvo Rating of 10
Martindale-Hubbell "AV Preeminent" Rating
President of the Rotary Club of Sacramento, 1998-1999 (over 500 members)
Fellow, Rotary Club of Sacramento
Paul Harris - Rotary International
Director - Sacramento Rotary Foundation
Selected as Elk Grove Citizen of the Year, 1997-1998 (an award his father received 40 years previously)
In recognition of his service to Parks and Recreation in the Elk Grove area, Mr. Bartholomew received the California Parks and Recreation Society District II Citizen Award in 1994 and was honored by having a 46-acre sports park in his name completed and dedicated in August 2010
Served (from 1987-1994) as commissioner of the Sacramento Local Agency Formation committee (LAFCO)
Chair (1990-1993) of the Sacramento Local Agency Formation committee (LAFCO)
Director of the Elk Grove Community Services District from 1985 through 1994
Past President and Vice President of the Elk Grove Community Services District
Director of Elk Grove Parks & Recreation District (1976-1985)
Director of the Sacramento County Special District Association Chapter
Past President of the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce
Past President of the Active 20-30 Club of Sacramento #1
Past Commissioner of the Elk Grove Softball Association
Past Chair of the Elk Grove Recreation and Park District
Board of Home Field Advantage of Elk Grove (1991- 1998; President 1992-1994)
Life Member of the Elk Grove Historical Society
Active in the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce participating as several-time team leader and delegate of the Capitol to Capitol Community Task Force to Washington, D.C., as chair of the Agri-Business Committee, as delegate and team leader for the State Capitol visit, as a member of the Leadership Class of 1990, and in various other Chamber activities
Served on a number of community boards, including Bereavement Network Resources of Sacramento, the Golden Empire Health Planning Council, Advisory Council to the U.C. Davis Extension Paralegal Certificate Program, the Visiting Nurses Association, Cal Aggie Alumni Association, Golden West Track and Field Association, and the Citizen Advisory Commission on General Revenue Sharing.
Frequent instructor for the continuing education of Certified Public Accountants
Taught courses on divorce and divorce mediation at the Sacramento campus of National University
Lectures for the California Continuing Education of the Bar
Instructor for two courses in Family Law for the U.C. Extension Paralegal Program (1991-1998)
Teaches courses on divorce rights and divorce mediation for Family Service Agency, The Effort and Learning Exchange
Teaches courses on divorce rights for the Center for Fathers and Families
Served as President, Elk Grove Incorporation 2000, leading the effort to make Elk Grove a city, successfully passed in March 2000
Co-Author of Child Custody, a Practical Guide for Parents
Co-Author of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants Education Division texts of Tax Aspects of Marital Dissolutions (1985-1989); Advanced Tax Problems of Marital Dissolution (1990-1998); and Tax Consequences of Divorce (1999-2007)
Co-recipient of 1999 Award for Outstanding Course Materials by the California CPA Education Foundation
* The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
University of California at Davis
Juris Doctorate (1971)
Honors: Vice President of Law Students Association
Bachelor of Arts (1968) | Majored in Political Science
Honors: Chairman of Honor Council
Mr. Bartholomew co-founded the firm of Bartholomew & Wasznicky in 1989. The Sacramento family law and divorce lawyers at Bartholomew & Wasznicky LLP understand that your case is the only one that matters, and you need us to get things right the first time. Our attorneys, some of whom are Certified Family Law Specialists, offer over 65 combined years of experience in California family law. Our practice of law is exclusively limited to family law matters. If you are searching for an experienced law office for your pending divorce, contact the Sacramento family law attorneys’ offices of Bartholomew & Wasznicky LLP. Family Law Practice Areas Divorce and dissolution Child custody and visitation Spousal support Child support Paternity Domestic violence and restraining orders Judgment modifications Out of state custody proceedings Tax issues of divorce Premarital agreements Legal separation and annulment Registered domestic partnerships Collaborative family law Divorce mediation We stay current with California family law matters through ongoing continuing education and by maintaining memberships in several professional legal organizations, including: American Bar Association • State Bar of California • American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers • Sacramento County Bar Association
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Child Custody - A Practical Guide for Parents
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June 2013 , Volume 284, Issue 2, pp 579–588 | Cite as
Instability of Electrons Trapped by the Coronal Magnetic Field and Its Evidence in the Fine Structure (Zebra Pattern) of Solar Radio Spectra
E. Y. Zlotnik
ADVANCES IN EUROPEAN SOLAR PHYSICS
First Online: 09 October 2012
Solar radio emission is a significant source of information regarding coronal plasma parameters and the processes occurring in the solar atmosphere. High resolution frequency, space, and time observations together with the developed theory make it possible to retrieve physical conditions in the radiation source and recognize the radiation mechanisms responsible for various kinds of solar radio emission. In particular, the high brightness temperature of many bursts testifies to coherent radiation mechanisms, that is, to plasma instabilities in the corona.
As an example, the fine structure of solar radio spectra looking like a set of quasi-harmonic stripes of enhanced and lowered radiation, which is observed against the type IV continuum at the post-flare phase of activity, is considered. It is shown that such emission arises from a trap-like source filled with a weakly anisotropic equilibrium plasma and a small addition of electrons which have a shortage of small velocities perpendicular to the magnetic field. For many recorded events with the mentioned fine spectral structure the instability processes responsible for the observed features are recognized. Namely, the background type IV continuum is due to the loss-cone instability of hot non-equilibrium electrons, and the enhanced striped radiation results from the double-plasma-resonance effect in the regions where the plasma frequency f p coincides with the harmonics of electron gyrofrequency f B ; f p=sf B . Estimations of the electron number density and magnetic field in the coronal magnetic traps, as well as the electron number density and velocities of hot electrons necessary to excite the radiation with the observed fine structure, are given. It is also shown that in some cases several ensembles of non-equilibrium electrons can coexist in magnetic traps during solar flares and that its radio signature sensitively depends on the parameters of the distribution functions of the various ensembles.
Corona Radio emission Energetic particles Electrons Instabilities Waves Plasma
Guest Editors: Valery M. Nakariakov, Manolis K. Georgoulis, and Stefaan Poedts
The work was supported in part by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 10-02-00265).
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© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
1.Institute of Applied Physics RASNizhny NovgorodRussia
Zlotnik, E.Y. Sol Phys (2013) 284: 579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-0151-1
Received 15 November 2011
Accepted 25 September 2012
First Online 09 October 2012
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Watch This! Alice’s Night Circus new video for The Show Must Go On
Written by Paul Scott-Bates14 June, 2019
A staple in the steampunk community for her grandiose classical performances, Alice’s Night Circus returns with another composition ready to stun. Her upcoming single “The Show Must Go On” mimics its onwards-and-upwards title — it’s a stirring piece with hopeful, if not slightly anxious, intonation, but its video accompaniment captures the dazzling vintage world Julia has built as Alice’s Night Circus. “The Show Must Go On” is the second single from the upcoming digital release of debut album Metamorphose.
Says Julia Scott aka Alice’s Night Circus: I wanted a song that had a definitive feel of closure to it. Something that I could end a gig on or put at the end of an album. I also wanted something that would encapsulate that feeling of when something amazing in your life ends that it isn’t the final curtain call, there is more still to come beyond that. Things happen in life that can sometimes feel like the best has passed us by, but the truth is, we are always changing and adapting and evolving into the next stage of our lives. I merely made that into a literal stage and insisted that the show must go on and that it is within everyone’s power to be the leading performers in our own lives.”
Julia’s performance is where the magic happens. Standing steady and elegant amongst warm, wobbly wreckage of her vintage style, she delivers an effortless performance whose sheer power alone transforms Julia into her final form (costumed in Victorian-inspired regalia), offering a grand finale to the orchestral divinity Alice’s Night Circus grants.
The Alice’s Night Circus website is here: alicesnightcircus.com. You can follow her on Twitter as @alicencircus and Like on Facebook.
All words by Paul Scott-Bates. More of Paul’s writing on Louder Than War can be found at his author’s archive. Paul’s website is hiapop and you can follow him on Twitter as @hiapop, and on Facebook here.
Blogs Featured Goth News Music Music News News premier Preview
Words by Paul Scott-Bates
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Home / Yves Smith
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Articles by Yves Smith
A New Study Uses Camera Footage To Track the Frequency of Bystander Intervention CityLab
A Feud Between Japan and South Korea Is Threatening Global Supplies of Memory Chips CNN
Carbon Nanotube Device Channels Heat Into Light PhysOrg
A Massive Hunk Of Ice Will Reshape The World’s Coastlines Sooner Than We Thought Forbes (David L)
Streaming Online Pornography Produces as Much CO2 as Belgium New Scientist
Explainer: What is post-quantum cryptography? PhysOrg
B vitamin content of rice declines with rising CO2 Harvard Magazine (furzy)
Billions of Air Pollution Particles Found in Hearts of City Dwellers Guardian
The trouble with fruit juice Mayo Clinic (Chuck L)
Blossom’s Fake Video Exposed by food scientist | How To Cook That Ann Reardon YouTube. UserFriendly:
Even if people haven’t seen the
Yves here. This personal account of the rise and fall (and hopeful rebirth) of unions correctly gives prominent play to the right-wing anti-labor effort whose strategy was set forth in the 1971 Powell Memo.
By Leo W. Gerard, the international president of the United Steelworkers Union (USW). Produced by the Independent Media Institute
In March 2010, a rally by thousands of striking USW workers at the Vale mine and smelter in Sudbury, Canada, was joined by allies from Brazil, Australia and countries around the world. Photo courtesy of United Steelworkers
I was raised in a company house in a company town where the miners had to buy their own oilers—that is, rubber coveralls—drill bits and other tools at the company store.
That company, Inco Limited, the world’s leading producer of nickel
By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at DownWithTyranny!
In a new book, The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption, author Dahr Jamail writes about the coming world without any standing glacial ice anywhere on earth. He capsulizes his thoughts in this interview with Dharna Noor at the Real News Network:
DHARNA NOOR: These indicators of the climate crisis are often presented as just statistics— sometimes ones that have implications maybe for the ecosystems around ice melting, rarely ones that are wreaking havoc on all life on Earth. But in this book, in The End of Ice, you write, “The reporting in this book has turned out to be far more difficult to deal with than the years I spent reporting from war torn Iraq.” And later you even say that,
Yves here. This article broaches a very large issue, and it pains me to be able to offer only a few additional thoughts. I don’t think risk aversion is quite the right frame for why destructive conduct has become so pervasive. For instance, as we’ve documented, casual lying is pervasive at CalPERS even though nearly everyone below the CEO is a civil service employee. Generally speaking, that means they are hard to fire. At CalPERS, the motivation seems to be that a lot of people find lying to be much easier than doing things well.
Some of the factors that I believe have contributed to the increase in the propensity to bury problems under rugs, even when everyone can see the rug is lumpy and moving, are:
Diffusion of responsibility. Some of that is not accidental, but you have a great
Yves here. Another meaty Michael Hudson interview on Guns and Butter. However, I have to vehemently disagree with the claim made by Bonnie Faulkner at the top of the discussion. No one holds guns to other countries’ heads to make them hold dollars. The reason the dollar is the reserve currency is the US is willing to export jobs via running persistent trade deficits. The US moved away from having rising worker wages as the key metric of sound economic policy in the 1970s, when labor was blamed for stagflation (too powerful unions supposedly hobbling US manufactures, when the performance of Toyota at the famed NUMMI joint venture showed that to be false; formal or informal cost of living adjustments to pay credited with institutionalizing inflation). Recall also that the Democrats had
ConservativeHome declared yesterday that their survey of Tory Party members finds that Boris Johnson has already won the leadership contest. He’s also embraced the proud UK leadership practice of promoting Brexit unicorns. A few examples:
The EU will blink with him when it didn’t with Theresa May because Johnson serious about being willing to exit, declaring the odds of no deal as “a million to one”.
The EU will give the UK what Johnson’s allies call a standstill, as in a transition period, just because the UK needs one. The UK has asked and has been firmly told no, that the only way to get a transition period is to approve the Withdrawal Agreement.
The cost of a crash out is “vanishingly inexpensive if you prepare”
As the campaign has progressed, Johnson has become firmer in his
Yves here. This article demonstrates the power of health care industry incumbents. “Surprise billing” is pure and simple price gouging, particularly since hospitals routinely game the system, such as by scheduling doctors who are not in a patient’s network on his operation, even when the patient has gone to considerable lengths to try to prevent that.
All these hospitals did was the equivalent of yelling “Boo” at the legislature, and the legislation to combat surprise billing was yanked, even though there has been a great deal of deservedly critical press coverage of this abuse.
By Ana B. Ibarra, a Sacramento-based for California Healthline, who previously covered at the Merced Sun-Star. Originally published at California Healthline
Citing fierce pushback from hospitals, California
A Way Out from Rock Bottom: Economic Policies Can Reduce Deaths of Despair
By William H. Dow, Professor of Health Economics, University of California, Berkeley; Anna Godøy, Research Economist, University of California, Berkeley; Chris Lowenstein, PhD student in Health Economics, University of California, Berkeley; and Michael Reich,Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Originally published at VoxEU
Policymakers and researchers have sought to understand the causes of and effective policy responses to recent increases in mortality due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide in the US. This column examines the role of the minimum wage and the earned income tax credit – the two most important policy levers for raising incomes for low-wage workers – as tools to combat these trends. It finds that both policies significantly reduce non-drug suicides among
Holland covers hundreds of bus stops with plants as gift to honeybees Independent (David L)
Japan’s famous Nara deer dying from eating plastic bags Guardian (resilc)
Ross Perot’s Lasting Legacy Atlantic
UserFriendly: “LOL, he gave Bernie a sword for sticking up for vets dealing with Gulf War syndrome.”
Ross Perot was a champion for veterans’ rights and ahead of his time on disastrous trade policies. During his campaign, he explained, in depth, how he would address our national problems and spurred serious discussion. Ross Perot was a one-of-a kind American. He will be missed. pic.twitter.com/qXukirfwcL
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 9, 2019
Moons That Escape Their Planets Could Become ‘Ploonets’ ScienceNews
Glacial Melting In Antarctica May Become Irreversible, NASA-Funded Study
It Is Time To Start Forgiving Student Loans – And Here Is What It Will Cost
Yves here. Reader Bob Hertz sent his proposal for a multi-pronged student debt forgiveness program. One of his motivations was his belief that forgiving all loans isn’t affordable. The Federal government in fact does not need to raise taxes to fund this expenditure, but you’d need to give a harder look to see how much inflation it might generate.
However, there are other reasons to favor a more targeted plan. One is perceived fairness. A surprising number of our readers objected to the Sanders student debt forgiveness proposal because they had dutifully repaid their student loan. A few were offended on general principle.
By contrast, a more tailored program with a smaller price tag should alienate fewer people and thus have greater odds of getting done.
A second issue is that cancelling
Transfer (Mis)pricing, the Jewel in Every Multinational Enterprise’s Crown
By Tanya Rawal-Jindia, a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Originally published at openDemocracy as part of ourEconomy’s ‘Decolonising the economy’ series.
Amazon.com Inc. was brought to court by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2017 for transfer pricing discrepancies. In 2005 and 2006, the multinational tech company had transferred $255 million in royalty payments to its tax haven in Luxembourg, but according to the IRS these royalty payments should have amounted to $3.5 billion. This transfer pricing adjustment would have increased Amazon’s federal tax payments by more than $1 billion.
Even for the U.S., a country with decent (although waning) infrastructure, the loss of this much cash in federal tax revenue is substantial. Take for instance the water
PG&E Neglected Maintenance for Years Despite Known Fire Risk; Judge Demands Prompt and Clear Answers to WSJ Expose
Even though one of our regular lines is that “Everything is like CalPERS,” sometimes “Everything is like Boeing” is more apt. PG&E has become a prime, if not the number one, case study in the human cost of corporate penny pinching. But not only have more people died and been injured at the hands of PG&E than at Boeing, the utility also had a much longer history of regulators choosing to ignore its corners-cuttting. And again unlike Boeing, it’s not as if PG&E was an admired institution in recent memory and could therefore run on brand fumes.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published a major story based on extensive Freedom of Information Act disclosures, providing evidence of PG&E’s systematic, willful neglect not just of maintenance but even of inspections of its transmission lines,
Martin Wolf v. Trumponomics Whiffs Due to Fealty to Orthodoxy
There’s a lot not to like about what passes for Trump’s economic policy. But theFinancial Times Martin Wolf’s critique of it, in Donald Trump’s boom will prove to be hot air, leaves a lot to be desired. The fact that “boom” appears in the headline is a big tell.
It’s a reasonable surmise that Trump will be re-elected unless the economy falls out of bed. Despite his long and ever-growing list of offenses and crappy policies, Trump is a master at keeping the spotlight turned on him.
Democratic Party leaders, by contrast, seem to think that Trump is so obviously odious that Being Not Trump and other forms of virtue signaling will prove sufficient for them to retake the White House. Never mind that the party is doing as little as it possibly can to address issues that affect ordinary
Is Industrial Policy Finally Legitimate?
Yves here. It’s become more and more respectable in development economic circles to acknowledge that formerly taboo ideas like trade barriers and other forms of support to emerging industries are sound policy. The reversal by the IMF on the value of industrial policy is nevertheless significant. And that’s before you get to the fact that countries that lack explicit industrial policy wind up having ones by defaul
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former economics professor, was Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, and received the Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought in 2007. Originally published by Inter Press Service
For decades, the two Bretton Woods institutions have rejected the contribution of
Liquidity Fears Hit Other UK “Equity Funds” as Investors Remain Trapped in Woodford Fund
Yves here. I have a soft spot for stories about financial train wrecks, even though I suspect Americans will snigger at UK investors who didn’t read the fine print on their “equity funds.” However, the overwhelming majority of retail investors rely on sales pitches and are lucky enough that US securities laws are so strong that even our pathetic SEC has not yet made them a dead letter.
But consider: those short and leveraged ETFs that remain popular with small traders were a cause of concern before the crisis, since in many cases their liquidity backstops were coming from hedge funds (usually in the form of options). I knew several small fund managers who were sitting on very nice paper ETF profits who were worried the funds might not perform when they were ready to close out their
Links 7/9/19
Snowball the dancing parrot stuns scientists with 14 separate moves to Eighties classic hits Telegraph. Snowball may be more accomplished, but I like this cockatoo for his enthusiasm.
Thousands of dead fish litter Kentucky River after Jim Beam warehouse fire CBS 🙁
As NASA Aims For The Moon, An Aging Space Station Faces An Uncertain Future NPR. Kevin W: ” Maybe they can relocate those Hydrogen Fluoride plants here.”
It’s the End of the World as They Know It Mother Jones (UserFriendly)
A Ferocious Heat in Delhi New York Review of Books (Anthony L)
Earth’s Ancient Life Forms Are Awakening After 40,000 Years in Permafrost ScienceAlert (Kevin W). Um, sounds like the plot of a lot of horror movies.
Today’s Deep Learning Is Like Magic – In All The Wrong Ways Forbes (David L)
E-scooters: a
Why Busy-Ness Is So Damaging
Yves here. While the “busy-ness” trope is cute, it also has the effect of trivializing the problem it discusses.
We’re in the midst of major changes in our social order due to the information revolution, as significant as the ones that Karl Polanyi described in his classic The Great Transformation. It appears to be an unfortunate accident of history that this technology change really got going as neoliberal values became firmly entrenched, particularly in the work place. It isn’t just that meanie employers who have way too much bargaining power demand that their staff be on call 24/7. Many if not most Americans have internalized that this is a reasonable expectation.
It’s also become normal to prioritize interruptions. A properly-brought-up friend pointed out many many years ago that call
Trump’s Version of the Iran Accord: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
By Prabir Purkayastha, the founder and editor in chief of Newsclick. He is the president of the Free Software Movement of India and is an engineer and a science activist. Produced in partnership by Newsclick and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute
Trump’s Iran policy is akin to that of a schoolyard bully. More worrying is the passivity of the rest of the world and the dangerous drift to another devastating war in the region.
The U.S., after walking out of the Iran accord, is now shouting foul as Iran has breached the 300 kg enriched-uranium stockpile limit of the accord. Does the U.S. expect Iran to be bound by the accord while it happily reneges on it? Or is its concept of international accords the playground bully’s version of a coin toss, “Heads I win, tails you
Mr. Market and the Press Diss Deutsche Bank’s Turnaround Plan
The beached financial whale known as Deutsche Bank is going to find it awfully hard to get itself back into the drink, let alone find good feeding grounds. After a pop over the news that Deutsche was Doing Something Big, the stock skittered as the CEO Christian Sewing presented more details of the turnaround plan. As we’ll discuss, it didn’t help that the press was unusually skeptical, reflecting the lack of confidence in Deutsche’s scheme among investors and experts.
The Wall Street Journal worked up this helpful chart:
Stock prices matter more for sick concerns than for healthy ones1 since their access to credit is usually risky or costly, and if they need more capital or need to fund losses, they have nowhere to go but sell assets or sell new equity. In 2008, leveraged financial firms
Deutsche Bank Throws in the Towel, Announces Restructuring into Bad Bank/Good Bank, Firing of 18,000
Deutsche Bank has been the poster child for how long a sick but ginormous bank can be allowed to limp along.As we wrote in March:
That does not excuse Deutsche Bank having long been spectacularly mismanaged. It’s been operating under what amounts to regulatory forbearance since the crisis, with capital levels way way below any other big international bank. But Deutsche is the classic “too big to fail” bank. Whether it is too big to bail is debatable, but the EU’s new Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive, which banking experts almost to a person declared to be a horrorshow, was supposed to end bailouts and force bail ins….refusing to recognize that that’s a prescription for bank runs. And even though Deutsche is very much the German government’s problem, as readers no doubt have
The Myth of Expansionary Austerity
By Christian Breuer, Junior Professor, Chemnitz University of Technology and Head of Wirtschaftsdienst and Intereconomics, zbw – the Leibniz Information Centre for Economics. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website
Many critics have sharply attacked orthodox economics, the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and policymakers for their emphasis on austerity as a cure for lagging economic growth. A group of prominent economists responded by claiming to vindicate the traditional point of view (e.g., Alesina and Ardagna, 2010). They claimed that fiscal consolidations on the spending side can have positive effects on economic growth in the short run – the very opposite of what Keynesian economics would suggest.
Their arguments in favor of
Dear patient readers,
Your humble blogger found a local place that said they had sparklers (yeah!) but when I went there and hour and a half after my phone query, they were sold out (:-(). So I hope you were more successful than me with July 4th amusements!
And are you old enough to remember this device? It’s supposedly a Halloween toy but we used them at the 4th because sparks and red, white, and blue. Wish I had kept one:
A Jim Beam warehouse filled with 45,000 barrels of bourbon caught fire CNN (Robert H)
Tennessee’s Walking Horse ‘tradition’ should get back on track: The “Big Lick” pain-based gait created by soring is a “tradition” Tennesseans and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn shouldn’t be working to protect. KnoxNews (Marty) :-(. See here for details.
The Quantum
Michael Hudson Discusses the IMF and World Bank: Partners In Backwardness
Yves here. Get a cup of coffee. This interview with Michael Hudson on the role of the IMF and World Bank has lots of juicy detail.
From Guns and Butter, produced by Bonnie Faulkner, Yarrow Mahko and Tony Rango. Visit them at gunsandbutter.orgto listen to past programs, comment on shows, or join their email list to receive a newsletter that includes recent shows and updates. Email us at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter at #gandbradio
This is Guns and Butter, June 26, 2019. [*Edited and annotated version.]
The purpose of a military conquest is to take control of foreign economies, to take control of their land and impose tribute. The genius of the World Bank was to recognize that it’s not necessary to occupy a country in order to impose tribute, or to take over its industry,
U.N. Report: ‘Human Rights Might Not Survive’ Climate Crisis
Yves here. I have trouble understanding how U.N. officials chose to present what they clearly view as an urgent message. Rights don’t matter much to people who are starving or suffering from debilitating diseases. Why is the U.N. not willing to say, “The survival of large numbers of the poor and even one-time middle class is at stake, and climate migrants won’t be well received unless they are rich”? The language used to describe the severity of what faces populations who will be hit early and hard by climate change is bloodless. Perhaps the text comes off as forceful to consumer of NGO-speak, but to mere mortals, it reads as anodyne.
By Justine Calma, a staff writer for Grist. Originally published at Grist
A United Nations watchdog on poverty and human rights is the latest to call
Mobility and the Desire for Sovereignity in Europe
By Gianmarco Ottaviano, Professor of Economics, Bocconi University. Originally published at VoxEU
Economic geography strikes back. After a couple of decades of easy talk about the ‘death of distance’ in the age of globalisation, the promise of a world of rising living standards for all is increasingly challenged by the resilience of regional disparities within countries. As long as many people and firms are not geographically mobile – and those who are tend to be the most skilled and productive – easier distant interactions can actually strengthen rather than weaken agglomeration economies. Recent electoral trends in Europe can be understood to a surprisingly large extent from this angle.
Econometric analysis reveals that the Leave vote in the British referendum on EU membership can be
30 Of The Funniest Cat Jokes Vet Clinics Put Up On Their Signs Bored Panda
The Man Who Walked His Life Away Deadspin (foghorn longhorn)
Everything You Need To Know About The Future Of Pesticides And Bees Forbes (David L)
Committed emissions from existing energy infrastructure jeopardize 1.5 °C climate target Nature. Shorter: “We already have too much carbon-emitting stuff to have any hope of arresting climate change.” Even shorter: “We’re fucked.”
The latest consideration for would-be parents: Climate change Grist
Nuclear is less costly than you think Financial Times. UserFriendly: “From January, still relevant.”
Austrian parliament votes for ban on weed killer glyphosate Associated Press (David L)
Obesity is now a bigger cause of deadly bowel, kidney, liver and ovarian cancer than
Congress Sniffing Around Botched McKinsey Studies Depicted as Impairing Intelligence Agencies
After a series of scandals, yet more of McKinsey’s dirty laundry is getting aired. It’s bad enough that, to name a few of the rash of well-deserved critical stories, that the storied consulting firm is implicated in criminal fraud in South Africa, or that its work for the Saudi government resulted in the persecution of Twitter dissidents that McKinsey identified, or that a contract in Mongolia served as a vehicle for three officials to take illegal payments.
But with the US intelligence apparatus, McKinsey looks to have committed a cardinal sin: doing work that was so shoddy that not only is the client complaining about it, but it can actually show that the engagement did harm.
Mind you, it’s not as if poor quality consulting studies are unusual. Consulting often winds up being a lot like
Charter Schools Unleashed “Educational Hunger Games” in California. Now It’s Fighting Back.
By Andrea Gabor, Bloomberg Professor, Baruch College. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website
California has the highest concentration of charter schools in the U.S., with one in 10 students in the state educated in one of them. Since the legislature passed a charter law in 1992, these schools have enjoyed the “unqualified support” of every governor. No one was more gung-ho than Jerry Brown, California’s last chief executive, who founded two charter schools when he was mayor of Oakland.
Both that unwavering support in Sacramento and the torrid pace of charter expansion — there are more than 1,300 charter schools in California today — are now likely to change. In one of his first acts as California’s new governor, Gavin Newsom convened a task force to
”Maximum Pressure” Campaign Fails To Kill Off Iran’s Oil Exports
By Nick Cunningham, a freelance writer on oil and gas, renewable energy, climate change, energy policy and geopolitics. Originally published at OilPrice
U.S.-Iran tensions are once again heating up, even as Iran has so far managed to stabilize oil exports at lower levels.
Iran has officially breached the limits of low-enriched uranium as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, according to inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency. A few weeks ago Iran announced its intention to increase uranium stockpiles, stating that it no longer made sense to remain in an agreement that the U.S. has already pulled out of. There is also little to gain for Iran to continue to adhere to the nuclear deal if it nonetheless faces crippling U.S. sanctions.
As a result, the Trump administration’s stated
One Hundred Years After World War I, Are We Heading Back to the Abyss?
Yves here. While the author of this article focuses on the rise of authoritarian leader as a cause for concern, that is arguably too personal a focus. Economic shocks like the financial crisis and the aftermath of the fall of the USSR typically move the political center of gravity to the right. The runup to World War I was also a period of globalization but the piece does not consider why the old political and economic order came under so much stress.
By Saladdin Ahmed, the author of Totalitarian Space and the Destruction of Aura, published by SUNY Press in March 2019. He is a visiting assistant professor at Union College in New York. He specializes in Critical Theory and political philosophy. Follow him on Twitter @SaladdinAhme. Originally published at openDemocracy
Cloth Hall, Ypres,
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The Team Press Support The Series
The TeamPressSupport The Series
Meet the bada$$ team bringing this story to life
Serena Schuler, Executive Producer, Writer, & Director
Serena Schuler is an award-winning writer, director, and series creator. Inspired by her experience and research in the tech industry, she created the series Makeshift Society. She has been featured in Forbes, CIO, Microsoft Women in Business & Technology, and interviewed by esteemed tech journalist Sarah Lacy.
Her films have screened at festivals internationally, and won awards at the Washington Jewish Film Festival, Women in Comedy Festival, and the Rachel Bloom Comedy Challenge. Previously, she created the series Cake Walk, now streaming on WhoHaha, created by Elizabeth Banks.
Serena is a member of Women in Film, Alliance of Women Directors, and Cinefemme. She graduated with honors from Cornell, and received a masters in psychology from Columbia. serenaschuler.com
Maira Memmi, Producer
Maira Memmi is a local Bay Area Filmmaker & Producer. Born in France and raised in Mexico, Maira has always had a passion for using the power of story to shift perspectives and create positive change. She moved to the United States to pursue her passion of cinema, and found her home and career within the Bay Area film industry.
Maira has produced a variety of short films, commercials, and music videos and has worked as a production coordinator and locations coordinator for Netflix, ABC, and Amazon. Her most recent feature credits include Venom, Blindspotting, and All Day and a Night.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Michelle Kantor, Associate Producer
Michelle Kantor co-founded Cinefemme, dedicated to creating gender parity in film and equal representation in the media. She is an award-winning writer, director, and producer, whose industry credits include work for HBO, FYI, OWN, World of Wonder, The History Channel, Sony, Universal, and NASA.
Judy Loehr, Executive Producer
Judy Loehr has been building and investing in software as a service companies since 2000, in roles across product, marketing, and venture capital. She advises a portfolio of startups, all with women CEOs, and is excited about changing the narrative around women in tech with Makeshift Society.
Bonnie Crater, Advisory Board
As co-founder and CEO of Full Circle Insights, Bonnie Crater has supported the vision of Makeshift Society from the very beginning. She hopes to inspire the next generation of female founders with this story, and make lasting change.
Jenny Cheng, Advisory Board
An advisor and investor in startups, Jenny Cheng leads the merchants teams as a VP at PayPal. She is a Board Member of Loopio, member of the Athena Alliance, and dedicated to seeing more diverse stories told of women in tech.
Put your money where your beliefs are.
Help greenlight Makeshift Society!
We accept contributions from charitable funds.
Please make checks to "Cinefemme," with memo line "Makeshift Society," and mail to:
Cinefemme
1507 7th Street #477
Cinefemme Federal Tax EIN #: 52-237-4579
See Charitable Status
Questions? Feel free to reach out to us: info@makeshiftsociety.com
Team Top
Makeshift Society
© 2019 Makeshift Society
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Lest My Opinions Go Unheard
Lest My Opinions Go Unheard August 5, 2018 August 7, 2018 Uncategorized
I’m away on holiday right now, so enjoy this translation of my article about the Spiel des Jahres award ceremony.
It is 10 a.m. Outside, the sun is busily turning asphalt into black goop. True to cliché we are hiding away in the air conditioned premises of the Swissôtel Berlin. The Spiel des Jahres award ceremony is about to begin. It is arguably the most prestigious award this industry has to offer. Although some do not hesitate in advance to mention their profound indifference to it. Usually unprompted. Or how little relevance the award has to them: the connoisseur. It’s true, though. If you don’t work in the industry, you are unlikely to be affected by the consequences of the award. But getting that big red token on your game box (affectionately called Pöppel in German) or the black one, to a lesser extent, as well means a big deal to a publisher and an author. “Our contact at the printers has already been warned. If we get the award, they will get the go ahead today and the new print run will start tonight.” Thorsten Gimmler of Schmidt games confides to me. He admits to being nervous, even though Schmidt publishes two of the three nominations for Kennerspiel. Then again, Asmodee was in the same boat in 2016 but still went home empty-handed that night. But Gimmler and author Wolfgang Warsch have reason to be happy today. Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg gets the nod and beats out Heaven & Ale, which many had already considered too complex for the award; as well as the lighter Roll & Write game Ganz Schön Clever (also by Warsch at Schmidt Spiele). As the winner is revealed there is a triumphant cheer coming from the front row, where authors, publishers and various representatives are seated. Emotions are running high. And why wouldn’t they? This is recognition by your peers and the press. For an author this is the foot in the door with any big name publishers.
Something that Matt Leacock brings up as well as we chat afterwards. This award holds a special significance, of course. Even if his Pandemic games and the Forbidden series (Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert and later this year Forbidden Sky) have won numerous awards and sold very well. It’s the fourth time he has come to Berlin, and for the first time he gets to carry home a huge wooden ‘Pöppel’ for the Sonderpreis 2018 for Pandemic Legacy Season 2. He will have a great time explaining it to border patrol at the airport, since it’s easily big and heavy enough to bludgeon somebody to death with it. He is still proud to be associated with cooperative games. It’s no small feat to create as big a hit as Pandemic after all. Rob Daviau, his co-creator in the sensational and highly recommended Pandemic Legacy series, agrees. He has yet to experience that Leonard Nimoy moment where he wants to distance himself from his most popular creation. He popularized the Legacy idea of permanent changes in a board game through play. While he has had a prolific career before, to most interviewers he remains ‘that Legacy guy’. We talk briefly about his last game ‘Mountains of Madness‘ and why it didn’t quite find its audience. This is surely in part due to the deluge of games released each year. But it also seemed that players didn’t quite know how to deal with the unusual tone of the game. A mixture of a solid cooperative game and whimsy. A term for which there is no direct translation in German. This is so amusing to Daviau that he puts it in a tweet. It didn’t quite feel with people’s expectations. Lovecraft is supposed to be dead serious after all. How can such a game be whimsical? Or even have a sense of humour? The emotions you experience seemed incompatible. Because that is what games are really about: emotions. Rules, components and concepts are supposed to lead the group towards a specific emotional experience. At least that is how Leacock approaches designing games and the success of Pandemic and the jury’s Sonderpreis proves him right.
Today’s big winner, though, is Azul by Michael Kiesling. While almost unanimously predicted to win, many had hoped – myself included – that the little game that could: The Mind would win out in the end. Because when it comes to emotions, this game delivers. As the quick introductory video during the ceremony amply proves. Laughter, joy and a shared howl of frustration when the wrong card hits the table. A representative of publisher NSV mentions that all European licenses had already been sold before the nominees had been even been named. Afterwards they even managed to license the game in the US and Taiwan. To that end The Mind doesn’t really need the sales boost, that winning the award would bring for the rest of the year. Our even beyond. But Luxor by Rüdiger Dorn and Queen Games also miss out this time. As impressive and ingenious the card play mechanism may have been in the eyes of jury member Martin Klein, there was little to be done against the highly polished product development of Azul. The delicate balance of depth and accessibility won out. The two levels of peacefully playing side by side, as you optimize your tableau and the shrewd moves that push a bunch of negative points on another player are representative of the modern board game in 2018. But Martin Klein disagrees vehemently with my explanation. The Spiel des Jahres Award doesn’t go to the most representative game of the year, or even the best one. The market is simply too layered for that. The award may be try to capture something of that year’s Zeitgeist, but what the jury is really looking for is the game that can best serve as this year’s calling card for the hobby. It should be an entry point for the overwhelmed new gamer out there. The game that is most likely to intrigue and generate interest in the hobby. It’s the game most likely to – as pretentious as it may sound – promote board gaming as a cultural good. Which is why the jury’s decision to vote for Azul, while far from daring, is entirely consistent with its aims. It’s a game that is unlikely to scare off new players. It allows for discoveries and surprises even after multiple plays. Azul’s ease of play might encourage an inexperienced gamer to give those other big, ominous game boxes standing on that game shop’s shelf and promising fun and excitement a try.
After the ceremony Azul’s designer Michael Kiesling ist hard to get ahold of in the press room. He shows up for a handful of interviews, but later and much to the disappointment of podcasters, bloggers and YouTubers, he has practically disappeared. It’s not quite clear why. Maybe he doesn’t like this level of attention. Maybe breakfast didn’t agree with him. But as the first board game media people are packing up to get on their hour-long drives back home, others stay behind and digest the experience. Members of established media are rubbing shoulders with what are effectively unpaid interns. Of course there’s a little bit of resentment bubbling to the surface, when some grab all the review copies they can, take a few bites from the open buffet and then hurry out the door again. It’s a very specific kind of conflict within this hobby that surfaces here. One that puts any cooperation between publisher and reviewer on par with fraud, if reviews do not explicitly mention the use of a free review copy. Even being present at an event like this one makes people anxious that there might be reviewers and publishers are somehow in cahoots. Or that there is some kind of insider circle of cool people that purposefully keep out others. As board gamers this kind of exclusionary clique behaviour is something of a sore spot. You can always obsess over it and grow bitter.
Or you can just let go of all that baggage and see that this is all about celebrating a product that allows people to learn about each other, as Matt Leacock puts it. Or that lets your work as a reviewer lead you to meet one of your closest friends, as Martin Klein has experienced it. Games may be about emotions, but play is about people. Every interaction, be it at the table, at an event like this one, in an interview or in online comments is an opportunity to connect with somebody.
The Spiel des Jahres award is a professional milestone for an author and a publisher. For board game media people it’s a chance to network and allow for better coverage in the future. But for the gamer in each of us this award is a focal point. Three nominees that you can show to the uninitiated. Games that you can enjoy, think about and even argue over. Because they are a figurehead and an invitation to this hobby.
So when are you and I going to sit down for a game?
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Published by Lest My Opinions Go Unheard
I'm into board games. A lot. And some politics stuff, too. Twitter is @lestmyopinions - I also tweet in German: @joedizzy. Sometimes. He/Him View all posts by Lest My Opinions Go Unheard
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You are here: Home › Previews › Grand National 2019 – Race Preview
Grand National 2019 – Race Preview
By Peter Reynolds in Previews
Race Preview
The Grand National at Aintree is just days away, with the excitement among owners, trainers, jockeys, professional gamblers and casual punters all growing for what has become one of the highlights of the horse racing calendar.
Here, we take a look at the runners and riders who have the best chance of winning the race this year.
2018 Grand National
Last year, the race was won in a photo finish by the Davy Russell ridden Tiger Roll.
The 10/1 shot came into the race with a growing reputation having won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival the month before and showed heart, talent, and determination to hold on for the win and give Davy Russell his first Grand National winner.
Pleasant Company, the Willie Mullins trained 25/1 shot, held the lead approaching the final couple of fences, with Tiger Roll taking over at the front at the penultimate obstacle. David Mullins pushed Pleasant Company to fight until the finish and almost caught up, with Tiger Roll holding on to win by a head on the line.
Third place went to 40/1 shot Bless the Wings, who was 11 lengths behind second, and Anibale Fly was a neck behind in fourth.
2019 Grand National – Betting Favourite
The clear betting favourite for his years race in last years winner Tiger Roll. He followed up his National win in 2018 by winning at Navan in February this year and then dominated the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival again last month.
That Cheltenham Festival performance was even more impressive than the one last year, with a 22 length victory over Josie’s Orders this year showing an improvement in Tiger Roll in the last twelve months.
Betfair have the Gordon Elliott trained Gelding priced at just 7/2, making him a clear favourite from 10/1 shots Anibale Fly and Rathvinden.
2018 Placed Horses
Last years second, Pleasant Company, is entered to run again but is an 18/1 shot this year following a less than impressive twelve months since coming so close to winning the Grand National.
A fifteenth place finish at Leopardstown in December was followed by an eleventh at Gowran Park in January, which shows signs of decline for the eleven-year-old. Although, heading into last years race he had pulled up and finished eleventh in the last two. Age will definitely be a factor here though and it’s more than likely that second place in 2018 was a one off and will not be repeated.
Third place in 2018 was Bless The Wings and at the moment it’s unclear whether he will run or not. Again though, at the age of fourteen his chance to win the National is most likely long gone.
Anibale Fly is the likeliest of last years placed horses to mount a challenge here. Despite carrying top weight, which would require being the first horse over 11-06 to win since Many Clouds in 2015, the A.J Martin 9-year-old Gelding ticks many boxes and showed class to finish second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month.
Although the weight may be an issue and the lack of victories over 3 miles since 2017 shows possible stamina issues, Anibale Fly cannot be counted out and should definitely be high on the list of Each-Way shots.
Winning Trends
Looking at statistics shows us the optimum age for the Grand National winner is 9-years-old, weighing between 10-06 and 11-06, with previous experience in the race, at least one victory over 3+ miles, and fallen or unseated its rider less than twice in their career.
This year, only one horse ticks all the boxes and that is last years winner and huge betting favourite Tiger Roll.
With the bookmakers backing him, form and experience on his side, and ticking every box when taking an analytical approach, it would seem Tiger Roll is the likeliest winner of the 2019 Grand National and it will take bad luck or a phenomenal performance from another horse to prevent back to back victories at Aintree.
Mall Dini, Step Back, and Lake View Lad tick most of the boxes except for previous race experience. But, the 20/1, 25/1, and 14/1 shots could all be good each way shouts if taking to the extremely challenging course.
Visit Betfair for full betting odds for this years Grand National
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Key Brexit Dates
Letter to Britain
A Weekly Brexit Commentary
Home » Brexit » Day 1020 of Theresa May’s premiership: And still no Brexit in Sight
Day 1020 of Theresa May’s premiership: And still no Brexit in Sight
Letters to Britain
Remind Me Again Why We Want to Brexit
Many of you have busy lives, so here's a refresher on the many benefits of the UK's impending Brexit from the EU. Continue reading →
Stop Talking about a £39 Billion Payment to the EU. It was Never Agreed
Some UK politicians talk about the proposed £39 Billion payment to the EU as if its already 'owed' instead of merely 'proposed'. Continue reading →
The UK Grows its Economy as it Replaces Coal with Renewable Energy
The UK was once 100% dependent on coal, but it now uses 5% coal, 19.5% nuclear, 33.3% renewable energy and 39.4% natural gas. Continue reading…
Brexit: Why I Favour ‘No Deal’
Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement was 100% in the EU's favour & they won't renegotiate (they say) so, No Deal it is. Happy Days! Continue reading…
A Vision of Manufacturing in Post-Brexit Britain
A look at how UK manufacturing could receive a gigantic boost from (any kind of) Brexit and create millions of post-Brexit jobs. Continue reading →
Two Brexit Flops Cost the UK Billions & Have Put Britain Years Behind Schedule
Things are piling-up on UK Conservatives, and if they don't get Brexit done soon they'll be out of government, possibly for generations. Continue reading →
Open Letter to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
An open letter to His Excellency, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan: A proposal to lower air pollution in the City of London. Continue reading…
What the EU Election Result Means to Europe and to the World
The Brexit Party comes from nowhere to win a stunning 29-seats in the EU Parliament Election 2019, while traditional parties fail badly. Continue reading →
Brexit Party win massively in EU Election while Conservatives & Labour get Hammered at the Polls
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party sweep into power in the EU Election taking a majority of the UK seats allocated for Members of the EU Parliament…
Day 1042 of Theresa May’s premiership: Theresa May resigns
On Day 1042 of her premiership Theresa May resigns (effective June 07, 2019) thereby triggering a leadership race within the UK Conservative Party. Continue reading…
by John Brian Shannon
It’s tough, being a Brexit reporter these days. No news on the Brexit file to speak of other than Theresa May pops up occasionally to issue a statement on Brexit that sounds like this; “We’re still working on Brexit, and there’s no reason we couldn’t have a deal to Leave the EU within days.”
Except that the years, months, weeks and days are ticking past and not one thing has happened on the Brexit file other than a lot of gassing-off by politicians about how they intend to ‘deliver’ Brexit.
In a week or two, expect yet another pronouncement from 10 Downing Street with a similar message to the one above, “We’re still working on Brexit, and we could have a deal soon,” or some other roboticised version of it.
Every week is the same. Nothing changes.
Everyone in the UK carries on in a dreamlike trance as if Theresa May actually intends to deliver Brexit someday (fools!) even though proof is to the contrary for almost 3-years now. Can you say, “Stockholm Syndrome”?
(In case you’ve forgotten, Stockholm Syndrome refers to the psychological effects among a group of hostages, who begin to feel a psychological alliance with, and actively begin to help, their captors)
Yes, Theresa May is holding Britons captive by endlessly promising to deliver Brexit — but with no intention at all of delivering it because Brexit is what The People want — and as long as they continue to want it she’ll continue to dangle that carrot in front of them.
And when that no longer works because the majority of Britons have turned against Brexit on account of the economic uncertainty that TM and her band of Remainers have created due to the overly-extended Brexit ‘negotiating period’, she’ll find another carrot to dangle in front of Britons thereby allowing her to stay in the top job even longer.
Yes folks, it’s all about ‘dangling whatever carrot will do the trick’ at 10 Downing Street these days.
Anything to stay in the top job! Because all Theresa May wants is a ‘job for life’ at Number 10 Downing Street. It’s all so Orwellian.
If you think I’m disappointed with ‘job for life’ May, you’d be right.
Tags: 'job for life' May, Brexit, double-speak, doublespeak, George Orwell, Orwellian, Theresa May
By Letter to Britain in Brexit, Theresa May, UK on May 1, 2019 .
← Day 1010 of Theresa May’s premiership: Still No Brexit Day 1030 of Theresa May’s premiership: No Brexit. But UK Air Quality Improves →
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Letter to Norway
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Lifestyle With Erica
Love. Laughter. Life.
Author: ericacrump
In Need of my Queen Sugar Fix
November 13, 2018 ericacrump Leave a comment
Now that the fall season is fully in swing, new shows are appearing on tv screens all across America. That means we still have almost seven months before we get to taste Season 4 of Queen Sugar. For me, that’s just way too long. I need my weekly Bordelon family fix — especially my Ralph Angel. 🙂
The ups and downs that this family has endured has taken us all on an emotional roller coaster ride.
Season 3 started off with us finally finding out Blue’s true paternity. We had all been waiting for months with bated breath to determine if Ralph Angel was the father. When the results finally came back, Ralph Angel muttered, “It don’t change nothing,” while his sisters showered him with their unwavering love and support.
But unfortunately, it did change things according to Darla. With pressure from her mom, Darla took Ralph Angel to court for 50/50 custody. In the midst of the heated battle, they both came to realize that they needed to keep the well-being of Blue as their focal point. Thank God they were able to finally come to terms as mature adults.
In the midst of that drama, a love triangle that nobody ever expected was brewing. A collective sigh of disapproval was heard around the world when Nova and Remy unexpectedly kissed. Instead of repenting and moving on, they continued to see each other behind Charlie’s back. Of course, they could only keep the secret for so long. Even though Charley was understandably upset, she told Remy point blank that “Nova is family forever, and you will always be fleeting.” Bloop.
And if dealing with that pain wasn’t enough, Davis threw Charley a curve ball when he informed her that he’s the father of a 13-year-old daughter.
On top of that, Charley’s son Micah wasn’t making things easier for Charley either. After he gets caught up in an arson case, he turns extremely cold towards her. Micah lets her know that he’s going to keep hanging with his friends and that he wants to go live with his Aunt Nova. It just seemed like Charley couldn’t catch a break no matter which way she turned.
Meanwhile on the other side St. Jo, Hollywood continues to convince Aunt Vi to move forward in their relationship. However, Aunt Vi continues to show hesitancy in getting married and especially in taking Hollywood’s last name. To add even more drama, Hollywood’s mom visits and puts a couple of bugs in his ear by telling him to think about having his own biological child. However, the season finale made everything worth it when they finally exchanged vows in their backyard with all of the family there.
Best. Season. Finale. Ever.
Now only six months until Season 4. Counting down.
Queen Sugar – Season 2 Wrap-Up
Well, it’s been a week and I think I’m almost done processing Season 2 and the finale of my absolute favorite show, Queen Sugar!
If you haven’t ever watched Queen Sugar (and I don’t know who you are), you are missing out on one of the most NECESSARY shows of this time.
Oprah and Ava DuVernay have literally created art on television that shows African-Americans loving, learning and forgiving in a healthy way. The Bordelon family definitely took us viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride filled with highs, lows, joy, pain, laughter and disbelief.
America’s favorite couple, Hollywood and Aunt Vi, brought us so much joy this season that I found myself cheesing all throughout the season each time they came on the screen. Whether they were hugging, caressing, kissing, or cooking pies together, this beautiful Black couple showed us that they are the epitome of “grown-folks” love.
With Hollywood eventually getting his official divorce decree, they were finally able to move to the next level. And it was truly a beautiful moment to watch Hollywood profess his love and finally propose to Aunt Vi! But what made it even sweeter is that moments before, Hollywood received news that he would be receiving a huge check from his former employer. When he looked into Aunt Vi’s eyes and said, “Baby, we rich,” and then a few moments later, he proposed, it was a such a majestic moment.
The oldest Bordelon sibling, Nova, spent this entire season both searching and running from love. I think I was just as exhausted as she was by the end of the season. When Nova meets Dr. Robert Dubois, an epidemiologist at a symposium in Atlanta, it seemed like she’d finally made a love connection. However, by a few episodes later, it became evident that Nova felt that Robert was a great guy, just not the guy for her. Robert felt that Nova had so much potential and that together they could conquer the world. He had so many dreams for Nova and saw so much possibility for them as a team. But no matter what he thought or felt, Nova let him know that she didn’t need him dreaming for her. And after that, she promptly gave him his walking papers. Enter Calvin. I’d been wondering what happened to Calvin all season. It seemed like he had possibly left his wife and wanted to finally be with Nova. But for most of the season, he’d been ghost. But when Calvin finally made his entrance, Nova was drawn to him like a magnet. They finally had “the talk” that they needed to have. But when she told him, “For you, I’m freedom but for me, you’re prison,” it was beyond evident that they could never have a future together.
The middle sibling, Charley, seemed like no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t catch a break. After she finally got her mill up and running, one of her machines briefly choked, causing her to have a nervous breakdown smack in the middle of her grand opening. And if that wasn’t bad enough, her archenemies, the Boudreaux family, eventually convinced practically all of her farmers to stop milling with her. By the end of the season, Charley was left with only three farmers milling with Queen Sugar. Forced to make a quick decision, she finally decided that “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” She told Ralph Angel that they would have to begin milling with the Boudreaux family in order to finally slaughter them at their game. But when she confided in her boyfriend, Remy, about her plan, he decided that he was completely done with Charley, business-wise and personal.
During this particular season, the youngest Bordelon sibling, Ralph Angel, endured enough drama to last a lifetime. I think for most people (as well as myself) the most jaw-dropping scene was when Ralph Angel’s fiance, Darla, confessed that Blue might not be his son. The sheer look of pain on Ralph Angel’s face was enough to make anyone cry right along with him. As expected, Ralph Angel was truly distraught and couldn’t seem to move past Darla’s deceit. Ralph Angel internalized the pain for some time and then finally went looking for Darla when he was ready to talk. All of us viewers waited with bated breath as Ralph Angel journeyed from motels to crack houses looking for Darla after she seemingly disappeared. Had she relapsed? Did she skip town and go home to her parents? Did she commit suicide? But thank God after plenty of searching, Ralph Angel finally found her swimming at the local YMCA. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see someone swimming laps in a pool. So a big kudos goes to Darla for releasing her pain in a healthy way. That particular scene between those two was without a doubt the most intense scene of the season. To see the pain on their faces as they dealt with betrayal, hurt, and the ending of a relationship was crushing. And for the first time ever in his life, Ralph Angel stopped with the whisper-talking and actually talked in a regular voice. He even yelled at the top of his lungs. That alone left me in a state of shock for about three days. Ralph Angel actually screamed?! What the dickens? It just shows that Ralph Angel is a multi-layered character and Kofi Siriboe’s acting skills are off da’ chain! Oh, TRUST ME when I tell you that many Emmys are in Kofi’s future!
He further proved that his chops are untouchable with the most beautiful scene between Ralph Angel and Blue. The two were talking about how Blue got his name and Ralph Angel uttered the most beautiful lines ever delivered in television history; Blue is the sky. Blue is the ocean. Blue is everything good. That’s you, son. Everything good. Cue the tissue box because tears were flowing ’round the world when those lines were delivered. What an amazing and loving way to end the season; the unconditional love and unbreakable bond between father and son.
As always, Queen Sugar has proven that no matter what challenges life may bring, family will always be there for each other. I’m already missing the Bordelon family and am eagerly anticipating season 3!
Time For My Queen Sugar Re-Up!
June 21, 2017 ericacrump Leave a comment
Anybody else counting down the minutes until the Season 2 premiere of OWN’s Queen Sugar? It’s been WAY too long since we’ve heard from our beloved Bordelon family, whose patriarch Ernest passed away & left his family with an 800-acre sugarcane farm to maintain.
Because of the smart storylines, incredible acting, and beautiful scenery, Season 1 sucked so many of us in like quicksand. Watching Queen Sugar simply feels like home and home is always where the heart truly is. When watching the show, all we see is plush, beautiful land as far as the eye can see.
And everything about the scenery feels so familiar. It personally reminds me of the land my grandfather owned in rural Athens, Alabama. As a little girl, my family would travel to Athens 2 or 3 times per year, and I used to always complain that I was bored and there was nothing to do out there in all those fields. I wanted to go back to my comfortable suburban life. But baybeeeee, knowing what I know now, there is so much history, power and life in all of that rich land.
But I digress: back to the lecture at hand (lol): Queen Sugar. Did I mention how versatile and amazing this cast of characters is? The 3 main characters of Queen Sugar are the adult Bordelon children: Charley, Nova & Ralph Angel.
Charley is the oldest sibling who is trying to piece her life back together after divorcing her philandering NBA husband. Nova is the weed smoking/selling, spiritual community activist who is dating a White man on the local racist police force. Yup, she’s all over the place….but her heart is big and kind.
And then you have Ralph Angel. Oh, Ralph Angel. Perfectly played by the brilliant and oh-so-sexy Kofi Siriboe, Ralph Angel is going through so many transitions and can’t seem to catch a break. Sometimes I find myself talking back to the t.v. because at times Ralph Angel makes poor choices and seems to get himself in conundrums that were totally preventable.
But my love for Kofi Siriboe helps me to not stay angry at Ralph Angel.
When Kofi was recently quoted as saying: “I love Black women, and I shouldn’t have to tiptoe around that fact,” I shouted Hallelujah to the Most High for creating such an amazing man! And when Kofi shared this awesome vision of his: “I imagine a world where men deliberately, specifically, and unapologetically create a space for women to be all that they naturally are, not all that we want them to be,” I WAS DONE. I mean, stick a fork in me done. Chiiiiile, I didn’t know they were making ’em like this anymore. And did I mention that Kofi feels that it is super-important for him to connect with this fans, so he responds to tweets, IG comments and (gasps) even opens his DM’S so fans can call leave their number so he can call them directly! WOOOOOO-CHILE, my temperature is just rising thinking of how sexy, smart, giving and grateful Kofi is. So because I am so enthralled by Kofi, it really is hard for me to stay mad at Ralph Angel for too long. (lol)
Rounding out the talented cast is Blue, Darla, Remy and Hollywood.
Blue is the absolutely adorable 6-year-old-son of Ralph Angel and Darla. Darla has been estranged from the family because of her drug habit, but she’s doing her best to show that she’s clean and getting her life back on track. Remy starts off as a great friend to Charley but eventually develops into her amazing love interest.
But my absolute favorite character is Aunt Vi—who is both the glue and voice of reason in the Bordelon family. And one of the things that I love most about Aunt Vi is that she’s not the typical overweight, unstylish Southern matriarch. Aunt Vi is sexy. And fly. And smart. And youthful. And dating a man that’s 15-years her junior. And his name is Hollywood. And I absolutely love it.
Family. Betrayal. Secrets. Legacy. Queen Sugar is giving it to us ALL kinds of ways & I am so here for all of it. So make sure you catch the Season 2 Premiere of Queen Sugar tonight at 10pm EST on OWN.
THE B.E.T NEW EDITION MOVIE #NE4Life
February 2, 2017 ericacrump Leave a comment
WOOOOOO-CHILE!!!!!! It’s one week later and who else besides me is still on a high from constantly re-watching The New Edition movie?!?!
For the past 7 days, I’ve been watching, pausing, rewinding and slow’ mo-ing all of my favorite scenes, especially the ones with my Ralphie-Pooh a.k.a. Rizz.
Yup, it’s unbelievable that over 30 years later, my childhood crush on Ralph Tresvant has reignited in full force! I’m telling you that this movie has had me You-tubing all of Ralph’s classic interviews, performances and videos like I ain’t gotta go to work the next morning. LOL! So as it began for me circa 1985, I still cannot get enough of Rizz in 2017: his voice, his smile, his laugh & his amazing dancing. Ralph Tresvant was definitely the ORIGINAL BAE for all of us little brown girls in the neighborhood.
But back to the movie though! Can we just talk about the casting for a minute?! Yooooooo! The script HAD to have a disclaimer at the beginning in big, bold letters that read: if you attempt to join this cast, you MUST be able to act your tail off! Point, blank and the period. Because bay-beeeeeee, Michael Rapaport was perfect as NE’s sleazy, money-hungry manager. Tank KILLED IT as music executive Jheryl Busby. And Wood Harris was simply BRILLIANT as the amazing NE founder, mentor, manager, choreographer Brooke Payne.
The entire cast was phenomenal (The Littles & The Bigs) but to me, the standout star was Algee Smith, who portrayed Ralph Tresvant. Algee had Ralph’s look, voice, facial expressions, movements, dances and nuances down-pat to a tee! It was simply amazing to watch Algee morph into Ralph on screen. For a minute, I actually forgot I was watching a movie & was thinking I was really watching all of the NE members on screen—-that’s how phenomenal all of the acting was! And for me, the most amazing performance scenes in the movie were the: If It Isn’t Love video, Can You stand The Rain studio session and the BET 25th anniversary performance. Again, the cast had each respective NE member’s voice and mannerisms down to a tee! Awesome sauce!!
And the most tear-jerking scene was when little Ralph called manager, Maurice Starr, on a pay phone on a cold, snowy night in Boston circa 1982 to let him know that he wouldn’t accept a solo deal from him—-Maurice would have to sign them ALL as a group. That scene made me truly realize how big Ralph’s heart was from the beginning. His loyalty was unmatched and I so hate that it wasn’t reciprocated. My heart truly was hurting for Ralph throughout the movie. I really do want to talk to him, give him a warm embrace & let him know that God sees ALL and He will reward for all sacrifices.
This NE movie showed how the amazing director, Chris Robinson paid keen attention to detail to make such a believable and powerful biopic. Thank you to the talented cast, director, producers and BET for collaborating on this incredible movie. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the legendary New Edition for sharing your story with the world. It was long overdue and we needed it.
Watching your joy, triumphs, disappointments and ultimate success on-screen has made this the BEST. BIOPIC. EVER. !!!! #NE4Life
Kids Caught Doing Good – Donovan Smith
September 20, 2016 ericacrump Leave a comment
Today, Donovan Smith is being spotlighted for his humanitarian efforts.
In some aspects, Donovan is just like any other 13-year-old: he loves to play with his friends and to play video games. But what sets Smith apart from most kids his age is the fact that he’s been a guest on talks shows such as The Queen Latifah show & has even had a role in the movie, Independence Day.
But most importantly, Donovan owns his own business which he invests lots of his time, creativity & energy into helping others, especially child abuse victims. His humanitarian efforts led him to win the Youth Choice Award sponsored by the McDonald’s 365Black Community Awards.
This formerly homeless teen entrepreneur is working selflessly to give others a fresh start. In 2011, Donovan and his single mother found themselves living in a homeless shelter when she lost her job and their apartment, due to health reasons. When Smith’s mother began receiving disability benefits a few months later, they were able to move into special housing for veterans. It was then that the greatness inside of Donovan began to manifest.
Donovan has spent the last two years to help those affected by homelessness, as he and his mother once were. First, his mom taught him the basics of soap making and he figured out the rest through a series of classes. Then he began to sell his bath products in person every weekend at the Rail Yards Market. “Every week,” his mother commented to The Washington Post, “he was up at 4 a.m. on Sunday, packing his wagon with all of his soaps.”
The products for which Smith became known are elaborately designed and look like glazed doughnuts, corn on the cob, cupcakes, cookies, hamburgers, eggs and snow globes.
Shortly thereafter, his business went from the Rail Yards Market to his own Etsy Store called Toil and Trouble. Donovan used his earnings to help others that were less fortunate. “People helped us and now I want to help others,” Donovan says.
Donovan’s commitment has compelled many—including celebrities—across the county to donate their time, energy and money to help others in need. bath products to shelters.
Congratulations, Donovan, on all of your endeavors!
Mondays are Amazing!!!
It’s Monday morning again. For lots of people, that means grunts and groans as they drag their way to work or school. It’s another long day of drudgery for them. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Mondays should be and can be just as exciting as a Friday. It’s really all in your perspective.
Today is another day that was granted for you that you did not pay for. It is only by God’s grace and mercy that you are living and breathing in this moment on a Monday morning. As the old church folks used to say, “Somebody went to bed last night and didn’t wake up this morning.” What a blessing it is to still be in the land of the living! Your alarm clock didn’t wake you up this morning—-God did. Stay in a constant state of gratitude as you let that truth marinate. Trust me, if you placed alarm clocks in the cemetery, no one would wake up.
It just confirms what an honor it is to be granted another day on God’s precious earth—–that means that he still has purpose for you! Now it’s just up to you to allow that purpose to manifest. God didn’t allow you to open up your eyes this morning for you to live in lack or mediocrity. God wants you to live an abundant life—–a life full of His purpose! It doesn’t bring Him any glory for you to be walking around downtrodden and unexcited about life. He wants you to live every dreams that He has placed inside of you so that His will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
That means that on today, a Monday, you should be just as excited as if it was the weekend. Today is a day that you can work towards your God-given dream. Today is that day. Not tomorrow. So do not procrastinate to do what God has placed on your heart to do. Procrastination has its root in pride, and is not of God.
If God has placed a dream in your heart, NOW is the time to make it happen. On a beautiful Monday. 🙂 #MondayMotivation
Monica’s son, Rocko’s Awesome Birthday Celebrations
June 6, 2016 June 6, 2016 ericacrump Leave a comment
Monica’s son, Lil’ Rocko, just turned 10 years old and boy-oh-boy did he bring it in style! The R&B singer and her husband Shannon Brown threw her handsome son a double birthday celebration full of awesomeness!
The first party was a “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” theme held at Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium that included plenty of dancing, carnival rides, magicians and games.
Rocko’s dad as well as Ludacris were there to join in on the fun too!
The second bash was an amazing African Jungle Safari theme.
The party was held at Treetop Quest and included exotic reptiles along with zip lining for everyone. The party also included back-drop jungle decorations and a life-sizes safari cake too!
On hand for the event was Tiny along with Teyana Taylor and her adorable baby, Iman.
And Lil’Rocko’s brother, Romelo, and sister, Lailah, were definitely on hand for all of the amazing fun too.
Happy Birthday to Lil’ Rocko!
Kids Caught Doing Good- Mikaila Ulmer
May 31, 2016 ericacrump Leave a comment
The brilliant young person that I am spotlighting today is: Mikaila Ulmer, a smart and savvy 11-year-old businesswoman from Austin Texas.
Mikaila made history when she recently snagged an $11 MILLION deal with Whole Foods to sell her product, BeeSweet Lemonade! Go Mikaila!!
Mikaila’s lemonade will be sold in 55 stores throughout four southern states. If BeeSweet lemonade sells well, then it will be sold in Whole Food Stores nationwide. BeeSweet Lemonade is created using flaxseed, mint and honey which came from Mikaila’s great-grandmother’s 1940 recipe.
Mikaila appeared on the tv show, Shark Tank and won $60,000 to start her company. Even though running a business can be stressful for some, Mikaila takes it all in stride. “I work on the business after school, after I do my homework, and on weekends and during spring breaks,” Mikaila said in an interview with NBCBLK. “There are not too many times when I feel stressed.”
Also an extremely generous philanthropist, Mikaila gives a portion of her profits to the Sustainable Food Center, Texas Beekeeper Association and other bee rescue foundations.
Mikaila, thank you for inspiring others to work hard for their dreams. So proud of you!!
Celebrating Black Love: Lance Gross and Rebecca Jefferson-Gross
May 25, 2016 May 27, 2016 ericacrump Leave a comment
Has it been a year already since Lance & Rebecca Gross tied the knot? Yup!
The gorgeous pair celebrated their anniversary on a getaway to New Orleans. And afterwards, Lance definitely made hearts swoon with his heartfelt Instagram post letting the world know how much he cherishes his wife.
He posted, “One year ago today you gave me another reason to smile. Another Blessing to count. Plus a higher level of love and friendship to cherish. I love you today, tomorrow & Forever on Mrs. Gross…”
Rebecca also let the world know how much she loved her husband by posting: “…the moment our eyes met my heart skipped a beat…partially because you looked SO, so, so, so good 😉…but I think it skipped a beat in that moment…because my heart knew it had found its match.”- a snippet from my vows a year ago today. I was never that girl that believed in love at first sight or let alone first meet …but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel something all consuming from the moment our eyes met…it’s corny as hell… but true; I’ve loved you since day One. I cannot believe today marks a year of Marriage to my best friend. What a blessing to receive your love everyday. It’s something I never take for granted. I love you so much baby! @lancegross Happy Anniversary! #myforever #myheart
Lance and Rebecca are proud parents to a beautiful one-year-old daughter named Berkeley.
Check out the never-before-seen wedding video below that Lance posted on his IG page. Lance definitely has one of the best IG pages with ahhh-mazing photos & great videos (he’s also a photographer, by the way).
One year ago today you gave me another reason to smile. Another Blessing to count. Plus a higher level of love and friendship to cherish. I love you today, tomorrow & Forever on Mrs. Gross…
A post shared by lancegross (@lancegross) on May 23, 2016 at 8:09am PDT
And here’s a couple more pics of the beautiful couple:
Happy Anniversary, Mr. and Mrs. Gross!!
Non-Stop Mom Shaming
It’s been said that when a woman gives birth, it’s the closest thing to death. When I think of the contractions, labor pains & pushing a human being out of my body back in 2003 when I gave birth to my son, it’s enough to make me scream all over again.
So after a woman gives birth to a baby, you would think she would be catered to and doted on by everyone, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, now we are in an age of constant mom shaming.
In this age of social media, people have an insane amount of recklessness when they get behind a computer screen. They post things that they would never have the guts to say to someone’s face. They’re mean. They’re cruel. And they’re relentless. Now moms have to deal with “internet bullies” calling them horrible mothers because of differences in parenting styles.
Take Chrissy Teigen for instance. Chrissy gave birth to her daughter on April 13th……and less than a couple of weeks later, she & her husband, John Legend, were photographed out having dinner. Dinner. A meal that everyone eats every single evening. Well, folks let Chrissy HAVE IT and shamed her to no end. Not one to be deterred, a few days later, Chrissy posted a picture of herself in shorts & a low-cut top cooking breakfast at home. Needless to say, folks weren’t too pleased about that either. So what’s your take on mom shaming? How can we return to the days of catering to a new mom instead of constantly shaming her for everything that she does??
In Need of my Queen Sugar Fix November 13, 2018
Queen Sugar – Season 2 Wrap-Up November 24, 2017
Time For My Queen Sugar Re-Up! June 21, 2017
THE B.E.T NEW EDITION MOVIE #NE4Life February 2, 2017
Kids Caught Doing Good – Donovan Smith September 20, 2016
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Home Entertainment His Act of Kindness Completely Changed His Life Years Later
Doing a good deed can change a person's life, no doubt about it. What if your act of kindness completely changes the course of your own life? That's what happened to a teenager.
When you do a good deed, you often receive a pat on the back or a thank you with a beautiful smile. Doing good to others is often a reward in itself, but sometimes our generosity comes back to us in a way we never imagined. What would happen if one act of compassion could change our lives and the lives of another person?
When an Idaho teenager remembers an act of kindness he did as a child, it turned his life upside down. In fact, this young man learned that not only had he changed another person’s life with this little act but that his own was about to change in a significant way as well… Here is his incredible story!
1. Social media is an essential part of modern communication.
Ty Wolfe / Facebook
But when 18-year-old Tyrel Wolfe received an unusual friendship request on Facebook one afternoon, he wasn’t sure what to do with it.
2. The request came from a young Filipino girl named Joana Marchan.
Tyrel was certain that they had never met, let alone in the same country. Believing it was just another scam, Tyrel declined the invitation.
3. Several years passed, and this strange request for a friend became a distant memory.
He was no longer a fan of Facebook, but one day, while checking his profile, he noticed a new request in his inbox. The sender was none other than Joana Marchan!
4. Tyrel’s interest has been piqued.
His parents, suspicious of the type of people found online, were concerned, however, about Joana’s interest in their son. Tyrel couldn’t resist the urge to get to the bottom of this mystery. He opened the friendship request and clicked on “Confirm”.
5. Tyrel sent a message to the young woman.
Her answer only made things even more blurry: “Do you know the Samaritan’s purse?” Tyrel was stunned. What could that mean? Was it some kind of code? Then, all of a sudden, it hit him.
6. Samaritan’s Purse was a non-profit organization.
When Tyrel was 7 years old, he donated a shoebox full of gifts to a charity program called “Operation Christmas Child” through this organization. But why, 11 years later, did this foreigner from the Philippines contact him for Christmas gifts? And, more importantly, how did she know about her donation?
7. Then Joana told him that she was the one who received Tyrel’s shoebox all these years ago!
Faithit
Tyrel was blown away by the news, but despite everything, he was still skeptical about the young woman’s motivations. After all, how could he know if “Joana” was really who she said she was? He needed proof.
8. So Tyrel asked Joana some questions.
He asked her about the contents of her gift, but she couldn’t remember anything specific about the shoebox. He was ready to remove her from Facebook, but at the last minute, Joana raised a key point that proved that she was telling the truth.
9. In the original shoebox, Tyrel had included a picture of himself at the time of the donation.
Joana remembers the photo in every detail, describing his “cute cowboy” outfit and the “wooden background” of the image. Without a doubt, Joana was exactly who she claimed to be – and Tyrel’s story and it was just beginning.
10. Tyrel and Joana kept in touch.
Tyrel and Joana stayed in touch and quickly discovered that they shared the same interests. Finally, the pair ended up talking to each other every day, and their Facebook discussions quickly turned into a full-fledged friendship.
11. Over the next 18 months, Tyrel started saving in the hope of visiting Joana after high school.
As soon as he reached his goal, he sent a message to Joana and immediately booked the next flight to the Philippines.
12. It is never easy to travel, especially when it is our first trip alone…
Tyrel had never left the country alone before, the 14-hour trip from Idaho to the Philippines was particularly difficult. But no matter how difficult the trip, it was worth it for Tyrel when he arrived to find Joana and her family waiting at the airport to greet him.
13. What was supposed to be a short visit to Tyrel became a one-month stay.
He and Joana discovered that their bond was deeper and more real than they could have imagined. It was clear that their Facebook friendship was becoming something much more important.
14. Unfortunately, Tyrel had to say goodbye to Joana, but he knew in his heart that he couldn’t stay away for long.
By working part-time overtime between university classes, Tyrel found enough money to make another trip to the Philippines.
15. His second trip to see Joana was even better than the first, and it wasn’t long before the two fell in love.
After learning a good amount of Tagalog – the mother tongue of the Philippines – Tyrel approached Joana’s father to ask him for something very important: his daughter’s hand to marry her.
16. Joana’s father accepted without hesitation, but her mother, fearing that the couple would move too quickly, hesitated to give him her blessing.
Tyrel was heartbroken, but the young man did not want to leave the Philippines without the woman he loved by his side.
17. In a final effort, Tyrel convinced his father to come to Idaho to meet Joana and, hopefully, ease the tensions between him and his family.
After several weeks of discussions, Tyrel and his father finally convinced Joana’s mother to accept the proposal.
18. In October 2014, just five months after their engagement, the couple married in a simple ceremony at Tyrel’s parents’ ranch.
Tyrel Wolfe / Facebook
Instead of wedding gifts, the newlyweds made an unusual request that closed their unconventional love story.
19. Tyrel and Joana asked each guest to bring a shoebox full of gifts that will be given to no one but Samaritan’s Purse!
San Ynez Valley Star
They also asked their guests to include a note on the story of Tyrel and Joana in each box to show how a small gesture of kindness can completely change a person’s life.
20. After their marriage, Joana agreed to leave her home in the Philippines and move to the small town of Idaho with Tyrel.
Their peaceful country home quickly filled with little footsteps, as Joana soon gave birth to their first child, a little boy named Harlann Jun Wolfe.
21. Even with lives occupied by working and educating children, Tyrel and Joana continue the tradition of delivering shoe boxes every year.
It may not be much, but as the unlikely couple can attest, you never know what kind of good can’t come from a shoebox.
SOURCEBoredom Therapy
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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 27, chapter 98
post by Vaniver · 2013-08-28T19:29:17.855Z · score: 2 (3 votes) · LW · GW · Legacy · 310 comments
This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 98. The previous thread is at nearly 500 comments.
There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)
The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system.
Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.
Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically:
You do not need to rot13 anything about HP:MoR or the original Harry Potter series unless you are posting insider information from Eliezer Yudkowsky which is not supposed to be publicly available (which includes public statements by Eliezer that have been retracted).
If there is evidence for X in MOR and/or canon then it’s fine to post about X without rot13, even if you also have heard privately from Eliezer that X is true. But you should not post that “Eliezer said X is true” unless you use rot13.
comment by EternalStargazer · 2013-08-28T22:01:42.961Z · score: 26 (26 votes) · LW · GW
Well, this chapter is just full of delicious puns, apart from the entire plot advancement thing.
Auxiliary Protective Special Committee.
Absurdly Powerful Student Council.
Daphne worried that Draco would be skinned and turned into Leather Pants.
Draco returns "at the turn of the tide" wearing white (silver) robes. He's Draco the White.. err.. Silver.
Considering the short length of the chapter, and combined with the call forward to Book V's Ministerial Education Decrees, that's a good number of references.
The real question is where does it go from here.
comment by undermind · 2013-08-29T16:22:06.063Z · score: 21 (21 votes) · LW · GW
Where it goes from here: If the enemy actually wants to defeat this coalition, nothing happens. This is a temporary alliance against an outside threat, and if said threat goes away, the alliance will probably collapse of its own accord. (It may bring some lasting changes to the leadership of Hogwarts, but people will chafe against the strict security, and old and new grudges will emerge, and the coalition will break.)
If the enemy has been breeding Harry/Draco as the future leader of Magical Britain (much more likely), they will continue to attack or otherwise be active, probably conceding many victories to the new Kids' Coalition.
comment by WalterL · 2013-08-29T19:04:33.856Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
I do think there's a difference between the enemy setting up Harry and Draco as future leader though. If they wanted Draco, well and done, and they'll do as you say. If they want Harry to lead, however, they are unlikely to be thrilled with his new role of invisible assassin.
comment by gattsuru · 2013-08-30T15:44:21.934Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
That may depend on who wants Harry to lead. To Canon!Voldemort, invisible assassin was a sort of leadership. To HPMoR!Dumbledore, not as much, albeit still more so than most. On the other hand, Yudkowsky takes the strong version of Aumann's agreement theorem. To Rationalist!Harry, the person matters less than the rationality and the priors.
What Quirrelmort wants... that's more complicated.
comment by Baughn · 2013-08-30T15:20:35.644Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Draco as future leader? Well, that just means Harry is the power behind the throne.
Which, to be fair, is pretty much correct.
comment by ChristianKl · 2013-08-30T21:38:44.588Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Over the long run Harry wants to be a scientist and no politician.
comment by Fermatastheorem · 2013-08-31T04:32:28.930Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
World dom... er, optimization doesn't include politics?
comment by fractalman · 2013-09-02T00:34:31.132Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
He thinks draco is much more suited to dealing with the politics, and that it's much less work to optimize draco's morals and hand power to him than to figure out how to navigate a political atmosphere for himself.
To put it crudely, harry plans to use draco as a puppet.
comment by mjr · 2013-09-02T06:23:04.914Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
But no doubt as a strong puppet ;)
comment by hairyfigment · 2013-08-29T20:00:08.093Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
What if they want a more assassin-like version of Harry to lead?
I think an intelligent enemy won't consider Draco, or the manipulation thereof, much of an obstacle. But yes, it could irritate such a person.
comment by shminux · 2013-08-28T23:17:50.376Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
And its elite SS (Silver Slytherin) troops?
comment by CAE_Jones · 2013-08-29T00:32:05.293Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Silver Slytherin reminds me of the Silver Snakes (one of the teams on Legend of the Hidden Temple), though that particular alliteration and image-matching could very easily have been generated independently given there's a literal silver snake in the room.
comment by jkaufman · 2013-08-29T10:41:09.590Z · score: 18 (18 votes) · LW · GW
it was the reason for the old tradition of the Noble families synchronizing the birth of their heirs, to put them in the same year of Hogwarts, if they could
This is a nice solution to "magical Britain is much too small for Hogwarts to be this big" and "why is everyone important in Harry's class?". Go cicadas!
comment by undermind · 2013-08-29T16:16:44.534Z · score: 9 (9 votes) · LW · GW
It reads like a very forced solution - there would be significant gains to one noble house going against the tradition, so their heir could have several years of Hogwarts students rally behind them - and also kind of impossible to implement, given that we don't know much about their birth control methods, and the Noble Houses are unlikely to all marry at the same time etc.
That said, the HP universe which Eliezer took on as his setting is full of such bugs, and this is a reasonable patch.
comment by drethelin · 2013-08-29T17:46:25.227Z · score: 12 (12 votes) · LW · GW
Several years of poor commoners are not worth weakening alliances with great houses
For most people, probably not, but having the support of the masses might be more valuable for a house that is either not a major player among the existing alliances, or not going to win any friends anyway (such as Malfoy).
comment by atorm · 2013-08-30T12:05:04.145Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
The House of Malfoy seems to win friends among Slytherin very easily.
comment by Desrtopa · 2013-08-30T16:22:06.066Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
It reads like a very forced solution - there would be significant gains to one noble house going against the tradition, so their heir could have several years of Hogwarts students rally behind them - and also kind of impossible to implement, given that we don't know much about their birth control methods
That doesn't make it impossible to implement, it just means it draws on implicit background information we don't have access to.
Considering the edges that wizards appear to have on muggles in terms of medical care, I suspect that not only do they have access to effective magical contraception, they also have access to magical methods of conception promotion.
comment by loup-vaillant · 2013-08-31T22:57:33.877Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Thus it had been with some trepidation that Mr. and Mrs. Davis had insisted on an audience with Deputy Headmistress McGonagall. It was hard to muster a proper sense of indignation when you were confronting the same dignified witch who, twelve years and four months earlier, had given both of you two weeks' detention after catching you in the act of conceiving Tracey.
Apparently, contraception isn't always used 7th year students. I count that as mild evidence that contraception, magical or otherwise, isn't widespread in the magical world. Methods of conception promotion are probably just as rare —though if they exist at all, Great Houses are likely to use them.
If contraception is significantly less widespread among wizards than among muggles, then considering their quality of medical care, their population seems anomalously low.
Maybe we could explain it by magical risks, and violence. I wouldn't be surprised if wizard kill each other more than muggles. With old-fashioned manners, may come old fashioned violence. The last two wars (Grindelwald and Voldemort), were awfully close, and it looks like the next one is coming.
If all times and all countries are the same, with a major conflict every other generation, it could easily explain such a low population.
comment by Velorien · 2013-09-03T01:23:12.777Z · score: 6 (6 votes) · LW · GW
I wouldn't be surprised if wizard kill each other more than muggles.
I think this point merits more extensive discussion. A few observations:
Wizards can learn shielding spells fairly freely, whereas the average muggle has no counter to a gun, and little they can do even against melee weapons unless they have sufficient self-defense training.
Underage magical violence is restricted by the Trace - it is considerably harder for magically-powered youth gangs to exist within magical Britain if powerful and merciless authorities (cf. Harry's treatment during the Dementor incident) are instantly alerted whenever they cast a spell.
While wizard forensics are generally laughable, a simple spell will reveal the last spells cast by a person's wand, and few people have multiple wands (since the things are apparently horribly expensive, among other reasons). This is a significant deterrent to the use of magic for illegal purposes that are likely to draw attention, such as murder. (I assume that it reveals more than the single most recent spell, since that would make it useless against anyone smart enough to cast a quick breath-freshening charm after their misdemeanours).
The last war at least was allegedly marked by most of the population of magical Britain cowering in their homes while a few brave champions fought on their behalf. The Death Eaters, meanwhile, only numbered fifty or so. That doesn't sound like it should result in a high casualty level relative to the total magical population.
Wizards are exceptionally resilient, and can survive all manner of injuries that would kill a muggle ten times over (cf. Neville Longbottom). In addition, magical healing is outstanding.
comment by Eugine_Nier · 2013-09-06T02:08:35.261Z · score: -2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
That depends on how often they have sex, which depends on the relevant culture.
and also kind of impossible to implement, given that we don't know much about their birth control methods, and the Noble Houses are unlikely to all marry at the same time etc.
I guess there should be spells for that purpose ;)
comment by Luke_A_Somers · 2013-08-29T15:58:10.137Z · score: 5 (5 votes) · LW · GW
I see it as a solution to the latter, but the former? I'd heard rather the opposite problem.
comment by kilobug · 2013-08-29T07:52:15.129Z · score: 16 (16 votes) · LW · GW
Am I the only one with the feeling that it's just too easy, too fast ? Harry uniting all of Hogwarts and most of Magical Britain, despite generation old hostilities, remaining hatred from a war that only ended 10 years ago, personal quarrels, and frontal opposition in terminal values (I don't see how persons sharing Dumbledore ethics can so easily accept to side with wizards who just voted to torture to death a 11yo girl, nor how blood purists can easily side with muggleborn).
I can get Harry, the ultra-rational boy who wants to save Hermione at all cost putting back his rightful horror at siding with people who voted to send her to Azkhaban, but I just can't see how the whole magical Britain letting aside their personal quarrels, hatred, and value conflicts that easily, just for one death, especially since "that still made Hogwarts safer than Beauxbatons, let alone Durmstrang".
comment by DanArmak · 2013-08-29T09:41:04.225Z · score: 10 (10 votes) · LW · GW
The alliance is so far just in the Hogwarts board, not in the Wizengamot. Perhaps they feel it's a limited alliance with a limited purpose, and can be broken off if the purpose at hand changes - safety of the students in Hogwarts.
Even so, I agree that we haven't seen what exactly the people outside Lucius's faction and the House of Greengrass got as an inducement to enter the alliance.
comment by Protagoras · 2013-08-29T14:37:10.720Z · score: 9 (9 votes) · LW · GW
I've felt like the whole story is too fast, but there are apparently reasons EY wanted to cram the story into a single year. To have only one defense professor? To avoid having to deal with Harry's sex life? I'm not quite sure what all the reasons are (I imagine they're multiple, and that some have probably been mentioned by EY and I'm forgetting), but while I think I would have preferred having Harry develop over 7 years as in canon instead of solving everything as an 11 year old, it's obvious that as the story is actually set up some things just are going to have to happen implausibly quickly.
comment by Viliam_Bur · 2013-08-31T19:46:33.198Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Perhaps the reason is that a rationalist wouldn't waste time. A superior mind does not need 7 years to conquer the world with magic. It just needs to find the ways to recursively self-improve and then... FOOM!
comment by Eugene · 2013-09-07T22:45:08.032Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
That fine, except a perfect rationalist doesn't exist in a bubble, nor does Harry. Much of what's making the story feel rushed isn't Harry's actions, but rather the speed at which those actions propagate among people who are not rational actors.
Harry is not an above-human-intelligence AI with direct access to his source code. Therefore he cannot "FOOM", therefore he's stuck with a world that is still largely outside his ability to control, no matter how rational he is.
comment by gjm · 2013-08-31T21:26:09.033Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
If that's the reason, then any implausibility in how rapidly it happened (I mean, aside from any that's the result of the people involved being wizards, Harry being superintelligent, etc.) is (weak) evidence against those claims about what a superior mind would do.
comment by linkhyrule5 · 2013-08-29T10:47:01.638Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
This is just starting. Harry has little formal power right now; ditto Draco. And while this alliance is landmark and a place to start, it's also for the explicit purpose of dealing with Mr. Childkiller - it won't hold up under any other circumstance, half the people still loathe each other, etc.
This is a very important move, but it's nowhere near the last one.
comment by ShardPhoenix · 2013-08-29T08:59:48.513Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
I think it's partly a matter of moving the story along so we can finally get to the end.
comment by Carinthium · 2013-08-29T08:29:08.983Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
Hypothesis: Perhaps the alliance is temporary, and to limited aims, at this point? Less likely from a narrative standpoint, but from a suspension-of-disbelief perspective maybe the Imperius Curse is about.
In the first possibility it would be less about Hermoine's death, and more about the behind-the-scenes balance of power having drastically shifted (though the death makes a nice pretext) and about the threats and concessions we haven't seen yet making it possible. In the second, this would be I Notice I am Confused, part two.
From an OOC perspective I doubt either sadly, but from an IC perspective we can't rule it out yet.
comment by bramflakes · 2013-08-29T10:55:52.008Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
the behind-the-scenes balance of power having drastically shifted (though the death makes a nice pretext) and about the threats and concessions we haven't seen yet making it possible.
Remember that everyone saw Harry threaten a Dementor.
There are a certain few of the Wizengamot who have read through half-disintegrated scrolls and listened to tales of things that happened to someone's brother's cousin, not for entertainment, but as part of a quest for power and truth. They have already marked the Night of Godric's Hollow, as reported by Albus Dumbledore, as an anomalous and potentially important event. They have wondered why it happened, if it did happen; or if not, why Dumbledore is lying.
And when an eleven-year-old boy rises up and says "Lucius Malfoy" in that cold adult voice, and goes on to speak words one simply would not expect to hear from a first-year in Hogwarts, they do not allow the fact to slip into the lawless blurs of legends and the premises of plays.
They mark it as a clue.
They add it to the list.
This list is beginning to look somewhat alarming.
My guess is that those in power who noticed all this are trying to ally themselves with this powerful new piece on the gameboard, and used their sway to get people to agree to it.
comment by bogdanb · 2013-09-02T20:19:20.970Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Well, regardless of whatever other plotting among each other, all participants actually do have a very good reason to join—their kids still go to Hogwarts, they want to keep them safe but at the same time groom them to inherit the family fortunes, and as was pointed out explicitly in the chapter, there are still good reasons, both politically and for safety, not to go to the other schools. An (at least temporary) alliance for the protection of their children is actually quite logical for all concerned.
comment by MarkusRamikin · 2013-08-30T07:58:45.225Z · score: 15 (15 votes) · LW · GW
I don't quite get it. Why are children making all these announcements, and not a member of the faculty or the Board? Why is Susan Bones giving orders to an Auror? (And why is nobody rolling their eyes at all the trying-to-be-cool?)
comment by William_Quixote · 2013-08-30T19:56:56.973Z · score: 44 (46 votes) · LW · GW
I think that people may be confused as to what's happening with this announcement.
The early phase details of the agreement were negotiated first between Harry and Lucius. Harry represented house Potter here because he's the entirety of house Potter. Lucius negotiated with Harry because Harry (as the boy who lived) has a lot of clout and credibility and he offered to throw that behind Draco. On an emotional level, HP also offers revenge against whoever attacked Draco and the possibility of revenge against Dumbledore.
Step two, the adults negotiate amongst themselves. In this second phase Lucius goes to the board of Governors with the agreement he and Harry made as a starting point.
The Knott and Greengrass votes are naturally inclined to go with Malfoy by faction alliance. Knott is also incentivized to go with the plan for other reasons. His son is a friend and chief lieutenant of Harry Potter. That's a potentially very valuable connection, but its a connection that can't be used when the votes are split death eater v Dumbledore. Realignment effectively "monetized" that asset. Greengrass doesn't have that and so asks for a few sweeteners on its deal. Also, the plan reduces their children's risk of death which is a non trivial inducement.
Bones runs the aurors. That's a strong base, but the aurors are generally kept out of Hogwarts, which was previously described as an invincible fortress. This puts her people inside Hogwarts which expands her domain of influence. While she probably wouldn't be willing to do that at the expense of being kicked from the order faction to the death eater faction, its worth it if she gets to keep most of the same allies (which she does via Harry) while isolating Juergen and other of her more extreme opponents. Also, the plan reduces the childrens' risk of death which is a non trivial inducement.
Neville inherits the Longbottom vote when he turns 18, so Longbottom is in Harry's camp in the long run and so his aunt has reason to at least reap the benefits of being on Harry's side since they pay the costs regardless. Like Bones she benefits from isolating extremists like Juergen. Based on her comments in prior chapters both at the war game and about QQs speech she favors a higher level of military readiness and is getting that from this deal.
So once the adults agree on the deal. Why announce it this way vs some other way?
An announcement through official channels goes through Dumbledore. Bypassing that contributes to sidelining / undermining Dumbledore, so Malfoy has a clear interest in the announcement through non official channels.
For Bones and Longbottom an announcement from the board has the two of them seen as going along with house Malfoy. Given their current alliances this would be damaging and bad for their images. By having the children give the boards's announcement right on the heel of an announcement by Harry and Draco the optics are that Draco is bringing the Greengrass / Knott votes and Harry is bringing the Bones / Longbottom votes. This allows them to maintain the optics of their factional alliance. They are seen as Harry's votes rather than as Malfoys votes.
Greengrass and Knott are in similar situations. As parts of Malfoys faction they also benefit from sidelining Dumbledore. They are lesser houses than Malfoy and are voting with Malfoy and are seen to be voting with Malfoy. Their houses get much more visibility and 'airtime' with this plan than if the board announced a vote. The chapter notes that it had all been negotiated and rehearsed and that the prominent role Daphne got was one of the carrots thrown to Greengrass.
Basically it happens this way because it is in the parents interests for it to happen this way.
comment by Gurkenglas · 2013-08-31T23:52:17.069Z · score: 7 (7 votes) · LW · GW
-Knott+Nott, -Juergen+Jugson.
I agree with your analysis, but I also thought this was intended as a straightforward signal to the other students that “we have to fight for ourselves” is not just the usual adult “lording over” the kids. I think it was meant to reinforce solidarity, defuse instinctive teenage rebellion against “the adults’ rules”, and also reinforces the message that the professors are no longer to be trusted to handle things.
comment by Sheaman3773 · 2013-09-05T02:21:59.675Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
This makes sense, but thinking along the same lines, I would see a lot of the upperclassmen getting upset at being told what to do by firsties.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it did happen, at least once or twice. After all, it happened with the adults too, e.g. Juergen or whatever his name was.
comment by buybuydandavis · 2013-09-01T05:46:42.004Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Plausible deniability for the adults, who have a shared interest in the welfare of their children, but have otherwise been opposed and have a lot of mistrust to overcome. It's a first step they can back out of without losing face.
Harry and Draco make a power play to illustrate that they can make the anouncements and Dumbledore doesn't have the power.
comment by TobyBartels · 2013-08-31T23:29:55.146Z · score: 6 (6 votes) · LW · GW
I particularly liked going to the other side of the room.
comment by EternalStargazer · 2013-08-30T14:23:05.748Z · score: 4 (6 votes) · LW · GW
Because these are children who have been force-matured by both becoming (kind of fake) child soldiers and death, because the agreement specifically was created by two of said children, because all of the parents have other things to do, because the children are already there, because part of the theme of the first half of this story if you remember was "Children are people too, and not subhuman simply because of their age".
Susan Bones is giving the Aurors orders because it is her Aunt that runs the Auror office. She's basically the stand-in. The kids are the few actually sane people in Hogwarts.
comment by MarkusRamikin · 2013-08-30T17:06:54.714Z · score: 6 (8 votes) · LW · GW
Oh, sure, I'm not saying the kids aren't capable of performing the actions they did. What I'm wondering about is why the rest of the world is playing along. Even if these children - 11 year olds if I have that right - are the sanest people in Hogwarts, does the Hogwarts faculty recognize this, and the Auror office, and the Board of Governors, and their own parents? Or are all these people magically aware of the story theme that you mentioned, and the title of the last few chapters.
Susan Bones is giving the Aurors orders because it is her Aunt that runs the Auror office.
I don't think that's how police forces generally work...
It isn't, but keep in mind that this is still a pseudo feudal system, which still has existent Noble families with laws favoring them on the books. In a feudal system, that is absolutely how a 'police' (private army) force actually works. If you're the Prince, you can command them. In such a system, it wouldn't seem as strange that the daughter of the house is giving the commands. You'll notice they also all announce themselves by House first.
As an aside, if you are Amelia Bones, and you have to give one person preferential treatment, control, and ease of communication with your Aurors (and by extension, yourself), who do you pick from the group of kids who are making the announcement? Which one do you trust most?
You have a point.
comment by PhilGoetz · 2013-09-04T20:46:08.098Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Possibly it's to suggest that if a group proclaims its own authority to act, and acts with certainty, most people will go along with it.
comment by loserthree · 2013-08-31T02:30:23.577Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
11 year olds if I have that right
By this point in the year most if not all of them are probably 12.
The difference between 11 and 12 might only matter to an 11- or 12-year-old, but you probably didn't have that right, for whatever that's worth.
comment by anotherblackhat · 2013-08-31T15:47:45.065Z · score: -1 (9 votes) · LW · GW
I notice you are confused. I think you've made two questionable assumptions;
Assumption 1. Wizard Children are not generally treated as competent at age 11.
Assumption 2. The children making the announcement at Hogwarts are responsible for brokering the deal. I.e. they aren't just mouthpieces for their respective families.
Assumption 2b. The Hogwarts staff is aware of 2.
Assumption 1 might be true - but I note that the age of majority has been increasing over time, and wizarding society is in many ways old timey. It seems reasonable to me that allowing a child of 12 to command a wizarding army is no stranger in wizard society than allowing David Farragut to command a ship at age 12 was during the war of 1812. Also, we haven't seen the reactions of the wizarding world in general - maybe everyone who isn't on the Hogwarts staff is scandalized. For that matter, maybe the staff is too, they're just not openly scandalized.
But assumption 2 seems completely wrong to me, and likely the main source of the confusion.
I notice you are confused
^ Don't do that.
No, I'm not assuming that children brokered the deal, but I can see that it may have looked that way, especially if you miss the context (that I was responding to the specific things EternalStargazer said).
To some extent, yeah, wizard children are, and are treated as being, more competent than muggle children. But there's still a very real difference between an adult and a child. For example, Harry Potter still needs a legal guardian. And I assume that McGonaggal's "She is a twelve-year-old girl, Albus!" isn't strongly atypical.
Anyway, no matter how mature they are (read the various dorm and SPHEW scenes for some sanity checks on that idea), they still don't have any authority; there are people whose responsibility is to make announcements such as these, and to have the kids do all this posing instead makes it a bit farcical to me.
I think if they really wanted to, the parties involved could make this happen, but why would they want to? I don't expect the world to be scandalized, I just expect some eye-rolling and mild incredulity. Not something you want if you're making a political move and want to be taken seriously.
But hey, I'm one of the probably small minority of readers who've never quite accepted things like, say, how easily Harry Potter gets away with being rude to Dumbledore.
Did Susan really give the Aurors any real orders, or just notify them that it was their cue to do as her mother had previously instructed?
comment by ikrase · 2013-08-30T16:04:09.091Z · score: 2 (4 votes) · LW · GW
Also because these children have the initiative and at least three of them are nobles.
This is the big one. Child or not, if you're noble you're a Big Deal, so long as you have the backing of the rest of your family.
Seconded. It is repeatedly implied in MoR that a noble child is, by default, a legitimate representative of their family, and anything that they do, or is done to them, is as if it was done by/to the family. For example, noble Slytherins get private chambers, even though they've done nothing to earn them within the context of the school's own regulations. Pretty much everything Draco does is considered to be a reflection on the House of Malfoy. It is considered natural for prepubescent children to know spells and rules of challenge designed for formal duels between noble houses.
In general, Rowling's universe assigns improbable values of agency and responsibility to children (socially speaking), and Eliezer only enhances this trend. Let's not forget that the Wizengamot doesn't blink an eyelid at sentencing a twelve-year old girl to die of slow torture for her crimes, or at a twelve-year old boy spontaneously giving away one of Britain's bigger fortunes to settle a blood debt. Death is an acceptable risk in exchange for having your child study at a wizarding school, with Hogwarts's no-deaths-for-fifty-years being seen as an amazing exception rather than a reasonable standard. Powerful magics are taught to children as soon as they are physically and mentally capable of casting them, with no reference to issues of maturity.
This may reflect the relatively slower pace of cultural development inside the Wizarding World : it's actually a rather recent change for young children to be treated as Western Civilization treats them. There are still people alive today who remember being allowing to carry rifles to school, as long as they kept the guns in their lockers between classes.
Erm, to be fair, they most certainly do blink an eye:
the roar of simultaneous gasps from the Wizengamot.
There are many plausible explanations for that other than Harry's age, though. I suspect they'd have reacted the same way were he an adult giving a way his entire fortune in one fell swoop to save a Muggleborn attempted murderer.
Freely acknowledged. I was just pointing out that they didn't react with aplomb.
Seconded. It is repeatedly implied in MoR that a noble child is, by default, a legitimate representative of their family, and anything that they do, or is done to them, is as if it was done by/to the family. For example, noble Slytherins get private chambers, even though they've done nothing to earn them within the context of the school's own regulations.
I don't see how that follows from your example.
Noble Slytherins are accorded privileges based on their noble status, thus being treated as representatives of their noble families, rather than just children who happen to have important parents and have to earn things on their own merit (as non-noble children would).
You seem to be confusing two things.
1) Children inheriting some of their parents' status.
2) Children being able to speak on behalf of their house.
I think you are bringing "parents" into this unnecessarily. If there were Gryffindor noble chambers, I doubt anyone would deny one to Harry on the grounds that he was an orphan. Conversely, if a hypothetical Malfoy of lesser parentage (a cousin X removed, perhaps) were to enter Hogwarts, I doubt they would be denied noble chambers because their parents were low down within the Malfoy hierarchy. For as long as they bore the Malfoy name, any discourtesy to them would be considered an insult to the House of Malfoy.
It's not about inheriting parents' status, it's about membership of a noble house. Membership of a noble house confers the right to noble chambers where they exist. It confers a bunch of legal rights, as we saw with the Wizengamot, which again are not restricted to adults. It apparently also confers the right to speak on behalf of the house. Most children do not do so, probably because they have no reason to, and are aware that they will get into terrible trouble if they end up saying anything that embarrasses their house. On the other hand, someone like Draco, who has been groomed for this sort of thing extensively, never for a moment hints that his words don't carry the full authority of his house (and is ever mindful of what his father will think of his words and actions as a result).
I think you are bringing "parents" into this unnecessarily. If there were Gryffindor noble chambers, I doubt anyone would deny one to Harry on the grounds that he was an orphan.
He's still inheriting their status. The fact that they're dead is immaterial.
Conversely, if a hypothetical Malfoy of lesser parentage (a cousin X removed, perhaps) were to enter Hogwarts, I doubt they would be denied noble chambers because their parents were low down within the Malfoy hierarchy.
Being a Malfoy is apparently higher status than being a commoner.
It's not about inheriting parents' status, it's about membership of a noble house. Membership of a noble house confers the right to noble chambers where they exist. It confers a bunch of legal rights, as we saw with the Wizengamot, which again are not restricted to adults. It apparently also confers the right to speak on behalf of the house.
One of these things is not like the others. Being a US citizen also confers a lot of rights. That doesn't mean you have the right to negotiate treaties on behalf of the US.
comment by Rukifellth · 2013-09-02T04:09:16.131Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
This also bothered me- no matter what reasoning I read here, I'll still regard this scene in the same light as the now removed scene where Harry Potter walks up to the Sorting Ceremony while the Weasley Twins play the freaking Ghost Busters theme.
I confess I liked the Ghostbusters scene. I guess the difference is that Gred and Forge goofing around (as part of their scheme to keep Harry Potter on the Light Side), and Dumbledore playing along (as part of his crazy old wizard act) makes sense to me. :) Nobody is trying to be taken seriously there. And it certainly makes more sense than what's left of the chapter now that the song was pruned out...
comment by drethelin · 2013-08-30T12:28:50.043Z · score: 1 (5 votes) · LW · GW
this also rubbed me hella wrong.
Probably a plot hole, but I'll try to fill it in: Harry is trying to build alliances that will last among the children rather than their parents, and Lucius appreciates Draco having a moment of glory. Between them, they can get whatever the hell they want in terms of symbolic gestures from their 'allies'.
comment by NancyLebovitz · 2013-08-28T19:46:52.414Z · score: 9 (9 votes) · LW · GW
Hardly the most important thing in the chapter, but I was delighted to see a moratorium on house points.
comment by arborealhominid · 2013-08-29T00:01:47.238Z · score: 28 (28 votes) · LW · GW
I wonder if this will somehow play into Quirrell's plot to have both Ravenclaw and Slytherin win the house cup.
Yes, obviously. Even in the unlikely event this wasn't all planned by Quirrell with his talk of unity, and role in the Hermione Affair, it is now really easy for him to accomplish this goal.
comment by William_Quixote · 2013-08-29T20:04:29.285Z · score: 8 (8 votes) · LW · GW
I think the moratorium on house point is one of the most important details this chapter. I'd been wondering for a long time how QQ would have both Slytherin and Ravenclaw win the house cup. The points lock seems to be a way to make that happen.
The reason that's so important is that it means this is part of the plan. Harry, Draco and the rest are all in place playing their assigned roles. If they had gone off script, then they wouldn't be advancing QQ's scheme.
I'm just imagining the professors' frustration: "Well done, , and five points for AAAAGHHH CURSE YOU HARRY!"
A clear win for the Quirrel Points system.
I thought Rowling was actually moving toward something of the kind, questioning the house system and bringing back together the houses under one roof in the persons of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville.
comment by Alsadius · 2013-09-04T22:44:39.869Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
All of whom were Gryffindor. JKR definitely had some issues of inappropriate focus in her stories, didn't she?
comment by PhilGoetz · 2013-09-04T21:24:33.869Z · score: 8 (10 votes) · LW · GW
Draco seems insufficiently clever--he's gotten a lot of character development, and could be an agent in the story, but so far he just reacts. (He's already too clever for a 10-year old, but Harry is far too clever for a 10-year-old, so fair's fair.)
I can imagine an alternate HPMoR in which instead of Hermione, Harry had died--preferably later in the story, say at a false climax in the middle of a full-scale war--and Hermione and Draco had to step up to being the protagonists. Possibly I'm just getting tired of Harry's perfection, but seeing them develop towards what Harry is now seems to have more potential drama than seeing Harry develop anywhere (that can be portrayed in fiction and understood by a wide audience) from where he is already.
Wrong thread
(He's already too clever for a 10-year old, but Harry is far too clever for a 10-year-old, so fair's fair.)
More like a 12-year old now.
You're not a Qrngu Abgr (rot13) fan by any chance, are you?
Heh. Yes, but the death you're talking about killed Death Note for me.
Ugh. rot13, please?
Fixed. Apologies.
Is Theodore Nott wearing his scary face because he learned it was a good idea to do so in Chaos, or because there is also a conspiracy of Green Slytherin: those who can cast Avada Kedavra, the green spell?
Harry courted the company of both Draco and Hermione. He adjusted his presentation to meet their expectations, as he understood them. Draco could be doing the same because why have one secret power base when you could have two?
I don't consider this terribly likely. It came up in that pattern-matching way, but feels like it's needlessly complicated.
Hopefully someone else can undermine it more decisively or support it better.
Even ignoring the rest of the post, the idea of a Green Slytherin based off of Avada Kedavra is interesting for many reasons.
Let's look at some of the implications:
Avada Kedavra and the Patronus Charm (2.0) are basically mutually exclusive. In order to cast the first, you must want someone dead for the sake of being dead, and in order to cast the latter you must value all life to the point of denying death altogether.
Avada Kedavra and the Patronus Charm (2.0) cancel each other out. We saw this in Azkaban, and at the time we probably assumed it was just a result of Quirrell and Harry's magic going out of control, but on closer inspection it seems that both simply destroy the other, matter and antimatter style, which makes sense considering what type of magic they are created from. A magically created preference for death over life, and a magically created preference for life over death.
They both also follow the political lines, as you mention above. Avada Kedavra is more likely to be known and cast by those desperate for someone to hate, and the True Patronus is more likely to be cast by those who are trying to cooperate, simply because those mindsets are more likely to lead to those specific preferences.
Now that I think about it, the two groups are also the 'Cooperators' and the 'Defectors' in the Prisoner's Dilemma.
The interesting question is if they are going to devolve into standard Green vs Blue political idiocy. If Harry has a controlling power, they may not, but I don't think Draco has progressed enough as a rationalist to be able to avoid all those old lessons yet.
There is probably more here, but I need to sit down and think for five minutes, and do a quick read through of the archives.
It seems likely that many adult wizards (eg Snape) can cast both. Can't remember if this is the case in canon or not.
comment by somervta · 2013-08-30T07:54:58.739Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
This is true in canon. I would see no problem even in HPMOR with wizards casting Patroni and AKs. It's only with Patronus 2.0 that there might be some incompatibility.
It seems vaguely possible that Harry's Dark Side compartementalization might allow him to cast both AK and True Patronus.
Yes, that was my point, it's the True Patronus charm that is the exact opposite of AK, the Patronus Charm 1.0 is really a Dumbledore spell. It avoids fear of death by thinking about something else.
comment by kilobug · 2013-08-29T17:32:21.962Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
I'm still unconvinced about "Avada Kedavra and the Patronus Charm (2.0) cancel each other out". My interpretation of it in Azkaban is more "Harry and Quirrel magic cancel each other when they interact" than anything related specifically for those spells.
For the rest, there is a significant difference which, while it doesn't matter much in absolute, matters a lot of HPMOR, is that 11 yo can't cast Avada Kedavra, while they can cast Patronus. So you can have 1st years in Hogwarts who are "Silver Slytherin" because they can cast Patronus, but you can't have "Green Slytherin" that can cast AK in 1st year, because it's too advanced magic for them.
comment by loserthree · 2013-08-30T03:17:14.612Z · score: 4 (12 votes) · LW · GW
That pulls a bit of the rug out from under that unsteady pile of pattern-matching.
This got downvoted to -2. If anyone would like to see fewer postings like the above, they can improve the odds that they'll see the change they'd like by explaining what it is about the above post that was disliked.
Thank you, in advance for your help with this.
I didn't downvote it but I'd guess that one reason why some people did is that they thought it was rude and would prefer LW to be a more civil place.
(My initial reaction to your question about downvotes was: "Ah, I bet those people didn't notice that the person being so rude was the same as the person whose 'unsteady pile of pattern-matching' they were being so rude about" -- I was very surprised when I checked and found it was just garden-variety rudeness rather than self-deprecation.)
comment by Paul Crowley (ciphergoth) · 2013-09-02T16:43:08.791Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
I think it is self-deprecation, ie it refers to this not this.
Aha, I think you're right. Score one for my intuitive self-deprecation sensors, then.
I have no idea. Upvoted for admitting you're (more likely to be) wrong, though.
Well, it's -1 now, since I often upvote comments with negative totals that I think don't deserve them. Sorry that I can't help you more!
Less worried about downvotes I've received, more interested in the things that lead to me getting them.
Thanks, though.
Our direct evidence doesn't completely pan out, because of the uncertainty of the Quirrel reaction, yes. But even without that we have evidence for the underlying theory: ie: AK is Death>Life: the spell and PC2.0 is Life>Death: the spell.
I can post quotes from both of these, in fact, I would argue that the Harry and Moody conversation on Avada Kedavra exists for the sole purpose of including that data in the narrative. Remember, these are Harry's words, a "magically expressed preference for death over life" and the Patronus Charm being cast by "rejecting death as the natural order."
Slitherin --> Slytherin
The Patronus defending against the AK makes sense in terms of what we know about the two spells, as well as the evidence from Azkaban, as others have noticed. Also, the Patronus responded to Harry's desire to protect the Auror - the response of the Patronus seems more likely if it was a property of the spell rather than of the magic of the person casting the AK (weak evidence, sure).
See, however, Lesath Lestrange.
That guy is in fifth year, though.
comment by Watercressed · 2013-08-29T22:48:57.224Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
First-years can't cast AK for reasons of raw magical power, so an organization of first-years can't use the Killing Curse as a membership criteria.
comment by EternalStargazer · 2013-08-29T23:46:33.269Z · score: -1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
But if say third years can, than ones who got their wands early may be able to. And it isn't all first years either.
Plus, it's more about the mindset than the actual ability.
It's stated that the reason first-years can't cast it is magical power, not skill, which is age-based, not practice-based.
comment by fractalman · 2013-09-02T00:52:15.784Z · score: -1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
And then quirrel won a bet with dumbledore when it turned out that first-years could cast the patronus.
Fake-moody's statement that he'd get no more than a bloody nose...You woudln't want to try that in the MoR verse. one of the students might be tempted to test it. and if the've been in quirrel's wargames, well...
you get the idea.
cause in MoR, it IS largely practice-based. in cannon rowling left it vague.
Additionally, Quirrel states in Roles, Pt 1, that Harry has insufficient raw power for the Killing Curse.
The Defense Professor inclined his head. "I shall teach you almost any magic you wish to know, Mr. Potter. I do have some limits, but you may always ask. But what specifically do you seek? You lack the raw power for the Killing Curse and most other spells deemed forbidden -"
Nope! It's stated in MoR that, unlike other advanced spells, the patronus is considered too difficult because of things like precise movements, and the emotional/willpower aspect, not magical strength.
So the gestures were complicated and delicate. That didn't stop you from learning it when you were eleven. It meant you had to be extra careful and practice each part for a lot longer than usual, that was all.
Most Charms that could only be learned by older students were like that because they required more strength of magic than any young student could muster. But the Patronus Charm wasn't like that, it wasn't difficult because it needed too much magic, it was difficult because it took more than mere magic.
I like the thought, because awesome complications & pattern-matching. I also really hope it doesn't exist. It seems more likely that Jugson would have started such a faction.
They see you as small and helpless, They see you as just a child...
Wow. I expect that from Harry at this point, but this just rubbed in the fact that the eleven-year-old protagonists are very much more heroic than most of the adults.
So, here's a question: Aside from uniting Malfoy and Bones, and in general every House in Hogwarts, and the Boy-Who-Lived on top of that in to a single anti-childkilling power bloc, what else is going on here?
The first thing that comes to mind is that this is probably part of Quirrell's plot to set up Harry as Light Lord...
"The first thing that comes to mind is that this is probably part of Quirrell's plot to set up Harry as Light Lord..."
If it's as patently ridiculous as his plot to invent a fake Dark Lord who publicly reveals himself and challenges Harry to a fake public duel where he casts a fake Avada Kedavra that fake-backfires just so Harry can spend summer vacation at home, then I sure hope not.
War. With children.
I fear the consequences if we don't solve this.
Edit: I'm serious:
This was actually intended as a dry run for a later, serious “Solve this or the story ends sadly” puzzle
I agree that it's important and has serious consequences, but what is the puzzle?
In a previous story, EY posted the penultimate chapter along with an ultimatum: You will earn a Bad Ending by doing nothing, and a Good Ending by guessing, following the internal logic of the story, what the correct solution to this problem is.
The problem could be solved by combining a revelation in the latest chapter with information from an infodump in the first chapter, explaining how space travel worked in universe.
It was in fact solved, and he posted both endings.
This is the danger, that he may do the same thing here, and we must be ready to solve the problem.
I doubt it will be much of an issue however, the raw processing power we have to work with here is much higher, since HPMOR is much more popular than Three Worlds Collide.
A fun idea, but I doubt he will do that again here. HPMOR was written as a teaching device and a way of promoting rationalist thinking to a large audience. That is, its not just a fun piece of writing, its a tool and so the ending will be whatever makes it better accomplish the purpose for which it was created. EY won't blunt his tools based on a poll.
comment by AndrewE · 2013-08-30T19:37:44.853Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
I rather hope he does do it, though I doubt it will be as much of an ultimatum was TWC was. If it happens, I expect it to take the form of "the climax will be posted when somebody figures it out, or after X months otherwise".
He does sometimes use his tools bluntly, however.
comment by PrometheanFaun · 2013-09-05T22:41:41.060Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
I think he's never going to do that here. He did that in TWC because if we were able to come up with the winning strategy when pressed, that would indicate that one of the crew members in the story definitely would have, too, proving it would have been unreasonable to write an ending where they did not. In this case our ability to solve the puzzle doesn't really say anything about the plausibility of the work's characters' solving it. Our success would not necessitate theirs, as we're more populous, experienced, and have access to a huge written record. Nor would our failure necessitate theirs, as Harry has magical insights. The groups' capacities say little about each other.
comment by alex_zag_al · 2013-09-28T03:05:39.395Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
re: magical insights, yeah - we could have theorized about how potions worked, but we could not test those theories the way Harry did. Since Harry has experiments we don't have access to, he has magical insights we don't have access to
I was referring more to that shadowy part of his mind that knows just what to look for. A source of insight that doesn't obey natural human cognitive constraints.
This would be explicitly against Yudkowsky's stated goals for the story,
The Rule of Rationalist Fiction states that rationality is not magic; being rational does not require magical potential or royal bloodlines or even amazing gadgets, and the principles of rationality work for understandable reasons. A rationalist!hero should excel by thinking - moreover, thinking in understandable patterns that readers can, in principle, adopt for themselves. As opposed to the hero just being a born “genius” who comes up with amazing gadgets through an opaque discovery process, or who flawlessly pulls off incredibly complicated gambits that would fail miserably if the reader tried something similar in real life.
All he has that we don't is more facts. (Which is often a hindrance; it was easier for us to figure out Lucius's blood debt, because we had less "memory" to search through.) If he could also exceed natural human cognitive constraints, this wouldn't be rationalist fiction.
(source: http://hpmor.com/info/)
Assuming that Harry's Dark Side is integral to a significant proportion of plays(assuming rather than noting because my memory is patchy and I don't remember if it was like this or if the dark side was more a background character than an oft-employed tool), perhaps we could infer from this that EY considers it to be an natural state of mind that also happens to flourish rarely enough that no character Harry will ever meet is likely to be able to correct his misperception of it. I'd then assume EY must have visited it himself to write it.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was a magical dark side. But I'd be shocked if it was a magical dark side that could think better than a well trained adult.
Now that I think about it, he definitely has a source of insight that doesn't obey natural ten-year-old cognitive constraints.
But then, it is pretty much the premise of this fic that Harry doesn't obey "natural" ten-year old cognitive constraints because he is a prodigy by birth (with top-rate education that has allowed him to draw on his full mental potential). That premise accepted, there is nothing implausible about his dark side simply focusing his mental capabilities and allowing him to reach new levels of performance (at the cost of limiting processing in other areas such as empathy).
comment by tgb · 2013-08-29T17:26:24.225Z · score: 0 (2 votes) · LW · GW
That depends on the nature of the challenge. In TWC, it was merely "have at least one person state this solution as a possibility." If EY wants to make it hard, he can have it be some sort of consensus-gathering executed by a poll, or similar.
I also doubt it will be an issue. But it will be fun. And I'm wondering if we could try to get a head start...
comment by roystgnr · 2013-08-29T22:36:22.617Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
I hope we don't have to get a head start. There's something to be said for enjoying a mystery yourself before collaborative problem solving explains it for you and you have to shift to enjoying it as dramatic irony immediately rather than upon reread. I've been refraining from trying to evangelize my most certain personal theories here in part because I don't want to spoil The Eventual Reveal for others, but if there's a strong likelihood that reader preparation is going to, say, make the difference between dead-Hermione and revived-Hermione, then it's going to be likely-spoilers time...
comment by BabyBoo · 2013-09-11T05:31:06.157Z · score: 4 (6 votes) · LW · GW
I just got twigged back to MoR after having wandered away for a long while -- I think the chapter I had left off with before was 'Interview with the Confessor' -- so I spent most of last week re-reading the story and then working my way through the discussion threads here (most of them, anyway -- it was around the Chap. 84 discussions when the pressure of "arrrgh I just want to go back and tell all these people in the past that Hermione's trial ain't nothing on what's coming!"). Along the way I made some notes and I'd like to dump them on you, if I may.
None of these are focused toward any specific theory -- of the various speculations I've read, some strike me as more convincing than others, but I haven't got any "pets" among them. These are just things that I don't think have been remarked on much, though they may have come up in the discussion threads I skipped; I'm just putting them here in hopes they might strike some clever neurons in new ways.
EY, 26 Nov 2010:
Tom Riddle got a Time-Turner in his third year and Legilimized himself.
This offhand comment is probably a joke... but it does seem to me that Yudkowsky may on occasion have said a couple things about the idea of a self-improving intelligences being sort of noteworthy.
"Information cannot go back more than six hours"
This description of the limits of time-travel in the MoRverse comes from non-Rationalist Dumbledore, so he's likely not using 'information' in the same way that, say, Claude Shannon would, but rather meaning 'knowledge' -- in the sense of 'facts known by a person'. I only mention it because a couple of debate-lines, over such things as Amelia Bones' "I have knowledge from the future" and other extrapolations of time-foolery have been pinning points on the transmission of rigorous-sense Information. But it seems more likely that the magic 'source code' only counts it in the colloquial sense. If a smarter cookie like Harry were to try to make use of things like air-current distortions to send knowledge back more than six hours, he'd probably get a DNMWT error of some sort.
Some discussions about the Santa Claus notes, and Dumbledore's honesty, have involved the statement that "If Dumbledore saw a chance to possess one of the Deathly Hallows he would never let it escape his grasp."
I figure the record ought to show that while Dumbledore has been seen to let the Cloak literally escape his grasp, the sentence as written remains true, that he has never yet let the chance to possess it do so.
On the death of Rita Skeeter:
I think the reason some readers were happy to be bloodthirsty over this scene has to do with something Mike Smith observed (though he was talking about about Umbridge) -- that in a sort of intuitive sense of 'dramatic balance, the narrative weight of her villainy just wasn't countered with enough weight of punishment. Skeeter, set up as someone who callously ruins careers through acts of public humiliation, racks up an emotional/dramatic debt that would call for her own career to be ruined similarly; instead, she just gets mildly humiliated in front of only two people, and left perfectly free to trash the lives of anyone who isn't Hermione's buddy.
I can't prove it of course, but I do strongly suspect that readers would have seen less 'comically overstated satirical payback' and more 'cold-blooded murder' in the scene if she'd gotten a more satisfying come-uppance in the original book. Of course, the satirical aspect plays in here too -- MoR on the whole has a sufficient comic tone and any number of sly swipes at the original that the emotional weight of the scene as something happening to a person is easy to overlook, since the 'satire' reading encourages comparison to such gleefully bloodthirsty comedies as, say, Robot Chicken or MAD magazine, rather than comparison to murder scenes in a drama or thriller.
I know," said the old wizard. "My apologies, Amelia." He sighed. "Some of the more recent prisoners had scraps of their magic left, when I looked upon them, but I sensed no uneaten power; the strongest had only as much magic left as a first-year child.
Um, so yeah, he opened the door and looked right at Harry during the Azkaban escape. What the hell is he playing at?
Anyone notice how often Lethifolds are mentioned in this fic? I didn't notate them, but there seem to have been at least three or four characters saying or thinking things along the lines of "scary as being eaten by a Lethifold" or "there's bad things out there, like Lethifolds". That was mostly in earlier chapters, but it sure felt to me as though the author wanted to make sure we're all aware that Lethifolds are part of the background here.
re: Harry's peculiar lack of interest in pursuing the "sense of doom":
A lot of responses keep bringing up the scene where McGonnagal firmly shuts him down on this point. Um, are a large number of readers here seriously proposing "McGonnagal said no" as a strong, ongoing influence on Harry's actions?
I can conceive of several possible causes for Harry not to even wonder much about the weird, ominous sensation affecting his mind, but lack of permission from McGonnagal -- even when backed by a graphic, over-the-top threat -- is right down there with gravitational influence from Mars as a significant factor.
"I accept the bargain. Yourself to die, and the child to live."
This bargain -- proposed by Lily, agreed to by Voldemort -- is subsequently carried out to the letter, despite a thwarted effort on her part to renege. Just tossing that out there as a flat fact about the scene; make of it what you will, but of the threads I've read through, every discussion appears to tangle this whole scene up with the 'love sacrifice' from JKR!canon while overlooking that this bargain is put forth, accepted, and carried out.
To go from that fact to something more speculative, it looks to me like Voldemort here deliberately provokes Lily into proposing said bargain, so that he could seal it by accepting, and is amused as hell when she walks into it.
re: Dumbledore's Chicken:
Friendship is Magic provides corroboration that Phoenixes (Phoenices?) look uncharacteristically goofy and awkward, to the extent of seeming an almost entirely different species, as they approach their natural immolation point.
(Just a joke. If you don't already get it, the amusement value is not worth the necessary research.)
Chap. 17:
The Remembrall was glowing bright red in his hand, blazing like a miniature sun that cast shadows on the ground in broad daylight.
And the boy in the crib saw it, the eyes, those two crimson eyes, seeming to glow bright red, to blaze like miniature suns, filling Harry's whole vision as they locked to his own
That's... quite interesting, don't you think?
comment by HungryHippo · 2013-08-30T11:36:09.191Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
When Harry lists all the ways he could have prevented Hermione's death to McG, he is quite upset and mentions that he could have asked for everyone to get communication mirrors. This is overheard by Dumbledore, as we learn later in the chapter. However, as far as we know, Harry has seen communication mirrors only once: when he was in Azkaban. Dumbledore should be able to deduce this and thus that Harry was indeed involved in the break out.
comment by ArisKatsaris · 2013-08-30T11:55:41.549Z · score: 8 (8 votes) · LW · GW
Are "communication mirrors" supposed to be a big secret of the Aurors that Harry wouldn't have been able to learn about otherwise? I doubt it.
The only ones seen in canon belonged to Sirius and James, but they're so tactically useful that of course all MoR aurors have them. This somewhat implies that they aren't exactly easy to come by, but doesn't make it clear if this is because they're too costly to make and mass produce, if they're strictly regulated, or if the Marauders were supposed to have developed them. (Even if the marauders developed them, you'd think they would have shared the secret with the Order of the Phoenix in the first war, so I doubt that's the explanation. They're probably just difficult to produce on mass, either because the process requires a highly skilled wizard, or because the wizarding world can't seem to mass-produce anything but candies and newspapers.)
comment by DanArmak · 2013-08-30T12:55:51.201Z · score: 2 (4 votes) · LW · GW
Indeed, the Auxiliary Protective Force Aurors gave them to all the APSC members, and Susan used hers publicly in the last chapter to signal them to enter.
Susan took a small, round glass object from within her robes, one of the communicators that the DMLE used, which they'd all been given
comment by mare-of-night · 2013-08-31T12:21:57.970Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
It's relevant that Dumbledore had it pointed out to him that mirrors could have saved Hermione, and he didn't procure them for Harry and Neville
Given that Harry talks with the Defense Professor about how the magicial world works and reads a lot of books I find it unlikely that Dumbledore would think that Harry doesn't know about the mirrors.
Given that Harry talks with the Defense Professor about how the magicial world works and reads a lot of books
and would be especially interest in militarily useful magic...
So, speculation for what Harry wants the twins to buy for him. After thinking about this for 5 minutes by the clock, this is what I came up with:
1) A nuclear device (foreshadowed, one of the few things Quirrel fears, useful as a bargaining chip/MAD)
2) Some other form of muggle weapon (superset of #1)
3) Some muggle tech that can speed up Hermione's resurrection process if the main plan fails
4) Related to #3 - ingredients for a magical ritual/potion which will resurrect Hermione if the main plan fails (foreshadowed)
comment by chaosmage · 2013-08-29T09:29:28.933Z · score: 7 (7 votes) · LW · GW
My guess is computer hardware and a source of electricity, so he can finally get started on one of those big projects to gain large amounts of personal power / resources.
The economy-disrupting arbitrage scheme was introduced as early as chapter 4. Lots of money would have helped Harry in pretty much every arc. He could think of many, many other schemes to help him finally start world optimisation in earnest. But he never did that. In story logic, he never got round to doing it due to interference from all sides. In writing logic, this can only happen in the final arc because otherwise, the story will be known as "Harry Potter gets really rich" and cease to be about the methods of rationality anymore.
That doesn't necessarily point to computer hardware, but chapter 87 mentions them as a powerful tool that wizards lack ("If there's a money-making method in this book that sounds difficult for a wizard, but it's easy if we can use Dad's old Mac Plus, then we'd have a plan.") and I have a hard time thinking about world optimisation plans that wouldn't benefit from at least some sensible organisation of data, scheduling and on-the-fly printing.
This would have the inconvenience of requiring an undefended secondary base, perhaps in Hogsmeade or London - Muggle technology doesn't work in Hogwarts, and Harry can't Apparate, so he would have to keep travelling back and forth to wherever he kept his computer whenever he wanted to use it.
Harrys mechanical clock works, so set up a typewriter as input, a seismograph as output and ropes as wire to remote-control a computer.
comment by LM7805 · 2013-09-19T13:23:38.808Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
I doubt Harry has read many RFCs, but IP over avian carrier had been around for just over two years at this point in the story.
comment by Izeinwinter · 2013-08-28T22:19:13.785Z · score: 7 (7 votes) · LW · GW
Most of the ideas listed so far are either much too nasty, better done with magic, or both. Mostly both. So, what contingencies could Harry procure from the world for a reasonably modest amount of money that do things he cannot just transfigure, or do by wand, and which the twins would not recognize?
First thing that comes to mind are various non-lethal drugs, since those are going into the targets body, which means transfiguration is out if you want the subject to live. So, LSD (lethal dose absurdly higher than effective dose. .which is useful if you want to dose a crowd) Tranquilizers think this fits on all counts?
Lets see, what else would it be a bad idea/impractical to transfigure. Muggle photography gear? But the twins would recognize that.
Smoke grenades. (Not subject to finite, a counter for every spell that requires you to see your target.)
Protective kit good enough to count as valid precautions for transfiguration stunts.. would break the budget given.
Id say bugging kit, but a purely mechanical recording device would be a museum piece, and cabinet size..
comment by fubarobfusco · 2013-08-29T03:06:02.120Z · score: 6 (6 votes) · LW · GW
Dosing the water supply might well work better on wizards than on muggles. Muggles chlorinate their water supply, and even a small amount of chlorine will rapidly inactivate LSD.
Then again, some natural water sources have that amount of chlorine in them anyway.
Don't forget useful drugs to use on allies ratehr than enemies.
Small quantity of chemical explosives.
1) A nuclear device
You can't buy nuclear or other WMDs for a hundred Galleons. And the instruction implied buying, not to stealing (and what wizard capable of stealing nuclear warheads would want or need such a paltry payment?)
More to the point, Harry - or any wizard - can just Transfigure WMDs. Quick, free, and no need to carry dangerous stuff around.
He can also Transfigure antimatter. If he can come up with a reliable remote trigger, that is gram per gram the deadliest thing known to Muggle science. It was also foreshadowed a bit (chapter 14):
Say, Professor McGonagall, did you know that time-reversed ordinary matter looks just like antimatter? Why yes it does! Did you know that one kilogram of antimatter encountering one kilogram of matter will annihilate in an explosion equivalent to 43 million tons of TNT? Do you realise that I myself weigh 41 kilograms and that the resulting blast would leave A GIANT SMOKING CRATER WHERE THERE USED TO BE SCOTLAND?
2) Some other form of muggle weapon
As above for any weapon I can think of. Antimatter and nuclear weapons trump any area-effect attack. Poisons and biological or chemical agents can be Transfigured too, unless you need them to last for a long time before acting. Magic trumps Muggle personal weapons. ETA: not Harry's magic, though, and guns can be useful against weak or unprepared wizards. Electronics, computers, and software are Sirs Not Appearing In This Fanfic.
Ingredients for a magical ritual/potion which will resurrect Hermione if the main plan fails
Interesting. An irreplaceable Muggle artifact that was created by expending life in some manner, so sacrificing it would release "life energy"? I think though that defeating Death in such a purely magical would not be appropriate for Harry.
What? Harry doesn't want a gun because his magic is weak? In canon, guns are moderately effective against wizards. Carrying a pistol or a submachine gun around is the most blatantly obvious force multiplier, especially given that any other spell Harry can cast has at least a half-second casting time AND a two second cooldown.
Guns would be useful against opponents who 1) were not prepared to face them (as the troll was prepared to face specific threats like sunshine), 2) were not adult wizards with shields raised. So yes, that leaves some options against which a gun in the bag of holding would be useful. (Harry will need to practice firing it though.) You're right, I'll update my comment accordingly.
comment by Benito · 2013-08-29T18:55:16.695Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Where are guns in Canon please?
The only mention of guns in canon that I can recall is at the start of Prisoner of Azkaban, where the muggle side of the Sirius Black scare mentions him as armed and dangerous, and the Daily Prophet agrees that muggles are saying he has a gun, which they describe as being something like a muggle wand that they can use to attack one another.
I assume that a great many wizarding children went on to imagine the muggle world as some very interesting variant on the stereotypical Wild West, where "boomstick" was probably a better description of a shotgun than usual.
comment by topynate · 2013-08-28T22:24:33.176Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
I doubt he can Transfigure antimatter. If he can, the containment will be very hard to get right, and he would absolutely have to get it right. How do you even stop it blowing up your wand, if you have to contact the material you're Transfiguring?
Maybe Tazers! They'd work against some shields, are quite tricky to make, and if you want lots of them they're easier to buy. Other things: encrypted radios, Kevlar armour (to avoid Finite Incantem). Most things that can be bought for 5K could have been bought in Britain in the early 90s, apart from that sort of paramilitary gear. Guns are unlikely because the twins would have heard of them.
Guns are unlikely because the twins would have heard of them.
Consensus on /r/HPMOR was that Harry would have specified a type of gun and its ammo, since if he just said "guns" the twins would probably have brought muskets.
Where would they even get muskets today? In a museum?
My opinion too. Guns capable of killing a troll or being highly effective against powerful wizards would break the budget AND be hard to obtain (Anti-material rifle for the former, which Harry probably cannot fire, and submachine gun for the latter), but there are other possibilities. Early in the fic Muggle rocket launchers are mentioned. I think that in the Third World, an RPG with a few rockets may go for under $1000.
The twins just scanned the list, and the twins probably wouldn't have recognized, say '9mm automatic pistol' even if they know what guns are.
I don't think that Tasers were really a thing until 1994, which saw the first version that didn't use gunpowder as a propellant (and hence was not legally a firearm). Harry could still have heard of them by good luck, of course.
He transfigured a taser for his fight against Moody.
Transfigure the containment device first. Then find a way to transfigure the antimatter inside it. To solve the wand contact problem, transfigure the empty container into a full container. Then his wand is in contact with the container, but the container doesn't actually change.
Granted, it's extremely dangerous, especially when practicing.
Yes, there is the problem that no-one knows what containment for macroscopic amounts of antimatter looks like. We have some ideas, but nothing that would be safe for Harry to try.
Electronics, computers, and software are Sirs Not Appearing In This Fanfic.
It's pretty standard fanon that magic interferes badly with electronics. (Canon is similar but less specific.)
Which bugs me. I want to see glorious contraptions based off physics real and fake alike. Too many people try to replicate Tolkein's bucolic countryside scenes with their fantasy universes.
comment by RolfAndreassen · 2013-08-28T22:13:32.396Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
just Transfigure WMDs.
Transfigure a critical mass of uranium, ok. Transfigure several subcritical masses with a working trigger? Much more difficult. Since, as far as I can tell, you have to be within visual range of the thing you are Transfiguring, this would be a bit of a last-ditch option. At least with war gases you could work on the contents of a bottle, or something.
If he can make a model rocket, he can make a uranium gun design. It's one slightly sub-critical mass of uranium with a suitable hole for the second piece, which is shaped like a bullet and fired at it using a single unsynchronised electronic trigger down a barrel long enough to get up a decent speed. Edit: And then he or a friendly 7th year casts a charm of flawless function on it.
That was a lot more than a model rocket.... probably weighed at least 5kg. Also, the fact that either he OR Quirrel could make a working large rocket engine without knowing the exact composition of propellant, precise geometry of nozzle, etc indicates that Transfiguration can work at a really high level of abstraction. He probably would have no trouble at all transfiguring a nuclear weapon with a mechanical timer trigger.
well of course, can't you transfigure animals?
Actually, yeah, you can. I think.
http://hpmor.com/chapter/15
Her wand came down and tapped her desk, which smoothly reshaped itself into a pig.
comment by TsviBT · 2013-08-28T20:32:37.100Z · score: 4 (6 votes) · LW · GW
And the acid from the previous chapter.
Jugson refused to support Malfoy, if I recall.
comment by sketerpot · 2013-08-29T02:40:20.808Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
This also has the advantage of being cheap in bulk, since it has so many industrial uses. Current prices are under $400/ton.
I don't see a particular advantage to those things. Quirrel doesn't fear a single nuclear weapon -- Voldemort can survive such a thing -- he fears nuclear annihilation or MAD, which is a separate matter and not much overlapped with an individual bomb. Muggle weapons are useful and a matter that might require someone to go outside of the country to get... but even a firearm requires training that Harry doesn't have, and can not kill a Dementor or a Troll. Where firearms could threaten the average unaware Wizard, we've seen that most major players are aware of firearms (including McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Snape, see chapter 61), and thus it would not likely fall under things that a Muggle Expert's sons would not recognize.
And the set of things that Rationalist!Harry knows can resurrect someone is very, very small, and not much overlapped with the Muggle world. Most rituals and potions require ingredients that already have significant magical power.
The "things that Fred and George can't recognize" is an interesting set. Canon!ArthurWeasley isn't very knowledgeable, but he at least had an interesting in electrical power, heavy-than-air non-magical flight, and chemical fueled engines. I think we can expect him to be of similar intelligence or smarter in MoR. It's possible that he's better at hiding his interest in Muggle technology or that Rationalist!Harry intentionally wrote non-standard descriptions for the items, but that seems unlikely. ((We're also taking 1990-ish tech, so some 'obvious' stuff from today either didn't exist or would exceed his budget.))
The first thought is dry ice, and the tools necessary to maintain it. Rationalist!Harry has broken several rules of transfiguration, including "don't burn anything", but the ability to transfigure CO2 is probably the easiest way to 'safely' violate that rule, not terribly expensive, but not within his normal abilities to easily produce otherwise.
comment by gthorneiii · 2013-08-29T01:05:05.591Z · score: 9 (9 votes) · LW · GW
Canon!ArthurWeasley isn't very knowledgeable, but he at least had an interesting in electrical power, heavy-than-air non-magical flight, and chemical fueled engines. I think we can expect him to be of similar intelligence or smarter in MoR.
I don't think so, per chapter 61:
Madam Bones's voice continued. "We brought in Arthur Weasley from Misuse of Muggle Artifacts - he knows more about Muggle artifacts than any wizard alive - and gave him the descriptions from the Aurors on the scene, and he cracked it. It was a Muggle artifact called a rocker, and they call it that because you'd have to be off your rocker to ride one. Just six years ago one of their rockers blew up, killed hundreds of Muggles in a flash and almost set fire to the Moon. Weasley says that rockers use a special kind of science called opposite reaction, so the plan is to develop a jinx which will prevent that science from working around Azkaban."
"Severus?" the old wizard said. "What was it actually?"
"A rocket," said the half-blood Potions Master, who had grown up in the Muggle town of Spinner's End. "One of the most impressive Muggle technologies."
It seems pretty clear from chapter 61 that MOR!ArthurWeasley knows precious little about the muggle world.
On a side note, I'd like to see the spell-research attempts at preventing "opposite reaction" from working.
I mean, I'm sure they'll get it eventually, but they're going to get some rather hilarious results in the meantime...
So would I, and I wouldn't mind writing some, but posting such snippets here has been previously discouraged.
Hmm.. I guess this is what ff.net is for, at that. I'll send you a link if I end up writing it.
comment by Armok_GoB · 2013-09-07T23:25:30.882Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
I'd like to see it to, and probably so would many reading this.
comment by J_Taylor · 2013-08-29T03:59:32.470Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
When it comes to wizards who lack recent Muggle ancestry, Arthur may well be the most knowledgeable expert regarding these matters. Considering the racism of even well-meaning wizards, this likely gives Arthur a certain degree of clout in certain circles.
Voldemort can survive such a thing -- he fears nuclear annihilation or MAD, which is a separate matter and not much overlapped with an individual bomb
Detonating a single nuclear bomb in Washington or Russia would have triggered nuclear attacks in 1993 where the events of this story take place.
The story is currently in April 1992.
I'm thinking sulfuric acid?
Don't forget Space Stuff.
comment by JTHM · 2013-08-29T00:30:45.507Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Well, we know that the Weasley twins don't recognize anything on the list, and since older muggle technology has a way of gradually seeping into the wizarding world, it's not likely to be anything developed too recently. It also probably isn't something that an Oxford professor would be able to obtain inconspicuously, or else Harry would probably just ask his father. (Though it still might be something his father could obtain at the cost of drawing attention to himself, and Harry just doesn't want anyone to guess that said purchase was really for him.) Anything electronic is unlikely, as we've seen no foreshadowing that Harry has invented a way to make electronics work near magic. So I looked through some timelines of important inventions, starting with the 1920's, for anything that might be remotely useful for a young magical inventor to have. My results:
Tommy guns, lie detector machines, jetpacks, polaroids, radar, photocopiers, LSD, teflon, electron Microscopes, slinkies, silly Putty, submachine guns, nuclear weapons, velcro, rocket-Propelled Grenades, super Glue, various antibiotics, fiber optics, lasers, halogen Lamps, kevlar, high-temperature superconductors, various chemical weapons and poisons,
Harry mentions that someone would likely have to go out of the country to obtain some of the items on his list. The only items on my list which would be difficult to obtain on short notice in Britain would be weapons and body armor, owing to strict UK gun laws; this makes it likely that Harry is looking for weaponry. Can anyone else think of a non-electronic 20th century muggle invention that would be difficult to obtain in the UK but not overseas?
Plastic explosive.
Actually, thermite.
I'd assumed it would be a variety of muggle items that were generally useful but hard to get, rather than preparations for any one specific thing. My "mental image" was basically a chemistry set, since Harry probably knows some tricks that require specific chemicals that you can't get at a normal shop because most people don't want them.
That wouldn't require going outside Britain, though. Something illegal or highly controlled, like Izeinwinter's suggestion of LSD, or the weapons a lot of other people are suggesting. I don't /think/ Harry would go for warheads, but guns maybe.
comment by DanielLC · 2013-08-28T21:05:48.001Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
I was thinking it could be something for cryonics.
comment by Nornagest · 2013-08-28T21:09:57.110Z · score: 5 (5 votes) · LW · GW
Eliezer has mentioned elseforum that Harry hasn't heard of cryonics.
(I'm assuming this qualifies as a public statement.)
The uber genius science wiz kid who wants to live forever, whose father is an eminent professor of biochemistry at Oxford, hasn't heard of cryonics?
comment by Eliezer Yudkowsky (Eliezer_Yudkowsky) · 2013-08-29T04:39:28.661Z · score: 7 (7 votes) · LW · GW
I would guess >90% of whiz kids haven't.
Let's even grant that.
How about factoring in "plans to live forever through science"? That's probably the most relevant prior information.
Estimate P(never heard of cryonics | read tons of science and scifi books and researches interests and plans on living forever through science). Isn't that basically Harry before magic came along? He somehow missed mention of cryonics when he looked into means to live forever?
I missed it completely and was doing much the same thing at that age. I actually ran right over cryonics - it showed up in Artemis Fowl and my absurdity heuristic/Colfer's tone tossed it aside.
Space Seed? Several 1970s sci-fi novels feature it.
2001: A Space Odyssey comes close, as does Planet of the Apes. Alien, too (though I wouldn't expect him to have seen that)
HP is set in 1991, so we're too early for Babylon 5 ("The Long Dark") or especially Futurama.
You might have dismissed it, but I doubt he would have. Maaybe if his father dismissed it as rubbish.
Space Seed?
KHAAAAAAAANNN!
How could a nerd not know that?
Harry's also interested in space travel and a human diaspora. Cryogenic hibernation is the standard way to travel to other planets, barring warp drive.
Yeah, but to be fair, usually in those stories they're sending live people.
Except for legal issues, there's little reason to wait until someone is dead to preserve them.
comment by drnickbone · 2013-09-04T19:08:23.893Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Well, your Harry has heard of "nanotechnology a la Eric Drexler" (Chapter 28), so I find it very surprising that he wouldn't also be aware of Drexler's views on cryonics. Engines of Creation was published in 1986... I would have expected Harry to have read the whole book.
Surely you mean ‘hadn't’ here?
And yet, 8 years later, Matt Groening and David Cohen could assume that fans of The Simpsons would know what it is as a matter of course; the pilot episode of Futurama offers no explanation beyond the word ‘cryogenics’, an icy cartoon effect, and a dial with a timer on it. You could blame that on the Internet, but that's for popular culture to learn that a sci-fi genius didn't know.
On the other hand, I could easily believe that Harry has only heard of this in a way that makes it sound like nonsense, and he never followed it up. Its absence doesn't detract from the story for me.
comment by [deleted] · 2013-09-02T07:30:44.877Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
Er, Fry was alive when he got frozen. I hadn't heard about the idea of cryopreserving legally dead people in hope that not-yet-available technology to revive them will be invented until years later than I watched that Futurama episode. (Then again, I read way less sci fi than HJPEV.)
comment by gwern · 2013-09-01T01:08:21.535Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
And yet, 8 years later, Matt Groening and David Cohen could assume that fans of The Simpsons would know what it is as a matter of course; the pilot episode of Futurama offers no explanation beyond the word ‘cryogenics’, an icy cartoon effect, and a dial with a timer on it.
I've seen Futurama mentioned negatively as having introduced cryonics to a lot of people in a ridiculous light, and Groening's Simpsons has always indulged in a lot of very obscure references (read the Simpsons Archive's annotated scripts for an episode and note how many you did not notice on a single watch), so merely appearing on his shows doesn't necessarily mean a lot - especially since Futurama goes to considerable lengths to make the cryonics completely understandable to people with zero idea about it, with Fry falling into a glassy supermarket-style freezer*, being flash-frozen (not vitrified), and then a long timelapse montage explaining visually the lapse of time. The concept comes through clear as a bell to anyone who has ever used a freezer, which in the USA is pretty much everyone.
* note, by the way, how they went with a common piece of technology used in every supermarket for many decades, which looks completely different from every dewar ever used by actual cryonics organizations.
If Futurama really introduced it to many people, then I'm wrong. I always thought that Groening & Cohen expected the viewers to already know about it, but that doesn't mean much, since I already knew about it (even though only as a crackpot idea yet).
It's hard to prove that people were ignorant, of course, but I think it did bring cryonics up to a lot of people who didn't know about it. (If nothing else, all the kids and teens watching it - the younger you are, the less time you've had to run into the idea.) Some links:
Futurama hits on Cryonet
'cryonics' hits: 535k
'cryonics AND futurama': 1,850k
Ngrams 1960-2008, cryonics & Futurama (apparently 'Futurama' was a term long before the show? So the ngram is a bit meaningless, though it's interesting it has surpassed cryonics.)
I'm kind of surprised by how few books have mentioned Futurama in recent years. (Then again, ISTR that Google Ngram Viewer sampled pre-2000 books and post-2000 books in different ways.)
Well before Futurama, there was a Woody Allen movie called Sleeper with a similar premise. It seems to be a pretty common way to do the Rip Van Winkle scenario.
comment by RichardKennaway · 2013-09-01T06:24:07.920Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
And before that was the British TV series of 1966-67, Adam Adamant. And before that, Heinlein's The Door into Summer, which Harry has surely read, takes cold sleep back to 1957. So the concept is available to him, and with his mind, he can take it seriously even if no-one else has yet.
comment by JoshuaZ · 2013-08-29T13:56:24.854Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
That he would fall into that category seems doubtful given that he's been exposed to so much science fiction though. Cryonics is a staple of scifi, so it shouldn't take him that much thinking to see how plausible it could be or to note that people have actually tried it.
comment by Joshua_Blaine · 2013-08-30T00:53:17.784Z · score: 7 (7 votes) · LW · GW
As someone who read Ender's Game at the age of 11, and consequently a lot more sci-fi since then, It took Eliezer's "You Only Live Twice" post six years later to properly elevate my knowledge of cryonics to actual conscious awareness. It took an actual proponent of the procedure telling me about it and that people are actually doing it in real life for me to notice it as a useful idea.
And the only thing I needed for convincing was the feasibility of the science, not any moral qualms about the implications of it all. I was (and still am) in the same mind-set concerning life extension and widespread immortality as Harry, and a single afternoon reading about the procedure had me basically convinced.
So no, I don't really think it's incredibly unlikely that Harry hasn't properly heard about cryonics as used in the manor he needs. Of course, I'm but a single data point. How many smart kids have you met that are or aren't knowledgable about existing cryonic procedures?
comment by Mestroyer · 2013-09-02T05:44:58.936Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
I remember reading a cartoon as a kid about cryonics which portrayed it cynically if I remember correctly. I didn't realize it was actually a thing people did, but I remember thinking "This sounds like something I would want to do in real life. There has to be some reason it wouldn't work though, because I'm hearing about it in a cartoon and not in real life."
SF readers don't know either.
What if we narrow it down to "Niven readers"? "Corpsicles" feature in a Niven-verse novel and a novella from the 70s, and Harry makes an offhand reference to Niven-verse Puppeteers in HPMOR chapter 9. Harry might not know about Alcor but he should at least be aware of the general idea.
This claim is surprising. The Psychomech trilogy (published in the mid 1980s) involves deliberate cryonic preservation of multiple characters in the hope that when one of them becomes a functional god he'll be able to resurrect them. In that case, one of the characters who is preserved is the love-interest of the protagonist. And the later books in that series imagine a world in a not too distant future where cryonics is extremely common. Lem's "Fiasco" deals with medical cryonics and is also from the 1980s. Pohl's "The Age of Pussyfoot" also has explicit medical cryonics, albeit with a somewhat reactionary message.
Ettinger himself was inspired to think about cryonics as a practical thing from the short story "The Jameson Satellite" (admittedly fairly obscure).
As a matter of pure anecdote, I had encountered the idea in multiple contexts when I was about Harry's age, and Harry if anything has been exposed to more scifi than I had at that age.
On the other hand, I'd never heard of Psychomech, and I thought I knew sf from that era fairly well. Perhaps the book is better known in the UK.
comment by LucasSloan · 2013-08-29T17:52:17.204Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
Does your theory have anything more to say than "the internet has changed things" to explain why I knew about cryonics at Harry's age?
Harry is very, very likely to have come across the concept of cold sleep. That is not cryonics. Cryonics is the idea of freezing the dead in the hope of fixing the problem later with better tech, even if you do not even know how to revive the frozen at the time. As a serious idea, it is new and fringy, as fiction.. It does come up, but not very often - even people wishing to throw a character into the future usually handwave a stasis field.
Sure. That still doesn't answer the question of who does hear about it. We could just say that 1% of people who read SF have heard about it, but then my experience is hard to explain - I hadn't read all that much SF by age 11. It seems quite reasonable to say that the 10 years that the Internet existed between me and Harry was decisive, but I'm asking what variables explain the difference between two SF readers, only one of whom has heard of cryonics.
Uhm - an personal experience like this holds approximately zero data about its own frequency. The sheer number of things you encounter and learn about while growing up, and the universe of learning are both so vast that if your exploration of the library strays from the beaten path of school assignments, bestsellers and nigh-compulsory classics at all, you will learn many, many things which only small minorities have also encountered.
Well, how did you hear about it? I didn't (or didn't see it as a real possibility) until I read a mostly non-fiction book by Robert Anton Wilson, long after the age of 11.
I can't recall at this distance.
...not especially? I heard about when I read "Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition", memory says at age 11 but the book's publication date might imply I should have been 12. "The Internet has changed things" - yes it did.
It's important to remember that we're talking 1991, rather than present day. While there are a number of older works featuring cryonics, they tend to include themes you probably don't want to expose a ten-year-old to (Heinlein's Door Into Summer) or are soft science fiction or outright fantasy (Star Wars, Captain America), or use a generic stasis instead of cryogenics (Aliens). Harder popular fiction versions like Futurama, Bujold's Mirror Dance, and Cowboy Bebop wouldn't come out for a few years.
There were older hard fiction pieces that mention it -- Niven, at least -- but it's fairly recent for the concept to be an automatic assumption for near-future or even far-future works. If Rationalist!Harry read and remembered everything, he'd have to be aware of it, but honestly he's got a bit too wide of a knowledge base to be reasonable as it is.
what about from science fiction? star trek: TOS. kirk meets kahn. kahn has been on ice. many other star trek episodes. see also nancy's comment.
Having a futuristic, nonexistent technology which can reliably, reversibly, demonstrably execute suspended animation, is not the same as the realization that mere modern-day liquid nitrogen works to preserve brain state right now and future tech can grab it later.
Or have only briefly heard of it as something for the rich akin to Lenin's tomb.
I thought he'd read a fair amount of science fiction. Shouldn't he have heard of it there?
Second thought: I have a vague impression that there used to be more cryonics in science fiction from before 1975 or so. If I'm right (and I'm not at all sure that I am), would that affect what Harry would be likely to know?
I also find it unlikely Harry hadn't heard of cryonics. I mean, I'm born in 1981 almost like Harry, and when I was Harry's age, I definitely had heard of it, like I had heard of robots, or long-distance space travel, or life expansion, or robotic prosthesis, as a scifi device. I had seen 2001 and Star Wars. And I did think at that time "oh, it's something cool we'll have in the future". Sure, I didn't know it was something actually existing in the real world. But while I wasn't a dumb kid, I wasn't the supergenius Harry is, and I didn't even think defeating death was something possible.
So, yes, I would say it's unlikely for Harry not knowing about cryonics. But... not "1 chance in 1000" unlikely, more like "1 chance in 10" unlikely. And if you have 10 "one chance in ten unlikely" things, well, statistically one will actually happen. And it's fully within the author's "rights" to say "well, among those ten things there is only one chance in 10 Harry doesn't know about, it's cryonics he doesn't know about".
So while it's unlikely that Harry didn't hear about cryonics, it's not unlikely enough to really sound artificial. Harry knows a lot, not all, and cryonics is where he fails, ok, fine.
He could still be inventing it (sort of already did.)
comment by monsterzero · 2013-08-30T13:13:11.034Z · score: 3 (3 votes) · LW · GW
If Harry can figure out how to reverse a Time-Turner and send Hermione's body into the future, he doesn't need cryonics. And there's no worry about paradoxes, so possibly the six-hour limit wouldn't apply.
I don't think paradoxes have much to do with it, but it's a limit of six hours into the past. Since negative a thousand is less than six, sending her a thousand hours in the future doesn't violate the six-hour limit.
It seems hard to believe that Harry managed to reverse engineer it in six hours with no special equipment.
A nuclear device was the first thing I thought of as well, but I'd expect obtaining the parts to be prohibitively difficult for any plausible contacts. Stealing a finished warhead would probably be easier. But it's not that much easier, and either way I can't think of any plausible motive: the wizarding world and the Muggle world are so intertwined that MAD is quite problematic. Nor are there many plausible targets; the wizarding population is so spread out that a single warhead couldn't do much that couldn't be done far more easily, less disruptively, and with less collateral damage using a truck full of ANFO or something. Azkaban may be one; I can't think of any others.
On the other hand, Muggle weapons or controlled substances of some kind (perhaps dangerous chemicals?) seem quite likely. Britain's a wealthy first-world country with plenty of international trade going on; if you've got enough money on hand, about the only reason you'd need to leave the country to get something is if it's not legally for sale.
Azkaban may be one
That would kill the prisoners and the guards, and would not destroy the Dementors.
...a last ditch effort to at least make their deaths quick, while opening up a window to hit the dementors with a point-blank patronus 2.0 without worrying about the guards? Not that I think it very likely, mind you. harry may be broadening his options somewhat, but he has a ways to go before he's quite THAT desperate.
At this point I don't think Harry would consider the guards protected by his ethics, and I'm not sure about the prisoners. The Dementors are indeed a problem.
I don't actually consider this a good option, though, just less bad than all the other targets in magical Britain.
If you kill the prisoners, and you don't harm the Dementors, what's the point of attacking at all? The idea is to rescue the prisoners and destroy the prison, and the prison is just the Dementors - a non-magical building is easy to replace.
It's not a non-magical building; it has several protective wards, such as the time-loop prohibition. But otherwise, I agree with you.
Why doesn't the magical world have something resembling the internet? There are a few things resembling closed networks--the dark mark, Quirrell's monitors and other tricks for the battles, and canon Hermione's trick with the DA Galleons--and there are simple two-way communication methods, like the floo and the two-way mirrors, but the only military use of networking that we know of is the dark mark (and the DA Galleons in canon). This makes me wonder if the power of the dark mark wasn't just that it was terrifying and exerted mental influences, but that it's a secure means for Voldemort to coordinate his forces without requiring individual conversations or everyone gathering in Malfoy Manner. (In canon, it seems to have mostly been used as a signal to meet up, but surely a smart Voldemort would recognize its other uses? Even if it can only send one bit of information--touching or not touching--it could still be used to encode useful messages. Hermione's Galleons actually sent and stored a few bytes of data, and it's a little worrying that they weren't used in Deathly Hallows; did Madeye think Voldemort could hack into the network, or something?)
I suppose the question is: if Voldemort and canon Hermione can create useful networks, why didn't the Order of the Phoenix or the DMLE develop something similar? Even if you must be at least Hermione smart to manage this, the Order had Dumbledore, who studied the dark mark (perhaps it was too little too late in the first war, but if MoR Dumbledore hasn't set up the OotP with a magical LAN after TSPE, I'll want to know more about why it doesn't happen. Too much like the dark mark? Has Magical Britain never heard of an arms race?)
A rather obvious clash I hadn't noticed before, and don't recall seeing discussed on LW:
In chapter 46, after going in front of the Dementor and (apparently) remembering his parents' death, Harry abruptly comes up with a rather complicated set of deductions about the events surrounding Voldemort's learning of the prophecy about him. It all seems plausible enough (though who'd trust so long a series of merely probable deductions?), and a key point is that McGonagall must have been the one who heard the prophecy, she must have told Dumbledore, and Dumbledore must have told Snape, foreseeing that he would go to Voldemort and maybe get Lily's life spared.
In chapter 86, Harry asks Snape about the prophecy, and Snape says he heard it himself; there's no obvious sign that he's lying or deceived, nor that Harry (then or later) thinks he is. But this is completely inconsistent with his earlier reasoning, which he has seemed pretty confident about.
I notice that someone is confused. Is it only me?
Roles has given me all sorts of troubling thoughts about my life.
I think I've always tried to be a good student, a good friend and a good scientist, but, McGonagall fulfilling her image of a good teacher got one of her students killed.
That's what it took to break her out of her vision of her role. I know there's something that important to me, something that I'd act outside of my picture of myself to protect, and regret not doing it earlier.
But I don't know what it is, or how to look for it, and I don't even seem motivated to look for it
I really need to start collecting these, as they are so blatant.
Foreshadowing Alert:
“You’re nuts,” Daphne stated with conviction. “Even if you had kissed him first, you know what that would make you? The sad little lovestruck girl who dies in the hero’s arms at the end of Act Two.”
And it just so happen that the little girl who kissed Harry first in fact does die in his arms.
“One of my classmates gets bitten by a horrible monster, and as I scrabble frantically in my mokeskin pouch for something that could help her, she looks at me sadly and with her last breath says, ‘Why weren’t you prepared?’ And then she dies, and I know as her eyes close that she won’t ever forgive me—”
Hermione’s lips were moving, just a tiny bit but they were moving. “your... fault...”
Time froze. Harry should have told her not to talk, to save her breath, only he couldn’t unblock his lips.
Hermione drew in another breath, and her lips whispered, “Not your fault.”
Didn't this seem like a rather peculiar glitch in The Matrix? Like the story got rewritten in real time?
With a fracturing feeling, as though time was still torn to pieces around him, Harry turned away from Dumbledore and looked down
find his way to the root of all magic and reprogram it.
” She’d known she wouldn’t be able to explain. “It’s not about glory, it’s about being— something that belongs to someone else!”
I don’t know if our love has any magical power under your rules, but if it does, don’t hesitate to call on it.
"Remind me to buy you a copy of the Muggle novel Atlas Shrugged," the sourceless voice said. "I'm starting to understand what sort of person can benefit from reading it."
I don't understand this statement, given the preceding paragraphs. Why would the twins benefit from it?
comment by gattsuru · 2013-08-29T02:18:13.546Z · score: 11 (13 votes) · LW · GW
Atlas Shrugged spends a sizable period of time criticizing the flaws of Comte's positivism, considering it destruction of the ego and involuntary servitude for the sake of psuedo-Catholic guilt-based mysticism. The twins' thought processes echo Comte's ethics system very heavily, as do the Weasleys in general: they'd do anything for Rationalist!Harry without asking payment because they consider him worth serving without regard for themselves.
The resulting rule morality is directly in conflict with Rationalist!Harry's desire for preference utilitarianism, in addition to being rather risky on its own level.
Rand's Objectivism identifies reasons to do things without cash payment, despite the pop history version of her viewpoints. See Dagny and Galt, or for a platonic version (despite the HoYay) D'Antonio and Rearden. But that's done because you think the other person or their requires are worth the cost.
comment by ikrase · 2013-08-29T00:17:14.017Z · score: 11 (13 votes) · LW · GW
Yvain's All Debates are Bravery Debates might be useful to read here. (and possibly inspired that). Basically, Harry thinks that it would be healthy for the twins to realize that they don't have to be selfless all the time, always. Yvain writes that he had met someone who had been raised in a family that demanded ridiculous selflessness and reading Rand changed his life.
I thought the twins, beyond playing pranks, were not above selling magical trinkets and stuff to fellow students, thus making a bit of profit and so not being completely selfish. Or was it in canon or some other fanfic?
Not in this one. In the earlier chapters it's narrated that the twins have been selling prank goods at 0% mark-up, unknown to their supplier.
They insisted they sell Floom's smuggled goods at 0% mark-up; they said nothing about anything they've come up with on their own. Though I think most of their inventions came later (extendable ears, for example).
comment by hirvinen · 2013-09-06T22:47:25.262Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
They wanted to be able to testify under veritaserum that they had not been profiting.
Harry thinks they're too selfless?
See http://www.reddit.com/r/HPMOR/comments/1l8dpa/chapter_98_is_out_spoilers_in_comments/cbwrxho
My general impression of this chapter: Pathos Overflow.
Susan Bones, who stood beside and anext to Daphne Greengrass, beside whom she had fought
Google refuses to recognize "anext" as an English word.
comment by arundelo · 2013-08-29T01:16:16.696Z · score: 4 (4 votes) · LW · GW
Eliezer answers on r/HPMOR.
It might be a typo for 'anent'?
I think that it's fine, but Reddit is correct: it shouldn't take ‘to’.
ETA: And also, it's redundant.
And also, it's redundant.
Like "spick and span" and "aid and abet". Eliezer is reaching for an elevated style and not quite hitting the mark.
Etymologically, ‘aid’ and ‘abet’ are different: to aid a crime is to help another to do it; to abet a crime is to encourage another to do it. (But since ‘abet’ is only used in this sense, dictionaries now give it the entire meaning, so ‘aid’ has become redundant.)
Anyway, this doesn't affect your point.
I can't find it on Google now, but ISTR that the meaning of "abet" you give here is an urban legend; "abet" just means "aid" and was only put in to make it sound more grand.
It is not an urban legend. From etymonline:
from a- "to" + beter "to bait," from a Germanic source, perhaps Low Franconian betan "incite," or Old Norse beita "cause to bite"
I think I figured out Quirrel's ultimate scheme.
Va pnaba, Ibyqrzbeg cbffrffrf Uneel, gnxvat pbageby bs uvf obql.
Va ZbE, gur ernfba Dhveeryzbeg jnagf Uneel nyvir, fgebat naq vasyhragvny vf fb ur pna znxr uvz vagb uvf arkg ubfg, guhf nyybjvat Zntvpny Oevgnva gb tebj haqre n fgebat yrnqre. Gur Qrzragngvba ng gur ortvaavat bs gur lrne jnf fb gung Uneel'f zragny qrsrafrf jbhyq or jrnxrarq sbe shgher nohfr. Dhveery'f fngvfsnpgvba ng Urezvbar'f qrngu (orsber urnevat gur hcqngrq cebcurpl) jnf va nagvpvcngvba ng shegure ihyarenovyvgl.
That's one of the common interpretations, yes.
That's been my interpretation for a while, at least with Quirrell developing Harry to be his new host - take over the body of he who saves the rest of the magical world, from you.
Spoilers!
I think this or something very close to it is strongly likely to be correct; so much so that at this point, I'm very close to shifting the question to the level of whether, univat tebbzrq Uneel nf n fgebat prageny yrnqre sbe zntvpny Oevgnva, uvf vagragvba vf gb npgviryl pynvz cbffrffvba bs Uneel, be jurgure ur jvyy or fngvfsvrq nf gur cbjre oruvaq Ehyre! Uneel'f guebar juvyr ur crefbanyyl tbrf nobhg chefhvat vzzbegnyvgl.
comment by cultureulterior · 2013-09-05T23:24:37.081Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
I'm beginning to think the/a final enemy might be Dumbledore after all.
(1) Wouldn't Dumbledore, when he was invisibly following HP to the graveyard, have seen the millennia-old stone alight with prophecy?
(2) What if it was Dumbledore's troll, and Quirrel can prove it or, Dumbledore has had a troll guard and he can make it seem like this was it?
Hmmm. I figured Quirrell tricked Dumbledore into assigning the Troll as the Defense Professor when Dumbledore opened the wards for Quirrell. Maybe it was Dumbledore doing the tricking.
We only know the wards thought it was Quirrel and thus didn't alert Dumbledore at the time because he said so. If he is evil, he has no reason to trick his own wards.
What would Quirrel's motive be for using trickery to put his name on a murder weapon?
http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ibr/harry_potter_and_the_methods_of_rationality/9ome
### On the original point, of who the Defense Professor is, I saw a great idea on Reddit - the Troll is the Defense Professor.
“Not so,” said Dumbledore. “If Voldemort has not fully mastered the wards, then the wards had to believe that some Professor’s hand was at work. Else they would have cried out at Miss Granger’s injury, and not only upon her death.”
So if you need an agent in Hogwarts to kill a student, you want the wards to think that they're a Professor.
http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/ibr/harry_potter_and_the_methods_of_rationality/9lq5
“The Headmaster drew a circle, and told Hogwarts that he who stood within was the Defense Professor.
Part of my theory, at least, is that Quirrell is Baba Yaga, and hence not he who stood within the circle. The he was a Troll, the 3rd most perfect killing machine, as identified by Quirrell, and as entered into the wards as the Defense Professor by Dumbledore.
You make a decent point, though. If Dumbledore recalls how he entered the Defense Professor into the wards, he should at least suspect Quirrell is involved with the Troll.
But does Quirrell even know about the map, and thereby his potential vulnerability here?
A problem with the "He" who stood in the circle theory is that Quirrel can't have been confident in advance that Dumbledore would make that mistake. Even if Dumbledore didn't think "I'd better use gender-neutral language in case Quirrel is really female," he could easily have said something like "The person in this circle is the defense professor."
Another issue I don't think I've seen anyone brought up: if the troll was identified as the Defense Professor, and Quirrel is then just an ordinary adult wizard as far as the Hogwarts wards are concerned, how was it possible for him to frame Hermione for Draco? Wouldn't the wards have screamed at the Memory Charm? It's pretty clearly implied that it had to be a professor, in some way, who cast the key spells:
"And how would Lucius even Memory-Charm Hermione in the first place, without setting off the wards? He's not a Professor - oh, right, you think it's Professor Snape."
"Wrong," said the Defense Professor. "Lucius Malfoy would trust no servant with that mission. But suppose some Hogwarts Professor, intelligent enough to cast a well-formed Memory Charm but of no great fighting ability, is visiting Hogsmeade. From a dark alley the black-clad form of Malfoy steps forth - he would go in person, for this - and speaks to her a single word."
"Imperio."
"Legilimens, rather," said Professor Quirrell. "I do not know if the Hogwarts wards would trigger for a returning Professor under the Imperius Curse. And if I do not know, Malfoy probably does not know either. But Malfoy is a perfect Occlumens at least; he might be able to use Legilimency. And for the target...perhaps Aurora Sinistra; none would question the Astronomy Professor moving about at night."
Probably this could still be rescued, but the troll theory, while bizarre, also means that the earlier frame becomes more complicated than before.
comment by UnclGhost · 2013-09-14T02:34:51.818Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
Quirrel could have suggested or stipulated that wording when zhe and Dumbledore were working out how to identify Quirrel to the wards, reasonably assuming that Dumbledore wouldn't think the "he" was the suspicious part.
But Quirrell didn't absolutely need the Troll to be assigned as the Defense Professor. Knowing how people talk, there was a chance for it to work.
But do the wards have error checks? If there are two persons in the circle, and Dumbledore says "the person", what happens? I don't know. But if Quirrell is really Baba Yaga, he actually was Defense Professor once, and maybe many more times a professor, and might know more about the wards than Dumbledore does.
I wish we knew what the "glitches" on the map were.
I grant your point is an issue. At least to our limited knowledge, there was some risk. But since not prying into Quirrell's true identity was part of his employment agreement, how he would be identified to the wards would have been a natural topic of negotiation between them, to be resolved prior to the actual act.
comment by Benquo · 2013-09-26T04:48:31.802Z · score: 1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
Presumably they are not glitches at all but accurate reports of "Spontaneous Duplication."
Perhaps not just that. Could be that some people show up with different names than their reported identities. Could be that no one shows up as the Defense Professor anymore - now that the Troll is dead.
True, though of those, Spontaneous Duplication is the most obvious if you look only at the map. The others all involve comparing the map to the territory.
Yes, but what exactly do the reports say? WHo is spontaneously duplicating?
Harry, Dumbledore, anyone else whose spimster wicket occasionally malfunctions.
It has occured to me that IF harry does obtain the sorcerer's stone...it's quite likely that quirrel will have been the one to get it out of the mirror, WITHOUT utilizing his leet magical skills.
dumbledore thinks voldemort should find the trap surrounding the sorcerer's stone to be irresistable just for being such a puzzle.
Quirrelmort declares he has never seen such an obvious trap...in a way that suggest that he is quite tempted to go after whatever is inside, whether or not he knows what's inside.
The troll DID happen, even though whether it was quirrel's diversion or not remains to be seen.
The stone is merely the most preferred way of obtaining an actual body as far as quirrelmort is concerned, while harry very much wants to make everyone immortal, and would very much want to use the stone.
I tried imagining how this might work, including thinking about how the mirror works, and this got me to revise my probability that the mirror would respond well to Quirrell downward. Assuming Quirrelmort and that Harry's Dark Side is a reflection of Voldemort's feelings on death (which are big assumptions, but they seem likely to be correct), I don't think Quirrell would be recognized by the mirror as someone who both wanted the stone but did not want to use it (Voldemort killed people to save himself from death, dark side is terribly afraid of death and is known for using whatever resources it can, etc). (The key question is whether oclumency works on the mirror, but given that canon Dumbledore placed this security mechanism himself, according to him, I think the defense professor would be as uncertain as we are about Oclumency's efficacy.)
What following the idea "How to retrieve the stone?" did turn up, though, was a parallel to canon, with Harry's dark side suggesting he "Use the boy." The question is which boy (Neville is the main candidate sticking in my mind, but I'm not sure why; maybe because he's the only boy in Harry's camp that seems likely to wind up in such a situation who might not want to use the stone? Most obvious candidates (Draco, maybe Ron?) seem like they'd have motivation to use it.).
comment by major · 2013-12-10T20:35:36.504Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
Muggle hospital.
comment by EndlessStrategy · 2013-11-30T02:37:38.306Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
So, I recall coming across one of the fanfictions based off of Methods of Rationality, but I can't seem to find it anymore. Perhaps someone here is familiar with it? I only remember two things. 1: it included a battle between the three armies. 2: The battle had something to do with fire (it was mentioned that this was to complete the elemental trend the battles had been following; the forest battles representing earth, the battles high up in Hogwarts being air, and the underwater battle naturally being water).
comment by jaime2000 · 2013-11-30T14:00:20.958Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
I think I know which one you are talking about; the one in which one of the students acts like Speedy Gonzales, right? I can't find it either. I suspect it was "Harry Potter and Selective Perception", which has since been deleted. If you're lucky, Gwern will have happened to archive it through his casual browsing.
If you're lucky, Gwern will have happened to archive it through his casual browsing.
Not as far as I can tell. Not in the IA, archive.is, WebCite, Google Cache, Google in general, my current WWW archives or my old WWW archives. I also don't recall reading any fanfic of that description.
Just occurred to me that if D-Zbeg vf chggvat na njshy ybg bs rssbeg, naq nccnerag npghny pbaprea, vagb funcvat Uneel'f zvaqfrg gbjneq gur 'Qnex Fvqr', vs uvf cyna vf gb whfg gnxr cbffrffvba bs gur xvq yngre. Gung frrzf gb zr gb vzcyl svir cbffvovyvgvrf, va nfpraqvat beqre bs yvxryvubbq:
D. pnerf jurgure Uneel'f orunivbe nccrnef cuvybfbcuvpnyyl pbafvfgrag;
Fbzr fbeg bs 'flzcngul' orgjrra zvaqf vf arprffnel gb rssrpg cbffrffvba, be creuncf gb 'njnxra' gur fbhy-sentzrag vafvqr Uneel;
D.vf irel qrqvpngrq gb uvf cuvybfbcul naq ungrf gb unir vg synhagrq ol fbzr qnza xvq;
Gur cbffrffvba cneg bs gur cyna vf zrnag gb gnxr cynpr bayl nsgre Uneel unf qbar n snve nzbhag bs Qnex Ybeqvat nyernql;
Gurer vf ab cbffrffvba vaibyirq, nf D. jbhyq engure or pncgnva bs gur F.F. Qnex Ybeq Uneel'f Ervta guna gur svtherurnq.
Other possibilities surely exist that I'm overlooking, including the possibility that this line of speculation is entirely up the wrong tree. Rot13'd to err on the side of caution.
I don't think you need to rot13 this, simply because the various notions in your post have been openly discussed in this and past threads quite a lot. Also because when I see "D-Zbeg", I instantly parse it as "Dr Zoidberg", so now thanks to you I have an uneraseable mental association between Quirrell and said character.
comment by TheOtherDave · 2013-09-19T15:29:28.141Z · score: 2 (2 votes) · LW · GW
Quirrell is helping!
Hooray for Quirrell!
I thought it probably wouldn't be necessary, but I wasn't certain, and I figured it would be the better part of valor. Basically, I'm not sure how to proceed under the declaration that the identity of an extremely central character is supposed to be a spoiler now; it seems like even using the name Dhveeryzbeg unscrambled would break the rule.
I didn't make the Zoidberg connection until you pointed it out, but I did think that "D-Zbeg" was an immensely more awesome nickname than the term it was rot13'd from.
And now I can't see "Dhveeryzbeg" either without thinking it must be some relative of Dr. Zoidberg's. Dangit, now every scene he's in, I'm gonna expect him to exit going "woo-woo-woo-woo" and clacking his claws.
... and I know I really shouldn't, but I just couldn't resist.
image, SFW, foolishness
Hope that helps with the mental association problem.
Doubtless this is my sleeping brain messing with me, but I seem to have had a dream that Harry would go on some sort of training course/vision quest in which his patronis would instruct him to cast the killing curse. Except this is somewhere in Hogwarts (probably the second floor?), and he figures based on the angle of the curse that it's going to hit the great hall... so he runs down in time to see it hit Neville. But on the way to DUmbledore's office with Neville's body, he casts "Accio Neville's Soul", then does something with Patronis 2.0 and Neville wakes up. (Dumbledore's met him on the staircase by that point).
While I don't expect this to be at all like what actually happens, it does make me wonder if anyone's tried "accio soul" before.
Does Bellatrix have a horcrux backup, and if not, why not? You'd think that if Voldemort thought enough of her importance to remove her from Azkaban, he'd have made sure to back her up beforehand?
Evil Overlord List, revised edition:
After discovering the secret to immortality, I will not share it with the world's third most powerful wizard (or so), no matter how certain I am of her loyalty to me, or of her ability to keep secrets. The worst case scenario then is having to train up a new powerful lieutenant, rather than having to kill an immortal ex-lieutenant or trying to contain the secret once it's out.
her flesh is what's important-for the revival ritual (IF that's why quirrelmort broke her out, which is quite likely.). she doesn't have a servant of her own to revive her with, so getting her a horcrux would be of no use.
If Bellatrix was that important, Voldemort could have just ensured she wasn't sent to Azkaban to avoid the problems Velorien points out. More likely, the importance only came later and Voldemort decided on a quick ret-con.
Early in the fic, Draco tells Harry that you can't apparate to somewhere you have never been. This would suggest that Quirrell's Pioneer Horcrux is unreachable to anyone but himself. But, if Harry has something of Voldemort in him, "Harry" has technically been on the Pioneer probe, so he should be able to apparate to it.
comment by Osuniev · 2013-09-03T19:08:54.139Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
In canon, Apparition becomes unreliable across long distances (as in, very few people could reliably travel to another country by Apparating, and even less (no one ?) to another continent). If this is true in HPMoR universe, then Apparate to the Pioneer plaque is out of question.
Harry can't apparate yet, nor can he learn to for a few years, since it seems to be based on strength of magic rather than skill. Unless he makes some partial-transfiguration-style physics deduction he won't be able to apparate across a room, nevermind across the solar system.
Although the Weasley twins are extremely willing to repay perceived debts, it would seem to me that this inclination is more likely, given their usual inclination towards public action, to be of positive utility in the long-run.
comment by Document · 2013-09-16T09:03:00.279Z · score: 0 (0 votes) · LW · GW
I can't parse that. Did you misword something?
comment by Document · 2013-09-16T09:15:38.611Z · score: -1 (1 votes) · LW · GW
The incantation "Crucio" seems to be a reference to Roman crucifixion, which postdates Atlantis by several thousand years according to Plato's dating. There are probably lots of other examples of recent words in magic.
Could you clarify what point you are trying to make with this observation?
As for trying to draw inferences from canon incantations, that way madness lies. It seems beyond reasonable doubt that JK Rowling just used pseudo-Latinish words that fit the desired meaning, as is not unusual for a certain kind of children's fantasy story. There's little to indicate that she chose them based on some deeper historical or other reasoning.
For what it's worth, the Harry Potter Wiki claims that the Cruciatus Curse was invented in the Early Middle Ages, though it does not cite its sources.
I thought that in MoR there'd been no way to invent new spells since Atlantis; but I haven't read it in a while, so I could be confused.
I'm afraid you are. There are numerous references to new spells - for example, Flitwick's hex which he taught to Harry for the purpose of beating Moody.
comment by WalterL · 2013-08-29T18:41:47.240Z · score: -2 (18 votes) · LW · GW
Oh Harry...this is Lord Kevin's path.
I'm worried about our boy. He's becoming a parody of himself. I've been concerned ever since Hermione's death, and now I think I have to declare myself persuaded by Quirrel's concerns.
Harry needs to grieve for his friend, accept her passing, and move on.
Jokes's on Harry, by the time he revives Hermione, the difference in maturity level will make a continued friendship impossible.
I think you're oversimplifying the issue.
First, we don't know how long it'll take Harry to revive Hermione. Given the fact that he's made a couple of completely groundbreaking, paradigm-shifting discoveries within a year of being introduced to magic, we have no possible way of predicting how long he'll take to achieve this particular breakthrough. Our own knowledge of magic, of Harry's potential, and of what resources might become available to him in the future, is insufficient to model him in this much depth.
Second, people mature at very different rates depending on their circumstances. Typically, more challenging circumstances make for greater maturity, as long as the person doesn't break down altogether. Being revived after getting murdered and a time-skip has the potential to make Hermione mature a great deal very fast (though she probably won't enjoy it).
Third, Harry's own maturing process so far seems rather non-standard, with rapid growth in some areas and a striking lack of it in others. Again, it is very hard to model what he will become as time goes by, especially given the number of significant character-shaping events that keep getting thrown at him.
Fourth, there is such a thing as friendship across maturity levels. It won't be the same as it was before, but really, we already knew that. Too much was happening to these two from the start for their friendship to maintain any one static form, both in terms of having to respond to external events and in terms of having to learn to deal with each other's somewhat alien ways of seeing the world.
Fifth, what joke is on Harry? He's Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres and his best friend is dead. He's doing it because it's the right thing to do and because she, in particular, matters that much to him, not because he expects things to go back to the way they were.
Well, Hermione is (well, was) slightly older than Harry, and she seemed to have entered the romantic stage already. A couple years to let Harry catch up might not be such a bad thing.
Well, she certainly was, and plausibly will be. I’m not quite sure about is, but it’s mostly because my intuition seems to think that either evaluating age() on a currently-not-living person should throw an IllegalStateException, or comparing its result with that for living persons should throw ClassCastException. But that’s probably just me :)
Or possibly he'll have done enough nasty things "for the greater good" that by the time he gets around to resurrecting her he'll have become someone she can't respect.
First question- Given the facts in the HPMOR universe, why do you think Hermoine's death is inevitable?
Second question- Why do you not take the criticism of mourning as merely a form of signalling into account? Harry could easily argue that if he did mourn and move on he is being disloyal to Hermoine if there is even a 1% chance of sucess.
Third question- Even if you ignore all that, isn't actually investigating more important right now than mourning? Whoever killed Hermoine could be a long-term enemy- even if they aren't, bringing them to justice is almost certainly a Good Thing and given Harry's cunning a worthy use of his time.
comment by WalterL · 2013-08-30T14:59:34.534Z · score: 7 (13 votes) · LW · GW
Hmm, an expensive post. I better make it long then.
First question: I don't think her death is inevitable, I think it has already happened. Author has stated that this story isn't about tricking the readers. So I'm taking her death and her corpses disappearance at face value. Harry has watched her die, watched the time turner limit run out. Her death is as much a part of history as his parent's.
He doesn't even have her brain. His goal isn't her resurrection, if he's being honest, its her re-creation. He has his memories of her. From this, with magic, he intends to once again have a working mind.
Magic can do anything, so this isn't perhaps as preposterous as it seems, but the order of probability of him succeeding at creating a new and identical Hermione seems to be the same whether he does it now or some future wizard gets it done in a century or two as part of a "resurrect everyone who ever died" project.
If he thinks that magic will one day be able to make new people just like those who have died, or time travel beyond the turner's limits, then there's no rush.
Second question: I took it into account, it seemed plausible while he was waiting by her body, still striving to help her. Dumbledore and the other adult's inaction during this time was inexcusable. His frantic efforts to save her were heroic.
But now she's gone. So, what to do?
Well, I figured initially that Harry could dispense with grieving. After all, as his plan is currently, one day he'll make a new Hermione. He presumably won't make her such that she'll miss this period.
But its become clear (to me, that is, this is obviously jmho) that, for Harry, in this instance, declining to grieve has just thrown his emotions out of order. He's...I don't know, flailing seems like the right word. He's doing things that a previous version of him would recognize as anti-rational.
Harry is turning himself into someone Hermione would loathe in order to make a new version of her. He's declaring that he'll vanquish death one moment and then musing on how he'll murder his enemies the next. He's creeping around in an invisibility cloak begging aid from his classmates and then looking down on them for being too dumb to take compensation. (That's unfair for the sake of completing the pattern, but there's actually something way off about someone who doesn't want to be locateable, but still wants the benefits of civilization) He's... I dunno, the word that comes to mind is parody.
Third question: I would agree with you that investigating is much more important than mourning. I disagree that what he's doing is investigating.
His current behavior strikes me as being in line with demanding that his comrades be given all of the magic items, and likely to be similarly effective at preventing any future tragedies his enemy wishes to visit upon him.
I think grieving, if it gave him back his rationality, would be more valuable than what he's currently doing, but less valuable than investigating.
"Her death has already happened." - You say that like it's a thing that can't be reversed. There are people alive today who have been dead -- or at least, declared brain-dead by doctors.
Harry is behaving rationally. The problem is that he's behaving, for good reasons, in a way very similar to how people behave for bad reasons. His entire character arc takes him further and further into territory where he has no gauge to tell whether he's gone mad.
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Nissan Skyline Type SP
The latest Skyline's refined, well-appointed, great to drive and bodes well for the forthcoming Nissan GTR. Its European introduction can't come soon enough
Nissan GT-R 2007-2016
The Nissan GT-R is not a cheap car, but it’s better value for money than cars that are seemingly as fast
Nissan Skyline GT-R Z-Tune
Back in 2005 Autocar tested the outrageous Skyline GT-R Z-Tune built to celebrate the performance division's 20th anniversary
Nissan GT-R Nismo UK first drive review
Thunderous new version of Nissan GT-R is, ride quality apart, everything you’d expect it to be, and then some
by Autocar
Follow @@autocar
This just in… Germany is not the only nation on earth capable of building a swift, desirable, six cylinder, rear-drive compact saloon. Cue this all new V36 Nissan Skyline, which might indeed put the frighteners on one or two in Munich.
While the Skyline you see here is Japan only, it’s a close cousin to America’s new Infiniti G35 and Nissan’s also tipped to make a Euro spec version of the car when Infiniti finally goes live in Europe in 2008.
What’s it like?
Drive the best Skyline, this 350GT Type SP with Nissan’s strong, high-revving 3.5-litre V6 and clever new four-wheel active steering, and you discover a car that has the dynamic talent, performance and handling credentials necessary to cut it at the top of the class. No kidding.
What’s special about the Skyline is not just its speed, of which there’s plenty. It’s the chassis, the instant turn-in, the balance and grip, the way it can go around corners at absurd speeds without breaking a sweat, and flatter its driver greatly in the process.
The key to this is surely Nissan’s take on the modern art of four-wheel steering. In standard trim, the Skyline will corner flat and fast and is hard to throw off line (unless you deactivate the VDC in which case it will happily and luridly then spin its rear wheels). The 4WAS four-wheel-steer system simply raises the bar, making the well-judged steering more incisive and the Skyline more agile and fun without also making it feel darty and unnatural.
With a sporting career stretching back almost 50 years, the Skyline’s a cult hero in Japan like no other, and this latest V36 marks a return to the kind of engineering culture at Nissan when the formidable R32, R33 and R34 GT-Rs were on the drawing board. Ergo, a lot of work went into developing this new FR-L rear-drive platform and making the Skyline body and double wishbone front, multilink rear suspension as rigid as possible. And yes, it was tested exhaustively at the Nurburgring.
The Skyline also rides well, is plush and comfortable inside, refined, with good space and plenty of kit. Unfortunately, its five-speed auto only in Japan but still this is slick enough and top versions get excellent paddle shifters.
The only real question mark, perhaps, is whether the Skyline looks special enough, both inside and out, but at the least the classic four round tail lights that are part and parcel of Skyline legend are back (Nissan shocked the Skyline faithful by leaving them off the previous V35).
If you can’t or don’t want to stretch to a BMW 335i, this Skyline 350GT makes a pretty compelling alternative. Its £17k equivalent price tag will be considerably inflated before it makes it to the UK as an Infiniti – of that you can be sure.
However, if the new Lexus IS leaves you still wondering if Japan really can build a small saloon with the quality and the character to rival a BMW 3-series, the Skyline might just be good enough to convince you.
Peter Nunn
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Monday, July 15 San Francisco Giants SUBSCRIBE
San Francisco Giants SUBSCRIBE
Giants’ Steven Duggar out for season with shoulder injury, surgery recommended
Henry Schulman | on August 29, 2018
Center fielder Steven Duggar, the most dynamic position player the Giants have developed in years, sustained a dislocated left shoulder and torn labrum when he dived into second base in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s win, the team learned Wednesday. The injuries will end his rookie season.
Moreover, team doctors who provided the diagnosis after an MRI exam are recommending surgery to repair the labrum. Manager Bruce Bochy said Duggar will have to decide whether to have the operation, which likely would have him ready for the 2019 season.
The Giants placed Duggar on the disabled list before Wednesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks and replaced him with Gregor Blanco, the longtime Giants outfielder who accepted a demotion to Triple-A Sacramento on June 5 and stuck it out for nearly three months. His final act for the River Cats was a game-ending homer against Albuquerque on Tuesday.
Duggar, 24, brought great speed and glove work to the Giants upon his July arrival. He also began to click at the plate, winning games against Texas on Sunday and Arizona on Monday night with two-run hits.
His loss will suck a lot of enjoyment and anticipation out of the final games this season at AT&T Park, not to mention what it will do for Duggar.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 08: Steven Duggar #6 of the San Francisco Giants stands in the dugout before the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park on July 8, 2018 in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Giants defeated the St. Louis Cardi less
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 08: Steven Duggar #6 of the San Francisco Giants stands in the dugout before the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park on July 8, 2018 in San Francisco, California. The San ... more
Photo: Jason O. Watson / Getty Images
“I’m sure he’s crushed by this,” Bochy said. “He loves to play the game. This is a tough break for him and for us. I feel for the kid.”
Duggar walked in the ninth inning of a 0-0 game Tuesday and scored the winning run on Gorkys Hernandez’s single. In between, Duggar took a wide turn around second base on a Nick Hundley single to left. As Duggar dived back to the bag, he felt his non-throwing shoulder pop out and back into place.
On Wednesday afternoon, Duggar said his range of motion “isn’t horrible” and is better than he thought it would be a day after the injury, but Bochy said the rookie was “really sore.” Given his importance for the team’s future, Bochy said, placing him on the DL was a “no-brainer.”
It also fit the pattern for a horrendous season for the Giants’ injuries, which have hit players young and old alike.
“The timing is awful,” Bochy said. “He was really in a good place. I told Duggy that. I really like where he’s at in his game. He’s definitely exciting, the range he covers, his arm, and with the bat, he really tightened up his swing.”
Hernandez will become the regular center fielder. The Giants promoted Blanco because of his history at the position, although at 34, he is more suited for a corner.
Asked if Blanco’s history in center was why the Giants did not promote power prospect Chris Shaw, Bochy said it had more to do with a lack of potential playing time for Shaw with Andrew McCutchen in right (if he is not traded) and Austin Slater continuing to get more starts in left.
To clear a 40-man spot for Blanco, the Giants placed catcher Buster Posey on the 60-day disabled list. Posey had season-ending hip surgery Monday.
Also Wednesday, Stanford orthopedist Dr. Tim McAdams examined right-hander Jeff Samardzija and agreed he should continue to rest and rehab his shoulder. Bochy acknowledged that Samardzija pitching again in 2018 is doubtful.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Henry Schulman|Giants Beat Reporter
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Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes
Yuta Tsuji, Kazunari Yoshizawa
物質基盤化学部門
1 引用 (Scopus)
It has been well accepted that when quantum interference (QI) occurs in a single molecular junction comprised of a π-conjugated molecule, the elastic π-electron transmission is blocked, while the elastic σ-electron transmission remains unchanged. When it comes to inelastic transport, in which passing electrons across the molecule trapped in between two metallic electrodes lose their energy through electron-phonon coupling, it is not necessarily obvious whether vibration affects the QI feature or not. In this paper, on the basis of a Hückel/tight-binding model, we address the inelastic transport through linear and cyclic polyenes which are conditioned to show QI. The zeroth-order Green's function approximated by the negative inverse of the adjacency matrix of a molecular graph is used in conjunction with the lowest order expansion of the self-consistent Born approximation. Owing to the simplification of the model, it just finds the limited applicability for the π-to-π scattering. Only topological aspects of dephasing are included. In such a theoretical construct, the alternant nature of the π-conjugated molecule is found helpful for classifying the dephasing patterns based on the parity of atomic sites. A rule is proposed, and it says that when both starred or both unstarred atoms are connected with the electrodes, QI always occurs, and atoms which belong to a different partite set from that of the atoms connected with the electrodes contribute to the inelastic π-to-π scattering. If QI occurs when a starred atom and an unstarred atom are connected with the electrodes, the contribution of the inelastic π-to-π scattering to the transport is expected to be unimportant.
記事番号
Journal of Chemical Physics
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5048955
出版済み - 10 7 2018
Polyenes
Born approximation
Green's function
Green's functions
electron energy
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
Physics and Astronomy(all)
Tsuji, Y., & Yoshizawa, K. (2018). Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes. Journal of Chemical Physics, 149(13), [134115]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5048955
Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes. / Tsuji, Yuta; Yoshizawa, Kazunari.
：: Journal of Chemical Physics, 巻 149, 番号 13, 134115, 07.10.2018.
Tsuji, Y & Yoshizawa, K 2018, 'Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes' Journal of Chemical Physics, 巻. 149, 番号 13, 134115. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5048955
Tsuji Y, Yoshizawa K. Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2018 10 7;149(13). 134115. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5048955
Tsuji, Yuta ; Yoshizawa, Kazunari. / Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes. ：: Journal of Chemical Physics. 2018 ; 巻 149, 番号 13.
@article{11b9d3a9100a412098c164d7d030361e,
title = "Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes",
abstract = "It has been well accepted that when quantum interference (QI) occurs in a single molecular junction comprised of a π-conjugated molecule, the elastic π-electron transmission is blocked, while the elastic σ-electron transmission remains unchanged. When it comes to inelastic transport, in which passing electrons across the molecule trapped in between two metallic electrodes lose their energy through electron-phonon coupling, it is not necessarily obvious whether vibration affects the QI feature or not. In this paper, on the basis of a H{\"u}ckel/tight-binding model, we address the inelastic transport through linear and cyclic polyenes which are conditioned to show QI. The zeroth-order Green's function approximated by the negative inverse of the adjacency matrix of a molecular graph is used in conjunction with the lowest order expansion of the self-consistent Born approximation. Owing to the simplification of the model, it just finds the limited applicability for the π-to-π scattering. Only topological aspects of dephasing are included. In such a theoretical construct, the alternant nature of the π-conjugated molecule is found helpful for classifying the dephasing patterns based on the parity of atomic sites. A rule is proposed, and it says that when both starred or both unstarred atoms are connected with the electrodes, QI always occurs, and atoms which belong to a different partite set from that of the atoms connected with the electrodes contribute to the inelastic π-to-π scattering. If QI occurs when a starred atom and an unstarred atom are connected with the electrodes, the contribution of the inelastic π-to-π scattering to the transport is expected to be unimportant.",
author = "Yuta Tsuji and Kazunari Yoshizawa",
doi = "10.1063/1.5048955",
journal = "Journal of Chemical Physics",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics Publising LLC",
T1 - Effects of electron-phonon coupling on quantum interference in polyenes
AU - Tsuji, Yuta
AU - Yoshizawa, Kazunari
N2 - It has been well accepted that when quantum interference (QI) occurs in a single molecular junction comprised of a π-conjugated molecule, the elastic π-electron transmission is blocked, while the elastic σ-electron transmission remains unchanged. When it comes to inelastic transport, in which passing electrons across the molecule trapped in between two metallic electrodes lose their energy through electron-phonon coupling, it is not necessarily obvious whether vibration affects the QI feature or not. In this paper, on the basis of a Hückel/tight-binding model, we address the inelastic transport through linear and cyclic polyenes which are conditioned to show QI. The zeroth-order Green's function approximated by the negative inverse of the adjacency matrix of a molecular graph is used in conjunction with the lowest order expansion of the self-consistent Born approximation. Owing to the simplification of the model, it just finds the limited applicability for the π-to-π scattering. Only topological aspects of dephasing are included. In such a theoretical construct, the alternant nature of the π-conjugated molecule is found helpful for classifying the dephasing patterns based on the parity of atomic sites. A rule is proposed, and it says that when both starred or both unstarred atoms are connected with the electrodes, QI always occurs, and atoms which belong to a different partite set from that of the atoms connected with the electrodes contribute to the inelastic π-to-π scattering. If QI occurs when a starred atom and an unstarred atom are connected with the electrodes, the contribution of the inelastic π-to-π scattering to the transport is expected to be unimportant.
AB - It has been well accepted that when quantum interference (QI) occurs in a single molecular junction comprised of a π-conjugated molecule, the elastic π-electron transmission is blocked, while the elastic σ-electron transmission remains unchanged. When it comes to inelastic transport, in which passing electrons across the molecule trapped in between two metallic electrodes lose their energy through electron-phonon coupling, it is not necessarily obvious whether vibration affects the QI feature or not. In this paper, on the basis of a Hückel/tight-binding model, we address the inelastic transport through linear and cyclic polyenes which are conditioned to show QI. The zeroth-order Green's function approximated by the negative inverse of the adjacency matrix of a molecular graph is used in conjunction with the lowest order expansion of the self-consistent Born approximation. Owing to the simplification of the model, it just finds the limited applicability for the π-to-π scattering. Only topological aspects of dephasing are included. In such a theoretical construct, the alternant nature of the π-conjugated molecule is found helpful for classifying the dephasing patterns based on the parity of atomic sites. A rule is proposed, and it says that when both starred or both unstarred atoms are connected with the electrodes, QI always occurs, and atoms which belong to a different partite set from that of the atoms connected with the electrodes contribute to the inelastic π-to-π scattering. If QI occurs when a starred atom and an unstarred atom are connected with the electrodes, the contribution of the inelastic π-to-π scattering to the transport is expected to be unimportant.
U2 - 10.1063/1.5048955
DO - 10.1063/1.5048955
JO - Journal of Chemical Physics
JF - Journal of Chemical Physics
M1 - 134115
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NNSA Holds Radiation Emergency Training in Denmark
Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on October 15, 2012 - 8:10am
NNSA News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Participants from five countries took part in a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) International Training Course on Consequence Management (I-CM) last week in Denmark.
The training was hosted by the Danish Emergency Management Agency.
“The training was part of NNSA’s broader effort to build and enhance nuclear emergency management systems worldwide,” said NNSA Associate Administrator for Emergency Operations Joseph Krol. “The international course provided commonly accepted methods in addition to lessons learned by NNSA responders in Japan during the Fukushima incident.”
The four-day I-CM training was attended by 21 participants from Denmark, Sweden, Poland, France and Lithuania.
The course was primarily intended for staff personnel working with radiation emergency response.
The aim was to provide attendees with information and data on means and methods for setting up and establishing a monitoring and assessment program following a nuclear/radiological event.
The course was conducted in two parts: a first part that focused on monitoring and sampling, and a second part that focused on dose assessment.
Participants received hands-on equipment training in techniques for monitoring as well as instruction in data collection and analysis.
The training was provided by personnel from NNSA and the Remote Sensing Lab (RSL), managed by National Security Technologies at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
The RSL is a national leader in radiological emergency response, nuclear and radiological detection, and related technology and electronics development.
NNSA’s primary mission is to ensure the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without underground nuclear testing.
Because of this expertise, NNSA also provides nuclear emergency response support to local law enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and emergency responders in other countries.
NNSA’s Office of Emergency Operations currently collaborates with more than 80 foreign governments and 10 international organizations with projects ranging from providing assistance to foreign governments in improving their emergency preparedness and response programs, to joint collaborative activities to improve emergency management infrastructure worldwide.
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Copyright © 2012-2019 Los Alamos Daily Post - the Official Newspaper of Record in Los Alamos County. This Site and all information contained here including, but not limited to, news stories, photographs, video, charts, graphs and graphics is the property of the Los Alamos Daily Post, unless otherwise noted. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the Los Alamos Daily Post and the author/photographer are properly cited. Opinions expressed by readers, columnists and other contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Los Alamos Daily Post. The Los Alamos Daily Post was founded Feb. 7, 2012 by Owner/Publisher Carol A. Clark.
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Textile Recycling And Re-Use
This page contains the contents of the IPPTS Associates June 2012 update on the Recycling and Re-Use of Textiles. If you prefer to read this as a document, we suggest that you download the pdf document of the same thing by clicking on the image below.
The content of this page is also available as a pdf format report. Click here for the full report.
In Kenya, which is one of the UK’s largest export markets for used clothing, the Federal Government has in effect increased the import duty, hitting the prices paid by Kenyan buyers. It is reported that as a result a number of used textiles importers are in danger of going out of business, in Kenya.The value of used clothes proceeds on a rising trend and the amount some buyers seem quite often to be willing to pay can be surprising. On the other hand mature companies that have actually been trading for generations in the used textiles business are stating that they are experiencing great difficulty in making clothing collections pay. Some companies have even ended their clothing collections in recent weeks, because of the present difficult trading conditions.
Add to this a background the fact that there are also reported falls in imports by the Asian used textiles dealers, and you will have a pretty good picture of the current less than perfect state of the UK used clothing market.
One would certainly have thought that the climb in the value of pre-used clothing in the UK might be good for UK charities. After all, they can easily offer their clothing, which they do not retail in their shops, to textile collectors at a much higher price than previously, but the picture is not that simple.
Some charity shops are reporting falling sales income due to charity shop buyer price resistance and hint at increased competition from new money-for-clothes stores of a similar kind and from door-to-door collections. Those charities without stores are additionally said to be suffering.
Door-to-door collections operators however are also seeing the size of their charitable donations fall as more collectors are now taking to the streets to profit from what is seen by the trade as the high value of garments. Many of these collectors are charitable, and some are commercial, however others are merely criminal. The criminal collectors get goods by deception by pretending to collect for a charity, which they don’t actually pay any money to, or they drive out ahead of the genuine collector vans, and take the apparel put out by the public by the authorized collectors.
A further development which is tending to reduce charitable income from used clothing collection is that Councils in Cumbria, Northumberland, Hertfordshire and South East Wales which are hard pressed to find ways to reduce Council spending, are awarding special fabric bank collection contracts to their own household waste collection operators. the effect of that is that the income created goes straight to the local authority itself. A London wide local authority collection also looks likely to be instigated soon which will in future grab a much bigger slice of the textile recyclingmarket throughout the UK capital.
The current value of this second-hand commodity means that these collections will certainly create substantial income that is then readily be made use of to assist off-set the expense of collecting less lucrative waste streams and decrease the worry on the regional taxpayer.
Additionally, locally authorities will be increasingly be under pressure to collect even more textiles. Greater than lm tonnes annually is still going into mixed refuse each year and straight to landfill. In the Waste Review last year, the UK coalition government revealed that it would consider (during this Parliament) whether constraints or a total ban on fabrics going to land fill ought to be implemented.
It is worth noting here that for sustainability, textiles recycling provides the greatest environmental benefit score when resource displacement is considered. Indeed, the Scottish Government’s Carbon Metric Reporting System provides making it a very high priority waste stream for re-use or recycling.
To aid local authorities in steering their way between complying with sustainable waste management, and minimizing cost to the ratepayer, the UK government funded organisation WRAP will shortly be publishing a Textiles Collections Guidance report. This is eagerly awaited by the industry.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided “as is”. The author, publishers and marketers of this information disclaim any loss or liability, either directly or indirectly as a consequence of applying the information presented herein, or in regard to the use and application of said information. No guarantee is given, either expressed or implied, in regard to the merchantability, accuracy, or acceptability of the information.
Textile Recycling and Re-Use Regulations
The UK has its own domestic legislation giving effect to the revised EU Waste Framework (WFD) as implemented in December 2010. Among the main new features the WFD requires member states to:
apply the waste hierarchy in waste prevention and management legislation
achieve a target of preparing for re-use and recycling at least 50 percent of waste from households by 2020.
Preparing for re-use is therefore high on the political agenda. DEFRA has commissioned a series of industry informed evidence projects in key areas, including Maximising Re-use and Recycling of UK Clothing and Textiles.
It is estimated that the UK spends £46bn per year on clothes and accessories
In Britain, 500 000 tonnes of unwanted clothing ends up in landfill each yea
Over one million tonnes of textiles are discarded annually of which 25 percent are recycled.
This breaks down in the following ways:
second hand clothes and shoes
70 percent fibre reclamation
eight percent filling materials
nine percent industrial wiping cloths
seven percent waste (bags, zips etc) six percent.
Although the majority of textile waste originates from household sources waste textiles also arise during yarn and fabric manufacture, garment-making processes and from the retail industry. These are termed post-industrial waste, as opposed to the post-consumer waste that goes to jumble sales and charity shops.
Together they provide a vast potential for recovery and recycling.
Environmental & Economic Benefits
TEXTILE RECOVERY:
reduces waste to landfill. Textiles present particular problems in landfill as synthetic fabrics will not decompose, while woollen garments decompose and produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas
reduces pressure on virgin resources
saves energy and aids the balance of payments as we import fewer virgin materials.
Reclaiming fibre avoids many of the polluting and energy intensive processes needed to make textiles from virgin materials, including savings on energy consumption when processing, as items do not need to be re-dyed or scoured; savings in water use – unlike raw wool, reclaimed fibre does not need to be thoroughly washed using large volumes of water; reduction of demand for dyes and fixing agents and the pollution and other issues resulting from their use and manufacture.
Key Organisations
THE TEXTILE Recycling Association is a trade association to promote textiles recycling. The Recyclatex Bonded Scheme has been set up to help local authorities, charities and other organizations that want to set up services for the recycling and re-use of clothes and shoes.
TEXTILE RECYCLING for Aid and International Development (TRAID) sells donated clothes, either as they are or re-modelled, through their shops and online.
SALVATION ARMY Trading Company Ltd is a trading arm of The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The company was established to create jobs, to benefit the environment and – through profitable trading – help fund The Salvation Army’s social work in the United Kingdom.
The Sustainable Clothing Roadmap
AS PART of Defra’s work on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), it is developing 10 product roadmaps to reduce the environmental and social impacts across the life cycle of a range of priority products. Clothing is one of these products. Evidence shows that clothing and textiles is a high impact product category, exacerbated by the high volumes of clothes consumed in the UK. Within the ELJ-25, clothing and textiles account for approximately 5-10 percent of our environmental impacts. Without intervention and with growing consumption these impacts are likely to increase.
Textile production uses vast amounts of resources and also produces large quantities of waste:
hazardous waste and effluents associated with production
energy use and greenhouse gas (GHC) emissions from washing (water heating) and drying of clothing
processing of fossil fuels into synthetic fibres
fertiliser generation and irrigation systems for conventional cotton growing
3.1m tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted from the UK clothing and textile sector as a whole in 2006.
The clothing roadmap currently focuses on garments and includes textiles used in the manufacture of clothing, but excludes shoes, accessories and commercial textiles.
As part of the Sustainable Clothing Roadmap industry initiative, the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan5 has been published, setting out agreed stakeholder actions from over 30 clothing and fashion stakeholder organisations to improve the sustainability performance of clothing.
Relevant Legislation
REVISED WASTE Shipment Regulations: In 2003, 1 74000 tonnes of textiles were exported for re-sale as clothing abroad. In July 2007, a more universal list of waste codes was introduced, simplifying the procedures for notifiable and non-notifiable waste. Shipments of waste to, from and through the UK are subject to a range of legal controls depending upon the nature of the waste being moved, whether the waste is moving for recovery or disposal and where in the world the waste is moving from, to and through.
Certain shipments of waste from and to the UK are absolutely prohibited, for example exports of any type of waste for disposal. Others waste movements may only take place legally if strict written pre-notification procedures are followed – many types of waste arising from industrial processes and going for recovery fall within this category where the waste concerned is considered hazardous. Some wastes considered non-hazardous within the UK can also be subject to these types of control. Advice on the controls that apply should be sought from the appropriate UK competent authority.
DUTY OF Care: Environmental Protection Act (1990) s34. If any organisation (eg, charity, local authority or business), passes its second hand clothing waste to a textile recycling merchant, they must ensure that the merchant has the legal authority to take the waste. Failure to comply with the Duty of Care may result in a conviction where the penalty could be an unlimited fine.
References and Useful Sources Of Information
1 TRAID www.traid.org.uk/
2 www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/uploads/media/62/13319.pdf
3 Textiles Environment Design (TED) Research, www.tedresearch.net
4 Waste on Line: Textile Recycling Information Sheet, www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/lnformationSheets/Textiles.htm [Sorry – link no longer available.]
5 The Salvation Army, www.satradingco.org
6 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Product Roadmaps – Clothing www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/documents/clothing-action-plan-feb10.pdf [Sorry. link no longer available.]
7 www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/sustainabiIity/projects/mass/uk_textiles.pdf
Based upon the CIWM Fact File October 2010
Now we think you’d enjoy reading our page on How To Properly Recycle.
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The Feels of Friendship
By Eric Newman
IN AN INTERVIEW published in the April 1981 issue of Gai Pied, Michel Foucault proposed that gay male friendship represented the apotheosis of homosexuality’s capacity to challenge the regimes of normativity. “How is it possible for men to be together?” was the question Foucault unfurled at the heart of the gay experience beyond sex, “[How] to live together, to share their time, their meals, their room, their leisure, their grief, their knowledge, their confidences?” When normative culture reduces homosexuality to just sex, Foucault argued, it forecloses the possibility of a new way of life already emergent in gay friendship, in the trenches of brutal military conflict, in the locker room. Some 40 years after gay liberation, our evolving culture’s awareness of gay life beyond sex has usually taken the shape of commodity consumption, of the endless baubles and chic cachet an “out” identity affords. While Lena Dunham’s Girls gives us bathtub scenes of a socially acceptable deeply intimate sorority, the idea that two men might love one another with all the passion of a romance but stripped of its erotic charge still raises suspicion, if it isn’t outright unintelligible.
When a friend introduced me to Korean dramas, I was immediately drawn into the emotional intensity of their romantic comedies and the comparatively unbridled intimacy of their depiction of male friendship. As cultural products second only to the now ubiquitous “K-pop” in globally disseminating South Korean culture, these single-season TV shows are at once universal and culturally particular. They epitomize the extreme melodramatic pitch and romantic intrigue of American soap operas, but are situated within an often-critical economic and political context absent from our domestic varieties and populated by male heterosexual types whose feeling and presentation isn’t hamstrung by our gender standards. A classic example is the “flower boy,” a young male whose personal style recalls the extreme aesthetic flair of Johnny Weir — think boat neck angora sweaters, elaborately fur trimmed waistcoats, and neon-colored fitted pants that make jeggings feel modest — but whose look invites none of the same speculation about his sexuality.
A case in point is actor Lee Jong-Suk, an iconic flower boy in heavy rotation on contemporary K-dramas, whose promotional video for fashion magazine Ceci Korea might be one of the queerest things I’ve ever seen. As the soft-lounge vocal styling and synth loops of “Come Gaze at Me” (or is it “Come Gays At Me,” as my friends like to say?) play in the background, Lee sleepily stretches around set pieces with Lolita-worthy languorousness before the hysterical and inexplicable editorial decision to film him first in grinding embrace with a taxidermied bear, then appearing to fellate the bear’s snout. What is hard to process across the Pacific is that this optic doesn’t read as gay to Korean viewers, and for a country that consumes nearly 25 percent of the global market for men’s cosmetics, it’s an aspirational look for straight Korean men. That difference also has the effect of enabling more physically intimate and emotional relationships between men in Korea that don’t necessitate the “no homo” policing so familiar in the United States. This is, in no small part, because homosexuality isn’t really recognized in South Korea, a country where a recent Pew Research Center survey found that only 39 percent of the population believes that gays and lesbians should be accepted by society, up from 18 percent in 2007. Koreans aren’t unaware of homosexuality, but in mainstream media it has tended to be presented as a comedic trope, foreign phenomenon, or fantasy, rather than as a reality of Korean life. In two particularly interesting and popular cultural phenomena — “slash fic” and “shipping” — fans of K-pop boybands, typically female, pair their favorite male celebrities together in imaginary relationships expressed in short stories, fan art, and other media that run the gamut from chaste romance to explicit sex. The point is not that fans believe these young men lust after one another, but rather, as some critics have argued, that slash fic and shipping offer a venue in which young women can engage romantic or sexual imaginaries that often go unfulfilled in heteronormative culture. In other words, the depiction of homosexuality isn’t representative of true life relationships, it’s just fantasy. Or at least, it used to be, and that change has made a big difference in the K-dramas’ world of male–male feels.
For viewers from abroad, the immensely popular 2007 hit Coffee Prince serves as a gateway drug to the world of K-dramas. The central plot orbits around the romance between Choi Han-Gyul, the directionless scion of a giant corporation, and Ko Eun-Chan, a tomboyish scamp who poses as a man in order to earn money for her family. When Han-Gyul first meets Eun-Chan, he assumes she is a delivery boy and hires her to pose as his gay lover as part of an awkward strategy to fend off the blind dates that his grandmother has arranged upon his return from New York. When he takes over the titular coffee shop and adds Eun-Chan, still in drag, to the roster of an attractive all-male staff, Han-Gyul begins to develop inexplicable romantic feelings for her. In order to transfer that longing into a culturally sanctioned form, Han-Gyul consecrates Eun-Chan as his “sworn brother,” lavishing “him” with sentimental gifts, life advice, food, and tense sleepovers. The normality of that fraternal passion is mirrored in the other males’ jocular relationships — naked cavorting and the humor of bodily effluence, yes, but also similar physical and emotional tenderness. Han-Gyul’s series-long struggle is resolved with the revelation of Eun-Chan’s true gender and the show ends with the two happily paired. The gay bait-and-switch works because both audience and auxiliary characters always already know that there’s nothing gay going on here, not really. Han-Gyul was only mistakenly playing gay and that makes everything okay.
A similar playacting is the central scandal of 2010’s Personal Taste, in which young architect Jeon Jin-Ho pretends to be gay in order to live with Park Kae-In, daughter of a legendary architect whose house he wishes to use as inspiration in a project bid for the prestigious Dam Art Center. Of course, the two fall in love. The big reveal of Jin-Ho’s heterosexuality occurs in a scene that is, ironically, also one of the genre’s campiest. “Game over!” Jin-Ho shouts, forcefully strutting across the room in an iridescent sharkskin suit jacket and comically billowing silk underpiece before planting a deep, passionate, high lip-gloss kiss on Kae-In’s shocked mouth. It’s a pretty gay scene, but not actually gay at all.
It turns out that Jin-Ho’s gay masquerade was a bit too convincing, giving project bid judge Choi Do-Bin the confidence to confess his romantic feelings for the lanky lad. Director Choi proposes that the two might come to love one another as a couple, two fugitive exotic birds flying above the normative radar of Seoul society. Jin-Ho confesses his heterosexuality, but promises to keep Director Choi’s secret. While Personal Taste took the then-groundbreaking step of introducing an actual gay character to the screen, that homosexual presence recasts the jocular intimacy between Jin-Ho and his architecture colleague Noh Sang-Jun in troubling ways. In performing gayness, Jin-Ho and Sang-Jun become more aware of the ways in which their bodies and feelings encounter one another, as when their friendly affection leads two female characters to assume they must be dating. In response to this comedic gag, they begin modifying their previously natural relationship. Since Personal Taste and the popular family drama Life is Beautiful debuted in 2010, K-dramas have been caught between representing the necessity of strong male relationships in navigating the life struggles of contemporary Korean society and the realistic portraits of homosexual life that threaten how those relationships signify.
When Answer Me 1997 first aired in 2012, it struck an immediate chord with viewers eager to immerse themselves in its heady mix of 1990s nostalgia for boy bands, first loves, and adolescent angst. What viewers weren’t expecting was a third episode revelation of dramaland’s most tortured love triangle: romantic male lead Yoon-Jae pines after H.O.T. fangirl Shi-Won, unaware that he is the object of affection for his best friend, Joon-Hee. When Yoon-Jae eventually learns of Joon-Hee’s feelings, it presents a serious crisis for the boys’ friendship. While Yoon-Jae’s empathy overcomes his uneasiness and he resolves to remain loyal to his friend — a bit of anachronistic optimism for a show set in 1997 and 2005 — Joon-Hee’s homosexuality is never openly discussed and their cohabitation is soon abandoned so Yoon-Jae can pursue Shi-Won. In Answer Me 1997, gay characters might stand a chance of a happy life but they can’t have erotically uncomplicated feelings about their male friends.
A year later, the absence of homosexuality from the world of School 2013 produced in its place one of the most emotional male relationships of the genre. The general plot concerns the reunion between Go Nam-Soon and Park Heung-Soo, two high school students who used to run together in a middle school gang before Heung-Soo’s ambitions to pursue a soccer career in Seoul drove Nam-Soon to break his leg, thereby ending his career. Haunted by guilt, Nam-Soon cocoons himself for two years inside an empty apartment that remains a conveniently parents-free zone throughout the show. “I was scared you would really leave me,” Nam-Soon tearfully confesses when he meets Heung-Soo again in high school, “I had only you back then. I had no one to turn to. I know I can’t repay you for what I’ve done. I, who ruined your legs and your future!” “Other than soccer, I had only you,” Heung-Soo fires back, his perfect cheekbones freshly bedewed as he exorcises his years-long pain over Nam-Soon’s abandonment. “You should have been there. Didn’t you miss me?!” The scene ends with both young men in tears, the camera sweeping up and away toward the Seoul street lamps as Nam-Soon’s voiceover relays what sounds like a Wildean truism: “All the shining flowers in this world, bloom while being whipped.”
This tidal wave of feels and the sodium rich vapors of a date to a local ramen shop soon restore the boys’ friendship, and just in time for them to resolve School 2013’s other male crisis. A trio of young toughs risks being torn apart when two members want to give up gang life, calling down the fury of their heavily mascaraed leader, Oh Jung-Ho, whose broken home and alcoholic father are only a few of the obstacles he faces in overcoming the poverty that makes life a daily struggle. Taken under the wing of Nam-Soon and Heung-Soo, Jung-Ho learns to trust others and, in one particularly touching scene, all five boys sleep together under Nam-Soon’s (still parentless) roof, tucking one another in and even, at one point, spooning.
These male relationships have a worlding importance in School 2013 as resources that guard vulnerable youth against the challenges faced by those who fall below economic and academic ideals. Moreover, these passionate friendships secure the boys against precarity when the institutions traditionally vested with that power — conjugal romance (which surprisingly never enters the picture), filial obligation, and the state apparatus — fail to do so.
There is a particular strangeness to watching these shows — always in translation, always across great cultural and geographic distance — as a gay, white male living in Los Angeles. On the one hand, Korean dramas give expression to relationships I’ve had with men that are difficult to articulate in an American culture where the hetero/homo binary so thoroughly polices same-sex interactions. On the other hand, the ability for those relationships to flourish as they do in K-dramas seems to depend on the relegation of homosexuality to the closet. In Nam-Soon and Heung-Soo’s relationship I can see, at least in part, two of my own friendships. And yet, in the stoicism of Director Choi and Joon-Hee, I can’t help but see the pain and suffering of a much younger self.
While living in New York in 2001, I forged a friendship in the folly and feeling typical of an NYU undergraduate experience. Uri and I bonded over a mutual love for jazz and classical music (his informed, mine neophytic), over the desire to explore a world that might recast us from the nerdy roles we’d played in high school, over the stupid and wonderful things that you do when first loosed from accountability to parents or community. We studied together, went on vacation together, shared apartments, shared beds, almost shared a girlfriend (though not concurrently), and shared his down comforter, naked save for boxers, while we watched movies through a haze of pungent smoke. When I came out in our senior year, I feared it might hurt the friendship that had deepened over three years, calling into question whatever my real feelings for him might have been. In other ways, I hoped it might heal some old, and until then, inexplicable wounds inflicted as I teetered over the threshold of the closet door. My first boyfriend was also Uri’s best friend from high school, and the sudden, furtive frequency with which I sequestered myself in Joey’s apartment the summer of our sophomore year had put a strain, unspoken but palpable, on our friendship. When Uri’s mother told me over lunch at the time that while her son was ecstatic his friends got along so well, he felt somewhat squeezed out as the two of us knitted together, my feelings of guilt and helplessness were excruciating. That strain deepened when I spent more and more time with friends I’d made studying abroad in Spain or in my literature classes, friends to whom I was out and with whom I lived a different life, during our junior year. The single sentence that would have explained everything was precisely the one I wasn’t yet ready to speak. To my great relief, coming out was not the crisis I’d imagined, at least not for Uri. The case was different for other friends, especially my gay male friends, who continued to believe, among other things, that I must have at least fantasized about having sex with Uri despite my protestations that such thoughts would have been as disturbing as incest.
When I met Alex at the University of Chicago years later, the close proximity of our apartments, shared political ideals, and mutual handwringing over our first long-distance relationships and whatever lay beyond grad school catalyzed an equally intense bond. We spent so much of our time at home between one another’s rooms, going out to eat, going to the movies, sharing inside jokes, and talking about matters both extremely intimate and extremely superficial that my then-boyfriend-now-partner was certain that he would lose me to my “straight grad school lover.” When the conclusion of our program brought us to two different cities, our intimate proximity diffused itself over text messages, phone calls that beggared monthly minute limits, and proliferating email threads that I often signed “XOXO” to my boyfriend’s continued, pointed bemusement. When Alex came to the painful terminus of a multi-year relationship, when I needed help navigating my own lovers’ quarrels, when we both agonized over personal statements, writing samples, family issues, and quotidian neuroses, our conversations afforded each of us the space in which to fall apart and in which to imagine getting better. We spoke often of how much we missed living only ten feet apart, and when we were both accepted into the same doctoral program, it broke my heart to foreclose the possibility of spending the next five years together by accepting an offer that put us 3,000 miles apart.
Anytime I describe these relationships to friends and even my partner, I often mark the wink, the smirk, the signals that say somewhere, somehow, I must have at least entertained the idea that our friendship might turn from the Platonic to the pornographic. I’ve grown accustomed to those suggestive gestures, but I’ve also grown frustrated with them. Did the fact of my homosexuality make impossible a passionate friendship with two men that doesn’t imply, at least in part, a desire for dude-sex? Within contemporary American media culture, the answer is almost certainly yes. While the new masculinity of the past decades has given us allegedly novel figures and affiliative forms like the “metrosexual” and the “bromance,” it has always done so by policing them in view of their queer optics.
For all the messiness and intimacy of male relationships that figures like Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow have brought to recent archives of popular American cinema, their movies usually do so via comedic denial, gross-out slapstick, or “man–child” narratives of maladaptation to the chrononormative rhythms of male life in the United States. This isn’t really the fault of Rogen and Apatow or their analogs, who are doing some great and important work, but rather the fault of an American culture that can’t see in male intimacy anything more than a joke, than a series of borders that should not be crossed; a culture that denies mature emotional depth to relationships that don’t flow through blood or semen. The rigidity of those boundaries is powerfully evidenced in Bromance, a short-lived 2009 MTV reality show in which a host of men competed to be the ultimate best friend to The Hills playboy Brody Jenner. While the show was ostensibly about plumbing the depths of male friendship, moments of intense bonding always had to be defanged of their queer potential. It is little surprise that the show’s only gay character withdrew himself from the competition in the first episode, or that a later challenge cajoling contestants to spill their emotional guts under the care of a life coach (whose trade name I can only hope actually is Dr. Hug-It-Out) resolved all of those strategically cathartic “I love you guys” confessions with an elimination round that placed the winners into bathtubs with bikini-clad women. Those emotional and physical boundaries don’t exist in K-dramas, or at least they didn’t until recently. Nam-Soon and Heung-Soo can cry over each other, can hold each other, can be wrecked by one another precisely because their heterosexuality, and thereby their normativity, is never in question. Yet, when real homosexual characters take the stage, that intimacy falls under greater scrutiny and begins to slip from view. Am I to learn from K-dramas that the cost of male intimacy is always the closet?
This equation, on both sides of the Pacific, fails us all. The stumbling block isn’t so much about the global culture getting over or getting used to the reality of homosexuality (though that would no doubt help). Rather, it’s a matter of expanding and valorizing relationships of care beyond the sexual and the filial. Rather than contain our emotional selves within the confines of a sexual relationship or a family relationship, K-dramas show me the possibility of distributing that freight over a broader range of attachments. That I can be vulnerable, that I can be proud, that I can be raw and unreserved before men to whom I have no codified social obligation or sexual interest — and vice versa — is an exceptional gift in this life. That possibility seems especially important to foster at a time when life feels more precarious than in previous decades, when economic stratification and the velocity of technological change are shaping a world that demands more adaptable resources for self-care, security, and flourishing.
Foucault closed his interview in Gai Pied by suggesting that the troubling tendency of any “program of proposals” for developing the “polymorphic, varied and individually modulated relationships” he sees nascent in a homosexual way of life is that its programmatic nature will prohibit innovation. “We must make the intelligible appear against a background of emptiness and deny its necessity,” he concludes. “We must think that what exists is far from filling all possible spaces.” This is the unfinished work that queer theorists continue to explore today, work that is impossible without homosexual presence but that also looks beyond it. Between Korea and the United States, between the K-drama and the buddy movie, perhaps there is enough distance for new and adaptive intimacies to shape a world in which we might love without restraint. Perhaps that is the world Nam-Soon dreams of as Heung-Soo wonders aloud why his friend always wants to sleep over, why he has no other place to go, and why there’s no place he’d rather be. “Loyalty, man,” Nam-Soon’s voiceover answers. “That’s what is called loyalty.”
Eric Newman is a doctoral student at UCLA’s English department, where he works on the intersection of race, sexuality, and literary form in 20th-century American culture.
Capsid: A Love Song
By Joseph Osmundson
Louie, Season 4: "Elevator, Part 6" and "Pamela, Part 1"
By Lili Loofbourow
The Third Korea
By John Delury
"Broad City": Season 1
By Anne Helen Petersen
Broad City and Kroll Show
Kill The Leading Man: Two Histories of 21st Century Television
By Phillip Maciak
Louis C.K. and the Rise of the “Laptop Loners”
By Adam Wilson
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Bajorans, Bajoran government officials
Woban
Leader of the Navot
Active (2369)
Jordan Lund
Woban was the leader of the Navot.
In 2369, he visited Deep Space 9 to negotiate a settlement over a land dispute with the neighboring Paqu, which almost turned into a civil war. The Paqu and Navot territories were separated by the Glyrhond River, which was diverted during the Cardassian occupation, causing the Paqu to gain twenty kilometers of territory previously owned by the Navot.
Woban later accepted a compromise by agreeing to a proposal from Varis Sul, the leader of the Paqu, where the land was restored to the Navot and to free trade access to both sides of the river. (DS9: "The Storyteller")
Woban was played by actor Jordan Lund.
Woban at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Retrieved from "https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Woban?oldid=2212431"
Bajoran government officials
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Mitigram
A company with Nordic DNA
A vision to digitise Corporate Banking
The concept behind Mitigram was born in 2014 by experienced Treasury and Transaction Banking professionals who saw the need to streamline and augment international trade by opening up a closed market with transformational innovation. The initial service was detailed and designed in close cooperation with large Nordic global exporters. The first corporation went live with commercial transactions in 2015.
The company is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has coverage operations across Europe. Mitigram is backed by leading Nordic investors, incl. Moor Capital, a venture capital fund.
Leading disruptor in trade
In June 2017 Mitigram won the award of Leading Disruptor in Trade by Global Trade Review.
The Mitigram team is highly diverse with members from over 15 different countries and bringing experience from leading institutions in trade, investments, risk management, software, security and compliance.
Some of the people behind Mitigram
Milena Torciano
Led sourcing, build-out and scaling of fast growing technology driven financial service companies and credit assets across Europe. Advised tier 1 financial institutions in Western Europe, North America and CEE. Leads Mitigram.
Marjon Wohlén
Chief Product Officer
Marjon is the founder of Mitigram and leads product vision and implementation. For over 20 years, she has been designing and implementing leading-edge solutions for corporate treasury and banking systems.
Martin Riit
Chief Solutions Architect
20+ years building and managing IT operations, application, network security and software development for large corporates, banks and start-ups. In charge of Mitigarm IT infrastructure and operations.
Tobias Jansäter
Software architect with 18+ years’ experience developing systems. Deep knowledge of application development for Windows, web and mobile platforms. Responsible for Mitigram technology development and delivery.
Managing Director, Financial Institutions
30+ years of business and banking experience. Extensive product knowledge and relationships in Transaction Banking, Trade and Financial Markets. Former MD, Standard Chartered in charge of the bank balance sheet management and risk distribution (Singapore).
Benoit Steinbach
Managing Director, Corporates Sales
30+ years’ trade and commodity finance expert. Former Regional Head of Global Trade Solutions Europe for BNP Paribas.
Risto Tornivara
A financial services professional since the mid-1980’s, Risto has had senior management responsibility over multiple banking disciplines. In that time, he has steered financial institutions through some of the most radical changes seen in banking and finance, both as a senior executive navigating the global financial crisis and the new age of regulation, and as a pioneer in technology utilization. His international banking career started as a foreign exchange dealer, and since then, Risto has gone on to manage and lead businesses. He was until May 2018 the CEO of the third largest Finnish bank. Risto was awarded ‘Most Reliable CEO 2016 in Finland’ by the Nordic Institute of Business & Society (NIBS).
Kaj Hed
Seed Investor and Advisor to Mitigram
First Mitigram seed investor through Moor. Kaj is a successful serial entrepreneur with a track record spanning 25 years. Kaj has developed businesses and built companies in areas as diverse as fintech, enterprise software, and digital entertainment with global reach, across both public and private markets.
Whether you are a corporation, a commodity trader or a financial institution providing solutions in global trade, we would love to hear from you.
Kommendörsgatan 16, 4 tr
hello@mitigram.com
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10 Mayan Secret Places That Were Hidden for Centuries
Chadd Borer June 27, 2019 June 27, 2019
The Mayan civilization is full of secrets. Even experts have been baffled by their highly
sophisticated writing system, their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, and the amazing
architectural marvels they managed to create without any modern equipment. Well, how they managed to create them is a
matter of discussion, but let’s not get into that. Instead, let me show you some of these marvelous
architectural accomplishments, and then you can plan a trip to the mystical land of the
Mayas. 1. Temple of KuKULkan, Chichen Itza
Built sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries CE as a temple to the Mayan serpent God KuKULkan,
this structure was almost completely hidden in the forest and partially covered in vegetation
when it was first photographed in 1880. The pyramid-like structure consists of a series
of square terraces with stairways on each of the four sides that lead to the top of
the temple. Each of the staircases has 91 steps, and when
combined with the topmost temple platform make a total of 365 steps, the same as the
number of days in a year. Whether that was by design or is just a lucky
coincidence, we might never know. However, what we do know is that all the unimaginable
engineering that went into the erection of this monument produces an illusion that seems
like magic. During the autumn equinox and the vernal equinox,
one can see a snake-like shadow crawling on the pyramid's balustrade. It moves upwards in March and downwards in
September. The illusion goes on for almost 3 hours and
attracts thousands of tourists. If you thought the serpent illusion was the
only great feat achieved by the ancient architects, you’re wrong. The pyramid hides another secret. Below the upper layers of stones lies another
smaller sized pyramid, and under it a third pyramid also. 2. The Balancanché caves
This place isn’t included on the classic tourist route, but given how awesome the atmosphere
is inside, you wouldn’t want to miss it! The name translates to "the cave of the sacred
jaguar throne." By Jaguars, they mean Mayan leaders, not the
spotted feline like you might have guessed. These mesmerizing caves were first discovered
by two American archaeologists in 1905 and have since then stirred curiosity. In 1954, a local guide named José Humberto
Gómez unexpectedly stumbled upon a secret wall. He was curious about what was behind it, so
he started removing the stones until there was a gap large enough for him to crawl through. Beyond the wall he found several passageways,
all of which seemed to end in dead-ends. Undeterred, he continued his pursuit. As luck would have it, he finally found a
passageway that led him to a cave. And what he found there was astonishing. Being the native that he was, he immediately
recognized the huge stalactite and stalagmite formations inside as representing the sacred
tree of the Mayans. He had, by chance, discovered the Mayan World
Tree or Mayan Tree of Life, as we know it today. 3. Cenote Ik Kil
This sinkhole is located in the Yucatán State of Mexico. And boy, believe me, this place is otherworldly. While the Mayans used this site as a place
for performing rituals, today tourists can be seen swimming. Vines from the top of the opening reach all
the way down to the water, along with many small waterfalls. You don’t have to worry about being hungry
or finding a place to change clothes after all the fun in the water. This place has a restaurant, a changing room
and cottages for rent. 4. Nohoch Mul Pyramid
The Chichen Itza's KuKULkan Pyramid has been closed for climbing since an accident in 2006. So if you think your trip will be incomplete
without climbing a pyramid, then this 137-feet (42 m) high pyramid is the place you should
visit. If you aren’t afraid of heights and can
muster the energy to climb its 130 steep steps to the top, you’ll be able to get a remarkable
view of the Yucatán, along with the non-public areas of Coba, including two lagoons: Macanxoc
Lagoon to the east and Cobá Lagoon to the southwest. 5. Ancient city Tulum
It’s the only Mayan city on the shore of the Caribbean Sea, located 39 feet (12 m)
up on the cliffs of the Yucatan peninsula. This well-preserved Mayan city was one of
the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya. According to experts, the original name of
the city might have been Zama, which means the City of Dawn, which is appropriate since
it faces the sunrise. The three most popular structures in the city
are: El Castillo, the Temple of the Frescoes, and the Temple of the Descending God. Unlike other Mayan cities, Tulum was surrounded
by impermeable walls that protected the city from the attacks of nomadic tribes from the
north. Thanks to these walls, the city managed to
survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. This place is not just ideal for tourists
seeking to soak in Mayan history, but also for lovers of nature. A large number of sinkholes are located in
the Tulum area, such as: Maya Blue, Naharon, Temple of Doom, Tortuga, Vacaha, Grand Cenote,
Abejas and Nohoch Kiin. 6. Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal
The tallest and the most recognizable structure in Uxmal is also known by other names, like
the Pyramid of the Dwarf, Casa el Adivino, and the Pyramid of the Soothsayer. Like many other pyramids, this too is at the
center of many mythological stories. I’ll tell you two that concern its various
names. According to one legend, a magician named
Itzamna, single-handedly erected the pyramid in just one night, using his magic and might. According to another, the city of Uxmal was
destined to fall to a boy who was not born of a woman when a certain gong was to be struck. One day the gong was struck by a dwarf who
was hatched from an egg laid by a childless, old woman. The sound of the gong struck fear into the
city's ruler, and he ordered the dwarf to be executed. The ruler later took back his decision and
promised to spare the dwarf’s life if he could perform three seemingly impossible tasks. One of the tasks was to build a massive pyramid,
taller than any building in the city, in a single night. The dwarf ultimately completed all the tasks,
including the construction of the pyramid. And therefore, he was spared. Tourists visiting this site can also watch
a sound and light show, presented in both English and Spanish, every evening. 7. Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque
This temple was built as a tomb for King Pakal, the ruler of Palenque in the 7th century. Construction of this monument started in the
last decade of his life and was finally completed by his son and successor. The inner walls of the temple are inscribed
with about 600 hieroglyphs, some of which are yet to be deciphered. A hall with three chambers is located at the
top of the pyramid. In 1949, one of the chambers revealed a sacred
passage to the ruler's tomb, filled with ancient treasures and artifacts. Pakal’s death mask is an extraordinary artifact,
made entirely of jade, with eyes crafted out of shells, mother of pearl, and obsidian. If you want to see it with your own eyes,
then you should know that there’s a catch. Tourists aren't allowed to enter the tomb. But don’t get disheartened; you can see
an exact copy exhibited in The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico. 8. The Mayan city of Yaxchilan
Located not far from Palenque, the ancient city, Yaxchilan, was one of the most powerful
states in the Mayan empire. The city is known for its well-preserved stone
ornamentation above the doorways of the main structures known as lintels. These lintels contain hieroglyphic texts that
give insights into the history of the city. Until recently, it was difficult to reach
the site other than by river or by air. No roads existed within 100 miles. This changed after the construction of the
Border Highway by the Mexican Government in the early 1980s. Since then, these ruins have had a steady
influx of tourists. 9. The murals of Bonampak
This city, located near Yaxchilan, might not be overly impressive, but it more than makes
up for it with the murals located in the Temple of the Murals. The first non-Mayans to discover the site
were American travelers Herman Charles Frey and John Bourne, who were led to the ruins
by a local Maya who still visited the ancient temples. The murals depict the Mayan rulers, dancing
people, musicians, battles, and acts of sacrifice. According to Professor Mary Miller, who specializes
in Mayan art, no other artifacts from the Mayan times offer a better glimpse of the
society than the Bonampak paintings. 10. The Temple of the Great Jaguar, Tikal
This temple is located at the heart of a World Heritage Site and is surmounted by a characteristic
roof comb that’s distinctive of Maya architecture. The temple was built as a funerary temple,
and in the year 1962, archaeologists were finally able to locate the tomb of the ruler
who built it. The body of the king was covered with large
quantities of jade ornaments, including an enormous necklace with 114 especially large
beads, weighing about 9 lb (4 kg). On December 21, 2012, as part of the celebration
of the end-date of the Mayan calendar, modern Maya held a fire ceremony in front of the
temple; more than 3,000 people participated. Pretty cool, huh? So which Mayan site tickled the hidden archaeologist
within you? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give
this video a like and share it with a friend. But – hey! – don’t go anywhere just
yet! We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to
check out. All you have to do is pick the left or right
video, click on it, and enjoy! Stay on the Bright Side of life!
Category: ArticlesTagged: Ancient city TulumCenote Ik Kilcity of Yaxchilanfacts about earthMayaMayan citiesMayan civilizationMayan secret placesMexicomurals of Bonampakmysterious videosNohoch Mul PyramidPyramid of the MagicianpyramidsTemple of KuKULkanTemple of the Great JaguarTemple of the InscriptionsTemple of the MuralsThe Balancanché caves
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25 thoughts on “10 Mayan Secret Places That Were Hidden for Centuries”
BRIGHT SIDE says:
Hey there, BrightSiders! Would you like to visit the Mayan secret places, if you had a chance?
Tomyum Sisig says:
These videos are just so . . .
informative and very helpful, too!
WalkDeadMan says:
The great filter hit them. We are the generation to break it
Ngoc Nguyen says:
boarinG OR EXCELLANT
59vaughn says:
Amazed that native south american( or whatever) people's and history….suppressed by the Spanish European catholic dominance to this day….
Sh Hu says:
All of them👍🏽!!
Liam Berman says:
Too bad white people killed 95% of all indigenous people in the Americas…
ADWAITA JANA says:
umberto de falco king says:
I'm learning about the Mayans and I like chichin itza
Sony Telker says:
Its kuhuchan
Septhea Nicole says:
Let’s just pretend that I say something funny 😂
derick orfanel says:
can you show us your face
Aurobindo Ghosh says:
were pyramids and hyrogliphs on it only made for future people?
henrik persson says:
got some help from the seven sisters………
Mart de Leon says:
Paleniqueee??! It's palenque pronounced as palengke
dulcepatty castillo says:
The Mayan Heart is in Guatemala. And you left it for last. Not so bright
Lucas Michaud says:
it turned out the world was supposed to end 7 years ago, guess the Mayans were wrong
I Share U Watch says:
Oh I love to know this secret
Harriet Kaufman says:
All sites!
Jim Farrell says:
Did the inside stair's extremely hot and humid even the Walls sweat. Did the outside to before the it was restricted. A must destination.
asianthor says:
I love the history of the Maya, but these videos are so slanted and bias. I studied for 2 seasons as a junior archaeologist in Tulum Mexico. This video makes it out to be that the Maya civilization came or is from one country only, Mexico, which is untrue. I've been to a lot of ancient Mayan cities in mexico, Guatemala, Belize and hopefully one day I'll make it to Honduras, and El salvador. Notice how on the last site they mentioned, Tikal, but they don't mention it is in Guatemala, yet on the other sites they do say it is in mexico. I'm from S. Korea, so I'm neutral on this subject. I can tell you true facts about the Maya, because I've been studying this subject for 10 years now….The tallest and biggest Maya pyramid is found in what today is the country of Guatemala called La Danta, the oldest Pyramid also in Guatemala, the story of the Maya creation is found in the base of the La Danta Pyramid, the oldest Mayan cities in Guatemala, the original of the Maya can be dated to 1,400-1,600 BC in Guatemala, , the first Maya hieroglyphics are found in Guatemala, the original name of kukulcan was Gukumatz in Guatemala oldest Mayan cities, largest stela are in Guatemala, the first Maya ruler was from one of the oldest cities in Guatemala, the 2 largest Mayan cities where in Guatemala, anyone who truly has studied the Maya knows all this and more. Let's give credit to who or country that deserves it which is Guatemala, where Maya civilization began and still thrives today. Chichen Itza in Mexico is a beautiful pyramid but this pyramid came more than a thousand years later than where the original Maya originated from.
Juana Mendez says:
BRIGHT SIDE I was the smartest in my class bc I watch your vids thank you i 💖 your vids
hung kheang says:
Jeff Shannon says:
Ok great
CH I says:
Alien help
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EPL Diamonds
Posted by Katerina Rogova February 1, 2015
It is our third day in Moscow and we are exploring the old heart of Moscow, getting lost in the maze of atmospheric alleyways and small streets behind the Bolshoi Theatre, an area known for its luxury boutiques, high-end brand stores and trendy coffee salons. We stop for tea on Stoleshnikov periylok, the perfect place to enjoy a sunny afternoon in Moscow. As we watch business execs and shoppers go by, Anouk turns to me. “So what does Russia stand for in your view?”
I take a moment to think and then respond: “To me it is contradictory and fascinatingly attractive at the same time. It is so huge – just imagine that you can spend seven days travelling non-stop by train from Moscow to Vladivostok. And over this huge area there is an unimaginable wealth of natural resources: oil, gas, coal, timber, tin, tungsten, gold, silver, diamonds…”
Around the World in 80 Brands – EPL Diamonds, Moscow
“Wow!” says Anouk. “I had no idea that Russia produced diamonds! Can we go and visit the mines and see the diamond cutters at work? That would be amazing!”
I smile at her. “Well, it’s not impossible, but Russia’s diamonds are mined about 5,000 kilometres from Moscow, so I don’t think we’ll manage to squeeze it in before dinner…”
Anouk laughs. “Yes, that might be a bit hard – but where is this region where they produce diamonds?”
“Yakutia,” I tell her, “Russia’s largest federal republic in eastern Siberia – the place is larger than Argentina, but has less than a million inhabitants. It’s very rich in natural resources, producing 97 percent of Russian diamonds and over 25 percent of all diamonds mined worldwide.”
“Wow, that’s fascinating,” says Anouk. “Really too bad we can’t go and check it out!”
“I have an idea though,” I tell her. “We won’t be able to visit the mines, but the EPL Diamond Company, the largest manufacturer of Yakutian diamonds, has a boutique just a few minutes walk from here. Do you want to go check it out?”
“Great, let’s go!” says Anouk. “Diamonds are a girl’s best friends!”
A range of exquisite designs is on display at the boutique, every piece more delicate than the next. Slowly, we are drawn to a stand in the middle of the space that showcases unique designs, including a set that can be worn as a single piece or taken apart to become an earring, ring and charm bracelet. “These are really incredible,” says Anouk as we bend over yet another unusual design.
“I’m glad you think so!” says a voice behind us. The company’s marketing manager, Anastasiya, who was passing by the boutique by chance, introduces herself. We explain that we are on a journey of discovery through the world of Russian brands. “And EPL Diamonds caught our eye – your designs are really beautiful,” says Anouk.
“Thanks!” says Anastasiya with a smile. “We have been mining and cutting diamonds since 1994 and over the years we have become one of the country’s key jewellery manufacturing companies. Since then we have helped move Russia to the number one position in global diamond production. We are the third-largest exporter of Russian diamonds.”
“What an incredible story!” Anouk says enthusiastically. “We’d really love to learn more about the brand’s history and your vision for the future – both of the company and of Russian diamond production.”
“We’d be happy to welcome you!” says Anastasiya. “I’ll set up a meeting with Petr Stepanovich, EPL Diamonds’ owner. He’s the man with the story!”
“Sounds great,” says Anouk. “We love stories!”
For CBNWS
© MIG812
Read more stories on:
http://www.aroundtheworldin80brands.com
http://www.cbnws.com
Order a book Around the World in 80 Brands
Tags: Katerina Rogova, Ekaterina Rogova, CoolBrands NextWorld Storytelling, NextWorld, CoolBrands Storytelling, CoolBrands, curator Russia, coolbrands curator Russia, CBNWS, #ATW80B, MIG812, Brand Psychologist. HowISeeRussia, Anouk Pappers, Maarten Schafer, EPL Diamonds Moscow
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Posted in: HowISeeRussia, stories for CoolBrands, Stories from RussiaTagged: Anouk Pappers, ATW80B, Brand Psychologist. HowISeeRussia, CBNWS, CoolBrands, coolbrands curator Russia, CoolBrands NextWorld Storytelling, CoolBrands Storytelling, curator Russia, Ekaterina Rogova, EPL Diamonds Moscow, Katerina Rogova, Maarten Schafer, mig812, NextWorldPermalinkLeave a comment
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Yaakov Shwekey – Libi Bamizrach album review
It’s been less than a year since Yaakov Shwekey’s last album, Ad Bli Dai, hit the shelves. Now, there’s another Yaakov Shwekey album that’s been released, and there are a few things that are unusual and unique about it.
First off, this is the first time since his first and second albums that Yaakov has released back to back studio albums with new material. In the past, there was always another album in the middle of the new studio albums – B’Simcha, Behisorerus, Live in Paris, and Live in Caesaria. Secondly, this album has a totally different style from his past albums. This is the first all-Sefardi style album that Yaakov has come out with. While he has had Sefardi style songs on his past albums – Ki Hatov, Ata Shomer, Halo Yadata, and Natzliach, this is the first album to be exclusively Sefardi. The album is also different in that there’s no choir on the album. Yitzy Waldner does of the background vocals on some of the songs he composed, but otherwise it’s just Yaakov. And I only realized that when I was going through the CD booklet – it doesn’t seem to take away from the album at all.
Whenever I review an album, I don’t want to start writing anything until after I’ve gone the entire album a lot of times. I won’t start the review until I know the songs pretty much by heart, picked up on all the “K’naitches”, and I can play most of the songs on keyboard. Once I’m at the point, I feel that I know the songs, and I’m able to write up my feelings. To review an album right away, when I’ve just gotten it, wouldn’t be right to anyone who was involved in the production, and who put in tens of hours into each song.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of real Sefardi music, but I really enjoyed this album. If you look through the booklet, you’ll notice that most of the songs were composed by Ashkenazic composers, yet they have a Sefardi feel, with the style and the flat Sefardi keys. Add the Sefardi style of singing to the mix, and you’ll get a Sefardi album. But I wouldn’t classify it all as real, authentic Sefardi – a lot of it is probably closer to Ashkenazi with a Sefardi twist. I’m also curious how the idea for the album started – if they first had the material, or the idea, and then worked on the songs. Either way, it’s good.
The album was arranged by a different set of arrangers than in the past albums. They seem to be a mostly Israeli/Sefardi, which was probably to bring out the Sefardi style in the album.
One more thing that I realized: A lot of albums that come out may have some great songs, but the songs just don’t seem to make it to the wedding scene. Yaakov has had amazing success, no doubt thanks in part to his producer, Yochi Briskman, with having his songs become “musts” by all weddings. And this album is no exception – even though it has a different style, I expect to see a lot of the songs become very popular by weddings.
Enough with the details; let’s move on to the songs.
1) Libi Bamizrach – composed by Yitzy Waldner, arranged by Tamir Zur
This is the title track, and it starts off with a bang. This is the first Shwekey album to start off with a Hora, and it definitely makes sense, because the album has a bunch of them. Yitzy Waldner composed at least part of 6 songs on the album, and did a great job on this song, even though he hasn’t composed much Sefardi material before. The low and middle parts didn’t come across to me as overly Sefardi, besides the accent the words were sung in, but the high part definitely sounds Sefardi. Also, the way the words are set up on the high part is interesting – that’s a lot of “Li”s! Another thing I realized is that due to there not being any choir on the album, Yaakov is singing straight throughout pretty much the whole song (besides the interlude and intro). That’s not necessarily something bad – it just feels a bit different than a song where you’ll get a change of pace when the choir sings some parts. I also really liked the arrangement of the song – the intro was amazing, and the only complaint I had was that I would have liked the ending to be a bit more exciting, but otherwise, the arrangement brought the song out very well.
2) Modeh Ani – composed and arranged by Yoni Rohe
This is the first song I’ve heard by Yoni Rohe, and he did a very nice job on the composition, as well as the arrangement. Like I said before, I’m nowhere near an expert in Sefardi music, but the song sounded more Israeli than Sefardi to me (or is it all the same?). When I was listening to the song, it kept reminding me somewhat of Chaim Yisrael’s Malachim (which Yaakov sang on his Behisorerus album). I really like the way that the song built in intensity, and the way it ended off. The only thing I was somewhat surprised about was how short the song was – the total length (at least on my version) was 4:14, which is short even for a lot of fast songs. Maybe they just wanted to keep you moving on to the next amazing song, so let’s go next to…
3) Chabibi– composed by Yaakov Shwekey and Yitzy Waldner, arranged by Yoni Rohe
I believe this is the first song on any album where Yaakov is listed as the (partial) composer. I’m sure he was involved in tweaking other songs, but this looks like the first song that he was involved in from the composition side. This is also only the second Shwekey song (if my memory serves me right) to use a Debka beat – Ata Shomer on Shwekey 3 was the first. And this is what I might consider to be the first “real” Sefardi song on the album. But being Yaakov’s first song didn’t matter, as it came out sounding spectacular! This is one of my favorite songs on the album, from beginning to end. I love the way it starts off slowly, and then builds into something that can only be described as pumping. I just loved the “slowdown” and no drums by the third part, Nashuv, towards the end. And maybe I only really paid attention to it here, but the vocals stood out on this song – maybe it was all the Sefardi ululations, but it was definitely done very well. Just an overall amazing job on the song, composition, and arrangements.
4) Boee Beshalom – composed by Yitzy Waldner, arranged by Moshe Waldner
I thought this song would fit in perfectly on any regular album. It was a very nice song, and it had some nice parts, but overall, it didn’t blow me away. I would compare it to Eishes Chayil on Shwekey 4 – I enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow me away. Of note here is that Yitzy Waldner does background vocals, and it sounds nice, but it’s more as a background – he doesn’t take over as the choir, so Yaakov’s still singing the whole song by himself. I also thought that the transposition to a higher key was done very well.
5) Yala! – composed by Eli Schwab, arranged by Shay Reuveni
I don’t believe I’ve heard any songs from Eli Schwab before, but he definitely deserves a chance! I picked this song up very quickly, as it’s not overly complicated, but it’s just an amazing song! This song is also definitely one of my favorites, and I can see it being a very big hit by weddings. What struck me was that this song isn’t overly Sefardi – without the Sefardi accent, and maybe the ”Yala” part, it’s would go over very nicely as a regular Hora, but I think the Sefardi “additions” add to the song, and give it an extra push. The whole arrangement is very nice, and I especially liked the violin solo, the part where things kinda slowed down towards the end, and the way the song ended.
6) Shir HaYona – composed by Itay Silberstein, arranged by Shay Reuveni
It took me a bit of time to get used to this song, mainly because of the multiple key changes. It goes up 2 keys from the low part to the middle part, and then another 2 keys to the high part, according to my calculations. But after hearing it a few times, it just got to me. This is definitely my favorite slow song on the CD. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song that takes the path that this one does, but I can only describe the way it builds up as innovative. It’s not easy to compose a song like that, and I’m sure it wasn’t so simple to arrange, but Itay Silberstein definitely did a great job. The vocals were also done very well, which I’m sure isn’t so easy with a song like this, and the way it jumps a key was also done very well. And the lyrics fit in very well – I’m not so well versed in Ivrit, so I went through the words with the English from the booklet, and it conveys a very inspiring message.
For some reason, after Shir HaYona, the booklet had 3 pages on Yaakov’s family and ancestors. It looks very nice, and he has some illustrious gransfathers, but I’m not sure what it’s doing In the middle of an album…
7) Baruch Hashem – composed by Moshe Wertzberger, arranged by Yoni Rohe
Yoni Rohe’s first arrangement for a Yaakov Shwekey album was actually on the last album, Ad Bli Dai. He arranged Baruch Levine’s Natzliach, and I was very impressed with his arrangement. For some reason though, on this song, it sounds like he reused part of the intro from Natzliach. It starts off sounding with a Sefardi-sounding beginning, then for some reason, launches into a line that sounds exactly the same as part of the intro from Natzliach. I have no idea why that was done, and if it was done on purpose, but let’s move on to the main part of the song. This song sounded more Sefardi than some of the previous Horas, but overall, I didn’t enjoy it as much. I didn’t feel there was any real climax in the high part, and I kind of expected a third, middle part to come after the high part. I did like the interlude a lot, and the arrangement was nice, but I just felt that this song needed something more.
8) Hakadosh – composed by Eli Laufer and Yitzy Waldner, arranged by Moshe Laufer
This song also took me some time to get used to. I listened to it a bunch of times, and I like it, but it also has a bit of a different style which didn’t exactly grab me – maybe because the song is in a major key. I didn’t love the low part as much, but the high part got to me more. I also liked the way the words went with some of the other songs better, but it’s never easy to fit the words in perfectly, especially with a song with new words. Either way, it’s a nice song – I just didn’t like it as much as some of the others.
9) Ten Lo – composed by Yitzy Waldner, arranged by Tamir Zur
This is more of an “exotic” hora – lighter and not as intense as some of the others. The low part is more basic and “laid back”, but the high part is more exciting. There’s a key change surprisingly very early on – right after the first time the song plays, but it sounds good. I like the song, but it’s hard to classify the song – it’s not exactly a typical Hora, but still in that style. I guess it has a middle eastern style, a somewhat toned down, lighter hora. I don’t think it will be played too much by weddings, because it’s in its own class, but a good song nonetheless.
10) Rau Banim– composed and arranged by Yonatan Razel
This is Yonatan’s second song for Yaakov. I’m sure that by now most people know the first one – Vehi Sheamda. But if you were expecting another Vehi Sheamda, you’re not going to get it. This seems to be more on the “real Sefardi” side, a slower rock song. I didn’t enjoy this song as much – it’s not a bad song, just not my style, though I liked the arrangements.
11) Mul E-li – tradition composition, arranged by Yoni Rohe
I never heard this song before, but it sounds like something that’s been around for a while, and more of what I think of under the “real Sefardi” category. Again, it’s not really the style I enjoy, but if you enjoy this style, it sounds like it was done nicely.
Overall, I think it’s an amazing album, and definitely worth getting. It may be targeted towards a more specific audience, but I originally thought that it wasn’t for me, and I was blown away. And when there are so many good songs, there are automatically some that will rank lower, but each song was good in its own right or style. The best part is that there’s something there for everyone, and I think that most people will really enjoy the album.
So if you haven’t gotten it yet, head over to your local music store and decide what YOU think, or head over to Mostly Music to judge it for yourself, and pick up your CD or purchase the download.
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Latest 'Shawn Hatosy' News
Fear the Walking Dead Adds Southland Star Shawn Hatosy
Southland star Shawn Hatosy has booked a recurring role in AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, playing a soulful military veteran.
Southland Season 4 Gets Lucy Liu
The actress will appear in a reoccurring arc as a member of the LAPD when this popular TNT cop drama returns in January of 2012.
Southland Season 3 Sneak Peek
Ben McKenzie, Regina King, Michael Cudlitz and Shawn Hatosy return to the streets of L.A. in the new season of this TNT cop drama.
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About Shawn Hatosy
Shawn Wayne Hatosy born December 29 1975 is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name Hatosy is 5 9 and weighs approximately 165 lbs
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After Irma, Maria threatens students’ homes in Caribbean
Caroline Gallo, News Reporter|September 19, 2017
Photo courtesy of Ali De Luca Damage to an auto shop in Puerto Rico.
Hurricane Maria is due to hit Puerto Rico Tuesday. It is now a category 5 storm, which is the most powerful rating a hurricane can receive.
“Looking at the storm’s projected path at the moment is worrisome, and it doesn’t look like it will go as easy on us as Irma did,” Ali De Luca, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said.
De Luca’s home is in Puerto Rico. She watched the effects of Irma from a distance, but not without updates from her family, who are staying put.
The northeast part of Puerto Rico was issued to evacuate, but Ariana Jimenez, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, said her family is able to stay in their homes. Her grandmother is still without power and living off canned food.
“We’ve gone through tropical storms that resemble hurricanes because of the winds, but nothing as bad as Irma,” Jimenez said.
De Luca said her family’s electricity and water immediately went out when Irma hit land.
Photo courtesy of Ali De Luca De Luca's house after the storm.
“My dad drove over to his office in Caguas even through the bad weather because they had a generator, so there was power,” De Luca said. “He was able to have water and recharge his phone to contact us because we’re not there, and wanted to know what was going on.”
Halee Newby, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and vice president of scholarship and service for Marquette’s Panhellenic Council, noticed the effects of Irma on individuals on campus and decided to take action into her own hands.
Newby said her first question was if Panhellenic Council would have enough money to do the fundraiser. She asked friends in MARDI GRAS and Marquette University Student Government if they would be willing to co-sponsor.
MARDI GRAS, MUSG and the Panhellenic Association co-sponsored the fundraiser, and Studio 013 Refugees performed an improv show for all those who attended.
“People are going to be feeling the effects of Harvey and Irma for years to come. Donating to hurricane relief is what we need to do right now,” Newby said.
The hurricane relief fundraiser raised almost $1,700 that was donated to the organization Youth Rebuilding New Orleans. The fundraiser was intended to help with Hurricane Harvey relief, but the organization ended up donating to all areas affected by the recent hurricanes.
“As Marquette students, we are here because we are dedicated to service, and we are good individuals and we can still do our part here in Milwaukee,” Newby said.
Newby plans to hold a series of fundraisers throughout the semester. In October, she hopes to hold a clothing drive to send clothing down to Puerto Rico.
As Puerto Rico is still recovering from Irma, tropical storm Maria is approaching and is expected to turn into a hurricane and hit the island again.
“Just like for Irma, they are buying water and canned food just in case,” Jimenez said. “They are just worried and stressed that another possible hurricane is threatening to pass through the island so soon.”
Tags: hurricane irma, Mardi Gras, Marquette Panhellenic Association, MUSG, Puerto Rico
Caroline Gallo, News Reporter
Caroline is a news reporter for the Marquette Wire. She is a junior from Chicago, Illinois majoring in journalism.
Other stories filed under featured
Marquette adopts new test-optional policy
First online bachelor program now taking applications
Government shutdown affects Les Aspin internship program
Sophomore housing assignment issues from last year leave freshmen concerned
Raynor Library’s starts “Passport Program” contest
Marquette engineering professor awarded $1.4 million grant to lessen inaccuracies in CT scanning
Sen. Ron Johnson discusses immigration proposal, among other topics
McCormick demolition begins this week
Dentistry students help provide $1 million in services to those in need at Mission of Mercy event
New green space construction underway near AMU
Marquette agrees to comply with court ruling, raises precedent concerns
Aurora Health Care backs out of AHPRC deal
With no legislative fix in sight, Dreamers continue to support themselves
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A Small Piece of the Old Facebook Returns
By Adam Ostrow 2009-05-07 08:10:44 UTC
When Facebook rolled out its latest redesign earlier this year, a number of valuable features from the previous iteration more or less disappeared. The social network has promised to bring back a number of them, and has been making progress towards doing so.
The latest enhancement (or “re-birth” might be more appropriate phrasing) comes in the form of once again knowing when your friends update profile information – like their favorite bands, “about me” area, or a new profile picture. However, unlike before, this information is not featured on your homepage, but rather on the Friends Page, where you can now sort by “Recently Updated” profiles.
Facebook has also introduced a new filter on the homepage – “Status Updates.” This eliminates other information from the News Feed like things your friends are doing on third-party applications and also seems to hide updates from Pages.
Ultimately, Facebook is giving users back what they want, albeit in a somewhat more cumbersome way than the old homepage that preserves the company’s own vision of showing you everything your friends are doing around the Web.
Most of the comments on the Facebook blog post about the new features are decidedly negative, but so far, users aren’t voicing their frustrations by moving elsewhere – traffic to the social network continues to soar.
See Also: HOW TO: Survive the New, New Facebook
Topics: Facebook, Social Media, social networking
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Hands on with Microsoft’s HoloLens Development Edition
Someone playing the HoloLens augmented reality game Project X-Ray. This is, more or less, what the wearer sees when they look around the room.
Image: Microsoft
By Lance Ulanoff 2015-12-17 09:00:00 -0500
Let’s get this out of the way. Microsoft HoloLens is not an immersive experience and, as “mixed reality” it was never intended to be.
It’s an inescapable fact brought home to me during my second hands-on experience with Microsoft’s augmented reality headset.
Almost a year ago, I tried out a prototype that was more science project than finished product. There were wires everywhere and I was tethered to a power supply and, I think, another computer.
See also: Windows 10 review: A needed upgrade with missing pieces
This new experience, which interested developers can try out at Microsoft’s new Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan, was quite different. HoloLens is now free-standing and looks very much like the untouchable headsets Microsoft showed off under glass in January. Though it looks finished, Microsoft reps told me there are still tweaks to be made until the Development Edition starts shipping early next year. Even so, casual observers will be hard-pressed to notice any difference between the device I tried this week and the one shipping next year.
Microsoft had invited me on Tuesday to the fifth floor of its new store for a special preview of what will be an ongoing, by appointment-only HoloLens Showcase for developers. In it, I was offered three experiences, HoloLens Studio, Holographic Story Telling and Project X-Ray. Each one is designed to show off the possibilities of Microsoft’s mixed environment headset and toolkit. The SDK for HoloLens will arrive with the headset.
HoloLens occupy a place of honor in the Microsoft Flagship Store in Manhattan.
Image: Mashable, Jhlia Farzaneh
The company has been doing a more informal HoloLens Developers Roadshow for weeks and, according to company reps, the response was so strong they had to wait-list hundreds of developers in New York City, alone. This semi-permanent space, which opens Thursday, may alleviate some of those availability issues in New York, but won't do anything for the rest of the U.S., where other Microsoft Stores will not, for now, be hosting similar HoloLens demo spaces.
My experience, and the ones most developers will see in the store, was designed to show off the presentation, building and more immersive capabilities of HoloLens.
First, though, I had to get my pupils measured. Since HoloLens is a 3D experience, it works best if the dual displays are properly lined up with each individual’s pupils. To do so, Microsoft is still using the same model pupilometer they employed during my first demo. It measures the distance between pupils. Mine is 63 mm, which was written on a card that a Microsoft representative referenced in each demo room. The final version of HoloLens will do the pupil calibration for you.
The Microsoft HoloLens Showcase for Developers sits on the 5th floor of its new NYC store.
If you’ve seen images of the final HoloLens products, you know the head gear is comprised of an outer (open) and inner (closed) ring. The outer one can adjust up and down and closer and further away from you face and the inner one has a tightening ring so it can clamp down securely on your noggin. The comfort of each fit seems to depend on who is helping you put HoloLens on. My first guy clamped it too tightly over one of my ears and the device seemed to press against my glasses. The second assistant let me do my own adjustment, which was slightly more comfortable. The last guy had the most deft touch and the fit was almost comfortable.
Microsoft HoloLens-prototype.
HoloLens is not heavy, it’s just that you have to position it so you can see the 16x9 viewport clearly with both eyes. That took a bit of doing. The good news is that at no point was my ability to see the rest of my surroundings cut off, which is important since I had to be able to see the real and virtual combined and, often, was walking around the room to see the 3D images from all sides.
The first demo showed how HoloLens would operate in a sort of presentation or story-telling situation. Microsoft’s go-to fake company, “Contoso” is now a watch company. In front of me appeared a giant, beautifully designed, mechanical timepiece. Looking though HoloLens, the watch appeared to float over the real, large, black table before me. I could walk around the watch and when I leaned my head in, I could hear it ticking.
One of the Microsoft HoloLens Showcase rooms. Sadly, I was not allowed to photograph my experience in it.
The images animated to an exploded view so I could see all the internals and I could tap on highlighted areas to learn more about the build quality.
The software comes with an author tool that let me see various animation slides I could sort them and adjust them as I wanted. One of the more interesting pieces of this demos was the ability to track the gaze of other HoloLens wearers who might simultaneously be looking at the same demo. In my view I saw an outline of a person (I assume this would appear over the real person) and a visual representation of their line of sight. In author mode, I could see a heat map of exactly what they looked at the most and use that info to adjust the presentation accordingly.
I also got a quick look at how HoloLens could put a new spin on education.
When a 3D representation of our solar system appeared before me I was able to walk around and through it and even look at it from below to see it in a way I had never before. What was most noticeable to me was the crazy orbit of Pluto. It’s the only planed that cut across the orbit plane of all the other planets — a sort of interplanetary “look at me!” move.
Make stuff
I finally got some virtual hands-on time with HoloStudio, a 3D design tool that lets you build 3D environments and even out put them on 3D printers and VR platforms. One thing this highlighted for me was HoloLens' ability to ingest a physical environment and marry it to the virtual world.
Microsoft HoloLens - HoloStudio, which lets you build things in three dimensions.
To start my demo, I donned the HoloLens and then looked around the room to scan it. Using that information, HoloLens let me place a virtual sign on the wall, create 3D fish and even spray paint Star Wars X-Wing fighter that I’d placed at my feet.
Interacting with most of HoloStudio menus and objects was usually a combination of looking at what I wanted to manipulate — basically visually positioning my cursor, which was almost never an arrow — and then tapping in the air with one finger to select. When I wanted to paint part of the fighter, I looked at the spot, which moved my virtual paint can into position and then air-tapped my finger.
Would you like to play a game?
Without a doubt, the best part of my demo suite was Project X-Ray (see photo above), a mixed-reality game that blends your room with attacking alien robots.
This was the only demo where I used an additional piece of hardware, an Xbox One controller. I only used the left and right triggers to fire. All aiming was done by looking at my targets, which were shooting back at me. I would physically dodge and duck to evade their missiles. As with all the other demos, the audio for the game was delivered loud and clear to my ears, even without a headphone.
The experience was fun and tiring.
HoloLens is now on-track to arrive in developer and business hands in Q1 of 2016. It will cost $3,000. For the moment, Microsoft isn’t saying which demos will be built into the wearable Windows 10 PC, though Microsoft reps told me it's logical to expect a variety of experiences on HoloLens Development Edition to help developers understand what’s possible and inspire them to create their own apps.
There is no timeline for a consumer edition. All Microsoft will say is that it’s “further down the road.”
BONUS: What is augmented reality and how does it work?
Topics: Gadgets, hololens, Microsoft, Tech
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District Partners With Friends Of Muskoka Watershed For New Ash Program
The District of Muskoka has agreed to partner with the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed on a new ash collection program.
Councillors signed off on the initiative during their last council meeting, after hearing a presentation from Dr. Norman Yan during their engineering and public works committee meeting.
Yan said ash from throughout the region could be collected and used to help replenish Muskoka’s calcium supply. He said that the calcium levels in Muskoka have been dwindling in recent years and it could have potentially harmful effects on the local ecosystem.
However, he said those harmful effects could be offset somewhat by the collection and careful distribution of non-industrial wood ash.
The committee discussed ways the District could assist in the collection of ash for this
program and District staff advised council that they’re working with the group.
Council endorsed the ASH Muskoka Program and supported the creation of a joint venture between the District and Friends of the Muskoka Watershed for the initiative.
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The Real Story of How Israel Was Created
Israeli Occupation, Colonialism and Apartheid: Crimes Against Humanity
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NBC NEWS: 20000 Americans Convert To ISLAM Each Year !
A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11
A funny list of dumb laws in the United States : Indiana
A funny list of dumb laws in the United States : Kentucky
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Jewish Professor Boasts of Jewish Pornography used as a Weapon Against Gentiles
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Ratusan Muslimah Iraq Diperkosa Tentara Amerika
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« Dictatorship – WarMongering : A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?
US Congress gives green light to human rights violations in the ‘war on terror’ »
Dictatorship : President now has legal authority even courts can’t challenge
Posted by musliminsuffer on October 2, 2006
bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Detainee bill lifts Bush’s power to new heights
President now has legal authority even courts can’t challenge
Scott Shane, Adam Liptak, New York Times
(09-30) 04:00 PDT Washington — With the final passage through Congress of the detainee treatment bill, President Bush achieved a signal victory Friday, shoring up with legislation his determined campaign against terrorism in the face of challenges from critics and the courts.
Rather than reining in the formidable presidential powers that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have asserted since Sept. 11, 2001, the law gives some of those powers a solid statutory foundation. In effect it allows the president to identify enemies, imprison them indefinitely and interrogate them — albeit with a ban on the harshest treatment — beyond the reach of the full court reviews traditionally afforded criminal defendants and ordinary prisoners.
Taken as a whole, the law will give the president more power over terrorism suspects than he had before the Supreme Court decision this summer in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld that undercut more than four years of White House policy. It does, however, grant detainees brought before military commissions limited protections initially opposed by the White House. The bill, which cleared a final procedural hurdle in the House on Friday and is likely to be signed into law next week by Bush, does more than allow the president to determine the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions; it strips the courts of jurisdiction to hear challenges to his interpretation.
And it broadens the definition of “unlawful enemy combatant” to include not only those who fight the United States, but also those who have “purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” The latter group could include those accused of providing financial or other indirect support to terrorists, human rights groups say. The designation can be made by any “competent tribunal” created by the president or secretary of defense.
In very specific ways, the bill is a rejoinder to the Supreme Court’s Hamdan ruling, in which several justices said the absence of congressional authorization was a central flaw in the administration’s approach. The new bill solves that problem, legal experts said.
“I think he can reasonably be confident that this statute answers the Supreme Court and puts him back in a position to prevent another attack, which is the goal of interrogation,” said Douglas Kmiec, a conservative legal scholar at the Pepperdine University School of Law.
But lawsuits challenging the bill are inevitable, and critics say substantial parts of it may well be rejected by the Supreme Court.
Overall, the legislation reallocates power among the three branches of government, taking authority away from the judiciary and handing it to the president.
Bruce Ackerman, a critic of the administration and a professor of law and political science at Yale University, sharply criticized the bill but agreed that it strengthened the White House position.
“The president walked away with a lot more than most people thought,” Ackerman said. He said the bill “further entrenches presidential power” and allows the administration to declare even a U.S. citizen an unlawful combatant subject to indefinite detention. “And it’s not only about these prisoners,” Ackerman said. “If Congress can strip courts of jurisdiction over cases because it fears their outcome, judicial independence is threatened.”
Even if the Supreme Court decides it has the power to hear challenges to the new law, the Bush administration has gained a crucial advantage. In adding a congressional imprimatur to a comprehensive set of procedures and tactics, lawmakers explicitly endorsed measures of the sort that in some other eras had been achieved by executive fiat. Earlier Supreme Court decisions have suggested that the president and Congress acting together in the national security arena can be an all but unstoppable force.
The debate over the limits of torture and the rules for military commissions dominated discussion of the bill until this week. Only in the last few days has broad attention turned to its redefinition of “unlawful enemy combatant” and its ban on habeas corpus petitions that suspects have traditionally used to challenge their incarceration.
Law professors will stay busy for months debating the implications. The most outspoken critics have compared the law’s sweeping provisions to dark chapters in history, comparable to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in the fragile years after the nation’s founding and the internment of Japanese Americans in the midst of World War II.
Conservative legal experts, by contrast, said critics can no longer maintain that the Bush administration is guilty of unilateral executive overreaching. Congressional approval can cure many ills, Justice Robert Jackson wrote in his seminal concurrence in Youngstown Sheet & Tube vs Sawyer, the 1952 case that struck down President Harry Truman’s unilateral seizure of the nation’s steel mills during the Korean War.
Supporters of the law, in fact, say that its critics will never be satisfied. “For years they’ve been saying that we don’t like Bush doing things unilaterally, that we don’t like Bush doing things piecemeal,” said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department official in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush.
How the measure will look decades hence may depend not just on how it is used but on how the terrorist threat evolves. If major terrorist plots in the United States are uncovered — and surely if one succeeds — it may vindicate the congressional decision to give the government more leeway to seize and question those who might know about the next attack. But if the attacks of 2001 recede as a devastating but unique tragedy, the decision to create a new legal framework may seem like overkill.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/30/MNGNKLFO3P1.DTL
-muslim voice-
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNO
This entry was posted on October 2, 2006 at 11:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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snowpiercer: the revolution cannot be trusted if it’s white
On August 1, 2014 By StephanieIn movies
Here at No Award, there are two things we know for sure about our dystopic climate change future: It is brown; and we will be eating cockroaches.
In related news, you know that No Award went to the movies this week! I really, really liked Snowpiercer (Liz and I disagreed on how great Pacific Rim was, as well). But this is not that joyful shrieking as I clapped my hands. This is a look at the use of non-white bodies and Western imperialism and moral attitudes in our dystopic future. This analysis accepts the basic premise of Snowpiercer: that is, that all of humanity remaining exists on a high speed train that hasn’t stopped in 17 years. There are no questions about track repairs, wear and tear on the outside of the train, and the supply of animal carcasses. Maybe later.
The movie ends with two brown babies leaving to start the world again. Everyone else seems dead. This is correct. End of the world boils down to an Asian girl and a brown boy, protected at the end by an Asian father and a white man. I dig it.
Racially, there are few other things I dig.
This revolution is peppered with brown faces but ultimately led by white ones, from one end of the train to the other. It starts with the disobedience of a white dude, who is oppressed by a white lady (using her tools of white and not-white). It is controlled by two white men, paternalistic imperialists who do what they do for the good of everyone else, never mind what anyone else has to say. It’s led by the man-pain of a white man, and takes a long pause when we learn what we already knew (he knows what babies taste like, man, because being 17 when the world froze he was probably privileged and shielded).
As Liz mentioned, Curtis (the beautiful Chris Evans) turns his judgey face on those he is leading when he discovers that protein bars are made from cockroaches. He decides they don’t need to know. Never mind that people (not white people) willingly eat cockroaches now, before our dystopic future has arrived. Never mind that he makes the decision on their behalf, like a patronising jerk. Never mind that in 17 years on a train, they’ve probably already realised. But this is a story about a white man, at its core, and the decisions white men make on the behalf of everyone they think is less than them (every one).
It’s uncool that we had to watch brown bodies being used for everything; literally, brown bodies. Grey, played by Luke Pasqualino, had to use his shirtless brown body to communicate because he was unable to speak. I enjoy a brown man as much as the next person (probably more, being a brown bisexual, and I have loved Luke Pasqualino since he was in the Borgias and fully clothed), but this is hugely problematic. Brown bodies, especially male brown bodies, have long been used in Western media as either items of lust and hyper-sexuality or as items of abuse (including in slavery). The hairless, shirtless brown man who can’t speak in English has often been shorthand for the exotic, noble savage, and Grey, following Gillam’s instructions, does nothing but support that stereotype: the brown person here for the story of the white person.
Like Elysium, the white-skied brown-earthed saved by the localised/nativised white man story starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and fewer brown people than I would have liked, the segregation of the brown tail end and the white-ish front end makes sense within the world. (I was, incidentally, so happy to see some brown children in the school car, though we really only saw that one smart-ass white girl). That the faces of control and violence are all white makes sense. That the faces of rigour and sticking to the rules are Asian are an uncomfortable stereotype of the model minority and super racist.
That the brown players are here for the consumption of the white person is confirmed by the costuming process, which you can read about in this interview. It is, at its essence, look at all the exotic clothes I put on all these white bodies. They’re so multi-ethnic! And they are. But, as always, with a white face, who takes what they can see and find but ultimately doesn’t understand what we’re here to do or what these stolen tools are for.
And in the end, Snowpiercer merely confirms everything we already knew. A cis white man cannot be trusted to smash the system; do not trust the white dudes with the revolution (cf Ms Hayley Inch in a text this morning). The system is always supported by brown bodies – literally, in the case of Grey’s very attractive yet constantly bare torso. And our climate dystopia is coming.
End note: I am interested in thoughts re: the ending, where Tanya, the African-American mother, has been replaced by Yona, holding Timmy’s hand as they walk (BARE-HANDED) into the snow. Whilst two brown babies is correct, there are thoughts around racial conceptions of motherhood that I don’t feel able to talk to but are worth discussing.
our dystopic futurerace
things your government has been doing
service: tell my jerkbrain that i can do this thing
2 thoughts on “snowpiercer: the revolution cannot be trusted if it’s white”
(I hope this goes through, for I am at work and thus not able to log in because OPPRESSION. And also, I guess, offering my labour in exchange for money.)
ANYWAY, in my cursory google of “places that eat cockroaches”, I discovered that white people do eat them in Balkan and European countries eg Croatia. But I think your thesis still stands, anyway, because “white” is so often used as shorthand for “western European”, and certainly places like the UK have worked really hard to other and exclude Eastern Europe BECAUSE WHY NOT.
Otherwise, this is a good post and you should feel good, even the bit where you disagree with me.
I was so confused about having to moderate your comment! Okay well also, handily, we live in a country where often white just means ‘not anglo-saxon’, so we are still good to go! Thank you, Australia, for this one single thing, I guess.
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Why the Discontinued Rolex Daytona 116520 is Still A Must-Have Chronograph
Rolex Watches / By adminx
When Rolex unveiled the new ceramic Daytona ref. 116500LN at Baselworld 2016, Rolex fans were delighted. Crafted in steel and sporting a high-tech Cerachrom ceramic in black, this was the Daytona model many were waiting for. Up until that point, the stainless steel Daytona was fitted with a steel bezel and Daytona models with ceramic bezels were only available in precious metals. Of course, with the introduction of the Daytona ref. 116500LN, the brand shelved the production of the Daytona ref. 116520 to make way for the new steel and ceramic model.
However, what does this mean for the now discontinued Rolex Daytona 116520? Did demand falter? Nope. The Rolex Daytona ref. 116520 is still very much a coveted luxury chronograph thanks to its classic style, famous name, and reliable movement. Now only available in the pre-owned luxury watch market, the Daytona ref. 116520 is still enjoying immense popularity 18 years after its debut.
Launched in 2000, the Daytona 116520 was an Absolute Hit
Prior to 2000, Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watches all ran on outsourced movements that were then modified by Rolex. Early generations of the Daytona from the 1960s until the late 1980s were powered by manual-wound Valjoux movements, while automatic Daytona chronographs from 1988 until 1999 were equipped with Zenith El Primero movements.
Rolex changed all that with the launch of the in-house Caliber 4130 automatic chronograph movement. With the release of this manufacture caliber, Rolex could now claim all of their movements were made in-house—a big deal for any luxury watch brand.
Naturally, to house the new Caliber 4130 movements, Rolex presented a whole new line of Daytona models with six-digit reference numbers. The steel versions were the Daytona ref. 116520 and the demand for these Rolex chronographs skyrocketed—much like the latest ceramic Daytona steel watches. Although there are more precious versions of the six-digit Daytona in gold, two-tone steel and gold, and even platinum, the steel editions are the most popular by far.
Even in the early portion of 2016, it was basically impossible to walk into a Rolex boutique to buy a Daytona ref. 116520—the waitlist was still going strong!
The Discontinued Rolex Daytona 116520 Today
The Daytona ref. 116520 includes a 40mm steel case with a steel bezel engraved with the tachymeter scale, two screw-down chronograph pushers flanking a screw-down winding crown and a steel Oyster bracelet. The watch comes with the option of a black dial or a white dial.
Despite the fact that Rolex replaced the Daytona 116520 with the 116500, the former is still enjoying plenty of popularity. There are a handful of factors that play into this. First, the vintage Daytona market is extremely hot right now—especially with the record-breaking sale of the Paul Newman’s own Daytona for $17.75 million—which has captured plenty of attention for the Daytona collection in general.
Then, there’s the fact that the new ceramic Daytona 116500 is extremely hard to get unless you’re willing to pay more than double the suggested retail price.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the Rolex Daytona 116520 sports a style that is so iconic in the luxury watch space that it’ll never go out of style. It looks as good today as it did almost two decades ago—and will continue to do so for many more years to come. And that is a watch worth investing in.
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‘Teacher nearly killed this boy’ – rogue spamming Facebook app at large
14 Jun 2010 0 Facebook, Social networks, Spam, Video
Previous: More likejacking targets: Farmville, Sex And The City 2, Kendra Wilkinson, …
Next: Apple 10.6.4 patch hits the streets
by Graham Cluley
Updated Hundreds of thousands of people have so far clicked on a link sent by a rogue Facebook application, which tempts users into giving the application access to their Facebook profile in exchange for seeing a “shocking video” of what is alleged to be a teacher physically assaulting a boy.
A quick search on Facebook reveals thousands of users are promoting the link on their newsfeeds, encouraging their friends and acquaintances to also add the application:
A typical message reads:
I am shocked!!! The teacher nearly killed this boy: http://bit.ly/aWeBMl - Worldwide scandal!
Clicking on the bit.ly link redirects Facebook users to a page promoting a Facebook application called “Teacher nearly kills a 13 year old boy. SHOCKING!”, which offers what appears to be a video thumbnail of the attack and the encouragement to “Click here, then ALLOW, to see the shocking video”.
However, if you are tempted to follow the on-screen instructions to view the video you will also be allowing the third-party application to gain access to your profile, and to repost the spam message to your own wall.
Do you really want this application to have access to your name, list of friends and profile picture? Do you really want to give your approval to the complete strangers behind this Facebook app to recruit your friends and acquaintances as well?
After all, you don’t know what they’re going to do next – once they have hundreds of thousands of Facebook users signed-up? The next spam they send from your account could be designed to phish your friends’ password details or spread malware.
We can only hope that Facebook will act quickly to shut down this and other rogue Facebook applications, and police more tightly dubious activity on their social network in future.
If you were hit by this attack, check your privacy settings and remove the application from your profile. Furthermore, delete any posts it may have put on your newsfeed – so no more of your friends can be tempted into clicking on the link and falling for the same trap.
Bit.ly is already displaying a warning message to users who click on the link – it would be good to see Facebook also taking action to curtail the spread of this spam attack.
If you’re regular user of Facebook, you should join the Sophos page on Facebook to be kept informed of the latest security threats.
Oh, and please share this page on Facebook to spread the word.
Update: New versions of this scam continue to cause considerable problems on Facebook as they spread virally in a worm-like fashion across the social network. They are using a different name for the rogue application, and a different url-shortening service, but are otherwise extremely similar. I have made a video demonstrating the attack:
(Enjoy this video? You can check out more on the SophosLabs YouTube channel and subscribe if you like)
Please take care when you’re online, and consider joining the Sophos page on Facebook to be kept informed of the latest security threats.
Can you really see who viewed your Facebook profile? Rogue application spreads virally
Girl killed herself, after her dad posted this to her wall? No, a new spin on a Facebook scam
Girl who killed herself virus hoax spreads on Facebook.. but beware of scams
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Ksenia Sobchak makes Kremlin happy
By XSoviet on October 18, 2017 • ( Leave a comment )
Ksenia Sobchak announces her candidacy on Dozhd TV, where she is a presenter
Supporters of Alexei Navalny greeted Ksenia Sobchak’s announcement today that she was running for president primarily with disgust. The 35-year-old TV presenter and socialite whose late father Anatoly was Putin’s boss in St. Petersburg (and died in questionable circumstances) had been hinting at a run for some time. Navalny had already responded angrily before he was jailed for 20 days, so Sobchak made this decision in the full knowledge that she would be viewed as a tool of the Kremlin.
It didn’t help that Sobchak said on Dozhd TV that she would withdraw from the election if authorities allowed Navalny to run. Few expect Putin to change his mind on that score. Sobchak also tried to explain herself in a long letter to the newspaper Vedomosti, in which she said that she would be the candidate for everyone who dislikes the current government and rigged system. She made it clear that she doesn’t expect to win, instead saying that it would be useful for the opposition to practice participating in an election, and that this was more effective than street protests.
But training opposition activists is exactly what Navalny has been doing, at great cost to himself and them. Many have gone to prison or suffered physical assaults just for handing out leaflets, yet they have persisted and their numbers are constantly increasing, thanks to impressive organising in most of Russia’s regions. Navalny’s goal has been to gather so much momentum that Putin will either have to allow him into the election or admit that the election is completely fraudulent. Sobchak’s participation helps the Kremlin claim the election is real.
The ideal candidate to come second
As economist Konstantin Sonin commented, “Ksenia Sobchak is the ideal candidate for the place of second person in the Russian state. Adding popularity to the first person and at the same time in no way competing for his position.” Liberal newspaper The New Times tweeted that in return for running against Navalny Sobchak gets air time on state TV channels.
UK-based Russian businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin was furious, posting a picture of himself on Instagram making a rude gesture with the comment, “At this point only Navalny is independent and he is in prison. All the rest have made an agreement with Putin and work for him. A choice of one person isn’t a choice. You fucking sellouts are taking the country into total shit, carrying the Dickhead to a fifth term. Fuck off! Fuck off!”
Another Russian emigre, former world chess champion and democratic political activist Garry Kasparov, tweeted: “A rule of ‘bread and circuses’ is that when bread runs low, hire more clowns and throw more people to the lions.”
But Prague-based Russian blogger Rustem Adagamov tweeted a suggestion that could turn the tables once again: Navalny’s wife Yulia could replace him in the campaign. This would simultaneously undercut Sobchak’s position as the female candidate and pose a new problem for Putin, who would have to find yet another excuse to ban Yulia from the election. Yulia could continue Alexei’s campaign smoothly with few adjustments. But Alexei Navalny has been single-minded in his determination to force the issue, so it is more likely that he will continue his battle for as long as he can. Tomorrow Putin is expected to officially announce that he will seek a fourth term in office. An already dirty fight may now become even more vicious.
Tagged as: Alexei Navalny, Election, Ksenia Sobchak, Politics, Russia, Vladimir Putin
West’s plot to kill Navalny on Russian TV
Protester gets two-year sentence
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The British Gas Flame
Dimensions (m): 7.5m high
Commissioned by: British Gas plc
In 1990 the then Chairman of British Gas, Robert Evans, wanted a major sculpture positioned outside their then headquarters building on the corner of Vauxhall Bridge, very nearly opposite the Tate Gallery, originally the Rank Hovis MacDougall building.
Of course to have a work so prominently placed in central London was every sculptor’s dream and so when Derek Portsmouth arranged a meeting with Robert, I was delighted and was duly commissioned to produce a series of smallish maquettes from which the final work was chosen. Then it was how to enlarge the sculpture to about 7 metres in height.
I worked with Auriol Pace and her Father Roy and in their garden in West Ashling and after considerable technical difficulties, we made one of the five fins with yacht building materials. The pattern was finalised by Montagues, the well known pattern makers in Slough and then an associated firm produced an armature in steel to support the pattern which was used to make the 5 fins.
The cast sections for each fin then had to be made and welded to the armature, each of the fins having 6 castings, so thirty in total. Very very careful chasing was necessary to get perfect lines up the whole length of the sculpture and of course the finished work showed no joins whatsoever.
HRH Prince Charles The Prince of Wales had agreed to unveil the work and we had landscaped the front of the building beautifully. Sadly for us, at the very last minute there was a hitch when the British Gas chairman had a massive rise in income and was hounded in the British press as the very first ‘FATCAT’. He telephoned me with the news and asked “Had I seen ‘The Sun’?” I hadn’t! It was desperate… the sculpture was manufactured and ready for delivery and then immediately cancelled in case there was a shareholders revolt!
However calm eventually prevailed and subsequently there were two castings made, beautifully patinated a greeny blue colour, and clever lighting design from a pit below the sculpture made The Flame seem to flicker like a real gas flame. They looked particularly amazing at night.
The first work was installed at Reading at Thames Valley Park in front of the middle of three British Gas Exploration and Production buildings which we once again landscaped. It was dedicated by John Redwood, the MP for nearby Wokingham.
The second work, a year later was installed in between the University and the British Gas Research and Development HQ in Loughborough.
These were major works for the team at the foundry, with the technical work alone costing over £100,000 per casting.
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KSOM Joins Barron’s In Education Program
The Kania School of Management’s partnership with Barron’s In Education begins Feb. 15 and will provide students and faculty access to Barron’s digital assets and additional educational resources. The program at Scranton was sponsored by alumnus Peter Butera ’83, senior vice president wealth management, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
This semester, The University of Scranton’s Kania School of Management will join select business schools in the country participating in the Barron’s In Education program from Dow Jones. The program, which Barron’s Group launched in early 2018, provides business students and faculty digital access to Barron’s and additional educational resources made available exclusively to partner schools.
The University’s participation in Barron’s In Education was sponsored by Scranton alumnus Peter Butera ’83, senior vice president wealth management, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.
“As a Jesuit business school, we are committed to preparing our students with the professional, ethical and critical-thinking skills needed to become leaders in their fields. The assets made available through the Barron’s In Education program will allow us to further enhance the experiential learning experience we are privileged to provide to our students,” said Murli Rajan, Ph.D., interim dean of the Kania School of Management (KSOM). “We are thankful also for the generous support of Mr. Butera to make this partnership with Barron’s possible.”
In addition to access to Barron’s digital content, the program provides access to guest speakers available from Dow Jones and Butera Jordan Bender Group/Merrill Lynch, tours of Dow Jones headquarters in Manhattan for students, and opportunities to connect with Dow Jones recruitment teams for possible internships and fulltime positions. KSOM faculty members will have access to Barron’s Weekly Review, a weekly summary prepared for faculty to bring real world events into the classroom. The KSOM Dean’s Office can also nominate up to three students for enhanced training to serve as Dow Jones/Barron’s Student Ambassadors.
“The partnership with Barron’s, America’s premier financial magazine, gives the students access to real-world resources that will help them to hone their skills and understanding of global markets and the analysis tools used by investors,” said Butera. “I have used Barron’s throughout my 32 years with Merrill Lynch.”
“The Barron’s In Education program helps to better connect business with academia in aiding financial literacy and proficiency for future business leaders,” said Joe Lanza, Director of Financial Education at Dow Jones. “We are very pleased to have the University of Scranton’s Kania School of Management partnering with Barron’s on this important initiative.”
KSOM students and faculty can access Barron’s In Education through a portal on MyScranton.com beginning Feb. 15.
Lithuania’s Transformation After Soviet Union
By: Eric Eiden ’19, student correspondent
“Lithuania: Traditional and Modern Nation” was discussed at the Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar Lecture Series.
Eric Eiden ’19, Throop, is a journalism/electronic media major at The University of Scranton.
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Niswonger Performing Arts Center: 2019-2020 Season
Posted on June 25, 2019 (June 25, 2019) by Northeast Tennessee Tourism
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Celebrate Fifteen Years of Fan Favorites at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center (NPAC) with another star-studded lineup of entertainment featuring 33 performances for the 2019-2020 Season.
Featuring country, classic rock, comedy, contemporary Christian, theatrical productions, family programming, and more, NPAC will once again bring some of the premier names in entertainment to Greeneville. The season kicks off on August 23rd with fan favorite, 38 Special, and continues with performances from Tommy Emmanuel, Lonestar, The Temptations, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, and many more. Closing out the season is the comedy of Preacher Lawson, a finalist from Season 12 on America’s Got Talent.
Among many others, NPAC is pleased to welcome for the first time, the legendary Kenny G, classic country legends, The Bellamy Brothers, country music icon, Craig Morgan, and classic rock sensation, Night Ranger. Returning fan favorites include, Foreigner, The Charlie Daniels Band, Natalie Grant, The Lettermen, Crowder, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and Tim Hawkins, who all played for capacity crowds at their last visit to NPAC.
Kick off the Christmas Season with a fan favorite family show sure to brighten your holidays, Lightwire Theater’s “A Very Electric Christmas.” The Sawyer Brown Christmas Tour is a perfect way to enjoy some country music and holiday fun with a band that delivers a good time all year round. Get “Hip to the Holidays,” as Under the Streetlamp celebrates the season with a joyous performance of your favorite holiday tunes plus songs from the American Radio Songbook. PBS sensation, Christmas with the Celts, brings high-stepping spirited musical selections that will have audiences clapping along from the first lively renditions of popular Christmas classics and ancient Irish carols.
Additional theatrical and cultural performances this season include Menopause the Musical®, the return of the Russian National Ballet with “The Sleeping Beauty,” and Catapult, an America’s Got Talent finalist from Season 8. Catapult is a magical production that features incredible dancers who work behind a screen to create shadow silhouettes of shapes from the world around us, and their “Magic Shadows” show is packed with hundreds of shape transformations.
Whitney Houston’s musical legacy is brought to life in the critically acclaimed tribute show, The Greatest Love of All. Described as “mind-blowingly spot on,” be stunned by the breathtaking vocals of Belinda Davids. With the accompaniment of a live band, backing vocalists and choreographed dancers, plus state-of-the-art sound, lighting, vision, and theatrical effects, this is a beautifully crafted tribute to one of the world’s most revered singers. Resurrection – A Journey Tribute faithfully recreates the experience of a Journey concert from the band’s most prolific period and is considered the gold standard by which all Journey tributes are measured. ARRIVAL from Sweden, the world’s foremost ABBA tribute band looks, sounds and dresses just like the super group. Dance and sing along to “Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance,” “Fernando,” and “The Winner Takes It All.” Don’t miss Brass Transit – The Musical Legacy of Chicago. The group has toured North America, dazzling audiences with their flawless performances and spectacular attention to every detail of the Chicago songbook. Hits like “Saturday In The Park,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “If You Leave Me Now,” and “You’re The Inspiration,” have left crowds in awe. Brass Transit goes far beyond just imitating the songs, they embody the music.
Families can go on an all new adventure and experience a trip to the bottom of the ocean with Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure. This immersive experience invites families to jump in and explore unknown ocean depths where prehistoric marine reptiles live eons ago – and maybe still live today! Audiences will be howling for more when canines and comedy collide in the smash hit performance, Mutts Gone Nuts! We are excited for a return of the hit interactive stage show The Price Is Right LiveTM. It’s the show that gives eligible individuals the chance to hear their names called and “Come On Down” to win!
“We invite you to celebrate Fifteen Years of Fan Favorites at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center this season! Filled with a star-studded lineup of entertainment, our 2019-2020 Season features something for everyone. We are grateful for the continuing support of our patrons and for the financial support from our individual and corporate partners and grantors who assist us in achieving our goal of providing exceptional programming and performing arts education within our region,” said Vicki Hudson, executive director of NPAC. “The generosity and financial support from our donors for the programming at NPAC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is invaluable to our success.”
Tickets for the entire 2019-2020 Season go on sale Monday, July 1st at 10:00 AM. NPAC offers a variety of ticketing options including individual tickets, season ticket packages, a pick 5 or more bundle which includes a 10% discount, and a group discount for groups of 20 or more.
The Niswonger Performing Arts Center is an 1150 seat regional performing arts center located in historic downtown Greeneville, TN, adjacent to Greeneville High School. Tickets may be purchased online at npacgreeneville.com, in person at the NPAC box office, or by calling 423-638-1679. A $2.00 ticketing fee will be added for the purchase of each ticket, however, NPAC will continue to offer no processing or delivery fees.
Box office hours are Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM For additional venue information, visit npacgreeneville.com.
Posted in Attractions, Entertainment & Festivals, Music, Recent, What We Recommend
Digging Big: A Hands On Experience at Gray Fossil SiteMeet the Mountains Festival: Aug. 23-24
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Events for week of July 14, 2019
Exchange Place: Living History Farm
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Liberty! The Saga of Sycamore Shoals
Rocky Mount State Historic Site: Graveyard Tales
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Plan your trip now with our interactive map!
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How to Train Your Python: Part 9, Basics of Error Detection and Handling
By The Defalt
Welcome back! In the last iteration of how to train your python, we covered loops, today we'll be covering something that I wish I had learned about much earlier in my scripting career, errors.
We all run into them, and they can be frustrating, but there is also a silver lining to them. Today, we'll be discussing why some errors are unavoidable, and what we can do when we run into them. Also, this article will be more of a concept and less of writing actual code, but the information is equally valuable. So, let's get started!
Errors Aren't Always Bad
A common misconception is that if an error occurs, you've done something wrong, this isn't always the case, sometimes errors can occur based on the user's input, or sometimes a process may fail, the point is that not all errors mean that something is broken, it just means that something needs to be accounted for. As a matter of fact, we can actually use errors to our advantage, but that is beyond the scope of this article. Now that we've conveyed the point that errors are eventually unavoidable, let's discuss how to diagnose an error.
Diagnosing an Error
When we run into an error, it will be rather obvious. I'm sure we've all seen those big chunks of text appear when when we mess something up. Errors will commonly look like this...
Now, since we have an error, we need to know what caused it. When we receive the error message, it will provide us with a line number, and the text that is on the offending line, a marker will also be placed at the point of failure. At the very bottom of the message, we see the type of error that occurred, in this case, it was a TypeError, since we tried to print a string and an integer together. There are many kinds of errors, and these errors are organized into a hierarchy. This hierarchy is outside the range of this article, so I'll just leave a link to it here.
Expecting Errors
In order to build the most solid script possible, we need to account for every possible error. It may seem hard to spot possible error points at first, but picking them out gets easier with practice. The main thing to remember in trying to find possible points of failure is that the user will cause more errors than anything. Invalid input is one the biggest causes of errors out there, right alongside faulty code itself.
The point of this section is to remember to re-read your own code, very carefully. Once you've gotten good at spotting points of failure, you'll enter a new level of scripting skill. Now that we've learned to expect our errors, let's learn how to actually code for them...
Alright, enough talking about concepts, on to the code! In order to handle errors, we use try and except. It's rather self explanatory when you think about it, try this, and give an exception to this error. Using try and except allows us to accommodate for errors that may occur.
In order demonstrate this, we'll be building a simple script to ask the user for a number, and repeat the number. But it will only repeat the number if the user enters an number, no words allowed. First, we'll build it without using try and except, then we'll incorporate them into our code and see the difference. So, let's start by building a version without try or except...
Alright, in the above screenshot we ask the user for a number, and then we attempt to test if it is a number by attempting to add one to it. If it works, we repeat the number to the user, if it doesn't, we tell the user that they did not give valid input. Let's see what happens when we input a number, then what happens when we input a string...
As we can see above, we get the proper output when we give a number, but when we give a string, it returns an error. This is because we can't make an integer out of a string, so let's rebuild our script, but this time we'll use try and except...
Now that we have our debugged code, let's run through it again and see if we can get it to return an error...
There we have it! We used try and except in order to detect and handle errors! Let's end it by wrapping it all up!
We covered quite a few new concepts in this article, but I hope the messages got across well. We covered the concepts of errors not being all that bad, how to diagnose an error from the error message, and how to look for areas of failure within our code. We also made a small script incorporating try and except, our error handling duo. Let's get on to the exercise!
The Exercise
Alright, now that we know how to properly deal with errors, I would like you to make and handle as many errors as you can. Set yourself up for failure, then save yourself with try and except. As always, don't be afraid to experiment!
Feedback!
That's it for this one, I hope you'll come back next time for your python's next training session!
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Sorry about the lack of photos after initial upload, I really need to watch my keyboard strokes.
Ax0n Ex 3 years ago
Very nice tutorial.... Do you know any languages other than Python?
I've started to learn ruby in my spare time
The first thing that comes to mind when someone says Ruby is: "Who makes a framework in Ruby???"... It's a nice language though. If you persue a career in InfoSec, make sure C/C++ are in your equation.
Dually noted!
tang xiao 3 years ago
i appreciate your work, very nice tutorial.
Thank you very much! That means a lot to me!
Saturos 3 years ago
I've found some other tutorials across the Internet for helping me out understanding python to the maximum, but no matter how much I've learned, I am waiting for your tuts that almost every time have some little details. These little details have already done the difference in my early (newbie) scripts. Thanks mate.
Washu Washu 3 years ago
Very nice, keep up the good work!
Washu
VoidX 3 years ago
I'm late, but are TryExcepts sort of like TryCatches in Java?
and do they work like
TRY <this> and if it doesn't work, EXCEPT <this>?
The Defalt 3 years ago - edited 3 years ago
Except is used to catch errors. If try doesn't raise any errors, but doesn't work, except won't be executed.
but then when do I know when to use a TryExcept?
Wherever there may be a point of failure.
For example. If you ask a user for a number, but they give a string, it will raise an error. You can use try/except to prevent these errors from spilling everywhere. You just have to keep an eye out for places where errors can happen.
Xero Kiryuu 2 years ago
After countless attempts..... I did it... But you didnt tell us to put more spaces (indentations) after Try: and other.... Well it was fun figuring out what was wrong
Great article mate..... Long last my dream to learn python is coming true.
Kas Stoner 2 years ago
I tried this using an app on my iPhone and it doesn't let me separate the first to lines (the num = ... and the if ...)
When I press return it runs the first line and just says
Enter a number. I think it's a the apps fault but idk. I have tried many times and I talked to someone that I know that used to be a pen tester so this person would know. He said the same thing.
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AFFAIR? THAT’S RICH! HILL’S ANGRY PALS RIP DENISE’S HINT SHE WAS BILL’S LOVER
By Vince Morris
July 3, 2001 | 4:00am
WASHINGTON – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s close friends were livid when socialite Denise Rich boasted she had a “special relationship” with President Bill Clinton, a new report claims.
A Vanity Fair article claims Hillary’s pals, who are quoted anonymously, fumed that Rich’s description of her deep connection to the president in an interview with Barbara Walters was “disrespectful.”
Hillary Clinton’s defenders – believing Rich was hinting she had an affair with Bill Clinton – railed about her, ripping Rich as “This starf—er onstage [with Bill Clinton] with her bosoms hanging out.”
Rich was a big donor to the Democratic Party and the Clintons. After her largesse, President Clinton pardoned her fugitive ex-husband Marc, who lives in Switzerland and had been wanted on tax charges.
The pardon came after Denise and prominent Jewish leaders lobbied hard for Marc’s freedom. A criminal investigation is looking at whether there was any illegal quid pro quo in Clinton’s controversial last-minute pardons – including the Rich case.
The Vanity Fair story also rehashes Clinton’s first five months as a senator, including her idea of creating a campaign-style “war room” to drop bombs on President Bush and the GOP.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle shot down Hillary Clinton’s idea.
“She’s told people she believes it’s important for Democrats to have a coordinated message,” said Clinton spokeswoman Karen Dunn.
Anita Dunn, a spokeswoman for Daschle said he values Clinton but felt a war room was not appropriate for the Senate.
Denise Rich did not return calls to her cell phone seeking comment.
But her lawyer, Martin Pollner, denied “flat out” the story’s implication that Denise Rich had a sexual relationship with Clinton.
Pollner told The Post that Vanity Fair “watered-down” the first version of the article after he threatened legal action.
DEATH IN THE PANTRY: BRONX GIRL SHOOTS SELF MAKING MIDNIGH...
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Waiting for the Oil?
May 17, 2010 /2 Comments/in Conservation, Featured, Gulf of Mexico, Ocean Doctor's Reflections, USA & Territories /by Ocean Doctor
Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys
On July 18, 1975, the tanker Garbis spilled 1,500 to 3,000 barrels of crude oil into the warm, turquoise, coral-rich waters roughly 26 miles south-southwest of the Marquesas Keys, Florida. The oil was blown ashore along a 30-mile stretch of the Florida Keys, east of Key West. I was 16 and enjoying my second summer at Seacamp, a marine science camp on Big Pine Key. Rumors of the spill raced throughout the campus until finally, instructor James Smithson decided to find out for himself what menace might be approaching. He took a small away team aboard his 21-foot Mako, “Isurus,” and made haste south toward the reef tract. We waited impatiently for word back as the sun fell to the horizon and scattered its tranquil orange glow across the water. What I saw next filled me with dread. The Isurus entered the harbor, its white hull stained with enormous swaths of dark brown oil. In that moment the menace was no longer abstract, and to my young mind, everything we treasured — the corals, the mangroves, the fish, the turtles –was on the brink of extermination.
More bad news: The tides were predicted to bring the oil in toward shore overnight. But what could we do — a bunch of unruly long-haired kids? Simple. Seacamp is a science camp, so we would do science. I was among the older students and felt lucky to be included in a group of students and instructors shuttled to the south side of the island to do transect studies along the south-facing shores and tidepools. With measuring tapes, pencils, clipboard, flashlights and bug spray — lots of bug spray — we’d carefully measure each and every critter in each and every crevice so that if the oil hit, we’d have both a before and after picture. We couldn’t protect our shores, but we could hopefully learn from them. We stayed out the entire evening — it was exhausting and exhilarating.
At morning’s light there was no sign of the oil. It never arrived. I never really learned where it ultimately went. In retrospect, it was the most glorious waste of time I ever spent. I had never felt so strongly focused and such a sense of camaraderie with any group before. We were off our collective asses doing something constructive in the face of a terrible situation, in hindsight a powerful lesson for a teenager. Years later I found a study that indicated that the oil had come ashore in some areas, and several habitats were affected, killing echinoderms, oysters and mangroves.
As I write this, respected scientists are scoffing at the 5,000 barrel per day figure that BP claims is gushing from the Deepwater Horizon spill, suggesting that the actual number is more than 10 times greater. This would mean that the spill is already 500 times greater than the Garbis spill ever was. The spill is already wreaking havoc along the marshes of the Gulf Coast and in the unseen stretches of the water column and the deep Gulf offshore, which teems with life. Now the vast, powerful Loop Current that snakes through the Gulf is beginning to draw the oil into it, posing a direct threat to points downstream, including Cuba’s northwestern coast and the Florida Keys.
Blue Hill Consolidated School, Maine
During my “50-States” tour and my meetings with students around the country, I am gratified to see their love and concern for the oceans, even among students who have never seen an ocean before. But I’m also pained that after decades of arrogance, carelessness and treating the oceans more like it belongs to large corporations than as the public trust that it is, it seems that we’ve failed to learn our lessons and have burdened our children with an environmental disaster of historic proportions, the effects of which will no doubt still be felt when they’re raising kids of their own. But if my generation didn’t get it right, I’m still hopeful that the next one will. This is a whopper of a lesson to learn from and change will come from it. But most of all, I’m buoyed by the kids themselves, like the young student at Maine’s Blue Hill Consolidated School who raised her hand during our discussion of the oil spill and, pointing to her classmates, asked simply, “What can we do?
Tags: corals, Cuba, florida, florida keys, oil spill, Seacamp
https://oceandoctor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ocean-Doctor-Logo_w340.png 0 0 Ocean Doctor https://oceandoctor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ocean-Doctor-Logo_w340.png Ocean Doctor2010-05-17 10:40:372010-12-22 23:19:40Waiting for the Oil?
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barb neibart says:
thank you for that. I’ve been feeling such sadness and dread, and you’ve added a little hope for the future. sometimes it takes a spillage (sorry).
Guri says:
Coming from Norway, a country that made its fortune largely on the “black gold” and still is, I can’t help but feel embarrassed. Statoil, a huge oil company owned in part by the Norwegian people (67%) is currently investing in oil sand projects in Canada. (See this: http://www.vieierstatoil.no/info/) It’s horrible!
On top of that “we”‘re looking for oil with dollar signs in our eyes in our northern marine areas. Marine areas that are quite unique and full of life. (The coast of Northern Norway and Lofoten in particular, is often listed among the most beautiful diving places in the world!) Obviously we’re prepared to risk all that for money. This really upsets me! With all the money we’ve got from pumping oil these past decades we should be able to invest some in development of sustainable energy technologies instead! That would probably even be economically sustainable and create a lot of work places for years and years to come! But no – more oil it is! It infuriates me!
However, forces within the Norwegian people (especially among young people) are gathering and demanding full stop in both areas. It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.
Cuba at Risk from Gulf Oil Spill | ExpeditionDispatch from 1planet1ocean (Vol.... Sustainable Salmon Farming: New Developments and Promise for British Columb...
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Difference between revisions of "Holy Synod of Milan"
From OrthodoxWiki
Revision as of 14:01, September 14, 2013 (view source)
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* Metropolitan Evloghios of [[Milan]], First Hierarch
* Archbishop Boris of Germany
* Bishop [[Vladimir of St. Julius Island]] and Classis
* Bishop [[Vladimir of St. Julius Island]] and Civitas Classis
* Bishop [[Abondius]] of [[w:Como|Como]] and Castrum Leuci ([[w:Lecco|Lecco]])
Revision as of 14:02, September 14, 2013
The Holy Synod of Milan originated as a diocese for Western Europe of an Old Calendarist Greek Orthodox Church (see also Florinites). The full name of this jurisdiction is Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Milan, Western Europe.
2 1989 - BIGINNING OF THE COMMUNION WITH THE UKRANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
3 Ecclesiastical status
4 Hierarchy 2013
6 Hierarchy 1995-96
The diocese was granted a tomos of autonomy in 1984 from Archbishop Auxentios in order to pursue missionary work among the non-Orthodox people of the West. The title of the Synod at this time was the Metropolia of Western Europe. After the transference of its first Chief Hierarch, Metropolitan Gabriel of Portugal, to the autocephalous Church of Poland, Bishop Evloghios of Milan was chosen as second Chief Hierarch and elevated to the rank of metropolitan. As you can see from the photographs, the position of Metropolitan Evloghios, despite being traditionally Orthodox. He was never and is not now, intransigent towards other Orthodox Churches and never denied the presence of grace in the sacraments of the Church considered official. The Holy Synod of Milan, never conformed to the strict rules of the ultra-orthodox and uncompromising oldcalendarist moviment.
1989 - BIGINNING OF THE COMMUNION WITH THE UKRANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
With the establishment of full communion between the Ukranian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and the Church of Milan in 1989, the ecclesiology of the Archbishop Evloghios became manifestly Moderate. He was in full communion with Metropolitan Mstyslav (after First Patriarch of All Ukraine), manifestally ecumenist and in full communion with Holy See Constantinople. Then Metropolitan Evloghios was in full communion with the historical Metropolitan Ioan Bornachuk of Lviv, right hand of Mstyslav and after with Patriarch Volodymir of Kiev (second Patriarch of the Holy See of St. Andrew). For two years was in full communion with His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kiev. Today Metropolitan Evloghios remains at the helm of the Holy Synod of bishops of the Church of Milan, which comprises four dioceses, in Europe, as well as missionary deaneries in England, Spain, France and Canada.
His Beatitude Basil (Doroszkiewicz) of Warsaw All Poland with Archbishop Evloghios of Milan
In 1989, Archbishop Evloghios was in full communion with Metropolitan Mstyslav[1] Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA. Metropolitan Mstyslav at that time was in full communion with Patriarch Demetrios I and Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
In 1992, Metropolitan Ioan Bornachuk of Lviv, assured Metropolitan Evloghios about the full communion between the two churches that is Ukranian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine and Autonomous Orthodox Church of Milan, Western Europe and Canada.
In October 1993, Metropolitan Evloghios, as Primate of the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Milan and Western Europe, was invited in His dignity of First Hierarch in full communion with the Ukranian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. to partecipate at the sobor in Kiev for the election of the second Patriarch after Mstyslav.
On November 18, 1993, is confirmed by the Patriarch Volodimir the full right of Metropolitan Evloghios to be part of the Holy Synod of the Ukranian Orthodox Church - Kievan Patriarchate. On March 20, 1994 Metropolitan Evloghios, receives from the hands of Patriarch Volodimir the Tomos of Autonomy[2].
The title reconfirmed by Patriarch Volodymir through a new Tomos of Autonomy (1994)[1] is: Archbishop of Milan and Longobardy - Metropolitan of Aquileia, Western Europe and Canada.
On December 25, 1996 Patriarch Filaret intimate with a letter sent to the Canadian episcopate, Metropolitan Evloghios not accept American bishops under his omoforion (british island).
On December 27, 1996 the Holy Synod of Milan responds to Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) that it intended to accept the American episcopate with Chirotesia (John Lobue and Hilarion of Austin), despite the threats and formalizes the final break (protocol 36/1996 of December 27, 1996). Then the full communion with His Holiness Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), ceased on December 27, 1996, before he was excomunicated from the Patriarch of Moscow Alexij II.
== 1997 Break of the relation with the Patriarchate of Kiev
Since 1997 (before the breakdown of relationships with the Patriarchate of Kiev, the Milan Synod included a number of Western Rite communities, mainly in the United States, who worship according to pre-schismatic (historically Orthodox) liturgical traditions with the support of the Metropolitan and of the Holy Synod of Bishops. Anyway the principal rite of the Synod of Milan is the Byzantine Rite of the Orthodox Church, celebrated most commonly in the Slavic style but in some parishes in the Greek style.
The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles was an Old Calendarist jurisdiction which was originally comprised of the Archdioceses of America and the British Deanery of the Holy Synod of Milan. It was granted "Autonomous status" on February 14/27, 2011 through Decree #542 of the Milan Synod. The Tomos of Autonomy was definitively suspended by the Holy Synod of Milan and the bishopric of New York was suppressed. His former bishop John defrocked. through Decree #639 of the Milan Synod becouse he joined with the russian group called "raphaelites"
Ecclesiastical status
As with all of the Old Calendarist jurisdictions, the Milan Synod is not currently in communion with the mainstream Orthodox churches. During 2011 the Orthodox Church in Italy joined the Milan Synod, two years after the death of its founder, Metropolitan Antonio (de Rosso) of Ravenna. The Milan Synod uses the Julian calendar exclusively, and "firmly resists the heresies of false ecumenism and trans-religious syncretism, in fact is moderately traditionalist.
Hierarchy 2013
Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan, First Hierarch
Archbishop Boris of Germany
Bishop Vladimir of St. Julius Island and Civitas Classis
Bishop Abondius of Como and Castrum Leuci (Lecco)
− The composition of the Synod in 2008, before the events of 2011, was as follows:[2]
Archbishop LUCA of Torcello (now retired)
Archbishop ONUPHRIUS of Bergamo (Titular; the Archbishop is the Representative to Eastern Europe for the Synod)
Archbishop ABBONDIO of Como (Still with Milano Synod)
Bishop PABLO of Italica, bishop for Spain and Portugal
Bishop IDELFONSO of Valencia, vicar for Spain (Retired - the Synod of Milan have his recent letter - 10 august 2013 - anyway someone tells he left his jurisdiction and went under omophor of bishop John Lobue)
Bishop BORIS of Germany (Still in the Synod of Milan)
Archbishop HILARION of Austin (retired)
Archbishop JOHN of New York and New Jersey (defrocked and excomunicated for heresy)
Bishop PAVLOS of Maspeth
Hierarchy 1995-96
− The composition of the Synod in 1996, before the breakdown of relationship between Milan and Kiev (with Patriarch Filaret (Denisenko)) This Hierarchy is officially published in the bulletins of the Patriarchate of Kiev (see website of the Synod of Milan where they are currently available)
Archbishop GREGORIJ OF TURIN (deceased)
Bishop Vassilij of Ostia (now of Ravenna)
Bishop Vladimir of St. Julius Island
Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo) of Ottawa
Bishop Varlaam (Novakshonoff) of Vancouver
Православна Церква Милана, Аквілєї i Західної Європи и Канади[3]
↑ Православна Церква Західної Європи и Канади.
↑ Western Orthodox Wiki. The Holy Synod of Milan. Retrieved: 2013-08-15.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF ORTHODOX ARCHBISHOPRIC OF MILAN AND LONGOBARDY - METROPOLIA OF AQUILEIA, WEATERN EUROPE AND CANADA (Italian - Russian - English)
Official Website of the Autonomous Orthodox Church of Milan (Holy Synod of Milan)(Italian - Russian - English)
News from the Milan Synod Archbishopric maintained by Bp Abbondio of Como (Italian and Romanian)
Retrieved from "https://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Holy_Synod_of_Milan&oldid=117220"
Old Calendarist Jurisdictions
Categories > Church History > Canon Law > Ecclesiology > Jurisdictions
Categories > Church History > Canon Law > Ecclesiology > Jurisdictions > Old Calendarist Jurisdictions
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Plight of Scot locked up by Bureau of Immigration makes headlines
September 29, 2017 By M G Martin Leave a Comment
Mr Bohlert pictured at the BI’s Bicutan detention centre
The plight of a Scotsman locked up without charge by the Bureau of Immigration has hit the headlines in his home country.
Frank Bohlert, aged 61, has been locked up for two weeks at the notorious Bicutan detention centre after his girlfriend Arlyn made allegations of cruelty against him under RA 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
Mr Bohlert, who has lived in the Philippines for six years, denies the accusations against him and has not yet been formally charged.
To make matters worse, his belongings including his phone, laptop and car have been taken from his house in Tanay, Rizal.
In posts online, made using a borrowed phone, he said: “I have been illegally detained, no arrest, no charges, no nothing, only allegations against me from HER.
“A friend went to my house to get some things for me, she said that everything is now gone, my bank books, cheque books, immigration documents, cell phone, laptop, even my car is gone! Is there no justice in the Philippines!”
ALSO READ: Bureau of Immigration announces tougher regime on foreign work permits
Speaking to the Aberdeen Press and Journal, his step-brother Graham Simpson said: “His visa was about to run out so he was getting ready to go to the immigration office and renew it.
“He got a knock on the door from the police and she made these allegations of cruelty. They took him and locked him in a cell. He can’t believe it. They’ve been together for six years. He’s heartbroken.
“There are no charges against him. They shouldn’t be able to keep him there.
“He’s in a tiny cell with a load of others. He’s scared what might happen to him. He’s sleeping on this tiny mattress. Human rights people went in to see them in the cell on Tuesday and they were horrified by the conditions.”
Freedom for Frank Bohlert
Mr Simpson said he was keeping in contact with Frank’s daughter Eva and had received advice on how to handle the situation abroad.
ALSO READ: Immigration agents arrest American sex offender and Chinese fraudster
He added: “I know someone here who knows a good friend of theirs in the Philippines and they told us how to try to get him out.
“Otherwise he could be in there anything from two to 12 years, forgotten about.”
Mr Bohlert in happier times. Picture from his Facebook page
The Scottish Daily Record described how the divorced father-of-one moved to the Philippines after meeting Arlyn online. The couple ran his Twilights Rock Bistro bar in Taytay together until he was detained.
He moved to the country to start a new life shortly after he was made redundant from his machinery parts sales job in Scotland.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “We are providing support to a British man following his detention in the Philippines on 14 September.
“We are in contact with local authorities.”
The Bicutan detention centre is notorious for locking up foreigners for long periods, often without charge. We have previously reported on the case of Dave Bauer, who was locked up for six months before being deported. He was never formally charged with any crime.
ALSO READ: British man and Filipina girlfriend arrested in Subic for growing marijuana
For updates and information about foreigners being held in Bicutan, visit the campaigning website Voices From A Box
Filed Under: News Tagged With: banged up abroad, Bicutan, Frank Bohlert, illegal detention philippines
Filipino in Saudi Arabia handed in wallet containing equivalent of 258k pesos
Fugitive British child abuser to be extradited to Philippines from India
Timeline: What we know so far about the Manila casino attack
Abu Sayyaf behead seven men accused of destroying rubber plantation
Sweet dreams: Three of the best mattresses made in the Philippines
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Second Line Procession Through the Streets of Richmond
On Saturday, July 21, from 10am to 3pm march with Ceasefire and East Bay Center for the Performing Arts’ jazz band in a New Orleans-style Second Line Procession through the streets of Richmond. The Second Line starts in North Richmond, snakes through Central Richmond, and ends up in South Richmond.
Free Eye Exams at Pogo Park July 13
Pogo Park & Vision to Learn join together for our second annual FREE EYE EXAMS to children at 720 Elm Avenue, Richmond, CA. — Elm Playlot (Pogo Park #1) on July 13, 2018 from 10am to 2:30pm.
July 5, 2018 November 29, 2018
Exploratory Play at Pogo Park this Summer
West County First 5 Center offers a 6-week Exploratory Play program at Elm Playlot this summer. Children ages 0-5 and their parents or guardians are invited to participate together in this program on Wednesdays 11am – 12pm, from July 18 to August 15. Adult participation is required.
-Storytime
-Playtime
-Explore & Discover
This program is FREE!
For more information, call West County First 5 Center at (510) 232-5650.
International Climate Change Researchers Visit Pogo Park
When researchers from around the world gathered to study Pogo Park’s Elm Playlot as a model community to fight climate change, the Richmond Pulse wrote this story:
Pogo Park is an International Example of Community – Richmond Pulse
For Park Activists, Pogo Park is a Model of an Urban Park Serving a Diverse Community.
Luciano del Rio, 30, is a community activist who grew up in Richmond, which has had a long history of violent crime. Prior to what Elm Playlot has become today, the area used to be one that parents wouldn’t feel comfortable sending their kids to go play in, he said.
Today, local residents recognize it as a bubble of safety, said Toody Maher, executive director and founder of Pogo Park, a non-profit that maintains Elm Playlot and spearheaded its renovation.
“Everyone knows if you’re going do bad things, do not do it in or around the parks,” she said.
The park has become an important part of the neighborhood and has provided a space for area residents to meet and socialize with one another, Maher said. It also hosts a variety of programming including zumba classes, a chess club, a mobile petting zoo, and free vision screenings for children.
“Now families want to move in the area because there’s a park that they can come in and is within their vicinity,” del Rio said. [continue reading below]
Latino Activists Advocate for Urban Parks – NBC News
Honoring longtime board member Galen Hoskin: 1964 – 2018
Longtime friend and board member Galen Hoskin passed away in January 2018. Please read about his life in this tribute from his memorial.
Transforming Parks and Lives in Richmond, California’s Iron Triangle Neighborhood
The Conservation Fund delineates Pogo Park’s approach to community development in a blogpost:
Transforming Parks and Lives in Richmond, California’s Iron Triangle Neighborhood.
January 8, 2018 November 26, 2018
Pogo Park Wins Prestigious Community Leadership Award
San Francisco Foundation Announces Winner of 2018 Leadership Awards
Pogo Park – SF Foundation’s 2017 Leadership Award
Pogo Park featured in The Field Guide for Creative Placemaking and Parks
The Trust for Public Land and City Parks Alliance issued a definitive “Field Guide for Creative Placemaking” that featured Pogo Park’s Elm Playlot project as 1 of 11 exemplary case studies. The case studies feature the best projects in North America and showcase how great parks are being used as vehicles for creative placemaking. Being featured in the Field Guide catapulted Pogo Park into the national spotlight and put us on the map of a high-impact, must-see creative placemaking project.
Celebrating the Success of Pogo Park – Philanthropic Ventures
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation wrote about Pogo Park in a blogpost detailing Pogo Park’s success over the last decade:
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7:30 PMExtra
Grant Street Closed After Granite Stone Falls Off Frick Building
By Lynne Hayes-Freeland July 31, 2017 at 10:11 am
Filed Under:Downtown Pittsburgh, Frick Building, Grant Street, Lynne Hayes-Freeland
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – A large stone fell overnight from the corner of one of downtown Pittsburgh’s most iconic buildings, closing the street below.
Grant Street was shut down between between Fifth and Fourth Avenues, and Forbes Avenue is closed from Ross Street to Cherry Way after the three-by-three piece of granite fell from the underside of a cornice on the Frick Building about 2:45 a.m. Monday. The closures are expected to remain in place at least through noon on Tuesday.
Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich says it’s lucky the streets were empty when it happened. It’s estimated a piece of granite that size weighs about 120-150 pounds per foot. Nobody was hurt.
“It occurred at the best possible time, early in the morning. If it had been in the afternoon or the morning we might be here talking about a tragedy,” Hissrich said.
So now the question is why did it happen?
The owners of the building are responsible for finding out. Moira Kennedy, of the city’s Permits, License and Inspection Department, says the process has already started.
“We have ordered the owner of the building to obtain a structural engineer’s report,” Kennedy said. “At this point, we are focusing on that corner to make sure that we are developing a strategy to abate it.”
The hope is that structural evaluation on the building will be done by Tuesday, which is good news for motorists.
In the meantime, city officials say downtown drivers should plan ahead.
“If you have to come downtown, be careful where you go, think your trips out, there’s lots of alternative routes,” said City’s Operations Officer Guy Costa.
Engineers say the damage to the 100-year-old Frick Building was most likely caused by the “freeze/thaw” cycle in our weather.
Building owners may have to put a 21-story scaffold up to keep people safe and allow for repairs.
Grant Street could reopen sometime Tuesday, but in the meantime, pay attention. “No Parking” signs will be posted around the area to help with the traffic flow.
Also, the city says beware; you could be towed if you ignore the signs.
The building inspection should be done by Tuesday, and then a determination will be made on how soon the streets can open back up.
The building is named for industrialist Henry Clay Frick who had it built along with several others downtown. It opened in 1902.
The 20-story building stands about 330 feet high. The building houses law offices and other commercial tenants.
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Lynne Hayes-Freeland
More from Lynne Hayes-Freeland
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DR. KURIA JOSEPH K N
Ph.D Vet. Microbiology (University of Nairobi),M.Sc. Vet. Immunology (
Kenya Faculty of Vet Medicine Dept of veterinary pathology and microbiology P.O. Box, 290 +254-20-832016 +254-722-488313 jknkuria@uonbi.ac.ke
Assessing the effectiveness of intubation as a challenge model in contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccine experiments
"Assessing the effectiveness of intubation as a challenge model in contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccine experiments.". 2010.
A study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of a bronchoscope in administering a pathogenic field strain of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (MmmSC) in cattle challenge experiments. Out of 16 animals inoculated using the bronchoscope, 10 (62.2%) showed clinical disease as evidenced by fever and 15 (93.8%) displayed typical lesions of CBPP from which MmmSC was isolated. Serum samples collected weekly were tested by Complement Fixation Test (CFT) and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA). Antibodies to MmmSC were detected in 10 out of the 16 animals by the CFT and 11 out of the 16 animals by c-ELISA. The onset of clinical disease was as early as 2 days post-inoculation, and most of the animals developed clinical disease 2 to 3 weeks post-infection. These results clearly demonstrate that nasotracheal inoculation of pathogenic strain of MmmSC with the aid of a bronchoscope can lead to early onset of clinical disease; similar to previous studies but with higher numbers of animals showing clinical disease. This is in contrast with previous studies where early clinical disease was observed in as little as 15% of inoculated animals. This nasotracheal inoculation method using a bronchoscope can, therefore, be adopted for use in experimental challenge infections of cattle. This method is found to be a better replacement to the contact transmission method whose drawback includes extra cost of donor animals and unpredictable rate and timing of transmission from intubated to challenge animals.
Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in slaughter cattle in Kenya: a postmortem, microbiological and DNA molecular study
The status of maize stover utilization as feed for livestock in Kiambu and Thika districts of Kenya: constraints and opportuniti
An account of a recent outbreak of Marek's Disease in Kenya
A study of Logooli moral values with particularreference to taboos, oaths and curses"; PhD Unpublished thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi. Citation
Some aspects of indigenous logooli moral values"in Trans African Journal of History, Vol. 25:146-153, Gideon Were Press, Nairobi
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Tag Archives: Killing Fields
Thursday Final Ratings: CBS Leads Most Key Prime Time Figures; TGIT Provides ABC an Adults 18-34 Victory
by Douglas Pucci March 2, 2018 Comments are off
What follows are the Live + Same Day rating results for the night’s broadcast network telecasts on Thursday, March 1: Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 8:00 PM, 60 min.) – 7.519 million viewers – 5.0/9 HH – 2.0/8 A18-49 (2.9/11 F18-49, 1.1/5 M18-49) – 1.6/9 A18-34 (2.3/12 F18-34, 0.8/5 M18-34) – 2.4/8 A25-54 (3.4/11 F25-54, 1.3/5 M25-54) […]
Thursday Final Ratings: PyeongChang Olympics on NBC Outlets Off 13 Percent from Comparable Night of Sochi Games
by Douglas Pucci February 26, 2018 Comments are off
With a total audience delivery of 17.6 million viewers across NBC, NBCSN and streaming mediums, the final Thursday night of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics was down 13 percent from the comparable Thursday night of the Sochi Olympics of 2014 (20.3 million). Thursday night’s NBC/NBCSN average of 17.4 million viewers delivered a 67 percent advantage over […]
Thursday Final Ratings: PyeongChang Olympics Leads NBC to the Most-Dominant Thursday TV Win Since Salt Lake City Winter Games
NBC Olympics’ coverage of the PyeongChang Olympics delivered the most dominant Winter Games Thursday night since the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, posting a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) average of 19.3 million viewers, according to live plus same day official data by Nielsen, and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Thursday night’s Total Audience Delivery average of […]
Thursday Final Ratings: Winter Olympics Pre-Opening Ceremony Night on NBC, NBCSN and Streaming Down 14 Percent from Sochi 2014
by Douglas Pucci February 9, 2018 Comments are off
Final numbers for the first night of NBC/NBCSN/NBC Digital’s Winter Olympics coverage: PyeongChang (Feb. 8, 2018): 17.2 million viewers; 9.7 household rating Sochi (Feb. 6, 2014): 20 million viewers; 11.3 household rating What follows are the Live + Same Day rating results for the night’s broadcast network telecasts on Thursday, February 8: Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, […]
Tuesday Final Nationals: ‘Chicago Fire’ Extends 10 p.m. Time Slot Winning Streak in Adults 18-49 to One Full Year for NBC
by Douglas Pucci February 24, 2016 14 Comments
CBS continued its Tuesday dominance — thanks to “NCIS” and its spinoff “NCIS: New Orleans” — among total viewers (11.98 million), adults 18-49 (1.8 rating/6 share), adults 25-54 (2.6/7). CBS tied NBC for No. 1 in adults 18-34 (0.9/4). “Chicago Fire” delivered NBC’s 23rd consecutive time-period win in adults 18-49 versus regular ABC-CBS competition in […]
Tuesday Final Nationals: CBS Reigns Overall
[socialpoll id=”2333993″] The reliable highly-viewed duo of long-running “NCIS” and spinoff “NCIS: New Orleans” made CBS the overall leader on Tuesday night, earning top honors in all key figures: among total viewers (12.25 million), adults 18-49 (1.8 rating/6 share), adults 25-54 (2.7/8), and adults 18-34 (1.0/4). The network’s weak spot on the night, however, was […]
Tuesday Final Nationals: ‘The Flash’ on CW Scores Its Best Adults 18-34 Delivery Since Series Premiere
by Douglas Pucci February 10, 2016 7 Comments
CBS was Tuesday night’s top network among total viewers (12 million), adults 18-49 (1.8 rating/6 share), and adults 25-54 (2.7/7). CBS also shared the lead among adults 18-34 (1.0/4) with its sister netlet CW — the latter outlet of which was catapulted by “The Flash” as it earned its best adults 18-34 delivery since its […]
Tuesday Final Nationals: ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’ Scores Most-Watched FX Drama Series Premiere To-Date
by Douglas Pucci February 3, 2016 14 Comments
CBS was the top network on Tuesday overall. The 2016 edition of “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials” hosted by Boomer Esiason and Katharine McPhee expanded from one hour to two hours delivered its largest audience since the annual special debuted in 2001. “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” drew the biggest live+same day total […]
Tuesday Final Nationals: CBS and NBC Share Leadership, ‘The Flash’ on CW Wins 8 p.m. Hour Among Young Demos
by Douglas Pucci January 27, 2016 16 Comments
CBS was the No. 1 network on Tuesday among total viewers (8.58 million) while NBC was best among all key demos. CW’s “The Flash” was the No. 1 program on TV at 8-9 p.m. hour among adults 18-49 and adults 18-34. Follow @SonOfTheBronx If you can see this text, your browser does not support iframes. […]
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The View Season 3 Episode 69 : Season 3, Episode 69
The View S3E69 - Season 3, Episode 69
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30 Episode 31 : Season 3, Episode 31 Episode 32 : Season 3, Episode 32 Episode 33 : Season 3, Episode 33 Episode 34 : Season 3, Episode 34 Episode 35 : Season 3, Episode 35 Episode 36 : Season 3, Episode 36 Episode 37 : Season 3, Episode 37 Episode 38 : Season 3, Episode 38 Episode 39 : Season 3, Episode 39 Episode 40 : Season 3, Episode 40 Episode 41 : Season 3, Episode 41 Episode 42 : Season 3, Episode 42 Episode 43 : Season 3, Episode 43 Episode 44 : Season 3, Episode 44 Episode 45 : Season 3, Episode 45 Episode 46 : Season 3, Episode 46 Episode 47 : Season 3, Episode 47 Episode 48 : Season 3, Episode 48 Episode 49 : Season 3, Episode 49 Episode 50 : Season 3, Episode 50 Episode 51 : Season 3, Episode 51 Episode 52 : Season 3, Episode 52 Episode 53 : Season 3, Episode 53 Episode 54 : Season 3, Episode 54 Episode 55 : Season 3, Episode 55 Episode 56 : Season 3, Episode 56 Episode 57 : Season 3, Episode 57 Episode 58 : Season 3, Episode 58 Episode 59 : Season 3, Episode 59 Episode 60 : Season 3, Episode 60 Episode 61 : Season 3, Episode 61 Episode 62 : Season 3, Episode 62 Episode 63 : Season 3, Episode 63 Episode 64 : Season 3, Episode 64 Episode 65 : Season 3, Episode 65 Episode 66 : Season 3, Episode 66 Episode 67 : Season 3, Episode 67 Episode 68 : Season 3, Episode 68 Episode 69 : Season 3, Episode 69 Episode 70 : Season 3, Episode 70 Episode 71 : Season 3, Episode 71 Episode 72 : Season 3, Episode 72 Episode 73 : Season 3, Episode 73 Episode 74 : Season 3, Episode 74 Episode 75 : Season 3, Episode 75 Episode 76 : Season 3, Episode 76 Episode 77 : Season 3, Episode 77 Episode 78 : Season 3, Episode 78 Episode 79 : Season 3, Episode 79 Episode 80 : Season 3, Episode 80 Episode 81 : Season 3, Episode 81 Episode 82 : Season 3, Episode 82 Episode 83 : Season 3, Episode 83 Episode 84 : Season 3, Episode 84 Episode 85 : Season 3, Episode 85 Episode 86 : Season 3, Episode 86 Episode 87 : Season 3, Episode 87 Episode 88 : Season 3, Episode 88 Episode 89 : Season 3, Episode 89 Episode 90 : Season 3, Episode 90 Episode 91 : Season 3, Episode 91 Episode 92 : Season 3, Episode 92 Episode 93 : Season 3, Episode 93 Episode 94 : Season 3, Episode 94 Episode 95 : Season 3, Episode 95 Episode 96 : Season 3, Episode 96 Episode 97 : Season 3, Episode 97 Episode 98 : Season 3, Episode 98 Episode 99 : Season 3, Episode 99 Episode 100 : Season 3, Episode 100 Episode 101 : Season 3, Episode 101 Episode 102 : Season 3, Episode 102 Episode 103 : Season 3, Episode 103 Episode 104 : Season 3, Episode 104 Episode 105 : Season 3, Episode 105 Episode 106 : Season 3, Episode 106 Episode 107 : Season 3, Episode 107 Episode 108 : Season 3, Episode 108 Episode 109 : Season 3, Episode 109 Episode 110 : Season 3, Episode 110 Episode 111 : Season 3, Episode 111 Episode 112 : Season 3, Episode 112 Episode 113 : Season 3, Episode 113 Episode 114 : Season 3, Episode 114 Episode 115 : Season 3, Episode 115 Episode 116 : Season 3, Episode 116 Episode 117 : Season 3, Episode 117 Episode 118 : Season 3, Episode 118 Episode 119 : Season 3, Episode 119 Episode 120 : Season 3, Episode 120 Episode 121 : Season 3, Episode 121 Episode 122 : Season 3, Episode 122 Episode 123 : Season 3, Episode 123 Episode 124 : Season 3, Episode 124 Episode 125 : Season 3, Episode 125 Episode 126 : Season 3, Episode 126 Episode 127 : Season 3, Episode 127 Episode 128 : Season 3, Episode 128 Episode 129 : Season 3, Episode 129 Episode 130 : Season 3, Episode 130 Episode 131 : Season 3, Episode 131 Episode 132 : Season 3, Episode 132 Episode 133 : Season 3, Episode 133 Episode 134 : Season 3, Episode 134 Episode 135 : Season 3, Episode 135 Episode 136 : Season 3, Episode 136 Episode 137 : Season 3, Episode 137 Episode 138 : Season 3, Episode 138 Episode 139 : Season 3, Episode 139 Episode 140 : Season 3, Episode 140 Episode 141 : Season 3, Episode 141 Episode 142 : Season 3, Episode 142 Episode 143 : Season 3, Episode 143 Episode 144 : Season 3, Episode 144 Episode 145 : Season 3, Episode 145 Episode 146 : Season 3, Episode 146 Episode 147 : Season 3, Episode 147 Episode 148 : Season 3, Episode 148 Episode 149 : Season 3, Episode 149 Episode 150 : Season 3, Episode 150 Episode 151 : Season 3, Episode 151 Episode 152 : Season 3, Episode 152 Episode 153 : Season 3, Episode 153 Episode 154 : Season 3, Episode 154 Episode 155 : Season 3, Episode 155 Episode 156 : Season 3, Episode 156 Episode 157 : Season 3, Episode 157 Episode 158 : Season 3, Episode 158 Episode 159 : Season 3, Episode 159 Episode 160 : Season 3, Episode 160 Episode 161 : Season 3, Episode 161 Episode 162 : Season 3, Episode 162 Episode 163 : Season 3, Episode 163 Episode 164 : Season 3, Episode 164 Episode 165 : Season 3, Episode 165 Episode 166 : Season 3, Episode 166 Episode 167 : Season 3, Episode 167 Episode 168 : Season 3, Episode 168 Episode 169 : Season 3, Episode 169 Episode 170 : Season 3, Episode 170 Episode 171 : Season 3, Episode 171 Episode 172 : Season 3, Episode 172 Episode 173 : 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Episode 201 : Season 3, Episode 201 Episode 202 : Season 3, Episode 202 Episode 203 : Season 3, Episode 203 Episode 204 : Season 3, Episode 204 Episode 205 : Season 3, Episode 205 Episode 206 : Season 3, Episode 206 Episode 207 : Season 3, Episode 207 Episode 208 : Season 3, Episode 208 Episode 209 : 1Season 3, Episode 209 Episode 211 : Season 3, Episode 210 Episode 212 : Season 3, Episode 212 Episode 213 : Season 3, Episode 213 Episode 214 : Season 3, Episode 214 Episode 215 : Season 3, Episode 215 Episode 216 : Season 3, Episode 216 Episode 217 : Season 3, Episode 217 Episode 218 : Season 3, Episode 218 Episode 219 : Season 3, Episode 219 Episode 220 : Season 3, Episode 220 Episode 221 : Season 3, Episode 221 Episode 222 : Season 3, Episode 222 Episode 223 : Season 3, Episode 223 Episode 225 : Season 3, Episode 225 Episode 226 : Season 3, Episode 226 Episode 227 : Season 3, Episode 227 Episode 229 : Season 3, Episode 228 Episode 230 : Season 3, Episode 230 Episode 231 : Season 3, Episode 231 Episode 232 : Season 3, Episode 232 Episode 233 : Season 3, Episode 233 Episode 234 : Season 3, Episode 234 Episode 235 : Season 3, Episode 235 Episode 236 : Season 3, Episode 236 Episode 237 : Season 3, Episode 237 Episode 238 : Season 3, Episode 238 Episode 239 : Season 3, Episode 239 Episode 240 : Season 3, Episode 240 Episode 241 : Season 3, Episode 241 Episode 242 : Season 3, Episode 242 Episode 243 : Season 3, Episode 243 Episode 244 : Season 3, Episode 244 Episode 245 : Season 3, Episode 245 Episode 246 : Season 3, Episode 246 Episode 247 : Season 3, Episode 247 Episode 248 : Season 3, Episode 248 Episode 249 : Season 3, Episode 249 Episode 250 : Season 3, Episode 250 Episode 251 : Season 3, Episode 251 Episode 252 : 4Season 3, Episode 252 Episode 253 : Season 3, Episode 253 Episode 254 : Season 3, Episode 254 Episode 255 : Season 3, Episode 255 Episode 256 : Season 3, Episode 256 Episode 257 : Season 3, Episode 257 Episode 258 : Season 3, Episode 258 Episode 259 : Season 3, Episode 259 Episode 260 : Season 3, Episode 260 Episode 261 : Season 3, Episode 261 Episode 262 : Season 3, Episode 262 Episode 263 : Season 3, Episode 263 Episode 264 : Season 3, Episode 264 Episode 265 : Season 3, Episode 265 Episode 266 : Season 3, Episode 266 Episode 267 : Season 3, Episode 267 Episode 268 : Season 3, Episode 268 Episode 269 : Season 3, Episode 269 Episode 270 : Season 3, Episode 270 Episode 271 : Season 3, Episode 271 Episode 272 : Season 3, Episode 272 Episode 273 : Season 3, Episode 273 Episode 274 : Season 3, Episode 274 Episode 275 : Season 3, Episode 275 Episode 276 : Season 3, Episode 276 Episode 277 : Season 3, Episode 277 Episode 278 : Season 3, Episode 278 Episode 279 : Season 3, Episode 279 Episode 280 : Season 3, Episode 280 Episode 281 : Season 3, Episode 281 Episode 282 : Season 3, Episode 282 Episode 284 : Season 3, Episode 284 Episode 285 : Season 3, Episode 285 Episode 286 : Season 3, Episode 286 Episode 287 : Season 3, Episode 287 Episode 288 : Season 3, Episode 288 Episode 289 : Season 3, Episode 289 Episode 290 : Season 3, Episode 290 Episode 291 : Season 3, Episode 291 Episode 292 : Season 3, Episode 292 Episode 293 : Season 3, Episode 293 Episode 294 : Season 3, Episode 294 Episode 295 : Season 3, Episode 295 Episode 296 : Season 3, Episode 296 Episode 297 : Season 3, Episode 297 Episode 298 : Season 3, Episode 298 Episode 299 : Season 3, Episode 299 Episode 300 : Season 3, Episode 300 Episode 301 : Season 3, Episode 301 Episode 302 : Season 3, Episode 302 Episode 303 : Season 3, Episode 303 Episode 304 : Season 3, Episode 304 Episode 305 : Season 3, Episode 305 Episode 306 : Season 3, Episode 306 Episode 307 : Season 3, Episode 307 Episode 308 : Season 3, Episode 308 Episode 309 : Season 3, Episode 309 Episode 310 : Season 3, Episode 310 Episode 311 : Season 3, Episode 311 Episode 312 : Season 3, Episode 312
Rating (30)
ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Meghan McCain, and Abby Huntsman, discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View.
Genre: Talk
Networks: ABC
Season : 10
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Copyright ©2019 Grande Communications Networks, LLC
President Trump speaks at the 38th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the US Capitol, Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in Washington.
news 2 months ago
Trump Declares Another National Emergency
Newser — Rob Quinn
President Trump declared a national emergency Wednesday in a move seen as an attempt to crack down on a single company. In an executive order, the president declared a national economic emergency, allowing the government to ban US companies from using telecommunications equipment from "foreign adversaries" that pose an "unacceptable" security risk, the BBC reports.
The order does not name Huawei, but the Chinese telecoms giant is widely believed to be its target. In a statement, Huawei said banning its equipment "will not make the US more secure or stronger" and warned that the move would force companies and consumers to buy "inferior yet more expensive alternatives."
This is believed to be the first time the law Trump invoked, the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, has been used in a way that affects an entire sector, the AP notes.
Adam Segal, cybersecurity director at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that after months of pressure on Huawei, the Trump administration apparently decided the "time had finally come to pull the trigger." In a separate move, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that it had added Huawei and dozens of its affiliates to its "Entity List," the Washington Post reports.
The move—nicknamed the "death penalty" for the devastating effect it tends to have on businesses—bans the companies from buying technology or components from American firms without US government approval.
Hours Later, Candidate Flips on Confirming Kavanaugh
Black Lawmaker Accuses AOC of 'Using the Race Card'
Trump: I'll Get Citizenship Data, but Not via Census
This article originally appeared on Newser: Trump Declares Another National Emergency
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Distribution and condition of young-of-year Lost River and shortnose suckers in the Williamson River Delta restoration project and Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2008-10--Final Report
Prepared in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Reclamation
By: Summer M. Burdick and David A. Hewitt
More information: USGS Index Page (html)
The Nature Conservancy undertook restoration of the Williamson River Delta Preserve with a primary goal "to restore and maintain the diversity of habitats that are essential to the endangered [Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris)] while, at the same time, minimizing disturbance and adverse impacts" (David Evans and Associates, 2005). The Western Fisheries Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey was asked by the Bureau of Reclamation to assist The Nature Conservancy in assessing the use of the restoration by larval and juvenile suckers. We identified five obtainable objectives to gauge the habitat suitability for young-of-year suckers in the permanently flooded portions of the two most recently restored sections (Goose Bay and Tulana) of the Williamson River Delta Preserve (hereafter referred to as the Preserve) and its effects on the distribution and health of larval and juvenile suckers. Several of these objectives were met through collaborations with The Nature Conservancy, Oregon State University, Oregon Water Science Center, and Leetown Science Center.
Our findings were in concurrence with those of The Nature Conservancy, who found that the Preserve supported young-of-year suckers at least as well as adjacent lake habitats (Erdman and others, 2011) despite the prevalence of non-native and piscivorous species in the system. The Preserve was recolonized by all fishes in the regional species pool, both native and non-native, between the time each portion of the Preserve (Goose Bay and Tulana) was inundated in autumn and the following spring. A large number of fish capable of preying on endangered larval suckers and a few fish that could prey on juvenile suckers were captured in the Preserve, but these species were no more abundant in the Preserve than in adjacent lakes.
Larvae and age-0, age-1, and age-2 juvenile Lost River and shortnose suckers were captured in the Preserve, Upper Klamath Lake, and Agency Lake, indicating that these species reared in restored and unaltered lake habitats. We captured too few larval suckers to examine patterns in spatial or temporal distribution. Once endangered suckers transitioned into juveniles, as defined by morphological development, they continued to disperse from shallow to deep water throughout the Preserve and into adjacent lakes. Age-1 and age-2 suckers captured throughout the Preserve and in adjacent lake habitats, especially in spring, show continued use of restored habitat by these species.
Quantitative examination of habitat use by age-0 juvenile suckers that accounted for imperfect detection indicated the portion of habitat used increased throughout July and August each year until the entire study area was used by one or more age-0 juvenile suckers by the end of August. Our rigorous evaluation showed both restored Preserve and unaltered lake habitats were equally used by age-0 juvenile suckers. Although all sampled habitats were used, multi-state occupancy models indicated that more age-0 suckers occupied shallow rather than deep habitats within the range of depths we sampled (0.5–4.3 m).
We were unable to compare health and condition of juvenile suckers among habitats, due to their movement among habitats. However, documentation of length-weight relationships, afflictions and deformities, and histology indicated juvenile suckers captured in all habitats maintained a similar level of health among the 3 years of our study.
Western Fisheries Research Center
vi, 24 p.; Figures; Tables; Appendix
Time Range Start
Time Range End
Other Geospatial
Upper Klamath Lake;Williamson River Delta Restoration Project
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Spontaneity? Not for Us
Posted on April 23, 2012 April 23, 2012 by Neil
How was your weekend?
We watched a lot of hockey in my house (I know, stop me if you’ve heard that one before) with five playoff games on Saturday and three more on Sunday.
Saturday was a beautiful day, so we juggled watching hockey around playing outside and taking part in an elementary school fundraiser. But once the puck dropped at 3 p.m., we were all focused on the games. With all of our teams — Caps (me), Devils (Riley) and Sharks (Ryan) — scheduled to play, this was to be a big day.
The Caps started things with a stunning, thrilling 4-3 win over Boston, giving Washington a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the day. In the next game, the Devils lost to Florida to go down 3-2 in their series, but the worst was yet to come. Ryan’s Sharks, facing elimination in Game 5 in St. Louis, held a 1-0 third-period lead after Ryan had gone to bed. But one bad minute turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit and eventual elimination.
Ryan watches his Sharks attempt to stay alive Saturday night.
Veronica and I lamented the end of the Sharks’ season and worried how Ryan would react in the morning. He had said he wouldn’t be too upset because the Sharks only made the playoffs in the season’s final week. Still, we held our breath and listened for a reaction when he woke up Sunday morning and went to check the score. True to his word, he took it well. He was disappointed but not angry and seemed willing to go about his day without incident.
Sunday dawned cool and rainy, with the forecast calling for a total washout.
Following the Caps’ win on Saturday, Veronica and I joked about taking a spontaneous trip to Washington on Sunday, where the Caps and Bruins would play Game 6 that afternoon. We live only four hours away and have made several trips to see the Caps play in recent years. The idea was never seriously discussed, though I of course spent time on StubHub checking out ticket prices and went so far as to reach out to a friend who works for the team.
Riley would have been up for the trip. Had Ryan been on board, we might well have spent much of Sunday in the car. But when we floated the idea at breakfast, he was not having it. It’s not that he has an aversion to car trips, he’s actually quite good despite the lack of stimulation.
What Ryan was not having was spontaneity — which I suspect will surprise exactly no one that knows a child on the autism spectrum.
His day was already planned out, and it did not involve a lengthy car trip — even if the payoff would have been the chance to see one of his favorite teams have the opportunity to close out a playoff series in person. He started lining up his reasons.
“I have a science test!”
He does have a science test. It’s open note. He knows the material cold. Besides, we offered, he’d have plenty of time in the car to study.
“I won’t have a computer in the car!”
Now he was getting closer to the real issue. Spending the day traveling to and from Washington would have eliminated his opportunity to type NHL standings on his computer. It’s one of his activities that we struggle to regulate. It’s something he loves to do, but the more time he spends doing it, the more difficult it is for him to disengage and interact with the rest of the family.
As I said, we were never really serious about the idea, but had Ryan and Riley both wanted to go, it’s quite possible we would have piled in the car and headed south.
Spontaneity, at least not in a big-ticket manner like an unplanned day trip, simply is not something that works for our family. Ryan puts up fierce resistance to any unscheduled activity — even if its one he typically enjoys.
It’s among the many areas of his behavior that we have to figure out how often to push and how much to allow him to just be him.
In this case, it meant no trip to D.C. Just as well since the Bruins won in overtime Sunday, sending the series back to Boston for Game 7.
We’ll be watching that one, from home. I’ve already put it on Ryan’s calendar.
Tags: asd, asperger's, autism, ice hockey, schedules, spontaneityCategories: autism, hockey
9 thoughts on “Spontaneity? Not for Us”
Rhonda Carlisle says:
I totally understand and feel for you. We can’t do spontaneous either, However I have learned to take ownership of the change for example, I would have to say its my fault we need to change whatever we are doing,,you might of said…”Ryan, we have been given the chance to go and we would like to treat you because you studied so hard for your test. I know this works for us, my son also comes up with excuses.
The way the weather here in DC was you wouldn’t have wanted to make the drive anyway. Good choice to stay home. Very proud about the manner the the sharks loss was taken. He is growing up and putting his lessons into play, I know how much you all work with him. So pat yourselves on the back.
Spontaneity?! What’s that? We can manage it occasionally, but we also have the days where it’s best just to stick with routine…glad he handled the Sharks’ loss so well!
Cathy Ballou Mealey says:
It was nice of the B’s to win for us in overtime on Sunday. Given the way the Sox are playing this season, at least Boston got a little joy.
We’ll be watching from home on Wednesday too. At least one of our boys will be happy at the end!
blogginglily says:
*grumbles something inaudible about playoffs*
Neil N says:
So I have readers who root for the Bruins, Caps, Flyers, Pens, Hurricanes, Red Wings. … Am I missing anyone?
Pingback: Sometimes You Just Gotta Say… « Pucks and Puzzle Pieces
Pingback: A Spontaneous Outing | Pucks and Puzzle Pieces
Pingback: Spontaneity Is for Us | Pucks and Puzzle Pieces
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The Dream of Richard, King
A poetic drama about King Richard III who rises from the ground under a parking lot in Leicester, England 600 years after his death to ask himself "what happened"? Richard's dream includes scenes from the events leading up to his coronation after the death of his brother, King Edward VI, the assassination of the two princes in the Tower, and his own horrible demise at Bosworth Field. The vivid cast of characters includes all the women who influenced the tragic outcome.
Richard, Edward George Elizabeth Margaret Morton Hastings Stanley
Vian Andrews
Richard_script_Nov28-REVISION-2016.pdf
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U.S. Embassy in Paraguay
Alerts and Messages for U.S. visitors to Paraguay.
U.S. Citizens with emergencies, please call +595212483000 and press “0”
Outside of Office Hours, contact: +(595) (21) 229-581
Outside of Paraguay: +595212483000
Ambassador Lee McClenny
U.S. & Paraguay
New Embassy Compound
The US Embassy is working on the construction of a New Embassy Compound for its operations in Paraguay. The investment symbolizes and strengthens the solid friendship between both countries. In this section you will find more information about the project.
Doing Business in Paraguay
Find the closest American Space in Paraguay where you can connect with the U.S.
More Opportunities
The Fulbright Program is the flagship program of international educational exchange sponsored by the United States government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries
U.S. Embassy Asuncion
1776 Mariscal Lopez Ave
Opening remarks by President Trump and President Putin of the Russian Federation, in joint press conference
Secretary Pompeo remarks at the 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report Launch Ceremony
Secretary Tillerson remarks at the 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report Launch Ceremony
Ambassador Bassett’s remarks during US Embassy equipment donation (Sept. 9th, 2016)
Statement by Secretary Pompeo on Paraguay Independence Day 2019
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo at the United Nations Security Council Meeting on Venezuela
Reciprocity Fee for student and inter-country transfer work for Paraguayans
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Home Página Inicial | U.S. Citizen Services | Non-Emergency Information
This is the official website of the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
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Nina Sky’s Attempt at a Comeback
July 4, 2009 | 1:17pm
If you’re a big Nina Sky fan, which I’m not, then you probably know that the past few months have been a bumpy road for the two luscious ladies. In an effort to get the world abuzz about their upcoming sophomore album, “The Musical,” the girls tried to release two different singles, failing majorly on both attempts.
First was the lackluster song “Curtain Call,” one of those songs that might as well come with earplugs and an apology card for its lame production value and child-like lyrics. Secondly, they pretended the Salaam Remi produced “On Some Bull***” was actually their first single from said album. It stunk up the airwaves worse than a Spencer Pratt “rap.”
Now, the girls have taken 20 minutes from their skin-hydration regimens and mystic-tan schedules to actually bring us a track worth our time. Their third attempt at a “first” single is called “Beautiful People,” and while I still don’t think their music is worth my time, this track is definitely better than their first two crappy attempts at sophomore releases.
In an effort to play it safe in the pop world, “Beautiful People” comes across like a soundtrack to a CoverGirl commercial — and mark my words, it will be very soon. I mean the bridge is a repeat of “This is for my easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirls!” Wow I hope this whole album doesn’t sell out like this particular track did. Ya’know, it’s actually a lot like Chris Brown’s double-mint “double the pleasure” lyrics, I. Am. On. To. You. Nina Sky.
Give the tune a play or two and see if you are a fan of their third return track.
Nina Sky – “Beautiful People”
Robert Pattinson Would Get Destroyed!
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Posted on October 2, 2012 by wildbow
“Your powers are working alright?” Tattletale asked.
“Bug powers, was it? Don’t want to get it wrong. Control them, see through their eyes-”
“No. I can’t see through their eyes or hear what they do. It’s mainly touch.”
“Just wanted to check.” She paused. “If I asked you what my power was?”
“Okay. And if I said I was born in Mexico, could you tell me where I was born?”
“Didn’t you just say?”
“Yeah. Repeat it back to me?”
“You were born in Mexico?”
“Your short-term recollection is still good, at least. That would be why you can retain the information Grue and I have shared over the past few minutes. That big beetle of yours, you named it?”
I glanced at Atlas, who was crawling a short distance away. “Atlas.”
Tattletale nodded. “That would be the short-term memory, again. Your power probably gives you enough contact with it that you don’t lose track of who and what it is.”
“So long as that keeps working, we don’t need to worry about you and Grue forgetting who we are in the middle of a conversation. But for us, we might lose track of each other if we split up, so let’s stay close, okay?”
She reached out and took my hand.
“Can you use the bugs to scout our surroundings? This will go more smoothly if we don’t need to worry about running into people.”
It made sense. I sent my bugs out to cover the surrounding area.
The red mist was everywhere. Color was strained out, leaving everything a monochrome red. I could still make out the surroundings, but just enough light was filtered out that the area had settled into an oppressive gloom, with many existing shadows made nearly opaque as a result. The drifting movements of the mist and the subtle shifts in color and shadow made me feel like things were prowling in every corner and in the edges of my field of vision.
That deep, primal prey-animal part of my psyche kept telling me something was wrong, that I was in danger. I tried to tell myself that it was just my fear working itself up, my brain playing tricks on me. There was nothing out there.
The weight of the gun in my hand was both a reassurance and a burden. It would be so easy to do something I would regret for the rest of my life.
“Hate this,” I muttered.
“Me too,” Grue answered. He put his hand on my shoulder to offer some reassurance. “But we manage, we cope because we’re a team. We belong together.”
My awareness snagged on someone who was walking a distance behind us, measuring their pace with ours.
“We may need to stand together as a team sooner than later,” I said. “We’re being followed.”
“By who?” Tattletale asked. She paused, then laughed. “Silly question, I guess.”
“Tie them up?” she suggested.
My bugs gathered in out of the way spots, and the spiders began drawing out lines of silk in preparation. I didn’t want to inform this person that I was on to their tail.
Then, just in case they decided to drop the tail and attack us, I began to gather bugs together into decoys. Human-shaped lumps and clusters of bugs gathered in alleys and at the edges of rooftops. Still more gathered in the street, standing in alcoves and in other hiding spots. I invested less bugs in the ones that were further away from our pursuer, trusting that the shadows the miasma cast would help round them out. There were no decoys our pursuer would see from where they stood, but there were now enough to give them pause.
Grue drifted away from our group to approach one of the decoys. He extended one hand and traced his fingers through the massed bugs. “You’re versatile.”
I felt a little uncomfortable at the compliment. “We should keep moving.”
“You’re not tying them up?”
I shook my head. A miscommunication on that front. Hadn’t I recently been thinking about chemistry and intuitively understanding how your teammates operated? The miasma might be throwing us off in that department. “Sorry. Need to prep for it first, I’ll make my move in a minute. For now, we should act normal.”
“Fine.” He dropped his hand to his side and rejoined us. We kept walking. I had to admire them, the way they were confident enough to avoid looking over their shoulders. I had my bugs to track our pursuer with, and I was still feeling nervous having them behind me.
“Is paranoia a side effect of this mist?”
Tattletale nodded. “Could be. As the symptoms progress, you could have fits of anger, paranoia, hallucinations…”
I swallowed.
“Or it could progress in another direction. A broader agnosia, with the inability to recognize anything, not just people.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“I’m going to bind her now. If it doesn’t work, or if she has a way of breaking free, we should run, with the decoys for cover.”
Tattletale just smiled.
The bugs swarmed our pursuer. I’d minimized the number of bugs on them, just to be safe, with the drawback that I wasn’t getting a full picture of who they were. The bugs couldn’t get to her flesh to sting or bite her, but they were telling me she was female in general shape.
I had them deploy the silk they had prepared. I focused my efforts on her arms and legs. It took only a couple of seconds to get the threads in place.
She tripped as the silk went taut mid-stride. Raising one hand to try to catch herself, she found silk threads hampering those movements as well. To avoid landing face first, she twisted herself in mid-air so she hit the ground with her shoulder instead.
“Got her,” I said. “Let’s keep going. We can lose her.”
“We should investigate,” Grue said. “Make sure she isn’t a threat, and deal with her if she is.”
“With this miasma affecting us, there’s no way to be sure of exactly of just who we’re dealing with,” I pointed out.
“We have Tattletale. She can tell us if this person’s a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.”
“Tattletale’s not-”
I stopped. Where had that come from?
“What?” Grue tilted his head as he looked over his shoulder at me.
“I was going to say she’s not always right, but I’ve still got that black hole in my memory of her, so I’m not sure where that’s coming from.”
Grue rubbed his chin. “Something to keep in mind, but I still think we should check this person out.”
“I agree,” Tattletale said, a slight smile on her face. She tugged on my hand. “Come on!”
We had to stick together. I reluctantly followed, knowing that separating from the group could mean losing them altogether.
We stopped a few hundred feet away from the woman. The silk strands had formed a cord around her arms and legs, and the work of the spiders had tightened the binding as she allowed it to slack. She hadn’t made it back to her feet after falling to the ground.
Grue drew a knife.
“Hey,” I said. I grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
“She’s obviously a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine,” Tattletale said.
“Fill me in? Because I must have missed something. Doesn’t seem that clear to me.”
“Think about it. Why is she wearing a mask like that, if not to filter out the miasma? She knew about it in advance.”
“Maybe,” I said. I could make out something like a gas mask or filter, now that Tattletale had pointed it out. “Maybe there’s another explanation. It could have something to do with her power?”
“It doesn’t,” Tattletale said.
Thinking about killing someone was one thing. I’d always assumed I might have to do it out of necessity to save a teammate… I’d even come close to doing it when attacking the Nine, not long ago. Couldn’t recall who it had been, but I’d gone all out, used potentially lethal stings and bites.
That had been at a distance. Now we were looking at killing someone face to face.
The mask, there was another reason for it. The-
Tattletale interrupted my thoughts. “If you guys aren’t going to do it, I can. She was following us, she was prepared for the miasma, and I’m positive she’s a bad guy. My power, you know.”
“We can’t be certain,” I said.
“With my power, I’m five hundred percent sure. Trust me,” she said, grinning. She started toward the heroine.
“No,” I said.
“Skitter’s right,” Grue said. “She could be playing possum. Best to avoid being reckless. Keep our distance and finish her.”
“That’s not what I meant. Let’s just leave,” I said. “I’ll make that phone call to, um-”
“Coil,” Tattletale supplied.
I nodded. “We’ll get the information we need, get ourselves cured, or track down the Nine.”
“Cherish could lie,” Grue said.
It took me a second to place Cherish’s name. Names were slipping from my mind too easily. “Maybe. We’ll use our own judgement to corroborate her facts.”
Tattletale scowled, “Have you forgotten how aggressively we’ve been going after the Slaughterhouse Nine? The attacks, the harassment, capturing Cherish and Shatterbird. And now you want to leave one of them there? We don’t have to get close to her to take her out. You have the gun.”
I stared down at the weapon in my hand.
“Trust me,” she said.
Both Tattletale and Grue turned to look at me.
“No?” Grue asked. “We’re a team, Skitter. We’re supposed to trust one another when the chips are down, have each other’s backs.”
I didn’t like the implications of that. Like I was failing them.
But I shook my head. “No.”
“Explain?” he asked. He looked calm, but I could see the irritation in his posture. Was the mist getting to him?
“The miasma… if it makes us paranoid, it could be coloring our perceptions here. Even Tattletale’s.”
“I would know if it was,” she said. She seemed impatient.
“Maybe. But I’m not certain enough about that to take another life.”
“You nearly took Siberian’s,” she retorted.
“Yeah. Sure. But that was different.”
“I don’t see how.”
I stared at the bound woman who was prone on the ground, half-covered in my bugs. She was looking in my direction.
“It bugs me. This is too easy. If the Nine were this easy to take out, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“Sounds like a pretty thin justification for backing out,” Grue said.
“Yeah,” Tattletale added.
This kind of social pressure wasn’t the sort of thing I was good at coping with. Just going by my recollection of how we’d planned many of our capers, I could usually trust some of the others to have my back when I was arguing a point. Or I’d had some other motive or reason to go along with them.
“Why are you pushing so hard for this?” I asked.
“Did you forget what they did to me?” Grue asked, his voice cold.
Him specifically? I had forgotten, yes. But I could remember that scene, the emotions then, every feeling that I’d experienced afterward. Frustration, hate, pain, sympathy for the pain he must have experienced himself. I could remember the feeling of heartbreak, because someone I cared about was gone, in a sense.
“No,” I replied.
“Where’s your anger, your outrage? Or don’t you care?”
“I care! It’s-”
“Then end this.”
I shook my head, as if I could clear it. It wasn’t that I wasn’t thinking clearly, necessarily. It was that my thoughts kept hitting that dead-end where I couldn’t reach back for context about people, about Tattletale and Grue and the Nine. I was in the dark.
What I did know was that I’d done too many things I regretted. I wasn’t about to add something as serious as murder to the list.
Grue must have seen something in my posture, because he shook his head and turned away. “Give me the gun, then.”
“Just use your power,” Tattletale told him.
“I want Skitter to acknowledge that she doesn’t care enough about this team or about me to do what’s necessary. She can do that by admitting she doesn’t have the courage to shoot and allow me to do it.”
“That’s not what this is about,” I said. “Murder is serious. You don’t kill without being absolutely certain it’s right. And nothing’s certain for as long as we’re under the influence of this miasma.”
He scoffed. “And you call yourself a supervillain?”
“I call myself Skitter. If someone wants to stick me with some other label, that’s their issue to deal with, not mine.”
“You’re not giving me the gun?”
He shrugged, “So you don’t care at all, about what happened to me. You don’t care about this team. And you’ll even look down on us while you do it. Your contemptible friends.”
“I care. More than you know. But you told me, not long ago, that I should follow my heart, trust my gut. Fine. That’s what I’m doing. You attack her, I’ll fight to save her.”
He barked out a laugh, “You’ll fight me? You’re a traitor now?”
The word hit home. I must have flinched.
“A traitor again,” he added.
I snapped my head up to look at him in surprise.
“I wonder what it says that the notion of you being a traitor is so ingrained in my impression of you that it jumps to mind, even with the mist affecting me?”
“That’s enough,” I said.
“I know you like me. I can read it on your face, I could see the way your eyes widened when you heard my name. You’re an open book in some ways. And I’ll tell you right now, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”
I felt a nervous feeling deep in my gut. It wasn’t pleasant, at stark odds to what he was saying.
Grue’s words spoke to that feeling of trepidation. “But this? It’s telling me I could never have a relationship with you, never be close to you, because I’ll always wonder if you’ll stab me in the back or fuck me over, fail to do what’s necessary in a situation like this. I’ll never be able to shake that image of you as a traitor.”
He kept saying that word, traitor, hammering it in.
“Unless I take this gun and shoot that woman, who you’re convinced is a member of the Nine,” I guessed what he was getting at.
“Guess I had the wrong impression of you,” he said. The emotion in his tone was so different that it caught me off guard. Almost contemplative. If I thought of it as him emotionally closing down, it almost fit with the impression I associated with Grue. At the same time, it didn’t quite jibe with what I was seeing. Again, I felt that distinct discomfort.
Is this how I lose my mind?
I shrugged. “I guess you did.”
I carefully holstered the gun, as if hiding it could keep it from coming up again in conversation.
A long pause reigned.
“I’m disappointed, but there’s nothing I can do about that,” he said. Then he smiled. He turned and began walking away. “Let’s go.”
“Just like that?” I asked.
“We’re leaving her?” Tattletale asked.
“Seems we have to. Tattletale, can you use your power to make sure the lady from the Nine doesn’t pose a danger?”
Tattletale nodded, smiling.
“Then let’s hurry. We wasted too much time here.”
“Let me know when she’s not in your range anymore,” Tattletale said to me. “I’ll try to use my power to make sure she isn’t following us.”
She hugged my arm, “You’re stubborn, but we’re still friends, right?”
I nodded again. I felt like I was back in school, in a situation where I couldn’t say anything without saying the wrong thing. Strange, to recall being around the bullies rather than in the company of my team.
The argument weighed on me, as did the things Grue had said, the judgements. Had I been wrong? Were we risking letting one of the Nine get away, to murder others? Was I arguing because I was still clinging to old ideals, or because the miasma was making me divisive?
Even if the miasma was to blame, I hated the idea of failing the others yet again.
This situation was fucking with my head. I still felt like I was in the middle of a fight, that heart pounding mode where I was ready for bullets or laser blasts to start flying, for me or a friend to be in mortal danger, where a split second response meant the difference between life or death.
Except there was no danger here. The only people nearby were the woman we were leaving behind, Grue and Tattletale.
I glanced at Tattletale as we ran. Could I trust them? They had been in the miasma for a little longer than I had, and I was already experiencing what I could only label as paranoia. With only a difference of minutes, Legend had been thrust into a paranoid state where he was taking a reckless, offensive course of action, eliminating everyone from the battlefield, regardless of whether they might be friend or enemy. How much was it affecting these two? How would it influence their actions?
More to the point, what was my best course of action here? If I worked on the assumption that I could trust them, would they drag me into a situation that was just as bad as what we’d gone through with the bound woman? Or if I didn’t trust them, if I allowed myself to become suspicious and take countermeasures, would that be a slippery slope that led to me trying to kill them, in fear for my own life?
We’d come close to fighting just now.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Tattletale said.
“Leave her be,” Grue told her, his voice low.
What was I supposed to do? I didn’t trust myself to handle this alone, not with the speed at which this general unease was building up. But I wasn’t sure I trusted them either. Something about the argument, it felt off. Wrong.
“She’s out of my range,” I said. “Tattletale?”
“I’ll keep an eye out!” She grinned.
Traitor. I could almost hear the accusation.
I’d lied. The woman was still in my range.
“Is there service?” Grue asked. I must have looked confused, because he clarified by saying, “The phone.”
I pulled my phone out of the space between my breasts and the armor at my front and checked the display.
“Yeah,” I said. Why does that bug me?
“Call Coil,” Tattletale reminded me. “We need to know where Cherish is.”
I found him in the contact list and made the call.
“Speaker phone?” Grue suggested.
I nodded, selected the option and hit the button.
As the first ring sounded out, my swarm sense alerted me to the bound woman breaking free of the silk strands, as if it was effortless. Had she been playing possum after all, hoping we would get close?
I looked at Tattletale, trying to see if had any inkling that this supposed member of the Nine was free.
Nothing. Tattletale turned to me and grinned.
“No trouble incoming?” I asked, as the phone rang again.
She shook her head. “All good.”
Was her power not working as well as she’d thought? I couldn’t even recollect what it was, but she’d said she would keep an eye out… and there was something alarming occurring this very moment.
“Skitter,” Coil answered the phone. “I’ve been made aware that Bonesaw has deployed the ace she had up her sleeve.”
“Yeah. Agnostia… Agnosia-inducing mist. Permanent, according to Tattletale.”
“I see.” I could hear the sounds of typing on a keyboard. “Agnosia… Panacea can’t reverse the effects?”
“She’s not here. We’re trying to find her.”
“And you need Cherish for that, I suppose.”
I was grateful that he was supplying the names, because it meant I didn’t have to bog down the conversation by remembering or asking. Grue, Tattletale and I had brought them up recently enough that it wasn’t a huge leap to remember their names.
The woman who I’d tied up with the spider silk was walking towards us. Her progress was hampered by the decoys. I kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t an imminent problem, and I was more interested in gauging just how far gone Tattletale’s power was.
“Except that with the agnosia, we can’t remember where she is and go meet her.”
“Meeting Cherish would be a grave error,” Coil spoke.
“Just put us in contact with her, then?”
“Tattletale informed me of your code. You remember how it’s put together?”
“Yeah. My memory’s fine, it’s just my ability to identify people and remember stuff about them that’s fucked up.”
Tattletale glared at me. Right. She didn’t like swearing.
“Then, using a name we’re both familiar with, D-gangrene.”
“I can’t remember names. I don’t think I can use the code.”
“Troubling. You must understand my predicament. For all I know, you’re a third party using Skitter’s voice to make the request. With shapeshifters, empaths and other methods of coercion, I have to be very careful about the dissemination of information.”
The woman was still approaching. Tattletale and Grue weren’t talking.
Something was wrong.
“What if we kept you on the line?” I suggested.
“That will suffice.”
There was a pause, then the sound of background noise. A ring sounded, different from the one before. It was interrupted as Cherish picked up.
“I have never been so sorry to miss out,” Cherish said. She sounded a bit hoarse.
“We’re requesting your help,” Coil spoke.
“Oh, you need my help in more ways than you’re aware of. Not that I’m going to provide it. Skitter’s on the line, I believe?”
“She is.”
“I’m here,” I confirmed.
“And Tattletale and Grue, of course.” She chuckled. “How amusing. Seems like I’m in high demand.”
“They’re looking for Panacea,” Coil said. “Identifying her for us would be one way to achieve revenge on the Slaughterhouse Nine for turning on you.”
“Revenge? Not my interest in the slightest. I’ve learned my lesson and I’ve become the poster child for team loyalty.”
Coil paused, then said, “I’m prepared to offer you some enticements. I imagine your current quarters can’t be too comfortable.”
“Don’t suppose these enticements will be hand delivered?”
“They will be provided by remote control, as your food has been.”
“Some headphones and music would be nice,” she said. “The sound of the waves banging on the hull is driving me crazy.”
“Such could be arranged.”
“Nah, I’m totally fucking with you. Music, as if.”
There were too many things that seemed off. Cherish’s tone among them. I glanced around. The woman was still following us, throwing herself after decoys, verifying they were false, then retracing her steps. She was slowly closing in. I positioned Atlas so he would be ready to distract her if it came down to it.
“You’re stalling?” Coil asked. “I don’t see the point.”
“Just trying to see if I can provoke a reaction from you. There’s only so many times I can read the labels of the shipping containers before I lose my mind. Have to amuse myself somehow.”
“What will it take for you to tell us where Panacea is?” Coil asked.
“Oh, I’m feeling generous, and I want to see what happens. I’ll tell you that as a freebie. They’re at Arcadia. Somewhere in the top floor.”
A freebie. Something was going on, and I wasn’t aware what. I had to piece it together, but I had so little information.
“And maybe I could offer you something, in exchange for some goodwill. Maybe you’ll even want to let me go free, no obligations.”
The feeling of dread that had been following me wasn’t getting worse as the woman approached. It was staying steady, like someone had a gun pointed at me, and they’d had it aimed my way for some time now.
“I’m listening,” Coil said, “But if this is frivolous or another waste of our time-”
“Nah. Critically important. I’ll trust that you’ll take it for what it’s worth and repay me in kind.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s simple. Going by what I’ve been able to observe around the city, there seems to be a major concern. Si Jack effugit civitatem, mundus terminabitur.”
“I’m not versed in Latin,” Coil spoke, sounding annoyed.
“For shame, Coil, for shame,” Cherish said. Her voice was too cheerful. “You can’t sell the cultured supervillain image without the ability to make quips in an ancient language. I had the benefit of my power, languages are easier to learn when you can get a sense of what the other person’s feeling.”
“That was something about Jack?” I asked, “Repeat that in English?”
“Doesn’t matter anymore,” she replied. “The message was delivered. I’ll leave you to think about it.”
If only I could have blamed the miasma for my idiocy. Everything clicked into place.
I kept my voice level, “I don’t think you’ll get much goodwill if we don’t understand what the fuck you’re talking about. Coil? We’re moving out now.”
“Report back when you’ve found the healer,” Coil told me.
I hung up before Cherish could speak, then I glanced at the others. “Let’s go? Arcadia high?”
They nodded.
My heart pounded with such force that my vision wavered. I turned to head toward Arcadia high, joined by the two members of the Nine. Stay calm, don’t let on that you know.
If I could direct the woman to us…
The miasma’s effects had almost made me lose track of her. She was fighting, grappling with mechanical spiders. She went from fighting like an ordinary individual to moving at high speeds and throwing crushing punches, then back again. I couldn’t think of how to help her, and she was obviously unable to help me.
Cherish had been engaging in double-speak, saying one thing to us, while addressing the two people with me the entire time. She’d told them about where she was being held captive, and she’d offered the most valuable information she had to avoid getting tortured to death after they’d freed her. From the way she’d talked about the message being received, one of the people with me had to be Jack.
Jack was slated to bring about the end of the world if he left Brockton Bay, and now he knew.
Couldn’t meet their eyes, didn’t want to speak, in case I let on that I knew. I could barely breathe, I was so afraid of letting my emotions show.
My gun was in the compartment at my back. I’d put it away at the conclusion of our argument, and with the compartment broken in my fall from Atlas’s back, I’d been forced to put it in a place where it wasn’t easy to draw. I couldn’t be sure I would be able to draw it and fire. I was still handicapped, unaware of their powers. I was fighting blind.
If Jack or the girl killed Amy, just about everyone in the city would die violently from the miasma’s effects. But I couldn’t stop them without letting on that I knew. Fighting them put me at a clear disadvantage, and-
“Skitter,” Jack spoke.
I didn’t waste time turning to face him. I gripped the hair of the blonde girl beside me and virtually hauled her off her feet as I dragged her around to a position between Jack and myself. Jack was already swinging his knife.
The knife cut the girl more than it cut me. I could feel it raking across the exterior of my costume, failing to penetrate, but he was swinging it underhand, and it caught me in the chin, slicing through the side of my cheek and up to my temple.
I tried to keep a hold on the girl for the sake of using her as a human shield, but I saw her reach into her dress and withdraw some vials. I shoved her toward Jack, then stepped forward to kick her square between the shoulder blades. She collided with him, interrupting his follow-up swing. For good measure, I drew the bugs from beneath my costume and sent them chasing after her. Some capsaicin-laced bugs, just the few I had remaining.
Jack caught her shoulders and spun her around so she faced me. The vials were already billowing with a chemical reaction. She threw them at me.
I backed away, and they hit the ground between our two groups, black smoke joining the crimson mist around us.
“You’ve outlived your usefulness, Skitter,” Jack spoke.
If I’d just had a minute or two more to decide on a course of action.
“It was fun. I almost wish I’d nominated you for the Nine. You’re versatile, and there’s so many weak points I could have exploited if I’d had more time. If Cherish’s information on you wasn’t so misleading, I think I could have made you shoot the heroine. To corrupt you like that, it would have been amusing.”
I fumbled for the gun, using my bugs to get a sense for where it was. In the same motion that I pointed it, Jack slapped it out of my hand with two slashes of his knife. He was a dozen feet away, but the knife nonetheless connected with my weapon.
My bugs began to gather like a dark cloud, their mass casting a shadow on the already gloomy surroundings.
“So I end the world? Interesting.”
“The source is a little unreliable,” I lied.
“Still, I would love to see how that comes about.”
“You won’t live to,” I told him.
“I’ll make sure he does,” the girl informed me.
My swarm could feel others approach from the heroine’s direction. They were the size of dogs, and they skipped forward on mechanical legs. The mechanical spiders. Dozens of them, coming straight for me.
If I was judging right, they were running faster than I could.
I sent the swarm after Jack and the girl, massed into thousands of bugs. Some groups clustered so tight together that they looked like massive, amorphous black entities, amoebas floating through a cityscape painted in shades of red and black. Atlas heard my call and headed my way from the place I’d positioned him, too far away to join the fight for a minute or two.
The girl was already mixing something else together. Plumes of white smoke billowed around her, almost luminescent after so long spent in the crimson mist. My bugs died on contact with the gas.
Everything I’d learned about my enemies had been blocked. I had no information on them, no sense of what to expect. They weren’t so handicapped.
She tipped half the vial’s contents into an empty container and handed it to Jack. Both protected from my power, they started backing away.
I moved to edge around the cloud of black smoke, but Jack struck me with the knife. I had to use my forearms to cover my unprotected face. I just had my glasses, some bugs, and a layer of cloth protecting it. Nothing that would guard against Jack’s cuts.
When I’d lowered my arms, they had already turned a corner, running in the general direction of Arcadia high. Running around the cloud of black smoke cost me a precious minute. I made my way around the same corner they’d rounded, and stopped short as I came face to face with another black cloud.
Couldn’t match their speed, not with these noxious clouds slowing me down. With the heroine lying unconscious in the street, several blocks in the wrong direction, I had no allies to turn to. Worse, anyone I came across was as likely as not to be a threat. It was down to Atlas and me, and Atlas was especially vulnerable to both of my opponents. I couldn’t even fly after them without risking being cut down in midair.
I had minimal information on my opponents, while they knew enough about me to completely counter my powers. Topping it all off, the mechanical spiders were steadily, inexorably closing in on me. I’d lost my last fight with the things, and there were dozens more this time around. Couldn’t fly without exposing myself to Jack’s power, couldn’t stay on the ground without getting swarmed.
I swallowed hard and held out one hand to grab Atlas’s horn as he landed. In a moment, we were in the air, giving chase.
I wasn’t thinking about winning anymore. I was thinking in terms of minimizing the damage when we lost.
This entry was posted in 14.09 and tagged Atlas, Battery, Bonesaw, Cherish, Coil, Jack, Taylor by wildbow. Bookmark the permalink.
Trusting on October 2, 2012 at 00:07 said:
Yay new chapter 🙂 doodled up a Mannequin ( http://scarfgirl.deviantart.com/#/d5gn1f4 ) to add to the wiki .
I’ll hopefully get around to drawing Bonesaw soon .
keep up the great work , I adore the series so much and am trying to help spread the word 🙂
wildbow on October 2, 2012 at 01:40 said:
Thanks! Looks amazing.
Sometimes I wish I was an artist instead of a writer.
Note to self: Add to gallery at some point tomorrow.
1114 on October 2, 2012 at 15:47 said:
Love it! It’s even creepier than I pictured him.
Dem fingers! And ribs.
Brrr.
mc2rpg on October 2, 2012 at 00:22 said:
I was on the edge of my seat that entire chapter waiting for Taylor to piece everything together. Every time she almost had it and got interrupted just drove me nuts.
I know that Battery has to charge her ability, but how in the world did she lose to the mechanical spiders? She obviously had some charge built up, enough to fight them. The other big question is why in the world did they leave her alive? I know Bonesaw isn’t entirely rational, but it seems like a weird choice under the circumstances.
Cherish is just so stupid. How she can possibly think that would buy her safety from Jack and Bonesaw just boggles my mind. At least if she had ratted them out Coil probably would have taken care of her.
Bobby on October 2, 2012 at 04:55 said:
It’s not like Bonesaw actually intended to leave Battery alive, she sent her spiders after her as soon as Skitter said she was out of range.
Yeah, but she left her unconscious. Bonesaw is a badass, but I doubt the few seconds Battery was down with the spiders were enough for her to do anything really messed up to her. Not without being there personally.
Scrambles on October 2, 2012 at 00:31 said:
Who else stopped to translate that latin text before even reading the next sentence?
I read a bit more before translating it, but the “mundi terminatur” and the reference to Jack were pretty much enough to understand what she said even without the translation. In French: world = monde, to end = terminer. One of those occasions where the Latin roots of the language show.
eduardo on October 2, 2012 at 08:42 said:
In portuguese world = mundo, terminar = to end and the rest of the sentence was equally easy.
Latin based native language, sometimes is useful.
hedelex on January 23, 2014 at 17:47 said:
Yes, to me, as a spanish speaker, the meaning was pretty obvious :-S
Si Jack effugit civitatem, mundus terminabitur
En español sería algo como: Si Jack sale de la ciudad, el mundo termina.
effugit sounds like “fugarse” in spanish, to scape. Also take the word fugitive from english… AGHHH TAYLOR!!! use your brain now!!!!! So exciting! 😀
Psycho Gecko on October 2, 2012 at 05:19 said:
*puts on the old black and white PSA*
Psycho Gecko’s Guide to Amateur Translation:
Hello kids. I’m your guide, Psycho Gecko. Now, as you kids know, dirty communists exist in several other countries. As a sign of them being bad people, they use languages other than English. *shocked kids stop playing with their toys, mouthes wide*
But don’t worry, the U.S. military and our boys in the state department *cuts to a picture of Langley where the entire building has been redacted out* are hard at work at eliminating subversive languages. Why, one language they have killed off is Latin. *kids look puzzled* Why, Latin is the most important dead language of all time. It has had a major influence on languages such as Italian *cut to parading Mussolini fascists*, Spanish *cut to the iconic photo of Che*, and even…French! *cuts to a picture of the Eiffel tower at night, with a lightning bold in the distance, and a sinisterly smiling man in a striped shirt and a beret burning an American flag*
If you know a little bit of these languages, why then you should pick up your telephone right now, say the phrase “Help, I may be a Soviet spy” and a crack team of kind friendly boys from the government will be there soon to make sure you’re A-ok! *the film shows someone picking up the phone, speaking that phrase, being dragged out with bag over his head by the CIA, then standing against a wall with a blindfold on with a group of men in front of him holding guns before cutting away more quickly than usual*
Today we’ll teach you how to roughly tranlate the Latin phrase, “Si Jack effugit civitatem, mundi terminatur”
If you know a little about other languages, it can help you translate if you are dealing with a related language, like the languages related to Latin. For example, instead of doing things the right way, Spanish uses the word “si” to mean “if”. Can you say that along with me kids? Don’t!
They also use the term “Mundo” to mean world, like some odd propaganda. Don’t be fooled, kids! Its similarity to mundi gives us an idea that mundi means world. They also have the verb terminar, which is similar to terminate. Forcing our words on other languages is just one way we’re hard at work winning the war against Communism *cut briefly to soldiers shooting into the distance in Korea*
If Jack something something, world terminates. For added points, you might deduce that Latin also stole the word civic or civil, a word with all kinds of connotations towards the government and particularly local government, like a city. *A kid thinks, then is in a slightly different position as now a lightbulb appears over his head and lights up, the kid looking up in amazement and raising his hand* Why that’s right, some might say Jack something’s a city. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you, son. Perhaps you should go on down to your local Army recruiter and sign up to help us fight the evil reds.
Now, we can also compare other knowledge about the subject to help fill in any gaps. We have the benefit of knowing that if this Jack person ever leaves this city the world ends. My, that’s a silly superstition, isn’t it? It gives us a good idea of the message though. *a kid draws a stick figure with a knife leaving a group of skyscrapers, then an arrow pointing to a drawing of the earth, then an arrow pointing to a drawing of the earth exploding.*
That concludes our lesson today. Next time on Psycho Gecko’s Guide, we’ll show you how digging a six-foot deep hole in your backyard can protect you from nuclear attack! *film ends with footage of a mushroom cloud*
Hopefully this is found to be funny and only thought of in a 50s U.S. context.
Si Jack effugit civitatem, mundi terminatur
In portuguese:
Se Jack fugir da cidade, o mundo termina.
So, you already have the justification to invade amazonia, we speak a latin based language ergo we are communists 🙂
We’ve already done a lot to South America, or hadn’t you heard of our support for dictatorships down there?
Nah, hopefully we’ll stay away from Brazil. That country is infamous for its special variation on scalping.
Heard? I lived in one. But it was no Siria.
Scalping? Here? Nope, but Rio favela’s version of a microwave would make bonesaw proud.
Hint much later:
It doesn’t involve the scalp, but somewhere rather lower.
–Dave, and wax
I read the entire thing with a film grain and stereotypical ’50s voice. I also imagined the announcer with physical mannerisms that made him seem a bit unhinged.
s on May 15, 2018 at 14:32 said:
> I’m your guide, Psycho Gecko
I see what you did there!
> cuts to a picture of the Eiffel tower at night,
I see what copyright infringement you commietted there!
Loki-L on October 2, 2012 at 10:12 said:
It helps if you had Latin at school. I couldn’t piece together any of the grammar anymore today, but I still recognize enough of the words to sort of understand what was meant. (I have no idea if the right words and word-endings were used here though)
It says something about Jack that he knew and Coil that he didn’t. Jack checks out as bored but cultured nihilist, but Coil fails as a true evil master-mind. Unless of course Coil only pretended to be fooled because he saw that this would lead to the better outcome…
Hydrargentium on October 2, 2012 at 11:35 said:
Yeah, I was thinking that if I was Coil, I would have pretended not to understand. But more importantly, Coil is definitely not an idiot. I’m sure he’s recording the whole conversation, and had someone getting him a translation before the call even ended, assuming he didn’t already know. If Coil really wants to rule the city, he’s going to need to have something left to rule. Which means he’ll have people at Arcadia High ASAP to find Panacea for himself.
With some time to think on it, I think you’re right that he just pretended not to know. If she was saying that to Skitter and the people with her, he must have realized that at least someone with her must have been in the Nine and Skitter wouldn’t know due to the agnosia. If he had let on, they’d still be heading where they were going, but Coil’s asset (Skitter) would be dead.
Meh. Translated it inline. With a name like Hydrargentium, what did you expect?
Max on September 30, 2014 at 18:53 said:
I did, I did!
I had started to consolidate my, “Oh crap she’s walking with the Nine” just before they after they left Battery alone and figured that Cherish was just talking with Jack that entire conversation so I had to know what she said…
guy on October 30, 2014 at 02:10 said:
I have a moderately good grasp of Latin myself, so I caught it pretty much instantly.
Translates as “If Jack flees the city, the would will end”, I think. Not too sure about the tense on effugit; -it is usually third person perfect singular active indicative, but from context it’s more likely present or future.
er, world, and actually it’s “the world will be ended”, -tur is passive.
Indigo on October 2, 2012 at 00:33 said:
When I read the line about who she was really with my blood went cold.
Reveen on October 2, 2012 at 00:39 said:
Whoops?
Um the Muse on October 2, 2012 at 01:07 said:
Heh, I noticed that parts of the story were based on my comments from last time. Sorry for clogging up the story like that. Still, that was so cool to see how gracefully you incorporated that into the story. It made perfect sense for Coil to bring up the secret code, for instance.
A trap you run into with a WIP and a audience:
Reader raises idea/point.
Said thing was intended to show up/be addressed anyways.
People are left (I imagine) to wonder how much was influenced by reader
Unavoidable unless I avoid comments entirely, and I won’t be doing that, obviously.
Only the point about Aegis might have been ignored/left to the reader’s interpretation, I think.
Anzer'ke on October 2, 2012 at 07:50 said:
Not sure how bad a thing that is really, we all know you’re very good so there won’t be any bad blood over it, and it provides other perspectives which I would bet can be at least somewhat useful at times.
Personally I just assume whatever it was was already going to happen unless stated otherwise.
gpyei on November 7, 2013 at 20:43 said:
I like how i scroll down into the comments and then see the idea the very next chapter if not the first line.
Yep. It’s official. Jack’s crossed the Crisis line.
I mean, the Nine were considered bad enough already for villains to help against them, but that is a relatively low bar here. However, as any card-carrying member of supervillainy knows, most supervillains have an obligation to help out against one of their own kind in a few circumstances, chief among them being the utter and complete destruction of the planet. Alien occupations are also frowned upon (is there a Doctor in the house?).
Still, someone actively seeking the destruction of the Earth is above such things as good and evil into a territory known as “stupid”. No world is bad for business. I suppose that’s is one way to confront one’s own mortality, though. I suppose, if it gets right down to it, Jack has to know that’s something that will get him no matter what. No escaping age and death even if you’ve killed every hero on earth.
He doesn’t want to die, of course, but if he knows he’s going to then probably the best way that control freak would think to cope with it is for everyone else to go with him.
Poor deluded little freak. If he wanted to pull that, he’d have to take the whole universe with him.
Oh, and Kudos to Skitter. This is one of those chapters that exemplifies that she’s got a serious pair of balls on her. I mean it, must be hard for Atlas to lift those things. Steel ones like that, she might be able to knock a tooth of Jack’s out.
Skitter’s thoughts – I’m such a terrible person, why am I even wasting all this air? I never do anything right. I’m useless. I fail all the time, I can’t do the right thing.
Skitter’s Actions – Unflinching moral, doesn’t matter how you coerce her, or how much she hates you or even if no one will ever know it happened. Courageous beyond belief (like if Nodoka and Jacuzzi Splot had a bizarre, crossover love child) and resourceful to boot.
WyldCard4 on October 2, 2012 at 18:20 said:
Not entirely sure I agree, actually. She’s certainly above average, but she’s made major decisions based on her own feelings over what she knows is right. Primarily staying with the Undersiders. She would (presumably) be doing a more good if she was a hero working with the Wards rather than working with the Undersiders. The various plot events where the world has benefited from her being a villain have largely been coincidental. If anything she’s refused the course of self sacrifice several times. She works well within the system of working for a villain, but she’s not really doing the best she could due to giving into her own biases.
I’d absolutely love her as a friend, ally, or soldier. Being 15 also cuts her a tremendous amount of slack. Still, she’s stolen from innocent people, intimidated innocent people, worked to assist seriously evil people who will continue to commit acts of violence. She is a morally gray protagonist who is critical of herself.
Skullgrim on October 3, 2012 at 01:51 said:
“She would (presumably) be doing a more good if she was a hero working with the Wards rather than working with the Undersiders.” – Have to disagree with this. The Wards have rules and restrictions and their powers (and strategies to defeat them) are record in the HCP database. While the Wards teamwork is good (most of the time) their tactics are often lacking given the numbers resources at their disposal. The Wards outnumber the Undersider significantly and yet the Undersiders are arguably the more effective team. Also, there’s an Art of War angle to consider: in any battle with two primary forces (Heros vs Nine) , any tertiary group wields disproportionate influence on the outcome.
– Excellent stuff wildbow. Keep up the good work.
Will try. Thanks.
The Warren Peace NFL Report on October 15, 2014 at 10:39 said:
Skitter “would (presumably) be doing a more good if she was a hero working with the Wards rather than working with the Undersiders.”
Wow. You got all the names right, but I’m certain you’re not reading the same story I am. One of the major points of the story is how morality isn’t defined so easily, and besides, what good have the wards accomplished, exactly? Have they even made a net positive iinfluence on their world, considering Shadow Stalker’s actions?
Pinkhair on October 2, 2012 at 06:28 said:
Coil is quite a bastard, using the name of Taylor’s dad for the code. I wonder if she’ll remember that when/if she recovers.
Not really, it was the name she was most likely to remember.
Wasn’t her dad, haha. I honestly didn’t even think about that.
Wouldn’t say it was any less of a bastard move, though.
I’m guessing it was Dinah. According to the Mayo clinic, though, grangrene ranges from “brown to purplish-blue to black.” How is Skitter supposed to know which color he meant? (joking)
Somehow, I see the line that Cherish says is going to become prophetic: “I’ll trust that you’ll take it for what it’s worth and repay me in kind.” If Skitter survives long enough to warn Coil, I can’t imagine him allowing Cherish to live after that betrayal.
Still a bastard!
I wonder what Bonesaw’s view on recent events is. She supposedly is loyal to Jack, but I got the impression that she liked what she does and ending the world would rather put bumper or her research. She might very well turn on him to stop him from stopping her from torturing and experimenting on people in the future.
There also is the fact, that Bonesaw has taken quite a lot of damage recently. Jack cut her when he freed her from Skitter’s web and now again when she used her as a human shield. Sure she can survive being stabbed in the heart and everything with what augmentations she made, but sooner or later this stuff adds up and she might suffer a death of a thousand cuts.
You also have to wonder what happened to Siberian. Either they split up to do more damage, or Jack stabbed him in the back once his usefulness was over. If Siberian (or rather her creator) hadn’t previously trusted the rest of the nine with his identity this might not have been the best way to reveal his weakness. It would also mean that Bonesaw had not time to prepare any immunity for him…
Jack might very well end up the last of the nine standing in very short order.
Digerati on October 2, 2012 at 12:15 said:
Long time reader, first time posting. First of all – kudos to Wildbow for the fantastic story. It’s definitely my number one web serial, both for the quality of the story and writing, as well as for the size of the updates (sorry Jim, your work is great too, if somewhat less prolific). The fact that some of these people and places had earlier lives in some of your earlier stories has paid off for you (and us).
I certainly agree with some others here when I say that the best parts of the story usually take place in Taylor’s head – it’s a very interesting place to be. That said, the interludes are great too.
The ONLY complaint I have is this: I read purely when I am at work (Mon-Fri, day job) and since you update Tuesday and Saturday, that means I read an update Monday, get another update again on Tuesday and then I’m done for the week (in other words, Jim’s Monday/Thursday schedule is better, at least from my perspective). Who am I to tell genius how to operate though?
The one major question (and reason for my post) is this:
You say you have only a few arcs left and then it sounds like things will come to a conclusion. I just don’t see how that can be possible without leaving so many unanswered questions and unexplained things. All 3 Endbringers (origins, resolution), Scion (origins), Cauldron and Coil’s plans just to name a few. Then we have the 2 beings that seem to be responsible for the trigger events. I could go on, but point is, there is lots to explore if you wanted to go on. Not that everything HAS to be explained by stories end.
Oh – and no one would blame you if you went to a more ‘human’ word count on your updates (look at me saying whatever it takes to keep my Worm fix going…)
Thanks for chiming in, Digerati.
I went with Tuesday-Saturday because I didn’t want to conflict with the schedules of other ongoing superhero serials (May be wrong, but I think Jim was MWF, then switched to M-Th) and I’ve found this works for me – it gives me a day off in the course of the week, typically, and it leaves the weekend more or less free, in case I’m going up to the cottage or whichever. I might have done Monday-Friday, but then I’d feel like I was conflicting/competing with Jim for people’s lunch break reading. I have a lot of respect for Jim and wouldn’t want to step on his toes in any way, shape or form.
As for this word count, I find it works for me. It’s mainly a concern of whether I can get from the chapter’s beginning to the conclusion without having to feel like I’m working to shoehorn stuff in. With 4000 (or more) words, I can generally have a natural-feeling change in scene, a twist, a balance of action and dialogue and/or all the other stuff I’d want, and I don’t feel like I’m reaching for a cliffhanger or natural ending point (as I did in some of the chapters for the early arcs). Just as an example, if I ended this chapter at the 2000 word mark, it would have fallen around the point where she made the call to Coil.
And, perhaps most importantly, 4000 (or 6000 or 10,000, if the chapter demands such) words is enough that I have to push myself to write. Writing’s like a muscle, and if I exercise it and keep ratcheting up what I expect of myself, I can get pretty fit, so to speak. I find 4k is enough that I’ve plateaued in that steady progression and I’m working hard without suffering overmuch.
As for the cliffhangers, yeah, I’m wondering how I can work all that in, myself. I like what I have in mind, but it’s tough to wrangle it all. This is my first time writing a story for the public, and some of that stuff ties into the conclusion – something I’ve never written on this scale.
It may well be that Worm isn’t as close to finishing as I’ve guessed/implied. I’m currently debating if I want to add another arc after this one is complete, just to allow more time to deal with the aftermath, I think it would feel more natural (with the caveat that this would delay the bonus week I’ve promised by another 3 weeks to a month).
Thanks to Jeff for the donation.
I’m very interested to see where this is going. The miasma is well done. Even though Skitter doesn’t have any information on people, the way things are written I’m still able to understand what’s going on, but also recognize that she doesn’t.
But really, I have to fault Legend last chapter. If Bonesaw is gonna release a bioweapon, the TWO people you want right there are each in the Travellers and Undersiders. If she hits a button to send some radio wave it won’t get through Grue’s darkness, and if she releases some biological thing, it won’t get through Sundancer’s sun!
For shame Legend, for shame.
I’m very interested in knowing how this stuff effected the rest of her team, so I think the extra arc dealing with the aftereffects is a good idea. There’s a lot of fallout from something like this.
Presumably Regent, even if he didn’t know who he’s controlling, won’t stop controlling Shatterbird. Grue’s smart enough not to overreact so they should both be good overall. Tattletale and Trickster can probably work together.
But Bitch? And Ballistic? I don’t think they’d do too well. And I STILL want to know more about Taylor’s dad. We haven’t heard a thing from him in a while. And Taylor had to get back to her territory, unless she’s stopped caring about it? That might just be the agnosia though.
Alright, so Presumably Skitter won’t die. So I have no idea how this arc will end, cause there’s nothing she can really do against Jack or Bonesaw. Maybe Panacea/Glory Girl will pull something out.
Aaaaaaand, I’m guessing since Bonesaw didn’t have time to protect him, Siberian’s creator was affected by the mist, and that’s why they’re not hanging with him now. Also, Legend no doubt forgot what he looked like, so Siberian is off Scott Free again! 😦
Personally? I think the Nine need to die. And not out of a moral sense, but out of a narrative sense. IMO the plot is about Coil, taking over the city, and Skitter controlling territory, expanding, being a reluctant supervillain, etc… That’s just how I feel. Now while the Nine have certainly been interesting, to me they seem more like an aside than the main plot. Just my 2 cents.
Also, props on starting in with more physical descriptions, though I swear last chapter you did it ONLY because it made things creepier! You’re evil.
As always, great writing! I did notice nobody in the comments was correcting your grammar/spelling this time! Did you get a beta reader or something?
No beta reader. It’s just that this chapter demanded a close reread, because there was a lot of room to fuck up (saying Bonesaw instead of Tattletale early on, for example)
I considered making a comment to that effect, but then I’d feel silly if I’d missed something, too=P
(That said, I’d not mind proofreading, since I tend to do it whether I’m trying to or not!)
If I may say so, the arc about Skitter’s territory expansion is over. The adult population of her territory is mostly dead. She cannot possibly go back to where she was, and I have trouble seeing her starting over on an emotional level. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Skitter didn’t change her loyalties at the end of this arc. She’s seen villainy in a much worse light, and seen heroism in a much better light. This fic has a good degree of twists and turns to keep me surprised, but this is a change to the plot roughly as large as the Endbringer was.
I would find it quite interesting if Panacea can’t/won’t heal the miasma, myself, and it turns out to be permanent and won’t degrade further. Or perhaps makes it conditional on not healing villains if she is capable of healing it. That would be a fascinating end to this arc IMO.
Hell yes the Slaughterhouse Nine need to die. Note, they’re pretty much doomed already. Simply knowing Siberian’s weakness and killing Crawler is practically enough. They seem to have survived largely because of Siberian. Once her creator is destroyed the team isn’t going to be able to get away with its old tactics, which means either they die or they can’t unleash their old violence.
Another thought. If Glory Girl got infected with the miasma, and can’t cure it, what happens to Glory Girl’s brain chemistry? How does not remembering who you’re in love with effect being in love? She might (very arguable) loose her reason for resisting it as well.
That would assume that she can tell villains from heroes- her power doesn’t work on herself.
1. She doesn’t do brains. Considering the last time she tried she kind of raped her sister, it’s not looking like this is going to change in the near future.
2. She’s kind of retired from doctoring anyway. Her deciding to mass cure people seems unlikely.
3. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that Grue’s going to repair her memory if any kind of deal is reached.
Starry Sky on October 3, 2012 at 02:35 said:
Personally, I’d be really interested to see how Coil manages to piece together his plans after the conflict with the Nine is over. I know he had payed off a few of the local candidates for public office, but I have to imagine some of them died or fled during the recent chaos.
If nearly everyone left standing is in his pocket…
On the other hand he might just move to a new city, if there’s not much left of this one.
I suppose that decision depends entirely on what exactly Coil wants with a city anyways.
Them talking about nominating Skitter reminds me of way back when we were still guessing who the nominees would be or how they fit into Cherish’s archetypes. My thinking was that if Skitter wasn’t one of the nominees then it would all be too distant and removed from her part of the story. I imagined something dark and isolated where the nominees went find out their test (probably something involving eliminating at least one of the others each round) and maybe needing help from others on occasion.
And I was almost right, if you count being completely wrong. Instead of a dark, nighttime, horror-esque contest full of drama and tension, we got a conflict that might ultimately be as destructive to the city as Leviathan’s visit. The Nine stuck around in the city longer, but have been whittled down a lot more than Leviathan. Can’t play a game of attrition with Jack, though. If he escapes, game over, and it is hard to say that he won’t escape.
Aside from Wildbow taking the whole Slaughterhouse Nine arc in a direction I didn’t see coming, the series’ darker moments wouldn’t make it unprecedented for Jack to get away for a short time. Though I half expect that just before he does, the one kid of Purity will be there, with powers or just a big gun, and deliver the blow to kill him. Could go either way.
Not much substantial and I bet people are tired of me going, “Hey Wildbow, you had an idea similar to this one of mine no one ever got to see when I wrote it privately,” and all such thinking of how I’d do things.
I mainly just wanted to point out where we are compared to where we were. You surprised the expectations of myself and probably a lot of your readers the way you took all of this.
As a thought, Theo makes real sense as the world killer.
1. Jack’s the instigation, not the cause, of the end of the world.
2. Assuming he gets the world ender powers, he’s much more likely to use them sooner with Jack coming after him than if Jack is dead, either because of an earlier trigger event or simply going all out/at all on Jack.
Whatever it is, he hasn’t even encountered it yet, let alone triggered it.
Or maybe he has encountered and triggered it. Remember, the world still ends in 15 years even if Jack is dead. That says to me that Jack may have kicked things off years ago and nobody noticed, but if he escapes he continues to accelerate the process.
Dinah was pretty specfic that it was something he would meet later on.
I kind of thought it may be Theo’s step-sister.
nomananisland on October 3, 2012 at 06:05 said:
Earlier someone commented that they thought the “natural progression of the plot” (more my summary, not really a direct quote) would be Skitter working to help Coil take over the city and restore it to functioning, acting as a positive influence and securing Dinah’s release. They viewed the Nine as a digression.
I would disagree. Consistently throughout the story Taylor has shown that she judges situations not by labels but by truth. “Hero” didn’t really apply to Armsmaster, who worked for his own advancement. “Villain” didn’t really apply to Tattletale or Grue, who had been using their powers in escapist fun after harsh childhoods, but who were willing to stop true villainy in the case of Bakuda and Leviathan. She bailed on the team when she couldn’t handle Coil’s manipulation, and only rejoined to manipulate him into freeing Dinah.
Had she helped him conquer the city, she would have compromised all her values to repair that one imbalance. In this arc, with the Nine, she is closer to true heroism because even stripped of her memory, she still wrestled with finding the truth and doing the right thing, at great personal risk. Instead of freeing Dinah based on an ideal and to rectify Coil’s manipulation of the team, she’s out to save actual lives and indeed the world if they can stop Jack. Everything has been stripped away — civilization, society, friendship, clothes, superficial identity, family, team, memory. But with all of that out of the way, Taylor knows who she is.
That’s the essence of all literature — defining the protagonist’s true self through conflict — and so to me that’s the “natural plot progression” in a plot that is constantly surprising and intriguing.
Furthermore, I’m not worried about the Endbringers and loose plot threads because this story takes place in a broader world — it’s like a Spiderman series and you know the X-Men and Avengers are still out there. Wildbow can follow up on any of that stuff later and this thread will still be satisfying because it’s about Taylor’s journey. If he never continues in this world, it still stands as good writing because it gives the sense that the world was whole, and not just constructed to create Taylor’s plot. But it sure gives lots of room for sequels and further awesomeness.
Totally agree with your post Nomananisland, especially your last point about the loose plot threads.
I never meant to imply that all threads NEED to be tied up by stories end. All I meant was that there is lots of room to keep Worm going if Wildbow so desires. I just think it would be a shame if we never got to see the resolution/explanation for some of what Wildbow has built. Course I am saying that out of selfishness 🙂
And yes, those things could definitely be elaborated more in some OTHER story, be it a ‘Worm’ sequel or some entirely different story within this same setting.
And btw Wildbow, Digerati = Jeff. You’re welcome for the ‘donation’ You’re work certainly merits reward.
I hope/intend to give you guys the resolution to the key areas there. I don’t intend to do it in a sequel or another story in the same setting (and I’m not sure I will do a sequel/wormverse story – maybe a novella, but nothing big). I’d like to move on to other stuff before I get burned out on this.
I agree with most of what you have written here, except for the part about Armsmaster not being a hero, and Tattletale and Grue not being villains.
Just because Armsmaster is saving people and fighting villains for selfish reasons doesn’t negate the fact that he is still saving people and fighting villains. Tattletale and Grue are almost certain to go back to being villains when this whole mess with the Nine is over with. They aren’t going out there saving people just to save them, after all is said and done they are almost certainly going to go back to being criminals.
Armsmaster is a scumbag, and Grue and Tattletale are decent enough, but that doesn’t change the actions they have taken throughout the course of their careers.
It occurs to me that one part of the divide between those of us who see the heroes and the villains differently is that we attach the term hero and villain based on different criteria.
So far as I notice (so feel free to fill in any gaps I miss here) there are those who see the label as being related to society while others relate it to the individual. I considered claiming the second way was relating it to morals, but that’s biased on my part and there’s certainly an argument to be made for the morality of upholding a society’s laws even when the person doing so is a dick. In fact, I remember being rather critical of ethics because while it discussed what a person should or shouldn’t do, it didn’t address the ethics of following the law.
Armsmaster is, viewed by society, a hero. He got the label by rounding up people who break the law and saving people. In the context of society and maintaining it (as well as the people whose lives he saves) he is a hero, but it’s all dependent on another person.
I don’t remember if the truce is an actual law or not, but what we saw there was the individual’s flaws show through. Compare him with Watchmen’s Comedian, who followed and upheld the law…and mainly did so because he enjoyed breaking people’s faces. Despite helping to save lives and catch criminals, he also had attempted rape and had murdered some people.
Skitter is, if you look at her, a very good and heroic person. Time and again she puts her life selflessly on the line for other people she doesn’t know. She hesitated, but she still tried to save her jerk of a teacher. She tries to help people do what’s best for them in the wake of a disaster. Her plan is to follow two of the world’s most notorious killers and try to stop them. It doesn’t matter that they have a history of surviving the best that’s thrown against them. It doesn’t matter that she could easily die. She does it because it is right.
But hell, I’m not even going to count all the laws she’s broken. Is there any law specifically for cutting out a guy’s eyes or toxin-rotting his balls off (and she was much more effective against him, a worse criminal, than Armsmaster the lawful tinker)? She’s a criminal. A villain. She’s robbed a bank but most people don’t suffer from their cash being stolen from a bank (FDIC insures everyone’s bank accounts up to $250,000). She’s harassed and assaulted civilians (generally for their own good). By society’s labels, she’s a villain. But if you see it on a more individual level, she’s a hero who happens to not be legal. In a couple of different meanings, but that’s beside the point: social villain, individual hero. Armsmaster, while legal, still let people die to make himself look better. Social hero, individual villain.
If you look at it, it was kinda implied back with the bullying. Taylor was good and no harm to anyone, but to the big social group she was someone to be bullied to the extent of winding up in an institution briefly. Evil individuals who were socially heroes.
This is pretty much exactly where my thoughts are on it. This story does n excellent job of deconstructing heroes by showing them in multiple lights.
We’ve seen at least some glimpse of what the general perception of a certain character is.
Then we’ve gotten the societal authority viewpoint on them, the PRT’s files and briefings.
Then we see them from the individual level, see what they do and why. And perhaps those two things should themselves be divided up separately.
To continue comparing Arms and Skitty;
Armsmaster:
-General public thinks/thought he was excellent, shown in Skitter thinking about his place in the V-Formation thing. He was cool, composed, dedicated.
-Then we get his place in authority where again he’s a hero but we saw all the bureacracy and how bad he was with it. How much it wore him down.
-Then we got his individual actions, mostly heroic and he almost stayed on the right side of utility ethics at least when he let numerous villains die…except that one of those was Skitter who he knew to be a good person and a young girl. She had done nothing to make that okay and in doing that he was destroying a possible hero. Still if we say that this is the only time he’s gone this far then it’s still grey.
-Until we consider his motivations which were by this point purely selfish. He just wanted advancement…but considering the third of these things, along with his furious rant at Mannequin, I wonder if that was not different from the man he once was. He certainly seemed to mellow a LOT after he went on house arrest and no longer had to deal with it.
Skitter:
-General public thinks she’s a terrifying and incomprehensible psycopath. The bug thing probably worsens this, especially the idea that she’s not thinking in human terms, as well as making her inately more terrifying to everyone. Even if she was an out and out hero people would be scared of her, with her actions up til Extermination I would put her firmly as public villain. Right now it depends a lot on how much information has circulated. Saving the shelter, fighting the nine and her control of her territory has all shown an examplary person, but I doubt that’s known beyond certain parts of Brockton Bay and a few internet fans maybe.
-Authority wise, plainly a villain. She’s so anti-authority that it makes this particular anarchist (did I mention how much I love the flat structure of the Undersiders? I wuv it like cheesecake) squeal with glee in a very manly fashion of course. In seriousness, she’s very clearly opposed to this one, no love lost there.
-Individual actions are tricky but ultimately even with straight utility I would measure her as overall good. Sure she started some insane disaster dominoes but that’s hardly her fault and quite possibly is the result of an outside manipulation such as the Simmurgh. In terms of her actions she’s so far inserted good people into Coil’s schemes (herself an her teammates with her influence) which would have otherwise succeeded anyway. Has a good chance at saving Dinah and has acted against every major threat the city has faced in this series. She does everything up to and including self-sacrifice to save others, the bit when she TACKLED MANNEQUIN to save a parent and child springs to mind there, or being a distraction to Leviathan, or most of what she does really. Her truly evil actions amount to serious stress harm to the bank goers and the same again to those at that party…though they were rich so I have less sympathy myself. Most of her badness has been towards bad people anyway (which makes her the same as the heroes, indeed she’s less brutal then several of them) and so I would put her individual status as hero.
-As for motivation, that’s also difficult. She’s undoubtedly a good person, despite her endless pessimism and self-hatred. She has tried through blood sweat and tears to help others and not once has yielded to pressure not to. She is also selfish, she has avoided taking down Coil’s scheme not only because she truly doubts her success but also (at least this is how it seems to me) because she wants to be part of that organisation and because she sees it as a way to do what she sees as good. That last is a strike out from society more than outright selfishness though. When it comes to those she cares about she reminds me of Rubi (R+V) in her apparent view of herself as a lesser being and a shield. What’s that Ballistic? You can’t come with? Well let me just get off in your place. Heroic perhaps but with how often she pulls this stuff I’d say lack of self-esteem is a big part.
Overall, what do either of these classify as?
Well I’ll say now that I hate this genre. Loathe it.
I love this story but hate the genre at large and a good chunk of that is due to the ridiculous oversimplifying of labelling heroes and villains. I prefer eastern comics where powerful people generally just do what they like and are called people who can do as they like. This makes more sense to me.
I love this series not least because, not only do we see the rogues, but it even rips up that most annoying part of the superhero genre whil simultaneously lampshading the societal tendency towards easy labels. Showing that people prefer those labels even as it hammers home that it is not that simple. That we’re better off asking bigger questions.
As Skitter put it; “I call myself Skitter. If someone wants to stick me with some other label, that’s their issue to deal with, not mine.”
I like that you like it.
And I love that people can discuss the story on this level.
Hey, couldn’t think about it like this if you hadn’t written it to the level that you did.
You’ve had a lot of us emotionally and intellectually invested in the story for some time. It’s a testament to how well you’ve done at writing realistic seeming characters and at building their super environment.
Also, we’re nerds.
I happen to like this genre. There are parts of various ages that I like. Having some good, pure hero is golden age. Zany antics that aren’t necessarily lethal like walking chicken grenades and capsacin bugs from the silver age (heck, a seemingly joke character who takes down the baddest of the bad? Skitter’s got some Squirrel Girl in her). Pouches and more realistic takes on many of the heroes from the dark age. The only age I like is the modern age, with its rampant retcons and ability to write characters as completely unlike how they’ve been for a long time. Ok, maybe I’m not sure if there’s anything in the modern age I like.
I don’t care for the labels so much where they deviate from reality. I prefer reality, substance, facts to perception, flash (though I like The Flash for his villains), or distortions.
I think that a main part of the series is Taylor’s inner struggle with her own conscience. The battles happen on the outside as she gains experience, but the truly interesting stuff happened on the inside from day one when she unintentionally pretended to be a villain and slowly worked her way to what she is today.
She doesn’t want to be known as a villain holding her own territory, she wants to be hero, but in order to help people this is what she needs to do right now.
The possible ultimate conclusion of that progression of inner conflict would be something like her becoming a new leader of villains, perhaps taking Coil’s place as a figurehead, not because she wants to be a villain, but because she wants to save the city and it is only held together by Coil’s criminal enterprise. she might be forced to step up into the role when coil becomes unavailable because she (unlike Tattletale) has the reputation needed.
A scenario like that, that pits what she wants to be, against what she needs to do seems likely. Throw in some conflict of loyalty versus conscience a bit of insecurity and guilt and you have an interesting conflict, but it probably won’t happen like that because wildbow likes to buck tropes to play with the readers like when giving Grue not Skitter the trauma induced powerup.
Both those ideas are pretty interesting! I had an aside thought, about the plot/story whatever. But I don’t think it’s right, cause well, it seems like a weird plot!
Point Being, it’s the story of how Brockton Bay falls/get’s worse/nearly crashes and recovers, whatever happens, from the point of view of Skitter, who happens to have caused most of it, albeit indirectly.
1.) She took down Lung,upsetting the careful balance of villainy in the city, which lead to Bakuda’s violent attacks.
2.) She mocked Bakuda with her failure, and cut off some of her toes, which directly caused Bakuda to become manic and bomb most of the city.
3.) The bombings led directly to the rest of the villain groups starting near open warfare, first against the ABB, then against each other/the heros.
4.) Leviathan attacks, because of the chaos.
5.) The nine arrive. Because Tattletale is sympathetic to Skitter, she proposes the game/challenge, which directly leads to the miasma.
I’m sure I’m missing things or am completely incorrect, but that’s just a possibility. None of this includes Armsmaster’s downfall, which she helped with.
Point two is a bit off target, as the bombings started while Bakuda was engaged with the group at the storage locker depot.
Armsmaster knew what he was doing to cause his own downfall. Skitter was just the clue they needed to see it.
If someone wants to argue that Armsmaster’s a hero, I suppose they could go back to Homer with heroes having a major flaw that causes their own problems. Achilles had his wrath and Odysseus had his pride.
Chances are good the ABB would have pulled that trick sooner or later without Skitter’s intervention. Kinda tough to tell Bakuda she can’t bomb. Or, it wasn’t while she was alive. Now you could tell her anything and she’ll act however you want as long as the Birdcage super with her hand up Bakuda’s backside wants to do it.
I guess we know where the Birdcage’s chicken ranch girls come from. They almost had some Armsmaster on the menu, but he got special treatment.
trevor on October 5, 2012 at 17:27 said:
Hi I’m A big fan and had A question / idea for skitter and bitch.
would bitch’s powers work on a Hyenas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena http://www.hyaenidae.org/hyena-myths.html
and could coil get skitter Japanese giant hornet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_hornet
or bullet ants http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraponera
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/videos/the-bullet-ant/
please check out the links and get back to me win ever you can.
Hi Trevor. Writing this from an iPod, so forgive my brevity: No, yes, yes.
Bdon on December 19, 2012 at 09:44 said:
Si Jack effugit civitatem, mundi terminatur.
…is wrong…
or if you want to leave the heroes a bit more hope 😛
Si Jack effugiat civitatem, mundus terminetur.
You can’t put “mundi” with “terminatur”… it makes no sense: you’ve put a singular verb with a plural noun or a singular verb with a genitive… also, most would probably just use finio, finire…
I guess Cherish flunked Latin, not really surprising.
People who are Romans, they go towards home.
:writes the correct thing all over Brockton Bay’s buildings:
Bookworm on October 26, 2013 at 14:34 said:
Shouldn’t it be “civitatem effugit”?
mszegedy on January 14, 2014 at 02:21 said:
Word order doesn’t matter. What bugs me more is it should be “urbem” more than “civitatem”.
Bgbg on November 20, 2013 at 16:35 said:
This chapter is inconsistent with how smart you’ve portrayed skitter up to this point. You should have given her less hints for this to work.
You seriously overestimate the capabilities of even one intelligent person’s intelligence,because you have information,time and enviromennthe does not.Agnosia is bad enough,but the red miasma manipulates your way of thinking further,as Bonesaw revealed,and I doubt even Light Yagami could think his way out of so severe an agnosia with less hints.
ehalcyon on December 19, 2013 at 01:15 said:
I think it’s a bit out of character that Coil didn’t find it suspicious how “Grue” and “Tattletale” were both keeping quiet, considering Grue is supposed to be team leader and that Tattletale should be doing the majority of talking (because of her power and information). Coil should be smart enough to figure that out. Kind of wonder if he’s playing a long con or anything, or maybe I’ve overestimated his aptitude and it’s mostly just been his power making him seem brighter than he actually is. Ugh, can’t wait to see what happens next… and so I read on. 😀
Amazing twist! But Jack and Bonesaw should have bite marks all over them from earlier. That should provide a clue; Skitter should be able to recognize that she had attacked the two.
Implying she could see well enough past the mist
Implying Bonesaw has not fixed that or they haven’t actually disguised themselves
Implying she could connect these 2 pieces of information while having a severe condition that bars the connection of pieces of information witheach other.
swiftmockingjay451 on January 25, 2014 at 22:42 said:
Nope, scratch my previous post, THIS was the most intense chapter thus far. Talk about cliffhangers.
Isn’t Jack in his early thirties though? Just the fact that he was admitting his ‘love’ for her should have alerted her immediately, right? I would’ve thought she’d know herself well enough to realize she wouldn’t fall for guy twice her age… Actually, it took way too many hints overall for a clever girl like Skitter to figure it out.
For the clever girl part,see my answer to bgbg above.
for the early thirties,remember,the miasma causes information disasociation,she prolly could not connect this 2 pieces well enough thanks to it.
Typos/ continuity:
Skitter refers to their pursuer as “she” before the paragraph where she mentions finally having enough swarm info to ID gender.
” … trying to see if had any inkling …” missing [she].
For those recent commenters who are saying Skitter and/or Coil shoulda figured it out quicker — it was discussed some earlier/ upthread. I think the consensus is that:
a) Coil probably did suss it quickly but played dumb and used it for intelligence gathering, and
b) Skitter was suspicious all along but was thrown by the miasma-induced agnosia so she was second-guessing herself, pushed that way by Jack as Grue. Jack was trying to manipulate her emotions, but given that HE didn’t really know the current state of her relationship with Grue it was a bit ineffective; he later mentions that Cherish’s info on her was “misleading”.
All of which adds up to some SUPERB writing by Wildbow!
Poor Battery. I really had liked her. Seeing as how we don’t actually see her die…I’m going with she is just hiding from Cauldron. I don’t care if she’s supposed to die in story. She is quietly living out her life in happiness with Assault quietly visiting in my mind.
I was kicking myself halfway through this chapter. It took me until just after the thing with Battery to realize she was walking with the nine. So darn obvious and yet of course I trust the untrustable narrator. You’d think I’d have learned this lesson from dealing with Imp and constantly forgetting she is in the story since Taylor has such trouble with her too.
I love how Jack talks about wishing to recruit Skitter. If he had devoted his full manipulations into converting her I wonder how it would’ve gone. A truly evil Skitter would be a horror worthy of the Nine. Add in alterations by Bonesaw to make her physically powerful as well? Plus her quick thinking and deep observations? Hell she could’ve kicked Jack out of the top spot and taken over as leader. That could even have been his pitch. “You want to stop us? Then join us and work at us from within.”
Took me a while to realize Grue wasn’t Grue, even after the obvious hint about Bonesaw. Jeez. That makes the “trust your heart” bit from last chapter horrifying, instead of just disconcerting.
Max on October 20, 2014 at 23:26 said:
Yeah I didn’t figure it out until Bonesaw grabbed her arm and said something about still being friends. Totally not Tattletale behavior which made me go back and reread the ending of the last chapter and then I started banging my head on the desk. You aren’t alone man.
I think what I was saying was, I knew “Tattletale” wasn’t Tattletale, but originally I still thought “Grue” was Grue, and that Bonesaw was tricking him the same way she tricked Skitter. Communication failures all around, I guess.
Next Up on June 10, 2016 at 20:42 said:
Yea tattletale smilling gave it awayfor me
PoignardAzur on December 31, 2014 at 19:30 said:
Yeah, my suspension of disbelief completely broke there. This is beyond stupid. The entire sequence of events leading to this moment require that every single person in the narrative except the bad guy act like idiots in so many ways. I can’t believe I’m the only one who winced at this. Jack hearing this requires that :
– Skitter starts trusting Jack for no reason “He hugged me, that means he can’t possibly be a bad guy manipulating me !”
– Which, by the way, requires itself that the group hasn’t ever prepared for Stranger situations (which seems kind of dumb, with Cherish around)
– Coil isn’t prepared for Stranger situations.
– Coil doesn’t question the safety of his line of communication, doesn’t talk with Skitter about the effects of the red mist or anything. “So, the entire city is wrapped in a ultimately lethal memory-altering cloud ? Mhh, maybe you should tell me about it and so I could do something… naaah, it’s not like it could be important or anything, right ?”
– Coil, after pointing out the very real possibility that a S9 could be impersonating Skitter, puts her in a direct line with Cherish anyway.
– Cherish, decides that, contrarily to every single precedent that occured for the last decades, Jack will not kill her horribly if she leads him to his position and do the puppy eyes.
– Coil does not have Google Translate
– Despite that fact that Cherish is OBVIOUSLY PASSING A MESSAGE through the unsecure line, (I mean, she’s speaking in Latin and even says “The message is delivered”), Coil still has no clue something fishy is going on.
I mean, I know these are hard circumstances and all… but it still annoys me whenever the villain look smart and dangerous by having everyone around them look stupid.
Walker on January 19, 2015 at 10:27 said:
We only see the timeline where Coil decided to play stupid. You seem to be forgetting that he has the unique luxury of trying stupid or risky things and living with the consequences only if they are to his liking.
Skitter is forgetting that too, due to the miasma, and the S9 aren’t in the know.
What I’m forgetting is whether Dinah is still incapacitated or if she was around to give odds while Coil stalled with the call.
Cherish is stupid(seriously,it was shown numerous times),Coil has the luxury and intelligence to play stupid,Skitter is suffering from extreme disorientation with the agnosia and you cannot truly plan for a Stranger situation.There,all fixed.
>“It bugs me.”
haw haw haw
Chevron on April 10, 2015 at 17:44 said:
” I invested less bugs in the ones that were further away from our pursuer”
Should say “fewer”
It seemed a little strange that Coil wouldn’t think to check that Taylor was actually with who she thought she was. But I suppose if he isn’t very intimately familiar with what exactly the effects of the miasma are, it might just not have occurred to him that she could make such a fundamental mistake face to face.
Sheri Pauline Anderson on May 22, 2016 at 01:14 said:
A friend got me into Worm and oh my gods, i am ADDICTED.
This is a very wonderful series and I am loving Taylor(Skitter).
wildbow on May 22, 2016 at 14:33 said:
Thank you, Sheri. I hope you continue to enjoy.
I thought it was weird Tattale was smiling again!
Andreas Kill on June 21, 2016 at 11:25 said:
Great stuff. One small error (i think)
‘”With my power, I’m five hundred percent sure. Trust me,’ she said, grinning. She started toward the heroine.”
Surely skitter, being unable to recognize people, would be unable to determine that the person she tied up is a hero?
RED HOOD on March 24, 2017 at 12:05 said:
I love this series but does this mist only affect supers?
«The bugs swarmed our pursuer. I’d minimized the number of bugs on *them*, just to be safe, with the drawback that I wasn’t getting a full picture of who *they* were. The bugs couldn’t get to her flesh to sting or bite her, but they were telling me she was female in general shape.» singular/plural mismatch. You switch to “her” after the two marked uses of “they”, so just use “her”/“she” consistently.
«“With my power, I’m five hundred percent sure. Trust me,” she said, grinning. She started toward the heroine.» why is the person she’s sure is a member of Slaughterhouse 9 referred to as a “heroine”? Should say “the prone woman” or something like that, instead.
«with the compartment broken in my fall from Atlas’s back, I’d been forced to put [the gun] in a place where it wasn’t easy to draw» I thought she had the gun in a loop, not a compartment. It’s too large for any of her compartments.
CraftySyndicate on March 19, 2018 at 12:55 said:
i havent even really read the chapter and it’s so obvious, bonesaw is probing her for information, studying her and since when did lisa ever hold people’s hands?
Qoeoepe on April 21, 2018 at 15:22 said:
Man… even after all these years, this arc still gets to me…
Callid13 on June 26, 2018 at 10:06 said:
I’m… not sure “civitas” and “effugere” are really the best words to use here. I mean, it might be that Cherish’s Latin is simply not that great, or that my Latin has gotten a lot more rusty than I thought, but still.
“Civitas” certainly *can* mean town/city, but that’s not its primary meaning – that’d be citizenship or citizenry/community/society. The primary word for town/city is “urbs”, which seems more fitting here. Cherish could be trying to be more poetic, but that seems a bit odd.
I am also somewhat confused by the use of “effugere” here. Certainly, it means “flee”, but is it really required that Jack *flees* from the city? Unless I’ve missed something, the crucial part is him leaving, not being chased out and/or escaping, and it’s not like he is in any way imprisoned. The situation is also not so that Jack is in serious danger in the near future. Hence, it seems “abire” or some equivalent term would be more accurate (unless Cherish is trying to misinform Jack, of course).
Just my five cents 😡
Blub on September 6, 2018 at 18:56 said:
How did he come to this conclusion?
And what were they now riding in the last chapter? Was it a “spider”? Where is it now in this chapter suddenly?
spexidor on November 29, 2018 at 15:02 said:
When making the phone call, how did Cherissh know that Jack and Bonesaw were acting as Grue and Tattletale? She names them directly without input.
Great work, I’m having a blast reading this 🙂
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Top Flight (from a Franklin Voss print)web.jpg
Top Flight, from a painting by Franklin B. Voss
Foaled:
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Thomas J. Healey
Dis Donc
Flyatit
Damsire:
Career Years:
Second:
Bred in Kentucky by Harry Payne Whitney and campaigned by his son, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Top Flight was sired by French stakes winner Dis Donc out of the Peter Pan mare Flyatit. Trained by Thomas J. Healey, Top Flight was the best filly of her generation as both a juvenile and sophomore.
As a 2-year-old, Top Flight won all seven of her starts and set a single-season earnings record of $219,000, breaking the previous mark established by Domino almost 40 years earlier. Top Flight debuted with a victory at Aqueduct in the Clover Stakes on June 17, 1931. She followed with a victory in the Lassie Stakes at Arlington in July before heading to Saratoga, where she defeated colts in the Saratoga Special and won by five lengths in the Spinaway. That fall, Top Flight added victories at Belmont in the Matron and Futurity (defeating colts once again) before closing out her perfect campaign with her third victory of the year against males in the Pimlico Futurity.
Top Flight tired in her first start as a 3-year-old, finishing off the board in the Wood Memorial. She returned to from with consecutive victories in the Acorn, Coaching Club American Oaks and Arlington Oaks. Top Flight added wins in the Alabama Stakes and Ladies Handicap before being retired at the end of the year with a career record of 12-0-0 from 16 starts and earnings of $275,900. Three of her four career defeats came against males. At the time of her retirement, Top Flight owned the career earnings record for an American filly or mare.
As a broodmare, Top Flight produced only one stakes winner, Flight Command, from seven mares. Top Flight died in 1949 at the age of 20.
1931 2 7 7 0 0 $219,000.00
1932 3 9 5 0 0 $56,900.00
Champion 2-Year-Old Filly — 1931
Notable wins:
Clover Stakes — 1931
Lassie Stakes — 1931
Saratoga Special — 1931
Spinaway Stakes — 1931
Matron Stakes — 1931
Futurity Stakes — 1931
Pimlico Futurity — 1931
Acorn Stakes — 1932
Coaching Club American Oaks — 1932
Arlington Oaks — 1932
Alabama Stakes — 1932
Ladies Handicap — 1932
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Lil Boosie – Wake Up (Feat. Pimp C) (Official Music Video)
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Book Review|February 01 2019
The Formation of Candomblé: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil
Paul Christopher Johnson
Paul Christopher Johnson; The Formation of Candomblé: Vodun History and Ritual in Brazil. Hispanic American Historical Review 1 February 2019; 99 (1): 143–145. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168-7288072
The translation into English of Luis Nicolau Parés's The Formation of Candomblé comes as welcome news. Even over a decade after its first publication in Portuguese in 2006, it remains innovative both for its methods and its subject. Parés combines ethnography, oral history, archival research, and historiographic critique to decipher the complex genealogies of several important houses of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. He unpacks the origins, oral traditions, and contemporary practices of the rarely studied Jeje nation of Candomblé, descended from Gbe-speaking societies of West Africa—roughly the eighteenth-century jurisdiction of the powerful kingdom Dahomey. How did the voduns of that region find their place in Brazil alongside, in relation to, and in distinction from the orixás, santos, inquices, and other religious entities? The opening chapters present a complex history of Dahomean ethnicity and its transposition into the Jeje ethnonym...
Tradition, Transnationalism, and Gender in the Afro–Brazilian Candomblé
“We Love to Be Africans” Saudade and Affective Performances in Bahia, Brazil
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This Week in Reconstruction
The Story of Virginia's Reconstruction
Benjamin Butler Jefferson Davis Ulysses Grant James W. Hunnicutt Andrew Johnson Robert E. Lee Francis H. Pierpont John Schofield Thaddeus Stevens Alexander H. H. Stuart Charles Sumner John C. Underwood Gilbert Carlton Walker Henry H. Wells
Agriculture Carpetbaggers Constitution Disabilities Disfranchisement Education Election Immigration Impeachment Military occupation Oath Riot Railroad Registration Radicals Voting
Truth a Little Sharply Put.
Congress debates over how the Freedmen's Bureau was able to achieve the funds of eleven million which were originally supposed to be three million. Southern leaders question how they can be robbed of property, education and their way of life, and expect to fund the Freedmen's Bureau.
In the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, a debate sprang up on the appropriations (some eleven million dollars) to the Freedmen's Bureau. The appropriation for sites, building school-houses and asylums, was in the original bill three million dollars. Mr. Stevens, after a little debate, moved to reduce it to two million dollars. A sharp debate arose upon this point, in the course of which the following occurred: Mr. Chandler understood Mr. Eliot to have said that school-houses had been taken I from white children for the education of colored children. Mr. Eliot denied having stated it in that way. Mr. Chandler. - No sir; not in that way; but that is the fact- that is the whole of the position as I understand it - taking away the verbiage in which the statement was in clothed. Mr. Eliot. - Then the gentleman does not understand it at all. Mr. Chandler. - Of course not. It is impossible to understand a system by which white people are robbed alike of their property and of their system of education, and are to be taxed besides to sustain the Freedmen's Bureau, raised for the purpose of holding the South in subjugation to a political party. It is impossible to understand a system so linked together with infamy under the pretext of philanthropy.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
Brooke Beam
BeamBrooke-18660504-Truth a Little Sharply Put.pdf
This Week in Reconstruction, May 1-8, 1866
“Truth a Little Sharply Put.,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed July 15, 2019, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/136.
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US8898542B2 - Executing partial tasks in a distributed storage and task network - Google Patents
Executing partial tasks in a distributed storage and task network Download PDF
US8898542B2
US8898542B2 US13/707,502 US201213707502A US8898542B2 US 8898542 B2 US8898542 B2 US 8898542B2 US 201213707502 A US201213707502 A US 201213707502A US 8898542 B2 US8898542 B2 US 8898542B2
partial task
Active, expires 2033-02-26
US20130151927A1 (en
Wesley Leggette
Andrew Baptist
Greg Dhuse
Jason K. Resch
Ilya Volvovski
Manish Motwani
S. Christopher Gladwin
Gary W. Grube
Thomas Franklin Shirley, Jr.
Pure Storage Inc
Cleversafe Inc
2011-12-12 Priority to US201161569387P priority Critical
2012-12-06 Application filed by Cleversafe Inc filed Critical Cleversafe Inc
2012-12-06 Priority to US13/707,502 priority patent/US8898542B2/en
2012-12-06 Assigned to CLEVERSAFE, INC. reassignment CLEVERSAFE, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: GLADWIN, S. CHRISTOPHER, VOLVOVSKI, ILYA, DHUSE, GREG, LEGGETTE, WESLEY, BAPTIST, ANDREW, MOTWANI, MANISH, RESCH, JASON K., SHIRLEY, THOMAS FRANKLIN, JR., GRUBE, GARY W.
2013-06-13 Publication of US20130151927A1 publication Critical patent/US20130151927A1/en
2014-11-25 Publication of US8898542B2 publication Critical patent/US8898542B2/en
2016-05-13 Assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION reassignment INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: CLEVERSAFE, INC.
2019-06-21 Assigned to PURE STORAGE, INC. reassignment PURE STORAGE, INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
2019-07-15 Application status is Active legal-status Critical
2033-02-26 Adjusted expiration legal-status Critical
G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING; COUNTING
G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
G06F11/07—Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
G06F11/08—Error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation, e.g. by using checking codes
G06F11/10—Adding special bits or symbols to the coded information, e.g. parity check, casting out 9's or 11's
G06F11/1076—Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
G06F11/1092—Rebuilding, e.g. when physically replacing a failing disk
H—ELECTRICITY
H03—BASIC ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
H03M—CODING; DECODING; CODE CONVERSION IN GENERAL
H03M13/00—Coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or error correction; Coding theory basic assumptions; Coding bounds; Error probability evaluation methods; Channel models; Simulation or testing of codes
H03M13/03—Error detection or forward error correction by redundancy in data representation, i.e. code words containing more digits than the source words
H03M13/05—Error detection or forward error correction by redundancy in data representation, i.e. code words containing more digits than the source words using block codes, i.e. a predetermined number of check bits joined to a predetermined number of information bits
H03M13/61—Aspects and characteristics of methods and arrangements for error correction or error detection, not provided for otherwise
H03M13/611—Specific encoding aspects, e.g. encoding by means of decoding
H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
H04L67/00—Network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications
H04L67/10—Network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network
H04L67/1097—Network-specific arrangements or communication protocols supporting networked applications in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network for distributed storage of data in a network, e.g. network file system [NFS], transport mechanisms for storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
G06F2211/00—Indexing scheme relating to details of data-processing equipment not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00
G06F2211/10—Indexing scheme relating to G06F11/10
G06F2211/1002—Indexing scheme relating to G06F11/1076
G06F2211/1028—Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
G06F3/06—Digital input from or digital output to record carriers, e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers, networked record carriers
G06F3/0601—Dedicated interfaces to storage systems
G06F3/0628—Dedicated interfaces to storage systems making use of a particular technique
G06F3/0638—Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
G06F3/064—Management of blocks
G06F3/0668—Dedicated interfaces to storage systems adopting a particular infrastructure
G06F3/067—Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
G06F3/0671—In-line storage system
G06F3/0683—Plurality of storage devices
G06F3/0689—Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
H04L29/00—Arrangements, apparatus, circuits or systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04L1/00 - H04L27/00
H04L29/12—Arrangements, apparatus, circuits or systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04L1/00 - H04L27/00 characterised by the data terminal
H04L29/12009—Arrangements for addressing and naming in data networks
A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module receiving a partial task regarding an encoded data block grouping. The method continues with the DS processing module performing the partial task on the encoded data block grouping to produce a partial task result and determining subsequent treatment of the partial task result. When the subsequent treatment includes storage of the partial task result, the method continues with the DS processing module determining a manner in which the partial task result is to be stored. When the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is dispersed storage, the method continues with the DS processing module dispersed storage error encoding the partial task result to produce one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks and outputting the one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks to a set of DST execution units.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS
The present U.S. Utility patent application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/569,387, entitled “Distributed Storage and Task Processing” filed Dec. 12, 2011, pending, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility patent application for all purposes.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC
1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer networks and more particularly to dispersed storage of data and distributed task processing of data.
2. Description of Related Art
Computing devices are known to communicate data, process data, and/or store data. Such computing devices range from wireless smart phones, laptops, tablets, personal computers (PC), work station, video game devices, to data centers that support millions of web searches, stock trades, or on-line purchases every day. In general, a computing device includes a central processing unit (CPU), a memory system, user input/output interfaces, peripheral device interfaces, and an interconnecting bus structure.
As is further known, a computer may effectively extend its CPU by using “cloud computing” to perform one or more computing functions (e.g., a service, an application, an algorithm, an arithmetic logic function, etc.) on behalf of the computer. Further, for large services, applications, and/or functions, cloud computing may be performed by multiple cloud computing resources in a distributed manner to improve the response time for completion of the service, application, and/or function. For example, Hadoop is an open source software framework that supports distributed applications enabling application execution by thousands of computers.
In addition to cloud computing, a computer may use “cloud storage” as part of its memory system. As is known, cloud storage enables a user, via its computer, to store files, applications, etc. on an Internet storage system. The Internet storage system may include a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) system and/or a dispersed storage system that uses an error correction scheme to encode data for storage.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing core in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example of a distributed storage and task processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an outbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a logic diagram of an example of a method for outbound DST processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed error encoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of a segment processing of the dispersed error encoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a diagram of an example of error encoding and slicing processing of the dispersed error encoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a diagram of an example of grouping selection processing of the outbound DST processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a diagram of an example of converting data into slice groups in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a DST execution unit in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an example of operation of a DST execution unit in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an inbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a logic diagram of an example of a method for inbound DST processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 15 is a diagram of an example of de-grouping selection processing of the inbound DST processing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed error decoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 17 is a diagram of an example of de-slicing and error decoding processing of the dispersed error decoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 18 is a diagram of an example of a de-segment processing of the dispersed error decoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 19 is a diagram of an example of converting slice groups into data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 20 is a diagram of an example of a distributed storage within the distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of an example of operation of outbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing for storing data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a dispersed error encoding for the example of FIG. 21 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 23 is a diagram of an example of converting data into pillar slice groups for storage in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a storage operation of a DST execution unit in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of an example of operation of inbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing for retrieving dispersed error encoded data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a dispersed error decoding for the example of FIG. 25 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 27 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a distributed storage and task processing network (DSTN) module storing a plurality of data and a plurality of task codes in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 28 is a schematic block diagram of an example of the distributed computing system performing tasks on stored data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 29 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a task distribution module facilitating the example of FIG. 28 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 30 is a diagram of a specific example of the distributed computing system performing tasks on stored data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 31 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a distributed storage and task processing network (DSTN) module storing data and task codes for the example of FIG. 30 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 32 is a diagram of an example of DST allocation information for the example of FIG. 30 in accordance with the present invention;
FIGS. 33-38 are schematic block diagrams of the DSTN module performing the example of FIG. 30 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 39 is a diagram of an example of combining result information into final results for the example of FIG. 30 in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 40A is a diagram of an example embodiment of a dispersed storage and task execution unit in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 40B is a flowchart illustrating an example of storing and processing a group of slices in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 41 is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing and processing a group of slices in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 42A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 42B is a flowchart illustrating an example of distributed computing of a task on data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 42C is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 42D is a flowchart illustrating an example of distributed computing of a task on stored data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 43B is a flowchart illustrating an example of performing a partial task in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 44A is a diagram of an example embodiment of a dispersed storage and task unit in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 44B is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 44C is a flowchart illustrating an example of analyzing data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 45 is a flowchart illustrating an example of searching a data index in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 46 is a flowchart illustrating another example of searching a data index in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 47A is a flowchart illustrating an example of initiating threshold computing in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 47B is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing a threshold computing task in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 48A is a flowchart illustrating an example of generating a task in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 48B is a flowchart illustrating an example of initiating a task in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 49 is a flowchart illustrating another example of ingesting data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 50 is a flowchart illustrating an example of modifying a slice grouping in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 51 is a flowchart illustrating an example of further processing of a group of slices in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 52 is a flowchart illustrating an example of identifying data associations in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 53A is a diagram illustrating encoding of data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 53B is a flowchart illustrating an example of generating a slice grouping in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 54 is a flow chart illustrating an example of selecting distributed computing resources in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 55 is a flowchart illustrating an example of retrieving distributed computed data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 56 is a flowchart illustrating an example of load-balancing distributed computing resources in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 57 is a flowchart illustrating an example of transforming a task into sub-tasks in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 58A is a diagram of another example of error encoding and slicing processing of dispersed error encoding in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 58B is a diagram of an example of transforming data blocks in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 58D is a flowchart illustrating an example of transforming data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 58E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 58F is a flowchart illustrating another example of transforming data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 59 is a flowchart illustrating another example of transforming store data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60A is a diagram illustrating an example of non-sequential data segment storage mapping in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60B is a diagram illustrating an example of sequential data segment storage mapping in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60C is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed storage network in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60D is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed storage network in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 60F is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing data in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 61A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed storage network in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 61B is a flowchart illustrating an example of retrieving data in accordance with the present invention; and
FIG. 62 is a flowchart illustrating an example of upgrading software in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed computing system 10 that includes user devices 12 and/or user devices 14, a distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing unit 16, a distributed storage and/or task network (DSTN) managing unit 18, a DST integrity processing unit 20, and a distributed storage and/or task network (DSTN) module 22. The components of the distributed computing system 10 are coupled via a network 24, which may include one or more wireless and/or wire lined communication systems; one or more private intranet systems and/or public internet systems; and/or one or more local area networks (LAN) and/or wide area networks (WAN).
The DSTN module 22 includes a plurality of distributed storage and/or task (DST) execution units 36 that may be located at geographically different sites (e.g., one in Chicago, one in Milwaukee, etc.). Each of the DST execution units is operable to store dispersed error encoded data and/or to execute, in a distributed manner, one or more tasks on data. The tasks may be a simple function (e.g., a mathematical function, a logic function, an identify function, a find function, a search engine function, a replace function, etc.), a complex function (e.g., compression, human and/or computer language translation, text-to-voice conversion, voice-to-text conversion, etc.), multiple simple and/or complex functions, one or more algorithms, one or more applications, etc.
Each of the user devices 12-14, the DST processing unit 16, the DSTN managing unit 18, and the DST integrity processing unit 20 include a computing core 26 and may be a portable computing device and/or a fixed computing device. A portable computing device may be a social networking device, a gaming device, a cell phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a digital music player, a digital video player, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet, a video game controller, and/or any other portable device that includes a computing core. A fixed computing device may be a personal computer (PC), a computer server, a cable set-top box, a satellite receiver, a television set, a printer, a fax machine, home entertainment equipment, a video game console, and/or any type of home or office computing equipment. User device 12 and DST processing unit 16 are configured to include a DST client module 34.
With respect to interfaces, each interface 30, 32, and 33 includes software and/or hardware to support one or more communication links via the network 24 indirectly and/or directly. For example, interfaces 30 support a communication link (e.g., wired, wireless, direct, via a LAN, via the network 24, etc.) between user device 14 and the DST processing unit 16. As another example, interface 32 supports communication links (e.g., a wired connection, a wireless connection, a LAN connection, and/or any other type of connection to/from the network 24) between user device 12 and the DSTN module 22 and between the DST processing unit 16 and the DSTN module 22. As yet another example, interface 33 supports a communication link for each of the DSTN managing unit 18 and DST integrity processing unit 20 to the network 24.
The distributed computing system 10 is operable to support dispersed storage (DS) error encoded data storage and retrieval, to support distributed task processing on received data, and/or to support distributed task processing on stored data. In general and with respect to DS error encoded data storage and retrieval, the distributed computing system 10 supports three primary operations: storage management, data storage and retrieval (an example of which will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 20-26), and data storage integrity verification. In accordance with these three primary functions, data can be encoded, distributedly stored in physically different locations, and subsequently retrieved in a reliable and secure manner. Such a system is tolerant of a significant number of failures (e.g., up to a failure level, which may be greater than or equal to a pillar width minus a decode threshold minus one) that may result from individual storage device failures and/or network equipment failures without loss of data and without the need for a redundant or backup copy. Further, the system allows the data to be stored for an indefinite period of time without data loss and does so in a secure manner (e.g., the system is very resistant to attempts at hacking the data).
The second primary function (i.e., distributed data storage and retrieval) begins and ends with a user device 12-14. For instance, if a second type of user device 14 has data 40 to store in the DSTN module 22, it sends the data 40 to the DST processing unit 16 via its interface 30. The interface 30 functions to mimic a conventional operating system (OS) file system interface (e.g., network file system (NFS), flash file system (FFS), disk file system (DFS), file transfer protocol (FTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), etc.) and/or a block memory interface (e.g., small computer system interface (SCSI), internet small computer system interface (iSCSI), etc.). In addition, the interface 30 may attach a user identification code (ID) to the data 40.
To support storage management, the DSTN managing unit 18 performs DS management services. One such DS management service includes the DSTN managing unit 18 establishing distributed data storage parameters (e.g., vault creation, distributed storage parameters, security parameters, billing information, user profile information, etc.) for a user device 12-14 individually or as part of a group of user devices. For example, the DSTN managing unit 18 coordinates creation of a vault (e.g., a virtual memory block) within memory of the DSTN module 22 for a user device, a group of devices, or for public access and establishes per vault dispersed storage (DS) error encoding parameters for a vault. The DSTN managing unit 18 may facilitate storage of DS error encoding parameters for each vault of a plurality of vaults by updating registry information for the distributed computing system 10. The facilitating includes storing updated registry information in one or more of the DSTN module 22, the user device 12, the DST processing unit 16, and the DST integrity processing unit 20.
The DS error encoding parameters (e.g. or dispersed storage error coding parameters) include data segmenting information (e.g., how many segments data (e.g., a file, a group of files, a data block, etc.) is divided into), segment security information (e.g., per segment encryption, compression, integrity checksum, etc.), error coding information (e.g., pillar width, decode threshold, read threshold, write threshold, etc.), slicing information (e.g., the number of encoded data slices that will be created for each data segment); and slice security information (e.g., per encoded data slice encryption, compression, integrity checksum, etc.).
The DSTN managing module 18 creates and stores user profile information (e.g., an access control list (ACL)) in local memory and/or within memory of the DSTN module 22. The user profile information includes authentication information, permissions, and/or the security parameters. The security parameters may include encryption/decryption scheme, one or more encryption keys, key generation scheme, and/or data encoding/decoding scheme.
The DSTN managing unit 18 creates billing information for a particular user, a user group, a vault access, public vault access, etc. For instance, the DSTN managing unit 18 tracks the number of times a user accesses a private vault and/or public vaults, which can be used to generate a per-access billing information. In another instance, the DSTN managing unit 18 tracks the amount of data stored and/or retrieved by a user device and/or a user group, which can be used to generate a per-data-amount billing information.
Another DS management service includes the DSTN managing unit 18 performing network operations, network administration, and/or network maintenance. Network operations includes authenticating user data allocation requests (e.g., read and/or write requests), managing creation of vaults, establishing authentication credentials for user devices, adding/deleting components (e.g., user devices, DST execution units, and/or DST processing units) from the distributed computing system 10, and/or establishing authentication credentials for DST execution units 36. Network administration includes monitoring devices and/or units for failures, maintaining vault information, determining device and/or unit activation status, determining device and/or unit loading, and/or determining any other system level operation that affects the performance level of the system 10. Network maintenance includes facilitating replacing, upgrading, repairing, and/or expanding a device and/or unit of the system 10.
To support data storage integrity verification within the distributed computing system 10, the DST integrity processing unit 20 performs rebuilding of ‘bad’ or missing encoded data slices. At a high level, the DST integrity processing unit 20 performs rebuilding by periodically attempting to retrieve/list encoded data slices, and/or slice names of the encoded data slices, from the DSTN module 22. For retrieved encoded slices, they are checked for errors due to data corruption, outdated version, etc. If a slice includes an error, it is flagged as a ‘bad’ slice. For encoded data slices that were not received and/or not listed, they are flagged as missing slices. Bad and/or missing slices are subsequently rebuilt using other retrieved encoded data slices that are deemed to be good slices to produce rebuilt slices. The rebuilt slices are stored in memory of the DSTN module 22. Note that the DST integrity processing unit 20 may be a separate unit as shown, it may be included in the DSTN module 22, it may be included in the DST processing unit 16, and/or distributed among the DST execution units 36.
To support distributed task processing on received data, the distributed computing system 10 has two primary operations: DST (distributed storage and/or task processing) management and DST execution on received data (an example of which will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 3-19). With respect to the storage portion of the DST management, the DSTN managing unit 18 functions as previously described. With respect to the tasking processing of the DST management, the DSTN managing unit 18 performs distributed task processing (DTP) management services. One such DTP management service includes the DSTN managing unit 18 establishing DTP parameters (e.g., user-vault affiliation information, billing information, user-task information, etc.) for a user device 12-14 individually or as part of a group of user devices.
Another DTP management service includes the DSTN managing unit 18 performing DTP network operations, network administration (which is essentially the same as described above), and/or network maintenance (which is essentially the same as described above). Network operations includes, but is not limited to, authenticating user task processing requests (e.g., valid request, valid user, etc.), authenticating results and/or partial results, establishing DTP authentication credentials for user devices, adding/deleting components (e.g., user devices, DST execution units, and/or DST processing units) from the distributed computing system, and/or establishing DTP authentication credentials for DST execution units.
To support distributed task processing on stored data, the distributed computing system 10 has two primary operations: DST (distributed storage and/or task) management and DST execution on stored data. With respect to the DST execution on stored data, if the second type of user device 14 has a task request 38 for execution by the DSTN module 22, it sends the task request 38 to the DST processing unit 16 via its interface 30. An example of DST execution on stored data will be discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 27-39. With respect to the DST management, it is substantially similar to the DST management to support distributed task processing on received data.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a computing core 26 that includes a processing module 50, a memory controller 52, main memory 54, a video graphics processing unit 55, an input/output (IO) controller 56, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface 58, an IO interface module 60, at least one IO device interface module 62, a read only memory (ROM) basic input output system (BIOS) 64, and one or more memory interface modules. The one or more memory interface module(s) includes one or more of a universal serial bus (USB) interface module 66, a host bus adapter (HBA) interface module 68, a network interface module 70, a flash interface module 72, a hard drive interface module 74, and a DSTN interface module 76.
The DSTN interface module 76 functions to mimic a conventional operating system (OS) file system interface (e.g., network file system (NFS), flash file system (FFS), disk file system (DFS), file transfer protocol (FTP), web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV), etc.) and/or a block memory interface (e.g., small computer system interface (SCSI), internet small computer system interface (iSCSI), etc.). The DSTN interface module 76 and/or the network interface module 70 may function as the interface 30 of the user device 14 of FIG. 1. Further note that the IO device interface module 62 and/or the memory interface modules may be collectively or individually referred to as IO ports.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example of the distributed computing system performing a distributed storage and task processing operation. The distributed computing system includes a DST (distributed storage and/or task) client module 34 (which may be in user device 14 and/or in DST processing unit 16 of FIG. 1), a network 24, a plurality of DST execution units 1-n that includes two or more DST execution units 36 of FIG. 1 (which form at least a portion of DSTN module 22 of FIG. 1), a DST managing module (not shown), and a DST integrity verification module (not shown). The DST client module 34 includes an outbound DST processing section 80 and an inbound DST processing section 82. Each of the DST execution units 1-n includes a controller 86, a processing module 84, memory 88, a DT (distributed task) execution module 90, and a DST client module 34.
In an example of operation, the DST client module 34 receives data 92 and one or more tasks 94 to be performed upon the data 92. The data 92 may be of any size and of any content, where, due to the size (e.g., greater than a few Terra-Bytes), the content (e.g., secure data, etc.), and/or task(s) (e.g., MIPS intensive), distributed processing of the task(s) on the data is desired. For example, the data 92 may be one or more digital books, a copy of a company's emails, a large-scale Internet search, a video security file, one or more entertainment video files (e.g., television programs, movies, etc.), data files, and/or any other large amount of data (e.g., greater than a few Terra-Bytes).
Within the DST client module 34, the outbound DST processing section 80 receives the data 90 and the task(s) 94. The outbound DST processing section 80 processes the data 90 to produce slice groupings 96. As an example of such processing, the outbound DST processing section 80 partitions the data 90 into a plurality of data partitions. For each data partition, the outbound DST processing section 80 dispersed storage (DS) error encodes the data partition to produce encoded data slices and groups the encoded data slices into a slice grouping 96. In addition, the outbound DST processing section 80 partitions the task 94 into partial tasks 98, where the number of partial tasks 98 may correspond to the number of slice groupings 96.
The outbound DST processing section 80 then sends, via the network 24, the slice groupings 96 and the partial tasks 98 to the DST execution units 1-n of the DSTN module 22. For example, the outbound DST processing section 80 sends slice group 1 and partial task 1 to DST execution unit 1. As another example, the outbound DST processing section 80 sends slice group #n and partial task #n to DST execution unit #n.
Each DST execution unit 36 performs its partial task 98 upon its slice group 96 to produce partial results 102. For example, DST execution unit #1 performs partial task #1 on slice group #1 to produce a partial result #1, for results. As a more specific example, slice group #1 corresponds to a data partition of a series of digital books and the partial task #1 corresponds to searching for specific phrases, recording where the phrase is found, and establishing a phrase count. In this more specific example, the partial result #1 includes information as to where the phrase was found and includes the phrase count.
Upon completion of generating their respective partial results 102, the DST execution units 36 send, via the network 24, their partial results 102 to the inbound DST processing section 82 of the DST client module 34. The inbound DST processing section 82 processes the received partial results 102 to produce a result 104. Continuing with the specific example of the preceding paragraph, the inbound DST processing section 82 combines the phrase count from each of the DST execution units 36 to produce a total phrase count. In addition, the inbound DST processing section 82 combines the ‘where the phrase was found’ information from each of the DST execution units 36 within their respective data partitions to produce ‘where the phrase was found’ information for the series of digital books.
In another example of operation, the DST client module 34 requests retrieval of stored data within the memory of the DST execution units 36 (e.g., memory of the DSTN module). In this example, the task 94 is retrieve data stored in the memory of the DSTN module. Accordingly, the outbound DST processing section 80 converts the task 94 into a plurality of partial tasks 98 and sends the partial tasks 98 to the respective DST execution units 1-n.
In response to the partial task 98 of retrieving stored data, a DST execution unit 36 identifies the corresponding encoded data slices 100 and retrieves them. For example, DST execution unit #1 receives partial task #1 and retrieves, in response thereto, retrieved slices #1. The DST execution units 36 send their respective retrieved slices 100 to the inbound DST processing section 82 via the network 24.
The inbound DST processing section 82 converts the retrieved slices 100 into data 92.
For example, the inbound DST processing section 82 de-groups the retrieved slices 100 to produce encoded slices per data partition. The inbound DST processing section 82 then DS error decodes the encoded slices per data partition to produce data partitions. The inbound DST processing section 82 de-partitions the data partitions to recapture the data 92.
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an outbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing section 80 of a DST client module 34 FIG. 1 coupled to a DSTN module 22 of a FIG. 1 (e.g., a plurality of n DST execution units 36) via a network 24. The outbound DST processing section 80 includes a data partitioning module 110, a dispersed storage (DS) error encoding module 112, a grouping selector module 114, a control module 116, and a distributed task control module 118.
In an example of operation, the data partitioning module 110 partitions data 92 into a plurality of data partitions 120. The number of partitions and the size of the partitions may be selected by the control module 116 via control 160 based on the data 92 (e.g., its size, its content, etc.), a corresponding task 94 to be performed (e.g., simple, complex, single step, multiple steps, etc.), DS encoding parameters (e.g., pillar width, decode threshold, write threshold, segment security parameters, slice security parameters, etc.), capabilities of the DST execution units 36 (e.g., processing resources, availability of processing recourses, etc.), and/or as may be inputted by a user, system administrator, or other operator (human or automated). For example, the data partitioning module 110 partitions the data 92 (e.g., 100 Terra-Bytes) into 100,000 data segments, each being 1 Giga-Byte in size. Alternatively, the data partitioning module 110 partitions the data 92 into a plurality of data segments, where some of data segments are of a different size, are of the same size, or a combination thereof.
The DS error encoding module 112 receives the data partitions 120 in a serial manner, a parallel manner, and/or a combination thereof. For each data partition 120, the DS error encoding module 112 DS error encodes the data partition 120 in accordance with control information 160 from the control module 116 to produce encoded data slices 122. The DS error encoding includes segmenting the data partition into data segments, segment security processing (e.g., encryption, compression, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc.), error encoding, slicing, and/or per slice security processing (e.g., encryption, compression, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc.). The control information 160 indicates which steps of the DS error encoding are active for a given data partition and, for active steps, indicates the parameters for the step. For example, the control information 160 indicates that the error encoding is active and includes error encoding parameters (e.g., pillar width, decode threshold, write threshold, read threshold, type of error encoding, etc.).
The group selecting module 114 groups the encoded slices 122 of a data partition into a set of slice groupings 96. The number of slice groupings corresponds to the number of DST execution units 36 identified for a particular task 94. For example, if five DST execution units 36 are identified for the particular task 94, the group selecting module groups the encoded slices 122 of a data partition into five slice groupings 96. The group selecting module 114 outputs the slice groupings 96 to the corresponding DST execution units 36 via the network 24.
The distributed task control module 118 receives the task 94 and converts the task 94 into a set of partial tasks 98. For example, the distributed task control module 118 receives a task to find where in the data (e.g., a series of books) a phrase occurs and a total count of the phrase usage in the data. In this example, the distributed task control module 118 replicates the task 94 for each DST execution unit 36 to produce the partial tasks 98. In another example, the distributed task control module 118 receives a task to find where in the data a first phrase occurs, wherein in the data a second phrase occurs, and a total count for each phrase usage in the data. In this example, the distributed task control module 118 generates a first set of partial tasks 98 for finding and counting the first phase and a second set of partial tasks for finding and counting the second phrase. The distributed task control module 118 sends respective first and/or second partial tasks 98 to each DST execution unit 36.
FIG. 5 is a logic diagram of an example of a method for outbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing that begins at step 126 where a DST client module receives data and one or more corresponding tasks. The method continues at step 128 where the DST client module determines a number of DST units to support the task for one or more data partitions. For example, the DST client module may determine the number of DST units to support the task based on the size of the data, the requested task, the content of the data, a predetermined number (e.g., user indicated, system administrator determined, etc.), available DST units, capability of the DST units, and/or any other factor regarding distributed task processing of the data. The DST client module may select the same DST units for each data partition, may select different DST units for the data partitions, or a combination thereof.
The method continues at step 130 where the DST client module determines processing parameters of the data based on the number of DST units selected for distributed task processing. The processing parameters include data partitioning information, DS encoding parameters, and/or slice grouping information. The data partitioning information includes a number of data partitions, size of each data partition, and/or organization of the data partitions (e.g., number of data blocks in a partition, the size of the data blocks, and arrangement of the data blocks). The DS encoding parameters include segmenting information, segment security information, error encoding information (e.g., dispersed storage error encoding function parameters including one or more of pillar width, decode threshold, write threshold, read threshold, generator matrix), slicing information, and/or per slice security information. The slice grouping information includes information regarding how to arrange the encoded data slices into groups for the selected DST units. As a specific example, if, the DST client module determines that five DST units are needed to support the task, then it determines that the error encoding parameters include a pillar width of five and a decode threshold of three.
The method continues at step 132 where the DST client module determines task partitioning information (e.g., how to partition the tasks) based on the selected DST units and data processing parameters. The data processing parameters include the processing parameters and DST unit capability information. The DST unit capability information includes the number of DT (distributed task) execution units, execution capabilities of each DT execution unit (e.g., MIPS capabilities, processing resources (e.g., quantity and capability of microprocessors, CPUs, digital signal processors, co-processor, microcontrollers, arithmetic logic circuitry, and/or and the other analog and/or digital processing circuitry), availability of the processing resources, memory information (e.g., type, size, availability, etc.)), and/or any information germane to executing one or more tasks.
The method continues at step 134 where the DST client module processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings. The method continues at step 136 where the DST client module partitions the task based on the task partitioning information to produce a set of partial tasks. The method continues at step 138 where the DST client module sends the slice groupings and the corresponding partial tasks to the selected DST units.
FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the dispersed storage (DS) error encoding module 112 of an outbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing section. The DS error encoding module 112 includes a segment processing module 142, a segment security processing module 144, an error encoding module 146, a slicing module 148, and a per slice security processing module 150. Each of these modules is coupled to a control module 116 to receive control information 160 therefrom.
In an example of operation, the segment processing module 142 receives a data partition 120 from a data partitioning module and receives segmenting information as the control information 160 from the control module 116. The segmenting information indicates how the segment processing module 142 is to segment the data partition 120. For example, the segmenting information indicates how many rows to segment the data based on a decode threshold of an error encoding scheme, indicates how many columns to segment the data in based on a number and size of data blocks within the data partition 120, and indicates how many columns to include in a data segment 152. The segment processing module 142 segments the data 120 into data segments 152 in accordance with the segmenting information.
The segment security processing module 144, when enabled by the control module 116, secures the data segments 152 based on segment security information received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The segment security information includes data compression, encryption, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., cyclic redundancy check), etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the segment security processing module 144 is enabled, it may compress a data segment 152, encrypt the compressed data segment, and generate a CRC value for the encrypted data segment to produce a secure data segment 154. When the segment security processing module 144 is not enabled, it passes the data segments 152 to the error encoding module 146 or is bypassed such that the data segments 152 are provided to the error encoding module 146.
The error encoding module 146 encodes the secure data segments 154 in accordance with error correction encoding parameters received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The error correction encoding parameters (e.g., also referred to as dispersed storage error coding parameters) include identifying an error correction encoding scheme (e.g., forward error correction algorithm, a Reed-Solomon based algorithm, an online coding algorithm, an information dispersal algorithm, etc.), a pillar width, a decode threshold, a read threshold, a write threshold, etc. For example, the error correction encoding parameters identify a specific error correction encoding scheme, specify a pillar width of five, and specify a decode threshold of three. From these parameters, the error encoding module 146 encodes a data segment 154 to produce an encoded data segment 156.
The slicing module 148 slices the encoded data segment 156 in accordance with the pillar width of the error correction encoding parameters received as control information 160. For example, if the pillar width is five, the slicing module 148 slices an encoded data segment 156 into a set of five encoded data slices. As such, for a plurality of data segments 156 for a given data partition, the slicing module outputs a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 158.
The per slice security processing module 150, when enabled by the control module 116, secures each encoded data slice 158 based on slice security information received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The slice security information includes data compression, encryption, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the per slice security processing module 150 is enabled, it compresses an encoded data slice 158, encrypts the compressed encoded data slice, and generates a CRC value for the encrypted encoded data slice to produce a secure encoded data slice 122. When the per slice security processing module 150 is not enabled, it passes the encoded data slices 158 or is bypassed such that the encoded data slices 158 are the output of the DS error encoding module 112. Note that the control module 116 may be omitted and each module stores its own parameters.
FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of a segment processing of a dispersed storage (DS) error encoding module. In this example, a segment processing module 142 receives a data partition 120 that includes 45 data blocks (e.g., d1-d45) and receives segmenting information (i.e., control information 160) from a control module. Each data block may be of the same size as other data blocks or of a different size. In addition, the size of each data block may be a few bytes to megabytes of data. As previously mentioned, the segmenting information indicates how many rows to segment the data partition into, indicates how many columns to segment the data partition into, and indicates how many columns to include in a data segment.
In this example, the decode threshold of the error encoding scheme is three; as such the number of rows to divide the data partition into is three. The number of columns for each row is set to 15, which is based on the number and size of data blocks. The data blocks of the data partition are arranged in rows and columns in a sequential order (i.e., the first row includes the first 15 data blocks; the second row includes the second 15 data blocks; and the third row includes the last 15 data blocks).
With the data blocks arranged into the desired sequential order, they are divided into data segments based on the segmenting information. In this example, the data partition is divided into 8 data segments; the first 7 include 2 columns of three rows and the last includes 1 column of three rows. Note that the first row of the 8 data segments is in sequential order of the first 15 data blocks; the second row of the 8 data segments in sequential order of the second 15 data blocks; and the third row of the 8 data segments in sequential order of the last 15 data blocks. Note that the number of data blocks, the grouping of the data blocks into segments, and size of the data blocks may vary to accommodate the desired distributed task processing function.
FIG. 8 is a diagram of an example of error encoding and slicing processing of the dispersed error encoding processing the data segments of FIG. 7. In this example, data segment 1 includes 3 rows with each row being treated as one word for encoding. As such, data segment 1 includes three words for encoding: word 1 including data blocks d1 and d2, word 2 including data blocks d16 and d17, and word 3 including data blocks d31 and d32. Each of data segments 2-7 includes three words where each word includes two data blocks. Data segment 8 includes three words where each word includes a single data block (e.g., d15, d30, and d45).
In operation, an error encoding module 146 and a slicing module 148 convert each data segment into a set of encoded data slices in accordance with error correction encoding parameters as control information 160. More specifically, when the error correction encoding parameters indicate a unity matrix Reed-Solomon based encoding algorithm, 5 pillars, and decode threshold of 3, the first three encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices for a data segment are substantially similar to the corresponding word of the data segment. For instance, when the unity matrix Reed-Solomon based encoding algorithm is applied to data segment 1, the content of the first encoded data slice (DS1_d1&2) of the first set of encoded data slices (e.g., corresponding to data segment 1) is substantially similar to content of the first word (e.g., d1 & d2); the content of the second encoded data slice (DS1_d16&17) of the first set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the second word (e.g., d16 & d17); and the content of the third encoded data slice (DS1_d31&32) of the first set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the third word (e.g., d31 & d32).
The content of the fourth and fifth encoded data slices (e.g., ES1_1 and ES1_2) of the first set of encoded data slices include error correction data based on the first-third words of the first data segment. With such an encoding and slicing scheme, retrieving any three of the five encoded data slices allows the data segment to be accurately reconstructed.
The encoding and slices of data segments 2-7 yield sets of encoded data slices similar to the set of encoded data slices of data segment 1. For instance, the content of the first encoded data slice (DS2_d3&4) of the second set of encoded data slices (e.g., corresponding to data segment 2) is substantially similar to content of the first word (e.g., d3 & d4); the content of the second encoded data slice (DS2_d18&19) of the second set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the second word (e.g., d18 & d19); and the content of the third encoded data slice (DS2_d33&34) of the second set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the third word (e.g., d33 & d34). The content of the fourth and fifth encoded data slices (e.g., ES1_1 and ES1_2) of the second set of encoded data slices include error correction data based on the first-third words of the second data segment.
FIG. 9 is a diagram of an example of grouping selection processing of an outbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing in accordance with group selection information as control information 160 from a control module. In this example, a grouping selection module 114 organizes the encoded data slices into five slice groupings (e.g., one for each DST execution unit of a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module). As a specific example, the grouping selection module 114 creates a first slice grouping for a DST execution unit #1, which includes first encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the first DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 1-15 (e.g., encoded data slices of contiguous data).
The grouping selection module 114 also creates a second slice grouping for a DST execution unit #2, which includes second encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the second DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 16-30. The grouping selection module 114 further creates a third slice grouping for DST execution unit #3, which includes third encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the third DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 31-45.
The grouping selection module 114 creates a fourth slice grouping for DST execution unit #4, which includes fourth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the fourth DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to first error encoding information (e.g., encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data). The grouping selection module 114 further creates a fifth slice grouping for DST execution unit #5, which includes fifth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the fifth DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to second error encoding information.
FIG. 10 is a diagram of an example of converting data 92 into slice groups that expands on the preceding figures. As shown, the data 92 is partitioned in accordance with a partitioning function 164 into a plurality of data partitions (1-x, where x is an integer greater than 4). Each data partition (or chunkset of data) is encoded and grouped into slice groupings as previously discussed by an encoding and grouping function 166. For a given data partition, the slice groupings are sent to distributed storage and task (DST) execution units. From data partition to data partition, the ordering of the slice groupings to the DST execution units may vary.
For example, the slice groupings of data partition #1 is sent to the DST execution units such that the first DST execution receives first encoded data slices of each of the sets of encoded data slices, which corresponds to a first continuous data chunk of the first data partition (e.g., refer to FIG. 9), a second DST execution receives second encoded data slices of each of the sets of encoded data slices, which corresponds to a second continuous data chunk of the first data partition, etc.
For the second data partition, the slice groupings may be sent to the DST execution units in a different order than it was done for the first data partition. For instance, the first slice grouping of the second data partition (e.g., slice group 2_1) is sent to the second DST execution unit; the second slice grouping of the second data partition (e.g., slice group 2_2) is sent to the third DST execution unit; the third slice grouping of the second data partition (e.g., slice group 2_3) is sent to the fourth DST execution unit; the fourth slice grouping of the second data partition (e.g., slice group 2_4, which includes first error coding information) is sent to the fifth DST execution unit; and the fifth slice grouping of the second data partition (e.g., slice group 2_5, which includes second error coding information) is sent to the first DST execution unit.
The pattern of sending the slice groupings to the set of DST execution units may varying in a predicted pattern, a random pattern, and/or a combination thereof from data partition to data partition. In addition, from data partition to data partition, the set of DST execution units may change. For example, for the first data partition, DST execution units 1-5 may be used; for the second data partition, DST execution units 6-10 may be used; for the third data partition, DST execution units 3-7 may be used; etc. As is also shown, the task is divided into partial tasks that are sent to the DST execution units in conjunction with the slice groupings of the data partitions.
FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a DST (distributed storage and/or task) execution unit that includes an interface 169, a controller 86, memory 88, one or more DT (distributed task) execution modules 90, and a DST client module 34. The memory 88 is of sufficient size to store a significant number of encoded data slices (e.g., thousands of slices to hundreds-of-millions of slices) and may include one or more hard drives and/or one or more solid-state memory devices (e.g., flash memory, DRAM, etc.).
In an example of storing a slice group, the DST execution module receives a slice grouping 96 (e.g., slice group #1) via interface 169. The slice grouping 96 includes, per partition, encoded data slices of contiguous data or encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data. For slice group #1, the DST execution module receives encoded data slices of contiguous data for partitions #1 and #x (and potentially others between 3 and x) and receives encoded data slices of EC data for partitions #2 and #3 (and potentially others between 3 and x). Examples of encoded data slices of contiguous data and encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data are discussed with reference to FIG. 9. The memory 88 stores the encoded data slices of slice groupings 96 in accordance with memory control information 174 it receives from the controller 86.
The controller 86 (e.g., a processing module, a CPU, etc.) generates the memory control information 174 based on a partial task(s) 98 and distributed computing information (e.g., user information (e.g., user ID, distributed computing permissions, data access permission, etc.), vault information (e.g., virtual memory assigned to user, user group, temporary storage for task processing, etc.), task validation information, etc.). For example, the controller 86 interprets the partial task(s) 98 in light of the distributed computing information to determine whether a requestor is authorized to perform the task 98, is authorized to access the data, and/or is authorized to perform the task on this particular data. When the requestor is authorized, the controller 86 determines, based on the task 98 and/or another input, whether the encoded data slices of the slice grouping 96 are to be temporarily stored or permanently stored. Based on the foregoing, the controller 86 generates the memory control information 174 to write the encoded data slices of the slice grouping 96 into the memory 88 and to indicate whether the slice grouping 96 is permanently stored or temporarily stored.
With the slice grouping 96 stored in the memory 88, the controller 86 facilitates execution of the partial task(s) 98. In an example, the controller 86 interprets the partial task 98 in light of the capabilities of the DT execution module(s) 90. The capabilities include one or more of MIPS capabilities, processing resources (e.g., quantity and capability of microprocessors, CPUs, digital signal processors, co-processor, microcontrollers, arithmetic logic circuitry, and/or and the other analog and/or digital processing circuitry), availability of the processing resources, etc. If the controller 86 determines that the DT execution module(s) 90 have sufficient capabilities, it generates task control information 176.
The task control information 176 may be a generic instruction (e.g., perform the task on the stored slice grouping) or a series of operational codes. In the former instance, the DT execution module 90 includes a co-processor function specifically configured (fixed or programmed) to perform the desired task 98. In the latter instance, the DT execution module 90 includes a general processor topology where the controller stores an algorithm corresponding to the particular task 98. In this instance, the controller 86 provides the operational codes (e.g., assembly language, source code of a programming language, object code, etc.) of the algorithm to the DT execution module 90 for execution.
Depending on the nature of the task 98, the DT execution module 90 may generate intermediate partial results 102 that are stored in the memory 88 or in a cache memory (not shown) within the DT execution module 90. In either case, when the DT execution module 90 completes execution of the partial task 98, it outputs one or more partial results 102. The partial results may 102 also be stored in memory 88.
If, when the controller 86 is interpreting whether capabilities of the DT execution module(s) 90 can support the partial task 98, the controller 86 determines that the DT execution module(s) 90 cannot adequately support the task 98 (e.g., does not have the right resources, does not have sufficient available resources, available resources would be too slow, etc.), it then determines whether the partial task 98 should be fully offloaded or partially offloaded.
If the controller 86 determines that the partial task 98 should be fully offloaded, it generates DST control information 178 and provides it to the DST client module 34. The DST control information 178 includes the partial task 98, memory storage information regarding the slice grouping 96, and distribution instructions. The distribution instructions instruct the DST client module 34 to divide the partial task 98 into sub-partial tasks 172, to divide the slice grouping 96 into sub-slice groupings 170, and identity of other DST execution units. The DST client module 34 functions in a similar manner as the DST client module 34 of FIGS. 3-10 to produce the sub-partial tasks 172 and the sub-slice groupings 170 in accordance with the distribution instructions.
The DST client module 34 receives DST feedback 168 (e.g., sub-partial results), via the interface 169, from the DST execution units to which the task was offloaded. The DST client module 34 provides the sub-partial results to the DST execution unit, which processes the sub-partial results to produce the partial result(s) 102.
If the controller 86 determines that the partial task 98 should be partially offloaded, it determines what portion of the task 98 and/or slice grouping 96 should be processed locally and what should be offloaded. For the portion that is being locally processed, the controller 86 generates task control information 176 as previously discussed. For the portion that is being offloaded, the controller 86 generates DST control information 178 as previously discussed.
When the DST client module 34 receives DST feedback 168 (e.g., sub-partial results) from the DST executions units to which a portion of the task was offloaded, it provides the sub-partial results to the DT execution module 90. The DT execution module 90 processes the sub-partial results with the sub-partial results it created to produce the partial result(s) 102.
The memory 88 may be further utilized to retrieve one or more of stored slices 100, stored results 104, partial results 102 when the DT execution module 90 stores partial results 102 and/or results 104 and the memory 88. For example, when the partial task 98 includes a retrieval request, the controller 86 outputs the memory control 174 to the memory 88 to facilitate retrieval of slices 100 and/or results 104.
FIG. 12 is a schematic block diagram of an example of operation of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit storing encoded data slices and executing a task thereon. To store the encoded data slices of a partition 1 of slice grouping 1, a controller 86 generates write commands as memory control information 174 such that the encoded slices are stored in desired locations (e.g., permanent or temporary) within memory 88.
Once the encoded slices are stored, the controller 86 provides task control information 176 to a distributed task (DT) execution module 90. As a first step executing the task in accordance with the task control information 176, the DT execution module 90 retrieves the encoded slices from memory 88. The DT execution module 90 then reconstructs contiguous data blocks of a data partition. As shown for this example, reconstructed contiguous data blocks of data partition 1 include data blocks 1-15 (e.g., d1-d15).
With the contiguous data blocks reconstructed, the DT execution module 90 performs the task on the reconstructed contiguous data blocks. For example, the task may be to search the reconstructed contiguous data blocks for a particular word or phrase, identify where in the reconstructed contiguous data blocks the particular word or phrase occurred, and/or count the occurrences of the particular word or phrase on the reconstructed contiguous data blocks. The DST execution unit continues in a similar manner for the encoded data slices of other partitions in slice grouping 1. Note that with using the unity matrix error encoding scheme previously discussed, if the encoded data slices of contiguous data are uncorrupted, the decoding of them is a relatively straightforward process of extracting the data.
If, however, an encoded data slice of contiguous data is corrupted (or missing), it can be rebuilt by accessing other DST execution units that are storing the other encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices of the corrupted encoded data slice. In this instance, the DST execution unit having the corrupted encoded data slices retrieves at least three encoded data slices (of contiguous data and of error coding data) in the set from the other DST execution units (recall for this example, the pillar width is 5 and the decode threshold is 3). The DST execution unit decodes the retrieved data slices using the DS error encoding parameters to recapture the corresponding data segment. The DST execution unit then re-encodes the data segment using the DS error encoding parameters to rebuild the corrupted encoded data slice. Once the encoded data slice is rebuilt, the DST execution unit functions as previously described.
FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an inbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing section 82 of a DST client module coupled to DST executions units of a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module via a network 24. The inbound DST processing section 82 includes a de-grouping module 180, a DS (dispersed storage) error decoding module 182, a data de-partitioning module 184, a control module 186, and a distributed task control module 188. Note that the control module 186 and/or the distributed task control module 188 may be separate modules from corresponding ones of outbound DST processing section or may be the same modules.
In an example of operation, the DST execution units have completed execution of their corresponding partial tasks 102 on the corresponding slice groupings to produce partial results 102. The inbounded DST processing section 82 receives the partial results 102 via the distributed task control module 188. The inbound DST processing section 82 then processes the partial results 102 to produce a final result, or results 104. For example, if the task was to find a specific word or phrase within data, the partial results 102 indicate where in each of the prescribed portions of the data the corresponding DST execution units found the specific word or phrase. The distributed task control module 188 combines the individual partial results 102 for the corresponding portions of the data into a final result 104 for the data as a whole.
In another example of operation, the inbound DST processing section 82 is retrieving stored data from the DST execution units (i.e., the DSTN module). In this example, the DST execution units output encoded data slices 100 corresponding to the data retrieval requests. The de-grouping module 180 receives retrieved slices 100 and de-groups them to produce encoded data slices per data partition 122. The DS error decoding module 182 decodes, in accordance with DS error encoding parameters, the encoded data slices per data partition 122 to produce data partitions 120.
The data de-partitioning module 184 combines the data partitions 120 into the data 92. The control module 186 controls the conversion of retrieve slices 100 into the data 92 using control signals 190 to each of the modules. For instance, the control module 186 provides de-grouping information to the de-grouping module 180; provides the DS error encoding parameters to the DS error decoding module 182; and provides de-partitioning information to the data de-partitioning module 184.
FIG. 14 is a logic diagram of an example of a method that is executable by distributed storage and task (DST) client module regarding inbound DST processing. The method begins at step 194 where the DST client module receives partial results. The method continues at step 196 where the DST client module retrieves the task corresponding to the partial results. For example, the partial results include header information that identifies the requesting entity, which correlates to the requested task.
The method continues at step 198 where the DST client module determines result processing information based on the task. For example, if the task were to identify a particular word or phrase within the data, the result processing information would indicate to aggregate the partial results for the corresponding portions of the data to produce the final result. As another example, if the task were to count the occurrences of a particular word or phrase within the data, the results of processing information would indicate to add the partial results to produce the final results. The method continues at step 200 where the DST client module processes the partial results in accordance with the result processing information to produce the final result, or results.
FIG. 15 is a diagram of an example of de-grouping selection processing of an inbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing section of a DST client module. In general, this is an inverse process of the grouping module of the outbound DST processing section of FIG. 9. Accordingly, for each data partition (e.g., partition #1), the de-grouping module retrieves the corresponding slice grouping from the DST execution units (EU) (e.g., DST 1-5).
As shown, DST execution unit #1 provides a first slice grouping, which includes the first encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices (e.g., encoded data slices of contiguous data of data blocks 1-15); DST execution unit #2 provides a second slice grouping, which includes the second encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices (e.g., encoded data slices of contiguous data of data blocks 16-30); DST execution unit #3 provides a third slice grouping, which includes the third encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices (e.g., encoded data slices of contiguous data of data blocks 31-45); DST execution unit #4 provides a fourth slice grouping, which includes the fourth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices (e.g., first encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data); and DST execution unit #5 provides a fifth slice grouping, which includes the fifth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices (e.g., first encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data).
The de-grouping module de-groups the slice groupings using a de-grouping selector 180 control by a control signal 190 as shown in the example to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 122. Each set corresponding to a data segment of the data partition.
FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed storage (DS) error decoding module 182 of an inbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing section. The DS error decoding module 182 includes an inverse per slice security processing module 202, a de-slicing module 204, an error decoding module 206, an inverse segment security module 208, a de-segmenting processing module 210, and a control module 186.
In an example of operation, the inverse per slice security processing module 202, when enabled by the control module 186, unsecures each encoded data slice 122 based on slice de-security information received as control information 190 (e.g., the compliment of the slice security information discussed with reference to FIG. 6) received from the control module 186. The slice security information includes data decompression, decryption, de-watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC) verification, etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the inverse per slice security processing module 202 is enabled, it verifies integrity information (e.g., a CRC value) of each encoded data slice 122, it decrypts each verified encoded data slice, and decompresses each decrypted encoded data slice to produce slice encoded data 158. When the inverse per slice security processing module 202 is not enabled, it passes the encoded data slices 122 as the sliced encoded data 158 or is bypassed such that the retrieved encoded data slices 122 are provided as the sliced encoded data 158.
The de-slicing module 204 de-slices the sliced encoded data 158 into encoded data segments 156 in accordance with a pillar width of the error correction encoding parameters received as control information 190 from the control module 186. For example, if the pillar width is five, the de-slicing module 204 de-slices a set of five encoded data slices into an encoded data segment 156. The error decoding module 206 decodes the encoded data segments 156 in accordance with error correction decoding parameters received as control information 190 from the control module 186 to produce secure data segments 154. The error correction decoding parameters include identifying an error correction encoding scheme (e.g., forward error correction algorithm, a Reed-Solomon based algorithm, an information dispersal algorithm, etc.), a pillar width, a decode threshold, a read threshold, a write threshold, etc. For example, the error correction decoding parameters identify a specific error correction encoding scheme, specify a pillar width of five, and specify a decode threshold of three.
The inverse segment security processing module 208, when enabled by the control module 186, unsecures the secured data segments 154 based on segment security information received as control information 190 from the control module 186. The segment security information includes data decompression, decryption, de-watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc., verification, and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the inverse segment security processing module 208 is enabled, it verifies integrity information (e.g., a CRC value) of each secure data segment 154, it decrypts each verified secured data segment, and decompresses each decrypted secure data segment to produce a data segment 152. When the inverse segment security processing module 208 is not enabled, it passes the decoded data segment 154 as the data segment 152 or is bypassed.
The de-segment processing module 210 receives the data segments 152 and receives de-segmenting information as control information 190 from the control module 186. The de-segmenting information indicates how the de-segment processing module 210 is to de-segment the data segments 152 into a data partition 120. For example, the de-segmenting information indicates how the rows and columns of data segments are to be rearranged to yield the data partition 120.
FIG. 17 is a diagram of an example of de-slicing and error decoding processing of a dispersed error decoding module. A de-slicing module 204 receives at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices 158 for each data segment in accordance with control information 190 slice and provides encoded data 156. In this example, a decode threshold is three. As such, each set of encoded data slices 158 is shown to have three encoded data slices per data segment. The de-slicing module 204 may receive three encoded data slices per data segment because an associated distributed storage and task (DST) client module requested retrieving only three encoded data slices per segment or selected three of the retrieved encoded data slices per data segment. As shown, which is based on the unity matrix encoding previously discussed with reference to FIG. 8, an encoded data slice may be a data-based encoded data slice (e.g., DS1_d1&d2) or an error code based encoded data slice (e.g., ES3_1).
An error decoding module 206 decodes the encoded data 156 of each data segment in accordance with the error correction decoding parameters of control information 190 to produce data segments 154. In this example, data segment 1 includes 3 rows with each row being treated as one word for encoding. As such, data segment 1 includes three words: word 1 including data blocks d1 and d2, word 2 including data blocks d16 and d17, and word 3 including data blocks d31 and d32. Each of data segments 2-7 includes three words where each word includes two data blocks. Data segment 8 includes three words where each word includes a single data block (e.g., d15, d30, and d45).
FIG. 18 is a diagram of an example of a de-segment processing of an inbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing. In this example, a de-segment processing module 210 receives data segments 152 (e.g., 1-8) and rearranges the data blocks of the data segments into rows and columns in accordance with de-segmenting information of control information 190 to produce a data partition 120. Note that the number of rows is based on the decode threshold (e.g., 3 in this specific example) and the number of columns is based on the number and size of the data blocks.
The de-segmenting module 210 converts the rows and columns of data blocks into the data partition 120. Note that each data block may be of the same size as other data blocks or of a different size. In addition, the size of each data block may be a few bytes to megabytes of data.
FIG. 19 is a diagram of an example of converting slice groups into data 92 within an inbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing section. As shown, the data 92 is reconstructed from a plurality of data partitions (1-x, where x is an integer greater than 4). Each data partition (or chunk set of data) is decoded and re-grouped using a de-grouping and decoding function 212 and a de-partition function 214 from slice groupings as previously discussed. For a given data partition, the slice groupings (e.g., at least a decode threshold per data segment of encoded data slices) are received from DST execution units. From data partition to data partition, the ordering of the slice groupings received from the DST execution units may vary as discussed with reference to FIG. 10.
FIG. 20 is a diagram of an example of a distributed storage and/or retrieval within the distributed computing system. The distributed computing system includes a plurality of distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing client modules 34 (one shown) coupled to a distributed storage and/or task processing network (DSTN) module, or multiple DSTN modules, via a network 24. The DST client module 34 includes an outbound DST processing section 80 and an inbound DST processing section 82. The DSTN module includes a plurality of DST execution units. Each DST execution unit includes a controller 86, memory 88, one or more distributed task (DT) execution modules 90, and a DST client module 34.
In an example of data storage, the DST client module 34 has data 92 that it desired to distributedly store in the DSTN module. The data 92 may be a file (e.g., video, audio, text, graphics, etc.), a data object, a data block, an update to a file, an update to a data block, etc. In this instance, the outbound DST processing module 80 converts the data 92 into encoded data slices 216 as will be further described with reference to FIGS. 21-23. The outbound DST processing module 80 sends, via the network 24, to the DST execution units for storage as further described with reference to FIG. 24.
In an example of data retrieval, the DST client module 34 issues a retrieve request to the DST execution units for the desired data 92. The retrieve request may address each DST executions units storing encoded data slices of the desired data, address a decode threshold number of DST execution units, address a read threshold number of DST execution units, or address some other number of DST execution units. In response to the request, each addressed DST execution units retrieves its encoded data slices 100 of the desired data and sends them to the inbound DST processing section 82, via the network 24.
When, for each data segment, the inbound DST processing section 82 receives at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices 100, it converts the encoded data slices 100 into a data segment. The inbound DST processing section 82 aggregates the data segments to produce the retrieved data 92.
FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an outbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing section 80 of a DST client module coupled to a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module (e.g., a plurality of DST execution units) via a network 24. The outbound DST processing section 80 includes a data partitioning module 110, a dispersed storage (DS) error encoding module 112, a group selection module 114, a control module 116, and a distributed task control module 118.
In an example of operation, the data partitioning module 110 is by-passed such that data 92 is provided directly to the DS error encoding module 112. The control module 116 coordinates the by-passing of the data partitioning module 110 by outputting a bypass 220 message to the data partitioning module 110.
The DS error encoding module 112 receives the data 92 in a serial manner, a parallel manner, and/or a combination thereof. The DS error encoding module 112 DS error encodes the data in accordance with control information 160 from the control module 116 to produce encoded data slices 218. The DS error encoding includes segmenting the data 92 into data segments, segment security processing (e.g., encryption, compression, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc.), error encoding, slicing, and/or per slice security processing (e.g., encryption, compression, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc.). The control information 160 indicates which steps of the DS error encoding are active for the data 92 and, for active steps, indicates the parameters for the step. For example, the control information 160 indicates that the error encoding is active and includes error encoding parameters (e.g., pillar width, decode threshold, write threshold, read threshold, type of error encoding, etc.).
The group selecting module 114 groups the encoded slices 218 of the data segments into pillars of slices 216. The number of pillars corresponds to the pillar width of the DS error encoding parameters. In this example, the distributed task control module 118 facilitates the storage request.
FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a dispersed storage (DS) error encoding module 112 for the example of FIG. 21. The DS error encoding module 112 includes a segment processing module 142, a segment security processing module 144, an error encoding module 146, a slicing module 148, and a per slice security processing module 150. Each of these modules is coupled to a control module 116 to receive control information 160 therefrom.
In an example of operation, the segment processing module 142 receives data 92 and receives segmenting information as control information 160 from the control module 116. The segmenting information indicates how the segment processing module is to segment the data. For example, the segmenting information indicates the size of each data segment. The segment processing module 142 segments the data 92 into data segments 152 in accordance with the segmenting information.
The segment security processing module 144, when enabled by the control module 116, secures the data segments 152 based on segment security information received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The segment security information includes data compression, encryption, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the segment security processing module 144 is enabled, it compresses a data segment 152, encrypts the compressed data segment, and generates a CRC value for the encrypted data segment to produce a secure data segment. When the segment security processing module 144 is not enabled, it passes the data segments 152 to the error encoding module 146 or is bypassed such that the data segments 152 are provided to the error encoding module 146.
The error encoding module 146 encodes the secure data segments in accordance with error correction encoding parameters received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The error correction encoding parameters include identifying an error correction encoding scheme (e.g., forward error correction algorithm, a Reed-Solomon based algorithm, an information dispersal algorithm, etc.), a pillar width, a decode threshold, a read threshold, a write threshold, etc. For example, the error correction encoding parameters identify a specific error correction encoding scheme, specify a pillar width of five, and specify a decode threshold of three. From these parameters, the error encoding module 146 encodes a data segment to produce an encoded data segment.
The slicing module 148 slices the encoded data segment in accordance with a pillar width of the error correction encoding parameters. For example, if the pillar width is five, the slicing module slices an encoded data segment into a set of five encoded data slices. As such, for a plurality of data segments, the slicing module 148 outputs a plurality of sets of encoded data slices as shown within encoding and slicing function 222 as described.
The per slice security processing module 150, when enabled by the control module 116, secures each encoded data slice based on slice security information received as control information 160 from the control module 116. The slice security information includes data compression, encryption, watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the per slice security processing module 150 is enabled, it may compress an encoded data slice, encrypt the compressed encoded data slice, and generate a CRC value for the encrypted encoded data slice to produce a secure encoded data slice tweaking. When the per slice security processing module 150 is not enabled, it passes the encoded data slices or is bypassed such that the encoded data slices 218 are the output of the DS error encoding module 112.
FIG. 23 is a diagram of an example of converting data 92 into pillar slice groups utilizing encoding, slicing and pillar grouping function 224 for storage in memory of a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module. As previously discussed the data 92 is encoded and sliced into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices; one set per data segment. The grouping selection module organizes the sets of encoded data slices into pillars of data slices. In this example, the DS error encoding parameters include a pillar width of 5 and a decode threshold of 3. As such, for each data segment, 5 encoded data slices are created.
The grouping selection module takes the first encoded data slice of each of the sets and forms a first pillar, which may be sent to the first DST execution unit. Similarly, the grouping selection module creates the second pillar from the second slices of the sets; the third pillar from the third slices of the sets; the fourth pillar from the fourth slices of the sets; and the fifth pillar from the fifth slices of the set.
FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed storage and/or task (DST) execution unit that includes an interface 169, a controller 86, memory 88, one or more distributed task (DT) execution modules 90, and a DST client module 34. A computing core 26 may be utilized to implement the one or more DT execution modules 90 and the DST client module 34. The memory 88 is of sufficient size to store a significant number of encoded data slices (e.g., thousands of slices to hundreds-of-millions of slices) and may include one or more hard drives and/or one or more solid-state memory devices (e.g., flash memory, DRAM, etc.).
In an example of storing a pillar of slices 216, the DST execution unit receives, via interface 169, a pillar of slices 216 (e.g., pillar #1 slices). The memory 88 stores the encoded data slices 216 of the pillar of slices in accordance with memory control information 174 it receives from the controller 86. The controller 86 (e.g., a processing module, a CPU, etc.) generates the memory control information 174 based on distributed storage information (e.g., user information (e.g., user ID, distributed storage permissions, data access permission, etc.), vault information (e.g., virtual memory assigned to user, user group, etc.), etc.). Similarly, when retrieving slices, the DST execution unit receives, via interface 169, a slice retrieval request. The memory 88 retrieves the slice in accordance with memory control information 174 it receives from the controller 86. The memory 88 outputs the slice 100, via the interface 169, to a requesting entity.
FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of an example of operation of an inbound distributed storage and/or task (DST) processing section 82 for retrieving dispersed error encoded data 92. The inbound DST processing section 82 includes a de-grouping module 180, a dispersed storage (DS) error decoding module 182, a data de-partitioning module 184, a control module 186, and a distributed task control module 188. Note that the control module 186 and/or the distributed task control module 188 may be separate modules from corresponding ones of an outbound DST processing section or may be the same modules.
In an example of operation, the inbound DST processing section 82 is retrieving stored data 92 from the DST execution units (i.e., the DSTN module). In this example, the DST execution units output encoded data slices corresponding to data retrieval requests from the distributed task control module 188. The de-grouping module 180 receives pillars of slices 100 and de-groups them in accordance with control information 190 from the control module 186 to produce sets of encoded data slices 218. The DS error decoding module 182 decodes, in accordance with the DS error encoding parameters received as control information 190 from the control module 186, each set of encoded data slices 218 to produce data segments, which are aggregated into retrieved data 92. The data de-partitioning module 184 is by-passed in this operational mode via a bypass signal 226 of control information 190 from the control module 186.
FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a dispersed storage (DS) error decoding module 182 of an inbound distributed storage and task (DST) processing section. The DS error decoding module 182 includes an inverse per slice security processing module 202, a de-slicing module 204, an error decoding module 206, an inverse segment security module 208, a de-segmenting processing module 210, and a control module 186. The dispersed error decoding module 182 is operable to de-slice and decode encoded slices per data segment 218 utilizing a de-slicing and decoding function 228 to produce a plurality of data segments that are de-segmented utilizing a de-segment function 230 to recover data 92.
In an example of operation, the inverse per slice security processing module 202, when enabled by the control module 186 via control information 190, unsecures each encoded data slice 218 based on slice de-security information (e.g., the compliment of the slice security information discussed with reference to FIG. 6) received as control information 190 from the control module 186. The slice de-security information includes data decompression, decryption, de-watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC) verification, etc., and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the inverse per slice security processing module 202 is enabled, it verifies integrity information (e.g., a CRC value) of each encoded data slice 218, it decrypts each verified encoded data slice, and decompresses each decrypted encoded data slice to produce slice encoded data. When the inverse per slice security processing module 202 is not enabled, it passes the encoded data slices 218 as the sliced encoded data or is bypassed such that the retrieved encoded data slices 218 are provided as the sliced encoded data.
The de-slicing module 204 de-slices the sliced encoded data into encoded data segments in accordance with a pillar width of the error correction encoding parameters received as control information 190 from the control module 186. For example, if the pillar width is five, the de-slicing module de-slices a set of five encoded data slices into an encoded data segment. Alternatively, the encoded data segment may include just three encoded data slices (e.g., when the decode threshold is 3).
The error decoding module 206 decodes the encoded data segments in accordance with error correction decoding parameters received as control information 190 from the control module 186 to produce secure data segments. The error correction decoding parameters include identifying an error correction encoding scheme (e.g., forward error correction algorithm, a Reed-Solomon based algorithm, an information dispersal algorithm, etc.), a pillar width, a decode threshold, a read threshold, a write threshold, etc. For example, the error correction decoding parameters identify a specific error correction encoding scheme, specify a pillar width of five, and specify a decode threshold of three.
The inverse segment security processing module 208, when enabled by the control module 186, unsecures the secured data segments based on segment security information received as control information 190 from the control module 186. The segment security information includes data decompression, decryption, de-watermarking, integrity check (e.g., CRC), etc., verification, and/or any other type of digital security. For example, when the inverse segment security processing module is enabled, it verifies integrity information (e.g., a CRC value) of each secure data segment, it decrypts each verified secured data segment, and decompresses each decrypted secure data segment to produce a data segment 152. When the inverse segment security processing module 208 is not enabled, it passes the decoded data segment 152 as the data segment or is bypassed. The de-segmenting processing module 210 aggregates the data segments 152 into the data 92 in accordance with control information 190 from the control module 186.
FIG. 27 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a distributed storage and task processing network (DSTN) module that includes a plurality of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units (#1 through #n, where, for example, n is an integer greater than or equal to three). Each of the DST execution units includes a DST client module 34, a controller 86, one or more DT (distributed task) execution modules 90, and memory 88.
In this example, the DSTN module stores, in the memory of the DST execution units, a plurality of DS (dispersed storage) encoded data (e.g., 1 through n, where n is an integer greater than or equal to two) and stores a plurality of DS encoded task codes (e.g., 1 through k, where k is an integer greater than or equal to two). The DS encoded data may be encoded in accordance with one or more examples described with reference to FIGS. 3-19 (e.g., organized in slice groupings) or encoded in accordance with one or more examples described with reference to FIGS. 20-26 (e.g., organized in pillar groups). The data that is encoded into the DS encoded data may be of any size and/or of any content. For example, the data may be one or more digital books, a copy of a company's emails, a large-scale Internet search, a video security file, one or more entertainment video files (e.g., television programs, movies, etc.), data files, and/or any other large amount of data (e.g., greater than a few Terra-Bytes).
The tasks that are encoded into the DS encoded task code may be a simple function (e.g., a mathematical function, a logic function, an identify function, a find function, a search engine function, a replace function, etc.), a complex function (e.g., compression, human and/or computer language translation, text-to-voice conversion, voice-to-text conversion, etc.), multiple simple and/or complex functions, one or more algorithms, one or more applications, etc. The tasks may be encoded into the DS encoded task code in accordance with one or more examples described with reference to FIGS. 3-19 (e.g., organized in slice groupings) or encoded in accordance with one or more examples described with reference to FIGS. 20-26 (e.g., organized in pillar groups).
In an example of operation, a DST client module of a user device or of a DST processing unit issues a DST request to the DSTN module. The DST request may include a request to retrieve stored data, or a portion thereof, may include a request to store data that is included with the DST request, may include a request to perform one or more tasks on stored data, may include a request to perform one or more tasks on data included with the DST request, etc. In the cases where the DST request includes a request to store data or to retrieve data, the client module and/or the DSTN module processes the request as previously discussed with reference to one or more of FIGS. 3-19 (e.g., slice groupings) and/or 20-26 (e.g., pillar groupings). In the case where the DST request includes a request to perform one or more tasks on data included with the DST request, the DST client module and/or the DSTN module process the DST request as previously discussed with reference to one or more of FIGS. 3-19.
In the case where the DST request includes a request to perform one or more tasks on stored data, the DST client module and/or the DSTN module processes the DST request as will be described with reference to one or more of FIGS. 28-39. In general, the DST client module identifies data and one or more tasks for the DSTN module to execute upon the identified data. The DST request may be for a one-time execution of the task or for an on-going execution of the task. As an example of the latter, as a company generates daily emails, the DST request may be to daily search new emails for inappropriate content and, if found, record the content, the email sender(s), the email recipient(s), email routing information, notify human resources of the identified email, etc.
FIG. 28 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a distributed computing system performing tasks on stored data. In this example, two distributed storage and task (DST) client modules 1-2 are shown: the first may be associated with a user device and the second may be associated with a DST processing unit or a high priority user device (e.g., high priority clearance user, system administrator, etc.). Each DST client module includes a list of stored data 234 and a list of tasks codes 236. The list of stored data 234 includes one or more entries of data identifying information, where each entry identifies data stored in the DSTN module 22. The data identifying information (e.g., data ID) includes one or more of a data file name, a data file directory listing, DSTN addressing information of the data, a data object identifier, etc. The list of tasks 236 includes one or more entries of task code identifying information, when each entry identifies task codes stored in the DSTN module 22. The task code identifying information (e.g., task ID) includes one or more of a task file name, a task file directory listing, DSTN addressing information of the task, another type of identifier to identify the task, etc.
As shown, the list of data 234 and the list of tasks 236 are each smaller in number of entries for the first DST client module than the corresponding lists of the second DST client module. This may occur because the user device associated with the first DST client module has fewer privileges in the distributed computing system than the device associated with the second DST client module. Alternatively, this may occur because the user device associated with the first DST client module serves fewer users than the device associated with the second DST client module and is restricted by the distributed computing system accordingly. As yet another alternative, this may occur through no restraints by the distributed computing system, it just occurred because the operator of the user device associated with the first DST client module has selected fewer data and/or fewer tasks than the operator of the device associated with the second DST client module.
In an example of operation, the first DST client module selects one or more data entries 238 and one or more tasks 240 from its respective lists (e.g., selected data ID and selected task ID). The first DST client module sends its selections to a task distribution module 232. The task distribution module 232 may be within a stand-alone device of the distributed computing system, may be within the user device that contains the first DST client module, or may be within the DSTN module 22.
Regardless of the task distributions modules location, it generates DST allocation information 242 from the selected task ID 240 and the selected data ID 238. The DST allocation information 242 includes data partitioning information, task execution information, and/or intermediate result information. The task distribution module 232 sends the DST allocation information 242 to the DSTN module 22. Note that one or more examples of the DST allocation information will be discussed with reference to one or more of FIGS. 29-39.
The DSTN module 22 interprets the DST allocation information 242 to identify the stored DS encoded data (e.g., DS error encoded data 2) and to identify the stored DS error encoded task code (e.g., DS error encoded task code 1). In addition, the DSTN module 22 interprets the DST allocation information 242 to determine how the data is to be partitioned and how the task is to be partitioned. The DSTN module 22 also determines whether the selected DS error encoded data 238 needs to be converted from pillar grouping to slice grouping. If so, the DSTN module 22 converts the selected DS error encoded data into slice groupings and stores the slice grouping DS error encoded data by overwriting the pillar grouping DS error encoded data or by storing it in a different location in the memory of the DSTN module 22 (i.e., does not overwrite the pillar grouping DS encoded data).
The DSTN module 22 partitions the data and the task as indicated in the DST allocation information 242 and sends the portions to selected DST execution units of the DSTN module 22. Each of the selected DST execution units performs its partial task(s) on its slice groupings to produce partial results. The DSTN module 22 collects the partial results from the selected DST execution units and provides them, as result information 244, to the task distribution module. The result information 244 may be the collected partial results, one or more final results as produced by the DSTN module 22 from processing the partial results in accordance with the DST allocation information 242, or one or more intermediate results as produced by the DSTN module 22 from processing the partial results in accordance with the DST allocation information 242.
The task distribution module 232 receives the result information 244 and provides one or more final results 104 therefrom to the first DST client module. The final result(s) 104 may be result information 244 or a result(s) of the task distribution module's processing of the result information 244.
In concurrence with processing the selected task of the first DST client module, the distributed computing system may process the selected task(s) of the second DST client module on the selected data(s) of the second DST client module. Alternatively, the distributed computing system may process the second DST client module's request subsequent to, or preceding, that of the first DST client module. Regardless of the ordering and/or parallel processing of the DST client module requests, the second DST client module provides its selected data 238 and selected task 240 to a task distribution module 232. If the task distribution module 232 is a separate device of the distributed computing system or within the DSTN module, the task distribution modules 232 coupled to the first and second DST client modules may be the same module. The task distribution module 232 processes the request of the second DST client module in a similar manner as it processed the request of the first DST client module.
FIG. 29 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a task distribution module 232 facilitating the example of FIG. 28. The task distribution module 232 includes a plurality of tables it uses to generate distributed storage and task (DST) allocation information 242 for selected data and selected tasks received from a DST client module. The tables include data storage information 248, task storage information 250, distributed task (DT) execution module information 252, and task
sub-task mapping information 246.
The data storage information table 248 includes a data identification (ID) field 260, a data size field 262, an addressing information field 264, distributed storage (DS) information 266, and may further include other information regarding the data, how it is stored, and/or how it can be processed. For example, DS encoded data #1 has a data ID of 1, a data size of AA (e.g., a byte size of a few terra-bytes or more), addressing information of Addr_1_AA, and DS parameters of 3/5; SEG_1; and SLC_1. In this example, the addressing information may be a virtual address corresponding to the virtual address of the first storage word (e.g., one or more bytes) of the data and information on how to calculate the other addresses, may be a range of virtual addresses for the storage words of the data, physical addresses of the first storage word or the storage words of the data, may be a list of slices names of the encoded data slices of the data, etc. The DS parameters may include identity of an error encoding scheme, decode threshold/pillar width (e.g., 3/5 for the first data entry), segment security information (e.g., SEG_1), per slice security information (e.g., SLC_1), and/or any other information regarding how the data was encoded into data slices.
The task storage information table 250 includes a task identification (ID) field 268, a task size field 270, an addressing information field 272, distributed storage (DS) information 274, and may further include other information regarding the task, how it is stored, and/or how it can be used to process data. For example, DS encoded task #2 has a task ID of 2, a task size of XY, addressing information of Addr_2_XY, and DS parameters of 3/5; SEG_2; and SLC_2. In this example, the addressing information may be a virtual address corresponding to the virtual address of the first storage word (e.g., one or more bytes) of the task and information on how to calculate the other addresses, may be a range of virtual addresses for the storage words of the task, physical addresses of the first storage word or the storage words of the task, may be a list of slices names of the encoded slices of the task code, etc. The DS parameters may include identity of an error encoding scheme, decode threshold/pillar width (e.g., 3/5 for the first data entry), segment security information (e.g., SEG_2), per slice security information (e.g., SLC_2), and/or any other information regarding how the task was encoded into encoded task slices. Note that the segment and/or the per-slice security information include a type of encryption (if enabled), a type of compression (if enabled), watermarking information (if enabled), and/or an integrity check scheme (if enabled).
The task
sub-task mapping information table 246 includes a task field 256 and a sub-task field 258. The task field 256 identifies a task stored in the memory of a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module and the corresponding sub-task fields 258 indicates whether the task includes sub-tasks and, if so, how many and if any of the sub-tasks are ordered. In this example, the task
sub-task mapping information table 246 includes an entry for each task stored in memory of the DSTN module (e.g., task 1 through task k). In particular, this example indicates that task 1 includes 7 sub-tasks; task 2 does not include sub-tasks, and task k includes r number of sub-tasks (where r is an integer greater than or equal to two).
The DT execution module table 252 includes a DST execution unit ID field 276, a DT execution module ID field 278, and a DT execution module capabilities field 280. The DST execution unit ID field 276 includes the identity of DST units in the DSTN module. The DT execution module ID field 278 includes the identity of each DT execution unit in each DST unit. For example, DST unit 1 includes three DT executions modules (e.g., 1_1, 1_2, and 1_3). The DT execution capabilities field 280 includes identity of the capabilities of the corresponding DT execution unit. For example, DT execution module 1_1 includes capabilities X, where X includes one or more of MIPS capabilities, processing resources (e.g., quantity and capability of microprocessors, CPUs, digital signal processors, co-processor, microcontrollers, arithmetic logic circuitry, and/or and other analog and/or digital processing circuitry), availability of the processing resources, memory information (e.g., type, size, availability, etc.), and/or any information germane to executing one or more tasks.
From these tables, the task distribution module 232 generates the DST allocation information 242 to indicate where the data is stored, how to partition the data, where the task is stored, how to partition the task, which DT execution units should perform which partial task on which data partitions, where and how intermediate results are to be stored, etc. If multiple tasks are being performed on the same data or different data, the task distribution module factors such information into its generation of the DST allocation information.
FIG. 30 is a diagram of a specific example of a distributed computing system performing tasks on stored data as a task flow 318. In this example, selected data 92 is data 2 and selected tasks are tasks 1, 2, and 3. Task 1 corresponds to analyzing translation of data from one language to another (e.g., human language or computer language); task 2 corresponds to finding specific words and/or phrases in the data; and task 3 corresponds to finding specific translated words or/or phrases in translated data.
In this example, task 1 includes 7 sub-tasks: task 1_1—identify non-words (non-ordered); task 1_2—identify unique words (non-ordered); task 1_3—translate (non-ordered); task 1_4—translate back (ordered after task 1_3); task 1_5—compare to ID errors (ordered after task 1-4); task 1_6—determine non-word translation errors (ordered after task 1_5 and 1_1); and task 1_7-determine correct translations (ordered after 1_5 and 1_2). The sub-task further indicates whether they are an ordered task (i.e., are dependent on the outcome of another task) or non-order (i.e., are independent of the outcome of another task). Task 2 does not include sub-tasks and task 3 includes two sub-tasks: task 3_1 translate; and task 3_2 find specific word or phrase in translated data.
In general, the three tasks collectively are selected to analyze data for translation accuracies, translation errors, translation anomalies, occurrence of specific words or phrases in the data, and occurrence of specific words or phrases on the translated data. Graphically, the data 92 is translated 306 into translated data 282; is analyzed for specific words and/or phrases 300 to produce a list of specific words and/or phrases 286; is analyzed for non-words 302 (e.g., not in a reference dictionary) to produce a list of non-words 290; and is analyzed for unique words 316 included in the data 92 (i.e., how many different words are included in the data) to produce a list of unique words 298. Each of these tasks is independent of each other and can therefore be processed in parallel if desired.
The translated data 282 is analyzed (e.g., sub-task 3_2) for specific translated words and/or phrases 304 to produce a list of specific translated words and/or phrases. The translated data 282 is translated back 308 (e.g., sub-task 1_4) into the language of the original data to produce re-translated data 284. These two tasks are dependent on the translate task (e.g., task 1_3) and thus must be ordered after the translation task, which may be in a pipelined ordering or a serial ordering. The re-translated data 284 is then compared 310 with the original data 92 to find words and/or phrases that did not translate (one way and/or the other) properly to produce a list of incorrectly translated words 294. As such, the comparing task (e.g., sub-task 1_5) 310 is ordered after the translation 306 and re-translation tasks 308 (e.g., sub-tasks 1_3 and 1_4).
The list of words incorrectly translated 294 is compared 312 to the list of non-words 290 to identify words that were not properly translated because the words are non-words to produce a list of errors due to non-words 292. In addition, the list of words incorrectly translated 294 is compared 314 to the list of unique words 298 to identify unique words that were properly translated to produce a list of correctly translated words 296. The comparison may also identify unique words that were not properly translated to produce a list of unique words that were not properly translated. Note that each list of words (e.g., specific words and/or phrases, non-words, unique words, translated words and/or phrases, etc.) may include the word and/or phrase, how many times it is used, where in the data it is used, and/or any other information requested regarding a word and/or phrase.
FIG. 31 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a distributed storage and task processing network (DSTN) module storing data and task codes for the example of FIG. 30. As shown, DS encoded data 2 is stored as encoded data slices across the memory (e.g., stored in memories 88) of DST execution units 1-5; the DS encoded task code 1 (of task 1) and DS encoded task 3 are stored as encoded task slices across the memory of DST execution units 1-5; and DS encoded task code 2 (of task 2) is stored as encoded task slices across the memory of DST execution units 3-7. As indicated in the data storage information table and the task storage information table of FIG. 29, the respective data/task has DS parameters of 3/5 for their decode threshold/pillar width; hence spanning the memory of five DST execution units.
FIG. 32 is a diagram of an example of distributed storage and task (DST) allocation information 242 for the example of FIG. 30. The DST allocation information 242 includes data partitioning information 320, task execution information 322, and intermediate result information 324. The data partitioning information 320 includes the data identifier (ID), the number of partitions to split the data into, address information for each data partition, and whether the DS encoded data has to be transformed from pillar grouping to slice grouping. The task execution information 322 includes tabular information having a task identification field 326, a task ordering field 328, a data partition field ID 330, and a set of DT execution modules 332 to use for the distributed task processing per data partition. The intermediate result information 324 includes tabular information having a name ID field 334, an ID of the DST execution unit assigned to process the corresponding intermediate result 336, a scratch pad storage field 338, and an intermediate result storage field 340.
Continuing with the example of FIG. 30, where tasks 1-3 are to be distributedly performed on data 2, the data partitioning information includes the ID of data 2. In addition, the task distribution module determines whether the DS encoded data 2 is in the proper format for distributed computing (e.g., was stored as slice groupings). If not, the task distribution module indicates that the DS encoded data 2 format needs to be changed from the pillar grouping format to the slice grouping format, which will be done the by DSTN module. In addition, the task distribution module determines the number of partitions to divide the data into (e.g., 2_1 through 2_z) and addressing information for each partition.
The task distribution module generates an entry in the task execution information section for each sub-task to be performed. For example, task 1_1 (e.g., identify non-words on the data) has no task ordering (i.e., is independent of the results of other sub-tasks), is to be performed on data partitions 2_1 through 2_z by DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1. For instance, DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 search for non-words in data partitions 2_1 through 2_z to produce task 1_1 intermediate results (R1-1, which is a list of non-words). Task 1_2 (e.g., identify unique words) has similar task execution information as task 1_1 to produce task 1_2 intermediate results (R1-2, which is the list of unique words).
Task 1_3 (e.g., translate) includes task execution information as being non-ordered (i.e., is independent), having DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 translate data partitions 2_1 through 2_4 and having DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2 translate data partitions 2_5 through 2_z to produce task 1_3 intermediate results (R1-3, which is the translated data). In this example, the data partitions are grouped, where different sets of DT execution modules perform a distributed sub-task (or task) on each data partition group, which allows for further parallel processing.
Task 1_4 (e.g., translate back) is ordered after task 1_3 and is to be executed on task 1_3's intermediate result (e.g., R1-3_1) (e.g., the translated data). DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 are allocated to translate back task 1_3 intermediate result partitions R1-3_1 through R1-3_4 and DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 6_1, 7_1, and 7_2 are allocated to translate back task 1_3 intermediate result partitions R1-3_5 through R1-3_z to produce task 1-4 intermediate results (R1-4, which is the translated back data).
Task 1_5 (e.g., compare data and translated data to identify translation errors) is ordered after task 1_4 and is to be executed on task 1_4's intermediate results (R4-1) and on the data. DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 are allocated to compare the data partitions (2_1 through 2_z) with partitions of task 1-4 intermediate results partitions R1-4_1 through R1-4_z to produce task 1_5 intermediate results (R1-5, which is the list words translated incorrectly).
Task 1_6 (e.g., determine non-word translation errors) is ordered after tasks 1_1 and 1_5 and is to be executed on tasks 1_1's and 1_5's intermediate results (R1-1 and R1-5). DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 are allocated to compare the partitions of task 1_1 intermediate results (R1-1_1 through R1-1_z) with partitions of task 1-5 intermediate results partitions (R1-5_1 through R1-5_z) to produce task 1_6 intermediate results (R1-6, which is the list translation errors due to non-words).
Task 1_7 (e.g., determine words correctly translated) is ordered after tasks 1_2 and 1_5 and is to be executed on tasks 1_2's and 1_5's intermediate results (R1-1 and R1-5). DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2 are allocated to compare the partitions of task 1_2 intermediate results (R1-2_1 through R1-2_z) with partitions of task 1-5 intermediate results partitions (R1-5_1 through R1-5_z) to produce task 1_7 intermediate results (R1-7, which is the list of correctly translated words).
Task 2 (e.g., find specific words and/or phrases) has no task ordering (i.e., is independent of the results of other sub-tasks), is to be performed on data partitions 2_1 through 2_z by DT execution modules 3_1, 4_1, 5_1, 6_1, and 7_1. For instance, DT execution modules 3_1, 4_1, 5_1, 6_1, and 7_1 search for specific words and/or phrases in data partitions 2_1 through 2 — z to produce task 2 intermediate results (R2, which is a list of specific words and/or phrases).
Task 3_2 (e.g., find specific translated words and/or phrases) is ordered after task 1_3 (e.g., translate) is to be performed on partitions R1-3_1 through R1-3_z by DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2. For instance, DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2 search for specific translated words and/or phrases in the partitions of the translated data (R1-3_1 through R1-3_z) to produce task 3_2 intermediate results (R3-2, which is a list of specific translated words and/or phrases).
For each task, the intermediate result information indicates which DST unit is responsible for overseeing execution of the task and, if needed, processing the partial results generated by the set of allocated DT execution units. In addition, the intermediate result information indicates a scratch pad memory for the task and where the corresponding intermediate results are to be stored. For example, for intermediate result R1-1 (the intermediate result of task 1_1), DST unit 1 is responsible for overseeing execution of the task 1_1 and coordinates storage of the intermediate result as encoded intermediate result slices stored in memory of DST execution units 1-5. In general, the scratch pad is for storing non-DS encoded intermediate results and the intermediate result storage is for storing DS encoded intermediate results.
FIGS. 33-38 are schematic block diagrams of the distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module performing the example of FIG. 30. In FIG. 33, the DSTN module accesses the data 92 and partitions it into a plurality of partitions 1-z in accordance with distributed storage and task network (DST) allocation information. For each data partition, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT (distributed task) execution modules 90 to perform the task (e.g., identify non-words (i.e., not in a reference dictionary) within the data partition) in accordance with the DST allocation information. From data partition to data partition, the set of DT execution modules 90 may be the same, different, or a combination thereof (e.g., some data partitions use the same set while other data partitions use different sets).
For the first data partition, the first set of DT execution modules (e.g., 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 per the DST allocation information of FIG. 32) executes task 1_1 to produce a first partial result 102 of non-words found in the first data partition. The second set of DT execution modules (e.g., 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 per the DST allocation information of FIG. 32) executes task 1_1 to produce a second partial result 102 of non-words found in the second data partition. The sets of DT execution modules (as per the DST allocation information) perform task 1_1 on the data partitions until the “z” set of DT execution modules performs task 1_1 on the “zth” data partition to produce a “zth” partial result 102 of non-words found in the “zth” data partition.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 1 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results to produce the first intermediate result (R1-1), which is a list of non-words found in the data. For instance, each set of DT execution modules 90 stores its respective partial result in the scratchpad memory of DST execution unit 1 (which is identified in the DST allocation or may be determined by DST execution unit 1). A processing module of DST execution 1 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results to produce the first intermediate result (e.g., R1_1). The processing module stores the first intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 1.
DST execution unit 1 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the first intermediate result (e.g., the list of non-words). To begin the encoding, the DST client module determines whether the list of non-words is of a sufficient size to partition (e.g., greater than a Terra-Byte). If yes, it partitions the first intermediate result (R1-1) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-1_1 through R1-1_m). If the first intermediate result is not of sufficient size to partition, it is not partitioned.
For each partition of the first intermediate result, or for the first intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 1-5).
In FIG. 34, the DSTN module is performing task 1_2 (e.g., find unique words) on the data 92. To begin, the DSTN module accesses the data 92 and partitions it into a plurality of partitions 1-z in accordance with the DST allocation information or it may use the data partitions of task 1_1 if the partitioning is the same. For each data partition, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules to perform task 1_2 in accordance with the DST allocation information. From data partition to data partition, the set of DT execution modules may be the same, different, or a combination thereof. For the data partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 1_2 to produce a partial results (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of unique words found in the data partitions.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 1 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results 102 of task 1_2 to produce the second intermediate result (R1-2), which is a list of unique words found in the data 92. The processing module of DST execution 1 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of unique words to produce the second intermediate result. The processing module stores the second intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 1.
DST execution unit 1 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the second intermediate result (e.g., the list of non-words). To begin the encoding, the DST client module determines whether the list of unique words is of a sufficient size to partition (e.g., greater than a Terra-Byte). If yes, it partitions the second intermediate result (R1-2) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-2_1 through R1-2_m). If the second intermediate result is not of sufficient size to partition, it is not partitioned.
For each partition of the second intermediate result, or for the second intermediate results, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 1-5).
In FIG. 35, the DSTN module is performing task 1_3 (e.g., translate) on the data 92. To begin, the DSTN module accesses the data 92 and partitions it into a plurality of partitions 1-z in accordance with the DST allocation information or it may use the data partitions of task 1_1 if the partitioning is the same. For each data partition, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules to perform task 1_3 in accordance with the DST allocation information (e.g., DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 translate data partitions 2_1 through 2_4 and DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2 translate data partitions 2_5 through 2_z). For the data partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules 90 executes task 1_3 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of translated data.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 2 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 1_3 to produce the third intermediate result (R1-3), which is translated data. The processing module of DST execution 2 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of translated data to produce the third intermediate result. The processing module stores the third intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 2.
DST execution unit 2 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the third intermediate result (e.g., translated data). To begin the encoding, the DST client module partitions the third intermediate result (R1-3) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-3_1 through R1-3_y). For each partition of the third intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 2-6 per the DST allocation information).
As is further shown in FIG. 35, the DSTN module is performing task 1_4 (e.g., retranslate) on the translated data of the third intermediate result. To begin, the DSTN module accesses the translated data (from the scratchpad memory or from the intermediate result memory and decodes it) and partitions it into a plurality of partitions in accordance with the DST allocation information. For each partition of the third intermediate result, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules 90 to perform task 1_4 in accordance with the DST allocation information (e.g., DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1 are allocated to translate back partitions R1-3_1 through R1-3_4 and DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 6_1, 7_1, and 7_2 are allocated to translate back partitions R1-3_5 through R1-3_z). For the partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 1_4 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of re-translated data.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 3 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 1_4 to produce the fourth intermediate result (R1-4), which is retranslated data. The processing module of DST execution 3 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of retranslated data to produce the fourth intermediate result. The processing module stores the fourth intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 3.
DST execution unit 3 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the fourth intermediate result (e.g., retranslated data). To begin the encoding, the DST client module partitions the fourth intermediate result (R1-4) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-4_1 through R1-4_z). For each partition of the fourth intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 3-7 per the DST allocation information).
In FIG. 36, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module is performing task 1_5 (e.g., compare) on data 92 and retranslated data of FIG. 35. To begin, the DSTN module accesses the data 92 and partitions it into a plurality of partitions in accordance with the DST allocation information or it may use the data partitions of task 1_1 if the partitioning is the same. The DSTN module also accesses the retranslated data from the scratchpad memory, or from the intermediate result memory and decodes it, and partitions it into a plurality of partitions in accordance with the DST allocation information. The number of partitions of the retranslated data corresponds to the number of partitions of the data.
For each pair of partitions (e.g., data partition 1 and retranslated data partition 1), the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules 90 to perform task 1_5 in accordance with the DST allocation information (e.g., DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1). For each pair of partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 1_5 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of a list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 1 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 1_5 to produce the fifth intermediate result (R1-5), which is the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases. In particular, the processing module of DST execution 1 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases to produce the fifth intermediate result. The processing module stores the fifth intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 1.
DST execution unit 1 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the fifth intermediate result. To begin the encoding, the DST client module partitions the fifth intermediate result (R1-5) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-5_1 through R1-5_z). For each partition of the fifth intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 1-5 per the DST allocation information).
As is further shown in FIG. 36, the DSTN module is performing task 1_6 (e.g., translation errors due to non-words) on the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases (e.g., the fifth intermediate result R1-5) and the list of non-words (e.g., the first intermediate result R1-1). To begin, the DSTN module accesses the lists and partitions them into a corresponding number of partitions.
For each pair of partitions (e.g., partition R1-1_1 and partition R1-5_1), the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules 90 to perform task 1_6 in accordance with the DST allocation information (e.g., DT execution modules 1_1, 2_1, 3_1, 4_1, and 5_1). For each pair of partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 1_6 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of a list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases due to non-words.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 2 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 1_6 to produce the sixth intermediate result (R1-6), which is the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases due to non-words. In particular, the processing module of DST execution 2 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases due to non-words to produce the sixth intermediate result. The processing module stores the sixth intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 2.
DST execution unit 2 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the sixth intermediate result. To begin the encoding, the DST client module partitions the sixth intermediate result (R1-6) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-6_1 through R1-6_z). For each partition of the sixth intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 2-6 per the DST allocation information).
As is still further shown in FIG. 36, the DSTN module is performing task 1_7 (e.g., correctly translated words and/or phrases) on the list of incorrectly translated words and/or phrases (e.g., the fifth intermediate result R1-5) and the list of unique words (e.g., the second intermediate result R1-2). To begin, the DSTN module accesses the lists and partitions them into a corresponding number of partitions.
For each pair of partitions (e.g., partition R1-2_1 and partition R1-5_1), the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules 90 to perform task 1_7 in accordance with the DST allocation information (e.g., DT execution modules 1_2, 2_2, 3_2, 4_2, and 5_2). For each pair of partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 1_7 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of a list of correctly translated words and/or phrases.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 3 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 1_7 to produce the seventh intermediate result (R1-7), which is the list of correctly translated words and/or phrases. In particular, the processing module of DST execution 3 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of the list of correctly translated words and/or phrases to produce the seventh intermediate result. The processing module stores the seventh intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 3.
DST execution unit 3 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the seventh intermediate result. To begin the encoding, the DST client module partitions the seventh intermediate result (R1-7) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R1-7_1 through R1-7_z). For each partition of the seventh intermediate result, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 3-7 per the DST allocation information).
In FIG. 37, the distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module is performing task 2 (e.g., find specific words and/or phrases) on the data 92. To begin, the DSTN module accesses the data and partitions it into a plurality of partitions 1-z in accordance with the DST allocation information or it may use the data partitions of task 1_1 if the partitioning is the same. For each data partition, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules 90 to perform task 2 in accordance with the DST allocation information. From data partition to data partition, the set of DT execution modules may be the same, different, or a combination thereof. For the data partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules executes task 2 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of specific words and/or phrases found in the data partitions.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 7 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 2 to produce task 2 intermediate result (R2), which is a list of specific words and/or phrases found in the data. The processing module of DST execution 7 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of specific words and/or phrases to produce the task 2 intermediate result. The processing module stores the task 2 intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 7.
DST execution unit 7 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the task 2 intermediate result. To begin the encoding, the DST client module determines whether the list of specific words and/or phrases is of a sufficient size to partition (e.g., greater than a Terra-Byte). If yes, it partitions the task 2 intermediate result (R2) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R2_1 through R2_m). If the task 2 intermediate result is not of sufficient size to partition, it is not partitioned.
For each partition of the task 2 intermediate result, or for the task 2 intermediate results, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 1-4, and 7).
In FIG. 38, the distributed storage and task network (DSTN) module is performing task 3 (e.g., find specific translated words and/or phrases) on the translated data (R1-3). To begin, the DSTN module accesses the translated data (from the scratchpad memory or from the intermediate result memory and decodes it) and partitions it into a plurality of partitions in accordance with the DST allocation information. For each partition, the DSTN identifies a set of its DT execution modules to perform task 3 in accordance with the DST allocation information. From partition to partition, the set of DT execution modules may be the same, different, or a combination thereof. For the partitions, the allocated set of DT execution modules 90 executes task 3 to produce partial results 102 (e.g., 1st through “zth”) of specific translated words and/or phrases found in the data partitions.
As indicated in the DST allocation information of FIG. 32, DST execution unit 5 is assigned to process the first through “zth” partial results of task 3 to produce task 3 intermediate result (R3), which is a list of specific translated words and/or phrases found in the translated data. In particular, the processing module of DST execution 5 is engaged to aggregate the first through “zth” partial results of specific translated words and/or phrases to produce the task 3 intermediate result. The processing module stores the task 3 intermediate result as non-DS error encoded data in the scratchpad memory or in another section of memory of DST execution unit 7.
DST execution unit 5 engages its DST client module to slice grouping based DS error encode the task 3 intermediate result. To begin the encoding, the DST client module determines whether the list of specific translated words and/or phrases is of a sufficient size to partition (e.g., greater than a Terra-Byte). If yes, it partitions the task 3 intermediate result (R3) into a plurality of partitions (e.g., R3_1 through R3_m). If the task 3 intermediate result is not of sufficient size to partition, it is not partitioned.
For each partition of the task 3 intermediate result, or for the task 3 intermediate results, the DST client module uses the DS error encoding parameters of the data (e.g., DS parameters of data 2, which includes 3/5 decode threshold/pillar width ratio) to produce slice groupings. The slice groupings are stored in the intermediate result memory (e.g., allocated memory in the memories of DST execution units 1-4, 5, and 7).
FIG. 39 is a diagram of an example of combining result information into final results 104 for the example of FIG. 30. In this example, the result information includes the list of specific words and/or phrases found in the data (task 2 intermediate result), the list of specific translated words and/or phrases found in the data (task 3 intermediate result), the list of non-words found in the data (task 1 first intermediate result R1-1), the list of unique words found in the data (task 1 second intermediate result R1-2), the list of translation errors due to non-words (task 1 sixth intermediate result R1-6), and the list of correctly translated words and/or phrases (task 1 seventh intermediate result R1-7). The task distribution module provides the result information to the requesting DST client module as the results 104.
FIG. 40A is a diagram of an example embodiment of a dispersed storage and task execution unit 36 that includes an interface 169, a computing core 26, a controller 86, at least one memory 88, and one or more memory modules 350. A memory module 350 of the one or more memory modules 350 may include a memory device 352 (e.g., implemented utilizing FLASH memory technology, a random access memory, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk drive, and an optical disk drive), may include one or more distributed task (DT) execution modules 90 (e.g., implemented utilizing at least one of a processing module, and a computing core), and may include one or more DST client module 34. For example, a memory device 352 is implemented by adding a processing core (e.g., to enable a DT execution module) to a FLASH memory. As another example, a memory device 352 is implemented by adding four processing cores to the FLASH memory. Alternatively, or in addition to, the memory device 352 includes one or more distributed storage and task (DST) client modules 34. As yet another example, a memory module 350 is implemented as a disk drive unit that includes one DT execution module 90 and four memory devices 352 (e.g. disk drives). As a still further example, a memory module 350 is implemented as a disk drive unit that includes 100 DT execution modules 90 and 10 memory devices 352 (e.g. disk drives).
FIG. 40B is a flowchart illustrating an example of storing and processing a group of slices. The method begins at step 354 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed task (DT) execution module of a distributed storage and task execution (DST EX) unit embedded within a disk drive unit) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data (e.g., from a DST client module). The method continues at step 356 where the processing module receives slices of the group of slices to produce received slices. The method continues at step 358 where, when an interim threshold number (e.g., a maximum number of bytes limited by an ingestion cache memory) of received slices has been received, the processing module streams the received slices to a disk drive for storage therein. The streaming may provide a write bandwidth system improvement for the group of slices (e.g., as the group of slices pertain to the contiguous data).
The method continues at step 360 where the processing module determines whether to execute a partial task. The determining may be based on one or more of comparing an amount of data received to a data threshold, a partial task type, task execution resource availability, and a task schedule. For example, the processing module determines to execute the partial task when data of the received slices can be processed in accordance with a partial task. The method branches to step 364 when the processing module determines to execute the partial task. The method continues to step 362 when the processing module determines not to execute the partial task.
The method continues at step 362 where the processing module determines whether more slices are expected. The determining may be based on one or more of a contiguous data size indicator, a query, a lookup, and a number of bytes received so far. The method repeats back to step 356 when the processing module determines that there are more slices. The method continues to step 364 when the processing module determines that there are no more slices.
The method continues at step 364 where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule. The determining may be based on one or more of the at least one partial task, the data, a previous task schedule, a schedule template, a task execution resource availability level, and a task execution requirement. The method continues at step 366 where the processing module identifies a portion of the contiguous data for execution of one or more steps of the execution steps. The identifying includes matching the portion of the contiguous data to the one or more steps of execution steps based on one or more of a data type indicator associated with the portion, a data type associated with one or more steps, and a data available indicator.
The method continues at step 368 where the processing module retrieves the portion of the contiguous data from the disk drive as a data stream. The retrieving includes accessing the disk drive for multiple contiguous data bytes. The streaming may provide a read bandwidth system improvement for the portion of data. The method continues at step 370 where the processing module executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result. For example, the processing module executes a search partial task on the portion to produce a search partial result.
The method continues at step 372 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the partial results to produce a plurality of sets of slices in accordance with dispersal parameters associated with one or more of the group of slices and the at least one partial task. The method continues at step 374 where the processing module facilitates storing a plurality of sets of slices in a dispersed storage and task network (DSTN). For example, the processing module sends groups of slices to a DST EX unit, where the slices are of a common pillar number when a storage method indicates dispersed storage. As another example, the processing module sends groups of slices to a DST EX unit, where the slices are of two or more pillar number when a storage method indicates distributed task storage to enable subsequent task execution on the partial result. In addition, the processing module may receive more slices for more execution steps.
FIG. 41 is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing and processing a group of slices, which include similar steps to FIG. 40B. The method begins with steps 354-356 of FIG. 40B where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed task (DT) execution module embedded within a solid state memory) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data (e.g., from a DST client module) and receives slices of the group of slices to produce received slices.
The method continues at step 376 where the processing module stores the received slices in a local solid-state memory device. The random access nature of storing the slices in the solid-state memory device may provide a write address agility system improvement for the group of slices. The method continues with step 360 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines whether to execute a partial task. The method branches to step 364 of FIG. 40B when the processing module determines to execute the partial task. The method continues to step 362 of FIG. 40B when the processing module determines not to execute the partial task.
The method continues with step 362 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines whether more slices are expected when the processing module determines not to execute a partial task. The method repeats back to step 356 of FIG. 40B when the processing module determines that there are more slices. The method continues to step 364 of FIG. 40B when the processing module determines that there are no more slices.
The method continues with steps 364-366 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule and identifies a portion of the contiguous data for execution of one or more steps of the execution steps. The method continues at step 378 where the processing module retrieves the portion of the contiguous data from the solid-state memory device. The retrieving includes accessing a slice location table to retrieve random access addresses within the solid-state memory device for the corresponding slices. The method continues with step 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result. The method continues at step 380 where the processing module stores the partial result in the solid-state memory. The method continues with steps 372-374 of FIG. 40B where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the partial results produce a plurality of sets of slices in accordance with dispersal parameters associated with one or more of the group of slices and the at least one partial task and facilitates storing a plurality of sets of slices in a dispersed storage and task network (DSTN).
FIG. 42A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a distributed storage (DS) module 382 and a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit superset 384. The DS module 382 may be implemented within one or more of a computing device, a DST execution unit 36, and a DST processing unit. The DST execution unit superset 384 includes a plurality of DST execution units 36. A portion of the plurality of DST execution units 36 includes a set of DST execution units 386. The DS module 382 may be implemented by one or more of a computing device, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a DST execution unit 36, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The DS module 382 includes a select module 388, an encode module 390, a task module 392, and an output module 394.
The system is operable to facilitate distributed computing of a task 398 (e.g., a computing task) on data 396. The select module 388 selects the set of DST execution units 386 to produce a DST execution unit set selection for executing the task 398 on the data 396 based on at least one of the task 398 and DST execution unit capability information 400 (e.g., task execution capability level, encryption capability level, availability level). The select module 388 selects the set of DST execution units 386 by a series of steps. A first step includes determining execution requirements of the task 398. A second step includes analyzing, in light of the execution requirements, the DST execution capability information 400 for the plurality of DST execution units 36. For example, the select module 388 receives the DST execution capability information 400 from at least some of the plurality of DST execution units 36. A third step includes identifying DST execution units 36 of the plurality of DST execution units 36 that have capabilities corresponding to the execution requirements. A fourth step includes selecting the set of DST execution units 386 from the identified DST execution units.
The encode module 390 determines dispersed storage error coding parameters for the data 396 based on information regarding the set of DST execution units 402 (e.g., number of DST execution units in the set, storage capabilities of the set of DST execution units, task processing capabilities of the set of DST execution units, DST execution unit set selection). The encode module 390 further functions to dispersed storage error encode the data 396 in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of encoded data blocks. The encoding may include matrix multiplying an encoding matrix by portions of the data 396 to produce the plurality of encoded data blocks. The encoding matrix may include a unity Vandermonde matrix such that a first decode threshold number of encoded data blocks are substantially the same as the data 396. The encoding may also include on-line coding or other forms of error coding. An encoded data block may include one or more slices, an on-line encoded block, or another erasure encoded data block.
The encode module 390 further functions to group the plurality of encoded data blocks into a plurality of encoded data block groupings 404 in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding. The encode module 390 groups the plurality of encoded data blocks further by grouping the plurality of encoded data blocks into the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404 based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information 400 and the information regarding the set of DST execution units 402. A first grouping of encoded data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404 may include less encoded data blocks than a second grouping of encoded data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404.
The task module 392 partitions the task 398 into a set of partial tasks 406 based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information 400 and the information regarding the set of DST execution units 402. The task module 392 partitions the task 398 into the set of partial tasks 406 by one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes replicating the task 398 for each DST execution unit of the set of DST execution units 386 to produce the set of partial tasks 406. A second approach includes identifying sub-tasks of the task 398 and producing the set of partial tasks 406 based on the identified sub-tasks. For example, a first DST execution unit is assigned a unique sub-task that compares favorably with a unique capability of the first DST execution unit. A third approach includes identifying the sub-tasks of the task 398 and replicating the identified sub-tasks for each of the set of DST execution units 386 to produce the set of partial tasks 406.
The output module 394 outputs at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 408 to the set of DST execution units 386. For example, the output module 394 outputs a first decode threshold number of encoded data block groupings 408 to the set of DST execution units 386. The output module 394 may encrypt at least some of the encoded data block groupings 408 to provide improved security. When encrypting, the output module 394 outputs the at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 408 by a series of steps. A first step includes generating an encryption key for an encoded data block grouping of the at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 408 associated with a selected DST execution unit of the set of DST execution units 386 based on one or more of a corresponding DST execution unit identifier (ID), a Diffie Hellman exchange with the selected DST execution unit, a data identifier associated with the data, and a retrieved key. For example, the output module 394 combines a retrieved base key and a DST execution unit ID of a second DST execution unit to produce a second encryption key for encrypting an encoded data block grouping associated with the second DST execution unit. A second step includes encrypting the encoded data block grouping using the encryption key to produce an encrypted encoded data block grouping. A third step includes outputting the encrypted encoded data block grouping to the selected DST execution unit. The output module 394 further functions to output the set of partial tasks 406 to the set of DST execution units 386 for execution of the set of partial tasks 406 on the at least some of plurality of encoded data block groupings 408.
The select module 388 further functions to identify the superset of DST execution units 384 for storing the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404, where the superset of DST execution units 384 includes the set of DST execution units 386. The output module 394 further functions to output other encoded data block groupings 410 of the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404 to other DST execution units of the superset of DST execution units 384. The superset of DST execution units 384 stores the plurality of encoded data block groupings 404.
FIG. 42B is a flowchart illustrating an example of distributed computing of a task on data. The method begins at step 412 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task processing unit) selects a set of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units for executing the task based on at least one of the task and DST execution unit capability information. The selecting the set of DST execution units includes a series of steps. A first step includes determining execution requirements of the task. A second step includes analyzing, in light of the execution requirements, the DST execution capability information for a plurality of DST execution units. A third step includes identifying DST execution units of the plurality of DST execution units that have capabilities corresponding to the execution requirements. A fourth step includes selecting the set of DST execution units from the identified DST execution units.
The method continues at step 414 where the processing module determines dispersed storage error coding parameters for the data based on information regarding the set of DST execution units. For example, the processing module establishes a pillar width to be substantially the same as the number of DST execution units of the set of DST execution units. The method continues at step 416 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the data in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of encoded data blocks. The method continues at step 418 where the processing module groups the plurality of encoded data blocks into a plurality of encoded data block groupings in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding. The grouping of the plurality of encoded data blocks may include grouping the plurality of encoded data blocks into the plurality of encoded data block groupings based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information and the information regarding the set of DST execution units. A first grouping of encoded data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings may include less encoded data blocks than a second grouping of encoded data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings.
The method continues at step 420 where the processing module partitions the task into a set of partial tasks based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information and the information regarding the set of DST execution units. The partitioning the task into a set of partial tasks includes one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes replicating the task for each of the set of DST execution units to produce the set of partial tasks. A second approach includes identifying sub-tasks of the task and producing the set of partial tasks based on the identified sub-tasks. A third approach includes identifying the sub-tasks of the task and replicating the identified sub-tasks for each of the set of DST execution units to produce the set of partial tasks.
The method continues at step 422 where the processing module outputs at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings to the set of DST execution units. The outputting the at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings includes a series of steps. A first step includes generating an encryption key for an encoded data block grouping of the at least some of the plurality of encoded data block groupings associated with a selected DST execution unit of the set of DST execution units based on one or more of a corresponding DST execution unit identifier, a Diffie Hellman exchange with the selected DST execution unit, a data identifier associated with the data, and a retrieved key. A second step includes encrypting the encoded data block grouping using the encryption key to produce an encrypted encoded data block grouping. A third step includes outputting the encrypted encoded data block grouping to the selected DST execution unit.
The method continues at step 424 where the processing module outputs the set of partial tasks to the set of DST execution units for execution of the set of partial tasks on the at least some of plurality of encoded data block groupings. The method continues at step 426 where the processing module identifies a superset of DST execution units for storing the plurality of encoded data block groupings where the superset of DST execution units includes the set of DST execution units. The method continues at step 428 where the processing module outputs other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings to other DST execution units of the superset of DST execution units where the superset of DST execution units stores the plurality of encoded data block groupings.
FIG. 42C is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a distributed storage (DS) module 430 and a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit superset 384. The DS module 430 may be implemented within one or more of a computing device, a DST execution unit 36, and a DST processing unit. The DST execution unit superset 384 includes a plurality of DST execution units 36. A portion of the plurality of DST execution units 36 includes a set of DST execution units 386. The DS module 430 may be implemented by one or more of a computing device, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a DST execution unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The DS module 430 includes an identify module 432, a task module 434, and an output module 436.
The system is operable to facilitate distributed computing of a task 398 (e.g., a computing task) on stored data. The identify module 432 identifies the set of DST execution units 386 of the superset of DST execution units 384. The identify module 432 outputs a DST execution unit set information 402 that includes identity of the set of DST execution units 386. The superset of DST execution units 384 store stored data as a plurality of encoded data block groupings. Data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of encoded data blocks that is arranged into the plurality of encoded data block groupings. The identify module 432 identifies the set of DST execution units 386 by at least one of a variety of approaches. A first approach includes determining a recovery threshold (e.g., decode threshold) of the data based on the dispersed storage error coding parameters and selecting a number of DST execution units of the superset of DST execution units 384 based on the recovery threshold. A second approach includes identifying the set of DST execution units 386 as DST execution units of the superset of the DST execution units 384 that is storing data slices of the plurality of encoded data slices. A third approach includes identifying the set of DST execution units 386 as DST execution units of the superset of the DST execution units 384 where a DST execution unit of the set of DST execution units 386 is storing an encoded data block grouping of the plurality of encoded data block groupings and the DST execution unit recovers a portion of the data from the encoded data block group.
The task module 434 partitions the task 398 for distributed computing on the stored data into a set of partial tasks 406 based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information 400 and the information regarding the set of DST execution units 402. The task module 434 functions to partition the task 398 into the set of partial tasks 406 by one of a variety of approaches. A first approach includes replicating the task 398 for each of the set of DST execution units 386 to produce the set of partial tasks 406. A second approach includes identifying sub-tasks of the task 398 and producing the set of partial tasks 406 based on the identified sub-tasks (e.g., each DST execution unit will receive a unique sub-task). A third approach includes identifying the sub-tasks of the task 398 and replicating the identified sub-tasks for each of the set of DST execution units 386 to produce the set of partial tasks 406.
The output module 436 outputs the set of partial tasks 406 to the set of DST execution units 386 for execution of the set of partial tasks 406 on a set of the plurality of encoded data block groupings stored by the set of DST execution units. The data is recoverable from the set of the plurality of encoded data block groupings and other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings are for error coding redundancy.
FIG. 42D is a flowchart illustrating an example of distributed computing of a task on stored data. The method begins at step 438 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) processing unit) identifies a set of DST execution units of a superset of DST execution units where the superset of DST execution units store a plurality of encoded data block groupings. Data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of encoded data blocks that is arranged into the plurality of encoded data block groupings. The identifying the set of DST execution units includes at least one of a variety of approaches. A first approach includes determining a recovery threshold of the data based on the dispersed storage error coding parameters and selecting a number of DST execution units of the superset of DST execution units based on the recovery threshold. A second approach includes identifying the set of DST execution units as the DST execution units of the superset of the DST execution units that is storing data slices of the plurality of encoded data slices. A third approach includes identifying the set of DST execution units as the DST execution units of the superset of the DST execution units, wherein a DST execution unit of the set of DST execution units is storing an encoded data block grouping of the plurality of encoded data block groupings and wherein the DST execution unit recovers a portion of the data from the encoded data block group.
The method continues at step 440 where the processing module partitions the task into a set of partial tasks based on at least one of the DST execution unit capability information and the information regarding the set of DST execution units. The partitioning the task into a set of partial tasks includes one of a variety of approaches. A first approach includes replicating the task for each of the set of DST execution units to produce the set of partial tasks. A second approach includes identifying sub-tasks of the task and producing the set of partial tasks based on the identified sub-tasks. A third approach includes identifying the sub-tasks of the task and replicating the identified sub-tasks for each of the set of DST execution units to produce the set of partial tasks.
The method continues at step 442 where the processing module outputs the set of partial tasks to the set of DST execution units for execution of the set of partial tasks on a set of the plurality of encoded data block groupings stored by the set of DST execution units. The data is recoverable from the set of the plurality of encoded data block groupings and other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings are for error coding redundancy.
FIG. 43A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a computing device 444 and a plurality of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units 446. The plurality of DST execution units 446 includes at least one set of DST execution units 448 that each includes two or more DST execution units 36. The computing device 444 may be implemented by one or more of a DST execution unit 36 of the plurality of DST execution units 446, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. For example, the computing device 444 is implemented as a DST execution unit 36 of the DST execution unit set 448. The computing device 444 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 450 and a local memory 458. The local memory 458 may be implemented utilizing one or more memory devices. A memory device of the one or more memory devices may be implemented utilizing one or more of a solid-state memory, an optical disk drive, and a magnetic disk drive. The DS module 450 includes a receive module 452, a task module 454, and a storage module 456.
The system is operable to perform a partial task 460 (e.g., a computing task) on an encoded data block grouping 462. The partial task 460 may include programming instructions to execute the partial task and may include a command that identifies a set of instructions to be evoked. Data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of encoded data blocks. The plurality of encoded data block groupings includes the encoded data block grouping 462. The receive module 452 receives the partial task 460 regarding the encoded data block grouping 462 of the plurality of encoded data block groupings. The receive module 452 receives the partial task by a series of steps when the partial task is encoded utilizing a dispersed storage error coding function. A first step includes receiving a set of encoded task data blocks 464. For example, the receive module 452 retrieves the set of encoded task data blocks 464 from the DST execution unit set 448. A second step includes determining dispersed store error decoding parameters regarding the partial task. The determining includes at least one of initiating a query, retrieving, receiving, and a look up. A third step includes decoding the set of encoded task data blocks 464 to recover the partial task 460. Alternatively, or in addition to, the receive module 452 receives the encoded data block grouping 462 (e.g., from a DST processing unit) and/or retrieves the encoded data block grouping 462 from the local memory 458.
The task module 454 performs the partial task 460 on the encoded data block grouping 462 to produce a partial task result 466. The task module performs the partial task 460 by decoding the encoded data block grouping 462 in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a partition of the data and performing the partial task 460 on the partition of data to produce the partial task result 466. The task module further performs the partial task by configuring an execution unit (e.g., a DST execution unit 36, the DS module 450, etc.) to perform the partial task 460 based on content of the partial task 460. For example, the task module decodes the encoded data block grouping 462 to produce a slice as the partition of the data.
The task module 454 further functions to determine whether the encoded data block grouping 462 is encrypted. The determining may be based on one or more of a flag, a test, receiving a message, and a look up. When the encoded data block grouping 462 is encrypted, the task module 454 determines sensitivity of the partition of data. The determining may be based on one or more of a lookup, a query, and receiving the sensitivity. When the sensitivity of the partition of data is of a first sensitivity, the task module 454 decrypts the encoded data block grouping 462 to produce the encoded data block grouping 462 and temporarily stores the partition of data. When the partial task 460 has been performed, the task module 454 deletes the temporary storage of the partition of data (e.g., overwrite with another value, zero out).
The task module 454 further functions to perform the partial task 460 by determining the DS module's 450 ability to fulfill the partial task 460 in a reasonable time frame. When the task module 454 cannot fulfill the partial task 460 in the reasonable time frame, the task module 454 executes a series of steps. A first step includes partitioning the partial task 460 into a set of sub-partial tasks. A second step includes portioning the encoded data block grouping 462 into a set of encoded data block sub-groupings. A third step includes sending a request 468 that includes the set of sub-partial tasks and set of encoded data block sub-groupings to the set of DST execution units 448 of the distributed computing system. The set of DST execution units 448 may include the computing device 444. A fourth step includes receiving sub-partial task results 470 from the set of DST execution units 448. A fifth step includes compiling the sub-partial task results 470 to produce the partial task result 466.
The storage module 456 determines subsequent treatment of the partial task result 466 and of the encoded data block grouping 462. The storage module 456 functions to determine the subsequent treatment by at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes extracting subsequent treatment information from the partial task 460. A second approach includes analyzing the partial task result 460 for one or more result criteria to determine the subsequent treatment (e.g., size, sensitivity, user identity, source, destination, analytics type of result of the source data, a modification type of result of the source data). A third approach includes sending a query to another device within a distributed computing system to ascertain the subsequent treatment. A fourth approach includes analyzing the encoded data block grouping 462 to identify source data criteria (e.g., sensitivity, user identity, source, destination, etc.) to determine the subsequent treatment.
When the subsequent treatment includes maintaining storage of the encoded data block grouping 462 and storage of the partial task result 466, the storage module 456 determines a manner in which the partial task result 466 is to be stored (e.g., store locally, store in at least some of the plurality DST execution units 446). When the manner in which the partial task result 466 is to be stored is dispersed storage, the storage module 456 dispersed storage error encodes the partial task result 466 in accordance with dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks 472. Next, the storage module outputs the one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks 472 to the set of DST execution units 448 for storage therein.
When the manner in which the partial task result 466 is to be stored is store locally, the storage module 456 stores the partial task result 466 in the local memory 458. When the manner in which the partial task result 466 is to be stored is group dispersed storage, the storage module 456 coordinates with other DST execution units 36 of the distributed computing system to collect a set of partial task results where the set of partial task results includes the partial task result 466 and partial task results of the other DST execution units 36 that performed a corresponding partial task on other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings. Next, the storage module 456 disperse storage error encodes the set of partial results to produce an error encoded result data block.
When the subsequent treatment includes overwriting the encoded data block grouping 462 with the partial task result 466, the storage module 456 overwrites the encoded data block grouping 462 with the partial task result 466 (e.g., within the local memory). Next, the storage module 456 coordinates with other DST execution units 36 of the distributed computing system to update redundancy data blocks 474 of the plurality of encoded data block groupings based on the partial task results. The coordinating includes identifying an update approach and facilitating the updating of the redundancy data blocks 474. The update approach includes encoding a decode threshold number of encoded data block groupings to produce modified redundancy data blocks 474. The identifying may be based on one or more of the predetermination, a lookup, receiving a message, distributed computing system capacity, and a network loading level. The facilitating the updating includes assigning one or more DST execution units 36 of the other DST execution units to perform the encoding.
FIG. 43B is a flowchart illustrating an example of performing a partial task. The method begins at step 476 where a processing module (e.g., of a dispersed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives a partial task regarding an encoded data block grouping of a plurality of encoded data block groupings. Data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce the plurality of encoded data blocks. The receiving the partial task includes a series of steps. A first step includes receiving a set of encoded task data blocks. A second step includes determining dispersed store error decoding parameters regarding the partial task. A third step includes decoding the set of encoded task data blocks to recover the partial task.
The method continues at step 478 where the processing module performs the partial task on the encoded data block grouping to produce a partial task result. The performing the partial task includes configuring an execution unit to perform the partial task based on content of the partial task. The performing the partial task further includes determining the processing module's ability to fulfill the partial task in a reasonable time frame. When the processing module cannot fulfill the partial task in the reasonable time frame, the processing module executes a series of steps. A first step includes partitioning the partial task into a set of sub-partial tasks. A second step includes portioning the encoded data block grouping into a set of encoded data block sub-groupings. A third step includes sending the set of sub-partial tasks and set of encoded data block sub-groupings to a set of DST execution units of a distributed computing system. A fourth step includes receiving sub-partial task results from the set of DST execution units. A fifth step includes compiling the sub-partial task results to produce the partial task result.
The performing the partial task further includes decoding the encoded data block grouping in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a partition of the data and performing the partial task on the partition of data to produce the partial task result. The performing the partial task further includes determining whether the encoded data block grouping is encrypted and when the encoded data block grouping is encrypted determining sensitivity of the partition of data. When the sensitivity of the partition of data is of a first sensitivity, the processing module decrypts the encoded data block grouping to produce the encoded data block grouping, temporarily stores the partition of data, and when the partial task has been performed, deletes the temporary storage of the partition of data.
The method continues at step 480 where the processing module determines subsequent treatment of the partial task result and of the encoded data block grouping. The determining the subsequent treatment includes at least one of a variety of approaches. A first approach includes extracting subsequent treatment information from the partial task. A second approach includes analyzing the partial task result for one or more result criteria to determine the subsequent treatment. A third approach includes sending a query to another device within a distributed computing system to ascertain the subsequent treatment. A fourth approach includes analyzing the encoded data block grouping to identify source data criteria to determine the subsequent treatment. The method branches to step 486 when the processing module determines the subsequent treatment to include storing the partial task result. The method continues to step 482 when the processing module determines the subsequent treatment to include overwriting the encoded data block grouping.
When the subsequent treatment includes overwriting the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result, the method continues at step 482 where the processing module overwrites the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result. The method continues at step 484 where the processing module coordinates with other DST execution units of a distributed computing system to update redundancy data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings based on the partial task results.
When the subsequent treatment includes maintaining storage of the encoded data block grouping and storage of the partial task result, the method continues at step 486 where the processing module determines a manner in which the partial task result is to be stored. When the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is dispersed storage, the method continues at step 488 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the partial task result in accordance with dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks. The method continues at step 490 where the processing module outputs the one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks to another set of DST execution units for storage therein.
When the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is store locally, the method continues at step 492 where the processing module stores the partial task result in local memory of the DST execution unit. When the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is group dispersed storage, the method continues at step 494 where the processing module coordinates with other DST execution units of the distributed computing system to collect a set of partial task results where the set of partial task results includes the partial task result and partial task results of the other DST execution units that performed a corresponding partial task on other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings. The method continues at step 496 where the processing module disperse storage error encodes the set of partial results to produce an error encoded result data block.
FIG. 44A is a diagram of an example embodiment of a distributed storage and task (DST) unit 500 that includes a controller 86, a memory 88, a distributed task (DT) execution module A, a DT execution module B, and a DST client module 34. The DT execution module A and DT execution module B may be implemented utilizing one or more modules. The DST client module 34 includes at least one of an inbound DST processing 82 and an outbound DST processing. The DST unit 500 ingests raw data 502 for storage and processing in accordance with a received task 94. The task 94 includes one or more of a raw data search task and a partial task for execution on slices sent to the DST unit 500 (e.g., storage and/or processing).
The controller 86 produces control information based on the task 94 to control one or more of the memory 88, DT execution module A, DT execution module B, and the DST client module 34. For example, the controller 86 produces a memory control 174 such that the memory 88 caches the raw data 502 and generates index generation task information 508 such that DT execution module A processes the raw data 502 in accordance with the index generation task information 508 to produce a data index 504. The index generation task information 508 includes one or more of a search parameter, a keyword, pattern recognition information, and timing information. The data index 504 includes metadata of the raw data 502 including one or more of keywords, dates, internet protocol addresses, partial content, word counts, statistics, a summary, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) address corresponding to raw data storage, a DSTN address corresponding to data index storage, and a DSTN address corresponding to index data storage.
The controller 86 may also generate data indexing task information 510 with regards to indexing of the data index 504. The data indexing task information 510 includes one or more of data reduction instructions, a keyword filter, a data index reference, and an indexed data format. The DT execution module B processes the raw data 502 in accordance with the data indexing task information 510 to produce indexed data 506. The indexed data 506 includes a subset of the raw data 502 organized in accordance with the data index 504.
The controller 86 controls the memory 88 with the memory control 174 to facilitate caching one or more of the raw data 502, the data index 504, and the indexed data 506. The memory control 174 may also facilitate the memory 88 outputting one or more of the raw data 502, the data index 504, and the indexed data 506. The memory control 174 may also facilitate the memory 88 inputting slice groupings 96 for caching in the memory 88 to facilitate further processing by DT execution module A and/or B.
The controller 86 generates and outputs a DST control 178 to the DST client module 34 to facilitate the generation and outputting of one or more of slice groupings 96 of the raw data 502, of the data index 504, of the indexed data 506, and one or more partial tasks 98. For example, the DST client module 34 sends a portion of the slice groupings 96 of the raw data 502 to the memory 88 for storage and sends other portions of the slice groupings 96 to other DST units for storage therein. As another example, the DST client module 34 generates slice groupings 96 of the indexed data 506 and sends the slice groupings 96 of indexed data 506 to at least one other DST unit for further processing (e.g., a pattern search).
FIG. 44B is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a computing device 512, a network 530, and a plurality of distributed storage and task (DST) units 514. The network 530 includes one or more of a computing network, a communication network, a processing network, a storage network, and any network capable of one or more of storing data, communicating data, sourcing data, consuming data, and processing data. The plurality of DST units 514 includes a first set of DST units 516 and a second set of DST units 518 that each includes two or more DST units 519. A DST unit 519 of the plurality of DST units 514 may be implemented by one or more of a DST execution unit, a server, the user device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 512 may be implemented by one or more of a DST unit 519 of the plurality of DST units 514, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 512 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 520. The DS module 520 includes an identifying criteria module 522, an analyzing criteria module 524, a distributed computing criteria module 526, and a results module 528.
The system is operable to facilitate searching data 532 on the network 530 to produce found data 534 and to analyze the found data 534 to produce a network data resultant 536. The identifying criteria module 522 establishes data identifying criteria 538 for searching data on a network. The identifying criteria module 522 establishes the data identifying criteria 538 by at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes determining data content search criteria (e.g., text search words, phrase search, photo, voice print, etc.). A second approach includes determining file name search criteria. A third approach includes determining data source identifying criteria. A fourth approach includes determining data destination identifying criteria. A fifth approach includes determining data type searching criteria (e.g., text file, email file, picture file, video file, etc.). A sixth approach includes determining data routing searching criteria (e.g., a data generation source, a data generation consumption entity, a routing path, an alternate routing path, etc.). A seventh approach includes compiling at least one of the data content search criteria, the file name search criteria, the data source identifying criteria, the data destination identifying criteria, the data type searching criteria, and the data routing searching criteria to produce the data identifying criteria 538.
The analyzing criteria module 524 establishes data analyzing criteria 540 for analyzing found data 534 of the data 532 on the network 530. The analyzing criteria module 524 establishes data analyzing criteria 540 by at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes performing organization analysis on the found data 534 (e.g., filtering limit found data content to a particular sender and/or recipient, categorizing the found data, aggregating the found data, etc.). A second approach includes performing statistical analysis on the found data 534 (e.g., word count, number of matches, summary of found data, etc.). A third approach includes performing interpretive analysis on the found data 534 (e.g., hidden means, translation, error detection, etc.).
The distributed computing criteria module 526 establishes distributed computing criteria 542 based on the data identifying criteria and data analyzing criteria. The distributed computing criteria module 526 establishes the distributed computing criteria 542 by at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes estimating computational resource requirements for searching the data on the network in accordance with the data identifying criteria 538 to produce the found data 534 and analyzing the found data 534 in accordance with the data analyzing criteria 540. A second approach includes determining computational capabilities of the set of DST units 516. A third approach includes establishing the distributed computing criteria 542 based on the estimated computational resource requirements and the computational capabilities.
The results module 528 facilitates searching the data 532 to produce the found data 534 and analyzing the found data 534 to produce the network data resultant 536 through a series of steps. In a first step, the results module 528 distributes the data identifying criteria 538 and the data analyzing criteria 540 to the set of DST units 516 in accordance with the distributed computing criteria 542. The distributing may include the results module 528 estimating computational resource requirements for searching the data 532 on the network 530 in accordance with the data identifying criteria 538 to produce the found data 534 and analyzing the found data 534 in accordance with the data analyzing criteria 540. Next, the results module 528 selects the set of DST units 516 from the plurality of DST units 514 based on the computational resource requirements.
In a second step, the results module 528 receives a set of network data partial resultants 544 from the set of DST units 516 where the set of DST units 516 generates the set of network data partial resultants 544 based on searching the data 532 on the network 530 in accordance with the data identifying criteria 538 to produce the found data 534 and analyzing the found data 534 in accordance with the data analyzing criteria 540. In a third step, the results module 528 processes the set of network data partial resultants 544 to produce the network data resultant 536 regarding the data 532 on the network 530.
The results module 528 further functions to establish data storage criteria for storing at least one of the found data 534 and the data 532 on the network 530. The data storage criteria identifies the at least one of the found data 534 and the data 532 on the network 530 and includes dispersed storage error coding parameters. The set of DST units 516 further functions to store the at least one of the found data 534 and the data 532 on the network 530 in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters. For example, the results module 528 dispersed storage error encodes the at least one of the found data 534 and the data 532 on the network 530 in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 546 and outputs the plurality of sets of encoded data slices 546 to the set of DST units 516 for storage therein.
A DST unit 519 of the set of DST units 516 may determine whether to sub-distribute at least one of an allocated portion of the network data identifying criteria 538 and an allocated portion of the network data analyzing criteria 540. When the DST unit 519 determines to sub-distribute the at least one of an allocated portion of the network data identifying criteria 538 and an allocated portion of the network data analyzing criteria 540, the DST unit 519 establishes at least one of local data identifying criteria 548 for searching the data 532 on the network 530 based on an allocation portion of the data identifying criteria 538 and local data analyzing criteria 550 for analyzing local found data 552 of the found data 534 based on an allocation portion of the data analyzing criteria 540. The DST unit establishes local distributed computing criteria based on at least one of the local data identifying criteria 548 and the local data analyzing criteria 550. The DST unit 519 distributes the at least one of the local data identifying criteria 548 and the local data analyzing criteria 550 to a second set of DST units 518 in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria (e.g., second set may include this DST unit).
At least one of the DST units 519 of the first set of DST units 516 and the second set of DST units 518 performs analysis of local found data 552 to produce one of the set of network data partial resultants 544. When the DST unit 519 of the set of DST units 516 performs analysis of local found data 552, the DST unit 519 of the set of DST units 516 performs a series of steps. A first step includes distributing the local data identifying criteria 548 to the second set of DST units 518 in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. A second step includes receiving a set of sub-partial found data 554 from the second set of DST units 518. A third step includes compiling the set of sub-partial found data 554 into partial found data. A fourth step includes performing the allocation portion of the data analyzing criteria 540 on the partial found data to produce one of the set of network data partial resultants 544.
When the second set of DST units 518 performs analysis of local found data 552, the DST unit 519 of the set of DST units 516 performs a series of steps. A first step includes performing the allocation portion of the data identifying criteria 538 to produce partial found data. A second step includes distributing the local data analyzing criteria 550 to the second set of DST units 518 in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. A third step includes dividing the partial found data into a set of sub-partial found data 554 in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. A fourth step includes distributing the set of sub-partial found data 554 to the second set of DST units 518 in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. A fifth step includes receiving a set of data sub-partial results 556 from the second set of DST units 518. A sixth step includes compiling the set of data sub-partial results 556 to produce one of the set of network data partial resultants 544.
FIG. 44C is a flowchart illustrating an example of analyzing data. The method begins at step 560 where a processing module (e.g., of a dispersed storage and task (DST) unit) establishes data identifying criteria for searching data on a network. The establishing includes at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes determining data content search criteria (e.g., text search words, phrase search, photo, voice print, etc.). A second approach includes determining file name search criteria. A third approach includes determining data source identifying criteria. A fourth approach includes determining data destination identifying criteria. A fifth approach includes determining data type searching criteria (e.g., text file, email file, picture file, video file, etc.). A sixth approach includes determining data routing searching criteria (e.g., a data generation source, a data generation consumption entity, a routing path, an alternate routing path, etc.). A seventh approach includes compiling at least one of the data content search criteria, the file name search criteria, the data source identifying criteria, the data destination identifying criteria, the data type searching criteria, and the data routing searching criteria to produce the data identifying criteria.
The method continues at step 562 where the processing module establishes data analyzing criteria for analyzing found data of the data on the network. The establishing includes at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes performing organization analysis on the found data (e.g., filtering limit found data content to a particular sender and/or recipient, categorizing the found data, aggregating the found data, etc.). A second approach includes performing statistical analysis on the found data (e.g., word count, number of matches, summary of found data, etc.). A third approach includes performing interpretive analysis on the found data (e.g., hidden means, translation, error detection, etc.).
The method continues at step 564 where the processing module establishes distributed computing criteria based on the data identifying criteria and data analyzing criteria. The establishing includes at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes estimating computational resource requirements for searching the data on the network in accordance with the data identifying criteria to produce the found data and analyzing the found data in accordance with the data analyzing criteria. A second approach includes determining computational capabilities of a set of DST units. A third approach includes establishing the distributed computing criteria based on the estimated computational resource requirements and the computational capabilities.
The method continues at step 566 where the processing module distributes the data identifying criteria and the data analyzing criteria to a set of distributed storage and task (DST) units in accordance with the distributed computing criteria. The distributing may include estimating computational resource requirements for searching the data on the network in accordance with the data identifying criteria to produce the found data and analyzing the found data in accordance with the data analyzing criteria. Next, the processing module selects the set of DST units from a plurality of DST units based on the computational resource requirements.
The method continues at step 568 where a DST unit of the set of DST units determines whether to sub-distribute at least one of an allocated portion of the network data identifying criteria and an allocated portion of the network data analyzing criteria. The DST unit determines to sub-distribute at least one of an allocated portion of the network data identifying criteria and an allocated portion of the network data analyzing criteria when offloading at least one of identifying data and analyzing data to a second set of DST units. For example, the DST unit determines to offload the identifying data when available DST unit resources compares unfavorably to a required level of resources. The DST unit performs the identifying data and analyzing data when not offloading to output a network data partial resultant (e.g., to the processing module).
When the DST unit determines to sub-distribute the at least one of an allocated portion of the network data identifying criteria and an allocated portion of the network data analyzing criteria, the method continues at step 570 where the processing module establishes at least one of local data identifying criteria for searching the data on a network based on an allocation portion of the data identifying criteria and local data analyzing criteria for analyzing local found data of the found data based on an allocation portion of the data analyzing criteria. Next, the DST unit establishes local distributed computing criteria based on at least one of the local data identifying criteria and the local data analyzing criteria. The method continues at step 572 where the DST unit distributes the at least one of the local data identifying criteria and the local data analyzing criteria to the second set of DST units in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria.
When the DST unit offloads the identifying, the method continues at step 574 where the DST unit receives a set of sub-partial found data from the second set of DST units subsequent to distributing the local data identifying criteria to the second set of DST units in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. The method continues at step 576 where the DST unit compiles the set of sub-partial found data into partial found data. The method continues at step 578 where the DST unit performs the allocation portion of the data analyzing criteria on the partial found data to produce one of the set of network data partial resultants. Next, the DST unit outputs the one of the set of network data partial resultants (e.g., to the processing module). The method branches to step 592.
When the DST unit offloads the analyzing, the method continues at step 580 where the DST unit performs the allocation portion of the data identifying criteria to produce partial found data. The method continues at step 582 where the DST unit distributes the local data analyzing criteria to the second set of DST units in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. The method continues at step 584 where the DST unit divides the partial found data into a set of sub-partial found data in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. The method continues at step 586 where the DST unit distributes the set of sub-partial found data to the second set of DST units in accordance with the local distributed computing criteria. The method continues at step 588 where the DST unit receives a set of data sub-partial results from the second set of DST units. The method continues at step 590 where the DST unit compiles the set of data sub-partial results to produce one of the set of network data partial resultants. Next, the DST unit outputs the one of the set of network data partial resultants (e.g., to the processing module).
The method continues at step 592 where the processing module receives a set of network data partial resultants from the set of DST units, wherein the set of DST units generates the set of network data partial results based on searching the data on the network in accordance with the data identifying criteria to produce the found data and analyzing the found data in accordance with the data analyzing criteria. The method continues at step 594 where the processing module processes the set of network data partial resultants to produce a network data resultant regarding the data on the network. The method continues at step 596 where the processing module establishes data storage criteria for storing at least one of the found data and the data on a network, wherein the data storage criteria identifies the at least one of the found data and the data on a network and includes dispersed storage error coding parameters. The method continues at step 598 where the set of DST units store the at least one of the found data and the data on a network in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters.
FIG. 45 is a flowchart illustrating an example of searching a data index. The method begins at step 600 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) obtains a data index search request to search a data index. The data index search request includes one or more of a data index identifier of a data index to search, one or more search terms (e.g., a trigger, a pattern, a value, a range, match criteria, failure criteria), subsequent search terms for subsequent searches based on a search term match, and subsequent search terms for subsequent searches based on an unfavorable search term match. The obtaining includes one or more of receiving, determining based on a previous data index search (e.g., modify a search term based on a previous result), a predetermination, a query, and a list.
The method continues at step 602 where the processing module identifies a portion of the data index to search based on the request. The identifying may be based on one or more of the request, a data index directory (e.g., a mapping of major subsections of the data index), execution resource availability, and a search timeframe requirement. The method continues at step 604 where the processing module identifies a dispersed storage and task network (DSTN) storage location corresponding to the portion. The storage location may include a local location (e.g., storage in a memory associated with a present DST execution unit) and one or more other DST execution units. The identifying may be based on one or more of the portion, a directory lookup, a query, and receiving storage location information.
The method continues at step 606 where the processing module determines whether the DSTN storage location is local. The determining may be based on one or more of a directory lookup, a query, and a memory map. The method branches to step 610 when the processing module determines that the DSTN storage location is not local. The method continues to 608 when the processing module determines that the DSTN storage location is local. The method continues at step 608 where the processing module searches the portion of the data index to produce a result (e.g., executes a search task).
The method continues at step 610 where the processing module generates a task request when the processing module determines that the DSTN storage location is not local. The generating is based on one or more of the data index search request, the portion of the data index to search, and the DSTN storage location. For example, the processing module generates two task requests that include the search task and two DSTN addresses corresponding to the DSTN storage location at two DST execution units. The method continues at step 612 where the processing module sends the task request to a DST execution unit associated with the storage location. The method continues at step 614 where the processing module receives a result (e.g., from the DST execution unit associated with the storage location).
FIG. 46 is a flowchart illustrating another example of searching a data index, which includes similar steps to FIG. 45. The method begins with steps 600, 602, and 608 of FIG. 45 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) obtains a data index search request to search a data index, identifies a portion of the data index to search based on the request, and searches the portion of the data index to produce a result. The method continues at step 614 where the processing module determines whether the result is favorable. A favorable result corresponds to a result that compares favorably to a desired result (e.g., a search successfully found a search item, a pattern recognition successfully matched a pattern, etc.). The method branches to step 618 when the processing module determines that the result is not favorable. The method continues to step 616 when the processing module determines that the result is favorable. The method continues at step 616 where the processing module outputs the result. The outputting includes one or more of generating a partial result and sending the partial result to a requesting entity.
The method continues at step 618 where the processing module determines whether to modify the data index. The determining may include comparing a difference between the result and an expected result to a result threshold and indicating that the data index shall be modified when the difference is larger than the result threshold. The method branches to step 624 when the processing module determines to not modify the data index. The method continues to step 620 when the processing module determines to modify the data index.
The method continues at step 620 where the processing module generates updated index generation task information based on the result when modifying the data index. The updated index generation task information includes information to re-index raw data to produce an updated data index and to produce a more favorable result. The generating may be based on one or more of the result, an unfavorable attribute of the result, and the data index. The method continues at step 622 where the processing module indexes the raw data in accordance with the index generation task information to produce an updated data index. In addition, the processing module may send a task request to another DST execution unit. The method branches to step 624.
The method continues at step 624 where the processing module modifies the data index search request. The modifying may be based on one or more of the result, a data index identifier, and an unfavorable attribute of the result. The method repeats back to step 602 of FIG. 45.
FIG. 47A is a flowchart illustrating an example of initiating threshold computing, which includes similar steps to FIG. 5. The method begins with step 126 of FIG. 5 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives data and a corresponding task. The method continues at step 626 where the processing module selects one or more DST execution units for the task based on a capability level associated with each of the DST execution units. The selecting includes one or more of determining a number of DST execution units and selecting the number of DST execution units based on one or more of an estimated distributed computing loading level, a DST execution unit capability indicator, a DST execution unit performance indicator, a DST execution unit availability level indicator, a task schedule, and a DST execution unit threshold computing capability indicator. For example, the processing module selects DST execution units 1-8 when DST execution unit availability level indicators for DST execution units 1-8 compares favorably to an estimated distributed computing loading level. The method continues with step 130 of FIG. 5 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on a number of DST execution units.
The method continues at step 628 where the processing module determines task partitioning based on the DST execution units, the processing parameters, and a threshold computing parameter. The threshold computing parameter includes one or more of a decode threshold number of DST execution units, a width number of DST execution units, and a task redundancy requirement (e.g., a number of DST execution units to execute an identical partial task). For example, the processing module partitions the task evenly into five partial tasks to assign to five of eight DST execution units when the decode threshold number is five and the width number is eight. The method continues with steps 134-136 of FIG. 5 where the processing module processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings and partitions the task based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks.
The method continues at step 630 where the processing module sends the slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to the selected DST execution units. The method continues at step 632 where the processing module determines whether a decode threshold number of partial results are available. The determining may be based on one or more of receiving a partial result, receiving a partial result status, a query, retrieving a partial result, and comparing a number of partial results to the decode threshold. The method continues at step 634 where the processing module obtains at least the decode threshold number of partial results based on the determining whether the decode threshold number of partial results are available. The obtaining includes one or more of receiving a partial result, determining distributed storage and task network (DSTN) addresses corresponding to the selected DST execution units, generating at least a decode threshold number of partial result requests, and sending the at least the decode threshold number of partial result requests to the selected DST execution units utilizing the corresponding DSTN addresses. The method continues at step 636 where the processing module processes the decode threshold number of partial results to produce a result. The processing includes at least one of aggregating the partial results and decoding the partial results to produce the result.
FIG. 47B is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing a threshold computing task, which includes similar steps to FIG. 40B. The method begins with step 354 of FIG. 40B where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data. The method continues at step 638 where the processing module receives the group of slices. The method continues with steps 364, 366, and 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps of schedule, identifies a portion of the contiguous data, and executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result.
The method continues at step 640 where the processing module determines whether the partial result compares favorably to an expected result. The expected result includes one or more of a result that was produced, the result was produced without computing errors (e.g., no divide by zero, etc.), the result is within a predetermined favorable range of results, and a result type of the result is of a predetermined result type. The method branches to step 642 when processing module determines that the partial result compares favorably to the expected result. The method continues to step 654 when the processing module determines that the partial result compares unfavorably to the expected result. The method continues at step 654 where the processing module modifies the execution steps and schedule. The modifying includes one or more of establishing updated steps and/or schedule to address an unfavorable nature of the partial result. The method loops back to step 366 of FIG. 40B. Alternatively, the process may end when reaching a limit of a number of loops and/or receiving a cancel request.
The method continues at step 642 where the processing module indicates that the partial result is favorable when the processing module determines that the partial result compares favorably to the expected result. For example, the processing module sends a result status to a requesting entity that includes an indication that the partial result is favorable. The method continues at step 644 where the processing module generates a slice grouping of the partial result. The method continues at step 646 where the processing module generates error coded data slice groupings modification information based on the slice groupings of the partial result. The generating may be based on one or more of a number of participating pillars, the slice grouping, a previous slice grouping of the partial result, an encoding matrix, an error coded data pillar number, and a zero information gain slice building approach. The zero information gain slice rebuilding approach is discussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 50.
The method continues at step 648 where the processing module facilitates storing the slice grouping in the DSTN. For example, the processing module stores the slice grouping in a memory associated with a local (e.g., present) DST execution unit. The method continues at step 650 where the processing module facilitates storing the error coded data slice grouping modification information in the DSTN. For example, the processing module sends a first error coded data slice grouping modification information to a first DST execution unit and a second error coded data slice grouping modification information to a second DST execution unit, where the first and second DST execution units store error coded data slices corresponding to the slice grouping. The method continues at step 652 where the processing module indicates that the partial result is available. For example, the processing module sends a result status to the requesting entity that includes an indication that the partial result is available (e.g., available in the DSTN for retrieval).
FIG. 48A is a flowchart illustrating an example of generating a task, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 5 and 47A. The method begins with step 126 of FIG. 5 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives data and a corresponding task and continues with step 626 of FIG. 47A where the processing module selects one or more DST execution units for the task based on a capability level associated with each of the DST execution units. The method continues with steps 130-136 of FIG. 5 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on a number of DST execution units, determines task partitioning based on the DST execution units and the processing parameters, processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings, and partitions the task based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks.
The method continues at step 654 where the processing module generates a partial task request message for each DST execution unit that includes corresponding partial tasks. As such, a mailbox message is produced corresponding to each partial task request message. The method continues at step 656 where the processing module processes each partial task request message in accordance with the processing parameters to produce task request slice groupings. The processing includes generating slices such that each message is directed at a corresponding DST execution unit. The method continues at step 658 where the processing module sends the slice groupings and the task request slice groupings to the selected DST execution units for storage therein. For example, the processing module sends a second slice grouping and a second task request slice grouping to DST execution unit 5, wherein the second slice grouping corresponds to the second task request slice grouping.
The method continues at step 660 where the processing module retrieves at least a decode threshold number of task response slices of one or more task response slice groupings from the DST execution units. The retrieving includes one or more of generating a retrieval request for slices that are of contiguous bytes of a task response and sending the retrieval request to a corresponding DST execution unit. The method continues at step 662 where the processing module decodes the task response slices to reproduce one or more task responses. The decoding includes at least one of aggregating the task response slices to reproduce the one or more task responses when the decode threshold number of task response slices correspond to data of the task responses (e.g., and not error coded data).
The method continues at step 664, when the task responses are favorable, the processing module retrieves at least a decode threshold number of partial result slices of one or more partial result slice groupings. The retrieving includes one or more of generating a retrieval request for slices that are of contiguous bytes of a partial result and sending the retrieval request to a corresponding DST execution unit. The method continues at step 666 where the processing module decodes the partial results slices to reproduce one or more partial results. The decoding includes at least one of aggregating the partial results slices to reproduce the one or more partial results when the decode threshold number of partial results slices correspond to data of the partial results (e.g., and not error coded data). The method continues at step 668 where the processing module processes the one or more partial results to produce a result. For example, the processing module aggregates the partial results to produce the result.
FIG. 48B is a flowchart illustrating an example of initiating a task, which includes similar steps to FIG. 40B. The method begins at step 670 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives a slice grouping of contiguous data and a corresponding task request slice grouping (e.g., from a DST client module). The method continues at step 672 where the processing module stores the slice grouping and the task request slice grouping (e.g., in accordance with a received storage task). For example, the processing module stores the slice grouping and the task request slice grouping in a local memory (e.g., as a mailbox).
The method continues at step 674 where the processing module retrieves the task request slice grouping to reproduce a partial task request message that includes at least one partial task (e.g., retrieving a mail message from the mailbox). The method continues with steps 364, 366, and 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule, identifies a portion of the contiguous data, and executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result. The method continues at step 676 where the processing module generates a partial task response that includes a partial result status indicator based on the partial result. The partial result status indicator includes one of a result ready status level and a result not ready status level.
The method continues at step 678 where the processing module processes the partial task response in accordance with the processing parameters to produce a task response slice grouping. The processing module may utilize zero information gain (ZIG) partial slice encoding to generate error coded task response slices based on one or more of a number of participating pillars, the task response slice grouping, a previous task response slice grouping, an encoding matrix, an error coded data pillar number, and a zero information gain slice building approach. The zero information gain slice rebuilding approach is discussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 50. The method continues at step 680 where the processing module facilitates storing the task response slice grouping as task response slices. For example, the processing module sends the task response slice groupings to a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) for storage therein (e.g., a return mailbox).
The method continues at step 682 where the processing module processes the partial result in accordance with the processing parameters to produce a partial result slice grouping. In addition, the processing module may utilize zero information gain (ZIG) partial slice encoding to generate error coded partial result slices based on one or more of a number of participating pillars, the partial result slice grouping, a previous partial result slice grouping, an encoding matrix, an error coded data pillar number, and a zero information gain slice building approach. The method continues at step 684 where the processing module facilitates storing the partial result slice grouping as partial results slices. For example, the processing module sends the partial results slice groupings to the distributed storage and task network (DSTN) for storage therein (e.g., a return mailbox).
FIG. 49 is a flowchart illustrating another example of ingesting data, which includes similar steps to FIG. 5. The method begins at step 686 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives raw data for storage in a distributed storage and task network (DSTN). For example, the processing module receives a web upload as the raw data. As another example, the processing module receives a mass storage upload as the raw data. The method continues at step 688 where the processing module determines a storage profile for the raw data. The storage profile includes one or more of a security requirement, a performance requirement, an estimated retrieval frequency, an estimated distributed processing level, a data visibility profile, a data owner, a data index storage indicator, and a data deletion policy. The data deletion policy includes a data deletion indicator specifying circumstances to delete the raw data from the DSTN. For example, the data deletion indicator includes at least one of delete after a deletion time period expires, a deletion time period, never delete, and delete only upon request.
The method continues at step 690 where the processing module indexes the raw data in accordance with index generation task information to produce a data index that includes the storage profile. The method continues at step 692 where the processing module selects at least one of the raw data and the data index as data for storage in accordance with the storage profile. For example, the processing module selects the data index for storage in the DSTN and the raw data for storage in a local memory. The processing module may update a directory to indicate where the data is stored.
The method continues at step 694 where the processing module determines a task corresponding to the data, or that the task includes at least one of storing the data and processing the data to resize the data including generating indexed data. The determining may be based on one or more of the storage profile, a request from a requesting entity, a raw data size indicator, a maximum data size threshold, and an execution resource availability indicator. The method continues with steps 130-138 of FIG. 5 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on a number of DST execution units, determines task partitioning based on the DST execution units and the processing parameters, processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings, partitions the task based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks, and sends the slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units. A DST execution unit subsequently processes a corresponding slice grouping including at least one of storing the corresponding slice grouping, processing some of the slice grouping in accordance with the task, and deleting some of the slice grouping in accordance with at least one of the storage profile and the task.
FIG. 50 is a flowchart illustrating an example of modifying a slice grouping, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 40B and 47B. The method begins with step 354 of FIG. 40B where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data. The method continues with step 638 of FIG. 47B where the processing module receives the group of slices and continues with steps 364, 366, and 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule, identifies a portion of the contiguous data, and executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result.
The method continues at step 696 where the processing module modifies a second portion of the contiguous data based on the partial result to produce an updated contiguous data. For example, the processing module replaces part of the portion of the contiguous data with the second portion of the contiguous data when the at least one partial task specifies to directly update a portion of the data as the partial result. The method continues at step 698 where the processing module stores the updated contiguous data as an updated group of slices (e.g., stored in a local memory).
The method continues at step 700 where the processing module, for each group of error coded data slices, generates error coded data slice grouping modification information based on the group of slices and the updated group of slices. The processing module utilizes a zero information gain (ZIG) slice building approach based on one or more of a number of participating pillars, the group of slices, the updated group of slices, an encoding matrix, and an error coded data pillar number. The processing module generates the error coded data slice grouping modification information as an exclusive OR function (XOR) of a partial encoding of a group of error coded data slices with respect to the updated group of slices XOR'd with a partial encoding of a group of error coded data slices with respect to the group of slices.
The processing module generates the partial encoding of the group of error coded data slices with respect to the updated group of slices by obtaining an encoding matrix utilized to generate the group of error coded data slices (e.g., extract from a request, retrieve from a memory), reducing the encoding matrix to produce a square matrix that exclusively includes rows identified as participating pillars (e.g., slice pillars associated with participating DST execution units of a decode threshold number of DST execution units), inverting the square matrix to produce an inverted matrix (e.g. alternatively, may extract the inverted matrix from the request), matrix multiplying the inverted matrix by the group of slices to produce a vector, and matrix multiplying the vector by a row of the encoding matrix corresponding to the error coded data slice grouping (e.g. alternatively, may extract the row from the request), to produce the partial encoded group of error coded data slices. The processing module generates the partial encoding of the updated group of error coded data slices in a similar fashion by utilizing the updated group of error coded data slices and place of the group of error coded data slices.
The method continues at step 702 where the processing module, for each DST execution unit corresponding to each group of error coded data slices, sends the error coded data slice grouping modification information to the DST execution unit. The method continues at step 704 where the processing module updates a directory to indicate a subsequent revision is visible. A DST execution unit responsible for error coded data slices generates and stores updated parity, where the generating includes calculating an updated error coded data slice grouping as an XOR of error coded data slice grouping (e.g., previously stored) with received error coded data slice grouping modification information.
FIG. 51 is a flowchart illustrating an example of further processing of a group of slices, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 5, 40B, and 47B. The method begins with step 354 of FIG. 40B where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data and continues with step 638 of FIG. 47B where the processing module receives the group of slices. The method continues with steps 364, 366, and 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule, identifies a portion of the contiguous data, and executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result.
The method continues at step 706 where the processing module determines whether to further process the partial result. The determining may be based on one or more of comparing the partial result to a partial result threshold with regards to one or more aspects of the partial result. For example, the processing module determines to further process the partial result when the partial result does not include a keyword search aspect. The method branches to step 708 when the processing module determines to further process the partial result. The method continues to step 712 when the processing module determines to not further process the partial result. The method continues at step 712, which includes steps 372 and 374 of FIG. 40B, where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the partial result to produce a plurality of sets of slices and facilitates storing the plurality of sets of slices in a distributed storage and task network (DSTN).
The method continues at step 708 where the processing module selects one or more of the partial result, the contiguous data, and one or more other contiguous data as data. The selecting may be based on the partial result, a partial result threshold, a comparison of the partial result to the partial result threshold, an aspect of the partial result, a trigger associated with the aspect of the partial result, and a comparison of the aspect of the partial result with the trigger associated with the aspect of the partial result. The selecting enables processing, including at least one of processing the partial result further with a current task, processing the contiguous data with new tasks, and activating additional DST execution units to reprocess corresponding grouping of slices with new tasks. The method continues at step 710 where the processing module determines a task corresponding to the data (e.g., a lookup). The method continues with steps 130-132 of FIG. 5 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on a number of DST execution units and determines task partitioning based on the DST execution units and the processing parameters.
The method continues with step 134 of FIG. 5 where the processing module processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings to align each slice grouping with a corresponding DST execution unit. The method continues with step 136 of FIG. 5 where the processing module partitions the task based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks. The method continues with step 138 of FIG. 5 where the processing module sends the slice groupings of the corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units. For example, the processing module sends slice groupings when sending the partial result and/or the contiguous data.
FIG. 52 is a flowchart illustrating an example of identifying data associations. The method begins at step 714 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) obtains raw data in accordance with the data ingestion task. For example, the processing module retrieves locally stored data as the raw data. The method continues at step 716 where the processing module indexes the raw data in accordance with index generation task information to produce a data index. The method continues at step 718 where the processing module processes the raw data based on the data index and in accordance with data indexing task information to produce indexed data.
The method continues at step 720 where the processing module facilitates storing one or more of the raw data, the data index, and the indexed data in a distributed storage and task network (DSTN). The storing includes one or more of selecting the data based on a selection input and storing the data in accordance with a storage method associated with the data. For example, the processing module stores the data as dispersed data to facilitate subsequent retrieval. As another example, the processing module stores the data as groups of slices of contiguous data to facilitate subsequent distributed computing tasks.
The method continues at step 722 where the processing module generates second index generation task information based on the data index, the indexed data, and/or an association guideline. The method continues at step 724 where the processing module indexes the data index in accordance with the second index generation task information to produce a second data index. For example, the processing module searches the raw data utilizing search parameters of the second index generation task information to produce the second data index.
The method continues at step 726 where the processing module generates second data indexing task information based on the second data index. The generating may be based on one or more of the second data index, the indexed data, and the association guideline. The method continues at step 728 where the processing module processes the raw data based on the second data index in accordance with the second data indexing task information to produce second indexed data. For example, the processing module extracts portions of the raw data that are associated with the second data index and that are relevant with respect to the second data indexing task information.
The method continues at step 730 where the processing module identifies one or more associations of data within the raw data based on one or more of the data index, the second data index, the indexed data, and the second indexed data. The identifying may be in accordance with a correlation guidance information, wherein the correlation guidance information includes data of the second indexed data associated with data of the data index.
The method continues at step 732 where the processing module facilitates storing one or more of the associations, the second data index, and the second indexed data in the DSTN. The storing includes one or more of selecting the one or more of the associations, the second data index, and the second indexed data as association result data and storing the data in accordance with a storage method associated with the association result data. For example, the processing module stores the data as dispersed data to facilitate subsequent retrieval. As another example, the processing module stores the data as groups of slices of contiguous data to facilitate subsequent distributed computing tasks.
FIG. 53A is a diagram illustrating encoding of data 734 that includes data 734 organized as a plurality of chunksets 1-N (e.g., a data partition, or portion thereof), a chunkset data matrix 736 for each of the plurality of chunksets 1-N that includes a row for each chunk, a generator matrix 738 to encode each chunkset column by column via a column selector 746 as a data selection 740 to produce a corresponding chunkset matrix of slices 742, and a pillar selector 744 to route slices of each chunkset to a corresponding distributed storage and task execution (DST EX) unit for task processing.
A number of chunks per chunkset is determined as a number of required parallel DST execution units to process parallel task processing to complete an overall task within a desired task execution time period. A decode threshold of an information dispersal algorithm (IDA) is determined as the number of chunks. A pillar width number of the IDA is determined based on or more of the decode threshold, a number of available DST EX units, an availability requirement, and a reliability requirement. For example, the decode threshold is set at 5 when the number of chunks is 5 and the pillar width is set at 8 in accordance with a reliability requirement.
A chunk size of each chunkset is determined to match a chunk size requirement for task processing. For example, a chunk size is determined as 20 k bytes when a DST EX unit indicates that a task processing data size limit is 20 k bytes. A chunkset size is the number of chunks multiplied by the chunk size. For example, the chunkset is 100 k bytes when the chunk size is 20 k bytes and the number of chunks is 5. A number of chunksets N is determined as a size of the data divided by the size of the chunkset.
The generator matrix 738 is determined in accordance with the IDA and includes a decode threshold number of columns and a pillar width number of rows. A unity matrix is utilized as a top square matrix to facilitate generation of contiguous slices that match contiguous data of chunks. Other rows of the encoding matrix facilitate generating error coded slices for remaining rows of the chunkset slice matrix.
For each chunkset, the generator matrix 738 is matrix multiplied by a column of the corresponding chunkset data matrix 736 (e.g., data selection 740 as selected by column selector 746) to generate a column of the chunkset slice matrix 742 for the corresponding chunkset. For example, row 1 of the generator matrix 738 is matrix multiplied by column 1 of the chunkset data matrix 736 to produce a row 1 byte of column 1 of the chunkset slice matrix 742, row 2 of the generator matrix 738 is matrix multiplied by column 1 of the chunkset data matrix 736 to produce a row 2 byte of column 1 of the chunkset slice matrix 742, etc. As another example, row 1 of the generator matrix 738 is matrix multiplied by column 2 of the chunkset data matrix to produce a row 1 byte of column 2 of the chunkset slice matrix, row 2 of the generator matrix is matrix multiplied by column 2 of the chunkset data matrix 736 to produce a row 2 byte of column 2 of the chunkset slice matrix 742, etc.
A segment may be considered as one or more columns of the chunkset data matrix 736 and slices that correspond to the segment are the rows of the chunkset slice matrix 742 that correspond to the one or more columns of the chunkset data matrix 736. For example, row 1 columns 1 and 2 of the chunkset slice matrix 742 form slice 1 when columns 1 and 2 of the chunkset data matrix 736 are considered as a corresponding segment. Slices of a common row of the chunkset slice matrix 742 are of a chunk of contiguous data of the data 734 and share a common pillar number and shall be stored in a common DST EX unit to facilitate a distributed task.
The pillar selector 744 routes slices of each pillar to a DST EX unit in accordance with a pillar selection scheme. For example, two slices of row 1 (e.g., slice comprising bytes from columns 1 through 10 k and slice 2 comprising bytes from columns 10 k+1 through 20 k) of the chunkset slice matrix 742 are sent to DST EX unit 1 as a contiguous chunk of data that includes 20 k bytes when the pillar selection scheme maps pillars 1-5 (e.g., associated with slices of contiguous data), to DST EX units 1-5 and maps pillars 6-8 (e.g., associated with error coded slices) to DST EX units 6-8 for a first chunkset.
To facilitate load leveling of tasks executed by the DST EX units, the pillar selection scheme may include rotating assignments of pillars to different DST EX units for each chunkset. For example, two slices of row 8 (e.g., slice comprising bytes from columns 1 through 10 k and slice 2 comprising bytes from columns 10 k+1 through 20 k) of the chunkset slice matrix 742 are sent to DST EX unit 1 as error coded data slices that includes 20 k bytes when the pillar selection scheme maps pillar 8 (e.g., associated with error coded slices), to DST EX units 1 and maps pillars 1 (e.g., associated with slices of contiguous data) to DST EX units 8 for another chunkset.
FIG. 53B is a flowchart illustrating an example of generating a slice grouping, which includes similar steps to FIG. 5. The method begins with step 126 of FIG. 5 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives data and a corresponding task. The method continues at step 748 where the processing module selects a number of DST execution units to favorably execute partial tasks of the corresponding tasks. The selecting includes determining a number of simultaneous compute resources to complete the task in a favorable timeframe based on DST execution unit capability. The method continues at step 750 where the processing module determines task partitioning based on one or more of distributed computing capabilities of the selected DST execution units. The determining includes at least one of aligning task partitions with DST execution unit capabilities and aligning subsequent computing tasks (e.g., based on partial results) with DST execution unit capabilities.
The method continues at step 752 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on the task partitioning. The determining includes determining partitioning of data into chunks and chunksets based on the number of DST EX units to favorably execute the partial tasks. The method continues with steps 136 and 134 of FIG. 5 where the processing module partitions the tasks based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks and processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings. The method continues at step 754 where the processing module sends the slice groupings in the corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units in accordance with the pillar mapping. The processing module may obtain the pillar mapping based on one or more of receiving the mapping, a query, and generating the mapping based on a data processing load leveling requirement. The pillar mapping may include rotation of assignment of slice groupings by pillar to different DST execution units (e.g., a round-robin approach to facilitate load leveling).
FIG. 54 is a flow chart illustrating an example of selecting distributed computing resources, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 5 and 53B. The method begins with step 126 of FIG. 5 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives data and a corresponding task. The method continues at step 756 where the processing module identifies candidate DST execution units for executing partial tasks of the corresponding task. The identifying may include obtaining a distributed task computing capability level by one or more of a query, a lookup, and receiving a message and selecting the candidate DST execution units associated with favorable distributed task computing capability levels (e.g., above a threshold). A distributed task computing capability level includes one or more of a processing capability level, a memory capacity level, a network access level, a bandwidth capability level, an availability level, and a reliability level.
The method continues at step 758 where the processing module obtains distributed computing capabilities of the candidate DST execution units based on one or more of a query, a lookup, and receiving a message. The method continues at step 760 where the processing module selects a number of DST execution units of the candidate DST execution units to favorably execute the partial tasks of the corresponding tasks. The selecting includes identifying a number of simultaneous compute resources to execute the task in a favorable timeframe based on the distributed computing capabilities of the candidate DST execution units.
The method continues at step 762 where the processing module determines task partitioning based on one or more of the distributed computing capabilities of the selected DST execution units, the processing parameters, and an estimated next data processing destination. The determining includes aligning tasks with DST capabilities for current and potential future tasks. The method continues with step 752 of FIG. 53B where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on the task partitioning and continues with steps 136, 134, and 138 of FIG. 5 where the processing module partitions the tasks based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks, processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings, and sends the slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units.
FIG. 55 is a flowchart illustrating an example of retrieving distributed computed data, which includes similar steps to FIG. 48A. The method begins at step 764 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives a retrieve data request (e.g., from a user device), where the data is stored in a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) as a result of at least one executed partial task. For example, the data represents a partial result of a previously executed task. As another example, the data represents modify data of the previously executed task. The method continues at step 766 where the processing module identifies DST execution units of the DSTN associated with the data. The association includes one or more of where initial data was sent for storage and/or processing of a task, where a partial task was sent for storage and/or processing, where a partial result (e.g., an intermediate result) was sent for storage and/or further processing, where a subsequent partial task was sent for storage and/or processing, a location received in response to a query of DST allocation information, and a location extracted from a location table lookup. The method continues with steps 660 and 662 of FIG. 48A where the processing module retrieves at least a decode threshold number of task response slices of one or more task response slice groupings from the DST execution units and decodes the task response slices to reproduce one or more task responses.
The method continues at step 768 where the processing module determines second DST execution units associated with partial results based on the one or more task responses. The determining may be based on one or more of extracting second DST execution unit identifier information from the one or more task responses and performing a lookup to extract the second DST execution unit identifiers. For example, the processing module accesses DST allocation information to retrieve identifiers of the second DST execution units.
The method continues at step 770 where the processing module retrieves at least a decode threshold number of partial results slices of one or more partial results slice groupings from the second DST execution units. The retrieving includes one or more of selecting DST execution units associated with the one or more partial results slice groupings (e.g., that contain results and not error coded data), generating slice retrieval requests, sending the slice retrieval requests to identify DST execution units, and receiving the at least the decode threshold number of partial results slices. The method continues with steps 666 and 668 of FIG. 48A where the processing module decodes the partial results slices to reproduce one more partial results and processes the one or more partial results to produce a result.
FIG. 56 is a flowchart illustrating an example of load-balancing distributed computing resources, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 5, 53B, and 54. The method begins with step 126 of FIG. 5 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) receives data and a corresponding task and continues with steps 756, 758, 760, and 762 of FIG. 54 where the processing module identifies candidate DST execution units for executing partial tasks of the corresponding task, obtains distributed computing capabilities of the candidate DST execution units, selects a number of DST execution units of the candidate DST execution units to favorably execute the partial tasks of the corresponding task, and determines task partitioning based on one or more of the distributed computing capabilities of the selected DST execution units, the processing parameters, and an estimated next data processing destination. The method continues with step 752 of FIG. 53B where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on the task partitioning and continues with steps 136 and 134 of FIG. 5 where the processing module partitions the task based on the task partitioning to produce partial tasks and processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce slice groupings.
The method continues at step 772 where the processing module determines a pillar mapping for at least some of the slice groupings. The determining includes identifying a favorable assignment of DST execution resources to tasks based on current information with regards to the DST execution resources and requirements of task execution. For example, the processing module may determine a round robin pillar mapping approach to evenly load a decode threshold number of the DST execution units. The method continues at step 774 where the processing module sends at least some of the slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units in accordance with the pillar mapping.
The method continues at step 776 where the processing module obtains DST execution unit status information with regards to executing the partial tasks. The obtaining includes at least one of initiating a query, receiving status information, and performing a lookup to extract status information. The method continues at step 778 where the processing module updates the pillar mapping based on the DST execution unit status information. For example, the processing module determines an updated pillar mapping to shift DST execution resource loading from the busiest resources to resources that have more favorable available task execution capacity. The method continues at step 780 where the processing module sends other slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to the DST execution units in accordance with the updated pillar mapping. For example, the processing module sends the other slice groupings and corresponding partial tasks to DST execution units to execute successive steps utilizing improved task execution capability. The process may continue to adjust the pillar mapping until all the partial tasks have been executed corresponding to the task.
FIG. 57 is a flowchart illustrating an example of transforming a task into sub-tasks, which includes similar steps to FIGS. 5, 40B, and 47B. The method begins with step 354 of FIG. 40B where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit) receives at least one partial task with regards to a group of slices of contiguous data and continues with step 638 of FIG. 47B where the processing module receives the group of slices. The method continues at step 782 where the processing module determines whether to process the at least one partial task locally. The determining may be based on one or more of a local task execution capacity level, a required task execution capacity level (e.g., to execute the partial task within a required task execution timeframe), and a comparison of the difference of the local task execution capacity level to the required task execution capacity level to a difference threshold. For example, the processing module determines to process the at least one partial task locally when the difference compares favorably to the difference threshold (e.g., local task execution meets the required task execution timeframe).
The method branches to step 784 when the processing module determines not to process the at least one partial task locally. The method continues to step 364 of FIG. 40B when the processing module determines to process the at least one partial task locally. The method continues with steps 364, 366, and 370 of FIG. 40B where the processing module determines execution steps and schedule, identifies a portion of the contiguous data, and executes the steps in accordance with the schedule on the portion of the contiguous data to produce a partial result.
The method continues at step 784 where the processing module selects a portion of the contiguous data as data when the processing module determines not to process the at least one partial task locally. The selecting includes determining which portion to process locally and which portions to process with other DST execution units based on one or more of DST execution unit task execution capacity and the required task execution timeframe such that the partial task is executed within the required timeframe. The method continues with step 130 of FIG. 5 where the processing module determines processing parameters of the data based on a number of DST execution units.
The method continues at step 786 where the processing module determines task partitioning based on the DST execution units and the processing parameters to transform the at least one partial task into at least one secondary partial task. For example, the processing module determines partitioning to form one or more sub-tasks as the at least one secondary partial tasks for execution by the number of DST execution units. The method continues at step 788 where the processing module processes the data in accordance with the processing parameters to produce secondary slice groupings. For example, the processing module generates groups of slices in accordance with the processing parameters to produce the secondary slice groupings.
The method continues at step 790 where the processing module sends the secondary slice groupings and corresponding secondary partial tasks to the DST execution units. The method continues at step 792 where the processing module receives one or more secondary partial results (e.g., from the DST execution units). The method continues at step 794 where the processing module processes the one or more secondary partial results to produce a partial result. The processing includes at least one of decoding and/or aggregating. In addition, the processing module may send the partial result to a requesting entity and/or facilitate storing of the partial result in a distributed storage and task network (DSTN).
FIG. 58A is a diagram of another example of error encoding and slicing processing of dispersed error encoding to facilitate storing data in accordance with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function (e.g., to enable execution of a portion of a task on the stored data). In this example, data segment 1 includes 3 rows with each row being treated as one word for encoding. As such, data segment 1 includes three words for encoding: word 1 including data blocks d1 and d2, word 2 including data blocks d16 and d17, and word 3 including data blocks d31 and d32. Each of data segments 2-7 includes three words where each word includes two data blocks. Data segment 8 includes three words where each word includes a single data block (e.g., d15, d30, and d45).
Each data segment is converted via an error encoding and slicing 796 into a set of encoded data slices in accordance with error correction encoding parameters. More specifically, when the error correction encoding parameters indicate a unity matrix Reed-Solomon based encoding algorithm, 5 pillars, and decode threshold of 3, the first three encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices for a data segment are substantially similar to the corresponding word of the data segment. For instance, when the unity matrix Reed-Solomon based encoding algorithm is applied to data segment 1, the content of the first encoded data slice (DS1_d1&2) of the first set of encoded data slices (e.g., corresponding to data segment 1) is substantially similar to content of the first word (e.g., d1 & d2); the content of the second encoded data slice (DS1_d16&17) of the first set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the second word (e.g., d16 & d17); and the content of the third encoded data slice (DS1_d31&32) of the first set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the third word (e.g., d31 & d32).
The encoding and slice slicing of data segments 2-7 yield sets of encoded data slices similar to the set of encoded data slices of data segment 1. For instance, the content of the first encoded data slice (DS2_d3&4) of the second set of encoded data slices (e.g., corresponding to data segment 2) is substantially similar to content of the first word (e.g., d3 & d4); the content of the second encoded data slice (DS2_d18&19) of the second set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the second word (e.g., d18 & d19); and the content of the third encoded data slice (DS2_d33&34) of the second set of encoded data slices is substantially similar to content of the third word (e.g., d33 & d34). The content of the fourth and fifth encoded data slices (e.g., ES1_1 and ES1_2) of second the second set of encoded data slices include error correction data based on the first-third words of the second data segment.
The sets of encoded data slices are utilized to form slice groupings for a set of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units. Slice grouping selection processing is performed in accordance with group selection information. In this example, the sets of encoded data slices are organized into five slice groupings (one for each DST execution unit of a set of DST execution units). As a specific example, the grouping selection module creates a first slice grouping for DST execution unit #1, which includes the first encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the first DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 1-15 (e.g., encoded data slices of contiguous data to enable execution of the portion of the task on the stored data).
The grouping selection module also creates a second slice grouping for DST execution unit #2, which includes the second encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the second DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 16-30. The grouping selection module further creates a third slice grouping for DST execution unit #3, which includes the third encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the third DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to data blocks 31-45.
The grouping selection module creates a fourth slice grouping for DST execution unit #4, which includes the fourth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the fourth DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to first error encoding information (e.g., encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data). The grouping selection module further creates a fifth slice grouping for DST execution unit #5, which includes the fifth encoded slices of each of the sets of encoded slices. As such, the fifth DST execution unit receives encoded data slices corresponding to second error encoding information.
FIG. 58B is a diagram of an example of transforming data blocks from stored data that was stored in accordance with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to data stored in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. Slice groupings including data blocks stored in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function stored in a set of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units are transformed using a transform function 798 to produce sets of data blocks stored in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. Utilization of the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function results in contiguous data blocks arranged by a set of encoded data slices. The transform function 798 produces a mapping of slices and facilitates storage of the slices in accordance with the mapping. As a specific example, a first set of encoded data slices includes three encoded data slices from DST execution unit 1, including a first encoded data slice that includes data blocks 1&2 (DS1_d1&2), a second encoded data slice that includes data blocks 3&4 (DS1_d3&4), and a third encoded data slice that includes data blocks 5&6 (DS1_d5&6). The transform function 798 results in the first encoded data slice remaining stored in DST execution unit 1, transfer of the second encoded data slice from DST execution unit 1 to DST execution unit 2, and transfer of the third encoded data slice from DST execution unit 1 to DST execution unit 3.
Each set of encoded data slices includes one or more encoded data slices corresponding to error encoding information (e.g., encoded data slices of error coding (EC) data). The transform function 798 results in encoding of a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of each set of encoded data slices to produce the one or more encoded data slices corresponding to error coding information. For example, the first encoded data slice, the second encoded data slice, and the third encoded data slice are dispersed storage error and encoded to produce two transformed error slices ES T1_1 and ES T1_2 when a decode threshold is 3 and a pillar with is 5. Transformed error slice ES T1_1 is stored at DST execution unit 4 and transformed error slice ES T1_2 is stored at DST execution unit 5.
A de-slicing and error decoding function 800 is utilized to decode the sets of encoded data slices stored in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to produce a plurality of data segments in accordance with long-term storage. As such, each data segment represents words of one or more data blocks of a contiguous data portion of the data. For example, at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of the first set of encoded data slices (e.g., that includes the first encoded data slice, the second encoded data slice, and the third encoded data slice) is dispersed storage error decoded in accordance with the de-slicing and error decoding function 800 to produce a data segment including data blocks d1-d6.
FIG. 58C is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a computing device 802 and a set of distributed storage and task (DST) units 804. The set of DST units 804 includes one or more DST units 806. A DST unit 806 of the set of DST units 804 may be implemented by one or more of a DST execution unit, a server, the user device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 802 may be implemented by one or more of a DST unit 806 of the set of DST units 804, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 802 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 808. The DS module 808 includes a determine module 810, a transform module 812, and an obtain module 814.
The system is operable to long-term store at least a portion of temporarily stored data in the set of DST units 804. The temporarily stored data is stored in the set of DST units 804 in accordance with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function includes first dispersed storage error coding parameters that enables a DST unit 806 of the set of DST units 804 to recover, in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, a sub-portion of the portion of the temporarily stored data from encoded data slices (e.g., computational slices 816, data and/or check blocks) the DST unit 806 stores (e.g., with minimal communication with other DST units 806 of the set of DST units 804).
The determine module 810 determines whether the at least a portion of temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term. The determining may be based on at least one of receiving a message, detecting expiration of a temporarily stored data time period, and determining that no further computations are to be performed on the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data. For example, the DS module 808 performs a series of computational tasks and upon completion the determine module 810 indicates that the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term.
When the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term, the transform module 812 performs a series of steps to transform the temporarily stored data to long-term stored data. In a first step of the transforming, the transform module 812 identifies one or more DST units 806 of the set of DST units 804 storing the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The transform module 812 identifies the one or more DST units 806 of the set of DST units 804 by at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes receiving a message regarding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data. For example, the message identifies the one or more DST units 806. A second approach includes receiving a message regarding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data and determining the one or more DST units 806 based on storage of the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data. A third approach includes determining that no further computations are to be performed on the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data.
In a second step of the transforming, the transform module 812 recovers the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data from the one or more DST units 806 in a pre-dispersed storage error encoded format (e.g., data still includes pre-data manipulation functions such as encryption). The recovering includes at least one of retrieving and facilitating transfer (e.g., outputting a request to transfer). For example, the transform module 812 retrieves the computational slices 816 of the temporarily stored data from the one or more DST units 806.
In a third step of the transforming, the transform module 812 dispersed storage error encodes the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format (e.g., computational slices 816) into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices (e.g., storage slices 818) in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function includes second dispersed storage error coding parameters that prevents the DST unit 806 from recovering, in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, the sub-portion of the portion of the temporarily stored data from encoded data slices the DST unit 806 stores and requires retrieval of encoded data slices from multiple DST units 806 of the set of DST units 804 to recover, in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, the sub-portion of the portion of the temporarily stored data.
The transform module 812 dispersed storage error encodes the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data by a sequence of procedures. A first procedure includes determining, in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function, a data mapping of data-based encoded data slices of the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in a pre-dispersed storage error encoded format. A second procedure includes generating redundancy-based encoded data slices based on the data-based encoded data slices and in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A third procedure includes organizing the data-based encoded data slices and the redundancy-based encoded data slices into the plurality of set of encoded data slices (e.g., storage slices 818).
Alternatively, the transform module 812 dispersed storage error encodes the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data by a sequence of alternative procedures. A first alternative procedure includes dispersed storage error encoding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format into a plurality of encoded data blocks in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A second alternative procedure includes organizing the plurality of encoded data blocks into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. For example, utilizing an on-line code conversion process.
In a fourth step of the transforming, the transform module 812 stores the plurality of sets of encoded data slices (e.g., storage slices 818) in the set of DST units 804. The obtain module 814 functions to obtain the temporarily stored data by at least one of two obtaining approaches. A first obtaining approach includes a series of first obtaining approach steps. A first step of the first obtaining approach steps includes temporarily storing raw data 820, as the temporarily stored data, in the set of DST units 804 in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. For example, the obtain module 814 dispersed storage error encodes the raw data 820 using the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function in accordance with the first dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a plurality of sets of encoded raw slices 822. Alternatively, at least some of the DST units 806 obtains the raw data 820 and encodes the raw data 820 to produce the plurality of sets of encoded raw slices 822. Next, the obtain module 814 facilitates storage of the plurality of sets of encoded raw slices 822 in the set of DST units 804.
A second step of the first obtaining approach steps includes performing, by at least some of the DST units 806, a task on the temporarily stored data to produce found data 824. A third step of the first obtaining approach steps includes dispersed storage error encoding the found data 824, as the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function (e.g., the computational slices 816). Alternatively, at least some of the DST units 806 dispersed storage error encodes the found data 824 to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function.
A second obtaining approach includes a series of second obtaining approach steps. A first step of the second obtaining approach steps includes temporarily storing found data 824, as the temporarily stored data, in the set of DST units 804 in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function, where at least some of the DST units 806 performed a task on the raw data 820 to produce the found data 824. A second step of the second obtaining approach steps includes performing, by at least some of the DST units 806, a second task on the temporarily stored data to produce a sub-set of found data 826. A third step of the second obtaining approach steps includes dispersed storage error encoding the sub-set of found data 826, as the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function.
FIG. 58D is a flowchart illustrating an example of transforming data. The method begins at step 830 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) unit) temporarily stores raw data, as temporarily stored data, in a set of DST units in accordance with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function includes first dispersed storage error coding parameters that enables a DST unit of the set of DST units to recover, in a pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, a sub-portion of a portion of temporarily stored data from encoded data slices the DST unit stores. The method continues at step 832 where at least some of the DST units performs a task on the temporarily stored data to produce found data.
The method continues at step 834 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the found data, as the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, into a plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function includes second dispersed storage error coding parameters that prevents the DST unit from recovering, in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, the sub-portion of the portion of the temporarily stored data from encoded data slices the DST unit stores and requires retrieval of encoded data slices from multiple DST units of the set of DST units to recover, in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format, the sub-portion of the portion of the temporarily stored data.
Alternatively, or in addition to, at least some of the DST units obtain the raw data. When the at least some of the DST units obtain the raw data, the method continues at step 836 where the at least some of the DST units performs a task on the raw data to produce the found data. The method continues at step 838 where the processing module temporarily stores the found data, as the temporarily stored data, in the set of DST units in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The method continues at step 840 where the at least some of the DST units performs a second task on the temporarily stored data to produce a sub-set of found data. The method continues at step 844 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the sub-set of found data, as the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function.
The method continues at step 846 where the processing module determines whether at least a portion of the temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term, where the temporarily stored data is stored in the set of DST units in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. For example, a processing module determines that no further computational tasks are to be performed on the temporarily stored data.
When the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data is to be stored long-term, the method continues at step 848 where the processing module identifies one or more DST units of the set of DST units storing the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The identifying the one or more DST units of the set of DST units includes at least one of a plurality of approaches. A first approach includes receiving a message regarding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data, where the message identifies the one or more DST units. A second approach includes receiving a message regarding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data and determining the one or more DST units based storage of the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data. A third approach includes determining that no further computations are to be performed on the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data.
The method continues at step 850 where the processing module recovers the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data from the one or more DST units in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format. The method continues at step 852 where the processing module dispersed storage error encodes the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The dispersed storage error encoding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data includes a series of steps. A first step includes determining, in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function, a data mapping of data-based encoded data slices of the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in a pre-dispersed storage error encoded format. A second step includes generating redundancy-based encoded data slices (e.g., error coded slices) based on the data-based encoded data slices and in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A third step includes organizing the data-based encoded data slices and the redundancy-based encoded data slices into the plurality of set of encoded data slices.
Alternatively, the dispersed storage error encoding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data includes an alternate series of steps. A first alternate step includes dispersed storage error encoding the at least a portion of the temporarily stored data in the pre-dispersed storage error encoded format into a plurality of encoded data blocks in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A second alternate step includes organizing the plurality of encoded data blocks into the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The method continues at step 854 where the processing module stores the plurality of sets of encoded data slices in the set of DST units subsequent to the encoding.
FIG. 58E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed computing system that includes a computing device 860 and a set of distributed storage and task (DST) units 804. The set of DST units 804 includes one or more DST units 806. A DST unit 806 of the set of DST units 804 may be implemented by one or more of a DST execution unit, a server, the user device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 860 may be implemented by one or more of a DST unit 806 of the set of DST units 804, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 860 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 862. The DS module 862 includes a determine task module 864, a reconfigure module 866, and a task module 868.
The system is operable to transform data stored in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function into data stored with a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to facilitate performing of a task 870 on a recovered portion of the data to produce a task resultant. The data is encoded into a plurality of encoded data blocks 874 (e.g., sets of encoded slices, groups of check blocks, storage blocks 874) in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function and the plurality of encoded data blocks 874 are stored in the set of DST units 804. The determine task module 864 determines that the task 870 is to be performed on the data. The determining may be based on one or more of receiving a task execution request, receiving the task 870, identifying a task execution need based on analysis of the data, a task execution schedule, and a predetermination.
The reconfigure module 866 reconfigures storage of the data from the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function, where the data is encoded into groupings of encoded data blocks 872 (e.g., computational data blocks 872) in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The reconfigure module 866 reconfigures storage of the data by a series of steps. A first step includes decoding the plurality of encoded data blocks 874 in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to recover the data. A second step includes encoding the recovered data in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to produce the groupings of encoded data blocks 872. A third step includes sending one of the groupings of encoded data blocks 872 to a DST unit 806.
The reconfigure module 866 may reconfigure storage of the data by a series of alternate steps. A first alternate step includes identifying data-based encoded data slices of the plurality of encoded data blocks 874 in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A second alternate step includes determining a data mapping of the data-based encoded data slices between the set of DST units 804 and the at least some of the DST units 806. A third alternate step includes facilitating copying of at least some of the data-based encoded data slices to the at least some of the DST units 806 in accordance with the data mapping.
The task module 868 facilitates performing the task 870 by a series of steps. A first step includes facilitating storage of the groupings of encoded data blocks 872 in the at least some of the set of DST units 806, where a DST unit 806 of the at least some of the DST units 806 recovers a portion of the data from the one of the groupings of encoded data blocks 872 and performs a portion of the task 870 on the recovered portion of the data to produce a partial task resultant 876. A second step includes receiving partial task resultants 876 from the at least some of the set of DST units 806. A third step includes compiling the partial task resultants 876 to produce the task resultant 878.
FIG. 58F is a flowchart illustrating another example of transforming data. The method begins at step 880 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) unit) determines that a task is to be performed on data, where the data is encoded into a plurality of encoded data blocks (e.g., sets of encoded slices, groups of check blocks) in accordance with a long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function and the plurality of encoded data blocks are stored in a set of DST units.
The method continues at step 882 with a processing module reconfigures storage of the data from the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to a computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function, where the data is encoded into groupings of encoded data blocks in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. The reconfiguring storage of the data includes a series of steps. A first step includes decoding the plurality of encoded data blocks in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to recover the data. A second step includes encoding the recovered data in accordance with the computational-orientated dispersed storage error coding function to produce the groupings of encoded data blocks. A third step includes sending one of the groupings of encoded data blocks to a DST unit of the set of DST units. Alternatively, the reconfiguring storage of the data includes a series of alternate steps. A first alternate step includes identifying data-based encoded data slices of the plurality of encoded data blocks in accordance with the long-term-storage-orientated dispersed storage error coding function. A second alternate step includes determining a data mapping of the data-based encoded data slices between the set of DST unit and the at least some of the DST units. A third alternate step includes facilitating copying of at least some of the data-based encoded data slices to the at least some of the DST units in accordance with the data mapping.
The method continues at step 884 where the processing module facilitates storage of the groupings of encoded data blocks in at least some of the set of DST units, where a DST unit of the at least some of the DST units recovers a portion of the data from the one of the groupings of encoded data blocks and performs a portion of the task on the recovered portion of the data to produce a partial task resultant. The method continues at step 886 where the processing module receives partial task resultants from the at least some of the set of DST units. The method continues at step 888 where the processing module compiles the partial task resultants to produce a task resultant.
FIG. 59 is a flowchart illustrating another example of transforming stored data. The method begins at step 890 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task (DST) client module) determines to convert data stored to facilitate a dispersed storage task to data stored to facilitate a distributed computing task. The determining may include at least one of receiving a conversion request, determining to convert based on one or more of a distributed computing task request indicator, a data retrieval frequency indicator, a priority level indicator, and a security level indicator. For example, the processing module detects that a series of steps of a task have been queued up to process the data utilizing a distributed computing approach and determines to convert dispersed storage format data to distributed computing format data to facilitate a distributed computing task execution efficiency improvement.
The method continues at step 892 where the processing module identifies DST execution units utilized to store the data (e.g., a lookup). The method continues at step 894 where the processing module obtains dispersed storage task processing parameters of the data. The obtaining includes one or more of performing a lookup, receiving the parameters, accessing DST allocation information to extract the parameters, accessing a dispersed storage vault, and performing a query.
The method continues at step 896 where the processing module determines distributed computing task processing parameters of the data. The determining includes one or more of performing a lookup, receiving the parameters, accessing DST allocation information to extract the parameters, performing a query, and determining the parameters based on one or more of a distributed computing requirement, and a performance requirement.
The method continues at step 898 where the processing module obtains a dispersed storage task pillar mapping corresponding to the data. The determining includes one or more of performing a lookup, receiving the mapping, accessing DST allocation information to extract the mapping, performing a query, and determining the mapping based on one or more of a dispersed storage requirement, and a storage performance requirement.
The method continues at step 900 where the processing module determines a distributed computing task pillar mapping corresponding to the data. The determining may be based on one or more of a network topology, a distributed computing performance requirement, a network bandwidth utilization maximum and one more storage objectives including minimizing transfer of slices, and efficiently utilizing storage capacity. For example, the processing module determines to utilize DST execution units likely to be matched to steps of likely distributed computing tasks. As another example, the processing module determines to not transfer slices from at least some of the DST execution units to minimize network bandwidth utilization. As yet another example, the processing module determines to leave same pillar number slices in different DST execution units when the DST execution units are at the same site as indicated by the network topology.
The method continues at step 902 where the processing module identifies slice groupings to transfer based on the distributed computing task pillar mapping and the dispersed storage task pillar mapping. The method continues at step 904 where the processing module facilitates transfer of slice groupings to transfer between two or more of the DST execution units. The method continues at step 906 where the processing module updates a directory and/or DST allocation information to indicate where each slice grouping is stored. Subsequent utilization of the data may support execution of tasks by each DST execution unit thus providing a system level distributed computing performance improvement. Alternatively, the processing module may retrieve a decode threshold number of slice groupings, decode the decode threshold number of slice groupings to reproduce the data, generate new slice groupings in accordance with the pillar mappings, and facilitate storing of the new slice groupings in accordance with the pillar mappings.
FIG. 60A is a diagram illustrating an example of non-sequential data segment storage mapping that includes a directory 910, an anchor object 912, and one or more data regions 1-2. The directory 910 provides an index function for locating data objects stored within at least one of a distributed storage network (DSN) and a distributed storage and task network (DSTN). The directory 910 includes a data identifier (ID) field 914, a distributed storage network (DSN) address field 916, and an anchor object format flag 918. The anchor object 912 includes data storage mapping information. The data storage mapping information includes a link format indicator 920 and a segment allocation table (SAT) 922. Each data region of the one or more data regions 1-2 includes one or more data segments. For example, a first data region includes data segments 1_1, 1_2, etc. through data segment 1_N when the first data region includes N data segments and a second data region includes data segments 2_1, 2_2, etc. through data segment 2_M when the data region includes M data segments.
Each of the directory 910, the anchor object 912, and the one or more data regions 1-2 is stored in one or more of a local memory and a DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, the directory 910 is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of directory slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, the anchor object 912 is encoded using the dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of anchor object slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, each data segment of one or more data segments of a region is encoded using the dispersed storage or coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, a vault source name is assigned as a DSN address for an object to be stored in the DSN memory. For example, a first DSN address is assigned to the directory 910 and is utilized to generate a set of slice names corresponding to the set of directory slices. As another example, a second DSN address is assigned to the anchor object 912 and is utilized to generate a set of slice names corresponding to the set of anchor object slices. Such a second DSN address is utilized as an entry for the DSN address field 916.
DSN addresses are sequentially assigned to the one or more data segments of each data region. For example, a third DSN address is assigned to a first data segment of the first data region, a fourth DSN address is assigned to a second data segment of the first data region, where the fourth DSN address includes a data segment identifier entry that is substantially the same as a data segment identifier entry of the third DSN address incremented by one, a fifth DSN address is assigned to a third data segment of the first data region, where the fifth DSN address includes a data segment identifier entry that is substantially the same as the data segment identifier entry of the fourth DSN address incremented by one, etc. DSN addresses of each data segment of the one or more data segments of each data region may be generated based on a DSN address of a first data segment of the data region and information regarding the one or more data segments (e.g., how many data segments). Slice names of a set of slices associated with each data segment may be generated based on the DSN address of the data segment (e.g., appending a pillar index based on a pillar width of dispersed storage error coding parameters).
The SAT 922 includes one or more entries. Each entry includes identity of a corresponding data region (e.g., a region number), a DSN address of the first data segment, and information relating the first data segment to the one or more data segments (e.g., a total size of the data region, a data segment size, a data segmentation approach, a number of data segments). For example, a first entry of the SAT 922 includes a DSN address of data segment 1_1 and information that N data segments are included in region 1 and a second entry of SAT 922 includes a DSN address of data segment 2_1 and information that M data segments are included in region 2. As such, the SAT 922 provides access to the one or more data segments of the one or more data regions when stored in the DSN memory.
In an example of operation, a data ID 924, that corresponds to data stored as one or more data segments of the one or more data regions, is utilized to identify an entry of directory 910 that includes a data ID entry in the data ID field 914 that substantially matches data ID 924. The DSN address field 916 is accessed to retrieve the DSN address entry corresponding to the storage location of anchor object 912 and the anchor object format flag field 918 is accessed to retrieve an anchor object format flag entry. The anchor object format flag entry identifies whether the anchor object 912 includes a format indicator that includes the linked format indicator 920.
Next, the anchor object 912 is retrieved using the DSN address 916 of the anchor object 912. When the anchor object format flag 918 indicates that the anchor object 912 includes the format indicator, the format indicator is extracted from the anchor object 912. The format indicator includes at least one of a linked format indicator 920 and a packed format indicator 928 as discussed with reference to FIG. 60B. When the format indicator indicates the linked format indicator 920, the SAT 922 is extracted and interpreted to identify the DSN address of the first data segment of each data region of the one or more data regions. Next, at least one data segment of the one or more data segments per data region is accessed utilizing one or more entries of the SAT 922.
FIG. 60B is a diagram illustrating an example of sequential data segment storage mapping that includes a directory 910, an anchor object 926, and one or more data regions 1-2. The directory 910 provides an index function for locating data objects stored within at least one of a distributed storage network (DSN) and a distributed storage and task network (DSTN). The directory 910 includes a data identifier (ID) field 914, a distributed storage network (DSN) address field 916, and an anchor object format flag 918. The anchor object 926 includes data storage mapping information and a first data segment of a first data region of the one or more data regions 1-2. The data storage mapping information includes a packed format indicator 928 and a segment allocation table (SAT) 922. The first data region of the one or more data regions 1-2 includes the first data segment of the first data region and one or more remaining data segments of the one or more data segments. Remaining data regions of the one or more data regions 1-2 includes one or more data segments corresponding to the data region. For example, a first data region includes anchor object 926 (e.g., that includes data segment 1_1), data segments 1_2, 1_3, etc. through data segment 1_N when the first data region includes N data segments and a second data region includes data segments 2_1, 2_2, etc. through data segment 2_M when the data region includes M data segments.
Each of the directory 910, the anchor object 926, and data segments of the one or more data regions 1-2 is stored in one or more of a local memory and a DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, the directory 910 is encoded using a dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of directory slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, the anchor object 926 is encoded using the dispersed storage error coding function to produce a set of data storage information and data slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, each remaining data segment of one or more data segments of the first region is encoded using the dispersed storage or coding function to produce a set of encoded data slices for storage in the DSN memory. When utilizing the DSN memory, a vault source name is assigned as a DSN address for an object to be stored in the DSN memory. For example, a first DSN address is assigned to the directory 910 and is utilized to generate a set of slice names corresponding to the set of directory slices. As another example, a second DSN address is assigned to the anchor object 926 and is utilized to generate a set of slice names corresponding to the set of data storage information and data slices. Such a second DSN address is utilized as an entry for the DSN address field 916.
DSN addresses are sequentially assigned to the one or more data segments of each data region. For example, a third DSN address is assigned the anchor object 926 that includes the first data segment of the first data region, a fourth DSN address is assigned to a second data segment of the first data region, where the fourth DSN address includes a data segment identifier entry that is substantially the same as a data segment identifier entry of the third DSN address incremented by one, a fifth DSN address is assigned to a third data segment of the first data region, where the fifth DSN address includes a data segment identifier entry that is substantially the same as the data segment identifier entry of the fourth DSN address incremented by one, etc. DSN addresses of each data segment of the one or more data segments of each data region may be generated based on a DSN address of a first data segment (e.g., of the anchor object 926 for the first data region) of the data region and information regarding the one or more data segments (e.g., how many data segments). Slice names of a set of slices associated with each data segment may be generated based on the DSN address of the data segment (e.g., appending a pillar index based on a pillar width of dispersed storage error coding parameters).
The SAT 922 includes one or more entries. Each entry includes identity of a corresponding data region (e.g., a region number), a DSN address of the first data segment (e.g., of the anchor object 926 for the first data region), and information relating the first data segment to the one or more data segments (e.g., a total size of the data region, a data segment size, a data segmentation approach, a number of data segments). For example, a first entry of the SAT 922 includes a DSN address of the anchor object 926 that includes data segment 1_1 and information that N data segments are included in region 1 and a second entry of SAT 922 includes a DSN address of data segment 2_1 and information that M data segments are included in region 2. As such, the SAT 922 provides access to the one or more data segments of the one or more data regions when stored in the DSN memory.
In an example of operation, a data ID 924, that corresponds to data stored as one or more data segments of the one or more data regions, is utilized to identify an entry of directory 910 that includes a data ID entry in the data ID field 914 that substantially matches data ID 924. The DSN address field 916 is accessed to retrieve the DSN address entry corresponding to the storage location of anchor object 926 and the anchor object format flag field 918 is accessed to retrieve an anchor object format flag entry. The anchor object format flag entry identifies whether the anchor object 912 includes a format indicator that includes the packed format indicator 928.
Next, the anchor object 926 is retrieved using the DSN address 916 of the anchor object 926. When the anchor object format flag 918 indicates that the anchor object 926 includes the format indicator, the format indicator is extracted from the anchor object 926. The format indicator includes at least one of a linked format indicator 920 and a packed format indicator 928. When the format indicator indicates the packed format indicator 928, the SAT 922 is extracted and interpreted to identify the DSN address of the second data segment of the first data region. The first data segment is extracted from the anchor object 926. The SAT 922 is interpreted to identify the DSN address of the first data segment of remaining data regions (e.g., starting with the second data region when the second data region exists). Next, at least one data segment of the one or more data segments per data region is accessed utilizing one or more entries of the SAT 922. The storage mapping is discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 60C-F.
FIG. 60C is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a distributed storage network (DSN) that includes a computing device 930 and a distributed storage network (DSN) memory 932. The DSN memory 932 includes a plurality of dispersed storage (DS) units 934. Each DS unit 934 may be implemented by one or more of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit, a DST unit, a server, a user device, a memory device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 930 may be implemented by one or more of a DS unit 934, a DST unit, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 930 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 936 (e.g., a distributed storage processing module). The DS module 936 includes a select storage module 938, a segment module 940, a generate mapping module 942, an encode module 944, and an output module 946.
The system is operable to store data 948 in the DSN memory 932 (e.g., also referred to as the DSN 932). The select storage module 938 determines whether to use sequential data segment storage mapping or non-sequential data segment storage mapping for storage of the data 948 based on data read/write probabilities 950 of the data 948. The data read/write probabilities 950 includes one or more of size of the data, data type, estimated regularity of editing at least a portion of the data, estimated regularity of deleting at least a portion of the data, estimated regularity of expanding the data, storage capabilities of the DSN 932 (e.g., vault capacity, performance level, formats, etc.), parallel read/write preferences, and non-sequential read/write preferences.
The segment module 940, when the non-sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, performs a series of steps. A first step includes determining an initial set of storage regions of the DSN 932 for storing the data 948. The segment module 940 determines the initial set of storage regions by determining the initial set of storage regions based on one or more of the data read/write probabilities 950. A second step includes mapping a set of data partitions to the initial set of storage regions, where the data 948 is divided into the set of data partitions (e.g., data partitions may be the same size, different sizes, or a combination thereof). A third step includes, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, segmenting the data partition into a plurality of data segments 952. A fourth step includes, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, designating a first data segment of the plurality of data segments 952.
The generate mapping module 942, when the non-sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, generates data storage mapping information 954 regarding at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions to the initial set of storage regions, the plurality of data segments 952 for each data partition of the set of data partitions, and the first data segment for each data partition of the set of data partitions. The generate mapping module 942 generates the data storage mapping information 954 by a series of steps. A first step includes generating an indication for the non-sequential data segment storage mapping. A second step includes generating a segment allocation table, where an entry of the segment allocation table includes identity of one of the initial set of storage regions, identity of the first data segment, and information relating the first data segment to the plurality of data segments 952.
The encode module 944, when the non-sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, performs a series of encoding steps. A first encoding step includes encoding, in accordance with a first dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information 954 to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956. A second encoding step includes, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, encoding, in accordance with a second dispersed storage error coding function, the plurality of data segments 952 to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958. The output module 946, when the non-sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956 and, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, the plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958 to the DSN 932 for storage therein.
Alternatively, the DS module 936 (e.g., the encode module 944) combines the data storage mapping information 954 and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions for storage as a common set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960. When combining, the first dispersed storage error coding function specifies dispersed storage error coding parameters and the second dispersed storage error coding function specifies the dispersed storage error coding parameters. When combining, the encode module 944 performs a series of combining encoding steps. A first combining encoding step includes encoding, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the data storage mapping information 954 and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960. A second combining encoding step includes, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments 952 of the first data partition, encoding, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices 958 (e.g., for output by the output module 946 to the DSN 932).
Alternatively, the select storage module 938 may determine to utilize the sequential data segment storage mapping. When the sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, the segment module 940 segments the data 948 into a plurality of data segments 952 and designates a first data segment of the plurality of data segments 952. The generate mapping module 942 generates data storage mapping information 954 regarding at least one of the plurality of data segments 952 and the first data segment. The encode module 944 encodes, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information 954 and the first data segment to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960. For each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments 952, the encode module 944 encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding function, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices 958. The output module 946 outputs at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960 and, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments, the set of encoded data slices 958 to the DSN 932 for storage therein.
The DS module 936 may receive additional data 962 to store with the data 948. When receiving additional data 962, the select storage module 938 receives the additional data 962 to store with the data 948. The segment module 940, when receiving additional data 962, performs a series of additional steps. A first additional step includes selecting another storage region of the DSN 932 for storing the additional data 962. A second additional step includes updating a set of storage regions to include the initial set of storage regions and the other storage region. A third additional step includes segmenting the additional data 962 into an additional plurality of data segments 952. A fourth additional step includes designating a first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments 952.
When receiving the additional data 962, the generate mapping module 942 updates the data storage mapping information 954 to include at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions and the additional data to the set of storage regions, the additional plurality of data segments 952, and the first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments 952. The encode module 944 performs additional steps including a first step where the encode module 944 encodes, in accordance with the first dispersed storage error coding function, the updated data storage mapping information to produce at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices 956. In a second additional step, the encode module 944 encodes, in accordance with the second dispersed storage error coding function, the additional plurality of data segments to produce an additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958. The output module 944 outputs the at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices 956 and the additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958 to the DSN 932 for storage therein.
FIG. 60D is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing data. The method begins at step 970 where a processing module (e.g., of a dispersed storage processing module) determines whether to use sequential data segment storage mapping or non-sequential data segment storage mapping for storage of data based on data read/write probabilities of the data. The method branches to step 984 when the processing module determines to use non-sequential data segment storage mapping. The method continues to step 972 when the processing module determines to use sequential data segment storage mapping. The method continues at step 972 where the processing module segments the data into a plurality of data segments when the sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used. The method continues at step 974 where the processing module designates a first data segment of the plurality of data segments.
The method continues at step 976 where the processing module generates data storage mapping information regarding at least one of the plurality of data segments and the first data segment. The generating data storage mapping information includes generating an indication for the sequential data segment storage mapping and generating a segment allocation table. An entry of the segment allocation table includes identity of the first data segment (e.g., a vault source name) and information relating the first data segment to the plurality of data segments (e.g., a number of data segments, a total length of the plurality of data segments).
The method continues at step 978 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information and the first data segment to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices. For each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments, the method continues at step 980 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding function, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices. The method continues at step 982 where the processing module outputs at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices and, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments, the set of encoded data slices to a distributed storage network (DSN) for storage therein.
When the non-sequential data segment storage mapping is to be used, the method continues at step 984 where the processing module determines an initial set of storage regions of the DSN for storing the data. The determining the initial set of storage regions includes determining the initial set of storage regions based on one or more of the data read/write probabilities. The method continues at step 986 where the processing module maps a set of data partitions to the initial set of storage regions, where the data is divided into the set of data partitions (e.g., data partitions can be the same size, different sizes, or a combination thereof). For each data partition of the set of data partitions, the method continues at step 988 where the processing module segments the data partition into a plurality of data segments and designates a first data segment of the plurality of data segments (e.g., identifies a vault source name).
The method continues at step 992 where the processing module generates data storage mapping information regarding at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions to the initial set of storage regions, the plurality of data segments for each data partition of the set of data partitions, and the first data segment for each data partition of the set of data partitions. The generating data storage mapping information includes generating an indication for the non-sequential data segment storage mapping and generating the segment allocation table. An entry of the segment allocation table includes identity of one of the initial set of storage regions (e.g., a region identifier), identity of the first data segment (e.g., vault source name), and information relating the first data segment to the plurality of data segments (e.g., a number of data segments, a total length of the plurality of data segments).
The processing module may utilize a packed format for the first data segment, where the first data segment is combined with the data storage mapping information when utilizing the packed format. The processing module may determine to utilize the packed format based on one or more of the data read/write probabilities and the indication for the non-sequential data segment storage mapping. For example, the processing module selects the packed format when the data read/write probabilities indicate that a data size of the data is less than a packed data threshold size. As another example, the processing module selects the non-packed format when the non-sequential data segment format is indicated. The method branches to step 1000 when the processing module selects the packed format. The method continues to step 994 when the processing module selects a non-packed format.
The method continues at step 994 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with a first dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information slices. For each data partition of the set of data partitions, the method continues at step 996 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with a second dispersed storage error coding function, the plurality of data segments to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues at step 998 where the processing module outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices and, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein. When receiving additional data, the method branches to step 1006.
When using the packed format, the first dispersed storage error coding function specifies dispersed storage error coding parameters, the second dispersed storage error coding function specifies the dispersed storage error coding parameters, and the method continues at step 1000 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the data storage mapping information and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices. For each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments of the first data partition, the method continues at step 1002 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices. The method continues at step 1004 where the processing module outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices and, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments of the first data partition, the set of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein. When receiving the additional data, the method continues to step 1006.
The method continues at step 1006 where the processing module receives the additional data to store with the data. The method continues at step 1008 where the processing module selects another storage region of the DSN for storing the additional data and updates a set of storage regions to include the initial set of storage regions and the other storage region. The method continues at step 1012 where the processing module segments the additional data into an additional plurality of data segments and designates a first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments. The method continues at step 1016 where the processing module updates the data storage mapping information to include at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions and the additional data to the set of storage regions, the additional plurality of data segments, and the first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments.
The method continues at step 1018 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the first dispersed storage error coding function, the updated data storage mapping information to produce at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices. The method continues at step 1020 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the second dispersed storage error coding function, the additional plurality of data segments to produce an additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues at step 1022 where the processing module outputs the at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices and the additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein.
FIG. 60E is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed storage network (DSN) that includes a computing device 1030 and a distributed storage network (DSN) memory 932. The DSN memory 932 includes a plurality of dispersed storage (DS) units 934. Each DS unit 934 may be implemented by one or more of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit, a DST unit, a server, a user device, a memory device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 1030 may be implemented by one or more of a DS unit 934, a DST unit, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 1030 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 1032 (e.g., a distributed storage processing module). The DS module 1032 includes a segment module 1034, a generate mapping module 1036, an encode module 1038, and an output module 1040.
The system is operable to store data 948 in the DSN memory 932 (e.g., also referred to as the DSN 932). The segment module 1034 performs a series of steps. A first step includes mapping a set of data partitions to a set of storage regions, where the data 948 is divided into the set of data partitions (e.g., data partitions can be the same size, different sizes, or a combination thereof). The segment module 1034 maps the set of data partitions to the set of storage regions by determining the set of storage regions based on data read/write probabilities. The data read/write probabilities includes one or more of size of the data, data type, estimated regularity of editing at least a portion of the data, estimated regularity of deleting at least a portion of the data, estimated regularity of expanding the data, storage capabilities of the DSN, parallel read/write preferences, and non-sequential read/write preferences. For each data partition of the set of data partitions, the segment module 1034 segments the data partition into a plurality of data segments 952 and designates a first data segment of the plurality of data segments (e.g., identifies a vault source name).
The generate mapping module 1036 generates data storage mapping information 954 regarding at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions to the set of storage regions, the plurality of data segments 952 for each data partition of the set of data partitions, and the first data segment for each data partition of the set of data partitions. The generate mapping module 1036 generates the data storage mapping information 954 by a series of steps. A first step includes generating an indication for the non-sequential data segment storage mapping. A second step includes generating a segment allocation table. An entry of the segment allocation table includes identity of one of the initial set of storage regions, identity of the first data segment, and information relating the first data segment to the plurality of data segments 952.
The encode module 1038 performs a series of steps. A first step includes encoding, in accordance with a first dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information 954 to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956. For each data partition of the set of data partitions, a second step includes encoding, in accordance with a second dispersed storage error coding function, the plurality of data segments 952 to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958. The output module 1040 outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956 and, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, the plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958 to the DSN 932 for storage therein.
Alternatively, the DS module 1032 (e.g., the encode module 1038) combines the data storage mapping information 954 and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions for storage as a common set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960. When combining, the first dispersed storage error coding function specifies dispersed storage error coding parameters and the second dispersed storage error coding function specifies the dispersed storage error coding parameters. When combining, the encode module 1038 performs a series of combining encoding steps. A first combining encoding step includes encoding, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the data storage mapping information 954 and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices 960 (e.g., for output by the output module 1040 to the DSN 932). A second combining encoding step includes, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments 952 of the first data partition, encoding, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices 958 (e.g., for output by the output module 1040 to the DSN 932).
The DS module 1032 may receive additional data 962 to store with the data 948. When receiving the additional data 962, the segment module 1034 performs a series of steps. A first step includes receiving the additional data 962 to store with the data 932. A second step includes selecting another storage region of the DSN 932 for storing the additional data 962. A third step includes updating the set of storage regions to include the other storage region. A fourth step includes segmenting the additional data 962 into an additional plurality of data segments 952. A fifth step includes designating a first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments 952. When receiving the additional data 962, the generate mapping module 1036 updates the data storage mapping information 954 to include at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions and the additional data 962 to the updated set of storage regions, the additional plurality of data segments 952, and the first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments 952.
When receiving the additional data 962, the encode module 1038 performs a series of steps. A first step includes encoding, in accordance with the first dispersed storage error coding function, the updated data storage mapping information 954 to produce at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices 956. A second step includes encoding, in accordance with the second dispersed storage error coding function, the additional plurality of data segments 952 to produce an additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958. When receiving the additional data, the output module 1040 outputs the at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices 956 and the additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices 958 to the DSN 932 for storage therein.
FIG. 60F is a flowchart illustrating another example of storing data, which includes similar steps to FIG. 60D. The method begins at step 1042 where a processing module (e.g., of a dispersed storage processing module) maps a set of data partitions to a set of storage regions, where the data is divided into the set of data partitions. The mapping the set of data partitions to the set of storage regions includes determining the set of storage regions based on data read/write probabilities. For each data partition of the set of data partitions, the method continues with step 988 of FIG. 60D where the processing module segments the data partition into a plurality of data segments and designates a first data segment of the plurality of data segments (e.g., identifies a vault source name).
The method continues at step 1044 where the processing module generates data storage mapping information regarding at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions to the set of storage regions, the plurality of data segments for each data partition of the set of data partitions, and the first data segment for each data partition of the set of data partitions. The generating data storage mapping information includes a series of steps. A first step includes generating an indication for the non-sequential data segment storage mapping. A second step includes generating a segment allocation table. An entry of the segment allocation table includes identity of one of the initial set of storage regions, identity of the first data segment, and information relating the first data segment to the plurality of data segments.
The processing module may utilize a packed format for the first data segment, where the first data segment is combined with the data storage mapping information when utilizing the packed format. The processing module may determine to utilize the packed format based on one or more of the data read/write probabilities. For example, the processing module selects the packed format when the data read/write probabilities indicate that a data size of the data is less than a packed data threshold size. The method branches to step 1000 of FIG. 60D when the processing module selects the packed format. The method continues to step 994 of FIG. 60D when the processing module selects a non-packed format.
The method continues with step 994 of FIG. 60D where the processing module encodes, in accordance with a first dispersed storage error coding function, the data storage mapping information to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information slices. For each data partition of the set of data partitions, the method continues at step 996 where the processing module encodes, in accordance with a second dispersed storage error coding function, the plurality of data segments to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with step 998 of FIG. 60D where the processing module outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices and, for each data partition of the set of data partitions, the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein. When receiving additional data, the method branches to step 1006 of FIG. 60D.
When using the packed format, the first dispersed storage error coding function specifies dispersed storage error coding parameters, the second dispersed storage error coding function specifies the dispersed storage error coding parameters, and the method continues with step 1000 of FIG. 60D where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the data storage mapping information and the first data segment of a first data partition of the set of data partitions to produce at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices. For each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments of the first data partition, the method continues with step 1002 of FIG. 60D where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters, the remaining data segment to produce a set of encoded data slices. The method continues with step 1004 of FIG. 60D where the processing module outputs the at least one set of encoded mapping information and data slices and, for each remaining data segment of the plurality of data segments of the first data partition, the set of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein. When receiving the additional data, the method continues to step 1006 of FIG. 60D.
The method continues with step 1006 of FIG. 60D where the processing module receives the additional data to store with the data. The method continues at step 1046 where the processing module selects another storage region of the DSN for storing the additional data. The method continues at step 1048 where the processing module updates the set of storage regions to include the other storage region. The method continues with step 1012 of FIG. 60D where the processing module segments the additional data into an additional plurality of data segments and designates a first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments. The method continues with step 1016 of FIG. 60D where the processing module updates the data storage mapping information to include at least one of the mapping of the set of data partitions and the additional data to the set of storage regions, the additional plurality of data segments, and the first data segment of the additional plurality of data segments.
The method continues with step 1018 of FIG. 60D where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the first dispersed storage error coding function, the updated data storage mapping information to produce at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices. The method continues with step 1020 of FIG. 60D where the processing module encodes, in accordance with the second dispersed storage error coding function, the additional plurality of data segments to produce an additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with step 1022 of FIG. 60D where the processing module outputs the at least one updated set of encoded mapping information slices and the additional plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the DSN for storage therein.
FIG. 61A is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a distributed storage network (DSN) that includes a computing device 1060 and a DSN memory 932. The DSN memory 932 includes a plurality of dispersed storage (DS) units 934. Each DS unit 934 may be implemented by one or more of a distributed storage and task (DST) execution unit, a DST unit, a server, a user device, a memory device, and a DST processing unit. The computing device 1060 may be implemented by one or more of a DS unit 934, a DST unit, a DST execution unit, a DST client module, a distributed task (DT) execution module, a processing module, a controller, a user device, a DST processing unit, a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit, and a DST integrity processing unit. The computing device 1060 includes a distributed storage (DS) module 1062 (e.g., a distributed storage processing module). The DS module 1062 includes a receive module 1064, an index module 1066, an identify module 1068, and a retrieve module 1070.
The system is operable to retrieve a portion 1072 of a data object (e.g., data file, video file, text file, multimedia file, data file, etc.) from the DSN memory 932 (e.g., also referred to as the DSN 932). The receive module 1064 receives a request 1074 to retrieve the portion 1072 of the data object that is stored in the DSN 932, where the request includes a DSN address for data storage mapping information 1076 regarding storage of the data object. The request may also include one or more data interpretation parameters to facilitate identification of the portion 1072 of the data object. The data interpretation parameters includes one or more of interpretation-based separators for data filtering, interpretation-based separators for data access, chapters of the data object, pages of the data object, sub-chapters of the data object, markers within the data object, time codes associated with the data object, and run-time divisions for playback of the data object.
The data storage mapping information 1076 includes at least one of a plurality of subgroups of data storage mapping information. A first subgroup of data storage mapping information includes a mapping of a set of data partitions to storage regions, where the data object is partitioned into the set of data partitions. A second subgroup of data storage mapping information includes information regarding data segments as a plurality of data segments for each data partition of the set of data partitions (e.g., a number of data segments, a total size of the data partition, a data segmentation scheme). A third subgroup of data storage mapping information includes information regarding a first data segment of the plurality of data segments for each data partition of the set of data partitions. (e.g., a vault source name DSN address).
The index module 1066 performs a series of indexing steps. A first indexing step includes retrieving, based on the DSN address, the data storage mapping information 1076, which maps storage of the data object as data segments in data storage regions of the DSN in accordance with data storage optimization parameters. The data storage optimization parameters includes one or more of storage efficiency, storage reliability, DSN performance, data security, and read/write probabilities of the data object.
The index module 1066 retrieves the data storage mapping information 1076 by a series of retrieving steps. A first retrieving step includes retrieving at least a decode threshold number of at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956 from a set of DS units 934 of the DSN 932 based on the DSN address. For example, the index module 1066 performs a directory lookup to identify the DSN address based on a data identifier of the data object. Next, the index module 1066 generates at least one set of slice names corresponding to the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices based on the identified DSN address. The index module 1066 generates at least one set of read slice requests that includes the at least one set of slice names. Next, the index module 1066 outputs the at least one set of read slice requests to the DSN memory 932. The index module 1066 receives the at least a decode threshold number of the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956. A second retrieving step includes the index module 1066 decoding, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the at least a decode threshold number of the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices 956 to produce the data storage mapping information 1076.
A second indexing step includes accessing, by the index module 1066, based on the request, indexing information 1078 regarding the data object, where the indexing information 1078 identifies a categorization of the data object into a plurality of categorical data portions 1080 in accordance with data interpretation parameters. The categorization includes user-based interpretation separators for data filtering, data finding, etc. (e.g., chapters, pages, some-chapters, markers, time codes, runtime divisions for playback of a file, etc.). For example, a first categorical data portion includes identifying a first data segment of each region of the set of regions. As another example, a second categorical data portion includes five minutes of video from a point 45 minutes into a video file. The accessing includes at least one of retrieving, generating, receiving, and obtaining. For example, the index module 1066 accesses the indexing information 1078 regarding the data by performing a distributed computing function on the data object stored in the DSN to generate the indexing information 1078. In such an example, the index module 1066 retrieves at least some encoded data slices 958 of the data object from the DSN memory 932 to facilitate performing the distributed computing function on the data object.
The identify module 1068 performs a series of identification steps. A first identification step includes identifying, for the portion of the data object, a specific categorical data portion of the plurality of categorical data portions 1080 in accordance with the indexing information 1078. A second identification step includes equating the specific categorical data portion to specific storage information 1082 of the data storage mapping information 1076 to identify at least one data segment of the data segments of at least one storage region of the storage regions. The identify module 1068 equates the specific categorical data portion to the specific storage information 1082 by a series of equating steps. A first equating step includes aligning the indexing information 1078 with the data storage mapping information 1076 to establish a common reference point. A second equating step includes identifying a target reference point with respect to the common reference point for the specific categorical data portion. A third equating step includes utilizing the target reference point to identify the specific storage information 1082 of the data storage mapping information 1076 with respect to the common reference point.
The retrieve module 1070 retrieves the at least one data segment of the at least one storage region from the DSN in accordance with the specific storage information 1082. The retrieve module 1070 retrieves the at least one data segment by, for each data segment of the at least one data segment of the at least one storage region, retrieving at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices 958 from the DSN 932 and decoding, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices 958 to reproduce the data segment. The retrieve module 1070 outputs the at least one data segment as the portion 1072 of the data object.
FIG. 61B is a flowchart illustrating an example of retrieving data. The method begins at step 1090 where a processing module (e.g., of a dispersed storage (DS) processing module) receives a request to retrieve a portion of a data object (e.g., data file, video file, etc.) that is stored in a distributed storage network (DSN), where the request includes a DSN address for data storage mapping information regarding storage of the data object. The request may also include one or more of the data interpretation parameters to facilitate identification of the portion of the data object.
The method continues at step 1092 where the processing module retrieves, based on the DSN address, the data storage mapping information, which maps storage of the data object as data segments in data storage regions of the DSN in accordance with data storage optimization parameters. The retrieving the data storage mapping information includes a series of retrieving steps. A first retrieving step includes the processing module retrieving at least a decode threshold number of at least one set of encoded mapping information slices from a set of dispersed storage units of the DSN based on the DSN address. A second retrieving step includes the processing module decoding, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the at least a decode threshold number of the at least one set of encoded mapping information slices to produce the data storage mapping information.
The method continues at step 1094 where the processing module accesses, based on the request, indexing information regarding the data object, where the indexing information identifies a categorization of the data object into a plurality of categorical data portions in accordance with data interpretation parameters. The accessing the indexing information regarding the data includes performing a distributed computing function on the data object stored in the DSN to generate the indexing information. The method continues at step 1096 where the processing module identifies, for the portion of the data object, a specific categorical data portion of the plurality of categorical data portions in accordance with the indexing information.
The method continues at step 1098 where the processing module equates the specific categorical data portion to specific storage information of the data storage mapping information to identify at least one data segment of the data segments of at least one storage region of the storage regions. The equating the specific categorical data portion to specific storage information includes a series of equating steps. A first equating step includes the processing module aligning the indexing information with the data storage mapping information to establish a common reference point. A second equating step includes the processing module identifying a target reference point with respect to the common reference point for the specific categorical data portion. A third equating step includes the processing module utilizing the target reference point to identify the specific storage information of the data storage mapping information with respect to the common reference point.
The method continues at step 1100 where the processing module retrieves the at least one data segment of the at least one storage region from the DSN in accordance with the specific storage information. The retrieving the at least one data segment includes, for each data segment of the at least one data segment of the at least one storage region, the processing module retrieving at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices from the DSN and the processing module decoding, in accordance with a dispersed storage error coding function, the at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices to reproduce the data segment.
FIG. 62 is a flowchart illustrating an example of upgrading software. The method begins with step 1102 where a processing module (e.g., of a distributed storage and task network (DSTN) managing unit) determines to perform a software upgrade on a set of distributed storage and task (DST) execution units. The determining may be based on one or more of receiving a software upgrade from a software source, receiving a software upgrade request, a software revision usage timeout, an error message, a software defect detection indicator, and a manager input.
The method continues at step 1104 where the processing module obtains dispersal parameters utilized by the set of DST execution units. The obtaining includes at least one of receiving the parameters, initiating a query, performing a lookup, and accessing a vault associated with the set of DST execution units. The method continues at step 1106 where the processing module obtains availability information of the set of DST execution units. The availability information includes at least one of a currently active indicator, a currently inactive indicator, a scheduled downtime indicator, a downtime history record, a software revision indicator, and a current error indicator. The obtaining includes at least one of receiving the information, initiating a query, performing a lookup, and performing an availability test with one or more DST execution units of the set of DST execution units.
The method continues at step 1108 where the processing module selects one or more DST execution units of the set of DST execution units as selected units to upgrade. The selecting may be based on one or more of dispersed storage error coding parameters, a maximum number of unavailable DST execution units, a minimum number of available DST execution units, availability information, a software revision indicator, a timestamp associated with a last software upgrade, an upgrade schedule, and a last software upgrade success indicator. For example, the processing module selects at most a pillar width minus a decode threshold number of units such that there are at least a decode threshold number of DST execution units online and available (e.g., not currently being upgraded and available to access data). As another example, the processing module selects a DST execution unit that is associated with a previously unsuccessful software upgrade when remaining DST execution units of the set of DST execution units have all been upgraded.
The method continues at step 1110 where the processing module facilitates identifying the selected units as unavailable. The facilitating includes at least one of sending a message to the selected units and updating a DST execution unit availability table. The method continues at step 1112 where the processing module initiates a software upgrade for the selected units. The initiating includes at least one of sending software and an upgrade request to each DST execution unit of the selected units, and sending an upgrade request and an address of the software for retrieval to each DST execution unit of the selected units.
The method continues at step 1114 where the processing module receives a software upgrade response from a DST execution unit of the selected units. The software upgrade response includes at least one of a successful upgrade indicator and an unsuccessful upgrade indicator. The method continues at step 1116 where the processing module facilitates identifying the DST execution unit of the selected units as available when the software upgrade response is favorable. The facilitating includes at least one of sending an available message to the DST execution unit and updating the DST execution unit availability table to indicate that the DST execution unit is available and upgraded.
The method continues at 1118 where the processing module determines whether the set of DST execution units are all upgraded (e.g., by comparing a number of upgraded DST execution units from the DST execution unit availability table to the number of DST execution units). The method repeats back to step 1106 when the processing module determines that the set of DST execution units are not all upgraded. The method continues to step 1120 when the processing module determines that the set of DST execution units are all upgraded. The method continues at step 1120 where the method ends. In addition, the processing module may output an indicator that the upgrade process has completed.
As may be used herein, the terms “substantially” and “approximately” provides an industry-accepted tolerance for its corresponding term and/or relativity between items. Such an industry-accepted tolerance ranges from less than one percent to fifty percent and corresponds to, but is not limited to, component values, integrated circuit process variations, temperature variations, rise and fall times, and/or thermal noise. Such relativity between items ranges from a difference of a few percent to magnitude differences. As may also be used herein, the term(s) “operably coupled to”, “coupled to”, and/or “coupling” includes direct coupling between items and/or indirect coupling between items via an intervening item (e.g., an item includes, but is not limited to, a component, an element, a circuit, and/or a module) where, for indirect coupling, the intervening item does not modify the information of a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/or power level. As may further be used herein, inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another element by inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two items in the same manner as “coupled to”. As may even further be used herein, the term “operable to” or “operably coupled to” indicates that an item includes one or more of power connections, input(s), output(s), etc., to perform, when activated, one or more its corresponding functions and may further include inferred coupling to one or more other items. As may still further be used herein, the term “associated with”, includes direct and/or indirect coupling of separate items and/or one item being embedded within another item. As may be used herein, the term “compares favorably”, indicates that a comparison between two or more items, signals, etc., provides a desired relationship. For example, when the desired relationship is that signal 1 has a greater magnitude than signal 2, a favorable comparison may be achieved when the magnitude of signal 1 is greater than that of signal 2 or when the magnitude of signal 2 is less than that of signal 1.
As may also be used herein, the terms “processing module”, “processing circuit”, and/or “processing unit” may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on hard coding of the circuitry and/or operational instructions. The processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit may be, or further include, memory and/or an integrated memory element, which may be a single memory device, a plurality of memory devices, and/or embedded circuitry of another processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, cache memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit includes more than one processing device, the processing devices may be centrally located (e.g., directly coupled together via a wired and/or wireless bus structure) or may be distributedly located (e.g., cloud computing via indirect coupling via a local area network and/or a wide area network). Further note that if the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory and/or memory element storing the corresponding operational instructions may be embedded within, or external to, the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. Still further note that, the memory element may store, and the processing module, module, processing circuit, and/or processing unit executes, hard coded and/or operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated in one or more of the Figures. Such a memory device or memory element can be included in an article of manufacture.
The present invention has been described above with the aid of method steps illustrating the performance of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functional building blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships are appropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. Further, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.
The present invention may have also been described, at least in part, in terms of one or more embodiments. An embodiment of the present invention is used herein to illustrate the present invention, an aspect thereof, a feature thereof, a concept thereof, and/or an example thereof. A physical embodiment of an apparatus, an article of manufacture, a machine, and/or of a process that embodies the present invention may include one or more of the aspects, features, concepts, examples, etc. described with reference to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein. Further, from figure to figure, the embodiments may incorporate the same or similarly named functions, steps, modules, etc. that may use the same or different reference numbers and, as such, the functions, steps, modules, etc. may be the same or similar functions, steps, modules, etc. or different ones.
While the transistors in the above described figure(s) is/are shown as field effect transistors (FETs), as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the transistors may be implemented using any type of transistor structure including, but not limited to, bipolar, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET), N-well transistors, P-well transistors, enhancement mode, depletion mode, and zero voltage threshold (VT) transistors.
Unless specifically stated to the contra, signals to, from, and/or between elements in a figure of any of the figures presented herein may be analog or digital, continuous time or discrete time, and single-ended or differential. For instance, if a signal path is shown as a single-ended path, it also represents a differential signal path. Similarly, if a signal path is shown as a differential path, it also represents a single-ended signal path. While one or more particular architectures are described herein, other architectures can likewise be implemented that use one or more data buses not expressly shown, direct connectivity between elements, and/or indirect coupling between other elements as recognized by one of average skill in the art.
The term “module” is used in the description of the various embodiments of the present invention. A module includes a processing module, a functional block, hardware, and/or software stored on memory for performing one or more functions as may be described herein. Note that, if the module is implemented via hardware, the hardware may operate independently and/or in conjunction software and/or firmware. As used herein, a module may contain one or more sub-modules, each of which may be one or more modules.
While particular combinations of various functions and features of the present invention have been expressly described herein, other combinations of these features and functions are likewise possible. The present invention is not limited by the particular examples disclosed herein and expressly incorporates these other combinations.
1. A computer implemented method for execution by a dispersed storage and task (DST) execution unit, the method comprises:
receiving, by the DST execution unit, a partial task regarding an encoded data block grouping of a plurality of encoded data block groupings, wherein data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce the plurality of encoded data block groupings;
performing the partial task on the encoded data block grouping to produce a partial task result;
determining subsequent treatment of the partial task result and of the encoded data block grouping; and
when the subsequent treatment includes maintaining storage of the encoded data block grouping and storage of the partial task result:
determining a manner in which the partial task result is to be stored; and
when the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is dispersed storage:
dispersed storage error encoding the partial task result in accordance with dispersed storage error encoding parameters to produce one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks; and
outputting the one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks to a set of DST execution units for storage therein.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing the partial task comprises:
decoding the encoded data block grouping in accordance with the dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce a partition of the data; and
performing the partial task on the partition of the data to produce the partial task result.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprises:
determining whether the encoded data block grouping is encrypted; and
when the encoded data block grouping is encrypted:
determining sensitivity of the partition of the data;
when the sensitivity of the partition of the data is of a first sensitivity:
decrypting the encoded data block grouping to produce the encoded data block grouping;
temporarily storing the partition of the data; and
when the partial task has been performed, deleting the temporary storage of the partition of the data.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the subsequent treatment comprises at least one of:
extracting subsequent treatment information from the partial task;
analyzing the partial task result for one or more result criteria to determine the subsequent treatment;
sending a query to another device within a distributed computing system to ascertain the subsequent treatment; and
analyzing the encoded data block grouping to identify source data criteria to determine the subsequent treatment.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the partial task comprises:
receiving a set of encoded task data blocks;
determining dispersed storage error decoding parameters regarding the partial task; and
decoding the set of encoded task data blocks to recover the partial task.
when the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is store locally, storing the partial task result in local memory of the DST execution unit.
when the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is group dispersed storage:
coordinating with other DST execution units of a distributed computing system to collect a set of partial task results, wherein the set of partial task results includes the partial task result and partial task results of the other DST execution units that performed a corresponding partial task on other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings; and
disperse storage error encoding the set of partial task results to produce an error encoded result data block.
when the subsequent treatment includes overwriting the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result:
overwriting the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result; and
coordinating with other DST execution units of a distributed computing system to update redundancy data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings based on the partial task results.
determining DST execution unit's ability to fulfill the partial task in a reasonable time frame; and
when the DST execution unit cannot fulfill the partial task in the reasonable time frame:
partitioning the partial task into a set of sub-partial tasks;
portioning the encoded data block grouping into a set of encoded data block sub-groupings;
sending the set of sub-partial tasks and set of encoded data block sub-groupings to another set of DST execution units of a distributed computing system;
receiving sub-partial task results from the other set of DST execution units; and
compiling the sub-partial task results to produce the partial task result.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing the partial task comprises:
configuring an execution unit to perform the partial task based on content of the partial task.
11. A dispersed storage (DS) module comprises:
a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:
receive a partial task regarding an encoded data block grouping of a plurality of encoded data block groupings, wherein data is dispersed storage error encoded in accordance with dispersed storage error coding parameters to produce the plurality of encoded data block groupings;
a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
perform the partial task on the encoded data block grouping to produce a partial task result; and
a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
determine subsequent treatment of the partial task result and of the encoded data block grouping;
outputting the one or more sets of encoded partial task result blocks to a set of dispersed storage and task (DST) execution units for storage therein.
12. The DS module of claim 11, wherein the second module functions to perform the partial task by:
13. The DS module of claim 12 further comprises:
the second module further functions to:
determine whether the encoded data block grouping is encrypted; and
determine sensitivity of the partition of the data;
decrypt the encoded data block grouping to produce the encoded data block grouping;
temporarily store the partition of the data; and
when the partial task has been performed, delete the temporary storage of the partition of the data.
14. The DS module of claim 11, wherein the third module functions to determine the subsequent treatment by at least one of:
15. The DS module of claim 11, wherein the first module functions to receive the partial task by:
when the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is store locally, the third module further functions to store the partial task result in a local memory.
when the manner in which the partial task result is to be stored is group dispersed storage, the third module further functions to:
coordinate with other DST execution units of a distributed computing system to collect a set of partial task results, wherein the set of partial task results includes the partial task result and partial task results of the other DST execution units that performed a corresponding partial task on other encoded data block groupings of the plurality of encoded data block groupings; and
disperse storage error encode the set of partial task results to produce an error encoded result data block.
when the subsequent treatment includes overwriting the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result, the third module further functions to:
overwrite the encoded data block grouping with the partial task result; and
coordinate with other DST execution units of a distributed computing system to update redundancy data blocks of the plurality of encoded data block groupings based on the partial task results.
determining the DS module's ability to fulfill the partial task in a reasonable time frame; and
when the DS module cannot fulfill the partial task in the reasonable time frame:
receiving sub-partial task results from the other set of DST execution units; and compiling the sub-partial task results to produce the partial task result.
US13/707,502 2011-12-12 2012-12-06 Executing partial tasks in a distributed storage and task network Active 2033-02-26 US8898542B2 (en)
US201161569387P true 2011-12-12 2011-12-12
US13/707,502 US8898542B2 (en) 2011-12-12 2012-12-06 Executing partial tasks in a distributed storage and task network
US20130151927A1 US20130151927A1 (en) 2013-06-13
US8898542B2 true US8898542B2 (en) 2014-11-25
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Author Archives: Dan Webber
About Dan Webber
Editor of Bondi Stories literary magazine.
Posted on March 17, 2014 by Dan Webber
This book is about the local community of Bondi Beach before the cafe culture took over. It follows the local boardriders through a period of decadence and high times as it began losing its heritage to a relentless stream of yuppies. The story has a David and Goliath twist to it as a rich kid waltzes into town, sets up a surf shop and begins winning friends and influencing people. A staunch local named Dan has a run in with him and eventually opens a rival surf shop in direct competition with the corporate kid. And so starts a feud that divides the community and sets the scene for ongoing battles that are fought in the streets and in the water.
Posted on May 2, 2013 by Dan Webber
I would like to thank everyone who contributed material to this issue, and the many unique souls mentioned in their stories, some of whom are among the dearly departed. It is with great pride and a solemn heart that I respectfully acknowledge the many voices contained in these pages.
A huge thank you goes to the artist, Victoria Peel, whose pastel of South Bondi graces the front cover. Victoria’s great-great-great-uncle was none other than Barnett Levey, who is the subject of Bondi’s first larrikin, the last story in this issue. Vicki’s good friend, Joolee Eadie, is to be thanked for her photos of Andy Cochran, Barry Ross, Gary Moffatt, John Eccleston, Robert Fox and Wally Newell. These appear with the story by Robert Conneeley, entitled: The Hep Pit, which was actually taken from an interview by Matthew Ellks, who just happens to be his nephew.
I would also like to thank Margaret Dupré for her poem and the accompanying photos, one of which is credited to Dick Hoole, the surf film maker. In one of the photos, Margaret appears with her daughters India and Saffron sitting in front of the Pavilion. The decision to begin this first issue of Bondi Stories with a piece by Margaret Dupré is both a privilege and a tribute to one of Bondi’s classic characters.
Thanks also goes to Greg Webber, for his delightful vignette, entitled: Fuck Off, Trog!, and also for suggesting the name Bondi Stories, instead of Scum Valley, which was the original plan. Phil Leadley’s piece, entitled: The Lost Valley, bemoans the loss of community at Bondi, only to rejoice in its resurrection, through the bi-annual surfing contest and Old School Bondi Crew reunion. Thanks also goes to Mark Coleman, Richard Feyn, Michael Zaracostas, Lawrie Williams and Craig Robinson for sharing their accounts of one notorious beach inspector. Initially posted on Facebook, their comments appear within the article, entitled: The Beach Inspector. We will see if this becomes a regular feature.
A couple of blokes who have contributed immeasurably to surf culture through the medium of print, are John Witzig and Bruce Channon, both of whom documented Bondi’s surfing culture in the early seventies. John Witzig’s article, here entitled: The Beach Scene, captures the playground-like atmosphere of the urban beach. The piece by Bruce Channon, entitled Panache, is a uniquely revealing interview with some of the greatest names in Bondi’s surfing folklore: Brad Mayes, Steve Corrigan, Bruce Raymond, Ron Ford and Victor Ford.
I am especially grateful for Cheyne Horan’s contribution, entitled: The Hill, because it describes the world I entered as a kid stepping off the bus each day from Rose Bay in the mid-seventies. Ronnie Silcock gives us a taste of surf culture in the sixties, with a vignette entitled WindanSea. And his contemporary, John Sullivan, has given us an insider’s perspective on the legendary Bluey Mayes, whose life of surfing began in the 1930s. Harry Nightingale’s profile of his father, “Salty”, takes us back even further, to the very beginning of surfing in Australia. I cannot thank him enough for this contribution.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the B’nai B’rith Society for granting permission to include the article, originally entitled: Bondi’s First Jew, which was written by Bro. Dr. George F. J. Bergman and published in B’nai B’rith Bulletin, in 1955. I have taken the liberty of changing the title to: Bondi’s first larrikin, to suit the broader public. The story of Barnett Levey is uniquely relevant to this magazine, when you consider that his residence Waverley House was named after a famous novel with a social agenda. Perhaps, Bondi Stories is echoing the very same sentiment. In light of his commitment to literature as a vehicle of social development, it is an honour to carry on his legacy.
Dan Webber
Posted on December 28, 2011 by Dan Webber
Storm water drains at South Bondi, ca. 1960. Photo courtesy of Waverley Library.
A typical day with Magoo:
Barry was methodical, exacting.
First he would clear a small space at the base of one of the half buried boulders that littered the southern end of the beach, and then lower himself into a full Asana or Malasana squat where he would silently contemplate an inner vision for a considerable period of time. This is 1959.
Enough time in fact for any young women sunbaking nearby to slip away to a quieter corner and for the curious youth to sidle in closer, sometimes to offer advice.
The only shows at Bondi Beach in those days was Aub Laidlaw measuring women in bikinis, Jack Mayes bailing up renegade boat crews, or Magoo inhaling string. These fellows were The Bondi Elders of the Time.
Messrs Cochran and Dillon are the subjects of a further chapter. There is much to be written.
Inner-visioning complete ^ , Barry would raise his body off the ground with a powerful arm lift and up-end himself in one smooth motion with his back to the rock now. We would marvel at his breathing control here as he worked the air through his lungs and into his lower abdomen, and then exhaled it all in one long and silent expulsion. At times he could suck his stomach back so far it outlined his spinal cord. Some young smart-arse claimed to be able to see his appendix outline.
But Magoo didn’t appear to have been born with intestines at all, and the small lumps visible where his stomach should be were either vertebrae or dried green peas. Barry wasn’t a hamburger eater then, still isn’t now. Blood has never passed his lips.
The Sutra Neti exercise though was the main event.
This chap is obviously a learner. Into the nose and out of the mouth. Note the upright position and use of both hands.
Barry, still up-ended, would introduce a piece of white cord to his left nostril and without any further assistance from his hands was able to manipulate it up that particular nostril, around the point of birfucation, and then down the other nostril, where it would emerge without any apparent discolouration – not that anyone ever examined it too closely. Though it was quite white upon exit, and dry.
What should be understood here is that in 1959 nobody jogged; nobody stretched or practiced isometrics on the railings or concrete walls of the Promenade, and there was only one gym between Bondi and Charing Cross. Pizzas were 30 years away, Milk Bars sold milkshakes and smokers fired up cork tipped Craven A’s or Turf for a smoke. An incoming ground swell was thought to be the result of five days of hard offshore westerlies and synoptics were Chapters of the Revelations, all that was to come.
The Astra was a hotel that sold cold beer and lunch was a cold coke and a cherry ripe.
There were no tits visible, everybody but the boardriders wore sluggos, English idiot backpackers had not been invented, everybody spoke Australian except the Italians and Greeks by the binos* (head pic) and the clubbies in their surfboats regularly attempted to kill people by coming in through the crowds broadside and out of control.
The surfing manoeuvre of the day was The Death Cut, all the boards were made of balsa, and decent people didn’t settle on the southern end of the beach.
Magoo though was a contradiction, on the one hand he was a shy and modest young man, yet every weekend he stood on his head in the sand on the busiest beach in the country and sucked string up and down his nostrils. Though it was quietly known at the time that many of his colleagues appreciated the string routine if only because it kept him quiet for an hour or two. Barry liked to have a chat you see. Blow the ears off an Indian Elephant in fact. Talk underwater.
Magoo has survived the years that have accounted for so many of his friends; he remains competitive in an annual event that is named after him and remains unwell for only short periods, by all accounts he remains unchanged. He unfortunately suffered early maturity at a tender age.
The nickname Magoo, according to impeccable sources well within range of retribution, was earned one day at Bondi when several of the lads – not including Barry – were doing a spot of spearfishing a little south of the baths. There they were surprised by the sudden appearance of a large and inquisitive Blue Grouper and as they left the water a little later they suggested that Barry go down for a look-see himself, an advice he promptly followed. Always the good lad was young Baz. Where? What? Who?
Word had it that Barry, despite several valiant attempts, was unable to claim a sight of the fish despite its friendly approaches, and The Magoo (the shortsighted) was he thusly named and in perpetuity.
What is not generally known about Barry is that he shares some of the sterling characteristics of the Chinese Barefoot Doctors of the Great Leap Forward era of 1958, in that he had little medical training, no proper equipment, but a large share of enthusiasm when it came to the caring of the sick and injured.
Chinese Barefoot Doctors of the Great Leap Forward era of 1958
Like the day Mick D. suffered a misfortune, and whose full name has been withheld here or he’ll ring me.
Mick and Barry and a few others had been surfing a reasonably remote reef south of Sydney called Voodoo, and on coming ashore Mick walked on a nest of urchins, puncturing both feet over twenty times. In intense pain as the poisons exuded themselves from the broken spikes he asked Dr. Barry Magoo Barefoot McGuigan if there was something he could do to assist.
The good doctor immediately hurried to his wretched VW and returned with an impressive kit of surgical instruments, which included an old surf towel, a penknife and a fork.
– which he used to dig out every spike he could see, and some he could not but suspected were there – all of which were exceedingly small and almost invisible to the naked eye, and at this stage of the narrative I would refer you back to the Blue Grouper incident ^ above, and though at no time do I criticize the accuracy of the teller of this particular tale, but .. , you know?
Nevertheless Mick survived both the injury and the treatment and went on to play some reasonably competitive tennis. His surfing didn’t suffer too much either, and like Magoo, he still has a head of infuriatingly full hair.
If you ever see either, or both of them, please pass on my best wishes’ and you can give Mick a sloppy, if you know him well enough.
PETE BOWES
* binoculars.
© Pete Bowes publishes a blog with numerous stories about Bondi’s past.
Posted in Pete Bowes | 5 Replies
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Dan Webber
When I was 12 and a half, I went for a surf at South Bondi. I was riding a fibreglass board for the third or fourth time after two years on a styrofoam coolite. I must have got in the way of an older, better surfer, because he told me to “fuck off you trog”. I knew I wasn’t a trog, in that I was just learning. So, I was more pissed off than shattered, even though in hindsight I came to learn that learners are effectively trogs to any local. So, I dealt with the feeling and made a snap decision that came from not wanting to surf in any area where that was the way it was, which was to go back to my coolite.
Riding a coolite.
Going back to my coolite was a step backwards in cool-ness. But, it also meant being totally free to surf all of the north end right up to centre. It was winter and there was a righthand rip sandbank just at the southern limit of the “no fibreglass zone”. It was a bank unlike any I was to see since. I went home early and found my last coolite I had been riding and replaced the flexy white plastic fin with a bigger timber fin using araldite. I hadn’t ridden it for weeks. So, it was kind of nice to pick it up again. I felt that it had felt rejected, in that until today I had done exactly that.
It was one of those orange coolites with a deck concave, and a round nose and square tail. They snapped more easily than the firestone originals, but not as easily as a Kentucky Fried. So, the next day, when John and Mont continued bravely to deal with the aggro of the south end, I just paddled across the imaginary line that marked the edge of the no fibreglass zone, into a level of peace and freedom, which was to more than offset the performance back step I had just taken. There wasn’t even a swimmer on the bank and I rode scores of bowling waves to myself doing turns and slight slides with no one to hassle me, but also nobody to share it with. I missed that bit, but experienced something very unusual for a 12 year old, where ego and the need to be alongside your peers was sacrificed for the purity of peace.
To this day, that day rates as one of the top few experiences of my life. I even laughed a bit to myself thinking that I was even more of a kook than ever (riding a coolite in the flags) but having a different kind of fun that was just as much to do with my decision to do it, as the perfection of the waves and the absence of people.
– Greg Webber
Posted in Coolites, Webber | 2 Replies
Bondi of the late 60s, 70s and even the 80s was not the prime yuppie real estate haven that it is today. All of the beach going locals of the day nicknamed the place “Scum Valley”, on account of the two storm water drain pipes that emptied onto the beach at South Bondi, just below where the skate park now stands.
Whenever it rained, the storm water from the surrounding street gutters drained into a large cesspit of debris, which would swell until it eventually burst its banks and partially empty itself into the surf. But, there would always remain a stagnant pool of water and debris.
A brown stain of sewage sweeps to the south and into Bondi Beach. Photo courtesy of Waverley Library.
The beach going public also had to deal with sewage, as there was no deep water outlet like we have today. Sewage was pumped directly into the sea from the base of the cliff below the golf course at North Bondi. Sometimes, during bad storms or when the sewage was backed up, they would release raw sewage. If the wind blew nor-easterly for a day, followed by a southerly change, sewage would be blown into the beach. This is where the term “Bondi cigars” originates! So, between the storm water drains down south and the sewage works up north, the place became affectionately known to the locals as “Scum Valley”.
– Dean Cook
Another history of Bondi, by Peter Bowes.
Posted in Pollution | 14 Replies
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HHG3-190
Main Page The Household of God Volume 3 HHG3-190 ← Chapter →
190,1. For as long Ohlad and the ten ministers lived and the ninety-nine assisted with maintaining the general order in all directions, things continued pretty well in general, although they never fully succeeded, to root out all the evil in such a big city.
190,2. Even after the discontinuation of theaters, animal fights and the gallant meetings and the admittance of visits to the glory of God, the pious pilgrimages were a rich replacement, and one took advantage of these god-devout gatherings, and as it happens at such occasions with the added effort of Satan, they were used for all sorts of purposes which I do not want to describe in more detail here.
190,3. But as said, this was now the weed between the wheat which always was carefully weeded as much as possible by the diligence and zeal of Ohlad and his ministers.
190,4. But his son, who succeeded him in the government, was already a lot more negligent.
190,5. When I admonished him to be more zealous in the temple, he said: “Lord, give me the miraculous powers of ten ministers of my Father, who guided all the people of the earth for thirty years to happiness, and I will guide them to even more happiness for one hundred years! But If You, O Lord, give me miraculous powers, do not give them to me from today until tomorrow, but for my whole life and I will lead the people without minister!"
190,6. So he kept asking me for miraculous powers when I exhorted him to be zealous and also promised him that I would assist him wondrously anyway, whenever he in his righteous zeal would need my support.
190,7. But with that he was not satisfied and was thereat even incensed with Me and said: "If You, O Lord, do not want to give me miraculous powers but only want to use them Yourself in extraordinary cases, and where on top of it I still have to beg You for days to help me out, You should go and sit on the throne Yourself and rule the masses, and leave me unscathed!"
190,8. But since this successor of Ohlad was always falling out with Me, for I could not give him miraculous powers because of his addiction to play, he also was very tepid regarding governmental matters.
190,9. The pilgrimages became increasingly more prevalent and therefore the social gatherings also became continuously more prevalent, and the places of pilgrimage multiplied.
190,10. And thus idolatry became rampant; for the people prayed now to the Jehovah plaques and not to Me alive in their hearts.
190,11. I reproved the people and the king by all kinds of plagues; but who becomes lukewarm once, can not not be helped that much anymore!
190,12. After or even at any punishment the king came to Me in the temple, - but not to beg Me for mercy and compassion, but to fight with Me and confronted Me with all kinds of nitpicky reproaches!
190,13. At one stage, when I was sending a small plague into the city because seriously rampant fornication, which killed two hundred thousand people in a week, though only in one section of the city (at that time Hanoch had a population of twelve million people including the suburbs), he came to Me and said:
190,14. "Why do You, Lord, strangle so slowly? Kill in one swoop the whole city including me, then You could end all mischief at once!"
190,15. And when I chastised him at similar encounters, he said: "Go ahead, keep hitting! Since it is indeed an honor, if a weak king of Hanoch is beaten by his God and Lord!"
190,16. If I sent a disease over him, he had himself, together with his bed, be carried into the temple and wrestled there with Me for so long in the most gruesome manner until I had to take the disease away from him again. Sometimes he promised to follow Me; but sometimes he even threatened Me.
190,17. Indeed, this king, whose name was Dronel, knew quite well to put My patience to the test! But I nevertheless let him rule for fifty years, because, except for his grief hours, he still loved Me very much.
190,18. But what further, the following will show us!
Retrieved from "https://search.jesus-comes.com/index.php?title=HHG3-190&oldid=4835"
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WS-C3560-24PS-E
AVAILABLE USED REFURBISHED AND NEW
WS-C3560-24PS-E - Overview
The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series is a line of fixed-configuration, enterprise-class switches that include IEEE 802.3af and Cisco prestandard Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality in Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet configurations. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 is an ideal access layer switch for small enterprise LAN access or branch-office environments, combining both 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for maximum productivity and investment protection while enabling the deployment of new applications such as IP telephony, wireless access, video surveillance, building management systems, and remote video kiosks. Customers can deploy networkwide intelligent services-such as advanced quality of service (QoS), rate limiting, access control lists (ACLs), multicast management, and high-performance IP routing-while maintaining the simplicity of traditional LAN switching. Available for the Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series at no charge, the Cisco Network Assistant is a centralized management application that simplifies the administration tasks for Cisco switches, routers, and wireless access points.
Product WS-C3560-24PS-E
Model Catalyst 3560-24PS Ethernet Switch - 24 x 10/100Base-TX
Product Name Cisco Catalyst 3560-24PS Ethernet Switch
Product Type Ethernet Switch
Features Access Control List (ACL) support, DHCP server, DHCP snooping, DHCP support, Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI), Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP) support, IGMP snooping, IP-routing, IPv6 support, MLD snooping, MPLS support, Port Aggregation Protocol (PAgP) support, Quality of Service (QoS), Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) support, VLAN support, Virtual Route Forwarding-Lite (VRF-Lite), auto-negotiation, auto-sensing per device, auto-uplink (auto MDI/MDI-X), full duplex capability, layer 2 switching, layer 3 switching, manageable, power over Ethernet (PoE), traffic shaping, trunking
Cisco Network Assistant provides configuration wizards that greatly simplify the implementation of converged networks and intelligent network services.
● 24 Ethernet 10/100 ports and 2 SFP-based Gigabit Ethernet ports
● 1RU fixed-configuration, multilayer switch
● Enterprise-class intelligent services delivered to the network edge
● IEEE 802.3af and Cisco prestandard Power over Ethernet
● IP Services software feature set (IPS) • Provides full IPv6 dynamic routing
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Pedius
voice recognition technology
Exclusive: Interview with Lorenzo Di Ciaccio
Thomsen Young August 12, 2014
[Interview with Lorenzo Di Ciaccio about his company future in Pedius from present to five years from now. He discusses about technology and the fast past of change of technology. You can check out their website @ Pedius.]
What makes your product stand out against others?
Pedius is the first relay service for deaf people that doesn’t require interpreters. We use text to speech and voice recognition technology to convert a chat in a phone call.
A phone call trough Pedius costs as much as a normal phone call, this is our vision: give the same opportunity to make phone call as hearing person can do, at the same price, without a third person involved.
What is the goal of Pedius for the next two years? Next five years?
Our goal is to remove the barriers of communication between deaf and hearing people, bringing new a standard in telecommunication systems.
In the next two years we plan to cover with our service UK, France, Germany, Spain and US. Proving that solving a social issue doing business is possible.
In a long term view we would like to promote the “social business” philosophy. Using technology to improve quality of life and make a sustainable business, not only for the deaf, but for many other kinds of disabilities.
What will Pedius be doing to adapt to the fast pace changing of technology?
Before starting Pedius we were working in IT, so we know how fast the technology is changing. In particular voice recognition and speech synthesis will become every day more accurate. We developed our infrastructure to easily adapt to any change and improvement catching any further opportunity.
Why is this product best for people who are deaf/hard of hearing?
In one word: independence. With Pedius deaf and hard of hearing are not forced to ask help for every day needs, they can have freedom to make important calls such as booking doctors appointments or making reservations or to call family, friends and coworkers.
Of course Pedius doesn’t mean at all to replace interpreters, we plan to develop an hybrid version where the user can switch in real time between the automated system and the interpreter.
Why have you not received customer ratings for your product at Apple Store, but you have for Google Play Store? Why has nobody has written a customer review of your product?
We launched Pedius in November 2013 only for Android, we had a limited budget and decided to start with Android to cover the majority of devices and making Pedius working even on cheap devices. We developed iOS version this spring and released in UK just one week ago. By policy Apple separates reviews and ratings by country for that reason you are not able to see Italian reviews and ratings. We already had the first phone call in UK and hope to receive also feedback and reviews.
Who is leading the organization and what are they doing to ensure to have a technological edge?
2 years ago I quit my job to start Pedius. We decided to become a company following market dynamics to stay always on cutting edge technology. Many social organizations are having troubles getting committed people because often people involved dedicate themselves only during free time. We bet on Pedius all our time and all our experience without distractions.
We have a social aim but we act like a company.
How do you intend to target specific people to use Pedius?
We would like to start from the community. Deafness affect 1 person every 1000 so every mass media communication is just a waste of money. The community is very well connected and open to innovation such as our.s We don’t have a huge budget but we could have a big value for the users. We trust in our users within the deaf community to promote our service.
When will Pedius be available in all languages? Why is it only available in English and German?
Pedius is now available in Italian, English and Spanish we plan to include French, German and Portuguese in the next year and having more language in the future. We hope to raise money to speed up new languages introduction
Thomsen Young
Founder of SG
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Testosterone Poisoning Real?
Posted in Female-to-Male by Kay Brown on April 30, 2017
How T Makes Men Dysrational
Back in the early ’90s when I was staying home from work because of some bug, I recall watching daytime reruns of really dumb shows. I chanced upon a silly sitcom for ‘tweens where one of the plot elements was a math problem which was supposed to be challenging for the middle school students. It was a classic dual rate problem: How long it would take two boys washing cars if they did the next car together instead of separately. As I was bored, I set up and solved the simple (to me) algebra problem during the next commercial break. I looked forward to seeing that I was correct. As the show progressed, the kids were becoming more and more agitated that no one could solve it, not even the stereotypical “brain” of the class. Only the stereotypical airhead girl (obnoxious portrayals) seemed to be immune. At the climax of the show, no one has solved it, but the airhead… who states, “It can’t be solved.” “Right!” the math teacher concurs. WTF!?!?! I think. The “brain’s” head explodes.
I was dumbfounded. I checked my work. No, I could easily solve it. No, it didn’t take a genius. It was a very straight forward bit of algebra any first year high school algebra student could solve. How could the writers, producers, stage crew, and actors not know this? What the &^%$#@! were they doing telling their young audience; that it couldn’t be solved?
This episode (pun intended) stuck in my mind. I couldn’t understand it until I learned of the phenomena of Dysrationalia, researched by Keith Stanovich. It was a revelation. But I never thought this topic would find it’s way to my blog here, not being related to trans issues (save perhaps as one possible explanation for the irrational denial of the two type taxonomy). But, here it is…
High testosterone levels increase dysrationality. Seriously.
In a recent study, healthy men were randomly given T gel or placebo gel to apply to their skin. Hours later, their plasma T levels had doubled. They then took on a series of cognitive tests buried within them were three “trick questions” that measure “Cognitive Reflection”, a subset of the Stanovich’s original seven dysrationality questions. These three questions, mathematical in nature, are extremely easy, deceptively easy, in that unless one slows down and thinks, one will all too easily try to use irrational mental shortcuts that get the wrong answers. The key to being rational is that another part of the brain double checks one’s thinking to spot this and says to one’s self, “hey, hold on, that type of thinking is flawed.”
The results were dramatic. Those who had been given T got 20% more wrong answers than those given the placebo. The difference was quite robust ( Cohen’s d=0.41 ). High T levels seem to reduce the ability of the brain to spot irrational thinking processes.
This has implications for transmen as they begin and continue hormone replacement therapy (HRT) using testosterone, as transient high levels of T occur. Transmen should be counseled on this phenomena and given cognitive tools to compensate.
Researchers should also look at the effects of androgen suppression in transwomen. Does this effect go in reverse? Does low T make one less prone to cognitive reflection errors?
Rational and Irrational Thought: The Thinking That IQ Tests Miss
Nave, Gideon and Nadler, Amos and Zava, David and Camerer, Colin (2017) Single dose testosterone administration impairs cognitive reflection in men. Psychological Science . ISSN 0956-7976 . http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170428-091020875
Tagged with: HRT, HRT Brain Effects, Testosterone
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SAGE Lies
Posted in Book Reviews by Kay Brown on April 24, 2017
Book Review: The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies
When I was a young teen in the early ’70s, I scoured our home library (larger than most middle-class households) for anything that could help me with my horrible feelings that we now label “gender dysphoria”. We had a number of college psychology, biology, human anatomy texts, and one medical encyclopedia. I found exactly one reference of interest, but it declaimed, “There is no such thing as a ‘sex change’.” That’s it, one line reference in the negative. Of course, it was both a true statement and a lie of omission. It failed to explain that there was medical help, if only superficial. But superficial or not, hormones and SRS were good enough to make my life worth living. But before I found much better, and truthful, references at our local public library, that one reference left me despairing and despondent for my future.
As I’ve researched our collective LGBT history and science (especially when I was teaching my class on Transhistory through the Harvey Milk Institute), and of course, through my decades of LGB – and especially – T activism, I’ve read and collected many books and references. So one could imagine my delight in finding the SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. But that was very short lived.
The first thing I do when I look at such purportedly comprehensive works is to see how they treat transsexual and transgender subjects. In this case. OMG! What a &^%$#@! mess! It is more than simply disappointing. It is deja vu. Consider the section on “Controversies”, the only section that deals with the central nature of transgender etiology,
“Autogynephilia – The term autogynephilia was first used in 1989 by Ray Blanchard, a sexologist, to describe a purported class of transgender women. Classifications of transgender women prior to this time tended to divide this group into those who were sexually and romantically interested in men as “homosexual transsexuals” and those who were sexually and romantically interested in women were classified as “heterosexual fetishistic transvestites.” Critiques of these classifications noted that the “homosexual” and “heterosexual labels were applied incorrectly, failing to recognize the gender identities of transwomen themselves. – These classifications also reflected mainstream stigma around transgender identity as they resigned many transgender women to little more than sexual fetishists. The autogynephilia label only intensified this view of some transgender women as sexual fetishists. The theory of autogynephilia asserted that many of the trans women classified into the “heterosexual fetishistic transvestites” category were primarily attracted not to women but to the idea of themselves as women. In this way, autogynephilia was proposed as a type of primary sexual-identity category for transgender women. Subsequent research has found little empirical basis for such a classification, and many researchers have criticized the classification as transphobic. – One particular critique of this classification system concerns its failure to recognize the way in which all sexual attraction depends on one’s own gender identity. For example, a critical component of both homosexual and heterosexual attraction among many cisgender men involves an erotic charge around one’s own manliness or manhood. To assume that such attachments to (and sexual desire motivated through) one’s own gender identity and expression, in relatation to another’s, exists only among transgender women, is misguided. Despite a relative lack of empirical support for the diagnoses of autogynephilia among transgender women, some segments of the radical feminist community endorse this diagnostic category in their own writing as well. … The most outspoken critiques of the theory of autogynephilia ahve emerged from self-identified transfeminist academics (e.g. Julia Serano and Talia Mae Bettcher), who have highlighted not only the lack of empirical support for these theories but also the underlying biases and assumption revealed in the very foundations of the theory itself.”
I highlighted three phrases as they demonstrate a rhetorical trick, repeat a lie three times and people will tend to believe it. Yes, I bolded the text because these are bald faced lies. The material claims that there is no empirical evidence for autogynephilia in transwomen. But we have numerous studies that put the lie to these statements, some of which were conducted by transwomen ourselves. To make this assertion is academic misconduct of the worst sort.
Because I know that most readers will only read this one page, I feel I need to point out that we have such empirical evidence in abundance, both prior and subsequent to Blanchard coining the term “autogynephilia” to replace the earlier terms “fetishistic femmiphilia” and “fetishistic transvestism”. Science depends upon repeatability, and these results regarding sexual orientation and autogynephilia have been replicated by Buhrich (1978), Freund (1982), Blanchard (1985, 1987, 1988, 1989), Doorn (1994), Smith (2005), Lawrence (2005), Veale (2008), and Nuttbrock (2009), in separate studies spanning four decades, collectively involving over a thousand transsexuals to date. In fact, this is one of the most repeated and reconfirmed scientific finding regarding transsexuality. The largest study, Nuttbrock et al. found that fully 82% of gynephilic transwomen acknowledge being autogynephilic, specifically, being sexually aroused by wearing women’s clothing. I have essays on this blog that extensively survey and discuss these papers and their abundant empirical evidence supporting the “assertion” that many transwomen are autogynephilic. Let me say this again in another way, we have empirical study after study after study that shows that the vast majority of gynephilic (attracted to women) transwomen fully admit to being autogynephilic. How much more plain empirical evidence do we need, proof using phallometry to measure the amount of sexual arousal? We have that too!
The section also includes misleading statements regarding the nature of autogynephilia, trying to confuse the issue with non-autogynephilic sexuality. With deceptive cleverness this writer has substituted the usual “women are autogynephilic too” meme by referencing men instead. But here too, we see that they use the classic rhetorical trick of confusing the map for the territory. Here, they suggest that non-transmen, both homosexual and heterosexual, experience autoandrophilia. But in fact, this deliberately conflates, or rather confuses, pride or even vanity in one’s masculinity with sexual arousal to one’s own maleness. This can only be done because the casual reader doesn’t know the exact nature of autogynephilia and autoandrophilia. These men are not getting turned on by simply being men. They are not being turned on by simply wearing men’s clothing, although autogynephiles do exactly that. (As I pointed out, the vast majority fully admit to sexual arousal to wearing women’s clothing.)
So, we’ve caught them out in a outright lie, in misleading statements meant to confuse the issue, but what about lies of omission? Oh yes, this they have done as well, in that they totally fail to include any mention of transsexual and transgender scientists and writers who support the two type taxonomy and the role that autogynephilia plays in the etiology of one of the types. Where in all of this encyclopedia is Dr. Anne Lawrence?
Actually, they do reference her. But in safety, only mentioning her letter regarding the need for better transgender medical care. But where are her papers, book chapters, and even a book discussing the nature and role of autogynephilia in transwomen’s lives? How can they simply make such an important transwoman’s work on the subject disappear and call this work “encyclopedic”?
(This is especially ironic in that Lawrence has written material, currently in press, entitled, “Gender dysphoria: Overview; Gender dysphoria: Diagnosis; Gender dysphoria: Treatment; Sex reassignment surgery. In A. Wenzel (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of abnormal and clinical psychology)
There is one other lie of omission… where in this “encyclopedia” is the voice of the exclusively androphilic and known to be non-autogynephilic transwomen? By printing this disinformation the editors of this work have given voice to only one of the two types of transsexual, and only the minority that are in denial of their autogynephilic nature at that, completely silencing the other. For an academic work that purports to give voice to the LGBTQ communities, this is a very serious cultural and political offense.
Finally, not content with outright lies, misleading comments, and lies of omission, they top it off with calumny, “underlying biases and assumption revealed in the very foundations of the theory itself.” That is to say, that this supposed academic work tops it off with character assassination of those of us, scientists and transsexual activists, who recognize the abundant (and socially obvious) empirical evidence for the theory, by implying that we are “transphobic” and “biased”.
I cannot condemn this work in any greater terms, knowing how deeply distorting it is of an area in which I have some knowledge. It leads me to distrust any areas where I may not have the in-depth knowledge to recognize any other lies it may contain.
I have to wonder, in deep disgust, how many transfolk are going to read this material in despair. As M. Taylor Saotome-Westlake, an autogynephilic and gender dysphoric (but not yet transitioned) individual wrote in reference to his own experience,
“A brief note on why all this matters. Independently of whether the two-type taxonomy is in fact taxonic, there are obvious political incentives to dismiss the explanatory value of autogynephilia, because it could be construed as invalidating trans women. I get that.
But here’s the thing: you can’t mislead the general public without thereby also misleading the next generation of trans-spectrum people. So when a mildly gender-dysphoric boy spends ten years assuming that his gender problems can’t possibly be in the same taxon as actual trans women, because the autogynephilia tag seems to fit him perfectly and everyone seems to think that the “Blanchard-Bailey theory of autogynephilia” is “clearly untrue”, he might feel a little bit betrayed when it turns out that it’s not clearly untrue and that the transgender community at large has been systematically lying to him, or, worse, is so systematically delusional that they might as well have been lying.”
READ MY WHOLE BLOG !!!
List of publications by Anne A. Lawrence, M.D.
Book Review: Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism by Anne A. Lawrence
Website written by exclusively androphilic / non-autogynephilic transsexuals about the negative social, political, and medical impact of autogynephilic transsexual denialism
https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-lgbtq-studies/book244331%20
Two clinically discrete syndromes of transsexualism. Buhrich N, McConaghy N. British Journal of Psychiatry. 1978 Jul;133:73-6. Abstract online
Two types of cross-gender identity. Freund K, Steiner BW, Chan S. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 1982 Feb;11(1):49-63. Abstract online
Typology of male-to-female transsexualism. Blanchard, Ray. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Vol 14(3) Jun 1985, 247-261. Abstract online
Heterosexual and homosexual gender dysphoria. Blanchard, Ray; Clemmensen, Leonard H; Steiner, Betty W. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Vol 16(2) Apr 1987, 139-152. Abstract online
Nonhomosexual gender dysphoria. Blanchard, Ray. Journal of Sex Research. Vol 24 1988, 188-193. Abstract online
The concept of autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria. Blanchard, Ray. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. Vol 177(10) Oct 1989, 616-623. Abstract online
Nonmonotonic relation of autogynephilia and heterosexual attraction. Blanchard R. J Abnorm Psychol. 1992 May;101(2):271-6. Abstract online
Varieties of autogynephilia and their relationship to gender dysphoria. Blanchard R. Arch Sex Behav. 1993 Jun;22(3):241-51. Abstract online
C. D. Doorn, J. Poortinga and A. M. Verschoor, “Cross-gender identity in transvestites and male transsexuals” http://www.springerlink.com/content/u63p723776v57m11/
Transsexual subtypes : Clinical and theoretical significance Smith Yolanda L. S.; Van Goozen Stephanie H. M.; Kuiper A. J.; Cohen-Kettenis Peggy T.; Psychiatry research (Psychiatry res.) 2005, vol. 137, no3, pp. 151-160 Abstract online
Anne A. Lawrence, “Sexuality Before and After Male-to-Female Sex Reassignment Surgery” 2005 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-005-1793-y
Jaimie F. Veale, Dave E. Clarke and Terri C. Lomax, “Sexuality of Male-to-Female Transsexuals” http://www.springerlink.com/content/bp2235t8261q23u3/
A Further Assessment of Blanchard’s Typology of Homosexual versus Non-Homosexual or Autogynephilic Gender Dysphoria, Nuttbrock, et al. Archives of Sexual Behavior
http://www.springerlink.com/content/b48tkl425217331j/
Tagged with: Autogynephilia, Book review
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Getting Lost in the Crowd
Posted in Female-to-Male, Science Criticism, Transgender Youth, Transsexual Field Studies by Kay Brown on April 16, 2017
Or, How the Big Tent Transgender Movement Distorts Science and Holds Back Civil Rights for Transsexuals
The word “transgender” was originally coined and used by Dr. Virginia Prince, a full time autogynephilic cross-dresser, in the early ’70s, to denote those like her/him as opposed to “transsexuals” who took hormones and had “sex change” surgery and also opposed to secretive “transvestites” who only occasionally cross-dressed, usually in private. The term was meant to be exclusive of any other group, like drag artists or gender atypical gays or lesbians.
In the early ’90s, Beth Elliott, using her nom de plume Mustang Sally, wrote an essay entitled, “The Incredible Shrinking Identity” in which she decried the social effects of subsuming transsexual people into the larger umbrella of “transgender”, which with each passing year seemed to be growing at its margins to include more and more people who just a few years before, would never have been considered to be in the same grouping. Of course, she was mostly talking about secretive cross-dressers, “transvestites”, autogynephilic men, who as we know, are in fact in the same etiological taxon as autogynephilic MTF transsexuals. In the ’90s, it was possible to ignore this complaint as being specious on the social level, given already rampant socially unwanted and scientifically unwarranted lumping of autogynephilic and exclusively androphilic MTF transwomen.
But what started as merely political embarrassement (for AGP transwomen) has now become a serious scientific and civil rights issue as the term “transgender” has now been stretched to the point where it has little meaning as to actual sexual, social, or gendered behavior. It is no longer enough for scientists to differentiate between autogynephilic/late onset vs. androphilic/early onset MTF transwomen… nor even between autoandrophilic vs. androphilic FtM transmen… now we must differentiate between an ever growing host of self-defined “other” gender categories and underlying behaviors, identities that are lumped under “transgender” to the point of making the term meaningless to sexologists and social scientists alike.
Flashback, 1980: Hanging out in the L.A. transsexual community, as it gained a political self awareness, was a teenager; let’s call her “Lee”. Lee would tell anyone who asked that she was “transsexual”… yet caused great confusion to all who met her. She was natal female, short even for a woman, pleasantly plump, and decidedly feminine in both appearance and manner. She was in no sense gender atypical. And during the time that I knew her, over 18 months, she never made any attempt to present as a man, nor even as butch. She was always on the femmy side of androgenous to the point of being decidedly “cute” as she hung out, mostly with younger MTF transwomen whom she seemed to admire. Had she been hanging out in this same manner in the gay male scene, they would have likely labeled her a “Fag Hag”. The transsexual community, while leery of non-trans males who would have acted this way, affectionately accepted Lee’s non-threatening presence, while secretly rolling their eyes when she declared that she was “FtM”.
Thinking back on Lee, I’m fairly certain that she never transitioned and I’m willing to place fairly high odds that she married and had kids, probably now has grandchildren, none of which have any idea that she once hung out in the trans-scene. At the time, we had no label for her. Today, on the internet, the FtM transsexual community does have a label that would have applied, “tucute”, as in “Too Cute” to be trans. If you visit the FtM pages on Tumbler, you are sure to run into a few… and will also note that they in turn, grumble about the negative feedback they get from those they call “Truscum” (“true” masculine gynephilic FtM transsexuals) for not accepting that they too are just as “trans”, even if they are in no sense gender atypical nor gender dysphoric.
Recent Events: A couple years ago, via her facebook page, a very socially liberal, rather prominent (and wealthy) venture capitalist in my professional circle proudly announced that her teenaged child was “transgender”. I’ve been living “mostly stealth” in that most of my professional contacts do not know of my medical history (yes, I “pass”). But in a move to be supportive and perhaps even help her with the emotional issues that almost always come with a child’s transition I came out to her. BAD MOVE! Nope, upon learning more about her child, it became very clear that her daughter had always been very gender typical as a girl, was not the least bit gender dysphoric, and had no intention of legally, socially, nor medically transitioning. No, she just wanted to be recognized as “transgender” and have everyone around her use gender neutral pronouns (cause she is they are so special, she they deserves it).
There is another couple names for this behavior, “TransTrender” and “TrendsGender”, as in it is now “trendy” to say that one is transgender, in the right circles. Back in my college years, hanging around Stanford University, I would often hear complaints from actual gynephilic women, real lesbians, about the phenomena of primarily androphilic women taking social positions as “Political Lesbians” and “Lesbians Until Graduation”. The “transgender” community now has the same phenomena. It seems to have become “cool” in some comfortably well off, very socially liberal teenaged and young adult circles to be associated with the LGB and now T community, as though being associated with a marginalized group made up for their obvious social privilege.
One could well imagine the growing resentment felt by those of us who have experienced familial rejection, social disapprobation, economic deprivation, and psychic pain from a lifetime of gender atypicality and dysphoria towards those who misappropriate an identity from the protective cocoon of indulgent family, liberal universities, and the anonymity of the internet.
As one young transman put it,
“Dysphoria is the defining factor of a transgender person. It’s why they want to TRANSition. It’s why they’re called TRANS in the first place, fuckwits. It doesn’t have to be crippling “I hate my body ugh I can’t look at myself naked” (And I do know some trans people whose dysphoria is that bad). On a 10 is an “I can’t see myself naked” to 1 is a “I don’t feel right in this body”, I’m probably a 5-7. I can see myself naked but it just doesn’t feel right. Specially with my chest. That’s dysphoria. Not “omg I don’t want to be human I want to be a rabbit/sunflower/magical girl” or whatever these tucutes are on I don’t even know. …
The more I look at it, the more I see tucutes acting like being transgender is a cute little accessory they can put on. You’re comfy with your body but you like girls even if you’re a girl yourself? Congratulations, you could be a lesbian. You like boys but you’re a boy? Good on you, you might be a homosexual man. You like the opposite gender? That makes you a terrible hetero person and that’s bad because all hetero people are transphobic and evil. 😦 Be trans instead. That’s cooler.
Except… it’s not.
It’s not cool to be trans. It’s not cool to wake up and see these parts of you that you feel so uncomfortable with having that you would wish cancer on yourself just to have them taken away. It’s not cool to have to struggle with the longing to tell your parents that you’re not the right gender because you want to trust them and want to open up to them but you’re afraid it’ll just add to the laundry list of things you’ve already disappointed them with. It’s not cool to have known you were one thing from birth but everyone else and your own body telling you you’re not and that you were supposed to be a certain way because that’s what you looked like from the outside.
It’s not cool to be trans.
If I had a choice, if being trans WAS a choice I would choose to be cis.”
If these issues had stayed on the pages of tumbler and facebook, it wouldn’t be a problem for science or those seeking better civil rights for transitioning transfolk. But it hasn’t.
Consider a recent paper published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence in which the authors very laudably explore the issues of safety and bathroom access for “transgender” youth. Ah… you are probably anticipating some of the problems that this might entail and you would be right. But let’s explore each of them carefully.
The authors cite the now popular William’s estimate of 0.7% of the population in the US as “transgendered”. The problem with that study is that is the number who identify as “transgendered” because William’s did not apply any operational definition beyond asking if they were “transgendered”. Yet we know that only 0.03% of the U.S. population has actually socially transitioned, according to US Census study that cross-correlated with name/sex status changes to Social Security cards (arguably the absolute best estimate we will ever get to the number of individuals who actually transitioned). This means that less than 5% of those who identify as “transgender” ever transition. Thus, by definition, more than 95% of those who identify as “transgender” never transition, that in fact, they aren’t all that gender dysphoric. So who are they?
How badly off are the numbers? In the Wernick study they found 86 individuals who self-identified as transgendered out of 935 students. Seriously, 9%? NINE &^%$#@ percent?!? That’s more than three hundred times the number who actually transition. That’s higher than the number of teens who grow up to be gay or lesbian. Are all of the LGB kids claiming to be “transgendered”??? Or is this representative of all LGB plus all of the secretly cross-dressing and cross-dreaming boys plus the TuCutes and the TransTrenders, all balled into one? Because, if the schools were statistically representative of the population as a whole, with only a thousand or so students, we could only expect a one in three chance of finding an actual transsexual among them, most likely an autogynephile who will transition as an adult and only one in fifteen chance of finding a transkid.
The design of this study was flawed from inception, as the numbers surveyed were never enough to find any statistically valid number of transkids, while using self report of being “transgendered” without a valid operational definition lead only to a measure of the trendiness of the label in the teenaged population combined with “mischievous responders”, kids saying ‘shit’ to mess with the study.
Transkids after transition
So we see, that truly gender atypical and gender dysphoric individuals will be a very small percentage of youth who will self-identify as “transgender”. These are the kids who social scientists and policy makers should be concerned with, not those who have yet to transition or never will. These are the kids who, while finding more and more visibility in the press as they transition, are the ones who are getting lost in the crowd in social science studies and policy making because of the failure to apply appropriate operational definitions.
(Addendum 5/5/2017: To reinforce my point that one needs to have an operational definition of “transgender”, we can see in another recent study (Sumia 2017) using the GIDYQ-A that only 1.3% of teenagers had any “potentially clinically significant gender dysphoria”. Interestingly of the natal female teens, only 0.5% compared to 2.2% of the natal males had indicated such potential dysphoria. Note that this is indeed potential, not clinically significant distress. These numbers tally better with the hypothesis that most of these boys are autogynephilic and will likely live as secret cross-dressers. Or maybe its just another example of teens “messing” with the researchers.)
Essay on US Census Estimate of Post-Transition Population
Essay on the Ratio of Gynephilic vs. Androphilic MTF Transsexuals
Essay on the Nature of Autogynephilia
Essay on the concordance between percentage of erotic cross-dressing adults of both sexes and measures of teenaged sub-clinical gender dysphoria
External Further Reading:
“Tucute: What it is and why its wrong”
Research on “Mischievous Responders” causing over-estimate of transgender in teenagers
Wernick, et Al, “Gender Identity Disparities in Bathroom Safety and Wellbeing in High School Students”, Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Sumia et Al, “Current and recalled childhood gender identity in community youth in comparison to referred adolescents seeking sex reassignment”, Journal of Adolescence
Joseph R. Cimpian, Jennifer D. Timmer, Michelle A. Birkett, Rachel L. Marro, Blair C. Turner, Gregory L. Phillips II, “Bias From Potentially Mischievous Responders on Large-Scale Estimates of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Questioning (LGBQ)–Heterosexual Youth Health Disparities”, American Journal of Public Health 108, no. S4 (November 1, 2018): pp. S258-S265. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304407
Goodman, M. et al., “Prevalence of Transgender Depends on the “Case” Definition: A Systematic Review” (2016) The Journal of Sexual Medicine
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.02.001
Tagged with: TransTrender, TuCute
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Posted in Transsexual Theory by Kay Brown on April 3, 2017
Or, Confusing The Map For the Territory
There has been a long tradition within the transsexual and transgender communities of trying to argue away the key role that autogynephilia plays in the development of late onset gender dysphoria. Some simply deny it’s existence. But this has lately fallen out of favor in the more realistic segments of the late transitioning MTF community in recognition of how obviously prevalent it is. Though not new, it has become au currant to insist that it is either a normal part of female sexuality or that it is a natural consequence, an after effect, of gender dysphoria. Both efforts confuse the map for the territory. Both efforts ignore the logical consequences of their assertions and how they fail to match the evidence, the data collected over the years, concerning the phenomena.
First, there is the wonderfully creative, if fallacious, redefinition of autogynephilia, the softening of the language, more than simple euphemism, of calling it “female embodiment fantasies”. How delightfully it allows one to then state that, of course, women naturally see themselves as female embodied as they have sexual fantasies. See, women are autogynephilic too. Or, as some twist it around, “Blanchard is defining normal female sexuality as a paraphilia!”
But this is confusing the map for the territory. The phenomena being described are not the same, though they are deliberately described using the same words. Women are not sexually aroused by, nor become romantically enamored with, their femaleness (nor the thought of, contemplation of, their femaleness or femininity). But that is what autogynephilia is… sexual arousal and/or romantic attachment to the contemplation of becoming or being female in and of itself. Where women only incidentally see themselves as female, because they are female, in their erotic imaginings, the autogynephilic individual is specifically and deliberately seeing themselves as female/feminine as that is a key element to which they sexually and romantically respond.
Just because someone labels a portion of a map, “Here be dragons” doesn’t mean there are.
If autogynephilia were an effect of gender dysphoria and a female gender identity, we would predict several consequences from that effect to show up in the data. We would expect that those who were the most gender dysphoric from an early age, those who are the most naturally feminine from an early age, those who transition the soonest, to report the most autogynephilia.
But this is not the case. Early onset / early transitioners have the lowest reported autogynephilia. We can see this in study after study. In Lawrence (2005), those who self reported being exclusively androphilic only 18% reported experiencing “hundreds” of autogynephilic episodes of erotic cross-dressing compared to 52-58% of non-androphilic, which division also showed correlations with age of transition and self-reported childhood gender atypicality. In Nuttbrock (2009), those who had begun Hormone Replacement Therapy as teenagers only 14% reported having any autogynephilic arousal to cross-dressing compared to 82% of the gynephilic subjects (of whom only one had started HRT as a teen).
Further, if it is an effect of gender dysphoria and of a female gender identity, we would expect that only those who experience gender dysphoria and claim a female gender identity, to experience autogynephilia. But this too is not the case. Post-transition people (both MTF and FTM total) only make up one in four thousand people, yet studies have shown that 2.8% – 4.6% of men, that’s nearly five out of a hundred, experience autogynephilic arousal to cross-dressing. That is to say, significantly less than one out of one hundred males who are autogynephilic develop gender dysphoria and a female gender identity.
Can we please stop with the erroneous rationalizations? It’s time to recognize not only the Two Types… but the underlying autogynephilic etiology of one of them.
Essay on Statistical Reality of the Two Type Taxonomy using Lawrence 2005 study
Essay on Nuttbrock 2009 study
Essay on Autogynephilia in the general population
Essay on Census of Post-transition transgender population
Essay Showing Autogynephilic Causation of Late Transitioning MTF Transsexuality
Tagged with: Autogynephilia
Comments Off on Here Be Dragons
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By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo
The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Akwa Ibom state has fixed May 13 to complete pre-hearing on the petition seeking to nullify the election of Dr Christopher Ekpenyong as Senator-elect for Akwa Ibom North West.
Ekpeyong-Akpabio
Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice W. O. Akanbi during pre-hearing session on Friday noted that owing to the nature of the case which is bound by timelines, it would be in the interest of the parties to allow them to proceed to the main subject of the case while the ruling on the preliminary objection will come as part of the final judgement of the tribunal.
He, therefore, adjourned till Monday, May 13, 2019, for completion of pre-hearing and advised parties to review their petitions and streamline their grounds and witnesses for timely adjudication and determination of cases.
The member representing Ikot Ekpene senatorial district,, Senator Godswill Akpabio of the All Progressives Congress, APC who lost his re-election bid to the Senate on February 23, 2019 National Assembly poll, had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election that declared his opponent, Dr. Christopher Ekpenyong of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP as winner.
READ ALSO: Akpabio will reclaim mandate at tribunal — Fmr SSG Umoren
However, during the pre-hearing on Friday, Counsels to Ekpenyong, the Senator-elect prayed the tribunal to nullify the petition of Akpabio seeking to upturn his (Ekpenyong) election.
Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN) and Mr. Solomon Umoh (SAN), who represented Ekpenyong and PDP (first and second respondents) submitted that the petitioners’ prayer for the election of Ekpenyong to be nullified was based on inconsistent grounds.
They noted that the grounds and reliefs sought in the matter were “so incongruous and inconsistent” which renders the petition incompetent to stand as a legitimate document in the tribunal.
Therefore, they prayed that Akpabio’s petition be dismissed in its entirety and the case struck out.
But in his argument, Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN), Counsel to Senator Akpabio said the submission by the legal team of the respondents’ amounted to an “unwarranted attack on the petition, unsupported either by fact or law.”
According to Ameh, the Electoral Act supports the doctrine of mutual exclusivity which allows the combination of grounds as filed by the petitioner.
Buhari expresses appreciation to China over projects
ANC wins South Africa’s election with 57.5%
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Tonkolili, Koinadugu And Kambia Reject CRC Recommendations
Tonkolili, Koinadigu and Kambia districts have on Saturday 7th May, 2016, overwhelmingly rejected the recommendations made by the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC).
The three districts are in Team Three of the ongoing Constitution Validation Process undertaken by the CRC. Morlai Conteh, Chairman Information, Communication and Media Sub-committee- CRC confirmed to Awareness Times Newspaper that the team just concluded the seven days validation of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone. The validation meeting ended at the UNIDO Hall, Kambia district.
A comprehensive report published by the Team on 7th May says that there are approval commonalities among the three districts (Koinadugu, Tonkolili and Kambia) on the validation of the draft Constitution. Some of them are: the Supremacy of the President should be maintained; no dual citizenship should be allowed for Presidency; the powers of the President to appoint the Chief Justice should remain as it is in the 1991 Constitution; the office of the Minister of Justice should be separated from the Attorney General; Presidency should be of a negro African descent; Partisan membership should be a pre-entry to Presidency/Vice Presidency, and should remain continuous. Loss of party membership is an automatic loss of Presidency/Vice Presidency; Local Council elections should be held in concurrent with Presidential and Parliamentary elections; Chiefs should be detached from partisan politics which implies their removal from Parliament. There should be a House of Chiefs for the proper preservation of the traditions and customs of Sierra Leone; Death Penalty to be upheld for murder. However, observations were made against politically motivated treason allegations; the inclusion of land, natural resources and the protection of the environment in to the Constitution; Mass support for the inclusion of the Local Government in to the Constitution; State Policy on education should be justiceable. This implies the removal of the clause, ‘as and when possible’; there should be an Independent Media Commission to ensure professional and disciplined journalism. The Chairman should be appointed from within the11 Commissioners; endorsement of 30% Gender representation in governance and endorsement for 50%+1 for Presidential election to avoid violent run-off and the financial cost implications
However, Team One’s validation has proven otherwise. In Bonthe district, Southern Sierra Leone, some recommendations were rejected. Despite that, the district has decided to make the following recommendations: Death penalty must not be abolished from the law books; Councillors’ term must remain 4 years and not 5 years as suggested in the abridged version; Local Government elections must be non-partisan; If Local Government elections are non-partisan, Bonthe district rejected both Local Government and Parliamentary elections to be held concurrently, as it will create confusion conducting partisan and non-partisan elections simultaneously.
Morlai Conteh confirmed that the validation reports are only for the areas mentioned as the CRC is yet to compile all the team’s recommendations, because the process is still ongoing.
Tags Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) Kambia Koinadugu Tonkolili
Sierra Leone Rated Among The Lowest Developed Countries In 2015 - 181 Out Of 188!
16th June: Here Is What You Should Know About This Year's "Day of the African Child"
Ernest Bai Koroma Reveals The Challenges Sierra Leone Is Facing In Changing Perceptions
British High Commissioner Bids Farwell to President Bio at State House
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Yankees manager touches umpire, squats like catcher during epic tirade
Mark Townsend
Yahoo Sports Contributor
Yahoo Sports September 1, 2018, 2:28 AM UTC
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected from Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers game after taking out some frustrations on home plate umpire Nic Lentz.
Boone’s Yankees were being no-hit by Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann into the fifth inning when he interrupted a Gleyber Torres at-bat to take issue with Lentz’s strike zone. That led to an epic tirade that resulted in Boone making the slightest possible contact with Lentz’s hat.
Aaron Boone just got tossed. He bumped home plate umpire Nic Lentz's hat. Lentz calmly said, "That's contact." Then Boone went into a catcher's crouch behind the plate.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 1, 2018
Regardless of how light the contact was, it was enough to justify the umpire tossing Boone out of the game. But that was only the beginning of Boone’s tirade.
If an effort to demonstrate how he felt Tigers catcher James McCann was fooling Lentz by framing pitches, Boone channeled his father, Bob Boone, a former major league catcher and manager, by squatting down behind home plate and imitating a catcher. The amusing visual immediately became the buzz of baseball fans on social media.
Aaron Boone out here putting on a clinic! 😂 pic.twitter.com/GxXVcCRjUd
Aaron Boone's tirade contained some choice language…but it also had a pretty good catching tutorial! #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/KS8sigUxxU
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 1, 2018
That’s outstanding.
Boone was clearly very frustrated by a number of things, including his team’s performance to that point. But it seems his anger ended up sparking his squad.
Lighting a fire
Though the Yankees would remain hitless through the fifth inning, they came out smoking in the sixth. New York not only broke through in the hit column, it muscled up for three home runs in a span of five batters. Brett Gardner started it with a two-run homer. Then Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hick followed with solo blasts. That turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead.
The Yankees would go on to win the game 7-5 after rallying again for three runs in the eighth.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone goes face-to-face with umpire Nic Lentz. (AP)
Will Aaron Boone be suspended for his actions?
It’s possible, but it doesn’t seem warranted.
Major League Baseball tends to be very strict when it comes to players, managers and coaches making contact with an umpire. Even when the contact is minimal or incidental, the league will take a close look to determine whether a suspension is the proper action.
In Boone’s case, it shouldn’t be that extreme. The contact was slight. It was literally the bill of Boone’s cap brushing the umpire’s. It might be worth a fine, but a suspension would suggest an act of real aggression. We simply don’t see that on the video. Then again, sometimes the league doesn’t need to see much.
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How “free public schools” make us all renters from the State.
Posted by Scott Alan Buss | Feb 21, 2015 | Education | 8 |
Remember when you could actually own a home in America?
The answer is: No, you do not.
Even if you think that something like true home ownership was recently or is presently allowed here in “the land of the free” and the home of the NSA, you are simply wrong.
As with most of the ugliest realities defining modern America, State ownership of American homes is deeply intertwined with the State and Corporate use of what they routinely pitch to us as the “free public school system”.
As if building our concept of education directly upon the serpent’s approach to the pursuit of knowledge wasn’t bad enough for the minds and souls of our children and culture, we’ve managed to throw the notion of true home ownership on the burn pile, too. Actually, it’d be more accurate to say that we’ve sacrificed home ownership as a sort of necessary kindling wood to accomplish the greater fire of State-controlled children’s “education”, which then feeds the all-encompassing inferno of State-controlled everything.
What we’re talking about here is the primary funding mechanism for “free public schools”. We will save deeper examination as to why “free” things require funding for another time. For now, let’s just settle in for a sec and soak in the truth and terrible reality of…property tax.
Property tax – the primary means by which your local “free public school” is funded here in the “land of the free” and the home of the NSA – means, in essence, that the State actually owns your home, land, and all taxable property.
You are a renter from the State, at best.
Even if you owe no mortgage, you owe the State.
Every year, you must pay your rent taxes, or you will eventually lose possession of your “property”.
Let that soak in.
Let it hit hard.
You cannot actually own a home in America.
The State owns your home.
The government owns your home.
All so that it can provide you with glorious “freebies” like…*drumroll*…State-controlled children’s education.
Still think you’re free?
Probably so, as long as the State-controlled “education” and Corporate-controlled pop-culture in which you’ve been purposefully immersed for your entire life is successful in determining the foundations of your worldview and way of life.
The NSA, IRS, Federal Reserve, perpetual warfare abroad, and perpetual loss of property and liberty at home aren’t just happening accidentally.
They are happening purposefully and systematically, with the multi-generational vision of the serpent guiding them along in what at least seems for now to be an effortless march from cultural victory to cultural victory en route to complete cultural dominance.
Proud idolatry of America itself has been fomented and deployed to blind and lead even the “conservative Christian” right into enthusiastic support of Statism. In their unwillingness to subject American tradition, history, and patriotism itself to biblical scrutiny, they have been led along by the nose in promotion of a State that is utterly opposed to biblical truth and even most professed values of “conservatives”.
How many planks of The Communist Manifesto are embodied in the American implementation and celebration of State-controlled children’s “education” alone?
Several.
Once upon a time, that would have bothered most, if not all, Americans.
But not anymore…and not for a loooooong time now.
American State-controlled children’s “education” inherently means increasingly pro-State children overall. That much should have been obvious from the start, yet even now the culture is loaded with proud, patriotic, denial of even the most obvious of connections and realities. Score one for Marx. And the serpent, of course.
Generation after generation has been programmed by these secular, serpentine systems to the point that now most elderly “conservative” Americans cannot fathom (or abide by) serious critiques of the American State and most young Americans cannot fathom a world in which the State doesn’t own, control, and determine everything of significance for its people…all for their own good, of course. These are the multigenerational consequences of a proud people rejecting Christ as King in practice.
Young men and women of today have inherited an absolute nightmare from preceding generations of enablers and game players. The generations who founded and reaped the unbiblical benefits of any number of inherently impossible to sustain Socialist schemes (like Social Security, Medicare, Public Schools, etc.) are now on the verge of heading off into eternity, leaving us behind to deal with this mess.
How we choose then to “deal with this mess” is vital.
Will we repeat the failed approaches of the past? Will we keep pouring our energies and playing the controlled political games purposefully designed to lead us ever-closer to the total tyranny of the State Will we keep trying everything but the Gospel-fueled Great Commission as our one and only true path to real cultural restoration?
Or will we finally repent, believe, and obey…pursuing that Great Commission so that one day we here in this land will once again actually insist on training children in the essential, life-enabling “fear and admonition of the Lord”?
I believe that we can and will find our way to that place in this land once again, by His grace and for His glory.
But only through repentance and submission to Christ as King in practice.
Only then will our serfdom to the Corporate State and its “money”-printing elites end.
Only when we repent and repudiate the profound delisions and destructive behaviors that we’ve personally indulged and enabled will we finally be on that path to true cultural restoration…one supernatural salvation and act of obedience at a time.
And, along the way, we will even be able to own homes again.
Won’t that be nice?
(Please see also: Redeeming Children’s Education: Confronting Our Satanic Approach to the Pursuit of Knowledge.)
If you’d like to read more along these lines, please head on over to the Fire Breathing Christian site, where everything from theology and education to movies and pop-culture is tackled head on from a Christ-centered and Gospel-fueled perspective.
Thank you for your time. interest, and support!
Soli Deo Gloria,
© 2015 Scott Alan Buss – All Rights Reserved.
Two words to help us trust, obey, and adore God.
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Scott Alan Buss
Scott Alan Buss is a contributing writer for Stand Up for the Truth. He is an author, speaker, and blogger at FireBreathingChristian.com, where everything from politics and theology to comic books and pop culture are addressed from an explicitly Christ-centered, Gospel-fueled perspective. Scott's passion is to encourage and equip Christians for the mission given them by their King at this critical time in history.
The One Who Can Fix Our Problems in Public Education
Disproportionate Reaction to Religions
College-proofing your student
Social Justice History of Public Schools leads to Radical New Sex Ed
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Tag Archives: Prespa Agreement
Skourletis: Majority in Greek Parliament Exists for Prespa Deal Ratification
The required parliamentary majority is in place for ratification of the Prespa Agreement but also for a government confidence vote, says SYRIZA secretary and former minister Panos Skourletis. In an interview with Greek TV station Alpha, Skourletis explains that the Prespa Agreement and the government’s survival are two issues that are not mutually related. “Everything points to the fact there ...
Decision for Initiating Constitutional Revision Endorsed
The Parliament endorsed late Friday the decision to initiate constitutional revision arising from the Prespa Agreement by the required two-third majority. Eighty out of 120 MPs voted in favor of the decision. Afterwards, VMRO-DPMNE MP group coordinator Dragan Danev asked for an individual vote, which concluded with the same result – 80 MPs saying ‘Yes’ and 39 ‘No’. Among those ...
PM Zaev Address Following Decision for Constitutional Revision
Today is a historic day for our country. We have made history together. Our visions for a better life in a better country will become a reality, said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev after Friday’s vote in Parliament for endorsement of the initiative for constitutional revision arising from the Prespa Agreement. He thanked the MPs who supported the motion, especially those ...
Mogherini – Hahn Joint Statement Following Parliament Vote
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn welcomed in a joint statement the Parliament’s decision to initiate constitutional changes towards implementation of the Prespa Agreement. “Today, the Parliament took a very important step towards the implementation of the Prespa agreement through the vote launching the ...
NATO Sec Gen Welcomes Parliament Decision
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the Parliament’s decision to initiate constitutional changes arising from the Prespa Agreement. “I welcome the vote by parliament in Skopje on the proposed constitutional changes. It’s up to the government and political leaders to complete national procedures on the name agreement and seize this historic opportunity to bring the country into NATO,” tweeted Stoltenberg. ...
Outgoing and Incoming Greek FMs Rejoice at Parliament Vote
Today is a day of joy for the incoming and the outgoing foreign minister of Greece following Friday’s outcome of the vote in the Macedonian Parliament over the initiative for constitutional revision. Despite the resignation, outgoing Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said they are happy, MIA reports from Athens. The handover of the post from Kotzias ...
Tzanakopoulos: Government Committed to Prespa Deal
Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos in an interview with Greek national broadcaster ERT on Thursday said that Prespa Agreement is not only alive, but is also the government’s main political goal. He said that the political message of government session on Tuesday is that the Greek government is committed to Prespa Agreement. “I consider both Mr. Zaev and Mr. Tsipras ...
PM Zaev on Greece’s Commitment to Agreement and MPs Vote Friday
We remain committed with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over the perspectives of the new Balkans in the 21st century. A region of friendship, cooperation, economic growth and happier citizens, said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Thursday. PM Zaev was referring to Wednesday’s telephone conversation with his Greek counterpart and following the resignation of Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. Zaev said Tsipras ...
US State Department Official Urges Leaders in Macedonia to Seize Opportunity
We urge leaders in the Macedonian parliament to rise above partisan politics and seize this historic opportunity to secure a brighter future for the country, US State Department official told Greece’s state-run news agency ANA-MPA. In regard to the resignation of Greece’s FM Nikos Kotzias, the US State Department thanked the Greek official for his dedicated service to improving Greek-US ...
MEPs Kukan and McAllister Statement on Constitutional Amendments Debate
Following the debate in the Assembly of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on constitutional changes to implement the Prespa agreement Members of the European Parliament Mr David McAllister and Mr Eduard Kukan issued the following statement: “We understand the difficult choices related to the implementation of the Prespa agreement. However, we trust that all political actors will use this ...
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Home / World / Italy says France “arrogant” could become the main enemy of migration
Italy says France “arrogant” could become the main enemy of migration
PARIS (Reuters) – Italy said on Saturday that the "arrogant" France was at risk of becoming its "enemy number 1" on immigration issues, a day before European leaders met in Brussels for an organized meeting hastily on the divisive subject.
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (not pictured) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on June 23, 2018. Thibault Camus / Pool via Reuters
Responding to comments by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that migratory flows to Europe had been reduced compared to a few years ago, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said that the words of Macron They showed that I was out of touch.
"Italy really faces a migration emergency and partly because France keeps pushing people back on the border, Macron risks turning his country into Italy's number one enemy in this emergency," he wrote. Di Maio on his Facebook page.
Macron said that European cooperation had managed to reduce migratory flows by almost 80 percent and that the problems stemmed from "secondary" movements of migrants in Europe.
"The reality is that Europe is not experiencing a migration crisis of the same magnitude as it experienced in 2015," said the French president.
"A country like Italy does not have the same migratory pressure as last year … The crisis we are experiencing today in Europe is a political crisis."
But Interior Minister and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said that his country had faced 650,000 arrivals by sea in the last four years, 430,000 asylum applications and the hosting of 170,000 "alleged refugees" for a total cost of more than 5 billion euros ($ 5.8 billion).
"If for the arrogant President Macron this is not a problem, we invite you to stop insulting and show some concrete generosity by opening the numerous ports of France and letting children, men and women in Ventimiglia pass by," he said. a statement, referring to the city of northeastern Italy on the border with France.
Macron also said that France favored financial sanctions for EU countries that reject migrants with proven asylum status.
"You can not have countries that benefit enormously from the solidarity of the European Union and that massively express their national selfishness when it comes to migration issues," he added, in a clear allusion to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. , who oppose the EU relocation plan for asylum seekers.
WARM DEBATE
The fate of the rescue ship Aquarius and its more than 600 immigrants sparked a heated debate this month about the responsibilities of the EU states.
Italy and Malta refused to take the ship that was stranded at sea for days before being offered refuge in Spain. On Saturday, another migrant rescue ship, the MV Lifeline, was waiting in the Mediterranean, Italy and Malta denied the port.
The French president suggested that additional conditions should be granted to the granting of EU structural funds to ensure that beneficiaries assume their share of asylum migrants.
He made the comments after his first meeting with the new Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, at the Elysée Palace.
Both leaders agreed that additional detention centers in Europe should be opened to review the applications of asylum seekers.
This would be added to the so-called "landing platforms" outside the EU, where asylum applications could be assessed before the claimants arrive in Europe.
Immigrants seeking to reach Europe were picked up in hundreds in the Mediterranean on Friday and Saturday.
Spanish authorities said they had rescued nearly 600 migrants trying to make the dangerous crossing from Africa, while off the coast of Libya, the coastguards recovered the bodies of five immigrants and picked up 210 survivors, the coast guard said.
Container ship Alexander Maersk picked up 113 immigrants from a ship in southern Italy on Friday, the ship's owner said. The ship was south of Sicily waiting for new instructions from the authorities.
Report of Valentina Za, Marine Pennetier and Mathieu Rosemain; Edition of Ros Russell, Mark Potter and Andrew Bolton
Tags Asylum / Immigration / Refugees Czech Republic Diplomacy / Foreign policy Eastern European Countries Europe European Union France Fundamental rights / Civil liberties General news Germany Government / Politics Human rights / Civil rights HUNGARY International organizations / Treaty groups migrants Poland Race Relations / Ethnic Issues Society / Social issues Spain United Kingdom USA UU Western Europe
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Amateur Hour Over At Twitter?
It doesn’t really matter if Twitter’s Chief Architect Blaine Cook was fired or resigned. The important thing is that he’s gone now, and this gives Twitter the opportunity to hire someone (or a team) who may actually be able to scale the nearly two year old service and keep it live.
Cook was directly responsible for scaling Twitter, and he very much failed in his job. A year ago he spoke at the Silicon Valley Ruby Conference about scaling Rails applications. His presentation suggested Twitter’s problems were behind them, but in fact some of their biggest stumbles hadn’t occurred yet. Note in particular slide 9 of that presentation, where Cook says about scaling Rails apps like Twitter: “It’s Easy. Really.” Whether Twitter’s woes were all on Cook’s shoulders or not, he should not have been boasting about solving the problem last year.
Meanwhile, Twitter has made at least three key hires this year on the technical side. Lee Mighdoll joined as VP Engineering and Operations in January. And this week they hired two scaling experts – John Kalucki and Steve Jenson (“known for his work scaling Blogger and Blogspot”).
Blaine Cook
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Plenty of cock to go around
May 18, 2018 July 1, 2018 lalonde4 Comments
Soon we may have all sorts of COCK-formative trademarks engorging the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database because the bar on registering scandalous trademarks is dying a slow death. But the current COCK-related trademark controversy is more complicated and, frankly, less fun than the pending application for COCK SUCKER for candy in the shape of a rooster.
Faleena Hopkins has written several self-published romance novels, among them the Cocker Brothers of Atlanta series, also called the Cocky series. These brothers, though they have cockiness and, apparently, horniness in common, have chosen diverse paths in life. Titles in the series thus include Cocky Marine, Cocky Cowboy, Cocky Genius and Cocky Senator.
After publishing a number of books in the series, Hopkins went on to obtain two federal trademark registrations for COCKY. She owns one for COCKY in no particular font for “a series of books in the field of romance” and “a series of downloadable e-books in the field of romance,” issued April 17, 2018. And another stylized mark for the same goods, issued May 1, 2018:
Armed with her registration, Hopkins appears to have used the Amazon Brand Registry to have Amazon take down several novels with “Cocky” in the title. (The ABR requires a trademark registration.) She has also sent out several cease and desist letters to individual authors with “Cocky” titles.
This has pissed the publishing community off royally. For the full shitstorm, check out #cockygate on Twitter. Just brace yourself for the vitriol. The Romance Writers of America trade association is consulting with legal counsel to figure out how to stop Hopkins, and a Moveon.org petition urging the USPTO to cancel Hopkins’ trademark registrations has almost 27,000 signatures as of this writing. Continue reading →
cock, literature, sexual slang, trademark#cockygate, First Amendment, romance novels, trademark infringement, trademarks
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Frank R
I advocate for the Sarcoidosis Community for all of those who can't advocate for themselves!
http://www.sarcoidosisofli.org/
Frank Rivera- Founder/President- Sarcoidosis of Long Island Founder/President- RareNY Frank Rivera founded Sarcoidosis of Long Island in 2012. In 2011 Frank was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis after being misdiagnosed with lung cancer for 7 years prior. Since opening Sarcoidosis of Long Island he has been a local, state and federal advocate for Sarcoidosis. Frank strives to raise awareness for Sarcoidosis nationally, but specifically in the government sector. He has represented the Rare and Sarcoidosis community as a speaker at two Congressional briefings for Sarcoidosis. Frank is a National Ambassador for Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research. Named RUGD Ambassador for Illumina October 2017 Frank organized RareNY in 2016, to raise awareness for Rare Diseases in the state of New York. He organized “A Day for Rare Diseases” on October 15th, 2016 in Long Island NY, in partnership with Global Genes, to raised awareness for all 7000+ rare diseases. In recognition of Frank’s efforts, Suffolk County and the town of Brookhaven officially declared October 15th “A Day for Rare Diseases”. In 2017 Frank Rivera was named Town of Brookhaven TBRNewsMedia.com "Person of The Year!"
Follow Thrive Global on Twitter@SarcoidosisofLIFollow Thrive Global on LinkedInLinkedin Profile
Displaying stories 1-8 of 8 in total
Community// July 3, 2019
A Birthday that was not Suppose to Happen!
by Frank R
Community// May 8, 2019
May is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Community// July 24, 2018
What does Terminally Ill Means To Me!
Another Bump in the Road!
Community// June 29, 2018
Right to Try
Community// June 8, 2018
Depression and I
Community// March 26, 2018
Mental Health for a Rare Disease Patient
My Life as a Rare Disease Patient
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Wavelength accuracy:
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‘Cats struggle vs. Seawolves
Posted by Bret Belden | Apr 18, 2016 | Sports | 0 |
On Saturday, UNH and Stony Brook, two of the top teams in the America East conference went to battle. Although UNH kept the scoring to a minimum of four goals at the halfway mark, the Seawolves pulled away in latter half of the game and Stony Brook prevailed over the Wildcats by a final score of 11-4.
Both the Wildcats and the Seawolves were at the top of the America East standings at 3-0 going into Saturday’s matchup and the stakes were immensely high to claim the top spot alongside Albany in the conference standings. Stony Brook made its mark early in the contest.
Dorrien Van Dyke and Courtney Murphy gave the Seawolves an early 2-0 lead five minutes into regulation and Stony Brook seized control in the early minutes. However, UNH evened the score quickly. The senior tandem of Nicole Grote and Laura McHoul once again tag-teamed for a tally to cut the deficit in half. Minutes later Krissy Schafer recorded her 22nd goal of the season to even the score at two.
Stony Brook potted two more to regain the two-goal lead at halftime. Despite the score, UNH’s defensive prowess was present against one of the conference’s highest scoring offenses.
UNH forced six Stony Brook turnovers, won the draw control battle 4-3 and only allowed nine shots on goal. UNH took minimal damage through 30 minutes of play.
In the second half, things began to go south for the Wildcats. Nicole Grote tallied her second of the afternoon at 23:17, but that would be all we saw from UNH for a while. The Seawolves went on to score six consecutive goals, as well as force UNH to commit costly turnovers. The Seawolves led 11-3 with 6:34 left in the game. McHoul got on the board to increase her season-leading point total to 42 and the game finished by an 11-4 final score. Stony Brook handed the Wildcats their second-straight loss.
With only two games left, the race to secure a playoff spot is tightening, and UNH’s road does not get easier. The team will welcome the 8-4 Albany Great Danes on Saturday, April 23 to Cowell Stadium. Albany is undefeated in conference play thus far. Last time these two teams played, the Great Danes handed the Wildcats a 15-6 loss at Albany. Saturday’s matchup will begin at 12 p.m.
PreviousWelcome to Wildcat country: Team IMPACT and UNH Volleyball join forces to welcome Phoebe Cole to the volleyball team
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Swimming and Diving: Worlds Away: The Journey to Durham
Welcome to Wildcat country: Team IMPACT and UNH Volleyball join forces to welcome Phoebe Cole to the volleyball team
‘Cats sweep road trip against America East foes
Ultimate Frisbee: Sisters of Oriza: A look inside women’s Ultimate
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Week 117: Ball Games
I have very good news and some kinda bad news.
The bad news is that the game I wrote about last week is not finished and might not be finished for yet a week or two or more. (if you know me, you should have expected this)
But the good news is that this was actually a very good week! This year has been pretty terrible so far for me, as the direct follow-up to my exhausting 2017. I mentioned a couple of times that I was burned-out during the first few months of 2018, but it seems I still didn’t fully recover 7 months later. This year has been a struggle because of that but it feels like things are finally looking up right now.
Either way, that game with the ball and the funky background, it’s going along really well and I’m very happy to be working on it!
The goal of the game is to push the button which is somewhere on a wall. The character you’re doing this with can only be controlled through jet-packs, going in the four directions. Once you press the button, you’re glitched out into a new level where a new button awaits you. Levels get more difficult as you go. You want to go as far as you can.
With the design currently planned (there might be changes), the difficulty will appear in 2 forms. The first one would be the death blocks you can see on the gif above. Touching them hurts you and make your light go out (literally) but you can melt them with your jet-packs! The second form will be ‘enemies’ (not yet implemented) which won’t do damage to you but instead will push you around and into the death blocks. I *think* you will be able to defeat those enemies with the jet-packs as well.
Currently I’m trying to figure out a progression for the game and how that difficulty will present itself effectively. Ideally there would be bosses and an ending which you could avoid to get even more challenge, like in Nuclear Throne. Maybe there should be upgrades of some sort but I’m really not sure about that. There’s work to be done on defining all that.
On the other side of the coin though, I’m having a lot of fun working on the aesthetic of the game which really is getting defined by itself at this point.
I’ve added a little face to the character you’re controlling and then worked those 18 black pixels to death, showing the way you’re pushing this little guy, showing triumph when defeating enemies, showing pain when getting hurt, and most of all showing unconditional happiness.
I’m also experimenting with the background which will definitely change throughout the game. Each level will show different patterns, with different sets of colors. This would go along with the progression stuff and so the details are still, in part, to be defined.
Particle effects are also getting into the party already. For now it’s mostly smoke particles but you know there will be glittering, there will be little stars and there will be explosions of some sort. I simply cannot help it.
And of course there’s the new glitch effect I’m showing off in that last gif! I’m actually treating it as a particle effect too on the code side! One glitch particle will simply copy a part of the screen memory onto another part of the screen memory. It will linger there for a random time but it may also expend and even clone itself, which makes it look particularly chaotic and that’s exactly what I was looking for!
By the way, I’m considering writing a Doodle Insights on glitch effects! It would include these glitch particles but also the way I did it in my Pico-8 games/experiments and in Blast Flock which was made with Love2D. Is that something you’d be interested in? Please let me know!
So obviously this game is taking bigger proportions than previously anticipated. From my point of view, this is not really a bad thing. In fact it could be a very good thing. I’ve been wanting to make a commercial game for a while now. I need it to be interesting, to feature things I’m good at, and not to be too ambitious. This game has more potential than most of the ideas I’ve had this year and right now I feel like I have the energy to go through with it.
This game could be my first game on Steam, it might even get onto the Nintendo Switch if that gets to be an option at all. From there, even if it doesn’t do well, it will bring me some amount of money that will go on top of my Patreon income which, sad to say, is not enough at the moment. Still, let’s hope that it does actually do well.
That said, and yet again, my Patreon income is something as well and you can’t know how grateful I am for it. In fact, without it I might have simply abandoned by now. But I didn’t, and I won’t, and it’s all in a huge part thanks to my Patreon supporters.
And so as usual, thank you to all my Patreon supporters and here are the names of the 3$+ supporters:
Ryan Malm, Joseph White, Austin East, Marcin Majewski, Zachary Cook, Jefff, Meru, HERVAN, Andreas Bretteville, Bitzawolf, Alan Oliver, Paul Nguyen, Dan Lewis, Christian Östman, Dan Rees-Jones, Reza Esmaili, Thomas Wright, Chris McCluskey, Joel Jorgensen, Marty Kovach, Cole Smith, Giles Graham, Tim and Alexandra Swast, Sasha Bilton, berkfrei, Jearl, Dave Hoffman, Collin Caldwell, Andrew Reitano, Qristy Overton, rotatetranslate, Finn Ellis, Jakub Wasilewski, amy, Brent Werness, Anne Le Clech, Max Cahill, hushcoil, Jeremy Bouin, Jesse Bergerstock, Jacel the Thing, Pierre B., Sean S. LeBlanc, Andrew Reist, vaporstack
This week was a really good week, and hopeful too. I absolutely need to find a name for this game so that I can call it something else than “this game”. But I’m very happy with how it’s coming along and I’m pumped to work more on it!
This coming week, I am still working on this game and probably on SUGAR too. I’ve already been making more tiny changes but some slightly bigger planned features might get useful very soon if I implement them by then. You’ll know more next week!
Have a great week everyone!
Take care and stay hopeful!
Weeks 115-116: Refining SUGAR
Weeks 118-119: SUGAR and Breakout
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Privacy and Terms of Service Changes on Truecaller
Our community has grown since we last updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. To get things up to date for the millions of people now using Truecaller, we’re bringing you new versions of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Truecaller’s new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy is effective from December 12, 2013
We know these documents are not the most exciting to read, but they’re very important. Please take a moment to read through them!
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Tomi Lahren settles lawsuit against The Blaze: report
By Mark Hensch - 05/01/17 06:49 PM EDT
Tomi Lahren Tomi LahrenBoston officials approve application for 'Straight Pride' parade Milo Yiannopoulos named marshal for 'Straight Pride' parade Tomi Lahren criticizes Boston for not permitting Straight Pride Parade MORE and Glenn Beck have ended their conflict over her work at his media outlet, according to a new report.
Lahren, 24, has been freed from her employment contract with The Blaze, The Dallas Morning News said Monday.
The Morning News said Lahren is capable of pursuing new work that competes with The Blaze despite her contract originally lasting until September.
Lahren will also keep the Facebook page the conservative media outlet created for her, which now boasts 4.3 million followers.
“Ms. Lahren is relieved to have this litigation behind her,” Brian Lauten, her lawyer, said in a statement.
“She looks forward to connecting with her audience and fan base on the pressing political issues facing our country in the days to come.”
The Blaze said a statement Monday that it is “pleased to announce that the relationship with Tomi Lahren has concluded.”
“Ms. Lahren will continue to have access to her social media accounts as has always been the case.”
Lauten said Lahren would “promptly” return all of The Blaze’s “intellectual property.”
The lawyer has argued during previous court hearings that Lahren would delete all videos of herself produced by The Blaze on her Facebook page.
Lahren sued Beck and The Blaze for wrongful termination in April following an appearance on ABC’s “The View.”
The conservative firebrand voiced support for abortion rights, leading critics to argue she had abandoned her ideological roots.
Beck and The Blaze countersued Lahren in April, arguing that the media personality was benched the month before over recurring bad behavior.
Lahren was hired by Beck in 2015, and she has since built a following after her monologues began regularly going viral on social media.
Tags Glenn Beck Tomi Lahren media Politics Lawsuits conservatives
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Home > 2018 > 10/18 > Leafs Postgame: Freddy stood on his heady, but the Leafs couldn’t score and the refs forgot to ref
Leafs Postgame: Freddy stood on his heady, but the Leafs couldn’t score and the refs forgot to ref
October 18, 2018, 9:58 PM | Scott Maxwell
Ah yes, Pittsburgh vs. Toronto. Two teams known for high octane offense, and below average defense. Both have already played in 7-6 games, which they both won. Not to mention, both are seeing their starting goalies return from injury. All the makings of a barn burner.
Well, how about a (basically) 1-0 game instead.
Just as we all predicted.
1st & 2nd Period
I was in class for the first and second periods, so I missed most of it. But, based on my small sample size of tweets that I read, it seemed like the Buds started bad, but got a bit better, and the refs started bad and never got better.
Also, Malkin scored, because of course he did.
Now, this period I got to watch, but not a whole lot happened. It was pretty much back and forth hockey for the majority of the period, until the final minutes when the Leafs put on the pressure. It came to no avail, as the Pens would score two empty net goals, and walk away with a 3-0 lead. The Leafs almost scored in between the 2nd and 3rd goal, but it was waived off and the Buds remained shutout.
It wasn’t a bad game per se, but it wasn’t great, although the refs really didn’t help. But, it’s the Penguins, what else could you really expect.
It was pretty much the same as always. Dermott and Ozhiganov drove play. The bottom six drove play, but couldn’t produce. Matthews’ line continues to get hemmed in. What else is new?
Hopefully we get a better performance from them on Saturday against the Blues, who haven’t been off to the hottest of starts. But Bozak will probably score a hat trick.
Leafs Postgame: What the Actual Hell Was That?
Postgame: Unlucky Leafs get shutout by Rinne and the Preds
Sorted by Trash
CDog 9 months ago
Still no mention (seemingly anywhere by anyone) of Justin Holl – ie. the ONLY player not to play a game for the Leafs yet. Is he hurt? Did he leave a silent one at the salad bar while Babs was choosing his veggies?
By Scott Maxwell
@scotmaxw More Articles
FlamesNation mailbag: arbitration, trades, and Dube
Discover. Progress.: Everyone Wants Walter
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By Fisayo Okare
Mr Eazi’s video for “Keys to The City (Ogede)”, a metaphor for Nigeria’s politics: Watch
The political landscape in Nigeria has been a Joke. In the lead up to the 2019 elections, voting has been critical and inimical for the construction of a democratic state in Nigeria. It’s not new knowledge that the media system of any country is a reflection of the social, political and economic environment in which it operates. It is therefore not difficult to understand the stinging satire of Mr Eazi’s music video, “Keys to The City (Ogede)”, on Nigerian politics. Even as the video is filled with a lot of extravagant living and ill means of earning votes, Mr Eazi uses it to illustrate the ridiculousness that it will be if youths do not vote wisely.
I am on a campaign trail Spot Hon Eazi on This Day News Paper in Nigeria!! Watch my debate & campaign video in my Bio #NotTooYoungToRun
A post shared by Uncle London (@mreazi) on Oct 5, 2018 at 4:05am PDT
The visuals directed by Meji Alabi, also suggests that the elite domination of the political space in Nigeria is at odds with the democratic spirit, which should reflect equality of participation. After every metaphorical expression is said and done, the music video ends with a more remarkable statement: “Vote wisely, do not sell your votes for stomach-fracture”.
Thus far, the Banku music artist has released “Property” and “Keys to The City (Ogede)” while he continues to tease his next project Lagos to London, to follow up his Accra to Lagos mixtape. Also, through his community service work, the Eazi Sound Foundation completed projects in Owode, Iwoye and Ayetoro in his origin state of Ogun two months ago; he has also been advocating for youths to vote for the 2019 Nigerian elections through the #NotTooYoungtoRun campaign.
Watch Mr Eazi’s “Keys to The City (Ogede)” directed by Meji Alabi below.
Featured Image Credit: Youtube/Mr Eazi
Fisayo is a journalist in search of words. Tweet at her @fisvyo
See Efya and Mr Eazi in the video for “Maame”
Afropop, Mr Eazi
Fisayo Okare
administrator 284 Articles
Fisayo is a journalist who thinks writing is hard and reading too. But her journey somewhere reveals, words are like pawns on chessboard when writing. She wants to create and share with the world. See the world, experience and communicate these experiences. Tweet at her @fisvyo
Previous Article Cuppy and Skuki redefine what it means to work in their video for “Werk”
Next Article Watch Phyno and Tekno in the video for their love serenading track, “Iwa”
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The Passacaglia Test
The provision and purview of classical music
Tag: Adriano in Siria
Adriano in Siria, Opera Settecento, 16 September 2015
Posted at 2:27 pm by chaconato, on September 20, 2015
Adriano in Siria
Pergolesi/Metastasio
Cadogan Hall
Adriano – Michael Taylor
Emirena – Maria Ostroukhova
Farnaspe – Erica Eloff
Sabina – Augusta Hebbert
Osroa – Gyula Rab
Aquilo – Cenk Karaferya
Oboe – Daniel Lanthier
Orchestra of Opera Settecento
Conductor – Leo Duarte
Adriano in Siria is one of several of Metastasio’s opera seria libretti which were used by more than 60 composers, in this case from the first setting in 1732 by Caldara, to the last by Mercadante in 1828; earlier this year, a recording of Veracini’s 1735 version was released, and J.C. Bach’s 1765 version was staged in London. Adriano ends with a gesture of imperial magnanimity; hence many of the new versions were composed for royal occasions across Europe, such as Pergolesi’s setting, performed in Naples in October 1734, which was dedicated to Charles Bourbon, Duke of Parma and future king of Spain, whose forces had captured the kingdom of Sicily and its capital Naples the previous May.
Compared to Vinci, Hasse, Porpora, et alia, Pergolesi hasn’t featured as prominently in the recent wave of opera seria revivals and aria recordings. There is however a complete edition of his operas on DVD, recorded at the 2010 Pergolesi tercentenary festival in his native Jesi, and from that set Adriano in Siria is also available as a stand-alone and on YouTube.
This performance was organised by Opera Settecento, a group dedicated to reviving under-performed opera seria and whose chairman Christopher Silvester is a particular fan of this opera. Their previous events were Vivaldi’s Griselda in 2014 and Handel’s Catone in Utica in 2015 at the London Handel Festival; plans for 2016 include a return to the Handel Festival in March and another September Cadogan Hall performance of an opera by Hasse.
The action of Adriano takes place in Antioch, where the future Roman emperor Hadrian as local governor has conquered and offered peace to the Parthians. He seeks an affair with Emirena, the daughter of the Parthian king Osroa. She is betrothed to Farnaspe, a Parthian prince. Hadrian’s friend Aquilo is in love with Hadrian’s betrothed, Sabina. The plot centres on Osroa’s attempts for revenge against Hadrian, who in turn is persuaded by Sabina to pardon everyone and marry her.
Despite its general appeal, the music is variable: Act 1 drags (no fault of the excellent young cast or the orchestra) until the final two arias, Act 2 is the best balanced musically and dramatically, and the final act wraps things up with rather too much action and too little music. The concert-format (chairs and music stands for the singers, in front of the orchestra) didn’t hinder the dramatic involvement of the cast, who stayed in role and responded subtly to the unfolding of events.
In the title role, Michael Taylor immediately established the authority and confidence of the victorious governor, with a full tone and legato maintained with careful use of limited vibrato. The high-lying coloratura was all managed with ease, and the voice balanced from top to bottom, only very occasionally thinning under pressure of the passagework. Russian mezzo Maria Ostroukhova (oddly identified as soprano in the programme booklet) produced a warm and rich sound, conveying the emotional torment of Emirena and unafraid to use the heavy voice to push fearlessly through the fast passages with mostly clear articulation. Her impassioned Act 1 aria Sola mi lasci a piangere was the first musical highlight of the evening.
Following on rapidly, Farnaspe’s aria Lieto così talvolta is the most performed and recorded extract from the whole opera. Pergolesi sensibly placed this aria at the end of the act – despite being less bravura than other arias for the character and in the opera, it’s the undoubted musical standout in the work. The obbligato oboe, representing a caged nightingale, was sensitively controlled and with some genuine quiet playing. The role was originally written for Caffarelli, and all the arias were handled impeccably by Erica Eloff who maintained a clear, bright tone across the huge range required, and showed first-rate technical control in runs over the break and back.
Augusta Hebbert showed similar control in the role of Sabina, including a perfectly floated held note in Chi soffre, senza pianto, though the emotion was a little generalised through all her arias. The incidental role of Aquilo was reduced further by the last-minute cut of the character’s Act 2 aria, leaving just the one Act 3 aria Contento forse vivere – with music familiar in Stravinsky’s borrowing for Pulcinella. Cenk Karaferya’s full vibrato did justice to the character’s frustrated passion for Sabina.
The most sensational singing of the evening came from the tenor Gyula Rab, who is only in the second year of his professional career. Urged on by the full orchestral sound in his bravura arias, he conveyed Osroa’s desire for revenge with an impassioned, slightly Italianate sound at the top, firm tone and precision in the fast detail.
Leo Duarte, busy these days as principle oboe with the English Baroque Soloists in Orphée et Eurydice, was making his operatic conducting debut this evening. The intention was clearly to keep the drama flowing, the next recitative typically pushing ahead immediately after the last beat of the preceding aria, though inevitably some clapping intruded as the audience wished to show genuine appreciation for the singers. The ensemble and tempi benefitted especially from Jonathan Rees’ excellent cello continuo. It’s a long evening for the violins, and although in a few places better attention to articulation and variety of tone would have kept the textures more interesting, the tuning and pace was secure throughout.
In passing, it should be mentioned that the programme booklets for the concert were delayed, only arriving during the first interval, and the £5 charge was generously waived as an apology – although, as both a thorough proofread and a pruning of self-indulgent biographies were still needed, paying would have rankled.
Posted in review | 0 Comments | Tagged Adriano in Siria, Opera Settecento, Pergolesi
Opera tickets are not “expensive”
Galas and damp squibs
Not enough opera
Orphée et Eurydice (1774), 14 September 2015
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Posts Tagged ‘journalist trope’
Rock Fiction Coveting: This is Our Song by Samantha Chase
Tags: burned-out rocker trope, buy it read it review it, how about a review copy, Jett covets, journalist trope, one in a series, only Rock Fiction in a series, romance, Samantha Chase, wanna read
This is the fourth in a series, but hey, who said we had to start at the beginning? Besides, this is the required Rock Fiction entry into a series about brothers, so why NOT start in the middle? After all, we do Rock Fiction over here, not series fiction.
Here’s what This Is Our Song is about:
She knows him by reputation
Riley Shaughnessy knew that to stand out in his large family, he’d have to go big. Making a name for himself as a musician wasn’t easy, but he followed his dreams to rock-star success. But the relentless expectations of fans is not helping the slump he’s in now. So of course the person who attracts him is the woman who is not impressed by fame.
Which gives Riley Shaughnessy a lot to prove
Entertainment reporter Savannah Daly is completely unfazed by pretty-boy rock stars. She’s just here to get her interview and write her story. But spending an entire month with the Shaughnessys is going to show Savannah a side of Riley she never could have guessed.
On the surface, this is familiar stuff. Guy finds inspiration. She’s not interested. She’s a reporter, sent to get her story.
So what’s the attraction? HOW it’s done, of course. And this series has good reviews — I looked at numbers but didn’t read any — so you’d think the execution’s going to be good.
Rock Fiction Coveting: Unanswered Prayers by Morgan Malone
Posted: November 1, 2016 in Rock Fiction Coveting
Tags: buy it read it review it, how about a review copy, Jett covets, journalist trope, Morgan Malone, romance, standalone, wanna read
I think this is a journalist-rock star trope, but the description’s all about the heat between them and not so much about how she’s struggling to do her job or anything like that. See what I mean?
Summer 2001. Naomi Stein is just praying for a little peace from her son, her ex-husband and her boss. Instead, she is following surly Country singer Sam Rhodes across the USA, covering his breakout tour for Rolling Stone. Sam has had bad luck with women and Naomi is trouble from the start. Sam tries to keep the feisty, sexy blonde at arm’s length…until Naomi pushes him over the edge. The hottest tour of the summer has just caught on fire. The music gets better and the romance steamier as they criss-cross the country. Will their passion burn out as autumn approaches? Stubborn pride forces them apart until the tragedy of 9/11 compels them to face each other one more time.
Interesting twist at the end there, too. Bringing 9/11 into it? How? I’m curious about this, and how it changes their dynamic.
The whole journalist thing? Meh. Been there, done that. But… what other reason would this woman have for following the band around? A legit one, anyway.
Rock Fiction Coveting: Sheet Music by Tibby Armstrong
Posted: October 18, 2016 in Rock Fiction Coveting
Tags: buy it read it review it, dark secrets, first in a series, how about a review copy, Jett covets, journalist, journalist trope, romance, wanna read
Here’s another oldie that slipped through the cracks. I swear, what did Susan do before I joined her here? Let everything get past her?
Feels that way. *
This oldie and hopefully goodie is the first in a series, but is the only one of the three that’s Rock Fiction. THAT is the way to start off a series!
Here’s the description:
Music journalist Kyra Martin faces the toughest assignment of her career-to write a cover story about enigmatic heartthrob David Tallis. Deadline looming, Kyra plans to go undercover. When she ends up under the covers with the sexy superstar instead, can both her career and their budding relationship survive?
With a closet full of skeletons to hide, and a paparazzi-fueled divorce behind him, David Tallis despises the press. When Kyra Martin bribes her way into his life, her sexy assets have him composing a duplicitous seduction. Ensnared in a media maelstrom of his own making, can David face the music? Or will he lose Kyra, along with another piece of himself?
Now, I gotta wonder why there’s not more erotic fiction (’cause that’s what this is) with this title. It’s a good pun. Maybe it’s because rockers usually can’t read music, let alone use sheet music?
But it’s a good pun!
This isn’t a terribly original plot. I think I’ve written about it before — this isn’t the first time I’ve used the “journalist trope” tag, so maybe I need to do more than think. Clearly, it’s happened.
But like all good books, what matters isn’t necessarily the plot. It’s the details that make the characters, the situations, the everything come alive. And for that reason, just like every other book that makes me drool, I’m aching to get my hands on this one.
Bring it.
* If you come across any Rock Fiction you’re coveting, or have read something you’d like to post your thoughts about, or are an author who’d like to write a guest post… anything! We’re always glad to accept contributions from the Rock of Pages family.
Rock Fiction Coveting: Insider by Olivia Cunning
Posted: September 15, 2015 in Rock Fiction Coveting
Tags: how about a review copy, jaded band, Jett covets, journalist trope, Olivia Cunning, rock star and plain girl trope, rocker falls for the quiet girl, romance, wanna read
Olivia Cunning’s got a new series!
Toni wants to be an insider.
Logan just wants inside her.
She’s finally ready to rock…
Toni Nichols set aside her dreams to raise her little sister, but now she’s reaching for the stars as the creator of a revolutionary interactive biography about Exodus End. She’s on tour with the rock band to immerse herself in their world, but how will she ever gain the trust of four veteran superstars who’ve been burned by the media before? Nobody said this was going to be easy. Then again, good things can come in hard packages.
He’s always ready to roll…
Adrenaline junkie Logan Schmidt lives for the rush of playing his bass guitar before thousands of screaming fans. When he’s not performing onstage or in the bedroom, he’s looking for his next thrill in extreme sports. So why does a sweet, innocent journalist get his heart pumping and capture his full attention? Is Toni the real deal or just digging up dirt on his band? Logan’s eager to rock Toni’s world and roll her in the sack, but when she starts to get too close to his heart, she takes her insider look to a place he may never be willing to go.
I’m not thrilled with the description of Logan. Typical, no? The rocker who loves a new girl in his bed every ten minutes falls for the quiet girl. Yawn. Seen this a million times.
BUT check out the rest of the premise. Trying to penetrate (ha!) beneath the cynicism of a band who’s been around long enough to know the media ain’t their friends the way journalists claim to be. Our girl’s got one heck of a challenge in front of her, and I really hope Cunning pulls this off well. I think she will. People rave about her series, especially the early books in each series, and this is a new series…
I mentioned it’s an Olivia Cunning, right? You’re guaranteed some good rock and roll and even better, hotter sex. Maybe we’ll let the rest go.
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‘Coming To America’ Sequel Gets A Director, Is Moving Forward With The Main Cast On Board
by christina@theshaderoom.comJanuary 12th, 2019
“Coming to America” is now and always will be a certified classic. Sequels and remakes can be hard to pull off, especially when the original is perfection, but I’m genuinely excited for this proposed sequel because #EddieMurphy has agreed to reprise his role as #PrinceAkeem!
And now we’re getting closer to actually seeing it on the big screen! According to @Deadline, #ParamountPictures selected #CraigBrewer to direct #ComingToAmerica2. The chemistry should be good on set because Brewer recently directed Murphy in “Dolemite Is My Name” and it’s being said that Murphy is eager to work with him again.
If you need more confidence in this project, #Blackish creator #KenyaBarris is on the script and is also serving as the film’s executive producer. In the sequel, Akeem learns about a long lost son and he must return to America to meet “his unlikely heir to the throne of Zamunda.”
It sounds like the original cast including #ArsenioHall, #ShariHeadley, #JohnAmos, and #JamesEarlJones are among those being asked to return.
While this sequel sounds really promising, I don’t want to get our hopes too high as there is no start date set, but the hope is that production will begin this year.
“After many years of anticipation, I’m thrilled that Coming to America 2 is officially moving forward,” Murphy said in a statement. “We’ve assembled a great team that will be led by Craig Brewer, who just did an amazing job on Dolemite, and I’m looking forward to bringing all these classic and beloved characters back to the big screen.”
Kenya Barris is excited about the movie as well.
“Craig’s ability to create a distinct cinematic world with each of his films is not only impressive, but also what made him exactly the voice and vision we needed to bring this story to life. From Hustle and Flow to his work with Eddie on Dolemite Is My Name, he never fails to blow me away. He is a true auteur and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him on board.”
#Roommates, are we showing out when this comes to theaters? Let us know!
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
Young Thug Says Lil Nas X Shouldn’t Have Told The World He’s Gay
Soulja Boy Reportedly Scheduled For An Early Release From Jail
R. Kelly Ex-Employees Reportedly Turn In More Than 20 Sex Tapes Allegedly Involving Underage Girls
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ANLCA: Shittu Out, Nwabunike In
April 16, 2018 Steve Ubana
By Stephen Ubanna
For much of March and earlyApril, 2018, Olayiwola Shittu, who, until Saturday, April 14, 2018, was president , Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, and his successor Tony Iju Nwabunike, a pioneer Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria, CFFRN, were said to have set in motion the machinery for handing of power to the incoming president of the Association. The duo were said to have set up an inauguration Committee to handle the assignment.
The duo were also said to have met at different times on the way forward for the Association. The fallout of the meetings was the Culmination of the handover of the insignia of office of the President of ANLCA by Shittu, the former President to Nwabunike on Saturday , April 14, 2018. in a The ceremony attracted people from all works of life, including Aminu Dahiru, , Assistant Comptroller General in charge of Nigeria Customs Service, Zone A, Lagos, who represented Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and the Comptroller General. and Gani Adams, Aare Onakakafo, the Yoruba traditional war General . The insignia formally confirmed Nwabunike as the president of ANLCA, for the next four years. It was the first time since the establishment of ANLCA by an Act of parliament in 1954 that power is shifting from an elected President to another elected President without rancour or Court cases.
Tony Iju Nwabunike: New President of ANLCA
As a prelude to the swearing in of Nwbunike, the new President , Dahiru, who was the representative of the Comptroller General, was given opportunity to give his goodwill message. The Customs Zonal Coordinator, however, saw it as an opportunity to lambaste the importers with their agents over their crooked ways of doing business at Nigeria ports, airports and land border stations, pleading with them to support. H e promised a level playing field to stakeholders and support to the new leadership of ANLCA. Going back the memory lane, he alluded that he knew Shittu, the outgoing president and Nwabunike, the incoming , when he was a Deputy Comptroller in-charge of Enforcement, Tin-can Island port in 2012. He has a good sense n of humour forcing the people to laugh repeatedly.
Appealing to agents to reduce the friction with officers, he cautioned them to make genuine declarations, correct Classifications and Valuations of their imports as well as reduce alterations to their import documents.
He had recalled of the robust relationship between the Customs and agents which had existed over the years, urging the new leadership to Endeavour to sustain it as both Customs and agents need each other to remain relevant. He is right . The Customs collect the duties and other relevant charges at the seaports, airports and land border stations while the agents are the ones that that pay the duties and the other charges by serving as a go-between importers and Customs . There was absolute silence as agents turned to look at one another. The look in their faces show that they were all guilty of the crime.
The agents may have heaved a sigh of relief when Adams, Aare Onakakanfo fired back at the Customs Authorities over its high tariff on imported goods, urging the government to reduce to encourage more imports of cargoes into the nation’s seaports.
He pleaded with the ACG to take their complaint to Ali, who in turn should take it up with Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance to force the government to reduce the tariff on imported goods. The Aare lamented that many Nigerians in diaspora who were used to shipping vehicles and other goods from contributions in their places of work may have been discouraged to continue in the business because of this outrageous tariff .
He fears that if nothing is fast done urgently to ameliorate the situation, most of these Nigerians in Diaspora may become liabilities to their parents, brothers and sisters at home as they may be forced to be sending money to them to feed and meet up other daily expenses. The speech by the Customs ACG and Are Adams may have opened the floodgate for other speakers to shower praises on Shitu for his outstanding leadership.
Until , he handed over to Nwabunike on Saturday, April 14, 2018, , shittu was at the helms of affairs in ANLCA for eight years, having been elected in Portharcourt in 2010. Indeed, the encomiums that were showered by members of the Association including a foremost agent , Nze Anyamene and the President of the Customs Brokers Association of Liberia, who came with a high powered delegation to witness the handover ceremony speaks volume, of Shittu’s influence beyond the shores of Nigeria.
The former ANLCA President who was regarded in Agents circles as the father of the Association and a bridge builder beyond the shores of Nigeria was said to have been honored with the Liberia Coat of arms to show their appreciation of his works in the country. The representative of the Liberia’s Brokers Association, Toby, was said to have sent greetings from the government to him, stressing that they would want him to come over to Liberia to continue the Brokers business if he did not find Nigeria suitable for business any longer.
Gani Adams: Are Onakakanfo of Yoruba Land.
He revealed that with the initiative of the former ANLCA president, they were already working on the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Brokers Association, with the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme, ETLS and Common External Tariff, CET, in the region.
Toby, the president, of the Liberia s brokers Association is optimistic that Nwabunike will continue from where his predecessor stopped to see to the realization of the dream of the formation of the ECOWAS Brokers Association.
Earnest Elochukwu, a foremost agent based in Portharcourt and former acting president of the Association during its period of crisis, who was said to have technically handed over to Shittu in 2000, described the change of baton in ANLCA as a” celebration of successful leadership”.
Appealing to the Anambra state born ANLCA, president to take a cue from the former President of the Association, Elochukwu explained that it is the only way to guarantee him a successful tenure instead of doing things that would polarize the Association.
He urged him to use the talents in the Association wherever could find them , no matter the Political divide. ”You are not in Competition with any person, follow what the Constitution of the Association stays, galvanize agents to do what you want them to do as you were elected to project ANLCA, He warned the ANLCA president, do not turn yourself into a dictator but see yourself as an” obedient servant of the agents”.
Eyewitness account disclosed that there was a standing ovation when Shittu stood up to talk. ”I knew a day like this will come’, he reportedly said. I have a retirement countdown application in my phone which was counting my days in office and when the time was ripe me to go, i the alert rang, he further said. The former ANLC president was said to have urged those in a position of leadership to know that a day like this would come for their retirement to start preparing for it from the first day in office.
In a voice laden with emotion, Shittu was said to have told the audience that ”in the journey to leadership, there would be a lot of betrayals , noting that in the beginning the leadership may be owned by a section of people who may claim to have master-minded his election and therefore no person has the right to question the rule of the majority now”.
Philosophically speaking, SShittu said, ANLCA is an evolving project that would outlive every member”. The former President may have had his support to Emmenike Nwokeji, to succeed him because of his loyalty.
It is not surprising why Nwabunike declared on his inauguration day that there is ”no victor no vanquished, remind one of the statement credited General Yakubu Gown, a former Head state, while making his broadcast after the surrender of Biafra in January, 1970. He pleaded with members to support the support the new EXCO ”to keep the vision mission of the Association alive”.
he may have spoken what the agents would want to hear when he rolled out his plan for the Association in the next four years: Development off a befitting Brokers village with the State of the art training facilities, ancillary services such as conference centre and Clinic . This is in addition to a hotel that would be built in the Brokers village , he said .
this may sound ambitious , establishment of Chartered Institute of Brokers, but the new ANLCA boss has promised to pursue it to its logical conclusion. H e has made the registration and Conferment of the status of a Chartered Institute of Customs Brokers as one of major plants of the Administration to ‘develop a Certification training programs for members to improve service delivery, standardization of operations and processes,” thus making ANLCA a truly professional body.
Business, News, Trending
Exports: Nigeria Still Experiencing Deficits In trade
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Milked: Feds Nail South Mountain Creamery for Talking to City Paper
Van Smith Maryland judiciary, Money Laundering, Six Years Ago May 3, 2018 May 3, 2018 4 Minutes
By Van Smith
Published by City Paper, June 20, 2012
Randy Sowers is not the only Maryland farmer recently targeted by federal money-laundering investigators for illegally depositing cash his business earns in increments of $10,000 or less, in order to avoid triggering bank-reporting requirements. But Sowers, whose South Mountain Creamery (SMC) dairy farm in Middletown, near Frederick, is a popular fixture at Baltimore-area farmers markets, is the only one to exercise his First Amendment rights and talk to the press about it.
For that, Sowers’ lawyers say, the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO-MD) has made him pay—an assertion that U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein denies, despite an e-mail sent to Sowers’ attorney by the chief of Rosenstein’s asset forfeiture and money laundering section, Stefan Cassella, that appears to state exactly that.
As City Paper reported in April, nearly $70,000 of Sowers’ money was seized by federal law enforcers from his bank account in late February (“Cashed Out,” Mobtown Beat, Apr. 18), on suspicion that he had been illegally “structuring” deposits of cash from SMC’s farmers market business. City Paper reached Sowers by phone for the article, and he granted an interview—though his attorney, David Watt, said at the time that Sowers “probably shouldn’t have said anything,” since “we don’t want to act like we’re trying to influence the goings-on” in the case.
A day after the article was published with quotes from Sowers, the USAO-MD filed a civil-forfeiture lawsuit seeking to keep Sowers’ seized funds (The News Hole, Apr. 20). According to Watt, Cassella told him over the phone that day that he filed the lawsuit because Sowers talked to the press.
In an e-mail to CP, Watt paraphrases what he recalls Cassella saying: “Well, Dave, now I have a problem. Your client spoke to the press and now I have to file charges. Otherwise it will appear that I was influenced by your client speaking to the press. Also, I don’t want the next person who I file against to think that he/she can gain leverage by talking to the press.”
Prior to the article, Watt says working to resolve the case with Cassella had been a “relatively amiable process.” Afterward, Watt continues, the prosecutor changed his tune. Rather than engaging in what Watt says Cassella had previously described to him—a back-and-forth of offers and counteroffers over the amount of seized money the government would keep—Cassella instead said Watt “misunderstood” how the process would go, and gave a hard-and-fast, nonnegotiable figure of $29,500, saying, in essence, to take it or leave it.
Once the figure was agreed to in May, the parties negotiated in e-mails about the settlement language that would be filed in court to close the case. Watt and another attorney who is advising Sowers, Paul Kamenar, provided CP with the e-mail chain, which shows both sides jockeying for language that would limit their respective liabilities.
Ultimately, the e-mails show, Cassella had no objection to including a clause in which Sowers “admits no wrongdoing.” But he was steadfast in insisting that the agreement contain the following language: “the Government had reasonable cause to seize the defendant currency and to commence the action against the defendant property.”
Initially, Cassella said these words were “routine in forfeiture actions to protect the agents” who investigated the case from personal liability. Watt countered that in another structuring forfeiture filed last fall against money seized from Taylors Produce Stand, an Eastern Shore farming business, no such language appeared in the settlement agreement.
“I have a hard time explaining to my client why he is being treated differently,” Watt wrote, “especially where your initial concern was that the government agents not be liable for any claims for the seizure,” an issue Watt contended was addressed in another section of the agreement.
Cassella, in what Watt and Kamenar say was the last communication from Cassella in the matter, responded with one sentence: “Mr. Taylor did not give an interview to the press.”
CP shared the relevant e-mails with Rosenstein, asking for comment, and he e-mailed that if Watt and Kamenar “had any objection to the terms of the settlement,” they “should have raised it to my attention” before signing it. He also asked if Sowers and his attorneys “dispute” that “Sowers admitted that he ‘intentionally’ kept his cash deposits under $10,000 to avoid throwing up red flags.”
Kamenar says, “We were squeezed for time” by the time Cassella, on the same day the agreement was signed, revealed why he was insisting on language that was not in the Taylor agreement. He adds that, despite Sowers’ admission that he knowingly avoided red flags by depositing less than $10,000 at a time, “there was no intent by Randy to violate the structuring laws.”
Cassella, for his part, wrote in an e-mail to Rosenstein, which the USAO-MD shared with CP, that “the point is that the Sowers settlement was routine, not a punishment for exercising his First Amendment rights.”
“That’s an absolute falsehood,” says Kamenar, insisting that “this clause is not routine—see the Taylor settlement.” Cassella’s e-mail speaks for itself, Kamenar continues, and “you can’t put lipstick on that pig.”
“We’re not done with this, yet,” Kamenar says, adding that “Randy does not shy away from asserting his rights, and we think there should be more done to expose this kind of abuse.” Kamenar says he intends to send a letter to Rosenstein, demanding that there be “corrective action” in which Cassella is “disciplined” for the way Sowers’ case was handled.
“This is just another example of government overreach,” Kamenar continues, “this heavy-handed forfeiture going after people like the Sowers, and then penalizing them for talking to the press.”
Randy Sowers
South Mountain Creamery
Structuring
Published May 3, 2018 May 3, 2018
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William E. Darby joined National Old Line Insurance Company in Little Rock in 1929. Through hard work and determination, he rose from insurance agent to president and chairman of the board. National Old Line attracted national attention for its phenomenal growth and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1956 with the dedication of a new building in Little Rock. Darby personally directed a sales organization that grew from 17 representatives in 1945 to more than 250 in 1956. He oversaw the merger of the company with National Equity Life Insurance Company. When he retired in 1972, National Old Line had grown to a billion-dollar business and was among the top 10 percent of all insurance companies in the U.S. measured by life insurance in force.
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