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“Maniac”: A Game Of Tetris
Rajan Chander
The Netflix limited series Maniac follows the psychedelic experiences of strangers Annie and Owen during a pharmaceutical trial and their quest through a range of different mindscapes. Sparks fly, and it is in the midst of these events where they discover who they really are. Despite flaws, including a story that drags at times, it is a sweet and innocent tale that provides one of the most innovative experiences of the year.
Emma Stone and Jonah Hill headline the ambitious series—a Superbad reunion of sorts. Both actors are phenomenal; Stone perfectly plays a “lost-soul” type of character who is flawed and loud, yet so damn likeable as she continuously recounts her troubled past. On the other hand, Hill’s unusual yet impressive acting as a socially awkward schizophrenic represents how far his acting career has progressed.
Creators Cary Joji Fukunaga (season one of True Detective) and Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers) have put a lot of care into developing a cohesive story and building new worlds across the 10 episodes. From a mob-driven narrative to Elvish folk tales, each landscape is intricately woven to move the characters and their respective stories forward. However, some stories work better than others—the relevance of plot points to Annie and Owen’s story arcs are sometimes hazy. Although it averages 40 minutes per episode, it can be a bit difficult to binge watch as every episode is dense with production detail, as well as new environments and character revelations. Because of this, Maniac isn’t for those looking for a quick watch.
Maniac is like a game of Tetris. Initially the show can be hard to understand, equivalent to not knowing where to place the first few pieces. But as the layers build up, you start to realise where this show is going and you’re in for the journey. The detailed scenes can be overwhelming.
But when all is said and done, beneath all the mind-bending madness lies a charming story about loneliness and facing loss. In the midst of such pressures, people who care about you can be found in the strangest of places.
Stream Maniac on Netflix now.
Tags Emma Stone Jonah Hill Maniac Netflix TV Review
Sports and Inflated Egos
Pub Talk: In Defence of José Mourinho
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Tag Archives: TV
The ‘Pop Culture Decade’ Died In The 1990s
by David K. Sutton | 1 Comment
This journey could just as easily begin in the 1920s, or 1940s, but I think starting with the 1950s is sufficient to illustrate my point. And to avoid confusion, this article is written entirely from the perspective of American pop culture. But I have a hunch that the same phenomenon that killed the “pop culture decade” has swept around the globe, immune from regional pop culture variations.
The 1950s saw mass adoption of a new technology, the television, and this new medium would fuel the pop culture decades to follow. The 50s was also the decade responsible for rock ‘n roll, blue jeans and poodle skirt fashion, and it gave birth to the star of Elvis Presley. This particular decade has been highly romanticized in later pop culture decades starting in the 1970s and reaching its pinnacle in the 1980s with movies like “Back to the Future.” You know a 1950s reference when you see it. Whether it be slicked back hair or the chrome kitchen set, this pop culture decade is deep-seated in our collective pop culture brains, even if the decade we visualize is in reality shaped by rose-colored references from future decades.
When we think 1960s, we think change, revolution, social upheaval (followed by greater social acceptance). If the 1950s was your conservative (sometimes bigoted) uncle, the 1960s was your rambunctious (and drugged out) cousin. The decade of assassinations (President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.) was also the decade of the British Invasion (The Beetles, The Rolling Stones, The Who). While all decades take pop culture cues from music, it was the 1960s where music had its biggest effect on pop culture and the greater culture at large. The rock ‘n roll music that began a decade earlier was joined in the 1960s by its rising sibling, pop music. The “teenager” clothed in the conservatism of the 1950s, grew out his hair and rebelled in the 1960s. When you think this decade you think sub-culture. When you think the 1960s, you think peace signs, hippies, VW bugs, and tie-dye t-shirts.
Pop culture in the 1970s was directly influenced by the social change of the 1960s. In television, the 70s began a trend of more controversial, socially conscious programming with TV shows like “All in the Family.” Seventies television also contained much sexual innuendo with shows like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Three’s Company.” And 70s television saw a rise in programming centered on minority families like “Good Times,” and “Sanford and Son.” In music, the 70s was all about experimentation with styles ranging from jazz/rock fusion to darker, heavier, and harder-edged sounds from the likes of “Black Sabbath” and “Led Zeppelin.” But the 70s also produced soft pop from groups like “The Carpenters” and long-form progressive rock from bands like “Genesis.” The 1970s gave rise to the familiar half-hour, fast-paced, local news program, and the influence this format has had on society cannot be overstated. The unofficial mantra “If it bleeds it leads” of this style of news reporting has had a profound effect on the way people perceive the world, what they consider important, and how safe (or unsafe) they think this human experiment is. When you think the 1970s, you think earth tones and oil embargoes. The 1970s woke up the few remaining hold outs, still caught up in a post-war slumber. The 1970s was far removed from the quiet and safe confines of the 1950s.
Ah, the 1980s, the decade of my childhood. I was 4-years old when the decade began, a teenager when it ended. The 1980s saw the second British Invasion, with new wave, and a heavy reliance on synthesizer-based pop. The 1980s also rang in the era of self-absorption and Wall Street greed, two things that we still can’t shake nearly 30 years later. The decade of the personal computer was also the decade of big hair. Whether it was hair metal bands, or teenage girls testing gravity and the limits of hair products. And like the 1960s, the 1980s saw its share of iconic pop artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson. And of course, any mention of 1980s pop culture must include MTV. Launched in 1981, MTV had a major impact on the music industry and how music is marketed, and the 1980s was all about marketing. From My Little Pony, Care Bears, and of course the Cabbage Patch Kids, consumerism was not only alive and well in the 1980s, it was raised to a whole new level of gratuitousness. Everything was big in the 1980s. When you think this decade you think loud, you think bombastic, you think colorful and you think neon, ripped jeans, the perm, and the mullet.
So now we’ve reached the 1990s, and it all seemed so promising at the beginning of that decade, with the grunge music scene rebelling against the excesses of the 80s. It matters not if you liked it, because it’s simply undeniable that “the Seattle sound” was a defining moment at the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it really was the last defining moment for the 90s. Oh sure, the 1990s saw the rise of the world wide web, and the tech bubble that followed, and obviously the impact of technology and the internet is profound, but when it comes to music, television, fashion, the 1990s killed the pop culture decade. Post 1990s, decades are no longer defined by an aesthetic or a zeitgeist. Don’t believe me? Well consider this example:
Adam Sandler – The Wedding Singer (1998)
Think of the movie “The Wedding Singer.” This comedy gold flick was released in 1998, starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It was a period comedy, taking place 13 years earlier in 1985. Think about that. This movie was released 16 years ago, and when it was released, it depicted a timeframe 13 years before that, utilizing an unmistakable 80s aesthetic that was completely foreign only a little over a decade later. More time has passed since this movie’s release than the difference in time between it’s release and the period it depicted. Why does this matter? While I realize this is a comedy, using over-the-top fashion and pop culture references for comedic effect, that also makes it the perfect microcosm of the greater point I’m trying to make here. Could we have a 2014 “Wedding Singer” movie depicting 13 years earlier, the year 2001? What would be the defining visual aesthetic of 2001? How would it be set apart from the aesthetic of 2014? See what I’m getting at? Sure, social media and smart phones are a big deal in the time that has passed since 2001, but that really doesn’t give us a defining visual aesthetic. It seems we reached a kind of odd pop culture malaise that began in the 1990s, a homogenization, if you will. What is the zeitgeist of the first decade of the 21st century? Will there ever be one?
While music, fashion, and technology do continue to evolve, I believe we have lost the ability to isolate any defining aesthetic for the decades that follow the 1990s. We are no longer able to recite obvious, relatable, and universal pop culture references when talking about the current decade or the first decade of the 21st century. In fact, we never even settled on a universal name for either of these two decades.
So what do you think? Hit up the comments section below with your thoughts.
Posted in Deep Thoughts, Entertainment, Music, TV Also tagged 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, aesthetic, culture, decade, fashion, movies, music, pop culture, television |
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A Literary Force Emerges: The Rise of UMKC’s MFA Program
Posted on March 22, 2017 June 29, 2017 by umkcwebmaster
For decades art has been a vital part of Kansas City culture. Visitors from all over the world travel to Kansas City for a glimpse of its vibrant art districts, including the Crossroads Art District and the historic 18th and Vine Jazz District. But Kansas City also nurtures another art form – a hidden gem. Creative Writing.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City is home to a widely recognized creative writing hub – the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Media Arts (MFA) program – nestled under the umbrella of the College of Arts and Sciences’ English Department. A literary force to be reckoned with, the MFA program has seen steady growth both in enrollment and recognition throughout its nearly ten years of life. This, in large part, is due to the program’s award-winning faculty who help to nurture a strong community of literary artists who want to study creative writing.
“We want the creative writing program to be a place where students come to retreat from the burdens and crush of life,” said UMKC Director of Creative Writing Michael Pritchett. Pritchett has authored several works including The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis and Iowa Short Story Fiction Award winner The Venus Tree.
MFA Success: A Combination of Faculty Experience, Student Relationships
The MFA program is a nationally competitive, studio-research program that combines intensive workshops with literature and craft classes to foster discovery and mastery in creative writing. Students in the program have the opportunity to learn from distinguished laureates in various literary genres, including two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Michelle Boisseau.
“We are trying to create a creative capital in Kansas City, and it’s happening,” said Boisseau, whose recent book of poetry, Among the Gorgons, won a 2015 Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. She has taught at UMKC for nearly 22 years. The longevity and individual successes of MFA faculty help to make the program more attractive to prospective students.
“We wouldn’t be here without faculty like Michelle Boisseau and Robert Stewart and all of the creative writing faculty,” said Pritchett. “We have to have a number of talented faculty to attract students.”
From second-year MFA student John Moessner’s perspective, being immersed in the world of creative writing and learning from professionals who continue to write and win awards allows him to orient himself into their world. He says he is learning first-hand about writing and publishing.
Professor of English Hadara Bar-Nadav, won a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry.
Bar-Nadav says it is critical in a high-caliber program that faculty are active writers. “We are a very energetic, ambitious faculty. We are on the hustle, and being able to share our successes and lessons learned with our students is a major factor in the program’s success,” she said, adding that she is excited to work with faculty who are on the move.
Whitney Terrell, assistant professor of fiction and creative non-fiction, held a book promotion tour last summer that lasted from June through mid-October 2016.
Terrell says it is important to recognize that even before the MFA program was established, faculty were already being published and winning awards.
Because the department already had a long-lived, popular and highly successful MA program in place, with many successful features, the start-up costs were very low: little overhead was involved. “We just started putting the pieces together to develop the MFA,” said Terrell, whose most recent book, The Good Lieutenant, was nominated for the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Hodgen, a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship Awardee, says when she talks to students about their experience in the MFA program, they never fail to mention the importance of their peers in their development as artists. Hodgen’s collection of short fiction, A Jeweler’s Eye for Flaw, won an AWP Award in Fiction and was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2003.
Hodgen explained that any successful program has to have an accomplished and engaged faculty. Those faculty are not only found within the MFA program but within the English Department as a whole, as well as their colleagues within Communication Studies, such as Mitch Brian, and in Theater, such as playwright Frank Higgins. Having other literary resources such as the nationally prominent New Letters and New Letters On The Air, UMKC libraries and KC Rep are also a huge bonus.
Renowned Literary Services Draw Attention to City, Offer Hands-on Experiences for Students
According to Robert Stewart, executive editor and director of award-winning BkMk Press, New Letters and New Letters On The Air, UMKC is the only university in the country with a nationally recognized literary magazine, a literary book publisher and a national literary radio series. With an annual readership of more than 12,000, New Letters is a National Magazine Award-winning compilation of poems, fiction, essays and artwork, with occasional editions focused on a specific theme – most recently jazz. Its nationally syndicated radio affiliate, New Letters On The Air, features various well-known writers each week reading from and talking about their work. New Letters On The Air, with producer-host Angela Elam, is offered via podcast and is broadcast over 30 public-radio stations nationally; it airs Sunday mornings on KCUR 89.3. Many of the artists featured in New Letters magazine and On The Air have also been published by UMKC’s BkMk Press, a national publisher of literary books of poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. Each of these services, possessing a track record of awards and recognition of their own, provides internship opportunities for MFA students while also attracting writers nationwide to know and visit Kansas City.
Moessner says that as an MFA student “you have the opportunity to build connections and relationships with other writers, faculty and fellow students because you’re not one of 1,000, you’re one of six…” figuratively. The MFA program admits about 12 – 15 students on average each year. Faculty participate and present at various workshops, readings and other literary events around the city that give students the opportunity to further hone their craft while learning first-hand from successful writers from all over the country, including MFA faculty.
“Students are looking for a program to go to where they can study under writers whose work they’ve read. They want to know their professors have access to places they want to go to get published,” said Terrell.
“The resources that our city brings to the table – with its museums and galleries, with Kauffman Center and places like Charlotte Street – help to form a larger arts community that helps our students thrive,” said Hodgen. But she emphasizes that the MFA students are successful primarily because they work with one another.
Faculty are also benefitting from teaching and working alongside MFA students. Take Bar-Nadav for example – two poems included in her upcoming book were written during workshop with her students. She also values the joys that come with teaching seasoned works. She says that teaching old poetry makes it new again every time because she picks up on something she may have previously missed, or gains other points of view from her students.
Attracting talent to UMKC
Faculty say the opportunity to work with colleagues they’ve admired attracted them to teach at UMKC.
“We are bringing writers to Kansas City and they are staying here,” said Terrell. “Alumni are staying in town and writing for national publications.”
For students, the program’s funding options make UMKC even more attractive. The MFA program offers graduate teaching assistantships, several creative writing scholarships and a generous $25,000 Stanley Durwood Scholarship given to two prospective MFA students.
As for the future of the MFA program, Pritchett says he wants it to continue to be a place where brilliant writers want to study and teach.
“We’re on the right track and we’re trying to keep everything on track,” he said. “Students graduate and immediately get jobs, win prizes and publish books.”
Notable writers who have come through the MFA program include:
Emily Geminder – Dead Girls and Other Stories
Annie Fischer – Problems and Provocations: Grand Arts 1995-2015
Writer and actress Sabrina Veroczi, a 2015 Durwood Scholarship recipient.
Prior to attending UMKC, Veroczi worked as an actress in New York. She appeared on the television program Law & Order and has written for publications such as Cosmopolitan magazine, Rumpus and Twelfth Street. While at UMKC she is working to finish a book detailing her father’s experience in the Vietnam War.
UMKC students have also won the Association of Writing Programs’ Intro Award four times, most recently in 2015. This honor recognizes the best student writing from more than 500 Creative Writing programs across the country.
While MFA faculty are busy mentoring promising writers and publishers and keeping up with their individual works, they continue to travel around the United States and abroad reading and receiving awards and recognition for their creativity.
Publications & Awards by MFA Faculty
Hadara Bar-Nadav
The New Nudity (Saturnalia Books, 2017)
Lullaby (with Exit Sign) (Saturnalia Books, 2013) – Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize
The Frame Called Ruin (New Issues, 2012) – Green Rose Prize runner-up
A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight (Margie/Intuit House, 2007) – Margie Book Prize
Fountain and Furnace (Tupelo Press, 2015) – Sunken Garden Poetry Prize (Chapbook)
Show Me Yours (Laurel Review, Green Tower Press 2010) – Midwest Poets Series Prize (Chapbook)
Writing Poems 8th edition – co-authored with Michelle Boisseau
Bar-Nadav also received a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts award for poetry and the Lucille Medwick Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Her books A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight and Lullaby (with Exit Sign) were both nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Other awards include the Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize from Crazyhorse and fellowships from the Vermont Studio and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other publications. Her latest book, The New Nudity, is set to publish in 2017.
Ugglig, a poem from Among the Gorgons – 2016 Best American Poetry
Among the Gorgons (University of Tampa Press, 2016) – 2016 Tampa Review Prize
A Sunday in God Years (University of Arkansas Press, 2009) – Pulitzer Prize nomination
Trembling Air (University of Arkansas Press, 2003) – PEN USA finalist
Understory (Northeastern University Press, 1996) – 1996 Morse Prize
No Private Life (Vanderbilt, 1990)
Writing Poems 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8th edition (Longman)
Boisseau has twice received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry and two prizes from The Poetry Society of America. Her work has also appeared in Poetry, Gettysburg Review, Yale Review, Georgia Review, and more. She serves as associate editor of BkMk Press, and is a member of The Poetry Society of America and PEN America.
Christie Hodgen
A Jeweler’s Eye for Flaw (UMASS, 2003) – AWP Award in Fiction
Hello, I Must Be Going (W.W. Norton & Co., 2006)
Elegies for the Brokenhearted (W.W. Norton & Co., 2010)
Hodgen has also won two Pushcart Prizes and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Literature. In 2002 she was a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction. Hodgen is currently working on two books – a novel called The Family Gift and a memoir, “1999.”
Michael Pritchett
The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis (Unbridled Books, 2007)
The Venus Tree (University of Iowa Press, 1988) – Iowa Short Story Award
The Final Effort of the Archer – 2000 Dana Award for a novel-in-progress
Pritchett’s stories have appeared in Slippery Elm, Passages North, Natural Bridge and New Letters. He is currently working on a new novel exploring transgender characters trying to find a world more receptive and open.
Robert Stewart v. “Bob.”
Chickenhood (poems, chapbook 2015)
The Narrow Gate: Writing, Art & Values (essays, Serving House Books, 2014)
Outside Language: Essays (Helicon Nine Editions, 2003) – 2004 Thorpe Menn Award
Plumbers (poems, BkMk Press, 1988)
Stewart has won a National Magazine Award (known as the Pulitzer Prize for Magazine Editors) for editorial achievement from the American Society of Magazine Editors. His poems have appeared in the Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, Literary Review and more. He is the founding director of the Midwest Poets Series, on behalf of Rockhurst University, hosting four prominent writers each year, now in its 34th year.
Whitney Terrell
The Good Lieutenant (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016) – 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction nominee, Washington Post’s “Notable Book for 2016” and Boston Globe’s “Best Book of 2016”
The King of Kings County (Viking Penguin, 2005)
The Huntsman (Penguin Books, 2002) – New York Times notable book
Terrell was also an embedded reporter in Iraq during 2006 and 2010 and covered the war for the Washington Post Magazine, Slate, and NPR. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, The New Republic, The Kansas City Star and other publications.
[UMKC Today]
This entry was tagged Arts and Humanities, Bob Stewart, CAS News, Christie Hodgen, Faculty, Hadara Bar-Nadav, MFA Program, Michael Pritchett, Michelle Boisseau, Whitney Terrell. Bookmark the permalink.
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"The first of the seven sacraments, and the 'door' which gives access to the other sacraments. Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification. Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist constitute the 'sacraments of initiation' by which a believer receives the remission of original and personal sin, begins a new life in Christ and the Holy Spirit, and is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ. The rite of Baptism consists in immersing the candidate in water, or pouring water on the head, while pronouncing the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (977, 1213, ff.; 1275, 1278)." Catechism of the Catholic Church
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How to Make a Profit Buying and Selling Antiques and Collectibles Without Really Trying: The Almost Complete Guide to Antique Collecting
Mark Roeder
iUniverse, Nov 1, 2003 - Antiques & Collectibles - 188 pages
Whether you're new to the world of antiques, or an experienced collector, you'll find loads of useful, money-saving information between the covers of this book. For more than three decades, nationally syndicated columnist Mark A. Roeder has been collecting, buying, and selling antiques. It's all here, from Ebay to household sales, from great finds to reproductions, virtually everything you ever wanted to know about antiques. This guide will pay for itself several times over by steering you away from mistakes and toward antiques and collectibles that will bring not only profit, but years of enjoyment. If you're a lover on antiques, this guide is a must for your bookshelf.
Ditto the first review. I got this book at a flea market, and while it got me interested in antiques, I found that to be about it (I gave the extra stars since it sparked my initial interest). But as the fella says in the first review, if you're going to get serious, then something like the Asheford school of antiques and appraising is going to take you a lot farther than this - especially if you're hoping to learn about stuff right from square one. But I will say, I still carry it around occasionally when I'm at the flea markets - so I guess I got my monies worth out of it after all! Yep!
I read this book and thought that it was fairly decent in it's reporting of how to turn a profit, however, it's little light on details. I think this might be a good "starter" for someone who likes to play around with antiques, but not for someone who really wants to get into the antiques and appraising business on a serious level (for that I'd recommend some kind of training from one of the antique schools' out there like the Asheford Institute of Antiques or the International Society of Appraisers), but if you're just looking for a "weekend guide to keep with you while garage sale-ing, then this book might be for you...
How to Make a Profit Buying & Selling Antiques & Collectibles Without Really ...
Mark A. Roeder
Mark A. Roeder is the author of some three-dozen novels and scores of articles and columns. He currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana.
Title How to Make a Profit Buying and Selling Antiques and Collectibles Without Really Trying: The Almost Complete Guide to Antique Collecting
Author Mark Roeder
Publisher iUniverse, 2003
Antiques & Collectibles / Reference
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DEC 16-JAN 17
Field Notes December 6th, 2016
by Steve Fraser
Back in the mid-’60s Stokely Carmichael won a faction fight within the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) against John Lewis and others that made the civil rights group all black. It was a blow to white activists like myself. Carmichael made the point that we should be doing similar work organizing among poor and exploited white people. That was a good point. His reasons for making it were no doubt complex. Carmichael’s subsequent career as an advocate of black power and identity politics was, in my view, a theatrical dead end—militant-sounding but in reality a retreat from confronting the foundations of élite power in America. Whether his advice was correct or not, the world of white radical activism, by and large, did not follow it. Now the chickens have come to roost.
Over the decades since, white, blue-collar workers have increasingly drifted away from what they used to think of as their New Deal Democratic Party. They felt abandoned and were right about that. The drift became tidal this election. While there are many reasons, the systematic despoiling of the industrial working class—not by some set of impersonal abstractions like History, Technology, and Progress, but by the connivance of financial and industrial élites abetted by their political enablers in both parties—has produced a deep-seated anti-elitism and even nascent anti-capitalism. Trump, feigning solidarity with their plight, rode that accumulated anger, sense of loss, and existential panic into the White House. Bernie Sanders engaged that incipient insurgency as well. But the DNC command centers shut that down. In doing so, they enjoyed considerable support from far wider circles of social liberals. These folks live in a galaxy removed from fly-over America, more than faintly bemused and repelled by its cultural backwardness, and out of touch with its pain and suffering.
Why so walled off, why was the road not taken? With respect to the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, that’s hardly a difficult question to answer. For a variety of reasons, moral as well as political—especially the enormous pressures they were feeling from the African-American uprisings in the sixties—they were prepared belatedly to adopt the battle for formal equality as their own. Substantive equality was another matter entirely, however. That would require major restructuring of the division of wealth and income and a redirection of the flow of investment capital, things so beyond the pale for élites of both parties that they were and remain unthinkable. So it was that the March for Jobs and Freedom, once conceived by at least some of its architects—including John Lewis—as both racial and labor movement, soon learned to efface the labor question.
Allies once, allies from then on. Much of the top-drawer liberal constituency felt most comfortable in pursuing the crusade for racial justice cleansed of the sharecropper dust and dirt Lewis trailed with him to the Lincoln Memorial, which gave off the strong odor of class conflict. If the “limousine liberal” élite met resistance to that crusade from working and lower middle class people, it was easier to blame it on “white racism.” It was a credible charge, after all, because there was plenty of it. And it immunized the liberal powers that be from their more profound culpability for the steadily worsening lot of blue-collar America, and from any prospect that they might have to pay to remedy it.
But this too became the default position of the wider progressive world. It was simultaneously consoling, dangerously delusional, and catnip for a growing self-righteousness. Not paying attention to what was going on in heartland de-industrialized America could be excused by labeling it hopelessly racist. Now, of course, we need to reckon with the discomfiting reality that substantially more blue-collar people living behind the “blue wall” voted for Obama in both his presidential elections than they did for Clinton. Whatever else one might say about him, Obama represented some faint hope of change in their relentlessly deteriorating condition (perhaps, ironically, precisely because he was black), while everyone out there in Middle America, where Wall Street had become anathema, knew it was home base for Hillary. Meanwhile, perceiving the white blue-collar universe in this way allowed a world of upwardly mobile professionals, creatives, academics, think-tankers, and so on to adopt a sanctimonious air of heroic self-congratulation. Partisans of the good fight for formal equality, joined in that fight by the high and mighty, they could feel connected, politically hip, hip more generally.
Connected to what? Not to the ghetto. Rather to a black middle class which had grown exponentially since the War on Poverty, a war that provided a welcome exit ramp for a substantial but still slivery segment of Afro-America. More and more, the ties of this newly empowered African-American islet—a web of associations defined by career, residential geography, political affiliations, and a deepening ideological assimilation concealed beneath a veneer of militant-seeming identity politics—that milieu also found its comfort zone inside a Democratic Party their white counterparts already inhabited. This is the story of the latter-day John Lewis. This is the story of the black élite’s fatal attraction to Hillary Clinton. The ghetto doesn’t show up in these precincts. The “march for jobs” is over with, but we can all join hands and hallelujah the “march for freedom” so long as it doesn’t intrude on the freedom of property to do what it will. Hell, even the staunchest conservative has memorized the lines from King’s dream speech and can sing “We Shall Overcome.”
Comrades in this kumbaya get-together included the labor leadership. Facing the scorched earth of its de-industrialized homeland, the labor movement’s leaders tagged along behind their neoliberal patrons. Organized labor became a pathetic semblance of its former self, living in fear it might be isolated from the corridors of power, and so thereby isolated itself from its native constituency, without which its power was a figment of its own imagination (fifty percent of union households voted for Trump). In a perverse reversal of identity politics, we now speak of a “white working class” (where “white” is the empowered word, and class a sign of derogation) but not of a black working class; instead, African-Americans are referred to as if their needs and objectives were seamlessly tribal.
A half-century of silence about the “labor question” was rudely interrupted by Bernie Sanders. Perhaps not in a way that would conform to the ideological rules as laid down by socialism. But, given the context, what a breakthrough. A segment of Trump’s blue collar following—no one can know how large—found in him a twisted expression of their own simmering anti-capitalism. Did they also harbor uglier emotions? Of course, but that’s why in an earlier crisis socialist and communists struggled with the Nazis in Germany to win the allegiance of overlapping working- and lower middle-class constituents. Many who just yesterday voted for “the Donald” would have voted for Sanders, a clear take-away lesson from the primaries. The task now is to build a multi-cultural anti-capitalism that can no longer be propitiated by an equality that nonetheless leaves most people powerless.
Steve Fraser
STEVE FRASER's latest book is The Limousine Liberal: How an Incendiary Image United the Right and Fractured America (New York: Basic Books, 2016).
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Rupa and Māori Television - 2010-009
Dilip Rupa
Native Affairs
Free-to-air TV Code: Controversial Issues - Viewpoints
Complaint that Māori Television did not refer to the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – allegedly in breach of controversial issues standard
Matter of editorial discretion – decline to determine under section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act
[1] Dilip Rupa complained that the current affairs programme Native Affairs, broadcast by Māori Television on 28 October 2009, did not mention that it was the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand. He said that this was not balanced reporting.
[2] Māori Television confirmed that it had not broadcast any items referring to the Declaration of Independence on that date.
[3] Dilip Rupa forwarded his complaint to the Authority for review.
[4] The members of the Authority have read the correspondence listed in the Appendix. We determine the complaint without a formal hearing.
[5] Section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989 states that the Authority may decline to determine a complaint if it considers “that, in all the circumstances of the complaint, it should not be determined by the Authority”.
[6] Dilip Rupa’s complaint is that Māori Television chose not to cover a particular story during an episode of Native Affairs. This is a matter of editorial discretion which we do not have any jurisdiction to consider.
[7] Accordingly, we decline to determine the complaint under section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989.
For the above reasons the Authority declines to determine the complaint.
1. Dilip Rupa’s email to Māori Television – 24 November 2009
2. Māori Television’s response – 1 December 2009
3. Dilip Rupa’s referral to the Authority – 29 December 2009
27 April 2010 Cooke and Television New Zealand Ltd - 2010-002
One News. Complainant alleged presenter made the comment “a line of fools”. Declined to determine (good taste and decency, privacy).
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M-F 9-5PM, SAT 12-6PM
Elizabeth Neukirch
Elizabeth Neukirch is vice president of Chicago public relations firm The Silverman Group, where her clients range from world-renowned cultural organizations to educational and civic institutions making a positive impact in the city. She received an honorable mention in PR Daily’s Nonprofit PR Awards for her national campaign in support of Chicago Loop Alliance’s Color Jam public art project, which included placements in The New York Times, Vogue and NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams. In recognition of her creative writing, Elizabeth received an Illinois Arts Council Agency artist support grant, and this year was awarded a Ragdale residency to work on her first novel. Prior to joining The Silverman Group, Elizabeth was the public relations manager for Chicago Shakespeare Theater and worked in Goodman Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement department for several years. Originally from Chicago, she began her communications career as a contributing writer and advertising account manager for Northern Illinois Publishing. Elizabeth studied at Shakespeare’s Globe in London and received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Howard Nemerov Writing Scholar. Claudine will be a guest speaker for Storytelling with a Purpose: Public Relations for Artists on January 22, 2019.
Art Advising & Commissions
2018 - 2019,
Artist Leader
FIELD/WORK
©2019 Chicago Artists Coalition. All rights reserved.
2130 W. Fulton Street, Chicago, IL 60612
Monday - Friday, 9-5PM Saturday, 12-6PM
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Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Program: Background and Issues for Congress–23 May, 2018
Posted on June 2, 2018 by Chuck Hill
USCGC Polar Sea
The latest edition of the Congressional Research Service report on Coast Guard Polar Icebreakers, by Ronald O’Rourke, was published on 23 May, 2018. You can see it here.
I have reproduced the summary immediately below.
The Coast Guard polar icebreaker program is a program to acquire three new heavy polar icebreakers, to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new medium polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard wants to begin construction of the first new heavy polar icebreaker in FY2019 and have it enter service in 2023. The polar icebreaker program has received about $359.6 million in acquisition funding through FY2018, including $300 million provided through the Navy’s shipbuilding account and $59.6 million provided through the Coast Guard’s acquisition account. The Coast Guard’s proposed FY2019 budget requests $750 million in Coast Guard acquisition funding for the program.
The acquisition cost of a new heavy polar icebreaker had earlier been estimated informally at roughly $1 billion, but the Coast Guard and Navy now believe that three heavy polar icebreakers could be acquired for a total cost of about $2.1 billion, or an average of about $700 million per ship. The first ship will cost more than the other two because it will incorporate design costs for the class and be at the start of the production learning curve for the class. An April 13, 2018, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the polar icebreaker program states that the Coast Guard has reduced its estimated cost for the first heavy polar icebreaker to less than $900 million, which would imply an average cost of something more than $600 million each for the second and third icebreakers. When combined with the program’s $359.6 million in prior-year funding, the $750 million requested for FY2019 would fully fund the procurement of the first new heavy polar icebreaker and partially fund the procurement of the second.
The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. Polar Sea, however, suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been nonoperational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. The Coast Guard has used Polar Sea as a source of spare parts for keeping Polar Star operational.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mission Need Statement (MNS) approved in June 2013 states that “current requirements and future projections … indicate the Coast Guard will need to expand its icebreaking capacity, potentially requiring a fleet of up to six icebreakers (3 heavy and 3 medium) to adequately meet mission demands in the high latitudes….”
The current condition of the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet, the DHS MNS, and concerns among some observers about whether the United States is adequately investing in capabilities to carry out its responsibilities and defend its interests in the Arctic, have focused policymaker attention on the question of whether and when to acquire one or more new heavy polar icebreakers as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea.
On March 2, 2018, the U.S. Navy, in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard under the polar icebreaker integrated program office, released a request for proposal (RFP) for the advance procurement and detail design for the Coast Guard’s heavy polar icebreaker, with options for detail design and construction for up to three heavy polar icebreakers.
Issues for Congress for FY2019 for the polar icebreaker program include, inter alia, whether to approve, reject, or modify the Coast Guard’s FY2019 acquisition funding request; whether to use a contract with options or a block buy contract to acquire the ships; whether to continue providing at least some of the acquisition funding for the polar icebreaker program through the Navy’s shipbuilding account; and whether to procure heavy and medium polar icebreakers to a common basic design.
This entry was posted in Antarctic, Arctic, HPIB, icebreaker by Chuck Hill. Bookmark the permalink.
13 thoughts on “Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Program: Background and Issues for Congress–23 May, 2018”
Pingback: Report to Congress on U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Procurement, 23 May 2018 | Chuck Hill's CG Blog
Tups on June 6, 2018 at 1:32 pm said:
In the meanwhile, Canada is proceeding with the interim icebreakers for CCG:
http://www.bowenislandundercurrent.com/news/national/feds-close-to-deal-with-quebec-shipyard-davie-for-coast-guard-icebreakers-1.23325548
Chuck Hill on June 6, 2018 at 3:17 pm said:
Thanks, Tops, that tells us what is going to happen to those icebreaking anchor handling vessels built in Louisiana.
Tups on June 6, 2018 at 11:00 pm said:
The three medium icebreakers referred to in the article are the Swedish icebreaking AHTS vessels Tor Viking, Vidar Viking and Balder Viking. The “heavy” icebreaker that the CCG is reluctant to take is the Louisiana-built ABS A3 ice class Aiviq that has been laid up since Shell pulled out from Alaska.
http://www.davie.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/icebreaker-briefing-RESOLUTE-1.pdf
As for the two Edison Chouest Polar Class 3 AHTS vessels you featured in your “icebreaker bargain” post some years ago, they were cancelled and reportedly scrapped on the slip.
Just out of curiosity, I checked the LaShip shipyard from both Google Maps and Bing Maps, and the aerial photograph in Bing (but not in Google) shows what seems to be the deckhouse for one of these offshore icebreakers. However, I haven’t been able to date the photographs, but the one in Bing appears to be newer.
Bill Smith on June 9, 2018 at 11:24 am said:
When the Navy turned over all icebreakers to the USCG, there were about 7(?) WAGBs in commission, and the CG quickly started decommisioning some, because of no operational need for so many…
I’m curious why suddenly the jump from 2-3 WAGBs to 6 is seen as the necessary amount?? I’m guessing the heavy icebreakers will continue the McMurdo resupply support role, and the mediums will support science research in the Arctic.
My big question, though, is this: Will the three medium icebreakers take over for the WHECs and WMECs assigned to District 17, kind-of as a combination medium icebreaker and “arctic cutter?” With three of them, they could keep one in Kodiak to replace Alex Haley…
“Quickly” in this case seemed to be about 10 years (from 1966 to mid-1970s) and coincided with the commissioning of the Polar class which had about twice the displacement of the Wind class. Keep in mind that those 1940s icebreakers were about as outdated and technically obsolete as the Polar Star is now. Still, it’s true that the number of hulls went down and, if I’m not mistaken, the USCG had just two operational polar-capable icebreakers between the late 1980s and 1999 when Healy was commissioned. Just like today…
I wouldn’t aim for a compromise vessel that combines both medium icebreaking and extensive open water operations. You’ll just end up with a ship that is just as big and powerful as a heavy, but has slightly less efficient icebreaking bow, and it still won’t be good in open water. A double-acting design could work but then the USCG would have to learn a new way of operating an icebreaker…
Bill Smith on June 10, 2018 at 12:23 pm said:
That’s true, Tups. I guess my memory was a little off. I do remember they decommed Eastwind within a year or two of getting the 4 “used” USN Wind-class in 1966. So, it looks like there was no need for 7 back then, but they did keep 6 operating for 10 years, and two of them kept in commission until the 1980s!
I wonder where the Wind-class would fit compared to the two proposed levels of Icebreakers, Heavy or Medium?
Chuck Hill on June 10, 2018 at 2:35 pm said:
Bill, I am not sure the Wind class would even qualify as medium icebreakers, since they only had 12,000 HP. The Glacier had 21,000 so would presume a medium, Healy is classified as medium at 22.4 MW (just over 30,000 HP even though it made it unescorted to the North Pole. The Polar Star has 75,000HP.
I do think we could make a case that sending two 30,000 HP icebreakers to Antarctica might serve us better than one 75,000 HP breaker. After all we used to do this with the Wind Class.
Just found this. https://news.usni.org/2013/07/23/u-s-coast-guards-2013-reivew-of-major-ice-breakers-of-the-world
Indicates the Coast Guard considers medium icebreakers as 20,000 to 45,000 HP. Icebreakers with less than 10,000 HP like Mackinaw or the old Storis, don’t even make the chart.
Tups on June 11, 2018 at 11:31 pm said:
No problem, Bill.
I have never liked the USCG’s way of classifying icebreakers based on their propulsion power in that chart. However, more recently I have seen them referring to performance (breaking 4.5 ft (medium) or 6 ft (heavy) thick level ice at a speed of 3 knots) which is far more reasonable as it also takes into account the actual design of the vessel.
The problem with power is that it’s just one factor in the icebreaking performance equation. I’d rather talk about thrust (more precisely net thrust, which is propeller thrust minus open water resistance, i.e. the thrust available for overcoming added resistance from icebreaking) which is a function of not only power, but also number of propulsors, propeller diameter etc. Thus, by tweaking the other parameters you can extract a lot more thrust (= performance) from the propulsion system without increasing the power plant rating. Furthermore, a well-designed icebreaker requires less power to achieve the same operational icebreaking capability due to lower added resistance from ice. Of course, you can go to the extremes with certain special bow types, achieving the same icebreaking capability as the nuclear-powered icebreakers with a medium icebreaker power level, but you wouldn’t want to sail across the Pacific in one of those…
I think we will have a couple of OPCs in Kodiak. They will have plenty to keep them busy in ice free waters.
The Canadians are making a sort of hybrid icebreaker/MEC in the form of the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship (AOPS), and so far, I’m not impressed. Not a good icebreaker apparently. At 17knots, its not fast enough to be a good open ocean cutter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_DeWolf-class_offshore_patrol_vessel
Even the most powerful nuclear-powered icebreakers top at about 20 knots – a fixed-pitch propeller designed to provide maximum thrust at 2-3 knots won’t work well at higher speeds (and vice versa).
Chuck Hill on June 9, 2018 at 11:39 pm said:
Compromises frequently yield poor results.
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Monty Roberts: Horse Whispers & Lies Excerpts
Debra Ann Ristau & Joyce Renebome
HORSE WHISPERS & LIES — PP. 17-18
1996, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER 25, 4:48 P.M.
It seemed like any other day. There was no magical sign or prophetic omen to indicate her life was soon going to change forever. Through towering eucalyptus and slatted miniblinds, the late afternoon sun filtered across the heavy oak desk.
Outside, the resonant bellow of a bull could be heard over the chattering wrens. Joyce’s home-based office was perfect for her. A real estate broker who also raised purebred bulls with her husband, Pete, Joyce had little spare time, and she wasn’t about to spend it commuting. Joyce would be sixty-two on her next birthday. She rarely took time off from work. Work keeps me young, she told herself often. She was lucky to be blessed with good health, a stimulating career, Pete, and the cattle they loved.
Seems like I’m working harder as I get older. Maybe I should think about retiring. A smile came to her lips. No, not yet. There’s always a challenge . . . always something new, she thought as the telephone rang.
“Hello, Joyce speaking,” she answered in her customary manner, closing the open file on the computer to concentrate on the caller.
“Hi, Mom, I’ve got the video recorder set to tape Monty tonight. Eight o’clock, right?” It was her oldest daughter, forty-two-year-old Debra. “Yes. That’s when the show starts. Cheri gets it an hour earlier in Idaho. She’s going to tape it too.”
“Good,” said Debra, adding, “I’m so excited, Mom. It’s hard to believe Monty wrote a book and we didn’t know about it until now! Imagine—a bestseller! I can’t wait to read it!” “I was thinking the same thing,” Joyce responded. “I’ll call him tomorrow and try to get copies for us,” she added before hanging up. Joyce let her eyes drift for a moment to a photo of her sister’s son, Monty, among those displayed on the wall in her office. I miss Marguerite, she thought. If Marguerite were alive, she’d have been the first to call and tell me about Monty. Why didn’t Monty tell us? The thought was puzzling, but not worth a lot of mental energy. She had work to do. Where does the time go?
The Man Who Listens to Horses: It was 1939, and I was four years old . . . . (p.41) I cantered the gelding over the sandpit and took a dive off the right-hand side. The sporadic outbreak of applause was no doubt led by my father. . . . I had literally tumbled into the movie business, and over subsequent years I would appear in a hundred or so films. (p.43)
I doubled for Roddy McDowall many times. . . . (p.43) I was Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet . . . . I was Mickey Rooney, Charlton Heston, and Tab Hunter . . . . my father made all the decisions in dealing with the studios. He negotiated and signed the contracts. (p.44)
In the American book he said it started in 1939; he said 1940 in the British book. He would have been either four or five. Monty tells of being asked, and later directed, to fall off a horse. In time, he claims to have appeared in a hundred or so films, including Thunderhead, National Velvet, and My Friend Flicka. Monty claims he doubled for the likes of Mickey Rooney, Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, and Tab Hunter.
If his account were true, it would mean that Monty, then between the ages of four and perhaps six, was expected to double for much older actors. Mickey Rooney was born September 23, 1920, fifteen years before Monty. Heston’s birthday on October 4, 1923, makes him twelve years older. McDowall was born on September 17, 1928, six and one-half years ahead of Monty. Hunter, the closest to Monty’s age, made his acting debut in 1952, when Monty was seventeen. It’s hard to imagine that so young a boy could be used to portray the older actors.
INTERVIEW WITH BETTY DOLAN KENT, FAMILY FRIEND, 1997:
“When I heard that Monty claimed to be a stand-in for Elizabeth Taylor, I was certainly surprised. Marguerite would have been in seventh heaven and would have been bragging to everyone about it. She would have been so proud.”
Proud indeed, but National Velvet was only one movie. Monty said in an interview with Eric Brazil of the San Francisco Examiner that he worked on about thirty films, stunt riding for child stars in the early 1940s. Brazil’s article read: “I saw a camera, but I hardly knew it was a movie,” he [Monty] said of his work on National Velvet. “I remember my dad saying, ‘We’re going to Mendocino County, and you’re going to make the horse go over some jumps in a field.’ We didn’t know Elizabeth Taylor. Who had heard of her then? Nobody called the paper to say that Monty Roberts went to Mendocino County and jumped a horse over a fence.”4 According to Mendocino historian Bruce Levene, no part of National Velvet was filmed near Mendocino. In Liz, An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor, C. David Heymann quotes Mickey Rooney, then twenty-three, Elizabeth’s costar in the 1944 film:
“Whenever they shot the jump scenes, Elizabeth sat on the sidelines. Billy Cartlidge, a stuntman with long hair who looked like Elizabeth, rode the steeplechase. It was he—and not she—who was thrown and whose back was injured.”
INTERVIEW WITH JIM MARTINS, MARGUERITE’S BROTHER, 1997:
“I can’t imagine how Monty thinks he can convince people he was a stunt double. I know he never did that, because I was there. It’s not like his life was a big secret. Besides that, Monty never liked to get hurt. He didn’t like to ride steers, and he darn sure didn’t want to ride a horse that might hurt him. “The only stunt riders I know of in our family are my daughter, Marguerite [Martins Happy], her husband Clifford [Happy], and their two boys, Sean and Ryan. They’ve been in countless films and television shows. “The walls of our house and theirs are lined with their photographs next to the stars they’ve doubled for. With all the pictures of my sister’s boys, I would think that someone, somewhere, would have a picture of Monty in this capacity. One where it is clearly visible who the [stunt] rider is! “But we sure don’t know of any [photos] and we never even heard about him being a stunt rider until his book came out. He never mentioned it when our kids got into that line of work, though we spoke often.”
INTERVIEW WITH ANGIE GARCIA, MARGUERITE’S BEST FRIEND, 1997:
“Marguerite confided in me about everything, and I in her. She was always so proud of her boys and everything they did. I know Monty never went to Hollywood and never did any stunts for the movies. Marguerite would have had it put in the paper; at the very least, she would have bragged about it to her friends. It’s what she did.”
Monty says his father exploited him for publicity. If that were true, why would Marvin keep this exciting news about Monty being a stunt double a secret from every single person that he knew?
HORSE WHISPERS & LIES — pp. 127-129
CHAPTER 7 – REGARDING EQUINE BEHAVIOR
The Man Who Listens to Horses: Later that same summer [1949] I witnessed a fight between two stallions. . . . A bachelor clashed with the alpha male of a family group . . . . [They] reared and pawed each other with their hooves, plunged and kicked and bit. It continued for five or six hours . . . . [The loser] finally left and did not return. . . . A vanquished male will often commit a kind of suicide, deliberately seeking the areas where the cats are, lmost offering himself. (pp.25,26)
There are few people in the world who can legitimately claim a career of wild horse observation. Robert Vavra is one. He is not only universally recognized as the world’s premier photographer of equines, but an expert in horse behavior. He is the author of more than thirty books published in eight languages.
Vavra’s classic study of equine behavior in words and pictures, Such is the Real Nature of Horses, was featured in Life magazine, has been published in six languages and has been in print for almost twenty years. This singular study of how equines relate to one another in the wild, backed up by photographs, has been praised by the world’s leading animal behaviorists, including Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. George B. Schaller, and Dr. Ian Douglas-Hamilton. When Robert Redford was ready to film the dream sequence of The Horse Whisperer, he personally asked Vavra for advice, not only artistic advice, but advice on horse behavior. Also, since it was a Vavra horse image that appeared on the cover of Nicholas Evans’ novel, Redford said he wanted to “loop it” by having Vavra also create an image for the movie posters, print ads, and billboards.
Like Monty, Vavra is in his sixties. For over twenty years he has studied primitive equine behavior in Spain, France, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania. When asked to describe the many serious horse battles that he has witnessed over the years in the wild, Vavra commented:
INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT VAVRA, EQUINE AUTHOR, PHOTOGRAPHER, BEHAVIORIST, 1999:
“During my years of photographing and observing serious horse battles in the wild—excluding young bachelor intermittent skirmishes—I can’t recall an intense combat between mature stallions that lasted over two-and-one-half minutes.
“If they are really engaged in uninterrupted serious rearing-biting combat, horses simply don’t have the stamina to go at it much longer than that. Regarding your question of whether a wounded horse would commit a kind of suicide by seeking out predators, offering himself to them: even a herbivore that had all of its limbs bitten off would try to squirm away from a predator’s scent. “If you would like another opinion on this, I can phone Dr. Claudia Feh in France, who has intently, and without pause, studied equines for more than twenty years. She is now involved in reintroducing Prizwalskis back into Mongolia, partly sponsored by the National Geographic Society to whom she, as an equine behaviorist, was recommended by Dr. [George] Schaller.
“[Dr. Feh] has literally seen hundreds of serious horse battles in the Camargue and other places where she has done her research. Her credentials are impeccable.”
ROBERT VAVRA INTERVIEW WITH CLAUDIA FEH, EQUINE BEHAVIORIST, 1999:
“You ask about all of the serious fights that I have seen among wild horses during the past twenty years, which I always tried to time with a stopwatch. The very longest one, timed with a stopwatch, lasted exactly four minutes. And horses, wild or otherwise, unwounded or seriously wounded, do not seek predators, an act that would be completely contrary to their nature.”
Whether wild stallions fight for three or four minutes or five or six hours may seem relatively immaterial. Whether Monty Roberts knows how long they fight is of great importance. If Monty’s dissertation regarding the behavior of wild stallions is completely contrary to that of the world’s leading experts, should Monty’s other statements about wild horse behavior be taken seriously? Should he be considered credible? Or is Monty an example of an individual with a vivid imagination and a large need for glory?
ANGER?
The Man Who Listens to Horses: [At my father’s funeral] I will not forget the triggers that set [my father] off—when I forgot one of his orders, or defied him. . . . [I’d receive] another bloodied skull, another trip to Dr. Murphy. (p.175) I knew the triggers that led to violence. I, too, have felt that anger rise in me, felt the urge to strike out at someone in my family. But I put my grip on that anger. I swore that this man in the box would be the last link in the chain of violence and anger aimed as much at humans as at horses. (p.175)
Throughout his book, Monty paints his father as a man prone to anger. It would seem reasonable that such a man could not forever hide this tendency from the people who were around him on a daily basis. The Roberts did not lead a life behind closed doors. Their home and their hearts were open to all. Many people were recipients of their love and generosity over the years. A majority of their students spent much more than a night or two with the family. Others were with them from early morning until late into the night.
With so many people around their house and stable all of the time, surely someone might have, at the very least, suspected that Marvin was prone to anger as Monty says. Someone might have suspected or known that he possessed a trait or two of those described by Monty. Someone might have suspected or known that he could be cruel or abusive to horses as Monty claims. Surely not all of these people would be wanting to hide such a terrible thing as Monty describes. After nearly three years of searching for someone to confirm Monty’s allegations against his father, no credible source has been found.
By now, the question may come unbidden: Could Marvin have hidden these traits from his relatives, his best friends, and the others who were around him all the time? Could he have been thoughtful, caring, generous, and loving to everyone but his oldest son, Monty? If so, then Marguerite would also be guilty of hiding her true nature.
Behind her obstreperous alpha female personality and take-charge attitude, did there lurk a meek, subservient woman, whose spirit was subjugated to that of her husband? Did she allow Marvin to beat their child and treat their horses in a cruel manner? Are these reasonable possibilities? A search by family members, friends, several investigative reporters, and a team of attorneys to find a truth based in reality about any anger, abuse, or cruelty in the Roberts family brought a yield of only one name—Monty Roberts.
If there is any link between the Roberts family and violence or anger expressed toward horses or humans—it began with Monty Roberts, not the father on whom he tries to lay the blame.
CHAPTER 10 – THE MAN WHO LISTENS?
Monty tirelessly purports his desire to end cycles of violence. He sells a lesson in nonverbal communication to convey messages of kindness and ease fear. It may seem almost mystical. Abused humans find comfort in charismatic words that offer hope.
Those words drip like honey as he paints an eloquent vision of an idyllic world where everyone gets along, violence is gone forever, and relationships can be established in thirty minutes. The concept is brilliantly beautiful. Humans crave it, wanting all to be right with the world as quickly as possible. Monty is embraced by adoring fans around the globe. He convincingly demonstrates the theories and methods he claims, in part, to have discovered while living with wild horses in the Nevada desert.
It’s a marvelous concept. In reality, however, it’s promoted on a carefully cultivated history of imagined experiences and premises. It’s an ingenious scheme.
If this scheme ultimately brings about a societal change for the betterment of humankind and equines, is it wrong? Does anyone care if the reputations of two good and decent people are sacrificed on the altar of greed? Yes. There are people that care deeply. Those family members and former friends who had their hearts ripped out by Monty’s words that cut as surely as Jack the Ripper’s knife cut the flesh of his victims. Those family members and former friends who stood by Monty, believed in him, and cheered for him from the sidelines for sixty years were the first to be carved. He cut none so deep as his deceased parents, his confused brother, and his feisty aunt. The question so often asked is, “Why?” Why did he do it?
Is Monty Roberts really making the world a better place for horses as he claims? Is that his true mission? How long have Equus and Join-Up been part of his repertoire? This is, perhaps, the best time to examine the questions, answers, and patterns of a life that appears to have been built on craftiness and greed. It seems there is a chasm between fiction and nonfiction in literature. Monty Roberts wrote a nonfiction book published by Random House. The book was interesting, but the book was fiction. Those who knew Marvin were upset by Monty’s allegations against his father, but in reality, that was only one of the many fabrications plastered across the pages of his book.
Agents, publishers, and those “in the know” said not to write a book to refute another book. The following is a composite of several conversations that this book’s authors had with editors, publishers, and attorneys. It is included here as a single conversation only to provide a sense of understanding.
“You cannot write a book to refute an already published book.”
“Because it’s not done.”
“Because. That sounds more like a magazine article or an exposé.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“Then what’s the pitch? Why would anyone want to read it? What’s the story?”
“It’s complicated. It’s a story of two people who dedicated their lives to horses and humans.”
“That’s not good enough. Nobody will publish that. You’re wasting your time.”
“It’s a story about life. It’s a story about love of humanity. It’s a story about greed. Most of all, it’s a story about relationships.”
“Relationships?”
“Yes, relationships.”
“Between?”
“Between humans and between humans and horses.”
“Isn’t that what Monty is trying to sell?”
“Yes, but he is selling the Cliff Notes version of relationships. He is selling a relationship that takes thirty minutes to establish. Many people believe that relationship is supposed to last a lifetime.”
“Does his system work?”
“It appears to. But there are men who can charm a woman right out of her panties. It doesn’t mean they have established a meaningful relationship. In time, she’ll wise up. That’s when the explosion hits.”
“Do you think that same thing will happen with horses? Is that your book’s premise?”
“We don’t know what the long-term effects are on a horse from a thirty-minute love affair with Monty Roberts. He says there are ten thousand or more horses he started this way.” “The guy gets around.”
“The point is not whether or not the relationship can be established with the horse. The point is the importance of meaning in our lives. Where does it come from? Do we derive our reason for being from the accolades received through shallow, thirty-minute relationships and the dollar amount of our bank accounts? Or should we be defined by who we are when all the layers are peeled away and we are willing to bare our most inner selves to those with whom we have established a meaningful relationship?”
“Is this a psychology book? You have no credentials for that. Are you talking about marriage? I’m a bit confused.”
“It’s a book about people—ordinary people and extraordinary people. It’s about relationships—all relationships, not just those between men and women. Humans can and do establish core connections and deep emotional relationships with horses. They bond.”
“Are you telling me that Monty bonds with a horse in thirty minutes?”
“So it appears. We don’t challenge that. We challenge his life history and that of his family. We challenge his true, deep, core, when-no-one-is-looking methods of getting to the top. We challenge his right to publicly, and knowingly, make false, unsubstantiated statements that ruined the valued reputations and good names of his deceased parents.”
“Aren’t there courts for that?”
“It’s reputed that his book has sold more than two million copies around the world. Who is going to tell all those people the truth? Don’t they have a right to know? Isn’t the publishing industry under some obligation to insure that nonfiction literature is somewhat close to the truth?”
“Yes. Most publishers require a signed statement of truth from the author when printing nonfiction. That doesn’t mean the author can’t lie. People lie all the time.”
“Instead of taking him to court, which only a handful of people will ever hear about, three generations of humans who were shocked and outraged by Monty’s lies about his parents united to write a book that tells the real truth about his life and that of his family.”
“It’ll never sell. You’re wasting your time.”
“Maybe we are. Maybe the entire family and all of Monty’s old friends are wasting their time too, but this is something we have to do. We have to do this for Marvin and Marguerite and for everyone who believes that readers of nonfiction deserve the truth.”
“Good luck to you. You’re going to need it. Have you thought that he might file a lawsuit against you?” “Yes, we thought of that. We also thought we should be the ones filing the lawsuit against him. He can and will do whatever he wants. Everything written in this book has been thoroughly documented. There are hundreds of people willing to testify, under oath, as to the validity of the statements made here.”
“Aren’t Monty’s exploits also supposed to be well documented?”
“So he makes people believe, but he cannot document things that never happened.”
1972-1976, THE FLAG IS UP
Early in 1972, Monty Roberts was arrested and put in jail. Hastings Harcourt alleged that Monty Roberts breached a fiduciary relationship with him, that he acted with the intent to deceive and defraud, and that he conspired to deceive and defraud. Resulting from the deceit and fraud, Harcourt alleged he had been financially damaged.
The evidence against Monty, which is part of the public record in those proceedings, is overwhelming. In the formal complaint filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, derivatives of the words “deceit and fraud” appear no less than fourteen times.
Though Monty was under a contractual agreement with Harcourt that included a fiduciary relationship, the compliant contends that Monty misrepresented the dollar amount on several business transactions. Actual sums Monty received, acting ostensibly for Harcourt, appeared to have been converted for his own benefit.
The names of numerous horses and dollar amounts are included in the complaint. To his family and friends, Monty said it was a giant misunderstanding. He filed a wrongful prosecution suit against Harcourt for thirty-million-dollars.
For twenty-five years, Monty’s family in Salinas believed that he gained title to the farm in an out-of-court settlement with Harcourt. However, court records, property deeds, and other documents do not support that assumption.
Searching for answers to a twenty-five-year-old question seemed impossible. The trail was cold and carefully covered. Countless hours were spent at the Santa Barbara County courthouse and on the telephone. A bit of information here led to a contact there. Interviews with those connected to Monty during the Harcourt years took on the same general hue. The emerging portrait was dark and ugly. Pieced together bit by bit, the accumulated evidence shows that in the end Harcourt walked away from confrontation and allowed Monty to plead nolo contendere to a lesser charge. Harcourt then sold the farm to a group of investors and tried to get on with his life.
Why? Why would Hastings Harcourt walk away? There was strong physical evidence that Monty had been dishonest in his dealings with Harcourt. Why would he let Monty plead to a reduced charge? Whispered rumors were tracked, paper trails were followed, and statements were taken. Eyes welled with tears, and slowly an ugly portrait was bared to those who dared to look beneath the surface.
Harcourt’s dream evaporated like the trust he had placed in Monty and Pat. He prayed it would be over—a nightmare from which to wake.
Quietly, though, the players were changing sets on the darkened stage. The property’s ownership moved through several unseen hands. New names went on the land’s title. Quitclaim deeds were filed. The names kept changing. The tweed cap was back in the barns in a year.
Monty leads readers to believe that he was arrested, in part, because he tried to save the lives of five horses that Harcourt ordered, through his emissary, to be killed. Monty said it was Harcourt’s desire to destroy Flag Is Up Farms and all they had built together.
Horrified readers found sympathy for Monty. Obviously, they said, he did the right thing. He saved the horses, did he not? What could be more important? Their adoration grew as they envisioned his compassion and gentle manner. How can the truth be such an elusive enigma?
Truth: There were no horses to save. There were no orders for Monty to kill any horses or anything else. Monty did not purchase Flag Is Up Farm with compensation paid to him by Harcourt. The nameless emissary in the United States edition of The Man Who Listens to Horses is named in the United Kingdom edition. He was interviewed in 1998.
HORSE WHISPERS & LIES — pp. 327
Marvin and Marguerite never asked for much. They dreamed of a world where horses and children could enjoy one another. They did their best to bring joy to others, and to them, that brought happiness.
“At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other. . . . Each is the selfless guardian of the other’s very well-being.” —Michael J. Plumb
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Bute, Rothesay, 43-67 Montague Street
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Shop(S) (19th Century), Tenement(S) (19th Century)
Site Name Bute, Rothesay, 43-67 Montague Street
Classification Shop(S) (19th Century), Tenement(S) (19th Century)
Canmore ID 143358
Site Number NS06SE 159
NGR NS 08775 64678
NGR Description From NS 0880 6468 to NS 0875 4468
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/143358
Ordnance Survey licence number 100057073. All rights reserved.
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SC 1314787
Rothesay, general view, showing Winter Gardens and Rothesay Castle, Isle of Bute. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing south. This image has been produced from a print.
© HES (Aerofilms Collection)
Council Argyll And Bute
Parish Rothesay
Former Region Strathclyde
Former District Argyll And Bute
Former County Buteshire
Characterisation (11 August 2010)
Rothesay Urban Survey
This site falls within the Rothesay Town Centre Area of Townscape Character which was defined as part of the Rothesay Urban Survey Project, 2010. The text below relates to the whole area.
Historical Development and Topography
The Town Centre Area of Townscape Character comprises the main historical core of Rothesay, which grew up around the 13th-century castle, unique to Scotland in its circular form. From these early beginnings, Rothesay became a Royal Burgh in either 1400 or 1401 – the exact year is not entirely clear from documentary evidence. The castle was much altered during the following centuries, and the town itself expanded along the High Street towards 16th century St Mary’s Chapel to the south and the shore/Harbour in the north, in a traditional linear burgh form.
In the late 17th century (c.1680), the Marquess of Bute established a residence in the town, looking onto the Castle from the High Street. It was the second Marquis of Bute who, in 1816-18, carried out the first of many restorations to the castle. The town gradually spread out from the High Street during the 17th and 18th centuries. By the mid-18th century, the town stretched as far east as Bishop Street, as far south as Minister’s Brae and as far west as Mill Lade.
Two phases of land reclamation changed the focus and whole axis of Rothesay from north-south along the High Street to east-west along Montague Street in the mid- to late 18th century, and subsequently Victoria Street in 1839-40, which was built on the site of a former boatyard. The majority of the town centre was redeveloped as a result of these reclamation schemes, with key public buildings locating here in the 19th century, such as the court house on Castle Street built to designs by James Dempster in 1832 with later 19th century alterations, and the Baroque-style post office on Bishop Street, dated 1896. The harbour and pier grew in significance as a result of this shift, and its growth, along with the great rise in Rothesay’s popularity as a seaside tourist resort during the 19th century, saw the shoreline become the focus for the town’s growth rather than further inland.
On the whole, the town centre developed in a fairly ad hoc manner, as would be expected in a historic town centre. However, the area is largely a mid- to late 19th century Victorian creation, particularly with the reclamation of land along the shore, creating the Esplanade, with the later addition of the Winter Gardens, by Walter MacFarlane & Co’s Saracen Foundry in collaboration with the Burgh Surveyor, Alexander Stephen in 1923-4.
Numerous hotels were established here in the mid-19th century: Victoria, which has its original lamp standards and decorative floor tiling at the entrance; Esplanade, with double-height box bay window to Victoria Street and single-height to Guildford Square; Royal, has marbled columns flanking its entrance on Albert Place; Bute House, retains a timber Victorian shop front at ground floor with arched windows and entrance on curved corner; and Guildford Court, which has a modern flat-roofed canopy resting on original decorative cast-iron brackets over its entrance on Guildford Square. Several tenements were built along Victoria Street, Albert Street, East and West Princes Street. As a result of the numerous multiple occupancy buildings, the Town Centre Area of Townscape Character is a high density area, with mostly small plot sizes throughout.
Historically, as with most town centres, the area has been continuously redeveloped and infilled as the needs of the population grew and changed. The area around the Castle has probably seen the greatest deal of redevelopment in the 20th century, with the west and south sides surrounding it being wholly redeveloped with the building of Bute Museum in 1925-6 to designs by local architect Andrew Morell McKinlay, telephone exchange built in 1966 by John R Hunter (Building Contractors) Ltd, leisure centre and library designed by Robert B Rankin & Associates in the 1970s and job centre and Inland Revenue office also built in the 1970s. Guildford Square was created as a public open space following the demolition of two banks and a hotel in the 1990s.
Present Character
There are examples of each stage of Rothesay’s growth and development throughout the Town Centre Area of Townscape Character. Rothesay’s earliest beginnings are represented by the 13th century Castle. The 17th century Bute townhouse, with its crowstepped gables and projecting stair tower, is a fine survival of typical Scottish burgh architecture dating from this period. Much of the street layout in the area has survived unaltered despite later developments.
There are undoubtedly some remnants of 18th century buildings in the Watergate and Store Lane area, probably previously associated with former harbour activities. Some early 19th century single-storey-plus-attic cottages survive, much-altered, at Nos 19-27 Bishop Street, but the majority of the area dates from the huge Victorian expansion to provide tenement and hotel accommodation for the influx of tourists from the mid-19th century.
Many of the tenements built in Rothesay during the tourism boom display features similar in style to those tenements of the town’s middle-class Glaswegian visitors. The use of the same red sandstone, often with carved stonework including shaped pediments above entrance doors to shared tiled stairwells or ‘wally closes’ with decorative cast-iron balustrades and often stained glass windows to internal doors.
One of the key features of the Town Centre Area of Townscape Character is the extensive use of splayed corners to those 19th century buildings on street corners nearest to, or having views towards, the shore. This not only opens up and provides views to the sea for as many areas of the buildings as possible, but also maximises light into the buildings in what is a fairly densely packed urban fabric. The extensive use of bay windows, particularly along shoreline tenements on East Princes Street and Argyle Street, serves the same purpose, as elsewhere in Rothesay.
While most of the buildings, especially the tenements, are of a typically Scottish form, there are some more unusual or distinctive building styles dotted across the area. One example is James Hamilton & Son’s French Baroque-style Duncan’s Halls, built in 1876-9 at Nos 19-25 East Princes Street to provide a range of public halls and rooms for entertainment, and housing the town’s Palace Cinema from 1913 to 1963 when it became a bingo hall. James Dempster’s 1832 court house building on Castle Street is distinctive with its heavily battlemented parapet and chunky stonework, in contrast to the finer stonework of the surrounding tenements.
Throughout the Town Centre Area of Townscape Character Victorian cast-iron lamp posts, painted blue, with the town coat of arms still remain, though some may have been reinstated. These lamp posts can be found along the main seafront of the town, into the East Bay Area of Townscape Character and Serpentine and West Bay Area of Townscape Character.
Rothesay town centre contains a wide range of shop front styles, with many still surviving from its Victorian heyday. These consist of timber-framed shop windows and fascias above, often with moulded/carved columns and pilasters between window panes. In general these shop fronts also retain their original mosaic tiled lobbies within their recessed entrances. Rothesay also retains a fine example of corporate shop front design with the former Woolworths building at Nos 85-99 Montague Street, designed by B C Donaldson of London. Built in 1938, the store was designed to a pattern to ensure shoppers recognised the store as a modern Woolworth’s shopping experience at first sight. The shop front retains its traditional wooden-framed swing doors to its entrance, and demonstrates typical features of 1930s architecture, with a stepped roofline to the front elevation, and slightly projecting vertical stonework between windows at upper floors giving height to the building. Built in 1979, No 41-45 Montague Street (currently Lloyds TSB) is an unusual design by Roxby, Park & Baird consisting of a series of elements from Scottish architecture such as crowsteps, corbelling and a harled and whitewashed finish.
More modern features can be found in some distinctive 1960s/1970s tiling to a number of shop fronts in Montague Street and High Street. The manufacturer of these tiles has not yet been indentified, but they may be of local origin or bulk purchased by shopfitters working in the town.
Information from RCAHMS (LK), 11th August 2010
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Tag: Norse
Dualistic Identities and the Goddesses of Dark Places
by K.P. Kulski
In ancient mythologies, goddesses dominate the dark depths of the Earth. Early civilizations based particularly in Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean and Europe strongly associate the Earth with primordial forces of creation. In past articles I’ve discussed the ancient associations with wombs and the underground. Yet these are extremely cyclic and dualistic. Essentially, in the eyes many ancient belief systems, one cannot have death without birth, birth without death.
In the same vein, mother goddesses are just as prevalent as goddesses of death. Whether it be the womb or the grave, both sides have dark overtones. But understandably, goddesses of death also reign over the underworld, therefore have direct a connection with darkness. We tend to see death/dark goddesses as counterparts to goddesses that represent life or the living. I’d argue that we are thinking about it in reverse and instead those goddesses of life are counterparts to death. In some cases, such as Nyx (which I will discuss more below), dark goddesses are not directly linked to death, but instead with the lack of life and light. Or even a state that existed before creation. So importantly, these are goddesses that existed and reigned long before life itself.
The Sumerian Ereshkigal is one of the earliest examples of an underground death goddesses. She is featured prominently in the Descent of Inanna, as her sister who ultimately slays Inanna and hangs the body on a meat hook along the wall of the afterlife. Inanna’s journey to the underworld is a process of stripping away parts of herself, culminating eventually in the stripping of her very life. Ereshkigal slays her sister because all those who enter the underworld must experience death. “She who receive the me of the underworld does not return. She who goes to the Dark City stays there.”[1] It hits on the great mystery almost all of us wonder, what happens after life? If anything? Of course, the answer to this comes with great cost.
The Norse goddess Hel, dwells in Niflheim where she presides over the dead who were not chosen for Odin’s Valhalla or Freyja’s Fólkvangr. Meaning, she presides over the dead who did not die in battle or do not have what would qualify as a noble death. Hel’s realm doesn’t offer the feeling of continuance like Valhalla and Fólkvangr, it is a rather final, inglorious, an eternal state of dark. Even Baldur, one of the most loved of the gods cannot easily escape Hel’s realm. When the gods sought his return to the living, Hel declared she would only allow it if all things grieved for him. Note, she held dominion over death and not even the gods could make demands of her. Of course, someone wasn’t all that big of a fan of Baldur and did not grieve, so he continued to be quite dead.
The Greek goddess Nyx mentioned above, is an excellent example of a goddess of darkness, or in this case, specifically the goddess of the night. While she is not specifically linked to death, her nature is ultimately both primordial and dualistic. She existed before the world was created. Her identity is both the absence of light as well as the absence of order and one can further compare a symbolic connection to life and death cycles. Interestingly enough, Nyx is believed to have been the mother of the incarnations of light and day. Again, the dualistic existence is prominent. Cycles are of utmost importance as one exists alongside the other.
The Greek goddess Persephone contains this dualistic nature within one figure. She is both the goddess of spring (and therefore renewal and life), but cyclically dwells with her husband Hades in the underworld. Her absence on the surface brings the seasonal “death” of Autumn and Winter. (Check out other Unbound articles on Persephone here and here.)
These goddesses held such power that even the other deities in their pantheons were not immune from them. Burial of the dead is much like returning to the womb, to the dark sacred space of mystery.
To the ancients, the two states weren’t much different.
[1] Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, eds., Inanna Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns From Sumer, (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), 61.
Featured image credit: Demonic Paradise
Daphne’s Laurel Tree and the Me Too Movement
In ancient awareness, trees have continually played an important role in symbolism across the world, through many cultures and belief systems. Some examples include the Celtic Tree of Life, the Norse Yggdrasil (symbols particularly popularized in the neo- pagan movement of modern day), the Bodhi Tree, its very name meaning the awakening or enlightenment of Buddha, and the Tree of Knowledge of the Judaic tradition. In each depiction, there are strong connections to humanity and the human experience. While the divine, or immortal may be connected to the tree, it is often in a human-like capacity that ascends into some type of enlightenment (in the case of monotheism, knowledge that leads to disaster). This can be explained by the idea that the tree is a mirror of humanity itself – ever rooted to the Earth by reaching for something greater, something higher, caught in a state in-between.
As symbols of humanity, there are plenty of male and female connections to them. However, there are very specific demonstrations of female links that seem to be repetitive in Western culture. I’d like to examine these through the lens of the Greek myth of Daphne, the nymph lustfully pursued by Apollo until she is transformed into the laurel tree in order to escape. It is a timely myth to revisit for the modern audience, as many women via the Me Too movement have spoken out against male sexual misconduct, particularly from powerful men. It has spurred not only conversations on the sexual harassment, pressure and assault on women, but questions concerning sex and power dynamics.
In Greek mythology, there are plenty of stories that feature a deity and a mortal love-interest. In many cases, the female mortal or lesser immortal (such as a nymph) is unwilling, and is subsequently seduced, pressured, tricked or raped into compliance to the god’s desires. Frequently, these women become pregnant from the encounter and face tragedies or suffer greatly because of it. Because of this, it is not surprising that women would spurn interest from a god as at least an unwelcome complication, or greater, a life-threatening or ruining possibility.
Daphne, faced with Apollo’s lust (which is sometimes described as love but is clearly of a purely sexual nature) rebuffs him because she has declared a life free from the complications of men in the model of the goddess Artemis. Daphne treasures her freedom and lives a life hunting and roaming free in the woods. Edith Hamilton remarks that Apollo saw Daphne in a state of physical disarray while she hunted, yet he was entranced saying, “what would she not look like properly dressed and with her hair nicely arranged?”[1]
This is a significant statement, as it alludes to “taming” something wild. The trappings of civilization, where society will ultimately insist on marriage, childbirth and domestic activities for women, are all things Daphne wishes to avoid. The pursuit of Apollo can be symbolic of the pursuit of society for women to acquiesce with societal expectations. Further, submission to male authority.
Daphne is described as athletic and when she flees, she gives a difficult pursuit for Apollo. But he is ultimately a god, so he is able to gain ground on her. Despite Daphne’s abilities, she cannot escape Apollo’s will. We could read this as despite female abilities and potential, women cannot escape society’s will.
Except Daphne does escape. She escapes by changing form, calling upon her father who transforms her at the last minute into a laurel tree. At this point, the myth describes Apollo’s continued “love” for her and elevation of the laurel tree in his esteem. But that glosses over the significance of Daphne’s shape-shifting as a proclamation of both the extremes women’s struggle with patriarchal cultural construction as well as a dire but possible avenue of escape. Daphne’s transformation makes her untouchable, even from men of power.
The cover of trees in both history and storytelling have provided exiles from society to
The Dryad
practice religions of their choosing, avoid capture and to create new lives. We might first think of Robin Hood’s Band of Merry Men. Yet it is the overtures of female mysticism that are strongly associated with the woods. In Western lore, the image of the forest dwelling witch pervades mythologies, fairytales and later religious persecution. In the latter, late medieval and early modern witch-hunts believed that women witches held ecstatic gatherings in the woods under the cover of darkness where they dedicated themselves to and engaged in sexual acts with Satan. The Maenads, the cult of Dionysius (or Bacchus in the Roman period) featured similar ecstatic and sexual forest gatherings of mostly women that often resulted in acts of violence.
The forest has often been a place of hiding, where things deemed socially unacceptable were practiced. It can offer refuge, but not without threat. The Tree of Knowledge of the Judaic tradition is forbidden, but Eden partakes unwittingly in a trade of knowledge for the withdrawal of God’s protection. In Celtic culture, trees, or a grove can serve as a gateway to the realm of the faery, a mysterious world of amazement and entrapment, rife with equal parts wonder and danger. Such transformations and withdrawal from societal cooperation are by nature threatening to that society, but there is a freedom that can be found.
These examples have been loud ones, stories and events that often served as subconscious warnings against the desire for liberation from patriarchal structures. Yet the mythological figure of the dryad, or other faery stories such as “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” construct a different outcome. In the case of the dryad, a female nature spirit that lives within and/or is one with a tree, the transformation and womanhood coexist. If we considered Daphne’s transformation into the laurel, akin to the existence of the dryad, then indeed, Daphne not only escaped Apollo but society itself, becoming instead a protective presence.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful – a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.[2]
John Keats describes the faery woman – la belle dame sans merci (the beautiful lady without mercy) as Apollo may have described his sighting of Daphne as she hunted. But the power structure is different, the rules of society reversed or if you will, transformed. Here the faery woman has the power.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried – ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci
Thee hath in thrall!’
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide[3]
We could consider this from a negative perspective, that such a link is a sinister one, a warning to men of what could happen if women were allowed such self-direction. Indeed it hints at the very destruction of male power structures, “…pale kings and princes too, pale warriors, death-pale were they all.”
However, in its place is the woman, forced to transform in order to escape. Despite this, she has changed herself and her reality. By doing so, she has saved herself from abuse and violence, and further has claimed an unconventional power over her person, ultimately escaping patriarchal cultural requirements.
[1] Edith Hamilton, Mythology (New York: New American Library, 1969), 115.
[2] John Keats, “La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad” Poetry Foundation. Accessed 08 MAR 2018. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44475/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad
Set a Fire and Burn
by E.J. Lawrence
When I was younger, I remember my grandmother saying, “If everyone just listened to me, the world would be a better place.”
She said it out of frustration, and with a twinge of irony since pretty much everyone thinks this, but it’s one of those logical fallacy things–everyone may believe it, but only one person, if any, can actually be right in saying it.
“Fear not death, for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it.” Well…those Norse were a cheerful lot.
Which brings me to the myth I’ve chosen to cover this month: Signy and Sigurd. Because, for Signy, if everyone had just listened to her, this myth would have turned out differently. But even though they didn’t, she wasn’t the sort to sit back and say, “I told you so.” No, this Norse woman rolled her eyes and said, “all right, I’ll fix the mess you made anyway.” And she sets about constructing the most elaborate revenge plot of just about any story I’ve ever read.
If you don’t know the myth, Signy and Sigurd were twins, the eldest children of King Volsung. One day, another king visits the castle and asks for Signy’s hand in marriage. To put this in 21st century terms, Signy gets bad vibes from the guy and tells her father she’d rather not marry him. Her father ignores her, and Signy reluctantly marries King Siggeir.
Her father and brother decide to visit Signy and her new husband, and Signy warns them that her husband will betray them. Of course, they don’t listen, and her father is killed, while her brother Sigmund is captured. Signy rescues her brother from captivity, then sends her son to Sigmund to be trained, so that her son might grow up and return to avenge his grandfather’s death. However, Sigmund tells her that her son is too weak, and Signy has him killed. They repeat this process, to the same results (I guess any son of this Siggeir guy is just not brute warrior material?). Fast forward a bit, and Signy decides the only way she can have a son who’s fit for her revenge purposes is to have a son with her father’s son–also known as her twin brother (why do mythologies always resort to incest? That’s an article for another day, I suppose). With the help of a sorceress, she tricks Sigmund into sleeping with her (a reverse King Arthur conception story), and has a son, who grows up and helps Sigmund set a fire to kill Signy’s husband.
Whew. See what I mean about the elaborate revenge plot? Still, for the culture at the time, it was incumbent on the offspring to avenge their parents’ murder. A lot of these stories we know–Orestes and Hamlet probably being the most famous. So, while a female revenge plot might be unusual, it certainly isn’t unheard of.
That looks hot.
Of course, perhaps the most intriguing part of this story is how it ends–as the fire that kills her husband rages, Signy turns to her son and tells him of his true incestuous parentage, then she walks into the fire to die with her husband.
Why? If she’s gotten her revenge, the thing she’d spent the last several decades trying for, why would she throw herself into the fire? Because she was also a woman bound by custom, and it was her duty to die with her husband, even though she never wanted to marry him in the first place, and even though he betrayed her father. The goal wasn’t living without him. The goal was revenge. Once she got that, she had nothing else left.
It might be easy to critique this and say that Signy was trapped by her duty as a woman. However, I think it’s also interesting to note that Signy shares a lot in common with Hamlet, who also dies once his revenge is completed. The major different between Signy and Hamlet, of course, is that Signy is much more active, taking measured, calculated steps toward her revenge; while Hamlet just mopes around wondering if life is even worth bothering about.
Hamlet, being moody. Again.
I’m not saying revenge should be a great motivator or anything like that. But in the ancient medieval world, revenge meant justice, and justice could only be taken by those who were wronged. I suppose that’s why revenge stories fascinate me so (admittedly, Oresteia is my favorite Greek cycle, and Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play); the quest for justice, for “rightness,” for balance, is an ancient quest, and so often, we feel we are denied justice. That’s the meaning behind the phrase “if everyone listened to me, the world would be a better place”–in other words, if I were in control, everything would be right with the world. The world would be just.
That’s fantasy, not reality. But it does make for a powerful story. An empowering one, really. Though it’s also worth noting that the revenge for Orestes, Hamlet, and Signy all come at a very high cost. For Orestes, the cost is his sanity. For Hamlet and Signy, it costs them their lives. Yet, all three of them knew the cost and accepted it willingly. They set the fires that consumed them.
I’m curious–if you know of any other female revenge stories a la Hamlet or The Oresteia, please share in the comments!
Works Consulted:
Volsunga Saga
The Oresteia
Hamlet picture By Peter Church, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13754721
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Captive Balance
Flying Lotus: Tiny Tortures
Posted on July 24, 2014 by Captive Balance
Flying Lotus first came to my attention last year when friends of mine kept telling me just how amazing his music is. I finally had a chance to check it out and I am really impressed by what he has done. His last album “Unit the Quiet Comes” is a diverse album which is hard to categorize. There is jazz, hip hop, and electronica influences throughout.
One of the best songs on the album is “Tiny Tortures”. It is a downbeat track that gradually descends. The music video features Elijah Wood as a man with one arm whose environment recreates his lost arm. Check it out.
Tagged elijah wood, experimental hip hop, flying lotus, jazz, tiny tortures, until the quiet comesLeave a comment
Disclosure: Latch feat. Sam Smith
I find myself listening to a lot of club music over the past few days which has finally led me to electronic duo Disclosure. I am unfamiliar with the burgeoning UK garage music scene that has become quite popular over the past few years but I am now officially a fan of Disclosure.
Their debut album “Settle” is one of the best dance albums I have heard in a long time. This is coming from a guy who used to listen to a lot of Basement Jaxx on constant repeat. “Settle” has some amazing features from artists like Ed Macfarlane and Sasha Keable. The best track on the record “Latch” features overnight sensation Sam Smith. Smith’s vocals compliments the steadily rising beat that builds throughout the song. Check it out.
Tagged basement jaxx, dance music, disclosure, ed macfarlane, latch, sam smith, sasha keable, uk garageLeave a comment
JD McPherson: Abigail Blue
I’ve been following JD McPherson for about two years now after listening to his debut album “Signs and Signifiers”. His music which draws upon 1950’s rock and roll and rhythm & blues caught me instantly. I spent an entire summer listening to his music and rediscovering artists from the 50’s and 60’s in the same musical vein.
“Abigail Blue” is McPherson’s most recent single that has one of the best basslines I have ever heard. McPherson’s soulful voice is a wonder to behold. Check it out.
Tagged 1950s, abigail blue, jd mcpherson, rock and roll, rockabilly, signs and signifiersLeave a comment
Interpol: All The Rage Back Home
About a month and a half ago I found out that Interpol was releasing a new album this year. Interpol has been my favorite band since their debut album which I have listened to at least once a week since I first heard it many years ago. Their intricate guitar work and melancholic sound completely changed my life and now I always go back to their music for inspiration.
Interpol’s new album “El Pintor” will be released in September and the first single from that record is “All The Rage Back Home” which is a return to form as the band draw forth on their initial blended post-punk guitar sound. Check it out.
Tagged el pintor, indie rock, interpol, post-punkLeave a comment
Wavves: That’s On Me
Posted on July 5, 2014 by Captive Balance
Last year after Wavves’ “Afraid of Heights” came out I spent an entire summer listening to it continuously. The album was a drastic change from their third album “King of the Beach”. The songs on the new record were more mature and polished but still retaining that surf-pop sound that the band has become known for.
There are many great songs on the record but ‘That’s On Me’ stands out to me the most. It is has a surf rock riff and gets louder towards the middle of the song. The music video for the song is both disturbing and creepy with a samurai sword wielding man who chops into bottles of soda and a hanging pig. Cheerleaders also gorge on pork ribs in a disgusting way. Check it out.
Tagged afraid of heights, king of the beach, music video, surf pop, surf rock, thats on me, WavvesLeave a comment
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You are here: Home / Math & Science / Computer Science / David Alan Grier: The Light of Computation
David Alan Grier: The Light of Computation
January 24, 2017 by PUP Author
by David Alan Grier
When one figure steps into the light, others can be seen in the reflected glow. The movie Hidden Figures has brought a little light to the contributions of NASA’s human computers. Women such as Katherine Goble Johnson and her colleagues of the West Area Computers supported the manned space program by doing hours of repetitive, detailed orbital calculations. These women were not the first mathematical workers to toil in the obscurity of organized scientific calculation. The history of organized computing groups can be traced back to the 17th century, when a French astronomer convinced three friends to help him calculate the date that Halley’s comet would return to view. Like Johnson, few human computers have received any recognition for their labors. For many, only their families appreciated the work that they did. For some, not even their closest relatives knew of their role in the scientific community.
My grandmother confessed her training as a human computer only at the very end of her life. At one dinner, she laid her fork on the table and expressed regret that she had never used calculus. Since none of us believed that she had gone to college, we dismissed the remark and moved the conversation in a different direction. Only after her passing did I find the college records that confirmed she had taken a degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1921. The illumination from those records showed that she was not alone. Half of the twelve mathematics majors in her class were women. Five of those six had been employed as human computers or statistical clerks.
By 1921, organized human computing was fairly common in industrialized countries. The governments of the United States, Germany, France, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia supported groups that did calculations for nautical almanacs, national surveys, agricultural statistics, weapons testing, and weather prediction. The British Association for the Advancement of Science operated a computing group. So did the Harvard Observatory, Iowa State University, and the University of Indiana. One school, University College London, published a periodical for these groups, Tracts for Computers.
While many of these human computers were women, most were not. Computation was considered to be a form of clerical work, which was still a career dominated by men. However, human computers tended to be individuals who faced economic or social barriers to their careers. These barriers prevented them from becoming a scientist or engineer in spite of their talents. In the book When Computers Were Human, I characterized them as “Blacks, women, Irish, Jews and the merely poor.” One of the most prominent computing groups of the 20th century, the Mathematical Tables Project, hired only the impoverished. It operated during the Great Depression and recruited its 450 computers from New York City’s unemployment rolls.
During its 10 years of operations, the Math Tables Project toiled in obscurity. Only a few members of the scientific community recognized its contributions. Hans Bethe asked the group to do the calculations for a paper that he was writing in the physics of the sun. The engineer Philip Morse brought problems from his colleagues at MIT. The pioneering computer scientist John von Neumann asked the group to test a new mathematical optimization technique after he was unable to test it on the new ENIAC computer. However, most scientists maintained a distance between themselves and the Mathematical Tables Project. One member of the Academy of Science explained his reservations about the Project with an argument that came to be known as the Computational Syllogism. Scientists, he argued, are successful people. The poor, he asserted, are not successful. Therefore, he concluded, the poor cannot be scientists and hence should not be employed in computation.
Like the human computers of NASA, the Mathematical Tables Project had a brief moment in the spotlight. In 1964, the leader of the Project, Gertrude Blanch, received a Federal Woman’s Award from President Lyndon Johnson for her contributions to the United States Government. Yet, her light did not shine far enough to bring recognition to the 20 members of the Math Tables Project who published a book, later that year, on the methods of scientific computing. The volume became one of the most highly sold scientific books in history. Nonetheless, few people knew that it was written by former human computers.
The attention to Katherine Goble Johnson is welcome because it reminds us that science is a community endeavor. When we recognize the authors of scientific articles, or applaud the distinguished men and women who receive Nobel Prizes (or in the case of computer science, Turing Medals) we often fail to see the community members that were essential to the scientific work. At least in Hidden Figures, they receive a little of the reflected light.
David Alan Grier is the author of When Computers Were Human. He writes “Global Code” for Computer magazine and products the podcast “How We Manage Stuff.” He can be reached at grier@gwu.edu.
Filed Under: Computer Science, History of Science, Mathematics, Philosophy Tagged With: computation, computers, Hidden Figures, Tech
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A Lab Aloft (International Space Station Research)
Tag: Experiment Highlights
Space Station Espresso Cups: Strong Coffee Yields Stronger Science
In today’s A Lab Aloft, International Space Station researcher, Mark Weislogel, Ph.D., boils down why brews served in microgravity will percolate better science than coffee, thanks to the Space Cup.
*UPDATE: The Space Cup was named one of “The Most Cleverly Designed Objects of 2015” by WIRED Magazine!*
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti – dressed in a Star Trek Voyager uniform – takes a sip of espresso from the new Capillary Beverage investigation, also known as Space Cup while looking out of the Cupola window. Credits: NASA
You may have heard the “caffeine buzz” around the Internet about the ISSpresso machine that recently launched to the International Space Station. It would be out of this world indeed to have a cup to go along with it. So we designed, fabricated, tested, and flight qualified one. In fact six such cups are now on the space station and ready for action. With real science backing the design, our microgravity coffee cup will do more than lift espresso to astronauts’ lips — it will also provide data on the passive movement of complex fluids as part of the Capillary Beverage investigation. The results will confirm and direct math models that help engineers exploit capillary fluid physics (capillary fluidics) to control how liquids move by designing containers specific to the task at hand. Whether getting the last drop of fuel for a rocket engine or delivering the perfect dose of medication to a patient, there are real Earth benefits behind the brew.
In 2008, astronauts aboard the International Space Station demonstrated the pouch method of drinking yesterday’s coffee and today’s coffee, while the Space Cup will serve the coffee of tomorrow — providing real science for fluid physics research. In the front, left to right, crew members Michael Finke and Chris Ferguson, with Eric Boe and Donald Pettit in the back. (NASA)
On Earth, gravity is responsible for making bubbles rise and liquids fall. Such mechanisms vanish in the weightless environment of orbiting spacecraft. In fact, in microgravity there is no concept notion of floating or sinking, or up or down. Other forces such as surface tension that are normally overwhelmed by gravity on Earth rise to dominate liquid behavior.
In a spacecraft, if the effects of surface tension are not understood, liquids (e.g., water, fuel) can be just about anywhere in the container that holds them. Similarly, the gas (e.g., oxygen, nitrogen) in such containers can freely range, too. You’re in for a challenge if you want to find where these fluids are and use them. Even if you just want to drink them. This is why in space you’ll only see astronauts drinking from bags with straws so that they can completely collapse the bag to assure the liquids come out. From a practical safety perspective, the bags also provide a level of containment.
When my laboratory heard of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and the Italian Space Agency’s espresso machine investigation (ISSpresso) going to space, it got us thinking about that beautifully complex drink and how it would behave differently — especially whether the coffee would develop a crema or not. Currently, we don’t believe so because the bubbles that form during the espresso brew process won’t naturally rise to the surface due to absence of buoyancy in the microgravity environment. Other weaker forces often masked by gravity are present and will likely play an unearthly role in what happens, making the espresso fun to observe. It will be a different kind of fun altogether to get real science out of the process at the same time.
In a normal cup of espresso, carbon dioxide bubbles release and collect to form a crema. Some of the bubbles adhere to the walls of the cup, while the remainder rise and stratify due to their size in layers we refer to as foam. Steam rises above the surface of the crema in part condensing in an advancing front on the inside surfaces of the cup. The cup cools by natural convection and the aromatics waft at rates determined by buoyancy. These processes are completely induced by gravity!
When the influence of gravity is greatly reduced, as it is aboard orbiting spacecraft, not much of this stuff is going to happen. This will be unusual for the astronauts. Even the smell of the coffee diffusing through the crema is driven by natural convection currents in the air, which are absent in the microgravity environment. So the simple, every day fluid physics taking place in your daily coffee are highly dependent on gravity. From taste to smell, we anticipate what may even be a disappointing cup of coffee in space. But only the astronauts will know, and we will have to take their word for it in the hopes of one day trying this for ourselves.
Touching your lips to the rim of the Space Cup establishes a capillary connection allowing the drinker access to the entire contents. Sip-by-sip or in one big gulp, the cup’s contents may be imbibed somewhat normally in space, as on Earth. (A. Wollman, IRPI)
You can imagine how many variables are at play for the drinking experience from a human factors perspective, but gravity influences many of these, too. Sinus drainage, saliva migration, time aloft, and others are reasonable microgravity-related parameters affecting one’s response to the drinking experience in space. We designed the Space Cup with the central objective of delivering the liquid passively to the lip of the cup. To do this we exploit surface tension, wetting conditions, and the special geometry of the cup itself. We have yet to learn the human-cup interaction in microgravity. The cup design forces the drinker’s nose directly over the fluid contents. But since the aromatics do not rise, one might expect a rather concentrated dose upon the first whiff. Maybe this won’t be a big deal since astronauts report a reduced sense of smell while in space, due to somewhat clogged sinuses. This is presumably due to the headward fluid redistribution that occurs in spaceflight.
We were highly motivated to make the cup transparent so we could observe all of the fluid physics going on in the process. It may sound nerdy, but that’s what we do—we study microgravity fluid physics in hopes of designing more reliable fluid systems for future spacecraft, and more effective fluid systems for applications on Earth.
Touching your lips to the rim of the cup establishes a capillary connection, almost like the wicking of water through a paper towel, allowing the drinker access to the entire contents. My colleagues and I have been doing research aboard station for more than 10 years. During the course of hundreds and hundreds of experiments, we’ve been developing the mathematical predictive tools and computational tools for such passive capillary fluidic processes. Now we are in a place to develop designs for systems in space — systems with promises of high reliability because they perform their function passively, without moving parts. Examples include things like urine treatment and processing, and systems to close the water cycle helping to enable truly long duration crewed space exploration. These same tools also help us with fuel systems, cooling systems, water processing equipment for plant and animal habitats, and much more.
Perfecting these systems can also help us prevent disasters in orbit or on long-duration missions such as the journey to Mars. For example, the primary oxygen supply systems on many spacecraft use electrolysis. If the system gets a single air bubble lodged within its tubing, it can shut down until the bubble is found and removed. To get a sense of working with these types of systems in space, you need an understanding of capillary phenomena from studies, believe it or not, like Capillary Beverage.
The Space Cup’s specific design uses known geometry, gathered in prior International Space Station research, to direct fluids to the lip of the user. (Credit: M. Meyer, IRPI)
While fun, this study has plenty of design research behind it. Many of the aspects of our fluid physics research in microgravity are present in this simple cup demonstration — the effects of wetting, the effects of geometry, and the effects of fluid properties, especially surface tension. The results could provide information useful to engineers who design fuel tanks for commercial satellites, for instance. If you can find all your fuel, you can save costs and maximize the mission duration.
With this cup we can also study complex fluids that we have not previously addressed. For example, just adding sugar or milk to tea is expected to radically change the performance of the process of how the fluids move. We’ll approach this systematically aboard the space station. We’re starting off with water, then clear juice, then tea, tea with sugar, etc., including complex drinks like cocoa, a chocolate breakfast drink, and even a peach-mango smoothie. Undissolved solids, dissolved gasses, foams, free bubbles, surfactants, varying viscosities, temperature effects and more — all in little transparent 3D printed cups used by astronauts to drink on the space station. This progression from simple to complex beverages will give us a wealth of data — data which we aim to apply not just in space, but on Earth, too.
The astronaut(s) will set up the experiment near the galley, position the cup, camera, and lighting for orthogonal views (views at right angles), and a variety of experiments will be performed using the HD video as our quantitative data source. For example, when the astronaut fills the cup, the filing process is research. When the astronaut drains the cup, the draining is research. The static and dynamic interface shapes tell us everything we need to know, from wetting conditions to stability, to visco-capillary interaction. This is the exciting part for us! We see the profile of the interface, we watch particles and bubbles as flow tracers, we get velocities and volumetric drain rates, and all as functions of what the astronaut is doing — enjoying a cup of coffee! Astronaut Kjell Lindgren is planning to take up plenty of his own espresso during Expeditions 44/45. We have plenty to look forward to.
International Space Station Expedition 44/45 crew members Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui enjoying food tasting at NASA’s Habitability and Environmental Factors Office in Houston. Lindgren plans to take his own espresso grounds with him into orbit to enjoy as part of the Capillary Beverage study. (NASA/Bill Stafford)
With this cup, most everything is taken care of passively by the shape of the cup. There isn’t a straight line in it. There are no moving parts. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the fluid systems on spacecraft worked like that? We know it would result in less worry on the ground. The simpler things are, the more robust their function and the less time is needed for maintenance.
Check out this video about our first version of a zero-g coffee cup.
What we are learning here is not just for space. All the design tools we are developing are applicable to small fluidic systems on Earth, too. For example, portable point-of-care medical diagnostic devices exploit capillary flow to passively move a very small sample of blood to any variety of regions on a testing chip. That makes it possible to diagnose infectious diseases in places where there is no power or where power is unreliable. It also reduces the time between sample collection and diagnosis and, therefore, initiation of treatment. We will report more on this connection in the future.
The next time you brew a cup of your favorite coffee, imagine what it might be like to take a sip from the Capillary Beverage cup aboard the International Space Station while watching the Earth go by. Then consider the fluids research off the Earth, that can make a difference right here on the Earth.
Mark Weislogel, Ph.D. (Portland State University)
Mark Weislogel, Ph.D., is senior scientist and vice president of IRPI LLC and professor Mechanical Engineering at Portland State University. He was founded in microgravity fluid physics while employed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Whether in the private sector or academia, Weislogel has since continued to make extensive use of NASA ground-based low-gravity facilities and has completed investigations aboard space shuttles, the Russian Mir Space Station, and the International Space Station. He led the design of the Dryden Drop Tower, which has conducted over 4,000 drop tests and continue at a rate of over 1,000/year. Current efforts are directed to research, development, and delivery of advanced fluid systems for spacecraft.
Author jnimonPosted on May 1, 2015 January 4, 2016 Tags Benefits, Experiment Highlights, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, physical science, Results, Science, Technology, US Research10 Comments on Space Station Espresso Cups: Strong Coffee Yields Stronger Science
Health Research off the Earth, For the Earth
Today’s A Lab Aloft was posted by Ellen Stofan and Julie Robinson on April 17, 2015.
The International Space Station is a unique laboratory for performing investigations that affect human health both in space and on Earth. Since its assembly, the space station has supported research that is providing a better understanding of certain aspects of both fundamental and applied human health, such as the mechanisms causing aging and disease. Several biological and human physiological investigations have yielded important results, including improved understanding of bone loss and rebuilding, and development of new medical technologies that have impacted lives right here on Earth.
From studying the behavior of cells to developing potential improvements in clinical settings, a variety of health research arrived at the space station today aboard the sixth SpaceX contracted resupply mission. The Dragon spacecraft delivered research equipment for biology, biotechnology, human research, as well as additional research and supplies to the station. These new and ongoing investigations continue to assist researchers in pursuing scientific and medical knowledge not possible under the weight of gravity on Earth.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Dragon resupply spacecraft on the sixth commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:10 p.m. EDT on April 14. (NASA/Tony Gray)
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother Mark will participate in a series of human health studies as part of the recently begun One-Year Mission aboard the space station. The data collected comparing the twins, Scott on the space station, and Mark living on Earth, will enable researchers to determine how cognitive function, metabolic profiles, gastrointestinal microbiota, immune system and genetic sequences are affected by different factors attributable to the environmental stress of spaceflight. Results could potentially be used as the first steps to understand how to help develop new treatments and preventive measures for health issues on Earth.
Another investigation will study how and why some astronauts experience eye changes that can affect their vision during missions aboard the station. There are several factors that may cause this problem during spaceflight. This research will improve scientists’ understanding of this phenomenon and how changes in the brain and eye shape affects vision. It could also help people on Earth suffering from conditions that increase swelling and pressure in the brain.
NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano perform ultrasound eye imaging as part of the Fluid Shifts investigation during Expedition 37 on the International Space Station. (NASA)
Studying cells in space is another important area of health research on the station. Research in microgravity provides an important novel tool to better understand the mechanisms that cause cellular functions such as cell division, gene expression and shape. Looking at cells in space provides unique insights, because in the absence of Earth’s gravity, cells grow with a similar structure as they do in the body. Scientists can use this knowledge to improve diagnosis and therapies.
A type of bone cell, called osteocytes, will arrive at the space station on today’s cargo delivery as part of a project funded under the Biomedical Research on the International Space Station (BioMed-ISS). This initiative is a collaborative effort among the National Institutes of Health, the ISS National Laboratory and NASA. The investigation team, led by Dr. Paola Divieti Pajevic, Assistant Professor at Boston University and the Director of the bone cell core at Massachusetts General Hospital, will analyze the effects of microgravity on the function of osteocytes. The study will provide better understanding of the mechanisms behind bone disorders on Earth, such as osteoporosis.
The three colorful bioreactors where mouse bone cells grow within a 3D material for the Osteo-4 investigation aboard the International Space Station. (Divieti Pajevic Laboratory)
Additional investigations also may yield results that can potentially improve patient health in clinical settings on Earth. Scientists may be able to develop methods for combating hospital-acquired infections, a chronic problem in clinical settings, by researching bacterial growth in a microgravity environment. Moreover, by studying protein crystallization in space, scientists may be able to improve crystallization technology that can change the way drugs are used for treating various human diseases.
The programs outlined here illustrate only a fraction of the space station’s potential as a groundbreaking scientific research facility. The International Space Station National Laboratory, as designated by the 2005 NASA Authorization Act, is a unique scientific platform that continues to enable researchers to put their talents to work on innovative experiments that could not be done anywhere else. Use of the space station’s singular capabilities as a permanent microgravity platform with exposure to the space environment is improving life on Earth; fostering relationships among NASA, other federal entities, and the private sector; and advancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
We may not know yet what will be the most important discovery gained from this orbiting laboratory, but we already are doing significant research on the International Space Station that could greatly benefit human health. Through advancing the state of scientific knowledge of our planet, looking after our health, and providing a space platform that inspires and educates health, science and technology leaders of tomorrow, these benefits will drive the legacy of the space station as its research enhances the quality of life here on Earth.
Ellen Stofan is the Chief Scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA/Jay Westcott)
NASA’s International Space Station Chief Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D. (NASA)
Author jnimonPosted on April 17, 2015 April 17, 2015 Tags Benefits, Education, Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, Life Science, Science, US Research2 Comments on Health Research off the Earth, For the Earth
Women in Space Part Two, What’s Gender Got To Do With It?
In today’s A Lab Aloft, guest blogger Liz Warren, Ph.D., looks at the differences between male and female astronaut physiology on long duration space missions.
I hate to break it to you, but men are not actually from Mars and women are not really from Venus. This silly saying illustrates a question that researchers, however, are serious about studying. With International Women’s Day around the corner, I thought it the ideal time to address the question: Is there a difference between the sexes as the human body adapts to microgravity?
You may remember reading the earlier blog that I wrote about celebrating “firsts” for women space explorers. The sky is certainly no longer the limit for females interested in exploration, science or any other career they wish to pursue. In fact, if you’re following our current mission, you already know we have two women living and working on the International Space Station.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Yelena Serova and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti live and work aboard the International Space Station as part of the current crew. (NASA)
In the fall of 2015, Sarah Brightman will be the 60th woman to fly in space. As we approach longer durations in human spaceflight, such as the one-year mission and the journey to Mars, it is important to tease out all aspects of how humans handle life in microgravity to ensure crew safety. The answers may also hold insights for human health even if you never leave the ground.
Our current crew aboard the space station includes ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut of Italian nationality, Samantha Cristoforetti, and a Roscosmos cosmonaut of Russian nationality, Yelena Serova. While serving aboard the orbiting laboratory for about six months, they each perform experiments in disciplines that range from technology development, physical sciences, human research, biology and biotechnology to Earth observations. This research helps in benefitting our lives here on Earth and enables future space exploration. They also engage students through educational activities in addition to operational tasks such as equipment maintenance and visiting vehicle tasks.
Russian cosmonaut Elena Serova, Expedition 41 flight engineer, works with hardware for the ОБР-8 Khimiya-Obrazovanie (Chemistry-Education) experiment in the Glove Minibox. Image was taken in the Rassvet Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM1) of the International Space Station. (NASA)
It’s important to acknowledge the contributions women in space make to both exploration and research. For instance, on Feb. 3, a prestigious tribute went to another woman space explorer, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Chiaki Mukai. She was conferred the National Order of the Legion of Honour, Chevalier. Mukai flew aboard space shuttle missions STS-65 and STS-95, and is currently the director of the JAXA Center for Applied Space Medicine and Human Research (J-CASMHR). The work these trailblazers accomplish also includes their role as research subjects themselves.
Female space explorers are skilled professionals, representing the best humanity has to offer, executing complex tasks in an unforgiving environment. Their sex differentiates them only so far as biology determines—which is exactly the topic covered in a recent compendium titled “Impact of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space.” The results were published in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of Women’s Health.
Samantha Cristoforetti taking images of the Earth from the International Space Station’s cupola. (NASA)
Space exploration is inherently dangerous, and as we look to longer duration spaceflights to Mars and beyond, NASA wants to make sure we are addressing the right questions to minimize risk to our astronaut crews. Based on a recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences, NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) assembled six scientific working groups to compile and summarize the current body of knowledge about the different ways that spaceflight affects the bodies of men and women. The groups focused on cardiovascular, immunological, sensorimotor, musculoskeletal, reproductive and behavioral implications on spaceflight adaptation for men and women. NASA and NSBRI created a diagram summarizing differences between men and women in cardiovascular, immunologic, sensorimotor, musculoskeletal, and behavioral adaptations to human spaceflight.
Thus far, the differences between the male and female adaptation to spaceflight are not significant. In other words, mission managers planning a trip to Mars, for example, can do so without consideration of the sex of the crew members. However, many questions remain unanswered and require further studies and more women subjects in the human-health investigations. There is an imbalance in data available for men and women, primarily due to fewer women having flown in space.
As a physiologist, I am intrigued by several of the differences described in the journal. An area that interests me in particular is cardiovascular physiology. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease—including heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure—is the number one killer of men and women across America. Many studies have shown that healthy habits including good nutrition and exercise are important for maintaining a healthy heart here on Earth. Those habits are even more important for astronauts on the space station.
Of the findings described in the journal, one is that women astronauts tend to suffer more orthostatic intolerance upon standing after return to Earth. Related to this finding, women also appear to lose more blood plasma during spaceflight. Possibly connected to the inherent differences in the cardiovascular system between men and women, male astronauts appear to suffer more vision impairment issues in space than women, although the difference is not statistically significant due to the small number of subjects—meaning more research needs to be done.
NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, Expedition 36 flight engineer, conducts an ocular health exam on herself in the Destiny laboratory of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. (NASA)
Another difference between men and women in spaceflight is worth noting, and that is the radiation standard. While the level of risk allowed for both men and women in space is the same, women have a lower threshold for space radiation exposure than men, according to our models.
This is an exciting time in human space exploration. We are addressing questions today that will lead to safer journeys off our planet. This month, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will embark on the first joint U.S.-Russian one-year mission to the space station. Most stays on station are six months in duration, but planners anticipate a journey to Mars to be closer to 1,000 days. This first one-year mission is a stepping stone in our travels beyond low-Earth orbit. NASA anticipates to continue one-year long missions, and women will be part of these crew selections.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left), Expedition 43/44 flight engineer and Expedition 45/46 commander; and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, Expedition 43-46 flight engineer, take a break from training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to pose for a portrait. (NASA)
In the meantime, what we learn about our bodies off the Earth has benefits for the Earth. In part one of this guest blog, I stated that, “in space exploration and in science, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.” I am thrilled to think of what we are about to learn from the one-year mission, as well as the continued research on and by both men and women in orbit. What an exciting time for humanity!
Liz Warren, Ph.D., communications strategist for the International Space Station Program Science Office. (NASA)
Liz Warren, Ph.D., is a physiologist with Barrios Technology, a NASA contractor supporting the International Space Station Program Science Office. Warren has a doctorate in molecular, cellular, and integrative physiology from the University of California at Davis, completed post-doctoral fellowships in molecular and cell biology and neuroscience, and has authored publications ranging from artificial gravity protocols to neuroscience to energy balance and metabolism.
Author jnimonPosted on March 6, 2015 Tags Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, International Partners, ISS as a Laboratory, Life Science, Mission Highlights, Results, Science, US Research5 Comments on Women in Space Part Two, What’s Gender Got To Do With It?
2014 Retrospective a Look Forward as the Space Station Comes into its Own
In today’s A Lab Aloft International Space Station Chief Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., looks back on 2014 to highlight some of the year’s milestones and research achievements.
As I take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of the past 12 months, I can’t help but think of how they relate to where we’re going next with the International Space Station. From the crew capabilities to research goals, from NASA’s plans for continued exploration to the benefits for humanity from station studies, there are some key areas that stand out from 2014.
Expedition 41 crew portrait on the International Space Station. From left: ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, Roscosmos cosmonauts Elena Serova, Maxim Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore. (NASA)
During the last year there has been so much demand for research on the space station—including investigations that require crew time—planners really have had to push the schedule. We deferred some preventative maintenance, scaling back on some filter changes, for instance, to adjust operations for increased crew time for research. That’s allowed us to get as much as 47 hours a week averaged in a six-month period. This number is the total for the three U.S. astronauts, rather than the original standard of 35 hours for science. When you think about it, that’s almost half again as much research as the designed schedule.
This is a great performance of balancing time aboard station, though we won’t always be able to hold to that. This is why we still need to go to seven crew members. The crew dedicating time to tend to investigations helps us to optimize the research coming out of space station, as well. Currently we house six crew members in orbit aboard the space station, and some of you may know that this is one person short of the craft’s design to sleep seven. This is because our Soyuz “lifeboat” can only return six crew members in an emergency. The advent of commercial crew will allow us to expand by that extra crew member, as the new vehicles can ferry four. This is a future goal that we all look forward to: a full house.
The crew was particularly busy during the latter part of 2014 with a huge new capability for biological research using model animals. This also was driven by user demand to launch rodents—meaning mice and rats, though so far we’re starting with mice on the space station. We now have a system that can launch rodents aboard the SpaceX Dragon vehicle. The animals can live aboard station for a long period of time in special habitats, and then either be processed on orbit or eventually returned live. This system was important to get online this year, because we had a large number of users in medical research and pharmaceuticals interested in using space station as a test bed for their studies.
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore setting up the Rodent Reseach-1 Hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)
There are many discoveries that have affected human health that were dependent on the use of animals as what we call “model organisms,” from the discovery of insulin to the that of tamoxifen to treat breast cancer to kidney transplants. This doesn’t mean these organisms are going to grace the cover of a magazine, but rather that they provide a model for humans to help us understand disease processes. By watching how they respond to research, we can in turn learn how to fight those diseases.
The use of model organisms in laboratories on Earth and aboard the International Space Station can lead to insights for researchers into human health. (NASA/Julie Robinson)
Having the ability to fly mice to space for long-duration studies is a huge advance. Fulfilling this capability was our response to the Decadal Survey recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences. We have years of research already lined up hoping to get access to these mice. To optimize the potential for discovery, we combine as many experiments together on this precious resource as possible.
This is an exciting area of study, as just a handful of mice have flown in the past—both on space station assembly flights and one flight in a system called mice drawer system. Even so, those findings account for a significant number of our highest profile publications from space station research. With access twice per year, we now have this type of study as a routine capability. This means we can expect to see a huge ramp-up in high-impact research in biomedical areas.
Another big change this year has been the space station maturing as a platform for Earth science. My colleagues in Earth sciences at NASA have called this the year of the Earth, because they’ve had five related instruments go into space this year. That’s a record, and two of these are on the space station, a first!
Artist’s rendering of NASA’s ISS-RapidScat instrument (inset), which launched to the International Space Station in 2014 to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction and help improve weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring. It was installed on the end of the Columbus laboratory. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Johnson Space Center
Moving forward we’re going to see a couple instruments a year go up until the space station’s current external sites are primarily full, likely in 2017. We now need to study whether to grow our capabilities to support more Earth sciences instruments, as well as astrophysics and heliophysics studies.
It’s really thrilling to see these initial instruments come to station and begin operations right off the bat. The first of these, ISS-RapidScat, was bringing hurricane data home within three hours—this was less than a week after installation. The instrument measured the sea-surface winds and was used to look at Typhoon Vongfong in Japan. How quickly scientists can use these data and incorporate findings into use for us on the ground can provide real benefits. The results can give valuable information that people need to know to protect their lives and property, making it an important advance to have available aboard station.
Next is the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), an imager that looks at clouds and aerosols for climate research. CATS will be followed by a number of instruments that are either brand new to science or that fill a gap from similar satellites to provide cross calibration. Our understanding of the Earth is going to improve thanks to the research from all of these instruments.
Super typhoon Vongfong as seen by the crew of the International Space Station on Oct. 9, 2014. (NASA)
One of the areas that congress has encouraged us to pursue is the development of commercial applications and commercial research on the space station. To this end, they declared the space station U.S. segment a national laboratory in 2005. In 2011 we selected CASIS, the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, to manage that national lab side for use by researchers that are not funded by NASA. These scientists may be funded by other government agencies or the private sector or nonprofit organizations.
This year CASIS grew substantially with the advent of their ARK-1 and ARK-2 suites of investigations aboard station. Also in 2014, the first National Institutes of Health (NIH) investigator of the space station national lab era launched her immunology research study. There are other NIH studies to come, including one that looks at bone loss. CASIS also brought large initiatives in protein crystal growth, Earth sciences, stem cells and materials science to continue to advance commercial research aboard the space station.
I recently spoke with Brian Talbot, marketing and communications director with CASIS, and he shared his thoughts with me on the accomplishments of the organization for the past year. “The continued growth of CASIS as an organization in 2014 speaks to the limitless opportunities commercial and academic researchers see aboard the space station. Through funded solicitations in proven areas of space-based research to innovative and non-traditional commercial users, CASIS is moving ever closer towards its goal of fully utilizing of the national lab for Earth-benefit inquiry.”
When I talked about crew time, you may have noticed that it was broken down by U.S. and Russian segments and crew members. While this division is useful for tracking purposes, it’s important to mention how we are blurring those boundaries. This international laboratory brings collaborations together through research that transcend relations on the ground. The space station exemplifies a global partnership at its best.
One thing that has driven us to continue advancing our partnership is the announcement of the joint one-year expedition. Since the 2013 announcement, we have made advances in finalizing our research goals in preparation for the 2015 launch. This extended expedition will have an astronaut and a cosmonaut both stay aboard the space station for 12 months, instead of the current six-month standard. It’s been decades since astronauts were in space that long. With the leaps in our medical technology, the one-year stay will help us to better understand what happens to the human body on long-duration flights. These studies also may help answer related concerns for health here on Earth.
Selected crew members for the one-year mission aboard the International Space Station, U.S. Astronaut Scott Kelly (pictured left) and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (pictured right). (NASA)
I’m really excited about how that international collaboration across all of our partners has evolved. We’re combining more investigations, we’re releasing open data for the entire global scientific community to work with and we’re joining crew member resources to optimize all of these activities. Whether it’s microbial sampling, taking care of plants or making specific observations of the human body, our crew members are working together on what is truly an international station in space.
Early this year, John Holdren, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy for the Obama administration, announced their support of extending the space station to 2024. We have worked through the impacts that this has for space station research and this extension gives us 90 percent more external research and close to 50 percent more pressurized research—those studies taking place in the cabin. 2024 is very important to what we can achieve with this global microgravity resource of the space station.
When we have scientists already in line wanting to do investigations, having more time to get those studies done and even to do follow-on research opens up the discovery potential. This also provides more time for research markets to develop independently. Just like on the ground, when someone wants to study a certain area, they contract a lab to do the experiments. Someday, when space station is gone, we want scientists to have continued access through this emerging market of microgravity research in space. This longer duration for station to remain as a platform helps to open up those opportunities for researchers around the world. This is the world’s chance to continue the mission of discovery off the Earth for the Earth.
Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D. International Space Station Chief Scientist
Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D., is NASA’s International Space Station Chief Scientist, representing all space station research and scientific disciplines. Robinson provides recommendations regarding research on the space station to NASA Headquarters. Her background is interdisciplinary in the physical and biological sciences. Robinson’s professional experience includes research activities in a variety of fields, such as virology, analytical chemistry, genetics, statistics, field biology, and remote sensing. She has authored more than 50 scientific publications and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Utah State University, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada Reno.
Author jnimonPosted on January 27, 2015 Tags Benefits, Experiment Highlights, General, International Partners, ISS as a Laboratory, Mission Highlights, Russian Research, Science, Technology, US Research4 Comments on 2014 Retrospective a Look Forward as the Space Station Comes into its Own
Rodent Research Ramps Up Aboard the International Space Station
In today’s A Lab Aloft International Space Station Assistant Program Scientist Kirt Costello, Ph.D., lays out what’s new in rodent research in orbit. The updated facility and planned studies will advance capabilities for microgravity life science and biology research.
In this blog we often talk about the “why” reasons for the research that we are doing on the International Space Station, but sometimes it’s also important to talk about “where” NASA gets the ideas. Specifically, where do the concepts and research announcements come from? How does NASA know that the science being selected fits the needs of the country in its quest to get the most beneficial use of the space station’s national laboratory?
Today’s discussion is on the new space station Rodent Research Facility and the objectives that NASA is trying to meet by making this system available to both researchers seeking safe exploration of space and those seeking improvements in health here on Earth. Many of these investigations directed specifically at improving life on Earth come through the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) as the manager of the space station’s national laboratory resources.
Image of the Mouse Immunology (MI) Animal Enclosure Modules (AEM). (NASA)
NASA has been conducting rodent research in space for many years. The majority of those investigations focus on clinical questions about how we keep our astronauts healthy in space for longer periods. They also address very basic life science questions about how animal physiology changes in a weightless environment. Prior to and during the time of station assembly, the Space Shuttle Program hosted the Animal Enclosure Module (AEM) studies. The AEM flew 28 missions conducting research, such as the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module or CBTM investigations. The AEM system was well suited to the Space Transportation System (STS), allowing researchers important access to their rodent subjects both before flight and during post flight recovery.
With the end of the shuttle program, it was clear that the use of newly designed transportation vehicles would necessitate redesign efforts for AEM use aboard station. Conducting such investigations not on the vehicle, but aboard the station would enable longer-duration studies. The change from a few weeks to a few months in microgravity increases the potential research returns, but also requires some changes in the design of the hardware.
NASA’s Rodent Habitat module, seen here with both access doors open, is the next generation replacement to its predecessor, the Animal Enclosure Module (AEM). (NASA/Dominic Hart)
The importance of continuing rodent research aboard the space station is laid out by the National Research Council (NRC) in their 2010 Decadal Study Report, “Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration Life and Physical Sciences Research for a new Era.” In that study’s section on animal and human biology a third of the recommendations specifically called out the use of mouse or animal model organisms as the mechanism to proceed with research on the orbiting laboratory. These recommendations focus on muscle and bone loss, the testing of drugs for osteoporosis, changes to the animal immune system, the effects of aerosol exposures to the lungs and multi-generational and developmental studies.
To accomplish the wide array of research that the NRC proposed, some improvements were made to the AEM system to update the workhorse that had served well during the shuttle years. Improvements include features such as upgraded longer lasting filters, changeable food trays and support systems within the microgravity science glovebox (MSG) facility. These changes allow for studies to focus on the effects of microgravity exposure over much longer time frames. While the AEM of the shuttle era only housed rodents for up to 17 days, the new facility on space station can maintain an investigation for months.
NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott, STS-133 mission specialist, is photographed using a camcorder to record Mouse Immunology-2 investigation in one of the orbiter Discovery’s middeck lockers. (NASA)
Part of what makes rodents ideal test subjects is the fact that they reach maturity and age much quicker than humans. The typical rodent lifetime is about 2.5 years versus about 72 years for the comparable human. The capability to support rodents for up to 180 day stays is in development for the space station. During stays that long, researchers can begin to investigate questions that deal with developmental biology and extended exposure to microgravity. A half a year stay for a rodent might be the equivalent of a 14 year exposure to a human.
Updates to the old system also add both white light and infrared cameras for observing rodent conditions and behaviors. This capability allows researchers on the ground to closely monitor their studies. It also requires less crew time, as the observations can be done remotely, which in turn frees up that crew time to get more science done aboard the space station.
The first flight of the new Rodent Research Facility is on the upcoming SpaceX-4 mission to the space station. During this flight, designers will validate all of the initial performance goals for the rodent research hardware. The facility also will get a head start on some of the NRC decadal recommended goals with the CASIS sponsored portion of the Rodent Research-1 investigation. This study will include 10 of the 20 mice flying in the two habitats, and is in partnership with the commercial pharmaceutical company, Novartis.
A view of the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Resupply Services-3 (CRS-3) spacecraft grappled by the Canadarm2 Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) during Expedition 39. (NASA)
The test subjects will live aboard the space station for about 21 days. The CASIS mice will include five wild type—or typical—and five transgenic MuRF-1 knockout mice. Researchers will compare results from these two groups and the ground control counterparts to determine whether this genetic knockout impacts muscle atrophy and muscle sparing—where tissue is conserved—in those mice.
While the inaugural flight of the new rodent habitat system is right around the bend, the rodent research project team at NASA’s Ames Research Center is already hard at work. They are planning more complex investigations and improving the system to accommodate longer durations and more experimental aims for researchers. Rodent research will become a routine part of space station for the decade to come.
For me, personally, it’s been a great experience working with these teams to get this facility ready for flight. I’m excited by all the possibilities for the new research avenues that this opens for NASA and CASIS researchers. I’m humbled by the effort that has gone into this capability, and I hope you all will tune in during the mission to follow along with the accomplishments of the team.
Kirt Costello completed a Ph.D. in Space Physics and Astronomy at Rice University in 1998. Kirt is the Assistant International Space Station Program Scientist for National Research. In this position he works with the International Space Station Chief Scientist, NASA research organizations and CASIS to advise on the objectives and priorities of science being prepared to fly to the space station.
Author jnimonPosted on September 17, 2014 Tags Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, Life Science, Mission Highlights, Science, US ResearchLeave a comment on Rodent Research Ramps Up Aboard the International Space Station
AMS Amassing Answers to the Questions of the Universe
In today’s A Lab Aloft our guest blogger is Trent Martin, the NASA project manager for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument. Martin shares the challenges and excitement of seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
Can a single data point make a difference? When speaking of the collected billions of data points since the inception of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) to the International Space Station (ISS), the answer is yes. Every data point leads us closer to unveiling the answers to the questions of the universe.
A handful of those unique data points were the topic of the keynote speech delivered by AMS principal investigator Professor Samuel Ting at this year’s ISS Research and Development Conference in Chicago. Approximately 90 percent of the universe is not visible and is called dark matter. Collisions of “ordinary” cosmic rays produce positrons. Collisions of dark matter will produce additional positrons. This excess of positrons has been seen in the AMS data. While more data is needed, this specific handful of points tells us something we didn’t know before about our universe. It adds to our current knowledge and guides us on our path to answers in the areas of dark matter and more.
Professor Samuel Ting answers questions while attending the 2014 International Space station Research and Development Conference in Chicago, where he was a keynote speaker on the topic of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. (NASA/Bill Hubscher)
In May, 2011 as the space shuttle Endeavor sat on the pad ready to launch the AMS-02 to the space station, it carried the hopes and dreams of 600 physicists, engineers and technicians from 60 institutes in 16 countries who had worked for nearly 1.5 decades to build the most sophisticated magnetic spectrometer ever to be put into space. Led by Ting, a Nobel Laureate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the detector is designed to cull through galactic cosmic rays searching for the origins of the universe, evidence of dark matter, evidence of naturally occurring anti-matter and other cosmic phenomena.
In the words of Ting, “the most exciting objective of AMS is to probe the unknown; to search for phenomena which exist in nature that we have not yet imagined nor had the tools to discover.” AMS-02 provides that set of tools.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) operating aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)
It is exciting to have the chance to continue to collect data to close the gap on these types of questions. The AMS-02 will run aboard station for the next decade—a timeline granted by the station extension to 2024, but also thanks to a design change just prior to the launch to the space station. This was at the time of an earlier station extension to 2020, at which point the original cryogenic magnet was swapped for a permanent magnet. Had we kept the original magnet, the AMS-02’s life expectancy for operations on orbit would already be at a close—and we’d be left with questions unanswered. Instead, the final selection of a permanent magnet enabled our continued quest towards discovery today.
Let’s take a closer look at how AMS-02 works to help us seek those answers. If you asked a high-energy experimental physicist to provide a wish list of every instrument they would like to see on some theoretical detector, they would likely provide a list that is identical to the six instruments that make up the AMS-02. Since the detectors are so complex and include over 300,000 data channels, providing for easily replaceable systems in space was nearly impossible. Instead, the systems were designed and built with a significant amount of redundancy. Multiple detectors measure charge, momentum, and energy of a passing particle. Although each detector measures in a different way, it provides us redundant and confirming measurements. The electronics for the detectors are also redundant. In most cases, the electronic systems have four-fold redundancy. This makes for a reasonably secure fail-safe, most would agree.
Operations on the station began within hours of the AMS-02 installation on the S3 truss. Since May 2011, there has been very little time when AMS-02 was not collecting data. The amount of information has been somewhat unexpected. AMS-02 has measured more than 52,000,000,000 particles. In fact, we measure at a rate of 16,000,000,000 particles per year. We were expecting more like 11 billion particles per year. This improved rate of return means more data points in each communication for ground teams to analyze.
In addition to the external instrument, which is the largest payload aboard station, the AMS-02 employs a laptop that is dedicated to the instrument’s operations from the interior of the orbiting laboratory. This internal system acts as a crew interface to AMS-02 and provides a backup system in the event of a long-term loss of data from the space station to the ground. This is an important capability for our search for antimatter because it only takes one of the billions of events to see an antimatter particle.
View of Don Pettit, Expedition 30 Flight Engineer, holding the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) laptop in the U.S. Laboratory of the International Space Station. (NASA)
The search for anti-matter is actually quite challenging. I think of it like this, during the spring in Houston, there are many rain showers. If we assume it is a very rainy day in the large city of Houston, it would be like someone asking you to look at all of those clear rain drops and find one drop that is colored red! As we look at the billions of data points, we are seeking a drop in a rainstorm of information.
A view of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) as mounted aboard the exterior of the International Space Station. (NASA)
The AMS-02 science data points are stored on NASA computers as soon as the information reaches the ground at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It is stored again as soon as it reaches Geneva. Teams of scientists work daily to analyze the data coming from the AMS-02. Typically these teams are broken into two groups to ensure that the analysis is independently analyzed. The teams meet about once per month to go through their results, work on papers, and identify new areas of interest. AMS-02 publications can be found here.
Thanks to the extremely high data rate and the precision of the AMS-02 detectors, the data is providing significantly improved tolerance bands on the measured data when compared to other detectors. In the past hundred years, measurements of charged cosmic rays by balloons and satellites have typically contained approximately 30 percent uncertainty. AMS-02 will provide cosmic ray information with closer to one percent uncertainty.
Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, principal investigator for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, speaks about the first published results of AMS-02 during a 2013 press conference at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. (NASA/James Blair)
There is a lot of excitement that surrounds the findings from this instrument. The first paper published by AMS-02 was published in Physical Review Letters. The paper was highlighted in a Viewpoint appearing in the April 2013 issue of Physics. Being chosen for Viewpoint is a very selective process. According to the editor in chief of American Physical Society, “The APS published a total of about 18,000 articles last year, but only around 100 Viewpoints will appear each year. This places your paper in an elite subset of our very best papers.”
Based on the data coming from AMS-02, the space station has become a unique platform for precision physics research. During this orbiting laboratory’s lifetime, we expect to obtain 300 billion events. It is my hope and belief that somewhere buried in those 300 billion events we will find a better understanding of the origins of the universe.
Trent Martin, NASA project manager for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer at Johnson Space Center in Houston. (NASA/Robert Markowitz)
Trent Martin is currently the associate director of engineering for advanced development at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in addition to serving as the AMS NASA project manager. Martin has a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas and an MBA from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. He has worked at Johnson since 1995.
Author jnimonPosted on August 21, 2014 Tags Conference Highlights, Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, International Partners, ISS as a Laboratory, Results, Science, Technology, US Research1 Comment on AMS Amassing Answers to the Questions of the Universe
Orchestrating Space Station Science – A Day in the Life of a POD
In today’s A Lab Aloft, International Space Station Payload Operations Director Stephanie Buskirk Dudley shares a behind-the-scenes look at work on the ground leading up to and supporting research in orbit.
Right now, at this very minute, there are hundreds of investigations going on above your head. This research ranges from growing plants to burning different kinds of materials. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, astronauts aboard the International Space Station are living and working in the most sophisticated laboratory ever built. And it’s my job to keep track of all that research and ensure that the orbital lab runs like a well-tuned orchestra.
I am one of 23 payload operations directors (PODs) in the Payloads Operations Integration Center (POIC) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Together, we are responsible for planning the crew’s work schedules down to 5-minute increments, ensuring research stays on track and liaising between the astronauts performing experiments and the investigators conducting the research. It is a lot like conducting a symphony. At any given time we could have 10, 20 or 50 different things happening in orbit, in the POIC and in the five similar control rooms around the world. It’s a thrilling, high-intensity job that leaves me exhausted at the end of the day. There are times I don’t get a chance to eat or even run to the bathroom; but I love it. I really do have the coolest job, and when my shift is over, I look back and say, “Wow. Look what we accomplished!”
The Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA/Emmett Given)
We have three shifts working around the clock every day of year—including holidays and weekends—supporting space station research. We have research that requires astronauts’ participation, but we also have studies that we control from the ground. This ground-controlled research frees up the astronauts’ time to do other research or maintenance on the station. It also allows us to do research while the crew is asleep. Since we have research going on all day and night, our schedules vary between the day, afternoon and midnight shifts.
Our work begins long before we show up for our shift. In fact, we start planning any given day on the space station about 12 months in advance. We need to consider a number of logistics when planning for the crew to run an experiment. For example, we need to factor the amount of power needed, the thermal output and gaseous exhaust produced, limitations of specific systems, spatial conflicts and bandwidth for video and data, as well as the set number of video channels needed to observe and record the experiment. And that’s just naming a few things we worry about. Sometimes, a year just doesn’t seem enough.
Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Mike Hopkins of NASA sets up the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) for the Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS-II) investigation in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. BASS-II explores how different substances burn in microgravity with benefits for combustion on Earth and fire safety in space. (NASA)
Even with all that planning, we still have to deal with the unforeseen and be prepared to adapt. Just like in our homes on Earth, things need to be repaired aboard the station. If the toilet breaks, for instance, that becomes the highest priority for the crew, and research gets pushed to the backburner until the facilities are fixed. My fellow PODs and I understand. The exercise equipment also is a high priority in orbit since the crew members must work out for two hours a day to keep their bones and muscles healthy.
Expedition 36 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA gets a workout on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station. (NASA)
So, how do we balance all these constraints, logistics and demands? With lots of preparation and a well-trained team. I actually begin reviewing plans about a week prior. I will check to see if the investigations have been conducted in the past and ask myself how did we do them before and what’s different this time. I will refresh my training on the old and new studies, payload regulations, flight rules and any planning constraints that may impact the day’s activities for both the crew and the ground teams.
This research helps me be prepared for anything. Let’s say I’m working the day shift–my favorite shift because the crew is still awake. They have been working all morning, and I need to be up-to-speed on what they’re doing even before I get to work. If I get to the POIC and find the crew is ahead of schedule, I can adjust the timeline accordingly. Likewise, if they are behind schedule or an investigation hasn’t gone according to plan that morning, I need to be prepared for that as well. The research I’ve done the previous week helps greatly.
I am also briefed when I arrive at work. The day shift begins at 7 a.m., but I’m usually there about a half hour before to review the stack of papers the midnight shift has left me. After reading the daily logs and familiarizing myself with what went on overnight, I scan the handover sheet. This document details what’s going on with the crew, provides information related to specific payloads and lists items the previous shift was unable to complete. The outgoing PODs work hard to ensure that incoming PODs have everything they need, and the previous POD will always include notes that will help the incoming POD.
International Space Station commentator Lori Meggs interviews Katie Presson, a payload operations director in the Payload Operations Integration Center, or POIC, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA/Emmett Given)
Armed with the latest information, I have a conference call with the morning flight director in Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as well as my counterparts from NASA’s International Space Station partners. In that call, I get more information about what happened before I arrived and how the day is scheduled to go. I also provide a report to the morning flight director on what our shift will look like. This includes issues my team and I are tracking, crew and research statuses and anything else that might be out of the ordinary. Once everyone has spoken and the flight director is confident we’re all on the same page, we officially transfer from the midnight shift to the day shift.
Once the shift transfers, I literally take the outgoing POD’s seat and lead my team for the day. From this point until the day shift hands over the reins to the afternoon shift, I am responsible for all the research on the space station NASA is conducting. When you think about it, that’s a pretty incredible thing! If things go well, I have an awesome sense of accomplishment. If, on the other hand, things don’t go so well, I am the person the flight director calls for answers.
Stephanie Buskirk Dudley working during a shift as an International Space Station payload operations director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (NASA/Fred Deaton)
Fortunately, I have a solid team working with me in the POIC, and we’re all focused on making sure the space station is producing the best research possible. Depending on the shift, the team ranges from five to 10 people, as well as two to four addition folks who are responsible for managing the POIC facility. They ensure we have power to run the computers that crunch the data coming down from the station day and night.
Image from the Payload Operations Integration Center’s 12th anniversary, from left, Kevin Barnes, payload rack officer; Rick Rodriguez, Stephanie Buskirk Dudley and Katie Presson, all payload operations directors; Penny Pettigrew, payload communications manager; Carol Jacobs, payload operations director; and Ola Myszka, operations controller. (NASA/Emmett Given)
Like a band where each member has a specific instrument, everyone on the team has a specific responsibility. The PAYCOMs, what we call the payload communications managers, are vital to ensuring the research gets done properly. If the crew has a question about the study they are working on, the PAYCOMs have the answers. They are the voice of the POIC. It’s not an easy job either; the PAYCOM must be able to understand the research well enough to explain the investigator’s hypothesis to the crew and describe the actions the astronaut is to perform. Although it’s a demanding job, it also has its perks. The PAYCOMs get to speak regularly with the crew. Some might find this intimidating, but our PAYCOMs really enjoy it.
The operations controllers (OC) are responsible for helping all of us stay on track. Without the OCs, the timelines could fall apart, and the past 12 plus months of planning would have been in vain. The OCs try to stay ahead of the astronauts and anticipate what tools or resources might be needed. This way, everything will be on hand when it’s needed, and we won’t have to slow down to find the right information. The operations controllers are also responsible for any safety issues that might arise. Safety is our number one priority, and the PODs rely heavily on the OCs to make sure we stay safe.
NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins works with the Department of Defense Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites-Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation System (DOD SPHERES-RINGS). (NASA)
Another member of the team is the payload rack officer (PRO). This position definitely has the best acronym, and it’s apropos because the men and women who are PROs really are pros! The PROs are responsible for sending the commands to the space station that enable the research. They ensure there is enough power to run the experiment, thermal controls are set properly, adequate venting is provided, communications links are established and other logistics needed to allow the research to be conducted. They also manage the command link, which allows investigators all over the world to operate their studies on the station. Thanks to computers and the Internet, it probably surprises no one that these days scientists conducting investigations aboard the space station could be located anywhere in the world. Researchers from countries such as Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Norway, Spain and Switzerland operate and command research everyday with the help of our PROs.
It’s no small task to get the scientific data to these researchers in far off countries. The data management coordinators (DMC) are responsible for providing the data, including video when available, to the scientists on the ground. They route the information from the various science facilities on the station to the POIC, and our ground systems teams get the data to the researchers. The DMCs must negotiate limited bandwidth and manage our up- and downlink capabilities. For instance, if the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)—an investigation looking into dark matter and one of our biggest data users—started to get behind on downlinking data, a DMC would adjust demands to free up bandwidth for AMS from other studies that are perhaps ahead of schedule or of a lower priority.
Inside the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC), Data Management Coordinator (DMC) Candace Jones manages the onboard data and video systems to ensure scientists around the world receive their experimental results. (NASA/Emmett Given)
One of the greatest challenges for most of us is remembering where we left things. Imagine how much harder it is to keep track of objects when they can float away instead of just dropping to the floor if you let go. The responsibility of remembering where everything is falls to the stowage engineer. Personally, I think they have the greatest challenges of everyone on the team, especially when new hardware arrives at the station. Stowage information is only as good as the information the crew gives us. We tell the crew where to find tools and materials and where to return them; however, if the crew doesn’t secure the objects properly, they could float away. It’s the stowage engineers who are tasked with finding the missing objects. This is a pretty stressful task from 250 miles away, but our stowage engineers are experts at finding missing objects and knowing where to store things. They keep the station a tight ship.
Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank (left) and Flight Engineer Don Pettit of NASA stow camera equipment in a container in the Harmony node of the International Space Station. (NASA)
Each shift has an increment scientist representative (LIS rep) who helps us make priority calls on operations. They are the science experts in attendance and can make a call on how to adjust an investigation if things aren’t running as smoothly as planned. If the LIS reps don’t know the answers, they get in touch with the principal investigators or payload developers immediately. If things are not going right or running longer than the schedule allows, the LIS reps help determine the best course of action.
If it becomes necessary to adjust the schedule, the timeline change officer (TCO) helps make those changes. We don’t always change the timeline because of problems. Sometimes unexpected results occur, and the investigator wants to spend a little more time to understand what’s happening. When it becomes necessary to extend or shorten the schedule for one reason or another, it is the TCOs who process the paperwork to get the timeline changed and manage all the residual effects of the change.
NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio works on the Antibiotic Effectiveness in Space-1 (AES-1) investigation during Expedition 38 aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)
So much is going on all day, every day that it can seem like a cacophony of investigations, data transmissions and research questions. It is my job as a POD to manage the various aspects of the day and bring harmony to the clamor of science in the POIC. I love what I do. I love being the conductor of this amazing orchestra of research.
Stephanie Buskirk Dudley (NASA/Emmett Given)
Stephanie Buskirk Dudley is an International Space Station payload operations director at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. She has a Bachelor of Science in engineering science, a Master of Science in biomedical engineering and a Master of Engineering in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Florida. She previously worked at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as an analytical engineer on the space shuttle solid rocket boosters.
Author jnimonPosted on July 11, 2014 Tags Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, International Partners, ISS as a Laboratory, Science1 Comment on Orchestrating Space Station Science – A Day in the Life of a POD
International Space Station’s Place in the Global POV of the World Science Festival
In today’s A Lab Aloft, guest blogger Tara Ruttley, Ph.D., NASA International Space Station associate program scientist, shares her experience from the 2014 World Science Festival.
I think I’m finally recovering from the amazing whirlwind that was the World Science Festival. From May 28 to 31, NASA had the exciting opportunity to participate in the event held in New York City. The festival, created by physicist Brian Greene, is an annual city-wide series of events that include smaller panels, interactives, demonstrations and presentations, all with the goal of sharing fascinating and cutting-edge science with the public.
Kids and adults alike got a kick out of the NASA mobile exhibit during the World Science Festival. (Tara Ruttley)
My role was to coordinate and present the science happening on the International Space Station (ISS) with attendees in a World Science Festival style. This means “Go Big!” The kinds of exchanges that happen in environments like this have dual benefits for the agency. The public gets informed about the work that NASA does—and we really hope they get inspired and motivated—and NASA gets to learn just what the public thinks about us, for better or worse.
When given the challenge last fall to prepare for NASA’s participation in the festival, the first thing I did was identify some of the most passionate, excited space station scientists. I then invited them to showcase their work among the many World Science Festival activities sprinkled throughout the week in June. Of course our very own International Space Station Program Science Office was ready to share our investigations with the masses. There were so many great researchers and experiments that came to mind that I wanted to share with the visitors to the event.
Considering the array of schedule constraints and correct alignment of the cosmos, I was finally able to put a team together to represent space station research at the event. I recruited space station fluid physicist Mark Weislogel from Portland State University, who talked with audiences about his wild findings on fluid behavior in microgravity. I also asked aerospace engineer Nancy Hall, who brought her drop tower out for public interaction from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. Then I also recruited Alvar Saenz-Otero and his award-winning MIT SPHERES team, who had demonstration units used for the Zero Robotics: ISS Programing Challenge for the public to try out.
At left, Alvar Saenz-Otero, Ph.D., and his team present the Zero Robotics: International Space Station Programing Challenge to the public at the World Science Festival in New York. (Tara Ruttley)
From NASA’s Human Research Program, Andrea Dunn attended and demonstrated the space station’s new Force Shoes investigation. Team members from NASA’s Human Research Program based at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston showed visitors how liquid recycling happens in space. They explained the importance of hydration for astronauts and those of us here on Earth.
Speaking of NASA astronauts, Sandy Magnus, Mike Massimino, and Mike Hopkins made appearances to talk about their space science experience with eager listeners. The Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, John Grunsfeld, also joined in to discuss the actual science behind the movie “Gravity.”
NASA astronaut Mike Massimino meets a young fan at the 2014 World Science Festival. (World Science Festival)
This was quite a unique series of events with an assortment of participants representing the research we have done, continue to do and plan to do for the next decade aboard the space station. As we scientists were celebrated for our love of discovery—BONUS!—we got to share that enthusiasm with a massive crowd. For self-proclaimed science geeks like me, it was utopia!
For months leading up to the big week, our space station teams were hard at work to deck out the NASA mobile exhibit to look like the inside of the space station. We also included displays of some of the most stunning science footage ever taken aboard the station. We really wanted the public to experience what the astronauts feel in orbit—Ok, I admit the addition of a microgravity component itself would have been really cool, if we could create such a thing. I believe we achieved our goal of conveying the importance of the types of science we do on station to advance both human exploration of space and to improve our lives on Earth.
A young visitor to the NASA mobile exhibit interacts with a display of a research rack as it would appear aboard the International Space Station. (Tara Ruttley)
Once inside the exhibit, NASA scientists were on hand to answer questions from visitors like: What happens when we light fires in space? Why do astronauts lose bone mass at a rate equivalent to Earth-based osteoporosis? Why do we study fluid behaviors in space? Do fish get confused when swimming in space?
All of these questions can be answered along the same theme: we’re learning about new behaviors, relationships and processes we’ve never even discovered before on Earth. In so doing, we apply that knowledge to existing systems on Earth and in space to constantly improve our very existence. During the week of the World Science Festival, we must have answered hundreds of questions as we interacted with upwards of 150,000 people interested in space station science!
And, inevitably, yes, we did get the common question we’ve come to expect: how do you go to the bathroom in space? The NASA exhibit even came prepared with a demonstration unit of the Waste Management Center (WMC)—that is, a space potty! For display purposes only, of course.
A visitor to the NASA exhibit at the World Science Festival experiences the Waste Management Center (WCS) “potty” on display during the event. (Tara Ruttley)
Potty talk aside, the public cares about the science we conduct on the space station. They ask many of the common questions surrounding science in space, and they also ask new questions, which leads us all to think about “what if…” ideas that we may just try out in space one day. One thing’s for certain, when we support science outreach events like these, the people we meet usually have as big an impact on us as we do on them. And for that, many thanks for your inspiration!
Tara Ruttley, Ph.D. (NASA)
Tara Ruttley, Ph.D., is associate program scientist for the International Space Station at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Ruttley previously served as the lead flight hardware engineer for the ISS Health Maintenance System and later for the ISS Human Research Facility. She has a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from Colorado State University and a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Ruttley has authored publications ranging from hardware design to neurological science and holds a U.S. utility patent.
Author jnimonPosted on June 27, 2014 Tags Conference Highlights, Education, Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, Japanese Research, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment on International Space Station’s Place in the Global POV of the World Science Festival
A PECASE for Space and Skeletal Biology Research
In today’s A Lab Aloft, Joshua S. Alwood, Ph.D., shares his postdoctoral research into the impact of microgravity and ionizing radiation exposure on bone health – work that led to his receiving the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
I am honored to be a recipient of a 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This award is based on the cumulative body of work achieved during my postdoctoral fellowship at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., while working with my advisor Ruth Globus, Ph.D. and on my contribution to experiments that flew on International Space Station assembly flights STS-131 and STS-135 with collaborator Eduardo Almeida, Ph.D.
Ellen Stofan, Ph.D., NASA’s chief scientist presents Josh Alwood, Ph.D., the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
The big question motivating our studies is, how does spaceflight cause bone loss in astronauts? While weightless, astronauts lose about one percent bone mineral density per month. To put this into context, this is about 10 times faster than osteoporosis typically progresses on Earth. The longer the mission, particularly outside Earth’s protective magnetic fields, the greater the doses of ionizing radiation astronauts will accumulate, which may also negatively impact the skeleton.
NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell, STS-118 mission specialist, and Charles Hobaugh, pilot, working with the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module 2 investigation aboard space shuttle Endeavour. (NASA)
In our ground-based research, we asked the following questions: how do the conditions of simulated weightlessness and ionizing radiation exposure affect the skeleton, and are the results any different when these conditions are combined? Our results suggest that each condition causes bone loss on its own, though at differing rates and severity. Together, weightlessness and radiation exposure cause bone loss to worsen beyond either treatment alone. These results have to do with the behavior of different types of bone cells. Combined, the balance of bone formation and bone resorption—breaking down—define a normal process called bone remodeling, which the body uses to maintain a healthy skeletal structure throughout life.
Following radiation exposure, there is a rapid stimulation of bone resorption—this can lead to a net loss of skeletal tissue caused by a specific cell called an osteoclast. We quantify this by measuring the number of osteoclast cells on the surface on the bone and their level of activity through specific proteins secreted into circulation. At the tissue level, we use X-ray imaging and computed tomography to build and quantify three-dimensional models of the skeleton. This rapid resorption is concentrated, yet it appears to be short-lived. At the doses we’ve investigated, it doesn’t get worse after the initial burst.
X-rays of mouse bones from the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module (CBTM) study showing a ground control (left), as treated with Osteoprotegerin in microgravity (middle), and with no drug treatment during spaceflight (right). (L. Stodieck, Bioserve and T. Bateman, University of North Carolina)
In contrast, structural changes caused by simulated weightlessness gradually appear. Simulated weightlessness activates bone resorption by the osteoclasts and additionally reduces bone formation by inhibiting a second cell type called an osteoblast.
Exposure to space radiation affects osteoblasts as well. Our research shows that at the estimated doses potentially accumulated over a three-year Mars mission, long-lasting effects to the osteoblast-lineage cells occur. This may result in abnormal bone remodeling in the long-term. To this end, we determined that spongy bone—found on the inside of some bones—recovered less efficiently following radiation exposure vs. recovery from simulated microgravity.
Osteocyte lacunae from the ground-based control (left) and after 15 days of spaceflight (right). Space-flown lacunae appear larger, indicative of osteocytic remodeling. (Blaber, et al, PLoS One, 2013)
The second component of the PECASE acknowledges my work with the Biospecimen Sharing Program for shuttle flight STS-131. Along with Almeida, the project investigator, I used a new application of a high-resolution (30 nanometer) X-ray transmission microscope at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to analyze bone health following 15 days of spaceflight.
We scanned the bones and processed the images for three-dimensional tomographic analyses. As a result, we were able to quantify changes in the bone’s osteocyte cells. In a unique mechanism of bone loss, osteocytes actively remodel and enlarge their living spaces, known as lacunae, in response to spaceflight. This is an additional mode of bone resorption that occurs during spaceflight at the bone’s surface.
My research employs a basic biology approach with the overriding motivation to enable human exploration of space. In other words, the goal is to expand the envelope of mission durations, the distance from Earth that missions can access, and to mitigate the skeletal consequences following radiation exposure for astronauts. My colleagues and I use a basic approach to uncover the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie skeletal changes in the space environment. Eventually we can use this knowledge to develop countermeasures to better manage astronaut skeletal health.
On Earth, this research has applications towards improving our knowledge of bone diseases such as osteoporosis. It may also help people living sedentary lifestyles, providing positive impacts to their health. The sedentary environment is somewhat similar to weightlessness. The take-home message: use your skeleton or lose it. The ability to work on advancing an area of biology that may help humans both in space and on the ground is truly its own reward.
Fluorescent image of femur diaphysis from ground control placebo treated mouse, indicating greatly decreased bone formation. (NASA)
I was inspired to enter this area of research from childhood experiences. I grew up in Florida and witnessed space shuttle launches in my front yard. This really captivated my attention towards space. As I got older, I learned about the skeleton and how it is a living structure that adapts to its mechanical environment. For example, joggers experience forces equivalent to about three times their body weight. Those two factors overlapped in my extracurricular readings on astronauts and the changes in their bodies during weightlessness. That connection propelled me to focus on science and engineering in my education, and further to study the skeleton. I am driven to continually learn new things, which prompted me to enter graduate school and become an independent researcher.
NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, STS-133 mission specialist, using a camcorder to record Mouse Immunology-2 investigation in one of the space shuttle Discovery’s middeck lockers. (NASA)
Although I do not have an immediate investigation going to the space station, I am applying for opportunities through NASA’s Space Biology Project. It’s an exciting time to be part of NASA’s research program. In the meantime, I continue to develop hypotheses worth studying aboard the space station and generating preliminary evidence while working in my lab on the ground. My goal is to eventually take my science into orbit or beyond.
The work cited in this PECASE Award was made possible by key funding organizations, including NASA Space Biology; grants to Globus from the National Space Biomedicine Research Institute; the U.S. Department of Energy and the NASA Space Radiation Project Element; and grants to Almeida from the NASA Bion-M1 Biospecimen Sharing Program and the National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
Josh Alwood in the Bone and Signaling Laboratory at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. (NASA /Dominic Hart)
Joshua S. Alwood, Ph.D., is a senior scientist with CSS-Dynamac working at the Bone and Signaling Lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Alwood earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, as well B.S. degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Florida.
Author jnimonPosted on April 18, 2014 Tags Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, Life Science, Results, Science, Technology, US ResearchLeave a comment on A PECASE for Space and Skeletal Biology Research
Crystallizing Opportunities With Space Station Research
In today’s A Lab Aloft, Dr. Larry DeLucas, a primary investigator for International Space Station studies on protein crystal growth in microgravity, explains the importance of such investigations and how they can lead to human health benefits.
We have many proteins in our body, but nobody knows just how many. Consider that the human genome project is more than 20,000 protein-coding genes, and many of these genes or portions of those genes combine with others to create new proteins. The human body could have anywhere from a half million to as many as two million proteins—we’re not sure. What we do know, is that these proteins control aspects of human health and understanding them is an important beginning step in developing and improving treatments for diseases and much more.
A protein crystal is a specific protein repeated over and over a hundred thousand times or more in a perfect lattice. Like a row of bricks on a wall, but in three dimensions. The more perfectly aligned that row of bricks or the protein in the crystal, the more we can learn of its nature. Today there are more than 50,000 proteins that have been crystallized and the structures of the three-dimensional proteins comprising these crystals have been determined. Unfortunately many important proteins that we would like to know the three-dimensional structures for have either resisted crystallization or have yielded crystals of such inferior quality that their structures cannot be determined.
Crystals of insulin grown in space (left) helped scientists determine the vital enzyme’s structure with much higher resolution than possible with Earth-grown crystals (right). (NASA)
Once we have a usable protein crystal—one that is large and perfect enough to examine—the primary technique we use to determine the protein molecular structures is x-ray crystallography. When we expose protein crystals to an x-ray beam, we get what’s called constructive interference. This is where the diffracted x-rays coming from the electrons around each atom and each protein come together, providing a more intense diffraction spot. We collect hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of diffraction spots for a protein. The more perfectly ordered the individual protein molecules are within the crystals, the more intense these spots. The higher signal to noise ratio in these strong spots creates an improved resolution of the structure, allowing us to map the crystal in detail.
Well-ordered protein crystal x-ray diffractions create sharp patterns of scattered light on film. Researchers can use a computer to generate a model of a protein molecule using patterns like this. (NASA)
Using computers, we take those diffraction spots and mathematically determine the structure of where every atom is in the protein. For example, in most protein structures we can’t even see the hydrogen atoms. We guess where they are because we know the length of a hydrogen bond. So if we see a nitrogen atom from an amino acid that we know has a hydrogen linked to it, and then at a hydrogen-bonding distance away we see an oxygen atom, then we can make an educated guess that the hydrogen is pointed towards that oxygen atom, so we position it there.
While we can grow high-resolution crystals both in space and on the ground, those grown in space are often more perfectly formed. That’s the main advantage and reason we’ve gone to space for these studies. In many cases where we could not see hydrogen crystals on the ground, we then flew that protein crystal in space and let them grow in microgravity. Because of the resulting improved order of the molecules laying down in the crystal lattice, we were able to actually see the hydrogen atoms. Usually to see the hydrogen atoms, you are talking about getting down to a resolution of one angstrom, which is not easy to do—it would take 10 million angstroms to equal one millimeter!
Another example of protein crystals grown in space (right), which are larger and more perfect than those grown on the ground (left). (JAXA)
We also can look at bacteria and virus protein structures to identify how to target those proteins with drugs. Having this information is very important to pharmaceutical companies and universities. That structure provides a road map that is critical for the understanding of the life cycle of the bacteria or virus.
We’ve only done a fraction of the more important complex protein structures–I’m referring to membrane proteins and protein-protein complexes. Protein complexes are often composed of two, three or more proteins that interact together to form new macromolecular complexes that are often important in terms of disease and drug development. Membrane proteins are the targets for about 55 percent of the drugs on the market today. Scientists have determined the three-dimensional structures for less than 300 membrane protein structures thus far. However, there remain thousands more for which the structures would help scientists understand their important roles in chronic and infectious diseases.
When we see a specific region in a protein and we know exactly where every atom is, chemists can design drugs that will interact in those regions. We can take some of the drugs they design that work, but maybe not as well as we would like. We then grow new crystals of the protein with the drug attached to the protein to see exactly how it’s bound to the protein. That lets other scientists—modelers—determine very clearly how the drug interacts with the protein, information that enables them to design new, more effective compounds. This whole process is called structure-based drug design.
The International Space Station provides a unique environment where we can improve the quality of protein crystals. During the days of protein crystallization studies on the space shuttle, one of the most frustrating aspects of the microgravity experiments was the length of time it took to produce a usable crystal. This is actually part of why space-developed crystals are better—they grow much more slowly. On the shuttle you only had 10-12 days for a study, but aboard the space station you have as long as you need.
As an astronaut and scientist, I personally flew a record 14-day flight in 1992 where we studied 31 proteins. I was looking at results and planning to set up new experiments, changing the chemical conditions to optimize the crystallization. The rule for my sample selection was that the proteins had to nucleate—that means to begin to grow a crystal—and grow to full size in three days. Once I got up there, however, by the third day nothing had nucleated. I was worried, but then on the fourth day I could see little sparkles where crystals had started to grow in about half of the proteins. By mission end I was really only able to optimize the crystal growth for six of the proteins. How much longer it takes a crystal to nucleate and grow to full size was a dramatic discovery.
Astronaut Larry DeLucas, payload specialist, handles a Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) sample at the multipurpose glovebox aboard the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Columbia. (NASA)
With constant access to a microgravity lab, such as the space station, I am confident that we can improve the quality of any crystal. With protein crystals it is important to note that just because we get a better structure with higher resolution, it doesn’t at all mean it’s going to lead to a drug.
The ability to grow good crystals typically involves a great deal of preparation on the ground where we first express and purify and grow the initial crystals. But if space can give you higher resolution, there’s no drug discovery program that’s going to take a lower resolution option. From the time you determine that structure and chemists work with it, the typical time frame to develop a drug is 15 to 20 years and the cost is around a billion dollars. Identifying the structure of the protein crystal is only the first step. Many times even with the structure a project goes nowhere because the drugs they develop end up being unusable. There are so many aspects to drug discovery beyond the opening act of structure mapping.
If crystals and the structure of a target protein are available, pharmaceutical and biotech companies certainly prefer to use that structure to help guide the drug discovery. After the first 18 months they’ve developed the drug candidates, they may not need to use the crystal structure again for say 10 years. During that time they are doing clinical trials and pharmacology. The majority of the money it takes to get a drug approved by the FDA is after the initial phase. If you break down what they say is about a billion dollars to develop a drug, the portion needed to get the structure up front will range from half to two million dollars—a small fraction of the whole process.
View of Expedition 28 Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa with the JAXA Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) investigation aboard the International Space Station Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). (NASA)
For the upcoming Comprehensive Evaluation of Microgravity Protein Crystallization investigation we focused on two things. First, we selected proteins that are of high value based on their biology. Having this information of their structure can lead to new information about structural biology—how proteins work in our body. The other major requirement for the candidates for selection was that the proteins had to have already been crystallized on Earth, but the Earth-grown crystals were not of good quality.
We are flying 100 proteins to the space station on SpaceX-3, currently scheduled for March 2014. Twenty-two of these are membrane proteins, 12 are protein complexes, and the rest are aqueous proteins important for the biology we will learn from their structures. The associated disease was the last thing we considered, as we were looking at the bigger picture of the biology. That being said, for the upcoming proteins flying you can almost name a disease: cystic fibrosis, diabetes; several types of cancer, including colon and prostate; many antibacterial proteins; antifungals; etc. There are even some involved with understanding how cells produce energy, which I suspect could lead to a better understanding of molecular energy.
Not long ago a Nobel Prize was awarded for the mapping of the ribosomes complex protein structure. This key cellular structure will also fly for study aboard the space station, because the resolution was not all that great using the ground-grown crystals. We now have the chance to learn more about how the ribosomes actually makes proteins and clarify the whole process. This is just one of the exciting projects flying in relation to protein crystal growth.
Crystallized structure of a nucleosome core particle that was grown aboard the Mir space station. (NASA)
This space station experimentation is a double blind study. This means that all the experiment chambers are bar coded for anonymity. We also will have exact controls done with the exact same batch of proteins prepared at the same time. The crystals will grow for the same length of time, as they are activated simultaneously in space and on the ground. When the samples come down, we will perform the entire analysis not knowing which are samples grown in space versus Earth. Only one engineer will have the key to the bar codes. When we’re completely done with the analysis, then he will let us know which were from space or ground. This will allow our study to provide definitive data on the value of space crystallization.
We also wanted to ensure that our analysis looked at a sufficient number of samples, statistically speaking, to provide conclusive data. How many data sets we collect per crystal sample will depend on the quality of that crystal. Statistically the study will be relevant in terms of how many proteins we fly, as well as how many crystals we evaluate from space and ground to make the comparison.
Astronaut Nicole Stott works with the high-density protein crystal growth (HDPCG) apparatus aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)
The microgravity environment is so beneficial because it allows the crystals to grow freely. Without the gravitational force obscuring the crystal molecules, as seen on Earth, the crystals can reveal their full form. We are giving all of these protein crystals the chance to grow to their full size in a quiescent environment. This is a very important investigation, not only because of the high number of proteins we are flying, but the statistical way we will evaluate them. Based on the results of the study, we will know if PCG in space is worth continuing.
Once the crystals come back to Earth, it will take at least one year to complete the full analysis. However, we will likely know that we’ve got some exciting results within the first three months. To publish something, it will be at least a year to complete the analysis, as we will have about 1,400 data sets to analyze. These results will determine the future of microgravity protein crystallization.
Larry DeLucas, O.D., Ph.D. (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Larry DeLucas, O.D., Ph.D. is Director for the Center of Structural Biology and a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. DeLucas flew as a payload specialist on the United States Microgravity Laboratory-1 flight, Mission STS-50, in June1992. His work is currently funded through NASA and the National Institutes of Health.
Author jnimonPosted on March 4, 2014 March 4, 2014 Tags Experiment Highlights, General, Guest Bloggers, ISS as a Laboratory, Life Science, Mission Highlights, physical science, Results, Science, Technology, US Research2 Comments on Crystallizing Opportunities With Space Station Research
Thank you for your interest in International Space Station Research. This blog has been retired, but archives are being kept online for historical purposes. For the latest ISS Research news, follow us on Twitter, check out our news page, or sign up to receive our updates via email. Are you interested in sending your science to space? Visit our Opportunities page to learn more.
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A Lab Aloft (International Space Station Research) National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Official: Brian Dunbar
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Airbags, Moneybags And Windbags
When Newt Gingrich was fined $300,000 by the House of Representatives in 1997 for unethical behavior and lying to investigators, the Speaker, now a multi-millionaire, said he didn't have the money. Sen. Bob Dole came to his rescue in what was called the first time in history that a politician saved an air bag.
Dole helped establish a $150,000 line of credit for Gingrich. Ultimately, Dole said, the Speaker got the money from other sources.
Notwithstanding his generous offer of help, Dole, apparently holds his former colleague in low esteem. Far from backing Gingrich's quest for the nomination, the GOP's 1996 standard bearer thinks the disgraced former Speaker would be a disaster for the party if he were to be nominated.
Gingrich doesn't need Dole's money any longer. Not only has he become very wealthy himself, but he has the very generous backing of the man who calls himself the richest Jew in America, Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson and Gingrich initially bonded over legislation to force the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Newt was the prime sponsor in the House, and Dole took the lead in the Senate. The Kansas senator, then the majority leader, unveiled the proposal at the AIPAC Policy Conference in 1995.
Notwithstanding their success on this legislation, the two top Republicans on Capitol Hill had a rocky relationship and very different styles. Dole has said Gingrich "loved" picking fights with President Bill Clinton just so he could get the media attention.
"If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices," Dole said in a statement released by the Mitt Romney campaign. "Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway."
The Adelson family, however, is very enthusiastic about Gingrich and it has doubled down on its bet for him to win this year regardless of what Dole says.
Dr. Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-born physician, gave $5 million to the pro-Gingrich SuperPAC Winning Our Future this week, matching the sum her husband, Sheldon, gave earlier this month. Their backing has been instrumental in financing the hard-hitting attacks on Mitt Romney and turning around a campaign once given up for dead.
There's a lot of speculation that Adelson's money has bought Gingrich's pro-Israel views, but it isn't true. He may have become much more strident as a result of their association, but long before he became speaker in 1995 Gingrich was in the pro-Israel ranks. In 1991 he publicly criticized the president from his own party, George H.W. Bush, for being unfairly critical of Israel and its supporters. In the early 1990s he developed a close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, when both were out of power and battling the pro-peace policies Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and President Bill Clinton. That friendship continues.
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Iowa at Indiana 10/13/2018
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz watches the action on the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana running back Ronnie Walker Jr. (23) runs the ball up the sideline as he's grabbed by Iowa defensive back Jake Gervase (30) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana defensive back Juwan Burgess (1) breaks up a pass in the end zone intended for Iowa wide receiver Nick Easley (84) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) scrambles in the backfield as he looks for an open receiver during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana defensive back Marcelino Ball (42) tries to sack Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley (4) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana defensive back Jonathan Crawford (9) makes an interception during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley (4) calls a play out to the offense during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 13 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) is helped to his feet by his teammates after being sacked by the Iowa defense during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa wide receiver Brandon Smith (12) catches a pass as he's defended by Indiana defensive back Andre Brown Jr. (14) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) looks up field for an open receiver during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana defensive back Juwan Burgess (1) tries to tackle Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson (38) as he rushes the ball up field during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson (38) rushes the ball up the sideline and into the end zone to score during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) rushes back to the line-of-scrimmage after scoring a touchdown to run a two-point conversion play in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana linebacker Dameon Willis Jr. (43) tackles Iowa wide receiver Nick Easley (84) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa defensive back Geno Stone (9) reacts after catching an interception in the end zone during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa running back Toren Young (28) battles with the Indiana defense as he rushes the ball out of the backfield during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley (4) throws a pass during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson (38) reacts in the end zone after scoring a touchdown in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa defensive back Geno Stone (9) comes down with an interception in the end zone during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana head coach Tom Allen reacts to a call by the officials during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz leaves the field after the Hawkeyes defeated Indiana 42-16 in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Indiana wide receiver Donavan Hale (6) catches a pass for a first down as he's hit by Iowa defensive back Riley Moss (33) during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Iowa defensive back Jake Gervase (30) falls to the turf while being tackled by Indiana offensive players after intercepting a pass in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, in Bloomington, Ind. Iowa won 42-16. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
File- This Oct. 13, 2018, file photo shows Indiana head coach Tom Allen on the sideline during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa in Bloomington, Ind. Allen and Purdue coach Jeff Brohm understand the short-term stakes of Saturday’s Old Oaken Bucket game. The winner plays another game this season while the loser heads home to start offseason work, just like last year. Just like it seems every year. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)
Nov. 23, 2018 02:00 AM EST
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Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
James Franklin says Tommy Stevens to open spring as QB 1 at Penn State, but competition is on
By Kevin McGuireFeb 6, 2019, 6:18 PM EDT
With Trace McSorley moving on from the Nittany Lions after starting the past three seasons, Penn State head coach James Franklin isn’t quite ready to anoint the next starting quarterback. He did, however, say Tommy Stevens will begin the spring at the top of the depth chart.
“Obviously we’re not in a situation to name a starter really at any position,” Franklin said on Wednesday when addressing the media on signing day, according to Lions 247. “But, yeah, when we start out, you know, you’ve got to put them in order. So Tommy will be No. 1 and [Sean Clifford] will be No. 2 and [Will Levis] will be No. 3 and so forth down the line.”
We probably shouldn’t read too much into this statement, as Franklin is committed to competition at a number of positions beginning this spring. A final decision may not even be made at the end of the spring if the level of play between Stevens and Clifford (and Levis) is fairly even. But somebody has to take the first reps in the spring, and that will fall on Stevens.
This hardly a shocking development in Happy Valley. Stevens had been the primary backup to McSorley each of the past two seasons and he had been projected to be the most likely successor at the position once McSorley graduated. Stevens underwent offseason surgery that left him unavailable for Penn State’s bowl game. As Franklin suggested in December, the timing of the surgery for Stevens was discussed, and it is expected Stevens will be available to participate in spring practices.
Stevens appeared in seven games for Penn State last season, in which he completed eight of 11 pass attempts for 110 yards and a touchdown with an interception. Stevens also carried the football 28 times for 118 yards and two touchdowns and he caught two passes for a total of two yards as he was sparingly used in other positions on the field with McSorley.
Clifford may have the best shot to push Stevens for playing time. The former four-star recruit appeared in four games last season for the Nittany Lions, sometimes entering a game before Stevens was given a chance to play. By appearing in just four games, Clifford can preserve his redshirt year and still has four years of eligibility to use. Clifford could likely be the successor to Stevens if he doesn’t impress enough in the spring to make a case for the starting job right now.
Tags: James Franklin, Sean Clifford, Tommy Stevens, Will Levis
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July 7, 2017 July 15, 2018 / jclarkhubbard
All credit to Slashfilm
I mean yeah, the main character was a gaping black hole of nothingness (aside from the love for his girlfriend, and mildly unhealthy [sarcasm] loyalty to his job), but I think that’s why the movie works. We go to see movies to escape, certainly, but we also go to be moved, both emotionally, mentally, adrenally, and if it’s a very good movie, perhaps spiritually.
This idea of connection is what Edgar Wright has always gotten so right (sorry). He has crafted films which tie the ordinary joe (or perhaps just an ordinary situation of some kind) and adds a twist, in a sort of mild magical realism. Shaun of the Dead: two ordinary losers (one working in retail, the other jobless) get embroiled in a zombie invasion. Hot Fuzz: a small, quiet village (you’ve got one in mind, whether you grew up there, or have mildly racist aunts and uncles there) turns out to have a dark and twisted secret. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Almost everything in this movie is relatable, especially to a college student.
In Baby Driver, there’s not the exact same sort of connection. It’s about a getaway driver for heists, and the setting is the criminal world. The average audience member won’t connect with either of these things, but Wright does something magical in his storytelling, whether it’s on purpose or not: he makes the audience pay attention to the story, and not the main character.
Now granted, I was still invested in whether the guy got the girl, whether he would get revenge, who lived and died etc., but because of Baby’s rather dull persona, the audience is forced to sort of “take him on as themselves.” This creates an entirely new sort of plot for Wright, as his characters are usually scarily relatable. He does the exact opposite here, but ends with the same effect, if not a stronger one.
This could be taken negatively, as some critics have pointed out that Baby doesn’t have much charisma. This isn’t true however, it’s just a very loose character which allows the audience to fill in all the details. He had a tough family life, likes a girl at a restaurant and cares about his foster dad. There’s just enough personal details to create a skeletal structure that the audience can craft themselves around. Whether it’s purposeful or not, this was incredibly well done, and Wright should get credit for this abnormal twist on a lead character.
One of the constants throughout the movie was Baby’s music, his “different iPods for different days,” and the pathos-filled reason for why he listens to music all the time. Wright uses this interesting aspect of Baby’s character to connect more with the everyday movie-watcher, as nearly everyone (musical anhedoniacs aside) appreciates music in one way or another. I personally listen to music as much as possible, while reading, writing, driving, et. al (Fairly confident I can use “et al” in this fashion). I may not have recognized a solid 50% of the songs in the movie (Queen’s “Brighton Rock” being one of the few that I knew) but I could appreciate Baby’s diversity in musical taste. It made the character real, and four-dimensional. The varied music allowed me to become Baby, and picture myself doing all the things he did.
Baby Driver won’t be my favorite Wright movie (to be confirmed at a second watching when I purchase the film) but it will go down as one of the better movies in Trump’s first year as President. The shots are wonderful, effects on-point, acting amazing, a stellar plot avec twists and a realistic ending, something that most modern films have just completely forgotten. Most importantly, Baby Driver connects the viewer to the movie, making them a part of it.
We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Car chases, bank heists and standoffs with gangsters are typically things that the average American can only dream about, or watch on the silver screen. Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver allows us into another world, one more exciting than ours, through simple connections: music, love, and a whole lot of family-fueled pathos. And most importantly, no one made a single Dirty Dancing joke.
Baby Driver Earns Two and a Half Clarks out of Three.
← Road Kill
Finding Comedy in the Mundane: The Big Sick →
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Bestseller: High to lowArtist: A to ZArtist: Z to ATitle: A to ZTitle: Z to ALabel: A to ZLabel: Z to ADate: Old to newDate: New to oldPrice: Low to highPrice: High to lowLabel rank: Low to high
Items 1 to 20 of 20 on page 1 of 1
The TROGGS
Live On Air Volume Two 67-68 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram blue vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5029B. Rel: 07 Jun 19
It's Too Late (2:17)
Interview/Night Of The Long Grass (3:45)
I Want You To Come Into My Life (2:34)
Girl In Black (2:08)
Reg Presley Interview (0:39)
Little Red Donkey (1:59)
Love Is All Around (2:57)
When Will The Rain Come (2:45)
Evil Woman (2:24)
The Kitty Kat Song (2:12)
Maybe The Madman (2:14)
Her Emotion (2:19)
Interview/Little Girl (4:20)
Peggy Sue (2:55)
Hip Hip Hooray (2:10)
Say Darlin (2:46)
Gonna Make You All Mine (2:40)
PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC
Original Live Broadcast 1968 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram green vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5008. Rel: 10 May 19
Sweet Little Angel (4:32)
Bee I Bicky Bop (3:22)
Where You Belong (2:11)
Please Find My Baby (3:14)
Black Magic Woman (2:33)
Peddy Sue Got Married (1:43)
That Ain't It (2:31)
Psychedelic Send-Up Number (4:27)
Dead Shrimp Blues (3:12)
Sheila (2:08)
Mean Old World (3:20)
Evening Boogie (2:57)
You Need Love (4:49)
Talk With You (4:15)
Bo Diddley (2:46)
Wine Whiskey Women (2:15)
Crutch & Kane (3:09)
If You Be My Baby (3:32)
Crazy For My Baby (3:19)
Live On Air Volume One 66-67 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram red vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5029A. Rel: 04 Jun 19
From Home (2:49)
Chris Britton Interview/Wild Thing (3:38)
The Jaguar & The Thunderbird (2:04)
The Yella In Me (2:57)
Evil (2:13)
Lost Girl (2:56)
With A Girl Like You (2:10)
Dimples (2:57)
Interview With Chris Britton (1:08)
You Can't Beat It (2:27)
I Can't Control Myself (3:00)
I Just Sing (2:24)
Any Way You Want Me (2:56)
66-5-4-3-2-1 (2:35)
I Can Only Give You Everything (3:21)
Give It To Me (2:26)
Meet Jacqueline (2:07)
Philadelphia Convention Hall: 2nd September 1964 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram marbled purple LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5025. Rel: 26 Jul 19
coming soon $20.47
Original Live Broadcast 1968 (CD)
Cat: LCCD 5008. Rel: 06 Feb 19
Sweet Little Angel (Top Gear, January 21st 1968)
Medley: Bee I Bicky Bop/Blue Jean Honey/Babe Meets High School/Hound Dog/Hot Rod Man
Where You Belong (Top Gear, March 24th 1968)
Please Find My Baby (Saturday club, April 13th 1968)
Black Magic Woman
That Ain't It (Top Gear, June 2nd 1968)
Psychedelic Send-Up
Dead Shrimp Blues
Sheila (Top Gear, July 7th 1968)
Mean Old World (The Blues Roll On, July 23rd 1968)
Evening Boogie (radio One O'clock, August 26th 1968)
You Need Love (Top Gear, October 13th 1968)
May I Have A Talk With You
Wine, Whiskey, Women
Crutch & Kane (Top Gear, November 24th 1968)
If You Be My Baby
Crazy For My Baby
Live In San Diego 68 (CD)
Spoonful
Live On Air 1968 (CD)
Follow Me (Pilot Show 1 - August 16th 1968)
Days Of Love
I'll Be Around
Genevive
Up & Away (with Kiki Dee)
If You Go Away
Gotta Level On (Pilot Show 2 - December 30th 1968)
And We Were Losers
Montague Terrace (In Blue)
Long Daddy Green (Blossom Dearie)
Live In The Sixties (limited hand-numbered gatefold 180 gram orange vinyl 2xLP)
Cat: LC2LPC 5012. Rel: 30 May 18
See See Rider (Francia TV 1966) (2:48)
The Same Thing (UK BBC radio November 1966) (2:49)
Interview/Paint It, Black (UK BBC radio November 1966) (4:06)
Jailhouse Rock (UK BBC radio November 1966) (2:52)
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (UK BBC radio November 1966) (2:19)
Roadrunner (Bremen, Germany TV December 1966) (2:21)
See See Rider (Bremen, Germany TV December 1966) (3:54)
Tobacco Road (Bremen, Germany TV December 1966) (4:21)
Tobacco Road (Fragment) (Francia TV 1967) (0:59)
If I Were A Carpenter (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (1:55)
A Love Like Yours (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (2:51)
Connection (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (1:37)
McCulloch's Blues (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (1:45)
Shake, Rattle & Roll (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (3:11)
When I Was Young (UK BBC radio 28th January 1967) (3:12)
See See Rider (Bremen, Germany TV February 1967) (3:31)
A Love Like Yours (Bremen, Germany TV February 1967) (3:02)
Shake, Rattle & Roll (Bremen, Germany TV February 1967) (3:02)
See See Rider (Cleveland, Ohio US TV Mike Douglas 21st February 1967) (4:32)
When I Was Young (Cleveland, Ohio US TV Mike Douglas 21st February 1967) (2:56)
San Franciscan Nights (Hollywood, California US TV Shebang 24th June 1967) (3:48)
When I Was Young/Interview (Hollywood, California US TV Shebang 24th June 1967) (4:20)
San Franciscan Nights (UK BBC radio August 1967) (3:03)
All Night Long (UK BBC radio August 1967) (2:34)
Good Times (UK BBC radio August 1967) (3:07)
Interview/I Get So Excited (UK BBC radio August 1967) (4:13)
Yes, I Am Experienced (UK BBC radio August 1967) (1:36)
Hey Gyp (Woburn Abbey Festival 27th August 1967) (3:35)
It's All Meat (UK BBC radio November 1967) (2:08)
Anything (UK BBC radio 21st December 1967) (3:18)
Monterey (UK BBC radio 21st December 1967) (4:27)
Hey Gyp (London, UK Olympia Exhibition Hall 22nd December 1967) (9:00)
Live Stockholm 1967 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram green vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5020. Rel: 02 Oct 18
Tales Of Brave Ulysees (4:37)
Sunshine Of Your Love (6:57)
Sleepy Time Time (6:14)
Steppin' Out (11:41)
Traintime (8:54)
Toad (9:38)
I'm So Glad (8:43)
The NICE
Live Sweden 67 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram yellow vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5018. Rel: 22 Aug 18
She Belongs To Me (5:58)
Flower King Of Flies (4:20)
Sombrero Sam (7:42)
You Keep Me Hangin' On (6:47)
The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack (2:52)
Rondo (12:25)
Live In Detroit '67 (limited gatefold hand-numbered coloured vinyl 2xLP)
NSU (16:12)
Sitting On Top Of The World (4:13)
Sweet Wine (Fade) (4:13)
Sweet Wine (Cont) (9:53)
Rollin' & Tumblin' (7:23)
Spoonful (Fade) (11:09)
Spoonful (Cont) (9:46)
Toad (17:08)
I'm So Glad (10:14)
Live On Air 1968 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram purple vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5022. Rel: 07 Mar 19
Follow Me (16th August 1968 Pilot Show 1) (2:12)
Days Of Love (3:08)
Mathilde (3:12)
Work Song (3:09)
I'll Be Around (3:11)
Genevieve (3:12)
Up & Away (2:56)
Up & Away (with Kiki Dee) (2:46)
If You Go Away (5:38)
Gotta Travel On (30th December 1968 Pilot Show 2) (3:08)
And We Were Losers (2:54)
You Stepped Out Of A Dream (2:27)
For Once In My Life (3:04)
Tender Is The Night (3:23)
Montague Terrace (In Blue) (4:24)
Long Daddy Green (Blossom Dearie) (3:46)
Joanna (3:53)
Australia Festival Hall Melbourne 17th June 1964 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram coloured vinyl LP)
I Saw Her Standing There (2:43)
You Can't Do That (2:38)
All My Loving (2:40)
She Loves You (2:29)
Till There Was You (2:40)
Roll Over Beethoven (2:21)
Can't Buy Me Love (3:02)
Twist & Shout (2:51)
Long Tall Sally (3:31)
Abroad The 1965 North American Tour In Words & Music (CD)
Cat: LCCD 5006. Rel: 27 Jul 17
Introduction/Brian Matthew Interviews Paul
Brian Matthew Talks With Fan
John On Shea Stadium
I'm Down
Brian Matthew Talks To George & John
I've Just Seen A Face
Brian Matthew Talks To George
You Like Me Too Much
Brian Matthew Talks To Ringo
Act Naturally
Paul On Longevity
George On Guitars
Brian Matthew Comments
Beatles Medley (Fritz Spiegl)/Outro
The Beatles In New York (Interviews With Brian Matthew)
The Beatles Broadcasting Corporation: Beatles Night 7th December 1963 (mono) (limited numbered 180 gram coloured vinyl LP + insert)
Hit & Miss (1:57)
Introduction By Keith Fordyce (0:29)
I Could Write A Book (2:16)
Kiss Me Quick (3:03)
Hippy Hippy Shake (2:30)
Did You Have A Happy Birthday (2:28)
The Nitty Gritty (3:36)
I Can't Stop Talking About You (2:25)
Do You Really Love Me Too (2:59)
There I've Said It Again (3:16)
Love Hit Me (2:50)
I Think Of You (1:12)
From Me To You (1:22)
Boys (2:30)
This Boy (2:26)
I Want To Hold Your Hand (3:30)
Money (2:41)
The Beatles Abroad: The 1965 North American Tour In Words & Music (numbered limited 180 gram coloured vinyl LP + insert)
Introduction - Brian Matthew Interviews Paul (1:04)
Brian Matthew Talks With Fan (1:56)
Tell Me What You See (2:34)
John On Shea Stadium (0:54)
I'm Down (2:25)
Brian Matthew Talks To George & John (2:20)
I've Just Seen A Face (2:03)
Brian Matthew Talks To George (3:41)
You Like Me Too Much (2:24)
Brian Matthew Talks To Ringo (2:07)
Act Naturally (1:12)
Paul On Longevity (2:45)
Yesterday (1:58)
George On Guitars (1:13)
Dizzy Miss Lizzy (2:51)
Brian Matthew Comments (0:17)
Help! (2:16)
Beatles Medley (Fritz Spiegl) (outro) (0:31)
The Beatles In New York (Interviews By Brian Matthew) (14:15)
Live On Air 1967-1968 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram orange vinyl LP + insert)
Cat: LCLPC 5019. Rel: 04 Apr 19
In My Own Time (Saturday club (April 22nd 1967)) (2:11)
Interview With Robin Gibb (0:51)
New York Mining Disaster 1941 (2:10)
One Minute Woman (2:27)
Cucumber Castle (2:05)
I Can't See Nobody (Saturday club (July 1st 1967)) (3:49)
To Love Somebody (3:13)
In My Own Time (2:33)
Holiday (3:14)
Massachusetts (Easy Beat (September 13th 1967)) (2:41)
Mrs Gillespies Refrigerator (Top Gear (October 15th 1967)) (3:08)
I Close My Eyes (2:10)
Massachusetts (Top Of The Pops (October 13th 1967)) (2:30)
World (Top Of The Pops (November 30th 1967)) (2:59)
Birdie Told Me (Top Gear (February 18th 1968)) (2:14)
With The Sun In My Eyes (2:37)
Words (3:00)
The Earnest Of Being George (2:46)
And The Sun Will Shine (3:38)
The Siner Sang His Song (Saturday club (May 4th 1968)) (2:59)
Jumbo (2:09)
Live In San Diego '68 (limited hand-numbered gatefold 180 gram coloured vinyl 2xLP)
Cat: LC2LPC 5021. Rel: 06 Mar 19
White Room (6:29)
Politician (6:51)
Crossroads (4:30)
Train Time (9:19)
Spoonful (14:47)
Blackpool ABC Theatre 19th July 1964 & 1st August 1965 (limited hand-numbered 180 gram translucent marbled vinyl LP + insert)
A Hard Day's Night (2:29)
Things We Said Today (3:02)
If I Fell (2:44)
I Feel Fine (2:16)
Ticket To Ride (2:24)
Julie DRISCOLL/BRIAN AUGER & THE TRINITY
Live On Air 1967-68 (limited 180 gram hand-numbered coloured vinyl LP + insert)
Red Beans & Rice (live In Paris, 1967) (4:50)
Why Am I Treated So Bad? (live In Paris, 1967) (4:29)
Save Me (live In Paris, 1967) (4:10)
Season Of The Witch (live In London, 1967) (5:54)
Tramp (live In Paris, 1968) (3:23)
Red Beans & Rice (live In Cannes, 1968) (6:28)
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (live In Cannes, 1968) (4:27)
Save Me (live In Cannes, 1968) (4:18)
A Kind Of Love In (live In London, 1968) (2:37)
brian auger & the trinity
julie driscoll
live on air 1968
original live broadcast 1968
abroad the 1965 north american tour in words & music
australia festival hall melbourne 17th june 1964
blackpool abc theatre 19th july 1964 & 1st august 1965
live in detroit '67
live in san diego '68
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At Least 7 Injured By Rockfall At Red Rocks
MORRISON (AP) — Denver officials insisted Monday that the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater is safe after rocks fell on concertgoers, injuring seven people and sending four of them to the hospital.
Witnesses told KMGH-TV that rocks rained down on people sitting near the front left side of the stage during a concert, injuring some severely on Sunday. A spokeswoman for West Metro Fire Rescue said the names of the victims and extent of the injuries were not immediately available.
The naturally formed amphitheater tucked in the foothills west of Denver has two, 300-foot sandstone monoliths, dubbed Ship Rock and Creation Rock. A half dozen or more rocks fell from Creation Rock on the north side of the theater.
The stage has served as a venue for top-flight performers, ranging from the Beatles to John Denver. Former President George Bush and other politicians made campaign stops there, and it has been the backdrop for a number of movies.
Denver cultural affairs spokeswoman Kristin Rust said investigators may never know what caused rocks to fall on spectators around 1 a.m. Sunday during the last segment of a concert by the band Sound Tribe Sector 9. Some witnesses reported seeing people climbing on the rocks before the incident.
"At this point, we still do not know what cause it, human or nature," she said.
She said about 100 staffers, including security, medical attendants and police, attend major events at the venue. She said more security officials will be assigned to the monoliths for the rest of the year, and her department will see if more permanent changes are needed next year.
Yenter Companies, a contractor that specializes in drilling, blasting, rock and soil stabilization, has been called in to inspect the rock formations.
On Monday, tourists and joggers roamed the facility, despite the yellow crime tape that blocked off stairways closest to the rocks.
Rust said a number of people have been injured or killed climbing rocks in the park outside the amphitheater, but this is the first time in at least 23 years that anyone can remember injuries caused by falling rocks inside the venue.
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Axl Rose On Axl Rose And Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is one of the most enigmatic groups in the history of rock and roll. Axl Rose is so unpredictable that one never knows if a published itinerary is real or a pipe dream. Rose answers some questions on the group's website.
On launching the tour in China
"It's a dream realized. A dream come true. The right time, the right place and the
whole thing came about by chance. I guess it's meant to be. This was something we could not turn down. The most exciting thing is getting the band out there to begin doing some shows, and these are some big shows. It's a way for us to play for a lot of people and have a lot of fun. It's also a warm up so we can have an understanding of how to start our Fall tour. And that's a warm up for the Spring tour. This thing is starting now and much like Use Your Illusions that went for two and a half years, this thing is going to go off and on for the next two or three years, and we'll see how it goes. We're really looking forward to seeing all the different people in the different countries and this is a great opportunity."
For those who may not be familiar with the new band lineup
"Okay, let's see. We
have Mini Me and Nipsy Russell and Charles Nelson Riley and Colin Powell. Just kidding. It's nearly the same as it's been; Dizzy Reed (keyboards), Chris Pitman (keyboards), Brain (drums), Buckethead N' Robin (guitar), Tommy Stinson (bass), Richard Fortus (guitar) and myself. I'm very excited to do these shows. Being at the rehearsals with the guys was just really exciting."
Regarding those who are skeptical as to whether or not Guns N' Roses will
actually be performing
"To the ones who are negative and want to see either myself or the new band fall
on their faces, personally I can't pass up an opportunity to upset so many of them in one quick swoop. I get misty-eyed just thinking about it. I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside! But seriously…this is our tour. This is a collection of performances I've agreed to. That I have personally authorized not someone else's good intentions gone awry or a reckless promoter's personal agenda. These shows are important to us and for better or worse we'll be there. For those who've had my back and are down by us with even a modicum of understanding we hope to give you our best, and look forward to seeing you on this little intro jaunt." Guns N' Roses will go back into the studio immediately following the aforementioned dates to put the final touches on the forthcoming "Chinese Democracy" album.
Guns N' Roses itinerary:
14 – Hong Kong Exhibition Hall
August 17 – Japan Tokyo Chiba Marine Stadium, Summer Sonic festival
August 18 – Japan Osaka WTC Open-air Stadium, Summer Sonic festival
August 23 – England Leeds Festival
August 24 – Belgium Pukkelpop Festival
August 26 – England London Docklands Arena
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Vendor Form
Useful Stuff for Musicians
Area Venues
Area Bands
Tonight’s Shows
admin February 8, 2018 0 Comments
Area Bands, Videos
Melodic Rock, Glam metal, Pop music
http://www.firehousemusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FireHouseMusic
FireHouse has been rockin’ for over 25 years. Their music has taken them all over the world and has produced Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum records in the United States and countries abroad.
In 1990, their first album, entitled FIREHOUSE, was released. The band’s first single, “Shake & Tumble”, had impressive radio success. The band then released “Don’t Treat Me Bad”, which became their first top ten hit. This was followed by “Love of a Lifetime”, which also entered the Top Ten, reaching the #3 spot on the United States charts. This string of hits vaulted their first album to double platinum status in the United States. At the 1991 American Music Awards, FireHouse found themselves standing before the nation accepting the award for Best New Hard Rock/Metal Band, chosen over Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
The band’s second album, HOLD YOUR FIRE, was released in 1992. It produced the hits “Reach For The Sky” and “Sleeping With You”. Another top ten hit, “When I Look Into Your Eyes”, peaked on the United States charts at #6. This album earned the band platinum sales in the USA and over a million more worldwide.
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We appreciate your support. DONATE TODAY
Steinway Series
Joyce Yang
VIDEO/GALLERY
Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color”(San Francisco Classical Voice), pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity.
Yang came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the Takàcs Quartet) and the Beverly Taylor Smith Award for Best Performance of a New Work.
Yang made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut with Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall in November 2006 and performed on the orchestra’s tour of Asia, making a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. Subsequent appearances with the Philharmonic included the opening night of the Leonard Bernstein Festival in September 2008, at the special request of Lorin Maazel in his final season as music director. The New York Times pronounced her performance in Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety a “knockout.”
2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Silver Medal
LaSells Stewart Center
875 SW 26th St
$25 in Advance, $28 at the door, $60 season tickets, students free
Artist's Social Media
Three Romances, Op. 28
Ann Landa Preludes
Lyric Pieces: Arietta, Notturno, Once upon a time, Scherzo, Puck
Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13
"Vivid and beautiful playing...."
Creating a love of
Music, Culture & Community
Support Corvallis-OSU Piano International
With your gift or support, Corvallis-OSU Piano International can continue to bring world-renowned pianists to Corvallis and share the joy of music with our community through performance, education, and advocacy.
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Judy Kensley McKie: Cast of Characters
Saturday, June 2, 2018, 11:00am
Sunday, October 28, 2018, 6:00pm
Museum of Craft and Design
2569 Third Street
San Francisco Museum of Craft and DEsign
Judy Kensley McKie is one of America’s most beloved furniture designers and makers. Working in her studio in Massachusetts, she has developed animated and personable forms that captivate people of all ages, while also impressing peers for their formal finesse and technical expertise.
Drawn from the Artworks Foundry archive, "Judy Kensley McKie: Cast of Characters" will be the first museum exhibition ever to focus exclusively on the creative collaboration between a single artist and a specialist art foundry. By placing emphasis on this partnership, it shows that art today is often the work of many hands, and reveals the technical repertoire that lies behind these consummately crafted objects.
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In its July-August 2012 issue, Monthly Review has published a new document, entitled “Some Theoretical Implications” and written by Paul Baran, that was originally intended to be a chapter of “Monopoly Capital.” The summer issue also includes the correspondence between Paul Sweezy and Baran during what turned out to be the final weeks of Baran’s life. Written between February and March 1964, we see two of the greatest economists of the 20th century discuss among themselves the “Implications.”
Monthly Review editor John Bellamy Foster put together the “Implications” piece as it appears in the summer 2012 issue from two texts by Baran that were recently found in Sweezy’s papers. These documents were long believed to have been lost, so their discovery and publication is an event of the highest significance for the history of 20th-century economic thought.
Monthly Review plans to publish next year an additional document by Baran that was to be a second chapter on the quality of life under U.S. monopoly capitalism. As it was published in 1966, “Monopoly Capital” has only one such chapter.
While all indications are that Foster has done an extraordinary job editing the Baran documents, they are so important for the history of economic thought it might be a good idea to scan the original texts and make them available online so that future economists and historians can examine them just as Baran and Sweezy left them.
Though all the materials in this fascinating issue of Monthly Review will be posted online before the end of August, I would urge my readers if they possibly can to purchase the issue in hard copy. It is well worth the 12 U.S. and Canadian dollars, 9 euros or 8 British pounds, unless you are really broke.
The importance of the “Implications” document is that it is here that Baran explores the relationship between “the surplus” and Marx’s surplus value. What Marx called surplus value is the most important category of all economics. Ever since “Monopoly Capital” was published in 1966, the question has been asked: Is “the surplus” simply another name for Marx’s surplus value? Or is it something else?
Now a half a century after “Monopoly Capital” was published, we have material that for the first time allows us to answer this question.
The term “the surplus” was used by Paul Baran in his influential “Political Economy of Growth,” published in 1957. In this work, Baran demonstrated that “the surplus” produced by workers and peasants of the oppressed countries—whether outright colonies, as many of them still were in 1957, semi-colonies, or neo-colonies—was large enough to finance their rapid industrialization.
However, huge quantities of the surplus were either pumped out of these countries by the monopoly corporations, not realized at all due to unemployment and excess capacity, squandered unproductively by the personal consumption of the ruling classes and their hangers-on, or devoured by the military and security forces.
Baran, a tenured professor of economics at Stanford University in Northern California, was a Marxist—indeed the only avowed Marxist—with a tenured professorship in any U.S. university. (1) When he wrote the “Political Economy of Growth,” however, he had a non-Marxist audience in mind.
Baran had little choice in the matter. Few U.S. economists and economics students at the time had even a rudimentary acquaintance with Marxist economics, and unlike in Europe U.S. workers were also almost entirely unfamiliar with Marxism.
As a result, Baran was obliged to use the standard economics lingo designed for marginalist economists if he wanted to be understood at all. The result was that the relationship of “the surplus” to Marx’s surplus value remained of necessity somewhat ambiguous.
It is not unprecedented for a Marxist writer to produce works on economics that avoid the use of specific Marxist terminology in order to reach a broader audience. This is exactly what Lenin did in his most influential economic work “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” written in 1916. But in the light of Lenin’s other writings, there was never any doubt that Lenin was in economic theory very much an “orthodox Marxist.” So those familiar with Marxism could “fill in the blanks,” so to speak, when they read the pamphlet, while those unfamiliar with Marxist economic ideas could still follow the main argument.
In “Monopoly Capital,” a joint work of Baran and Sweezy published after Baran’s death in 1964, the authors used the same terminology that Baran had used in “The Political Economy of Growth.” Just like was the case with that work, Baran and Sweezy were trying to reach an audience, especially young economics students, who were completely ignorant of Marxist economics. The authors assumed that the readers of “Monopoly Capital,” if they were familiar with economics at all, knew only the “neo-classical” marginalist theory taught in U.S. universities.
In my opinion, a problem arose because the authors of “Monopoly Capital” set themselves a task that was far more ambitious than Baran’s “Political Economy of Growth,” Hilferding’s “Finance Capital,” or Lenin’s pamphlet “Imperialism.” The authors indicated within the text of “Monopoly Capital” itself that they believed that Marx’s “Capital” only explained the laws that governed “competitive capitalism.” But according to them, monopoly capitalism, which developed during the last quarter of the 19th century, was governed by “laws of motion” very different than those that Marx examined in “Capital.”
If this was indeed true, then “Capital” was out of date shortly after it was published in 1867, since it described the laws of an economic system that had largely ceased to exist even before the end of the 19th century.
Baran and Sweezy were well aware that they were not the first Marxists to deal with the problem of monopoly capitalism. Before “Monopoly Capital,” the best-known works on this subject were Rudolf Hilferding’s book “Finance Capital” (2) and Lenin’s pamphlet “Imperialism.”
The problem with these two works, according to the authors of “Monopoly Capital,” is that they were still working within the framework of Marx’s “Capital” and assumed that capitalism was still basically a “competitive system.” Therefore, by implication, if “Capital” was out of date shortly after it was written, both “Finance Capital” and “Imperialism” were out of date before they were written.
If capitalism had changed as much as Baran and Sweezy believed it had since “Capital” was written, what was necessary was not to write yet another popularization of Marxist ideas adapted to American readers of the 1960s (3) using non-Marxist language that was comprehensible to them. It was rather to fully explore the radical changes in the capitalist mode of production and how these affected the operations of the basic economic categories used by or developed by Marx, such as value and its form exchange value, wage labor and labor power, money, credit, and—most important of all—surplus value. In other words, the task that Baran and Sweezy set for themselves was not to write an updated 1960s version of Hilferding’s “Finance Capital” and Lenin’s “Imperialism” but rather a new “Capital.”
However, as it was published in 1966 by Sweezy, “Monopoly Capital” simply didn’t measure up to this extremely ambitious task. With the publication of the “Implications” document, however, we now have a “Monopoly Capital” that is quite different than the work we have had for the last 50 years. Over the next few months, I plan to explore the “new” “Monopoly Capital.” How much the publication of the chapter on the “Quality of Life” under U.S. monopoly capitalism will further transform “Monopoly Capital” remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely to affect “Monopoly Capitalism” as much as the “Implications” document.
The debate on the “old” “Monopoly Capital” began shortly after its publication in 1966. David Horowitz—today a far-right Muslim-baiting Zionist but in those days considered a promising young Marxist writer and historian—praised the book for abandoning the labor theory of value and surplus value and replacing it with categories derived from the works of such bourgeois economists as Veblen and Keynes. Horowitz himself was an advocate of a so-called “neo-Marxist” analysis that as far as economic theory was concerned replaced “outdated” or “refuted” Marxist economics with the more “scientific,” up-to-date ideas of the best that modern bourgeois economics had to offer.
Therefore, even in those days it was clear that Horowitz was not much of a Marxist as far as economics was concerned. Paul Sweezy seemed a little embarrassed by the praise he received from such a source. He indicated that “the surplus” was simply another word for surplus value and rather regretted that he and Baran had introduced “the surplus” instead of sticking with “surplus value.” And there things stood for more than 50 years.
Paul Sweezy, born in 1910, was a scion of the ruling American financial oligarchy. His father, Everett Sweezy, was once a vice-president of the powerful First National Bank, a major Wall Street bank. (4) Everett, though, was a “free thinker” on religious questions and therefore something of a radical in the circles in which he moved. The Sweezy family had lost much, though not all, of its capital in the 1929 stock market crash. The young Paul, after studying marginalist economics at Harvard, turned toward Marxism in the 1930s—though he also was heavily influenced by the “Keynesian revolution” in academic bourgeois economics, which was then in full swing—and never looked back.
Far less known is the life of “Monopoly Capital” co-author Paul Baran. While Baran’s life of about 54 years was far shorter than Sweezy’s, it was in many ways the more interesting since it intersected with the greatest event of the 20th century, the Russian Revolution.
Paul Alexander Baran
Paul Alexander Baran was hardly your typical U.S. professor of economics. Baran was born either in 1909 or 1910—the sources are in conflict—to a Jewish family in Mykolaiv in Ukraine, then part of the czarist empire. His father, a medical doctor, had been active in politics during the revolution of 1905 as a Menshevik. The Mensheviks were the moderate wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party who were opposed by the more radical Bolshevik faction, led by Lenin.
The Baran family left Russia after the October Revolution for Germany but moved to Moscow the capital of what was now the Soviet Union in the middle 1920s. The young Baran was a student of economics at the Plekhanov Institute, a branch of the University of Moscow that specialized in economic theory, between 1926-28.
This was no ordinary time. A great debate was raging within the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the prospects of building socialism in what was still largely an underdeveloped agrarian country. How could the Soviet Union as an industrially underdeveloped and isolated socialist state possibly find “the surplus,” to use the language of Baran’s “Political Economy of Growth,” to finance industrialization?
Among Baran’s teachers was the veteran Bolshevik revolutionary and economist Evgeny Preobrazhensky (1886-1937). Preobrazhensky developed the concept of what he called “primitive socialist accumulation” in analogy with the “primitive or primary accumulation of capital” that Marx had analyzed in “Capital.”
Since the Soviet Union had no colonies, Preobrazhensky argued that the socialist state would have to “exploit” the peasantry by carrying out an “unequal exchange” with the peasants through supplying them in terms of labor with fewer products than the grain and other agricultural commodities the peasants would provide the socialist state in return. In this way, the peasants would perform unpaid labor for the socialist state, and “the surplus” thus produced would be used to finance “primitive socialist accumulation.”
This idea was extremely unpopular in what was still an overwhelmingly peasant country. Preobrazhensky’s opponents in the Communist Party—and there were many—pointed out that the October Revolution had been made to end exploitation and not establish new forms of exploitation. But among those who were impressed with Preobrazhensky’s arguments was the general secretary of the Communist party, Joseph Stalin.
Preobrazhensky was not a Stalin supporter but instead backed Stalin’s arch-opponent, Leon Trotsky and his “Left Opposition.” The Left Opposition (5) proposed a program of accelerated industrialization that was to be financed by increased taxes on the wealthier peasants. Trotsky himself never endorsed the slogan of “exploiting the peasantry,” which was the political kiss of death in the still mostly peasant Soviet Union.
After Stalin adopted a program of accelerated industrialization, Preobrazhensky broke with Trotsky and shifted his support to the Stalin group within the Communist Party. However, Preobrazhensky’s attempts to work with Stalin’s supporters soon broke down, since Preobrazhensky did not approve of the extreme methods—compulsory collectivization—that the Stalin leadership used to finance “primitive socialist accumulation.” Eventually, Preobrazhensky was executed during the terror of 1937 after he refused to confess to the crimes he was charged with committing.
Due to the increasingly repressive political atmosphere in the country, Baran decided to leave the Soviet Union in 1928 and move back to Germany, which was enjoying the kind of politically tolerant atmosphere under the Weimar republic that was far more congenial to an intellectual like Baran. There he became associated with the Frankfurt Institute, which also included another Marxist economist of note, Henryk Grossman.
Baran wrote for the Social Democratic press in Germany, though under an assumed name to protect his parents living in the Soviet Union. The young Baran even got to meet Rudolf Hilferding in person, the author of “Finance Capital” and one of the pioneering theorists of monopoly capitalism. However, the politically tolerant atmosphere of Germany was not to last. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and moved to rapidly consolidate a full-scale fascist dictatorship that was both anti-left and anti-Semitic.
Baran was doomed on both counts. He left Germany in 1933 to escape Hitler’s emerging dictatorship and moved to Paris. However, the young economist could find no work in Depression-bound France and received a visa in December 1934 to visit his parents in the Soviet Union.
Baran’s visit to the Soviet Union coincided with the assassination of the popular Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergei Kirov, and the political atmosphere in the Soviet Union was taking a radical turn for the worse. Many of his friends who were associated with either the Trotskyist Left Opposition or the Right Opposition of Bukharin had been arrested. Baran’s visa was not renewed and he had to leave the USSR in early 1935. The political climate in the USSR in any case did not encourage Baran to attempt to take up Soviet citizenship and live permanently in the Soviet Union.
Instead, Baran moved to Poland to work in a business that was owned by relatives. In 1939, he managed to emigrate to the United States just ahead of the Nazi invasion of Poland, which would have almost certainly been fatal to Baran as a Jew if he had not gotten out of the country in time.
In 1939, shortly after arriving in the United States, he met Paul Sweezy, his future co-worker in the writing of “Monopoly Capital.” He then studied economics at Harvard. Like many other left-wing intellectuals, including Paul Sweezy himself, and Herbert Marcuse, he was employed by the forerunner of the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services, during World War II. He also got to work with the famed American economist John Kenneth Galbraith studying the effects of the massive carpet bombing of Germany that Britain and the United States had carried out during World War II.
Perhaps because of Baran’s decision not to remain in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and his departure from the Soviet Union again in the 1930s, combined with his activity with the Social Democratic Party rather than the Communist Party in Germany, he was able to find employment with the U.S. Commerce Department and then the New York Federal Reserve Bank before finally obtaining a teaching job at Stanford University in 1948 as a professor of economics, obtaining tenure from Stanford in 1951. If, however, Baran’s employers believed that because of his experience in the Soviet Union he would prove to be a harmless pro-imperialist, anti-Soviet type of State Department “socialist,” they were destined to be disappointed.
Baran wrote for Monthly Review, Paul Sweezy’s and his militantly anti-imperialist and pro-Soviet magazine, though under an assumed name as the McCarthyite witch hunt was now reaching its peak. In addition, Baran’s “Political Economy of Growth,” much like Monthly Review, was strongly anti-imperialist and took a favorable view of Soviet industrialization. Later, he was an outspoken defender of the Cuban Revolution and visited revolutionary Cuba. He was attacked for his support of the Cuban Revolution by many of Stanford’s wealthy alumni.
Because Baran had tenure, Stanford could not fire him. But the university did everything to make life for him as unpleasant as it possibly could. Unlike other tenured professors, he was loaded up with course work and was never given a raise. Perhaps the university authorities hoped that he would take the hint and resign, but he refused to do so. He was also at times hounded by the notorious U.S. FBI political police. On one occasion, J. Edgar Hoover’s cops accused Baran of being a Polish spy because he allegedly met with the well-known Polish economist Oskar Lange!
It is quite possible that Stanford’s harassing of Baran played a role in his early death in March 1964 as he was working with Sweezy on finishing up “Monopoly Capital.” If Baran had lived, the “Implications” document would have been a part of “Monopoly Capital” from the beginning, as had been the original intention of both Baran and Sweezy, and the history of left-wing and Marxist economics in the U.S. over the last half century would have been somewhat different.
The theory of wages and surplus value, from the classical economists to Lenin
The classical economists assumed that wages were and would remain at the biological subsistence level. Like any other commodity, the price of labor—they didn’t distinguish between labor and labor power—fluctuated around its natural price—or value, the same thing to the bourgeois classics. According to the classical economists, the price of labor had to be high enough to sustain and reproduce the working class but no more.
If the price of labor rose above the level necessary to reproduce the working class, the number of workers would increase until the price of labor once again fell to or below subsistence. If the price of labor fell below the level that was necessary to reproduce the working class, the number of workers would fall until once again the price of labor rose back to the levels that were necessary to reproduce the working class.
Marx and the theory of wages
This is the theory of wages that Marx inherited from Ricardo and other classical economists. Unlike the classical economists, however, Marx was a leader of the working class. While Marx always emphasized that the developing workers’ movement would have to aim to abolish the entire wages system—capitalism—he was also, unlike some other early socialists, a strong champion of the daily struggle of the workers to raise wages whenever possible. In light of his radically different perspective as a theoretician, and above all as a leader of the early workers’ movement, Marx modified the theory of wages that he had inherited from the classical economists.
First, Marx distinguished between the labor the workers actually perform for the capitalists and the workers’ ability to perform labor—labor power—which the workers must sell to the capitalists in order to live and produce the next generation.
Unlike other commodities under capitalist production, labor power isn’t itself produced by industrial capitalists. Instead, the capitalists must pay the workers a sum of money in exchange for a given quantity of labor power measured in terms of time. The workers then use the money to purchase other commodities—which are produced by industrial capitalists—whose material use value is precisely to renew their ability to work and raise the next generation of workers. The market basket of commodities the workers consume transfers its value to the labor power of the workers.
Like all commodities, the value of the market basket of commodities that workers consume—called in today’s economic slang “wage goods” (6)—have both use values and values. The use values of the commodities that the workers purchase are that they enable the workers to live and reproduce the next generation of workers. The value of the commodities is the quantity of abstract human labor that is necessary to produce these commodities.
Unlike the classical economists, Marx divided the use values of the commodities that the workers consume to reproduce their labor power into two parts. The first part was the part that is the absolute minimum necessary to keep the workers alive and healthy enough to work and reproduce the next generation of workers. If wages fell below this level—and they sometimes did and still do—the health and the ability of the working class to work and reproduce its labor power over time would be undermined.
If the situation persisted, the workers would begin to die off, the production of surplus value would eventually fall, and capitalist production would eventually grind to a halt.
The other portion of the wage represented an additional, historical and moral element above and beyond what is strictly necessary to reproduce the workers biologically. As the productivity of labor grows, the use values that make up the workers’ wages in real terms fall in terms of value. If real wages remain unchanged in use value terms, the value of labor power in terms of the quantity of abstract human labor it represents falls with the rise in labor productivity.
If we assume the workday remains unchanged, the rate of surplus value rises. Marx calls this “relative surplus value” as opposed to the absolute surplus value that rises if the workday is extended without a rise in the daily wage, the productivity of labor remaining unchanged. As the productivity of labor rises, the growth in relative surplus value takes on special importance.
The falling value of “wage goods” creates the possibility of a rise in real wages above the strict biological minimum without a fall in the rate of surplus value. The more the productivity of labor rises the more it becomes possible for real wages to rise while the rate of surplus value actually increases. It is quite possible for the workers to be living in material terms better than ever while they are also more exploited than ever.
In this way, as Marx put it, it becomes possible for the workers to participate to a certain degree in the progress of civilization. Though to what extent they are able to do so depends on their degree of organization, since the natural tendency of capitalist production is to drive wages down toward their biological minimum.
An additional assumption that Marx made in analyzing wages and surplus value was that that all commodities including the commodities consumed by the workers are sold at their values. Under this assumption, the value of money—the quantity of money material that the tokens the workers receive in their wage packets represents—exactly equals the value of the commodities that they purchase in order to live and raise their families.
Marx didn’t make this assumption because he thought it was the case—on the contrary, market prices fluctuate around prices of production, so it would almost certainly never be true—but in order to lay bare the basic relations of capitalist production and the real nature of surplus value. In this way, Marx, unlike either Ricardo or the Ricardian socialists, was able to explain surplus value on the basis of the equal exchange of commodities.
This, Marx believed, was his most important discovery in economics. The theory of surplus value is therefore at the very center of Marx’s economic theory. This is the theory of wages and surplus value that Baran and Sweezy inherited from Marx. We might call this the classical Marxist theory of wages.
Baran and Sweezy modify Marx’s theory of wages
As John Bellamy Foster explains in his introduction, “Monopoly Capital” was widely criticized for ignoring the whole question of wages. As Foster points out, this impression arose because we did not actually have the entire book, since the chapter that would deal with wages and the production of surplus value, the “Implications” chapter, was left out. If Baran had simply reproduced Marx’s basic arguments, there would be nothing new here. We would simply say that, David Horowitz notwithstanding, the authors of “Monopoly Capital” were supporters of Marx’s theory of wages and surplus value and had nothing fundamentally new to say. However, as we will see, this was not the case.
The world of ‘Monopoly Capital’
All meaningful books on political economy and its critique reflect the historical and economic conditions under which they were written. How can they not? For example, the wage theory of the classical economists represented the grim conditions of the industrial revolution, when the real wages of the workers were pretty close to the biological minimum.
Marx’s “Capital” was written in the early days of the workers’ movement when the working class was beginning to fight back against capitalist exploitation and achieving initial results such as the shortening of the legal workday and some rises in wages, though the material conditions of the workers was still grim.
In contrast, “Monopoly Capital” was written during the post-World War II economic prosperity and the Cold War in the richest, most powerful imperialist country that the world had ever seen. It was a time when the capitalist world dominated by the U.S. world empire forged during World War II faced a socialist bloc headed by the Soviet Union. The working class in almost every other imperialist country with the exception of the U.S. had created by then mass labor-based parties that had gained considerable representation in parliament and often headed governments. Even in the U.S., the trade union movement wielded clout that far exceeded anything seen before in the history of U.S. capitalism.
As a result, the real wages of the workers in imperialist industrial countries had in terms of both hourly and social wages risen to unprecedented levels. As far as its material conditions of life were concerned, the working class in the U.S. and Western Europe, and increasingly Japan as well, had come a long way since the days of Marx and Engels, not to speak of the days of Ricardo and other classical economists. Under these new conditions, the question arose: Was Marx’s theory of wages and surplus value still valid?
Do workers receive surplus value?
In his small book “Commodities Produced by Means of Commodities,” the neo-Ricardian economist Piero Sraffa claimed that workers received a growing part of the “surplus product” in their wages. In Marxist terms, the “surplus product” is simply the use value form of surplus value.
Before we can deal with the “Implications” document, we should review what the classical economists and then Marx had to say on this question. Well before Marx, the classical economists had made the distinction between productive and unproductive labor. As Marx later explained, by productive workers the classical economists meant the workers that produce surplus value as opposed to those workers who consume surplus value. So the idea that at least some workers consume surplus value originates not with Sraffa but with the classical economists themselves.
The classical example of unproductive workers was the personal servants that the rich in the late 18th and early 19th century hired in great numbers to care for their every need, as well as solders and clergymen. (7) The productive workers were the workers in the emerging factories of the industrial revolution, in agriculture and in mining. Both types of workers, productive and unproductive, sold their labor (power) to their employers, whether private individuals or the state as was the case of soldiers and clergymen. (8)
The difference between a productive and unproductive worker was the use value of the purchased labor power to its purchaser. In the case of servants, for example, the use value of the labor power for the rich purchasers was to perform some personal service, such as making their beds, cleaning their vast mansions, maintaining their gardens, preparing meals or opening doors as they moved from room to room in their mansions.
Marx explained that such unproductive labor (power) might even be used to produce material objects such as furniture. But as long as the material objects were consumed as use values and not sold as commodities by the purchaser of the labor power that produced them, the labor power was not used to produce surplus value. Therefore, such labor power was unproductive.
Since the labor of the unproductive workers was not value producing labor, these workers, whether their wages were high or low, were paid out of surplus value. So according to the classical economists, a part of the working class was indeed paid out of what Marx was later to call surplus value.
The liberal classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo saw the key to increasing the wealth of a nation—the accumulation of capital—as being the reduction of the number of unproductive workers to a minimum so as to increase as much as possible the number of workers employed producing new wealth in the form of surplus value. Therefore, according to the classical liberal economists, the larger the proportion of the workers engaged in productive labor as opposed to unproductive labor the faster the nation would grow wealthy. This formed the basis of the program of classical economic liberalism with advocacy of “cheap” government.
About half way between the time of Marx and the time of Baran and Sweezy, we have the time of Lenin. In August 1914, Lenin was shocked when the German Social Democratic Party, after promising to oppose any imperialist war, suddenly went over to the side of German imperialism and voted for war credits. Lenin had less time than Marx to write about economic theory—he had other things to do. But Lenin, whose interests were always overwhelmingly political, felt compelled as a Marxist to find the material basis for the collapse of the classical Social Democracy of the Second International.
The basic explanation Lenin found was that the monopoly capitalists were sharing some of their super-profits with a section of the working class of the imperialist countries—the labor aristocracy—which in turn became the basis of support for the labor bureaucracy that increasingly ran the trade unions and the Social Democratic parties. The “bribed” workers who were receiving super-profits felt that they had a material interest in supporting their “own” capitalists, both against rival capitalists and other workers.
What are super-profits?
It was well known to the classical economists and to Marx that the rate of profit tended to equalize among the various branches of production. The freer the competition, the faster the rate of profit would equalize. Suppose the average rate of profit is 10 percent per year. As long as there are no monopolies—except for the monopoly of the means of production by the capitalist class, without which there can be no capitalism by definition—any super-profit above and beyond the average rate of profit will be short lived.
But suppose for some reason a monopoly arises. It becomes very difficult if not impossible for new capital in search of the highest rate of profit to flow into the monopoly sector over an extended period of time. The capitalists of the monopoly sector will be able to charge prices for the commodities they produce that are above the prices of production of these commodities as long as their monopoly lasts. The profit the monopolists appropriate above the average rate of profit is a “super-profit.”
Suppose instead of realizing a 10 percent rate of profit, the monopolists realize a profit rate of 20 percent. If they think they can get away with it, our monopoly capitalists will appropriate the entire super-profit while continuing to pay their workers only the value of their labor power.
In this case, where does their extra profit or super-profit come from? It will come at the expense of the capitalists who do not have a monopoly position. Depending on the relative size of the monopoly sector, the rate of profit in the rest of the economy—the competitive sector—will be somewhat reduced. Perhaps instead of receiving a rate of profit of 10 percent the non-monopoly capitalists will now have to settle for a rate of 8 percent.
However, the very existence of a super-profit creates the possibility that they can share some of the super-profits with their workers. For example, in order to buy “labor peace,” the monopolists might instead of appropriating all their profits share some with their workers by paying the workers wages in excess of the value of their labor power. For example, they might settle for a rate of profit of “only” 15 percent. This is what Lenin believed lay behind the collapse of the Social Democracy as a revolutionary movement.
The super-profits above and beyond the value of the labor power of the workers in the imperialist countries where the monopolies were located was corrupting a portion of the workers of the rich countries that were exploiting other capitalist—and pre-capitalist—countries. The privileged workers who were receiving some of the super-profits of their monopolists in the form of wages above the value of their labor power were the workers that were best organized into trade unions and formed the backbone of the Social Democratic parties of the Second International.
Since members of the labor aristocracy were sharing in a portion of the super-profits of their “own” monopolists, the implication was clear that a portion of their wages represented surplus value. However, if the monopolists were sharing with their workers a portion of the surplus value they had obtained from other capitalists through monopoly pricing, the overall rate of profit—the combination of the super-profits of the monopolists and the reduced rate of profit in the competitive sector—would still fall.
Lenin pointed out that the imperialist monopolists were in a position to make up for this lost profit by super-exploiting workers and peasants in the oppressed colonial and semi-colonial countries. The super-exploited workers were being paid less than the value of their labor power. In this way, capital as a whole could stave off a fall in the rate of surplus value while still “buying off” the “labor aristocracy” of the imperialist countries. The paying of some workers more than the value of their labor power was backed up by paying other workers less than the value of their labor power.
This is the classical “Leninist” theory of of monopoly capital, wages and surplus value developed midway between the time of “Capital” and “Monopoly Capital.” This theory came to dominate the revolutionary wing of the workers’ movement in the wake of the Russian Revolution.
Monopoly cannot be generalized
It is important to grasp that according to the “classical” theory of monopoly capitalism developed by Hilferding and Lenin, monopoly profits and wages in excess of the value of labor power cannot by definition be generalized.
The theory of wages and profits in ‘Monopoly Capital’ in light of the ‘Implications’ document
In the “Implications” document, Baran accepts Sraffa’s claim that as capitalism develops and real wages rise, the workers as a whole come to share a portion of the surplus product or surplus value. The higher the productivity of labor is the more material use values a given quantum of human abstract labor—value—will represent. Therefore, as human labor becomes more productive it is possible for wages to rise above the biological subsistence minimum while at the same time actually falling in terms of labor value.
As long as labor productivity is rising—and ever-rising labor productivity is a crucial feature of the capitalist mode of production and indeed its main historical justification—it is perfectly possible for real wages to rise while the relative surplus value is also rising. Or in more popular language, the workers can be more exploited than ever and yet “enjoy” rising real wages.
Indeed, when the original revisionists criticized what they called Marx’s theory of “impoverishment” of the working class, the “orthodox Marxists” explained that the working class was becoming “relatively impoverished” even as the absolute standard of living of at least the organized sections of the working class was rising during the powerful economic booms of the end of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th century.
Paul Baran took the view in the “Implications” document that the difference between the wages the workers receive and the biological minimum should indeed be classified as surplus value. The more capitalism develops and the higher the productivity of labor the more surplus value is therefore appropriated to the workers. Unlike the case with the classical theory of “unproductive labor” and the Hilferding-Lenin theory of “monopoly capitalism,” this is a phenomenon that can be generalized.
In traditional Marxist theory, surplus value is equated with the sum of profit of enterprise and interest plus ground rent. If a wealthy money capitalist hired personal servants, like they generally did, the wages of the servants were derivative of interest. If an industrial or commercial capitalist hired personal servants, the servants’ incomes would be derivative of the profit of enterprise. And similarly for the servants hired by landlords, their incomes would be derivative of rent.
And to the extent the landowners, money capitalists, commercial and industrial capitalists paid taxes, the wages of the employees of the state would be drawn from all three primary incomes: rent, profit of enterprise and interest.
Since the workers, however, were receiving little more than biological subsistence wages, Ricardo opposed taxes on wages income. Such taxes, Ricardo held, would depress wages below the biological subsistence of the workers, which would cause nominal wages—wages before taxes—to rise. So in the end, any tax would fall on profits, interest and rent—surplus value—after all. Therefore, Ricardo held, it was pointless to try to tax wages.
But if you hold a considerable part of the “average wage” earned by the “average” global worker to be “surplus value,” then the total sum of rent, profit of enterprise and interest will be less than the total surplus value. Using the definition that Baran accepted, we would have to define surplus value as the sum of rent, profit of enterprise and interest plus wages minus the part of the wage that corresponds to the biological minimum.
Profits by deduction
Marx explained surplus value by assuming that all commodities including labor power sell at their values. But Marx also noted that the capitalists could earn an extra profit if they paid the workers less than the value of their labor power, which Marx believed they often did in practice. This would create an extra profit by “deduction.”
In this case, the labor power of the workers would only be partially reproduced. Obviously, as long as wages were not far above the biological minimum, there were limits on how far wages could fall below the value of labor power before the working class would begin to shrink in numbers and the workers would be so weak and sickly that their productivity would be adversely affected.
As Baran noted, the closer wages are to the biological minimum, the smaller the possibilities will be for “profits by deduction.” However, if the real wage that corresponds to the value of labor power rises substantially above the biological minimum, the possibilities for the capitalists of earning extra profits through “deduction” expand accordingly. Baran believed that profits by deduction, though insignificant during the phase of “competitive capitalism,” had grown tremendously under monopoly capitalism.
Profit upon alienation
The capitalists do not as a rule buy labor power with consumer commodities—wage goods—directly but with money. The workers use the money they have received in exchange for their labor power to purchase the commodities they need to reproduce their labor power and raise the next generation of workers.
If we assume that all commodities sell at their values—or direct prices—then the rate of surplus value calculated in terms of money and in terms of commodities will be identical. But suppose the capitalists sell the commodities that the workers need to reproduce their labor power at monopoly prices. According to Baran, the workers would be paid the value of their labor power plus a portion of the surplus value in money terms but will have to return to the capitalists a portion of the surplus value they received in money when they purchase the commodities at monopoly prices needed to reproduce their labor power. This is called “profit upon alienation.”
Baran assumed that in the days of Marx, or competitive capitalism, commodities rarely sold at monopoly prices. It could be assumed that the surplus value calculated in terms of money and in terms of commodities was more or less identical. And even if the capitalists could have sold consumer commodities to the workers at monopoly prices, wages were so close to biological subsistence that “real wages” would have fallen below the level necessary to reproduce the working class. Therefore, any “profits upon alienation” would be insignificant.
But according to the “Implications” document, the rise of labor productivity means that the workers’ wages now contain a considerable and growing amount of surplus value. At the same time, the growing monopoly power of ever larger and more monopolistic corporations means that they can win some of the surplus value that is contained in workers’ money wages back through charging monopoly prices for “wage goods.” Therefore, according to the “Implications” document, Marx’s general rejection of the claim that “profits arise upon alienation,” though true for competitive capitalism, is no longer true for monopoly capitalism.
Beyond this point, we arrive at the well-known conclusions of the Monthly Review school, which are close to those of “left Keynesianism.”
First, according to the Monthly Review school, price competition has been banished to the increasingly marginal competitive sectors of the economy. Competition for market share is now carried on mostly through advertising. This combination of the virtual end of price competition and the possibility of realizing profits upon alienation cause the mass of profit—or surplus—to swell to tremendous proportions. Or in the language of “Monopoly Capital,” the surplus tends to rise.
The problem that now confronts the monopoly corporations is what to do with this swollen mass of profits. Under competitive capitalism, once the capitalists’ own personal expenditures are deducted, the profit is transformed into new capital. But if the monopoly capitalists transform their swollen mass of profit into new capital, the monopoly pricing that is the basis of their profits upon alienation will disappear.
If the monopoly capitalists hoard their profits, considerable potential monetarily effective demand becomes frozen in the banks. Mass unemployment and excess capacity appear—stagnation. If dramatic innovations like the railroad or automobile appear, the monopoly capitalists will indeed transform their swollen profits into new capital. (9) In effect, they will act much like the capitalists did in the days of Marx. This is indeed what Baran and Sweezy believed happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when first the railroad and then the automobile produced huge fields of potential new investment—or to use the language of “Monopoly Capital”—absorbed the surplus.
But in the absence of such earthshaking new technologies, the monopoly capitalists will tend to simply hoard their swollen profits in the banks. If they do this, the result is depression—or stagnation—massive excess capacity on one hand and mass unemployment on the other.
In this case, the “swelling mass of surplus value” appropriated through profits upon alienation will not in fact be realized. While the natural tendency of the competitive capitalism analyzed by Marx in “Capital” was toward economic growth—or to use the more technical term, expanded reproduction—the natural tendency of monopoly capitalism is therefore economic stagnation.
This, however, does not mean that that monopoly capitalism is doomed to a more or less permanent depression occasionally interrupted by some great wave of innovation centered on a revolutionary technology like the railroad or the automobile that may or may not come along.
Even in the absence of revolutionary innovations, monopoly capital can escape from stagnation through the growth of unproductive—of surplus value—expenditures. Some of these saving unproductive expenditures occur within the private sector itself.
Perhaps the most important way of “absorbing the surplus” is the sales effort. As advertising largely replaces the price competition of “competitive capitalism,” the monopoly corporations use advertising to create artificial needs and wants. This creates huge sales costs—what Marx called the false costs of production—that must be covered by monopoly prices. The huge army of salespeople and advertising workers that emerges is paid out of “the surplus” and become purchasers of commodities to recover the growing sales costs.
But as monopoly and the surplus value appropriated by the monopolists through profits upon alienation keep rising, the sales effort is not enough to stave off the tendency toward stagnation. Therefore, at a certain point the government must step in with expenditures of its own, whether financed through taxes or through borrowing—deficit spending—to keep money circulating in the economy, or to use the terminology of Baran and Sweezy—”absorb the surplus.”
However, in a capitalist society the capitalists or special groups of capitalists are able to prevent the government from spending on socially useful projects. For example, the private real estate interests successfully undermined the New Deal-era public housing programs. So instead of spending money on useful if unproductive of surplus value projects, the central government ends up spending money on weapons. This has been dubbed “military Keynesianism.”
While these expenditures are effective in staving off stagnation and depression and even maintaining something close to “full employment” with important “exceptions”—like African American youth in the U.S.—an increasing amount of the total product does not meet genuine or rational human needs but is pure waste. The waste includes not only weapons but consumer commodities that don’t meet any real needs, as well as the production of advertising itself.
The result is an increasingly “irrational” society. However, unproductive expenditures do maintain prosperity in the imperialist or “core” countries in the sense that there is near to “full employment”—leaving certain “marginal” groups aside—and the real wages of the workers do continue to rise over time.
And if serious recession does threaten, the government can always increase its expenditure to absorb still more of “the surplus” and thus stave off serious depression. However, since most of this additional expenditure will be on weapons, the danger that this will end sooner or later in war increases. If the government cannot for whatever reason “absorb” enough of the “surplus” by spending on weapons and the military, a kind of creeping stagnation will set in as happened to some extent in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In that period, both unemployment and excess capacity rose in the U.S. before falling again in the mid-1960s as both the Vietnam war and the boom of the 1960s gained momentum. Overall, however, Baran and Sweezy saw little hope that the workers in the “core” countries would ever draw revolutionary conclusions. They were too well integrated into the system as “consumers,” and the power of the capitalist states to stave off really deep depression by absorbing more surplus was simply too great.
The situation is different, however, if we look at things globally. The increasingly wasteful and unproductive consumption of “the surplus” means that expanded capitalist reproduction, to use the Marxist term, is greatly reduced on a global basis. If the laws of competitive capitalism were still in effect, the underdeveloped countries would experience a rapid industrialization. But the wasteful absorption of the surplus largely prevents this, dooming the vast majority of humanity to virtually permanent poverty unless they overthrow imperialism and capitalism altogether and embark on the road of socialist revolution. The real hope for an eventual move toward socialism lies not in the industrial working class of the imperialist countries—but in the vast impoverished, largely peasant masses of the “third world.”
That is why Sweezy, especially in the years after Baran’s death, put so much hope in the Chinese Revolution and Maoism.
Does this mean that according to Baran “the surplus” and surplus value are identical after all? In order to answer this question, we must examine Baran’s views on productive versus unproductive labor, and closely related to that, Baran’s interesting interpretation of production and the sales effort. We will examine these questions in next month’s post.
1 So much for academic freedom in Cold War America.
2 Unlike Baran and Sweezy in “Monopoly Capital” and Lenin in “Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism,” Hilferding did use the categories that Marx developed in “Capital,” though he put forward a false theory of “non-commodity” money as Lenin briefly noted in “Imperialism.” The theory of money, or rather the lack of any theory of money, in “Monopoly Capitalism” and in the “Implications” document will be dealt with in coming months in this blog.
3 The worst of the witch hunt had ended by the time “Monopoly Capital” was published in 1966, and it would soon become possible for a few Marxist to gain tenure either in economics departments or in other social science departments. But the witch hunt had left a trail of devastation across the American labor movement and intellectual and academic landscape that is still all too visible even today.
4 First National Bank was a corporate bank that did no business with even middle-class people but only with corporations and extremely wealthy individuals. It was considered a part of the financial interest group founded by J.P. Morgan Sr. In 1955, it merged with the National City Bank, which became First National City Bank, a forerunner of today’s Citicorp.
5 In addition to the Left Opposition, there was also a Right Opposition, which was led by N.I. Bukharin, who was also a prominent Marxist economist. Starting in 1928, the Right Opposition denounced Stalin for going over to Preobrazhensky’s views on primitive socialist accumulation and the need to exploit the peasantry to finance it.
6 The problem with the slang term “wage goods” is that it overlooks the fact that the workers must purchase the goods they need to reproduce their labor power as commodities. It is okay to use this slang as long as we keep this in mind.
7 Though it isn’t emphasized by most of his present-day right-wing admirers, it seems that Adam Smith was not a Christian and took a dim view of religion in general.
8 The Anglican Church was and is the official state church in Britain and thus supported out of state funds.
9 This reflects the influence on the Monthly Review school of Joseph Schumpeter, a personal friend of Sweezy’s—despite their opposite political views—during his Harvard years.
6 Responses to “The ‘Implications’ of Paul Baran”
Jim Farmelant Says:
August 7, 2012 at 12:07 pm | Reply
As long as you mentioned the young David Horowitz in passing, his position back when he was a Marxist was one that perceived a convergence between mainstream (i.e. bourgeois) economics and Marxism. The key here was the work of John Maynard Keynes which in Horowitz’s view brought mainstream economics a lot closer to Marxism than it had ever been before. This viewpoint was expressed both in a book that Horowitz did for Monthly Review Press, Marx and Modern Economics, which was a collection of essays by both Marxist and mainstream economists, and his book, The Fate of Midas and Other Essays, which was a collection of pieces, all by Horowitz. Horowitz’s take on the relationship between Marxism and mainstream economics was derived from the work of such economists as the Polish economist Oskar Lange, who sought to synthesize Marxism with neoclassical economics, and the British economist Joan Robinson, who started out as a neoclassical economist in the tradition of Alfred Marshall, became a disciple of Keynes, and later became increasingly drawn towards Marxist ideas (she always, however, rejected the label of Marxist because she rejected both the labor theory of value and dialectics). Horowitz himself at this time seems to have been an advocate of market socialism along the lines advocated by Lange.
Concerning Paul Sweezy, my understanding is that back when he was an undergraduate at Harvard, he was very much a conservative Republican in terms of his political outlook. Hardly surprising given that he was a scion of a banking family. While at Harvard he became intrigued with the work of young Austrian lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE), namely, Friedrich Hayek and was eager to study at the feet of the great man, which he proceeded to do after graduating from Harvard. At the LSE he attended the lectures of Hayek and Lionel Robbins, but he soon became disenchanted with their approaches to economics. By then the world was very much in the midst of the Great Depression but people like Hayek and Robbins were arguing that governments should attempt to do little to alleviate things. Sweezy would soon become a convinced Marxist.
Magpie Says:
A fascinating article about a very interesting subject. So, congratulations are in order. Your own exposition is in general quite clear and understandable.
The paragraph above, however, is not clear to me. You were explaining Lenin’s views on monopoly. Why should the monopolists’ super-profits come from the other capitalists’ profits?
Excellent analysis and Baran seems to know what he’s talking about. However, I think it would benefit from the integration of the work of Veblen, who discusses the *psychology* of the rich capitalists. The first generation of monopoly capitalists may make rational decisions to share the super-profit with their employees, to “buy them off” — but later generations will, for psychological reasons, NOT decide to do so. Which will create political unrest which can be seized on by revolutionaries.
I think, historically, the revolutionaries who are most likely seize on it are usually warlords intent on creating practically a feudal system. But by the time this happens, we’re so many generations into the free market capitalism – monopoly capitalism – feudalism cycle (which I think is actually a cycle) that nobody remembers feudalism or how bad it was, so they are generally popular. I guess the only hope is to remind people that there is an alternative, namely the various forms of socialism…
As for my cycle claim, you know how free market capitalism degenerates into monopoly capitalism, Veblen explained how monopoly capitalism degenerates into being run by imbeciles, it’s obvious how they get replaced with warlords, and it’s clear how the warlords stabilize society with feudalism, a society based on personal pledges of loyalty and obedience. The question I have not looked into is how feudalism gets replaced with a market society, but it seems to have happened repeatedly throughout history, so someone must have looked into it.
” The question I have not looked into is how feudalism gets replaced with a market society, but it seems to have happened repeatedly throughout history, so someone must have looked into it.”
Actually, there is considerable literature on that subject, to which Paul Sweezy and Maurice Dobb were major contributors to. More recently, the issue has been addressed by different writers like Immanuel Wallerstein and Robert Brenner, to name just a couple of people.
tumblr.com Says:
“The �Implications� of Paul Baran | A Critique of Crisis Theory” was indeed a superb blog.
If only there was a lot more web blogs like this specific
one on the cyberspace. Anyhow, thank you for your personal precious
time, Anna
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Pope says immigrants no threat to Europe’s Christian identity
In Vatican
ROME_BUREAU_CHIEF
Pope Francis speaks at the Roma Tre University during a visit in Rome, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Pope Francis answered to questions asked by some of the nearly forty thousand students attending the Roma Tre University, during his first visit to a state owned university in Rome. (Credit: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino.)
Visiting a state run university in Rome, Pope Francis set aside his prepared remarks to talk instead "from the heart," answering questions about the threat migrants pose to Europe's Christian identity and the historic presence of violence in the world.
ROME—Famous for his off-the-cuff remarks, Pope Francis was at it again on Friday when he set aside a prepared address to “speak from the heart” to thousands of students from Rome’s youngest university, Roma Tre, where he revisited some of his usual concerns: war and violence, a lack of dialogue and the need for the West to acknowledge its responsibility for the migrant crisis.
Pope Francis said that the real “threat” to Europe’s Christian culture are not the migrants, defining them instead as an “opportunity to grow.”
He was answering a question posed to him by Nour Essa, a Syrian refugee who last April traveled to Rome with Francis on his return from a day trip to the Geek island of Lesbos, where he went to raise awareness of the refugee crisis.
Essa fled her country with her husband and their son, and is currently studying at the university the pope visited on Friday. Essa is also trying to have the Italian government recognize her degree in agriculture from Syria and her masters in microbiology obtained in France. At the Italian university, she’s five exams away from a bachelor’s degree in biology.
Pope Francis meets Nour Essa, part of a group of Syrian refugees arrived in Rome with Pope Francis from the Greek island of Lesbos, at the Roma Tre University in Rome, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. (Credit: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino.)
Essa asked Francis about the fear Europeans have for migrants like herself, who come from Syria or Iraq. She noted that some wonder, “Don’t these people threaten Europe’s Christian culture?”
“I ask: How many invasions has Europe had? Europe was formed by invasions and migrations,” Francis said in reply, noting that he himself comes from a country made up of migrants, as 80 percent of the population in Argentina has foreign roots.
Argentina, he said, doesn’t have a good identity, but this is not a problem of migration, but of the country’s inability to manage things. The jokes made about Argentines, he insisted, are all fair, “but this is our sin, not a problem from immigration.”
According to Francis, there’s a need to think about the many questions migration generates, warning that simply denouncing people fleeing war and hunger is not responsible “politics.”
The ideal solution, he said, would be for there to be no wars and no hunger. For there to be no wars, Francis continued, “we need to build peace.” For there to be no hunger, “we need to make investments so they [potential migrants] have the resources to live there.”
Migrants, he continued, “are hungry because they have no jobs, and they have no jobs because they have been exploited. They flee to Europe thinking they will find a better status, but even there they are exploited.”
They are exploited, Francis added, even in the boats allegedly carrying them to a better life, but that have instead turned the Mediterranean Sea into a cemetery.
Talking about welcoming migrants, the pope urged for them to be integrated into the local cultures, with organizations that help them to learn the language of their new home country, to find a job and a place to stay.
Each country, Francis acknowledged, has to determine how many migrants it can welcome, seeing them as brothers and sisters, “men and women like us.”
Integration, he said, also means a dialogue between cultures: those who are welcomed into Europe have to keep their traditions, but share them with the home country, while at the same time, accepting new ones.
“When there is this welcoming, accompaniment, integration, there’s no danger with immigration. A culture is received and another offered. This is my response to fear,” he said.
Francis spoke off-the-cuff for 45 minutes, answering questions posed by four students.
Another was Giulia Trifilio from Italy. She asked the pontiff about the world’s violence, “always present in the history of humanity,” and what could be the “medicines” to contrast it.
“No one today can deny that we’re at war,” Francis said. “It’s a war fought in pieces, but a war. We need to tone down the rhetoric. There are many medicines against violence. First of all, the heart: Before arguing, dialogue.”
Today, Francis answered, people on the streets insult each other as if it was normal, there’s violence in the way people talk and interact. This daily violence, present also in family homes when people are too hurried to greet each other or occupied with their phones instead of interacting with each other at the table, “grows and grows and becomes global violence.”
Where there’s no dialogue, he continued, there’s violence and war.
The pontiff also regretted that there’s been a global lowering of the standards of the political class, evident on the campaign trail, when candidates allegedly debate each other but are incapable of allowing the opponent to finish their statements before they interrupt.
Universities, Francis said, are called to be places of dialogue, not “elitist, ideological institutions” that prepare the youth to become “soldiers” of a certain ideology. A place where there’s no respect for those who think differently, he insisted, is not a university.
Using the concept of liquid modernity of the sociologist Zygmunt Baumann, the pope said that a “liquid economy” generates a lack of job opportunities. “How can we think that developed countries [in Europe] have such high levels of youth unemployment?”
The liquid economy, he said, takes away the possibilities of finding a job, which leads young people not to “know what to do” and end up battling addictions, contemplating suicide or joining terrorist armies to “have something to do, give meaning to my life: it’s horrible.”
To resolve social, economic and cultural problems, Francis said, “we need concrete responses.”
This was the second time that Rome’s youngest university welcomed a pope, after St. John Paul II gave the year’s opening remarks in 2002. Since the university was founded, five heads of state have delivered similar remarks, including Chile’s Michele Bachelet.
Latest migrant tragedy prompts call to address root problem
Pope: Immigrants not a threat, but an opportunity to build peace
In a letter Pope Francis praises news outlet initiative for migrants and refugees
Roma Tre
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30 Second Architecture
30-Second Architecture presents you with the foundations of architectural knowledge, explaining each idea, no matter how complex, using 300 words and one picture: all easily digested in a spare half minute. Expert authors are challenged to define and describe both the principles upon which architects depend, and the styles with which they put those principles into practice. So, if you want to know your arch from your elevation, and your Baroque from your Byzantine, or you wish to end your next dinner party with a stirring speech on biomimetics, this is the quickest way to construct your argument.
A Guide to the Architecture of Durban and Pietermaritzburg
This handsome pocket guide to the major buildings of Durban and Pietermaritzburg is the first of its kind available. Covering about 250 buildings of all styles and kinds, from the grand Edwardian city halls and stylish Art Deco apartment buildings to the gleaming office blocks of the 1990s and the community centres in the townships, the book offers an introduction to the architecture of the two major cities of KwaZulu-Natal.
AfroPolis: City, Media, Art
Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, Afropolis is the product of an exhibition developed by the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, Germany. The book focuses on the Big Five of African cities: Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa and Johannesburg, and brings together positions of artistic and cultural studies, as well as detailed histories and the specific dynamics of these African cities, in order to expand our understanding of the concept of urbanity and the phenomenon of the City from an African perspective.
Alvar Aalto – Objects and Furniture Design – By Architects
Nature, biology, has rich and luxurious forms; with the same principles of cellular organisation, it can create billions of combinations, each of which represent a highly developed form. Man’s life belongs to the same category. The things that surround him are hardly fetishes or allegories with mystical eternal value: more than anything else, they are cells and tissues, living beings life himself, building components that make up human life. – Alvar Aalto.
Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern :A Fresh Design Spirit for the Modern Lifestyle
A complete lifestyle book, encompassing fashion, interiors, and gardens
Attention, design and style mavens! There’s a lot more to America than just the east and west coasts. Today, innovative American design—in clothing, home decor, even gardening—is emerging from the Midwest. So lay your bicoastal biases aside, and let Amy Butler show you what’s happening in the heartland.
Archidoodle – The Architect’s Activity Book
This innovative book is the first to provide a fun, interactive way to learn about architecture. Filled with an array of beautiful and elegant drawings, it poses all manner of architectural challenges for the user: from designing your own skyscraper to drawing an island house or creating a Constructivist monument, plus many more.
Architectural Inventions: Visionary Drawings
Born out of the drawingbuilding.org online archive, Architectural Inventions presents a stunning visual study of impossible or speculative structures that exist only on paper. Soliciting the work of architects, designers, and artists of renown –as well as emerging talents from all over the world –Maximilian Goldfarb and Matt Bua have gathered an array of works that convey architectural alternatives, through products, expansions, or critiques of our inhabited environments.
Architecture – The Whole Story
Drawing its examples from all around the globe, Architecture – The Whole Story is a richly illustrated and comprehensive account of the architects, plans, designs and constructions that over the centuries have most engaged our minds, inspired our imaginations and raised our spirits.
Architecture and Vegetation. Hybrid Home Spaces
Architecture and Vegetation. Hybrid Home Spaces grew out of a thrilling workshop, by the same name, which took place on Reunion Island in May 2004. The aim of the workshop was to create a net of connections between students in architecture from tropical countries and from Europe and to bring them to work together on tropical climate issues.s.
Architecture Matters
An illuminating introduction to the influence of architecture on the world, the environment, and human lives
Architecture of the Third Landscape: Award-winning buildings of the Free State
Professor Raman and Jako Olivier presented on the publication Architecture of the Third Landscape which goes beyond a mere description of the architecture of the buildings and locates them in the specific physical and cultural landscapes of the Free State.
Architecture Transformed: A History of the Photography of Buildings from 1839 to the Present
This magnificently illustrated book documents a history of style in the photography of buildings and a history of the art and technology of photography itself.
Art and Architecture in Mexico
A survey of the full breadth and complexity of Mexican art history, ranging widely across genres and offering new interpretations of painting, sculpture, architecture, prints and photographs
Art and Justice: The Art of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Art and Justice: The Art of the Constitutional Court of South Africa documents and celebrates the artworks integrated into and collected for the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The book pays tribute to the extraordinary vision of the architects and judges of the Court who sought to bring together, in the most inspiring, innovative and dignified way possible, art and the workings of justice, and to give a public soul to the new Court building.
Art Spaces: The Architecture of Four Tates
The diverse and complex development of the art museum is nowhere more richly illustrated than through the architectural evolution of the four Tate galleries.
Despite being shut down by the Nazis after just fourteen years in existence, the Bauhausart school stands as one of the defining movements of modern history. This book introduces the school’s commitment to creative expression, cutting-edge ideas, and the combination of fine art and technology in a utopian future.
Founded in 1919 in Weimar Germany amidst unparalleled economic and political chaos, the Bauhaus design school broke down barriers between fine arts, crafts and industry. British art historian Whitford here gathers Bauhaus participants’ diaries, letters, manifestos and essays from journals, exhibition catalogues and newspapers, including much material never before translated into English.
Carsten Holler: Test Site
A fascinating record of this major project, Carsten Höller is also a detailed survey of the artist?s entire career.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s finest work dates from about a dozen intensely creative years around 1900. His buildings in Glasgow, and especially his craggy masterpiece the Glasgow School of Art, are more complex and playful than any other work in Britain at that time.
Constructure: 100 years of the JAG building and its evolution of space and meaning
100 years of the JAG building and its evolution of space and meaning: Setting out to tell the story of a building that has stood for a hundred years is a complex undertaking, as ultimately that narrative does not exist in the singular.
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Frankenstein (1910).
Ten minutes is all it takes to tell Mary Shelley’s classic story in this pioneering adaptation by Thomas Edison’s production company. It’s a splashy choice at a time when film was still in its infancy and considered a novelty, and it now has the status of being the first horror films ever made.
Given its one reel limit — D.W. Griffith wouldn’t pioneer the feature length film for another half decade — the story is strictly bare bones and told in three scenes. Dr. Frankenstein (Augustus Phillips) has his big idea, the monster (Charles Ogle) gets created, then it turns up to ruin Frankenstein’s wedding to Elizabeth (Mary Fuller).
J. Seare Dawley’s production is clunky and stagy, even by 1910 standards, although the creation scene is innovative. The centerpiece of the film, and taking up about half of its running time, the monster’s birth isn’t portrayed as the usual stitching together of corpses but as a creation from chemicals. The early special effects were created by burning a dummy in costume to ashes then running the film backward. Also striking is Ogle’s makeup, which he created himself.
Filmmaking of that period hasn’t aged well, so don’t expect loads of entertainment from a century old film. But it is worth a look, especially for the glimpse it gives us of the way people thought about Mary Shelley’s novel before Universal’s landmark 1931 production came along to leave its indelible stamp on Frankenstein and his monster.
The creation scene, of course.
The film was considered missing from shortly after its release until the mid-1970s when one surviving print was finally discovered hidden in a farmhouse in Wisconsin.
“Nosferatu” (1922) and “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919).
Film Buff Online.
The full film:
from → 1910s, horror, literary-adaptation, silent
← The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights (2009).
Beginning of the End (1957). →
Movie-A-Day #301: Frankenstein (1931). « Desuko Movie Spot.
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About Heritage Auctions - San Francisco Offices
(on the corner of Jackson and Battery)
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How To Get The Most For Your Collection...
» Consign to auction or get a free auction evaluation today.
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» See what other collectors have to say about Heritage.
Note: We offer special Profit Opportunities for dealers and collectors via joint venture and partner relationships. If you know of quality objects for sale, Heritage can finance the purchase (either 50-50 or fully funded basis) and split proceeds after costs. We also offer generous Finder's Fees on auction consignments.
David Carde
Consignment Director, Arms & Armor
DavidC@HA.com
A native of Puerto Rico, David moved to Chicago in 1993 to attend Prairie State College and the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1998, to continue his studies he moved to San Francisco, where he decided to apply for a summer Firearms position with Butterfield and Butterfield Auctions, and he has remained in the auction business in San Francisco ever since. Since then, he has developed broad general knowledge of firearms, with specialties in early Spanish Miquelet firearms and other Latin America-related collectibles. David became a founding member of our San Francisco office and our Arms and Armor Department when Heritage acquired his employer’s auction company in 2011. He also travels extensively, representing Heritage at numerous gun shows throughout the country, and regularly appears as an expert-appraiser on Antiques Roadshow.
Holly Sherratt
Director, Modern & Contemporary Art, San Francisco
HollyS@HA.com
Holly Sherratt has more than 20 years of fine art experience and has worked in the auction industry for more than a decade. As a well-regarded Modern and Contemporary Art specialist, she has directed the sales of hundreds of important collections nationwide. She was the founding Director of Made in California Art at a major auction house and was instrumental in establishing world record prices for dozens of artists. She was also Head of Museum Programs at the world’s largest art online retailer, managing strategic partnerships with museums such as MoMA, British Museum, and the de Young. With vast auction, business development, and non-profit experience, she has built relationships with collectors, arts organizations, and fiduciaries around the world.
Holly received her BA in Art History from UCLA and MA in Visual Studies (Art History and Critical Theory) from UCI. She trained at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Laguna Art Museum. Holly also completed coursework at Loyola Law School and received the distinguished American Jurisprudence Awards for both legal writing and criminal law before transferring to graduate school. She is an active member of the San Francisco arts community. She served on the Board of Directors of Contemporary Extension at the SFMOMA and enjoys lecturing at local universities and arts organizations.
Clementine Chen
Consignment Director, Asian Art, San Francisco
ClementineC@HA.com
Clementine Chen is a well-regarded specialist with over a decade of experience in the field of Asian art. Prior to joining Heritage, Clementine worked at international auction houses in Beijing and San Francisco where she organized several exclusive auctions of Chinese paintings and furniture. She also worked for Ronin Gallery, a prestigious Japanese print gallery in New York. In her most recent role as an Asian art Specialist in San Francisco, Clementine regularly set auction records for Chinese paintings sold on the West Coast. Clementine is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese and travels to Asia frequently to conduct primary research in her field and meet with Asian scholars. She received her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Soochow University in China and Master's degree in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Clementine also enjoys traditional Chinese opera and volunteers for Kun Opera Theater.
Janell Snape
Jr Specialist/Cataloguer, European Art
JanellS@HA.com
Janell has more than 18 years of experience in the auction industry and a well-regarded reputation as a connoisseur of European paintings. Prior to joining Heritage, Janell was a senior cataloguer and art historian at a major auction house and has researched and vetted thousands of paintings. An expert in Old Masters and 19th Century European Painting, Janell travels to Europe frequently to conduct primary research and meet with collectors. A San Francisco native and U.S. Navy veteran, Janell earned her B.A. in Art History from San Francisco State University. She volunteers at several local organizations including the San Francisco Public Library and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
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Examining the Popularity of Cultural Theory
Home >> blog >> Examining the Popularity of Cultural Theory
On July 25, 2018, Posted by admin , In blog, With No Comments
Examining the Popularity of Cultural Theory: An Examination of the Literature
The study of cultural theory, or the investigation and the application of techniques designed to analyze various aspects in society, is a fairly recent addition to modern anthropology. The introduction of the cultural theory allowed anthropologists, sociologists, and other students of the human condition the luxury of a new tool to be used in examining the relationships that are exhibited in human behavior. At its most basic level, the implication of cultural theory has provided those involved in the fields of anthropology, gender studies, sociology, history, and even psychiatry to better investigate the current and past conditions of the human culture.
Recently, however, a great deal of cultural theory appears to stem from the works of the noted French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. As a modern philosopher and sociologist, Bourdieu has placed a great deal of emphasis on the concept that the structure of society is figuratively “robbing” the lives of all participants through various methods. The presentation of these theories, especially in respect to the apparent solace that Bourdieu’s theories offer to a jaded society, have resulted in a virtual rebirth of the study of cultural theory. Several of the theories that stem directly from those presented by Bourdieu demonstrate different aspects of cultural theory in respect to modern life. This paper shall examine and clarify several of these theories in the recent literature.
The pressing theme of the recent efforts in cultural studies is best explored as a justification of traits found within the modern capitalistic lifestyle. Three major writers concerning cultural theory have produced works that emphasize the increasing relationship between human beings and materialism, and humans and the diminishing reality of various aspects of traditionalism. This paper shall examine why the study of cultural theories have become so extremely pressing in this era, where the attempt to explore and justify a rapidly changing culture have driven those who study human theory to validate myriad aspects of human society. The works that shall be investigated are The Long Revolution and Marxism and Literature by Raymond Williams, Television Culture by John Fiske, and Cultural Populism by Jim McGuigan. Other relevant works on the subject of an increasing reliance on cultural theory shall be applied as fit.
A Synopsis of Bourdieu’s Works
This section shall briefly investigate the works of Pierre Bourdieu, with an emphasis on his term, habitus. The habitus is best explored as a “…system of acquired dispositions functioning on the practical level as categories of perception and assessment or as classificatory principles as well as being the organizing principles of action.” (Bourdieu: 78 – 79) It is therefore easily seen how Bourdieu’s application of a habitus is found in respect to cultural theory, as Bourdieu places an emphasis on the overall significance of how human beings perceive their environment in addition to how they react to it.
In respect to how the modern expression of cultural theory has gained current significance, the habitus is best explored as the tools used to attempt to place all aspects of a modern society into context. The implications of a habitus is that there needs to be some form of structure that enables the human mind to function, where the human uses the habitus to structure their interactions with the world around them. However, the rapid changes in modern culture have created in the human being a feeling of displacement, where there is no overall comprehension of what culture should be. This means that the habitus that humans have always used as their references for culture need to be updated or restructured to keep up with the changes.
One example of the changing culture is the concept of globalization, which Bourdieu finds lies in direct contrast with the traditional manifestations of society. The process of globalization – where all elements of a traditional society are stripped away and are replaced with a more homogenous manifestation of an “imagined” society – has quickly swept up the world through a combination of the media and the introduction of capitalism. Bourdieu suggests that globalization can be defined through the cultural capital generated by a particular society, where cultural capital are the traits that make that society “legitimate”, or give it characteristics that distinguish that one culture from other cultures. Yet as globalization sweeps the earth, the cultural capital, as well as the habitus that defines it, falls apart and all aspects of different societies therefore become similar.
The modern emphasis on cultural theory, therefore, is to provide a sense of identity for the individual communities of the world. Through addressing the habitus that existed prior to the process of globalization as well as the alteration in that habitus that has since followed, cultural theorists can recreate identities for those who wish to study them.
Williams and “The Long Revolution”
The first work that shall be examined in this paper is that of Raymond Williams’ The Long Revolution. This piece describes at length the need for humanity to recreate and function in something that he refers to as a cultural dialect. This cultural dialect, suggests Williams, existed since the time of the Enlightenment and provided human scholars with the tools for progressing in terms of intellectual thought. However, through the creation of a cultural dialect that was founded primarily on the concept of an infallible science, the various world cultures have needed to sacrifice various aspects of the spiritual needs found within human cultures. One excellent example of this type of cultural diminishment is found in the rise in the importance of sciences while religions have lost a great deal of power.
Williams argues that the loss of religions has created serious problems for human culture, where this loss has affected the solace of the human spirit. Williams suggests that spiritual needs are just as crucial to the welfare of humanity as material needs, and in placing the material needs before the spiritual needs, human beings have therefore negatively impacted their ability to meet their spiritual needs. One of the major problems inherent with this concept is that culture as was known before the Enlightenment was utterly demolished by the full acceptance of science and reason. Again, Williams suggests that particular social constructs, like that of Socialism, have collapsed because of the powerful focus directly on rationality and a denial of ethical or religious thought.
Because of this, notes Williams, the structure of the modern world is best perceived as a huge revolution concerning the manner in which human beings perceive themselves and the world around them. Bourdieu would call this a re- examination and a reconstruction of the basic habitus that drives human perceptions. Here, the new importance in cultural theory is to define and provide for a society that enables science and emotion to co- exist. For more information go to PhDify.com
Fiske and “Television Culture”
Perhaps the theories that most closely resembles Pierre Bourdieu in his works is that of John Fiske. Fiske’s theories present an examination of how the prevalence of television has created in society and culture a new “reality”, where the mass saturation of television has completely affected the culture of all who come in contact with the device. Fiske’s theories concerning the development of a “code” through television mimic those of Bourdieu and his theories of globalism and mass culture. In terms of a television code, Fiske writes: “A code is a rule-governed system of signs, whose rules and conventions are shared amongst members of a culture and which is used to generate and circulate meanings in and for that culture” (Fiske: 4) The implications of this code are resoundingly clear, where the new set of identification patters (or the habitus) generated by the popularity of television have created a new version of culture.
This may be difficult to understand, but examine the following: There is currently a great emphasis in modern society to be as physically beautiful as possible. While many would be correct in arguing that this particular behavior pattern is my no means a new concept in society, what is new is the predominant acceptance of specific standards of beauty within society. For example, standards of beauty are found in women who fit specific facial patterns and possess extremely thin bodies – physical types that might otherwise be considered unhealthy. Yet the acceptance of being “thin” has become a definition of beauty, even if the face does not correspond to the patterns. The emphasis on being thin has, Fiske would argue, no doubt been generated almost entirely by manufactured definitions of beauty as found in a television society.
The unconscious acceptance of these television codes has entered into society to such a degree that the average citizen of a developed country is not entirely certain which aspects of society are “real” and which have been fabricated by society. The individual human has had their beliefs so greatly impacted by television that it might very well be impossible to separate the independent cultures from the television cultures: Fiske indeed points out that there might not actually be any cultures in developed countries that are still removed from the television codes. Here, an emphasis on the study of cultural theory might be an attempt to pull the elements of a television society from the “real” society that existed prior to the fabrications of the television codes.
McGuigan and “Cultural Populism”
The term cultural populism is best defined by McGuigan as: “… the intellectual assumption, that the symbolic experiences and practices of ordinary people are more important analytically and politically than Culture with a capital C.” (McGuigan: 4) This, suggests McGuigan, means that the entire structure of culture does not need to rely on manifestations of “culture” that are normally considered to represent a society, a tradition, or a people. Here, McGuigan finds that the events that one experiences on a mundane level better demonstrate specific cultural traits than do the fields of art, literature, or the other examples of “Culture”.
McGuigan’s theories are those that do not directly correspond to Bourdieu, as Pierre Bourdieu placed an extremely heavy emphasis on the role of “Culture” as being the among the best ways to examine the stability of a culture. McGuigan strongly disagrees with this concept: Rather than portraying selective elements of a society through works created for that sole purpose, McGuigan finds that the true method of exploring a society or a culture is through the unplanned and more intimate aspects encountered therein.
McGuigan finds that the problems in addressing the study of a culture based on what is publicly identified as “Culture” is counterproductive. For example, imagine walking through a museum and being informed that a particular painting best represents the entire culture of the Italian Renaissance. McGuigan would argue that no matter how beautifully executed or how detailed the painting, that one work would only represent the ideals and the accomplishments of a specific painter and could not possibly serve as a representation of all aspects of the Renaissance culture. To suggest otherwise would be to limit the achievements and the significance of that culture entirely.
It should be noted, however, that in no way is McGuigan suggesting that “Culture” be ignored. Rather, McGuigan finds that the best methods of supplementing what is known about a culture can come from such magnificent works, but that these works only serve to enhance what might already be known about a specific culture. Indeed, suggests McGuigan, the emphasis on “Culture” might be entirely erroneous as it only showcases the most highly intellectual works, and does not take into account the achievements or the lifestyles of those who fall into the categories of the less educated.
It can be seen from this description that McGuigan’s theories do not actively mesh with those of the three writers examined prior to his in this paper. However, McGuigan’s work does point out that the study of cultural theory has long since been actively limited to the study of “Culture”, and that this must cease if the world is to find a true niche concerning cultural identification. Here, the emphasis on culture in respect to changing cultural theory strongly suggests that a new method for examining culture be used.
This paper has examined the theme of why the study of cultural theory has become so pressing in the modern world. Four noted sociologists have been examined in order to best clarify this theme. The unifying theory that can be seen in the works of all four writers is that the actual study of culture is erroneous, either because the existing society is not demonstrative of a “real” culture or that the techniques themselves are inherently flawed.
In the works of Bourdieu, Fiske, and Williams, however, there is a serious emphasis on the belief that culture itself has become inherently altered to the point where it is difficult to identify it. For these three sociologists, the implications of an increased study of cultural theory is that human beings are currently without identification in their lives: In such an environment, there is little sense of tradition and even less sense of personal establishment. Bourdieu would suggest that this occurs because the habitus that sustained these things has been altered past the point of use. In order to change this feeling, the habitus must again be altered in order to provide reference, or that cultural theory coherently depicts culture in a manner so a new habitus is formed.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). In Other Words: Essays Towards a Reflexive Sociology (M. Adamson, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Douglas, M. (1989). “Culture and Collective Action”. In M. Freilich (Ed.), The Relevance of Culture. New York: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
Fiske, J., (1987) Television Culture. London: Methuen.
Hall, S. (1997) Representation : Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Hall, S. (1999) Visual Culture: The Reader. Oxford: Corwin Press.
McGuigan, J. (1992) Cultural Populism. London: Routledge.
Schusky, E. L., & Culbert, T. P. (1978). Introducing Culture (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Sulkunen, P. (1982). “Society Made Visible–on the Cultural Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu”. Acta Sociologica. 25(2), 103-115.
Williams, R. (2001) The Long Revolution. New York: Broadview Press.
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Browsing by Author "Naegele, Nick"
Alisa Suzanne Jordheim, soprano, Saturday, May 24, 2008
Jordheim, Alisa Suzanne (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2008-05-24)
Benjamin Fraley, percussion, Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Fraley, Benjamin (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2010-06-02)
Brian Ganch and Nick Leahy, percussion, Thursday, May 10, 2007
Leahy, Nick; Ganch, Brian (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2007-05-10)
CCM Atrium Recital Series, Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Henderson, Josh (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2006-11-14)
Desiree Kelila Miller, cello, Saturday, May 15, 2010
Miller, Desiree (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2010-05-15)
Jennifer N. Poff, soprano, Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Poff, Jennifer N. (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2007-02-27)
Mark Tollefsen, piano, Monday, April 19, 2010
Tollefsen, Mark (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2010-04-19)
Nick Naegele, violin, Friday, March 30, 2007
Naegele, Nick (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2007-03-30)
Nick Naegele, violin, Friday, May 21, 2010
Nick Naegele, violin, Friday, November 12, 2010
Nick Naegele, violin, Sunday, May 4, 2008
T.J. Allen, clarinet; Nick Naegele, violin, Friday, March 12, 2010
Allen, T.J.; Naegele, Nick (University of Cincinnati. College-Conservatory of Music; University of Cincinnati. Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library; University of Cincinnati; University of Cincinnati. Archives and Rare Books Library, 2010-03-12)
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Kevin Feige Approached Jason Statham about a Role in the MCU!
Movies News Marvel Universe
A couple of years ago, we heard that one of this generation's most popular action heroes, Jason Statham, was in talks to play Bullseye in Marvel’s Daredevil Season 2. That rumor may have been debunked, but now there’s no doubt that he was once approached about a role in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
While promoting Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige disclosed to Den of Geek that the English actor had entered negotiations for an undisclosed role in one of their movies. However, he'd been forced to pass on it due to a scheduling conflict. Feige explained:
We talked with him (Statham) about doing a role in one of our movies. We’re fans, too. It didn’t end up working out; his schedule didn’t work out. But I was in another meeting a few days later, and my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it. And it was Jason Statham…And he was saying, "Sorry it didn’t work out. Maybe next time." He couldn’t have been nicer!
Jason Statham must have had a change of heart about the Marvel Cinematic Universe! (GIF via Giphy)
Feige didn’t mention which character or movie they discussed with Statham, but it’s surprising that Statham even considered joining the Marvel family. In 2013, the actor, who's best known for his roles in the Fast and Furious, Expendables, and Transporter franchises, told Digital Spy that he would never play a superhero, because "the cape wouldn’t fit".
Furthermore, Statham claimed in a 2015 interview that he had "no ambition" to star in a Marvel movie. He went on to criticize the movies for their excessive use of stunt doubles and CGI effects:
I could take my grandma and put her in a cape, and they'll put her on a green screen, and they'll have stunt doubles come in and do all the action. Anybody can do it.
The 49-year-old actor must have had a change of heart. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told Feige, "Maybe next time."
Would you like to see Jason Statham as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Which character would you like him to play? Share via comments, and stay tuned for the latest updates!
Marvel Marvel Cinematic Universe Kevin Feige Jason Statham
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Category: Facts & Figures,Latino Issues,News,Subfeature |
Experts: K-12 Population Shift Toward Students of Color Will Shed Light on Resource Inequalities
August 17, 2014 | :
by Ronald Roach
Deborah Santiago is chief operating officer and vice president for policy at the Washington-based Excelencia in Education advocacy organization.
For the first time ever, non-Hispanic Whites are projected to make up less than 50 percent of the U.S. K-12 public school population. The National Center for Education Statistics has estimated that minorities will comprise 50.2 percent of students in public school classrooms in the 2014-15 academic year.
The shift comes as the nation’s public schools have enrolled surging numbers of non-White Hispanic children in recent years. Non-White Hispanic children will account for 25.8 percent of American public K-12 students this school year and 28.5 percent in the 2019-20 academic year. In 2009-10, 22.8 percent of American students were Latino, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Non-Hispanic Whites are projected to make up 49.8 percent this year and 46.9 percent in 2019-20 of American public school students. African-American enrollment in public schools will be 15.4 percent this year and 15 percent in 2019-20. Among American public school students, Asians will make up 5.2 percent this year and 5.3 percent in 2019-20; Native Americans will be 1.1 percent in 2014-15 and 1 percent in 2019-20.
The population shift is bringing forth challenges, such as higher poverty rates among students and the need for more English-language instruction for children of immigrant families. Low-income students of color, in particular, attend schools that are highly likely to be segregated by race, reflecting U.S. housing patterns, and the schools tend to have fewer high-quality teachers than those in affluent areas, experts say.
“Certainly we know that there is still a great deal of segregation for Latinos, African-Americans and other groups. And they tend to be in school districts that don’t have the high-quality teachers or resources available,” says Deborah Santiago, the chief operating officer and vice president for policy at the Washington-based Excelencia in Education advocacy organization.
In thinking about and discussing the issues emerging with the changing school population, Santiago prefers “to say this is an amazing opportunity rather than challenge to make the kind of investments in education that we fundamentally need” in the U.S.
“This framing of students of color as the majority is an opportunity to do the real systemic change that we’ve only been doing around the edges,” she says. “There are opportunities to make sure that we have high expectations and that we have quality teachers. … We need to make sure that we are as diligent as we have been in the past to make sure this cohort of students is college ready.”
Dr. Patricia Gandara, the co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and a member of the White House Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, told the Associated Press that public schools will have to confront poverty as an issue in order to help their students reach their potential.
About one-fourth of Hispanics and African-Americans live below the poverty line and many poor Hispanic children live with the instability of their families not having legal status, she said. The focus on teacher preparation and stronger curriculum is “not going to get us anywhere unless we pay attention to the really basic needs of these children, things like nutrition and health and safety, and the instability of the homes,” Gandara noted.
Deborah Veney Robinson, the vice president of Government Affairs and Communications at The Education Trust organization, agrees that the most significant challenges ahead for public school will be “making sure vulnerable students have highly effective teachers in every classroom … and that the spread of effective teachers is equitable so that we’re seeing students getting their fair share of high-performance teaching.”
Robinson adds that the higher education sector will have to significantly improve its capacity in retaining and helping students earn degrees. “I think [higher education’s] primary levers are going to be not just access for a more diverse population of students, but also looking at what it can do to make sure students are being successful, meaning that schools are affordable and that students actually graduate,” she says.
Semantic Tags: Government Research • K12
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EC alum/UFC fighter speaks about career
May 17, 2016 by Chris Canizal in 2016, Sports
UFC 199 will be held in the United Center on July 23. There will be two main events that night, as both the middle weight and flyweight championship will be on the line. However, the fight Elmhurst residents should be most excited for is the bout between Ricardo Lamas and Max Holloway. Lamas, the number four ranked featherweight according to UFC.com, is a alumni of Elmhurst College. A two time CCIW all conference wrestler, Lamas returns to his hometown and takes on Holloway, number three ranked fighter according to UFC.com, in a fight that is sure to put the victor in title contention.
“I think a victory over Halloway puts me right back in the mix after the winner of Aldo/Edgar unifies the belt with McGregor,” Lamas said in an email interview.
It’s been a long road for Lamas. Lamas had a decorated career while at Elmhurst, he graduated Elmhurst College in 2005 with a degree in Exercise Science. During his time at EC he won over 100 matches in wrestling and earned All-America honors.
“I can honestly say that without my time at Elmhurst College I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said.
“I am truly grateful for my time spent there and can say that going to Elmhurst College was one of the best choices I’ve made in my life,” he adds.
After he graduated Lamas decided to add to his illustrious wrestling background and become a mixed martial artist.
He started off strong winning his region in the ISCF (International Sport Combat federation) and then joining WEC (World Extreme CageFighting) where he went 4-2 with one knockout. In 2010 the UFC and WEC merged, Lamas has continued his success in the UFC and he credits his success back to his Elmhurst roots.
Lamas attributed his success to his coaches at EC, Steve Marianetti, Alex Pons, and John Jung. “Without them and their mentoring, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” says Lamas.
It’s been a long successful journey for Lamas and on July 23 he will look to add another victory to his record.
May 17, 2016 /Chris Canizal
2016, Sports
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Home>Latest news
Work Programme providers meet contract targets for all long term jobseekers
The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the representative body for the employment support sector, today welcomes official figures showing that nearly 300,000 formerly long term unemployed jobseekers are now in sustained employment as a result of the Work Programme and that expected performance levels have been met in all 40 contracts.
This strong performance is mirrored in this week’s ERSA Job Start Figures, which show that 551,000 jobseekers have now started a job on the programme. This is an important indicator of future performance as approximately 70 percent of jobseekers starting a job will move into sustained employment – usually meaning six months in work.
Young people are faring particularly well on the programme, with 143,000 young people formerly on Jobseekers Allowance now having moved into work. Of these, government statistics show that 71,640 have already moved into long term employment.
Particularly welcome is the news that performance targets for those on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) have been met for the first time. These figures relate to jobseekers whose Work Capability Assessment (WCA) expects them to be job ready within three to six months of referral to the programme and is the group for which the ESA target was specifically designed.
Since November 2012, an additional group has been added to the programme, those Work Capability Assessment judge them to be at least 12 months away from being work ready. This new group of jobseekers will inevitably take longer to reach the jobs market.
ERSA, Chief Executive, Kirsty McHugh said:
“Today’s figures are great news for the country, showing that the Work Programme is playing a vital role in helping the long term unemployed share the benefits of the recovery.
I’m particularly delighted that targets to help those on Employment and Support Allowance are being met. We all know that it’s been far more difficult to help those with health conditions get into work, but we also know that with the right support it can be done.’
Press enquiries should be directed to Anna Robin 07912 569 449 /anna.robin@ersa.org.uk.
1. The Employment Related Services Association (ERSA) is the sector body for those delivering or with an interest in employment support services. ERSA’s membership spans the private, voluntary and public sectors and ranges from large multi-nationals through to small specialist charities. It has over 140 members including all prime contractors of the Work Programme.
2. The Work Programme is the government’s largest back to work scheme and caters for the most disadvantaged jobseekers in the labour market. Further information about how the programme operates, including the financial model, is available in this Policy Briefing on ERSA’s website.
3. ERSA’s Work Programme Performance Report is designed to provide statistical information on the performance of the Work Programme. It provides information on ‘Job Starts’, the number of participants starting a job on the programme. The report can be found here.
4. The Government’s official statistics on sustained Job Outcomes, jobseekers who have been in work for (in most cases) six months are available here.
5. ERSA is able to set up interviews with jobseekers who have found work, Work Programme providers and employers who are recruiting form the scheme. Case studies are available on ERSA’s website. Interviews with ERSA’s Chief Executive Kirsty McHugh are available on request.
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Ten-Year (2001-2011) Trends in the Incidence Rates and Short-Term Outcomes of Early Versus Late Onset Cardiogenic Shock After Hospitalization for Acute Myocardial Infarction
Hoa L. Nguyen, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
Jorge L. Yarzebski, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
Darleen M. Lessard, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
Joel M. Gore, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
David D. McManus, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
Robert J. Goldberg, University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolFollow
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences; Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
Cardiology | Cardiovascular Diseases | Clinical Epidemiology | Epidemiology
BACKGROUND: Cardiogenic shock (CS) is a serious complication of acute myocardial infarction, and the time of onset of CS has a potential role in influencing its prognosis. Limited contemporary data exist on this complication, however, especially from a population-based perspective. Our study objectives were to describe decade-long trends in the incidence, in-hospital mortality, and factors associated with the development of CS in 3 temporal contexts: (1) before hospital arrival for acute myocardial infarction (prehospital CS); (2) within 24 hours of hospitalization (early CS); and (3) > /=24 hours after hospitalization (late CS).
METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population consisted of 5782 patients with an acute myocardial infarction who were admitted to all 11 hospitals in central Massachusetts on a biennial basis between 2001 and 2011. The overall proportion of patients who developed CS was 5.2%. The proportion of patients with prehospital CS (1.6%) and late CS (1.5%) remained stable over time, whereas the proportion of patients with early CS declined from 2.2% in 2001-2003 to 1.2% in 2009-2011. In-hospital mortality for prehospital CS increased from 38.9% in 2001-2003 to 53.6% in 2009-2011, whereas in-hospital mortality for early and late CS decreased over time (35.9% and 64.7% in 2001-2003 to 15.8% and 39.1% in 2009-2011, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Development of prehospital and in-hospital CS was associated with poor short-term survival and the in-hospital death rates among those with prehospital CS increased over time. Interventions focused on preventing or treating prehospital and late CS are needed to improve in-hospital survival after acute myocardial infarction.
acute myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock timing, hospital prognosis, population‐based study
© 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.
10.1161/JAHA.117.005566
J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Jun 7;6(6). pii: e005566. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005566. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal of the American Heart Association
Nguyen, Hoa L.; Yarzebski, Jorge L.; Lessard, Darleen M.; Gore, Joel M.; McManus, David D.; and Goldberg, Robert J., "Ten-Year (2001-2011) Trends in the Incidence Rates and Short-Term Outcomes of Early Versus Late Onset Cardiogenic Shock After Hospitalization for Acute Myocardial Infarction" (2017). Open Access Articles. 3185.
Cardiology Commons, Cardiovascular Diseases Commons, Clinical Epidemiology Commons, Epidemiology Commons
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SportsCenter Anchor
John Anderson is an anchor on the Emmy-award winning daily studio show SportsCenter, ESPN’s flagship sports news program. Anderson is most often seen on the 11 p.m. ET edition of the program, both in the studio and from locations at major sporting events.
Anderson joined ESPN in June 1999 as an ESPNEWS anchor and came to ESPN from KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Ariz. where he was a weekend sports anchor from 1996 to 1999. Prior to KPHO, Anderson was a sports reporter and weekend sports anchor at KOTV in Tulsa, Okla. (1990 to 1996), and a sports photographer and reporter at Tulsa’s KTUL-TV from 1988 to 1990. Anderson began his broadcasting career at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Mo.
On November 3, 2013, Anderson made his debut as co-host of ESPN’s presentation of the 2013 ING New York City Marathon. He paired with fellow SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm as hosts of the five-hour race telecast aired nationally on ESPN2 and in New York City on ABC7.
Previously, Anderson was co-host of Wipeout on ABC, an extreme obstacle-course series on the network. In 2015, Anderson supplied the voice of a futuristic alien sportscaster in an episode of the Disney XD animated series Penn Zero: Part Time Hero.
Anderson was graduated from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree in 1987. He was a four-year member of the men’s track team, competing in high jump, and captained the squad his senior season. In 2007 he was honored with the Mizzou Faculty-Alumni Award for his contributions to the University, including an ESPN/Missouri internship for one journalism student that he began in 2003.
Anderson, a native of Green Bay, Wis., won the Outstanding Sports Feature Reporting Award, presented by the Oklahoma Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, in 1994 and 1995; in 1997, he received the Associated Press Television Award in Arizona for outstanding performance in broadcast journalism. In 2003, he co-wrote a book with golfer Chi Chi Rodriquez, Chi Chi’s Golf Games You Gotta Play, which teaches players how to play better golf and have fun while playing. In the fall of 2009, Anderson and his wife started the Anderson Family Charitable Foundation to help supply underprivileged youth with backpacks, schools supplies and food. In November 2010, Anderson competed in the NYC Marathon as Captain of Team Tillman in honor of raising money for the Pat Tillman Foundation.
NCAA Outdoor Championships Take to the Track on ESPN and ESPN2
SEC Network to Carry Live Telecast of SEC Championships in Tennis, Golf and Track & Field
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Home > Media releases > Six million Australians entitled to domestic violence leave.
Six million Australians entitled to domestic violence leave.
Up to six million Australians will soon have access to a guaranteed entitlement of five days’ unpaid family and domestic violence leave following the passing of the Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill in Parliament last night.
Senior Employment Relations Adviser, from workplace specialist firm Employsure, Andrew Spiteri says, “This Bill is making it a requirement for employers to have a policy for dealing with domestic violence and supporting victims.”
He adds, “Employers should always take the necessary steps to ensure staff feel safe talking about sensitive topics such as domestic violence. They need to reassure their staff that all conversations will be handled appropriately and will be confidential.”
What is the entitlement?
Employees entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year. “Family and domestic violence means violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s family member that seeks to coerce or control the employee or causes them fear or harm.”
Employees can take the leave if they need to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence and it’s impractical to do so outside their ordinary hours of work.
Who does it apply to?
The changes will see the Fair Work Act amended to offer an entitlement to unpaid family and domestic violence leave in the National Employment Standards. This entitlement applies to six million Australian employees, including those working full-time, casually, and part-time across all industries.
When does it apply?
Spiteri says, “The legislation is set to receive Royal Assent in the coming days, making it a legal entitlement for every employee under the national system in Australia.”
How much proof will an employee have to provide so they can be eligible for this new leave entitlement?
“The law is deliberately flexible to make it accessible. Therefore, there is no requirement for an AVO to be in place. However, there are some good ways to validate the request. The evidence can come in a number of forms; such as a police report, court documents, a note from a family violence support service, or a statutory declaration.”
What do employers need to do now?
According to Spiteri, it is essential for employers to communicate this new leave entitlement to employees, to ensure they are aware of how and when to notify them of their request for this leave. “The notice requirements are similar to personal leave requests. Employers can set their expectations. The best way to do this is to first have an open and relaxed conversation with employees about this leave entitlement and how they want them to approach taking some time off. Then, employers should include it in their policy.”
Media enquiries.
Melissa Fanous
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DELFI ENCulture
Nordic specialists to share experience in Vilnius on fighting violence against children
Specialists and scientists of the Nordic countries will attend a conference at the Lithuanian parliament on Friday share their experience on fighting violence against children.
Staffan Janson, visiting professor of Sweden's Uppsala university, will tell about enforcement of the ban on corporal punishment, Morten Stephansen, senior adviser of the Children's Care Department at the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs, will tell about protection of children's rights.
During the conference, Lithuania's Social Security and Labor Minister Linas Kukuraitis will present the changes in the children's rights field that were made after a four-year-old boy was beaten to death in his home in Kedainiai, central Lithuania, in January. The boy's mother and stepfather are suspected of the crime.
After the death, the parliament passed legal amendments to ban corporal punishment of children.
Two-thirds of Lithuanians back corporal punishment ban
Lithuania should strengthen the protection of women, children and disable
The conference will also address the changes in the nation's thinking about the children's rights protection system, measures of prevention and intervention.
According to data provided by the police, 2,700 children suffered from violence in Lithuania last year.
Almost 68 percent of the Lithuanian population are in favour of the corporal punishment of children...
“While considerable progress has been achieved in protecting human rights in recent years, the...
MPs discuss setting up sex offender register to protect children
In an effort to protect children, Lithuanian lawmakers are discussing setting up a sex offender...
Mission Siberia participants started their journey to Kazakhstan
Participants of the annual Mission Siberia left for Kazakhstan from Vilnius Railway Station on...
Archeologists have found the bases of two columns of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius , Vilnius...
Exhibition and concert to commemorate liquidation of Kaunas Ghetto
The Kaunas Ghetto was burned in July 1944. Around 5000 people were transferred to concentration...
Music and beyond: Kaunas Piano Fest
The young yet ambitious event aims to bring young, emerging pianists from all over the world to...
Lithuanian films and talents will be seen in Karlovy Vary Festival
On Friday starts International Karlovy Vary Film Festival, which is full of Lithuanian accents: in...
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Highest-paid actor in the world in 2019
Sean Bean Highest-Paid Actor in the World
By Carol Kearney
Sean Bean led People With Money’s annual list of the “100 highest paid actors” released on Tuesday.
Sean Bean »
See more news, pictures and video.
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It's been a rough year for the actor, but at least he has his millions of dollars to ease the pain. 60-year-old Sean Bean has taken the No. 1 spot on People With Money’s top 10 highest-paid actors for 2019 with an estimated $46 million in combined earnings.
UPDATE 17/07/2019 : This story seems to be false. (read more)
Sean Bean tops annual list of highest-paid actors
In 2017 it looked like the actor’s spectacular career was winding down. Suddenly, he was back on top. People With Money reports on Tuesday (July 16) that Bean is the highest-paid actor in the world, pulling in an astonishing $46 million between June 2018 and June 2019, a nearly $20 million lead over his closest competition.
People With Money’s factors
In compiling this yearly list, the magazine considers factors such as upfront pay, profit participation, residuals, endorsements and advertising work.
The British actor has an estimated net worth of $145 million. He owes his fortune to smart stock investments, substantial property holdings, lucrative endorsement deals with CoverGirl cosmetics. He also owns several restaurants (the “Fat Bean Burger” chain) in London, a Football Team (the “Sheffield Angels”), has launched his own brand of Vodka (Pure Wonderbean - UK), and is tackling the juniors market with a top-selling perfume (With Love from Sean) and a fashion line called “Sean Bean Seduction”.
The ranking is significant for many Sean fans, who have been waiting for his triumphant return to the glory days for what seems like a lifetime.
© 2019 MediaMass All rights reserved. Do not reproduce (even with permission).
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Celebrity Central
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Nilotic languages
The Nilotic languages are a group of Eastern Sudanic languages spoken across a wide area between South Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples, who traditionally practice cattle-herding. [1]
27 relations: Burun languages, Datooga language, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dinka language, Eastern Nilotic languages, Eastern Sudanic languages, Ethiopia, Georgiy Starostin, Joseph Greenberg, Kalenjin languages, Kenya, Luo languages, Maasai language, Nile, Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilotic peoples, Paranilotic languages, Pastoralism, Roger Blench, South Sudan, Southern Eastern Sudanic languages, Southern Nilotic languages, Sudan, Tanzania, Turkana language, Uganda, Western Nilotic languages.
Burun languages
The Burun languages are a branch of the Nilotic languages.
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Datooga language
Datooga is a Nilotic language or dialect cluster of the Southern Nilotic group.
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo), also known as DR Congo, the DRC, Congo-Kinshasa or simply the Congo, is a country located in Central Africa.
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Dinka language
Dinka (natively Thuɔŋjäŋ, Thuɔŋ ee Jieng or simply Jieng) is a Nilotic dialect cluster spoken by the Dinka people, the major ethnic group of South Sudan.
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Eastern Nilotic languages
The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in South Sudan.
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Eastern Sudanic languages
In most classifications, the Eastern Sudanic languages are a group of nine families of languages that may constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family.
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Ethiopia (ኢትዮጵያ), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ, yeʾĪtiyoṗṗya Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpebilīk), is a country located in the Horn of Africa.
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Georgiy Starostin
Georgiy Sergeevich "George" Starostin (Гео́ргий Серге́евич Ста́ростин; born 4 July 1976) is a Russian linguist who presides the Center of Comparative Studies at the Russian State University for the Humanities.
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Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.
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Kalenjin languages
The Kalenjin languages are a family of a dozen Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania.
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Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Africa with its capital and largest city in Nairobi.
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Luo languages
The dozen Luo, Lwo or Lwoian languages are spoken by the Luo peoples in an area ranging from southern Sudan to southern Kenya, with Dholuo extending into northern Tanzania and Alur into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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Maasai language
Maasai (Masai) or Maa (autonym: ɔl Maa) is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000.
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The Nile River (النيل, Egyptian Arabic en-Nīl, Standard Arabic an-Nīl; ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲱ, P(h)iaro; Ancient Egyptian: Ḥ'pī and Jtrw; Biblical Hebrew:, Ha-Ye'or or, Ha-Shiḥor) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, and is commonly regarded as the longest river in the world, though some sources cite the Amazon River as the longest.
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Nilo-Saharan languages
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet.
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Nilotic peoples
The Nilotic peoples are peoples indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages, which constitute a large sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
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Paranilotic languages
Paranilotic is a group of languages proposed by Carl Meinhof.
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Pastoralism is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock.
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Roger Blench
Roger Marsh Blench (born 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist.
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South Sudan, officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa.
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Southern Eastern Sudanic languages
The Southern Eastern Sudanic, Eastern n Sudanic, En Sudanic or Kir–Abbaian languages form one of two primary divisions of the Eastern Sudanic languages in the classification of Bender (2000).
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Southern Nilotic languages
The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania (with one of them, Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon).
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The Sudan or Sudan (السودان as-Sūdān) also known as North Sudan since South Sudan's independence and officially the Republic of the Sudan (جمهورية السودان Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa.
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Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a sovereign state in eastern Africa within the African Great Lakes region.
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Turkana language
Turkana is the language of the Turkana people of Kenya.
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Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda (Jamhuri ya Uganda), is a landlocked country in East Africa.
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Western Nilotic languages
The Western Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, along with the Eastern Nilotic languages and Southern Nilotic languages; Themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan.
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Nilotic language.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilotic_languages
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#Seafairinannisquam
Sea Fair in Annisquam: Illustrating the Eras with Posters
July 25, 2018 July 25, 2018 Enduring Gloucester Leave a comment
Annisquam Moonlight. Jon Corbino (1905-1964)
Every year’s Sea Fair poster is unique, none more so than those created by Lisbeth Bornhofft in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Her creations derived from individual silk screens, individual printings. Each was a one-off work of art. Hung on phone poles and in various public places, a number of them disappeared every year. Presumably, people appreciated the value in their individuality and helped themselves, Lisbeth notes.
AHS AVC Lisbeth’s 1979 Sea Fair poster
For the last 172 years Annisquam’s Sea Fair, and before that its Church Fair, has graced the village center in mid-summer. The poster announcing the event bears the date of the year it was produced. Thus, it is that the posters serve a historical purpose and make a contribution to the Annisquam art scene.
Lisbeth took on the Sea Fair artist’s mantle for over ten years, when her brother Hank Bornhofft was in charge of Sea Fair’s staging. Creating a new design every summer, Lisbeth produced silk-screened posters by the hundreds. Each one depicts an aspect of the village that is mirrored in its landscape or architecture-scape. The water figures prominently, as do familiar village scenes. In Lisbeth’s artwork, we see reflections of the Church and Lobster Cove, the Lighthouse, sailboats and lobster pots. The scenes she chooses carry meaning, meaning shared by residents and visitors who have forged unique, personal ties to the place and its scenery. Lisbeth says her image choices are intended to evoke emotion, a sort of nostalgia.
“The images bring a flood of memories, feelings of connectedness in the web of family and friends, generations who have come and gone,” Lisbeth says. “These are iconic Annisquam views. I think my mother [Nancy Bornhofft] was the inspiration for the color schemes at first, the blues and greens. Then, in later years I sometimes chose different colors, just to be different…oranges and yellows, like in the lobster pot poster.”
Producing a silk-screen poster “involves a high level of craft, as much as design,” Lisbeth explains. All of the posters are multi-color, with each hue applied as a discrete element. In an approximate print run of 100 posters, each one was screened separately. Lis begins with the lightest shade, which is usually applied as background and adds detail in progressively darker shades. Thus, lettering and shadows are added last.
All of Lisbeth’s posters have the same font and layout, a unifying visual theme that distinguishes hers from those created by others. With a requirement to list all activities and events planned for Sea Fair, laying out the print portion was painstaking. She started with a whole sheet of letters in different fonts. With the screen on a table, Lisbeth chose the letters she wanted to use, pressing each one by hand to produce text on a master poster. From that she made a screen photograph with an emulsion.
AHS AVC Lisbeth & 1987 poster
Lisbeth only has one or two screens nowadays. “I saved all my silkscreen tools and the apparatus until last year,” Lisbeth says. “When I retired [from the New England Aquarium], I realized the technique is outdated for mass production.” Nonetheless, if she ever feels so moved, she still has those couple screens, as well as the know-how and talent to again produce distinctive and eye-catching pieces.
***Annisquam’s 2018 Sea Fair will take place on Saturday, July 28 in the village center.***
Lisbeth Bornhofft’s Sea Fair posters will be on view in the Annisquam Historical Society’s Firehouse this summer. A naturalist and scientist, Lisbeth worked at the New England Aquarium for 25 years. She retired this last Spring. Previous to her career in science, Lisbeth was a practicing artist and art teacher. She graduated from Smith College with a BA in Fine Arts (concentration in screen printing) and an MA in Education from the Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts).
Holly Clay is settled in Gloucester after many years of living overseas and in Washington, D.C. Holly is a member of the Gloucester Historical Commission and the Annisquam Historical Society. With a background in education and writing, her professional energies are currently devoted to studying and teaching yoga and meditation.
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NCAA Division I Softball World Series Glance
At ASA Hall of Fame Stadium
All Times EDT
Double Elimination; x-if necessary
Arizona 3, Washington 1
Game 2 — UCLA (51-6) vs. Minnesota (46-12), 2:30 p.m.
Game 3 — Florida (49-16) vs. Oklahoma State (44-15), 7 p.m.
Game 4 — Oklahoma (54-3) vs. Alabama 57-8), 9:30 p.m.
Game 5 — Arizona (48-12) vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 6 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 9:30 p.m.
Game 7 — Washington (50-8) vs. Game 2 loser, Noon
Game 8 — Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 2:30 p.m.
Game 9 — Game 6 loser vs. Game 7 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 10 — Game 5 loser vs. Game 8 winner, 9:30 p.m.
Game 11 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 12 — Game 6 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Keep up with the latest commentary and interviews from Tom Temin and the Federal Drive by subscribing to our newsletters.
x-Game 13 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 7 p.m.
x-Game 14 — Game 6 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 9:30 p.m.
NOTE: If only one game is necessary, it will be played at 7 p.m.
(Best-of-3)
Monday, June 3: Teams TBD, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, June 4: Teams TBD, 8:30 p.m.
x-Wednesday, June 5: Teams TBD, 8:30 p.m.
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Roger Federer’s Wimbledon Semifinal Results
Won 12, Lost 1
2003 — def. Andy Roddick, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3.
2004 — def. Sebastien Grosjean, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
2005 — def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
2006 — def. Jonas Bjorkman, 6-2, 6-0, 6-2.
2007 — def. Richard Gasquet, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
2008-x — def. Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
2009 — def. Tommy Haas, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-3.
2012 — def. Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
2014-x — def. Milos Raonic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
2015-x — def. Andy Murray, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4.
2016 — lost to Milos Raonic, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
2017 — def. Tomas Berdych, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
2019 — def. Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
x-lost final
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Hong Kong opposition movement largely without leaders
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
HONG KONG (AP) — The largely youth-driven movement of black-clad protesters challenging Hong Kong’s government over an unpopular extradition bill is a coalition operating without a clear leadership structure.
And that adds to its appeal for supporters disaffected from the moneyed elites who run the former British colony, organizers say.
The nearly 2 million Hong Kong residents who marched all day Sunday in a massive show of opposition to the bill, which would allow extraditions to mainland China, largely acted on their own, said Bonnie Leung, a leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, one of dozens of groups coordinating the protests.
“It is civil society, from different walks of life, a lot of nameless people, a lot of different students’ unions, that are voluntarily and organically doing a lot of actions,” said Leung, whose group took responsibility for getting an official permit for Sunday’s march.
The collection of student groups, political and non-governmental organizations, labor unions and teachers’ associations that helped run the demonstration, and a string of earlier ones, ensured the march was orderly, even though thousands loitered afterward in a continued protest that was still underway 24 hours later.
“In this whole campaign, what we are trying to do is coordinate with different people,” Leung said in an interview. “They are talking about, ‘Oh, will that work, what won’t work?’ There are no real leaders and this I believe is a very healthy development and this is very good for our campaign.”
For the many teens and 20-somethings who took to the streets, the protests are about far more than an extradition bill. They are about preserving the autonomy Hong Kong was promised when Britain ceded its colony to mainland China in 1997, a “one-country, two-systems” arrangement that was supposed to assure Hong Kong separate legal and economic status for 50 years after the handover.
The marchers have drawn inspiration from earlier protests, especially the “Umbrella Movement” of 2014, when tens of thousands of mostly youthful demonstrators staged marches and sit-ins, snarling downtown traffic for weeks to demand a say in the election of Hong Kong’s leader — a demand that ultimately failed.
That Beijing-appointed leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, has insisted on forcing passage of the unpopular extradition bill — and is now the main target of the demonstrations. She backed down Saturday, indefinitely suspending the bill’s passage, but that did not appease the protesters.
The fluid, ad hoc nature of the movement was evident Monday, as hundreds of youths lingered near Lam’s office building. A small but determined group vowed to continue demanding that Lam completely scrap the extradition bill, which if passed, could send some suspects in Hong Kong to China to face vague political charges, torture and unfair trials. That concern has grown with the increasingly authoritarian approach of today’s top Communist Party leader, President Xi Jinping.
Others believed they needed to retreat and draw up a timetable for their demands, said Nathan Law, a leader of Demosisto, a pro-democracy group advocating self-determination for Hong Kong.
“There is no long-term agenda, no leader. We all feel the same and want the same things, but we don’t have to follow any one person,” said one black-clad participant in his early 20s, who gave his name only as Jojo.
One figure who has emerged as a potential opposition leader is Joshua Wong, a founder of Demosisto who, at just 17, became the face of the 2014 protests. He was released Monday after spending a month in prison related to those activities.
He swapped the white shirt he was wearing upon his release for a black one — this movement’s chosen color.
In an interview outside government headquarters, Wong was scathing in his criticism of Lam and her administration, especially police officers who used tear gas and rubber bullets to subdue protesters during clashes last week.
The moves were like the ruling Communist Party’s bloody crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago, Wong said. “Carrie Lam just copied the model from Beijing and applied it in Hong Kong,” he said.
That movement, too, was an unusually vehement expression of the power of numbers. It also involved many different groups both inside Beijing and elsewhere in China. The Chinese authorities ended the 1989 protests with a military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead, a degree of violence still unthinkable in Beijing.
But in Hong Kong, the authorities have sought to soothe anger over police use of forceful measures and to reassure the city of 7 million that their civil liberties are intact.
As far as his contribution to the anti-extradition law movement, Wong said he had no further ambitions other than supporting those staying the course. But he does hope it may sway the leadership in Beijing.
“I just want to back and support those who have been standing up against Xi Jinping,” Wong said.
“They tried to ignore the voice of the people” he said of the Hong Kong authorities. “But when the voice becomes louder and louder Beijing can’t ignore it.”
Business News Government News World News
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Hennings: An A-10 Pilot Reflects On The Superbowl!
FighterSweep Staff No Comments Air Force
[Editor’s Note: I remember reading about Chad Hennings as a younger man, inspired by his story of truly putting “service before self” and flying the Mighty Hawg during Desert Storm, then earning a spot on “America’s Team”–the Dallas Cowboys–after attending a tryout. What an awesome story! We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. And whether you’re a Broncos fan or Panthers fan, we hope you enjoy the game!!]
Chad Hennings won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys during the 1990s, and his first appearance was within a year’s time of flying his A-10 Thunderbolt II in a combat sortie in northern Iraq. Hennings, a 1988 Academy graduate, led the nation with 24 sacks and was awarded the Outland Trophy during the 1987 season — an award that recognizes the nation’s best interior lineman.
Following graduation, Hennings — now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame — was drafted by the Cowboys in the 11th round of the 1988 draft. Before he could even suit up in the NFL, Hennings had to first fulfill his military commitment, a move that was initially hard to accept.
Photo courtesy of lifeofdad.com.
“I wouldn’t say there were regrets, (but) it was an emotional struggle because I wanted to be able to compete,” Hennings said.
From a character perspective, he knew without a doubt what he needed to do because he made a commitment and he was going to stick to it. The drive to compete, however, made his transition from school to pilot training and then into his active-duty squadron a difficult one. That void would eventually be filled with friendly competition as an A-10 pilot.
“We did compete on the range; we competed for performance,” he said. “There (was) always competition and it was a healthy competition.”
After pilot school, Hennings was stationed in the U.K. and deployed twice to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in 1991 and 1992. While deployed, he flew 45 combat sorties in northern Iraq in support of Operation Provide Comfort, an international relief effort after the Gulf War.
After getting settled into the Air Force, Hennings said he contemplated making a career out of it.
“Football was a distant memory and something in the past that I never really thought about until the Air Force went through the reduction in force and they started the waivers in the spring of ’92,” he said.
Hennings separated from active-duty Air Force in April 1992 and transitioned to the Air Force Reserve. He continued to serve in the Reserve individual mobilization augmentee program for almost 10 years.
The next month, Hennings found himself in Dallas working out for the Cowboys.
“It was extremely stressful, initially transitioning in ’92, because I’m leaving one career for another,” he said. “I’m moving from one continent to another, taking on a whole new different position. There were a lot of just stress factors there, and it wasn’t assured that I would make the team.”
Hennings said it was tough coming into the league and competing at a level of competition that was much higher than he experienced before.
But all the downtime spent in the weight room and working out when he wasn’t flying during his deployments and TDYs paid off. He would go on to secure a spot on the team, and kick off what would eventually be a nine-year career with the Cowboys, playing in 119 games and recording 27.5 sacks.
Photo courtesy of Getty/bloggingtheboys.com
In his first season, Hennings and the Cowboys would go on to beat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 27.
“It was pretty surreal,” he said. “I essentially flew a combat mission and then played in the Super Bowl all within a year’s time.”
He compared that Super Bowl experience to his first combat mission. He said he knew he had a job to do, and being around a set of guys who were experienced made it easier to navigate and process all of his emotions.
During his next three seasons, Hennings would go onto win two more Super Bowls with the Cowboys.
“You got to a point in our culture of being a Dallas Cowboy, that that’s what was expected. We knew we were the best team out there,”
Hennings said. “I kind of compare that analogy to being a fighter pilot. It’s kind of that confident arrogance, where you know you’re good, you know your abilities; you walk out there, you don’t flaunt it, but you walk with an extreme amount of confidence.”
It wasn’t until the latter part of Hennings’ career that he fully appreciated winning three Super Bowls, he said.
Two decades after he appeared in his last Super Bowl, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 30, Hennings has a sincere admiration for those moments in time and truly appreciates how special those teams really were.
“As a kid growing up, all your heroes, the role models that you looked up to on the gridiron — you know those guys — they were able to hold that trophy up,” Hennings said. “I was a Minnesota Vikings fan, so they went there four years and they never won one, and that’s where I realized too how difficult it is, not only to just get to the Super Bowl, but to win one — how truly special that is.”
The original article can be viewed here.
(Featured Photo courtesy of the USAF)
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The Centrifuge: What it’s Like to Pull Gs
Watch: KC-135 Flight Crews Refuel four A-10 Thunderbolt II Aircraft
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InterviewRandom Roles
Peter Weller on feminism, sequels, and more
Random Roles
Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what roles we’ll ask them to talk about.
The actor: Peter Weller began his acting career in New York theater, building a formidable list of stage credits before actively forging his path in front of the camera and appearing in such memorable films as The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension, RoboCop, and Naked Lunch. Although he’s worked a great deal on the small screen as of late, both as an actor and a director (after having directed seven episodes of Sons Of Anarchy, he’ll be stepping in front of the camera this season for a recurring role on the series), Weller recently returned to the realm of the big-budget motion pictures, appearing in Star Trek Into Darkness, now on home video.
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)—“Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus”
Peter Weller: Well, first of all, I love the two names, because in my Ph.D studies in Italian Renaissance art history—my minor is classical art— Alexander is a seminal general, diplomat, ambassador of the Western world, and Marcus, I guess, comes from Mark Antony. Those are two classical statuaries of antique and modern history. So I loved the names, and the guy… he’s like Curtis LeMay gone wrong. A more interesting version of Curtis LeMay, I might say, but a guy who’s speaking the truth about a war that’s coming, that the people involved—the Klingons—are not going to negotiate, and certain extreme measures are going to have to be executed.
By the way, everything Marcus says in the film is true, which people forget. People go, “Bad guy! Bad guy!” But why is he a bad guy? Everything he says is true: The Klingons are coming, they do need Khan, and that’s that. It’s just that he’s going to sacrifice the entire Enterprise to get the job done, because the Enterprise started to believe Khan. But if the Enterprise had not believed Khan and had done what Marcus said, then there’d be no movie, and everything would be cool. [Laughs.] But the great writing in this is that the Enterprise wakes the dude up and listens to his game, and then everything goes to crap. But that’s the Enterprise’s hubris. That’s them. They screwed up, not Marcus. Anyway, sorry to go off there. I just hate that.
The A.V. Club: You’d been part of the Star Trek universe prior to this film, having guest-starred on a couple of episodes of Enterprise, but what’s your familiarity with Star Trek as a franchise? Are you a fan?
PW: I’m not a science-fiction fan. Well, you know, I guess I’m a fan of Philip K. Dick. I did a film called Screamers, based on “Second Variety,” his little novella, and I loved doing that thing. I admire certain pieces of science fiction, but I don’t read science fiction, I’m not a big Trekkie, and… I’m just not a big science-fiction guy. But creating alternative universes and alternative moralities is what I admire it for. I like to read about it. And I watched some episodes of Star Trek that they did in the ’60s, and there’s a couple of them that I really liked, but I didn’t watch it every week. I’m a big fan of Leonard Nimoy’s, though, because I did my third job with Leonard.
(Although Weller didn’t clarify what his “third job with Leonard” was, an email to his manager got us the answer: It was the 1973 play Full Circle, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Nimoy and Bibi Andersson, which started at the Kennedy Center before earning a brief run on Broadway. — Ed.)
The Man Without A Country (1973)—“Lt. Fellows”
PW: That’s the first thing I ever did. Was that his name? Fellows? [Laughs.] Yeah, with Cliff Robertson, Robert Ryan, Peter Strauss, and all those guys. Wow…
AVC: How did you find your way in front of the camera? Did you start in theater?
PW: I started in theater. I was in New York. I went to the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, and I got an agent and a manager out of that. I still have the manager, but the agent’s retired. [Laughs.] Yeah, I was doing Sticks And Bones, the Tony Award-winning play. I was the understudy, and then I became the lead. Joe Papp gave me my first job at the New York Shakespeare Festival. And then I went in and played Lt. Fellows for [director] Delbert Mann.
AVC: Had you always intended to make the move from theater to on-camera acting, or was it just the way it panned out?
PW: Yeah, I wanted to make the move, but I wanted to do it on my own terms. I didn’t want to come out to L.A. and look for jobs. I wanted to be in New York. I loved the theater, I loved the people in the theater, I loved the history of the theater, and all the actors I admired came from the theater. And I followed their footsteps. I studied with Uta Hagen. I became a member of the Actors Studio under Elia Kazan. Both those people are heroes to me. Kazan directed Uta Hagen, as a matter of fact. She replaced Jessica Tandy in the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire. In fact, I’ve got a one-off poster right here—with both Marlon Brando and Uta Hagen in Streetcar. My best friend, who’s an antiquary book dealer, gave it to me. But, yeah, all of that New York history, that brilliant history of the theater, was the thing that attracted me to acting. And film, once one does film, you can’t… well, I don’t know, but I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with making movies.
Shoot The Moon (1982)—“Frank Henderson”
PW: Wow. I just showed that movie to my wife. I hadn’t seen it since it came out. What a brilliant movie, and how proud I am to be a part of that movie. You have to remember, that movie was made during… Now, see, I’m bringing up social and intellectual history here, but that movie was made during what was called the second wave of feminism. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve run into students now who have no idea that there was a social revolution in this country [in the ’60s], or in the world, and that people actually died. Whether you liked it or not, whether you understand it or not, you have to be aware of it. Like Cicero said, “He who is not aware of the history of the state is doomed to mental infancy forever.” And, you know, the history of America… I’m sad to say that they don’t teach the social revolution of the ’60s or Vietnam or anything. They stop with Kennedy. I guess there’s no point of… I guess there’s just too many points of view about that.
But after Germaine Greer, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem—social revolution becomes a methodology in teaching everything. It doesn’t matter if it’s classics, humanism, the humanities, history, art, music, and musicology… whatever. You have to study the methodologies of the ’70s, and one of them is feminism. The second wave of feminism is when feminism, or the point of view of what female gender had in everything, became a huge part of filmmaking. Before that, you’ve got a couple of flicks, like I’ll Cry Tomorrow, about a woman going to the electric chair, and The Women, which was a brilliant play by Clare Bloom Luce. But in the ’70s and early ’80s, man, you’ve got three or four major, major films about women and their particular point of view… and one of them was written by the great Bo Goldman, and it’s Shoot The Moon.
When that movie came out, honest to God, I was sitting with an executive who was a friend of Frank Capra, and he said, “I got a compliment for you from Frank Capra.” I said, “Come on!” He said, “No, I just got off the plane with him, he’s an old friend, and he said you were fantastic in that film. But as fantastic as you were, the film is important.” I said, “What is Frank Capra saying about the importance?” I didn’t get it at all. Now I get it. Frank Capra was a guy who’s steeped in social comedies. That’s what he made most of his life. And he looked at Shoot The Moon, and he said, “Wow, this has really got something poignant to say about the survival of women in the United States, in particular women who’ve been buried in domestic situations and obviously have no out.” You have to remember, in those days, if a woman had an affair with someone she worked with, she could be fired. There was no maternity leave. Can you imagine that? Were we living under a fucking rock then, or what? I don’t understand it, man. But Shoot The Moon… I’m so proud of that movie. Sorry to wax on like that. But it’s a fantastic film, a real winner, and, by God, Diane Keaton’s performance is one of the great performances by anybody. That performance… you can’t recreate that, man.
Naked Lunch (1991)—“Bill Lee”
PW: Another winner. [Laughs.] That’s considered by Time-Life as one of the seminal pieces of literature in English in the last… well, in this century, anyway. It was a huge, very influential book for me in the ’60s. A phantasmagoria of social history done through the eyes of a guy who’s been a junkie for 18 years and has seen the ass end of the world and put it into poetry. To do that movie with David Cronenberg… I mean, it’s a very beautifully executed film by [cinematographer] Peter Suschitzky and Cronenberg, and with the great Judy Davis, my friend. I did two movies with her, and she may be the most brilliant actress… well, one of the most brilliant actresses. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her and Diane Keaton and Dianne Wiest, and those three actresses are unbeatable. Unbeatable!
AVC: What was your interaction with William S. Burroughs?
PW: A lot. I met Burroughs six months before we began the movie and remained in constant touch with him until his death. He informed me about several things, humorously so. This is another thing about social history. About gay rights, he said, “I’m not gay and I’ve never been part of a movement. I’ve never been gay a day in my life. I’m queer.” [Laughs.] It’s funny, by the way, because that whole methodology of looking at homosexual relationships and the advent of gendering in society is called queer theory, not gay theory. And queer theory is a legitimate methodology of looking at a world from the marginalized people who’ve been gendered gay or queer. So there’s another piece of social history that I got to be part of. Wow. An amazing movie, and an amazing book.
The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984)—”Buckaroo Banzai”
PW: I had no idea what that movie was about, I still don’t, but I had a ball making it. They presented it at Lincoln Center a few years ago. [John] Lithgow and I went, and we admitted there that we had no idea what we were doing. It’s a miracle, that movie, just a miracle.
AVC: How serious did talks ever get for doing the promised sequel, Buckaroo Banzai Against The World Crime League?
PW: The promised sequel… If I had four or five dollars for every person who came up to me and asked me about a sequel, you and I could go to Las Vegas for a week. [Laughs.]
AVC: What if someone threw that money into a Kickstarter campaign to finally make one? Do you think it could still happen?
PW: I don’t know. I think it’s all tied up in legalities. And who cares about sequels, anyway? There’s only even been about two sequels that’ve ever worked. The Godfather is one of them, and Aliens is another one.
AVC: The Wrath Of Khan?
PW: The Wrath Of Khan… But, you know, I don’t know if that’s… I mean, you had a TV show before the movies, so that’s not really applicable. If you have a television series or a bunch of books to draw from, then you can go on with them forever and ever and ever. But to do a completely original sequel to a film? The good ones are few and far between.
Lou Grant (1977)—“Donald Stryker”
PW: That was… Wow, you’re bringing up some great stuff. [Laughs.] Okay, so I’m doing Streamers with Mike Nichols, a play that changed my life and one of the most remarkable pieces of theater ever. It would blow peoples’ minds. And then I get a call from my agent, who says, “You know, Allan Burns and Gene Reynolds of Mary Tyler Moore, they’ve started a Lou Grant series…” I said, “Look, I don’t want to do episodic television.” He said, “Look, they don’t just go around offering roles to actors in New York, but they saw you in Streamers and they want to fly you out… and nobody’s ever flown out from New York to be a guest star on episodic television! And it’s a true story. Why don’t you go research it?”
So I go to the library on Sixth Avenue and I researched it. It’s based on a true story about this Orthodox Jew who disappeared in his last month of high school and resurfaces four or five years later, six years later, with George Lincoln Rockwell, head of the American Nazi Party, in the state of New York. And I think some science editor for the New York Times found out about it, got a whiff of it, and under the auspices of interviewing the guy, met him at a café in Scarsdale and confronted him with it. The guy threatened him and started crying and begged him, then he threatened to blow up the New York Times building, and he finally killed himself in front of his church. So it’s a sad story of a kid who… I hate to say he was victimized, but he was, by his extraordinarily repressive grandparents and decided somewhere in his mind to not be the victim but to become the victimizer. It was a fantastic, well-executed idea, and I was very proud to have done the episode. And Ed Asner, I can’t say enough about him, or about Allan Burns, who went on to start my movie career by hiring me in Butch And Sundance: The Early Days.
Shakedown (1988)—“Roland Dalton”
PW: Shakedown. Gosh. Loved Sam Elliott. Loved making the movie. The thing is… Sidney Lumet taught me one thing: do not let the advent of the movie or the release of the movie or the success of the movie invalidate your experience of making the movie. He taught me that when I made Butch And Sundance: The Early Years with Richard Lester. I’d run around with horses, firing Colt .44s with black powder and all the stuff I grew up with, and Richard Lester was a dreamboat. We’re out in Colorado, the inland sand dunes at Alamosa, in Telluride and Santa Fe… and, you know, I come from west Texas, and here I am, 30 years old, living the dream, man. And then the movie doesn’t do so well. They take it away from Richard Lester, 20th Century Fox re-cuts it… [Sighs.] But then I met Sidney Lumet. The great Sidney Lumet… I mean, there’s a guy who schooled me. What a gifted filmmaker, and a huge mentor to me. He said, “How was the movie?” I said, “Well, you know, they did this, they did that…” He says, “I’m not asking you about what the studio did to your movie or what the world is going to think of your movie. What was your experience with the movie?” “It was wonderful!” “Then don’t let the physical result of the film, which you cannot control, invalidate your experience of making the film.”
So on that note, I had a great time making Shakedown, and then I was off to make Leviathan in Rome. Siskel and Ebert, they liked Shakedown, and I liked Shakedown, although I haven’t seen it since it came out, but then the movie did no business, so no one remembers it, which makes it easy to say, “Oh, it’s a mediocre movie.” Maybe I should go revisit. But I had a lovely time with Sam, I had a lovely time with James Glickenhaus, and I had a ball making the movie. And, by the way, it’s the only movie that shut down 42nd Street in its heyday of crack dens and hookers and porn shops. [Laughs.] When you walked down 42nd Street then, you needed an armed guard… and, indeed, Sam Elliott and I shot out there all night, and we had armed guards, because there was every sort of riff-raff and dangerous critter that you could imagine. It’s the only time it’s ever been done. I think they paid a million dollars to do it. Wow. Shooting on 42nd Street all night long on a Saturday. That was a ball.
Leviathan (1989)—“Steven Beck”
PW: You know, I’ve got to see that movie again, because a friend of mine just told me that it was highly entertaining. And I really liked working with George Cosmatos, although he is as mad as a hatter. [Laughs.] And I had the time of my life working in Rome for three months during the summer of ’88. It was an absolute… well, actually, I’m finally getting a Ph.D because of all that stuff! But I haven’t seen the film in… shoot, man, 25 years. I haven’t seen it since it came out.
AVC: It holds up pretty well. I think it got slightly short shrift from audiences because it and DeepStar Six and The Abyss all came out right around the same time.
PW: Yeah, that’s right, there were three of them. But I have to say, I did see a scene recently, just quickly, of the effects of the underwater stuff, and George Cosmatos’ idea of walking around and stuff floating by is really terrific. They didn’t go underwater. They did it in a studio in Rome.
AVC: You said he was mad as a hatter. Do you have a definitive George Cosmatos story?
PW: I have no definitive George Cosmatos story. I just loved him. I did two movies with him. He had great taste and a big passion for history and art. But he would be impatient enough sometimes to call “action” before sound was rolling… or the actors were ready or the cameras were even rolling. [Laughs.]
RoboCop (1987) / RoboCop 2 (1990)—“Officer Alex J. Murphy / Robocop”
PW: It’s certainly the most challenging role I’ve ever done. To bring that alive, much of it is thanks to Moni Yakim [the head of the Movement Department at Juilliard], Moni Yakim, the writers [Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner], and Paul Verhoeven. That quadrant of people all infused to make that thing, and Rob Bottin, the makeup artist, and Stephan Dupuis, the guy who put on the prosthetics. I dunno, that was just… I knew I was making a good film. When I met Paul Verhoeven in a hotel room in New York, I knew that, because Paul was directing it, it was going to be great. I knew it was going to have something of a moral opera in it and that he was not going to miss the universal morality in this. He was not going to just make an action movie. And it’s a very funny movie and a brilliant sort of social commentary. When I met Verhoeven, I’d seen all his movies, and I just knew he’d be fantastic. And to be feeling the feelings I felt when I met him… I mean, he was intimidating, but I knew that, with his expertise, he’d be executing something non-ephemeral and awakening certain aspects of social morality that’ll last. That movie will be around forever, man.
AVC: Does RoboCop 2 have anything to do with your general feelings on sequels being inferior?
PW: Yeah. RoboCop 2 didn’t have a third act. I told the producers and Irv Kirshner up front, and Frank Miller. I told them all. I said, “Where’s the third act here, man? So I beat up a big monster. In the third act, you have to have your Dan O’Herlihy. Somebody’s got to be the third act.” “No, no, the monster’s going to be enough.” “Look, it’s not enough!” When you have a movie like the first RoboCop, where the bad guys are never the bad guys and it’s always the morality of the thing. You know, like the idea that progress in the name of progress can steal a man’s identity. Look, the first RoboCop’s got deregulated trickle-down social economic politics in it, way before Bush and Romney and the debates with Obama and Senator Clinton. It’s got a morality to it. If you don’t have that, man, you’ve got no flick, and I said that so much. But, look, I don’t need to be right about RoboCop 2. I had a good time making Robocop 2. I was breaking up with a girlfriend at the time, so I can’t say I really had a great time, but I had a good time with Irv Kirshner, God bless him, and being in Houston, running around with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, who’s an old friend. But the script did not have the code, the spine, or the soul of the first one.
Screamers (1995)—“Joe Hendricksson”
PW: I don’t read them avidly, but of all the science-fiction writers I’ve encountered, Philip K. Dick, he’s separate. He wrote Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, which became Blade Runner. He wrote Total Recall. His whole thing about slavery… I believe that Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? is actually based on Confessions Of Nat Turner, and Nat Turner was a true story of a slave that William Styron, who wrote Sophie’s Choice, wrote a book about. I think it won a Pulitzer. But it’s about a slave who escapes from… South Carolina, I think? And he kills people on a swath to get somewhere. It takes place in the 1830s or 1840s, and they can’t imagine what he’s doing. They don’t understand that he’s looking for his freedom. And that’s the basis of Blade Runner. We’ve infused consciousness into what we think are robots, and they’re just slaves, but now they want to live. That’s Philip K. Dick. And that’s, like, heavy stuff, man.
But “Second Variety,” which was turned into Screamers, turned into a corporate competition rather than a Russian/American competition. Once again, we built these machines that are essentially taking over a planet. In an aesthetic that lends itself to Zen or Eastern mysticism, there is no duality between subject and object. If you make this object, it has your consciousness in it, and you can destroy it as well. It’s all a dream. And it’s hard to tell that to a guy in Omaha who’s fighting to keep his house after he’s lost his job, but you make a chair, you’ve made that with your mind, and you can also destroy it with our mind. All you need is a nuclear bomb test to see that everything we’ve made out of our minds is ephemeral and can go. And Philip K. Dick was tapped into that one, man. The director, Christian Duguay, was fabulous, the cast was fabulous, and I just had an amazing time doing it.
There’s two moments in my film history—and I’ll give them to you right now—that have just been wildly, psychotically enjoyable. One was doing the drug-bust sequence in RoboCop, because the Walkman had come out, so you had these little earphones that you could put in the RoboCop helmet, and I was playing Peter Gabriel’s “Red Rain” during all the gunfire. Me with the 47-shot Beretta automatic pistol, blowing bad guys off balconies and stuff while “Red Rain” was pumping in my ears. [Laughs.] But the other moment was on Screamers. We had to approach this abandoned mill where the bad guys are, and it’s about a hundred yards of snow, and they had to shoot it once, because they had four cameras set up. I think I had to fire a machine gun once in awhile just to clear the area. But I had Soundgarden’s “Fell On Black Days” just jacked while I was walking across that blinding snow for a 10-minute shot. It was absolute heaven. These are the perks of making movies, man.
Recent from Will Harris
Wes Studi on a career of donning period costumes, superhero spandex, and an Avatar mo-cap suit
Frankie Faison on bonding with Hannibal Lecter and struggling with the success of Coming To America
Joe Morton on keeping Shonda Rhimes' secrets and working with directors "who don't know how to write for black people"
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The First Grader
Alison Willmore
Oliver Litondo, Naomie Harris, Vusi Kunene
Kimani N’gan’ga Maruge holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest person, at age 84, to start elementary school, which means it’d be some kind of record itself if his life weren’t used as the basis of an inspirational movie. But The First Grader’s heartwarming aspects are made more complex and interesting by the amount of Kenyan history packed into Maruge’s story. He isn’t simply an elderly man who turns up at the gate of a rural school after hearing about the government’s promise of a free primary-school education for everyone. He’s a former Mau Mau member who lost his family because of his participation in an uprising against the British colonialists that laid the ground for Kenya’s independence.
Like many of The First Grader’s characters, Maruge is played by a native Kenyan, former news anchor Oliver Litondo, who portrays the would-be student as fiercely determined and distinctly uncute. It takes time for his classmates, and the audience, to warm to him, and the way he’s opened up by the learning process and the kindness of (some of) those around him is an irresistible pleasure. But this leaves his idealistic teacher (Naomie Harris) to fight and be eloquent on his behalf, as his presence in the already overcrowded school attracts resentment from local parents and attention from the media.
Harris is an affable actor, but her character’s unflagging devotion to Maruge can seem unbalanced, given all the tsuris it earns her—her marriage, career, and personal safety are threatened, just because the old man wants to read. It takes the revelation of Maruge’s past, portrayed in staccato flashbacks, to balance the film by making its central question not about the right to education, but about what a society owes those who sacrificed to help make it possible. While the legacy of the Mau Mau Uprising is more complicated than The First Grader is able to depict, the film does glance at the tangle of tribal loyalties vs. national ones, as well as the violence that took place on both side of the conflict. Maruge’s bearing of the scars he was given while in a British detention camp becomes the incontrovertible testimony that no amount of dissembling and self-interest can counter.
The First Grader offers a tumultuous but uplifting journey, though it seems likely that an equivalent American film about an eightysomething illiterate PTSD-wracked veteran who squeezes into a school uniform and insists on enrolling in first grade would have to be played for dark comedy.
Recent from Alison Willmore
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House of God
The best film scenes of 2012
The worst films of 2012
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Public Release: 19-Nov-2018
Targeted Hepatitis C testing misses substantial number of cases in correctional setting
Researchers recommend routine testing for all incarcerated individuals upon arrival
Results from a new study led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) found routine Hepatitis C testing identified a significant number of cases that would have been missed by targeted testing among a population of individuals in Washington State prisons. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the authors recommend routine testing in correctional facilities to best identify and treat the disease as part of the national strategy to eliminate Hepatitis C transmission.
It is estimated that 30 percent of the total Hepatitis C (HCV) infected population in the United States passes through the prison system annually, yet there is no widely accepted approach to HCV testing in correctional settings. Approximately 40 percent of state prison facilities, including Washington State, routinely test for HCV. Other facilities employ the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation of targeted or risk-based testing, which tests individuals born between 1945 and 1965 as well as those with a history of injection drug use.
Researchers looked at data from Washington State prison HCV testing results to determine whether routine or targeted testing was most effective in identifying cases of disease. From 2012 to 2016, more than 24,000 people were tested for HCV; 20 percent of those people were infected and close to 2,000 people had chronic infections. Of those with chronic infections, nearly a quarter had at least moderate liver disease, putting them at risk for complications.
Infections were more prevalent in individuals born between 1945 and 1965, however nearly 35 percent of infections would have been missed if only targeted testing was performed. With routine testing, five individuals had to be tested to identify a case of HCV, compared to three individuals with targeted testing. This remains a small number in contrast with other infectious diseases, such as HIV, that require testing a large number of incarcerated individuals to identify a single case.
"These data build upon existing evidence supporting the implementation of routine testing for all individuals when entering a correctional facility," said Sabrina Assoumou, MD, MPH, an infectious diseases physician at BMC and lead author of the study. "Coupled with treatment, routine testing would identify and cure many cases of HCV, preventing the substantial burden of future liver disease."
One of the current barriers to routine testing is the high cost of HCV treatment. Even without treatment, those who receive a diagnosis of HCV may make lifestyle changes that can reduce transmission.
Researchers also note that it is unclear how these findings will generalize to other U.S. prison populations, and believe more research should be done to determine the effectiveness of routine HCV testing across the country.
The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and support was also provided by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Jessica Lyons
jessica.lyons@bmc.org
http://www.bmc.org
American Journal of Preventative Medicine
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH/National Institute of Drug Abuse, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS/SERVICES
LAW ENFORCEMENT/JURISPRUDENCE
SCIENCE/HEALTH/LAW
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Trump says talks on wall are a 'waste of time'
Donald Trump made no mention of another closure, however, and suggested he will declare a national emergency on the border.
FILE: This file photo taken on 8 January 2018 shows US President Donald J. Trump before boarding Airforce One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Picture: AFP
US Mexico border
AFP | 166 days ago
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said talks with lawmakers on building his proposed Mexico border wall are pointless and suggested he will declare a national emergency to get it done.
"I think Nancy Pelosi is hurting our country very badly by doing what she's doing and, ultimately, I think I’ve set the table very nicely," Trump said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, referring to the speaker of the House of Representatives.
The talks are to conclude in two weeks and Trump has previously warned that if they do not end with money to build a wall on the border with Mexico he will allow another government shutdown.
An earlier 35-day shutdown just ended after a showdown with Democrats led by Pelosi.
In the New York Times interview, Trump made no mention of another closure, however, and suggested he will declare a national emergency on the border as a way to use military funds to erect such a barrier, a key campaign pledge that plays to his conservative nationalist base.
"I've actually always gotten along with her, but now I don’t think I will anymore," Trump said of Pelosi.
"I think she’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country. If she doesn't approve a wall, the rest of it's just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed."
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump dismissed the various investigations being waged against him including the one on Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.
He said his lawyers have been reassured by the departing deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein that Trump is himself was not a target.
"He told the attorneys that I’m not a subject, I’m not a target," Trump told the Times.
Trump under fire for attacks on Democratic congresswomen
Trump tells congresswomen to 'go back' where they're from
Mexican druglord 'El Chapo' sentenced to life in prison
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Post-War & Contemporary Art at Helwaser Gallery
Fine Art Shippers is an art logistics company serving many reputable fine art galleries in New York, Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and all over the United States. For example, we are happy and proud to be working with Helwaser Gallery, a beautiful New York-based gallery specializing in post-war and contemporary art.
Helwaser Gallery
Helwaser Gallery is a well-established fine art gallery that was founded in 1986 in Paris. At the time, Helwaser Gallery held several significant exhibitions on notable French cubist artists, including Pablo Picasso, Jean Metzinger, and George Braque, and also a retrospective on Jean Dubuffet, the founder of Art Brut. In 2008, the gallery relocated to New York, which was marked by another incredible art exhibition featuring works by such masters as Andy Warhol, Hans Hofmann, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Next month, Helwaser Gallery will open its new exhibition space on Madison Avenue where it will continue to showcase the finest post-war and contemporary art. The gallery also takes part in many international art fairs held around the world, including The Salon Art + Design, Art Miami, Palm Beach Art Fair, BRAFA Art Fair in Brussels, and Paris Art + Design. Plus, Helwaser Gallery will participate at the renowned Armory Show that will be held in New York on March 7-10, presenting an impressive selection of works by John Chamberlain, Alexander Calder, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Yayoi Kusama, Helen Frankenthaler, George Condo, and other prominent artists. Definitely worth visiting by all connoisseurs of high-quality post-war and contemporary art!
Photo credit: Helwaser Gallery/helwasergallery.com
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Half Day Reed Flute Cave & Elephant Trunk Hill
Elephant Trunk Hill juts out into the Li River where it joins the Peach Blossom River. It is the symbol of Guilin City. Elephant Trunk Hill is so named because it looks like a giant elephant drinking water with its trunk on the Li River bank. At dusk, it looks extraordinarily lively. Between the trunk and legs, there is a cave called "Moon-over-Water Cave.” The Cave looks like a full moon floating on the surface of the water. On the top of the hill, there is a Ming Dynasty pagoda. It looks like the hilt of a dagger on the back of the elephant and is reminiscent of the legend of the hill’s formation.
It is certain that the Reed Flute Cave, with its many stalactites, stalagmites, and unusual rock formations, is a must-see attraction in China. This large, underground complex of grottoes, unique rock and stone formations, and multi-colored lighting contains some of the most extraordinary scenery offered by Guilin. The Crystal Palace of the Dragon King and the Old Scholar Stone are just some of the famous attractions contained within the caves.
Private car/coach for transfers service and sightseeing program; Local English-speaking tour guide; Parking fee & toll fee wherever applicable.
Personal expenses such as drinks, optional activities, etc.; Gratuities to the tour guide & driver.
Available: Daily; Pick up at 9:00am or 1:00pm.
Our private English-speaking guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel around 9:00am or 1:00pm.
Today we are going to visit the Reed Flute Cave firstly, which is known as "the Palace of Natural Arts" and has many remarkable formations.
Next, we will continue to visit the Elephant Trunk Hill. Close to the confluence of Li River and Peach Blossom River, stands the Water Moon Cave. The water flows through it and the cave looks like a moon floating in the water. The stone drooped into the water like an elephant drinking the water of the Li River.
End the tour and transfer you to the hotel at 1pm or 5pm.
During today's tour, a Chinese cultural factory visit is organized.
Tour requires a minimum of 2 people to operate.
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MI6’s Spymaster Revealed How The UK Is Conducting “Fourth Generation Espionage”
Posted by Galactic Connection | Dec 9, 2018 | 2018, Conspiracy, Cabal, Daily Blog, Geopolitics, Government Laws, Policies, Politicians, Military, Military | 0 |
The head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Alex Younger briefed the public about the challenges of so-called “fourth generation espionage”.
The UK’s top spy spent some of his time blaming Russia for trying to, as he put it, “subvert the UK way of life” by supposedly poisoning the Skripals and through other mischievous but ultimately never verified actions, though moving beyond the infowar aspect of his speech and into its actual professional substance, he nevertheless touched on some interesting themes. According to him, “fourth generation espionage” involves “deepening our partnerships to counter hybrid threats, mastering covert action in the data age, attaching a cost to malign activity by adversaries and innovating to ensure that technology works to our advantage.” In other words, it’s all about applying what he calls the “Fusion Doctrine” for building the right domestic and international teams across skillsets in order to best leverage new technologies for accomplishing his agency’s eternal mission, which is “to understand the motivations, intentions and aspirations of people in other countries.”
While he remarked that the so-called “hybrid threats” associated with “fourth generation espionage” necessitate “being able to take steps to change [targets’] behavior”, this has actually been part and parcel of the intelligence profession since time immemorial, albeit nowadays facilitated by social media and other technological platforms that allow shadowy actors such as the UK’s own “77thBrigade” to carry out psychological, influence, and informational operations. Younger warned that “bulk data combined with modern analytics” could be “a serious challenge” if used against his country, obviously alluding to Cambridge Analytica’s purported weaponization of these cutting-edge technological processes to supposedly “hack” elections, though neglecting to draw any attention to the fact that his intelligence agency and its allies could conceivably do the same in advance of their own interests, something that everyone who uses Western-based social media platforms is theoretically at risk of having happen to them.
What Younger is most concerned about, however, are what he describes as the “eroded boundaries” that characterize so-called “hybrid threats” lying between war and peace, which he fears could undermine NATO’s Article 5 obligation for all of the military alliance’s members to support one another during times of conflict. Considering Russia to be a country that “regards [itself] as being in a state of perpetual confrontation with [the West]”, Younger believes that unacceptably high costs must be imposed upon it every time it’s accused of some wrongdoing, forgetting that the exact same principle could more applicably be applied against the West by Russia for the same reasons. He claims that it’s the UK that will never respond in kind by destabilizing Russia like Moscow’s accused of doing to the UK, but in reality, it’s President Putin’s so-called “judo moves” which prove that it’s Russia who has mastered asymmetrical responses instead.
MI6 chief Alex Younger speaks at MI6’s Vauxhall Cross headquarters in central London
If read from a cynical standpoint by anyone who’s aware of the true nature of contemporary geopolitics, Younger’s speech is actually quite informative because it inadvertently reveals what the West itself is doing to Russia by means of projecting its own actions onto its opponent. That in and of itself is actually the very essence of Hybrid War, which is commonly understood to largely include blatantly deceptive techniques such as the one that the UK’s top spy is unabashedly attempting to pull off. Accusing one’s adversaries of the exact same thing that you yourself are doing is a classic method of deflecting attention from one’s own actions by pretending that you’re being victimized by the selfsame, which therefore “justifies” escalating tensions by portraying all hostile acts as “proactive defensive responses to aggression”. Basically, the British spymaster just sloppily revealed his hand to Russia while attempting to implicate it for allegedly conducting “fourth generation espionage” against the UK.
The post presented is the partial transcript of the CONTEXT COUNTDOWN radio program on Sputnik News, aired on Friday Dec 07, 2018:
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Within 100 years of Johann Gutenberg's advances with movable type, early Anabaptist leaders recognized the power of the pen and the press to advance their movement. In the first 325 years of Anabaptism, journalistic efforts were limited largely to pamphlets and books written by leaders. Some Anabaptists (e.g. Hans Hut and Andreas Castelberger) were itinerant booksellers and pamphleteers, in many ways the occupation closest to modern journalism in the 16th century. Beginning in the 19th century, however, Mennonite involvement in journalism became multifaceted and far-reaching, first within the church and later in secular media.
In Kitchener (then Berlin), Ont., in 1835, pioneer Mennonite bishop Benjamin Eby was a shareholder in a printing business which also published a newspaper, Das kanadische Museum (Canada Museum). In 1840 ownership was transferred to Heinrich Eby, Benjamin's son. Benjamin used this connection to publish some primers and, in 1841, Kurzgefasste Kirchen-Geschichte und Glaubenslehre (A Brief Church History and Primer of Belief), a successful book on Mennonite history and doctrine.
In 1953 The Canadian Mennonite was begun in Winnipeg to serve as the first English-language newspaper for Mennonites across Canada. Founding editor Frank H. Epp envisioned a paper that would connect the various groups to each other and promote inter-Mennonite cooperation through Mennonite Central Committee. The Canadian Mennonite ceased publication in 1971, but many of its functions were assumed by Mennonite Reporter, established at Waterloo, Ont., in 1971, with Epp again at the editorial helm. The Mennonite Reporter was succeeded by the Canadian Mennonite, a new integrated Mennonite publication, in 1997.
Cooperation among journalists of various Mennonite publications increased with the formation of Meetinghouse in 1972. Editors from nine different periodicals met annually to plan cooperative projects. In addition, one reporter frequently represented all the association's members to cover stories with broad appeal.
In the late 1980s hundreds of periodicals align themselves with the Mennonite denominations, many officially and some privately. They have developed out of the need to interpret church-related programs and issues to a more highly educated laity combined with the ready availability of printing and other communication technologies. Springer and Klassen's Mennonite Bibliography lists 671 periodicals in North America alone and dozens in other countries for the 1631-1961 period.
Also in the 20th century, individual Mennonites have increasingly entered secular journalism as a business or profession. One unusual community newspaper, The Sugarcreek Budget, was launched in Ohio in 1890 by an Amish-Mennonite, John C. Miller. This weekly, with a mostly Amish readership, emphasizes correspondence from far-flung settlements, a practice that had attracted more than 16,500 subscribers by 1987.
Mennonite publishers of community newspapers after mid-century have included David K. Friesen, who founded The Altona Echo (now the Red River Valley Echo) in Manitoba in 1941; H. Ralph Hernley, who launched the Laurel Group of five weekly newspapers and a magazine in western Pennsylvania in 1965; and Richard and Marlene Benner, who owned newspapers in central Pennsylvania, 1973-84.
Mennonite reporters have worked for daily newspapers in many cities, including Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver in Canada and Lancaster, Pa.; Harrisonburg, Va.; Elkhart, Ind.; and Wichita, Ks., in the United States. Mennonite broadcast journalists have worked with radio and television stations in several cities and with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and American Public Radio. Journalists with Mennonite backgrounds have also held senior positions with the Associated Press and Newsweek.
See also Broadcasting, Radio and Television; Filmmaking; Mass Media.
Epp, Frank H. "D. W. Friesen and His Life Work." Mennonite Life 11 (July 1956): 118-19.
Epp, Frank H. "Death of a Church Paper and Resurrection." The Mennonite (6 April 1971): 226-29.
Epp, Frank H. Mennonites in Canada, 1786-1920. Toronto, ON: Macmillan Canada, 1974.
Epp, Frank H. "On Mennonite Journalism." The Canadian Mennonite (8 August 1967): 4.
Harms, Orlando. Pioneer Publisher: The Life and Times of J. F. Harms. Winnipeg and Hillsboro: Kindred Press, 1984.
Hertzler, Daniel. "Meetinghouse." Gospel Herald (5 January 1988): 16.
Horst, Irvin B. "Joseph Funk, Early Mennonite Printer and Publisher." Mennonite Quarterly Review 31 (1957): 260-77.
Hostetler, John A. God Uses Ink. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1958.
Juhnke, James C. A People of Two Kingdoms. Newton, KS: Faith and Life Press, 1975.
MacMaster, Richard K. Land, Piety, Peoplehood: The Establishment of Mennonite Communities in America, vol. 1. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985.
Ruth, John. Maintaining the Right Fellowship. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984.
Smith, C. Henry. The Story of the Mennonites, 4th ed. Newton, KS: Mennonite Publications Office, 1957.
Springer, Nelson P. and A. J. Klassen, compilers. Mennonite Bibliography 1631-1961, 2 vols. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press 1977.
Toews, John A. History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, ed. A.J. Klassen. Fresno, CA: Mennonite Brethren Board of Literature and Publication, 1975.
Yoder, Harvey. "The Budget of Sugarcreek, Ohio, 1890-1920." Mennonite Quarterly Review 40 (1966): 27-47.
Stuart W Showalter
Showalter, Stuart W. "Journalism." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1990. Web. 17 Jul 2019. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Journalism&oldid=143408.
Showalter, Stuart W. (1990). Journalism. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 17 July 2019, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Journalism&oldid=143408.
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First Impressions - MR04, pt.1
Despite the fact that we'd been planning this for the best part of a year, and I'd visited the MR message board a couple of times prior to going, I really had no idea of what to expect at this sort of thing. On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised, even if my overall impression of the event is of something fairly lowkey and somewhat badly managed. Below the surface, things were brewing and there were some weird politics going on, but none of it really affected me. I'm glad to have had this experience, while at the same time I can honestly say that I'm not likely to ever repeat it. Even though I enjoyed myself immensely while in PA, half the time I went around wondering what I was doing there. Experiencing at first hand how serious, if not to say downright obsessive, some people can get over a TV-show and the actors who perform in it...at times it could be quite scary. But it was fun.
For me, the best thing about the whole event was finally meeting up with my on-line friends,
julchek and calove, and finding out how well we got on in real life. Julie came to meet me off the plane and there was no awkwardness at all -- well, not once she got over the initial shock of my continental style of hugging. I may be able to fool most people into thinking I'm British simply by opening my mouth, but my distinctly mainland European greeting rituals always give the lie to that ;).
We hung around the airport for a few hours waiting for Cass's plane to land, and then drove straight down to the Split Rock resort, where we arrived on Thursday evening after dark. Jules, having signed up as a volunteer, had an early start ahead of her and Cass and I were faily jetlagged, so after checking into our suite, we didn't leave it again except for a short visit to Karla's, the registrar's, room, where we got our first inkling of the amount of chaos that goes into the organisation of this sort of event.
In the morning, Jules went to attend to her duties in the dealer room while Cass and I went exploring around the lake and ended up having lots of fun playing midget golf in the sweltering heat. On the way back up to our room, we noticed Tom Lenk and Danny Strong had arrived, which reminded us of why we were there again, but to be honest, it's now all such a blur that I can't really recall what came next. I think there may have been a Q&A (James C. Leary's) that we attended -- but really, my mind's a blank. That night though, we were invited to a party a door or two further down. Cass was still a bit out of it, so she decided to give it a miss, but I went and met a great bunch of people there. Some of the guests turned up as well; neither Adam Busch nor Tom Lenk stayed for very long, but Danny Strong settled in to regale us with stories of auditions and Amsterdam. Julie got a bit drunk (but not annoyingly so), and got talking to Eric Kufs of Common Rotation about music. She's a musician herself so the topic comes up naturally with her. She had brought her flute to the convention but in the end never could find the time to play it for us, more's the pity.
Later that evening, we all went down to see James Leary's short film Stunt Cocks, which shocked some people while others thought it was hilarious (personally, I didn't pay that much attention as I got kind of busy talking to people, so I really can't say all that much about it), and then we trundled back up to B, C & R's suite to continue with the party. Sleep caught up with me quickly, and I left shortly after. Jules got in in the wee small hours and decided to watch Chance again, but when I went to check up on her, she was passed out on the sofa with the lights on and the DVD playing. I never did manage to get back to sleep after that.
With 2/3-s of our party either groggy from lack of sleep or hung over, we had something of a late start and barely made it to JM's photoshoot in time (but it's kinder to say that we timed it exactly), which felt like it was over in seconds (and it probably was). I can't wait for the picture to arrive in the post and maybe then I'll have more of a recollection of it :). I'm told he turned to shake my hand, but I'd already walked off and didn't notice!
Jules and Cass had been roped in to facilitate the fan panel on 'What Does the Soul Mean in the Jossverse?', which was well-attended even if no conclusions were reached. Adam Busch made an impromptu appearance with his squeezebox in the middle of it, which lightened the mood considerably; we later learned that another panel ('Could Spike Have Been Redeemed Without A Soul?') got quite heated with people walking out white-knuckled. We dropped in on a fan fiction panel and I can now put a face to eurydice72, which is nice. However, she handed me the perfect excuse not to approach her when she remarked that she still felt surprised and uncomfortable when people came up to her and heaped praises on her for her stories. I'd only have babbled, anyway.
Saturday night was concert night. We'd looked in on the soundcheck from the windows for a few minutes, and were highly amused by what a complete tart JM could be, playing to the galleries as he did.
Then it was time for the Common Rotation gig and they completely blew me away. I'd never heard anything of their music before, but on the strength of that one concert, I've become a fan. At the beginning of the show, something went wrong with the equipment, and the professional way they dealt with it impressed everyone deeply. They ended their set with a powerful and very poignant version of a song called Pawn, which went straight to the gut -- when it finished, I was in tears. That doesn't happen to me all that often, so after that I simply had to have their album(s). For once in my life, I didn't think twice about queueing up for something. I told Adam I thought that what I'd just seen and heard had been inspired, but he wasn't satisfied with that and wanted to hear me say it had been brilliant. Hey! I'm a repressed NW-European: we don't do brilliant -- but in hindsight, I have no qualms admitting that it had been exactly that. Eric surprised and impressed me by remembering my name from the previous evening - well, sort of: I was 'the girl with the amazing name', apparently. :)
Anyway, Common Rotation will be going on tour with They Might Be Giants soon, after which, in the Aug/Sept timeframe, they will be doing some of their living room concerts on both the East and West Coast. If you live on either of these coasts and have a big enough living room to make it worth their while, contact Jordan Katz. You'll not regret it. Also, buy their albums. They're...well, brilliant.
Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music:'The Crowd and I'- Common Rotation
btvs,
common rotation,
gigs,
My birthday? Why, are you planning on getting me anything? Yay, prezzie!!!
And it's August, sweetie.
Phew! Wipes forehead.
Oh, now I see! You would have missed it otherwise, but not by much -- and really, that would have been okay: I'm used to people forgetting about my b'day, seeing as how it's smack-bang in the middle of the summer holidays. Hell, I've been known to forget about it myself occasionally!
gamiila : (no subject) [+2]
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Fragrant Delta
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© Fragrant Delta, 2015-2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Fragrant Delta with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
How Green Was My Island?
Posted on January 17, 2016 February 23, 2016 by fragrantdelta
18 January 2016 – A sea of green on a sea of blue — it’s what Lantau looks like on a satellite map. Despite covering 13 percent of Hong Kong’s land area, the island has been spared the pell-mell development that characterizes more central areas. That may soon change.
On Sunday 10 January, at a time when many Hongkongers would have been enjoying the island’s tranquility, the Lantau Development Advisory Committee (LanDAC) released its first term work report. The grandly titled, “Space for All” (English synopsis) paints a dynamic portrait.
There will be a north Lantau housing, economic and commercial corridor; a leisure, entertainment and tourism node in the northeast; a new core business district on a manmade island, and an enhanced conservation and leisure area.
Population projections are bullish! By 2030, Lantau’s population is expected to triple from today’s 110,000 to 338,000, with a potential rise to over 1 million people in the long term. Of course, this will all bring jobs! Specifically, the LanDAC estimates 176,000 new positions by 2030 and over 376,000 new roles in the long run.
It all looks rosy until one begins to poke at the numbers. That is where the current rationale for the island’s development begins to unravel.
Source: “Space for All”, LanDAC
According to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong will grow by 718,000 people through 2030 from a 2014 baseline. In other words, the LanDAC expects Lantau to absorb one-third of new Hongkongers during the period. The territory’s population is projected to peak at 8.2 million in 2043, suggesting Lantau must account for 100 percent of the department’s long-term projection to meet its estimated capacity.
As for employment, the LanDAC may not have fully contemplated the impact of aging. In fact, Hong Kong will lose 178,000 workers by 2030. While delayed retirement and greater female labor force participation may fill some of the gap, it is hard to imagine that Lantau will fill 176,000 extra jobs by that year without cannibalization of other districts or massive labor importation. In short, Hong Kong should not need a new economic corridor or core business district.
Nor may it need a new “leisure, entertainment and tourism node”. Despite much hand wringing among retailers over suddenly lackluster tourist numbers and competition from foreign destinations, the first 11 months of 2015 still brought a small rise in total visitors (Update: Later statistics show a 2.5 percent decrease for the whole year, which, following years of double-digit increases, still suggests a market softening rather than a crisis). The sky has neither “fallen” nor is it “the limit” for milking the tourist dollar. Might it be more worthwhile to focus on refreshing and rebranding existing sites?
As for residential housing, a priority of the current Chief Executive, 12 January brought news from Hong Kong University that only 45 percent of previously proposed residential projects in some designated areas actually produced flats. Reasons include developer-caused application delays as well as “inflexible and stringent” statutory requirements. That’s foregone non-Lantau housing for 450,000 people.
None of this suggests that Lantau’s development is undesirable. But observers should, at minimum, take a closer look at the LanDAC’s priorities. One would expect a body that holds such an important development portfolio to be diverse, representative and accountable, and to have Hong Kong’s best interests at heart.
“Great” Minds Think Alike
Alas, the LanDAC is neither diverse nor representative. It is composed of the Secretary for Development, nine other officials, and 20 “non-official” members.
“Non-officials” are not necessarily political outsiders. In fact, 10 of them are part of the ruling political class, a group that includes pro-establishment legislators and district council members, officers in appointed statutory bodies, and even an ExCo member. There is also a senior researcher from the One Country, Two Systems Research Institute, a well-known pro-establishment think tank. The committee’s one pan-democratic legislator must feel isolated.
Another six members hold senior titles in major enterprises. The remaining two are academics – one a transportation expert and the other a lonely conservationist.
Small business owners, entrepreneurs, social welfare groups and civil society voices with an interest in Lantau’s development are absent. So when the Lantau Development Alliance raised concerns over the island’s potential degradation after the LanDAC work report’s release, nobody should have been surprised. Likewise, the Tung Chung Community Development Alliance, which favors playgrounds, markets and start-up spaces, had grounds to claim that “the facilities proposed don’t fit the residents’ needs”.
As for accountability, each individual is accountable to senior officials and to the Chief Executive, as is common in advisory bodies. In this light, it is rather interesting that nine members also sat on the 2011 election committee that chose the Chief Executive.
Only seven members are simultaneously accountable to the general public through geographic Legislative or District Council elections. Of these, just four owe their offices to Lantau voters.
Whose Priorities?
The LanDAC’s concern for Hong Kong’s interests is also questionable. On paper, it exists to provide advice that helps Lantau “capitalise on its advantages as the confluence of major transport infrastructure linking Hong Kong, Macao and the western Pearl River Delta, so as to meet the long-term development needs of Hong Kong.” Sustainable development and conservation is its second priority.
Who decided Lantau would be a confluence of transport infrastructure, and how did they arrive at the existing plan? According to a LanDAC paper, the committee took after a “Lantau Development Task Force”, founded in 2004 and composed entirely of officials.
The 2004 plan already included preliminary indicators for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) as well as a new theme park, a resort area at Cheung Sha beach, a leisure and entertainment node, and many other characteristics of the existing plan. It also included a park for logistics – part of the LanDAC’s recommended strategic positioning.
The 2004 Task Force plan
Why were these proposals chosen? As a January 2002 Planning Department document clarifies, Zhuhai planning authorities and Guangdong researchers originally proposed a bridge to fill a “missing” link in the Guangdong Coastal Expressway, a strategic project of the provincial government.
This led to a 2003 joint study on a cross-estuary transport link, conducted by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)’s Institute of Comprehensive Transportation. It predicts up to 65 million passenger bridge users by 2020 – more Hong Kong’s entire 2014 visitor arrivals. It also forecasts up to 4.4 million TEU in containerized cargo crossings. Hong Kong’s total container throughput has been falling since 2011.
Guangdong DRC Bridge Plan from 2001
After the State Council approved the study’s call for shipping, aviation and tourism development, an intergovernmental bridgework coordination group was established.
Therefore, the pro-establishment and business-friendly LanDAC has basically “enhanced” the development plan of an all-government task force. That task force adopted priorities set in 2003 by a mainland think tank, acting on orders from the Hong Kong government and a mainland ministry in line with Guangdong’s preferences. The LanDAC’s priorities are based on overoptimistic, decade-old projections as well as the wishes of Hong Kong’s neighbor.
A Pickle of a Process
Complaints about the membership and perceived democratic failings of advisory committees and statutory bodies are not new. The Hong Kong Democratic Foundation raised concerns as early as 2003.
Nevertheless, Hong Kong has few other mechanisms for involving citizens in territorial policymaking. By nature, district councils have a limited geographical scope. And, public consultation exercises, while common, usually invite little more than cosmetic changes to predetermined policy outcomes.
Ambitious civil engagement experiments have occurred before. For example, environmental and professional organizations were allowed to nominate non-official representatives to the 2004 Harbourfront Enhancement Committee (HEC). During the HEC’s Southeast Kowloon Planning Review, residents were permitted to comment in forums, focus groups and workshops prior to the statutory plan’s creation. Such innovations are exceptions in Hong Kong.
No such experiments are planned for Lantau. According to the 2016 Policy Address, the government will begin a public consultation on the LanDAC’s blueprint in the first half of 2016. As the current plans are backed by over a decade of momentum and official determination, the consultation’s outcome seems predetermined.
Politics Before Livelihoods
For years, Hongkongers have told pollsters that they are more concerned with economic and livelihood issues than with politics. Yet politics shapes the very policymaking that impacts economies and livelihoods.
Ultimately, Hong Kong will spend at least HK$83 billion to complete the HZMB. The territory will also pay multiple billions more on the LanDAC’s proposed reclamations, infrastructure projects and other “enhancements”, thereby altering large portions of Hong Kong’s largest and greenest island. The eventual sum will equate to billions not spent on other issues – from the wealth gap to education to retirement protection.
As the upcoming consultation document rolls off the presses, readers should ask themselves one question: Is a Guangdong highway project really worth the trade-off.
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Why I'm Not Settling Back in the Philippines Anytime Soon.
January 08, 2019 / Dinah Ventanilla
My journey on expat living as an OFW!
June 6 of 2006, at age 24, I stepped into Ninoy Aquino International Airport for the very first time. Not to pick up anyone from the arrival area, but for me to get on a huge plane flying into Beijing, China.
I was a naïve probinsyana, without really understanding what it meant to leave the country that day. I can still remember my very curious eyes—looking at hundreds of Filipinos around me, most of them looking very sad or have just wiped their tears from crying too much.
It was only later I realized, that these are the bravest and strongest men & women from across the country, that we labeled as Overseas Filipino Workers. Most of whom, are also first-timers that day. Oblivious with my surroundings, I didn’t know that I will also be called an OFW, from then on.
I said strongest and bravest, because they are the modern-day heroes of the country—leaving behind their own families, to seek for a greener pasture so that they can send thousands of pesos each month for their families’ everyday needs, school education, health medicines, and material lifestyle.
When I arrived in Beijing after almost eight hours of traveling, stopping by Hong Kong— it dawned on me that I’m already thousands of miles away from my family and loved ones. There was a certain feeling of excitement, yet loneliness. There was a certain feeling of curiosity but also feeling lost. I felt mixed emotions that were of no meaning to me before, but all of a sudden came in waves—from days, to weeks, and months.
I have genuinely understood the true meaning of homesickness.
For a period of one year, I tried to familiarize my new surroundings and environment. Me, having a curious-observer personality, has learned to navigate my way in no time. I may not have learned the Chinese language very easily, but I learned the language of patience, kindness, and open-mindedness— that made me survived the huge city of Beijing without getting into trouble.
I was in constant communication with my families and friends, because I missed them terribly. But when I started to create a daily routine with my new life, in my new community with my newfound friends— the calls and chats became lesser. I learned to embrace the new things and the new opportunities around me. The sooner I accepted that I’m no longer in the Philippines, the sooner I made new fun memories. Sometimes, it made me felt guilty, but at most times— when I had lots of fun, I couldn’t care less anymore with the guilt.
I moved on to a different direction with my life, so to speak. Which I thought made me stronger and fight back my homesickness.
After exactly a year, I went back home to decide whether I’m staying in China or go back home indefinitely.
This time, the decision was easier. I’m staying in China.
I felt lost in our own family home. Sure there was a feeling of familiarity, but after being away for one year— all I felt was strangeness because it’s not the same for me anymore. For example, I couldn’t find where the coffee or sugar are. Or how to turn on the gas stove because it’s different from mine. Or just the comfort of my bed. Small details but big feelings.
I can no longer relate to the topics of my former colleagues and friends. They have inside jokes that I can’t laugh with them. I told them about my life in China, but none of them can relate to my stories. They told me about their lives but all I can think of in my head, saying to them— you can do better than that! We tried to reconnect but we knew their was a certain invisible gap that we will subtly acknowledge. I mean, we still love talking with each other, but it’s all mainly about the past— where I belonged. We seldom made a talk about the future or the present moment. These days, I’m only in constant communication with friends who live as OFWs.
The town looked smaller to me. And for the first time, I felt suffocated and bored. I was looking for the energy and vibe that my body was used with for one year in Beijing. But it meant that I have to go to the city and search for it. And when I went, it’s not the same. Funnily enough, when I was in Beijing, I was looking for that peace and simplicity of my hometown. Yet, when it’s right in front of me, all I felt was uneasiness.
I complained and compared the way things are from my life in China. Which made me grumpy and angry, in a way. But my comparison was mostly on how things were readily available to me or how efficiency was a huge part of finishing a task. I found myself on several government offices one day— trying to comply their gazillions of requirements being an OFW. And all of the persons I dealt with that day, were neither helpful or productive with their jobs. They made everything harder, unclear, and remotely impossible to finish! How I survived that day, was even wild to me! #OnlyInThePhilippines
I learned that my open-mindedness is not normal to most of my families and friends. One year of immersion in a culture somewhat different (and a little similar) from ours, has opened my eyes in many perspectives. I appreciated my values and Filipino culture in many ways, for sure. But at the same time there were certain things that definitely falls on the category of “I wish we could do this back home.” That when I conveyed this message to my families and friends, I struck as somehow self-righteous or boastful to them. (And maybe how you will think of me after reading this whole post.😜)
Although I became more appreciative of mother nature and how beautiful the Philippines is, I was sad to see the picture of how we have abused that beauty for the sake of money-making and tourism. Everything has a price. Everything needs to be paid first before you get to enjoy the beauty and scenery. I would have understood the price tag, if it also extended to the development of the area. But sadly, no.
It also pains me to see that although we are gearing towards for a better country, we are still electing corrupt officials and still treat them as GOD wherever they go. When can we learn that these officials are representing us?!? Which means their job is to serve and care for our needs— not the other way around. We are not suppose to be intimidated by them, they’re suppose to openly communicate with us in order to hear what problems needed to be solved. They’re not suppose to take the people’s money for their personal needs and luxurious lifestyle, because that money is intended for all of our education, health, and welfare. And most of all, they’re not allowed to put their names on any government projects. It’s the most douche-bag and asshole move ever!
I love the Philippines! Always have been and always will.
I have promoted the country in any possible and little way that I can— may it be our food, our scenery, and our culture. We are the most fun-loving, resilient, generous, hospitable, and kindest humans in these planet. We love to give. We love to share. We love to make other people laugh. We value our families in the most unselfish ways. We value our relationships. We value our fear with God. Yet, somehow we failed so miserably to change into the best versions of ourselves— for our loved ones, community, and country.
Throughout my years as an OFW, I have met and talked with Filipinos on my travels. I remembered the very first time I saw Central, Hong Kong on a Sunday. It was overwhelmingly fascinating but when I came closer with a group, I have nothing but profound sadness. I was sad that it was the only day in the week they saw their friends or have even gotten out of the house. I never knew that they had that kind of life. All along, I had a picture in my head that they were living their most awesome lives because I had classmates from primary school that were so happy and proud to present new things from their mothers who worked in Hong Kong. Although, Vilma Santos: Anak had accurately depicted them in the movie, none of my classmates believed that their moms were living like that.
To this day, the most humbling experience I’ve ever had was my brief stay in Hong Kong while waiting for my Chinese visa papers. I stayed with a 69 years old Filipina, who charged me 20HKD/day for a bed space in her tiny apartment in Wan Chai for three weeks. During that amount of time, I have not only learned about her life but also about the lives of six other Filipina women who came to stay with her, during their days off. I learned about their struggles, their heartaches, and their heartbreaking journey of raising other children while being away from their own children. Sadly, not all of them have success stories to tell me. They have several debts, their children have not finished school, their husbands cheated, they have a sick elderly to finance…the problems went on and on. They can barely (and impossibly) save their own earnings. That’s why they see themselves working harder and longer in Hong Kong as domestic helpers— some of them spanning over two decades already.
With that experience, I vowed to always better myself. I have greatly valued my life as an OFW. I learned to focus on the the things that will give me lessons, inspirations, and aspirations. I also learned to save money for my future because working abroad is a fleeting opportunity, except if you’re given the chance to be an immigrant in a country. And more importantly, I tried to distance myself from the chaos and dramas within the Filipino community.
I know, I’m a rare breed and I’m fortunate. #blessed
I’m fortunate to practice my profession as a teacher abroad. I’m fortunate that I have no husband and children that I left behind in the Philippines. I’m fortunate that I have my sister in supporting our parents, financially. I’m fortunate I get to enjoy my earnings by traveling the world. I’m fortunate that I can freely choose to stay or leave my job— without compromise. I’m fortunate I was able to live an expat life because of my teaching career. And I’m very fortunate to be surrounded by inspiring people from different cultures.
After almost 15 years of being away from the Philippines— having lived in China (8 years), USA (1 year), and Brazil (3.5 years), and now in France— I don’t think Philippines is my home.
Home seems to have a vague definition anymore. After moving to several places (continents, countries, and apartments) it’s hard to tell where it is. I have just moved into my fourth country and continent to be with Frenchie. But this new life in Europe may be brief because we have plans of moving somewhere unknown again. As cliché as it may sound, but “home is really where your heart is.”
My Filipino values are still there, especially being God-fearing, but I have now grown into a totally different person because I have lived and experienced different cultures. Which I hoped have only made me a better version of myself. I became more open-minded, tolerant, patient, and sensitive. I am now more understanding and appreciative, not only being a Filipino but also being a decent human while respecting other nationalities, gender, cultures, and religions.
I am, without a doubt, still proud to be a Filipino.
I will continue to introduce and showcase who I am. At the end of the day, life is a choice we make, regardless where we came from. Whether we like it or not, we have to choose what we feel is right and what we feel will ultimately make us a better and happier person.
To live this life of change or being nomadic can be overwhelmingly good and bad. I love the adrenaline of exploring the new surroundings around me and being able to try something new. The bad side is of course, the stability of your relationships and life. I may be used with packing and saying goodbyes, but it is still very hard every time.
It also means, that choosing a life to live abroad, is not for everyone. It’s for the bravest of hearts, that’s for sure.❤
Are you an OFW, too? Or an expat living abroad?
January 08, 2019 / Dinah Ventanilla/ Comment
expat living, Overseas Filipino Workers, OFW, Beijing, China, abroad, Filipino
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Researcher’s work provides insight into how the brain works
Posted by Fulton Schools | Sep 20, 2011 | Faculty
Dean’s Lecture Series
Marco Santello will kick off the 2011-2012 Dean’s Lecture series on Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. at the Brickyard, Room 210 (699 South Mill Avenue, Tempe). For more information, visit engineering.asu.edu/lectureseries
Reaching out and picking up a cup of coffee may seem like a simple gesture. For Marco Santello, interim director and professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, it is actually an intriguing problem that involves complex coordination between the brain, sensory feedback and motor structure in the hand.
Understanding how the brain processes complex movements is the focus of Santello’s work in the Neural Control of Movement Laboratory. His group works specifically on control of the hand because it is an ideal model for studying the dual function of sensing the environment through touch and an intricate coordination of motor commands to muscles.
Marco Santello
Because of this, Santello says that the motor system in the hand is well-suited to provide not only an understanding of neural mechanisms, but also to gain insight into neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders and potential treatments.
“Study of the hand can help answer the basic scientific question of how the brain works and provide insight into the applied aspects to provide better diagnosis and rehabilitation for Parkinson’s disease, stroke, focal dystonia and carpal tunnel syndrome,” Santello says.
Through a project funded by the National Institutes of Health in partnership with Mayo Clinic that was started three years ago, Santello and other researchers are exploring the impacts of carpal tunnel syndrome.
“We understand how to determine the median nerve damage, but not how it impacts the fine coordination of hand muscles in activities of daily living such as grasping and manipulation,” he says.
Santello says that the same questions can be asked about other problems. He collaborates with researchers at ASU, Columbia University, Harvard and the University of Pisa through a multi-country initiative funded by the European Union (“The Hand Embodied”) to apply human-like control features to robotic and neuroprosthetic applications.
In his lab, a custom machine simulates lifting an object using virtual reality systems to create conflicts between what the subjects sees and what he feels at the fingertips to challenge the brain—making the object tilt or move in a way that the participant does not expect. The aim of this work is to help reveal the brain’s ability to store memories that underlie motor learning.
“When we plan movements, we predict the consequences of our actions because we have learned what to expect from the environment, for example, the effect of gravity when trying to lift or hold an object,” Santello says. “Virtual reality offers an opportunity to simulate something completely opposite of what you would expect and see how the brain resolves conflict.”
Because the hand is involved in so many aspects of daily life and learning, it provides a model to gain a better understanding of how information is gathered and translated into action.
Several graduate and undergraduate students participate in lab research. Students have also visited from China and Italy.
Visit the Neural Control of Movement Laboratory for more information: http://faculty.engineering.asu.edu/santello/
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A year after net neutrality's repeal, the fight continues
By Nancy Pelosi, Frank Pallone, Jr., and Mike Doyle
Since its origin as a resource for scientists, the internet has grown to become the heartbeat of American innovation and social interaction. It is the backbone of digital commerce. A nervous system that connects and empowers the isolated and oppressed. A wonderland that inspires innovation, opens doors to education and work training, and provides small businesses the opportunity to challenge even the largest of corporations.
All of that has now been threatened by the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality protections one year ago today. These protections are essential to keeping the internet open and free. The Trump FCC ignored millions of comments from Americans pleading to keep strong net neutrality rules in place. It turned its back on the American people and walked away from its duty to safeguard the Internet and act in the public interest.
The FCC's net neutrality repeal left the market for broadband internet access virtually lawless, giving internet service providers (ISPs) an opening to control peoples' online activities at their discretion. Gone are rules that required ISPs to treat all internet traffic equally. Gone are rules that prevented ISPs from speeding up traffic of some websites for a fee or punishing others by slowing their traffic down.
You pay your hard-earned money each month to connect to the internet, but it is your ISP that can decide whether to block a website, charge a company more money to make their content stream faster, or slow down your favorite site. While these tactics may be profitable for ISPs and large edge providers who can afford an ISP-imposed tax, small businesses, non-profits, entrepreneurs and, in turn, you, would suffer.
Having paid a fair price, you deserve to get fair treatment. You deserve to have access to the entire internet without your experience being manipulated. You should not be left wondering when a video glitches or downloads slowly whether it is because of your ISP or the website you are on.
Until a year ago, the FCC was the federal agency that ensured consumers got a fair shake by overseeing ISPs and calling them to account when they stepped out of bounds.
Without the FCC acting as sheriff, it is unfortunately not surprising that big corporations have started exploring ways to change how consumers access the Internet in order to benefit their bottom line.
Research from independent analysts shows that nearly every mobile ISP is throttling at least one streaming video service or using discriminatory boosting practices. Wireless providers are openly throttling video traffic and charging consumers extra for watching high-definition (HD) streams. ISPs have rolled out internet plans that favor companies they are affiliated with, despite full-page ads swearing they value net neutrality. And most concerning, an ISP was found throttling so-called "unlimited" plans for a fire department during wildfires in California.
Make no mistake, these new practices are just ISPs sticking a toe in the water. Without an agency with the authority to investigate and punish unfair or discriminatory practices, ISPs will continue taking bolder and more blatantly anti-consumer steps.
That is why we have fought over the past year to restore net neutrality rules and put a cop back on the ISP beat.
In May, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill restoring net neutrality rules. Despite the support of a bipartisan majority of Americans, the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives refused our efforts to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
Fortunately, the time is fast coming when the people's voices will be heard. Large corporations will no longer be able to block progress on this important consumer protection issue.
The path to restoring open Internet protections hasn't proven easy, and the road ahead will be hard. But because of the American people, we are in a better position to restore strong net neutrality rules in the U.S. House of Representatives next year.
Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker-designate of the U.S. House of Representatives and represents California's 12th Congressional District.
Frank Pallone, Jr. is the expected Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and represents New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District.
Mike Doyle is the expected Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and represents Pennsylvania's 14th Congressional District.
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English Edition النسخة العربية Français Persian
Bashir’s Coup 30 Years On
How the Leader’s Legacy of Violence and Neglect Led to His Demise
By Ali El Shamy
05 July,2019
On June 30, 1989, a military junta led by Colonel Omar Al-Bashir removed the democratically elected Sudanese government headed by Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and President Ahmed al-Mirghani. The coup happened as a result of the government’s ineffectiveness in dealing with the Second Sudanese Civil war, which saw the separationist faction Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), of what is now South Sudan, face-off against government forces. The reason behind the SPLA’s rebellion was due to the government’s decision to cancel the South’s autonomy arrangements which came as a result of the Addis Ababa 1972 Peace Agreement.
With support from the National Islamic Front (NIF), Bashir’s forces ended Sudan’s short-lived democratic system overnight, as he replaced the elected government with a Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation (RCCNS), which backed Bashir to be the country’s new leader. Bashir portrayed himself as the country’s savior who would unite all the peoples living in Sudan; however, his legacy shows that he was anything but. More critically, his legacy has planted the seeds for the nationwide rebellion which took place 30 years after his power grab.
KEEPING SUDAN UNITED
Taking the helm during the Civil War, Bashir had two goals in mind mainly ending the war and keeping Sudan united. However, the county’s new military leader failed to swiftly end the war as the struggle between his forces and the SPLA waged on for nearly two decades. During this time, Bashir systemically fought against the Southerners and prevented provisions such as education and healthcare to reach them. Furthermore, Bashir was adamant in preventing International Organizations from delivering aid to the starving and displaced South Sudanese. Bashir’s actions prompted international condemnation and sanctions, and the UN pressured the government to end its diabolical acts in the early 2000s. The pressure worked and by 2003, the Sudanese regime started negotiating a peace deal with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (the political wing of the SPLA), which was finally signed in 2005. Under the agreement, Southern Sudan would get back its autonomy, and six years later its residents would get to vote on an independence referendum. The South Sudanese did indeed vote for the future of their nation in 2011, and the overwhelming majority of the voters favored separating from the north. Despite his violent past, Bashir’s regime respected the result of the referendum and South Sudan was officially founded as a new state six months later.
In addition to his atrocities in the South, most of Bashir’s most notable war crimes were committed against civilian populations residing in the Western Sudanese region of Darfur. During the 2000s, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) started to prominently rise in Darfur; the group is a populist one and has called for a greater share of power in Sudan, and more justice and equality in the country. JEM has long contended that the government in the Northern region has a monopoly over the country’s wealth, as a result, has left populations in other regions (particularly the South and the West) impoverished. The group is also Islamist and has used the ideology to call for greater justice among the wider Sudanese nation. The regime’s violence in Darfur started in 2003, after an SPLA insurgency attack on El Fasher airport in North Darfur, this persuaded the government that a radical solution was needed to put an end to anti-regime groups located in the West. Government forces and its allies the Janjaweed militia subsequently carried out attacks on civilians in Darfur, particularly those belonging to the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups which the regime thought had close ties with the JEM forces. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged Bashir with several crimes against humanity, as his forces have allegedly pillaged these groups’ properties, systemically murdered them, raped women living in these regions and forcibly transferred civilians out of the region. Bashir’s forces are also accused of contaminating water sources in the region and encouraging other tribes of occupying homes in which the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa previously resided in. The ICC has also gone as far as to accuse al-Bashir of genocide and has been calling for his arrest since 2009. If Bashir’s actions in the South and West indicated anything, it’s that he will not tolerate any form of rebellion and will quell any such acts with an iron fist.
Throughout his reign, Bashir has been known to ally himself with individuals who have done more harm to him than good. For instance, he was a close ally of the National Islamic Front (which later became the National Congress) leader Hassan Abd Allah al-Turabi, and during the early years of the Bashir regime al-Turabi effectively acted as the ideological wing of the regime. As a staunch Islamist, al-Turabi placed fundamentalists in important government posts and imposed Sharia law in the northern region of the country. Al-Turabi was also instrumental in isolating Sudan in the region as more countries started viewing the regime a destabilizing force. The first major incident that vilified the regime came during the Gulf War, which saw Bashir's government support Saddam Hussein’s forces, moreover, Bashir would go on to oppose the US-Arab coalition that fought to liberate Kuwait from Hussein’s clutches. Another incident that painted the regime in a negative light was Al-Turabi’s assistance to the Egyptian Islamist militants who attempted to assassinate former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa back in 1995. Naturally, this created a rift between the two North African states which have historically shared a close alliance. The incidence was also the major reason behind the UN’s sanctions against the regime one year later. Bashir would eventually fall out with Al-Turabi in 1999 and since then the latter has faced a series of imprisonments due to several reasons including alleged ties with JEM.
LACK OF DEVELOPMENT
It can be safely said that most of Bashir’s presidency has been confined to maintaining his grip on power which in turn consisted of increased military operations. In spite of the conflicts, Sudan has seen significant economic growth during Bashir’s presidency, as by 2010 it became the world’s 17th fastest growing economies. Most of Sudan’s economic growth can be attributed to its oil exports; however, the abundance of oil did not work to Bashir’s advantage. As previously stated, one of Bashir’s priorities was keeping the country united, something he failed to do and unfortunately for him, 80 percent of Sudan’s oil fields were situated in the south. As a result, upon the foundation of South Sudan, the government lost access to most of those oil fields. Despite the presence of other resources such as natural gas, gold, silver, chromite, asbestos, manganese, iron, nickel, tin and aluminum, the regime has done little to extract them for export. Moreover, the regime has failed to diversify its agricultural sector which was the main source of its GDP before the 2000s. Even before its vast oil revenue loss, Sudan’s economic growth did lead to human development since the regime focused most of its development measures on its capital, Khartoum, and has largely neglected other cities and regions. According to a 2014-15 study by the African Development Bank Group, less than 20 percent of the those living in the Northern Region and only 29 percent of those living in Khartoum fall below the poverty line. Meanwhile, other non-northern regions were not faring better, for instance over 60 percent of those living in Central Darfur and West Darfur, respectively fell below the poverty line. As previously noted, the regime’s neglect of those regions was the major factor behind the rise of insurgents that viewed the ruling government as unjust and corrupt.
Sudanese protesters march with a banner during a mass demonstration against the country's ruling generals in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on June 30, 2019. (Getty)
In hindsight, the regime should have predicted an eventual people’s rebellion as the rise of insurgents in impoverished regions should have served as warning against growing national dissatisfaction. It shouldn’t then come as a surprise that the regime’s announcement of food and energy price hikes in late 2018 led to a nationwide uprising. What is surprising though is the fact that some of the major cities that started the protests were the ones that were relatively doing better, for instance, the River Nile state, one of the areas with only 20 percent poverty rate was a major protest hub. Meanwhile, poorer areas such as the Red Sea state and North Korfodan were other states that served as protest points.
The 30th anniversary of Bashir’s coup has recently passed, and to mark it protestors all over Sudan held demonstrations against the current ruling transitional government led by General Abdel Fatah Burhan. Like most of the country’s history, the months-long protests have been violent as clashes between security forces and demonstrators have led to the loss of thousands of lives. If the current ruling coalition is to survive then it must do what it can to avoid the mistakes that the Bashir regime did during his tenure, namely seek ways to economically develop the country and not just the North and Khartoum, furthermore, they must seek reconciliation with opposition groups that are willing to negotiate. Finally, the transitional government must stick to its 3-year timeframe of paving the way for a democratically elected government.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's ruling military council, addresses the crowd in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on June 29, 2019. (Getty)
Sudan Omar Al Bashir Omar Al-Bashir Coup Sudan Protests
Ali El Shamy
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The Best Creepy Horror Movies That'll Scare the Hell Outta You
With the 'scare tolerance' of the audience rising, it has become challenging for film-makers to come up with some genuine yet scary movies. There are some movies which still do the trick of amazing you with their superb "scary plot".
Did you know that the blood used in the shower scene in 'Psycho' was actually chocolate syrup?! Yep, being a black and white movie, I guess the chocolate syrup worked.
Horror movies have characters like blood-sucking vampires, psychos, scary ghosts, deadly werewolves, man-eating zombies, women with long hair, etc. that give you the chills!
The best time to watch these movies is late night, all alone (or with a friend, if you get very scared of the films) with all the lights off, and if you can watch it in 3D then it's even great!
Faust - Eine Deutsche Volkssage (1926)
Director - F.W. Murnau
Actors - Emil Jannings and Camilla Horn
Runtime - 116 min
This is a classic film in the horror, drama, and fantasy genre. The movie is about God and Satan who war over Earth and to settle things down, wager on the soul of Faust, an alchemist.
Director - Alfred Hitchcock
Actors - Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, and Vera Miles
Runtime - 109 minutes
This is a classic horror film, and among the top 10 horror movies. This film is made by the famous Alfred Hitchcock and was nominated for 4 Oscars. The movie is based on Robert Bloch's novel, and is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who checks into a motel after stealing a big sum of money from her employer.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Director - Roman Polanski
Actors - Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, and Ruth Gordon
This Oscar winner horror film is about a young couple who move into a new apartment. They realize that they are surrounded by peculiar neighbors. The couple are concerned about the safety of their unborn child, as the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant.
Director - Brian De Palma
Actors - Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie
Runtime - 98 min
This scary movie is based on an equally scary novel by Stephen King, is about a quiet and weird girl called Carrie who has telekinetic powers. Sissy Spacek as Carrie is brilliant, and makes a lasting impression. This year a remake of the 1976 Carrie is going to release, it stars Chloë Grace Moretz.
Director - Ridley Scott
Actors - Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt
This sci-fi, horror film is known to everybody, and there have been many films on this character. When a crew of mining ship investigating a suspected SOS land on a distant planet, they discover some strange creatures.
Director - Stanley Kubrick
Actors - Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall
Based on a novel by Stephen King and directed by Stanley Kubrick, this movie is a masterpiece among horror films. A man, his wife, and son are staying in an isolated hotel, where their son starts to see disturbing scenes from the past due to his telepathic ability.
Director - Wes Craven
Actors - Johnny Depp, Heather Langenkamp, and Robert Englund
This film is among the best scary movies of all time, and is about the famous horror character Freddy, who killed many children with his razor blade fingers. Freddy is later burned alive by some people in a boiler room. After many years, he starts tormenting the children of the people who killed him.
This is the first movie of the Chucky series, with a scary but a unique concept of a serial killer trapped inside a puppet. This movie has many scary and shocking scenes, which will make you jump in your seat. If you like Child's Play, then you can also watch other movies of the series.
Director - Jonathan Demme
Actors - Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins
This amazing masterpiece is based on a book by Thomas Harris and is about Dr. Hannibal Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins and a young FBI cadet played by Jodie Foster who are trying to find a serial killer.
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1992)
Director - Benjamin Christensen
Actors - Benjamin Christensen, Elisabeth Christensen and Maren Pedersen
This bizarre but unique film, is a documentary portraying the history of witchcraft from illustrated incidents to real-life events. A must watch for fans of this movie genre.
Director - Peter Jackson
Actors - Timothy Balme and Diana Peñalver
This movie was originally known as Braindead, and is a fast-paced film. The story line is that a guy's mother gets bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey, which leads to her demise. However, she comes back to life and starts attacking, killing, and eating people and animals. Crazy, huh?
Aftermath (1994)
Director - Nacho Cerdà
Actors - Jordi Tarrida, Xevi Collellmir, and Ángel Tarris
This movie has a downright disturbing plot, and it is possible that you might feel like turning it off at times. It is just a half an hour film. It depicts a guy working in a morgue and how he goes around mutilating and abusing a corpse.
Les Diaboliques (1995)
Director - Henri-Georges Clouzot
Actors - Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, and Véra Clouzot
This black and white film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, is about the wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress, who conspire to kill him. But, after they murder him, the body disappears and strange and scary events begin to unfold.
Actors - Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette
Scream is a very popular movie among horror films. In this movie, 'ghost face' is killing teenagers, and everyone is a suspect. This movie is followed by other in the series. Watch the other parts, if you like this one.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Director - Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Actors - Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard
This is a unique film among horror films without any typical elements of the horror film genre. 3 student film-makers mysteriously disappear into the woods. This film is about the footage which was found a year later after their death.
Director - M. Night Shyamalan
Actors - Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment
This is so far the best film created by M. Night Shyamalan, which stars Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. This movie is about a boy (Haley) who can see dead people, and is getting treatment from a child psychologist (Willis). The climax of the story is brilliant, so watch the movie.
Werckmeister Harmoniak (2000)
Director - Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky
Actors - Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, and Hanna Schygulla
This world-wide acclaimed film took over 4 years to be created, and suffered many funding hassles and changes in crew; but the output came out to be brilliant. The movie takes place in a small town on the Hungarian Plain, where the temperature is below zero degree and is accompanied by frost, strangers appearing, and other chaotic incidents happening.
The Others (2001)
Director - Alejandro Amenábar
Actors - Nicole Kidman and Christopher Eccleston
Near the end of the World War II, a woman retires with her two children in a mansion. The children are photosensitive, which leads them to live alone inside the house. Later, the children become convinced that the mansion is haunted.
Director - Gore Verbinski
Actors - Naomi Watts and Brian Cox
Ring is a very scary horror film without any of the typical elements of a horror film. This film is about a mysterious videotape, which causes the death of anybody who watches it.
The Eye (2002)
Director - Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Actors - Angelica Lee, Chutcha Rujinanon, and Lawrence Chou
This movie is considered among the best Asian horror movies. It tells the story of a violinist who is blind, but gets vision after corneal transplant. However, with the new eyes the violinist is also able to see other horrifying things which blur the line between reality and imagination.
Saw (2004)
Director - James Wan
Actors - Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, and Leigh Whannell
If you like horror films which has a lot of blood and gore, then Saw is the best one! In this movie two men find themselves in a room where a serial killer called 'Jigsaw' has laid a deadly game for them. The men have to play by the rules of Jigsaw for their survival.
The Descent (2005)
Director - Neil Marshall
Actors - Alex Reid, Shauna Macdonald, and Natalie Mendoza
This is another great horror film. In this film a group of female friends while hiking get trapped in a cave due to rockfall. They are pursued by blood-thirsty creatures, and their friendship deteriorates as they fight for survival.
Grindhouse (2007)
Director - Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, and Rob Zombie
Actors - Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan, and Danny Trejo
These are two feature films directed by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. This double bill of thrillers, Death Proof and Planet Terror created by the two Directors recall an all time favorite genre - exploitation films.
Director - Oren Peli
Actors - Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, and Mark Fredrichs
These is a unique film series. However, the first part released in 2007 is the best among the series of 'Paranormal Activity' movies. In this movie a couple move to suburbs and become disturbed due to demonic presences. Every new release in the series is a prequel of the previous.
The Crazies (2010)
Director - Breck Eisner
Actors - Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, and Timothy Olyphant
This movie is a remake of the 1973 film, by the same name. It is a science fiction plus horror movie. In this film, a town of Ogden Marsh, Pierce County, Iowa is infected with the "Trixie" virus because the water supply is accidentally mixed with it. The person infected with this virus turns into a zombie and starts attacking other people.
Director - Matt Reeves
Actors - Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Richard Jenkins
This film is based on a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The movie revolves around the life of a 12-year-old boy and his friend. The friend of the boy is a vampire girl who grows closer to the boy and falls in love with him, and tries hard to overcome her thirst for the boy's blood.
Piranha 3D (2010)
Director - Alexandre Aja
Actors - Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, and Richard Dreyfuss
This 3D film, is a remake of an old film made in 1978, that goes by the same name. Piranha, which is basically a fish that evokes scary feeling, the moment you see its sharp and strong teeth. Plus, this movie being in 3D adds up to the scary factor.
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Director - Drew Goddard
Actors - Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, and Anna Hutchison
This is a famous film, which stars Chris Hemsworth. A group of friends on a break visit a remote cabin located in the woods. However, they discover the secret of the cabin.
The Woman in Black (2012)
Director - James Watkins
Actors - Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer
This is one of the latest horror films, starring Daniel Radcliffe as Mr. Kipps. Due to financial problems, Kipps gets a job which involves traveling to a house which is in marshlands. However, on seeing a woman dressed in black around the house, deaths of children in the village start occurring.
Excision (2012)
Director - Richard Bates Jr.
Actors - AnnaLynne McCord, Ariel Winter, and Traci Lords
This is a really scary film, with a weird plot line. It is about a high school girl called Pauline, who is delusional and unattractive. She keeps visualizing performing surgery on other people. There are quite a few disturbing scenes in the movie that will give you a scare.
Above was a list of some of the top horror movies ever made arranged chronologically, which are a must see for everybody. However, not all horror films are suitable for family viewing, so check the rating of the movie before you watch it.
I am sure you must have seen many of the movies from the list above but I am also pretty sure that you must not have seen the above listed foreign language horror films. So, rent the unwatched films, but a little advice - do not watch them all together, as the elements in horror films have a long-lasting impression.
11 Things Only Horror Movie Lovers Can Relate To
List of Scary Movies
Top 10 Scary Movies
Scariest Movies
Best Scary Movies of All Time
Scariest Hollywood Movies Ever
Scariest Movies of the Decade
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24 Quotes from “Particles of Faith” that Richard Dawkins Would Never Say
Epic Guest October 10, 2016 0 0 0 views
Catholic Author of all things science, Stacy Trasancos has an awesome new book with Ave Maria Press titled Particles of Faith: A Catholic Guide to Navigating Science. It packs a pretty nice mix of theology and science when considering some of today’s toughest questions. It’s a great read that challenges any reader to connecting faith and reason, especially atheists. So here’s 24 things atheist Richard Dawkins wouldn’t have the guts to say.
1. “I literally earned a master’s degree in dogmatic theology through an Avogadro’s number of diaper changes, sippy-cup refills, sister-fight breakups, and piles of unsorted laundry.”
2. “What I have to say is not profound; it is rather simple. It is a plea to fellow Catholics to return to childlike awe and wonder with an unwavering confidence in Christ and his Church when we approach the subject of modern science.”
3. “Sometimes I wish it were possible to see memories the way we see stars. The first memory I would see would be my mother’s face as I looked up from her embrace. When she told me God made the trees, the big round sun, and me, my fascination was fueled by the thought that God made everything. Children start out assuming there is a unifying logic to it all. To a child, faith and science go hand in hand.”
4. “In truth, we artificial electron transfer groupies were but puny observers and manipulators of laws magnificently beyond the work of human hands, and we knew it.”
5. “You see, a chemist is privileged to wrestle with the laws of nature, but that privilege delivers a blow of humility. I learned something my professor had not prepared me for. The 99 percent failure rate is not what burdens scientists, because scientists learn from failures; the burden comes from the knowledge that all of your research demands that you reach into a darkness hoping for the slightest glimmer of light. You know the truth is there beyond your reach, awaiting discovery, and you want so desperately to know what it is. For a scientist who does not believe in God or creation, there is an additional, monumental burden: you do not even know why the truths you are striving to discover are there; you have no fundamental explanation for why you care about science.”
6. “I liked to say that I was giving new meaning to the cliché ‘Spandex is a privilege, not a right.’ I worked in the very building where spandex was invented, with my own laboratory and office and with dominion over experimentation.”
7. “When my students learn about atoms, I tell them to be amazed at the Creator who ordered all things. I tell them not to be disheartened because they do not know everything, but to embrace learning for their lifetimes.”
8. “I may have walked away from a career, but I found a vocation. Your choices are what you make of them. If you commit to excellence and to adding value—for the greater glory of God—you will always make contributions.”
9. “Granting assent to the articles of faith was the most intellectually satisfying leap I ever dared to take as a scientist and, more importantly, as a person.”
10. “If someone tells you that science has all the answers, try not to die laughing.”
11. “Theology is a science inspired by God and whose object is God, therefore, theology is the highest science.”
12. “The scientific community needs visionary people of prayer and hope, people who are unafraid of truth, goodness, and beauty.”
13. “If you keep in mind that faith and science have shared dialogue over the millennia much more than people today make it seem, then you begin to have a solid grasp of the true nature of the relationship. The work of Fr. Stanley Jaki helped me understand that science and Christianity are united by a bond even stronger than friendship. His historical research shows how the biblical worldview gave rise to and guarded a correct view of the cosmos, the one that ushered in modern science.”
14. “I tested the tenets of faith in my life laboratory, and I found them to be true. For example, I obeyed the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, to pray daily, to honor my role as wife and mother, to pursue virtue, and to try to avoid sin. Choosing to do those things clarified the truth I could not see when I was unwilling to enter the laboratory to experiment. When atheists criticize faith, it is as though they are standing in the hallway of a laboratory criticizing the scientists inside, whose work they do not understand. The empirical evidence I gathered gave me confidence that the leap of faith was a leap into truth.”
15. “Whether physics in our lifetime points to a beginning of the universe or not, Catholics still affirm a beginning because we hold that truth in faith. Before the Big Bang theory, when people thought the universe and time are infinite, the Church held to her creed. This belief is ancient, forming an unbroken thread all the way back to Genesis. The Old Testament people held a belief in creation in time.”
16. “If we hold firm to our faith as strongly as the prophets, the biblical authors, the sons and mother in The Second Book of Maccabees, and the Church Fathers did, there is no scientific conclusion in any place or time that could shake our faith. We can ‘look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them,’ not deifying the universe but seeking after the Creator of it, for we know who ‘balanced the foundations of the earth.’”
17. “Physical determinism only applies to the physical realm, while the total reality includes the natural and the supernatural. Nature follows its prescriptive (designed) physical laws—even if electrons do not actually occupy an exact location in space and time according to those laws and even if they do but our descriptive models cannot determine the location. Free agents (God, angels, humans) are factors that cause matter to move as well, factors that cannot be accounted for fully in physical equations. It is that simple.”
18. “In his Summa Contra Gentiles, St. Thomas Aquinas gave an example of a conditional proposition, a compound proposition where the truth of one clause depends on the truth of the other clause. He compares man to animal. “If man is an ass, he is irrational.”[i] His point is that those quadruped beasts of burden are not created with rational souls as are humans. Logically it follows that if man were but an animal, he would by condition also be irrational, as in not a rational being. Let me add to St. Thomas’ conditional proposition: If a man denies the soul, he declares himself an irrational ass.”
19. “Speaking of evolution in terms of individuals is like using a bulldozer to pick up the first grain of sand that ever existed on a beach. Not only is it the wrong tool, it is the wrong expectation because we do not think of beaches in terms of first particles of sand. But neither can genetics rule out a miracle. So if indeed Adam and Eve began to live, literally, as a fully grown man and woman through a miraculous act of God, science can only shrug and keep on digging.”
20. “For now, and possibly forever, we do not know the exact details relating to human origins—not scientifically, not theologically. In the entire scope of history, those primal events, which could have happened in a single day, were but a fraction of a blink on an evolutionary scale that deals with thousands and millions of years at a time. If the two stories can never be plainly woven together, the discrepancy may be in the gap where humans cannot measure, not unlike the inaccessibility of the quantum realm.”
21. Scientifically, there is no other theory that comes close to explaining the diversity of life found on our planet. In the words of geneticist Dr. Theodosius Dobzhansky, who was Eastern Orthodox and whose famous phrase provided the title of his essay in The American Biology Teacher in 1973: “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”[ii]
OH WAIT, HE WOULD SAY THAT ONE.
22. “Notice:
– No one debates when an individual spider’s life begins.
– No one debates when an individual puppy’s life begins.
– No one debates when an individual chimp’s life begins.
Without exception, the only beings subjected to such strange scrutiny about the beginning of their existence are unwanted human children.”
23. “If we understand our bodies, then we know its cycles. If we know its cycles, then we have the best chance of knowing—even in the earliest days—when we are pregnant. Who do you think teaches this reasoning and knowledge to women? The Catholic Church does. Doctors ought to tell women the same, but it is hard to find any who do. There are no ancient superstitions there, just biologically accurate information for women.”
And finally, 24. “Seeing science in the light of faith means we stand glorious with faith in the Holy Trinity, a beginning in time, angels, the soul, personhood, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Incarnation, the Baptism, the water turned into Wine, the Beatitudes, the Transfiguration, the Eucharist, the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Crown of Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension of Christ, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of Mary, and her Crowning as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. None of these is a subject of physical science. Christianity is not a theory.”
Get your copy of Particles of Faith today by clicking here or on the image below
Stacy A. Trasancos is a wife and homeschooling mother of seven. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from Penn State University and a MA in Dogmatic Theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. She teaches chemistry and physics for Kolbe Academy online homeschool program and serves as the Science Department Chair. She teaches “Reading Science in the Light of Faith” at Holy Apostles College & Seminary and “The Theology of Science” at Seton Hall University. She is author of Science Was Born of Christianity: The Teaching of Fr. Stanley L. Jaki. Her new book, Particles of Faith: A Catholic Guide to Navigating Science (Ave Maria Press) comes out October 2016. She works from her family’s 100-year old restored lodge in the Adirondack mountains, where her husband, children, and two German Shepherds remain top priority. Her website can be found here.
[i] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, chap. 13.7, accessed December 5, 2015, https://dhspriory.org/thomas/ContraGentiles1.htm.
[ii] Theodosius Dobzhansky, “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution,” The American Biology Teacher 35, no. 3 (March 1973): 125–29.
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Guam Receives Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects
The EPA has awarded $7.8 million to Guam for wastewater and drinking water infrastructure improvements.
Since 2010, Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) has received more than $65 million in EPA Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. The GWA has worked hard to complete numerous projects with those funds, including waste water collection upgrades and other water system overhauls.
This year, the funds will be used to upgrade drinking water booster stations, and to develop a remote monitoring and control system to manage drinking water distribution and wastewater collection networks.
“This much-needed funding will help Guam provide cleaner, safer drinking water, while protecting its coral reefs,” said Alexis Strauss, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “We will continue to support Guam Waterworks Authority’s efforts to ensure safe drinking water and adequate sanitation for the residents of Guam.”
$1 million of the funds will be used to help maintain GWA’s infrastructure facilities and leak-detection program.
FY2019 NRC Fees Increased for Operating Reactors
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Journal Blog Strategy Goal 4: Apply What You Learn
Goal 4: Apply What You Learn
By Rick Hesse, DSc, Professor of Decision Sciences
Decision Sciences, Entrepreneurship / Innovation, Strategy
Rick Hesse, DSc
For over 40 years I have taught applied modeling—at eight different universities, engineering and business schools, graduate and undergraduate levels. I have taught using paper and pencil for quick-and-dirty models, calculators, mainframe computers, and now PCs with spreadsheets. Generally, I have four goals for each class, and the fourth is:
Be able to actually identify problems at work and use appropriate statistical spreadsheet models after the course is over.[1]
I wish I had kept better track of the emails and stories from my students about how modeling has affected them over my eleven years here at Pepperdine, but here are a few of their stories:
One student was an office manager for a large southern California medical center responsible for handling patient appointments. She was informed that her budget would be cut by 20% and that she would have to let several employees go. Immediately, she knew this would impact the number of appointments that could be scheduled and thus reduce the number of patients and subsequent revenue. At the time, she was taking the Quantitative Analysis for Business Operations MBA course at Pepperdine and was delighted that her group’s first case was a call center scheduling integer programming model ideal for her situation. She fed in her own data, ran it with the number of her current staff and then with the reduced staff and showed her boss the impact of the 20% budget reduction. The boss immediately rescinded the budget cut because he could see the negative impact on revenue. So the model wasn’t used for scheduling the individual workers as intended, but just showing the impact of having fewer workers was dramatic enough to allow the student to keep her budget.
LESSON: Models don’t always have to solve problems—sometimes they can effectively show the problem.
Right after the disastrous unmanned missions that crashed into Mars, a former student working at JPL emailed me with her problem. JPL now required teams to watch each subsequent journey 24/7, which meant 12-hour shifts three and four days a week. Group A worked days for three days one week and four days the next; Group B filled the rest of the days; and Groups C and D split the nights. After two months, each group switched from nights to days and vice versa. The mission specialists were complaining because one week they’d get paid for 48 hours’ work and the next week for 36—accounting refused to average it out to 42 hours per week. The student remembered we had used a scheduling template in class and wondered if I could fix the problem. My first thought was highly technical with thoughts of all kinds of fancy schedules, but after thinking about it for a few hours and trying some different schedule configurations, I had a “flash of the obvious” and realized that minimizing costs made no sense because they would always be paid for an average of 42 hours per week. It then dawned on me that if Group A worked three 12-hour days and then 6 hours on the fourth day, Group B could finish up the that last shift for 6 hours and then the next three 12-hour days to complete the full week. Groups C and D could have a similar schedule for the night shift. There was nothing to optimize. Simply by reconfiguring the schedule, every employee would always be working 42 hours per week and accounting be damned! I got an email back two days later saying JPL was ecstatic—they had never thought of splitting the shifts!
LESSON: Sometimes models don’t have to be solved – they just help lay out the problem so that the solution just presents itself.
For homework, a student working in the finance industry was going over the simple capital budgeting integer programming model when he realized that he could utilize the model at work. He had been going to work at 5:30 and using his finance calculator to do an hour’s worth of work before being able to allocate the $30M or so in investment funds. Now he saw that he could write a simple model that required only five minutes of new input, run it in a few seconds, and have a junior worker come in early to enter that day’s allocations. He would be able to get in at a normal time and all he’d need to do was double-check that the money had been allocated correctly.
LESSON: A simple model can be easily given to an employee to use and remove a lot of manual labor for everyone and then be checked for accuracy later.
One student was the director of marketing for an international producer of welding equipment Each week the company’s forecasting team—VP Sales, Director of Marketing, Master Planner, General Manager, and VP Supply Chain—met behind closed doors to develop and review the monthly production build plan. Historically, they based their monthly forecast on existing materials inventory, sales performance by model, upcoming promotions, and overall consensus within the group. After a review of the month’s operating performance, the VP of Supply Chain challenged the group to come up with a build plan that maximized its monthly available production hours of 25,000 with a target of 80 machines per month. The student accepted the challenge and agreed to present an initial model the following week. This type of decision usually took several days each month but the student worked out a very simple integer programming model that included the upper and lower bounds for each machine, the profit, and the number of hours to build and ran in a few seconds. This model is now the benchmark for an optimized monthly product build schedule. The upper and lower bounds fluctuate depending on demand, sales forecast and other factors; however, the forecasting team now has the ability to measure the variances between the optimal profit and hour’s maximization from the final build schedule. After the meeting, the VP of Sales and Director of Marketing collaborated on a product promotion strategy that encouraged the sales force to push the optimal product mix. Before, the production build plan was based mostly on demand and gut-feel which resulted in lower profits and less used production hours. Now that the production schedule is optimized, the team can direct the sales force and marketing to push the various products into the right markets yielding the highest profit and production maximization. The CFO told the student that he had just earned his first semester’s tuition at Pepperdine (which the company pays for).
LESSON: Sometimes a simple model can drive the production decision which in turn drives the marketing of the product, instead of marketing determining what should be sold.
Mid-way through the MBA program, one student interested in the business side of pharmacology was approached by a large supermarket chain, which saw the future of mega-stores with pharmacy operations. They offered him a job in sales where he would be assigned the territory of northern California and would need to visit 10 pharmacies each day, two days a week, while still going to school at Pepperdine in southern California. He used a simple template for the traveling sales problem to find the shortest distance to fly up to San Francisco and visit two sets of 10 pharmacies in two successive days and then make it back to classes. Although the model was a “quick-and-dirty” solution, it shaved a few hundred miles and a couple of hours of travel from his best estimate. It did this in less than 15 minutes on a PC using the Solver’s “All different constraint” versus hours of mainframe computer time to find the optimal solution, which might have saved only a few more miles and minutes.
LESSON: Sometimes the near-optimal solution is cheaper and faster in the long run than an expensive, optimal model solution.
This student, Jed, was the plant manager of Puretec, an industrial water purifying company located in Ventura, CA, which was owned by his father, president of the company. The student’s first class in the MBA program was the Quantitative Analysis—not his favorite subject, but he really liked the idea of how data could be collected on spreadsheets, graphedn and shown to others. Although the Puretec was very successful and growing, he had no idea of how many tanks were being processed (recharged for ionization), or were out in the field, etc. So during class he started developing spreadsheets to aid his workers to see what was on the floor, entering data for each job so that it didn’t have to be re-entered, and keeping track of things. His workers loved it, and he became more and more proficient at linking worksheets to pull the information about the business so that it could be seen and analyzed. One day, after my lecture on queuing (waiting lines) he “saw” that the tanks waiting to be serviced on the plant floor were just like people waiting in line, and decided to change the procedure. Rather than having them done one at a time, with a worker setting it up and then waiting 20 minutes to have the tank re-ionized, Jed saw there was a lot of wasted time when the worker had to “watch” the process. So he quickly changed the set-up to do four tanks at a time. This took twice as long to set up but the same amount of time to re-ionize four tanks as it did one. The workers balked at the idea but trusted him because he had already implemented some time-saving techniques. Everyone was amazed that what used to take a full day to do was now done by noon! The student didn’t run any models – he just understood the principles of the model and applied them.
LESSON: Just understanding the basic assumptions behind models can lead to time and cost-saving changes in business operations.
(Read more about Jed’s newfound love for quantitative analysis on the Graziadio Voice student blog.)
[1] Allen F. Grum and Rick Hesse, “It’s the Process Not the Product (Most of the Time),” Interfaces, 13, no. 5, October 1983.
Related in the GBR
Electronic Spreadsheets: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly by Rick Hesse, DSc
Rick Hesse, DSc, Professor of Decision Sciences
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Google’s Erez Lieberman Aiden – How the Human Genome Folds
Posted on April 26, 2012 by Gina Clifford • 0 Comments
Photo: Gina Clifford
What do Ramen noodles, knots, and genome globules have in common? If you’re researcher Erez Lieberman Aiden, these are models for his groundbreaking research on 3-D mapping the human genome. At the end of the day, he shares advice and wisdom with aspiring young scientists. His connections to TED and Google lend a “cool” factor to mathematics, too.
Erez isn’t exactly your everyday researcher. Erez is a fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Visiting Faculty at Google. His research has won numerous awards, including a $2.5 million National Institute of Health New Innovator Award, the GE and Science Prize for Young Life Scientists, the Lemelson-MIT prize for best student inventor at MIT, and the American Physical Society’s Award for the Best Doctoral Dissertation in Biological Physics. His research is recognized as one of the top 20 “Biotech Breakthroughs that will Change Medicine” by Popular Mechanics. Technology Review’s 2009 TR35 recognizes Erez as one of the top 35 innovators under 35. If that isn’t enough, his last three research articles all appeared on the cover of Nature and Science magazines.
Erez Lieberman Aiden, Center, with Univ. of S. Florida. Math professors Milé Krajčevski (left) and Nataša Jonoska Photo: Gina Clifford
Many Google fans might be familiar with Erez’s research on how the English language changes over time. Google’s Ngram tool is based on his research. In fact, his talk on the subject is a TED Talk. Lately, though, Erez’s research involves how to locate specific bits of the human genome within a cell. The genome is an organism’s instruction set for how to build a new organism from scratch.
To learn how the genome folds up so tightly within a cell, Erez processes genome material into bits and then places it into a solvent. In the solvent, the genome folds up into a round 3-D globule whose bits are miniature replicas of the whole. Thus, a better name for these globules is a fractal globule. Erez’s goal is to figure out which parts of the globule touch other parts in order to map the precise location of every bit of the globule.
To explain his thinking, Erez compares the behavior of the folded up genome within the cell to Ramen noodles folded up within a cellophane package. Using a polymer physics model and work done by Joseph Peano and David Hilbert, Erez explains how Ramen noodles model his genome globule. Who knew?
Did you know that when cooked and unfolded, Ramen noodles stretch 170 feet? If they are not stirred excessively, the noodles unfold completely unknotted. Amazingly, these noodles model the genome globules behavior. Apparently, remaining unknotted is key to folding and unfolding the genome.
Erez’s advice to budding scientists and mathematicians:
Don’t be afraid to fail, but strive to do well in whatever you pursue. He also encourages young people to fail often until they find something that gives them great confidence and satisfaction.
Erez admits that, as a child, he wasn’t a standout student. In fact, he didn’t find his passion for mathematics and physics until he entered graduate school. He attributes his early success in publishing scientific papers as a graduate student as his biggest motivator. With the help of Ramen noodles, knots, and genome globules, Erez Lieberman Aiden is quietly changing the world and the perception of mathematics and science–he’s making them both cool!
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Filed Under: Experiments, GeekMom, Technology
Tags: google, MIT
Gina Clifford
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Multi-Sensory Windows into Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology
Tags: active learning, applied knowledge, collaborative learning, discussion, discussion section, kinesthetic learning, role play and simulation
by Stephanie Langin-Hooper, Near Eastern Studies
Near Eastern archaeology is an inherently multi-sensory discipline. The excavation process requires the archaeologist to engage with research material (such as the soil, the remains of ancient buildings, the objects uncovered) in both a visual and a tactile manner. We must similarly employ a variety of senses when reconstructing the past, whether it is extrapolating the sounds of ancient music from the remains of instruments or reading recipes from clay tablets in an attempt to cook ancient food. Unfortunately, much of this multi-sensory experience is difficult to translate into the classroom. Most archaeology classes, especially at an introductory level, rely heavily on visual materials to convey both the process of excavation and our knowledge about the ancient world. This might not be a problem with some ancient subjects that are more recognizable and accessible, such as Greek or Roman art; however, with the largely unfamiliar arts and artifacts of the Ancient Near East, this sensory distancing often translates into an intellectual distancing as well. As a result of their limited, and largely visual, introduction to the Ancient Near East, many introductory students tend to see the subject as boring and unappealing, instead of as the dynamic and engaging field that it truly is.
In response to this problem, I designed a series of multi-sensory activities to engage my students each week in section. In the introductory section, I dumped out my backpack and challenged the students to behave as if they were archaeologists 500 years in the future who were sorting through my belongings for clues about our culture. In another section, I brought in wooden chopsticks, which work well as a scribal stylus, and clay to teach the students to make tablets and write in the Mesopotamian cuneiform script. As a treat in the last section of the semester, I baked Sumerian cookies from an ancient recipe so that the students could taste 5,000-year-old food while they studied for finals.
One of the most involved and successful projects that I designed was a miniature replica of underwater shipwreck excavations. Using large turkey roasting pans, water, sand, and an assortment of miniature objects, I recreated three underwater shipwreck excavation sites. Wooden popsicle sticks served as the frame of the boat, cut pieces of tin stood in for metal ingots, beads represented cylinder seals; I placed these and many other miniature objects into the shipwrecks in precise proportion to the excavation records from actual shipwreck sites in the ancient Mediterranean. The students became the archaeologists and were divided up into excavation teams. One person was designated the site director, while the others were each given a job as a particular specialist, such as metal specialist or pottery specialist, to mimic the organization of a real shipwreck excavation. These specialists were responsible not only for excavating their section of the ship, but also for preserving the materials taken from the water. For instance, on a real excavation, water-logged wood must be immediately placed in a glycol solution to prevent the disintegration of the cellulose structure. The student assigned to be wood specialist needed to similarly transfer any pieces of the ship’s planking into a tub filled with sugar water. Detailed handouts with color pictures helped the students identify what techniques they should use, as well as how to interpret their findings by comparing their results to real excavation reports. After the site was completely excavated, the students discussed their respective findings and compiled a site report, which the site director summarized out loud for the whole class.
Through a multi-sensory engagement, this project successfully opened the eyes of my students to the dynamic process of archaeological excavation. Because of the teamwork required to excavate the shipwreck and then compile a report afterwards, the students also pushed each other towards new levels of inquiry and deeper analysis than I had seen from them employ before. Students who had never spoken in class were suddenly asking questions like, “Why would a ship carry raw lumber ― don’t they have trees everywhere?” “What does it mean when the pottery in one ship all looks the same?” “Why would these vessels risk a shipwreck just to trade in luxury goods?” The fact that the students were inspired to ask these questions was the way in which I assessed the project’s success. These multi-sensory activities awoke in many of my students an intellectual curiosity about the ancient world that more traditional teaching methods had so far been unable to cultivate.
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Posts Tagged ‘JAI by John Hardy’
QVC’s Jai By John Hardy Jewelry Comes To TJ Maxx
Here’s a heads-up for jewelry geeks: Pieces of QVC’s Jai by John Hardy line have landed at TJ Maxx.
http://www.qvc.com/jewelry/jai/_/N-mfluZ1z12wfh/c.html
We can’t speak for the rest of the nation, but we have spotted the Jai stuff in a number of the retailer’s stores in North Jersey.
For those not in the know, Jai was originally presented as a lower-priced version of John Hardy’s handmade sterling silver jewelry from Bali. Now, the line is headed by Scott Grimes. As QVC.com explains, “jai” means “heart” in Thai and “victory” and “goodness” in Hindi.
It’s also part of the title from the great song from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” the tune “Jai Ho.”
And BTW, our local TJ Maxx’s have also received a fresh shipment of our downfall, namely Lagos and John Hardy jewelry.
And in another attack on our wallet, Margo Manhattan’s gorgeous sterling silver jewelry will be back on Evine Live on Thursday. We love it.
Tags:JAI by John Hardy, jewelry, QVC, The Homeshoppingista, TJ Maxx
Jewelry Maker John Hardy Sold, What Happens To QVC Line?
We should be in bed sleeping but we were surfing the ‘net (just using that phrase shows how old we are) and we saw this story.
One of our favorite jewelry designers, John Hardy, has been sold. The company must have some kind of financial issues, so maybe that’s why so much of its jewelry is winding up at TJ Maxx. And a new CEO has been appointed, FYI.
We wonder if the new owners will put the kibosh on the lower-priced silver line that QVC has, JAI by John Hardy.
Here is the press release from last week:
John Hardy Acquired by Catterton, the Leading Consumer Focused Private Equity Firm
NEW YORK, July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — John Hardy, a leading luxury designer jewelry brand, today announced that it has been acquired by Catterton, the leading consumer-focused private equity firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
John Hardy’s gorgeous silver jewelry is handmade
Founded in 1975, John Hardy is a luxury designer jewelry brand known for its handmade craftsmanship, and iconic designs within its collection. The Company is a pioneer in sustainable luxury and uniquely positioned as the leading designer brand for which each piece is intricately handcrafted and one-of-a-kind.
John Hardy’s recognizable and distinctive jewelry enjoys a loyal customer base and a top-tier, multi-channel distribution footprint, with collections available at more than 600 retail locations across 27 countries and regions, including world-renowned department stores such asNeiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue,Bloomingdale’s, Harrods and Lane Crawford and stand-alone stores in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Bali
John Hardy recently signed supermodel Cara Delevingne to be the face of its new jewelry campaign.
The Company has appointed Robert Hanson as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Hanson brings more than 25 years of brand development and retail experience to John Hardy, including with American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., where he served as Chief Executive Officer, and Levi Strauss & Co., where he served as Global President of Levi’s.
Damien Dernoncourt, who has served as John Hardy’s Chief Executive Officer since 2007, will retain an equity stake in the Company and has been named Non-Executive Chairman, to which he will devote his full professional time.
Guy Bedarida will continue to serve as Creative Director and Head Designer and Miles Graham will continue to serve as President and Chief Operating Officer.
“John Hardy is pleased to partner with Catterton, which will provide the support and resources to continue building our brand and accelerate our growth on an international scale,” said Mr. Dernoncourt.
“I am confident that under Robert’s leadership and together with Catterton, we will enhance our status as a leading designer of unique handmade jewelry while maintaining our Company’s strong core values and luxury positioning. I am excited to be working with Catterton, Robert, and the entire John Hardy team as we grow and build on our success.”
Mr. Hanson said, “John Hardy is an iconic luxury brand with a loyal customer following, and I have been impressed with the strength of the brand under Damien’s leadership. I look forward to leading the Company and building upon its tradition of creating truly unique, authentic designs and providing outstanding customer service.
“John Hardy is well known for its distinctive style, extraordinary quality and commitment to handcrafted sustainable luxury. These key pillars will continue to be the cornerstone of our Company and our future success. With Catterton’s well-established track record for partnering with leading brands to help them capitalize on growth opportunities, I believe that John Hardy has significant potential and a bright future.”
Michael Chu, Managing Partner at Catterton, said, “Catterton is excited to partner with a differentiated brand with a strong heritage and a top-tier, multi-channel distribution footprint. With Catterton, John Hardy will have a robust platform to enhance its already exceptional brand and accelerate its growth trajectory. We are confident that John Hardy offers substantial upside through multiple paths for expansion, and look forward to working with Robert and the entire team at John Hardy to capitalize on new market opportunities and realize the Company’s significant potential.”
Catterton has partnered with luxury brands including Restoration Hardware, Baccarat, PIRCH, and Frederic Fekkai to name a few.
Tags:Catterton, JAI by John Hardy, John Hardy, John Hardy sold, QVC, The Homeshoppingista
QVC, Ovarian Cancer Research Team Up On Hamptons Sale
QVC and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) are joining forces once again for “QVC Presents Super Saturday LIVE,” an annual “designer charity sale” scheduled to be broadcast live from the Hamptons this Saturday.
During the two-hour shopping gala, premier fashion, beauty, jewelry and more will be offered for half the manufacturer’s suggested retail price with 80 percent of the purchase price of donated merchandise benefiting OCRF’s research programs.
These proceeds will also benefit Woman to Woman, OCRF’s nationwide patient program designed to support women currently undergoing treatment for gynecologic cancers.
The live broadcast will feature a variety of designer deals from top brands including philosophy, Alex and Ani, JAI by John Hardy, Amrita Singh, Honora, orYANYand many others.
The “QVC Presents Super Saturday LIVE” broadcast will offer a behind-the-scenes look at the soiree with celebrity interviews straight from the red carpet.
To help promote QVC’s efforts, Kelly Ripa, a longtime supporter of OCRF’s Super Saturday and co-star of “LIVE with Kelly and Michael,” is featured in both the print and television public service announcements for “QVC Presents Super Saturday LIVE.” Ripa will also lend her voice once again as the host of the charitable event.
“QVC is dedicated to spreading OCRF’s message in the hopes that we will one day find a way to eradicate this deadly disease,” QVC U.S. CEO Claire Watts said. “This year, we are excited to incorporate our new toGather initiative which makes it easier than ever to raise awareness for such an important cause.”
Adding a new twist to the power of social media, toGather, QVC’s discovery shopping experience, and Lisa Robertson, QVC host of the “QVC Presents Super Saturday LIVE” broadcast, will launch a new Super Saturday collection featuring this year’s designer goods. Shoppers will be encouraged to “Heart for Hope” by hearting and sharing items and social stickers to help spread awareness for ovarian cancer research.
“Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest diseases women face, and more needs to be done to raise awareness and funds to support both research and women undergoing treatment,” said Audra Moran, CEO, OCRF. “QVC’s Super Saturday broadcast has been a tremendous help in spreading OCRF’s message beyond the Hamptons community and into millions of homes across the U.S.”
Tags:Alex and Ani, Audra Moran, Claire Watts, Hamptons, JAI by John Hardy, Kelly Ripa, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, QVC
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Astronomy & Space Exploration
Real Photos of Black Holes
Updated on March 4, 2013
Daughter of a rocket engineer, granddaughter of a planetarium director, I've been a huge fan of astronomy and space exploration all my life.
Actual Photo of Black Hole
A ground-based radio telescope snapped the left photo of high-energy jets squirting out of the poles of the black hole at the heart of Galaxy NGC 4261. At right, Hubble snaps a close-up of the accretion disk of stars swirling around the black hole. | Source
Black Holes Are Real
Black holes are, simply, a place where so much matter has come together that its massive gravity draws everything near it towards it— even light. Once matter or light passes the "event horizon" of the black hole, it cannot escape (usually). However, we can see stars, gas and dust falling towards that point. Objects being drawn in by a black hole are heated up and emit bursts of visible light, x-rays, gamma rays and other wavelengths as they are torn apart.
Black holes were once theoretical, suggested by the mathematical equations of physics and Einstein's relativity, which predicted what would happen if too much mass collected in one spot. There was debate about whether black holes really existed; Einstein himself thought they were "too strange to be real."
"When I was a PhD student, people used to giggle when you hear[d] about black holes. They're like unicorns, mythical creatures. We call this the 'giggle factor.' People would say, 'Beam me up, Scotty.' Well, no one is laughing anymore."
~ Dr. Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist, on How the Universe Works.
The first known black hole was Cygnus X-1, discovered in 1964 as a powerful, mysterious source of x-rays. Since then, thousands of black holes have been discovered through the energy emissions of their dying prey or their tugs on nearby stars, dust, gas, and even galaxies. So we usually have to content ourselves with artist's depictions or a graph of the black hole's vital signs. However, our most powerful telescopes can sometimes detect the "accretion discs" of matter circling around black holes:
REALLY Supermassive Black Hole: Heart of NGC 1277
Even by supermassive standards, this black hole's is big: it's the mass of 17 BILLION suns, 14% of its whole galaxy's mass, and the black hole itself is as wide as 11 times Neptune's orbit. | Source
If Black Holes Are Black, Then What Are We Seeing?
This video gives us a simple demonstration of how a black hole works. Once something falls into the hole, the "event horizion," its light can't escape, but until then we can see it.
Notice how the coins speed up more and more as they get close to the "event horizon" (around 0:50). With a black hole, this acceleration can be thousands of miles per hour! At that speed, matter heats up, gets ripped apart, collides with other particles, and whips out all kinds of energy and particles at speeds approaching the speed of light. This energy can squirt out at a black hole's poles as massive jets, following the magnetic lines of force generated by the material speeding around the black hole.
Simulation of Black Hole
A Black Hole to Be?
With a mass of about 20 Suns, star HDE 226868 is on the threshold of what it takes to become a black hole... assuming its hidden companion Cygnus X-1, the first black hole ever discovered, doesn't trim it down to neutron star candidacy. | Source
Stellar Mass Black Holes
"Stellar Mass" black holes started out as giant stars at least twenty times the mass of our sun. (The black hole left behind may be as small as 2.5 times the sun's mass, and some are less than 20 miles wide).
All stars are engaged in a deadly tug-of-war between the force of gravity, which tries to make them contract under their own mass, and the outward thrust of their core's thermonuclear explosions. Once their fuel is used up, stars implode. Stars the size of our sun pack down into white dwarfs, small cold cores. Stars larger than our sun compact into neutron stars, super-dense remnants. The biggest stars explode their outer shells in a supernova, while their massive core collapses all the way into a black hole.
At the moment of collapse, massive stars emit extremely high energy bursts of gamma rays for a few seconds. Astronomers now know that these gamma ray bursts are the signal of the birth of a black hole. NASA's Swift telescope is designed specifically to pick up these bursts. It has also discovered some short gamma ray bursts caused by the collision and fusion of two neutron stars or by a black hole eating a neutron star.
In slightly over five years, Swift detected 500 gamma ray bursts, most of them the cries of newborn black holes. As of January 2012, that number is up to 738. The inescapable conclusion: black holes are not as rare as unicorns; they're actually fairly common, in a place as big as the whole universe.
Swift Spots a Black Hole Flare-Up
Gammy Ray Burst 080319B was so bright that we could see it from halfway across the universe. | Source
A Whopper Gamma Ray Burst
March 19, 2008 was a very special day in the life of NASA's Swift telescope. Not only did it detect four gamma ray bursts on the same day, a record, but also, one was the most luminous ever seen.
It was halfway across the universe, 7.5 billion light years away, and it was briefly so bright that it was visible to the naked eye. By comparison, the faintest naked-eye object we can normally see is galaxy M33, 2.9 billion light years away. (One light year is 5,878,625,373,183.61 miles).
A Black Hole in Andromeda Galaxy
Inset box is x-ray data showing a flare-up, a dying burst of energy from something being ripped apart by a black hole in our closest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. | Source
How to See Mature Black Holes
We don't just see black holes being born; we can also glimpse older ones snacking on their neighbors.
The Hubble Space Telescope has actually spotted the flickering visible light of a blob of matter swirling "down the drain" of a black hole — oscillating as it spiraled towards and away from us, growing brighter and darker and brighter again in ever tightening repetitions — and then vanishing from sight.
More often, X-ray telescopes catch brief bursts of energy from the matter being shredded by the black hole (right).
Remember Einstein's equation, E=MC2? The energy is the amount released. The M is the mass of the star or other object disintegrating in the black hole's demolition derby. C is the speed of light, which is 670,616,629 mph. Remember how much energy the Hiroshima bomb released, converting just a minute amount of matter into energy? A sun's mass compared to a bomb-sized chunk of plutonium is... well... inconceivable. No wonder the resulting explosions flare so brightly.
A Black Hole Chomps on Its Companion Star
A black hole in the galaxy M83 flares up in the x-ray spectrum (bright pink blob, bottom center of right photo). Chandra's x-ray photo is colored pink, then superimposed on visible-light photos of the galaxy by the Hubble and Very Large Telescope. | Source
Close-Up of Black Hole
Close-up before-and-after photos of the black hole in the X-ray and visible light wavelengths. Notice the extra blue dot in visible light in the lower right photo: that's the glowing disc around the black hole. | Source
Most star systems in the universe are binary, so many black holes have a sibling to snack on. As this material is accelerated and ripped apart, it gives off a steady stream of x-rays. Sometimes an especially tasty chunk causes the whole accretion disc swirling around the black hole to brighten not only on x-ray wavelengths but even extending into visible light.
In April 2012, NASA's Chandra x-ray telescope detected a black hole in the galaxy M83 that was chewing off a big chunk of material from its companion star. Hubble and the European Southern Observatory's "Very Large Telescope" spotted the resulting glow in visible wavelengths.
Photo of a Supermassive Black Hole
The Hubble Space Telescope images the swirling disk, stars, and gas around a supermassive black hole "1.2 billion times the mass of the Sun, yet concentrated into a region of space not much larger than our solar system." Core of Galaxy NGC 4261. | Source
Stars Orbiting Center of Milky Way
"Created by Prof. Andrea Ghez and her research team at UCLA from data sets obtained with the W.M. Keck Telescopes." | Source
Supermassive Black Holes
Astronomers have been shocked to discover that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their center, far more massive than stellar mass black holes. Astronomers are still wrestling over competing theories about how these monsters formed. We do know that there is one in the center of the Milky Way!
There's so much dust and matter packed near the center of our galaxy that it's mostly obscured in visible light, although we know where it is: it's in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. However, telescopes that use alternate wavelengths of energy like x-rays and infrared can peer through the murk and image what's at the center.
What they've found is surprising, and awe-inspiring. By taking images of the center of the Milky Way galaxy for over a decade, several teams of astronomers have pinpointed its central black hole, named Sgr A*. The Keck Observatory's timelapse photos (see more info) show stars whipping around...something... that is invisible, yet its supermassive gravitational pull is accelerating them to thousands of miles an hour.
Now and then telescopes glimpse the "burp" as something is drawn in, torn to shreds, and emits a dying burst of energy. (As Bad Astronomy's Dr. Phil Plait notes, it's not technically a burp, but "more like your food screaming loudly and incoherently and flailing around while you’re actually eating it.")
X-Ray Flare of Milky Way's Black Hole
In June 2012, NASA's NuSTAR telescope, which sees the X-ray part of the spectrum, detected this 2-day burst of energy from matter heated up to 180 million degrees F as it was chewed up on the fringes of the Milky Way's central black hole. | Source
Documentary on Milky Way's Black Hole
NOVA: Monster of the Milky Way
This excellent 2007 NOVA documentary (on DVD) explains how astronomers discovered the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Good visuals, easy to understand.
Scary! Luckily, as we can see from the stars orbiting the Milky Way's hidden monster, you only get devoured if you get too close. Farther away, the pull of gravity is less, so stars can orbit the black hole just like our solar system's planets orbiting the Sun. Thankfully, our Sun is far away from the danger zone, orbiting the black hole safely from 26,000 light years away.
The European Southern Observatory has produced a slick video showing off its own timelapse photos of the center of the Milky Way:
ESO's Video of Stars Orbiting Black Hole in Center of Milky Way
Visible-Light Jet from Black Hole in M87
The black hole at the center of galaxy M87 emits "A black-hole-powered jet of electrons and other sub-atomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light." | Source
Supermassive Black Holes: Cosmic Blow Torches
The matter and gas falling towards black holes spins nearly the speed of light. With some supermassive black holes, small particles of that chewed-up matter squirt outward, streaming away from the poles of black holes as enormous jets, like potato peelings flying out of a food disposal when it's fed too quickly.
Astronomers and physicists are still struggling to explain the exact cause and physics of these jets, but telescopes have imaged many of them. The jets are visible at many wavelengths, including visible light (right)
Another Beautiful Photo of Supermassive Black Hole Jets
X ray wavelengths (blue) and microwaves (red) superimposed on a visible-light image of Galaxy NGC 5128 reveal the ghostly jets of a giant black hole the mass of 55 million suns. | Source
A Quasar in Double Vision
First-ever photo of an accretion disk around a quasar -- times two! The smudge in the middle is a galaxy whose gravitational lens created a magnified double image of the "accretion disc" around this distant black hole. | Source
The Mystery of Quasars Solved
Studying supermassive black holes has helped astronomers untangle a decades-old mystery.
In the early 1960s, scientists puzzled over quasars, "quasi-stellar objects," that appeared to be as bright as nearby stars but were incredibly distant. They produced especially strong signals at radio wavelengths, yet another part of the electromagnetic spectrum along with light, gamma rays and x-rays.
Most astronomers now agree that quasars are actually the highly energetic, glowing discs of matter orbiting supermassive black holes at the cores of distant galaxies. From our vantage point, they shine brighter than all the stars in the rest of the galaxy.
There are some hints that these quasars are glimpses of what galaxies looked like when they were very young. We only see quasars extremely far away from the Milky Way. Remember, even light can only travel so far each year, so looking far out into the universe means looking back in time.
Great Black Hole Video
Fantastic "Black Holes" episode on "How the Universe Works," my favorite astronomy program on streaming Amazon Instant Videos (free for Amazon Prime members, also on Netflix).
HubbleSite - Black Holes FAQ
The Hubble Space Telescope's website explains what black holes are, what we know about them, and how we can detect them.
McDonald Observatory's Black Hole Encyclopedia
Great site all about black holes. It includes a directory of known black holes, from stellar mass sized black holes to supermassive black holes.
Black Hole Accretion | Berkeley Science Magazine
This 2005 scholarly article on black holes is pretty technical, but it's an excellent summary — if you can decipher it — of the science of black holes and their accretion discs, their physical structure, and how we can detect them.
NASA Project Gemini - Space Suit
by Glen Nunes10
Search for Life in Outer Space
Aliens on Moon - Is There Really an Alien Moon base?
by Richard J ONeill35
Corey Goode, David Wilcock and the Sphere-Being Alliance
by somethgblue14
Some-Bloke
So, you have real photos of black holes up six years before the official "first" photo? Has anyone pressured you to take them down or remove your claim that they're real photos? I find it odd that they're making claims of the first photo of a black hole while all these other photos already exist..
Sarah Switalski
4 years ago from Iowa
I used to be terrified of black holes as a kid after my brother convinced me that we were all doomed to be sucked into one and ripped apart. I've struggled to understand them ever since that time. This article provides a very easy way to understand the nature of black holes and it's fascinating to see the photos! I hope they can figure out what happens to the matter inside before I die. Thank you for this article!
it wa awesome
So did I! And so did everybody, I think; it's only been in the last decade or so that astronomers started finding evidence of them all over the place.
farmloft
6 years ago from Michigan
I thought black holes were much more rare than they are! String theory sounds very interesting - who knew math is such a growing subject. Black holes on one side and white holes on the other? I learned about the six hidden dimensions from your link to mkakuk.org -- thanks for a well done hub. Voted up.
I learned more from this one hub on black holes than I have in the last ten years. Excellent information and interesting to read. Now I'm going to have to visit NASA's site!
jaydene
Very Fascinating, I have not studied in depth on these black holes in the universe, but i sure know what it feels like to fall into one of them on this planet. :) sorry a little humor there.
I did start to read Steven Hawkins universe, but i found it was too heavy for me at the time. I`d much rather come here to your hub, of which you have done an excellent job. and I can learn so much from.
Thank you for this great information.
I don't know, and I'd love to know the answer to that question, too!
It's my understanding that the matter is not totally annihilated, but what happens to it is a topic of intense debate among physicists. The problem is that even Einstein's laws of relativity start breaking down inside such extreme conditions. So trying to figure out what happens inside a black hole is like trying to solve a calculus equation using only algebra. One physicist -- I can't remember which, but he was speaking on that "How the Universe Works" black holes episode I linked to above -- said that we need a new law of physics to help crack this puzzle.
String theory may solve the problem, but this is where I get lost. Some string theory experts think that the black hole actually connects to a "white hole" or wormhole into another universe, functioning there like a Big Bang. Dr. Michio Kaku -- one of my favorite popular physicists, who helps mere mortals like me understand a little of this, gives this overview of what string theory says about the inside of black holes:
http://mkaku.org/home/?page_id=423
Stephen Hawking also discovered that, technically, something CAN escape a black hole: Hawking Radiation. This 2004 article explains a little more:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6151-hawking...
Hawking's excellent 2009 lecture, "Into A Black Hole", is a little over my head, but mostly very readable, so forgive one last link drop:
http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black-hole.html
As you can tell, I'm not an expert, just a tenaciously curious person and well-read parrot. I keep an eye out for astronomy news and good documentaries from NOVA and the Discovery channel, then I root around on the websites of NASA, the European Space Agency, and popular physicists like Kaku and Hawking trying to learn more. However, I'm just Jane Q. Public with a couple humanities M.A.s that taught me how to research what OTHER people have said. ;)
Andrew Spacey
6 years ago from Near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire,UK
You've created a great hub here, one that is readable for beginners yet advanced enough for those with a little knowledge to appreciate and get their teeth into. I love your descriptives - flying out like potatoe peelings - and grounded language!
How I loved to hear Patrick Moore, the late British astronomer, rattle on about black holes. Superb.
Am I being too stupid when I ask - beyond the event horizon is matter 'recycled' or once in the black hole is matter (as light or waves?) digested or simply annihilated? That is, does a black hole actually swallow, and if so, how does digestion take place?
Votes for this stellar article.
JP Carlos
6 years ago from Quezon CIty, Phlippines
Black holes are really fascinating. I remember reading them as a kid and I still have the same awe now.
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CONRED
CONRED App 1
View CONRED App 1 as PDF
CONRED App 1.1 Key definitions
[Note: the following definitions relevant to CONRED are extracted from the Glossary.]
CF Arch cru payment scheme
the requirements included in the permissions of Capita Financial Managers Limited, BNY Mellon Trust & Depository (UK) Limited and HSBC Bank plc at their request under what was then (but is no longer) section 44 of the Act on 31 August 2011.
where the personal recommendation was made on or before 31 October 2007, a private customer for the purposes of COB 2 and COB 5, as defined by the version of the Handbook then in force; or
where the personal recommendation was made on or after 1 November 2007, a retail client in accordance with COBS 3.4.1 R.
an authorised person; or
a person who was an authorised person when the relevant activity took place but has since ceased to be one.
personal recommendation
a recommendation which is advice on investments and:
where given on or before 31 October 2007, was given to a specific person; or
where given on or after 1 November 2007, was presented as suitable for the person to whom the recommendation was made, or was based on a consideration of the circumstances of that person, other than a recommendation issued exclusively through distribution channels or to the public.
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Doogie White & La Paz Reveal Cover Artwork and Track List of the New Album
British band Doogie White & La Paz return with a brand new release. The sophomore album entitled “The Dark and The Light” is set to be released on May, 27th in Europe and June, 4th in USA.
Scottish vocalist Doogie White came to the attention of the worldwide audience when Ritchie Blackmore asked him to be the lead singer in his reformed Rainbow. They recorded one album together – “Stranger in Us All.” Doogie would go on to sing with Swedish neo-classical guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen for over a six and a half year period, record two albums and tour the world. He also recorded four albums and toured with Cornerstone and is currently the lead singer of the legendary N.W.O.B.H.M. band – Tank.
And today Doogie White & La Paz revealed the cover artwork and tracklist of “The Dark and The Light”.
1. Little Black Book Of Songs
2. Don’t Drink With The Devil
3. Old Habits Die Hard
4. Burlesque
5. The Good Old Days
6. De la Luz
7. Devil in Disguise
8. Lonely Are The Brave
9. Shadow Of Romance
10. Sweet Little Mistreated
11. Men of War
12. The Fallen
Front cover illustration of the album was done by Polish graphic designer Oliwia Piotrowska-Wieczorek.
The work on the new album have now been finished – the drums and most of the bass guitar parts were recorded in Gorbals Sound in Glasgow. The guitars, additional bass parts and keyboards were recorded at The Farm owned by Chic McSherry, while the vocals will be recorded at Kinman Studio in London. Mixing was done again by Rolf Munkes at Empire Studios in Germany.
La Paz were formed in Lanarkshire, Scotland in the summer of 1984 by Chic McSherry (guitars), Doogie White (vocals) and Alex Carmichael (bass). At the first rehearsal together they hit it off immediately on a personal level – they also liked the same music and they had the same influences and heroes (Purple, Rainbow, Journey, Gary Moore) so they started to recruit other members to try to form a band and go do some gigs. Andy Mason (keyboards) joined the trio and he fitted in from the start, even though he was still at school when he joined. Drummers were always a problem and, over the life of the band, La Paz went through almost as many as Spinal Tap. Unquestionably the loudest and the most accomplished was/is their current drummer, Paul McManus. La Paz played live regularly, sometimes playing up to a hundred gigs in a year. They played the world-famous Marquee Club in London as well as at some festivals in Milton Keynes and they were featured regularly in Kerrang! (Derek Oliver becoming a big fan of the band) and attracted interest from a number of UK and US record companies, finally agreeing terms with one of them for a three album deal. But it was not to be – for reasons which were never explained by the record label the deal fell through at the very last minute. Sadly the band didn’t survive for very long after that. They did their last gig on 15th October 1988 and then Doogie moved to London to join Midnite Blue, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Cornerstone, Yngwie Malmsteen and now the mighty Tank. And then legendary DJ Tom Russell of 96.3 Rock Radio called Doogie and asked him if he would do some acoustic numbers at The Garage in Glasgow for Rock Radio’s Birthday Bash in January 2008. Doogie agreed and asked Chic to play guitar. It was a big ask after 20 years: almost 1000 people, Doogie singing alone and Chic with one flamenco guitar! “We had such a blast though and it woke up so many great memories in both of us that we decided to give it a go with the full band for my 50th birthday” said Chic. And so the full band started to rehearse and it was clear that they could still play a bit. The band just gelled: just like old times and the gigs were a terrific success. And so the idea of re-recording some of the favourites from the set that had never had a proper production job was conceived. The final result could be heard on the album “Granite” released in early 2012. It was an album with its roots in the past but its energy in the present. And now the band return with their sophomore album entitled “The Dark and The Light”.
Doogie White & La Paz – line-up:
Doogie White – Vocals
Chic McSherry – Guitar
Alex Carmichael – Bass
Andy Mason – Keyboards
Paul McManus – Drums
Doogie White & La Paz on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaPaz.rocks?fref=pb
Doogie White & La Paz The Dark and The Light
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Inspiring Words from Industry Leaders: Interview with Tzviya Siegman, Wiley
Published at March 12, 2019 /0 Comments/in Blog /by Sarah Hilderley
Inclusive Publishing is continuing with its popular series of interviews with industry leaders and their approach to accessibility. Our first interview of 2019 is with Tzviya Siegman, Information Standards Lead at Wiley and a member of the World Wide Web Consortium Advisory Board. Tzviya is passionate about accessibility and has inspired many industry colleagues to embrace the accessibility opportunities offered by digital publishing.
I have learned so much about the way that tools, systems, browsers, and reading systems work from my work on accessibility….it will help you become a better developer.
Why is inclusive publishing important to you and/or your organization?
We serve a variety of customer from students to research to corporate consumers. It is widely established that students require and deserve accessible materials. Wiley believes that our customers are life-long learners. Life-long learners need access to all materials
Do you have a top tip for others new to accessibility?
Start with the tools at W3C’s WAI website (https://www.w3.org/WAI/). Even after being involved in accessibility for years, I go back to these resources again and again. They start off simply and walk a beginner through the basics clearly.
What do you wish you knew about accessibility 10 years ago?
I wish I had a better understanding of “native” accessibility and the way that assistive technology works. Understanding the interactions of the Accessibility Tree and the DOM changed my approach to accessibility and design. There are a few articles and documents that can really help. Melanie Richards’ Semantics to Screen Reader (https://alistapart.com/article/semantics-to-screen-readers) explains this relationship really clearly.
·What do you think will be the biggest game changer for inclusive publishing in the next few years?
There are so many things in progress that it is hard to choose just one. There is a lot of work happening in the world of SVG that could have a huge impact on accessibility. SVG can be made accessibly, and as it is becoming a more widely used and accepted format. I have heard rumors about the Canadian government offering funding incentives to Canadian-owned publishers who publish accessibly. That would make a real difference.
For those still on the fence, why should they consider accessibility?
Accessible content and platform provides a better user experience for all users. Further, most users experience some form of disability at some point in their lives, whether it is situational (e.g. power loss requires navigating without sight), temporary (e.g. a broken arm requires hands-free navigation), or due to age (e.g. low-vision). Considering all users is usually good for business.
How have good inclusive publishing practices influenced the majority of your readers?
Writing image descriptions forces us to think about what an image truly conveys. If an image is too complicated to describe well, maybe it is also too complicated for a sighted reader to understand and it needs to go back to the author for improvement?
Can you sum up your attitude towards inclusive publishing in one sentence.
Inclusive publishing improves your content and makes it more available and useful to all users.
Do you have any final thoughts on accessibility or inclusive publishing practices you would like to share?
It might seem like a lot of work to make your content accessible, but I have learned so much about the way that tools, systems, browsers, and reading systems work from my work on accessibility. It is a lot of work, but it is also interesting work that will take you down a very interesting path and ultimately help your users. You will learn so much along the way, and it will help you become a better developer.
https://inclusivepublishing.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/download-1-1.jpg 710 584 Sarah Hilderley https://inclusivepublishing.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/logotype-sized-for-web.png Sarah Hilderley2019-03-12 14:03:442019-03-18 15:56:18Inspiring Words from Industry Leaders: Interview with Tzviya Siegman, Wiley
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Tag Archives: the hours
An Open Letter From One of Your 51 Percent
After reading Manohla Dargis’ piece in the New York Times and her subsequent interview with Jezebel.com, I felt the need to write the following open letter to the heads of all the feature film studios in the United States.
Dear Sirs (+ the one madam co-chair):
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ashley, I am one of your customers. One of your 51 percent, to be exact. Ironically, I’m also on the cusp of two age brackets that seem to allude you. Being 28 years old, I’m just edging past your “Twilight” audience and will soon hit your 35+ when-its-a-hit-it-must-be-a-fluke audience. Not only am I one of your customers, but I also happen to be one of you, albeit a very low-level one of you. I feel this puts me in a unique situation, I know your audience because I am your audience; AND, because I’m somewhat of an insider, I’ve struck upon a solution to your problem. A solution that will make you even more money than you’re making now. I’m talking Twilight, The Dark Night, and Mamma Mia kind of money. Believe-it-or-not, it’s not as hard as you think and it’s actually something you know how to do already: make movies. But not just any movies; movies that 51 percent of your audience can relate to and which feature the work of those members of our 51 percent who make their careers in feature film.
Don’t get me wrong, I know you get cross-over audiences. I’m just as likely to see a romantic comedy as I am the next Bourne movie, but I’m even more likely to see a Bourne movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow. I’d probably even go back for seconds if you decided to expand Julia Stiles’ character or give Joan Allen’s more of a back story. Like Bourne, I want to know what taunts them, what makes them tick and what makes them want to find Jason Bourne (because, let’s face it, it’s beyond just their professional duty at this point).
I like stories with style and substance, but I also like action, chase scenes and even my fair share of violence. My favorite movie is “The Silence of the Lambs.” “SOTL” is a great example of how to make a movie that grabs 100 percent of your adult audience: follow the hero’s journey. In this case, the hero just happens to be a 5′ tall heroine and her unlikely leading man is a serial killing cannibal. There’s blood, guts, gore and most importantly, STORY. Both men and women alike invest in these characters because we learn what makes them tick. But women have an extra investment in this particular story (this is the reason why we go back to see it again, recommend it to our friends, buy it, download it, etc.) we see ourselves up on the screen, a lone woman among men in an elevator. Every woman has experienced that moment, just as every woman’s secret desire (like Agent Starling’s) is to save the world.
I also like my romantic comedies to be smart. Yes, I do like to see pretty things and pretty people on a screen, but I’m not an idiot either. I’d trade in a beautiful set and a character’s designer wardrobe for a really good story. Make more movies like “When Harry Met Sally.” Those characters had a story and they had great conversations about things we all discuss at dinner parties or over the phone with friends. Many elements of the script came from actual conversations between Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron. And guess what? That movie appealed to men as well. Why? Two reasons: 1) They saw themselves in Billy Crystal: he is the every man and he got the girl; 2) Insight into women. Yes, we sometimes fake orgasms. Now you know.
The “Buddy Movie” (now recoined as the “Bromance” or “A Judd Apatow”) We, the 51 percent of your audience, have only one of these movies to stick a flag in and call our own: “Thelma and Louise.” This movie was made in 1991. Oh, wait, there was another female buddy movie! In 2002, producer Cathy Konrad put out a hilarious flick (penned by Nancy Pimental) called “The Sweetest Thing.” I was in college. I saw it two times on opening weekend with seven other female friends. It still remains the closest we’ll ever get to “The Hangover” for women. Speaking of which, if “The Hangover” was pitched with an entirely female cast, it would never have gotten made. Though I have no doubt there would have been an audience for it — made up of both genders.
The drama (aka “The Oscar movie” or “The Meryl Streep”). In their current state, these movies have a slightly better shot at appealing to me and my fellow 51 percenters because they feature more screen time for women (usually women who can no longer wrinkle their foreheads, but that’s a different letter for another day). The funny thing about these movies is that they’re rarely directed and/or written by women. Though I love men who can write wonderful parts for women (hello, Michael Cunningham), they are not women, and, as such, they will always leave the character with an unexplored territory. It’s one thing for a woman to be mysterious, but another thing to leave 51 percent of us knowing there is so much more to the story that needs to be told. “The Hours” has a great scene which touches upon this, when Clarissa Vaughn talks to her daughter about a moment in her youth:
“I remember one morning getting up at dawn, there was such a sense of possibility. You know, that feeling? And I remember thinking to myself: So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And of course there will always be more. It never occurred to me it wasn’t the beginning. It was happiness. It was the moment. Right then.”
Contained within those lines are two potential movies for two generations of women, “the sense of possibility” movie, reaching audiences from their late teens – 30s, and “the moment looking back” movie, for the 40/50/60 female audience. I want to know what that woman sees as both a 20-something and then as a 50-something woman. Romantic comedies offer shades of these moments as well, though they are even fewer and farther between.
I believe women go to rom coms and dramas because they crave any glimmer of seeing their lives reflected back at them, no matter how fleeting of a moment it may be. We women store up a mosaic of these moments and play them back in our minds when we need them. A “greatest hits” if you will. They are our touchstone, our reminder that we are seen, we are remembered; we do serve a purpose. But wouldn’t it be even better if we didn’t need a highlights reel? If the marquee at our local theaters advertised movies where we saw ourselves and our husbands/boyfriends/friends/girlfriends/teens depicted by someone like us who knows the way we think, the way we see, who gives us not “women’s movies” but movies from our perspective? And, maybe even a woman who gives us male viewpoints just as dramatically or funny as the Michael Manns or Judd Apatows of the world, but from a fresh perspective.
I am one of your 51 percent. And, I am also your colleague. I want to see a reflection of myself on a screen just as much as I want to see my name in the credits. I am a part of both sides of this letter. And, I will keep moving forward both from my seat and on a set, until my voice is heard. Because when it finally is, there will be 51 percent of the world’s population behind it. I hope you start listening.
-Ashley Van Buren
Tagged 51 percent, billy crystal, bromance, cathy konrad, film, jezebel, jezebel.com, joan allen, judd apatow, julia stiles, kathryn bigelow, mamma mia!, manohla dargis, meryl streep, michael cunningham, michael mann, movies, nancy pimental, new york times, nora ephron, rob reiner, silence of the lambs, the dark night, the hangover, the hours, the sweetest thing, thelma and louise, twilight, when harry met sally, women
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Ta-Nehisi Coates Tackles Race Myths & Black History Via Twitter
Written By D.L. Chandler
Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer for The Atlantic and an educator, has tackled the issue of race in his writings over the course of his career. Coates took to Twitter to discuss the prevalance of “race myths,” and challenging the idea of how race plays out in the public intellectual arena.
Coates, a Baltimore native and former Howard University student, has been in the news of late after he wrote a piece detailing the history of racism at liberal magazine The New Republic and the views of current TNR editor, Andrew Sullivan. Coates was especially incensed at Sullivan’s assertions about race and the bigotry of former TNR owner, Marty Peretz.
From Coates’ The Atlantic piece:
TNR did not come to racism out of evil. Very few people ever do. Many of the white people working for the magazine were very young and very smart. This is always a dangerous combination. It must have been that much more dangerous given that their boss was a racist. (Though I am told he had many black friends and protégés.)
Sullivan responded to Coates’ critique in that heady way intellectuals often do, even suggesting that the TNR’s political and cultural aims means it couldn’t possibly be racist. Coates recently took to Twitter to address the matter, and revealing some of the struggles he too had with race myths in his path on becoming one of America’s sharpest minds on such matters.
Hit the following pages to read Coates’ dressing down of The New Republic‘s views and how they mirrored some of his thoughts on race as a teen. It’s worth the read.
Photo: David Shankbone/CC By 3.0
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Home » People » Hasan Kwame Jeffries
Hasan Kwame Jeffries
HASAN KWAME JEFFRIES was born in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Midwood High School in 1990, he headed south, enrolling at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, the nation’s leading institution for educating African American men. While matriculating at Morehouse, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and initiated into the Pi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Hasan graduated summa cum laude from Morehouse with a BA in history in 1994. That same year, he left the New South for the Old, moving to Durham, North Carolina, and enrolling at Duke University, where he earned a MA in American history in 1997, and a PhD in American history with a specialization in African American history in 2002.
While completing his graduate work, he lived periodically in Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the modern the civil rights movement. In 2002, he relocated to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he served as the Bankhead Fellow in the history department at the University of Alabama. He spent one year at Alabama, teaching American history and African American history.
After time well spent in the “Heart of Dixie,” Hasan crossed the Ohio River and joined the faculty at The Ohio State University in the history department. Since arriving at Ohio State, Hasan has taught graduate and undergraduate seminars on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement, and surveys in African American and American history.
He has received several fellowships in support of his research, including a Ford Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship. He has also regularly shared his expert knowledge of African American history and contemporary black politics with the general public through lectures, teacher workshops, and frequent media appearances.
In 2009, Hasan published his first book, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt (NYU Press). Bloody Lowndes tells the remarkable story of the ordinary people and college age organizers from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who ushered in the Black Power era by transforming rural Lowndes County, Alabama from a citadel of violent white supremacy into the center of southern black militancy. They achieved this extraordinary feat by creating the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), an all-black, independent, political party that was also the original Black Panther Party. Bloody Lowndes has been praised as “the book historians of the black freedom movement have been waiting for,” and as “an invaluable contribution to understanding current and future ‘conversations’ on race and politics.”
His current book project, entitled Stealing Home: Ebbets Field and Black Working Class Life in Post-Civil Rights New York, explores the struggle of working class African Americans to secure and enjoy their freedom rights, from the height of the civil rights era through the present, by examining the experiences of the residents of Ebbets Field Apartments, an expansive, 1,200 unit, affordable housing complex built in 1962 on the site of old Ebbets Field, the former home of Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers.
He travels frequently to the South to visit friends, and returns often to Brooklyn to visit family.
View Professor Jeffries' discussion about African American history here.
US History since 1877
Human Conflict, Peace, and Diplomacy
Power, Culture, and the State
Race, Ethnicity, and Nation
Jeffries.57@osu.edu
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Tag Archives: WALL-E
(Reviews) DisneyFest: WALL-E, Bolt, Up
In 2008 and 2009, both Walt Disney and Pixar Animation were entering a new era. Disney Animation was under the control of Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lassater, who set about trying to turn around the studio. They rehired a lot of the “new guard” who had left the studio years earlier, changed the development model to put more power and control in the hands of filmmakers instead of executives, and story meetings were more a gathering of equals rather than a series of notes handed down from on high. Meet The Robinsons was the first movie to benefit from this new development process, and the follow-up film Bolt was nearly completely retooled by it.
Meanwhile, Pixar stalwarts Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter were guiding Pixar into its future; WALL-E was billed as the last of the ideas the original brain trust had come up with at the beginning of the studio, and Up seamlessly carried the tradition of emotional story-telling, iconic visuals and engaging characters forward. Revisiting these films less than a decade after their release is a bit of a trip; even though computer animation has come a long way since then, they both hold up as excellent examples of their craft.
WALL-E is about one tiny trash compacting robot faced with the Sisyphusean task of cleaning up an Earth that has been completely covered in garbage. We’re not quite sure how long it’s been doing this job, but we can assume it’s been an awfully long while; entire buildings have been coated with cubes of condensed junk, but there is still so much refuse all over the place. Other robots of its model have broken down in service, and WALL-E scavenges their corpses for replacement parts. The humans who would have serviced it disappeared a long time ago, leaving behind their refuse as the only clues it has about who its masters are and what they were like. This little robot has been at the job for so long it has developed a fascination with the things it finds, a love of old musicals, and a friendly relationship with a cockroach.
The first act is a bleak setting made bright by the sheer personality of its protagonist. While I was watching it, I don’t think I quite appreciated how awful and desolate an existence that would be. Like WALL-E, I was too fascinated with all the things it loved and why. Even though it was carrying out its basic programming, its experience had built a distinct personality over years, perhaps decades, perhaps centuries. We spent over 20 minutes learning about its character, how it behaved when there was no one around to interact with. It was a strangely intimate view of the apocalypse, beautiful and lonely.
EVE, an advanced robot, breaks the monotony of this existence and kickstarts the story into motion. The two robots learn about each other as WALL-E guides EVE through the dangers and wonders of this desolate Earth, and just when it shows the newcomer its most cherished secret, EVE takes the tiny, fragile plant WALL-E found and goes into some kind of sleep mode. Confused and sad, WALL-E nonetheless continues to interact and protect EVE in the hope that it will wake up one day. Its diligence is rewarded by an unexpected trip to the Axiom, the luxury spaceship that the remnants of humanity live on, completely oblivious to anything but short-term pleasure. It’s here that WALL-E reawakens humanity to its better qualities, simply by being itself.
Love is patient.
There’s so much going on with this movie it feels wrong to give it such an encapsulated review, but WALL-E is truly an incredible film — one of Pixar’s absolute best in fact. It tells a beautiful story in service to a theme that pushes us towards being better human beings. It’s mass entertainment that takes the responsibility of its power seriously, by asking us to take a look at our societal values and consider if that’s really what we want to champion. Rampant, unchecked consumerism, a lack of consideration for our environment or the consequences of our actions, and a misplaced optimism in the idea of easy answers could lead us to a point where we’ve effectively junked the planet, and by that time even the destruction of our home might not be a big enough wake-up call.
Even though WALL-E has some serious and heavy things to say, it says them elegantly, gently, and with utmost care. It’s just a movie about a robot who finds love, whose affection catalyzes a sea change in a future civilization that’s lost its way. But it’s also a cautionary tale about what we’re doing to ourselves and our world, a caring reminder of the things that make us great and makes life worth living. The fact that it can be both things without sacrificing the integrity of its other layers is a testament to the storytelling of director Andrew Stanton and co-writers Jim Reardon and Pete Docter. It feels something like the holy grail of responsible fiction, of socially-minded pop-art. We don’t have many movies like WALL-E in this day and age, and that’s a shame. It’s even more of a shame that we don’t have many movies that even TRY to be WALL-E.
Bolt (2008)
It was a long time in the wilderness for Walt Disney Animation. It had been six long years since their last financially successful and critically-acclaimed movie (Lilo & Stitch), and in that time they had come up with some truly terrible films. After John Lassater took over the studio and made some much-needed changes in its development culture, we began to see some improvement. Bolt, despite its rocky road to release, is the film where everything starts to turn around and the new guard of animators start to realize their potential.
Originally, Bolt was American Dog — the second film to be directed by Lilo & Stitch director Chris Sanders. The story was roughly the same; a dog traveled across the country in search of his home with two strange animal companions, all the while believing he’s still living out a TV show he stars in. However, Sanders was removed from the project after resisting changes requested by Lassater and other colleagues. He bolted for DreamWorks and How To Train Your Dragon, so…at least he landed well. Chris Williams (who went on to co-direct Big Hero 6 and Moana) and Byron Howard (co-director of Tangled and Zootopia) stepped in to take over, and made a genuinely good movie in a much shortened development cycle.
RIDICULOUSLY cute.
Bolt is the star of the eponymous action TV show; he’s an adorable white German Shepherd who has been trained to believe he actually has super-powers and needs to protect Penny, the daughter of a world-famous scientist who’s been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Calico. A misadventure finds Bolt knocked unconscious and shipped across the country to New York City, where he quickly conscripts an alley cat to help him make his way back to his owner. Along the way, he discovers that he doesn’t actually have superpowers but he doesn’t really need them; determination and resourcefulness are amazing enough.
I was really excited for Chris Sanders’ version of this story, because I loved his work on Lilo & Stitch and heard that one of the animal companions would be a giant mutant rabbit whose family lived near nuclear test sites. It was disappointing to hear he was taken off the project, and I was pretty skeptical about the details that were coming out of its development. Seeing the final product won me over, though — the character work is excellent, and the action set pieces are incredibly well-realized. Each one provides the characters with an opportunity to advance their arc, so the lessons they absorb in their downtime frequently translate into action that illustrates how far they’ve come. Bolt, the poor dog, has to realize that the world is nothing like the way he thought it was — but that it’s also just as amazing, and he can be the hero he’s always believed himself to be. Mittens, the toughened alley cat, has to learn that her previous experiences aren’t a predictor of what other people will be like, and that’s it OK to be vulnerable enough to trust people.
Together with Rhino, the extremely excitable hamster-in-a-ball, they make the perilous journey across the country to get Bolt back to Penny. The movie moves briskly but organically, with the story doing a wonderful job introducing secondary and colorful tertiary characters, building tension, releasing it with crazy action, and settling the characters into a new equilibrium they must struggle to reconcile with. Bolt, Rhino, and even Mittens in her own way, are all amazingly cute; it’s really interesting that Disney settled on a more rounded and softer house style for their computer animated movies, but I think Bolt is the movie where that really solidified.
It did really well when it came out, making $310 million worldwide against a $150 million budget and scoring 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet, as Disney moved on to more ambitious and more successful projects, it got a bit lost in the crowd when we talk about the studio’s Revival era. Bolt may not have the passionate fan-base of Tangled and Frozen, but it deserves a second look — it’s a solid movie that marked Disney’s welcome return to form.
Everyone remembers the prologue to this film — and rightfully so, because it’s amazing. What a pleasant surprise it was, then, to rediscover how great the rest of the film is as well! One of the great things about this project is remembering movies you had forgotten about for various reasons, or making new connections that you hadn’t noticed before. For example, now I realize that my favorite Pixar director isn’t Brad Bird; it’s Pete Docter. He has a keen eye for wonderful characterization and emotional detail that is practically unrivaled at the studio. While he’s had his hands in most Pixar productions to date, it’s the ones that he has guided as director — Monsters Inc, Up, and Inside Out — that prove his mettle.
You know you want this for a wallpaper. YOU KNOW.
Carl Fredricksen, a nine-year-old boy who idolizes renowned explorer Charles Muntz, meets Ellie, a loud and confusing girl who all but forces him into a friendship. That friendship blossoms into romance, is preserved with marriage, and the two have a happy life together. However, Ellie falls ill before the couple is able to live out their dream of traveling the world. When she dies, Carl retreats into the museum of the home they renovated, surrounded by her memory while his neighborhood changes all around him.
Fed up with the pressure to adapt to the changing times, Carl decides to simply “steal” his house by tying thousands of balloons to the roof and sailing for the spectacular jungle waterfall he and Ellie had always wanted to go to. His impromptu trip is complicated by a stowaway — Russell, an eager Wilderness Explorer who just wants to help Carl so he can get his final merit badge for assisting the elderly. A dog outfitted with a device that allows him to speak English and an extremely rare jungle bird round out the motley crew as they discover that adventure always carries with it a number of surprises.
At its heart, Up is about the importance of moving through the entirety of the grieving process so that you can move on with fulfilling the rest of your life. But it’s also about how the connections we make help us to do that. Carl lost his whole world with Ellie; even though his desire to finally fulfill the dream they had together causes him to take action, he was also using it as an escape to further retreat from the world. It was only after meeting Russell, and Dug (the dog), and Kevin (the bird), that he rediscovered his spirit of adventure. It feels weird to keep plot details hidden, especially after all these years, but the conflict that arises when the group arrives in the jungle serves as a cautionary tale. This is what happens if you disengage from people; this is what happens when you decide that it’s just too hard to work in tandem with others who are different.
Beyond the prologue, Up is filled with amazing visual moments. The Fredrickson house is simultaneously setting, metaphor and additional character, a refuge and a fragile thing that needs to be defended. Almost every scene it features prominently in is amazing, and what’s best is that Carl’s balloon-assisted flight isn’t even the most unlikely or wondrous thing in the movie. Docter does an excellent job of taking these high concepts and grounding them with real emotional weight. Even when things get silly or unlikely, we’re completely taken in because we understand what’s at stake for all of these characters.
When Up was released, it received near-unanimous praise; it won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, while being nominated for three more awards including Best Picture. It is a crown jewel in Pixar’s animated canon, and rightfully so — it continues their dedication to telling wonderful stories that simultaneously teach us how to be better people. Docter’s touch with showing the value of being in touch with our emotions and each other is invaluable, and Up is one of the best examples of the magic he can weave if given the chance.
Posted by Jakebe on February 15, 2017 in Better Living Through Stories, DisneyFest, Movies, Reviews
Tags: Bolt, Chris Sanders, disney animated films, Disney Revival Era, Pete Docter, pixar animation, Up (Pixar), WALL-E, walt disney animation
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How Crushed Volcanic Rock in Farm Soil Could Help Slow Global Warming — and Boost Crops
A new study explores how planet-warming carbon dioxide could be absorbed using ‘enhanced rock weathering,’ a natural process sped up to fight climate change.
Georgina Gustin
Follow @georgina_gustin
Volcanic plains tend to be fertile farmland. A new study explores how spreading crushed volcanic rock on farms can increase carbon storage and crop yields. Credit: SounderBruce/CC-BY-SA-2.0
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Pulverizing volcanic rock and spreading the dust like fertilizer on farm soils could suck billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and boost crop yields on a warming planet with a growing population.
In a paper published this week in the scientific journal Nature Plants, an international team of researchers lays out the prospects for "enhanced rock weathering"—a process that uses pulverized silicate rocks, like basalt, to speed the ability of minerals to store carbon in soil.
The team, led by the University of Sheffield in the UK and including U.S. climate scientist James Hansen, says the technique of enhanced weathering on swaths of the world's cropland could potentially offset a meaningful chunk of global carbon emissions.
Though their estimates are preliminary, the authors say if farmers added enough pulverized rock per acre on a majority of the world's cropland, they could remove up to 4 billion metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, per year, by 2100. That's about a tenth of today's global greenhouse gas emissions. (Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use are currently about 8 billion metric tons.)
This could happen fairly quickly. "Conceivably, roll-out could take place within a decade or two," said David Beerling, director of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation at the University of Sheffield and the lead author of the study.
In nature, this takes millions of years. Rain, which is slightly acidic, chemically breaks down rock in a process that converts carbon dioxide to bicarbonate, which eventually washes into the ocean where it's stored for hundreds of thousands of years. This natural process absorbs about 3 percent of global emissions from fossil fuels.
But pulverizing the rocks turbocharges the process, allowing the minerals to be released faster and to store carbon within several years, Beerling explained.
When farmers apply the powdered rock onto croplands, they'll see added benefits, the paper says: increased plant nutrients leading to higher yields and a potential drop in fertilizer and pesticide use.
The authors note that the best candidate for enhanced weathering is the land already being farmed—about 11 percent of the globe's land area—where farmers already apply limestone to improve soil and counteract acidification. That means the infrastructure for applying pulverized rocks is effectively in place.
Lots of Questions Remain
But the process, which sounds tantalizingly easy, hasn't been studied widely, prompting the authors to call for more work on the subject.
"While enhanced weathering could make an enormous contribution to climate change mitigation, it remains one of the most poorly understood methods of removing CO2 from the atmosphere," said Phil Renforth, a professor of engineering geology at Cardiff University, who was not involved in the paper. "As the authors suggest, we need to do a lot more work to establish if these large carbon drawdowns can be achieved, and to assess the positive and negative impacts of this approach."
Among some of the possible negatives: The energy used to pulverize the rocks could account for as much as 30 percent of the CO2 that's stored. Meanwhile, it's not clear how much rock would be required and what the environmental impacts on soils and waterways would be.
Another Tool for Climate Control
Another question mark is the cost. Current estimates range from $52 to $480 per metric ton of stored CO2, although boosted crop yields and lower fertilizer use could offset some of the price tag. Another "negative emissions" strategy, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, costs between $39 and $100 per metric ton.
But, the authors note, enhanced rock weathering could be one of the tools in the climate-control toolkit.
"Strategies for taking CO2 out of the atmosphere are now on the research agenda, and we need realistic assessment of these strategies, what they might be able to deliver and what the challenges are," Hansen said in a press release.
Georgina Gustin is a Washington-based reporter who has covered food policy, farming and the environment for more than a decade. She started her journalism career at The Day in New London, Conn., then moved to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she launched the "food beat," covering agriculture, biotech giant Monsanto and the growing "good food" movement. At CQ Roll Call, she covered food, farm and drug policy and the intersections between federal regulatory agencies and Congress. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post and National Geographic's The Plate, among others.
In Georgia’s Peach Orchards, Warm Winters Raise Specter of Climate Change
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Joshua Knobe - Do People Actually Believe in Objective Moral Truths?
Interesting article, from On the Human, another very cool blog.
Do People Actually Believe in Objective Moral Truths?
Joshua Knobe - Assistant Professor, Program in Cognitive Science and Department of Philosophy at Yale University
Participants in each condition were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a particular statement. In each case, agreement was scored on a scale from 1 to 7 (with 1 being the most ‘relativist’ answer and 7 being the most ‘objectivist’).
Imagine two people discussing a question in mathematics. One of them says “7,497 is a prime number,” while the other says, “7,497 is not a prime number.” In a case like this one, we would probably conclude that there is a single right answer and that anyone who says otherwise must be mistaken. The question under discussion here, we might say, is perfectly objective.
But now suppose we switch to a different topic. Two people are talking about food. One of them says “Don’t even think about eating caterpillars! They are totally disgusting and not tasty at all,” while the other says “Caterpillars are a special delicacy — one of the tastiest, most delectable foods a person can ever have occasion to eat.” In this second case, we might have a very different reaction. We might think that there isn’t any single right answer. Maybe caterpillars are just tasty for some people but not for others. This latter question, we might think, should be understood as relative.
Now that we’ve got at least a basic sense for these two categories, we can turn to a more controversial case. Suppose that the two people are talking about morality. One of them says “That action is deeply morally wrong,” while the other is speaking about the very same action and says “That action is completely fine — not the slightest thing to worry about.” In a case like this, one might wonder what reaction would be most appropriate. Should we say that there is a single right answer here, or should we say that different answers could be right for different people? In other words, should we say that morality is something objective or something relative?
This question lies at the center of a long and complex philosophical debate. The usual assumption is that ordinary people treat moral judgments as getting at something objective, but there is a lot of disagreement about how to make sense of this ordinary practice within a broader theory about the nature of morality. Is people’s ordinary practice fundamentally correct? Or is it founded on some sort of error? Or might there be some third possible view one could adopt here? The debate over these questions has been a wonderfully sophisticated one, filled with dazzling arguments, objections and replies.
There is just one snag. No real evidence is offered for the initial assumption that ordinary people treat moral claims as getting at something objective. Instead, the traditional approach is just to start out with the assumption that people look at morality in this way and then begin arguing from there.
With the growing interest in experimental philosophy and empirical moral psychology, there has been a surge of recent attempts to go after these questions in a more systematic way. Researchers have taken the conceptual insights developed in the existing philosophical literature and used these insights to generate controlled experimental studies. But a funny thing happened when people started taking these questions into the lab. Again and again, when researchers took up these questions experimentally, they did not end up confirming the traditional view. They did not find that people overwhelmingly favored objectivism. Instead, the results consistently point to a more complex picture. There seems to be a striking degree of conflict even in the intuitions of ordinary folks, with some people under some circumstances offering objectivist answers, while other people under other circumstances offer more relativist views.
For a nice example from recent research, consider a study by Adam Feltz and Edward Cokely. They were interested in the relationship between belief in moral relativism and the personality trait openness to experience. Accordingly, they conducted a study in which they measured both openness to experience and belief in moral relativism. To get at people’s degree of openness to experience, they used a standard measure designed by researchers in personality psychology. To get at people’s agreement with moral relativism, they told participants about two characters — John and Fred — who held opposite opinions about whether some given act was morally bad. Participants were then asked whether one of these two characters had to be wrong (the objectivist answer) or whether it could be that neither of them was wrong (the relativist answer). The result was a surprising one. It just wasn’t the case that participants overwhelmingly favored the objectivist answer. Instead, people’s answers were correlated with their personality traits. The higher a participant was in openness to experience, the more likely that participant was to give a relativist answer.
Geoffrey Goodwin and John Darley pursued a similar approach, this time looking at the relationship between people’s belief in moral relativism and their tendency to approach questions by considering a whole variety of possibilities. They proceeded by giving participants mathematical puzzles that could only be solved by looking at multiple different possibilities. Thus, participants who considered all these possibilities would tend to get these problems right, whereas those who failed to consider all the possibilities would tend to get the problems wrong. Now comes the surprising result: those participants who got these problems right were significantly more inclined to offer relativist answers than were those participants who got the problems wrong.
Taking a slightly different approach, Shaun Nichols and Tricia Folds-Bennett looked at how people’s moral conceptions develop as they grow older. Research in developmental psychology has shown that as children grow up, they develop different understandings of the physical world, of numbers, of other people’s minds. So what about morality? Do people have a different understanding of morality when they are twenty years old than they do when they are only four years old? What the results revealed was a systematic developmental difference. Young children show a strong preference for objectivism, but as they grow older, they become more inclined to adopt relativist views. In other words, there appears to be a developmental shift toward increasing relativism as children mature. (In an exciting new twist on this approach, James Beebe and David Sackris have shown that this pattern eventually reverses, with middle-aged people showing less inclination toward relativism than college students do.)
So there we have it. People are more inclined to be relativists when they are high in openness to experience, when they have an especially good ability to consider multiple possibilities, when they have matured past childhood (but not when they get to be middle-aged). Looking at these various effects, my collaborators and I thought that it might be possible to offer a single unifying account that explained them all. Specifically, our hypothesis was that people are drawn to relativism to the extent that they open their minds to alternative perspectives. There might be all sorts of different factors that lead people to open their minds in this way (personality traits, cognitive dispositions, age), but regardless of the instigating factor, researchers seem always to be finding the same basic effect. The more people have a capacity to truly engage with other perspectives, the more they seem to turn toward moral relativism.
To really put this hypothesis to the test, Hagop Sarkissian, Jennifer Wright, John Park, David Tien and I teamed up to run a series of new studies.
Read the whole article - interesting stuff.
Tags: Joshua Knobe, On the Human, Do People Actually Believe in Objective Moral Truths?, Psychology, Philosophy, cognition, morality, ethics, Hagop Sarkissian, Jennifer Wright, John Park, David Tien, relativists, absolutists, Shaun Nichols, Tricia Folds-Bennett, James Beebe, David Sackris, Geoffrey Goodwin, John Darley, Adam Feltz, Edward Cokely, openness to experience, experimental philosophy, empirical moral psychology
Labels: cognition, ethics, morality, Philosophy, Psychology
Gabrielle Giffords (D) Possibly Assassinated - AZ Congresswoman Shot in Head at Pointblank Range
Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, my Congresswoman, has been shot in the head at nearly pointblack range during a town-hall talk (Congress on the Corner) at a local Safeway (Ina and Oracle, for Tucsonans). She has been reported dead - but there is a conflicting report that she is in surgery still.
I am literally sick to my stomach - when they announced her dead on NPR it felt personal - she was MY congresswoman and some whack-job killed her and several other people just because she is a Democrat.
AZ is so fucking rightwing and so fucking in love with their damn guns . . . . The shooter had to have an automatic or semiautomatic weapon to get that many shots off so quickly. Those guns should be banned - should have been banned when Reagan was shot.
Gabrielle Giffords Dead: Dies Of Gunshot Wound To The Head
First Posted: 01- 8-11 02:13 PM | Updated: 01- 8-11 02:19 PM
Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, was shot and killed today at a public event outside a grocery store.
A spokesman for the Pima County sheriff says that at least 12 people were shot, with at least 6 fatalities. The Tucson Citizen reports that Rep. Giffords was "shot point blank in the head."
Rep. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was first elected to the House in 2006. She represents the state's 8th Congressional District.
Scroll down for live updates.
Live Blog at Huffington Post
2:55 PM ET Staffer Dead
AP: At least one Giffords staffer has been killed.
2:48 PM ET Boehner 'Horrified'
Speaker of the House John Boehner issued the following statement about today's shooting:
“I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country."
2:44 PM ET Giffords' Tweet
Giffords' last tweet before the shooting: "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."
2:40 PM ET Death Reports Retracted
CNN, Reuters & NPR no longer report that Giffords is dead.
2:37 PM ET Giffords Alive And In Surgery
A hospital spokeswoman tells MSNBC that Giffords is alive, still in surgery.
2:31 PM ET Still Alive?
MSNBC says a surgeon on the scene claims that Giffords is still alive, in critical condition.
2:30 PM ET Chilling
While there is no hard evidence at this point to suggest that the shooting was politically motivated, Matt Yglesias points out that an anti-Giffords event was held in June with the billing: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
Rep. Giffords was also on Sarah Palin's "target list."
As noted earlier, a gun was dropped at a Giffords event in 2009, and her office was vandalized in March.
2:19 PM ET Six Others Dead
NPR: At least six others have been killed.
2:19 PM ET Office Vandalized After Health Care Vote
The New York Times writes that Giffords' office was vandalized in March "a few hours after the House vote overhauling the nation’s health care system."
2:16 PM ET 'At Least 4 Dead'
University Medical Center says that at least four are dead.
2:15 PM ET Shooter Yelled Names At Targets?
A source tells Ed Espinoza that the shooter "called out names of people as aiming at targets."
2:14 PM ET The Shooter: 'Fringe Character'
A source talks to Gawker about the shooter:
The man was young, mid-to-late 20s, white clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing and said nothing during the shooting or while being held down. He didn't look like a businessman, but more of a "fringe character," our source said.
2:13 PM ET Confirmed Killed
Reuters, others confirm that Giffords has died.
2:08 PM ET Giffords Reportedly Dead
Rep. Giffords is dead, according to NPR.
2:06 PM ET No Known Threats
According to CNN's Mike Brooks, sources with the U.S. Capitol Police say there were no known threats against Rep. Giffords.
In 2009, a gun was dropped at a Giffords event.
2:02 PM ET Staffers Shot
According to Ed Espinoza, DNC Western States Political Director, Giffords' district director and local press secretary were also shot.
1:59 PM ET Young Shooter
NPR: "Witnesses described him as in his late teens or early 20s."
1:55 PM ET More On Giffords
Rep. Giffords, who is 40, is married to an astronaut. Jonathan Allen of Politico says that Giffords is involved with immigration and armed services issues.
1:51 PM ET At Least 12 Reportedly Shot
A Pima County sheriff's spokesman says at least 12 people were shot at the event. One person is in custody.
1:50 PM ET Medical Response
Pekau also tells CNN that three emergency evacuation helicopters are at the scene of the shooting.
1:46 PM ET 'Two Bodies'
Jason Pekau, a Sprint employee who works near the Safeway where the shooting occurred, tells CNN: "I see two bodies laying on the sidewalk in front of the Safeway."
1:45 PM ET 15-20 Gunshots?
A witness tells CNN that he heard 15-20 gunshots.
1:40 PM ET 'Firing Indiscriminately'
According to MSNBC, the shooter ran into a "crowded area" and began "firing indiscriminately."
1:37 PM ET Shooter Reportedly In Custody
More from NPR:
Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up firing indiscriminately and then ran off, Michaels said. According to other witnesses, he was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody.
1:28 PM ET Congresswoman Reportedly Shot In Head
According to Tucson Citizen, Rep. Giffords was shot "point blank in the head."
1:25 PM ET Safeway Shooting
According to KOLD, a Tucson CBS affiliate, the shooting occurred just after 10:00 AM local time at a Safeway grocery store. KOLD has not confirmed that Rep. Giffords was shot.
1:19 PM ET At Least Five Others Hurt
NPR reports that Giffords was shot at a public event at a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. Peter Michaels of of Arizona Public Media tells NPR that at least five others, including staff, were hurt as well.
Tags: Arizona, culture, murder, Politics, Tucson, assassination, shot, gunshots, Safeway, Congress on your corner, Gabby Giffords, Gabby Giffords Dead, Gabby Giffords Dies, Gabby Giffords Gunman, Gabby Giffords Killed, Gabby Giffords Murdered, Gabby Giffords Shot, Gabby Giffords Shot Killed, Gabrielle Giffords, Gabrielle Giffords Dead, Gabrielle Giffords Dies, Gabrielle Giffords Gunman, Gabrielle Giffords Killed, Gabrielle Giffords Murdered, Gabrielle Giffords Shot, Gabrielle Giffords Shot Killed
Labels: Arizona, culture, murder, Politics
Neuroskeptic - Antidepressants Still Don't Work In Mild Depression
Imagine that - Big Pharma has decieved us. This research review comes from Neuroskeptic - a very excellent blog.
Antidepressants Still Don't Work In Mild Depression
A new paper has added to the growing ranks of studies finding that antidepressant drugs don't work in people with milder forms of depression: Efficacy of antidepressants and benzodiazepines in minor depression.
It's in the British Journal of Psychiatry and it's a meta-analysis of 6 randomized controlled trials on three different drugs. Antidepressants were no better than placebo in patients with "minor depressive disorder", which is like the better-known Major Depressive Disorder but... well, not as major, because you only need to have 2 symptoms instead of 5 from this list.
They also wanted to find out whether benzodiazepines (like Valium) worked in these people, but there just weren't any good studies out there.
The results look solid, and they fit with the fact that antidepressants don't work in people diagnosed with "major" depression, but who fall at the "milder" end of that range, something which several recent studies have shown. Neuroskeptic readers will, if they've been paying attention, find this entirely unsurprising.
But in fact, it's not just not news, it's positively ancient. 50 years ago, at the dawn of the antidepressant era, it was commonly said that most antidepressants don't work in everyone with "depression", they work best in people with endogenous depression, and less well, or not at all, in those with "neurotic" or "reactive" depressions (see, e.g. 1, 2, 3, but the literature goes back even further).
Tags: Psychology, depression, drugs, Neuroskeptic, Antidepressants Still don't Work In Mild Depression, Efficacy, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, minor depression, British Journal of Psychiatry, SSRIs
Labels: depression, drugs, Psychology
MIND OF CLEAR LIGHT:
Advice on Living Well
and Dying Consciously
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
translated and edited by
Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
Everyone tries to remove superficial pain, but there is another class of techniques concerned with removing suffering on a deeper level--aiming at a minimum to diminish suffering in future lives and, beyond that, even to remove all forms of suffering for oneself as well as for all beings. Spiritual practice is of this deeper type.
These techniques involve an adjustment of attitude; thus, spiritual practice basically means to adjust your thought well. In Sanskrit it is called dharma, which means "that which holds." This means that by adjusting counterproductive attitudes, you are freed from a level of suffering and thus held back from that particular suffering. Spiritual practice protects, or holds back, yourself and others from misery.
From first understanding your own situation in cyclic existence and seeking to hold yourself back from suffering, you extend your realization to other beings and develop compassion, which means to dedicate yourself to holding others back from suffering. It makes practical sense...by concentrating on the welfare of others, you yourself will be happier. (52)
[See the Archive, September 7 (2008), for continued passage.]
--from Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
Mind of Clear Light • Now at 2O% off
(Good through January 7th, 2011).
Tags: Buddhism, dharma, books, Mind of Clear Light, Advice on Living Well, Dying Consciously, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jeffrey Hopkins, Snow Lion Publications, removing pain, suffering, pain, attitude, compassion
Labels: books, Buddhism, dharma, suffering
Tech Nation - Antonio Damasio: The Conscious Brain
Nice podcast discussion with Antonio Damasio about his recent book, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain.
Antonio Damasio: The Conscious Brain
Author and USC professor
Dr. Moira Gunn talks with USC professor and author, Antonio Damasio, about the connection between mind and body and how they related to consciousness.
42 minutes, 19.5mb, recorded 2010-12-14
Tags: NPR, Antonio Dimasio, The Conscious Brain, Tech Nation, Dr. Moira Gunn, books, Psychology, mind, consciousness, Self, Self Comes to Mind, Constructing the Conscious Brain, emotion, body, neuroscience
Labels: books, consciousness, mind, Psychology, Self
Jay Earley, Ph.D. - Introduction to Internal Family Systems Therapy
Internal Family Systems Therapy (developed by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.) is the best "parts" work system I have ever used - and I have used all of the major ones. This brief introduction comes from Jay Earley, one of the most experienced IFS therapist, and one who is also versed in integral theory. This is a very simplified explanation - if you are interested in the model, I suggests getting the IFS book, which is down to the right on the sidebar in the list of recommended books.
Introduction to Internal Family Systems Therapy
Jay Earley, Ph.D.
IFS recognizes that our psyches are made up of different parts, sometimes called subpersonalities. You can think of them as little people inside us. Each has its own perspective, feelings, memories, goals, and motivations. For example, one part of you might be trying to lose weight and another part might want to eat whatever you want. We all have parts like the inner critic, the abandoned child, the pleaser, the angry part, and the loving caretaker.
IFS has discovered that every part has a positive intent for you, no matter how problematic it might be. For example, Sally has a part that says, “You couldn’t be successful at your ambitious goals. Who do you think you are?” This is hurtful to her and prevents her from taking action in her life, but when she got to know this part in her IFS work, she discovered that it was actually afraid she would be punished if she stuck her neck out, and it was trying to stop her to protect her from that pain.
Bill has a part that is judgmental and competitive with other people in a way that is not consistent with his true values. However, when he really got to know that part, he discovered that it was just trying to help him feel OK about himself in the only way it knew—by feeling superior to others.
When you understand that a part has a positive intent, it doesn’t mean that you give the part power. Sally doesn’t want her part to prevent her from taking action, and Bill doesn’t want his part to act out being judgmental and competitive. However, using the IFS approach, Sally and Bill can relate to their parts with understanding and appreciation while taking the steps to heal them.
This is fundamentally different from the way we ordinarily relate to our parts. Usually when we become aware of a part, the first thing we do is evaluate it. Is it good or bad for us? If we decide it is good, we embrace it and give it power. We act from it. If we decide it is bad, we try to suppress it or get rid of it. We tell it to go away. However, this doesn’t work. You can’t get rid of a part. You can only push it into your unconscious, where it will continue to affect you, but without your awareness.
In IFS, we do something altogether different and radical. We welcome all our parts with curiosity and compassion. We seek to understand them and appreciate their efforts to help us. But we don’t lose sight of the ways they may be causing us problems. We develop a relationship of caring and trust with each part, and then take the steps to release it from its burdens so it can function in a healthy way.
In the IFS system, there are three kinds of parts—managers, firefighters, and exiles. The managers are the parts you usually encounter first in exploring yourself. Their job is to handle the world and protect against the pain of the exiles. Exiles are young child parts that hold pain from the past. (We won’t get into firefighters in this short article.)
For example, John has one manager that tries to know everything about any organization he might work with and tries to do everything perfectly. This is an incredible burden for him and prevents him from being light and flexible in his work life. When he started to get to know this manager part, he learned that it was trying to protect him from being betrayed by people or projects he might put his heart and soul into. He also realized he had another manager part that was very suspicious of people. This part checks out people carefully to see how they might betray him. Both managers are trying to protect John from feeling the pain of an exile part that felt hurt and betrayed, first by his mother and then by an organization he was part of.
In the above example Sally had a manager that said, “Who do you think you are?” Although this message has prevented Sally from taking action as she would like, it is trying to protect Sally from the pain of an exile part who felt crushed and frightened of punishment. It turned out that Sally (and other children) had been punished by the nuns in her Catholic school whenever they became too visible, so from then on in her life, she had a terrified exile and a manager who tried to keep Sally invisible.
Parts take on extreme roles because of what has happened to them in the past. Exiles take on pain and burdens from what they experienced as children (or occasionally at other times). Managers take on extreme roles in order to protect you from the pain of the exiles. IFS has a method of understanding and working with these parts to release the burdens and heal the system, so you can function in healthy ways.
The IFS Process
So how does IFS work with our parts? IFS recognizes that each of us has a spiritual center, a true Self. This Self is naturally compassionate and curious about people, and especially about our own parts. The Self wants to connect with each part and get to know and understand it. The Self feels compassion for the pain of the exiles and also for the burdens that drives managers to act the way they do. The Self is also able to stay calm and centered despite the sometimes intense emotions that parts may feel. Everyone has a Self, even though in some people it may not be very accessible because of the activity of their parts.
The Self is the agent of healing. An IFS therapist or group leader will coach the Self in how to relate to the parts, but the Self is the true leader of the internal system and can love and heal each part, so you become free of extreme feelings and behavior.
Let’s see how this works. First you learn how to access the Self. IFS has many powerful ways of doing this which are beyond the scope of this article. Then the Self chooses a part to focus on. For example, let’s look at Bill, who has a manager who is judgmental and competitive. This is distressing to Bill because he believes in being cooperative and accepting and inclusive, and to some extent he is. But his judgmental manager crops up in situations where Bill feels threatened. Often he is able to hide his judgments, but sometimes they leak out and cause problems. This makes Bill considerably less effective at work and causes dissension in his organization. It also causes problems for him in his marriage.
Bill started out his IFS work by focusing on his Judgmental Part. It wasn’t easy for Bill to be in Self because he felt disgusted with the Judgmental Part for not living up to his ideals. (The Self is never disgusted, so this was really another part of Bill.) However, with some work, he was able to be genuinely in his Self so that he was interested in getting to know the Judgmental Part. He found out that it was trying to protect an exile part of him that felt inadequate. Bill had a learning problem as a child even though he is quite intelligent and competent. So there was a young part of Bill that had felt inadequate in school. The Judgmental Part was trying to compensate for this inadequacy by feeling superior to people. Bill had grown up in a judgmental, competitive home, so that was the primary model this part knew. As Bill got to know the Judgmental Part, he understood why this part acted as it did and appreciated its efforts in his behalf.
He then contacted the exile who felt inadequate. He listened and watched as this part showed him scenes from his childhood where it felt ashamed and inadequate because of his learning problem, and he responded to it with compassion and caring. The young part responded to this by feeling cherished and valuable for the first time. Up until then, it had been hidden away in Bill’s unconscious, which only increased its feelings of worthlessness. With love from Bill’s Self and direction from the IFS therapist, this young part was able to release the burden of inadequacy it had been carrying and feel good about itself. This allowed the Judgmental manager to relax. It no longer needed to judge people to compensate for the exile’s pain. This enabled Bill to respond to people in the way he always wanted, with openness and acceptance and a cooperative attitude. As a result, he became much more effective at work, and he stopped having so many fights with his wife.
This description of the IFS process is greatly simplified for the sake of this short article. It doesn’t discuss many of the difficulties and complexities that IFS knows how to handle in order to accomplish this kind of healing.
Tags: Jay Earley, Introduction, Internal Family Systems Therapy, Richard Schwartz, parts, parts work, subpersonalities, Psychology, therapy, self concept, psychotherapy, IFS, managers, firefighters, exiles, child parts, inner child, protectors, perfectionist, inner critic
Labels: Psychology, self concept, therapy
Mark Vernon - Physics as Metaphysics: Is there a quantum spirituality?
Writing at Big Questions Online, Mark Vernon takes a critical look at the often well-intentioned but misguided attempts at combing quantum mechanics (QM) and spirituality. In general, whenever someone starts using QM to justify, explicate, or contextualize their spiritual ideas, you can be pretty sure they are cherry-picking ideas to support their own.
The field of QM is so vast and so often in flux that it's easy to pick and choose ideas and theories to support almost any nonsense. One of the most obvious examples of this was the recent "debate" between Deepak Chopra and Jean Houston on one side and Michael Shermer and Sam Harris on the other (part of ABC Nightline's Faceoff series, scroll down to the middle of the page). When confronted with actual science by actual scientists, the spiritual gurus did not fare very well.
Vernon is a little less harsh in this article. He is more gentle in his critique, but he names the elephant in the room in most of these "theories" - the anthropic principle - positing human beings and human consciousness as the pinnacle or center of the universe.
Physics as Metaphysics
Is there a quantum spirituality?
photo: US Dept. of Energy: Researcher Matthew Pelt tries to connect the quantum dots
By Mark Vernon
The notion that physics might have metaphysical meaning for human beings is as old as physics itself. The ancient Greeks did natural philosophy not only to learn about the cosmos but also to learn about how to live. In the medieval period, Aristotelian cosmology became tightly knitted to Scholastic theology, causing all sorts of problems for Galileo when he sought to challenge it. And then in the early modern period, Newton’s discoveries led again to a reassessment of what it is to be human.
No less a figure than Einstein invoked the notion of what he called “cosmic religion.” It would need to ask questions such as whether the universe is friendly towards us, the father of the new physics mused. And the new physics of the 20th century has certainly sparked a welter of speculation as to whether the meaning of life is written in the stars. Are the laws of nature transcendent, like God? Does the fine-tuning of various fundamental constants suggest that the universe is right for life, for us? Is consciousness as basic a feature of things as quarks and photons?
One of the best-known of the spiritualities that draw on the new physics was penned by physicist Fritjof Capra. In his 1975 popular classic The Tao of Physics, Capra relates a vision he had in the summer of 1969, as he stared out to sea from the beach of Santa Cruz. “I suddenly became aware of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance,” he recalls.
His use of the metaphor of dance stemmed from his knowledge of particle physics, which views matter as a flux of possibilities across fields of energy. Capra draws on one of the most familiar features of quantum physics: the wave-particle duality of light. If you look at it one way, light behaves like a wave. If you look at it another way, it is a particle. The suggestion is that we, as observers, are deeply implicated in the nature of things.
Further, as nothing can be both a wave and a particle, it looks as if the fundamental nature of things lies behind what the Templeton Prize-winning physicist Bernard d’Espagnat has called a “veiled reality.” This conclusion seems to offer a way of synthesizing the activities of science and religion. As Capra continues: “Physicists explore levels of matter, mystics levels of mind. What their explorations have in common is that these levels, in both cases, lie beyond ordinary sense perception.”
Such ideas are very influential, and similar moves have been made by other figures seeking new kinds of spirituality, like the Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and, more recently, the Episcopal priest Matthew Fox. You can get a feel for it from this remark by Teilhard: “The history of the living world can be summarized as the elaboration of ever more perfect eyes within a cosmos in which there is always something more to be seen.”
Thus, today, it’s quite common to hear people reflecting that we’re all somehow connected, just like entangled quantum particles that remain linked even when they’re on opposites sides of the universe. Alternatively, there’s the growing spread of what has been called the Universe Story. It tells of the emergence of energy from the Big Bang, that formed the fundamental particles, that coalesced into the elements, that became the building block of the stars, that formed alongside planets, that are nurseries for life, which itself became consciousness, and then self-aware: in us, the universe can contemplate itself.
But does this quantum spirituality add up? A number of critiques can be pressed upon it.
For one thing, the science is itself in a state of flux. The Big Bang, out of which this extraordinary experiment in emergence supposedly came, is itself now widely questioned by physicists. Some prefer a “mega-verse” that continuously gives rise to new universes in a process called “eternal inflation.” Others are asking whether there’s actually a multiverse: our universe is just the one out of the billions that is right for life, and so the fine-tuning is a delusion. Others again, are developing models of a pulsating universe, which expands over the eons to such an extent that it “forgets” its size, and so begins all over again.
Quantum spiritualities can accommodate such developments in science — though a skeptic might observe that they are so nebulous, they could accommodate just about anything. Then again, Capra himself notes, “Many concepts we hold today will be replaced by a different set of concepts tomorrow.” But he believes the basic link between the scientific and the mystical traditions will be enforced, not diminished.
Another critique is the pick-and-choose nature of this cosmic religiosity. It emerges in a number of ways. For example, the entangled nature of quantum particles is highlighted to celebrate our connectedness. What’s overlooked, though, is the colossally destructive power of quantum particles too — the fissions and fusions that release the energy of nuclear weapons. The quantum world is not just a strange place. It’s a hideously violent place too. Spiritualities are wary of celebrating that.
The pickiness appears in other ways. Some advocates, for example, don’t actually like references to fine-tuning and human consciousness because they perceive it as anthropocentric — what is sometimes referred to as the anthropic principle, that the cosmos was designed for us. The fear is that this is a way of reasserting human dominance in the order of things, by declaring we are at the pinnacle of a hierarchy of being. Ecologically-minded quantum writers seek something different: a spirituality that puts the planet first. They tend to overlook the priority some interpretations of quantum mechanics give to us observers.
The conclusion would seem to be that quantum spiritualities represent an à la carte approach to the science. It’s not the science that’s driving the spirituality. Rather, the science is being mined and filleted for metaphors and analogies that fit a pre-existing sense of things.
In fact, it ever was thus. When Isaac Newton published his theory of gravity, it was not just astronomers that grew excited. Astrologers did too. The theory of gravity said that bodies act upon one another over vast distances. Isn’t this precisely what astrology had long taught — that the alignment of the planets and stars at your birth had a profound and subtle effect upon the body of the newborn? Newton was saying no such thing, of course. But that did not stop quacks running away with his ideas.
So, I don’t think there is such a thing as quantum spirituality. Instead, there’s quantum physics and then there’s the human quest for meaning. They are distinct enterprises. We gain from both. But throwing them together in a spiritual mash-up creates a spiritual mess. Spirituality is not only about the search for rich metaphors. It’s also about the struggle for fine discernment. The bizarre world of quantum physics teaches us that, too: it is extraordinarily hard to interpret the cosmos aright.
Mark Vernon is a journalist, writer, and former Anglican priest. His books include The Meaning of Friendship, Plato's Podcasts: The Ancients' Guide to Modern Living, and After Atheism: Science, Religion, and the Meaning of Life. He blogs at www.markvernon.com.
Tags: physics, Science, Spirituality, New Age, Mark Vernon, Big Questions Online, Physics as Metaphysics, Is there a quantum spirituality?, Quantum mechanics, quantum physics, Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, Einstein, wave-particle duality, light, energy, Bernard d’Espagnat, multiverse, anthropic principle
Labels: New Age, physics, Science, Spirituality
Chonyi Taylor - Just noting what happened
A Buddhist Approach to Finding
Release from Addictive Patterns
by Chönyi Taylor
The object of meditation this time is emotion. In other words, we specifically focus on the emotions that arise from our feelings of good, bad, and indifferent. In the first of the equanimity meditations, we made the choice to not follow up these emotions. This time we make the choice to meditate on them. We might choose to meditate on sensations and feelings that arise in our immediate, present environment. We might also choose to meditate on an event or person that sets off strong sensations, feelings, and emotions.
Let's say you choose to base your meditation on an event such as a family argument. This time you contemplate an aspect of that event and try to disentangle the sensations, feelings, and emotions. Sensations are what you feel with your body. Feelings assess whether that sensation is nice, nasty, or neutral. What emotions arise as a result of those sensations and feelings?
As we now know, equanimity means not getting caught in further exaggerations: "Oh, I am so bad because this is what I did," "Look how good I am," "How could anyone love someone like me?" and so on. In this meditation, equanimity means not judging whether we are good or bad people, but just noting what happened.
--from Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns by Chonyi Taylor, published by Snow Lion Publications
Enough! • Now at 5O% off
(Good through January 14th, 2011).
Watch for the latest edition of
Snow Lion: The Buddhist Magazine and Catalog
in the next few weeks.
Tags: just noting what happened, Enough!, A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns, Chonyi Taylor, Snow Lion Publications, Buddhism, equanimity, books, dharma, addictions
Labels: books, Buddhism, dharma, equanimity
Rick Hanson - How Did Humans Evolve the Most Loving Brain on Earth?
Interesting new post from Dr. Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom.
How Did Humans Evolve the Most Loving Brain on Earth?
Rick Hanson, Ph.D. - Neuropsychologist, Author
How did we evolve the most loving brain on the planet?
Humans are the most sociable species on earth -- for better and for worse.
On the one hand, we have the greatest capacities for empathy, communication, friendship, romance, complex social structures and altruism. On the other, we have the greatest capacities for shaming, emotional cruelty, sadism, envy, jealousy, discrimination and other forms of dehumanization, and wholesale slaughter of our fellow humans.
In other words, to paraphrase a Native American teaching, a wolf of love and a wolf of hate live in the heart of every person.
Many factors shape each of these two wolves, including biological evolution, culture, economics and personal history. Here, I'd like to comment on key elements of the neural substrate of bonding and love; in my next blog, I'll write about the evolution of aggression and hate; then, in the next several posts, we'll explore the crucial skill of empathy, perhaps the premier way to feed the wolf of love.
These are complex subjects, so I hope you'll forgive some simplifications. Here we go.
The growing length of childhood coevolved with the enlarging of the brain -- which has tripled in size over the last 2.5 million years, since the time of the first tool-making hominids -- and with the development of complex bonding, which includes friendship, romantic love, parent-child attachment and loyalty to a group.
As the brain grew bigger, childhood needed to be longer, because there was so much to learn. To keep a vulnerable child alive for many years, we evolved strong bonds between parents and children, between mates, within extended family groups and within bands as a whole -- all in order to sustain "the village it takes to raise a child." Bands with better teamwork outcompeted other bands for scarce resources; because breeding occurred primarily within bands, genes for bonding, cooperation, and altruism proliferated within the human genome.
Numerous physical, social and psychological factors promote bonding. Let's focus on physical factors and then drill down further to examine two chemicals inside your brain: dopamine and oxytocin. Both are neurotransmitters, and oxytocin also functions as a hormone when it acts outside the nervous system.
(By the way, dopamine and oxytocin, like many other biochemical factors, are present in other mammals, too, but as with most things human, their effects are much more nuanced and elaborated with us.)
It's an error to reduce love to chemicals, since so many other factors are at work in the brain and mind as well, so let's hold this material in perspective.
That said, it appears that when people are in love, among other neurological activities, two parts of their brain really get activated. They are called the caudate nucleus and the tegmentum. The caudate is a reward center of the brain, and the tegmentum is a region of the brain stem that sends dopamine to it; dopamine tracks how rewarding something is.
In effect, being in love rewards the pleasure centers in your brain, which then crave whatever it was that was so rewarding -- in other words, your beloved. Those reward centers are the same ones that light up when people win the lottery. Or use cocaine.
And being rejected in love activates a part of the brain called the insula, which is the same region that lights up when we are in physical pain.
So we are doubly motivated to hold fast to the object of our love: feel the pleasure, and avoid the pain.
Interestingly, when people are in lust, rather than in love, different systems of the brain get activated, notably the hypothalamus and the amygdala.
The hypothalamus regulates drives like hunger and thirst. Interestingly, the word in the early records of the teachings of the Buddha that is translated in English as the "desire" or "attachment" or "clinging" that is the root of suffering has the fundamental meaning of "thirst," so it's pretty likely that the hypothalamus is involved in much of the clinging that leads to suffering.
The amygdala handles emotional reactivity, and both it and the hypothalamus are involved in arousal of the organism and readiness for action. (While these systems are centrally involved in fight-or-flight responses to stress, they also get engaged in energizing activities that feel emotionally positive, like cheering on your favorite team, or fantasizing about your sweetheart.)
These neural components may shed some light on the subjective experience of being in love, which commonly feels softer, more "Aaaaahh, how sweet!" than the "Rawwrh, gotta have it!" intensity of lust.
That said, dopamine -- increased in love -- triggers testosterone production, which is a major factor in the sex drive of both men and women.
So, in short, we fall in love, among other neural circuits and psychological complexities, the same reward chemicals involved in drug addiction lead us to crave our beloved and want sex with him or her. Sorry to be mechanistic here, but you get the idea.
The intended result, in the evolutionary playbook, is, of course, babies.
Oxytocin promotes bonding between mothers and children, and between mates so that they work together to keep those kids alive.
For example, in women, oxytocin triggers the let-down reflex in nursing and is involved in that blissful, oceanic feeling of peace and comfort and love experienced by many women while breastfeeding.
It also seems to be part of the female response to stress (more than in men, as women have much more oxytocin than men do), in part by encouraging what Shelley Taylor at UCLA has termed "tend-and-befriend" behaviors in women when they are stressed.
(Of course, men, too, will often reach out to others and be friendly during tough times, whether it's crunch quarter at the office, or somewhere in a dusty war -- another example of how there are many pathways in the brain to important functional results.)
The experiential qualities of oxytocin are pleasurable feelings of relaxation and rightness, so it is an internal reward for all bonding behaviors -- not just with mates.
Oxytocin encourages sociability; for example, when oxytocin capabilities are knocked out in laboratory mice, their relationships with other mice are very disturbed.
And oxytocin dampens the stress response of the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis -- besides having functional benefits, this is another pathway for rewarding, and thus encouraging, bonding behaviors.
What triggers this warm-and-fuzzy, let's-get-together-now chemical?
Oxytocin is released in both women and men:
When nipples are stimulated (such as through nursing)
During orgasm, promoting the afterglow of warm affection (and a tendency, sometimes annoying in a partner, to fall asleep!)
During extended physical contact, especially "skin-to-skin" contact (e.g., cuddling children, long hugs with friends, teens forming packs on the couch, lovers caressing after sex)
When moving together harmoniously, like dancing
When there are warm feelings of rapport or love; a strong sense of compassion and kindness probably entails releases of oxytocin, though I haven't seen a study on that specific subject (a great Ph.D. dissertation for someone).
Probably during devotional experiences, such as in prayer, or while in the presence of certain kinds of spiritual teachers
Probably, oxytocin can also be released just by imagining -- the more vividly, the better -- the activities just mentioned, particularly when combined with warm feelings.
Of course, dopamine and oxytocin are just two of the many factors at work in our relationships. For example, philosophical values or ideals of universal compassion, such as in the major religions of the world, can also influence a person's behavior greatly, with or without any measurable surges of dopamine or oxytocin.
Nonetheless, appreciating the biochemical factors at work on Valentine's Day, or at any time we experience bonding or love, can help a person not get quite so swept away by the ups and downs of relationships.
For more on the topic of love, see part three of my book (chapters 8, 9 and 10), "Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom."
Tags: Altruism, Biological Evolution, Buddha's Brain, Child Attachment, Evolution, Family Groups, Friendship, Romance, Love, Neuroscience, Parents And Children, Rick Hanson, Social Structures, Huffington Post, How Did Humans Evolve the Most Loving Brain on Earth?, neuropsychologist, Psychology, brain, community, interconnected
Labels: brain, community, interconnected, Psychology
Marcelo Gleiser - Cosmos Vs. Chaos: Entropic Thoughts For A New Year
Theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser, who blogs at NPR's 13.7 Culture & Cosmos group blog, had some thoughts on the end of 2010 and the arrival of another new year.
He muses that part of the impact of order in nature is to create disorder - which feels to me like the scared dance of chaos.
Cosmos Vs. Chaos: Entropic Thoughts For A New Year
by Marcelo Gleiser
It happened again, the year is gone. Some people think it went too fast, others too slow. We want to learn from our experiences, avoid repeating mistakes, start doing new things, activities that now make sense, that recently became compelling: a new diet, a new exercise routine, a new blog, volunteering for a charity. We do it to make the new year new, to separate it from the one that just finished, to make it better and, in the process, to make us better.
We are busy creatures, trying to undo Nature’s trend of undoing. We try to bring order, some measure of control over the disorder around us: cosmos vs. chaos.
Einstein once remarked that of all theories of physics, the one that he’d bet wouldn’t change is thermodynamics, the study of heat and disorder. Gravity could change, quantum mechanics could change, even electromagnetism could change. But the three laws of thermodynamics are here to stay. The first says that energy is conserved. The second that in an isolated system (that is, a system that doesn’t exchange energy with the outside world) disorder — entropy — grows. The third says that you can’t cool a system below “absolute zero,” equivalent to a temperature of -459 Fahrenheit. The reason is simple: you can’t take away heat from something that has none left.
Some may object to what I said above, that Nature has a trend of undoing things, and state that Nature creates all the time, that we see order all around us, in flowers, rainbows and, of course, in ourselves. Well, we are not a closed system: we, animals, plants, Earth, exchange energy with each other and, most importantly, with the Sun. We are solar creatures, completely dependent on the Sun for our existence. In fact, the balance is precarious; if the Sun misbehaved a bit we would be toast.
But none of this stuff today.
A lot of the order that we see around us, from hurricanes to waves to storms — like the one that just hit the Northeast (see Adam’s post yesterday), living creatures big and small, all can be interpreted as mechanisms to increase disorder, degrading the luminous energy coming from the Sun into amorphous infrared radiation that the Earth exhales back into outer space. The second law says it in a gloomy way: the structures that exist now are bumps on the road to an inexorable end where disorder will triumph. This kind of thinking made many people unhappy in the 19th Century. It still does today. Maybe it’s time to shift our focus. Something else to do this coming year.
To obsess over what will happen in the “end” is to miss what goes on now. What matters is what happens in between.
We and all other living creatures (and hurricanes and rainbows) are the spurts of order that makes it all worthwhile. The wonder is in the richness of forms that do emerge en route to disorder, the holdouts against decay. To look at things from a one-dimensional perspective tends to lead us into a very distorted view of reality. This is John Keats’ (mistaken) critique of science that we find in his poem Lamia, that reason “unweaves the rainbow,” that to use it to interpret reality is to take away the beauty of Nature. I’d say that to use only reason is the mistake: There are many ways to look at a rainbow and they all serve different purposes and have useful meanings.
A rainbow should be looked at in many different ways. Only then can we admire it fully.
Science and scientists are not one-dimensional; we don’t look at Nature only from the light of reason. To look for explanations behind natural phenomena is, as Einstein remarked, akin to an act of devotion. To admire a flower or a rainbow for their beauty and to then try to understand their function within a wider natural landscape only adds to their beauty. In this sense, there is a religious aspect to science. The word religion comes from “religare,” to reconnect. But reconnect with what? Different choices for different religions. As we search for the laws that describe Nature and its creations, we are reconnecting with our cosmic origins. This is my religare, the one that brings meaning to my life and makes me whole. If life is a struggle against the inexorable mandate of entropic growth and material decay, it is even more beautiful for it.
Why not call it sacred?
Tags: Theoretical physics, Marcelo Gleiser, NPR, 13.7: Culture & Cosmos, cosmology, chaos, change, perspectives, Nature, Cosmos Vs. Chaos, Entropic Thoughts, New Year, creation, decay, destruction, science
Labels: change, chaos, cosmology, Nature, perspectives
Davie Yoon - Do Infants Possess a Social Sense (Encoding others beliefs)?
This is an interesting research review from Davie Yoon's blog at the International Cognition and Culture Institute. There have been several studies now that examine how infants are quite capable of making sense of their environment - including forming a cognitive sense their primary caregivers - and this one seems to add to that material.
The study (full text is not available without subscription):
The Social Sense: Susceptibility to Others’ Beliefs in Human Infants and Adults
Ágnes Melinda Kovács
Ernő Téglás
Ansgar Denis Endress
Human social interactions crucially depend on the ability to represent other agents’ beliefs even when these contradict our own beliefs, leading to the potentially complex problem of simultaneously holding two conflicting representations in mind. Here, we show that adults and 7-month-olds automatically encode others’ beliefs, and that, surprisingly, others’ beliefs have similar effects as the participants’ own beliefs. In a visual object detection task, participants’ beliefs and the beliefs of an agent (whose beliefs were irrelevant to performing the task) both modulated adults’ reaction times and infants’ looking times. Moreover, the agent’s beliefs influenced participants’ behavior even after the agent had left the scene, suggesting that participants computed the agent’s beliefs online and sustained them, possibly for future predictions about the agent’s behavior. Hence, the mere presence of an agent automatically triggers powerful processes of belief computation that may be part of a “social sense” crucial to human societies.
Full Citation:
Kovács, A.M., Téglás, E. & Endress, A.D. (2010, Dec. 24). The Social Sense: Susceptibility to Others' Beliefs in Human Infants and Adults. Science, Vol. 330 no. 6012: pp. 1830-1834. DOI: 10.1126/science.1190792
Yoon asks some good questions about the study. Are these skills innate (I suspect they are, a way to enhance survival chances)? Is this human-specific or does it reflect other primates or other mammals?
The Smurf Studies: Do 7-month-olds have a "social sense"?
Davie Yoon's blog
Written by Davie Yoon
In a recent paper published in Science (24 December 2010) and entitled "The Social Sense: Susceptibility to Others' Beliefs in Human Infants and Adults", Agnes Kovacs, Ernő Téglás and Ansgar Denis Endress describe a striking set of experiments that may be of interest to ICCI readers, and suggest that "adults and 7-month-olds automatically encode others' beliefs, and that, surprisingly, others' beliefs have similar effects as the participants' own beliefs." These studies add to a growing empirical literature that started with Onishi & Baillargeon 2005 and that stands in contrast to Sally-Ann-style studies of false belief (which rely on explicit predictions and suggest it is not until 4 or 5 years that children can represent others' false beliefs). Here, the authors argue that representing an agent's beliefs -- even when they contradict one's own beliefs, and even when that agent has left the scene -- is triggered automatically and may be part of an innate human "social sense."
Around the Department of Cognitive Science at the CEU in Budapest, these are known as the "smurf studies", because they all feature a movie with different smurf dolls and a ball that rolls behind an occluder (Figure 1).
The main measure for adults is reaction time after the occluder is removed to detect whether a ball is present or absent. Adults are faster to detect the presence of a ball behind the occluder if they and the smurf both know that the ball should be there (true belief) AND are similarly quick even if they know the ball shouldn't be there, but the smurf would think it is there (false belief). To get at the question of whether this sort of automatic agent-belief representation is present early in life and thus possibly innate or at the very least pre-verbal, they tested 7 month olds in a looking time version of the adult experiments. Here they measure looking time to the "no ball" outcome, as an index of how surprised the infant is that the ball isn't there. The infant looks longer if the ball should have been there and is gone vs. the ball shouldn't be there, and it's gone (true belief). They ALSO look longer if they knew the ball shouldn't be there, but the smurf would think it IS there (false belief)! Hence both adults and infants are influenced in their expectations not only by their own beliefs but also by that of another agent, even if the agents beliefs are in contradiction with their own!
Aside from the relevancy of these results for theory of mind and social cognitive developmental research -- these studies also raise questions about the nature of mental representation and memory across delay. It's also a very meaty paper. There is a lot of data and a lot of ideas and hypotheses to sink our teeth into.
As Gyorgi would say, three cheers to Kovacs and colleagues for this exciting contribution to the social cognition literature. I only hope that they and others in the field will next address the crucial question of how it all happens!
- Davie Yoon
How human-specific is the phenomenon described in this paper? What about other primates, or human-domesticated species, or other non-human-domesticated yet socially-complex species?
Is the capacity for such mental representation innate? Will we find the same pattern of behavior in newborn infants? What about dark-reared or otherwise visually naive animals?
Does an individual's aptitude with this class of mental representations have important consequences for other aspects of that individual's social life? For example, would the quality of these representations predict an individual's language learning trajectory, risk for social communicative disorders like autism, etc?
How are neural representations for unseen objects that do and do not match reality stored differently? How about one's own versus another's representation of such objects?
Are the behavioral effects described in the paper consistent with an advantage or interference effect? This would require comparing the current results with measures of adult RT and infant looking time to a baseline event in which no information about the presence of absence of the ball is provided prior to the inclusion event.
Apologies to the authors if I have missed discussion of these issues that appear already in the manuscript or supplementary materials.
Tags: Davie Yoon, Do Infants Possess a Social Sense, Encoding others beliefs, The Smurf Studies, Do 7-month-olds have a "social sense"?, Psychology, social sense, interpersonal, intersubjective, International Cognition and Culture Institute, The Social Sense, Susceptibility to Others' Beliefs, Human, Infants, Adults, Agnes Kovacs, Ernő Téglás, Ansgar Denis Endress, theory of mind, social cognitive developmental research
Labels: interpersonal, intersubjective, Psychology, social sense
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RSA - Mental Complexity and ‘The Astonishing Naivety of Policymakers’
Jonathan Rowson and some others at the RSA have offered up an integrally-informed (Robert Kegan version) policy statement - it's a follow-up to the recent report Beyond the Big Society.
Beyond the Big Society
The idea of the Big Society is at its weakest when it is presented as a partisan technical solution to acute socio-economic problems, and at its strongest when viewed as a non-partisan long term challenge to enrich our social and human capital. At the core of this challenge are the demands we place on people when we ask them to be, for instance, responsible, autonomous, or to show greater solidarity with their fellow citizens. Such demands are grounded in implicit assumptions about human nature and adult competencies that need to be made more explicit if the Big Society is going to survive as a viable idea.
We introduce a perspective on public participation that is rarely considered by policymakers, namely mental complexity in the adult population - our varied capacity to understand competing motivations and values in ourselves and others, to ‘get things in perspective’, and to act appropriately in uncertain or ambiguous situations. Rather than theories of ‘personality’ and ‘interpersonal skills’ that only pay lip service to the complexity of human capital, we believe this perspective helps us to deepen the discussion on public participation, with greater explanatory power and clearer practical implications.
Here is the new article.
Mental Complexity and ‘The Astonishing Naivety of Policymakers’
January 6, 2012 by Jonathan Rowson
Filed under: Social Brain
Those who have read ‘A Guide for the Perplexed’ by E.F Schumacher (better known for Small is Beautiful) will recall his excellent analysis of what he called ‘the loss of the vertical dimension’. He feared that a purely utilitarian view of the world would strip it of reverence, and remove the path-quality of life, in which primitive life forms evolve in complexity, not only across centuries, but in the space of a single human life. He wanted to keep alive is the idea that human beings not only change, but also grow and develop in some meaningful way.
Speaking at the Davos Economic Forum in 2006, Bill Clinton made a similar point. He alluded to the importance of mental complexity when he argued that the challenge of integrating all our best ideas to solve planetary problems was that we needed a ‘higher level of consciousness’ to make sense of how they inter-relate, and he referred to the work of Ken Wilber, a major theorist on the growth of mental complexity.
And yet the danger is that theories of adult development that speak of how mental complexity develops can look like the worst kind of elitism, suggesting there is a form of hierarchy that determines our worth, and worse- that the basis of this hierarchy is obscure, and subject only to expert judgment. In the first RSA event I chaired, I asked Adam Kahane about levels of consciousness, and he reponsded that he was wary of such ideas, because the people propounding them always tended to assume they were on the higher levels.
However, perhaps the only thing worse than an elite and obscure form of hierarchy is flatland, i.e. a complete denial of a vertical dimension, for this seems to amount to a loss of aspiration for progress in our emotional and mental lives, and the development of our character and our will.
Following on from yesterday’s post on our new report on the Big Society, I wanted to share extracts from a couple of sections that I found most difficult to write. We wanted to do what we could to carefully apply the perspective of adult development to a current live issue in the hope that it would stimulate interest among people who may not otherwise come across it. (starting on p 28 of report; slightly abridged, full references can be found there, while a few links have been added here).
Beyond ‘Flatland’
While the idea that we grow in mental complexity is familiar from childhood development, and informs education policy, in adulthood policymakers typically focus on the need to acquire skills, while organisations are more likely to focus on psychometric testing, resulting in personality measures like Myers-Briggs.
Despite a considerable literature on adult development and post-formal thinking (i.e. beyond the mental development of an eighteen year old) public policy appears to operate in what the American Philosopher Ken Wilber calls ‘flatland’: the view that all adults operate at the same level of mental complexity, and differ only in horizontal skills, intelligence, knowledge and proclivities.
We are not saying that the Big Society calls upon people to be nicer, or cleverer, or more informed, much as these things might help. Our point is that a growth in social productivity requires people to be able to disembed themselves from certain social and psychological influences that undermine autonomy, responsibility and solidarity, so that they can relate to those influences more flexibly and constructively.
This distinction between horizontal and vertical dimensions of human development is important, because our argument is quite specific. We are not saying that the Big Society calls upon people to be nicer, or cleverer, or more informed, much as these things might help. Our point is that a growth in social productivity requires people to be able to disembed themselves from certain social and psychological influences that undermine autonomy, responsibility and solidarity, so that they can relate to those influences more flexibly and constructively.
This kind of growth is ‘vertical’ in the sense that it changes how we know the world rather than ‘horizontal’ in the sense of changing what we know about the world. And such vertical growth is progressive in the sense that it transcends and includes our prior ways of knowing the world. Moreover, such models of mental complexity are theoretically highly developed, and amenable to empirical measurement.
In light of the explanatory power of this perspective, when policy makers try to change behaviour through incentive structures, environmental influences and choice architectures, they show, as Kegan puts it, “an astonishingly naïve sense of how important a factor is the level of mental complexity”.
The use of ‘astonishing’ is worth emphasising. In a context where ‘people’ are presented as the solution rather than the problem, mental complexity is perhaps the single most important variable to understand, and is required to inform how people are likely to respond to the behavioural demands of the Big Society agenda.
Kegan’s emphasis on the importance of mental complexity has parallels with the method of psychographic segmentation known as ‘Values Modes’ derived from Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in which we move from subsistence to social to existential needs. Values are viewed as motivational constructs that underpin emotions, perceptions and behaviours, so they provide good proxy measures for mental complexity, which is useful because data on values is relatively easy to collect. This kind of progression in values has parallels with Kegan’s theory of development, and although the underlying mechanism of change is different, both models highlight that the range of values that gives rise to this segmentation is not ‘flat’.
(…) See report for relationship between mental complexity and values modes(…)
Fear of Hierarchy
The neglect of this kind of perspective may be because it is an uncomfortable notion for a liberal democracy. Developmental differences represents a form of hierarchy, and, at first blush, appears to raise similar political issues to IQ scores. This is a valid objection, but is attenuated by at least four factors.
First, In Kegan’s model in particular measures of development are complex constructs based on qualitative data, not psychometric measures producing single composite scores that can be readily compared.
Second, unlike traditional views of IQ, levels of mental complexity are not static and evolve in relation to challenges within one’s lifespan.
Third, more complex does not necessarily mean ‘better’. An adult’s mind is not necessarily better than a child’s, but it is typically more developed. The values of security and belonging are not less important than the values of self-efficacy and personal development, indeed they may be necessary conditions for them to arise.
Kegan uses the example of a driver who can only drive an automatic not being a worse driver than one who can drive both an automatic and a manual car. This difference is one of ‘fit’ rather than skill, and will only be felt in situations where there are no automatics available. The hierarchy in question is about one relatively basic way of knowing giving rise to and growing into another that is relatively complex, not about something better subsuming something worse in absolute terms.
Even with those three points in mind, the root metaphor of higher as better is difficult to shake. The fourth point is therefore important, and particularly relevant in the context of the Big Society. Simply stated, according to Kegan, more than half of the adult population (c. 58%) share a broadly similar level of mental complexity (‘the socialised mind’- see below). This large group therefore experience similar challenges in the mismatch between the cultural demands and their capacity to fully address them. Moreover, it makes it more credible to say that developing mental complexity in the general population is a viable public goal.”
Thanks for reading this far. Does this make sense? Is it still a bit scary?
Labels: cultural evolution, development, Integral, perspectives, Psychology, society
NPR Science Friday - One Scholar's Take On The Power of The Placebo
The other day I posted an article from Edge by Nicholas Humphrey that looked at the placebo effect as a jumping off point for a brain-based "health management system." So it was interesting, in light of that, to listen to this NPR Science Friday discussion about the placebo effect.
One Scholar's Take On The Power of The Placebo
Talk of the Nation
[12 min 24 sec]
A placebo can take the form of a sugar pill or even a fake surgery. It's often used to test the effectiveness of a trial drug. Ted Kaptchuk, director of Harvard University's Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter, discusses potential applications for the healing power of placebos.
IRA FLATOW, HOST: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. It's a story we've heard before: A doctor prescribes a fake pill to a patient after other medications have failed. The patient begins to feel better after taking what she thinks is a real drug, but is only a placebo.
The story is not fictitious. It's rooted in real data. One study estimates 50 percent of U.S. physicians who believe in the benefits of placebos and the placebo effect secretly give dummy pills to unsuspecting patients. The ethical, questionable practice led researchers at Harvard University to explore whether the power of placebos can be harnessed honestly, and what they found was the placebos work even when patients are in on the secret that it is a sham secret. They know that they're taking a placebo, and it still works.
Ted Kaptchuk is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Med School, director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The program was created last summer and is wholly dedicated to the study of placebos. He joins us from Cambridge, Mass. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
TED KAPTCHUK: Ira, thanks for inviting me.
FLATOW: How do you define a placebo?
KAPTCHUK: Well, a placebo is a sugar pill or inert substance that's used to hide the genuine treatment in a clinical trial. A placebo effect is the effect of a sugar pill. The problem with that common definition is that it's an oxymoron: An inert pill can't have an effect. So what our team says is that the placebo is also hiding a very important phenomena: the clinical encounter. We think the placebo effect is the - a surrogate marker, or a way of measuring the effect of just caring for a person, the act of caring for a person.
We think that it's - the placebo is about the words, the gestures, eye contact, warmth, empathy, compassion that a physician exchanges with a patient, a doctor-patient relationship. We think the placebo is about medical symbols, white coats, diplomas, prescription pads.
We think the placebo is about medical rituals, the ritual procedures in medicine: waiting, talking, disrobing, being examined and being treated by pills or surgery. Ultimately, we think the placebo is about the power of the imagination, trust and hope in the medical encounter.
FLATOW: Can you quantify any of this, then?
KAPTCHUK: Well, that's what my work is, and that's what our program at the Beth Israel Deaconess and Harvard Medical School is trying to do, is that this is usually considered the art of medicine. It's the in background. People are mostly concerned about drugs, procedures and surgery, and our job is to quantify what's been hidden in the background and move it to the foreground, to make the human aspects of health care more prominent and optimalize them once we understand what they can do and how they work.
FLATOW: Because we hear that the placebo effect works about 30 percent of the time, correct?
KAPTCHUK: No, that's more of a medical myth. Sometimes sugar pills will not shrink a tumor, will not lower cholesterols, don't lower hypertension. Placebo effects work in some conditions much better than others. Placebo treatments will work in things like pain, insomnia, depression, anxiety, functional bowel disorders, functional urinary disorders. So that 30 percent is really a myth that was created a long time ago.
FLATOW: And you've discovered - let me see if this is correct - that even when the patients know they're taking a placebo, it still works?
KAPTCHUK: Well, discovery is a big word. We - what we did was we randomized patients with irritable bowel syndrome, half of whom went - we gave them placebos. We told them it was placebos. The bottle said they were placebos. We told them that the study was about placebos. This is an inert pill they were taking. And half of them we randomized to no-treatment control wait-list to make sure that if they changed and got better, it wasn't the normal, natural waxing and waning of diseases or spontaneous remission.
And we found, after three weeks, that people who were taking placebos did much better than those in the comparison group. Our study was small. It needs to be replicated. It's more proof of principle. But it certainly changes the conventional wisdom, which was if you know you're taking a placebo, you're not going to get better.
And what we - I think many other teams have to replicate this and other diseases, and we hope that that will happen down the line.
FLATOW: But you're saying, if I heard you correctly, just to go back on your original statement, is that the placebo basically masks, or it's really the encounter with the doctor and all the trappings of the office and being taken care of that - the action that is actually helping the patient and making the patient feel better.
KAPTCHUK: I think that's what I meant to say. I'm glad you said it that way. Yeah, a sugar pill doesn't do anything. What does something is the context of healing. It's the ritual of healing. It's being in a healing relationship. And that's what we study.
But the placebo pill is a wonderful tool, or a saline injection is a wonderful tool to isolate what is usually in the background, take it away from the medications and procedures that medicine does, and actually study just the act of caring. That's, I think, what we're measuring when we study placebo effects.
FLATOW: And how did you get involved in this, in Harvard opening up this center?
KAPTCHUK: I was originally hired at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in 1990 to help do research in Asian medicine. And when I got there - my original training was in Asia - they talked about we have to find out whether this intervention, be it acupuncture, herbs or other kinds of alternative therapies, is more than placebo.
And I would ask: So what does it mean that it's more than placebo? And they say: Well, it's more than placebo. And I have a background in civil rights when I was a young person. And I said, boy, they're treating this placebo effect like it's really some kind of disgusting phenomena. And what is it exactly? So I would ask, and I realized there wasn't a lot known. And I thought this would be a better way of doing my career.
Luckily, at that time, the NIH created a National Center for Complimentary and Alternate Medicine, which has a deep interest in investigating the placebo effect. And I've been able to receive funding for many, many experiments, which hopefully have contributed to understanding this phenomenon better.
Read the whole transcript.
Labels: healing, mind, placebo, Psychology, research
FORA.tv - The Power of Choice (Jared Diamond and Daniel McFadden)
FORA.tv posted this short video discussion with Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse) and Daniel McFadden from the National Geographic Weekend Live gathering.
Why do humans make decisions the way they do? And what does that mean in the context of the current threats to our species’ survival? Daniel McFadden, the 2000 Laureate in Economics Studies, whose work focuses on how people make choices and sort themselves into groups, will discuss questions of human choice and their repercussions with Nat Geo Explorer-in-Residence Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the bestseller Collapse, which analyzed the phenomenon of societal failure. The conversation will be moderated by National Geographic Weekend host Boyd Matson.
The Power of Choice from National Geographic Live on FORA.tv
Jared Diamond is professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and the widely acclaimed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, which won him a Pulitzer Prize as well as Britain's 1998 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize.
Diamond is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (Genius Award); research prizes and grants from the American Physiological Society, National Geographic Society, and Zoological Society of San Diego; and many teaching awards and endowed public lectureships. In addition, he has been elected a member of all three of the leading national scientific/academic honorary societies—National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Philosophical Society.
Diamond's field experience includes 22 expeditions to New Guinea and neighboring islands to study ecology and evolution of birds; the rediscovery of New Guinea's long-lost golden fronted bowerbird; and other field projects in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. As a conservationist, he devised a comprehensive plan, almost all of which was implemented, for Indonesian New Guinea's national park system. He has also taken part in numerous field projects for the Indonesian government and World Wildlife Fund. He is a founding member of the board of the Society of Conservation Biology and a member of the board of directors of World Wildlife Fund/USA and Conservation International.
Daniel Little McFadden is an econometrician who shared the 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with James Heckman. McFadden's share of the prize was "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice". He was the E. Morris Cox Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
In January 2011, Dr. McFadden was appointed the Presidential Professor of Health Economics at theUniversity of Southern California (USC), and the announcement of this appointment was published on January 10, 2011. Professor McFadden will have joint appointments at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development and the Department of Economics at USC College to examine fundamental problems facing the health care sector, looking specifically at how consumers make choices about health insurance and medical services.
Labels: choice, cultures, economics, groups, Psychology, society
Bookforum - Philosophy as an expression
A few days ago, Bookforum offered up a collection of philosophy links. One of the interesting - or strange - articles is from a lawyer talking about attachment. Seriously. The author is using a very general definition of attachments:
I am using the term in a common, non-technical way. It is not confined to any specific emotion, or range of emotions, nor is it confined to happy, or willing attachments. There are ones we have in spite of ourselves. And there are ones we struggle to free ourselves from, or are ambivalent about. But they are connections we have to people, or objects, places, or groups of which we are aware. -- I will not be concerned with attachments to ideas, or theories. To simplify I will not consider complex and multifaceted attachments, such as religious ones, and will spend more time on attachments to people than to other objects.
Attachments and Associated Reasons
Joseph Raz
Columbia University - Law School; University of Oxford - Faculty of Law
Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 11-287
Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 59/2011
The paper will unfold in 5 parts dealing with five questions: first, does the partiality of attachments present an obstacle to their being or giving practical reasons? Second, given a value-based approach to practical reasons, can universal values generate reasons that are specific to their subjects, reasons – say – towards my friends that only I have? Third, do attachments affect what we do independently of any reasons that they provide? Fourth, in what ways do attachments constitute or provide normative reasons, and briefly, how do attachment-related reasons relate to other practical reasons? Finally, I turn to the question of the nature of and justification for partiality to oneself.
Anyway, that was a strange little article - here are the rest of them.
Philosophy as an expression
Jan 2 2012 3:00PM
A new issue of Annales Philosophici is out, including Danielle Macbeth (Haverford): Reading Rorty: A Sketch of a Plan. From Purlieu, a special issue on Philosophy and the University. J. David Velleman (NYU): Time for Action. Joseph Raz (Columbia): Attachments and Associated Reasons. Neil Sinhababu (NUS): The Humean Theory of Practical Irrationality. Albert H. Y. Chen (Hong Kong): The Concept of "Datong" in Chinese Philosophy as an Expression of the Idea of the Common Good. Brian Ribeiro (Tennessee): Philosophy and Disagreement. From The Philosopher's Eye, a series on the future of philosophy, with contributions by Robert Stern, Vincent F. Hendricks, Tim Mulgan, Matti Eklund, and Luciano Floridi. Metaphysics is the philosophical study of reality — but what does that mean in pratice, and what are the limits of what it can reveal? Kit Fine addresses the question. Thomas Nagel reviews Engagement and Metaphysical Dissatisfaction: Modality and Value by Barry Stroud. How we (should) decide: Philosopher Caspar Hare aims to develop theories of practical rationality that may just help us make real-world decisions. Ethical pluralism: Ian Pollock on the ugly theory that could. Ethics matter: A conversation with Peter Singer. An interview with Peter Ludlow, author of The Philosophy of Generative Linguistics. Simon Blackburn on Hume and bondage: Why is the idea that desire is the master of reason still causing fear and loathing in philosophy? A review of Wittgenstein by William Child. Could David Hume have known about Buddhism? From The Chronicle, Lee McIntyre on making philosophy matter — or else; and Adam Briggle and Robert Frodeman on a new philosophy for the 21st century. Is there a useful distinction to be made between analytic and continental philosophy? Brian Leiter thinks not (and an interview at 3:AM).
Labels: attachment, books, culture, link dump, Philosophy, reviews
The Optimism Bias: An Interview with Tali Sharot
This interview with Tali Sharot comes from the blog for Being Human 2012, a one-day conference this spring in San Francisco - and they lifted it from The Guardian UK. The book was released last summer in the U.S. as The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain.
The optimism bias: reasons to be cheerful
Carole Cadwalladr
The Observer, Saturday 31 December 2011
Tali Sharot: 'There’s a saying that you have expect the gold in order to get the silver.' Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer
What exactly is the optimism bias?
by Tali Sharot
Expecting the future to be slightly better than it ends up being. People tend to overestimate positive events – having a long-lasting relationship, or a certain salary, professional success – and underestimate the likelihood of negative events such as cancer, being in an accident, getting divorced. So it's this difference between your expectations and the outcome, where the former are slightly better than the latter.
How did you stumble across it?
I was looking at whether the neural mechanisms involved in remembering the past are involved in imagining the future. My work on memory is mostly about traumatic negative events, so I was interested in imagining negative traumatic events, but had to compare that with people just imagining everyday boring events. But when I asked people to imagine boring events, they usually imagined some kind of magnificent scenario, which I found very surprising.
Were you so surprised because you're actually a pessimist? You hadn't expected such surprising results.
Not at all. And you might say I was optimistic because I was looking for something specific. It wasn't because I was or am a pessimist. But neither do I think people can classify themselves accurately as pessimistic or optimistic.
How optimistic would you say you are?
I don't think people can know their own level of optimism. The only way to do it is to be tested; I know all of these experiments so I can't test myself. My guess is I would probably be average. That's the best statistical guess you can always make, right? The average person is mildly optimistic; 80% of the population will be on the optimistic side.
In some countries – for example, Britain –it is more culturally acceptable to be pessimistic. In the US, being optimistic is considered a good thing, so I suspect people there would usually say they are optimistic; here, people might say not. But there is no actual difference.
People who are pessimists actually seem to have a more realistic vision of the future, but this does them no good.
In general, you have to have positive expectation to reach your goals.
Does that mean Olympic athletes are victims of false cognitive biases? They can't all win gold, but they have to believe they can to propel them through years of training.
I don't know if athletes are more optimistic – maybe because you can say that about many professions. Look at mine. People always think that their next paper will be the one that changes everything. But they can't all be. And I actually encourage my students to think like that because it could be true and it motivates them to do things.
You give the example of the law students who are told there is a divorce rate of 50% but still believe their relationships will last for ever. Has it made you take a more realistic view of human relationships?
Yes, I suspect I do.
Does that mean you are less of a romantic than you were before?
Possibly. But it may be because I am older.
But in the book you say that being older doesn't necessarily make you wiser.
That's true, though research shows that happiness goes down to middle age, then starts going back up. So when you get to your 70s and 80s, you seem to be in quite a good place. We are looking at the optimism bias across the lifespan. It seems like there is not much difference but there hasn't been a very good investigation.
You talk about the introspection illusion. It seems that the harder you try to think about yourself, the less self-knowledge you seem to accrue.
It's not the harder you try, but that you end up attending to the wrong kind of things, not those that will matter. I give an example where people try to decide between two paintings to put on the wall. They try to think about which one will make them happier, but attend to elements which are not actually important for an emotional reaction.
Why are we are so bad at predicting what will make us happy?
First, because when we think about the future we rely on our memories – and they are biased as well. So we don't remember everything and don't remember everything accurately. Emotion changes how we remember things and that is really where I started my research, looking at memories from 9/11, which are vivid but not necessarily accurate. If you try to predict how you are going to feel on your next vacation, for example, what you remember from your previous vacations are the highlights so you don't remember all of the boring bits.
Second, we focus on specific elements rather than look at the whole. So you think how you are going to feel when you are sitting on the beach but not how you are going to feel while getting there.
You say that the financial crisis in 2008 is essentially a result of optimism bias.
Yes. It's a simple example, where most people, from individuals to financial analysts to government officials, all thought that the market would go up and up and up and ignored evidence to the contrary. Research we have done lately shows that people take into account more about information that indicates things will be positive in the future.
You studied at Tel Aviv University. Do you think that Israel is an example of a nation with an optimism bias?
I definitely think Israelis are. I make the point that a lot of times in very difficult circumstances people are actually more optimistic. Such as in the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Depression in the 1930s, because in those instances you need it even more. And I think that's quite often true of Israel.
You seem to say we are all engaged in making predictions, but the only people who seem to be any good at it are the ones who are a bit depressed.
It's not they are good at it, just that their prediction is more like the outcome.
So they're more accurate at it?
They are more accurate at predicting, but also their prediction is affecting the outcome so there's a circular thing.
Does this mean fortune favours the deluded?
Definitely. It's not only when you predict the future, it's also when you think about yourself. Most people have a positive illusion about themselves. It doesn't mean we think we are extremely good-looking and intelligent, but we think we're a little bit more than what some objective measure would show. It's good that we have this bias. It keeps us happier.
One of the most wonderful tricks you talk about is how we believe we've always made the best choice.
That's true. Depressed individuals don't do that, so they ruminate. One of the symptoms of depression is ruminating. People go back and say: "Why did I do that? I could have done this" rather than say: "This was the best decision at the time" and move on. It's the same with decisions. I often tell people who are having problems making a decision: "You know, it doesn't matter what you choose. You're probably going to think it's the right decision."
What are you researching next?
We're looking at altering optimism using biological measures and ways to try and enhance or reduce it.
Labels: books, brain, expectations, future, optimism, Psychology
William Irwin Thompson Interview: Consciousness, Occupy Movement and Planetary Culture
Very cool interview that Jeremy got with William Irwin Thompson for his new project, EvoLandscapes.
Jeremy Johnson of EL interviews cultural historian William Irwin Thompson for a fascinating discussion about the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, digital culture and planetary crisis.
Thompson is the author of many books including The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light, Coming into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness, and Self and Society.
He is the founder of the Lindisfarne Association, a fellowship of scientists, economists, poets and scholars dedicated to articulating the emerging planetary human society.
Lindisfarne Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindisfarne_Association
Check out his column at Wild River Review, Thinking Otherwise: http://www.wildriverreview.com/user/63
Labels: #occupywallstreet, consciousness, crisis, culture, globalization
The RSA - The Power of Networks: Knowledge in an age of infinite interconnectedness
Interesting . . . from the RSA.
The Power of Networks: Knowledge in an age of infinite interconnectedness
Manuel Lima, senior UX design lead at Microsoft Bing, explores the power of network visualisation to help navigate our complex modern world.
Listen to the full audio.
Labels: interconnected, internet, networks, social networking
Secular Buddhist Podcast - Episode 97 :: Adam Tebbe :: Sweeping Zen
Here is a recent Secular Buddhist Podcast - Episode 97 :: Adam Tebbe :: Sweeping Zen.This is an interesting discussion on contemporary issues in Western Buddhism.
Episode 97 :: Adam Tebbe :: Sweeping Zen
The Secular Buddhist Podcast
Adam Tebbe
Sweeping Zen founder Adam Tebbe joins us to speak about contemporary issues in Buddhism.
Many of you have heard me say in the past, “Question with confidence.” That is, we should foster the development of an environment to have open and free inquiry into our beliefs, even those deeply cherished. That idea, question with confidence, was put very well long ago by Thomas Jefferson, who said, “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.”
Few people have represented the idea of free inquiry in our Buddhist practice as today’s guest. Adam Tebbe is senior editor at The Buddhist Dispatch. He is also the founder of Sweeping Zen and Kannonji Zen Retreat in Second Life, a sangha which hosts events from Buddhist clergy using the virtual technology of Second Life. He trained to become a licensed chemical dependency counselor but found that he enjoys this work far better. He generally keeps his opining to his blog at Sweeping Zen. Adam also does some news gathering for Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, owned by the Shambhala Sun Foundation.
So, sit back, relax, and have a nice Dr. Pepper. How long has that been?
:: Discuss this episode ::
Labels: Buddhism, dharma, Psychology, questions, Western Buddhism
Thanissaro Bhikkhu - What Do Buddhists Mean When They Talk About Emptiness?
Nice bit of dharma from Tricycle's "Back to Basics" special edition.
Back to Basics: What Do Buddhists Mean When They Talk About Emptiness?
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Emptiness is a mode of perception, a way of looking at experience. It adds nothing to, and takes nothing away from, the raw data of physical and mental events. You look at events in the mind and the senses with no thought of whether there's anything lying behind them.
This mode is called emptiness because it is empty of the presuppositions we usually add to experience in order to make sense of it: the stories and worldviews we fashion to explain who we are and the world we live in. Although these stories and views have their uses, the Buddha found that the questions they raise—of our true identity and the reality of the world outside—pull attention away from a direct experience of how events influence one another in the immediate present. Thus they get in the way when we try to understand and solve the problem of suffering.
Say, for instance, that you're meditating, and a feeling of anger toward your mother appears. Immediately, the mind's reaction is to identify the anger as "my" anger, or to say that "I'm" angry. It then elaborates on the feeling, either working it into the story of your relationship to your mother or to your general views about when and where anger toward one's mother can be justified. The problem with all this, from the Buddha's perspective, is that these stories and views entail a lot of suffering. The more you get involved in them, the more you get distracted from seeing the actual cause of the suffering: the labels of "I" and "mine" that set the whole process in motion. As a result, you can't find the way to unravel that cause and bring the suffering to an end.
If, however, you adopt the emptiness mode—by not acting on or reacting to the anger but simply watching it as a series of events, in and of themselves—you can see that the anger is empty of anything to identify with or possess. As you master the emptiness mode more consistently, you see that this truth holds not only for such gross emotions as anger, but also for even the most subtle events in the realm of experience. This is the sense in which all things are empty. When you see this, you realize that labels of "I" and "mine" are inappropriate, unnecessary, and cause nothing but stress and pain. You can drop them. When you drop them totally, you discover a mode of experience that lies deeper still, one that's totally free.
To master the emptiness mode of perception requires firm training in virtue, concentration, and discernment. Without this training, the mind stays in the mode that keeps creating stories and worldviews. And from the perspective of that mode, the teaching of emptiness sounds simply like another story or worldview with new ground rules. In terms of the story of your relationship to your mother it seems to be saying that there's really no mother, no you. In terms of your worldview, it seems to be saying either that the world doesn't really exist, or else that emptiness is the great undifferentiated ground of being from which we all came and to which someday we'll all return.
These interpretations not only miss the meaning of emptiness but also keep the mind from getting into the proper mode. If the world and the people in the story of your life don't really exist, then all the actions and reactions in that story seem like a mathematics of zeros, and you wonder why there's any point in practicing virtue at all. If, on the other hand, you see emptiness as the ground of being to which we're all going to return, then what need is there to train the mind in concentration and discernment, since we're all going to get there anyway? And even if we need training to get back to our ground of being, what's to keep us from coming out of it and suffering all over again? So in all these scenarios, the whole idea of training the mind seems futile and pointless. By focusing on the question of whether or not there really is something behind experience, they entangle the mind in issues that keep it from getting into the present mode.
Now, stories and worldviews do serve a purpose. The Buddha employed them when teaching people, but he never used the word emptiness when speaking in these modes. He recounted the stories of people's lives to show how suffering comes from the unskillful perceptions behind their actions, and how freedom from suffering can come from being more perceptive. And he described the basic principles that underlie the round of rebirth to show how bad intentional actions lead to pain within that round, good ones lead to pleasure, while really skillful actions can rake you beyond the round altogether. In all these cases, these teachings were aimed at getting people to focus on the quality of the perceptions and intentions in their minds in the present—in other words, to get them into the emptiness mode. Once there, they could use the teachings on emptiness for their intended purpose: to loosen all attachments to views, stories, and assumptions, leaving the mind empty of all the greed, anger; and delusion, and thus empty of suffering and stress. And when you come right down to it, that's the emptiness that really counts.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu is the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in Valley Center, California. His most recent book is The Wings to Awakening (Dhamma Dana Publications).
Labels: Buddhism, consciousness, dharma, emptiness, experience
Face to face with Carl Jung - An Interview
Jung in 1910
Here is a rare interview with Carl Jung - I found this at TheSpiritConnect YouTube channel. Jung, along with Alfred Adler, Wilhelm Reich, Otto Rank, Karen Horney, and others, were all students of Freud at one point or another - and all broke away to elaborate their own models or theories of the psyche.
Of these, Adler and Jung have probably had the most influence on contemporary thinking in therapeutic practice, but only Jung has developed a distinct model that stands as an alternative to Freud in the more traditional approaches to therapy. [I believe Adler's model is equally important, but it is not as well known - see Individual Psychology.]
Follow the link for more on Jung's Analytical Psychology. Here is a brief introduction to Jung from his Wikipedia page:
Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration.[1] Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and symbolization. While he was a fully involved and practicing clinician, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas, including Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts.
Jung considered individuation, a psychological process of integrating the opposites including the conscious with the unconscious while still maintaining their relative autonomy, necessary for a person to become whole.[2] Individuation is the central concept of analytical psychology.[3]
Many psychological concepts were first proposed by Jung, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. A popular psychometric instrument, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), has been principally developed from Jung's theories.
His interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic although Jung's ambition was to be seen as a man of science.[4]
And now the videos.
Part Two:
Part Three:
Part Four:
Labels: archetypes, interview, Jung, Psychology, Religion, Spirituality, unconscious
Nicholas Humphrey - The Evolved Self-Management System
This is a nice article from Edge . . . . Nicholas Humphrey seeks to explain the placebo effect and "a whole range of other priming effects by invoking the existence of an 'evolved self-management system.'" Geoffrey Miller replies.
Using the placebo effect as a foundation, Humphrey wonders if it is possible to co-opt that system, which is partly based in "permission" given by the cultural environment, to release other capabilities that are generally considered beyond our control.
The Evolved Self-Management System
Nicholas Humphrey [12.5.11]
I'm now thinking about a larger issue still. If placebo medicine can induce people to release hidden healing resources, are there other ways in which the cultural environment can "give permission" to people to come out of their shells and to do things they wouldn't have done in the past? Can cultural signals encourage people to reveal sides of their personality or faculties that they wouldn't have dared to reveal in the past? Or for that matter can culture block them? There's good reason to think this is in fact our history.
NICHOLAS HUMPHREY has held posts at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and is now School Professor Emeritus at the LSE. He is a theoretical psychologist, internationally known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. His most recent book is Soul Dust.
Nicholas Humphrey's Edge Bio Page
THE REALITY CLUB: Geoffrey Miller
NICHOLAS HUMPHREY: I was asked to write an essay recently for "Current Biology" on the evolution of human health. It's not really my subject, I should say, but it certainly got me thinking. One of the more provocative thoughts I had is about the role of medicine. If human health has changed for the better in the late stages of evolution, this has surely had a lot to do with the possibility of consulting doctors, and the use of drugs. But the surprising thing is that, until less than 100 years ago, there was hardly anything a doctor could do that would be effective in any physiological medicinal way—and still the doctor's ministrations often "worked". That's to say, under the influence of what we would today call placebo medicine people came to feel less pain, to experience less fever, their inflammations receded, and so on.
Now, when people are cured by placebo medicine, they are in reality curing themselves. But why should this have become an available option late in human evolution, when it wasn't in the past.
I realized it must be the result of a trick that has been played by human culture. The trick is to persuade sick people that they have a "license" to get better, because they're in the hands of supposed specialists who know what's best for them and can offer practical help and reinforcements. And the reason this works is that it reassures people—subconsciously —that the costs of self-cure will be affordable and that it's safe to let down their guard. So health has improved because of a cultural subterfuge. It's been a pretty remarkable development.
Go back 10 or 20,000 years ago. Eccentricity would not have been tolerated. Unusual intelligence would not have been tolerated. Even behaving "out of character" would not have been tolerated. People were expected to conform, and they did conform, because they picked up the cues from their environment about the right and proper—the adaptive—way to behave. In response to cultural signals people were in effect policing their own personality.
And they still are. In fact we now have plenty of experimental evidence about the operation of "sub-conscious primes", how signals from the local environment get to people without their knowing it and, by changing their character and attitudes, regulate the face they present to the world. It can be a change for the worse (at least as we'd see it today). But so too it can be a change for the better. People become, let's say, more pro-social, more generous.
Let's take this particular example. What cues might people pick up on that would turn them into nicer people? Well, remarkably enough just seeing something out of the corner of one's eye which suggests that other people are behaving nicely can do it. There's a wonderful experiment I heard described at a conference in Kyoto a few months ago. What the Japanese scientists did was to get their subjects to play a cooperation game, a prisoner's dilemma game, online. Subjects could choose to act generously, trust the opponent, or mistrust and default on the exchange.
Now, to one side of the computer on which subjects were playing this game, the experimenters had set up another computer with a screen-saver on it. There were two conditions. In one the screen-saver showed a little animation of two balls, one of which was helping another one over a barrier, coming up underneath it and giving it a shove-over; in the other, one of the balls was hindering another from getting over the barrier by getting in its way.
Astonishingly, the subjects of this experiment who had the cooperative animation running on the screen to one side were twice as likely to cooperate in their game with another player online, even though they didn't acknowledge that they'd noticed anything on the secondary screen. And even if they had noticed it, so what? I mean why should they copy something which is just going on a screen-saver?
But this is just one example. Now almost every month's issue of Psychological Science, for instance, reports some striking new finding about how cues from the surroundings can change people's nature. Moral judgments, reasoning skills, personal hygiene, political attitudes —you name it—are all proving to be unexpectedly malleable, as people respond to the social and physical weather signals that their brains (if not their conscious minds) pick up on.
It's been a tremendous surprise for experimental psychology and social psychology, because until now it's been widely assumed that people's characters are in fact pretty much fixed. People don't blow with the wind, they don't become a different kind of person depending on local and apparently irrelevant cues . . . But after all, it seems they do.
So what's going on? We need a theory.
You'll have guessed the way I want to take it. I began with the placebo effect. To explain placebos I think we need to invoke the existence of an "evolved health management system". The placebo effect is a particular kind of priming effect. And what I want to do now is to explain a whole range of other priming effects by invoking the existence of an "evolved self-management system".
Let's start over again with placebos. Some years ago I drew attention to the "paradox of placebos", a paradox that must strike any evolutionary biologist who thinks about it. It's this. When a person's health improves under the influence of placebo medication, then, as we've noted already, this has to be a case of "self-cure". But if people have the capacity to heal themselves by their own efforts, why not get on with it as soon as needed? Why wait for permission—from a sugar pill, a witch doctor—that it's time to get better?
Presumably the explanation must be that self-cure has costs as well as benefits. What kind of costs are these? Well, actually they're fairly obvious. Many of the illnesses we experience, like pain, fever and so on, are actually defenses which are designed to stop us from getting into more trouble than we're already in. So "curing" ourselves of these defenses can indeed cost us down the line. Pain reduces our mobility, for example, and stops us from harming ourselves further; so, relieving ourselves of pain is actually quite risky. Fever helps kill bacterial parasites by raising body temperature to a level they can't tolerate; so again, curing ourselves of fever is risky. Vomiting gets rid of toxins; so suppressing vomiting is risky.
The same goes for the deployment of the immune system. Mounting an immune response is energetically expensive. Our metabolic rate rises 15 percent or so, even if we're just responding to a common cold. What's more, when we make antibodies we use up rare nutrients that will later have to be replaced.
Given these costs, it becomes clear that immediate self-cure from an occurrent illness is not always a wise thing to do. In fact there will be circumstances when it would be best to hold back from deploying particular healing measures because the anticipated benefits are not likely to exceed the anticipated costs. In general it will be wise to err on side of caution, to play safe, not to let down our defenses such as pain or fever until we see signs that the danger has passed, not to use up our stock of ammunition against parasites until we know we're in relatively good shape and there's not still worse to come. Healing ourselves involves—or ought to involve—a judgment call.
It makes sense that our brains should have come to play a crucial part in the top-down management of bodily health. As I see it, what the health management system has evolved to do is to perform a kind of economic analysis of what the opportunities and the costs of cure will be: what resources we've got in reserve, how dangerous the situation is right now, what predictions we can make of what the future holds. In effect the system acts like a good hospital manager who has to decide just what resources to keep in store, how quickly to treat a patient, how long before discharging them, etc., overall trying to produce an optimal outcome on the basis of a forecast about what's coming down the road: whether there's another epidemic looming, for example, or whether we're entering a season where there won't be enough food available.
There's plenty of evidence that we have just such a system at work overseeing our health. For example, in winter, we are cautious about deploying our immune resources. That's why a cold lasts much longer in winter than it does in summer. It's not because we're cold, it's because our bodies, based on deep evolutionary history reckon that it's not so safe to use our immune resources in winter, as it would be in summer. There's experimental confirmation of this in animals. Suppose a hamster is injected with bacteria which makes it sick—but in one case the hamster is on an artificial day/night cycle that suggests it's summer; in the other case it's on a cycle that suggests it's winter. If the hamster is tricked into thinking it's summer, it throws everything it has got against the infection and recovers completely. If it thinks it's winter then it just mounts a holding operation, as if it's waiting until it knows it's safe to mount a full-scale response. The hamster "thinks" this or that?? No, of course it doesn't think it consciously—the light cycle acts as a subconscious prime to the hamster's health management system.
So now, where does the placebo effect fit in? Placebos work because they suggest to people that the picture is rosier than it really is. Just like the artificial summer light cycle for the hamster, placebos give people fake information that it's safe to cure them. Whereupon they do just that.
This suggests we should see the placebo effect as part of a much larger picture of homeostasis and bodily self-control. But now I'm ready to expand on this much further still. If this is the way humans and animals manage their physical health, there must surely be a similar story to be told about mental health. And if mental health, then—at least with humans—it should apply to personality and character as well. So I've come round to the idea that humans have in fact evolved a full-blown self management system, with the job of managing all their psychological resources put together, so as to optimise the persona they present to the world.
You may ask: why should the self need any such "economic managing"? Are there really aspects of the self that should be kept in reserve? Do psychological traits have costs as well as benefits? But I'd say it's easy to see how it is so. Emotions such as anxiety, anger, joy will be counterproductive if they are not appropriately graded. Personality traits—assertiveness, neuroticism, and friendliness—have both down- and up-sides. Sexual attractiveness carries obvious risks. Pride comes before a fall. Even high intelligence can be a disadvantage (we can be "too clever by half", as they say). What's more—and this may be the area where economic management is most relevant of all— as people go through life they build up social psychological capital of various kinds that they need to husband carefully. Reputation is precious, love should not be wasted indiscriminately, secrets have to be guarded, favors must be returned.
So, I think humans must have come under strong selection pressure in the course of evolution to get these calculations right. Our ancestors needed to develop a system for managing the face they present to the world: how they came across to other people, when to flirt, when to hold back, when to be generous, when to be mean, when to fall in love, when to reject, when to reciprocate, when to punish, when to take the lead, when to retire, and so on. . . All these aspects had to be very carefully balanced if they were going to maximize their chances of success in the social world.
Fortunately our ancestors already had a template for doing these calculations, namely the pre-existing health system. In fact I believe the self management system evolved on the back of the health system. But this new system goes much further than the older one: it's job is to read the local signs and signs and forecast the psychological weather we are heading into, enabling us to prejudge what we can get away with, what's politic, what's expected of us. Not surprisingly, it's turned out to be a very complex system. That's why psychologists working on priming are discovering so many cues, which are relevant to it. For there are of course so many things that are relevant to managing our personal lives and coming across in the most effective and self-promoting ways we can.
Once we have a theoretical understanding of how all this works, can we exploit it in practical ways to change people's lives for the better? Does it offer us tools for social engineering?
Read the rest of the article and Miller's reply.
Posted by william harryman at Wednesday, January 04, 2012 0 comments
Labels: body, brain, Environment, healthy, neuroscience, Psychology
New research distinguishes roles of conscious and sub-conscious awareness in information processing
This was a bit of geeky but interesting research. This press release was posted at . . . .
The world's independent source of research news
It seems that consciousness is not even required for the integration of new information - nearly all processing, including integration, is done at sub-conscious or pre-conscious levels.
Once again, however, I would argue that the brain can be trained to do things differently. What would the study look like if the subjects were Buddhists with 10, 20, or 30 years of mindfulness practice?
30 November 2011 Hebrew University of Jerusalem
What distinguishes information processing with conscious awareness from processing occurring without awareness? And, is there any role for conscious awareness in information processing, or is it just a byproduct, like the steam from the chimney of a train engine, which is significant, but has no functional role?
These questions - which have long puzzled psychologists, philosophers, and neurobiologists - were recently addressed in a study by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers and published by the journal Psychological Science.
The study was headed by Prof. Leon Deouell from the Hebrew University’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC) and Department of Psychology and Prof. Dominique Lamy from the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University, and conducted by research student Liad Mudirk of Tel Aviv University with collaboration of research student Assaf Breska from the Hebrew University.
We are not consciously aware of most of the input that hits upon our sensory systems. Yet subjectively, conscious awareness dominates our mental activity. “One of the dominant theories in cognitive sciences and psychology posits that parts of the information perceived without awareness may be processed to a certain extent,” says Prof. Deouell. “Yet to bind the different parts of a
complex input into something meaningful and coherent requires conscious awareness.
To test this theory, the research team ran a study in which they presented participants with pictures of natural scenes including some human action, like a picture of basketball players jumping to reach a ball.
In other tests, the same scenes were presented -- except that the central object was replaced by another, unlikely object. For example, the basketball was replaced by a watermelon.
The participants viewed the pictures through a mirror stereoscope, a simple device that allowed the research team to present the pictures to only one eye. At the same time, the other eye viewed rapidly flickering patterns of colors which drew the subjects' attention, so that the participants were not aware for many seconds that anything was presented to their other eye. This allowed the researchers to measure how long it takes normal and unusual scenes to “win the competition” against the flickering pattern and break into awareness.
"We found that participants became aware of the unusual scenes earlier than to the usual scenes," commented Deouell. "The conclusion was that even before the participants were aware of the existence of the picture, the semantic relationships between parts of the scene were interpreted."
The study shows that, counter to previous theories, integration is not the prerogative of conscious awareness but is achieved even without awareness. When and why then do we need conscious awareness?
The findings of this research suggest that when the results of the integration between parts of the input are incompatible with expectations or prior knowledge, awareness is required in order to account for the conundrum. Thus, the study expands the realm of unaware processes, yet shows that conscious awareness is not a meaningful luxury - it allows us to deal with novel and unexpected situations.
Prof. Leon Deouel
Full bibliographic information
Liad Mudrik, Assaf Breska, Dominique Lamy and Leon Y. Deouell, Integration Without Awareness - Expanding the Limits of Unconscious Processing," Psychological Science, June 2011; vol. 22, 6: pp. 764-770., first published on May 9, 2011, doi: 10.1177/0956797611408736.
Labels: brain, cognition, cognitive science, consciousness, information, sub-conscious
TEDxPittsburgh - Kiesha Lalama-White and Andy Ostrowski - Chaos
An interdisciplinary movement, examination, exploration, and investigation of power
Dancers from the Point Park Conservancy of Performing Arts Dance Department collaborate with professional musicians, an interdisciplinary art maker, and lighting designer to create a work that provokes questions surrounding power and the chaotic state of our world.
Choreographer and educator, Kiesha Lalama-White has created more than 30 works for theatre, film, and Broadway; has been named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch"; and has been awarded the Leo Award for her work at the Jazz Dance World Congress and the Outstanding Choreography Award from the Youth American Grand Prix. As an educator, Kiesha is an Assistant Professor at Point Park University, Education Director for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and has taught master classes for Cirque Du Soleil and dance companies throughout the nation.
Lighting Director Andy Ostrowski has lighted the theatre world. Credits include productions throughout Europe and the United States. He has worked with every major, and most of the smaller, arts and theatre groups in Pittsburgh and is the recipient of the National Merit Award from the Kennedy Center and the 2011 Frankel Award for making a significant impact on Western Pennsylvania Arts.
Labels: chaos, dance, power, TED Talks
C-SPAN In-Depth with Chris Hedges
Truthout columnist Chris Hedges went In-Depth this weekend on C-SPAN. Over three hours, they got into almost every part of his writing career. For me, Hedges can sometimes be a little too strident, but he generally is on the right track with his analyses.
There is no embedding, so follow the link to the C-SPAN site.
On Book TV’s In Depth, author and journalist, Chris Hedges. The Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent spends three hours taking viewers’ calls, emails and tweets on topics such as terrorism, religion and politics.
The National Book Critics Circle Award nominee has a Masters degree in Divinity and is the author of nine books. His works include, “War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning,” “Empire of Illusion,” and his latest release “The World As It Is.”
Posted by william harryman at Tuesday, January 03, 2012 0 comments
Labels: books, government, interview, Politics
Joseph Gelfer - 2012 – Entheogenic Awakening?
Joseph Glefer posted this audio of the Entheogenesis Australis panel discussion on which he was a participant. It's about an hour long, but it's interesting - in the U.S., at least, I am less than optimistic, despite increases in research approvals.
2012 – Entheogenic Awakening?
This is one of the panels from Entheogenesis Australis last month in which I tried my very best to be optimistic about 2012.
Experiential journalist Rak Razam hosts a panel discussion at Entheogenesis Australis on the 2012 date and the implications for entheogenic culture in the year ahead. Is there a ‘strange attractor’ at the End of Time that entheogens have been presaging? What do the plants and indigenous cultures say about this critical juncture in time? Can we #Occupy our Hearts and lend that energy to the social movements transforming the world? Should we prepare for the apocalypse, or awakening? Are we a culture ready to step forward into our local communities and facilitate change, and can we make a difference? If in plants we trust, how can we not? Ambient recording at the outdoor conference on Dec 4, 2011, with guests Steve Macdonald, Mitch Schultz, Margaret Cross, Joseph Gelfer, Dan Gooden and Dan Schreiber.
55: 2012 – Entheogenic Awakening?
Labels: culture, entheogens, plants, Psychology, research
Kurzweil AI - More than glue: Glia cells found to regulate synapses
This research summary was posted at Ray Kurzweil's site. Glia cells have been a little bit of a mystery, but that seems to be changing.
More than glue: Glia cells found to regulate synapses
December 30, 2011 by Editor
Glia cells: the brain's supervisors (credit: Gray's anatomy/Wikimedia Commons)
Glia cells are central to the brain’s plasticity, Tel Aviv University researchers have found, controlling how the brain adapts, learns, and stores information — and their design can be implemented in neuromorphic computer chips.
Glia cells (Greek for “glue,” also known as glial) hold the brain’s neurons together and protect the cells that determine our thoughts and behaviors. But glia cells have now been found to do much more: a mechanism within the glia cells also regulate the synapses, sorting information for learning purposes, according to Ph.D. student Maurizio De Pittà of TAU’s Schools of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical Engineering.
“Glia cells are like the brain’s supervisors. They control the transfer of information between neurons, affecting how the brain processes information and learns.”
De Pittà’s research, led by his TAU supervisor Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob, along with Vladislav Volman of The Salk Institute and the University of California at San Diego and Hugues Berry of the Université de Lyon in France, has developed the first computer model that incorporates the influence of glia cells on synaptic information transfer.
The model can also be implemented in technologies based on brain networks such as microchips and computer software, Prof. Ben-Jacob says, and can aid in research on brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy.
Regulating the brain’s “social network”
The brain is constituted of two main types of cells: neurons and glia. Neurons fire off signals that dictate how we think and behave, using synapses to pass along the message from one neuron to another. Scientists theorize that memory and learning are dictated by synaptic activity because they are “plastic,” with the ability to adapt to different stimuli.
But Ben-Jacob and colleagues suspected that glia cells were even more central to how the brain works, particularly the astrocytes (a form of glia cells) in the hippocampus. Glia cells are abundant in the brain’s hippocampus and the cortex, the two parts of the brain that have the most control over the brain’s ability to process information, learn and memorize. In fact, for every neuron cell, there are two to five glia cells.
Labels: brain, learning, neurons, neuroscience, Psychology
My Review of Best Buddhist Writing 2011
Bodhipaksa has just posted my review of the annual edition of Best Buddhist Writing, 2011, over at Wildmind Buddhist Meditation. Check it out at the link below.
The Best Buddhist Writing 2011
Posted by william harryman at Monday, January 02, 2012 0 comments
Labels: anthology, books, Buddhism, reviews
Big Think - 2011: The Year in Ideas
Nice summary of the major ideas from 2011, by Daniel Honan of Big Think.
2011, The Year in Ideas
Daniel Honan on December 31, 2011, 12:00 AM
Was 2011 a good year for ideas? In other words, did mankind advance knowledge through scientific discoveries or other breakthroughs in thinking in the past 12 months? This is a question we are obsessed with at Big Think. While the answer may be nearly impossible to quantify, we have compiled a concise survey below of the most significant and relevant ideas that rose to light on Big Think in 2011. Please feel free to offer your suggestions in the comment thread below.
One of the most alarming milestones this year was the human population hitting 7 billion. The current rate of human population growth, which Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson called "more bacterial than primate," will put us over 9 billion by 2050.
How many people can the Earth sustain? It depends who you ask, but even the most optimistic scientists have stated that we are well past the point where we can sustain our current levels of consumption, especially if everyone on the planet consumed like North Americans. We would need perhaps 4 Earths to support that kind of consumption of resources. For anyone interested in learning more about this challenge, watch this excerpt from Great Big Ideas, a new online course offered by The Floating University, multiple-award-winning mathematical biologist Joel Cohen explains that population interacts with environment, economics, and culture to shape our world.
So what's the solution? One of the books we are most looking forward to in the New Year is Abundance (due out in February, 2012) by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, which takes the contrarian view that "we will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet," the authors write. "Abundance for all is within our grasp." When seen through the lens of technology, "few resources are truly scarce; they're mainly inaccessible. Yet the threat of scarcity still dominates our worldview." Stay tuned to Big Think to learn more about this in the New Year.
In 2011, we finally came to grasp the awesome potential of solar power, and to put this potential in its proper context. While solar accounts for less than 1 percent of the world's energy needs, according to Ray Kurzweil, "driven by exponentially-increasing nanotechnology, solar will satisfy the entire world's energy needs in 16 years."
"The First Trillionaires Will Make Their Fortunes in Space" was one of my favorite headlines of 2011, and the idea comes from, once again, space enthusiast and X Prize founder Peter Diamandis.
Twenty trillion USD is the estimated market value of a relatively small metallic asteroid that was first calculated by John S. Lewis in his book Mining The Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets. Lewis argued that "using presently available or readily foreseeable technologies, we can relieve Earth of its energy problem, make astronomical amounts of raw materials available, and raise the living standard of people worldwide." Diamandis notes that everything we hold of value, "the things we fight wars over," such as metals, minerals and real estate, exist "in infinite quantities in space."
While NASA's space shuttle era drew to a close this year, the incentives are there for private companies and private teams like those started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and space entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Labels: big ideas, change, future, New Year, reviews
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Goodies (song)
"Goodies"
Single by Ciara featuring Petey Pablo
from the album Goodies
June 8, 2004 (2004-06-08)
Digital download, CD single
Crunk&B
LaFace, Sho'nuff
Ciara Harris, Sean Garrett, LaMarquis Jefferson, Craig Love, Zachary Wallace, Jonathan "Lil Jon" Smith
Ciara singles chronology
(2004) "1, 2 Step"
Petey Pablo singles chronology
"Freek-a-Leek"
(2004) "Goodies"
(2004) "Show Me the Money"
"Goodies" is the debut single performed by American recording artist Ciara featuring American rapper and label-mate Petey Pablo for her debut studio album of the same name. The song was released as the album's lead single on June 8, 2004 through LaFace Records. It was written by Ciara herself, Sean Garrett, LeMarquis Jefferson, and Craig Love, with production done by Lil Jon. The song was recorded as an answer song to the featured act's hit single, "Freak-a-Leek." Its lyrics reference virginity. The song's protagonist rejects men's sexual advances, proclaiming that they will never get her "goodies" because "they stay in the jar."
The single was well received by critics, who praised its whistling crunk beat and Ciara's breathy vocals. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, becoming the longest-running number one debut single by a female artist on the chart since 1977. It also topped the charts in the United Kingdom,[1] and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland. The song gave Ciara the title as the "First Lady or Princess of Crunk&B."[2]
The song's accompanying music video, directed by Benny Boom, featured guest appearances from BoneCrusher, Monica, Rasheeda, Jazze Pha, Young Jeezy, Lil Jon. The video depicts Ciara dancing in front of a blue and white background with her backup dancers. This scene is where Ciara first does the "Matrix," which later became her signature move. The song was performed on BET's 106 & Park and at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards along with "1, 2 Step" and "Oh".
After leaving the group Hearsay at the age of fifteen, Atlanta native Ciara earned a writing job via her manager, for Atlanta's Tricky Stewart and The-Dream's RedZone Entertainment, penning songs for Mýa and Fantasia among others.[3] According to Ciara, no one believed in her dreams of hearing her own music on the radio until she met producer Jazze Pha in 2002.[3] Within five months of meeting her, Pha signed her to his Sho'nuff label and they had already recorded five tracks.[3] About Ciara, Jazze Pha said, "What was really lacking is the Janet Jackson, high-energy dance [music]. Ciara fills that void. She's pretty, she can dance, she can write music, and kids love her. Everyone loves her."[3]
Ciara wrote the song in response to Usher's "Yeah."
Riverdale, Georgia in 2003, she was signed by LaFace Records executive, L.A. Reid, whom she was introduced to by Jazze Pha.[4] She began production on her debut album later that year. In early 2004, Ciara wrote a demo with record producer, Sean Garrett, co-writer of Usher's crunk hit "Yeah."[5] After hearing a demo, crunk producer Lil Jon, who also produced and was featured on "Yeah", began to work on the full record, to have it released on LaFace, which was also Usher's label.[5][6] Originally, Ciara was reluctant to work with the track produced by Lil Jon, reportedly disliking crunk music at first.[6]
However, she decided to use the song to go against the grain and deliver lyrics in contrast of female promiscuity lines delivered by fellow female artists.[6] To give her a title to stand out, Lil Jon dubbed Ciara as the "Princess of Crunk&B."[6] Dubbed the female counterpart to "Yeah" and fellow crunk hit "Freek-a-Leek" by Petey Pablo, it looked to capitalize on the success of the previous songs.[6]
"Goodies," the crunk counterpart to "Yeah!," lyrically speaks of female empowerment and abstinence-promoting lyrics.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Goodies" is heavily influenced by male counterpart crunk song "Yeah" and also has been compared to Kelis's "Milkshake."[7] The song makes use of a repeated whistle, "faux operated vocals" in parts and a western guitar riff near the end.[7] "Goodies" is a midtempo Crunk&B song. The song features a whistling beat, with several crunk-pop synths throughout its course. It bears similarities to other crunk&B songs, "Yeah!" and "Freak-a-Leek." The songs features a guitar rhythm as it opens into its third verse and in its outro. Petey Pablo raps the first part of the first and third verses, which Ciara sings the rest of the song, including the chorus and other verses. The song is an answer song to "Freak-a-Leek" and surrounds the topics of female independence and virginity. The female protagonist tells the male that she isn't just another easy broad and that her "goodies stay in the jar."
Critical response
The song received positive reviews from music critics. Fazed.com called the song "both clever and ironic considering how sexy her image" and "singularly disarming combination of an empowering message backed by an intoxicatingly sexy beat."[8] The Situation declared the track as "a great dance tune with a solid beat." Also, it noted Ciara shows "a lot of attitude, with girl empowering lyrics."[9] Slant published, "it's not the chorus that gets stuck in your head... but the incessant oscillating whistle (I swear you can hear dogs barking halfway through the song)."[10] Musiccomh.com reviewed, "Goodies" as "an instantly recognisable tune" and called it a "typically upbeat benefiting from Lil' Jon."[11]
Hiphopgalaxy.com called the track an "ultimate party anthem of the summer, but it's one of the best singles of the year." The song has "an infectious chorus" and "a crunked up groove."[12] Blender published that Ciara "sounds like she's rapping right back at him, delivering her lines in a measured, sultry cadence with hardly any variation in tone or pitch."[13] In 2005, "Goodies" was nominated for "Best R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year" at Soul Train Lady of Soul Music Awards and in 2006. It won the Best Performed Songs in the ASCAP Repertory for the 2005 Survey Year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards, including "1, 2 Step" and "Oh."
Chart performance
"Goodies" debuted at number eighty-five on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks — now known as the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — chart in the issue dated June 19, 2004.[14] It went on to peak at number one on the chart for six consecutive weeks. The single debuted at number ninety-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 on July 27, 2004. The song quickly became a commercial success as it reached the summit of the chart after only twelve weeks. It spent seven weeks at number one, becoming the longest-running number-one debut single by a female artist since 1977.[15] It reached three on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.[16][17] It ranked number nine on the 2004 U.S. Billboard year-end chart.[18] According to the Billboard Hot 100 Decade-End chart, it is the 31st most successful song of the 2000s.
In New Zealand, the single debuted at number twelve on the RIANZ Singles chart, and peaked at ten in the next week.[19]
In the United Kingdom, "Goodies" debuted at number-one on the UK Singles Chart, interrupting Elvis Presley three week chart reign.[1] It topped the chart for one week, and became the second ever Crunk song to top the charts in Britain, ironically after Yeah! by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris achieved the feat in the country ten months previously.[19]
In Switzerland, the song debuted at number thirty-eight on the Swiss Singles Chart, before peaking at number ten five weeks later.[19] In Australia, "Goodies" debuted at number twenty-two on the ARIA Singles Chart, before falling to twenty-three in its second week. The song rebounded in its third week to reach a new peak at nineteen.[19] In Germany, the single debuted at number sixteen on the German Singles Chart, before peaking at ten two weeks later.[19] In the Republic of Ireland, the single debuted and peaked at number four on the Irish Singles Chart. In France, the single debuted at number twenty-nine on the French Singles Chart, before peaking at twenty-seven in its second week.[19]
The music video for "Goodies" was directed by Benny Boom. It shows Ciara and her friends driving in an Oldsmobile 442 convertible along the Atlanta, Georgia streets to the local car wash. It features cameo appearances by BoneCrusher, Monica, Rasheeda, Jazze Pha, Young Jeezy, Lil Jon and among others. Ciara filmed the video for 27 straight hours with director Benny Boom. It begins with Ciara coming out her house. Her friend screams out, "What up dawg?!" and Ciara replies the same way. Ciara's sister then runs outside saying that Jazze Pha is on the phone. Jazze tells Ciara that they are going to the carwash to hang out and Ciara says she will also be coming along. She then gives the phone back to her sister and tells her to stay out of her room. The song then begins and Ciara starts singing her intro once Petey Pablo raps his verse. During this intro, we see Ciara going along with her friends driving to the carwash. On her way there she meets a few young men and invites them to the carwash. She then arrives to the carwash and meets up with different people, including Monica. During the song, Ciara dances in front of a blue and white background with her backup dancers. This scene is where Ciara first does the "Matrix," her signature move. The extended version of the video includes Ciara full-length dance with the backup dancers, and also features more of her and Monica duo shot.
Ciara performed "Goodies" many times. Her first-ever performance of "Goodies" was on BET's 106 & Park. In 2005, Ciara performed the song, along with "1, 2 Step" and "Oh," at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards. She also performed the song at various summer festivals around the United States.
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Goodies."
US Digital download[20]
"Goodies" featuring Petey Pablo
UK CD Single #1[21]
UK CD Single # 2[22]
"Goodies" featuring T.I. and Jazze Pha
"Goodies (Richard X Remix)" featuring M.I.A. (UK exclusive)
"Goodies (Bimbo Jones Remix)" (UK exclusive)
"Goodies" (video)
"Goodies" (ringtone)
German/French Maxi Single[23]
French CD Single[24]
Hitco, Atlanta, Georgia and Circle House Studios, Miami, FL and Sony Music Studios, NYC
Ciara Harris — vocals
Lil Jon — producer, mixer
Charles Sanders — engineer
Steve Nowacynski — engineer
Brian Stanley — engineer
Ray Seay — mixer
Brian Stanley — mixer
Weekly charts
Australian Singles Chart[25] 19
Austrian Singles Chart[25] 35
Belgium Singles Chart (Flanders)[26] 24
Dutch Singles Chart[25] 35
German Singles Chart[26] 10
New Zealand Singles Chart[26] 10
Swedish Singles Chart[26] 39
Swiss Singles Chart[26] 10
US Billboard Hot 100[16] 1
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks[16] 1
US Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)[16] 3
US Rhythmic Top 40[27] 1
French Singles Chart[25] 27
Irish Singles Chart[25] 4
Norwegian Singles Chart[25] 15
UK Singles Chart[1] 1
Year-end charts
United States Platinum [28]
United States Mainstream August 24, 2004[29] LaFace Records
United States Digital download June 8, 2004 (2004-06-08)[30] LaFace Records
Germany Maxi single October 18, 2004 (2004-10-18)[23] Zomba Label Group
France October 19, 2004 (2004-10-19)[31] Arista Records
United Kingdom CD single January 17, 2005 (2005-01-17)[21][22] Jive Records
France February 1, 2005 (2005-02-01)[24] Arista Records
List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2004 (U.S.)
List of number-one R&B singles of 2004 (U.S.)
List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)
1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 708. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
↑ "Pitchfork:Album Reviews:Ciara: The Evolution". Pitchfork Media. Pitchfork Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
1 2 3 4 Miller, Nancy (2005-07-16). "The Ciara Club – Music – Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
↑ "Interview with Mark Pitts". HitQuarters. April 24, 2006. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
1 2 Lamb, Bill. "Ciara Profile – Biography of Singer Ciara". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
1 2 3 4 5 "Ciara Biography – Wrote Out Goals, Wrote Lyrics to "Goodies", Inspired by Songwriters, Selected discography". JRank. Net Industries. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
1 2 Cinquemani, Sal (2004-09-04). "Ciara: Goodies – Music Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
↑ "Ciara - 'Goodies' review". Fazed.com. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ "Ciara - Goodies". Thesituation.co.uk. 2004-10-04. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ "Music". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ http://www.musicomh.com/albums/ciara.htmm. Retrieved January 24, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ "Ciara Goodies". Hip Hop Galaxy. 2004-09-28. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ Archived April 24, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs : Jun 19, 2004 - (Biggest Jump) | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard.com. 2004-06-19. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
↑ "The Hot 100 : June 26, 2004 | Billboard Chart Archive". Billboard.com. 2004-06-26. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
1 2 3 4 Ciara - Billboard singles
1 2 "Billboard Top 100 - 2004". Retrieved 2014-04-25.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Worldwide chart procession". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
↑ "Goodies (featuring Petey Pablo): Ciara featuring Petey Pablo: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 "Goodies: Ciara: Amazon.co.uk: Music". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 "Goodies [CD 2]: Ciara: Amazon.co.uk: Music". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 "Goodies: Ciara: Amazon.de: Musik". Amazon.de. 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 "Goodies: Ciara, L. Jefferson: Amazon.fr: Musique". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 3 4 5 6 ""Goodies" Top 40-charts". Top40-charts.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
1 2 3 4 5 "Ciara and Petey Pablo - Goodies - Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
↑ Archived October 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ "The Recording Industry Association of America". Riaa.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
↑ "®R&R :: Going For Adds™ :: CHR/Top 40". Gfa.radioandrecords.com. 2004-08-24. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
↑ "Goodies: Ciara Feat. Petey Pablo: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
↑ "Goodies: Ciara, Lil Jon: Amazon.fr: Musique". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
Ciara (2006). BET Official presents Ciara: The Evolution (BET Exclusive DVD) New York: LaFace Records and Zomba Label Group – Ciara explains the writing process of "Goodies" and filming the music video.
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Ciara: The Evolution
Fantasy Ride
Goodies: The Videos & More
"1, 2 Step"
"Oh"
"And I"
"Get Up"
"Promise"
"Like a Boy"
"Can't Leave 'em Alone"
"Go Girl"
"Never Ever"
"Love Sex Magic"
"Like a Surgeon"
"Work"
"Ride"
"Speechless"
"Gimmie Dat"
"Sorry"
"Got Me Good"
"Body Party"
"I'm Out"
"Overdose"
"I Bet"
"Dance Like We're Making Love"
Featured singles
"Lose Control"
"Like You"
"So What"
"Promise Ring"
"Stepped on My J'z"
"Just Stand Up!"
"Takin' Back My Love"
"That's Right"
"Sweat"
"Read My Lips"
"Livin' It Up"
Concert tours
Ciara: Live in Concert
Screamfest '07
Jay-Z & Ciara Live
Jackie Tour
LaFace Records
RCA/Jive Label Group
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Perceptions of discrimination among persons who have undergone predictive testing for Huntington's disease
E. Penziner
C. Erwin
Y. Bombard
A. Wallis
L. J. Beglinger
M. R. Hayden
J. S. Paulsen
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet
American journal of medical genetics.Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics
10.1002/ajmg.b.30600
Potential discrimination from genetic testing may undermine technological advances for health care. Researching long-term consequences of testing for genetic conditions that may lead to discrimination is a public health priority. The consequences of genetic discrimination generate social, health, and economic burdens for society by diminishing opportunities for at-risk individuals in a range of contexts. The current study objective was to investigate perceptions of genetic stigmatization and discrimination among persons who completed predictive testing for Huntington's disease (HD). Using semi-structured interviews and computerized qualitative analysis, the perceptions of 15 presymptomatic persons with a positive gene test predicting HD were examined with regard to differential treatment following testing. The sample comprised 11 women and 4 men, mostly married (73%), aged between 22 and 62 years, with an average education of 14.6 years (SD +/- 2.57) and residing in urban, rural and suburban settings of eight U.S. States. Participants reported perceptions of consequences following disclosure of genetic test results in three areas: employment, insurance, and social relationships. Although most employed participants (90%) revealed their test results to their employers, nearly all reported they would not disclose this information to future employers. Most (87%) participants disclosed test results to their physician, but a similar majority (83%) did not tell their genetic status to insurers. Most participants (87%) disclosed test results to family and peers; patterns of disclosure varied widely. Discrimination concerns remain high in this sample and point to the need for more information to determine the extent and scope of the problem.
Adult, Disclosure, Female, Genetic Testing/psychology, Humans, Huntington Disease/diagnosis/genetics, Insurance Carriers, Interpersonal Relations, Likelihood Functions, Male, Middle Aged, Prejudice, Social Perception
American journal of medical genetics.Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics, 147:3 (2008) pp.320-325. DOI:10.1002/ajmg.b.30600.
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2012 will be the first year after the International Year of Chemistry
Indeed: 2011 was the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). But why IUPAC and UNESCO dedicated a year to that basic science? It was for two reasons: one looking at the past and one looking at the future.
Looking at the past, 2011 was the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie‘s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium. She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize. And her discovery was very important for both the science in itself and its applications to health. Radium’s radioactivity seemed to contradict the principle of the conservation of energy. The discovery of radium allowed other great names in chemistry and physics like Rutherford to study the atom and radioactivity decay. In medicine, the radioactivity of radium allowed the development of radiation therapies, used to control or kill malignant cells in cancer treatment.
But 2011 was also the 100th anniversary of the first Solvay conference which subject was “Radiation and the Quanta”. Marie Curie was obviously present, along with Henri Poincaré, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford and Albert Einstein among others. It was held at the Hotel Metropole, in Brussels (yes, in Belgium 🙂 ). Solvay conferences in physics and chemistry still continue now.
So IUPAC and UNESCO wanted to commemorate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind in general. And 2011 was full of activities all over the world (there was probably one near your place and there are still plenty of activities prepared for 2012!).
One of these activities was the creation of a team of young people/scientists who debated and introduced their ideas and expectations from life sciences and chemistry, industry and governments to build a better world in 2050. I am grateful to my company to have chosen me to represent it in this “Young Leader” team: it really was a great experience!
Every member of the team came from different horizons (Europe, Asia, America, Africa) with different backgrounds all related in a way or another to chemistry (but it’s true that we were mostly chemists and engineers). We started by the simple statement that “chemistry is everywhere and for everyone“. It’s quite obvious but if we are often reminded of the negative impacts of chemical products and chemical reactions, chemistry also enabled billions of applications and made possible to feed more people, give them shelters and potentially a better health. It’s not roses all the way ; mankind has lots of efforts and progress to make. But if you think of the computer you are using to read this post, for instance: it’s working thanks to thousands of chemical compounds and chemical reactions. And on top of that, chemistry is also a natural process (well, first, it’s a natural process). When you eat your breakfast, when you listen to a lecture, when you attend a meeting, when you practice some sport, when you meet friends, when you sleep, you are full of chemical reactions, using thousand different chemical elements.
But as the world is facing important challenges like overpopulation, energy depletion, pollution, etc. or simply because people want to make their lives better it’s also true that chemistry is our future and will play a role in tackling these issues. But instead of depicting a sad, pessimistic view of these issues and just enumerating technical solution chemistry is or will be designing, the team decided to work on a vision for 2050 and ways towards this vision:
By 2050 we must all have access to healthy, safe and fulfilled lives in symbiosis with our planet
With concrete examples of existing or budding chemical technologies and solutions allowed by the development of chemistry, we wrote three concrete stories of people who would have made a change in the future. Most megatrends were debated, lots of research was done to find scientific evidences of change or application. Better water distribution and usage, smarter housing, increased yields for locally produced food, more efficient energy production and storage mechanisms were among the topics we discussed. Health was also present as education, biotechnologies (like new delivery and detection methods), collaborations and policies also play a key role, with chemistry as a pervasive partner.
A milestone for the group was the Closing Ceremony of the IYC that was held in Brussels, on December 1st, 2011. We had to transmit that vision, the way we think it can be achieved to students and members of the chemistry community. It was a great pleasure to see the high level of interest and, for most of them, of passion the young students have towards Chemistry. Their questions, their curiosity about the future, their questioning of the implementation of our vision as well and their thirst of knowledge were amazing. It was also very, very interesting to listen to Ada Yonath’s talk about ribosomes but also science, curiosity and her passion. Professor Jean-Luc Brédas, Francqui Prize in 1997, also gave a very interesting talk about new and more efficient energy sources. Finally, the debate, the round table between main actors in the world of chemistry, the ideas, comments, discussions that followed were all very instructive and enlightening.
Fortunately this is not the end. All these ideas and discussions will definitely feed discussions and our efforts to maintain a platform for chemistry and its ways to help for a better future. We already started with a Facebook group. Central science created special topics about IYC activities. Nature created an IYC website with dozens of articles about everything from research to careers. And I hope to be able to write again about other initiative and, of course, about the fulfillment of our vision in 2050 (or even before!).
Photo credits: Marie Curie, from Scientific American by Wyoming_Jackrabbit (CC-by-nc-sa on Flickr). The photo of the Solvay conference was taken by Benjamin Couprie and from wikipedia. Photos of the YL group and the closing ceremony are from Vivian Hertz.
Ada Yonath
International Year of Chemistry
Jean-Luc Brédas
Solvay conference
Projection of the American ageing population
One thought on “2012 will be the first year after the International Year of Chemistry”
Gaurav Sabharwal says:
Nice blog……very informative and now i know you a bit more….Great work
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← Libraricating
‘Gilead’ by Marilynne Robinson →
‘The Silkworm’ by Robert Galbraith
J.K. Rowling has a sense of humour. After it became public that Robert Galbraith was a pseudonym for her new crime novel series, she came to the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival dressed in a suit and tie! Rowling has implied that the new series which started with ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’, will go the distance as long or longer than the Harry Potter series, with at least six or seven instalments. This second in the series was, in my opinion, way better than the first, so I think she is finding her stride in this genre, and with the characters of Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin. Although I don’t think this series holds any of the genius that she displayed with Harry Potter, I am looking forward to what is coming next. The series definitely now ‘has legs’, a pun in poor taste if you know that the protagonist is a war veteran with a debilitating injury.
‘The Silkworm’ is set in the literary world of authors and publishers and editors, perhaps because the author knows the publishing industry. When Owen Quine goes missing after writing a despicable controversial book, his wife calls Cormoran Strike to investigate. Quine has gone off before, but when it becomes clear that there are several people who are angry about the poisonous portraits he has written into the new book, and when his body is discovered in brutally bizarre circumstances, the investigator realizes there might be several people who wanted Quine silenced. I love how Cormoran gathers all of the suspects into one room near the end and flushes out the culprit – reminds me of the old classic whodunits. Cormoran as a character, in my mind’s eye, kind of reminds me of a younger, more handsome version of Fitz from Cracker (Robbie Coltrane).
Robert Galbraith even has his own website! (Robert Galbraith Website) I especially enjoyed the FAQs there.
This entry was posted in Fiction and tagged J.K. Rowling, Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm. Bookmark the permalink.
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Audubon Bien Edition Pl. 278, Carolina Parrot
https://joel-oppenheimer-inc.odoo.com/shop/product/oebi-278-audubon-bien-edition-pl-278-carolina-parrot-1210
$ 1,500.00 $ 1,500.00 1500.0 USD
26 7/16" x 39 3/8"
The Birds of America, Bien Edition—Published by Oppenheimer Editions
Produced between 1858 and 1860, the Bien edition of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America is the largest and most valuable color plate book ever published in America, and the rarest of all John James Audubon folios. Also on sheets measuring 26 1/2 by 39 inches, called double-elephant, this edition represents one of the finest examples of early large-scale color printing. The new technique of chromolithography was perceived as an advancement in printmaking technology that promised to achieve effects entirely different from engraving.
Seven years after their father’s death, John James Audubon’s sons, John Woodhouse Audubon and Victor Gifford Audubon, began an American edition of The Birds of America with Julius Bien, a New York-based printer who was pioneering the field of chromolithography. Bien transferred the images from Robert Havell’s copper plates onto lithographic stones. As many as six printing stages with additional hand-drawn lithography and coloring were used to reproduce subtleties found in the Havell engravings. As the Havell edition was, the Bien edition also was sold by subscription, beginning in 1858. Production was brought to a halt by the advent of the Civil War and only 150 plates on 105 sheets were completed. The Audubon family was unable to complete and sell the edition or recoup their losses, which led to a devastating bankruptcy. The consensus is that fewer than seventy folios were completed.
John James Audubon explored the American backwoods and wilderness to discover, record, and illustrate its avian life. America’s most revered artist-naturalist, John James Audubon (1785—1851), is renowned for his extraordinary undertaking to record the birds of America. The images he created are icons of 19th-century art. Though fascinated by nature since childhood, studying and drawing from it, it was not until 1819 when he was the father of two sons that John James Audubon fully embraced the life of an artist-naturalist with the support of his devoted wife, Lucy Audubon. In 1820, John James Audubon left his family in Cincinnati, embarking with a young apprentice, Joseph R. Mason. Mason worked with John James Audubon from 1820 until 1822, contributing mostly botanical elements to about 55 of John James Audubon’s paintings. Later, the artists George Lehman, Maria Martin, and his sons Victor Gifford Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon assisted John James Audubon with botanical and landscape backgrounds. Published from 1827—38, the lavish double-elephant-size folio of The Birds of America, spectacularly launched John James Audubon’s career as an artist-naturalist and publisher of natural history folios depicting North American birds and animals.
Click here for more Audubon prints from The Birds of America, Bien Edition published by Oppenheimer Editions
Specifications for Audubon Bien Edition Pl. 278, Carolina Parrot
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Strange Epiphanies, from Swan River Press, is a collection of short stories by Peter Bell. Swan River Press specialises in horror fiction of the macabre and supernatural tale variety, taking its cue from the work of writers such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Machen, M.R. James and others. The emphasis is very much on a slow build of tension and fear with little or no graphically portrayed gore. Old style horror, beautifully written, and all the more genuinely chilling for its implied denouements.
And Strange Epiphanies fits this category perfectly. In ‘M.E.F.’, based on a true story, a grieving widower visits the Scottish island of Iona on the anniversary of his wife’s death on a nearby island. They had both formed a fascination for the story of the death in 1929 of Marie Emily Fornario (the M.E.F. of the title), a visiting aesthete with an interest in the local folklore. The widower is visiting Iona one last time with the intention of finding the exact spot where Marie died and, as he attempts to garner clues from books on relevant associated topics and journeys out into the wild landscape of the island, he is slowly but surely drawn into the reverberations of that terrible event, which echo down through the decades to today.
‘The Light of the World’ tells the story of a bereaved man who rents a cottage in the wild Cumbrian north country in an attempt to shake off his deep depression by getting away from it all. A knock at the door of his cottage in the tiny village he has fetched up in reveals a bizarrely macabre old couple on his doorstep who confront him with an obtuse and vaguely sinister religious message that sets him on a course of discovery that ends in enlightenment of a sort that he could never have predicted.
The main focus of ‘Inheritance’ is a valuable porcelain doll, whose provenance uncovers a sad and horrific tale of cruelty, neglect and madness. The work of a forgotten and underappreciated artist provides the sense of unease and gathering malice in ‘Nostalgia, Death and Melancholy’. And the vestigial presence of an American author haunts the wild and untameable landscape of ‘An American Writer’s Cottage’.
All of the above are perfectly pitched and highly effective stories, but the absolute standout stories, for me, are ‘Resurrection’ and ‘A Midsummer Ramble in the Carpathians’.
‘Resurrection’ is an evocative and original spin on the basic premise of The Wicker Man that captures brilliantly the close community of the remote village that features in the story and ends on a note radically different to the film that manages to outdo it for chilling effect.
‘A Midsummer Ramble in the Carpathians’ is a vampire story of the classic sort, told in diary form through the eyes of the travel writer Amelia B. Edwards and those of the woman who accidentally discovers Edwards handwritten account a century later. Bell manages to capture the voice of the Victorian writer with stylish precision and what unfolds is a beautifully written travelogue full of incident and descriptive detail, with a gathering sense of impending doom and a suitably spine-tingling ending.
A major feature of Bell’s writing is the landscape, which is sumptuously described and dominates the work to the extent that it almost constitutes another character in each of the stories. The sense of menace and melancholy sown into the pieces emanates primarily from the locales in which they are set and is in large part the reason I can’t recommend Strange Epiphanies highly enough.
Note: Strange Epiphanies is a beautifully produced limited edition hardback that is available for pre-order here.
Strange Epiphanies by Peter Bell (Swan River Press, hb, 192pp, €30.00)
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Conor Gearty – The British constitution, Brexit and human rights
Professor Conor Gearty
The flexibility of the British constitution, once thought to be such a strength, has played a large part in destroying the country. In this edited version of a recent lecture delivered in Cambridge, Professor Conor Gearty (LSE) explains why he now believes more than ever that only the experience of no-deal will bring Britain to its senses.
‘There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don’t why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she’ll die?’
Thus starts the old nursery rhyme that doubles as not only a scary bedtime tale for three year olds but also, I suggest, as a perfect morality tale for Brexit Britain. The story continues with increasingly horrific swallowing in pursuit of a solution to that initial, fatal ingestion and – spoiler alert! – ends badly.
Well, in our contemporary morality tale, it is the British people who have swallowed parliament, parliament that has swallowed the government, the government that has swallowed law and the result is the same as in the nursery rhyme when the horse gets swallowed: ‘She’s dead of course!’
So how does this analogy work? Consider first the people, by which of course we mean primarily the expression of ‘their’ will via referendum. The European Union Referendum Act 2015 declared itself ‘An Act to make provision for the holding of a referendum in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union.’ Section one made clear that the holding of such a plebiscite was compulsory and set out the question that had to be asked. Section two identified who was entitled to vote, and various other sections and schedules deal with the detail. Nowhere in the Bill or enacted measure is there any reference to the effect of such a vote one way or another.
As a House of Commons Library briefing paper (pdf) put it at the time of its introduction, the Bill ‘does not contain any requirement for the UK Government to implement the results of the referendum, nor set a time limit by which a vote to leave the EU should be implemented. Instead, this is a type of referendum known as pre-legislative or consultative, which enables the electorate to voice an opinion which then influences the Government in its policy decisions.’ There was plenty of learning in the textbooks and among constitutional experts in Parliament confirming this was the case. Indeed in the past when Parliament has wanted a referendum to be binding it has gone to the trouble of saying so, as was the case with the (defeated) referendum on changing the voting system in 2011.
Now lawyers like myself may regard it as a sad fact, but it is a fact nonetheless, that law does not govern political practice. And whatever the precise legal position, the government of the day have regarded the referendum outcome as binding. And in a system so rooted in constitutional conventions, thinking makes it so. Labour (led it is said by a closet Brexiteer) did not fight the assumption and the smaller (but after the 2017 election critical) Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland shared this view. When the matter came before Parliament at the insistence of the courts, the vote at second reading in the House of Commons to deliver on the referendum result by sending a notification of departure to the EU was 498 to 114. As the various arguments in favour of Brexit have drifted away so its protagonists have fallen back with ever-increasing levels of passion on a narrow procedural point with which to make their case: the people have spoken. None seem unduly disturbed by the fact that the people had already spoken – in 1975 – so there must be on their part some sense of a possible return to the issue, as they would surely have insisted had the result been the other way. But voting to live can be revisited whereas voting to commit suicide, if acted upon, is bound to be a one-off.
Read the full article on the ILN website
Tags: Brexit, Conor Gearty
Mr Justice Twomey to launch 18th Volume of Hibernian Law Journal General scheme of Family Law Bill 2019 published Abortion access and same-sex marriage to be extended to Northern Ireland if devolution not restored
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Irish Legal Heritage: Mamie Cadden
On 1 February, the Feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare is celebrated as the day of new beginnings, the beginning of spring, and stories are told of the many miracles attributed to the second patron saint of Ireland.
Probably the most famous of her miracles is the story of her asking God to soften the heart of the King of Leinster so she could use his land to build a convent – the story goes that the King agreed with Brigid that he would give her as much land as her cloak would cover, not expecting her cloak to grow and cover land as far as her maidens could walk with its four corners. The lesson for the King was that, by giving Brigid’s cloak the power to cover all of Leinster, God was punishing the King for being mean to the poor. The frightened King ended up giving Brigid the land she needed, helped her to build the convent, and became a good Christian himself.
A perhaps lesser-known story of the saint, said to have lived in fifth and sixth century Ireland, was the miracle of the “Pregnant Women Blessed and Spared the Birth-Pangs”. In S Connolly and JM Picard’s translation of Cogitosus: Life of Saint Brigit, the story reads:
“With a strength of faith most powerful and ineffable, she blessed a woman who, after a vow of virginity, had lapsed through weakness into youthful concupiscence, as a result of which her womb had begun to swell with pregnancy. In consequence, what had been conceived in the womb disappeared and she restored her to health and to penitence without childbirth or pain. And, in accordance with the saying ‘All things are possible to those who believe’, she went on working countless miracles every day without anything ever proving impossible.”
In stark contrast to Brigid’s sainthood, women in Ireland who caused “what had been conceived in the womb” to disappear were far from celebrated. One of these women, Mary Anne “Mamie” Cadden, is just one of the many women prosecuted for “procuring a miscarriage”.
In 1926, Mamie qualified from the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin as a midwife. In 1929, she set up her first maternity nursing home in Ranelagh, moving to Rathmines in 1931. Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, Mamie developed a reputation as a midwife who offered “extra services” to expectant mothers – which included procuring abortions and placing unwanted children for adoption (See Ray Kavanagh, Mamie Cadden: Backstreet Abortionist).
Mamie’s first major run-in with the law came in 1938, when she was charged with “child abandonment”, and sentenced in 1939 to a year’s hard labour in Mountjoy. When she was released from prison, Mamie was removed from the roll of registered midwives, but she continued working illegally as a well-known abortion provider in Dublin.
In 1945, Mamie was tried under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, convicted of “procuring a miscarriage” for a woman, and sentenced to five years penal servitude in Mountjoy. Undeterred, when Mamie was released, she offered her services again – so famous that she did not need to advertise.
In 1956, Mrs Helen O’Reilly – a 34-year-old mother of six – died as a result of a backstreet abortion in Mamie’s illegal nursing home on Hume Street (See Cara Delay, Kitchens and Kettles: Domestic Spaces, Ordinary Things, and Female Networks in Irish Abortion History, 1922–1949). Mamie was convicted of Helen’s murder and sentenced to death. After public appeals for clemency and recognition of the lack of mens rea, Mamie’s capital conviction was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1958, Mamie was transferred to the Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum where she died in 1959.
Mamie was one of many women who were subjected to abortion prosecutions in Ireland, whether as a result of accidental death from the procedure or because someone gave them up to the authorities. Delay’s research describes the network created by Irish women to assist each other in making reproductive choices – and highlights the normality of women, in all walks of life, who sought, for whatever reason, for “what had been conceived in the womb” to disappear.
Seosamh Gráinséir
Tags: Irish Legal Heritage
Supreme Court: Disclosure of documents in personal injury claim not disproportionate Mr Justice Twomey to launch 18th Volume of Hibernian Law Journal TLT sees revenue increase nearly 50 per cent over five years
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2018 Uncodified Acts
Table of Contents » Chapter 743 Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Plan; Commonwealth Transportation Board to develop.
2018 Virginia Uncodified Acts
An Act to direct the Commonwealth Transportation Board to study financing options for Interstate 81 corridor improvements; report.
[S 971]
Approved April 4, 2018
Whereas, an adequate, efficient, and safe Interstate 81 corridor is important to the economic well-being of the communities located along the corridor; and
Whereas, Interstate 81 carries 42 percent of all the truck vehicle miles traveled on interstate highways in the Commonwealth and, in 2016, there were more than 2,000 crashes on Interstate 81 and, of such crashes, 30 took more than six hours to clear; and
Whereas, Interstate 81 is a crucial corridor for interstate truck traffic and an efficient artery to promote the flow of goods and continued economic development; and
Whereas, losing one lane of traffic due to a crash reduces the highway capacity by 65 percent; and
Whereas, the lack of parallel routes and automated traffic management systems increases the impact of such crashes on users of Interstate 81; and
Whereas, due to these conditions, the Interstate 81 corridor today does not meet the needs of these communities, and current statewide transportation revenues are not sufficient to implement necessary improvements to the Interstate 81 corridor; now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. That the Commonwealth Transportation Board (the Board) be directed to study financing options for Interstate 81 corridor improvements.
In conducting its study, the Board shall evaluate the feasibility of using toll financing to improve Interstate 81 throughout the Commonwealth. Such evaluation shall not consider options that toll all users of Interstate 81, and shall not consider tolls on commuters using Interstate 81, but may consider high-occupancy toll lanes established pursuant to § 33.2-502 of the Code of Virginia and tolls on heavy commercial vehicles. The Board, with the support of the Office of Intermodal Planning and Investment, shall develop and adopt an Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Plan (Plan). Such Plan shall include the examination of the entire length of Interstate 81 and the methods of financing such improvements, and such Plan may include tolls imposed or collected on heavy commercial vehicles but shall not include tolls on commuters using Interstate 81.
At a minimum, in the development of such Plan, the Board shall:
1. Designate specific segments of the Interstate 81 corridor for improvement;
2. Identify a targeted set of improvements for each segment that may be financed or funded in such segment and evaluated using the statewide prioritization process pursuant to § 33.2-214.1 of the Code of Virginia;
3. Ensure that in the overall plan of expenditure and distribution of any toll revenues or other financing means evaluated, each segment's total long-term benefit shall be approximately equal to the proportion of the total of the toll revenues collected that are attributable to such segment divided by the total of such toll revenues collected;
4. Study truck travel patterns along the Interstate 81 corridor and analyze policies that minimize the impact on local truck traffic;
5. Identify incident management strategies corridor-wide;
6. Ensure that any revenues collected on Interstate 81 be used only for the benefit of that corridor;
7. Identify actions and policies that will be implemented to minimize the diversion of truck traffic from the Interstate 81 corridor, including the prohibition of through trucks on parallel routes;
8. Determine potential solutions to address truck parking needs along the Interstate 81 corridor; and
9. Assess the potential economic impacts on Virginia agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics sector companies utilizing the I-81 corridor from tolling only heavy commercial trucks.
Technical assistance shall be provided to the Commonwealth Transportation Board by the Department of Transportation, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Department of State Police. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Commonwealth Transportation Board for this study, upon request.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2018, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.
2. That nothing in this act shall be construed to conflict with the exclusive authority of the General Assembly to approve tolling on components of highways, bridges, or tunnels.
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`The guys will be pumped up?
By Steve Green
As his LaSalle Vipers are learning what it takes to win against the leaders in the GOJHL’s Western Conference, head coach Ryan Donally is learning right along with them.
Fourth-place LaSalle makes its second visit of the season to the Western Fair Sports Centre Friday night to face the third-place London Nationals and the Vipers are looking for only their second win against a top-three side this season — they’re 1-3 against Chatham (the win coming in overtime), 0-4 against Leamington and 0-3 against the Nationals. They’re 12-2-4 against the rest of the division and won all three of their interconference games.
“It’s a huge game, coupled with the fact we haven’t beaten them yet this year,” Donally said Thursday. “That’s something we want to turn around; if we want to get to where we want to be, we’ve got to start beating the teams ahead of us. It’s a proving ground for us, a stepping stone.”
Donally, who played for Windsor, Kitchener and Sudbury in the OHL between 2001 and 2006, is in his first season with the Vipers after a couple of seasons as an assistant with the University of Windsor team.
“The biggest change for me is the difference between 16-year-olds and 20-year-olds,” he said. “A 16-year-old kid is just that, a kid. Someone who’s 20 or 21 is a young man and there’s such a difference between a 16-year-old Grade 11 high school kid and a third-year university student.”
Donally, 27, is a student himself — he was taking his GMAT exam Thursday to get into a master’s business program. And a few of his players are classmates in the business school at Windsor.
“It’s made for some interesting scheduling,” he said. “We had four or five guys late for one game at Lambton Shores and I was one of them.”
Friday’s game marks the midpoint of a five-games-in-eight-nights stretch for the Nationals, who have won five straight. They started off this week with a win Sunday at archrival St. Thomas, then rallied for a 4-3 overtime win Wednesday night against Chatham. They still have Leamington coming to town Saturday afternoon and a trip to Chatham Sunday before the Christmas break.
The Vipers may have been a tad easier to overlook had they not whipped Sarnia 9-3 on Wednesday, but Nationals head coach Kelly Thomson said his team wasn’t about to fall into that trap.
“With the calibre of teams we’re playing this week, it’s like a string of playoff games for us,” Thomson said. “This string of games really pounds it home to the guys that they need to . . . put in a full 60 minutes; they’re leaving it to the variables if they don’t.”
There’s just a tinge of London Knights to the Nationals’ current streak as they find ways to win when a loss stares them in the face. Wednesday night was a perfect example — Ryan Tuffin scored with five minutes left to force overtime and the Nationals had to kill off their only penalty of the game in that extra session before Noah Schwartz got the winner.
“It’s always good to find a way to win, especially against a good hockey team like Chatham. Bottom line is you’ve got to bend a lot without breaking,” Thomson said. “The guys will be pumped up to keep things going.”
After Sunday’s trip to Chatham, the Nationals are off for 16 days — Saturday’s game against Leamington had to be re-scheduled from Jan. 2 because of the world under-19 ringette championships.
“It is,” Thomson said when asked if the long layoff is a concern, “but we have so many guys in university who have been away from home that the time they’ll get to spend with their families and away from the classes will help them. We’ll whip them back into shape once they get back.”
steve.green@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/SteveGatLFPress
NATIONALS WEEKEND
Friday: vs. LaSalle at Western Fair Sports Centre, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday: vs. Leamington at WFSC, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday: at Chatham, 4 p.m.
From London to the world? Newman can be face of Canada...
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Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
May 2018 , 190:295 | Cite as
Role of rotifers in microzooplankton community in a large monsoonal estuary (Cochin backwaters) along the west coast of India
A. Anjusha
R. Jyothibabu
L. Jagadeesan
N. Arunpandi
First Online: 19 April 2018
The distribution ecology of microzooplankton in the Kochi (Cochin) backwaters has been presented. Emphasis has been given to the micro-rotifers present in the environment, considering they were a hitherto ignored component of the microzooplankton in the past studies. Three seasonal samplings were carried out at six locations along the salinity gradients in the Kochi backwaters during the Pre-Monsoon (March), Southwest Monsoon (August), and Northeast Monsoon (December). A total of 48 species of microzooplankton were recorded, of which 35 were ciliates, 10 were rotifers, and 3 were heterotrophic dinoflagellates. The study also reports the swarm of a microzooplankton species from the Kochi backwaters, which was formed by a tintinnid ciliate, Tintinnopsis uruguayensis, during the Northeast Monsoon. Very high microzooplankton density (11,990 No. L−1), as swarm in the downstream location was associated with the mesohaline condition and high availability of food. Rotifers were the major component of microzooplankton in the limnohaline/oligohaline region, whereas ciliates dominated in the polyhaline/mesohaline region. Hence, in the present study, salinity appeared to be a major factor affecting the composition of the microzooplankton community in the Kochi backwaters. As rotifers have a wide food spectrum, they can feed on almost all components of the microbial food web, including small ciliates. They also share the same food spectrum with larger ciliates and crustacean nauplii. The present study, for the first time, recorded the importance of rotifers in the microzooplankton community in the plankton food web in the Kochi backwaters.
Microzooplankton Salinity Rotifers Tintinnid swarms Multivariate analysis Cochin backwater
The authors thank the Director, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), India, for the facilities. The authors thank the Scientist-in-Charge, CSIR NIO RC Kochi, for encouragement. The author A. Anjusha thanks the CSIR for SRF funding. This study has been supported by the Institutional project “OCEAN FINDER.” This is a CSIR-NIO, India contribution 6203.
Supplementary Fig. 1 (DOCX 1668 kb)
10661_2018_6678_MOESM3_ESM.docx (815 kb)
Supplementary Fig. 3 (DOCX 815 kb)
10661_2018_6678_MOESM4_ESM.docx (16 kb)
Supplementary Table 1 (DOCX 15 kb)
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© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
1.Regional CentreCSIR - National Institute of OceanographyKochiIndia
Anjusha, A., Jyothibabu, R., Jagadeesan, L. et al. Environ Monit Assess (2018) 190: 295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6678-3
Received 21 October 2017
First Online 19 April 2018
Publisher Name Springer International Publishing
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Commentary on Economics, Information and Human Action
About Lynne Kiesling
About Michael Giberson
Is wireless charging finally going to take off?
Posted on September 11, 2012 by Lynne Kiesling
Lynne Kiesling
Since the pioneering research of Nikola Tesla (have you contributed to his museum yet?) we’ve dreamed of wireless transmission of electricity, including wireless charging of devices. Tesla’s magnetic induction experiments gave us proof of concept almost 140 years ago, so where are the wireless chargers? We were promised wireless charging!
Jessical Leber at Technology Review suggests that it’s not a lack of supply, but rather slow consumer adoption that’s the reason why we don’t have ubiquitous wireless charging.
Why hasn’t cord-free charging—where a device gets charged when you place it on a charging surface—caught on? It’s not due to a shortage of products, nor from a shortage of companies that want to sell them. More than 125 businesses have joined the Wireless Power Consortium, formed in late 2008 to create a global charging standard. While the consortium hopes the technology will one day become as common as Bluetooth in most devices and, like Wi-Fi, available in many public spaces, wireless charging has been slow to take off.
I think a common, open standard, like we have for Bluetooth and USB, will reduce adoption hurdles, although she does discuss toward the end of the article the current set of two competing standards. History tells us, though, from rail gauges to DVD formats, convergence eventually occurs.
This article is full of valuable and interesting information about the technical hurdles of getting induction receivers in devices, investing in charging mats for public places, and so on, but it’s frustratingly oblique in its answer to the question in the quote above. Leber doesn’t offer any specific answers to the question of why consumers have been slow to adopt wireless charging, although she implies two reasons: non-binding power requirement constraints and the coordination-complementarity bottleneck between devices and charging pads. As more consumers bump up against the constraints of battery capacity, wireless charging will become more attractive. The article also mentions the potential inclusion of charging mats in cars, and the investment involvement of automobile manufacturers in wireless charging companies.
Note here the interaction of three different innovation processes — device, battery, and charging pad. Devices are becoming more functional, requiring more power, draining batteries faster. Batteries have become more robust and longer-lived, but have been outpaced by the power demands of the increased functionality of mobile devices. Layer that on top of the innovation process in charging pads and you have quite a moving target, technologically and economically.
Posted in Economics, Electricity, TechnologyTagged Economics, Electricity, innovation, Technology
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By Alexander Bisley
↳ ARTS, Features, Interviews, Theatre & Performing Arts
Jim Moriarty talks about The Battalion, Jake Heke, The Lifestyle versus whanaungatanga, and how theatre and Tino Rangatiratanga can empower all New Zealanders.
“I want the audience to leave the theatre totally uplifted and overwhelmed,” Jim Moriarty told me about his Once Were Warriors musical in 2004, gesturing passionately. “Beth standing up and saying to Jake ‘No more. We’ve had enough.’ Ending domestic violence. Beth herself is taking her family out of that darkness and into the light, that’s a metaphor for all of us.” The production illuminated the restoration that needed to take place for Aotearoa repealing Section 59 of the Criminal Justice Act. “If I laid a hand on you could have me for assault, but if I smacked my child it’s called reasonable force. It’s absolute nonsense. The most vulnerable sub-culture in society, the most marginalised, the most dependent on love and care, is the one we’re legally allowed to abuse the most.”
In the early 90s, Once Were Warriors’ producers were keen on Jim Moriarty playing Jake Heke. Moriarty declined to audition; he couldn’t do it and stay committed to the Te Rakau’s mahi (work). “I would have let a whole lot of other people down, I don’t like doing that.” Ten years later Moriarty directed and starred (as social worker Kahu Bennett) in Te Rakau’s stage version. The National Business Review raved: “A massive show in every sense… raw, rare and vitalising… Moriarty has rediscovered the true meaning and purpose of musical drama and inspired his team to deliver a remarkable result.”
In 2006, while establishment hacks like Chris Trotter boorishly criticised Section 59 campaigners, called for their “failed bill” to be withdrawn, The Strength of Water’s father continued his potent korero. “It’s gonna be repealed,” Moriarty told me, speaking with a quiet, (Moana) Jacksonesque authority. He campaigned with organisations such as Women’s Refuge. “Most other civilised countries in the world have tossed it out. And not to the detriment of a parent’s right to guide their child successfully along the path of discipline growing them up. It’s about empowering people to find alternatives to using violence, better parenting programmes.”
Catching up with him to mark this year’s Waitangi Day, Moriarty remains passionate about Tino Rangatiratanga. “Tino Rangatiratanga still means what it’s always meant to me. The right of the indigenous people, the Maori of Aotearoa, to have access to the resources as they were identified in the Treaty, and to have a say in the management of those resources in perpetuity, for the benefit of all.”
Moriarty (Ngati Toa) argues the Treaty is for everyone. “We need to wise up as a nation and realise that the Treaty is in fact the only document, not just on behalf of tangata whenua, but all New Zealanders, that will protect its wholesale bloody distribution to the highest bidder from somewhere else in the world, to absentee landlord ownership and state asset sales, that’s what we’re getting a lot of.”
“When that fine line’s been crossed where your personal space has been invaded by those you love in such a way, then as your life goes on it isn’t so hard for you to cross the boundary either.”
He remains artistic director of Te Rakau, working with at-risk communities, creating and performing theatre in marae and prisons, as well as conventional theatres. The Battalion—opening Tuesday night at Victoria University’s Studi0 77—a highlight of Putahi Maori Theatre Festival, will convey the power of art to transcend difficulty.
Moriarty and his wife Helen Pearse-Otene—who wrote The Battalion— say they are putting it on again to contribute strategically to this inaugural Wellington Maori theatre practitioners’ initiative. “This is part of our long term strategy to establish a national Maori Theatre and performance venue here in Poneke. We chose to perform The Battalion in order to include rangatahi in the festival; our kaupapa for theatre is that it belongs to everybody and if we don’t nurture the next generation of practitioners and audience members then it is to our detriment. We feel the same in regards to Te Reo Maori, that it belongs to every New Zealand child as their birthright and needs to be spoken by us all if it is to survive, which is why we are running a grassroots Kapa Haka programme in local schools.”
The play tells the story of World War Two’s 28th Maori Battalion, and two troubled young Wellingtonians who stay with one veteran in the country. “Never ceases to get the puku going,” a kaumatua said after an energetic, engaging and intimate 2007 Newtown performance. Ruia taitea kahikitia te Wairua no tuawhakarere (lest we forget) is one message.
The effects of violence are Moriarty’s daily bread. “A lot of the work I do is with at risk rangitahi teenagers and that, kids from ten onwards. And I’ve worked in the male and female prison systems. Most of the people I’ve worked who are presenting with problems in terms of society today, are people who have come from violent family backgrounds, and that’s a correlation that stacks. If you’re taught violence as a norm that’s how you behave. When that fine line’s been crossed where your personal space has been invaded by those you love in such a way, then as your life goes on it isn’t so hard for you to cross the boundary either. When you cross that line with a child you’re creating a problem, not only for that child, but for society and anyone else who encounters that child along their life’s journey.”
Manaki (hospitality) is important to Moriarty. Interviewing him at least four times over the decade, he always listens to my questions attentively, and tends to offer kai. “I come from a family with eight brothers and sisters, there was always whangai, there was always people staying. Mum and Dad were truly those big, generous, open-spirited, whanaungatanga people, so it’s not hard for me, it’s not a foreign concept. What else are we here for? There’s only so much food and drink you can eat on your own, and you can only drive one car at a time. You know, people. I like people.”
He diagnoses The Lifestyle’s problem. “I think one of the things about the world we live in is that it’s going at a hell of a fast pace, we are constantly being pressured to consume. Consume this, consume that, consume the other thing. If you get caught up into too much of that consumption stuff your life becomes about paying for the toys that you purchased as a consumer and less about spending time with your family and the people you love. We all get caught in that trap to some degree or other.”
“What a hell of a thing?” Moriarty (Ngati Toa) says of the soldier’s experience. Paying tribute to the 28th’s courage, connecting young people with their whakapapa, The Battalion “is a war on abuse and dysfunction.” Though he acknowledges the disturbing violence in New Zealand today, that people need to be kept safe: “We need to keep our rangitahi out of jail.”
Stopping violence, healing, and emancipation have been themes throughout his career. “I got into theatre as a young boy in the 60s, they were the sort of final, glory days of the Maori Theatre Trust. I got into a lot of grass roots theatre in the 70s. It was pretty didactic stuff but you had to do it, it was Treaty driven theatre mainly. I’ve always come from a political position. I identified early on that my own particular strength in relation to what I could do to enhance Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Maori was to use creative stuff. So what I’ve done is I’ve remained true to that calling. I produce theatre, I direct theatre, I perform in stuff, and it’s all really to do with the emancipation of people, freedom and liberation of people. All the work I’ve done with Te Rakau is along those lines. All the theatre I’ll continue to do in the future will be about using theatre as a tool for change.”
How can theatre affect that change? “By the nature by which you construct it firstly. That can bring about a huge change for the participants in the process and also the way in which you then present it and work with communities. I always try to have forums post performances so that people can discuss how they’ve been affected by the production. When I create theatre, I create theatre not just with individuals but their families and create a new family. So it becomes if you like a metaphor for better communication among people fullstop.”
Moriarty argues New Zealand took a wrong turn in the 80s. “There are a huge lot of economic factors that influence the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. That was essentially about the so-called market forces, the monetarists, and that money was supposed to trickle down. Well it didn’t trickle down, it just kept trickling up. The fall out—the major fall out—was the social fall out. The prison populations increased, the suicide rate increased, unemployment increased. It’s bullshit.”
“I use theatre as a tool for change as a way of helping young people unravel the stuff that’s hurt them so it doesn’t have power over them anymore.”
Moriarty, who also works in the mental health sector, asks Maori to stand up and take responsibility to stop the violence against children in Maori communities. “Maori traditionally were not violent to their children. Part of that was the whole Christian-Judaeo system, that whole belief in some Christian writings, ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’ And the missionaries and the churches bought that stuff. Children were a valued taonga, they were a treasure in pre-European Maori society.” He’s staunch about the negative effects of colonisation. “Maori had their language and their culture base basically bloody legislated out of existence.”
But he remains optimistic. “The good old Kiwi’s a pretty resilient bugger in the main. Governments need to reempower people, reemploy people, redeploy people. Because people are the core unit of exchange in any economy. And if they’re feeling pretty lousy and shitted off about the world they live in, they’re not going to contribute to the economy. What I do with theatre is to get people well, so they can get out there in the marketplace and do stuff.”
2014, the exceptional musician Mara TK tells me Moriarty inspired him out of his raggedy Christchurch hood. “Jim rolled into Christchurch in the late 90s with a crew of super-charged Maori actors to facilitate school kids—myself and others from local kura kaupapa—to express ourselves through theatre, to write, to socialise, and broaden our scope of experience outside of the four suburban blocks that was our universe. I have to thank him massively for that.”
“His passion drives Te Rakau,” then Te Rakau manager Alicia Conklin told me in 2006. “The kids, they respond to him. He has that X-factor. When they wouldn’t respond to anyone else. Trust. His non-judgmental approach. Truly showing love. Some of them have never experienced that.” Playmarket Director Mark Amery was another enthusiast. “Powerhouse devisor and actor whose whanau-fuelled approach to making theatre out in the community has taken Maori and Pakeha theatre community values out there to people in a way more professional theatre should. Enormous heart and spirit. An impressive history of projects, which have helped train and develop an impressive number of theatre practitioners. A key figure in the arts. Give him a laureate award now!”
It was satisfying to be awarded New Zealand Order of Merit, but Te Rakau offers richer rewards. “Hell yeah! Some of the most astounding outcomes for me are the ones that an audience would possibly miss. When people repatriate with their family when they’ve formerly been at odds, and they’ve reintegrated back into their families and communities in a healthy, strong way.
“It’s when you know that you’ve helped to add your bit to the journey of that young person’s life in terms of them being able to make sense of the dysfunction and hurt, so that they can move on from there. I use theatre as a tool for change as a way of helping young people unravel the stuff that’s hurt them so it doesn’t have power over them anymore. Then from people’s shared stories graphing that up in creative language. For me it’s about using theatre as a tool for political change, a transformational, transitional tool, helping people to make more sense of the world they live in, and about the choices they can make about what’s happened to them and what happens in the future.”
MAIN IMAGES
© Ambrose Hickman 2014. All Rights Reserved. More images at ambrosebenedict.com.
This is an updated version of an article originally published by The Lumière Reader in 2006. The newly commissioned photography is by Ambrose Hickman.
Te Rakau present ‘The Battalion’ from February 25 to March 1 at Studio 77 as part of the Putahi Festival.
Alexander Bisley is a direct descendant of Nga Puhi paramount chief Patuone. Maori and Polynesian artists are one passion. Such favourite longreads include Mara TK, Anna Coddington, Toa Fraser, and Savage. He is currently working on an in-depth feature on Taika Waititi.
Filed under: ARTS, Features, Interviews, Theatre & Performing Arts
Alexander Bisley is an editor-at-large who has contributed in-depth interviews and more to The Lumière Reader since 2004. He’s written extensively on culture (and sport) for all of New Zealand’s leading outlets, and also makes his living freelancing for international publications including The Guardian, Slate, and The AV Club. He’s published by The Independent, BBC, Vice, The Sydney Morning Herald, Playboy, and Slate France, and has been paid once by The New Yorker.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It)
Girl in Tan Boots
The Pride
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(Germany 12 Feb 1884 – 27 Dec 1950)
Children at the window
Max Beckmann trained at the Art Academy in Weimar between 1900 and 1903. After graduating he spent a period of further study in Paris before settling in Berlin. By about 1910 he was becoming known as one of Germany's most important young painters.
At the outbreak of the First World War Beckmann joined the medical corps. He was discharged in 1915 after a mental breakdown and went to Frankfurt where he was to remain for 18 years. The experience of the war brought a profound change to his art and he adopted a dense and often impenetrable personal language, rejecting traditional perspective and proportion in favour of the cramped and distorted spaces characteristic of so much of his work. His forms also became angular, pointed and sharp and figures have a certain stiffness and rigidity.
During the war and in the years immediately following drawing and printmaking became more important to Beckmann than painting. He executed important cycles of lithographs in which personal, psychological and social realities are staged in circus or theatrical settings.
Although he produced many prints Beckmann's interest in the technical aspects of printmaking was limited. The majority of his printed oeuvre is made up of drypoints, with a considerable number of lithographs - the two media most similar to drawing on paper - and far fewer woodcuts. Nearly one third of his entire output of 374 prints was made in 1922 and 1923. After 1923 he abandoned printmaking almost completely, the only significant later works are two series of lithographs made in the 1940s.
With its highly original blend of the real and the visionary, Beckmann's work is less explicitly political than that of Grosz and Dix and not as easy to classify as part of the 'Neue Sachlichkeit' (New Objectivity), although he did participate in the movement's exhibition in Mannheim in 1925. In the same year he was appointed professor at the 'Städelsches Kunstinstitut' in Frankfurt. In his role as teacher he stressed the importance of expressing emotional states through compositions dictated by reason and formal structure.
In 1947 he moved to the USA to take up a teaching post. Shortly afterwards he was given a professorship at the Art School of Brooklyn Museum in New York. He continued to win international acclaim and had a one-man exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1950, the year of his death.
In this print Beckmann records his childhood in Leipzig. He shows himself as a boy talking to a friend and discussing the goings-on in the street below, illuminated by three street lamps.
32.2 x 22.7 cm platemark; 49.3 x 39.7cm sheet
Signed l.r., pencil "Max Beckmann". Not dated.
© Max Beckmann/Bild Kunst. Licensed by Copyright Agency
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News & Opinion » News
BART's Lead Negotiator Has a History of Illegal Behavior
The transit agency has sought to portray its workers as being unreasonable, but it hired a private negotiator that has a record of violating federal labor law.
by Darwin BondGraham
Michael Dunn/Flickr(CC) BART may be headed for another strike.
Although BART workers are back on the job and trains have been running again for the past several days, the transit agency and its unionized employees remain far apart in negotiations. The Bay Area, as a result, could very well be looking at another strike in less than a month. To date, BART management has sought to portray the agency's train operators and station agents as being greedy and unreasonable for demanding pay raises. But what has gone unnoticed is the fact that BART management's lead negotiator and strategist, Thomas P. Hock, works for a private transportation company that has a long history of anti-union practices. Records also show that Hock and Veolia Transportation have repeatedly run afoul of federal labor laws and were previously ordered by federal authorities to stop engaging in illegal activities.
It is unclear why the BART board decided in April to hire Hock as lead negotiator and pay him $300,000. BART board members declined to comment about Hock's contract. The agency's agreement with Hock, who is a lawyer for Veolia Transportation, calls for him to "implement the labor relations strategy for 2013 collective bargaining with ATU [Amalgamated Transit Union] and SEIU [Service Employees International Union]." Under the agreement, Hock has substantial authority in the current negotiations, and is outranked only by BART General Manager Grace Crunican.
Members of both SEIU and ATU say that Hock's true labor relations strategy for BART is to bust its unions and make permanent the pay and benefits rollbacks that workers have endured in recent years. They believe Hock was brought in not to negotiate, but to create a crisis. "This is not about negotiating tough. This is about trying to bust the union," said Chris Finn, a BART train operator and the recording secretary of ATU 1555.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said she's not privy to the BART board's deliberations regarding the details of labor negotiations, including the board's reasons for hiring Hock in particular, as those sessions are closed to all except the board and its lawyers. "We've used an outside consultant as our lead negotiator in every single negotiation in our history," Trost said. "It's standard practice in the industry to use an outside expert to help navigate the negotiations process."
Trost also said that Hock's negotiations record includes only two strikes in the last five years. "He's negotiated more than four hundred contracts in his career," she said. "That is a tremendous record. You're always going to have something that goes awry, but he's well respected in the industry."
However, recent events in Arizona support some of the unions' claims that Hock's true goal may be to force a crisis at BART. Last year, transit workers in Phoenix and Tempe staged a six-day strike against Veolia Transportation. Arizona's cities have privatized their bus operations, and Veolia holds the contracts. Hock led his company's campaign against its workers. It was a bruising fight that required the intervention of federal authorities.
In hearings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Veolia was found to have engaged in "regressive, bad-faith, and surface bargaining," and numerous other unfair labor practices prior to the Phoenix bus strike. Hock was in charge at the time.
The general counsel for the NLRB listed the numerous allegations of abuses committed by Veolia in a lengthy letter to NLRB board members. Veolia was accused of violating federal labor laws by "failing to provide information requested by the Union." Unions routinely ask employers for information during contract talks — requests that are normally complied with. The allegation that Veolia withheld information crucial to collective bargaining in Arizona in 2011 and 2012 is echoed by union lawyers here as well.
In a lawsuit filed by SEIU and ATU on June 24 in Alameda County Superior Court, the unions alleged that BART has engaged in concerted illegal practices to obstruct progress in the negotiations. SEIU and ATU's lawsuit states that BART refused, delayed, or ignored ten different requests made by the union in October 2012 for information necessary for bargaining.
ATU and SEIU's lawsuit against BART also alleges that BART management sought to "delay bargaining from the outset and create a false sense of crisis." Lawyers for the unions added that, in communications with BART management back in April, when workers were ready to bargain, BART "revealed that Hock was not yet available to begin bargaining, leading ATU and SEIU to believe that BART had been delaying bargaining because of Hock's unavailability."
In Arizona, federal authorities also accused Veolia of "refusing to meet with the Union for purposes of negotiating a successor collective-bargaining agreement, engaging in regressive bargaining, and bargaining with no intent of reaching an agreement," among many other practices that are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act.
The NLRB found merit to this extensive list of charges against Veolia during the Arizona bus strike. Veolia signed a settlement agreement with authorities promising to cease all of these illegal activities. The company, however, ignored its obligations under the settlement and continued to carry out the alleged illegal conduct, according to records filed with the NLRB.
The NLRB's general counsel warned Veolia in several letters, one of which was sent to Veolia's lawyers. "The investigation of the recently filed charges, as well as the investigation into your client's compliance with the Agreement shows that your client has not complied with all terms of the Agreement," wrote Mary Davidson, an NLRB field attorney. "[Y]our client is in non-compliance with the Agreement. Such non-compliance triggers the default language set forth in the Agreement."
Only by threatening Veolia with a federally mandated default settlement did the company back down and agree to a deal with its employees that ended the strike.
Hock was quoted in the local media during the Phoenix and Tempe bus strikes, claiming that the unions caused thousands of commuters to wait countless hours on the curb. Part of Hock's strategy during the Phoenix bus strike was to cast the bus drivers as greedy and out of touch with the public. Hock and Veolia pointed out that "drivers in the Phoenix area are the highest paid in the Valley, earning an average of $22 per hour," according to a report in The Arizona Republic.
"Tom Hock was the cause of the strike here in Phoenix and Tempe," Bob Bean, president of the ATU in Arizona, told me. "Hock's not a negotiator. All he knows how to say is 'no.' He does not try and solve any issues."
Bean believes Hock was aiming all along to break the ATU in Arizona, not to find any common ground with the workers. "Hock was trying to take away all our benefits and everything we earned over 38 years of negotiations," said Bean. "If Hock can bust a union, he will."
Federal labor records and press reports from previous years suggest that Hock has devised similar brass-knuckle strategies across the nation. For example, in 1997 unionized paratransit bus drivers in Los Angeles filed complaints against First Transit Inc., alleging that the company had refused to bargain and bargained in bad faith, and that the company's management had coerced employees, spied on them, and illegally terminated 30 employees, costing them approximately $930,000 in lost wages. Hock was First Transit's chief negotiator at the time. The NLRB ultimately ruled in favor of the employees and their union, forcing payment of the back wages, but only after a decade of battle.
Last year in Connecticut, Veolia attempted to use a technicality to disqualify employees from joining a union by reclassifying their jobs as supervisory positions. The NLRB rejected this tactic and allowed for a union election to proceed.
In Las Vegas last year, bus drivers accused Veolia again of retaliation and firings of union employees, and of refusing to furnish the existing union, ATU Local 1637, with information necessary to conduct negotiations. Again, federal authorities intervened. The NLRB sided with ATU, ordering Veolia to "cease and desist from refusing to bargain collectively." The board also ordered Veolia to stop "interfering with, restraining or coercing its employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization."
"Hock shops himself around the American Public Transportation Association conferences and Veolia gets a cut of whatever he's making as an advisor to different transit agencies during their contract negotiations," said Bean. Last year, Hock attended the Transit CEO's Seminar hosted by the American Public Transportation Association in Orlando, Florida as a speaker. BART General Manager Crunican and other public transit executives were also on hand.
Veolia is a transnational corporation headquartered in France. Its North American subsidiary, Veolia Environment, of which transportation is a segment, specializes in operating utilities and transit systems for cities. Hock's role within Veolia is to advise both private and public transit operators on labor issues. He became a vice president of Veolia in 2008 when Veolia purchased his Cincinnati-based company, Professional Transit Management. At the time, Hock's company ran the transit systems of fifteen different cities. Records show that employees of Professional Transit Management have filed 51 complaints against the company before the NLRB since 2001, alleging that Hock's firm refused to bargain, bargained in bad faith, spied on employees, made coercive statements, and illegally fired or punished employees for engaging in union activities.
Hock is not the only Veolia asset tapped by BART. Both AC Transit and BART contract with Veolia to operate the East Bay Paratransit bus system. That contract is worth $232 million. BART pays $133 million of that.
"Every action that BART takes confirms to us that they have no interest in resolving this fairly or quickly," said SEIU 1021's executive director Pete Castelli during a press conference last Thursday. "It's clear that their only agenda is to reach a point to impose the contract on the workers and to weaken the union."
Arizona bus drivers' union leader Bean said, "Hock is doing the same thing out there in California he did here. He's got a track record."
News BART strike Thomas P. Hock Veolia Transportation SEIU ATU
BART's General Manager Should Resign 10
The unraveling of the transit agency's contract deal with its unions is yet another example of why Grace Crunican is not qualified for her job.
by Robert Gammon | Nov 20, 2013
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Lonnie Robert Liggitt
by Marquis Who's Who ModeratorPosted on August 30, 2018 August 30, 2018
Title: Music Educator, Composer & Financial Consultant
Company: Greenwood Studios
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Lonnie Robert Liggitt, Music Educator, Composer and Financial Consultant at Greenwood Studios, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in music education, music composition, and financial consulting.
With more than 50 years of professional experience, Mr. Liggitt is an esteemed and accomplished organist who has been performing music for his entire life beginning at the age of 8. Earning a Bachelor of Music from Drake University in 1964, he earned master’s degrees in performance and theory with Dr. Arthur Poister and Dr. Earl George in 1967. He subsequently received a Master of Music from Syracuse University the same year and went on to become an associate conductor for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera from 1967 to 1969.
Throughout his career, Mr. Liggitt has been involved with several symphonies and musical endeavors, including the Tulsa Symphony, the St. Aiden Episcopal Church, the Claremore Symphony League, and the Sand Springs Symphony League. He has additionally toured with Mrs. Ernestine Dillard, a respected Gospel singer, and performed for President Clinton and the prestigious Trumpet Awards on Turner Broadcasting. He further became a composer-in-residence under Walt Whitcover for the New York Repertory Theater and wrote the realizations of numerous early Frescobaldi Concerti discovered by Dr. Don Smithers. Notably, he wrote and produced the first quarter-tone ballet, “A Season in Hell,” based upon the writings of Arthur Rimbaud. Mr. Liggitt’s scores have been performed by the likes of the Jackson Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
In the 1980s, Mr. Liggitt was a prominent securities broker for Morgan Stanley, formerly known as Dean Witter Reynolds. He served as the head of the Southwest region of the United States in private placements, including Hybritech, Motorola and Chrysler, and had 1,000 brokers under his leadership. Mr. Liggitt is renowned for his work with Horace Hopper’s Musical Adventures, Inc., a program for language and mathematics development for autistic and developmentally-delayed children. His work has been funded through private foundations and state grants, winning four national awards in education. Likewise, he is the owner of Greenwood Studios.
As a testament to his professional success, Mr. Liggitt was selected for inclusion in several editions of Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who Among American Teachers. In addition, he was the recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Looking toward the future, he intends to collaborate with Pulitzer Prize nominee, Clifton Taulbert, as well as create a Flute Concerto with Symphonic Orchestra with Tommy Wildcat.
Contact Mr. Liggitt
Posted in Finance Education, Music EducationTagged financial consultant, lonnie robert liggitt, music composition, music educator, performance
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Articles Posted in U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
Butler v. United States
Plaintiff, individually and as executor of the estate of her husband, appealed the district court's dismissal of her action for wrongful death and loss of consortium under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 1346. The court concluded that, because adjudication of plaintiff's FTCA claim would not affect the validity of her VA benefits award, the district court did not err in holding that 38 U.S.C. 511 did not preclude the court from making independent findings of fact and conclusions of law in plaintiff's FTCA proceeding. Nor did the district court err in holding that there were no genuine issues of material fact since plaintiff conceded that she would not call any expert witnesses to prove her medical malpractice case, as required by North Carolina law. Accordingly, the court held that the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to the Government. View "Butler v. United States" on Justia Law
Posted in: Injury Law, Medical Malpractice, U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
Cibula, et al. v. United States
After the negligence of government doctors in California caused significant and irreversible brain damage to J.C., his parents brought a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 2674, suit against the United States. This case returned to the court after remand to the district court. On remand, the district court held that it could not provide the government with a reversionary interest in the future care award that "would comply with" both the FTCA and California law. The United States appealed. Because granting the government a reversionary interest in J.C.'s future care award eliminated the potential for a windfall without in any way rendering the award less sufficient compensation for J.C., the court found such a remedy approximated Cal. Civ. Proc. Code 667.7 in a manner that was consistent with the FTCA. Accordingly, the court remanded the case with instructions for the district court to fashion such a remedy. The court affirmed in all other respects. View "Cibula, et al. v. United States" on Justia Law
Creekmore v. Maryview Hospital
December 9, 2011 by Justia Inc
Plaintiff sued defendant alleging that its negligent care following the Caesarean section delivery of her baby injured her. On appeal, defendant argued that the district court abused its discretion by allowing an obstetrician-gynecologist (OB/GYN) to testify as an expert regarding the standard of care for a nurse's postpartum monitoring of a high-risk patient with preeclampsia. Because neither the statute nor Virginia case law precluded the expert testimony at issue, the court found no abuse of discretion and affirmed the judgment. View "Creekmore v. Maryview Hospital" on Justia Law
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KENNY LEUNG: BOLDLY PURSUING CHANGE FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS
Upon first meeting Kenny Leung, one will quickly notice his deep joy and attentiveness to the people around him. Kenny is equipped with a bright mind and strong ability to develop solutions to the inefficiencies he observes. But the driving force in Kenny’s life is his passion for serving others, and this value has become a catalyst for significant change in his life.
Kenny was born in Hong Kong, attended primary school in Sydney, Australia, moved back to Hong Kong for middle school, and transitioned to California for high school and college. When Kenny moved to the United States, he had the opportunity to skip a grade, leading Kenny to graduate high school at age 16. Eager to begin his career, Kenny graduated from college in just three years at the young age of 19 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley, beginning his work as a software engineer at Microsoft.
Kenny stepped into the path he imagined for himself, working a stable job in Seattle where he committed his daily efforts toward improving the performance and enabling a more personalized user experience of Microsoft Office. However, three years into this career, he began to wonder what kind of impact he was making on others, and decided to take small steps toward discovering if a career in health might achieve the impact he was seeking. While continuing his work at Microsoft, Kenny pursued a master’s degree in medical engineering at the University of Washington, attending night classes after work. A year into the program, Kenny transitioned his career to a Microsoft spin-off company creating healthcare software.
A life dedicated to serving others
Toward the end of graduate school, Kenny married his now wife, Julie, and at the time assumed that he would be content in a career in healthcare software. However, the two are passionate about volunteer work, and while Kenny invested his spare time serving in soup kitchens and training as a nursing assistant at a long-term care unit, his greater desire to be with people emerged. It was here that Kenny came to terms with his growing interest in becoming a physician.
Kenny and Julie decided they would go all-in toward Kenny’s desire to pursue his medical degree, prompting him to move to Philadelphia to work toward a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at the University of Pennsylvania, which would equip him with the courses he needed for medical school. To pay for tuition, they sold their house, put their plans to have children on hold, and the two spent the year apart while Kenny completed the program on the east coast and Julie stayed in Seattle. While the program could take up to two years, Kenny once again expedited the experience, and completed the program within one year. “My wife said, ‘This is better for the world for you to do this.’ I’m really forever grateful for her,” Kenny shared.
Kenny with his wife, Julie, at Curtis Orchard in Champaign.
After completing the program, they chose to spend two additional years working in order to save for medical school. A highlight for Kenny during this time was working for the cardiology department at Virginia Mason hospital, where he worked to improve documentation software for electrophysiologists. After work each day, he would volunteer at the hospital on the cardiac and surgery floors, asking patients if they would like someone to talk with. He recalls a particularly rewarding experience with a patient experiencing acute anxiety during her treatments, and through their discussions, he was able to help relieve stress and tension for both her and her family.
“Being able to provide that comfort to a patient made me feel really blessed,” Kenny recalls.
Kenny working as a volunteer companion at Virginia Mason hospital in Seattle.
While Kenny nurtured his desire to care for people, he also continued cultivating his engineering skills. In Kenny’s spare time, he applied his interest in tinkering with components and circuit design to build his own ECG device. “I had hoped that more clinics had access to ECGs, but that’s not the case, as they cost $2000 or more just for one device. So I set out to create a low-cost, sub-$100 clinical grade ECG for clinics to use,” said Kenny.
The ECG prototype that Kenny developed before medical school.
Finally, it was time to pursue medical school, and Kenny found that Carle Illinois satisfied his interest of combining his interest in engineering and medicine.
“Carle Illinois was my top choice. Being able to continue to innovate, and see problems and have the resources to solve those issues – to create products, to create software, and to better improve processes – that was a big selling point for me,” Kenny said.
Kenny fondly recalls the moment when his hard-worked for dream became a reality. “My wife and I were in shock when we found out I was admitted to Carle Illinois. The whole week after that was pure bliss,” Kenny recalled.
Now at Carle Illinois, Kenny was elected by his peers to be Carle Illinois’ first president of the student government, where he serves his fellow classmates and works with Carle and Carle Illinois administration to continue to build the world’s first engineering-based medical school from the ground up. Kenny and his wife also continue their passion for volunteering, and they are making an impact on the Champaign-Urbana community by serving on Saturdays at the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen.
In Kenny’s daily work, he draws inspiration from his classmates, where he enjoys opportunities to problem solve and innovate together. His favorite experience at Carle Illinois so far has been participating in the Health Mirror Make-a-thon. “To see other students come up with ideas that are really feasible, that was one of my best experiences here so far,” Kenny said.
Kenny with some of his classmates during an engineering lab.
“To see other students come up with ideas that are really feasible, that was one of my best experiences here so far.”
He also fondly recalls an experience through the engineering thread of the curriculum where Dr. Coiado split the class into groups and tasked them with improving an oximeter. By the end of the class, Kenny was amazed at his classmates’ creativity, offering a range of solutions that could improve patient outcomes and increase resources for healthcare providers.
“I see a lot of inefficiencies in hospital systems, where having an engineering background, you can step into a situation and see, “Maybe this can be improved with a better user-centered design,” said Kenny. “I think the engineering skills where you find a problem and you try to solve it are directly applicable to medicine.”
The generosity of people like you made it possible for Kenny and his classmates to attend Carle Illinois with scholarships.
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Ellen DeGeneres Backs Her Own PSA on CA Proposition 8 with $100K for Airtime
Popular Commedien and TV Talk Show Host Ellen DeGeneres who came out several years ago on her prime-time TV series, ELLEN, has filmed a public service announcement opposing the California “Proposition 8” which would recind that states’s approval of Gay Marriage. To ensure that the PSA goes the distance in terms of getting seen, she is putting forward $100,000 for airtime.
See article from The Advocate: http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid63964.asp
Here’s the PSA:
Ellen Opposing Proposition 8 on Leno Tonight:
LGBT People are beginning to win basic rights in some states, and the backlash is predictable. If you think what’s happening in California doesn’t affect you because you don’t live there – get real! This isn’t just a “gay issue” – it’s a human rights issue.
This week the California Teachers Association donated $1 Million to defeat the ballot initiative proposing to ban same-sex mariage. According to the association’s President David Sanchez, “…its a civil rights issue. We don’t believe people should be treated differently.”
Admittedly, these recent donations are still dwarfed by the tremendous financial resources of the Conservatives and Church groups who supported getting the initiative to the ballot.
Whether you live in California or not, make a contribution to the defeat of Proposition 8 in California. You can get more information from EQCA (Equality California) and contribute at their secured site. http://www.eqca.org/site/pp.asp?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4026385
Just click on the DONATE button on the homepage.
If you prefer, you can donate on the HRC website (Human Rights Campaign):
https://secure.ga3.org/03/caequalpac_homepage
The fact is many national LGBT organizations are focusing funds towards the defeat of this initiative, as well as numerous allied groups and organizations supporting civil rights for all. Find your favorite and HELP MAKE THE DIFFERENCE! -MsQueer
Posted in 2008 Election, CA Proposition 8, California Teachers Association, Coming Out, culture, discrimination, Ellen Degeneres, family, gay, gay families, gay marriage, gay philanthropy, gay political influence, gay-straight alliance, glbt, hate crimes, homophobia, HRC, human rights, Lawrence King, lesbian, lgbt, LGBT Allies, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, queer | Tagged: 2008 Election, ACLU, CA Proposition 8, California Gay Marriage Law, California Teachers Association, civil rights, gay, gay families, gay marriage, gay philanthropy, gay political influence, Gay Pride, glbt, HRC, human rights, lesbian, lgbt, NGLTF, PFLAG, queer | 3 Comments »
2008 National Coming Out Day Video from HRC
This speaks for itself…
All rights to this video belong to HRC 🙂 MsQueer
Posted in Coming Out, culture, family, gay, gay families, gay teens, gay youth, gay-straight alliance, GLAAD, glbt, GLSEN, homophobia, HRC, human rights, lesbian, lgbt, LGBT Allies, life, National Coming Out Day, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, queer, safe schools, society, teens, The Trevor Proejct, troubled youth, youth | Tagged: Coming Out, family, gay, gay families, gay questioning, gay rights, gay teens, gay youth, gay-straight alliance, GLAAD, GLSEN, homophobia, HRC, lesbian, LGBT Allies, LGBT Rights, lgbt youth, lgbt. glbt. gay teens, National Coming Out Day, queer | 1 Comment »
10th Annual “National Coming Out Day” Celebrated October 11th
October 11th has been designated “National Coming Out Day” since its origination in 1988 by Jean O’Leary and Dr. Rob Eichberg in celebration of the Second National March on Washington, D.C. for Lesbian and Gay Rights held one year earlier. On that day 500,000 people marched on the Capitol of the United States on behalf of Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians.
(SEE: NY TImes/AP article about Jean O’Leary)
Today HRC (Human Rights Campaign) manages the event in the U.S., but the October 11th date is also observed in a number of other countries around the globe, including Canada, Switzerland, Germany and The Netherlands. The United Kingdom marked “National Coming Out Day” on October 12th.
The Trevor Project, the nation’s only 24-7 Helpline for LGBT and Questioning Youth, published a “Should I Come Out? Quick Tips for Young People”
SEE: Should I Come Out?
Additional resources include:
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Glossary of Terms, published by GLAAD (Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
http://www.glaad.org/media/guide/glossary.php
Coming Out: A Guide for Youth and Their Allies, published by GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network)
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/1290.html
HRC Resource Guide to Coming Out, published by Human Rights Campaign
http://www.hrc.org/documents/resourceguide_co.pdf
HRC Coming Out as Transgender Guide, published by Human Rights Campaign
http://www.hrc.org/documents/2071_HRC_Coming_Out.pdf
Transgender Glossary of Terms, published by GLAAD
http://www.glaad.org/media/guide/transfocus.php
There are, of course, many more resources online and in your communities. You will find them when you search online for “National Coming Out Day.”
It is pure joy for me to see these kinds of organized activities publicly supported by national and international humanitarian groups, reported by national news sources, and recognized by Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgendered Persons and Allies. We have come a long way from the time of my youth, the 1950’s. I celebrate our progress, and look forward to the day when we won’t need a proclamation of a “Coming Out Day” because to do so will be so mundane as to be almost inconsequential. I look forward to the day when we truly celebrate the diversity that exists within each of us an individuals, as community, and as the global community of Humankind.
Posted in Coming Out, culture, discrimination, Ellen Degeneres, family, gay, gay families, gay political influence, gay teens, gay youth, gay-straight alliance, gays and politics, GLAAD, glbt, GLSEN, hate crimes, homophobia, HRC, human rights, Jean O'Leary, lesbian, lgbt, LGBT Allies, life, National Coming Out Day, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Pioneer Gay Rights Activists, queer, safe schools, society, suicide prevention, teens, The Trevor Proejct, Toll Free Help Lines, troubled youth, youth | Tagged: Coming Out, family, gay, gay families, gay teen helpline, gay teens, gay youth, gay-straight alliance, GLAAD, glbt, GLSEN, homophobia, HRC, human rights, lesbian, lgbt, LGBT Allies, lgbt. glbt. gay teens, National Coming Out Day, queer, safe schools, The Trevor Project | 1 Comment »
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Home >> Encyclopedia
Case Categories: Rights of Association
Bates v. Little Rock (1960)
The Supreme Court in Bates v. Little Rock (1960) affirmed that freedom of association for the purpose of advocating ideas and airing grievances finds protection...
Beilan v. Board of Education (1958)
In Beilan v. Board of Education (1958) the Supreme Court held that dismissal of teacher Howard Beilan for “incompetency” for refusing to answer questions...
Board of Directors of Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte (1987)
In Board of Directors of Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte (1987), the Supreme Court said Rotary had no First Amendment right to exclude women. The...
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)
In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), the Supreme Court ruled that the Scouts had the expressive association right to revoke the membership of a gay...
City of Dallas v. Stanglin (1989)
The Supreme Court determined that a Dallas ordinance limiting teen dance halls to those age14 to 18 did not infringe upon minors' rights of association. The...
Dawson v. Delaware (1992)
The Supreme Court ruled in Dawson v. Delaware (1992) that the First Amendment imposes limits on introducing a criminal defendant’s group associations during...
Delaware Strong Families v. Penn (2016)
The Supreme Court did not muster four justices to grant certiorari in the case of Delaware Strong Families v. Denn (2016). But Justice Clarence Thomas filed a...
Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada (1991)
In Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, the court struck down Nevada's limit on attorney speech as too vague while upholding some restrictions on attorney speech...
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010)
In Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law prohibiting the provided service, training and “expert advice or assistance...
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995)
In Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, the Court established a private group defining parameters of their expressive conduct...
Louisiana ex rel. Gremillion v. NAACP (1961)
The Supreme Court in 1961 invalidated a Louisiana law that required the NAACP to submit its membership list and swear no members were connected with communists...
Lyng v. International Union, UAW (1988)
The Supreme Court in 1988 ruled that a law that withheld food stamps to people with family members on strike did not infringe upon constitutional rights of...
NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
In NAACP v. Alabama (1958), the Court ruled that the First Amendment protected the free association rights of the NAACP and its rank-and-file members...
NAACP v. Button (1963)
NAACP v. Button (1963) was important not only to First Amendment jurisprudence but also to the vitality of public interest law firm litigation in general...
New York ex rel. Bryant v. Zimmerman (1928)
New York ex rel. Bryant v. Zimmerman (1928) upheld the conviction of an individual who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan who had not registered according to state...
Shelton v. Tucker (1960)
The Supreme Court in 1960 invalidated an Arkansas law passed as an anti-integration measure that required schoolteachers to annually submit the organizations to...
Smith v. Arkansas State Highway Employees (1979)
In 1979, the Supreme Court ruled that the Arkansas State Highway Commission did not violate any rights of association by refusing to accept grievances through a...
United States v. Robel (1967)
Basing the decision on the freedom of association under the First Amendment, the Supreme Court in 1967 upheld the dismissal of an indictment against a Communist...
United Transportation Union v. State Bar of Michigan (1971)
In 1971, the Supreme Court reversed an injunction that prevented a union from providing legal advice and services to members, saying it interfered with the...
Uphaus v. Wyman (1959, 1960)
The Supreme Court in 1959 and 1960 upheld the contempt conviction that led to the jailing of Methodist pacifist minister Dr. Willard Uphaus for refusing to...
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens contributed mightily to First Amendment jurisprudence 2nd Circuit rules President Trump engaged in viewpoint discrimination in removing critics from Twitter feed Boston did not violate First Amendment by refusing to fly Christian flag, says 1st Circuit 11th Circuit reinstates part of inmate’s retaliation claim based on First Amendment Hudson: Thankfully, 6th Circuit denies qualified immunity to police officer after treatment of motorist
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