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In 1996, Peyton Manning was accused of pushing his bare butt and testicles into the face of a University of Tennessee team trainer. In a 2003 affidavit released by WATE-TV, Manning gave his side of the story, per CBS: “I was sitting on the training table, wearing a T-shirt, a pair of shorts and a jock strap … Ms. [Naughright] came into the room to ask me about my foot. She then asked me to hop off the table so she could examine my foot. I hopped off the table and continued my discussion with [Malcolm] Saxon. Once off the table, Ms. [Naughright] moved behind me so that she could examine my foot. At that point, Mr. Saxon made a comment to me intended as a joke … After hearing his comment, I pulled down my shorts for about one second to expose my buttocks to him, or as is colloquially known, to ‘moon’ him.” Per the report, Manning said the trainer never looked uncomfortable and he did not pull his shorts below his “buttocks.” A note was included by Saxon, and without getting into specifics, he reportedly said for Manning to, “come clean.” Manning has faced heavy criticism from the media, specifically Stephen A. Smith, and this story doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. |
0 Accused New York serial rapist may be in Atlanta Federal authorities in New York are warning local law enforcement agencies that an alleged serial rapist nicknamed “Zombie Mike” may be lurking in the Atlanta area. Michael Hawkins is accused in several rapes and sexual assaults in New York in the past few years, including an attack on a woman in a wheelchair while her family slept nearby and the wife of a friend. “It seems kind of crazy someone named Zombie Mike from New York who is a serial rapist would be all of the way out here in Atlanta. That's crazy," Miles Blakely of Atlanta told Channel 2’s Matt Belanger. “Predators like Michael Hawkins who prey on helpless victims must be brought to justice,” said U.S. Marshal David McNulty of the Northern District of New York. “We, along with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, are determined to make sure he’s held accountable, but we need the public’s help.” U.S. marshals said Hawkins has a history of working at carnivals and they recently got credible leads that he could be working with New Jersey based company Amusements of America. Belanger checked the company’s website, which listed two upcoming events in Georgia in September: The Gwinnett County Fair in Lawrenceville and the Georgia State Fair in Hampton. "He's always moving so you've got to figure out which carnival it is," Blakely said. Blakely told Belanger that makes him worried for his friends. "They like to go to carnivals and that's the thing they do to get away on the weekends and stuff so that's crazy that they have someone who is working for a carnival like that," Blakely said. The 29-year-old is 5-foot-9 and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. His unique physical characteristics include a 1 ½-inch scar on his face, a burn mark scar on his right arm and a chest tattoo of the Grim Reaper. According to friends, he is known to have a temper and abuse alcohol. How he got the "Zombie Mike" nickname Nicknamed “Zombie Mike” by his friends for his poor hygiene, Hawkins is described as someone who can hide anywhere to include wooded areas and survive off scraps. Due to his past employment with traveling carnival companies based in New Jersey and North Carolina, he could be working and traveling with similar companies in states along the East Coast. Reward offered in his capture A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered for information leading directly to Hawkins’ arrest. Anyone with information is urged to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office or the U.S. Marshals Service Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102. © 2019 Cox Media Group. |
Atlanta is a city once called Terminus—a name that rivals only Nitro, WV for unalloyed industrial-metal awesomeness in these United States. But the city was restless, and full of shit. It changed its name to Atlanta, even though, as even my brain-damaged little brother once noticed, it’s nowhere near the fucking ocean. “Which way to the ocean, brah?” he asked. I pointed east, from Cincinnati. “Which way to Atlanta?” Yes, Atlanta could have been Terminus, but it turned out to be Goodie Mob minus Cee Lo at best, Raven Symone’s overappreciated fourth album at worst. Like the city itself, I was restless and shit-stuffed when I touched down. “I threw a wish in the well/Don’t ask me, I’ll never tell,” a bass-heavy, purposely slowed down Carly Rae Jepsen sang as I deplaned at Atlanta’s supermassive Hartsfield-Jackson airport. “I looked to you as it fell/And now you’re in my way,” Jepsen continued, sounding eerily like the serial killer from Silence of the Lambs. (“Put the lotion in the basket!” ricochets through my head.) Right now the long trek from plane to baggage claim stands between me and a long weekend in the ATL. “I’d trade my soul for a wish.” Indeed, right now I wish that this airport wasn’t longer than fucking Game of Thrones. This place has characters on characters. “Pennies and dimes for a kiss/I wasn’t looking for this.” Well, in my case the airport’s shuttle turned out to be the “this” I failed to envision, resulting in my idiotic and painful schlep from Gate Bumblefuck to baggage, consuming a full 20 minutes instead of five. During the interminable commute from plane to exit I promised to make Shlomo’s 27 minute BBC mix tape, containing his twisted refraction of Jepsen’s iconic song “Call Me Maybe,” the soundtrack for the next 30 minutes, the opening refrain to my temporary Southern existence. “Your stare was holdin’/Ripped jeans, skin was showin’.” I can say Carly got this one right because everyone in the airport seemed to be living in some sort of transportational coma, as my fellow transients adopted a glazed stare that could pass for eroticism or indolence, depending. As I soon learned, it’s just a cocktail of Type 5 Diabetes and freebase Krispy Kreme that creates this somnambulatory effect. Sure, someone from Cincinnati, Ohio (Northern Kentucky for some observers) probably shouldn’t throw stones at a burgeoning metropolis like Atlanta. In Cinci we think chili is fucking fast food; we also think it’s the same thing as ground beef and tomato sauce, and that it deserves to be oozed over pasta. Basically, we think we’re on the verge of inventing spaghetti, but haven’t quite cracked the code yet. It’s sad. Well, fear not, Clement has no desire to throw stones—boulders yes, stones no. When I finally reach baggage claim, my ride, ToM editors Ryan Reft and Alex “Sayf” Cummings seem more interested in discussing the spatial layout of airports and their “semiotic meaning” for “working class bodies” than driving me anywhere. When I ask about public transport to the airport, like light rail, Cummings begins frothing at the mouth, like a rabid dog or someone unaware of the proper way to consume Alka Seltzer. To be honest, I only caught every other word because I’m too busy trying to figure out how godawful hot it is outside. Needless to say, there is not light rail. “Hot night, wind was blowin’/Where do you think you’re going, baby?” Exactly the question I am wondering when we walk out to the car. It feels like hot dog’s breath on my neck; the breeze reminds of working in a kennel for quadriplegic dachshunds. Still, Atlanta’s sprawl has a certain rolling charm, or at least from 30,000 feet it does. What treasures await us this weekend? What artifacts of ATL existence will we uncover? What hipster bar has the best Old Fashioned made out of Kool Aid? “Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy,” Jepsen’s altered voice intones, “But here’s my number, So call me, maybe!” Atlanta, no maybes, I’m here—call me. The New South, the “city too busy hate,” Split Wet Beaver, Gate City, Gaytown—such nicknames have long attested to Atlanta’s prominent place in the new southern amalgam. While historians Kevin Kruse and Matthew Lassiter have demonstrated the dubious nature of this claim, Atlanta remains the capital of the modern South. Like a Dixie land Chicago, it has plenty of diversity but little sense of integration. Okay, it’s not uniformly true. In Little Five Points you might see black and white young’ins in their mid 20s and early 30s casually rubbing their sleeve tattoos, playing a fiddle in the alley like some kind of 1930s hobo or wandering the aisles of American Apparel searching for that “perfect t-shirt.” East Atlanta Village also has its share of integration, though it also has the occasional shooting. What did Killer Mike say? “Even though it’s blacktop from the mayors to the cops, Black blood still gets spilled.” This kind of disjunction encapsulates the city. Atlanta’s magnificence seems at once obvious and obscure, a metropolis with a deep history that lays largely in ashes beneath its rebuilt exterior. Simultaneously the New South capital and a crown jewel of black America, yet in and around the city, whites and blacks live separate lives. Greenery everywhere, but few public spaces in which to enjoy it; a city desperately in need of public transportation but, as evidenced by recent elections, resolutely against it. On Saturday nights the heathen descend upon the town’s watering holes and Sunday morning these same sinners kneel asking for God’s providence and forgiveness. As the Drive by Truckers might attest, it’s that Southern duality thing. On arriving in the Big A, I was shuttled to the tender bosom of East Atlanta, a neighborhood as well-known for sightings of Andre 3000 cashing in Scoutmob coupons at Dollar Sushi night as it is for cold-blooded murder. This bustling beachhead of gentrification brings together an eclectic mix of punks, drunks, librarians, and budding Manhattan Institute-style neocons, stockpiling guns to fight the onslaught of the life-threatening graffiti brigades. It is the new white Atlanta at its very cuspiness. Still, Republican suburbanites find themselves bewildered as to why anyone would want to live there, while the erstwhile masters of the neighborhood’s middle class hatcheries begin to wonder if it’s time to leave as soon as the wee baby Seamus pops out. My minders seemed uncomfortable early on in the visit—particularly “Sayf,” who evoked a North Korean tour guide in his evasive answers and relentless adherence to an official, booster-ish script about the city. “Oh, Buckhead? It’s shit. Carpetbagger?! Nah, not in Atlanta.” As soon as the bags were dropped they hurried me off to the Old Fourth Ward, a neighborhood that allegedly was once the heart of black commercial and religious life in the city. A scale replica of MLK’s famous Ebenezer Baptist Church notwithstanding, the “O4W” appeared to be little more than the latest out-of-the-box, no-assembly-required cluster of hipsters that every American city—even the execrable Richmond, VA—can somehow manage to order off eBay. There were tight pants, there were lesbians; kitsch was laughed at. They must sell the blueprints for this stuff in the Sears Roebuck catalog, because ATL has a video “barcade” much like Brooklyn. It has a hilariously snazzy and upscale “Harold’s Chicken and Ice Bar,” apparently franchised out of Chi town’s legendary glory hole. There’s Vesuvius pizza, with a “secret” speakeasy tucked away behind a moving bookcase/door. I can’t remember where I’ve seen this before, but I’m cranky about it. Probably during my long (and successful, if grad school is about manufacturing misery; unsuccessful if it means anything else) sojourn as a grad student in NYC. It’s like that old scene on the Dick Cavett show, where Yoko says that James Thurber stole his drawing style from John Lennon, and John is all like, “Uh, well Mother…” Get me back to Cincinnati. Yes, Atlanta is a city that believes its own bullshit. Or more than half believes it, if not quite completely. It’s kind of like its notorious pastor Eddie Long, who tells congregants that they can get rich by loving the old JC and dropping a hundy in the offering plate. His own glittering bank account lends credence both to God’s providence and the wisdom of Eddie’s own creed, but there must be a nagging doubt in there somewhere, about whether Atlanta’s future of violence and traffic congestion will be the unmitigated glory its pious people have been promised. At least Atlanta gets Eddie. The little-city-that-could-not-quite-be-Atlanta, Charlotte, NC, remains defined by its disgraced pastor Jim Bakker, who won fame by spending desperate pensioners’ donations to air condition his dog house. And ATL does have Creflo Dollar, so they get points for that. And it’s not like its totally devoid of its own history. Head on over to Grant Park where you can sit back and watch the Cyclorama, a giant moving painting of the Battle of Atlanta. It looks straight out of a brochure from the ‘70s—the fucking 1870s. To be honest, it’s sort of like going to the planetarium for the Pink Floyd laser show but getting there and realizing, nope its Nathan Bedford Forrest T-shirt night. “First one hundred customers get to deny ‘white privilege.’” But wait, there’s more. While you’re picking hipster pretentiousness out of your hair over at MLK’s spot, saunter over to Margaret Mitchell’s home. Her tiny apartment remains open to the public though considering she wrote white people’s favorite Civil War novel, her housing accommodations might make one pause before pursuing a career in writing. “As God is my witness I’ll never be hungry again.” Well actually, if this is how it all ends I think I’ll stick with digging ditches or turning tricks. Is it weird MLK’s crib sits caddy corner from the home of a novelist who glorified the “Old South”? Yes, it’s right up there with Charleston, SC, where every monument reminds us of caucazoidian superiority. Whose idea was it to have a massive statue of John C. Calhoun overlook Charleston’s Holocaust memorial anyway? Does irony not exist in historic southern cities or am I just wallowing in Drive by Trucker southern duality bullshit? Yet, as far as I can tell from my brief tour of Atlanta’s hipster archipelago, its people can look to the future with hope. Atlanta is a thriving city, in the sense that it’s not full of people talking about how much cooler it was in the 1930s, or 1950s, or 1970s, or 1980s (we’re looking at you, NYC). Partly that’s because for a lot of people in Atlanta life in the 1930s would not have been so wonderful in the slightest. But its motto is Resurgens and its mythology is all about wanton, pointless destruction and subsequent self-reinvention—a good combination for the early 21st century. For all its faults, Atlanta is a place where “the Corner of Gay and Gay” is an internationally recognized landmark, and it boasts an impressive array of colleges and universities, even if some occasionally go out of business. Atlanta faces the Southeast the way New York faces the world, as an imperial city—a big, dense hunk of real estate, around which thousands of lesser rocks orbit. Except in Atlanta’s case the orbiting pebbles and satellites are Augusta, Ranlo, and Rock Hill, Birmingham and Erect, while New York’s are Paris, Amsterdam and Dakar. Shirtless no-accounts and slack-jawed misfits from the hinterland of Alabama and South Carolina come to seek their fortune in the big city™, whose most salient quality is its (relative) bigness. In this way, Atlanta is an all-purpose go-to place, sort of an Applebee’s to the Hooter’s of Nashville, a city that is self-aware enough to be “tacky yet delightfully unrefined.” |
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An Albuquerque man who said he was high on LSD caused a three-vehicle crash early Saturday that killed another driver, according to police. Robert Bosanko, 20, is charged with vehicular homicide in connection to the death of Michael Nwora. ADVERTISEMENTSkip Police said Bosanko was driving north on Coors “at a very high rate of speed” when he approached a red light at Montaño. He drove between two vehicles that were stopped at the light, sending his car spinning out of control, eventually landing on the north side of the intersection, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Nwora was driving one of the stopped vehicles. Bosanko ran from the scene of the wreck at Montaño and Coors, but was apprehended nearby wearing only a T-shirt and underwear. He told officers he’d taken LSD, and when one asked whether he was having a “good trip or bad trip,” Bosanko said he felt “free like a birdy.” Police said Bosanko was “making very odd statements” and “walking around on all fours like an animal.” He was taken to a local hospital, where he told an officer that he’d taken LSD “a while ago,” before removing his IVs. Medical staff had to strap him to his bed, which the officer said prevented him from conducting sobriety tests. “Robert would be laying on the bed and would laugh for no reason then cry,” the officer wrote in the complaint. He added that Bosanko was difficult to understand and at times incoherent. Online New Mexico court records indicate that Bosanko has no criminal history. His bond was set at $35,000 cash or surety. Information about Nwora was not available. |
(CNN) -- If the chaste Bella and Edward lived in writer J.R. Ward's world, they would have hit the sheets long ago. Ward is the New York Times best-selling author of the popular erotic romance series "Black Dagger Brotherhood," which follows the sexy adventures of a group of male vampires. And while she applauds author Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" success, Ward is the first to say they aren't vying for the same fans. "I do not want minors reading my books," Ward said. "Stephenie Meyer, in writing those great books, got a whole new generation interested in vampires and further cemented this romantic myth around them," Ward added. "A lot of her readers' mothers have in turn found my books." Yearning for the undead may be all the rage now, but vampire romance novels are nothing new. Ward is part of a group of writers who have flourished in a subgenre known as "paranormal romances" where the love -- and the sex -- is often out of this world. So are the profits. According to the Romance Writers of America, romance fiction generated $1.37 billion in sales in 2008. Judy Scott, media manager for the romance writers group, said romance novels sell really well, especially during tough economic times. The desire for a bloodsucker isn't that different from other love stories, she said. "It's a fairly traditional, forbidden romance story, with a twist," Scott said. "The cool thing is that apparently vampires are always handsome and debonair, although they are dead." Sandy Coleman, publisher/senior editor of All About Romance, said fans of the vampire romance novels are like any other romance reader who enjoys the fantasy of the story. "Definitely romances are an escape," Coleman said. "There are some very, very good writers writing romance these days." Coleman said there is no longer a stigma about being a romance fan. Her site has been online for 11 years and has about 360,000 visitors a month, she said. The site is often a place where intelligent women come to discuss their favorite romance novels, Coleman said. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to reading romance anymore," Coleman said. Things weren't quite like that when Laurell K. Hamilton got her start. The author said she was rejected more than 200 times when she first tried to get her books published. Now, more than 20 years later, her "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter" series is one of the best-selling in the genre. "Everything now that is so hot, when I was trying to sell this, nobody wanted it," said Hamilton, who is working on her 19th novel. "[Vampire novels] have never been as prominent in the media as they are now." Hamilton said she has gotten some crossover in fans of her books who have also read the "Twilight" series. The author said that in polling those readers, she learned that regardless of their ages, they found similar appeal in Edward and Bella's story. "They loved that [Edward] waited on the sex and was content to do that," Hamilton said. "Vampires have become the new Prince Charming." Hamilton, whose series features a strong, independent heroine, said she was a little blown away that women were still craving a white knight to sweep them off their feet. "One twentysomething woman explained it to me like this," Hamilton said. "She said 'Well, I just got out of college and I can't get a job, none of my friends can get jobs that will let us be able to move away from home, so if we can't wait for Prince Charming to come rescue us what are we going to do?' I thought that was interesting." That has gotten loyal readership for writers like Hamilton and Charlaine Harris, whose Sookie Stackhouse series was made into the wildly popular HBO series "True Blood." Heather Graham (not the actress) has written vampire novels under both her name and her pseudonym, Shannon Drake. Graham said she enjoys the creativity that comes with creating romances with vampires as the main characters. "There is total freedom," said Graham. "The only rules are once you make any, you then have to stick to them." Graham, whose book "Dust to Dust" melds two frightening topics as vampires seek to save Earth from the 2012 end of the world prophecy, said life can be fraught with lots of anxiety. Vampire romances are a good escape from that, she said. "You get to have something sexy, something edgy and something that is scary, but outside the realm of our everyday scary," Graham said. Ward said women gravitate toward vampire heartthrobs because the vampires are "always in 3-D." "They are deadly, they are dangerous and they are desirable," Ward said. "Big, bad, sexy and lethal, but redeemable is a great setup for a romantic hero." Suck on that, zombies! |
In the face of the ongoing terrorism threat in France, Paris’s iconic monument, the Eiffel Tower, will undergo a massive facelift to tighten security by next autumn. ADVERTISING Read more Heightened security measures around the capital's "iron lady" were put in place as early as 2012 during the European football championships. Temporary fences were installed last June, but these rather unattractive barriers will now become permanent with the placement of a 2.5 meter-high bulletproof glass wall, according to French daily Le Parisien. The security measures are part of a wider €300 million renovation plan to modernize the site over the next 15 years. The plan also involves a complete reorganisation of foot traffic around the tower, a series of maintenance works, and an improved visiting experience including a reduction in time spent in queues. The city council approved the project on January 31, just before the French capital launched its bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and the World Expo in 2025. |
Two And a Half Men Introduces New Lesbian Character Yesterday E! broke the news that long-running CBS series Two And a Half Men will be introducing a lesbian character for the eleventh season: E! News can exclusively report that the pivotal new role of Charlie Harper’s illegitimate daughter has been written as 21 years old, “sexy and gorgeous,” and gay. The new character, Jenny, will share many traits with her deceased father, including her love of women, per our sources. The Toast has procured an exclusive copy of the script for the episode introducing Charlie’s daughter to the gang (“Lesbians, Lesbians Everywhere And Not A Drop To Drink”). See the shocking excerpt below: INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY ASHTON KUTCHER is perched on the kitchen table playing Candy Crush. ANGUS JONES, surrounded by luggage, is saying goodbye to JON CRYER. JONES:…And that’s why it’s really important for me to go to college. I hope you two have a great time without me, immorally touching women and also with your swears. I will miss you. CRYER (sadly): Now we are but two men. KUTCHER: [plays Candy Crush audibly] The doorbell rings. JONES and CRYER react in genuine surprise. KUTCHER does not move. CRYER opens the door. CHARLIE SHEEN enters, wearing a cheap woman’s wig and carrying a stained backpack. CRYER: Jesus. Charlie? What are you doing here? SHEEN: (stiltedly, as if reading aloud): No, I am not Charlie, although he is my deceased father. I am Jennifer, Charlie’s sexy and gorgeous lesbian daughter. CRYER: I– SHEEN (hurriedly): Who is 21. Charlie’s sexy and gorgeous lesbian daughter who is 21. CRYER looks offstage, panicked. CRYER: Oh. Well…it’s good to…meet you, Jennifer. What brings you to town? SHEEN (stiltedly, as if reading aloud): I share many traits with my deceased father, including her love of women. His love of women. JONES (gamely): Oh. Well. SHEEN: I have come to avenge my father’s death. SHEEN appears to be having difficulty breathing. He is visibly pale. He sits down heavily on the couch, closes his eyes, and appears to immediately fall asleep. Moments later, he jerks awake. SHEEN: I will be your half-man! I will be your lesbian! CRYER: Charlie, is that blood? On your backpack? SHEEN: It’s a lot of things. I’m not–I’m not a backpack expert. Fluid is, fluids are attracted to backpacks, so I don’t know. It could be a lot of things. CRYER: Could one of the things be blood? SHEEN: I don’t know. CRYER: Whose blood is it, Jennifer? SHEEN: I said I don’t know. Maybe it’s the backpack’s. CRYER turns away. JONES looks at him anxiously, as if for guidance. CRYER: I can’t do this. Charlie, I can’t do this. SHEEN: I am not Charlie. Charlie is dead, and I am his lesbian daughter Jennifer, who shares many traits with her deceased father, including– CRYER: You know I’ve been doing this show for ten years? SHEEN: Including his love of women– CRYER: I don’t even have a parking spot on the set anymore. Do you know that? They paved over that section of the lot during the summer break and they kept saying We’ll get you a new one, we’re going to paint you a new one, but they never did. And you just leave. Your parking spot is still reserved, by the way. I asked if I could have it and they said they’d look into it but they never did, and then Ashton shows up and I don’t think he’s ever even read the scripts– KUTCHER (without looking up): I told you, I won’t read something unless it’s texted to me. That’s in my contract. CRYER (breaking down): The girls from the Big Bang Theory threw garbage at me this morning for ten minutes. They rubbed it in my hair. JONES: Jon, I’m so sorry– CRYER: Mayim Bialik just kept laughing and laughing. SHEEN: Jesus. CRYER: They rubbed it in my hair. JONES: Is that what that– CRYER: Yes, Angus, that’s what that smell is. I don’t normally smell like garbage. JONES: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean– CRYER: I am a good person. I take showers. I don’t smell like garbage. JONAS (worried): No, you smell good, Jon. You do. You really do. People are always saying that, how good you smell. CRYER: My whole life is garbage. Everyone else gets to come and go and I’m just stuck here on this fucking set smelling like garbage and I’m not even, I’m not even the main character in my own fucking life. He begins to weep. No one moves. CRYER: You didn’t even say goodbye. When you left. SHEEN: Jon, I–There’s nothing else out there. There’s nothing else out there for me. I didn’t want to say goodbye because I was ashamed. Okay? I was ashamed. And then I couldn’t call, because I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t doing well. I’ve been sleeping in that parking spot for three weeks. CRYER: Good. SHEEN: You don’t mean that. Jon, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m really, really sorry. SHEEN runs his hands through his hair. The wig falls to the floor. Everyone is silent. SHEEN: Damn…lesbian alopecia. Just like Dad’s. Just like what killed Dad. KUTCHER (without looking up): Are we still shooting? I’m giving a TED Talk in like an hour. CRYER: It’s fine, Ashton. You can go. KUTCHER: It’s for this app where every time you level up in Candy Crush–shit, shit, it’s striped, it’s striped— CRYER: Don’t worry about it. KUTCHER: Someone in Africa gets… CRYER: Have a good time, Ashton. He leaves through the set door without looking up. KUTCHER (offstage, almost inaudibly): Someone in Africa gets another app. Silence once again. SHEEN (softly, as if to himself): Pri-va-ate eyes, they’re watching you… CRYER: Are you singing “Private Eyes”? SHEEN (realizing): Oh. Huh. Yeah, I guess I am. CRYER: It’s a good song. SHEEN: It’s a great song. CRYER: It’s a great song. The two of them make eye contact. SHEEN smiles tentatively. After a moment, so does CRYER. CRYER: It’s good to have you back. Really good. It’s great, even. Jennifer. SHEEN: They something every move… TOGETHER: Pri-va-ate eyes, they’re watching you… FADE TO BLACK |
Passports issued under ‘golden visa’ scheme raises €4bn since 2013, according to papers seen by the Guardian Billionaire Russian oligarchs and Ukrainian elites accused of corruption are among hundreds of people who have acquired EU passports under controversial “golden visa” schemes, the Guardian has learnt. The government of Cyprus has raised more than €4bn since 2013 by providing citizenship to the super rich, granting them the right to live and work throughout Europe in exchange for cash investment. More than 400 passports are understood to have been issued through this scheme last year alone. Prior to 2013, Cypriot citizenship was granted on a discretionary basis by ministers, in a less formal version of the current arrangement. A leaked list of the names of hundreds of those who have benefited from these schemes, seen by the Guardian, includes prominent businesspeople and individuals with considerable political influence. The ‘golden visa’ deal: ‘We have in effect been selling off British citizenship to the rich’ Read more The leak marks the first time a list of the super rich granted Cypriot citizenship has been revealed. A former member of Russia’s parliament, the founders of Ukraine’s largest commercial bank and a gambling billionaire are among the new names. The list sheds light on the little-known but highly profitable industry and raises questions about the security checks carried out on applicants by Cyprus. Beneficiaries of the pre-2013 schemes include an oligarch and art collector who bought a Palm Beach mansion from Donald Trump, and a Syrian businessman with close links to the country’s president, described in a leaked US diplomatic cable as a “poster boy for corruption” in war-torn Syria. European politicians have been watching the sector’s growth with alarm, with some saying the schemes undermine the concept of citizenship. Ana Gomes, a Portuguese MEP, described “golden visas” as “absolutely immoral and perverse”. “I’m not against individual member states granting citizenship or residence to someone who would make a very special contribution to the country, be it in arts or science, or even in investment. But granting, not selling,” she said. She added that she had attempted several times to obtain the names of golden visa buyers in Portugal, but without success. “Why the secrecy? The secrecy makes it very, very suspicious.” Last year Gomes tabled an amendment requiring countries to carry out thorough security checks on “golden visa” applicants, which is currently being reviewed by EU member states. The European Commission recently ordered its own inquiry into whether checks were being properly conducted. Launched in 2013, Cyprus’ current citizenship-by-investment scheme requires applicants to place €2m in property or €2.5m in companies or government bonds. There is no language or residency requirement, other than a visit once every seven years. Rami Makhlouf, the cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, was first placed under US sanctions in 2008 over allegations that he had benefited from corruption. Cyprus issued citizenship to him in 2010. It is unclear what due diligence checks the country carried out on his application. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rami Makhlouf, cousin of Bashar al-Assad was granted Cypriot citizenship in 2010. It was rescinded at the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Photograph: AP Makhlouf, who was subsequently sanctioned by the EU in 2011 and whose Cypriot citizenship was revoked after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, did not respond to requests for comment. Many other purchasers are prominent Russian businesspeople or politicians – “politically exposed persons” in industry parlance – requiring stringent checks on the sources of their wealth. The billionaire art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev found himself at the centre of international attention last year after it emerged that his private jet crossed paths with that of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. Rybolovlev denied meeting Trump and said the flight paths were a coincidence. In 2005, Trump paid $41m for 515 N County Road, a mansion in Florida’s Palm Beach. After renovating it, he sold it to Rybolovlev three years later for a reported $95m. The billionaires investing in Cyprus in exchange for EU passports Read more A spokesman for Rybolovlev, who acquired Cypriot citizenship in 2012 and is worth an estimated $7.4bn according to Forbes, said it was “natural [for him] to get citizenship upon becoming an investor in Bank of Cyprus”. The spokesman reiterated that Rybolovlev has never met Trump, and added that the Palm Beach mansion has been demolished and divided into three lots, one of which has been sold. The anti-corruption group Global Witness demanded tougher checks in response to the findings. “All countries offering golden visas must make sure the lure of investment doesn’t mean a race to the bottom on values. That means ensuring the sharpest of checks on applicants and safeguards on process,” the group said in a statement. “Without these, they risk offering a ‘get-out-of-jail free card’ to the corrupt and criminal.” Want to buy citizenship? It helps if you're one of the super-rich Read more The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus said the programme was intended for “genuine investors, who establish a business base and acquire a permanent residence in Cyprus”. They said that stringent checks were conducted on all citizenship by investment applications, with funds required to undergo money laundering checks by a Cypriot bank. They also observed that Cyprus was not the only EU country to have granted citizenship to high net-wealth Russians. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of beneficiaries. Makhlouf did not receive his citizenship through the current scheme, they said, adding that the launch of the 2013 scheme “established a much improved, transparent process for the examination of applications”, and that their decision to later revoke his citizenship was proof of their readiness to take corrective action. Additional reporting by Craig Shaw and Micael Pereira. This article was developed with the support of the Journalism Fund. • This article was amended on 18 September 2017. An earlier version said that Ana Gomes would table an amendment later this year. That amendment was tabled last year, and it is currently being reviewed by EU member states. |
Crowded into the Minneapolis mayor’s office, dozens of Minnesota Vikings fans surrounded Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to sing “Skol, Vikings!” and offer him beer from an animal horn. After two hours of debating public funding for professional sports, the city council voted 7-6 to support dedicating a series of local taxes to a new Vikings stadium at the site of the Metrodome. The decision all but ensures construction of a $975 million stadium in downtown Minneapolis starting next spring, and it ends more than a year of negotiations with lawmakers over the most high-profile public expenditure in recent city history. “I feel obviously incredibly happy to have this over,” said Rybak, who addressed a roomful of reporters and overjoyed Vikings fans after the vote. “This has been a bruising fight.” Rybak, once a critic of public funding for professional sports stadiums, told the council before the vote that no issue can be taken in isolation. The stadium legislation, he said, will provide needed tax relief for Minneapolis homeowners and long-sought funding to renovate the city’s Target Center while keeping the Vikings from relocating. Those three guarantees made a difficult decision more than palatable, he said. As Rybak walked into his office followed by a stream of news cameras, fans and critics, Laura Ross shouted, “The people want a vote!” from the hallway. Ross, an unemployed litigation paralegal from Minneapolis, said she could hardly stomach the city’s priorities. A provision in the city charter bars public funding for professional sport facilities beyond $10 million without a public referendum, but state lawmakers this year effectively overruled that requirement with language in the stadium legislation. “I am so mad,” she said. “How many millions of dollars are we spending, even over what the charter of the city of Minneapolis provides? … It makes us beholden to corporate interests. Zygi Wilf could have built this stadium himself.” The stadium debate, a political lightning rod, drew council member Sandy Colvin Roy to tears before the vote. “I had the word ‘courage’ said to me by supporters of this stadium legislation, and opponents of this stadium legislation,” she told the crowded council chamber. ” ‘Why don’t you get some courage?’ or ‘Thank you for your courage.’ “Whichever way you go, thousands of people will be mad at you.” Colvin Roy said she would vote in favor of the stadium financing plan because it removes the burden of paying for upkeep and renovations to Target Center from property owners. That burden will instead be covered by four sales taxes and shared with the city’s tourists and visitors. To pay for the city’s portion of the Vikings stadium, the plan extends the life on four existing sales taxes by decades: — A 0.5 percent citywide general sales tax. — A lodging tax on hotels of 50 rooms or more. — A downtown restaurant tax. — A downtown liquor tax. Revenue from those sales taxes also will be used to pay off Minneapolis Convention Center debts within the next 10 years. Any excess money can be used for economic development projects, including renovations to the Target Center. “This plan offers Minneapolis some financial stability. It’s not sexy,” Colvin Roy said. “I know it has not been a very easy task. It’s been a very difficult task.” After struggling over how to structure the city’s pension system last year, “the next unfunded liability out there was what to do about the Target Center,” she said. “This plan gives us a sustained, locked-in source of revenue that (we) can control.” Council member Cam Gordon said the plan mortgaged the city’s future, giving future city councils little to no leeway on how to spend sales tax money over the next 30 years. “We don’t have to start paying (for the stadium) until 2021, after we’ve paid off the convention center debt,” Gordon said. “In 2021, there’s going to be $19 million that we won’t be able to use to create jobs. In 2022, it’s going to be over $22 million that we won’t be able to use for economic development.” Said council member Elizabeth Glidden: “I’ve called it putting a 30-year straitjacket on Minneapolis sales taxes.” Council member Lisa Goodman compared the investment in the Vikings stadium to the council’s decision years ago to put $40 million toward the eternally struggling Block E development in downtown Minneapolis. “How’d that go?” she said. Friday’s vote was seen as the stadium’s last hurdle. The Legislature approved public funding for a new stadium, and Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill into law May 14. The 65,000-seat stadium will be built on the site of the Metrodome in time for the 2016 season. With the team chipping in $477 million, Minnesota will use taxes from new electronic charitable gambling games to add $348 million. The extended Minneapolis taxes will pay an additional $150 million toward construction. The taxes also will contribute toward stadium operating and capital improve- ment, beginning at $6 million a year and escalating over time. Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo. |
Here’s a phrase I bet you never expected to hear: “Hitler creamer.” Well, a Swiss company came under fire over the past day over a picture of Adolf Hitler being featured on their small creamer containers. Here’s the creamer in question: Oh, and some of them also had Benito Mussolini‘s face on them. So what did Migros, the Swiss retailer that makes the creamer, have to say? Well, they have no idea how it happened: Migros, a Swiss retail giant, said it did not know exactly how the image came to be on the label… Tristan Cerf, a spokesman for Migros, said by telephone from Lausanne on Wednesday that the company had been horrified by the failure of its internal controls to detect the images on its cream containers. See, what happened was they went to an outside company to make labels, and some of them happened to be of Hitler and Mussolini, but Cerf said he has no idea how they “got past our controls.” And just like creamer when you leave it out too long, this whole thing just smells rotten. [featured image via @dreierrp] — — Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com |
Fish and chip shop cooking oil being recycled at a business in Darwin. Former chef-cum-Darwin's "biodiesel warrior" Greg Henderson was elbow-deep in an industry of second-hand grease when the global price of crude oil started to tumble in 2014. Within weeks the humble entrepreneur was contemplating a price war with one of the world's biggest oil conglomerates. "We lost two clients in one week," Mr Henderson said. It is a common story in an Australian industry that, in the last few years, has faced business conditions described as "catastrophic" by one of the last remaining players. This is a change of fortunes from a decade ago, when a small yet vibrant biodiesel industry was in its infancy, offering 4WD owners and transport companies a cheap and low-emission alternative to diesel fuel. Mr Henderson stumbled into the biodiesel industry in 2006, after he bought a tiny deep-fryer cleaning business on a "strange whim" to help maintain his restaurant's kitchen. He was soon spending his mornings driving around to fish and chip shops, kebab stores and restaurants to remove their unwanted 20L tins of old cooking oil. "You tend to smell like the oil, each day and every day," he said. Mr Henderson initially sold the waste cooking oil to an Adelaide-based company, however after making a paltry $57.20 profit on a sale of 35,000L, started researching the process of refining vegetable oil into biodiesel. "You're recycling something to the nth degree by burning it as a fuel," he said. By 2013 Mr Henderson was collecting and refining tens of thousands of litres of biodiesel a week, had contracts with trucking companies, and was selling direct to car owners dismayed by a decade of high diesel prices. His sales point — a vintage pump salvaged from a petrol station. "All different kinds of people would come in. A lot of rural guys. Just Joe Blows. We had quite a few musicians. I couldn't say all of them were hippy types," Mr Henderson said. "A lot of them did it for price. When mineral diesel was running at $1.60 to $1.70, we were still around $1.25." Then in 2014, the crude oil price tanked amid a sudden drop in global demand, reducing biodiesel's hip-pocket allure and sending the broader oil market into a tailspin. Mr Henderson started receiving phone calls from local clients who said they were being made offers they could not refuse. "Caltex went in and said they would undercut me by one cent a litre on regular diesel, and they would deliver it for free," he said. "So that's 40,000 litres of biodiesel sales we lost in one week. We just went, nope." ASX-listed company goes into receivership At the bigger end of the market, there have also been tough times. Early this year, one of the country's biggest biodiesel companies, Australian Renewable Fuels, collapsed into voluntary administration, halting production at three processing plants across the country. As well as competitive oil prices, the ASX-listed company blamed its issues on a change in government support, citing "highly damaging" changes to the taxation of renewable fuels announced in the 2014 federal budget. Until July 2016, domestically produced biodiesel paid no excise due to the Cleaner Fuels Grant Scheme, but that scheme has been axed and the country's few remaining biodiesel plants face rising overheads. Ethanol, another renewable fuel produced from alcohol, was also hit in the 2014 budget. Doug Stuart, technical development manager of Queensland-based biodiesel plant EcoTech, said the industry was currently only paying a few cents a litre in excise but that was set to ramp up "significantly" by 2021. "It'll get to a point where the excise which is being applied to the fuel will strangle the industry to a point where it can no longer be profitable," he said. Mr Stuart said EcoTech had already been seriously struggling since late 2015, when oil prices dropped again. "Goodness, we would have seen a 90 per cent decline in our volume over that time. It's catastrophic. I don't want to play that down," he said. "We've lost a lot of investment in this sector because the Government will have a position now and then will change that position. "[That] hurts us and I think you'll see that right across the renewables sector." Yet Mr Stuart said there was no single issue to blame for the downturn, with other factors including a hike in the price of tallow, the waste animal fat also refined into biodiesel by major processing facilities. "The government backing of biofuels in Europe and United States has also put an upwards pressure on the tallow and raw materials," Mr Stuart said. "Because those markets are being supportive, we're seeing Australia be a net exporter of those raw materials, rather than Australia value adding to the raw materials." Glimmer of hope for Queensland biodiesel market For EcoTech, there is a glimmer of hope. From January 1 2017, the Queensland Government is introducing a mandate which means biodiesel has to make up half a per cent of the diesel available for sale, with ethanol receiving a 3 per cent mandate for regular unleaded petrol sales. Mr Stuart said the mandate will have a "huge benefit", but only if it is strictly enforced. Meanwhile, AFR's receiver told ABC this week that it was "hopeful" about a recent upwards trend in the price of oil. Back in Darwin, Mr Henderson has gotten out of biodiesel entirely, and has switched to selling his old fryer oil to a less volatile industry that pays the bills — the animal feed market. "I think a lot of people jumped on the [biodiesel] bandwagon and didn't really know what they were doing," he said. He said it is unrealistic to believe old cooking oil or animal fats will ever solve the world's looming energy crisis, and that the Australian renewable fuels industry needs to broaden its imagination. In recent years, some have been looking towards old tyres or seaweed crops, and in Canberra there are plans for a facility that converts non-recyclable plastics into diesel and petrol. Yet Mr Henderson still has a lingering passion for the environmental ethos behind biodiesel, and urged the Federal Government to set a 5 per cent national mandate to save the remaining industry. "Will it ever be the solution to everything? No. Will it be part of the solution? I think it will be," he said. |
Prioritizing national sovereignty over alliances, President Donald Trump is poised to outline a new national security strategy that envisions nations in a perpetual state of competition, reverses Obama-era warnings on climate change, and de-emphasizes multinational agreements that have dominated the United States' foreign policy since the Cold War. The Republican president, who ran on a platform of "America First," will detail his plan Monday, one that if fully implemented could sharply alter the United States' relationships with the rest of the world. The plan, according to senior administration officials who offered a preview Sunday, is to focus on four main themes: protecting the homeland and way of life; promoting American prosperity; demonstrating peace through strength; and advancing American influence in an ever-competitive world. Trump's doctrine holds that nation states are in perpetual competition and that the U.S. must fight on all fronts to protect and defend its sovereignty from friend and foe alike. While the administration often says that "America First" does not mean "America Alone," the national security strategy to be presented by Trump will make clear that the United States will stand up for itself even if that means acting unilaterally or alienating others on issues like trade, climate change and immigration, according to people familiar with the strategy. The last such strategy document, prepared by then-President Barack Obama in 2015, declared climate change an "urgent and growing threat to our national security." A senior official said the Trump plan removes that determination — following the administration's threat to pull out of the Paris climate accord — but will mention the importance of environmental stewardship. Despite the risk of potential isolation presented by Trump's strategy, its fundamentals are not a surprise. The Associated Press last week reviewed excerpts of a late draft of the roughly 70-page document and spoke to two people familiar with it. The draft emphasizes that U.S. economic security is national security and that economic security must be ensured with military might. And they said it would stress the U.S. is interested only in relationships with other countries, including alliances like NATO, that are fair and reciprocal. Trump, according to the senior officials, is also expected to discuss threats he'll deem as "rogue regimes," like North Korea, and "revisionist powers," like Russia and China, who aim to change the status quo, such as Moscow and its actions with Ukraine and Georgia, and Beijing in the South China Sea. Trump is also planning to renew his call for the member states in the United Nations and NATO to spend more on defense, saying that the United States will insist on its alliances being fair and reciprocal. The senior officials said the document refers to China as a "strategic competitor," rather than the stronger accusation of "economic aggression" previewed last week by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Despite international challenges, the document cites emerging opportunities to advance American interests in the Middle East. "Some of our partners are working together to reject radical ideologies and key leaders are calling for a rejection of Islamist extremism and violence," it says. "Encouraging political stability and sustainable prosperity would contribute to dampening the conditions that fuel sectarian grievances." The strategy document asserts that "for generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from radical jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region's problems. States have increasingly found common interests with Israel in confronting common threats." The president is also set to make the case that U.S. economic security is national security and that economic security must be ensured with military might. The criticism of Russia will come as a break from recent warm words between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders have spoken twice in four days, with Trump calling Putin to thank him for kind words about the U.S. stock market and Putin reaching out to Trump to thank the CIA for help in stopping a terror plot in St. Petersburg. The strategy document will not make explicit reference to Russian attempts to meddle in the U.S. political system, but an official said it would highlight the importance of ensuring the resilience of U.S. democratic institutions. The early draft of the strategy reviewed by the AP lamented that America had put itself at a disadvantage by entering into multinational agreements, such as those aimed at combating climate change and introducing domestic policies to implement them. The senior officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan before the president's remarks. |
MAYWOOD, Ill., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The so-called hair of the dog -- the notion that having a drink can relieve a hangover -- only makes a hangover worse, a U.S. family physician advises. Dr. Aaron Michelfelder of the Loyola University Health System says there are several things people can do to avoid the misery of a New Year's hangover. Before a party, plan to drink moderately -- a maximum of five drinks for men and three drinks for women during a minimum 3-hour period -- and to prevent inflammation, take an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen or Aleve, Michelfelder says. During the party, Michelfelder advises, eat first and then drink -- not the other way around -- because food slows the absorption of alcohol. Drink slowly, drink a glass of water after each alcoholic drink to prevent dehydration and take a B vitamin supplement. After the party Michelfelder reminds everyone to not drink and drive and to get as much sleep as possible. "The morning after: Take another B vitamin, drink lots of water and exercise if you can. During vigorous exercise, blood circulates three times as fast as it does when you are sitting on the couch and the faster you circulate blood through your liver and kidneys, the faster your body will remove the toxins," Michelfelder said. "However, what won't work is more alcohol or coffee." |
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998. Its key areas were the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex Offender Orders, Parenting Orders, granting local authorities more responsibilities with regards to strategies for reducing crime and disorder, and the introduction of law specific to 'racially aggravated' offences. The Act also abolished rebuttable presumption that a child is doli incapax (the presumption that a person between ten and fourteen years of age is incapable of committing an offence) and formally abolished the death penalty for the last offences carrying it, namely treason and piracy. The bill had also included changes to change the age of consent for homosexual acts from 18 to 16,[2] however this was removed by the House of Lords and was eventually passed in the Sexual Offences Act two years later. Main provisions [ edit ] Anti-Social Behaviour Orders [ edit ] The Act introduced a civil remedy called the Anti-social behaviour order (or ASBO). These orders are made against people who have engaged in anti-social behaviour which in the United Kingdom is defined as "conduct which caused or was likely to cause alarm, harassment, or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as him or herself and where an ASBO is seen as necessary to protect relevant persons from further anti-social acts by the Defendant". In England and Wales, the orders are made by the Magistrates' courts and in Scotland by the Sheriff courts. The provisions of the 1998 Act have since been modified by the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003. Sex Offender Orders [ edit ] In England and Wales, a Sex Offender Order is a similar concept to the Anti-Social Behaviour Order with the key difference being that it is specifically aimed at those people in society that are deemed "sex offenders". The Act allows a police officer to approach the Magistrates' Court and show that he has reasonable cause to believe that there is a need for an order to be made to protect the public from harm. The conditions placed in such an order are those that are needed to prevent harm to the public. The order can be made for a minimum of 5 years unless the court upholds a complaint for the order to varied or discharged. A breach of a Sex Offender Order renders the person to which the order applies, liable for imprisonment, on summary conviction, for up to six months or on conviction on indictment, up to five years and/or a fine. The act only applies to those people that are defined as a 'sex offender' per Section 3(1) of the act or namely that the person has been convicted of an offence under Part I of the Sex Offenders Act 1997, was found not guilty as a result of insanity, or has been cautioned for such an offence and at the time admitted it or has been convicted of a similar offence in any country outside of the United Kingdom and the offence would have been deemed a sexual offence under UK law. Parenting Orders [ edit ] In England and Wales, a Parenting Order is an order made against the parent(s) of a child which has been given an Anti-Social Behaviour Order, has been convicted of an offence, or the parent has been convicted of an offence under section 443 or 444 of the Education Act 1996. Its aim is that parents must adhere to the conditions to stop their child from behaving similarly, failure to do so will lead to their conviction. The order can be made for a period not exceeding 12 months. There are restrictions on orders being made that interfere with the parents' or child's religious beliefs or that interfere with the times which the parent normally attends work or an educational institution. If the parenting order is breached, the parent(s) could be liable to a fine, not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.[3] Racially or religiously aggravated offences [ edit ] In England and Wales, Sections 28 to 32 of the Act create separate offences for crimes that were aggravated by the victim's race or religion or presumed race or religion. They did not originally apply to crimes that are aggravated by the offender's perception of the victim's membership of a religion but it was amended by section 39 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. Racially or religiously aggravated assaults [ edit ] Serious violent offences [ edit ] Section 29(1)(a) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated wounding or infliction of bodily harm. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (see grievous bodily harm) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. Section 29(1)(b) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (see assault occasioning actual bodily harm) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of either of these offences is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.29(2)). Common assault [ edit ] Section 29(1)(c) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated common assault. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits a common assault which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. This offence is triable either way. A person guilty of this offence is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.29(3)). Racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage [ edit ] Section 30(1) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 1(1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 (see also criminal damage) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of this offence is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.30(2)). Racially or religiously aggravated public order offences [ edit ] Fear or provocation of violence and intentional harassment, alarm or distress [ edit ] Section 31(1)(a) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated fear or provocation of violence. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986 (see fear or provocation of violence) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. Section 31(1)(b) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 (see intentional harassment, alarm or distress) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of either of these offences is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.31(4)). Harassment, alarm or distress [ edit ] Section 31(1)(c) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress. A person is guilty of this offence if he commits an offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 (see harassment, alarm or distress) which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of this offence is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (s.29(3)). Arrest [ edit ] Sections 31(2) and (3) formerly provided a statutory power of arrest for offences under section 31(1). They were repealed by section 174 of, and Part 2 of Schedule 17 to, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. Racially or religiously aggravated harassment etc. [ edit ] Harassment [ edit ] A person is guilty of an offence under section 32(1)(a) if he commits an offence under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of this offence is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.32(3)). Putting people in fear of violence [ edit ] A person is guilty of an offence under section 32(1)(b) if he commits an offence under section 4 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 which is racially or religiously aggravated within the meaning of section 28. A person guilty of this offence is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, or to a fine, or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both (s.32(4)). In Scotland, Section 33 amended the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 by inserting a new section 50A. This creates the offence of racially aggravated harassment. Local authority responsibilities [ edit ] Each Local Authority[4] in England and Wales was given the responsibility to formulate and implement a strategy to reduce crime and disorder in their area.[5] The Act also requires the local authority to work with every police authority, probation authority, Strategic health authority, social landlords, the voluntary sector, and local residents and businesses. Known as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England, and Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales, the Home Office may require any Partnership to supply details of their community safety arrangements.[6] Other provisions [ edit ] Section 34 of the Act abolished the rebuttable presumption that a child (defined as a person under fourteen but over the age of ten) is incapable of committing an offence (doli incapax). Section 36 of the Act abolished the death penalty for all offences of treason and for the offence of piracy with violence (under the Piracy Act 1837), replacing it with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Case law [ edit ] On 28 February 2007, the House of Lords ruled[7] that use of the expletive "bloody foreigner" amounted to racial abuse under the Act, and held that the legal definition of "racial group" went beyond colour, race or ethnic origin to include nationality, citizenship and national origin – even if they were not specified in the words used by the offender. Baroness Hale stated that such conduct was not only deeply hurtful, damaging and disrespectful to the victim, but also to the community as a whole "by denying acceptance to members of certain groups not for their own sake but for the sake of something they can do nothing about".[8] See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] |
We’ve exhausted almost every possible option for the Detroit Lions at No. 21 overall, but what about the guys that get almost no love? I’m talking about the Day 3 fringe players that rarely pan out, but when they do, it makes the general manager look like a complete genius. The Lions have had their fair share of late-round picks (and even undrafted free agents) contributing for them in recent past, and since they have so many holes to fill on both sides of the ball, I decided to present one late-round option for each position that the Lions should target (not including specialists). Offense QB Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee) With Dan Orlovsky’s departure, don’t be surprised if the Lions choose to draft a quarterback in the later rounds for the second year in a row. We know this team loves to have smart guys holding clipboards while they watch Matthew Stafford sling the ball, and there may not be a smarter QB in this class than Joshua Dobbs, who majored in aerospace engineering. His smarts go beyond the classroom, and while it’s unlikely that he would seize the backup QB role from Jake Rudock right away, Dobbs would be a nice addition as a No. 3. Dobbs was hardly asked to look beyond his first read in Tennessee’s rhythmic offense and will need to clean up his throwing motion before he makes a run at the backup job. According to PFF’s draft guide (which can be purchased for $19.95), Dobbs was the most accurate deep ball thrower in this year’s class with an adjusted completion percentage of 56.3 percent (16 TDs and 4 INTs). RB Brandon Wilson (Houston) There isn’t a whole lot of tape to go on with Wilson, who played both running back and cornerback for the Cougars, but after a staggering performance at his pro day, he’s been the hot name among the draft community. *Shoutout to our own Kent Lee Platte for his work this year on RAS and being available to get me these RAS cards whenever I need them. Wilson is an elite athlete at both running back and cornerback, but most scouts are projecting him to move back to the offensive side of the ball. Regardless, Wilson will likely be a late-round flyer for any team looking for a developmental pick with a ton of upside and potential. WR Robert Davis (Georgia State) Davis was a no-star recruit out of high school and accepted his only scholarship offer by committing to Georgia State. He managed decent production for the Panthers despite having three different starting QBs spanning his four-year career. As shown above, Davis sports a very large frame for the position and is a phenomenal athlete. His length paired with his explosive lower body grants him a vast catch radius. Many outlets have Davis going in the sixth round or later, but I believe some team will jump on him earlier than that. TE Pharaoh Brown (Oregon) Brown has a very interesting story coming out of Oregon. In November of 2014, Brown suffered a brutal leg injury in Oregon’s win over Utah. Though fully recovered now, the injury was so bad at the time that Brown nearly had to have his leg amputated after complications. Pairing Brown’s alleged character concerns with his medical history may result in him falling to the later rounds, and some draft outlets even have him projected to go undrafted. Brown has great size for the position (6-foot-6, 255 pounds) along with the largest wingspan (84 1⁄ 2 inches) of any TE in this class. He has experience as an in-line blocker, H-back and in the slot and could be a nice low risk/high reward option for the Lions late in the draft. OL Jermaine Eluemunor (Texas A&M) Eluemunor is a large man at 6-foot-4, 332 pounds, but he moves a lot quicker than you’d expect and could play right tackle at the next level if he had a longer reach. He has just one year of starting experience under his belt and played both guard and tackle for the Aggies, but will play his best football at guard in the NFL. Jermaine Eluemunor's incomplete #RAS shows some pretty good athleticm. Elite if kicked to guard. pic.twitter.com/huxWnNvpI8 — Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 1, 2017 Eluemunor posted some big boy numbers on the bench press and it shows on tape. His technique is a work in progress and he often stalemates with his assignments on natural strength alone, but once he improves on his hand placement, the sky is the limit for him. As of now, Eluemunor projects as an early-to-mid Day 3 prospect by most draft outlets. Defense DL Treyvon Hester (Toledo) This is a really bad year for any team looking to add a pass rushing defensive tackle. Hester is one of the few pure 3-techs in this class that has some athleticism and quickness off the snap to provide some disruption in the backfield. With Hester, you’re essentially getting another Gabe Wright—rotational 3-tech—at a much cheaper cost (sixth round or later). EDGE Keionta Davis (Chattanooga) Davis was invited to the Senior Bowl this year and did not disappoint during week-long practices. He had great production against mediocre competition throughout his career with a combined 31 sacks, 43 tackles for a loss and eight forced fumbles, though he more than held his own when asked to play some of the top teams in the country. EDGE Keionta Davis (Chattanooga, 6'4", 260lbs) really doesn't look out of place vs. Bama. Held his own vs. blockers. Creates some pressure. pic.twitter.com/6GYx8vMq4x — My Colts Account (@MyColtsAccount) March 30, 2017 Davis tested well at his pro day, reaching 37 inches on the vertical jump as well as running a 4.73 40-yard dash and posting 30 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press. A major concern with Davis is the fact that he was unable to participate during the NFL Combine due to a cervical spine issue. I’m sure teams will look very closely into that issue, if they haven’t already. LB Dylan Cole (Missouri State) Cole has the athleticism and production (over 450 career tackles) that warrants a late-round pick no matter what you see on tape. At his pro day, Cole ran in the low 4.5s and put himself in the 90th percentile or higher in almost every category among all linebackers that have tested since 1999. Though his mental processing and awareness isn’t quite up to snuff yet, Cole is a high effort player with great leadership, can help out right away on special teams and has the potential to develop into a starting WILL or MIKE in Detroit’s 4-3 system. CB/S Jeremy Cutrer (Middle Tennessee State) MTSU is a school that has churned out some really good, under the radar talent lately with Kevin Byard last year, Cutrer and I’Tavius Mathers this year, and then you have guys like Richie James (remember this name) and Brent Stockstill, who I believe will get some much deserved recognition as draft eligible prospects next year. Lions general manager Bob Quinn was on hand for MTSU’s pro day in mid-March and was likely there to get a good look at Cutrer, who has the skills to play both safety and cornerback as long as he begins to add some more muscle to his rail thin frame (6-foot-1, 168 pounds). MTSU's Jeremy Cutrer needs more love. Great instincts in off/zone coverage. Does a nice job of planting foot and breaking on the ball here pic.twitter.com/HR29JDB3ta — Alex Reno (@alex_reno) March 30, 2017 Most project Cutrer going in the fourth or fifth round, but I could see him going as high as Day 2 after an impressive showing at his pro day. S Jordan Sterns (Oklahoma State) I’ve talked extensively about the top cover safeties in this year’s draft, but the Lions could still be searching for an in-the-box safety that can tackle and provide special teams value. Sterns is a box safety only that struggles when asked to cover in space, but he is a tackling machine, accumulating over 300 tackles in his three years as a starter. He is reportedly a great locker room presence and would provide value and depth in the later rounds. |
Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla are gunning for Kumar Sangakkara's No. 1 ranking © Getty Images ICC Test rankings Batsmen : 1. Kumar Sangakkara (-), 2. Jacques Kallis (+2), 3. Hashim Amla (+3), 4. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (-2), 5. AB de Villiers (-2), 6. Graeme Smith (+4) : 1. Kumar Sangakkara (-), 2. Jacques Kallis (+2), 3. Hashim Amla (+3), 4. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (-2), 5. AB de Villiers (-2), 6. Graeme Smith (+4) Bowlers : 1. Dale Steyn (-), 2. Saeed Ajmal (-), 3. Rangana Herath (+1), 4. Vernon Philander (+1), 5. James Anderson (-2), 6. Morne Morkel (+4), Ben Hilfenhaus (+1), Peter Siddle (+1) : 1. Dale Steyn (-), 2. Saeed Ajmal (-), 3. Rangana Herath (+1), 4. Vernon Philander (+1), 5. James Anderson (-2), 6. Morne Morkel (+4), Ben Hilfenhaus (+1), Peter Siddle (+1) Click for ICC Test rankings South Africa's batsmen have surged up the ICC Test rankings to occupy four of the top six spots after their colossal performance in the first Test at The Oval. Jacques Kallis is at No. 2, Hashim Amla (3), AB de Villiers (5) and Graeme Smith (6). Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara remained No. 1, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul dropped two spots to No. 4. Kallis also unseated Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan as the No. 1 allrounder in Tests. Kallis' unbeaten 182 in South Africa's 637 for 2 moved him up from No. 4 in the ranking for Test batsmen. Amla, whose 311 was a South African record, rose three places while Smith climbed four places from tenth. De Villiers, who did not get an opportunity to bat in the innings-and-12-run victory, dropped two spots from third. Among the England batsmen, Alastair Cook moved from ninth to eighth because of the 115 he scored in the first innings at The Oval. There were significant gains for South Africa's bowlers as well after they took 20 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. Dale Steyn, who took seven wickets in the match, consolidated his place at No. 1 and is six points short of his career best rating - 902, which he achieved against Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park in 2011. Morne Morkel's five wickets lifted him from tenth to joint sixth with Australia's Ben Hilfenhaus, while Vernon Philander rose one spot to fourth place. All of England's bowlers, who took only two wickets in 189 overs, dropped in the rankings. James Anderson went from No. 2 to No. 5, Stuart Broad from third to ninth and Tim Bresnan slid one place to No. 15. Graeme Swann's wicketless performance cost him three places from No. 8 and he dropped out of the top ten for the first time since August 2009. South Africa need to win the series by any margin to take the No. 1 Test ranking from England. © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. |
My husband and I are preparing our wills. We have two adult children: a daughter who is more successful than we are, and a son, who has been down on his luck for years. He also has three young children to educate. Everyone, including our lawyer and close friends, tells us that we should leave our money to them in equal shares to avoid hurt feelings. But that doesn’t seem right. Our son needs the money. Still, we don’t want to hurt our daughter. What would you do? Anonymous, Chicago Stop listening to everyone. It’s your money, and they’re your children. Who better to walk this perilous tightrope than you, especially if we set up cushiony nets beneath you (unlike Burt Lancaster in “Trapeze”)? Your advisers have a point. You don’t want to hurt your daughter by leaving all the goodies to your son. (I hear that even wildly successful people have feelings.) Talk with her privately and say: “We always imagined leaving our money to you and Bobby 50-50. We love you both. But you’ve become so successful, and Bobby really needs our help. How would you feel if we left him a bigger piece of the pie?” Then listen. You will be perfectly placed to hear how your daughter feels. Make sure she knows that you are not looking for an immediate answer, only to start a dialogue. And be clear that if anyone’s circumstances change, your estate plan will, too. It won’t be the easiest conversation you have this year. And I’m not suggesting that your daughter’s feelings should be paramount. (It’s still your money.) But by talking it out sensitively, mindful that even the sanest people can go bonkers where cash is concerned, you stand a decent chance of walking through the fire unscathed. |
Transgender populations in the United States have been impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This systematic review estimates the prevalence of HIV infection and risk behaviors of transgender persons. Comprehensive searches of the US-based HIV behavioral prevention literature identified 29 studies focusing on male-to-female (MTF) transgender women; five of these studies also reported data on female-to-male (FTM) transgender men. Using meta-analytic approaches, prevalence rates were estimated by synthesizing weighted means. Meta-analytic findings indicated that 27.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 24.8-30.6%) of MTFs tested positive for HIV infection (four studies), while 11.8% (95% CI, 10.5-13.2%) of MTFs self-reported being HIV-seropositive (18 studies). Higher HIV infection rates were found among African-American MTFs regardless of assessment method (56.3% test result; 30.8% self-report). Large percentages of MTFs (range, 27-48%) reported engaging in risky behaviors (e.g., unprotected receptive anal intercourse, multiple casual partners, sex work). Prevalence rates of HIV and risk behaviors were low among FTMs. Contextual factors potentially related to increased HIV risk include mental health concerns, physical abuse, social isolation, economic marginalization, and unmet transgender-specific healthcare needs. Additional research is needed to explain the causes of HIV risk behavior of transgender persons. These findings should be considered when developing and adapting prevention interventions for transgender populations. |
After upgrading HeadShake, it’s now time to update the Reality Expansion Pack. This new version works on two different fronts, fix minor issues and improve the flight dynamics on both XP11 and XP10. This update is free for the current users and affects all the REPped airplanes. Just download the package from the store again to get the latest available version. Then, follow the manual’s instructions to update. Flight Dynamics Improvements You will notice an improvement in the flight dynamics of the Baron 58. They are now much more precise and very close to the performance tables on both XP10 and XP11. This is due to a more precise engine power output calculation than before. The Cessna Centurion torque is now much improved in X-Plane 11. The annoying roll experienced with older versions is now gone. Fixes Version 2.6.4 fixes some minor troubles in the user interface reported after releasing v2.6.3. Also, the propeller lever of the V35B does not move past the lower limit. This package does not include the gear doors animations fix as we are still waiting for Laminar to take a decision whether to fix this problem in X-Plane or not What’s next? We’re looking closely to each beta release of X-Plane 11. This update is a first step to perfectly match REP with the new sim and more updates will come, if necessary, once XP11 is stable. In the meantime, the work on the Super Cub is going on and two more projects are in the pipeline! 😉 |
Clarifying the Components of Permaculture As a permaculture teacher one of the very first things I want to offer my students is a conceptual way to understand what permaculture is made up of. I want to answer the question, likely not yet asked, of ‘how do we make organisational sense of all this content that is being or about to be taught in a Permaculture Design Certificate?’. Permaculture is a vast field of knowledge, there is no doubt about that. There is so much information conveyed in a PDC, and so much more information that needs to be clarified and experienced afterwards. There are potential lifetimes of skills and possibilities to be cultivated. There are ways of doing things that we have not even conceived of yet and perhaps, hopefully, our future generations will discover ways of creating ecologically sustainable human habitations that far surpass even our own wildest dreams at this moment. The way I like to distinguish permaculture is by dividing it into five major categories. These are: ethics, abstract principles, science & design principles, strategies, and techniques. I list them in order of fundamental importance to the concept of permaculture. They are also listed in reverse order of how many there are. Ethics are the most fundamental aspect of permaculture, without them there is no permaculture and yet there are only three. Techniques are the least fundamental aspect of permaculture in that the technique itself is only enacting permaculture when it comes from an ethical and conceptual understanding of principles backing it, however there is a huge possibility of techniques available and more waiting to be discovered. 1. Ethics The ethics of permaculture should be well known to anyone who has studied permaculture or taken a PDC. There are three ethics defined by Bill Mollison in the Designers Manual and these underly entirely the purpose and intent of permaculture in general. These ethics are: – Care of the earth – Care of people – Set limits to population and consumption / fair share / return of surplus There are three variations, as far as I’m aware, to the third ethic that largely have the same intention behind them. To me, I interpret the third ethic as, in some way, that we need to ensure that firstly there are enough resources to sustain the human population in a place of relative abundance, and secondly that all people have access to that abundance. The point of my post, however, isn’t to debate on the interpretation of the ethics. What I am most interested in here is that ethics make up the core of what is permaculture. Without these ethical considerations guiding the rest of our understanding, designing and implementing, then we are not truly engaging in permaculture. These ethics are also, in a way, an ideal. They keep us reaching for something higher than us and striving, constantly, to find a better way for humans to inhabit this earth. 2. Abstract Principles Bill Mollison’s “Designers Manual” lists five principles. David Holmgren in “Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability” goes on to write about twelve principles. Other experienced permaculture practitioners may also provide their own sets of principles in their teachings. All of these principles, to me, fall under the category I’m defining as abstract principles. These principles guide us in our thinking about the world as a permaculture designer and provide a mindset that is able to exercise creativity in the application of design onto a landscape. Understanding these principles allows us to shape and continuously adjust design with conceptual tools of thought that can help us to see beyond the surface of what may at first be present. Whereas the ethics give us the core of what is the most important aspect of permaculture, principles allow us to start thinking broadly about how permaculture is applied. While these principles don’t show us any significant practical applications, ensuring that we return to the immense creativity contained within these modes of thinking frees us from being trapped in rote implementation of broad-scale agricultural and urban planning. It’s not hard to see how massively wrong we have gone all around the world with our current modern-day approach to these things! Bill Mollison’s five principles are described in the Design Manual as: five principles are described in the Design Manual as: – Work with nature rather than against it – The problem is the solution – Make the least change for the greatest possible effect – The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited – Everything gardens David Holmgrens twelve principles as listed in his book are: twelve principles as listed in his book are: – Observe and interact – Catch and store energy – Obtain a yield – Apply self-regulation and accept feedback – Use and value renewable resources and services – Produce no waste – Design from patterns to details – Integrate rather than segregate – Use small and slow solutions – Use and value diversity – Use edges and value the marginal – Creatively use and respond to change 3. Science & Design Principles While the abstract principles teach us how to think, science and design principles fill in the blanks with what it is we should be thinking about. The content in this layer is the irrefutable natural laws (as far as we know them) to which we must adhere and build our designs upon (and also test and learn more about). Water flows perpendicular to contour. This is a scientific principle we need to understand as no matter what we do, we cannot change this fact. We can, however, work with this fact and this is where the abstract principles come into play in allowing us to think creatively about utilising scientific laws. Soil biology functions in a certain way, trees function in specific ways, the climate follows relatively stable sets of yearly fluctuation, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. A huge range of disciplines are covered in permaculture and range from soil science to biology, mycology, zoology, animal husbandry, botany, chemistry, microbiology, architecture, mechanics, plumbing, sewage engineering, hydrology, forestry, geography, meteorology, horticulture, town planning, engineering, irrigation, construction, ecology, nutrition and so on. Pretty much anything to do with human habitation, which basically includes food, water and shelter of human beings, is included in permaculture study. In addition to the fundamental scientific principles upon which permaculture is based, there is also a set of design principles upon which we draw in order to make sense of all this knowledge. Some of these principles are covered in another article I have written on design here. Most of a PDC focuses on this particular layer of permaculture allowing us to gain the requisite knowledge that we can use to then understand and apply design. Without knowing the very real science from which we must draw, permaculture becomes nothing more than a mental fantasy. As a permaculture teacher, and as I’m sure all teachers have experienced, new students are often taken on flights of fantasy as we begin learning all this amazing stuff. There is always a couple in the class who somehow believe that natural laws, as revealed by science, are somehow flexible to the whims of our fancy. Sadly the universe does not simply rearrange itself simply because we wish it to and we need to understand the ways our earth does work, if we want to work harmoniously with it. 4. Strategies A strategy is a practical application implemented to solve a specific need or problem. Strategies rest upon the basics of science and design principles and draws from the creativity of abstract principles while remaining grounded in the ethics of permaculture. An example of a strategy that I find highly interesting is the use of rotational foraging or grazing in animals. This can be in the form of cell-grazing for large animals, or tractoring for smaller animals. The concentrated and timed utilisation of animals as a part of a system has many positive beneficial effects. While pure free-range can be a useful strategy in some contexts, tractoring or rotational grazing can be highly effective in others. This strategy draws from principles in zoology, soil science, forestry and more. A large number of abstract principles are also covered in this strategy such as “everything gardens” (as we are using animals to intentionally garden for us), “the yield of a system is theoretically unlimited” (as by stacking animals in time with gardens or pasture we potentially expand our yield), “integrate rather than segregate” (as we are stacking layers of function upon each other), and likely several more. There are a huge amount of strategies already tried and tested that we can draw from in permaculture, and with the kind of creative thinking offered by abstract principles with a solid scientific understanding, we can come up with many more. Other common permaculture strategies include swales, contour garden beds, food forests, and so on. When I teach a PDC I am often using strategies as examples to illustrate the relevant science or design principles I am attempting to address. What I always tell my students, however, is that the strategy isn’t the important piece of information in the teaching, it’s the principles behind it and the conceptual understanding that allows such a strategy to be formed in the first place that we really want to get. 5. Techniques Lastly are the techniques we use in permaculture. This category has by far the greatest number of possibilities within it. Luckily this is what the internet is for. Techniques can be googled and youtubed with ease in our digital age. We can find how-to videos on anything from grafting to levelling to seed saving. While in some ways the techniques are the feature itself that is going to create a permaculture, as it is through the repetitive application of techniques to a landscape over time that is going to create an ecologically integrated system, what makes them relevant to us is that they emerge from such a thorough understanding of all the information I have discussed preceding it. The application of a technique, like saving a particular type of seed, does not make permaculture. However when that technique sits within a context that is ethically based, arises out of creative principles, grounded in scientific and design understanding and resides within an intentional strategy to solve a specific need of the system… then it becomes permaculture. Related Popular |
Exclusive Interview with Arthur Darvill! by Arthur Darvill is a man without much time on his hands. When he isn’t composing music, performing on stage or practising magic tricks he’s travelling through time in some of the best science-fiction time travelling adventures seen on TV. When he came to town for Oz Comic-Con we took the chance to catch-up with the man out of time! Enjoy the audio or transcribed version below! https://houseofgeekery.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/arthur-darvill-house-of-geekery.mp3 G-FUNK: We’re the House of Geekery and we’re here for Perth Oz Comic-Con and we have Arthur Darvill with us today. ARTHUR DARVILL: Hi. GF: Hello! And how will people know you? AD: I don’t know…from meeting me on the street? I don’t know! GF: If they turned their TV on, would they know you? AD: Oh, right! They may know from Such Programs As Doctor Who and Broadchurch and Legends of Tomorrow and other things. GF: Those are good shows. AD: Thanks. I’ve been really lucky. GF: I’ll get into those in a sec…do you mind being a Guiana pig for a question? AD: I’ve always wanted to be a Guiana pig. GF: Brilliant. I’ve got a question I always wrap up interviews with but I want to try a new starting question. You do a lot of press, a lot of media interviews… AD: I do a bit, yeah. GF: Is there a question you’re sick on hearing? AD: Noooooo. But there’s a question…because I do a lot of time travel stuff people ask me ‘if I could travel in time where would I go to’ and I try and say different answer every time, so I never tell the truth. GF: Can we get the truth? AD: I probably wouldn’t because I’d be terrified of messing anything up. GF: That’s sensible. AD: Yeah. I’d go to, like, yesterday. I had a really nice lunch yesterday, so I’d ‘relunch’. I think that’ll be the safest option. GF: I like that answer. A good lunch…you can’t replay a good lunch. AD: No, you can’t replay a good lunch. GF: Do you think that’s an alright question to start interviews with? AD: I think that’s a good question. GF: Cool. On to some real interview questions. You played Rory Williams on Doctor Who along with Matt (Smith) and Karen (Gillan). Rory seemed to pop up occasionally and then he became a regular feature. Did you know that was the plan for him or did it happen more organically? AD: They didn’t tell me anything. I thought I was signing on for six or seven episodes and ended up doing three years. Stephen Moffat always told me that was the plan, but he never told me that was the plan. I was always very grateful when I saw a script and my name was in it. It was an amazing journey to go on as a character. When I got the job…it’s shrouded in so much secrecy. Even the script I auditioned with was a made-up script. There was little bit of what was in my first episode but most of it was fake so nothing got out about what actually happens in the show. GF: The way you say it, that when you get a script you’d be happy to see your name in it, that implies that sometimes you got scripts without your name in it. Were they just winding you up? AD: (Laughs) No, no, no, they didn’t do that. But because my character died quite a lot I think they were very good at making sure I knew that I wasn’t actually dead and I wasn’t out of a job. That was good. GF: A couple of my film students wanted to know if you had a favourite death in the show? AD: I liked the fake death…there was one death, (laughs) this is ridiculous…I got zapped by an old lady and turned into sand? I got to watch my hand disappear and turn into sand. It was a bit like the scene in Back to the Future where Marty’s hand disappears and I like having a little bit of that. GF: It seems that you have a bit of an affinity for time travel stories. AD: I do have a bit of an affinity with time travel stories, yeah! GF: You had Rory and then you went to Rip Hunter… AD: It’s the only thing I can do. Time travel. GF: I couldn’t help seeing…the first time we saw you as Rip Hunter with the coat and the witty banter and the mission…it kinda felt like you were stepping into the Doctor’s shoes. AD: Yeah. GF: Did it feel like you were taking that role on? AD: It did a little bit. When I got offered the job I said to them, (stage whisper) “this is very similar to…” Then they said to not worry about it, it’s going to start like that and then it’s going to turn into something else. Which it has, which I’m really pleased about. But there were echoes at the beginning, which I embraced actually, and I think they’ve done such a good job of taking the show from what it was and turning it into what it is now, which is a really unique place in television. It’s a really funny, odd, comic book show. It’s a real comic book show. GF: It certainly is. Speaking of where the show is now…where are you? AD: I don’t know how much you guys have seen over here… GF: We know you’re not around! AD: Ok. Well, I do come back. But it’ll be slightly in a different form to what you’ve seen before… GF: You’re regenerating! AD: Weeeeeell let’s not call it that! GF: Suddenly Matt Smith turns up? AD: Yeah, I’ve got Matt’s face. GF: … Sorry, mental image. Was it you left Legends of Tomorrow to finish up Broadchurch? AD: Yep, that’s what it was. And they were really good and giving me the time off to finish up on Broadchurch. GF: Broadchurch has been absolutely brilliant. AD: Oh my goodness, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. It’s such a great group of people and Chris Chibnall’s a genius – he writes it. Just working with David (Tennant) and Olivia (Colman) and Jodie (Whittaker) and Andy (Buchan) and all those people for three or four years now has been a real joy. It’s been great. GF: I haven’t watched any of season 3, I’m waiting for them all to come out so I can binge watch them. AD: I’ve just seen the first four episodes and it’s really…it’s really beautiful, actually. It’s shot really well and it deals with a very sensitive subject matter in the most wonderful way. It’s really good. GF: On the sensitive subject matter, it’s a pretty grim show. We have child murder, we have sexual assaults…what’s the atmosphere like on set? AD: You know it’s really…jolly. Because the subject matter is so bleak everyone really wants to have a nice time making it. Everyone is there for the right reasons, everyone wants to make it work. It’s such a lovely bunch of people. I think it is bleak, but what really works about the show is, amongst other things, is the dynamic that David and Olivia have…they have a real funny double act. Olivia has this amazing – because David’s character is so dark – she brings out this real lightness in his character. Even in the most distressing moments she has this real skill to show a real human…it’s not humour, she has a real lightness of touch that makes you find what she does really funny because it really is how people would react in those kinds of situations. She really adds a lightness of touch to it, which is amazing. GF: That sounds like a great working environment. AD: It’s lovely. GF: Your other work, you kind of split your time between the screen and the stage. AD: That’s right. GF: Is there a preference there? One that you would move into entirely? AD: Whichever one is the one I’m not doing at the moment is the one I would prefer! (Laughs) Yeah, I never thought I would be on TV, so my heart totally is in theatre. I just love it, there’s nothing else like it. But saying that, when I get into being in my 70s, if I get that far, I’m going to grow a massive beard and just play wizards. That’s my life, that’s my plan. GF: I’d like you as a wizard. AD: Thanks. GF: You’ve got the eyes… AD: I practise magic tricks in my spare time so eventually… GF: Can we see a magic trick? AD: No, I’m not very good at it yet. We’ll see what happens. Jules (awesome photographer): Have you heard the rumour that you’re going to be the young Dumbledore? AD: Yes! Do you know why that happened? Someone asked me in an interview, “would you like to play the young Dumbledore?” I said, “well, yes…of course I would”. Suddenly it became this news story. Eventually I’ll get to play a wizard. GF: We need a hashtag…#DarvillforDumbledore. AD: No! Don’t do that! GF: YES! AD: No, because a) it’s not going to happen and b) that’s for further down the line. GF: Just to finish up one your theatre I had a line…theatre isn’t just a once off? AD: Ah ha ha ha, yes, yes, very good… GF: Because you were in Once! AD: I was in Once. GF: That must’ve been good fun. AD: That was amazing. Well, several things about it were amazing. I got to play guitar and sing on stage every night, which was wonderful, with an incredible group of people. I got to live in New York for a year, which was like a proper dream of mine. It was brilliant. GF: I’m getting the ‘wrap up’ signal, so it’s time for my final question… AD: Ok. GF: You’re well known and recognised for particular roles like Rory and Rip and Paul on Broadchurch…is there a role you want people to be more aware of? AD: Oh. No, not really…I don’t know! This is a boring answer: no. I’m just glad people watch what I do and apparently enjoy it. GF: Matt had a better answer. AD: What was Matt’s answer? GF: He was in American Psycho at the time… AD: OH YES, he was, of course! Well…no, nothing. Just grateful. GF: Well, what you do is really great. AD: Thank you. GF: I thought Rory and Amy were fantastic characters. Rory became a brilliant figure, and I named my daughter Amelia after Amy. AD: Oh, no way! Wow! That’s amazing! GF: I haven’t met Karen yet, she keeps cancelling when she’s coming out. AD: (Laughs) GF: The week she was born when you two left the show, so it kind of serendipitous for us. AD: Wow, that’s amazing! GF: It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you, Arthur, thanks for coming down and talking to us and we’ll see you on the Con floor. AD: Lovely, thank you! Advertisements |
Stuyvesant High School Extra-curricula's Publications Government Clubs Sports Click on an activity to send us an e-mail with your corrections, comments, additions, and any information you deem pertinent. Thank you very much! Serious Play Extracurricular Stuy-Style There is no satisfactory explanation in stereotype of the diverse extracurricular successes of Stuyvesant students over the decades. The image of the bookworm explains the shelf in the library marked “Stuyvesant authors” plausibly enough, but shatters under the weight of a shelf of football trophies. The triumphs of the math team were no stretch for a school of nerds, but basketball championships ought to have been beyond their reach. Westinghouse/Intel prizes are a logical consequence of selection and education, but fencing victories in a building of working-class immigrant kids? There is little rationale available in genetics…at least not in the fragmented knowledge we possess while waiting for the genome code to be fully revealed. The school’s very first club, the Chess Club of 1907, could be hypothesized to succeed based on DNA for skill sets that we would expect to coordinate with the fundamental DNA of intelligence. So, too, the more recent addition that designs robots to battle those of other schools. But the voices and performing gifts that have powered SING! and led so many graduates into stage, film, and television careers? Connect that, latter-day Cricks and Watsons! Maybe then search in psychology, a branch of the sciences which had, at best, a wary existence around the periphery of Stuyvesant life. Maybe, if you create an atmosphere with the intention of inspiring people to fulfill their potential, populate it with young people whose full potential is unimagined and unimaginable, yet ripe, they will provide the unpredictable result of collectively trying everything, and succeeding. In any case, as the brief histories, recollections of epic moments, and highlights of this chapter will demonstrate, Stuyvesant students have tried everything over their years in the school buildings, from the Forge Club to the Tree Huggers (and there are some less celebrated moments of forgery and odd activities in trees, as well). Filled with the limitless energy of youth, enough of them found the endless hours of class, commute, and homework insufficient distraction, and put enough energy into these extracurricular activities to give Stuyvesant imposing track records at many challenges, including track itself (despite the inherent handicap of the suspended indoor track at East 15th Street, which taught the useless skill of running on a constant incline). Ultimately, it is the sheer diversity of accomplishment that was the greatest accomplishment of all. Subtly, silently, Stuyvesant taught the lesson that it is not what you choose to be accomplished in that matters most (no primacy for football team and their cheerleaders here), but that accomplishment itself was what counted. Choose your own madness—an academic offshoot, an athletic activity, an anarchic effort to topple the administration or the world—and do it well. That was the message sent by example, and it is a truly inspirational one. It breaks loose the bonds of expectation, whether of family, peers, or teachers, and offers instead the passion of finding your muse in life. There is, I posit, a very direct connection between the ridiculous array of activities we became involved in and our successes later in life. We discovered the freedom to choose paths in our Stuyvesant years, and the pleasure of pursing them furiously. Only some had a role in our careers or adult lives, but all gave us a taste of the joy of working to win. And we came back for more. Paul Levitz '73, President & Publisher, DC Comics & MAD magazine (Time Warner) Publications Indicator Caliper Spectator Student Guide Box Seat Nucleus Stuy 2.0 Website Voice From its start in 1904, Stuyvesant HS students created their own publications. Although The Indicator, Caliper, and The Spectator have been published continuously since the early 1900's, other publications have came and went: Between You and Me, Bio-Med Times, Captain’s Log, Clue?Less, Colloquium, Culture Vulture, Environmental Times, Exit, Eye Sor, Forum, In Perspective, Inspiration, Introspectrum, Kaleidoscope, Math Survey, Muse, Junior Jots, Open Mind, Poleco, Rave of Lunatics, Resonance, Spectacles, Spectrum, Sports, Stage & Reel, Swords & Magic, Thoughts, Box Seat, Voice, and many others. While Irving C. Fischer, MD '27 was President of the Alumni & Scholarship Association(1954-62), the editors of The Spectator produced the annual Alumni Dinner Journal. Thinking Back I worked on the Spectator and the Indicator as a photographer. My first published picture was of Dr. Fliedner congratulating the football captains at the end of the season. - Marty Paull '64 The Indicator The Indicator The school yearbook, The Indicator, first appeared in 1905. Thanks to The Indicator, we have firsthand records of Stuyvesant’s curriculum, facilities, extracurricular activities, and events. The Indicator was often dedicated to an alumnus or faculty member, to those who had come before and for those who shaped students' lives. The Indicator published poems, essays, short stories, and jokes, and its editorial content has been indispensable for the recreation of the school’s history. At Reunions and other gatherings of alumni(ae), great fun is always had by referring to the adolescent photos in the Indicator, by graduates 20, 30 and more years away from those heady high school days! Looking Back, on the occasion of the Class of '62 40th Reunion For those unfortunates who were separated from their SHS '62 yearbook, here is a newly published reprint of the original - brought to you by the SHS '62 electronic yearbook wizards who located clean copies to scan and assembled them into this downloadable, viewable and even printable Adobe Acrobat version We gathered together, All shiny and hopeful, Smiling and happy, Every hair in place, In pursuit of one common goal, The perfect smile In our yearbook. Student Guide The Student Guide In 1908, the first Student Guide, the “Red Book" then, was published by the senior class. The book is an encyclopedia of information concerning all school activities. The various courses of study, teachers’ office hours, when and where clubs hold their meetings, school songs and cheers...everything of interest to a Stuyvesantian is treated in the Guide. Caliper (Cover by George Segal '41) Caliper On January 3, 1906, the first issue of Stuyvesant’s literary magazine, Caliper, appeared William Scholz '08 served as editor in chief for five successive terms. Reading the Indicator of 1912, we see how Caliper had come to define itself: Caliper represents the school and the student body; and in addition to the publication of news of various school interests, it publishes stories, poems, photographs of athletic teams, and theatrical productions, cartoons, exchange news, and, from time to time, special articles of interest to all. Caliper in its capacity as a representative paper, goes a great way towards shaping school opinions and conduct...Caliper has steadily improved and will continue to improve as long as the students support it. The official organ is inseparable from the school and its activities, and for that reason has the right to request the cooperation of the student body. By 1914, Caliper was regarded as the best high school literary magazine in the country. Caliper continues to publish students’ artwork, short stories, and poems today. Thinking Back My Conflicting intellectual passions temporarily resolved in favor of science when Stuyvesant accepted me. Skillful teachers, who clearly loved their disciplines, made Mathematics, chemistry, and physics fascinating. When it came time to apply to college, I told my parents I wanted to go into theoretical physical chemistry and to study with Robert A. Millikan of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), who had won the Nobel Prize in 1923. Despite that decision, my interest in literature grew during high school. Stuyvesant's English teachers carefully read the poetry I wrote, tutored me in the art, and encouraged me to write more. I wrote over a score of poems, some of which were published in Caliper, and I served as the poetry editor during my junior and senior years. Robert W. Fogel '44, Nobel Prize Laureate, Economics, 1993 Thinking Back How fortunate for me and my classmates who were writers at heart that in a math-and-science high school, an oasis like Caliper existed! I am still impressed by my memories of our "blind" judging process, and by the serious way all the readers approached reading and selecting work for the magazine. In my senior year I was editor-in-chief, and Frank McCourt was faculty advisor. Many of the contributors from that year alone have gone on to have careers in publishing or as authors: Matt Ruff, Alec Klein, Karyn Seroussi, Darcy Jacobs, Gillian Horvath...and I'm sure I'm leaving others out! I went to medical school and became a psychiatrist, but continued writing all the while, publishing in magazines and now at last expecting my first collection of short stories to be published in fall of 2005. Working on Caliper taught me a lot about writing, editing, layout, collaborating with others, and valuing the things that you most love (in this case, literature) even when their value seems intangible. Doris Iarovici '83 Thinking Back The Caliper literary magazine confronted me as a thirteen year old sophomore with the writer’s perpetual challenge: a blank page. Fortunately, faculty advisor Irving Astrachan was never at a loss for instructions on how to fill that page. “Write about what you know” he said. He supplemented that motto with blackboard illustrations of a short story’s narrative arc and examples of well-constructed essays. What did I know? My sophisticated classmates wrote stories about dating girls and mini-dissertations on particle physics and twelve-tone music and the falseness of bourgeois values. In due time, despite my limited life experience, I became a co-editor of the publication, and I tasted the process of shaping the prose, poetry, and artwork of others. I learned to correct manuscripts and galley proofs using proper symbols and to select paper and typefaces. I remember joyfully inhaling printer’s ink at the Manhattan printing plant as Paul Stern and I picked up the final product in cartons. In my twisty career path since those 1957-1960 high school years, written communication has always been an important component, and Irving Astrachan’s voice still lives in my head. Bernard A. Banet ’60, Ann Arbor, MI The Spectator The crown jewel of Stuyvesant HS publications has been The Spectator, the newspaper launched on February 25, 1915 under the editorship of Joseph E. Kasper '15. The first Spec sold for two cents, and the front page reported the sports results: “Clinton Buried”; “Pauling Beaten”; “Track Team Cleans Up Dickenson.” Early Spectator editorials called for honesty, hard work, and initiative; later, the editorial page campaigned for more school spirit, higher marks, and greater attendance at school dances. In the May 22, 1918 issue, the paper published a list of Stuyvesantians who contributed to the war effort by selling Liberty Bonds. In the early 1930s, the humor columns “Spooktator” and “Dutchmania” appeared, and in 1933, The Spectator became free of charge to students. Periodically, the paper printed the school honor roll, and in 1939 Mortimer Bader ’40 achieved Stuyvesant’s highest seven-term average: 93.875. Throughout the 1950's and 60's, the paper won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal and First Place awards. Outstanding editors included Morton Fleischner, Chic Goldsmid, Alan Weinblatt and Jonathan Weiner (1959), Peter Warshall and Peter Scarlett (1960), David O'Brien, Joe Bondi, and Joel Papernik (1961), and Dean Ringel, Elliot Hefler and Marvin Milbauer (1963) . Then, with the support of the savvy faculty advisor, J. Stanley Quinn, editor in chief Neal H. Hurwitz (1962) wrote columns against the daily pledge of allegiance conducted by Dr. William Roeder over the loudspeakers in each home room and against the Board of Education’s ban on "leftist" speakers in public schools. The paper interviewed the Freedom Riders and reviewed the murder of Patrice Lumumba. Editors Hurwitz, J. Michael Nadel, Mark Blitz, and Joshua Chasan, and writer John Hochman (all 1962) produced the irreverent humor supplement, The Instigator, as well. As the 60's progressed, The Spectator served more and more as the voice of Stuyvesant’s students. By the 1970s, The Spectator reported student criticism leveled at the faculty, supported anti–Vietnam War demonstrations, and conducted debates on issues of censorship, cheating, and student politics. Thanks to the work of Martin Saggese and Arlene Pedovitch (1976), Tom Allon (1980), and Paul Golob (1981), to name only three editors, The Spectator documented an era. Thinking Back It can be said that The Spectator was my life-altering experience. I entered SHS thinking that I would one day have a career in Chemistry, but that was quickly put to rest when it became clear that I was a lousy Math student. I wanted to throw in the towel and go to my neighborhood high school, Erasmus Hall, but a kind, very understanding guidance counselor, Mr. Okean, gave me the courage to stay, work through the rough spots, and find my way. English and History were my favorite subjects, so, I joined The Spectator as a reporter. I learned everything I could about the paper. I became News Editor, and I found SHS invigorating. Once, I got out of bed in the middle of the night, in the dead of winter of Dec., 1957 to take an early morning walk on the upper East Side with former Pres. Harry Truman. I introduced myself as a reporter from one of the nation's finest high schools. I interviewed him about Russia's math and science education vs. our own. I was 16. What an unforgettable experience! The Spectator was my life and made me realize what I wanted to do after college. In my senior year, I was named co-editor in chief with Alan Weinblatt. I also won first place in a writing contest sponsored by NBC News. The prize was a summer job in the NBC Newsroom, where I worked throughout college with legends in broadcast journalism. I think back to Mr. Okean’s quiet advice. Without that, I might be selling televisions instead of producing and writing TV news programs and documentaries for ABC News for the last 31 years. And, I'll always remember Harry Truman's first words to me: "What's on your mind, sonny boy?" Morton Fleischner '59 Thinking Back I vaguely remember coming back to The Spectator office at the beginning of the 1960-61 year and finding that we had been moved from our former quarters so that "The Cyclotron" could be installed over the summer! There was a some piece in The Spectator that year along the lines of "Does Stuyvesant have the Bomb?" and if so, what we would do with it. In this case, evidently, the pen did prove mightier than the sword: The Spectator continues to thrive (well, publish) and the Cyclotron has fallen into a wormhole. Steve Monblatt '61, Arlington, VA Thinking Back In 1958, I was living on Lincoln Place in Brooklyn. One side of the street was districted for Boys’ High; the other side was districted for Erasmus, where I wanted to go. Erasmus was friendly, coed, and academically reputable, but I lived on the "wrong" side of the district line down the middle of my block. So my dad went to the Board of Education and met with Fred Schoenberg, deputy chancellor and former Stuyvesant principal and student. Fred Schoenberg told my father that I should test for Stuyvesant, get in, and then score better than 85% in Latin my freshman year. Then I could transfer to Erasmus since it was the only school in the city that offered Greek! I got in to Stuyvesant (from PS 9-The Brotherhood School), did well in Latin (with Dr. Blanche Joffee), but I never transferred to Erasmus because I fell in love with The Spectator. I decided early on that I would be solo Editor-in-Chief in the first term of my senior year, which I did, and that’s one reason I was accepted by Columbia with tuition scholarship. Working with the amazing students on The Spectator solidified my sense of self-worth and my commitment to excellence and integrity. I respected the courage of Quinn and Brody. I also worked with the dynamic Irving C. Fischer, MD (1927), Founder/President of the SHS Alumni & Scholarship Association, and I edited the Alumni Journal (1961-62), which put me in touch with Stuy greats from 1904 to 1962!. I am still proud of the Gold Medal for Journalism that teachers like J. Stanley Quinn and Sylvia Brody "persuaded" Principal Fliedner to award me at graduation. Neal H. Hurwitz '62, Campaign & Executive Director, The Campaign for Stuyvesant/Alumni(ae) & Friends Endowment Fund, Inc. (1998-current) Stuyvesant alumnus Richard Garza, Socialist Workers Party candidate for NYC Mayor in 1961, is interviewed by Neal H. Hurwitz ’62, Editor-in-Chief, The Spectator, and Paul Berman '62, Staff Reporter (at right) Thinking Back Co-Editor Arlene Pedovitch '76 and I were co-business managers of The Spectator while writing many news articles (almost always with a joint byline), and then served as co-editors (probably the first to make that transition!). We were truly a team, and we remain close friends nearly 30 years later. Marty Saggese '76 Yes, we were quite the duo, and we came up with a proposal to do work for the Alumni Association, a newsletter, in return for some funding for The Spectator. We also did in-depth interviews with prominent Stuyvesant alumni. The years at Stuyvesant were formative years of our lives, and for me, enriched from the beginning by the years working on The Spectator. Arlene Pedovitch '76 Thinking Back In the 1970s, The Spectator trained aspiring journalists who cared less about math and science and more about the high adrenaline stakes of Woodward and Bernstein. In the stuffy basement office of 345 East 15th Street, The Spectator’s staff labored around the clock to cover news and sports of the vast Stuyvesant community. Those days and nights focused on these highlights: The fight over whether the school's underground newspaper, the Voice (a Spectator rival), could distribute a sex survey to students. The alleged elitism of Stuyvesant and other specialized high schools. "Hell no, we won't go.” The student opposition to the return of military registration (aka "Selective Service"). And, of course, the perennial news story: "Students Fight City Budget Cutbacks." The more things change . . . Tom Allon '80 Publisher and CEO, Manhattan Media (Our Town, Westsider, Avenue, etc.) The Spectator Shutdown The respectful, if somewhat vapid, Spectator of the 1920s and 1930s evolved into an independent paper during the 1960s. There were signs along the way that growing independence would one day culminate in crisis. In 1960, an article in the Daily Mirror charged that Principal Leonard J. Fliedner had censored several Spectator stories and had revoked several graduation awards for student editors. In 1976, school officials barred the Voice, a student publication, from conducting a survey on student sexuality. None of these conflicts, however, was as explosive as those of April, 1998. Festering tensions between faculty, administration, and students erupted with the publication of The Spectator’s April Fools issue. It was Micah Lasher’s first issue as editor-in-chief. It featured a wraparound spoof edition of The Spectator called “The Defecator,” which contained articles poking fun at faculty members and the college advisor. Inside the wraparound, Lasher’s column called for the end of Stuyvesant teacher employment practices based on seniority. Eight days later, the day before spring break, Spectator editors found the assistant principal of technology in the paper’s windowless office changing the computer passwords. The room’s locks had also been changed. The New York Times reported that Principal Jinx Cozzi Perullo, “had halted publication of the school newspaper indefinitely after months of infighting that pitted student editors against one another and against their faculty adviser. Those disputes were inflamed by a handful of articles criticizing the conduct of individual teachers and the policies of the city teachers' union.” Perullo said that the paper would not reopen until a charter had been crafted by The Spectator’s staff and approved by the administration and the Student Union. The Spectator was shut down. “The educational response would have been to sit down and talk about how we could fix this and make a better paper,” Lasher recounts. “Administrators defeat themselves and create controversies which arise not from the content of the coverage, but from the administrators’ censorship." Several students charged that the paper was shut down to appease angry faculty members over editorials on United Federation of Teachers politics, teacher hiring practices, and faculty conduct. According to the Times, the day after the April Fools issue, Perullo and leaders of the teachers union held a meeting, in which the teachers complained about being “bashed” by the newspaper. “The teachers thought that kids should write about ‘kid things,’” Perullo said in an interview that appeared in the Times on April 17, 1998. “I believe it’s the kids’ right to write about things that involve their lives, and teachers are a very large part of their lives.” What was lacking, Perullo maintained, was a written set of guidelines defining the roles of each position, the procedures for selecting the editor-in-chief, the relationship of the editorial board to the advisor, and rules for other aspects of the newspaper’s management. On April 22, 1998, the Student Union president and vice president drafted a letter supporting Perullo. It stated, “Perullo has always been an advocate, protector, and benefactor of students...She has encouraged us to speak our minds, to find the truth, and critically evaluate the state of our school.” Publication of The Spectator resumed on April 24 after two weeks of shutdown. With help from Columbia's School of Journalism, The Spectator staff drew up a charter. It specified that the outgoing editor in chief and editorial board would select the new editor in chief. It also clarified that “student journalists, in concert with a faculty adviser, will make the final content decisions for The Spectator.” And that was how it was in the 1950's and 1960's.. . Thinking Back During my three years on The Spectator, the charter primarily protected the paper against interference from the administration. Because of its existence, we could print important and controversial material without first struggling with an administrator for consent. We often cited this in our editorials, in an effort to fully exert our unique freedom as a high school newspaper. The charter’s guidelines for choosing new editors, and its definition of the staff’s relationship with its faculty advisor sometimes left room for dispute. But these guidelines formed a concrete basis for our independence and a blueprint for our values. The charter represented The Spectator at its best. Abbie Zamcheck '03 Voice The Voice Founded in the 1973-74 school year, the Voice became one of the most successful, and controversial, publications in the school's history. Loosely modeled after "New York" magazine in its combination of serious journalism and service features, the Voice was a student-oriented publication that encouraged freedom of expression. After the administration limited student-run publications in the 1975-76 year, the Voice operated independently from school departments and budgets, and the publication made a small profit from direct sales and paid advertisements. Gail Froiman '77, Sr. Chem. Engineer, US Environmental Protection Agency Student Government Student Government (GO, Student Union) 1921 Indicator “We are proud of the fact that in this great school of ours, the system of Self Government has reached its most perfect form and that it has never failed to give entire satisfaction to both faculty and students,” wrote senior Francis Farago in the 1916 Indicator. “Our Arista League, our Students' Committee, the various clubs and societies, the athletic teams, and Student Aid Organization, every wheel in the institution has called forth nothing but praise from those who have come in contact with it. In 1915, Stuyvesant established a General Organization to “regulate” the establishment and management of all teams and clubs, and to provide for their support. Since that time, our G.O. has continued faithfully to serve the needs of the Stuyvesant student body. Its financial support of our school teams and clubs has in no small way contributed to the success of our school in interscholastic competitions, whether they be of an athletic or scientific nature. By supporting the General Organization every Stuyvesantian can truly feel that he has helped his school attain its fine record." From the time of its founding, the General Organization was centralized by the Board of Education, and a G.O. existed in every public high school. In 1938, the G.O. introduced its first constitution, which established a legislative branch, known as the Executive Council, that included the school’s G.O. president, vice president, and secretary, as well as the presidents of each grade, and representatives from the major clubs. The administrative branch consisted of a number of committees responsible to the G.O. president. The Board of Governors--the president, vice president, secretary, and a faculty advisor--served as the administrators. In 1970, the Board of Education created the position of Coordinator of Student Affairs (COSA). At each high school, the COSA acts as a liaison between the students and the administration. In October, 1973, Stuyvesant students voted in favor of adopting the Constitution of the Student Union, establishing a senate as the most important body and demoting the executive council to a “basic groundwork team” for the senate. In 1979, the Student Union demonstrated "student power" in a walkout. Two thousand students boycotted class on October 2, marching from Stuyvesant to the Board of Education’s offices in Brooklyn to protest a coaches’ dispute that delayed the start of the fall athletic program. Business Board The elevator stops, and reliable Ambrose opens the door. Out steps a student hidden behind a pile of publications. You attempt to question him, but he brushes by you with a curt, "Got no time, bud!" Undiscouraged, you follow him to a room where, through the half-open door, you observe him setting the newspapers and magazines he carries down on a desk. Leaving, you begin to question him, and this time you receive grudging replies. "I'm working on the Business Board," he says in answer to your first query. "What is the Business Board?" you ask in awe. "That's the group of boys responsible for the distribution of the school publications," he responds, disappearing around a corner of the corridor. Determined to get to the bottom of this interesting riddle, you try to trail him to his lair, but he leaps up the stairs faster than you can follow, and thus escapes you. Fortunately, however, you see another boy similarly laden, and start talking to him. "So you want some information about the Business Board?" he asks. "Well, come on. I'll take you to some fellows who can tell you all about it." He leads you to a small closet on the fifth floor, which turns out to be the book-room. You attempt to get inside the "office," but you find it too crowded. However, one of the boys emerges and proves to be more talkative than his predecessor. "Who's in there?" you inquire. "Well," he replies, "first of all, there's Mr. Mostow, the faculty adviser, who supervises Constantine Soloyanis and Richard Neudorfer, the managers. Then there are the other members of the Board: Max Bonfeld, Alan Prince, Joseph Goldreich, Morris Silber, Arnold Lear, Judah Baron, Larry Rosenbaum, Seymour Kurtz." "They look pretty tired," you remark. "They should be," he retorts. "They came to school at 7:15 this morning." Speechless, you stagger away. From the 1941 Indicator, courtesy of Arnold A. Lear '41 Social Committee I was Chairman of the Social Committee in my Junior and Senior years. I worked on the Junior and Senior proms, both cancelled for lack of student support/ticket sales. We did have a number of dances with Hunter College High School, Julia Richmond High School, and I think some others. Marty Paull '64 Architect, Martin Paull Design Studio and teacher at Southern California Institute of Architecture at UCLA. Thinking Back As Social Committee Chair, I was a part of the G.O. I remember when Jerry Nadler '65, Dick Gottfried '64 and Dick Morris '64 showed up it was like a strong wind blew into the place. Someone at the time commented that they were running for President, not of the G.O., but of the country! Marty Paull '64, Los Angeles, CA Clubs Civics Arista Big Sibs Commuter Debate Training Technology Aeronautics Cyclotron Photo Radio Rifle Preforming Folk Singing Orch, Band, Chorus SING! Theater Liberal Arts Jewish Culture Languages Math/Science Astronomy Chemistry Chess Math Physics Science Talent Search Events Pajama Day The first club to form at Stuyvesant, in March 1907, was the Chess Club. The Camera Club was formed a week after the Chess Club, and the following year the Sketch Club launched, with twenty members. Joining clubs When we graduate from high school we shall not reminisce about the delightful Algebra or Trigonometry course we once took...but we shall talk or wish to talk of the fun we had in Stuyvesant...in other words, the social life of the school. The clubs contribute the major portion of this social life. They are the organs which help bind us into a great unit. Many clubs work hand in hand with other bodies of the school, such as our publications. It is interesting to note that the school celebrities, that is, students who have in some way or other distinguished themselves from the mass, are members of several clubs, and often contributors to our various publications. We have noted that those most active have also the highest ratings. Are these two things synonymous? Does a club quicken the interest of the boy with school in general? We are inclined to think so. We think that school clubs may give students the added impetus that helps them reach scholastic attainments. Last of all, the clubs unify Stuyvesant, give the school that break-through-the-line spirit. Join us, and we’ll hit the line together. Samuel Berger '35, in the Caliper, December 1934 Thinking Back Those were wonderful years for me at Stuyvesant. I did a lot of stuff at school---Photo Club, Ham Radio Club---W2CLE-"We're 2 Crazy Little Electrons", Cyclotron, Social Committee, Tennis Team (we played on asphalt courts under the Williamsburg Bridge and they were awful). As a kid from Bensonhurst, I found it quite wonderful to make the City my world, go to Carnegie Hall and Philharmonic Hall, go to MOMA (it was 25 cents to get in for under-16 year olds) and get exposed to art and design, go to the Donnell Library to borrow classical music records, go to EJ Korvette's to buy records, hang out on Canal Street buying electronic parts (I was a serious phone freak and built a lot of stuff). I'm still close with friends I was close with then. The cultural and intellectual exposure and transformation most people hope for in college happened for me as a teenager. It was very powerful and has lasted. Marty Paull '64 Architect/teacher, Southern California Institute of Architecture, UCLA Aero Club The Aero Club There was the Aero Club, a group of Stuyvesant model airplane-building enthusiasts. These were depression-era years and few of us could afford gasoline-powered models. So the bulk of our activity was in building rubber-powered models, competing with each other and learning how to improve flight-duration performance. During warm weather, we competed in Central Park's Sheep Meadow, a venue for which we learned to obtain permission from Park authorities. Sometimes, during competitions in Central Park, one (or more) of our planes would fly out of the park, and out of sight, mostly toward Central Park West. Generally we would get notified by a finder as to where to pick up our model. In the auditorium at Stuyvesant, Aero Club contestants could achieve flying times of five minutes or more, barring someone opening a balcony door. Of course this would upset the contestant and cause much of a ruckus. We had to learn how to handle distractions such as this. Thus, participation in Aero Club activities gave us much experience and insight in the field we were preparing to enter as engineers. William Solomon '40 1921 Indicator Arista Arista ARISTA, the name of Stuyvesant's Honor Society, means the "best". It is now a chapter of the National Honor Society, governed by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Stuyvesant's Arista was founded in 1910 From the 1924 Indicator From the Arista website ARISTA...is an organization dedicated to upholding the four pillars of Character, Scholarship, Leadership, and Service. Once selected, ARISTA's members are asked to complete a service requirement of 4 credits per month and to uphold all the pillars for which this organization stands. Their service allows ARISTA to provide a number of important and useful programs to the school and student body. The first of these programs is the Peer Tutoring Service, sponsored by the Tutoring Committee. Peer tutoring allows any student who is having trouble in any subject to get help. Also, The Tutoring Committee sponsors numerous Peer Study Workshops throughout the year...New this year is tutoring online... The Special Events Committee sponsors college trips throughout the year... The Committee also sponsors ARISTA's annual Dance-A-Thon which raises money for a charity organization. This year, we hope to expand ARISTA fund raising activities to include events such as an in school Walk-A-Thon... ARISTA's School Service Committee and Community Service Committee offer many volunteer opportunities both in school and out of school. Their activities include: monitoring for department offices, ushering for school theater productions, volunteering at parent teacher conferences, working at Soup Kitchens, tutoring at local elementary schools, participating in various walks (such as the MS Walk and the AIDS Walk), and innumerable others. Matthew P. Kusulas '99 President, ARISTA Thinking Back You get your first opportunity to apply for ARISTA after three terms. You have to fill out an application and write two essays. I applied that way during my sophomore year and got in. Then I ran for President at the end of my junior year and won the election. I supervise everyone, but it’s more than that. There are different roles that overlap. There’s a vice president of service, tutoring events, and administration, and there’s an executive vice president, but some roles don’t fit into any of those job functions, so either I’ll do the work or I’ll spread it out among other members. I make sure things are running properly. In Arista we have about three hundred members, though for a short time after the induction ceremony there are over four hundred, including the 150 or so seniors who will be graduating. Being elected President of Arista is a real honor, but the job also has a lot of stress. It’s taught me many things about leadership and organization, so it’s been a great learning experience. I’ll be happy I’ve had it, and I know I will leave the position as a better person. Tenesha Patrick '03 President, ARISTA Big Sibs Big Sibs - from the 1994 Indicator Astronomy Astronomy Club Thinking Back I was the President of the Astronomy Club in '53-'54. Steve Maran '55 (later a NASA director of space sciences) was a close friend and he was President the following year. We spent time together as members of the Board of the Junior Astronomy Club in NYC and Brooklyn. I was student director of the Brooklyn College Observatory. My biggest effort was as a variable star observer and I was included in a July 25, 1955, LIFE magazine article (pictures and all) on junior astronomy. It included a light curve of a variable star based upon my observations during 1953-55, while I was at SHS. Over the years I have continued as an active variable star observer. I've always had a variety of telescopes but my astronomy has usually been of the stargazing variety, showing objects to the neighbors and local kids. Charles Aronowitz '54 With interest in astronomy strong at Stuyvesant, teachers Howard Natter and Myron Wechsler taught a telescope making course. A class is pictured above, standing proudly with their six inch reflectors. This class picture appeared in a review of telescope making at Stuyvesant in the November 1960 issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Chess The Chess Club One of the first student clubs at Stuyvesant, in 1907, was the Chess Club. A first match was successful against the Ethical Culture School, but we lost to the Morris HS team. The Chess Club team alumni(ae) stay involved through the Club’s website. In the spring of 1992, Empire Chess reported on the NYC public school chess Championship, in which more than two hundred students from grades 1 through 12 participated: “NYC’s Stuyvesant High School recaptured some of its glory from years gone by, by completely overpowering the other 15 schools competing for team honors. Stuyvesant had locked up first place without having to play their final round, but they did, finishing with a commanding 17.5 out of a possible 20 points.” The Chess Team I was the captain of the chess team at Stuyvesant, and I was proud that we contributed a North American championship trophy to the cases by the entrance doors of the old building. William Arluck was our supervisor then. I took chess very seriously during those years, and I traveled to tournaments up and down the east coast. If memory serves, the bigger tournaments were held somewhere in the East during my junior and senior years. I recall trips to Washington, D.C., and to the University of Connecticut. Costs for a big tournament, usually held over a long weekend, included the entry fee, travel, and hotel, unless the tournament was held in NYC. I think it is important for the school--and, as needed, the alumni--to support all kinds if extracurricular activities, including both chess and football and tons of stuff in between. The danger of an environment like Stuyvesant is that it can foster an attitude that the only important things in life are those that can be graded on an exam. The school should be trying to foster well-rounded individuals. Dan Goncharoff’ '78 Chess Team Highlights Manhattan Champions: 1911 City/Greater NY Champions: 1940, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1975 Eastern Champions: 1958, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1987 National Champions: 1971, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1999 Pan American Tournament: 1993 (top honors), 1996 (winner) 1970: Chess team moves to undisputed dominance of high school chess; wins every competition it enters, including city, state, and regional championships. The team is led by Jon Jacobs '72, whose games receive wide acclaim and are published in the New York Times and Chess Review. Elina Groberman ’00 won three consecutive New York State women's championships from 1996-98. She tied for first place in the girls-under-18 Pan-American championship in Brazil in 1998 and played in the World Junior Chess Championships in France in 1997 and in Spain in 1998 and 1999. At age 17, Elina becomes U.S. National Women's Chess Champion. Commuters Club Commuters Club Once upon a time, in the 1970's, a threatened City-wide transit strike prompted the formation of the Commuters Club and publication of a newsletter, The Straphanger. President Eric Schutz '81, said "There's more to New York transit than grime and crime. We think the buses and subways in this city should be not only functional, but also beautiful, the way they once were. We want to see them restored to their old glory." The faculty advisor, principal Gaspar Fabricante, pointed out that, "It's getting more obvious that the transit system is in trouble. During the strike I slept in my office at school for three nights. That caused a lot of comment at the school. Everyone is more conscious of the fragile nature of the system." A favorite activity of the Club was riding the entire New York subway system on a single 20-cent fare, a feat that requires about 20 hours of planning and 20 hours of riding. Members of the club--shown here in a picture from an article in the January 24th 1981 NY Times--met to discuss the reasons for and implications of NYC pulling 635 new Grumman Flexible buses from service. Neal Axelrod '82, the Club bus specialist, had studied the buses long before their introduction in Manhattan, and documented problems with their use on Staten Island. Reassuringly, he said, "The M.T.A. might take hope from history, though. When the GM buses came out in 1960 they had the same problems the Grummans are having now. General Motors took them back and strengthened the undercarriages, and they're still working fine today." Jewish Culture Jewish Culture Club The year was 1936 – and Hitler was spreading his venom throughout the world. In Manhattan, every Sunday the American Nazi Bund in full German uniform would parade on East 86th Street. Anti-Semitism was everywhere including our dear High School. In the Fall of 1936 a group of Jewish Students from STUYVESANT got together and wanted to organize a club so that they could spread accurate knowledge about Jewish culture, holidays, etc. According to School regulations we needed twenty students and a Faculty Advisor to form a Jewish Cultural Society Club and would be given room in the School and a time when to meet. We met these criteria. However, our Principal Mr. Sinclair Wilson repeatedly could not find a room for us to meet. At that time one of the Superintendents of the Board of Education was a man named Jacob Greenberg. I did not know him but I wrote to him explaining our predicament – that our principal was continually refusing to allow a Jewish Cultural Society to exist. I did not hear directly from Mr. Greenberg but 2 months later Mr. Wilson called me into his office and asked me “… what day would you like to have a room for the club? “ Bernie Silverman '37 Cyclotron The Cyclotron Committee Being able to split atoms became a pressing need during the cold war, when the Soviet Union seemed to be moving ahead with an aggressive program of nuclear advancement. Stuyvesant responded to this pressure by forming the Cyclotron Committee, whose mandate was to build a working atom-splitter. The following is adapted from articles appearing in the December 6, 1961, issue of The Spectator: The Cyclotron now being installed in the basement is the pride of SHS, the only one to be built by high school students in the United States. Construction of the Cyclotron was begun in 1957, following the launch of the first Soviet satellite. It was ascertained that a Cyclotron was in almost every junior college in the USSR. The students at SHS took charge of the Cyclotron Committee, a group of about 50 boys under the supervision of Mr. Alfred Bender of the physics department. Bender commented that at long last “boys will be able to operate and observe principles that are just talked about in classrooms now.” The cost of the atom buster is about $10,000 and contributions came in from the Hebrew Technical Institute, matched by a donation from the Board of Education. The American Iron and Steel Institute contributed a half-ton of steel for the magnetic yoke. The Phelps Dodge Corporation gave five miles of copper wire needed for the coils of the magnet, and the Collins Electronics Corporation donated a transmitter needed for the control system. The progress of the Cyclotron has been keenly followed by the Atomic Energy Commission, and by several corporations, such as Collins Radio Company, and the Sylvania Company. When completed, the Cyclotron will be used to put into practice the nuclear theories taught in chemistry and physics. Classes will be invited to observe the splitting atoms and transmutation of elements. The project was four years in the making and is due to be completed in early December, 1961. If not student constructed, it was estimated that it would cost $75,000. The labor alone saved $40,000. Attempts were made elsewhere but failed. They already have requests from other schools and hospitals to use it. The Indicator of 1962 suggests that the cyclotron was completed, but there seems to be no existing record of its performance. Bender with Cyclotron Sing a song of atoms, a pocket full of bombs Four and twenty scientists in a Cyclotron. When they turned the switch on the men began to bawl. Wasn't that a pretty dish for David Lilienthal? The Spectator, September 1961 Thinking Back I vividly remember the formation of the Cyclotron Committee, of which I became a charter member. It was somewhere in the midst of the Spring semester either of 1956, my Sophomore year, or 1957, my Junior year (I am not sure which year it was) in Dr. Efron's Honors Physics class (reverently referred to by his adoring students as "Efronics"). Dr. Efron suggested that we students should be able to construct a cyclotron, and asked for volunteers to form a committee to look into it and (hopefully) to bring it to fruition. I think I was the first one to raise my hand. My hand shot up before he had even finished asking who would be interested in joining the undertaking. We wound up a committee of five or six members. Marty Gersten, an Amateur Radio enthusiast and electronic whiz, became the chairman. Other members included Jonathan Sutherland, who spoke with a pronounced Texas drawl (which was thoroughly appropriate since he actually came from Texas) and Robert Rudko. I believe there was one more member, although I don't remember his name, or possibly two more members. The Wikipedia article on Stuyvesant lists the faculty advisor as Abraham Kerner of the Chemistry Department, but I have no recollection at all of that gentleman. I believe that our first faculty advisor was Al Bender of the Physics Department. Mr. Kerner might have become the faculty advisor later on. Each of us took on a defined responsibility. Marty Gersten designed the high-frequency oscillator that was at the heart of the control of electron-beam generation. Someone else designed the electromagnet. Another person designed the vacuum chamber, someone took charge of the DC power supply for the electromagnet, somebody did the collision-and-detection chamber, and my particular responsibility was the design of the vacuum system. In those prehistoric times (that is, prior to the invention by Al Gore of the Internet, and prior to the advent of Google), getting information entailed many hours spent in the library. My older brother was a student at Columbia University, so when I would take the subway uptown to visit him, I would make a side trip to Low Memorial Library, or maybe it was one of Columbia's other libraries, I don't remember for sure, to hunt for the information that I needed. In those days, they didn't post an armed guard at the entrance to the library; anybody could walk in off the street and make use of the facilities, even going up to the stacks. In fact, I had once found in the stacks at Low Memorial a book of 600+ proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, and since I couldn't finish it all in one sitting, I went downstairs to the circulation desk and asked them if they would be willing to let me sign it out, even though I was not a student there. They took down my name, address, and phone number, and I walked out with the book! Imagine doing that today!!! My design was for a three-stage vacuum system. First was a mechanical vacuum pump called a "backing pump" in geek speak, which took out the bulk of the air, bringing the pressure down to around one Torr (one millimeter of mercury, or about 1/760 of an atmosphere). The second stage was an oil diffusion pump, which got the pressure down to either a hundredth or a thousandth of the crude vacuum produced by the backing pump. The third and final stage consisted of a mercury diffusion pump, which brought the pressure down by several additional orders of magnitude. In addition to attending the committee meetings and working on the design of the vacuum system, I also visited the Physics Department at Columbia in Pupin Hall, and one of their faculty members showed me several cyclotrons that they had built and installed there. And when I made an exploratory trip to the University of Rochester in my Junior or Senior year, to scout it out as a possible locus for my undergraduate studies, I visited their Cyclotron Laboratory as well. For me, being on the Cyclotron Committee was an invaluable experience. It strengthened my penchant for being a doer, not a talker, and it gave me an enormous boost to my self-confidence. Overall, it was one of the high points of my life. Charlie Abzug, Associate Professor of Computer Science, James Madison University Thinking Back I started the project in 1956. Mr. Abraham Kerner of the Chemistry Dept was our faculty advisor, as Mr. Bender was too busy with his own extra-curricular activities to help us, although we were in his AR lab. I still have all of the original documents and drawings for the machine with the official received stamp of the B of E on the cover. Mr. Kerner arranged for delivery of the iron and copper during two phone calls from the phone booth in the lobby. I was with him in the phone booth. It was absolutely unforgettable. I remember the conversations verbatim. I got the big vacuum tubes for the oscillator from RCA when Gen Sarnoff visited Stuy to get his honorary diploma (1958?). The steel bars were too big to machine at Stuy or even at Brooklyn Tech. To get the steel machined, we rented a man and van, loaded the heavy bars on the truck and drove them up to the high-energy physics lab in the Pupin Building at Columbia Univ. We unloaded the bars on the loading dock and sent the truck away. The lab director was really mad at us, but finally agreed to have the blocks machined! Some of us were also building a 'pickle-barrel' nuclear reactor, but that didn't get anywhere due to extreme problems with Mr. Schenberg, the Supervisor of Science at the B of E. He was a real political hack and we simply ignored him after two meetings on Livingston St. Getting us to meet with him was another self-promoting effort on Mr. B's part. Dr. Fleidner was very upset with us for getting the newspapers involved, after Bender, Efron, and Schenberg all copped-out on us. Mr. Yard, the physics lab tech helped us a lot, as did the very grumpy electric shop teacher whose name I have forgotten. As I recall, that year Mr. Kerner won a big award for outstanding teaching and then retired. He was a very crusty old guy and taught us not to take crap from 'the system'. After many months of hearing platitudes from Bender, et al, we asked Mr. Kerner to help us. We had a short meeting with him and he went to the phone booth in the lobby with us. He called information and got the number of the American Iron and Steel Institute. He called and asked for the President. When the guy came on the phone, Kerner asked him if they could donate a few thousand pounds of soft steel to our project at Stuy. The president said no problem and the steel arrived about two weeks after we mailed the specs. He also called the President of Phelps-Dodge Copper Corporation and asked him if he would donate 1000 lbs of #10 enamel-insulated copper wire. The response was amazing! He just asked, "What kind of enamel insulation?" We didn't know what to say, and he suggested double weight Formvar was the best, The wire arrived before the steel. Later that term, when Gen. Sarnoff came to visit, I just politely asked him if RCA could donate a couple of 833 vacuum tubes and he said ok. Perhaps these were the bestlessons I learned at Stuyvesant. Martin Gersten '58 Thinking Back The cyclotron project attracted the interest of the Board of Education, culminating in a visit from an official from Livingston Street, Brooklyn, whose name I have forgotten, but whose responsibilities encompassed science curricula for the entire city. He visited the room where the cyclotron was under construction (formerly the G.O. offices) and among the questions he asked was how much uranium we would require to make it work. Clearly, he was apprehensive regarding safety issues, but completely misinformed about the nature of particles generated in an accelerator. We never envisioned the capability to accelerate a uranium nucleus; hydrogen would have been just fine for us. Harold D. Doshan '58 Thinking Back I was on the Cyclotron Committee headed by Mr. Bender. I remember that most of the material was donated and special cinder blocks (with lead aggregate) had to be used. The neighborhood was really nervous about the whole project. They had nightmares of atomic bombs being built by the eggheads of Stuyvesant. Steven J. Wallach '62 Thinking Back From my cyclotron days: I was reasonably active in '58-'59, especially in the math area. After that, I was only peripherally involved except for Bender's electronics class in '61-'62. There was a lot of soldering of copper tubing for cooling the system. And there were Erector set parts used for cable clamps and braces for power connectors. The cyclotron had two dees but only one was active and one was dummy...There was talk of making medical isotopes, but no money or space had been allotted for a "hot lab", so this part of the project went bust. It also meant that while we had a machine, it couldn't be put to any practical purposes that would allow it to pay for itself, as first envisioned. A low-power test was run in the spring of '62, enough that Bender was able to declare that the goal of a working cyclotron at Stuyvesant had been achieved. It is my understanding that the first full-power operational test later that year tanked the electrical system for the building and surrounding area! And the budgetary and safety problems were never overcome. No one knows what happened to the machine. I think some of the problems were exacerbated by professional and personality clashes between Mr. Bender and "Doc Ef." Efron was disdainful of Bender not having a Ph.D. and Bender liked to point out that the Physics Department Chairman (Efron) had never been a physicist! (Efron's PhD was in Comparative Education...) I remember instances when Mr. Bender played practical jokes on Dr. Efron designed to show in front of students and faculty what Bender called Efron's "lack of physics fundamentals." One of these tricks involved building a tiny transistor audio oscillator into an old radiotelegrapher's headset. Bender then showed it to Efron and told him that the headset had been making a "funny noise" ever since it was dropped in class, and could he possibly explain what was happening. Efron gave an elaborate explanation of induced hum from the room wiring and fluorescent lighting. After he left, Bender explained the hoax and made a point of saying that "any decent physicist would have caught on to the trick." Matt Deming '62, Engineer, Boy Wizard (emeritus);-) Sr advisor, The Geek Group. Thinking Back I was on the Cyclotron Committee after it had started construction. I remember that the room used was originally the student store where items like the plastic book bags could be purchased. I have a memory of using some Erector Set parts as supports for things like vacuum hoses, to prevent kinking. It always seemed appropriate to me that we all had Erector Sets and we'd use our own construction toy parts to help build an atom smasher. Construction of the room by a contractor would have started around January 1961. They did a lot of work with concrete block to make an inner room in which the actual chamber would be housed. The chamber, BTW, was a six inch diameter x about 1.5" thickness. It was the same as Lawrence's original though we had only one "Dee" and he had two. I think the total space used for the inner and outer rooms was more than the student store alone which is why I think another room (the Spec?) was also involved. One of my favorite Cyclotron experiences was going to (sneaking into) the IEEE show at the Coliseum with a few others from the Committee. The tube DC power supply we had had too much ripple in its output and the main guys in our group latched on to a company at the show that made excellent power supplies. I think they supplied us with the parts to build a solid state DC supply. The construction by the students went on for quite a while after that. There were problems with the vacuum in the chamber, the DC supply (above), making the magnets took a while, etc. I really can't remember when it was "finished" but I think it might have been as late as 1964. There were plans to make isotopes for Beth Israel Hospital. To my knowledge, it never worked. But it was a wonderful project and the idea that at 14 years old I had worked on an atom smasher has stayed with me always. Martin Paull '64 Architect/teacher, Southern California Institute of Architecture, UCLA Thinking Back There was a room that must have been where the cyclotron was constructed. When I came to Stuyvesant all that remained of the cyclotron were remnants of things, including a couple of magnets that were like a giant vacuum tube. Most everything had been cannibalized. But I can tell you with certainty that it never worked at Stuyvesant any more than it did for Ernest Orland Lawrence, and he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his invention of the cyclotron. The Russians never succeeded in getting one to work, either. Abraham Baumel, Stuyvesant principal '83–1994 Debate The Debate Team Since 1906, the debate team has been a fixture at Stuyvesant, giving students (including many whose native language is not English) to polish their logical, rhetorical, and communications skills. Here are the topics debated in 1907: Resolved: That Japanese residents should be admitted to United States citizenship Winners: Affirmative Resolved: That the height of buildings to be erected in Manhattan should be restricted Winners: Negative Resolved: That Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield is better for use in the Stuyvesant High School than Eliot’s Silas Marner. Winners: Affirmative Resolved: That in the public schools of NYC women occupying the same positions as men should receive the same pay. Winners: Negative Stuyvesant has had one of the largest and most successful debate teams in the country. Stuyvesantians had so many years of success in the National Catholic Forensic League that they retired the Cardinal Cooke Trophy after several consecutive years of topping the Catholic Forensic League. Debate Team Highlights 1927: NYC debating championship: 1927, 1929, 1931 1962: Debate team, supervised by Mr. Kaye, performs better than teams of the previous few years; wins honors at the National County Forensics Association’s Annual Congress; wins three matches at the St. Peter’s tournament in New Jersey. 1963: Debate team logs unprecedented record of 22-6 against the best teams of the New York metropolitan area; places second in the state at the Hamilton College invitational debate tournament. The team gains admission to the National Forensic League, which means it can now participate in nationwide contests. 1964: First in the Stamford invitational tournament and third in the Canisius tourney. 1965: Debate team wins many competitions, including the New York University, Columbia, and National Forensic League tournaments. 1976: Second in Bronx High School of Science open debating tournament. 1984 and after: With the arrival of Julie Sheinman as speech and debate coach, the debate team (now two hundred strong) ranks among the top ten high school debate teams nationwide, winning every major tournament in all seven speech categories and both debate categories. Nearly every year, the Stuyvesant team dominates the annual Villiger Tournament, winning the Lincoln-Douglas debates, is crowned National Forensic champion, and wins the New York State Forensic League Speech Sweepstakes. Folk Singing Folk Song Club When I went to Stuyvesant, folk music was becoming very popular. A small group of us formed a Folk Song Club. We held weekly meetings where we played guitars and other instruments and sang folk songs. Our first president was Carl Baron '60, and I was VP. We held joint meetings with our sister school, Hunter College HS. Some of us formed an old-timey band (now it would be called “roots” music) and named it the Myopian String Quartet. The members included my classmates David Turkheimer, Edward Stevens, Douglas Metzler, and me. We performed briefly in New York. Recently I ran into Carl Baron again. He is playing in a contra-dance band, while I am playing in an English country dance band in the Philadelphia area. Our interest in this music started at Stuyvesant. Claude Epstein '61 Languages L'Étoile – Fall ’55 The French publication of Stuyvesant HS issued by the Language Department. (From Morton Fleischner '59) The German club gets endorsement from German/American rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun Math The Math Team Stuyvesant math teams have won almost every competition in NYC and New York state, as well as many national contests. The team practices at the zero period every morning in preparation for the Interscholastic Math League competition, the Mathematical Association of America competition, and the New York Math League competition, in all of which the team has compiled a consistent record of victories. The Math Society Publication 1949 Math Survey 2001 Thinking back: from the Math Team Alumni "mojo-working" website, Math Team? Is that like fencing, but with pencils? The Math Team, vintage 1967-1970, was like a basketball team. There were lots of guys on the team, but only five on the court at any time. Unlike basketball, injuries and fatigue were rare. Substitutions occurred only because of wrong answers. There were several meets each semester. Two or three teams would meet at one school on a Friday afternoon. All players, even those on the bench, worked the same problems. Each player worked alone, with a time limit for each problem. The only scores that counted were those of the five designated players. Substitutions were allowed between problems. Scores were tallied and citywide rankings were kept. In Fall of 1969 and Spring of 1970, if memory serves, we creamed Bronx Science. In addition to the citywide meets, there was one national contest. We called it the MAA exam, after one of its four sponsors, but its real name was the Annual High School Mathematics Exam (AHSME). Nowadays there are two more national contests, both invitation-only, and an international one too. Stuyvesant students often do well in these. Indeed, most of our information about Math Team members after 1975 comes from the widely publicized results of the USA and International Mathematical Olympiads. Kiran Kedlaya, an NSF postdoc in Berkeley's math department, sadly not a Stuyvesant alumnus, maintains a Web page on various math contests, including problems and solutions for the last several years. The ideal team structure was one captain, three seniors, one junior, and a healthy supply of alternates. The captain was the guy (or, since the early 1970s, girl) who knew the most. He led the morning practice sessions, which took place daily (except Friday?) during zero period in room 510. The captain might order substitutions during meets when a starter found himself a couple of quarts low. More often, the starters would change only between meets, based on performance at the prior meet. The junior member became the captain the next year. http://www.mojo-working.com/MathTeam.html Math Team Highlights NYC championships: 1943, 1954, 1961, 1971 Interscholastic League championships: 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 1974: With Eric Lander '74 as co-captain of a strong team, math team wins every competition it enters. 1975: Paul Zeitz '75 wins the Math Olympiad in 1975 1977 Two Stuyvesant members, U.S. math team wins the International Mathematical Olympiad 1981: Twelve Stuyvesant members of the U.S. International Math Olympiad, with Gregg Patruno '81 and Noam Elkies '82 among the top eight. In citywide Interscholastic Mathematics League competitions, five senior trophies and five junior trophies are awarded to Stuyvesant team members. More on the mojo website! Music Music: Band, Orchestra, and Chorus 1910 Indicator Thinking Back "Despite all of the wonderful academic opportunities offered to us at Stuyvesant, I believe that my life was most strongly influenced and shaped by my 3 years of participation in the Band and Orchestra. The respective musical directors, John Bart and Walter Stoffregen were superb musicians, teachers, and conductors, and served as my personal springboard into a musical career that I cherished for decades. I believe that the ability to "perform" in front of an audience, together with the creativeness and self-assurance developed during my "music career" at Stuyvesant, played a significant role in my ability to successfully practice law and advocate before judges and juries during the past 34 years. More importantly, the pure love of music and performing developed during my Band/Orchestra years at Stuyvesant gave me untold pleasures...as well as the fervor and drive to get up and travel more than 1 hour to school every day. I still remember nearly every concert and musical piece we performed during my time at Stuyvesant. The Music Department Gold Medal awarded to me at graduation is something I will cherish my entire life, and still ranks as one of my proudest accomplishments, something I really wanted! Play on! Les Martin '62 (who was First Trumpet, and is now NY matrimonial attorney) The Orchestra at the new Stuyvesant Pajama Day Pajama Day One upon a time there was no Pajama Day...and of course there were no females either. All that changed in 1969. Here’s an account (adapted from an article in the 1996 Indicator) of how Pajama Day started: Certain Stuyvesant seniors were jealous of what they imagined to be the glamorous life of suburban high school students as seen on TV: football pep rallies (attended by people other than the players!), outdoor barbecues, bonfires of raked leaves in the fall, and most important, slumber parties! In comparison, their lives as apartment-dwelling “eggheads” seemed dull and “nerdy.” The leader of this group, Waldo, felt that “The Best School in the Nation” should not be outdone by the average suburban high school, so he decided to have a slumber party at Stuy. However, Waldo thought that a slumber party was simply a party held in the evening at which everyone wore their pajamas, not understanding that people were supposed to sleep over! Anyway, Waldo convinced about 100 of his classmates to secretly stay after school until 10:30 pm one Thursday night in December. Since the entire class was just as clueless as their fearless leader, nobody questioned the sanity of the idea. When the long-awaited Thursday finally arrived, the hundred spirited seniors eagerly hung out in school until sundown, after the teachers had gone home. Then they put on their pajamas and began the party. They ran around the halls in their slippers playing a giant game of freeze tag. Finally, they got hungry and decided to order in pizza, but were told that due to the “current inclement weather conditions” all deliveries are canceled. Unbeknownst to them, it had been snowing heavily. A quick assessment of the situation revealed that it would be impossible to go home at 10:30 as planned; they would have to spend the night at school! Making the most of an unexpected situation, they continued the party, dining on the delicacies mistakenly left out by the cafeteria staff the previous day, and then they watched the falling snow which lulled them off to sleep around 2 am. Five and a half hours later, the students were awakened by the stern voice of the Principal at that time, Dr. Fliedner, who had arrived to find 100 students in pajamas camped out inside the front door of the school. “What are you doing here?,” he asked. “Why are you all in your pajamas? It’s against regulations to sleep in school. You could all be expelled!” Waldo exclaimed: “Sleep in school? We only do that in classes! We all just got here extra early because today is Senior Pajama Day.” Embarrassed, Dr. Fliedner answered, “Oh, I must have missed the announcement. Carry on!” So carry on they did, proudly flaunting their pajamas all day, and all the seniors who weren’t wearing pajamas felt out of it and stupid, and the juniors were jealous. So when the next year rolled around, the new seniors organized a “Pajama Day”... And so it goes. Photo Photo Club Thinking Back I remember the Photo Club as a very vibrant organization. We had photo competitions and I learned a lot. I went on to be a freelance photographer for the Daily Mirror, operated a citywide photo news service with two other Stuy students and also ran a monthly magazine with them sponsored by the Daily Mirror as a Junior Achievement enterprise called the Hi-Sports, which covered all schools in the City. I was the Photo Editor of this magazine. Maurice Wolf '51 Radio Student transmits a message to four of his classmates in the classroom at Stuyvesant High School, NY. April 1918 The "Radio Engineers of Stuyvesant,” so a recent visitor called the members of this ultra-scientific organization. The club maintains a complete transmitting and receiving station, in addition to which every member has his own station at home. Each piece of the aparatus was costructed by the members of the club. The remarkable efficiency of the station proves that none but experts are in the ranks of the Radio Club. The transmitter is of the "rotary spark” type, and has a radiation of 2.5 amperes. With this set signals have been sent over a distance of one hundred miles. The receptor consists of two regenerative sets, one for short waves and one for long waves. A two-stage amplifier is used in conjunction with each set. With the former, amateurs within a radius of 850 miles have been copied. Signals the the Largest government stations in the world, such as Nauen, Germany; Eiffel Tower, France: Koko Head, Honolulu Glaci Bay and Cliftten, Ireland, have been received on the long wave set. On the roof of the school buildibg, a four-strand, ninety-foot aerial, of the T type, has been erected. The club has a first-grade experimental license and official call of "2--YB." The club’s membership is divided into two divisions, Senior and Junior. To become a Junior member, the applicant must receive and send five words a minute, and pass a simple theoretical examination. Senior membership necessites a speed of fifteen words per minute and a knowledge of every phase of the theory of wireless. Weekly lectures on highly scientific advancements of the Radio art are given by the members. Space permits the mention of but a few of the excellent papers delivered before the club. They include “Short-wave Regenerative,” by Thedore Berger; “Duplex Radio-Telephony,” by Herman D. Alpern; “Underlying Principles of Radio.” by Jerome Sackheim, and “The Wavmeter,” by Yale Golobe. Some of the members of the club have viited the hgh-pawered radio station at New Brunswick, New Jersey. The members of the club wish to express their deep gratitude to their faculty advisor, Mr. Raymond D. Brownleee, chairman of the Physics Department, for the work he has done for the club. From The 1920 Indicator Rifle 1921 Indicator The Rifle Club - 1952 Indicator SING! The History of SING! For many, SING! (which originally was spelled SING, without the exclamation point) is Stuyvesant’s main event--an annual competition between grades in which the theater is the battlefield and song, dance, comedy, and creativity are the weapons. In the weeks leading up to the performance in early spring, Stuyvesant’s halls are filled with dancers, band troupes, and wacky scenery. SING! is a student-run musical competition. Three teams (seniors, juniors, and the combined sophomore and freshman classes) each write, cast, and create a full-scale production, performing it before a large audience and a panel of alumni judges. An early “New Haven” performance is not scored, but two “Broadway” productions, usually held on Friday and Saturday nights, are judged for script, acting, dance, music, and technical quality. For the senior class, it’s a matter of pride to come in first. But upsets--almost always achieved by an enterprising junior class--have occurred. Students create everything in SING! except the some of the music--new lyrics are usually written to existing songs, allowing the band time to learn the music and singers and dancers to practice the numbers before the new lyrics are complete. Biology teacher David Cronen was coordinator of student affairs when SING! came to Stuyvesant in 1973. He recalls, "Physics teacher Arnold Bellush and I went to schools in Brooklyn in the ’50s and early ’60s, where they had already established SING! The original SING! was simply a lot of songs put together and with a theme. Especially since the girls had just come into the school, Mr. Bellush thought it might be a good idea to bring the tradition to Stuyvesant, and so SING! was born.” The first year’s theme was program cards: When SING! started at Stuyvesant, however, students scorned the idea. Elli Barasch '73 says he became the director of the first senior SING! primarily because no one else wanted the job. (Actor Paul Reiser, also of the class of 1973, agreed to be band director.) After all, SING! was replacing the much beloved Student-Faculty Talent Show, which began in the mid-1960s and was coordinated by Arnold Bellush. The show shared many of SING!’s basic characteristics: students wrote the material and built all the sets and props. Performances depended on talented--and devoted--students and teachers alike. The talent show generally consisted of a school-oriented satire and drag show, but as Barasch recalls, “We couldn’t blast the teachers much, because the scripts were pretty well censored. Since the teachers also participated, it would have been bad form for a colleague to appear to condone another’s lambasting.” Nevertheless, the seniors were so angry about the change to SING! that during the first Saturday night performance they reportedly protested by appearing on stage drunk, and their romping parody far exceeded the bounds of the judges’ tolerance. In an unusual--perhaps unique--outcome, the seniors finished third. One other feature of the first Sing was that is was in early June in a non-air conditioned auditorium, contributing to the intensity of the experience. Meanwhile, the freshman-sophomore performance, with Tim Robbins '76 playing the lead, was earnest and the story was good, but the execution was uneven and the program ran twice the allotted time. They placed second. The juniors had some good actors, they sang well, their story was peppy and concise, and their victory was a landslide. After that first year, student opinion of the competition changed quickly. Anita Scheff '73, former president of the Stuyvesant Drama Club, recalled, “Some of us protested its beginning and tried to stop it, petition and all. The following year it turned out that I was a SING! judge.” Mr. Bellush continued to be the SING! advisor for more than twenty years, and in November 1995, just before his retirement, he unveiled major reforms, including new, transparent guidelines for appointing student directors; a fifty-minute limit on performances; and a ban on heckling--an aspect of SING! that had been an integral part of the show’s culture. Vincent Grasso, who served as COSA for fifteen years, commented in 1999, “They do things differently now than they did then. In the ’80s they were more into a good script, good songs, dancing, and acting. Today there aren’t as many singers, they don’t do as many songs, and the dancing is basically all hip-hop. We had a variety of types of dancing years ago. Other than that I see no difference. The student spirit has always been the same.” The production has often pushed the envelope in its satirical portrayal of school life, but in the last few years, the trend has been to move away from SING! plots set entirely at Stuyvesant, although comedic references to the school are usually abundant. Recent SING! productions have been set in a mental institution named “Yuts” (“Stuy” spelled backwards), the Kennedy White House, and a 1920s speakeasy. Faculty members are now often invited to perform cameos in SING!, sometimes with a line or two, and occasionally even with a song. Twenty-five years ago, SING! was a large musical production. Today, it is even larger - a heavyweight bout between creative talents in each grade. The shows sell out every year, and teachers curse the productions for capturing the attention of so many of even their best students. Adapted by Abbie Zamcheck '03, with assistance from Lindsay Long-Waldor '04, from the article “SING!’s Secret History,” by Katherine Liu '81, which appeared in the 1999 edition of Stuyle (an end-of-the-year Spectator publication), as well as from notes received from Richard Sadano '75 and SING! advisor Annie Thoms Thinking Back SING is among the most exhilarating and cherished memories I have of my four years at Stuyvesant. It was a time of innocence, joy, playfulness, expression, and romance. SING was a catalyst that brought so many of us together. It transcended cliques and gave us something meaningful to rally behind and work together toward. SING was a work hard, play hard, and a constant celebration of laughter. Bob Averack '74 “Stuyvesant,” the song closed the senior SING show in 1975 and was sung again that year at graduation. The lyrics are by Michael Kaplan '75 set to the music of “Happiness,” from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (courtesy Richard Sedano '75.) Stuyvesant is Baskin & Robbins McDonald’s and Blimpie’s The three o'clock crunch. Stuyvesant is streaking a concert Chemistry, math and Throwing up lunch. Stuyvesant is everything that I'd hoped it'd be. Stuyvesant means so much to you and me. Stuyvesant is waiting for subways Getting up early Yet I return. Stuyvesant is people together Living together Learning to learn. Stuyvesant, you taught me more than I've ever known. Stuyvesant, I'm no longer alone. Stuyvesant is liking some people, loving some people, too. For Stuyvesant, oh Stuyvesant, oh Stuyvesant, my school Oh I love you. Stuyvesant is part peanut butter Ten million pills And a name of our own. Stuyvesant though it may not be perfect It's all that we've got We call it our home. Stuyvesant, these past couple years have been good to me. Stuyvesant, please, please set me free. Stuyvesant is liking some people, loving some people too. For Stuyvesant, oh Stuyvesant, oh Stuyvesant, my school Oh I love you. Thinking Back SING! played a crucial part in my experience at Stuyvesant. In those years, each SING! competition was designated with a Roman numeral, much like Super Bowls or world wars. My understanding is that the SING I was held in the spring of 1973 and that the seniors did not take it seriously, allowing the juniors to win. The same class '74 then won SING II the following year, starting a tradition that the seniors would win every year. That is, until the class of 1981 came along. Here’s the story: Sometime between 1974 and 1977, SING moved from the spring semester to the fall. I don't remember SING VI from my freshman year (December 1977), but I can report pretty extensively on the next three years. In December 1978, I had a supporting role in Soph-Frosh SING VII, whose plot told the story of an earnest song-and-dance kid who gets his big break in showbiz while evading bad guys who want to foil his ambitions. The lead role was played by Wendell Brown '81 who was sort of a celebrity at the school because he had performed in several television shows, did commercials regularly, and even had a prominent role in a movie (Up the Academy) during our time in high school. The juniors put on a show that was a domestic comedy of some sort, and the winning senior show took place in ancient Greece. I remember that because all the guys were wearing togas. Like all SING scripts, these shows were musicals, but all the songs were actually parodies--popular songs or show tunes with new lyrics written by the students. In the spring of my sophomore year, 1979, my friend and classmate Steve Newman and I began talking about writing a script ourselves to enter the competition for Junior SING VIII the following fall. The way the process worked was that each class held an organizational meeting at the beginning of the school year at which a director, a "coordinator," (effectively the show's producer), and a script judging committee were elected by popular vote. Then, potential scripts would be submitted for consideration a few weeks later, and, after one was chosen, the process of auditions, casting, rehearsals, and so on would begin. Since Steve was (and is) a very talented musician, we thought that one way to differentiate our script from the others would be to write original music rather than song parodies. So in the spring of 1979 we began outlining a plot and composing original music and lyrics to accompany the story. We continued working through the summer, and we were about 75 percent finished by the time school began in September. When we returned to Stuyvesant, though, we were told that SING! would be shifted to the spring (the organizational meeting would be moved to December) and that the school play, Man of La Mancha, would take its place in the fall semester. So we took the time and finished our script, polished the songs, recorded a cassette tape of our songs for the script judges, and submitted our script right after New Year's. And it was chosen. Our show, To Hell with Heaven, was a boy-meets-girl story, but it took place in the afterlife--actually, in a way station between earth and the afterlife, with half the people going to heaven and half going to hell. The stage was split in half, with the hero, George, on one side and the heroine, Geraldine, on the other, neither knowing his or her ultimate destination. They are surrounded by attendants dressed in white, all of them wearing the suitably ambiguous letter H, and at first they think they're in a hospital, until the truth dawns on them. Other characters enter the story as it goes along, including God himself (a disembodied voice over the loudspeakers), Geri's rock-star fiancé, George’s mother, and George's conscience, who appears as a tuxedo-clad nightclub singer who emerges from the audience and clambers onstage to sing a song of encouragement at a pivotal moment. (I would end up playing this role myself.) In the end, love wins out. The script-judging committee liked our script but was cautious about using so much original music, so they asked Steve and me to substitute a few traditional song-adaptations. They did, however, let us keep two of the songs we had written ourselves, making To Hell with Heaven the first SING entry to feature original music. The competition was held over two evenings, Friday and Saturday, May 9 and 10, 1980. (The original performance dates were supposed to be in mid-April, but the subway strike forced a postponement.) We were up against a talented senior class, whose show was a western called Marlboro County, U.S.A., and a soph-frosh spy caper that took place in the Soviet Union. The seniors gave an unusually lackluster performance on Friday, whereas we knocked ’em dead. But on Saturday we were a little bit off, while the seniors came roaring back. Everyone knew that no senior class had lost since that first SING back in 1973, so everyone waited expectantly for the judges' ruling to be announced. I still remember where I stood--in the left-hand aisle, toward the back of the auditorium--and being mobbed by my friends and classmates after Dave Cronen, the teacher who was the coordinator of student activities, announced that by the slimmest of margins, Junior SING had won. On Monday morning, I came to school early, as was my custom, and headed to The Spectator office, which was in the basement, on a hallway just off the auditorium stage. I dropped off my bags and wandered onto the stage itself, savoring the moment once again. My reverie was interrupted by one of my acquaintances from the senior class, who had had a lead role in all the school plays and in SING. He spotted me and came over, mock-menacingly, like an old-time gangster, and said, "If you value your life, you'll get off this stage." I wisely retreated to safer ground. The next year I was the editor-in-chief of The Spectator, and so I didn't have time to participate in Senior SING IX as fully as I had done in the past, but I did serve on the script-judging committee. We selected another script written by Steve Newman, also with some original songs, called A Fair Shot, which told the story of a man who writes poems for greeting cards but dreams of bigger things. It, too, won the competition when it was performed in April 1981, making us the first class in seven years to win back-to-back. Paul Golob '81 Editorial director, Times Books Science Talent Search Science Talent Search The Science Talent Search has been an important event at Stuyvesant since its inception in the 1940's, sponsored for many years thereafter by Westinghouse and, beginning with the 1998-99 academic year, by Intel. The forty Finalists are announced each February, followed by a dinner in Washington DC, a visit to the White House, meetings with Senators, Congressmen and press. Finally, in March there is the selection of the winners. Until 1968, there were five named as winners, ten thereafter, and sometimes alternates. Winners are awarded a substantial scholarship, and receive attention in the press. The students are striving for prizes, fame, careers, or maybe a little extra something to put on their college applications. Those entering the contest generally invest significant time and effort in their research or project. Some spend summers working on their research projects at universities and laboratories. Others work before, between, and after classes. A number of teachers and administrators provide material and academic assistance to the students as they choose topics, execute projects, and present results. Stuyvesant, with its science and math emphasis, gets to prove itself. And, as one alumnus notes, "In the past, nothing has been sweeter than seeing more Finalists from Stuyvesant than Bronx Science or any other school in the nation." Stuy and Bronx Sci together "owned" the contest for many years with their strong showings. In 2003, Westinghouse and Siemens started another major science contest. And Stuyvesant's Yin Li '04 took First Place for $100,000! His subject: "Characterizing the Prion Properties of a Translational Regulator Expressed in Mouse Brain," which studied nerve proteins that may aid memory. Joshua Proschan and Arthur Frankuchen, at the Cathode-Ray cascilloscope wave form study, Ellis Cooper and William Barth, at the Power Triode, Tony Naro and Barry Schindler, at the Tesla Coil used for high frequency wave. March 26, 1959 Westinghouse/Intel Science Talent Search Winners and Finalists (F) 1945 Edward Malcolm Kosower (1st), Andrew Streitwieser (9th) 1947 Gary Felsenfeld (6th), Leonard Stuart Taylor (F), Ariel Charles Zemach (F) 1948 Alan Richard LeSchack (8th), Paul Martin (F), Gerhard Rayna (9th) 1949 Martin Barry Brilliant (F) 1950 Paul J. Cohen (F), Elihu Lubkin (F), Edward Charles Posner (F), Alan Sussman (F) 1951 Robert Rosen (F), Peter Bernard Schneider (6th), Robert Schmidt Feldstein (F) 1952 Ilmar Raudsep (8th) 1955 Roald Hoffmann (6th) 1959 Kenneth Murray Berman (F) 1960 Melvin Hochster (2nd) 1961 James Ivan Lepowsky (F) 1963 Henry Martin Smilowitz (F) 1964 Arthur Stanley Menikoff (F) 1974 Eric Steven Lander (1st), Francis Barany (F) 1975 Paul Andrew Zeitz (1st) 1976 Denise Anne Maximilian Taylor (F) 1977 Daniel David Blau (7th), David Ross Grant (F) 1978 Julie W. Pan (F), Jonathan Todd Kaplan (F) 1979 Gregory Bret Sorkin (6th), Ashfaq Munshi (10th) 1980 Lisa Joy Randall (Tied for 1st), Paul Neil Feldman (8th) Brian Randolph Greene (Alternate) 1981 Joel Martin Wein (F) 1982 Ogan Gurel (3rd), Noam Elkies (8th), Richard Ke-Jen Chang (F), Tammy Gay (Movsas) Zietchick (F), Joel Naom Hirschhorn (F) 1983 Jeanie Pui Ching Lo (9th), Wieslaw Czeslaw Topolski (F) 1984 Atom Sharkar (6th), Jessica Gabrielle Riskin (9th) Bonnie Robin Zietchick (F) 1985 Michael Friedman (3rd), Audrey Zelicof (9th) Paul Chan (F), Junjiro Horiuchi (F) 1986 Mariann Meier Wang (F), Carl Hyun-suk Park (F) 1987 Elizabeth Lee Wilmer (2nd) Julie Yui Tu (F), Chen-Wei A. Lee (F), Hyoung Yoon Park (F), Alexander Wharton Grannis (F) 1988 Chetan Nyak (1st), Janet Tseng (2nd) Meiville Chen (Alternate), Mohamad Shahan Ali (F), Aurika Wanda Checinska (F) 1989 Lucy Shigemitsu (F), Rose Du (F) 1990 Bianca Santomasso (10th), Alexander Sragovich (F), Esther Chen (F), James Chien Hsun Liao (F), Mitchell Wong (F) 1991 Debby Ann Lin (7th), Yves Jeanty (8th) Linda Tae-Ryung Kang (F), Petal Pearl Haynes (F), Tien-An Yang (F), Yves Jude Jeanty (F), Sunmee Louise Kim (F) 1992 Michail Leyb Sunitsky (F), Zachary Gozali (F), Vanessa Wun-Siu Liu (F), John Alexander Abraham (F) 1993 Martin Adrian Fisch (F), Erwin Lin (F) 1994 Johnson Chen (F) 1995 Aleksandr Leonidovich Khazanov (7th), Chit-Kwan Lin (F) 1996 Ting Luo (4th), D udley William Lamming (F), Bruce Mizrahi Haggerty (4th), James Park (F) 1997 Elaine Wan (F) 1998 Jesse Keith Anttila-Hughes (10th) 1999 Kirsten Graham Wickelgren (F) 2000 Evan Matthew Fink (F) 2001 Jerry Moy Chow (F), Caroline Minh-Phuong Nguyen (F), Dmitriy Aronov (F) 2002 Nikita Rozenblyum (6th), Albert W. Leung (F) 2003 Varun Kumar Narendra (F), Joel Brewster Lewis (F), Alex Levin (F) 2004 Matan Harel (F) Siemens/Westinghouse Winner 2004 Yin Li (1st) "N.Y. Teen, Yin Li '04, Wins Westinghouse Competition".... submitted by Alan Dash '51 Dec 8, 3:14 PM (ET) By BEN FELLER WASHINGTON (AP) - A 17-year-old from New York City won a leading science competition for high school students Monday for research that helps explain how the brain works. Yin Li, a senior at Stuyvesant High School, emerged ahead of five other students to win the 2003-04 Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Li, who plans to study neurobiology and molecular biology in college, won a $100,000 scholarship. He discovered a protein with properties that could be related to neural function, and his work explores how protein synthesis may govern the strength of connections between neurons. "Through creative and original research, this young scientist has increased our understanding of how the brain works on the most fundamental level," said judge Victor Ambros, professor of genetics at Dartmouth Medical School. Thinking Back Mr. Bender was actually Dr. Bender, on the faculty of Brooklyn Polytech at the same time as his tenure at Stuyvesant. Aside from supervising a class in applied physics, in which everyone was assigned a practical experimental project, he was responsible for a series of early morning seminars in which those of us with the inclination to enter the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now taken over by Intel) covered all aspects of science and mathematics, with an emphasis on important discoveries over the years. This review of science went on for several months prior to the actual Westinghouse exam. As I recall, 10 of us received honorable mentions in the 1957-1958 program. Harold D. Doshan '58 Theater Theatrical Productions In 1920, the Indicator looked back: March 2, 1909 marked the advent of dramatics in Stuyvesant. On that day the Irving Dramatic Society was organized by Mr. W. Palmer Smith. Under his guidance the annual Christmas Play and the Public Speaking Contests were first introduced. On Wednesday September 29, the Society presented its first play, written by two of its members, Ralph Colp ’10 and Emil Freudenfels (c.’10). On December 24, it presented its first Christmas play, a dramatization of Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.” On May 27, 1910, the Society undertook the difficult task of presenting James A. Herne’s powerful play, “Shore Acres.” The production was a marked success, many present declaring that it approached professional excellence in its production. 1911 from the NY TImes From the 1911 Indicator Over the years, we see little mention of theatrical productions. Until girls were admitted to Stuyvesant in 1969, theatrical performance was hampered, and even after they were admitted the theatricals were limited to musicals until English teachers Steven Shapiro and Judy Kocela Hawk decided to mount a modest production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Thinking Back It was 1994. I wasn’t yet an assistant principal, and our renegade group wasn’t considered a real theater group. We weren’t allowed to use the theater for rehearsals, so we rehearsed in classrooms. The day before the performance, our request to use the theater with stage lighting was turned down. We weren’t “legit” and stage lights were expensive. OK, we said, if we can’t rehearse in the theater with the lights on, we’ll rehearse in the dark--and that's what we did. The next evening they turned the lights on, and we gave a superb performance. The following year we did The Man Who Came to Dinner. With a great many ups and downs along the way, we now have a full theater program under the auspices of the English Department, with a charter and an advisor--the Stuyvesant Theater Community. We present four productions each year: one-act plays, Shakespearean tragedies, musicals, and comedies. After 9/11, the kids, in collaboration with their advisor, Annie Thoms, wrote, published, and produced a play about the tragedy called With Their Eyes. I’m proud that Stuyvesant theater is bursting with life! Steven Shapiro, former English teacher Thinking Back I was involved in a theatrical production of Kaufman and Hart’s “Once in A Lifetime” which is a three-act comedy about the early days of talking motion pictures. The play was a cooperative effort between Stuyvesant and Hunter College HS (our "sister school" then) and was presented in the auditorium at Stuyvesant Spring, 1967. I was the Stage Manager and also had a small speaking role. We had a fairly big company made up predominantly of juniors from both schools. Ed Elgart ‘68 Some memorable productions (1972) Lysistrata - Clearly motivated by the Vietnam War, this production was a romp featuring all the male actors holding up the middle of their tunic costumes signifying the sexual starvation of the Greeks, and a tour de force as Lysistrata by Elaine Mercandette '75. (1974) Cyrano - Another tour de force by Daniel Oreskes '74 with remarkable drama and period costumes. (1974) Thurber Carnival - An ensemble exploring the warm stories of James Thurber. (1974) Students Against Sexism - An experimental effort to convey stories, songs, and poetry about sexism in American society, including Daniel Oreskes '74 as a man waking up one day and discovering he is pregnant. (1975) You're A Good Man Charlie Brown - I just enjoyed this terrific ensemble cast doing one of my favorite shows. I should add that Sterling Jensen, and then Tom Dolan, both of the English Department, were well-loved as theater advisors through the 70s. Richard Sedano '75 Thinking Back I was a photographer for The Spectator, and did some work with Stage Squad for a couple of shows. The paper and stage work were things that I continued doing when I went to MIT, and I'm pretty sure that the skills that I learned doing those activities (people coordination and management, etc) are the things I learned in school that most serve me today in my career. Steve Berczuk '83, Software developer and author Backstage Techies Stuyvesant began as a school of manual training. There were foundry, joinery, wood-turning, pattern-making, metalworking, milling, construction, and machine shops. Over the years these skills became outmoded, and the need for such shops disappeared--until, that is, theatrical productions came into full swing, and students combined all these skills backstage. Here is a user’s manual for being a backstage techie: First and foremost, a techie must have the urge to create. Without this basic desire, everything else is superfluous. Without it, none of the flats the techie hammers, none of the storefronts she constructs, none of the stairs she assembles will have the vitality or indescribable beauty that emanates from a set built by someone who has lavished time and affection on it. Everything else can be learned, but this inborn drive can never be taught. Before the building starts, before the wood is ordered or the drills charged, a set must be designed and plans drawn up. The tech director, fearless leader of her band of techies, must reach across crew lines and, along with the art director and executive director, work to conceive a set that will be her masterpiece. Together, these three imagine wondrous inventions, such as platforms that open to create two cabins within a larger ocean liner and levels connected by curving stairs that are perfect for sword fighting. At the end of their furious and frenzied session, a design has been born, and the techies prepare to attack their task. The basic skills of this noble profession start with knowledge of one's tools. They are instruments of precision and brute force, the means by which sets are made possible. They are the bridge between the two-by-fours and plywood and the objects they have the potential to become. The ultimate tool is the screw gun, which any good techie knows better than she knows her own mother. She knows its temperament; the differing pressures needed to set a screw into lauan, Homasote, or plywood; the power of its chuck; the variations in its capabilities; the warmth it emits when put to hard work. After the screw gun, numerous saws follow. First comes the jigsaw, which curves and loops to create grandfather clocks and tabletops. Next is the miter saw, whose chopping bite cuts effortlessly through a four-by-four Finishing the trio, the table saw, complete with a vicious spinning blade and bright yellow finger guards, provides clean, sweeping cuts, precisely slicing plywood to its proper size. The ways of these instruments are learned through use. Nothing but feeling their power can teach a techie the might they hold. Once the sets are made, the last screw screwed, the last stair braced, the last flat flown, the job of running crew begins. The darkness of backstage is the techies' domain, wherein their job is to amaze and awe the audience, taking them from a castle on the foggy moors of Denmark to a café in the heart of Havana. Techies know more than the stage floor and dressing rooms where the actors rehearse their lines. They creep on catwalks, two storie |
Please scroll down to the second half of this article to read the English version. En hel verden av cineaster venter i åndeløs spenning på Lars von Triers ambisiøse og garantert kontroversielle Nymphomaniac. Montages har nå fra sikre kilder fått tilgang på ny, eksklusiv informasjon om hittil ukjente detaljer ved filmen. Som kjent ble ikke Nymphomaniac ferdig i tide til Cannes-festivalen i våres (hvor von Trier for lengst er ønsket velkommen tilbake etter skandalen i 2011), og det har siden da oppstått mange spekulasjoner rundt når og hvordan filmen skal lanseres. Det er fastsatt at den regulære kinopremieren i von Triers hjemland Danmark vil finne sted første juledag 2013 (og en gallapremiere i København arrangeres tidlig i desember). Nymphomaniac blir å se på norske kinoer tidlig i 2014, ifølge distributøren Nordisk film. Nymphomaniac handler om en kvinnes erotiske reise gjennom livet, helt fra fødselen til hun nærmer seg femti. Historien fortelles av nymfomanen Joe (spilt av Stacy Martin og Charlotte Gainsbourg) via åtte tilbakeblikk. Når en sjarmerende ungkar ved navn Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finner Joe liggende ute på gaten, fullstendig mørbanket, tar han med seg kvinnen hjem for å gi henne pleie, hvorpå hun begynner å snakke åpent om det mildt sagt innholdsrike livet sitt. De ti punktene nedenfor avslører nye detaljer om filmen og dens presentasjon, men ingen av disse handler om selve fortellingen – artikkelen må altså regnes som spoiler-fri. * 1. For øyeblikket er Nymphomaniac 5 timer lang, og etter planen skal den bestå av to volum, på 2,5 timer hver. Det er meningen at disse skal lanseres simultant – dette skal ikke oppleves som to filmer. Materialet er imidlertid massivt, og det er stadig aktuelt å supplere kinofilmene med en fjernsynsserie. 2. Nymphomaniac består som kjent av 8 kapitler. Hver av disse delene vil ha sitt eget stilistiske uttrykk, diktert av innholdet og tonen. Noen delene får et relativt ordinært formspråk, mens andre vil være mer eksperimentelle. Filmen presenteres i Cinemascope, bortsett fra ett kapittel, som er skutt i 1,85:1. En av delene vil også være i sort-hvitt. 3. Det siste kapittelet i filmen skal være tydelig inspirert av Andrej Tarkovskij (som Antichrist var dedikert til). I motsetning til Antichrist og Melancholia kommer ikke Nymphomaniac til å ha noen innslag av slow motion. «Hvad er det for noe? Det er da bøsse-aktig!», skal von Trier ha sagt spøkefullt til sine medarbeidere. 4. Et av kapitlene er utelukkende skutt med statisk kamera. Det er derimot ikke snakk om en tablåaktig-estetikk, av typen man eksempelvis finner i Roy Anderssons filmer, men et nesten dokumentarisk uttrykk, der kameraet hviler på ansikter og kropper; like rigid som et overvåkningskamera, bare mye nærmere objektene. 5. Filmens title card er ikke skrevet på en tavle med kritt, slik som i de to foregående filmene (Antichrist og Melancholia). Grunnet den (tilsynelatende) tematiske likheten mellom disse tre filmene, har det vært spekulert i at Nymphomaniac nå skulle bli den siste delen i en trilogi. Dette kunne eventuelt blitt markert ved å presentere tittelen på samme måte som i de to foregående filmene, men dette er altså ikke tilfellet. Fortekstene beskrives som Woody Allen-aktige. 6. Von Triers tilnærming i arbeidet med Nymphomaniac har vært innfallsbasert og resultatet er visstnok nesten «studentfilm-aktig». I motsetning til hva produsent Peter Aalbæk Jensen har antydet, skal filmen være langt mindre virtuos enn von Triers to siste filmer. Filmen kan sies å være stor og visjonær i kraft av å være en episk fortelling som rommer mange temaer, steder og rollefigurer, men det visuelle uttrykket er hovedsakelig dempet. Nymphomaniac beskrives som en slags oppsummering av Lars von Triers karriere – og ikke minst hans interesse for og identifikasjon med kvinner. 7. Filmen inneholder en rekke arkivopptak, som bidrar til å løsne opp filmen og trekke den ut i overraskende retninger. Disse innslagene er hovedsakelig videoer von Trier har funnet på YouTube. Som et ledd i promoteringen av Nymphomaniac har von Trier snakket om at han lanserer en ny sjanger, kalt ‘digressionism’, og vi er herved et skritt nærmere en forståelse av hva dette innebærer. 8. Som kjent har filmen en rammefortelling, der Charlotte Gainsbourgs rollefigur Joe forteller sin erotiske livshistorie til Stellan Skarsgård. Alle de åtte kapitlene er flashbacks fra Joes liv, og historien begynner på slutten av 60-tallet og strekker seg helt frem til i dag. 9. Ettersom handlingen i Nymphomaniac utspiller seg over seks tiår, må den nødvendigvis ta hensyn til de ulike periodene. Denne dimensjonen skal imidlertid være nedtonet og hovedsakelig prege kostymene (det første kapittelet skal være mindre tidløst enn de andre, som teaseren også antyder). 10. Filmen skal visstnok være svært morsom – tidvis nærmere ren komedie enn noe von Trier har laget siden Idiotene og Direktøren for det hele. Den svarte humoren er dog mest tilstedeværende i filmens første halvpart, ettersom historien blir mørkere og mer tragisk etterhvert. * English version Exclusive: 10 revelations about Lars von Trier’s erotic drama Nymphomaniac A whole world of cinephiles are waiting with bated breath for Lars von Trier‘s ambitious and sure-to-be-controversial Nymphomaniac. From reliable sources, Montages has gained access to exclusive information containing new details previously not known about the film. Nymphomaniac was not finalised in time for this spring’s Cannes festival (where von Trier has long ago been welcome again after the 2011 scandal). There has since been much speculation about when and how the film will be released. In von Trier’s home country of Denmark, the premiere will take place on Christmas Day 2013 (a gala premiere in Copenhagen will be organised earlier in December), and the film will be theatrically released in Norway in early 2014. Nymphomaniac is about one woman’s erotic journey through life, from birth until almost the age of 50. The story is told by the nymphomaniac Joe (Stacy Martin, Charlotte Gainsbourg) through eight flashbacks. When a charming bachelor named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finds Joe laying in the street, beaten black and blue, he takes her home to care for her. Soon she starts to talk openly about a life that has been eventful, to put it mildly. The ten items below reveal details of the film, but not the story itself – thus this article must be said to be spoiler-free. * 1. At present Nymphomaniac is five hours long, and according to plan it will consist of two volumes, each two and a half hours long. The intention is to release them simultaneously – they are not meant to be experienced as two films. The material is massive, however, and it is still in the cards to add a TV series to the theatrically released films. 2. As already announced, Nymphomaniac consists of eight chapters. Each part has its own stylistic approach, dictated by content and tone. Some parts have a relatively ordinary formal language, but others are more experimental. One of the chapters is shot in black-and-white. The film is shot in Cinemascope, except for one chapter in 1.85:1. 3. The last chapter is clearly inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky (to whom Antichrist was dedicated). In contrast to Antichrist and Melancholia, Nymphomaniac does not have any slow motion. «What is that about? It is so gay!», von Trier is said to have joked to his crew. 4. One chapter is exclusively shot with a static camera. This is not done in a tableau-like aesthetic approach, of the type one can find in Roy Andersson‘s films, but in an almost documentary approach, with the camera resting on faces and bodies, as rigid as a surveillance camera, but much closer to the objects. 5. The film’s title card is not written with chalk on a board, like in the two previous films. Due to the (seemingly) thematic similarity between Antichrist, Melancholia and Nymphomaniac, one might have thought that Nymphomaniac would be the last part of a trilogy. This could have been achieved by presenting the title in the same way as the two previous films, but this is not the case. The opening credits are described as being in the style of Woody Allen. 6. Von Trier’s approach has been improvisational and the result is almost «like a student film». Contrary to the proclamations of producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, the film is said to be much less marked by virtuosity than von Trier’s two previous films. It can be described as big and visionary in the sense of being an epic story containing many themes, places and characters, but its visual expression is mainly muted. Nymphomaniac is described as some sort of summation of Lars von Trier’s career – and not least his interest in and identification with women. 7. The film contains extensive archive footage, which helps loosen up the film and drag it into unexpected directions. These elements are mainly videos that von Trier has found on YouTube. As part of the promotion of Nymphomaniac, von Trier has said that he is launching a new genre called “digressionism”, and consequently we are now one step closer to understanding what this means. 8. As announced, the film has a framing story, where Charlotte Gainsbourg‘s character Joe tells her erotic life story to Stellan Skarsgård. All eight chapters are flashbacks from Joe’s life, and the story starts in the late 1960s until today. 9. Since the story of Nymphomaniac is unfolding over six decades, the film must necessarily be marked by the various periods. This dimension is said to be toned down, however, and is mainly expressed through the costumes (the first chapter is supposed to be less timeless than the others, as also indicated by the teaser). 10. The film is said to be very funny – at times closer to pure comedy than anything von Trier has made since The Idiots and The Boss of It All. Its black humour is mostly present in the film’s first half, however, since the story gradually grows darker and more tragic. * |
The Montrose Rollerblade Dancer is ready for his close-up. Image: Walter Sassard Last week, Howie Mandel appeared on The Today Show to discuss the new season of America’s Got Talent, on which he serves as a judge. When asked about his favorite acts, Mandel said he was looking for things that he’d never seen before: “We have this guy Juan,” Mandel told hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. “I can’t say what he does, because I don’t know what he does. It’s not comedy, it’s not singing, it’s not dancing. It’s not even a danger act. I don’t know what it is, but I like it!" (Fast forward to 3:12 in the video below to hear Mandel's full comments.) Juan—“the Juan and only,” as Mandel put it—is better known to Houstonians as the Montrose Rollerblade Dancer, the mustachioed, headphones-wearing gentleman who for the past few years has spent several hours a day skating by himself on Montrose Boulevard and Allen Parkway, becoming something of a local celebrity in the process. Drivers slow down to yell encouragement or take photos; a video of his dance routine has been viewed almost 800,000 times on YouTube. Last September, Juan Carlos (he prefers not to give his last name) gave his first print interview to Houstonia Executive Editor Catherine Matusow. The resulting profile became one of our most-read stories, and, at some point, came to the attention of a producer at AGT, who called Matusow requesting Juan Carlos’s phone number. Shortly thereafter, Juan Carlos received a call from the show inviting him to audition. “At first I didn’t want to do it, but then they kept calling, so I said ‘Okay, let’s try,’” he told me in a recent phone interview. With the help of a psychologist friend, Juan Carlos set to work designing a costume out of a Catwoman costume and two women’s mini-skirts. This improbable but utterly fabulous outfit can be seen on Juan Carlos’s Facebook fan page—yes, he has a fan page. As for his dance routine, Juan Carlos decided to improvise, just as he does on Montrose Boulevard. “It’s basically whatever comes to me in the moment of the music,” he explained. “The music just makes me move.” Last month, NBC flew Juan Carlos to New York and put him up at the Manhattan Hotel in Times Square. But any notion that the Montrose Rollerblader could go incognito in the Big Apple, far from his Montrose fan base, vanished as soon as the Colombian-born part-time hairdresser stepped (or rather rolled) onto the street, where he said he was mobbed by adoring crowds asking to take photos with him. A few people even addressed him by name, saying they recognized him from his YouTube videos. Because of all the attention, it took two hours for Juan Carlos to travel the three blocks from his hotel to where he was supposed to get picked up for the audition. His Facebook page features a video of him dancing outside his hotel room, the passersby obviously nonplussed. As for the audition itself, well, Juan Carlos is contractually prohibited from saying too much about it, including whether he advanced to the next round. (All of the early auditions are pre-taped.) He told me that the judges—who, in addition to Mandell, include Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Nick Cannon, and Mel B—urged him to regrow his mustache, and to include more of the poses he exhibits in his videos. “They said, we love your poses, you need to bring them back big-time. I said, ‘Oh, I’ve got plenty of those.’” Juan Carlos hasn't been told which AGT episode will include his audition—he didn't appear on last week's season premiere—but is hoping it's tonight. Juan Carlos said he wasn't nervous about appearing on national television. The way he sees it, he’s just bringing the same joy to the country that he’s been bringing Houston motorists for years. “I’m used to people on Allen Parkway, and I see how people love it and how it makes them happy. So I have a lot of confidence on me…I’m ready for my close-up!” [Editor's note: the spelling of Howie Mandel's name has been corrected. H/t commenter Sihaya] |
Well, of course the Assisted Dying Bill failed. It mattered not a jot that an overwhelming majority of public opinion urged its success; it was always going to fail and the only surprising thing is that anybody is surprised. I’ll bet my teeth on a few more certainties, too. Last week the required 200,000 people put down their spliffs long enough to sign a petition in favour of decriminalising cannabis and thus, in October, the matter will be debated by MPs. Proponents, however, really should not bother — they will lose, regardless. Also last week it was reported that genetic engineering is now our most rapidly developing area of scientific research; nevertheless, each of its life-enhancing discoveries continues to face immense hurdles — at which many fall — on the journey between laboratories and needy patients. In every case, the chance of change succumbs to the same argument: that of the ubiquitous ‘slippery slope’. Assisted dying bit the dust not because anybody seriously wishes to prolong agony among the terminally ill but because, in the dark minds of scattergun alarmists and conspiracy theorists, to allow it would be a slippery slope towards truckloads of septuagenarians being hurled, still kicking, into the gaping mouths of crematoria. Lightening up the law on cannabis may be opposed for several reasons, good and bad, worthy of consideration and far-fetched. It does not tax me particularly, either way; I never was greatly fond of the stuff. But when it returns to debate next month, the move will fail not by dint of the reasoned arguments. It will fail because, as always, the ignorant cling to the belief that the use of cannabis is a slippery slope towards the use of, say, heroin — in spite of countless studies proving the exact opposite. If you don’t have to go underground for your weed, you won’t be introduced to the nastier products for sale in the same den — much as, if you do not venture into the high street, you are less likely to indulge in an impulse buy from a shop window. The massed opposition to genetic engineering must break the cleverest of hearts when they are accused of creating a slippery slope to ‘designer babies’. I cannot imagine how it would feel to have found a way to manipulate a gene in order to save a baby from being born into the lifelong anguish of cystic fibrosis, only to be greeted by an intake of breath: heavens, no! Next thing, women will be asking for children with blue eyes! Taken simply as a tool of argument, the slippery slope demonstrates a paucity of intellectual rigour: it is one thing to oppose what is being proposed and another altogether to oppose what is not. The first requires knowledge, study and fact; the second needs neither evidence nor proof and is validated as a warning by nothing more than its own utterance. In efforts to beef up the warnings there are those who cite the experience of other countries, as did Douglas Murray in his cover story a fortnight ago. Douglas cited Holland and Belgium, but what happens in other countries is not an inevitable template for what will happen in this one. As long as there are laws that apply in Dover but not in Calais or Amsterdam, we have only the record in Britain as a credible measure — and in this country, often almost to a fault, we have shown ourselves to be pretty damn rigorous both in finding consensus and in sticking to it. Sometimes we involve the law. So, for instance, when gay sex between men was made legal in 1967, and the law specified only men over 21, we continued to prosecute younger hanky-panky. In 1994 we returned to Parliament for stout debate and consideration, before reducing the age to 18. For the sake of parity with heterosexuals, we repeated the arduous procedure and, in 2001, 16-year-olds were included. There was no slope, slippery or otherwise — just three clear, controlled and legislated steps. Speaking of 16-year-olds: we are the only country in Europe that allows military recruitment at 16 rather than at 18. Some of us would like to change that (16 is awfully young to be able to sign away the next six years of your life, including risking it in warfare, to a strictly binding agreement). But none of us would sensibly argue that these 16-year-olds are perched upon a slippery slope leading to 12-year-olds navigating drones over Iraq. Even though, in these techno-years, they would probably make a better fist of it than their elders, we do not teach our children to kill. This is Britain, not Sierra Leone. Sometimes, we do not need to involve the law; consensus is reached culturally, yet clung to all the same. Most people in this country eat meat — but that does not include chowing down on the family dog or raiding the local gymkhana for Sunday lunch. And sometimes what begins in law becomes simply absorbed into cultural consensus. We used to speak of ‘legal limits’ for alcohol consumption before driving a car; these days most people unthinkingly recognise that a couple of swift halves after work might be fine while competitive sinking of yards of ale is not — and we don’t think that anyone who defies that principle is either big or clever. Moreover, when we discover those who have found loopholes and wiggle-room, we have proved ourselves to be collectively cleverer at blocking them than the scaremongers allow. For example, once we established that there were some who were abusing scans during pregnancy to determine the sex of their child, and then terminating those of the ‘wrong’ sex, most NHS hospitals took it upon themselves to inform parents that it was not the hospital’s policy to tell them what sex they were expecting. What they did not do was invoke the slippery slope to stop the scans that have revolutionised antenatal medical practice. (Of course, as an aside, we must admit that the very rich can still get around that one, as they can get around so much else. Then again, we must also admit that, by and large, it was not the very rich who were guilty of the abuse; it was the poor, the illiterate and — are we allowed to say this? — the non-British.) Patriotism may be an overrated virtue, but I have faith in the everyday common sense of most of my countrymen and their capacity to understand precisely when and where to apply brakes. As for those who seek only to stifle potential, who cannot embrace any progress, change or evolution without conjuring out of thin air a terrifying slippery slope, we would be better served if they would shut up, suit up and ski down it instead. |
ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account The story of the contribution made by Sikh soldiers during the First World War is to be told for the first time thanks to a Lottery grant. The United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association has been given £450,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to fund research into regimental histories, dispatches, correspondence and interviews with descendants of soldiers. Although Sikhs made up only two per cent of the population of British India, they formed 20 per cent of the British Indian Army and 130,000 Sikh soldiers saw active service from the Somme to Gallipoli. Amandeep Madra, chairman of the London-based UKPHA, said: “The role of Sikhs in the Great War is largely unknown but a fascinating part of the story of the Allied war effort and indeed ‘the British story’.” The Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting several projects relating to the war’s centenary. For details, visit ukpha.org |
Never before has there been so much information readily available at our fingertips. Never before has there been so many free resources to learn new skills and expand our minds. But with this unprecedented access to knowledge, never before has there been so much confusion about what advice one ought to follow. More often than not, what separates the people who seem to pick things up fast and excel at everything they try isn’t that they’ve stumbled on the best insights out there. Rather, it’s that they’ve learned how to learn well. Here are 10 things quick learners do differently to pick up anything. 1. Use the 80/20 rule In 1906 an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Taking the observation further he noticed that 80% of the peas in his garden were produced from 20% of the pods. Years later, economist Joseph M. Juran called this 80/20 rule the Pareto principle. Productivity experts like NYT bestselling author Tim Ferriss have popularised this approach as a means to learning quickly. For instance, when it comes to learning a language a good question to begin with is: what are the 20% of the words that are used 80% of the time? Find the 80/20 rule in the subject of your studies. What are the main ideas? What are the most important elements that yield the biggest return on investment? Start with these questions. 2. View failure as feedback We often try to avoid failure at all costs. We typically engage in pastimes we feel competent in and try not to venture out of our comfort pits for fear of looking like a dork. We play it safe. This isn’t the way we’ve always been. When learning how to talk, we would mumble and sing and talk gobbledegook for hours on end to anyone who would listen. When first learning to walk, we would crawl and stand and fall hundreds of times, sometimes hurting ourselves, and try again a few minutes later. Think about all of the hobbies you had growing up–yo-yo, skateboarding, drawing, instruments, sports–every month there was a new fad every kid had to try. We were excited to learn, to improve, whether that meant failing along the way or not. Advertising The greatest minds in history keep this childlike curiosity their entire lives. Thomas Edison, arguably the greatest creative scientist of all time, was racing to invent the light bulb before anyone else. He failed over 10,000 times. When asked in an interview how he felt about his failures, without a missing a beat he replied: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” There can be no learning without failure. Embrace it. 3. Simplify “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo da Vinci The idea of the superhuman learner who reads 15 books on different subjects at once, while learning 10 different languages and writing 3 novels, is a myth. Multitasking leads to poor performance. A study conducted by the University of London found that people who had their email on while doing work that required concentration lost 10 IQ points. If you haven’t slept for 36 hours, you lose 10 IQ points. If you smoke marijuana, you lose four IQ points. Too many distractions make us dumb. Super learners, like Leonardo da Vinci, went through periods of intense immersion. Although he is famous for being a scientist and an artist, da Vinci didn’t take an interest in maths until he was 40. Then he spent five years learning everything he could about it. With learning, we must simplify. We must give all of our attention to one topic at a time. Taking on too many tasks at once weakens our ability to learn. Advertising 4. Ask “why” five times to dig deeper When we see someone perform a magic trick, we’re usually presented with three acts: the pledge, the turn and the prestige. An ABC if you like. To the magician, however, there are rarely just three acts, but dozens. In between A and B there is a further A1, A2 and A3 which the audience never sees. Good learners look deeper than what is merely presented on the surface. Quick learners ask why multiple times, even when they think they know the answer. They probe further. Knowing is not enough, we must understand. The next time you are presented with a subject you want to learn, ask “why” five times to dig deeper. 5. Keep a positive attitude Positive psychologist Martin Seligman has done lots of research on learned optimism. While everyone has a range, everyone can improve their level of optimism. If you want to be a quick learner, optimism should be one of the first things you learn. Optimists don’t feel happy all the time. Optimists feel the same amount of negative emotions as pessimists. The difference is that optimists bounce back quicker. If you’re faced with a setback, a rejection, or a failure–all of which are inevitable in the learning process–the more likely you’ll be to interpret it as helpful feedback. We can learn to become more optimistic by simply challenging our instinctive thought processes. The next time we get an F on an exam instead of instinctively thinking, “I’m terrible, and will never improve,” we should challenge this assertion: “Did I study as hard as I could have? I’ll never ever improve? Not even if I spend 1000 hours more practicing?” 6. Practice what has been learned Daniel Coyle, in his book The Talent Code, explains the three essential components of skill acquisition as: passion, deep practice and master coaching. Theory without application is a huge waste of time. Benny Lewis, author of a popular language learning blog, said that he lived in Spain for six months and attended Spanish courses, yet still had terrible Spanish. He made the simple decision to start speaking it every day even if he looked like an idiot. In less than three months he was fluent. We are physical beings. In order to internalize lessons we have to physically go through the motions. Imagine trying to learn how to play piano by reading about musical notation, or entering a boxing match after reading up on how to throw a punch. It will never work. Advertising There’s a reason there’s the saying, “practice makes perfect.” Nobody ever says, “Reading theory makes perfect.” 7. Ask experts for advice Most of the greatest learners in their field had mentors. In Robert Greene’s book, Mastery, which is all about quick learners, he dedicates a third of the book to what he calls “The Ideal Apprenticeship.” Greene believes that having experts and mentors is invaluable when it comes to learning: “In the stories of the greatest Masters, past and present, we can inevitably detect a phase in their lives in which all of their future powers were in development, like the chrysalis of a butterfly. This part of their lives–a largely self-directed apprenticeship that lasts some five to ten years–receives little attention because it does not contain stories of great achievement or discovery. Often in their Apprenticeship Phase, these types are not yet much different from anyone else. Under the surface, however, their minds are transforming in ways we cannot see but contain all of the seeds of their future success.” The great thing about living in the information age is that there are plenty of experts to learn from. While having one-to-one tuition from a master is useful, it’s not essential. We can find mentors on YouTube, or in books that we can learn from by imitation. As an aspiring artist I often copy the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Green sums up the apprenticeship phase as follows: The principle is simple and must be engraved deeply in your mind: the goal of an apprenticeship is not money, a good position, a title, or a diploma, but rather the transformation of your mind and character — the first transformation on the way to mastery. 8. Do not pretend to understand when you don’t I made this mistake when I went scuba diving in Cyprus. I daydreamed throughout the seminar expecting to learn while I was in the water. That was a big mistake. When you have heavy equipment on your back, being just a few feet underwater feels like you’re on the bottom of the ocean. It was terrifying. On a ship, when an order is given it’s always repeated back to the captain. The captain needs to know that you understood his instruction. This rule came about because people were nodding along compliantly without really understanding what the captain wanted them to do. How many accidents happened because of this? We learn so well as children because we have no self-image. We’re not trying to be seen as clever. If a young child doesn’t understand something, he will usually ask a million questions until he does. By pretending to understand something, you’re falling prey to an egotistic need to appear smart. Quick learners appreciate how little they know, then go about learning it. 9. Balance scepticism with open mindedness Leonardo da Vinci said: Advertising “Study the science of art and the art of science.” Einstein said: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Both of these masters were scientific and creative in equal doses. They knew how to be scientific, but they also knew the limits of logic when compared to imagination. To be a quick learner you have to treat every past idea, no matter how it first appears, with a pinch of salt, while at the same time respecting it enough to test it out. If you dismiss an idea too quickly, you are being too skeptical. If you get sucked into an idea too quickly and let it start dominating your life, you’re being too suggestible and open-minded. A quick learner takes what works, discards what doesn’t, and moves on. 10. Small rewards From the outside video games seem illogical. We choose to spend hundreds of hours carrying out tasks that don’t need to be done, don’t improve our lives outside of the game, and we pay to do it. The secret video games have is the balance between reward and challenge. When you’re playing a video game you don’t need to wait until the end of the month to get your reward. You get it immediately. There’s an ongoing feedback loop throughout the task, sort of like having a mentor offering their feedback as you go. We need to balance our learning with rewards if we’re going to stay motivated long enough to learn what we need to learn. Everyone’s reward may be slightly different. For some it will be having a cup of coffee after an hour of practice. For others it will be showing off what they’ve learnt in a performance of some kind. Find out what your reward might be and implement it into your learning schedule. All work and no play… |
(As members of the new Philadelphia Bicycle Advocacy Board look on, Mayor Nutter signs the order giving the group official status. Photo by Steve Tawa) By Steve Tawa PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — After Mayor Nutter’s low profile trip this summer to view the Tour de France bicycle race, he has signed a high-profile executive order at City Hall to peddle professional cycling in Philadelphia. With the stroke of a pen today, Nutter created the Philadelphia Bicycle Advocacy Board. One of its first tasks will be to increase the profile of women in the cycling race held here in early June of each year. Nutter’s trip to France had included meetings with the president of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for sport cycling. Bicycle Advocacy Board member Phil Senechal (standing fourth from left), a Philadelphia businessman who previously sponsored and managed an international women’s team, says the women’s side of the race has been upgraded to be part of the UCI Women’s World Cup series. “This would be one of five or six most elite races in the world,” he notes. Mayor Nutter’s wife, Lisa, also a member of the board (standing third from right), says cycling in Europe is pretty saturated: “They see the us as an expanding market for them.” And she says that in Philadelphia, the Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic is one of the few international-level races that offer equal prize money to the men’s and women’s race winners. “It spoke volumes to them that we were looking at the sport from an equity lens,” she said. Organizers say the Philadelphia race will draw the highest ranked teams in the world competing for UCI points to qualify for even bigger events, and ultimately make their respective Olympic teams. |
Just when you are getting cozy and comfortable with SharePoint 2013, the SharePoint Server 2016 preview is released (Aug. 24). (You can download the notes here, along with information about system requirements and installation instructions.) The preview release also included an announcement that the SharePoint Server 2016 RTM release is expected to sometime in Q2 of 2016. Now some of you may be thinking, “What, SharePoint 2016???” And rightfully so, because less than two years ago, there were rumors that Microsoft might not release another on-premises version of SharePoint — which would’ve forced everyone to Office 365’s SharePoint Online. In fact, for a period of time Microsoft was only improving SharePoint Online by adding features and functionality not found in the on-premises release. Well low and behold, people talked and Microsoft listened. The customer demand was high enough that Microsoft decided there will be another on-premises release, and in fact, as long as there is demand for an on-premises version of SharePoint Server, there may be other on-premises releases beyond the 2016 release. The on-premises version of SharePoint Server 2016 is unique in that Microsoft took a snapshot of the SharePoint Online cloud services that includes most of the new features built in, and used that as the baseline for the on-premises SharePoint Server 2016 product. However, not all of its capabilities will make it to the on-premises version, but those that don’t will be offered as Office 365 Services, so you can leverage them from your on-premises implementation. SharePoint Server 2016 will contain functionality that will allow easy integration of Office 365, specifically SharePoint Online, with your SharePoint Server 2016 on-premises deployment. Ultimately, Microsoft realized customers wanted a hybrid approach, so SharePoint Server 2016 was designed to promote and ease the implementation and management of a SharePoint hybrid solution. Bill Baer, Microsoft’s SharePoint senior product manager, said: “…with SharePoint Server 2016, we’re paying close attention to trends in content management, team collaboration, user experiences across devices, and how the cloud can be blended into existing on-premises scenarios in new and compelling ways.” This says it all as far as where Microsoft is headed with SharePoint Server on-premises — and what you can expect to find for features and functionality. Speaking of features and functionality, by now you must be wondering what you can expect to find within SharePoint Server 2016, so lets provide a high-level overview of this preview release. Being that SharePoint Server 2016 was developed on the same core platform as SharePoint Online, you will see similarities between them. For end users, SharePoint Server 2016 Preview unlocks new experiences that are intuitive and familiar. IT professionals are going to discover that SharePoint Server 2016 delivers improved performance and simplified management of scalability. Finally, developers are going to see that they now have the opportunity to build for both cloud and on-premises. But if we want to look at the meat, preferably a slow-cooked 12-ounce steak, you can find a list, along with a description of the new and improved features, in this TechNet article on Microsoft’s website. You may have noticed I have been emphasizing SharePoint Server 2016 throughout this article, and the reason for doing so is because at this point Microsoft is not releasing a SharePoint 2016 Foundation edition, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be providing updates to SharePoint Foundation. Also, at this point there isn’t a plan for a SharePoint Designer 2016 or an InfoPath 2016. Remember what I said earlier, SharePoint Server2016 on-premises wasn’t even going to exist originally, but the demand for it warranted a release. I wanted to wrap up this blog post with answers to a couple of popular IT pro-specific questions regarding this new SharePoint release. The first important question is whether it is possible to upgrade from the SharePoint Server 2016 Preview release to the SharePoint Server 2016 RTM. The answer is NO, so don’t deploy SharePoint 2016 in a production environment and create an in-place upgrade plan if you decide to test SharePoint 2016 Preview. Another important question for IT pros is what are the upgrade options from a previous version of SharePoint? SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint 2016 will require a database attach upgrade process, and it will require all site collections be upgraded to SharePoint 2013. SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2016 will require a two-step process, first upgrading to SharePoint 2013, and then to SharePoint Server 2016. There will be a lot more information about SharePoint 2016 as it is updated throughout the development cycle, and like all software in its infancy there will be many more changes. I plan on continuing to write about this topic in the upcoming months to keep you informed. Also, as a CBT Nuggets SharePoint speaker at numerous SharePoint conferences, my upcoming sessions will be more focused on SharePoint 2016. This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join? |
I Finished it!!!!! my 3d/Digital painted drawing of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. This is one of my tribute for the good news I heard for the new Godzilla Sequel. As you can tell I am a big fan of Godzilla and all the toho Kaiju's he fights and mostly big fan of making monsters in general. anyways, this piece took a lot of thinking. the planning part was extremely difficult, I wanted to do a piece where it shows Godzilla fighting king Ghidorah, one on one but the problem is I want to focus on the head of king Ghidorah (at least one of them) and focus closely on the new Godzilla using one of my favorite facial and body gesture from the new movie right before when he is about to roar or breathe out his atomic breath. originally I wanted to really show more of king Ghidorah but could not accomplish it without making to much negative space and mostly I did not want to draw the eyes away from the king of monsters making Godzilla the main center point. as for rendering, texturing, and LIGHTING!!! it was difficult because not only king ghidorah is gold but I have to somehow make it still gold reflecting blue light from Godzilla's mouth and spine in a dark environment while still focusing on the global illumination from the environment and the natural lighting from the horizon. as for the perspective, it was fun to find out how I want it. at first I was going to make the camera view look up showing there massive scale, but it would of eliminate the heads behind Godzilla + I thought it would be fun to show the building break apart as Godzilla slams the right head into it.Here is my Rough draftHere is more of my Godzilla fan art |
A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future Robert Anson Heinlein (7 July 1907 – 8 May 1988) was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of science fiction of the 20th Century. See also pages for the novels: Quotes [ edit ] Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word " psychology " was ever invented. It works, too. As for libertarian , I've been one all my life, a radical one. You might use the term " philosophical anarchist " or "autarchist" about me, but "libertarian" is easier to define and fits well enough. I think that science fiction, even the corniest of it, even the most outlandish of it, no matter how badly it's written, has a distinct therapeutic value because all of it has as its primary postulate that the world does change. I cannot overemphasize the importance of that idea. "The Discovery of the Future," Guest of Honor Speech, 3rd World Science Fiction Convention, Denver, Colorado (4 July 1941) How anybody expects a man to stay in business with every two-bit wowser in the country claiming a veto over what we can say and can't say and what we can show and what we can't show — it's enough to make you throw up. The whole principle is wrong; it's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't eat steak. On censorship, in The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950), p. 188; this may be the origin of a remark which in recent years has sometimes become misattributed to Mark Twain: Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do. Waldo & Magic, Inc. (1950) The Koran cannot be translated — the "map" changes on translation no matter how carefully one tries. Robert A. Heinlein, in Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) The answer to any question starting, "Why don't they—" is almost always, "Money". Shooting Destination Moon (1950) Take sex away from people. Make it forbidden, evil. Limit it to ritualistic breeding. Force it to back up into suppressed sadism. Then hand the people a scapegoat to hate. Let them kill a scapegoat occasionally for cathartic release. The mechanism is ages old. Tyrants used it centuries before the word "psychology" was ever invented. It works, too. Revolt in 2100 (1953) The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed. Revolt in 2100 (1953), postscript The death rate is the same for us as for anybody ... one person, one death, sooner or later. Tunnel in the Sky (1955), Captain Helen Walker, Ch. 2 I also think there are prices too high to pay to save the United States. Conscription is one of them. Conscription is slavery, and I don't think that any people or nation has a right to save itself at the price of slavery for anyone, no matter what name it is called. We have had the draft for twenty years now; I think this is shameful. If a country can't save itself through the volunteer service of its own free people, then I say : Let the damned thing go down the drain! Guest of Honor Speech at the 29th World Science Fiction Convention, Seattle, Washington (1961) The Quotable Heinlein The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning, while those other subjects merely require scholarship. In: Time Enough for Love: the lives of Lazarus Long; a novel , (1973), p. 366 At the time I wrote Methuselah’s Children I was still politically quite naive and still had hopes that various libertarian notions could be put over by political processes… It [now] seems to me that every time we manage to establish one freedom, they take another one away. Maybe two. And that seems to me characteristic of a society as it gets older, and more crowded, and higher taxes, and more laws. I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand's; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way government sticks its nose in everything, now. The Robert Heinlein Interview, and other Heinleiniana (1973) by J. Neil Schulman (published in 1990) It [now] seems to me that every time we manage to establish one freedom, they take another one away. Maybe two. And that seems to me characteristic of a society as it gets older, and more crowded, and higher taxes, and more laws. I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand's; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way government sticks its nose in everything, now. I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand's; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now. The Robert Heinlein Interview (1973) — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything, now. I think that describes me, too — still a democrat not because I love the Common People and not because I think democracy is so successful (look around you) but, because in a lifetime of thinking about it and learning all that I could, I haven't found any other political organization that worked as well. As for libertarian, I've been one all my life, a radical one. You might use the term "philosophical anarchist" or "autarchist" about me, but "libertarian" is easier to define and fits well enough. 1975 Statement to Judith Merrill, who had called herself a democrat and a libertarian, stating that such terms described him as well, as quoted in Robert A. Heinlein : In Dialogue with His Century , Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better | 1948-1988 (2014), p. 389 I started clipping and filing by categories on trends as early as 1930 and my "youngest" file was started in 1945. Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots. "The Happy Days Ahead" in Expanded Universe (1980) Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots. Each generation thinks it invented sex ; each generation is totally mistaken. Anything along that line today was commonplace both in Pompeii and in Victorian England; the differences lie only in the degree of coverup — if any. Introduction to "Cliff and the Calories," in Expanded Universe , (1980), pg. 355 ; each generation is totally mistaken. Anything along that line today was commonplace both in Pompeii and in Victorian England; the differences lie only in the degree of coverup — if any. My wife Ticky is an anarchist-individualist ... When she was in the Navy during the early 'forties she showed up one morning in proper uniform but with her red hair held down by a simple navy-blue band — a hair ribbon. It was neat (Ticky is always neat) and it suited the rest of her outfit esthetically, but it was undeniably a hair ribbon and her division officer had fits. "If you can show me," Ticky answered with simple dignity, "where it says one word in the Navy Uniform Regulations on the subject of hair ribbons, I'll take it off. Otherwise not." See what I mean? She doesn't have the right attitude. Tramp Royale (1992) ... When she was in the Navy during the early 'forties she showed up one morning in proper uniform but with her red hair held down by a simple navy-blue band — a hair ribbon. It was neat (Ticky is always neat) and it suited the rest of her outfit esthetically, but it was undeniably a hair ribbon and her division officer had fits. Short fiction [ edit ] Page numbers from the hardcover first edition, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons See Robert A. Heinlein's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details All ellipses and italics as in the book How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions? Life-Line (p. 15) He seeks order, not truth. Suppose truth defies order, will he accept it? Will you? I think not. Life-Line (p. 16) There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority. Life-Line (p. 24) There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back, for their private benefit. Life-Line (p. 25) There is nothing in this world so permanent as a temporary emergency. The Man Who Sold the Moon (p. 100) He decided to stay in his space suit; explosive decompression didn’t appeal to him. Come to think about it, death from old age was his choice. The Long Watch (p. 214) High I.Q., good compatibility index, superior education—everything that makes a person pleasant and easy and interesting to have around. The Long Watch (p. 255) History is never surprising—after it happens. Logic of Empire (p. 333) You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity. Logic of Empire (p. 335); this is one of the earliest known variants of an idea which has become known as Hanlon's razor . Don’t pay any attention to what she says. Half of it’s always wrong and she doesn’t mean the rest. The Menace from Earth (p. 351) says. Half of it’s always wrong and she doesn’t mean the rest. I think perhaps of all the things a police state can do to its citizens, distorting history is possibly the most pernicious. If This Goes On— (p. 401) I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy...censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. If This Goes On— (p. 401) I was too busy to oblige them by dying just now. If This Goes On— (p. 412) Just now I’m writing a series of oh-so-respectful articles about the private life of the Prophet and his acolytes and attending priests, how many servants they have, how much it costs to run the Palace, all about the fancy ceremonies and rituals, and such junk. All of it perfectly true, of course, and told with unctuous approval. But I lay it on a shade too thick. The emphasis is on the jewels and the solid gold trappings and how much it all costs, and I keep telling the yokels what a privilege it is for them to be permitted to pay for such frippery and how flattered they should feel that God’s representative on earth lets them take care of him. If This Goes On— (p. 426) “Do you seriously expect to start a rebellion with picayune stuff like that?” “It’s not picayune stuff, because it acts directly on their emotions, below the logical level. You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic. It doesn’t have to be a prejudice about an important matter either. If This Goes On— (p. 426) “It’s not picayune stuff, because it acts directly on their emotions, below the logical level. You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic. It doesn’t have to be a prejudice about an important matter either. From my point of view, a great deal of openly expressed piety is insufferable conceit. If This Goes On— (p. 431) “Johnnie, the nice thing about citing God as an authority is that you can prove anything you set out to prove. It’s just a matter of selecting the proper postulates, then insisting that your postulates are ‘inspired.’ Then no one can possibly prove that you are wrong.” If This Goes On— (p. 432) First they junked the concept of “justice.” Examined semantically “justice” has no referent—there is no observable phenomenon in the space-time-matter continuum to which one can point, and say, “This is justice.” Science can deal only with that which can be observed and measured. Justice is not such a matter; therefore it can never have the same meaning to one as to another; any “noises” said about it will only add to confusion. But damage, physical or economic, can be pointed to and measured. Citizens were forbidden by the Covenant to damage another. Any act not leading to damage, physical or economic, to some particular person, they declared to be lawful. Coventry (pp. 500-501) But damage, physical or economic, can be pointed to and measured. Citizens were forbidden by the Covenant to damage another. Any act not leading to damage, physical or economic, to some particular person, they declared to be lawful. Mass psychology is not simply a summation of individual psychologies; that is a prime theorem of social psychodynamics—not just my opinion; no exception has ever been found to this theorem. It is the social mass-action rule, the mob-hysteria law, known and used by military, political, and religious leaders, by advertising men and prophets and propagandists, by rabble rousers and actors and gang leaders, for generations before it was formulated in mathematical symbols. It works. Methuselah’s Children (p. 535) “What course of action do you favor?” “Me? Why, none. Mary, if there is any one thing I have learned in the past couple of centuries, it’s this: These things pass. Wars and depressions and Prophets and Covenants—they pass. The trick is to stay alive through them.” Methuselah’s Children (p. 539) favor?” “Me? Why, none. Mary, if there is any one thing I have learned in the past couple of centuries, it’s this: These things Wars and depressions and Prophets and Covenants—they pass. The trick is to stay alive through them.” “The truth of a proposition has little or nothing to do with its psychodynamics. The notion that ‘truth will prevail’ is merely a pious wish; history doesn’t show it.” Methuselah’s Children (p. 606) “Yes, maybe it’s just one colossal big joke with no point to it.” Lazarus stood up and stretched and scratched his ribs. “But I can tell you this, Andy, whatever the answers are, here’s one monkey that’s going to keep on climbing, and looking around him to see what he can see, as long as the tree holds out.” Methuselah’s Children (p. 667; closing words) Page numbers from the hardcover first edition, published by The Science Fiction Book Club, ISBN 1-58288-184-7 See Robert A. Heinlein's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details All ellipses and italics as in the book, unless noted Rotation through a fourth dimension can’t affect a three-dimensional figure any more than you can shake letters off a printed page. And He Built a Crooked House (p. 33) “Why do you like to play chess so well?” “Because it is the only thing in the world where I can see all the factors and understand all the rules.” They (p. 55) “Because it is the only thing in the world where I can see all the factors and understand all the rules.” “People who looked like me and who should have felt very much like me, if what I was told was the truth. But what did they appear to be doing? ‘They went to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to get the strength to buy the food to earn the money to go to—’ until they fell over dead. Any slight basic variation in the basic pattern did not matter, for they always fell over dead. And everybody tried to tell me that I should be doing the same thing. I knew better!” They (pp. 55-56) It is true that most religions which have been offered me teach immortality, but note the fashion in which they teach it. The surest way to lie convincingly is to tell the truth unconvincingly. They did not wish me to believe. They (p. 60) It is very difficult to tuck a bugle call back into a bugle. Pandora’s Box is a one-way proposition. You can turn a pig into sausage, but not sausage into pig. Broken eggs stay broken. Solution Unsatisfactory (p. 67) Imperialism degrades both oppressor and oppressed. Solution Unsatisfactory (p. 98) There is no science of sociology. Perhaps there will be, some day, when a rigorous physics gives a finished science of colloidal chemistry and that leads in turn to a complete knowledge of biology, and from there to a definitive psychology. After that we may begin to know something about sociology and politics. Sometime around the year 5000 A.D., maybe—if the human race does not commit suicide before then. Solution Unsatisfactory (p. 98) “The trouble with you youngsters,” Joe said, “is that if you can’t understand a thing right off, you think it can’t be true. The trouble with your elders is, anything they didn’t understand they reinterpreted to mean something else and then thought they understood it. None of you has tried believing clear words the way they were written and then tried to understand them on that basis. Oh, no, you’re all too bloody smart for that—if you can’t see it right off, it ain’t so—it must mean something different.” Universe (p. 119) It is an emotional impossibility for any man to believe in his own death. Elsewhen (p. 152) “I think that’s unfair, Doctor. You certainly don’t expect a man to believe in things that run contrary to his good sense without offering him any reasonable explanation.” Frost snorted. “I certainly do—if he has observed it with his own eyes and ears, or gets it from a source known to be credible. A fact doesn’t have to be understood to be true. Sure, any reasonable mind wants explanations, but it’s silly to reject facts that don’t fit your philosophy.” Elsewhen (pp. 161-162) Frost snorted. “I certainly do—if he has observed it with his own eyes and ears, or gets it from a source known to be credible. A fact doesn’t have to be understood to be true. Sure, any reasonable mind wants explanations, but it’s silly to reject facts that don’t fit your philosophy.” “But that’s not possible!” Frost looked more weary than ever. Don’t you think it is about time you stopped using that term, son?” Elsewhen (p. 164) Frost looked more weary than ever. Don’t you think it is about time you stopped using that term, son?” Narby had no particular respect for engineers, largely because he had no particular talent for engineering. Elsewhen (p. 182) Bob Wilson admitted to himself that a Ph.D. and an appointment as an instructor was not his idea of existence. Still, it beat working for a living. By His Bootstraps (p. 234) In Wilson’s scale of evaluations breakfast rated just after life itself and ahead of the chance of immortality. By His Bootstraps (p. 238) Like many a man before him, he found himself forced into a lie because the truth simply would not be believed. By His Bootstraps (p. 243) Is it not better to be in ignorance than to believe falsely? By His Bootstraps (p. 249) Time after time he had fallen into the Cartesian fallacy, mistaking clear reasoning for correct reasoning. By His Bootstraps (p. 257) He thought of a way to state it: Ego is the point of consciousness, the latest term in a continuously expanding series along the line of memory duration. That sounded like a general statement, but he was not sure; he would have to try to formulate it mathematically before he could trust it. Verbal language had such queer booby traps in it. By His Bootstraps (p. 257) Free will was another matter. It could not be laughed off, because it could be directly experienced—yet his own free will had worked to create the same scene over and over again. Apparently human will must be considered as one of the factors which make up the processes in the continuum—”free” to the ego, mechanistic from the outside. By His Bootstraps (p. 271) When I was a young student, I thought modern psychology could tell me the answers, but I soon found out that the best psychologists didn’t know a damn thing about the real core of the matter. Oh, I am not disparaging the work that has been done; it was badly needed and had been very useful in its way. None of ’em know what life is, what thought is, whether free will is a reality or an illusion, or whether that last question means anything. The best of ’em admit their ignorance; the worst of them make dogmatic assertions that are obvious absurdities. Lost Legacy (p. 284) In the first place there isn’t a distinguished anthropologist in the world but what you’ll find one equally distinguished who will call him a diamond-studded liar. They can’t agree on the simplest elements of their alleged science. Lost Legacy (p. 301) Convinced of their destiny to rule, they convinced themselves that the end justified the means. Lost Legacy (p. 315) “We see the history of the world as a series of crises in a conflict between two opposing philosophies. Ours is based on the notion that life, consciousness, intelligence, ego is the important thing in the world.”...“That puts us in conflict with every force that tends to destroy, deaden, degrade the human spirit, or to make it act contrary to its nature.” Lost Legacy (p. 318; ellipsis represents a minor elision of description) Cold calculated awareness that their power lay in keeping the people in ignorance. Lost Legacy (p. 333) And all over the country the antagonists of human liberty, of human dignity—the racketeers, the crooked political figures, the shysters, the dealers in phony religions, the sweat-shoppers, the petty authoritarians, all of the key figures among the traffickers in human misery and human oppression, themselves somewhat adept in the arts of the mind and acutely aware of the danger of free knowledge—all of this unholy breed stirred uneasily and wondered what was taking place. Lost Legacy (p. 339) For vice has this defect; it cannot be truly intelligent. Its very motives are its weakness. Lost Legacy (p. 339) Good government grows out of the people; it cannot be handed to them. My Object All Sublime (p. 357) A half hour later I had a headache and a plan, but it called for an accomplice. The plan, I mean. The headache I could manage alone. My Object All Sublime (p. 360) He had the high degree of courage so common in the human race, a race capable of conceiving death, yet able to face its probability daily, on the highway, on the obstetrics table, on the battlefield, in the air, in the subway—and to face lightheartedly the certainty of death in the end. Goldfish Bowl (p. 381) It takes all nations to keep the peace, but it only takes one to start a war. Free Men (p. 414) “Joe, I’ve learned by bitter experience not to trust statements set off by ‘naturally,’ ‘of course,’ or ‘that goes without saying.’” Free Men (p. 418) No, chum, there’s a lot of guff talked about freedom. No man is free. There is no such thing as freedom. There are only various privileges. Free Men (p. 425) There’s one thing this has taught me: You can’t enslave a free man. Only person can do that to a man is himself. No, sir—you can’t enslave a free man. The most you can do is kill him. Free Men (p. 430) He was beginning definitely to dislike Mrs. Van Vogel, despite his automatic tendency to genuflect in the presence of a high credit rating. Free Men (p. 450) Men! Their minds were devious—they seemed to like twisted ways of doing things. It confirmed her opinion that men should not be allowed to vote. Jerry Was a Man (p. 458) “Mooncraft isn’t a game; it’s the real thing. ‘Did you stay alive?’ If you make a mistake, you flunk—and they bury you.” Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon (p. 485) “If you know any prayers, better say them.” Sam shook his arm. “It’s not time to pray; it’s time to get busy.” Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon (p. 497) Sam shook his arm. “It’s not time to pray; it’s time to get busy.” A man without cash had one arm in a sling. Gulf (p. 525) Luck is a bonus that follows careful planning—it’s never free. Gulf (p. 534) “Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal. “For explanations of a universe that confuses him he seizes onto numerology, astrology, hysterical religions, and other fancy ways to go crazy. Having accepted such glorified nonsense, facts make no impression on him, even if at the cost of his own life. Joe, one of the hardest things to believe is the abysmal depth of human stupidity.” Gulf (p. 542) “For explanations of a universe that confuses him he seizes onto numerology, astrology, hysterical religions, and other fancy ways to go crazy. Having accepted such glorified nonsense, facts make no impression on him, even if at the cost of his own life. Joe, one of the hardest things to believe is the abysmal depth of human stupidity.” “For a hundred and fifty years or so democracy, or something like it, could flourish safely. The issues were such as to be settled without disaster by votes of common men, befogged and ignorant as they were. But now, if the race is simply to stay alive, political decisions depend on real knowledge of such things as nuclear physics, planetary ecology, genetic theory, even system mechanics. They aren’t up to it, Joe. With goodness and more will than they possess less than one in a thousand could stay awake over one page of nuclear physics; they can’t learn what they must know.” Gulf (p. 544) Reason is poor propaganda when opposed by the yammering, unceasing lies of shrewd and evil and self-serving men. The little man has no way to judge and the shoddy lies are packaged more attractively. There is no way to offer color to a colorblind man, nor is there any way for us to give the man of imperfect brain the canny skill to distinguish a lie from a truth. Gulf (p. 544) A totalitarian political religion is incompatible with free investigation. Gulf (p. 545) The arrangement, classification, and accessibility of knowledge remains in all ages the most pressing problem. Gulf (p. 555) Don’t say that I don’t mix with the common people, Joe; I sell used ’copters for a living. You can’t get any commoner. And don’t imply that my heart is not with them. We are not like them, but we are tied to them by the strongest bond of all, for we are all, each every one, sickening with the same certainly fatal disease—we are alive. Gulf (pp. 556-557) Apparently she believes she is safe. Evil is essentially stupid, Joe; despite her brilliance, she believes what she wishes to believe. Or it may be that she is willing to risk her own death against the tempting prize of absolute power. Gulf (p. 559) “Jim, you’re a fool,”Bowles answered. “No, I’m a bachelor. Why? Because I can’t stand the favorite sport of all women.” “Which is?” “Trying to geld stallions. Let’s get on with the job.” Destination Moon (p. 570) “No, I’m a bachelor. Why? Because I can’t stand the favorite sport of all women.” “Which is?” “Trying to geld stallions. Let’s get on with the job.” “They’re crazy.” “No, Meade. One such is crazy; a lot of them is a lemming death march.” The Year of the Jackpot (p. 622) “No, Meade. One such is crazy; a lot of them is a lemming death march.” To be sure, some humans were always doing silly things—but at what point had prime damfoolishness become commonplace? When for example, had the zombie-like professional models become accepted ideals of American womanhood? The Year of the Jackpot (p. 628) “But you were right!” “Since when has being right endeared a man to his boss?” The Year of the Jackpot (p. 632) “Since when has being right endeared a man to his boss?” Aside from mathematics, just two things worth doing—kill a man and love a woman. He had done both; he was rich. The Year of the Jackpot (p. 642) What good is the race of man? Monkeys, he thought, monkeys with a spot of poetry in them, cluttering and wasting a second-string planet near a third-string star. But sometimes they finish in style. The Year of the Jackpot (p. 644) Earth, seen from space, looked as it had looked in color-stereo pictures, but he found that the real thing is as vastly more satisfying as a hamburger is better than a picture of one. A Tenderfoot in Space (p. 689) “Funny sort of science! I guess they were pretty ignorant in those days.” “Don’t go running down our grandfathers. If it weren’t for them, you and I would be squatting in a cave, scratching fleas. No, Bub, they were pretty sharp; they just didn’t have all the facts. We’ve got more facts, but that doesn’t make us smarter.” A Tenderfoot in Space (p. 691) “Don’t go running down our grandfathers. If it weren’t for them, you and I would be squatting in a cave, scratching fleas. No, Bub, they were pretty sharp; they just didn’t have all the facts. We’ve got more facts, but that doesn’t make us smarter.” “I don’t like cats.” “Ever lived with a cat? No, I see you haven’t. How can you have the gall not to like something you don’t know anything about? Wait till you’ve lived with a cat, then tell me what you think. Until then...well, who told you you were entitled to an opinion?” “Huh? Why, everybody is entitled to his own opinion!” “Nonsense, Bub. Nobody is entitled to an opinion about something he is ignorant of. If the Captain told me how to bake a cake, I would politely suggest that he not stick his nose into my trade...contrariwise, I never tell him how to plan an orbit to Mars.” A Tenderfoot in Space (p. 692) “Ever lived with a cat? No, I see you haven’t. How can you have the gall not to like something you don’t know anything about? Wait till you’ve lived with a cat, then tell me what you think. Until then...well, who told you you were entitled to an opinion?” “Huh? Why, everybody is entitled to his own opinion!” “Nonsense, Bub. Nobody is entitled to an opinion about something he is ignorant of. If the Captain told me how to bake a cake, I would politely suggest that he not stick his nose into my trade...contrariwise, I never tell him how to plan an orbit to Mars.” Hundred dollar bills have a hypnotic effect on a person not used to them. —All You Zombies— (p. 732) All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace Books (#73330) Hans had courage to burn. If he had been willing to knuckle under to the Nazis he would have stayed at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. But Hans was a scientist. He wouldn’t trim his notion of truth to fit political gangsters. Chapter 4, “The Blood of Pioneers”, p. 34 “I was just trying to show you,” he went on, “just how insubstantial a ‘common sense’ idea can be when you pin it down. Neither ‘common sense’ nor ‘logic’ can prove anything. Proof comes from experiment, or to put it another way, from experience, and from nothing else.” Chapter 10, “The Method of Science”, p. 105 “You know the answers, but just between ourselves, that sketch smells a bit. It’s sloppy.” “I never did have any artistic talent,” Art said defensively. “I’d rather take a photograph any day.” “You’ve taken too many photographs, maybe. As for artistic talent, I haven’t any either, but I learned to sketch. Look, Art—the rest of you guys get this, too—if you can’t sketch, you can’t see. If you really see what you’re looking at, you can put it down on paper, accurately. If you really remember what you have looked at, you can sketch it accurately from memory.” “But the lines don’t go where I intend them to.” “A pencil will go where you push it. It hasn’t any life of its own. The answer is practice and more practice and thinking about what you are looking at. All of you lugs want to be scientists. Well, the ability to sketch accurately is as necessary to a scientist as his slipstick. More necessary, you can get along without a slide rule.” Chapter 10, “The Method of Science”, p. 108 “I never did have any artistic talent,” Art said defensively. “I’d rather take a photograph any day.” “You’ve taken too many photographs, maybe. As for artistic talent, I haven’t any either, but I learned to sketch. Look, Art—the rest of you guys get this, too—if you can’t sketch, you can’t see. If you really see what you’re looking at, you can put it down on paper, accurately. If you really remember what you have looked at, you can sketch it accurately from memory.” “But the lines don’t go where I intend them to.” “A pencil will go where you push it. It hasn’t any life of its own. The answer is practice and more practice and thinking about what you are looking at. All of you lugs want to be scientists. Well, the ability to sketch accurately is as necessary to a scientist as his slipstick. More necessary, you can get along without a slide rule.” Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942) (1948; originally serialized in 1942) [ edit ] All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Signet (Q5695) The door dilated. Chapter 1, “All of them should have been very happy—”, p. 5 and several other times This offhand mention has become the simplest (three words!) and often-quoted exposition of the wonders of a different world, where what would be novel today has become simply the way things work. “He posed me a question which I must answer correctly—else he will not co-operate.” “Huh? What was the question? “I’ll ask you. Martha, what is the meaning of life?” “What! Why, what a stupid question!” “He did not ask it stupidly.” “It’s a psychopathic question, unlimited, unanswerable, and, in all probability, sense free.” Chapter 2, “Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief—”, p. 35; see also pages 31, 33 “Huh? What was the question? “I’ll ask you. Martha, what is the meaning of life?” “What! Why, what a stupid question!” “He did not ask it stupidly.” “It’s a psychopathic question, unlimited, unanswerable, and, in all probability, sense free.” Since when did a mathematician need any tools but his own head? Pythagoras had done well enough with a stick and a stretch of sand. Chapter 4, “Boy meets Girl”, p. 45 “Can I trust you, my friend?” “If you can’t, then what is my assurance worth?” Chapter 4, “Boy meets Girl”, p. 48 “If you can’t, then what is my assurance worth?” “But what you’re talking about means giving up all that—just the noble primitive, simple and self-sufficient. He’s going to chop down a tree— who sold him the ax? He wants to shoot a deer— who made his gun? ...There never was and there never could be a noble simple creature such as you described. He’d be an ignorant savage, with dirt on his skin and lice in his hair. He would work sixteen hours a day to stay alive at all. He’d sleep in a filthy hut on a dirt floor. And his point of view and his mental processes would be just two jumps above an animal.” Chapter 6, “We don’t speak the same lingo”, pp. 73-74 He wants to shoot a deer— ...There never was and there never could be a noble simple creature such as you described. He’d be an ignorant savage, with dirt on his skin and lice in his hair. He would work sixteen hours a day to stay alive at all. He’d sleep in a filthy hut on a dirt floor. And his point of view and his mental processes would be just two jumps above an animal.” Babies are fun. And they’re not much trouble. Feed ‘em occasionally, help them when they need it, and love them a lot. That’s all there is to it. Chapter 7, “Burn him down at once—”, p. 75 So-called instincts are instructive, Felix. They point to survival values. Chapter 7, “Burn him down at once—”, p. 76 The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom. That’s a personal evaluation, of course. Chapter 9, “When we die, do we die all over?”, p. 97 I venture to predict that, when we get around to reviewing their records, we will find that the rebels were almost all—all, perhaps—men who had never been outstandingly successful at anything. Their only prominence was among themselves. Chapter 10, “—the only game in town”, p. 104 “If there was anything, anything more at all, after this crazy mix-up we call living, I could feel that there might be some point to the whole frantic business, even if I did not know and could not know the full answer while I was alive.” “And suppose there was not? Suppose that when a man’s body disintegrates, he himself disappears absolutely. I’m bound to say I find it a probable hypothesis.” “Well— It wouldn’t be cheerful knowledge, but it would be better than not knowing. You could plan your life rationally, at least. A man might even be able to get a certain amount of satisfaction in planning things better for the future, after he’s gone. A vicarious pleasure in the anticipation.” Chapter 10, “—the only game in town”, p. 105 “And suppose there was not? Suppose that when a man’s body disintegrates, he himself disappears absolutely. I’m bound to say I find it a probable hypothesis.” “Well— It wouldn’t be cheerful knowledge, but it would be better than not knowing. You could plan your life rationally, at least. A man might even be able to get a certain amount of satisfaction in planning things better for the future, after he’s gone. A vicarious pleasure in the anticipation.” Hamilton took a deep breath, let it out, then said, “Listen to me. I don’t know much about women, and sometimes it seems like I didn’t know anything about them. But I’m sure of this—she won’t let a little thing like you taking a pot shot at her stand in the way if you ever had any chance with her at all. She’ll forgive you.” “You don’t really mean that, do you?” Monroe-Alpha’s face was still tragic, but he clutched at the hope. “Certainly I do. Women will forgive anything.” With a flash of insight he added, “Otherwise the race would have died out long ago.” Chapter 10, “—the only game in town”, pp. 108-109 “You don’t really mean that, do you?” Monroe-Alpha’s face was still tragic, but he clutched at the hope. “Certainly I do. Women will forgive anything.” With a flash of insight he added, “Otherwise the race would have died out long ago.” There is no subject inappropriate for scientific research. Johann, we’ve let you fellows have a monopoly of such matters for too long. The most serious questions in the world have been left to faith or speculation. It is time for scientists to cope with them, or admit that science is no more than pebble counting. Chapter 11, “—then a man is something more than his genes!”, p. 111 Protoplasm is protean; any simple protoplasm can become any complex form of life under mutation and selection. Chapter 13, “No more privacy than a guppy in an aquarium”, p. 126 “The Great Egg must love human beings, he made a lot of them.” “Same argument applies to oysters, only more so.” Chapter 13, “No more privacy than a guppy in an aquarium”, p. 127 “Same argument applies to oysters, only more so.” Oh, we get along. She lets me have my own way, and later I find out I’ve done just what she wanted me to do. Chapter 14, “—and beat him when he sneezes”, p. 130 At fourteen months he began speaking in sentences, short and of his own structure, but sentences. The subjects of his conversation, or, rather, his statements, were consistently egocentric. Normal again—no one expects an infant to write essays on the beauties of altruism. Chapter 14, “—and beat him when he sneezes”, p. 131 Theobald ignored him. He could be deaf when he chose; he seemed to find it particularly difficult to hear the word “No.” Chapter 14, “—and beat him when he sneezes”, p. 132 Natural selection—the dying out of the poorly equipped—goes on day in and day out, inexorable and automatic. It is as tireless, as inescapable, as entropy. Chapter 14, “—and beat him when he sneezes”, p. 134 “What of it? I’d still be myself. I don’t care what people think.” “You’re mistaken, son. To believe that you can live free of your cultural matrix is one of the easiest fallacies and has some of the worst consequences. You are part of your group whether you like it or not, and you are bound by its customs.” Chapter 15, “Probably a blind alley—”, p. 146 “You’re mistaken, son. To believe that you can live free of your cultural matrix is one of the easiest fallacies and has some of the worst consequences. You are part of your group whether you like it or not, and you are bound by its customs.” Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing. Chapter 15, “Probably a blind alley—”, p. 147 Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing. All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Del Rey Books (#26072) Wong shook his head sadly. “I sometimes think that modern education is deliberately designed to handicap a boy.” Chapter 6 “Reading, and ’riting, and ’rithmetic—”, p. 71 A military hierarchy automatically places a premium on conservative behavior and dull conformance with precedent; it tends to penalize original and imaginative thinking. Chapter 9 “Long Haul”, p. 101 “People tend to fall into three psychological types, all differently motivated. There is the type, motivated by economic factors, money...And there is the type motivated by ‘face,’ or pride. This type is a spender, fighter, boaster, lover, sportsman, gambler; he has a will to power and an itch for glory. And there is the professional type, which claims to follow a code of ethics rather than simply seeking money or glory—priests and ministers, teachers, scientists, medical men, some artists and writers. The idea is that such a man believes that he is devoting his life to some purpose more important than his individual self. You follow me?” Chapter 9 “Long Haul”, p. 111 Matt, you are suffering from a disease of youth—you expect moral problems to have nice, neat, black-and-white answers. Chapter 10 “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?”, p. 126 The sort of guardian you can hire is worth about as much as the sort of wife you can buy. Chapter 12 “P.R.S. Pathfinder”, p. 143 “I wish Doc Pickering was here.” “Yeah, and if fish had feet, they’d be mice.” Chapter 14 “The Natives are Friendly...”, p. 160 “Yeah, and if fish had feet, they’d be mice.” Precedent is merely the assumption that somebody else, in the past with less information, nevertheless knows better than the man on the spot. Chapter 15 “Pie With a Fork”, p. 180 “Sometimes I think,” he told Tex, “that Th’Wing thinks that I am an idiot studying hard to become a moron—but flunking the course.” Chapter 16 “P.R.S. Astarte”, p. 195 All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ace Books (#71140) “Jim?” “Yes, Dad.” “What’s this about leaving your gun where the baby could reach it?” Jim flushed. “It wasn’t charged, Dad.” “If all the people who had been killed with unloaded guns were laid end to end it would make quite a line up. You are proud of being a licensed gun wearer, aren’t you? “Uh, yes, sir.” “And I’m proud to have you be one. It means you are a responsible, trusted adult. But when I sponsored you before the Council and stood up with you when you took your oath, I guaranteed that you would obey the regulations and follow the code, wholeheartedly and all the time—not just most of the time. Understand me?” “Yes, sir. I think I do.” Chapter 2, “South Colony, Mars”, pp. 16-17 “Yes, Dad.” “What’s this about leaving your gun where the baby could reach it?” Jim flushed. “It wasn’t charged, Dad.” “If all the people who had been killed with unloaded guns were laid end to end it would make quite a line up. You are proud of being a licensed gun wearer, aren’t you? “Uh, yes, sir.” “And I’m proud to have you be one. It means you are a responsible, trusted adult. But when I sponsored you before the Council and stood up with you when you took your oath, I guaranteed that you would obey the regulations and follow the code, wholeheartedly and all the time—not just most of the time. Understand me?” “Yes, sir. I think I do.” Never listen to newscasts. Saves wear and tear on the nervous system. Chapter 2, “South Colony, Mars”, p. 17 Doc says the Company set-up is just one big happy family, and the idea that it is a non-profit corporation is the biggest joke since women were invented. Chapter 4, “Lowell Academy”, p. 44 Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft. Chapter 4, “Lowell Academy”, p. 49 I’m not going to give up my gun. Dad wouldn’t want me to. I’m sure of that. Anyhow, I’m licensed and I don’t have to. I’m a qualified marksman, I’ve passed the psycho tests, and I’ve taken the oath; I’m as much entitled to wear a gun as he is. Chapter 4, “Lowell Academy”, p. 55 “He’ll pay no mind to me anyhow,” MacRae answered. “That’s the healthy thing about kids.” Chapter 9, “Politics”, p. 133 I found out a long time ago that you have to take some chances in this life. Otherwise you are just a vegetable, headed for the soup pot. Chapter 10, “We’re Boxed In!”, p. 145 “You put me in mind of a case I ran into in the American West. A respected citizen shot a professional gunthrower in the back. When asked why he didn’t give the other chap a chance to draw, the survivor said, ‘Well, he’s dead and I’m alive and that’s how I wanted it to be.’ Jamie, if you use sportsmanship on a known scamp, you put yourself at a terrible disadvantage.” Chapter 10, “We’re Boxed In!”, p. 148 Sixth Column (1949; originally serialized in 1941) (1949; originally serialized in 1941) [ edit ] Reprinted often with the alternative title The Day After Tomorrow. All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Signet (T4227) using this alternate title, fourth printing “Thanks, awfully,” said Thomas. “Now...uh...what do I owe you for this?” Finney’s reaction made him feel as if he had uttered some indecency. “Don’t mention payment, my son! Money is wrong—it’s the means whereby man enslaves his brother.” “I beg your pardon, sir,” Thomas apologized sincerely. “Nevertheless, I wish there were some way for me to do something for you.” “That is another matter. Help your brother when you can, and help will come to you when you need it.” Chapter 2 (pp. 24-25) Finney’s reaction made him feel as if he had uttered some indecency. “Don’t mention payment, my son! Money is wrong—it’s the means whereby man enslaves his brother.” “I beg your pardon, sir,” Thomas apologized sincerely. “Nevertheless, I wish there were some way for me to do something for you.” “That is another matter. Help your brother when you can, and help will come to you when you need it.” Three things only do slaves require, food, work, and their gods, and of the three their gods must never be touched, else they grow troublesome. Chapter 5 (p. 57) These savages and their false gods! I grow weary of them. Yet they are necessary; the priests and the gods of slaves always fight on the side of the Masters. It is a rule of nature. Chapter 5 (p. 62) They made a good team. As a matter of fact their talents were not too far apart; the artist is two-thirds artisan and the artisan has essentially the same creative urge as the artist. Chapter 5 (p. 68) We don’t have to be convincing—not in the sense of getting converts. Real converts might prove to be a nuisance. We just have to be convincing enough to look like a legitimate religion to our overlords. And that doesn’t have to be very convincing. All religions look equally silly from the outside. Chapter 6 (p. 70) “Scheer, are you any good at counterfeiting?” “I’ve never tried it, sir.” “No time like the present. Every man needs an alternative profession.” Chapter 6 (p. 72) “I’ve never tried it, sir.” “No time like the present. Every man needs an alternative profession.” Sex is rearing its interesting head. Chapter 7 (p. 83) A man has to grow up in a language to be able to understand it scrambled. Chapter 9 (p. 108) When had a slave religion proved anything but an aid to the conqueror? Slaves needed a wailing wall; they went into their temples, prayed to their gods to deliver them from oppression, and came out to work in the fields and factories, relaxed and made harmless by the emotional catharsis of prayer. Chapter 9 (p. 108) Any cipher can be broken, any code can be compromised. But the most exact academic knowledge of a language gives no clue to its slang, its colloquial allusions, its half statements, over statements, and inverted meanings. Chapter 9 (p. 113) “What sort of a remark?” “Just priestly mumbo-jumbo. Impressive and no real meaning. Can you do it?” “I think so—I used to sell magazine subscriptions.” Chapter 10 (p. 127) “Just priestly mumbo-jumbo. Impressive and no real meaning. Can you do it?” “I think so—I used to sell magazine subscriptions.” “Look, Chief—is it really necessary to kill everybody here? I don’t relish it.” “Don’t get chicken, son,” admonished Ardmore with an edge in his voice. “This is war—and war is no joke. There is no such thing as a humane war.” Chapter 10 (p. 129) “Don’t get chicken, son,” admonished Ardmore with an edge in his voice. “This is war—and war is no joke. There is no such thing as a humane war.” All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Dell (#2518), first printing (February 1968) “People have a funny habit of taking as ‘natural’ whatever they are used to—but there hasn’t been any ‘natural’ environment, the way they mean it, since men climbed down out of trees.” Chapter 2, “The Green-Eyed Monster” (p. 21) I think girls should be raised in the bottom of a deep, dark sack until they are old enough to know better. Chapter 4, “Captain DeLongPre” (p. 50) I looked it up later; he was right. Dad is an absolute mine of useless information. He says a fact should be loved for itself alone. Chapter 9, “The Moons of Jupiter” (pp. 90-91) See how involved it gets? Clover, bees, nitrogen, escape speed, power, plant-animal balance, gas laws, compound interest laws, meteorology—a mathematical ecologist has to think of everything and think of it ahead of time. Ecology is explosive; what seems like a minor and harmless invasion can change the whole balance. Chapter 12, “Bees and Zeroes” (p. 125) and think of it ahead of time. Ecology is explosive; what seems like a minor and harmless invasion can change the whole balance. It was so darn quiet you could hear your hair grow. Chapter 13, “Johnny Appleseed” (p. 131) Bill, why is it that some apparently-grown men never learn to do simple arithmetic? Chapter 14, “Land of My Own” (p. 142) Pioneers need good neighbors. Chapter 14, “Land of My Own” (p. 147) For three hundred years the race had glazed windows. Then they shut themselves up in little air-conditioned boxes and stared at silly television pictures instead. One might as well be on Luna. Chapter 16, “Line Up” (p. 161) Gravity’s books have got to balance. Chapter 17, “Disaster” (p. 177) Horses can manufacture more horses and that is one trick that tractors have never learned. Chapter 18, “Pioneer Party” (p. 187) You can only grieve so much; after that it’s self pity. Chapter 18, “Pioneer Party” (p. 188) I said, “What do you think about it, Paul?” The boss smiled gently. “I don’t. I haven’t enough data.” Chapter 18, “Pioneer Party” (pp. 193-194) The boss smiled gently. “I don’t. I haven’t enough data.” Life is not merely persistent, as Jock puts it; life is explosive. The basic theorem of population mathematics to which there has never been found an exception is that population increases always, not merely up to the extent of the food supply, but beyond it, to the minimum diet that will sustain life—the ragged edge of starvation. Chapter 18, “Pioneer Party” (p. 196) is that population increases always, not merely up to the extent of the food supply, but beyond it, to the minimum diet that will sustain life—the ragged edge of starvation. I’m not raising any kids to be radioactive dust. Chapter 18, “Pioneer Party” (p. 198) I’m going to put it to you straight. Never mind about being chief engineer of a planet; these days even a farmer needs the best education he can get. Without it he’s just a country bumpkin, a stumbling peasant, poking seeds into the ground and hoping a miracle will make them grow. Chapter 20, “Home” (pp. 218-219) All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Signet (#W7339) There is one thing no head of a country can know, and that is: how good is his intelligence system? He finds out only by having it fail him. Chapter 1 (p. 7) The Old Man’s unique gift was the ability to reason logically with unfamiliar, hard-to-believe facts as easily with the commonplace. Not much, eh? Most minds stall dead when faced with facts which conflict with basic beliefs; “I-just-can’t-believe-it” is all one word to highbrows and dimwits alike. Chapter 3 (p. 20) There was nothing under her clothes but girl and assorted items of lethal hardware. Chapter 4 (p. 28) “Let me get this,” the Old Man said. “You are promising the human race that, if we will just surrender, you will take care of us and make us happy. Right?” “Exactly!” The Old Man studied this while looking past my shoulders. He spat on the floor. “You know,” he said slowly, “me and my kind, we have often been offered that bargain. It never worked out worth a damn.” Chapter 10 (p. 58) “Exactly!” The Old Man studied this while looking past my shoulders. He spat on the floor. “You know,” he said slowly, “me and my kind, we have often been offered that bargain. It never worked out worth a damn.” Mary? After all, what was she? Just another babe. True, I was disgusted with her for letting herself be used as bait. It was all right for her to use her femaleness as an agent; the Section had to have female operatives. There have always been female spies, and the young and pretty ones have always used the same tools. Chapter 10 (p. 61) Listen, son—most women are damn fools and children. But they’ve got more range than we’ve got. The brave ones are braver, the good ones are better—and the vile ones are viler. Chapter 11 (p. 65) McIlvaine continued, “Take the amoeba—a more basic, and much more successful life form than than ours. The motivational psychology of the amoeba—” I switched off my ears; free speech gives a man the right to talk about the “psychology” of an amoeba, but I don’t have to listen. Chapter 19 (p. 104) I switched off my ears; free speech gives a man the right to talk about the “psychology” of an amoeba, but I don’t have to listen. Marriage is not ownership and wives are not property. Chapter 21 (p. 116) The matter was still "Top Secret" and the subject of cabinet debates at the time of the Scranton Riot. Don't ask me why it was top secret, or even restricted; our government has gotten the habit of classifying anything as secret which the all-wise statesmen and bureaucrats decide we are not big enough boys and girls to know, a Mother-Knows-Best-Dear policy. I've read that there used to be a time when a taxpayer could demand the facts on anything and get them. I don't know; it sounds Utopian. Chapter 24 (p. 127) “What is a ‘hunch’?” “Eh? It’s a belief that something is so, or isn’t so, without evidence.” “I’d call a hunch the result of automatic reasoning below the conscious level on data you did not know you possessed.” Chapter 28 (p. 149) “Eh? It’s a belief that something is so, or isn’t so, without evidence.” “I’d call a hunch the result of automatic reasoning below the conscious level on data you did not know you possessed.” In the army it takes an eight-man working party to help a brass hat blow his nose. Chapter 30 (p. 153) I don’t believe in luck, Sam. Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius. Chapter 30 (p. 158) Beat the plowshares back into swords; the other was a maiden aunt’s fancy. Chapter 35 (p. 174) All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Del Rey Books (#27796) He was still having trouble readjusting. Wars were something you studied, not something that actually happened. Chapter 1, “New Mexico” (p. 9) Don, have you been dealing with a booklegger? Chapter 1, “New Mexico” (p. 10) - Mr. Reeves, asking the main character why he was in possession of a forbidden book discussing interplanetary politics. Everything is theoretically impossible, until it’s done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen. Chapter 2, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” (p. 23) The point is, your request for a lawyer comes about two hundred years too late to be meaningful. The verbalisms lag behind the facts. Nevertheless, you shall have a lawyer—or a lollipop, whichever you prefer, after I am through questioning you. If I were you, I’d take the lollipop. More nourishing. Chapter 3, “Hunted” (p. 38) - Secret Service officer to the main character during an interrogation. He considered horoscopes as silly as spectacles on a cow. Chapter 4, “The Glory Road” (p. 43) He had let himself be bulldozed by the odds against him. He promised himself never again to pay any attention to the odds, but only to the issues. Chapter 4, “The Glory Road” (p. 45) Mercifully, we stay our hand. Earth’s cities will not be bombed. The free citizens of Venus Republic have no wish to slaughter their cousins still on Terra. Our only purpose is to establish our own independence, to manage our own affairs, to throw off the crushing yoke of absentee ownership and taxation without representation which has bleed us poor. In doing so, in so taking our stand as free men, we call on all oppressed and impoverished nations everywhere to follow our lead, accept our help. Look up into the sky! Swimming there above you is the very station from which I now address you. The fat and stupid rulers of the Federation have made of Circum-Terra an overseer’s whip. The threat of this military base in the sky has protected their empire from the just wrath of their victims for more then five score years. We now crush it. In a matter of minutes this scandal in the clean skies, this pistol pointed at the heads of men everywhere on your planet, will cease to exist. Step out of doors, watch the sky. Watch a new sun blaze briefly, and know that its light is the light of Liberty inviting all of Earth to free itself. Subject peoples of Earth, we free men of the free Republic of Venus salute you with that sign! Chapter 6, “The Sign in the Sky” (p. 74) - Speech given before the destruction of the nuclear-armed satellite Circum-Terra. In doing so, in so taking our stand as free men, we call on all oppressed and impoverished nations everywhere to follow our lead, accept our help. Look up into the sky! Swimming there above you is the very station from which I now address you. The fat and stupid rulers of the Federation have made of Circum-Terra an overseer’s whip. The threat of this military base in the sky has protected their empire from the just wrath of their victims for more then five score years. We now crush it. In a matter of minutes this scandal in the clean skies, this pistol pointed at the heads of men everywhere on your planet, will cease to exist. Step out of doors, watch the sky. Watch a new sun blaze briefly, and know that its light is the light of Liberty inviting all of Earth to free itself. Subject peoples of Earth, we free men of the free Republic of Venus salute you with that sign! A second sun blazed white and swelled visibly as he watched. What on Earth would have been—so many times had been —a climbing mushroom cloud was here in open space a perfect geometrical sphere, growing unbelievably. It swelled still larger, dropping from limelight white to to silvery violet, became blotched with purple, red and flame. And still it grew, until it blanked out the earth beyond it. At the time it had been transformed into a radioactive cosmic cloud Circum-Terra had been passing over, or opposite, the North Atlantic; the swollen incandescent cloud was visible to most of the habitable portions of the globe, a burning symbol in the sky. Chapter 6, “The Sign in the Sky” (p. 75) —a climbing mushroom cloud was here in open space a perfect geometrical sphere, growing unbelievably. It swelled still larger, dropping from limelight white to to silvery violet, became blotched with purple, red and flame. And still it grew, until it blanked out the earth beyond it. At the time it had been transformed into a radioactive cosmic cloud Circum-Terra had been passing over, or opposite, the North Atlantic; the swollen incandescent cloud was visible to most of the habitable portions of the globe, a burning symbol in the sky. Man needs freedom, but few men are so strong as to be happy with complete freedom. A man needs to be part of a group, with accepted and respected relationships. Some men join foreign legions for adventure; still more swear on a bit of paper in order to acquire a framework of duties and obligations, customs and taboos, a time to work and a time to loaf, a comrade to dispute with and a sergeant to hate—in short, to belong. Chapter 7, “The Detour” (p. 83) Don took it and said, “Uh, thanks! That’s awfully kind of you. I’ll pay it back, first chance.” “Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it.” Chapter 8, “Foxes Have Holes, and Birds of the Air Have Nests—” (p. 91) “Instead, pay it forward to some other brother who needs it.” The attack should not have happened, of course. The rice farmer sergeant had been perfectly right; the Federation could not afford to risk its own great cites to punish the villagers of Venus. He was right—from his viewpoint. A rice farmer has one logic; the men who live by and for power have another and entirely different logic. Their lives are built on tenuous assumptions, fragile as reputation; they could not afford to ignore a challenge to their power—the Federation could not afford not to punish the insolent colonists. Chapter 10, “While I Was Musing the Fire Burned” (p. 113) A rice farmer has one logic; the men who live by and for power have another and entirely different logic. Their lives are built on tenuous assumptions, fragile as reputation; they could not afford to ignore a challenge to their power—the Federation could not afford to punish the insolent colonists. He gave up and went back to loafing, found that he could sleep all right in the afternoons but that the practice kept him awake at night. Chapter 17, “To Reset the Clock” (p. 173) Chief, perhaps it would be clearest to say that the fasarta modulates the garbab in such a phase relationship that the thrimaleen is forced to bast—or, to put it another way, somebody loosed mice in the washroom. Seriously, there is no popular way to explain it. If you were willing to spend five hard years with me, working up through the math, I could probably bring you to the same level of ignorance and confusion that I enjoy. Chapter 17, “To Reset the Clock” (p. 176) She grabbed him by both ears and kissed him quickly, then ran away. Don stared after her, rubbing his mouth. Girls, he reflected, were much odder than dragons. Probably another race entirely. Chapter 18, “Little David” (p. 182) Don stared after her, rubbing his mouth. Girls, he reflected, were much odder than dragons. Probably another race entirely. This I Believe (1952) [ edit ] I believe in my neighbors. know their faults and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth — but that we will always make it … survive … endure. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen. I am not going to talk about religious beliefs, but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. Take Father Michael down our road a piece — I'm not of his creed, but I know the goodness and charity and lovingkindness that shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike; if I'm in trouble, I'll go to him. My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee — no prospect of a fee. I believe in Doc. Decency is not news; it is buried in the obituaries — but it is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses...in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land. I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones. I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the thirteen colonies. I believe in — I am proud to belong to — the United States. Despite shortcomings, from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history. And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown — in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability … and goodness … .of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth — but that we will always make it … survive … endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure — will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage — and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart. All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Del Rey Books (#27581) ISBN 0-87997-350-1 Every technology goes through three stages: first a crudely simple and quite unsatisfactory gadget; second, an enormously complicated group of gadgets designed to overcome the shortcomings of the original and achieving thereby somewhat satisfactory performance through extremely complex compromise; third, a final proper design therefrom. Chapter 4, “Aspects of Domestic Engineering” (pp. 52-53) Mr. Stone was satisfied, being sure in his heart that any person skilled with mathematical tools could learn anything else he needed to know, with or without a master. Chapter 4, “Aspects of Domestic Engineering” (p. 61) If you’re going to be businessmen, don’t confuse the vocation with larceny. Chapter 4, “Aspects of Domestic Engineering” (p. 61) “You have us going faster than light.” “I thought the figures were a bit large.” Chapter 8, “The Mighty Room” (p. 100) “I thought the figures were a bit large.” The situation has multifarious ramifications not immediately apparent to the unassisted optic. Chapter 13, “Caveat Vendor” (pp. 177-178) “It didn’t happen that way,” Roger Stone cut in, “so there is no use talking about other possibilities. They probably aren’t really possibilities at all, if only we understood it.” Pollux: “Predestination.” Castor: “Very shaky theory.” Roger grinned. “I’m not a determinist and you can’t get my goat. I believe in free will.” Pollux: “Another very shaky theory.” “Make up your minds,” their father told them. “You can’t have it both ways.” “Why not?” asked Hazel. “Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.” “Not mathematical,” objected Pollux. Castor nodded. “Just poetry.” “And not very good poetry.” Chapter 14, “Flat Cats Factorial” (p. 182) Pollux: “Predestination.” Castor: “Very shaky theory.” Roger grinned. “I’m not a determinist and you can’t get my goat. I believe in free will.” Pollux: “Another very shaky theory.” “Make up your minds,” their father told them. “You can’t have it both ways.” “Why not?” asked Hazel. “Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.” “Not mathematical,” objected Pollux. Castor nodded. “Just poetry.” “And not very good poetry.” Go ahead. Go right ahead. Don’t let me discourage you. Any objections from me would simply confirm your preconceptions. Chapter 14, “Flat Cats Factorial” (p. 187) Wherever there is power and mass to manipulate, Man can live. Chapter 16, “Rock City” (p. 208) All page numbers from the mass market paperback edition published by Ballantine Books (#24354) 1st printing (February 1975) But as grandpop always said, there are just three ways to get ahead; sweat and genius, getting born into the right family, or marrying into it. Chapter 8, “Three Ways to Get Ahead” (p. 82) Max opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. “No.” “Speak louder. You used a word I don’t understand.” Chapter 9, “Chartman Jones” (p. 95) “Speak louder. You used a word I don’t understand.” Everybody has a skeleton in the closet; the thing is to keep ’em there and not at the feast. Chapter 10, “Garson’s Planet” (p. 109) A distance “as the crow flies” is significant only to crows. Chapter 11, “Through the Cargo Hatch” (p. 111) Like searching at midnight in a dark cellar for a black cat that isn’t there. Chapter 11, “Through the Cargo Hatch” (p. 115) Sic transit gloria mundi —Tuesday is usually worse. Chapter 12, “Halcyon” (p. 135) —Tuesday is usually worse. Oh Max, you large lout, you arouse the eternal maternal in me. Chapter 17, “Charity” (p. 185) “You know, Ellie, you play this game awfully well—for a girl.” “Thank you too much.” “No, I mean it. I suppose girls are probably as intelligent as men, but most of them don’t act like it. I think it’s because they don’t have to. If a girl is pretty, she doesn’t have to think.” Chapter 19, “A Friend in Need” (p. 210) “Thank you too much.” “No, I mean it. I suppose girls are probably as intelligent as men, but most of them don’t act like it. I think it’s because they don’t have to. If a girl is pretty, she doesn’t have to think.” “Mr. Jones, has it ever occurred to you, the world being what it is, that women sometimes prefer not to appear too bright?” Chapter 19, “A Friend in Need” (p. 211) “I guess I don’t understand women.” “That’s an understatement.” Chapter 19, “A Friend in Need” (p. 211) “That’s an understatement.” Aside from a cold appreciation of my own genius I felt that I was a modest man. I have never been impressed by the formal schools of ethics. I had sampled them — public libraries are a ready source of recreation for an actor short of cash — but I had found them as poor in vitamins as a mother-in-law’s kiss. Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything. I had the same contempt for the moral instruction handed to most children. Much of it is prattle and the parts they really seem to mean are dedicated to the sacred proposition that a “good” child is one who does not disturb mother’s nap and a “good” man is one who achieves a muscular bank account without getting caught. No, thanks! Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong — but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong. His bow to me must have been calculated on a slide rule; it suggested that I was about to be Supreme Minister but was not quite there yet, that I was his senior but nevertheless a civilian — then subtract five degrees for the fact that he wore the Emperor’s aiguillette on his right shoulder. Son, suppose you tend to your knitting and I tend to mine. People don’t really want change, any change at all — and xenophobia is very deep-rooted. But we progress, as we must — if we are to go out to the stars. There is solemn satisfaction in doing the best you can for eight billion people. Perhaps their lives have no cosmic significance, but they have feelings. They can hurt. Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty If you would know a man, observe how he treats a cat If you would know a man, observe how he treats a cat. Chapter 1 Nobody ever wins a lawsuit but the lawyers. Chapter 2 Cats have no sense of humor, they have terribly inflated egos, and they are very touchy. Chapter 2 My old man claimed that the more complicated the law the more opportunity for scoundrels. Chapter 5 Paymasters come in only two sizes: one sort shows you where the book says that you can’t have what you've got coming to you; the second sort digs through the book until he finds a paragraph that lets you have what you need even if you don’t rate it. Chapter 5 An invention is something that was “impossible” up to then—that’s why governments grant patents. Chapter 6 I counted to ten slowly, using binary notation. Chapter 8 By the laws of statistics we could probably approximate just how unlikely it is that it would happen. But people forget—especially those who ought to know better, such as yourself—that while the laws of statistics tell you how unlikely a particular coincidence is, they state just as firmly that coincidences do happen. Chapter 8 I had taken a partner once before—but, damnation, no matter how many times you get your fingers burned, you have to trust people. Otherwise you are a hermit in a cave, sleeping with one eye open. Chapter 10 to trust people. Otherwise you are a hermit in a cave, sleeping with one eye open. “Er, will your grandmother tell that fib for you?” “I guess so. Yes, I'm sure she will. She says people have to tell little white fibs or else people couldn’t stand each other. But she says fibs were meant to be used, not abused.” “She sounds like a sensible person.” Chapter 11 “I guess so. Yes, I'm sure she will. She says people have to tell little white fibs or else people couldn’t stand each other. But she says fibs were meant to be used, not abused.” “She sounds like a sensible person.” They made the predictable fuss about taking a cat into a room and an autobellhop is not responsive to bribes—hardly an improvement. But the assistant manager had more flexibility in his synapses; He listened to reason as long as it was crisp and rustled. Chapter 12 The future is better than the past. Despite the crepehangers, romanticists, and anti-intellectuals, the world steadily grows better because the human mind, applying itself to environment, makes it better. With hands...with tools...with horse sense and science and engineering. Chapter 12 it better. With hands...with tools...with horse sense and science and engineering. Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin. No philosophy that he had ever heard or read gave any reasonable purpose for man's existence, nor any rational clue to his proper conduct. Basking in the sunshine might be as good a thing to do with one's life as any other — but it was not for him and he knew it, even if he could not define how he knew it. A committee is the only known form of life with a hundred bellies and no brain. Life is short, but the years are long. Part of the secret "call and response" codewords by which members of the long-lived Howard Families can identify others: Life is short. But the years are long. Not while the evil days come not. Written in one day (11 July 1958) this was first published in Fantasy and Science Fiction (March 1959); the 2014 film Predestination is an adaptation of this story. I was polishing a brandy snifter when the Unmarried Mother came in. I noted the time — 10: 17 P.M. zone five, or eastern time, November 7th, 1970. Temporal agents always notice time and date; we must. The Unmarried Mother was a man twenty-five years old, no taller than I am, childish features and a touchy temper. I didn't like his looks — I never had — but he was a lad I was here to recruit, he was my boy. I gave him my best barkeep's smile. I dictated my report; forty recruitments all okayed by the Psych Bureau — counting my own, which I knew would be okayed. I was here, wasn't I? Then I taped a request for assignment to operations; I was sick of recruiting. Never Do Yesterday What Should Be Done Tomorrow. If at Last You Do Succeed, Never Try Again. A Paradox May Be Paradoctored. I glanced at the ring on my finger. The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail, Forever and Ever … I know where I came from — but where did all you zombies come from? You aren't really there at all. There isn't anybody but me — Jane — here alone in the dark. I miss you dreadfully! “Dr. Russell, I concede that Washington has an atrocious climate. But you will have air-conditioned offices.” “With clocks, no doubt. And secretaries. And soundproofing.” “Anything you want, doctor.” “The point is, Mr. Secretary, I don’t want them. This household has no clocks. Nor calendars. Once I had a large income and a larger ulcer; I now have a small income and no ulcer. I stay here.” “But the job needs you.” “The need is not mutual.” Chapter 1 “With clocks, no doubt. And secretaries. And soundproofing.” “Anything you want, doctor.” “The point is, Mr. Secretary, I don’t want them. This household has no clocks. Nor calendars. Once I had a large income and a larger ulcer; I now have a small income and no ulcer. I stay here.” “But the job needs “The need is not mutual.” There is no such thing as luck; there is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. Chapter 2 Television leaves no external scars. Chapter 3 Daddy says that, in a dilemma, it is helpful to change any variable, then reexamine the problem. Chapter 5 We lived like that “Happy Family“ you sometimes see in traveling zoos: a lion caged with a lamb. It is a startling exhibit but the lamb has to be replaced frequently. Chapter 7 When I don’t understand, I have an unbearable itch to know why. Chapter 7 I missed my slipstick. Dad says that anyone who can't use a slide rule is a cultural illiterate and should not be allowed to vote. Mine is a beauty — a K&E 20-inch Log-log Duplex Decitrig. Dad surprised me with it after I mastered a ten-inch polyphase. We ate potato soup that week — but Dad says you should always budget luxuries first. I knew where it was. Home on my desk. Chapter 7 You're in bad shape when your emotions force you into acts which you know are foolish. Chapter 8 Some people insist that “mediocre” is better than “best.” They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can’t fly. They despise brains because they have none. Pfah! Chapter 9 Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation. Chapter 9 “Peewee!” I said sharply. “You're not listening.” “What were you doing talking,” she answered reasonably, “when I wasn’t listening?” Chapter 10 “What were you doing talking,” she answered reasonably, “when I wasn’t listening?” The less respect an older person deserves the more certain he is to demand it from anyone younger. Chapter 10 I've heard all the usual Sweetness and Light that kids get pushed at them—how they should always forgive, how there’s some good in the worst of us, etc. But when I see a black widow, I step on it; I don’t plead with it to be a good little spider and please stop poisoning people. A black widow spider can’t help it—but that’s the point. Chapter 10 “Die trying” is the proudest human thing. Chapter 11 When a fact came along, he junked theories that failed to match. Chapter 12 The best things in history are accomplished by people who get “tired of being shoved around.” Chapter 12 Main article: Starship Troopers Morals — all correct moral laws — derive from the instinct to survive. Moral behavior is survival behavior above the individual level. Correct morality can only be derived from what man is — not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be. Main article: Stranger in a Strange Land Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. "Jubal Harshaw" in the first edition (1961); the later 1991 "Uncut" edition didn't have this line, because it was one Heinlein had added when he went through and trimmed the originally submitted manuscript on which the "Uncut" edition is based. Heinlein also later used a variant of this in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls where he has Xia quote Harshaw: "Dr. Harshaw says that 'the word "love" designates a subjective condition in which the welfare and happiness of another person are essential to one's own happiness.'" Jealousy is a disease; love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often confuses one for the other, or assumes the greater the love, the greater the jealousy. In fact they are almost incompatible; both at once produce unbearable turmoil. "Jubal Harshaw" in the first edition (1961); this is another line not in the "Uncut" edition of 1991 based on his original manuscripts, because this was one of the lines that Heinlein added, rather than trimmed down, during the editing process of the first edition. Ben, the ethics of sex is a thorny problem. Each of us is forced to grope for a solution he can live with — in the face of a preposterous, unworkable, and evil code of so-called "morals." Most of us know the code is wrong; almost everybody breaks it. But we pay Danegeld by feeling guilty and giving lip service. Willy-nilly, the code rides us, dead and stinking, an albatross around the neck. You, too, Ben. You fancy yourself a free soul — and break that evil code. But faced with a problem in sexual ethics new to you, you tested it against that same Judeo-Christian code ... so automatically your stomach did flip-flops ... and you think that proves you're right and they're wrong. Faugh! I'd as lief use trial by ordeal. "Jubal Harshaw" You, too, Ben. You fancy yourself a free soul — and break that evil code. But faced with a problem in sexual ethics new to you, you tested it against that same Judeo-Christian code ... so automatically your stomach did flip-flops ... and you think that proves you're right and they're wrong. Faugh! I'd as lief use trial by ordeal. There comes a time in the life of every human when he or she must decide to risk "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" on an outcome dubious. Those who fail the challenge are merely overgrown children, can never be anything else. Main article: Glory Road Logic is a feeble reed, friend. "Logic" proved that airplanes can't fly and that H-bombs won't work and that stones don't fall out of the sky. Logic is a way of saying that anything which didn't happen yesterday won't happen tomorrow. Democracy can't work. Mathematicians, peasants, and animals, that's all there is — so democracy, a theory based on the assumption that mathematicians and peasants are equal, can never work. Wisdom is not additive; its maximum is that of the wisest man in a given group. Main article: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress A rational anarchist believes that concepts, such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals. He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame ... as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world ... aware that his efforts will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure. I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop. Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them for their own good. TANSTAAFL . Acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." The origin of this phrase is often misattributed to Heinlein or Milton Friedman, but it actually dates back to at least the 1930s. Heinlein's contribution was to make the acronym for it. . There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. All page numbers from the 1987 mass market edition published by Ace Books, ISBN 0-441-35917-5 “Going to dance at my wake?” “I don’t dance,” the lawyer answered, “but you tempt me to learn.” Chapter 1, p. 13 “I don’t dance,” the lawyer answered, “but you tempt me to learn.” From my point of view it is better to be alive and young again, and broke, than it is to be the richest corpse in Forest Lawn. Chapter 1, p. 24 What we think of as ‘Physical beauty’ is almost certainly a tag for a complex of useful survival characteristics. Smartness—intelligence—among them. Chapter 2, p. 35 Fighting continued on a token basis, and the dead did not complain. Chapter 12, p. 171 I’m not trying to frighten you, but only a fool makes predictions based on ignorance; I am not that sort of fool. Chapter 12, p. 177 A man who marries at my age isn’t taking a wife, he’s indenturing a nurse. Chapter 14, p. 224 Between being ‘right’ and being kind, I know which way I vote. Chapter 24, p. 400 vote. We may eliminate death someday but I doubt if we’ll ever eliminate taxes. Chapter 24, p. 406 When you’re rich, you don’t have friends; you just have endless acquaintances. Chapter 24, p. 408 It’s impossible for a woman to lay it on too thick with a man. If you tell a man he’s eight feet tall and say it often enough, with your eyes wide and a throb in your voice, he’ll start stooping to go through seven-foot doors. Chapter 25, p. 427 for a woman to lay it on too thick with a man. If you tell a man he’s eight feet tall and say it often enough, with your eyes wide and a throb in your voice, he’ll start stooping to go through seven-foot doors. I have never been able to see life as anything but a vast complicated practical joke, and it’s better to laugh than cry. Chapter 25, p. 442 Boats and ships are female because they are beautiful, lovable, expensive—and unpredictable. Chapter 26, p. 452 I don’t think Father Hugo is any more mistaken than the most learned theologian and he might be closer to the truth. Jacob, I don’t think anyone knows Who’s in charge. Chapter 26, p. 459 knows Who’s in charge. I think the major problem in growing up is to become sophisticated without becoming cynical. Chapter 27, p. 473 Death is an old friend; I know him well. I lived with him, ate with him, slept with him; to meet him again does not frighten me—death is as necessary as birth, as happy in its own way. Chapter 27, p. 488 It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier. know. So why fret about it? There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will. So why fret about it? You live and learn. Or you don't live long. Main article: Time Enough for Love Progress doesn't come from early risers — progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things. Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. A brute kills for pleasure. A fool kills from hate. A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future. All men are created unequal. Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy. If you happen to be one of the fretful minority who can do creative work, never force an idea; you'll abort it if you do. Be patient and you'll give birth to it when the time is ripe. Learn to wait. It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier. Masturbation is cheap, clean, convenient, and free of any possibility of wrongdoing —and you don't have to go home in the cold. But it's lonely. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. "No man is an island — " Much as we may feel and act as Individuals, our race is —a single organism, always growing and branching —which must be pruned regularly to be healthy. This necessity need not be argued; anyone with eyes can see that any organism which grows without limit always dies in its own poisons. The only rational question is whether pruning is best done before or after birth. Being an incurable sentimentalist I favor the former of these methods —killing makes me queasy, even when it's a case of "He's dead and I'm alive and that's the way I wanted it to be." But this may be a matter of taste. Some shamans think that it is better to be killed in a war, or to die in childbirth, or to starve in misery, than never to have lived at all. They may be right. But I don't have to like it —and I don't. There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it? You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. You live and learn. Or you don't live long. Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. The Pragmatics of Patriotism (1973) [ edit ] Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. ... The next higher level is to work fight , and sometimes die for your own immediate family Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive ; they wind up as meat for leopards Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt. But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing ... This is how a He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life , right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him.This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives! Quotations from Heinlein's address at the U.S. Naval Academy (5 April 1973), published in Analog : Science Fiction/Science Fact, Vol. 94, Issue 6 (1974), and in Expanded Universe (1980) In this complex world, science, the scientific method, and the consequences of the scientific method are central to everything the human race is doing and to wherever we are going. If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will be through intelligent application of science. Patriotism is not sentimental nonsense. Nor something dreamed up by demagogues. Patriotism is as necessary a part of man's evolutionary equipment as are his eyes, as useful to the race as eyes are to the individual. I now define "moral behavior" as "behavior that tends toward survival." I won't argue with philosophers or theologians who choose to use the word "moral" to mean something else, but I do not think anyone can define "behavior that tends toward extinction" as being "moral" without stretching the word "moral" all out of shape. Selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes. The next higher level is to work, fight, and sometimes die for your own immediate family. This is the level at which six pounds of mother cat can be so fierce that she'll drive off a police dog. It is the level at which a father takes a moonlighting job to keep his kids in college — and the level at which a mother or father dives into a flood to save a drowning child ... and it is still moral behavior even when it fails. Evolution is a process that never stops. Baboons who fail to exhibit moral behavior do not survive; they wind up as meat for leopards. The next level in moral behavior higher than that exhibited by the baboon is that in which duty and loyalty are shown toward a group of your own kind too large for an individual to know all of them. We have a name for that. It is called "patriotism." Behaving on a still higher moral level were the astronauts who went to the Moon, for their actions tend toward the survival of the entire race of mankind. Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon was just a stunt. But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were doing, as is shown by Neil Armstrong's first words in stepping down onto the soil of Luna: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Men are expendable; women and children are not. A tribe or a nation can lose a high percentage of its men and still pick up the pieces and go on ... as long as the women and children are saved. But if you fail to save the women and children, you've had it, you're done, you're through! You join Tyrannosaurus Rex, one more breed that bilged its final test. I said that "Patriotism" is a way of saying "Women and children first." And that no one can force a man to feel this way. Instead he must embrace it freely. I want to tell about one such man. He wore no uniform and no one knows his name, or where he came from; all we know is what he did. In my home town sixty years ago when I was a child, my mother and father used to take me and my brothers and sisters out to Swope Park on Sunday afternoons. It was a wonderful place for kids, with picnic grounds and lakes and a zoo. But a railroad line cut straight through it. One Sunday afternoon a young married couple were crossing these tracks. She apparently did not watch her step, for she managed to catch her foot in the frog of a switch to a siding and could not pull it free. Her husband stopped to help her. But try as they might they could not get her foot loose. While they were working at it, a tramp showed up, walking the ties. He joined the husband in trying to pull the young woman's foot loose. No luck — Out of sight around the curve a train whistled. Perhaps there would have been time to run and flag it down, perhaps not. In any case both men went right ahead trying to pull her free ... and the train hit them. The wife was killed, the husband was mortally injured and died later, the tramp was killed — and testimony showed that neither man made the slightest effort to save himself. The husband's behavior was heroic ... but what we expect of a husband toward his wife: his right, and his proud privilege, to die for his woman. But what of this nameless stranger? Up to the very last second he could have jumped clear. He did not. He was still trying to save this woman he had never seen before in his life, right up to the very instant the train killed him. And that's all we'll ever know about him. This is how a man dies. This is how a man ... lives! This Universe never did make sense; I suspect that it was built on government contract. Chapter II : “This Universe never did make sense—”, p. 16 Never encourage a man to cook breakfast; it causes him to wonder if women are necessary. If you always get his breakfast and don’t raise controversial issues until after his second cup of coffee, you can get away with murder the rest of the time. They don’t notice other odors when they smell bacon. Chapter V : “—a wedding ring is not a ring in my nose—”, p. 41 No philosopher allows his opinions to be swayed by facts—he would be kicked out of his guild. Theologians, the lot of them. Chapter VI : Are men and women one race?, p. 54 I hadn’t learned much in high school; I had majored in girls. Chapter IX : Most males have an unhealthy tendency to obey laws., p. 81 A man who bets on greed and dishonesty won’t be wrong too often. Chapter IX : Most males have an unhealthy tendency to obey laws., p. 82 I knew that the stupidest students, the silliest professors, and the worst bull courses are concentrated in schools of education. Chapter IX : Most males have an unhealthy tendency to obey laws., p. 82 I can’t evaluate my op |
Julian Fantino is the federal minister responsible for helping the world's poor, but he is also a former Toronto police chief and, on the day after gunmen sprayed bullets into a street party in that city's east end, he said there must be a "meaningful" price paid for such disregard of human life. "This is not a time for panicking. It is a time for people to work together at all levels and find solutions that actually will deal with these people in a preventable way," Mr. Fantino, the International Development Minister, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Perpetrators of these types of crimes have not been deterred by the criminal justice responses that existed for many years, he said. "That is why we are stiffening things up somewhat to make the consequences more meaningful and more certain. And, although that's not the cure-all and the end-all, it does provide some answers." Story continues below advertisement Tougher sentencing has been a key pillar of Conservative policy since Prime Minister Stephen Harper first won government in 2006. As the investigation into the deadly Monday-night melee continued, Mr. Fantino joined Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in releasing a statement to recount some of the sentencing measures that their government has enacted, including the introduction of mandatory minimum penalties for all serious firearms. "Over the many years that I was in law enforcement, we always felt that there was much more that needed to be done in terms of filling the gaps in the criminal justice system and enabling the justice system to be more effective in dealing with an escalation of the sophistication of crime and certainly the gang movement, the gun crimes and so forth," said Mr. Fantino, who was also the head of the Ontario Provincial Police. But from a federal perspective, it isn't just about creating more laws and more penalties, he said. "There has also been a lot of work done in getting ahead of these kinds of issues," Mr. Fantino said, "the amount of co-operation that is now in place, working across borders between Canadian and American jurisdictions to stem the flow of guns and so forth." Mr. Toews said Tuesday, during an interview on Golden West Radio, which operates a number of stations across the prairies, that he is concerned about the courts rejecting minimum sentences, especially given the problem of guns smuggled in from the United States. Conservative crime policies have been heavily criticized by experts, who say they are tough on criminals but will do little in the end to reduce crime. It is a message that has been picked up by opposition members of all stripes. On Tuesday, however, the New Democrats said they did not want to discuss flaws in Conservative legislation because it was a time for mourning and reflection on the events of the previous evening. Liberal MP John McKay, in whose riding the shootings took place, said there are better ways to spend crime-fighting dollars than the measures introduced by the Conservatives. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement But "to be candid about it, I frankly don't know that any legislation can deal with something like this," Mr. McKay said. "This is some immature individual who decided that they are going to solve their problems at the end of a barrel of a gun." With a report from The Canadian Press |
Putin Turns Photo Ops Into Soviet-Style Agitprop Enlarge this image toggle caption AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images It is rare to hear a politician say, "Of course it was a set up." But Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Russian journalist that many of his most picturesque media appearances — shooting a tranquilizer dart into a tiger who appeared about to pounce; tagging a wounded snow leopard; and, just this week, wearing a feathery white suit to pilot a glider to guide a group of cranes south for the winter — were staged. "Of course there are excesses," he told Masha Gessen in Bolshoi Gorod magazine. But they were constructive deceits, he said, because they called attention to endangered wildlife. A lot of Russians had been skeptical about President Putin's highly publicized displays of environmental daring. They thought the tiger looked a little glassy-eyed, and suggested he might have been trucked in from a zoo. "But I thought up these tigers myself," Mr. Putin said. "Twenty other countries where tigers live also started taking care of them. ... The leopards were also my idea. Yes, I know they were caught before but the most important thing is to draw public attention to the problem." The president also confirmed that a stunt last year, in which he appeared to dive to the bottom of the Black Sea and discover ancient Greek artifacts, had been staged. "Well of course they were planted!" he said. "Why did I dive? Not to show my gills off, but to make sure people learn history. Of course it was a set up." Actually, if President Putin has gills, I'd say he's entitled to show them off. If an American politician confessed to having gills, we'd see an attack ad that went, "Can an aquatic organism really represent your interests in Washington, D.C.?" There was a joke in the old Soviet Union about the two state-run Moscow newspapers, Pravda (truth) and Izvestia (news). There is no truth in news, Russians used to say to each other, and there is no news in truth. There are many who charge Mr. Putin's state-run media may have restored those times, when Russians don't turn to the news for news so much as clues to what people in power expect them to think. On Friday, Russia's parliament expelled Gennady Gudkov, a former KGB officer and Putin ally who has joined an opposition party. Mr. Gudkov told reporters, "We have come very close to the brink that separates an authoritarian regime from a dictatorship." President Putin was at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok and talked about this week's flight with the cranes. "It's true," he told a press conference, "not all the cranes followed me at once. But only weak cranes did not follow me." |
Airbnb will collect taxes from its hosts and and remit them to its hometown of San Francisco starting October 1, the company said today. That means Airbnb-coordinated stays in San Francisco are about to cost 14 percent more than before, with the addition of the city’s transient occupancy tax. The move comes as Airbnb is the focus of a legislative battle in the city over short-term rentals, which have largely existed as a loophole outside leasing and hotel systems. City leaders held a marathon eight-hour hearing on the issue this week. Airbnb had previously promised to institute the tax plan this summer. (Then again, San Francisco’s mild fall can feel like summer.) “This is the culmination of a long process that began earlier this year when we announced our intent to help collect and remit occupancy taxes in San Francisco,” said Airbnb public policy leader David Owen in a blog post. San Francisco supervisors are still in committee hearings about a proposed law that may limit Airbnb-type rentals to a total of 90 days per year when no host is present. They are also discussing host registries and mandatory notifications to landlords whose tenants sign up as hosts. Owen had appeared at the hearing this week, and argued that it would violate Arbnb hosts’ privacy to share information with the city about their listings and rental history. This comes back to the fact that Airbnb bridges the online and offline worlds. The company says this is parallel to when governments ask Internet platforms to hand over user records. The city says it’s more similar to reporting sales tax. Airbnb is already collecting taxes in Portland, and had discussed collecting taxes in New York. |
ST LOUIS is a troubled, shrinking city in the American Midwest. Its population peaked at 850,000 in the 1950s. Decades of middle-class flight have left it with only 315,000 residents, of which almost one-third live at or below the federal poverty level. It has America’s highest per-capita murder rate and remains one of its most segregated cities. In 2014 riots erupted in Ferguson, a suburb, after a white police officer fatally shot a black teenager. It therefore seems an unlikely candidate to become a mecca for chess. Yet in May 2013, the United States Congress declared St Louis the chess capital of the country. How did this happen? The rise of St Louis as a centre for chess dates to 2008, when Rex Sinquefield chose the promotion of chess in his home town as a retirement project after making a fortune pioneering stockmarket index funds. (Mr Sinquefield is also politically active as a campaigner for the abolition of income tax and a sponsor of right-wing think-tanks.) In 2008 he founded the Chess Club and Scholastic Centre of St Louis, which, in recent years, has become the headquarters of American chess. The 6,000-sq-ft centre includes a hall for tournaments, classrooms, a library and play areas. Some 1,000 members of all skill levels attend classes such as “Pure Beginners Ladies’ Knight”. In 2011 he helped bring the “World Chess Hall of Fame” (pictured) to St Louis. Its was set up, according to its website, “to educate visitors, fans, players and scholars by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting the game of chess and its continuing cultural and artistic significance”. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. Mr Sinquefield’s perseverance paid off. The club began hosting the American championship, the nation’s top tournament, in 2009, bringing grandmasters galore to the city. (Before that it was held in different cities.) The Sinquefield tournament, set up by its namesake, started in 2013 with a prize fund of $170,000. It attracts the world’s top players and by last year was watched by some 1.5m online viewers. Several universities in the St Louis area now offer chess scholarships. (Wesley So, the world number two, attended the city’s Webster University on one such scholarship.) Local high schools, including in and around Ferguson, promote after-school classes. This year Webster University won the national championship at the President’s Cup collegiate chess tournament in New York for the fifth time in a row. St Louis University finished third. The revival of chess in St Louis has helped make America one of the world’s top chess nations again. In 2008 no American was in the top ten players, according to the World Chess Federation (The first American on the list appeared at in 17th place.) Today, three of the top ten players in the world (numbers two, four and seven) are American. Indeed, one of them, Fabiano Caruana, moved to St Louis in 2015. |
1. QUICK HOLDS THE FORT Late last month, Jonathan Quick expressed his appreciation at being nominated for the Vezina Trophy but noted, ``That’s not the trophy I set out to win.’’ At this point, the Kings should just hire a personal blacksmith for Quick. He should get any trophy that he wants. Eyebrows raised a bit in the first period when Kevin Shattenkirk whistled a shot into the corner of the net, but even that is a compliment to Quick, because it’s so rare when he allows a questionable goal. There were zero questions about Quick, though, in the second and third periods. He made a total of 20 saves and was brilliant, and even got a little help from Anze Kopitar on the Blues’ best chance. 2. THIRD-PERIOD MANAGEMENT Kings fans in Staples Center had to be holding their breath at the start of the third period. The Blues were like a chainsaw in the second period, as they outshot the Kings 13-2 but somehow didn’t put a goal on the scoreboard. The Blues didn’t appear to have lost any momentum at the start of the third period, as they controlled the puck for the first two minutes and continued to threaten. The Kings, all of them, deserve credit though for the way they managed the third period. Despite the Blues’ aggression and desperation, the Blues totaled only seven shots on goal in the third period. Even in the final minute, Dustin Penner’s forechecking helped kill valuable seconds. 3. CAPTAIN LEADS THE WAY Any number of players deserve credit for the way they played in Game 4. Jordan Nolan scored a huge goal, and the fourth line in general gave the Kings some (highly underrated) effective shifts at times when the Blues seemed to be taking control. Dustin Penner made a nice play on Nolan’s goal as well. The defensemen, as noted earlier, managed the third period well, in particular. Once again, though, the captain took charge. Dustin Brown now has six goals and five assists in nine playoff games. It’s not just the numbers. Brown is moving as though his skates are ablaze, and is playing as though he’s getting paid by the hit. He is, in a word, a leader. |
Lt Col Leslie Pratt/U.S. Air Force, via Reuters During the 2012 campaign, President Obama and Vice President Biden and many other people, including our editorial page writers, pointed out that Mitt Romney’s campaign boiled down to one proposition: Just trust me. After Mr. Romney refused to provide real details about his taxes, his wife, Ann, told NBC News that voters “have to understand that Mitt is honest. His integrity is just golden.” Obviously Democrats weren’t satisfied with such empty guarantees, and hammered away at the idea that professions of honesty are no substitute for actual disclosure. Jim Messina, the Obama campaign manager, accused Mr. Romney of putting “his personal financial assets in a black box” and hiding the key. The campaign, thankfully, is long over. But the “just trust me” tactic is alive and well: It’s how the Obama administration is handling its “targeted killing” policy, which we wrote about on today’s editorial page. The Obama administration has repeatedly refused even to acknowledge killing Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, in a drone strike. It has also refused to disclose the legal documents explaining why the executive branch has the power to order an American killed without telling Congress, getting permission from a judge, or submitting the action to Congressional, legal or public review after the fact. It even refused to make public an unclassified summary of the argument that was sent to the top two members of the House and Senate judiciary committees last May, seven months after Mr. Awlaki was killed. The only reason we can now read that document is that NBC News got hold of it and published it on Monday. Now that we’ve seen it I can report that the legal argument itself is all about trust. We’re supposed to accept that if an “informed, high-ranking official” decides that an American citizen poses an “imminent threat” to this country and that capture is not possible, it’s OK to order a drone strike. It would be bad enough if administration personnel were using the standard definition of “imminent,” but they have vastly expanded it to include people that they “know” would be attacking us if they could. We are supposed to trust them to make life-and-death decisions without any independent oversight. To trust that appropriate safeguards are in place. White House officials have told me that they have a review system, but the overseers are all executive branch officials and we are never going to be told who they are or how they do the overseeing. Their contempt for the idea that the courts should have a say is palpable. We’ve been here before, with President George W. Bush, who told us to trust him after 9/11 and gave us illegal wiretapping, kidnapping, rendition, indefinite detention, torture, military trials and Guantanamo Bay. And that’s just what we know about. We argued at the time that we are supposed to be a nation of laws, not personalities, and that powers, once acquired, are never given up. Mr. Obama denounced Mr. Bush’s actions during the 2008 campaign but upon taking office pursued the same abuse of the state secrets privilege in court cases involving rendition, torture and indefinite detention. Just as Mr. Bush decided that his constitutional powers and the Congressional authorization for war in Afghanistan gave him the authority to tap our phones without a warrant and to approve the torture of prisoners, Mr. Obama decided he had the power to order the killing of Americans. He does not even think enough of the American people to come before them and explain his decision. |
This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key Re: possible Podesta statement to prebut Gowdy Here's a statement for everyone's review and feedback. The idea would be to deploy this in John's name in the same vein as we've previously done, in advance of Gowdy's appearance on Face the Nation tomorrow, where he will no doubt try to turn up the heat on the missing Sid emails. This would serve to put him on the defensive a little, and force him to address some specific questions about his motives while contrasting all of it with the otherwise historic week we've had between POTUS' eulogy and 3 SCOTUS decisions, which will no doubt all be topics on the Sundays tomorrow. We could give it to Dickerson in advance and then post it on The Briefing at some point. *Statement* This week was an important week for our country. The Supreme Court stood up for Americans’ right to access affordable health coverage, for non-discriminatory housing practices, and for marriage equality for all. And in the wake of a massacre, we watched our President stand with the people of Charleston on Friday, grieve with them, and with all of us, as he challenged us all to move forward with purpose. That’s the conversation I’ve been having with people, that Hillary Clinton has been having with people, and that Americans are having with each other. In stark contrast to that, Trey Gowdy and the Republicans are clinging to their invented scandal, one that’s on life-support. Their latest witch-hunt is based on the testimony of a non-government employee and a set of documents he turned over, which Gowdy himself called “unvetted, uncorroborated, unsubstantiated intelligence,” after hours of interrogation on the matter. That leaves one question that prominently remains: What, if anything at all, does this have to do with Benghazi? Hillary Clinton has been saying for months that she’s ready and willing to come testify in an open hearing, yet they haven’t called her to do so. If Representative Gowdy is going to continue his taxpayer-funded campaign, he needs to explain himself. He needs to explain what wasn’t satisfactory about 7 previous Congressional investigations, the independent and exhaustive findings of the Accountability Review Board, and the conclusions of his Republican counterparts on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Armed Services Committee, both of which found no wrongdoing. He needs to explain to the American people what it is he’s still looking for, why, and to what end, if he’s going to continue to spend their money. After all, he’s the one that said his committee was going to “rise above politics.” Otherwise, his intentions seem pretty clear, and after the week we've had on other fronts, you really wonder about the Republicans' priorities, and whether they have anything else to offer than this counterproductive race to the bottom. ### On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 5:51 PM, Cheryl Mills <cheryl.mills@gmail.com> wrote: > good copy > > On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 4:18 PM, Jennifer Palmieri < > jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: > >> Friends – HRC asked me what offense we could do today to set up Gowdy for >> Face The Nation tomorrow. >> >> >> >> Nick and I thought best option would be a statement from Podesta doing >> some offense on how this latest obsession on Sid emails is absurd, further >> evidence this is partisan effort. >> >> >> >> HRC was hoping for a video. Don’t think that is possible for tomorrow. >> I could see doing one for Tuesday, when we have more email news to face >> that could put all this in context. >> >> >> >> In the meantime, Nick is drafting a statement that we will share with all >> of you. So be on the lookout for that. >> >> >> >> Thanks, all. >> > > |
A vast majority of Saudis favor women having the right to fully engage in sports in a country that has no official facilities for female athletes or physical education programs for girls in schools, according to a Saudi sociology researcher, who has put forward a series of recommendations at a time that the government is developing its first ever national sports plan albeit for men only. Mariam Dujain Al-Kaabi concluded on the basis of a survey as part of her master thesis of 312 Saudis active in education who were almost evenly split between men and women that 73.5 percent unambiguously endorsed a woman's right to engage in sports while 21.6 percent felt that their right should be conditional. Published by Ash-Sharq newspaper, the study countered conservative opposition in the kingdom that asserts that allowing women to engage in sports would have negative social consequences. Ms. Al Kaabi's study was published as the kingdom debates granting women the right to engage in sports, attend sporting events in stadia, enjoy physical education in state-run schools and on a non-sporting issue be allowed to drive. While many members of the ruling elite, including King Abdullah, are believed to favor granting women greater rights, the government has so far shied away from confronting conservative clerics who condemn women's sports as corrupting and satanic and charge that it would spread decadence. The clerics warn that running and jumping could damage a woman's hymen and ruin her chances of getting married. Saudi Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Luhaydan cautioned in September as women launched an online campaign to demand their right to drive that driving could affect their ovaries and pelvises. Sheikh Al-Luhaydan, a legal and psychology consultant to the Gulf Psychological Association, quickly became the target of ridicule on social media with Saudis sarcastically congratulating him for his scientific discovery. An Arabic Twitter hashtag "Women_driving_affects_ovaries_and_pelvises" went viral. The government is hesitant to confront conservative elements of the clergy at a time that it is trying to ring fence the kingdom against the wave of discontent and protest that has been sweeping the Middle East and North Africa for almost three years. While Saudi Arabia, a country where demonstrations are constitutionally banned, has not witnessed mass protests, it has experienced multiple expressions of demands for change, including protests in the predominantly Shiite Eastern Province, home to its oil reserves; demonstrations in the arch conservative town of Buraidah, a bulwark of Saudis puritan Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, demanding the release of political prisoners; protests against princes who own soccer clubs in stadia and online; a women's campaign for the right to drive; and an outpouring of criticism of the ruling family on social media. Human Rights Watch last year accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to assertions by the country's powerful conservative Muslim clerics that female sports constitute "steps of the devil." Saudi Football Federation (SFF) president Ahmed Eid Alharbi, a storied former goalkeeper who became the kingdom's first elected sports official after his predecessor, a member of the ruling family, was forced under fan pressure to step down, hinted in September at the positive economic impact of allowing women to attend soccer matches would have. He said that the creation of facilities for women would increase capacity at stadiums by 15 percent. Mr. Alharbi later qualified his remarks by saying that the decision to lift the ban on women was not his. "A decision like this is a sovereign decision. Neither I nor SAFF can make it. Only the political leadership in this country can make that decision," he said. The government has been fretting over that decision for more than a year. Saudi Arabia alongside Yemen was the only Muslim Middle Eastern nation that refused early this year to sign on to a campaign by Middle Eastern soccer associations to put women's soccer on par with men's football. In a statement, the associations grouped in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), defined "an athletic woman" as "an empowered woman who further empowers her community." In a rebuttal of opposition to women's soccer among some Islamists across the region and more conservative segments of Middle Eastern society the seminar stressed that women's soccer did not demean cultural and traditional values. The statement called further for the appointment of women to the boards of WAFF member associations, establishment of a WAFF women's committee, creation of Under-16 and Under-19 women competitions in the Middle East (West Asia) as well as the compulsory rotation of hosting of subsidized WAFF women competitions -- demands Saudi Arabia has yet to comply with. WAFF nevertheless said that the kingdom would be included in women's tournaments. Ms. Al Kaabi's study recommended that the government introduce sports a s a compulsory part of the curriculum in all government girls' schools, provide playgrounds, approve sporting activities outside of school, establish women's sports clubs and public exercise and training facilities, raise awareness of the health benefits of sports, establish a women's section in Prince Nawaf's Presidency of Youth Welfare (the equivalent of a ministry of youth and sports), and enable women to compete in international sporting events. Saudi Arabia bowed to pressure last year to field for the first time ever women athletes at an international tournament, the London Olympics. It did so by fielding two expatriate Saudi females. Saudi press reporting on Ms. Al Kaabi's study illustrated the sensitivity of the issue. The Saudi Gazette introduced the study by referring to the fact that Widan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, a judo player and one of the two Saudi women athletes in London, was more concerned about being covered when her hijab dropped during the tournament than competing to win. "It was a dramatic scene for a sportswoman who was keen to achieve recognition for herself and her country. What made the scene more dramatic, however, was her insistence to preserve the true image of Saudi women when she focused only on protecting her hair from being seen by others," the Gazette said. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg's Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same title. |
As Stormont votes against suspending the assembly, we examine the reasons behind the coalition dispute Peter Robinson has stepped down - who has replaced him? The DUP leader has stepped down and handed over the post of first minister to his colleague Arlene Foster, so that the executive still exists in a shadow form. It means the entire devolution power-sharing project has not fully collapsed … yet. Keeping one sole DUP minister inside the regional government buys about six weeks of breathing space for talks set up to restore unionist faith in sharing power with Sinn Féin. However, Robinson stepping aside alongside all other DUP ministers - except Foster - may not be enough to impress the unionist electorate – hardliners have described it as a U-turn. Why, more than two decades after the paramilitary ceasefires and 18 years since the Good Friday agreement, is power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in peril? The key word is “paramilitaries” and in particular allegations that the IRA continues to exist and kill. A central reason why unionists agreed to share power with Sinn Féin was the IRA statement of 2005, which appeared to suggest the latter was dissolving as a military force. Following this communique, the IRA decommissioned most (not all, it now seems) of its arms. So why would mainstream republicans risk provoking unionists by allegedly killing former IRA comrade Kevin McGuigan? Belfast republicans faced a stark choice this summer. They could grit their teeth and allow the Police Service of Northern Ireland to catch the killer of the ex-IRA commander Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison and not bring about a political crisis. Or, fearing which veteran IRA figure might be targeted next by former enemies within the Catholic community, they could strike back. They chose the latter, hence the crisis. McGuigan, a former IRA hitman, was shot dead in August in revenge for Davison’s killing. So what happens next? The Irish and British goverments will intensify talks between the five main parties in Northern Ireland over the next six weeks. They will attempt to establish mechanisms to rebuild trust and restore devolved government. There is no guarantee they will succeed and if not, an election in the late autumn would be inevitable. DUP will quit Stormont if assembly is not suspended, first minister warns Read more If devolution and power sharing crashes, will this result in a return to Troubles-style conflict? No. The vast majority of people in both communities are totally opposed to any return to full-scale violence and that includes Sinn Féin’s electorate. The party knows the IRA cannot be brought back as a full-time fighting force taking on the state because, among other things, this would be disastrous to Sinn Féin’s electoral prospects in the Irish Republic. How will the anti-ceasefire, dissident republicans react to these developments? With glee. Their political spokespersons will claim the collapse proves the project of working for a united Ireland within the confines of the Northern Ireland state cannot deliver that republican goal. What will happen if direct rule has to be reimposed from London? All the Ulster parties – unionists, nationalists, republicans, and neither – are enthusiastic supporters of controlling their own destiny in terms of the devolved institutions. But if London takes over again, the Conservative government will impose a radical welfare shakeup and cuts to Northern Ireland’s huge public sector. This would prove deeply unpopular, particularly among Sinn Féin’s support base. Peter Robinson warns it could take a decade to rebuild devolution and power sharing. Is he right? He may be, as it took almost 10 years – from the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998 until 2007 – for a real, all-embracing, stable power-sharing government to be established. |
На видео слышна русская речь с 2:03 Как сообщает Цензор.НЕТ со ссылкой на ЕП, об этом пишет британская The Times . По информации издания, трехминутный видеосюжет показывает, как сирийскую армию прикрывает тяжелая бронетехника, в частности, новейший БТР-82А, которій есть на вооружении только у армии России. При этом на видео четко звучит русский язык.В свою очередь, американская The Washington Post пишет, что недавние сообщения из открытых источников и неподверженные изображения российского оборудования в Сирии говорят от том, что Кремль постепенно наращивает присутствие в этой охваченной войной стране для поддержки режима сирийского президента Башара Асада.Во вторник, 1 сентября, филиал "Аль-Каиды" в Сирии "Фронт аль-Нусра" опубликовал четыре фотографии, а которых изображен истребитель, напоминающий российский Су-34, и беспилотник производства РФ, которые были замечены в сирийской провинции Идлиб.Данная информация поступила спустя два дня после того как израильская газета YNET сообщила о прибытие в Сирию российских ВВС и пилотов "в ближайшее время" для нанесения авиаударов по боевикам ИГИЛ и сирийским повстанцам, которые угрожают режиму Асада. В отличие от истребителей РФ, дроны российского производства часто наблюдались в течение четырехлетнего военного конфликта в Сирии."Присутствие российских самолетов в небе над Сирией, где Соединенные Штаты и силы коалиции ведут воздушную кампанию с августа прошлого года, может сделать управление воздушным пространством еще более сложной задачей, чем она есть", - отмечает издание. Источник: https://censor.net.ua/v350435 |
"Supermax" redirects here. For other uses, see Supermax (disambiguation) A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. This is often the most secure form of security within a certain prison system. The objective is to provide long-term, segregated housing for inmates classified as the highest security risks in the prison system—the "worst of the worst" criminals—and those who pose an extremely serious threat to both national and global security.[1] Characteristics [ edit ] According to the National Institute of Corrections, an agency of the United States government; "a supermax is a stand-alone unit or part of another facility and is designated for violent or disruptive inmates. It typically involves up to 23-hour-per-day, single-cell confinement for an indefinite period of time. Inmates in supermax housing have minimal contact with staff and other inmates," a definition confirmed by a majority of prison wardens.[2] Leena Kurki and Norval Morris have argued there is no absolute definition of a supermax, and that different jurisdictions classify prisons as supermax inconsistently. They identify four general features that tend to characterize supermax prisons:[3] Long-term: once transferred to a supermax prison, prisoners tend to stay there for several years or indefinitely. Powerful administration: supermax administrators and correctional officers have ample authority to punish and manage inmates, without outside review or prisoner grievance systems. Solitary confinement: supermax prisons rely heavily on intensive (and long-term) solitary confinement, which is used to isolate and punish prisoners as well as to protect them from themselves and each other. Communication with outsiders is minimal to none. Very limited activities: few opportunities are provided for recreation, education, substance abuse programs, or other activities generally considered healthy and rehabilitative at other prisons. In supermax, prisoners are generally allowed out of their cells for only one hour a day (one-and-a-half hours in California state prisons). They receive their meals through ports in the doors of their cells. When supermax inmates are allowed to exercise, this may take place in a small, enclosed area where the prisoner will exercise alone.[4] Prisoners are under constant surveillance, usually with closed-circuit television cameras. Cell doors are usually opaque, while the cells may be windowless. Furnishings are plain, with poured concrete or metal furniture common. Cell walls, and sometimes plumbing, may be soundproofed to prevent communication between the inmates.[citation needed] History [ edit ] The United States Penitentiary Alcatraz Island, opened in 1934, has been considered a prototype and early standard for a supermax prison.[5] An early form of supermax-style prison unit appeared in Australia in 1975, when "Katingal" was built inside the Long Bay Correctional Centre in Sydney. Dubbed the "electronic zoo" by inmates, Katingal was a super-maximum security prison block with 40 prison cells having electronically operated doors, surveillance cameras, and no windows. It was closed down two years later over human rights concerns.[6] Since then, some maximum-security prisons have gone to full lockdown as well, while others have been built and dedicated to the supermax standard. Supermax prisons began to proliferate within the United States after 1984. Prior to 1984 only one prison in the U.S. met "supermax" standards: the Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. By 1999, the United States contained at least 57 supermax facilities, spread across 30–34 states.[3] The push for this type of prison came after two correctional officers at Marion, Merle Clutts and Robert Hoffman, were stabbed to death in two separate incidents by inmates Thomas Silverstein and Clayton Fountain. This prompted Norman Carlson, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to call for a new type of prison to isolate uncontrollable inmates. In Carlson's view, such a prison was the only way to deal with inmates who "show absolutely no concern for human life".[7] The Federal Bureau of Prisons' solitary confinement units are known as Special Housing Units (SHU).[8] In recent years[when?] a number of U.S. states have downgraded their supermax prisons,[citation needed] as has been done with Wallens Ridge State Prison, a former supermax prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Other supermax prisons that have gained notoriety for their harsh conditions and attendant litigation by inmates and advocates are the former Boscobel (in Wisconsin), now named the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, Red Onion State Prison (in western Virginia, the twin to Wallens Ridge State Prison), Tamms (in Illinois), and the Ohio State Penitentiary. Placement policies at the Ohio facility were the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case (Wilkinson v. Austin) in 2005[9] where the Court decided that there had to be some, but only very limited, due process involved in supermax placement. There is only one supermax prison in the United States federal system, ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.[10] It houses several inmates who have a history of violent behavior in other prisons, with the goal of moving them from solitary confinement for 23 hours a day to a less restrictive prison within three years. However, it is best known for housing several inmates who have been deemed either too dangerous, too high-profile or too great a national security risk for even a maximum-security prison.[7] Residents have included Timothy McVeigh, perpetrator of the Oklahoma City Bombing who was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute on 11 June 2001; Theodore Kaczynski, a domestic terrorist otherwise known as the Unabomber, who once attacked via mail bombs; Robert Hanssen, an American FBI agent turned Soviet spy; Terry Nichols, McVeigh's accomplice in the Oklahoma City Bombing; Richard Reid, known as the "Shoe Bomber", who was jailed for life for attempting to detonate explosive materials in his shoes while on board an aircraft;[11] Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber; Richard Lee McNair, a persistent prison escapee; Charles Harrelson, a hitman who was convicted in 1979 of killing Federal Judge John H. Wood Jr.;[12] and Vito Rizzuto, boss of the "Sixth" Mafia "Family," released on 5 October 2012.[13] The Boston Marathon Bomber was housed there. Deprivation of social contact and the isolation of inmates has some unintended positive and negative effects. Inmates are safer being in isolation, and prisons create more jobs for their local communities. Supermax prisons however are extremely expensive to run and can cost about three times the national average for a maximum security facility.[14] However, many states now have created supermax prisons, either as stand-alone facilities or as secure units within lower-security prisons.[15] State supermax prisons include Pelican Bay in California and Tamms in Illinois. The USP in Marion, Illinois was recently downgraded to a medium-security facility. Some facilities such as California State Prison, Corcoran (COR) are hybrids incorporating a supermax partition, housing or having housed high security prisoners such as Charles Manson. In September 2001, the Australian state of New South Wales opened a facility in the Goulburn Correctional Centre to the supermax standard. While its condition is an improvement over that of Katingal of the 1970s, this new facility is nonetheless designed on the same principle of sensory deprivation.[16][17] It has been set up for 'AA' prisoners who are deemed a risk to public safety and the instruments of government and civil order, or believed to be beyond rehabilitation. Corrections Victoria in the state of Victoria also operates the Acacia and Maleuca units at Barwon Prison which serve to hold the prisoners requiring the highest security in that state including Melbourne Gangland figures such as Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams, who was murdered in the Acacia unit in 2010. Controversy [ edit ] Supermax and Security Housing Unit (SHU) prisons are controversial. One criticism is that the living conditions in such facilities violate the United States Constitution, specifically, the Eighth Amendment's proscription against "cruel and unusual" punishments.[18] In 1996, a United Nations team assigned to investigate torture described SHU conditions as "inhuman and degrading".[19] A 2011 New York Bar association comprehensive study suggested that supermax prisons constitute "torture under international law" and "cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution".[20] In 2012, a federal class action suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and officials who run ADX Florence SHU (Bacote v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Civil Action 1:12-cv-01570) alleged chronic abuse, failure to properly diagnose prisoners, and neglect of prisoners who are seriously mentally ill. The suit was dismissed.[21] Prisons with supermax facilities [ edit ] North America [ edit ] United States [ edit ] Most of these facilities only contain supermax wings or sections, with other parts of the facility under lesser security measures. Canada [ edit ] Special Handling Unit (Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec) – Houses Canada's most dangerous and violent inmates Mexico [ edit ] South America [ edit ] Brazil [ edit ] In Brazil, the "regime disciplinar diferenciado" (differentiated disciplinary regime), known by the acronym RDD, and strongly based on the Supermax standard, was created primarily to handle inmates who are considered capable of continuing to run their crime syndicate or to order criminal actions from within the prison system, when confined in normal maximum security prisons that allow contact with other inmates. Since its inception, the following prisons were prepared for the housing of RDD inmates: Colombia [ edit ] Penitenciaría de Cómbita (Colombia) – follows supermax specifications, hosts terrorists and drug lords. Establecimiento Penitenciario de Alta y Mediana Seguridad de Girón EPAMSGIRON. Europe [ edit ] United Kingdom [ edit ] Africa [ edit ] Asia [ edit ] Australia [ edit ] Popular media [ edit ] Maximum Insecurity, an Amazon bestseller, gives an inside look at the medical system at the Colorado State Penitentiary.[30] In the Season 2 Finale of Arrow, Oliver places Slade Wilson in an unnamed supermax facility designed by A.R.G.U.S., simply referred to as The Supermax in marketing materials. The movie Escape Plan starring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Caviezel is based on an ocean-based "supermax facility".[31] In the Season 6 Finale of Arrow, Samandra Watson places Oliver in the unnamed maximun security state penitentiary that is referred to as Slabside, which is an unofficial nickname for the prison used by both law enforcement and inmates within the show. See also [ edit ] |
Hello everyone. The holidays come but once a year. All the more reason for us at CloudMom to try and put together an extra special giveaway for our beloved followers. Since we’ve been blessed with the chance to work with such fabulous brands, this year’s giveaway basket — composed of a unique collection of Christmas gifts for mom — wasn’t even that hard to pull together. Read on for the details and to enter to win. First up on any mom’s Christmas wish list has got to be jewelry, so how about something delicate and pretty to adorn her neck? I love Helen Ficalora‘s elegant and fun designs. This snowflake necklace will make an adorable compliment to any winter outfit, don’t you think? Moms need a break and there’s no better way to get one than through yoga. During the past year, Onzie yoga wear for women has proved a loyal partner to CloudMom while we launched our yoga wear series. We’re so grateful for the lovely outfits they’ve offered to our audience. Onzie’s $100 gift certificate will leave you all set when it comes to what to wear to yoga. Plus their funky looks will take you from gym fashion right into your afternoon and evening when you can pair your fun Onzie leggings with a cute jacket or sweater. But a mama’s heart is always with her loved ones, and to prove that point Tara Wilson Designs in pitching in some of her unique picture frames, a photo tray for your holiday serving, and a photo box for your cherished pictures. These elegant home accessories will bring your home a splash of personality and style. And what does Mama need to do her job well when it comes to the little ones? Some inspiration. And that’s just what she’ll find when she reads the book Gold by Abigail Ayres to her kids. A children’s book with an important lesson, Gold encourages children to treat others like gold and to live by The Golden Rule. Here’s Annaliese dipping into our own box of special treats. Your copy of Gold will come nestled in a gold gift basket for children with special trinkets and treats valued at $50. So there you have it. A prize package worthy of a queen. I can’t wait to see who the lucky winner is! Yippee! From my family to yours, happy happy happy everything! Love, Melissa Big 2015 Holiday Giveaway for Moms! Prize(s): $550 prize package that includes: 1. Helen Ficalora Snowflake Mini Charm – ARV $165. 2. $100 gift card to Onzie yogawear. 3. Tara Wilson Designs: 2 Red Horse Stripe Photo Frame ($90 for 2), 1 Retro ’70S Photo Cube ($45), and 1 Small Photo Tray – White Mat ($98.00). Grand total = $233. 4. A GOLD holiday gift basket for children. Gold is a witty children’s book all about the color gold, whose main lesson is treating others like gold and living The Golden Rule. The book’s special author has put together a basket of goodies for your children to enjoy. Valued at $50. Rules: Enter using the Gleam.io widget below. Open to U.S readers. You must be 18 or older to enter. You have multiple ways you can enter to increase your chances of winning. ways you can enter to increase your chances of winning. The giveaway ends on Monday, December 28, 2015 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time). Winner will be announced on the widget below within 48 hours after the giveaway has ended. BIG 2015 Holiday Giveaway for Moms |
Freedom is like religion to us Justice is juxtapositionin’ us Justice for all just ain’t specific enough One son died, his spirit is revisitin’ us Truant livin’ livin’ in us, resistance is us That’s why Rosa sat on the bus… -Common, “Glory” It’s difficult to imagine America without prisons and jails. Few things are as American as tossing people into institutions for a hefty profit. Harder still is to imagine not having blacks to fill those prisons. New York State receives $60,000 dollars per inmate per year to house prisoners. Annual average cost to the taxpayer across America is $31,286 dollars. The closest figures that are available cite a 3 time higher rate of excessive force used during arrest (tasers, dogs, pepper spray, and physical force). I say the closest figures because a lot of police departments don’t release this information. Also held back are many numbers for false reports filed. Or numbers of quotas that have to be met. Last year, these brave black cops with the NYPD actually came forward to mention incidents when they had to do just that, and sued the police department. They spoke about being forced to give out tickets to black and Latino kids just for jumping turnstiles, rather than focus on other, more pressing issues. Now, the NYPD has denied that it has a quota-based system. Which, is ludicrous to say. Something rarely mentioned is the numbers of tickets police were writing, fining blacks, and pocketing millions, in Ferguson, MO. Due to such high rates of felony incarceration, 1 out of every 13 blacks can expect to lose the right to vote, while whites is 1 out of 56. Share this image on your Site! <!—– Copy and Paste This Code Into Your Post —-></p><br /><br /> <h3>Black Incarceration rates</h3><br /><br /> <p><a href=”https://blackexcellence.com/black-incarceration-rates/ ”><img src=”https://blackexcellence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Black-Incarceration-Rates-.jpg” alt=”black, Incarceration, incarceration rates, injustice, infographic” width=”675px” /></a><br></p><br /><br /> <p><a href=”https://blackexcellence.com”>Infographic By BlackExcellence.com</a></p><br /><br /> <p> And then there’s the 13% figure that many people love to point out. It says that half of all crime in America is committed by blacks. You’d think I’d be pissed, but I actually love when people use this 13% statistic, as if all blacks are committing all of that 50% crime stat. The truth is, there are no details on what percentage of that 13 is committing these crimes. Possibly because it’s just easier to say we’re all savages who rape, steal, kill, and destroy. Now, is this data complete? Because I don’t see any figures on how many of these crimes are bogus, merely written out by cops attempting to fulfill a quota or by other biased laws. Do these specific figures talk about how many blacks are committing smaller, petty crimes that are being judged more harshly than they would for another race? Because there is data out there about the overhanded nature of petty crimes related to race—but I’m just wondering if this is incorporated into that 50%. Here are some statistics about how blacks fair in the criminal justice system: According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, even though 12.5 percent are blacks. African Americans are 7 times more likely to be wrongly convicted of murder; 3.5 times more likely to be wrongly convicted of sexual assault; and a whopping 12 times more likely to be wrongly convicted of drug crimes. All People of Color who account for just 30 percent of the United States’ population, account for 60 percent of those imprisoned. 65.4% of black men have been sentenced to life without parole for non-violent offences, compared with 17.8% of white men. Black kids are tagged and sent away at 4 times the rate of whites. 1-in-3 blacks can expect to see the inside of a cell as opposed to 1 in 17 whites. Blacks have an incarceration rate that’s 5 times greater than whites, or for every 1,000,000 residents of prisons, 2, 306, verses 450 inmates. Blacks get a 20% longer sentence. Or for every 10 years spent, Caucasians will only spend 8 years. Black women can expect to enter prisons at a rate 3 times that of their white counterparts Despite the 13% figure, blacks represent 47% of the overturned convictions. Murder cases where blacks were wrongly convicted were 22% more likely to happen than with whites. Among drug convictions, innocent blacks are 12 times more likely to be convicted than innocent whites. RELATED: Jay Z’s Heartfelt Op-ed about Meek Mill & the Criminal Justice System Now, I know what you’re gonna say, “Alex, what about the negative figures? What about the hoodlums? How about we speak on how the black community is tearing America apart through gun violence?” There’s always someone who loves to downplay the overzealous trigger fingers of mass shooters by pointing out how often people in the Hood are killing people in the Hood. Well, the FBI has stats, which you can check out here. The truth is, yes, the African American community has been in disarray for years. Interfighting, gangs, etc. I grew up around violence myself. Indeed, the plight of poverty and racism can’t explain away what we as a community have done to each other. It really is a trend that I hope will stop. However, healing does not come without medicine and rehabilitation. It damn sure doesn’t come from tossing more brothers in the clink. I say this not as an excuse for what my people have done and are doing to themselves. Too many people dismiss the black community’s decrying injustice because of the rate of violence inside the community. I think the problem people have when approaching the plight of the African American is that they don’t know how math works. You know that 1+1 = 2. This is known…like, universally. But why is that true? Because we’ve accepted it to be so for generations upon generations, since man discovered numbers? Well, no, not exactly. You can actually back it up with evidence. Use your fingers. Use two loaves of bread and divide each. You’ll find one to your right and one to your left. So, to just say that violence exists within the black community and then condemn it without looking into why it exists, without taking an honest look at the pieces of the equation that make up the whole, is just as misguided as looking at 1+1 and denying it’s 2. Even before we look at the numbers of incarcerated, and let’s forget about slavery (because I keep hearing people telling me to do that…not in person, of course, just online). Let’s put all of that stuff in the backseat. When a flawed criminal justice system unfairly targets a specific group, lock away the brothers and fathers a sons in a community, the consequences manifest themselves in various aspects of that community. Economical disadvantage is a huge one. And as we know, poverty breeds crime. And then there are other systematic racism that hold the advancement of these communities, like voter ID laws. Voter ID laws that complicate issues just so, or not so, subtly to make it uncomfortable enough that, in some cases, you can’t vote. In several appalling, though not unique cases, North Carolina legislators requested information on minority communities for voting purposes, then restricted all of those practices used primarily by blacks: early voting, same-day registration, and out-of-precinct voting. What’s worse, the legislation justified the taking away specific days of voting by saying, “counties with Sunday voting were disproportionately black and disproportionately Democratic.” It becomes cringingly clear that it’s almost futile to attempt to change laws when you aren’t even given the opportunity to do so, especially when that change can affect the people who keep getting locked up for laws intended to keep certain races locked up. Generations of lynching, being forced to co-exist in areas deemed not habitable by whites (AKA The Projects) just to have that same housing taken away several years later because, well, property values have never been lower (AKA Gentrification). This form of property disenfranchisement has always hit the lowest-earning people in the pockets. The widespread visual effect of gentrification, however, has never been more apparent than the nose on your face. In fact, according to Business Insider, nearly 40% of black households with incomes between $15,000-$30,000 pay more than half their income in rent. For households earning less than $15,000, that figure rises to more than 70%. There’s also the instances of blacks not being able to move out of their Hoods because of redlining, based on housing discrimination. And no better place was there such a grand example of housing discrimination than in my hometown: Chicago. So infamous is the city for how blatantly racist its housing policies are that Ta-Nehisi Coates once wrote: “Throughout the 20th century—and perhaps even in the 21st—there was no more practiced advocate of housing segregation than the city of Chicago…housing affects your chances of being robbed and shot as well as your chances of being stopped and frisked.” So, where is the justice exactly? That’s what I keep asking myself. Each time someone brings up what’s going on in the news, maybe it’s rioting and setting the streets ablaze, in a lawless Chicago, or maybe it’s just a black kid getting shot because he “appeared” to have a gun. Rarely do people who question why the ghetto can be so rough also ask “am I trying not to understand?” I think it’s much more convenient to block out the possibilities for why something is the way that it is if it will confront your own bias, or bigotry. And that sucks. A lot. The perception that I’m violent or that all people who look like me are capable of unspeakable acts in America is the main reason why it will always come back to race. No matter how often you ask us “why does it always have to be about race?” we will continue to say “because you just asked me that question,” despite how you “don’t see color.” Why is it cool to mention race when it comes to talking about the NFL versus the president, but not cool to talk about race when mentioning white mass shooters, or when talking about numbers of blacks put in prison, but not to mention they got there under false pretense or illegally? You answer those questions, then maybe we can work on it not being about race. But until then, stop pretending to be colorblind. |
FuboTV, a startup that operates an Internet soccer subscription-video service, announced that it has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by 21st Century Fox and U.K. satellite TV operator Sky. Sky and 21st Century Fox each invested $6 million in the Series B round, which also includes investments from DCM Ventures, Luminari Capital, LionTree Partners, Edgar Bronfman Jr., managing partner at Accretive and former CEO of Warner Music Group, ICM Partners’ Chris Silbermann and former NBA commissioner David Stern. New York-based FuboTV provides subscribers with a $10-per-month over-the-top bundle of sports TV channels, featuring hundreds of live soccer matches, club videos, series, documentaries and other content in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Officially launched in January 2015, FuboTV has signed up more than 40,000 U.S. subscribers to date with a concentration among millennial males who are not traditional pay-TV customers. FuboTV said it will use the new funding to expand its lineup of TV networks and build new features to enhance the viewing experience. With the funding, both Sky and 21st Century Fox will take board seats at FuboTV. Neither 21st Century Fox nor Sky is currently licensing content to FuboTV, but both companies intend to work closely with FuboTV as it continues to grow. Related Disney-Fox Merger Nears Completion as Brazil Grants Approval With Conditions New Fox Appoints Wayne Borg to Los Angeles Studio Role “We are very impressed by the FuboTV management team and the great progress they have made in a very short time,” said Ravi Ahuja, executive VP of business operations and development for Fox Networks Group. “Ultimately, we believe streaming services like FuboTV will drive further innovation and be a win-win for consumers and programmers.” Added Emma Lloyd, Sky’s director of corporate development and strategic investments: “We’re really excited to be investing in FuboTV. This investment will provide Sky with real insight and we look forward to working with the FuboTV team as they continue to explore new opportunities for growth.” The FuboTV service has distribution deals with TV programmers that hold U.S. rights to major worldwide sporting events, including soccer matches from more than half of the leading international soccer leagues and tournaments. Those include Univision Networks, BeIn Sports, GolTV and Benfica TV, as well as the recently announced addition of entertainment networks targeting millennials such as El Rey Network, Pivot and Revolt. Prior to FuboTV, the company founders — CEO David Gandler, CTO Sung Ho Choi and CMO Alberto Horihuela — were executives at OTT video company DramaFever, which has been acquired by Warner Bros. “The support from two of the most prominent media companies in the world strongly positions FuboTV to meet the demands of the quickly evolving sports rights ecosystem,” Gandler said in a statement. “Investment from 21st Century Fox, Sky and the prominent individuals and organizations part of this Series B round demonstrates our potential to become leaders among linear OTT services.” FuboTV closed a $4 million Series A round in August 2015, led by DCM Ventures with participation from I2BF Digital, LionTree Partners, Luminari Capital and Univision Communications, as well as seed investments from Anthony Vinciquerra, former CEO of Fox Networks Group, and Blake Krikorian, co-founder of Sling Media. The FuboTV service is available on the web, Apple TV, Roku, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple iPad and iPhone, Android phones and tablets, and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. |
One of the firms participating in the London Array project, under which the world's biggest offshore wind farm would be built in the outer Thames Estuary, has questioned the scheme's economic viability. The Financial Times reported at the weekend that Paul Golby, chief executive of E.ON UK - which owns 30 per cent of the Array venture - says that "the economics [of the Array] are looking pretty difficult". Offshore windfarms like the Array are much more expensive to build and maintain than onshore ones, costing roughly twice as much. The FT quotes energy major Centrica as estimating the cost of offshore capacity at £3m per megawatt, more than double what it costs to build nuclear stations. The cost of the electricity produced is even worse than this figure indicates; wind farms' average output over time is around 30 per cent of their capacity, whereas nuclear stations typically run at 90 per cent. Thus, it costs more than six times as much to build a given level of power production using windfarms as it does using nuclear. The FT quotes Sam Laidlaw, Centrica chief: “We are planning to invest in 1,500MW of offshore wind capacity, but it is very expensive, both in capital cost and in maintenance.” To be sure, nuclear plants need fuel and windfarms don't - but fuel costs are a very small proportion of what it costs to make nuclear energy. Most of the price goes on building, running and ultimately decommissioning the plant, and on storing wastes. And there are those who would argue that windfarm cost figures still don't take enough account of the need for backup gas-turbine power for calms or gales, and the consequent emissions and stress on the gas grid. Either way, Golby, Laidlaw and their industry colleagues seem to feel that bigger subsidies will be required if they are to build the kind of wind base the government says it wants to see. They say that recent falls in gas and carbon prices have worsened the already-gloomy economic picture for offshore wind significantly. The London Array seemed to be under threat last year when Shell, with a 20 per cent stake, pulled out of the project saying it was uneconomic. However, Shell's place was taken by the emir of Abu Dhabi. E.ON has 30 per cent, and the other half is owned by DONG Energy of Denmark. When complete, the Array is expected to yield sufficient energy to run 135,000 average UK homes*. The FT says that the Crown Estates, owner of the seabed on which the wind turbines will be erected, is meeting with further potential investors this week. The government, strongly in favour of the scheme, is hoping that the negotiations may yield further funding for the Array. ® *This includes heating, hot water and other energy consumption which in most British homes today is done using gas or heating oil. The Array prefers to say that it would generate "enough power for three-quarters of a million homes", but this considers present-day electricity use only, not the total energy consumed. |
WASHINGTON — Should Space Exploration Technologies Corp. earn certification to launch U.S. national security payloads aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, the company will be eligible to bid on seven such missions from 2015-2017, half as many as originally expected, a top U.S. Air Force space acquisition officer said March 5. The reduction in the number of competitively awarded Air Force launches is driven in part by a slowdown in procurement of GPS 3 navigation satellites beginning in the 2015 budget year, primarily because earlier-generation GPS satellites are lasting longer in orbit than expected, said Maj. Gen. Robert McMurry, director of Space Programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. Another factor is a delay in the delivery of the first GPS 3 spacecraft to 2016, he said. Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is the front-runner to become the first new competitive entrant in the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, which is used to launch virtually all operational U.S. national security satellites. Nearly all of those missions are currently launched aboard EELV prime contractor United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. In 2012, the Air Force announced it was negotiating the purchase, on a sole-source basis, of up to 36 Atlas and Delta rocket cores over five years from ULA. At the same time, however, the service said it planned to competitively award an additional 14 missions to give companies like SpaceX a chance to win Pentagon business. Many of the launches targeted for competition are of the next-generation GPS 3 satellites, which operate in medium Earth orbit of roughly 20,000 kilometers in altitude. But the planned slowdown in procurement of GPS 3 satellites, first disclosed March 4 as part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2015 budget request to Congress, would push the award five of the associated launch contracts beyond 2017, McMurry said at a budget briefing for reporters. He did not identify which seven missions would be awarded competitively before then. Two other satellites, one which was only identified as an Air Force Space Command mission and one as a missile warning satellite, previously were slated to launch on competitively procured rockets, McMurry said. SpaceX Chief Execitive Elon Musk, in an interview with SpaceNews, expressed concern about the launch procurement delays, and said the pain from the tightening defense budget “should be proportionally divided” between United Launch Alliance and the new entrants. Follow Mike on Twitter: @Gruss_SN |
(CNN) You might remember actress Amandla Stenberg from her ill-fated role in the first "Hunger Games" film as Jennifer Lawrence's endearing sidekick, Rue. The 17-year is stepping out of the franchise's shadow and using her star power to inspire other black women to embrace their identity. Stenberg came out as bisexual in a Thursday Snapchat video for Teen Vogue. Stenberg is the subject of the magazine's February cover story, written by entertainer Solange Knowles about her budding career in social justice activism. A version on Teen Vogue's website is titled " How Our February Cover Star Amandla Stenberg Learned to Love Her Blackness ." Teen Vogue's February cover features Amandla Stenberg. Photos: Know your identity terms Photos: Know your identity terms New terms are entering the cultural lexicon as people endeavor to codify their sexual orientation or gender. These definitions, which have been edited, are primarily from the LGBTQ advocacy group The Trevor Project. The gender fluid definition is from Dictionary.com. Visit The Trevor Project for more details Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Know your identity terms Hide Caption 10 of 10 "It's a really, really hard thing to be silenced, and it's deeply bruising to fight against your identity and to mold yourself into shapes that you just shouldn't be in. As someone who identifies as a black bisexual woman, I've been through it and it hurts and it's awkward and it's uncomfortable," Stenberg said , gazing into the camera "Then I realized because of Solange and (director) Ava DuVernay and Willow (Smith) and all the black girls watching this right now, that there's absolutely nothing to change. We cannot be suppressed. We are meant to express our joy and our love and our tears and be big and bold and definitely not easy to swallow." Read More |
More fuel for El Nino’s fire and a record hot 2015 on the way… Last week, a set of climate models predicted the emergence of a large and moderately strong westerly wind burst running against the trades associated with an eastward propagating cloudy and rainy phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). And, over the past few days a moderate strength, but very wide-ranging, westerly wind pattern appeared. (A strengthening westerly wind burst over the Western Equatorial Pacific could produce a third warm Kelvin Wave and further heighten an El Nino that already has a potential to be very intense come Fall. Image source: Earth Nullschool.) Today, 20 to 35 mile per hour westerly winds are prevalent along a 2,500 mile stretch of ocean running from just east of the Philippines, across an equatorial zone just north of New Guinea, and on eastward for hundreds more miles in the direction of the Date Line. The winds are associated with numerous low pressure systems developing both north and south of the Equator — their cyclonic wind patterns joining in a daisy chain like feature to drive a large synoptic westerly wind back-burst (WWB). Over the next few days, winds within the zone are predicted to strengthen to near gale force intensity. But it’s the size of the zone that may have the greatest impact. Strong, long-fetch westerlies in this region of the world have a tendency to push warm surface waters, now topping off at 31 degrees Celsius (and 1-2 C above the already hotter than normal 1979 to 2000 average), downward and eastward. This heat pump action generates what, in meteorological parlance, are known as warm Kelvin Waves. And warm Kelvin Waves are high energy fuel for strengthening El Ninos. (Warm water propagation through the upper 300 meters of the central and eastern Equatorial Pacific serves as oceanic fuel for El Nino events. In the above graph by NOAA, not one but two warm Kelvin Waves are indicated — one peaking during April and May, and a second ongoing now. Will a significant westerly wind burst, now lighting off in the Western Pacific, generate a third warm Kelvin Wave by August? Image source: NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.) During mid-March, the Strongest Madden Julian Oscillation on record drove an extreme westerly wind burst (WWB) and produced a very strong Kelvin Wave. This Kelvin Wave ensured the progression to El Nino during 2015, an El Nino event that would have probably reached moderate strength by summer on the force of this single Kelvin Wave’s heating alone. An El Nino ensuring, when combined with the greenhouse gas heat forcing produced by humans, that 2015 would march into the record books as yet one more hottest year in the global climate record. By early May, a second, albeit somewhat weaker, WWB generated another warm Kelvin Wave, heightening the potential for strong El Nino yet again. This time El Nino model forecasts picked up the doubled Kelvin Wave signal and began to produce some rather extreme predictions for El Nino come Fall. Late spring is an uncertain time for El Nino models due to an ocean tendency to cool down by September. So the impact of strong Kelvin Waves during spring can be somewhat muted. However, as June arrived, the model consensus for a strong El Nino emerging by Fall had solidified, if not along a range quite so extreme as some of the May numbers indicated. Meanwhile, in the Central Pacific, anomalous warm sea surface temperatures were continuing to build. By mid-May, Central Pacific sea surface temperatures exceeded the moderate El Nino threshold of 1 C above average. By Monday, June 22, NOAA’s weekly El Nino statement had indicated that the Central Pacific region had warmed to a 1.4 degree Celsius positive anomaly. A level just 0.1 C short of strong El Nino intensity. Adding a third significant Westerly Wind Burst on top of an already warming Equatorial Pacific throws yet one more variable into the dynamic El Nino forecast. A variable that could heighten the already strong potential for a major El Nino event late this Summer through to Fall. And one that could further heighten extreme global record hot temperatures during 2015. For the late June WWB is likely to produce an extraordinary third Warm Kelvin Wave, giving the currently strengthening El Nino yet one more shove toward increasingly extreme conditions. Links: NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (Please support public, non-special interest based, science like the quality research and data provided to us daily by NOAA.) NOAA’s weekly El Nino statement Strongest Madden Julian Oscillation On Record Madden-Julian Oscillation Earth Nullschool Advertisements |
Former world champion Marianne Vos is still suffering from injury and has delayed her return to competition Marianne Vos has scrapped her targets for this season and will concentrate on recovery for the rest of the year. The three time road World Champion has been struggling with injury since the start of the year and this week announced she would prioritise her recovery. The Dutch woman’s woes first manifested themselves in at the Hoogerheide round of the cyclo-cross World Cup, where she finished in a lowly 12th place. Though she recovered sufficiently to take bronze at the World Championships two weeks later, she has barely competed since. Then, her performance was hindered by a hamstring injury, which she nurtured through the Spring, returning to road racing at the Ronde van Gelderland on April 14. She finished sixth there, but just days later crashed whilst previewing the course at the Haiming mountain bike race in Austria. Despite one further road race in mid-May, it seems the cumulative affect of the injuries have taken their toll on the 28 year old. >>> Marianne Vos breaks rib in mountain bike crash The announcement on her Rabo-Liv team website stated, “Marianne does not yet feel fit enough to prepare thoroughly… In consultation with the management she decided the let go of the goals for this year and complete her recovery first.” The 28 year old later tweeted, “Not an easy decision to skip the upcoming races, but I need more training time to be race ready again. Her return to competition is yet to be specified.” Vos had intended to step back from the road slightly this season, instead racing mountain bike events to qualify for the Olympics in the discipline. Though she was not scheduled the defend her Aviva Women’s Tour title this month, she was selected to represent the Netherlands in the road race at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Dutch team will now ride without her. In a separate development, Vos’s team mate and current road and cyclo-cross World Champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot abandoned the MTB World Cup race at Albstadt in Germany last weekend. The French woman has been suffering with sciatica from a back injury and has been told to rest for 10 days. Cycling Weekly understands that Ferrand-Prevot was intending to ride the Aviva Women’s Tour, but that appearance must now be in jeopardy with the race starting in less than two weeks. Her participation at the Giro d’Italia Femminile next month, where she finished second behind Vos last year, is likely to go ahead. |
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