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An edited extract from The new New by Ulrich Dietz.
Ulrich Dietz: I must confess that as an engineer I don't really know what motivates a famous choreographer like you. Contemporary dance is not especially close to me.
Wayne McGregor: Why not? You have a body. That makes you perfectly qualified.
UD: Well, fine. I consider you innovative because you radically transcend the boundaries of your discipline – for example, by co-operating with neuroscientists. Why?
WM: Because I want to discover and understand how the mind and the body interact as an interconnected whole. My company Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and I have been experimenting intensely for nearly ten years with cognitive scientists who study this interaction. In classical ballet and modern dance, technique is still focused on physical training to the point of perfection. People concern themselves with virtuosity and controlling the body; the mind is essentially ignored. I completely reject this separation of mind and body. Fortunately, science is increasingly demonstrating how absurd this split is and addressing a notion of embodied cognition far more seriously. We are finding out more and more about how our imagination integrates emotion, sensation, memory, movement and language.<|fim_middle|> studio. But it is just as important to understand how to generate opportunities to make mistakes. Creativity often comes at the point where you make a mistake. Then you make another, and another, and another… and at some point you suddenly make something original. At school we are usually taught to do the right thing, give the correct response, not the original thing; our creative impulses can be destroyed. That can include the ability to think independently, or to deal with a task differently today from how you did it yesterday. Creative minds understand their habitual patterns and seek to disrupt them, or at least continually invent new ones.
UD: What is your vision?
WM: My vision is to be open to new possibilities and ever curious. The fields of research outside the art world bear rich pickings for experimentation and knowledge transfer and to be creative is a resource we all can share.
Ulrich Dietz is founder and CEO of GFT Technologies AG.
~ by DanceHouse on September 23, 2014. | We understand that there are techniques not only for training the body but also for enhancing creativity and stimulating a richer imagination.
WM: Artists often claim they work instinctively. This is only partially true. This so-called creative instinct is always integrated with our cognitive faculties.
WM: Dance is essentially a collaborative art form; usually it requires other individuals to participate in the generation of the work. A choreographic process is an ideal example of distributed cognition. In a project at the University of California, San Diego, we investigated how ideas are disseminated (distributed) within a team. This led to some very interesting insights about how the creative process evolves, which in turn shaped our next creative process. We looked at some seminal questions: during a making process, which parts of an idea are retained by the group (or individual) and which parts are dropped? What mental models do we each develop when we improvise together? What forms of communication do we use to share, transform and vary the ideas and how is gesture, verbal language and sound utilised to embody the concepts? With a greater understanding of these issues we were able to recharge the choreographic process with a new framework and new points of departure. This is incredibly inspiring. Practically this means (as a concrete example) that the dancers and I now share a richer understanding of the distinctions made when we image-build, whether they be visual images, aural images or kinaesthetic images and how we work with them to generate dance. These distinctions can be practiced, explored and developed so you can generate more and more complicated relationships between the categories of image. This becomes a very dynamic creative resource or new technique.
WM: Definitely. When I work with young dancers, the first thing I do is encourage them to trust their bodies. They should experience how wonderful it is to dance. How it feels to jump, to stretch out, to turn, to walk, to run. They can learn flawless pliés later. First you have to awaken the passion for dance; everything else will follow. Then you can seed these new creative techniques so they start to generate and choreograph their own dances – they find their own expressive voice rather than imitating one and re-discover themselves quite literally through dance.
UD: Can people of any age manage this passion?
WM: Of course, it doesn't depend on age. More and more adults are attending dance classes in their free time; there are dance shows on television with public casting sessions and thousands of people register in the hope of being selected. But for me, the creative aspects of dance making are the key to self-discovery; it's the integration of the visceral thrill of moving with the flight of the imagination. I believe the need to feel the body (and by body here I mean a fully embodied body) is increasing as our world becomes more virtual.
UD: Do audiences understand your radical choreography?
WM: Hmm, not an easy question. Certainly many of our audiences respond well to the work and its challenges for them in creating meaning. I think for them, meaning emerges from their active participation in the viewing. They are not looking to be simply entertained but they are looking to navigate the work themselves and engage with the questions it presents. For me, dance has not only an emotional dimension but also an intellectual one.
Part of the attraction to the work and by definition, the repulsion for some is the actual physical vocabulary the dancers execute, with its often abrupt, distorted, torsioned movement that seems alien to the body. But dysfunctional, damaged, traumatised bodies have always interested me a lot, precisely because they are not stereotyped. Learning to understand the beauty of this 'other' body language is something I consider very important to appreciating the work. For this you have to be open to a body misbehaving, a body not obeying the conventional rules of dancing and for some, this is too far an aesthetic stretch.
UD: What are creative competences?
WM: There are many creative competences including: encouraging active problem solving, developing an independence of thought and functioning, learning new ways of extracting information from things, using the body as an object to think with, exploring alternative decision making etc. These are competences we are actively training through our use of creative imagery tools and techniques in the | 869 |
Thomas Frank: Corporate Democrats Idolize FDR, but Hate His Policies and the Populists That Supported Him
Posted on July 29, 2020 by Yves Smith
Yves here. We're behind on continuing with Paul Jay's important discussion with Thomas Frank about his new book, The People, No, and the awfully open hatred in the press and contemporary politics for the views of ordinary people. Here Frank focuses on the misuse of FDR's legacy.
Readers like Frank's cheery tone and pleasant voice, so if you have time to listen, as opposed to read the transcript, it's worth the extra time.
By Paul Jay. Originally published at TheAnalysis.news
Hi, I'm Paul Jay, welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast.
This is part two of my discussion with Thomas Frank about his book, 'The People, No', I've got to get the inflection right on that to get the proper ridicule dripping off the lips of-
-So can I give it a shot, Paul? My daughter and I were actually working when I did the audiobook of this. We're working on how to say the title. And here's what I finally came up with, 'The People, No'.
And anyway, once again, joining me is Thomas Frank, who has just told us how to say the title of the book. And I assume everybody knows, but just in case, Thomas Frank is the author of many books, most notably, 'What's the Matter with Kansas?', and he's in Kansas as we speak, and 'Listen, Liberal', and his most recent book, he just told us how to say, 'The People, No', and I refuse to whine, even if it captures the full meaning of the title.
All right. So we left off part one, as we head into the 1920s, the populist movement has more or less fizzled out. It's kind of split, some of the movement has kind of assimilated into democratic parties, some have gone into various socialist parties. And the 1920s is a period where everyone's optimistic, capitalism seems to be just hunky-dory, lots of people are buying into the stock market and borrowing, and there's the promise of wealth for everybody.
And then along comes The Great Crash in 1929, and we won't get into exactly why all that happened, but not the least of which is the amount of speculation and leveraging, borrowing money to buy stocks and other issues, and then we headed into the Great Depression. So this now starts the beginning of— may not have been called the next version of the populist movement, but in substance, it's very similar.
So talk about the development of the movement in the thirties and how influenced is, what was the populist movement coming out of areas like Kansas with the kind of socialist and communist movement that's developing in some of the cities influenced by Marx, (Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict as well as a dialectical perspective to view social transformation), and socialist movements all over the world? I guess there are separate strains, but they're certainly very related to it.
Yeah. So to take a step back, a lot of populists, when the People's Party fell apart after the 1896 election, a lot of them went into the Socialist Party. And in fact, Kansas had a big socialist contingent and so did Oklahoma, Oklahoma had the most socialist per capita of any state, which is hard to believe because Trump won every single county there.
But West Virginia used to be something like that.
Exactly, the same story there. But, in the 1930s, the word populist was not used to describe the left-wing movements of the day, but it's appropriate because, in my mind, they come out of the same tradition, the populist tradition, Franklin Roosevelt's talks, like the populists used to, had a lot of ideas like they used to, and even more sort of important is the labor movement. So the populists had reached out to organized labor in the 1890s. Some unions signed up with them, but, by and large, their leadership did not because they didn't believe in working, they didn't believe in having a political party. And, you know, they thought they should work through the two main parties or something like that.
And by the 1930s, labor is very different. It's really radical, it's exploding in size, let's put it that way. People are signing up for unions all over America and organized labor becomes the great force of the decade, the great social movement. So every bit as big and as powerful and as strong as the farmers, as the radical farmer movement had been in the 1890s, and there were also radical farmers in the 30s. There were a bunch of them, and in Minnesota, you had this thing called the Farmer-Labor Party. They still exist today, now, they've been folded into the Democratic Party, but this was their heyday. They elected a very radical governor of Minnesota. There were similar politicians, in all sorts of different parts of America, but basically this sort of populist dream of bringing together all these different working-class people, it succeeds in the 1930s and you have a very radical decade.
The culture of the decade is extremely populist. I'm thinking of the WPA mural, the Hollywood movies even, you know, made by people like Frank Capra, all of them were, and we mentioned Carl Sandburg in the last episode, sort of the great theme of the art of the 1930s was the nobility of the common man, the people. It went along with the left-wing politics of the period.
And so you finally did have a regulatory state and you finally had workers that were able to organize and the government started the income tax that began in earnest, and there is deficit spending and the government set up relief programs, they hired people to do public works. It was an amazing time, a time of great ferment.
So as we mentioned at the very start of the show, Paul, the book is a history of different sort of populist chapters in American life, but more importantly, it's a history of anti-populism, of how people opposed the populist tradition, that's much more interesting to me.
And what you see in the 30s is, in 1932, when Roosevelt was first elected, people really didn't know what to expect. They didn't know what kind of president he would be, his platform looked pretty conventional. He did talk big about the New Deal, but nobody knew what he meant by that, by 1936, however, they did know and they knew what it consisted of, and it was, regulating banks, regulating big business, you know, all the things that I just mentioned.
And again, you had what I call a democracy scare when the members of the elite in America come together in this kind of iron-clad consensus against what they regard as the worst elements of society who are trying to take power and sort of inflicting taxation and regulation on their betters. And they talk this way very openly. And the groups I'm referring to in the 1930s, it's very similar to 1896. So it's newspaper publishers, of course, the Republican Party, of course, and then the sort of union of business interests that was called the American Liberty League. It's the first of the great right-wing front groups, and they raised an extraordinary amount of money, they had more than a political party, more than the Republican Party, and spent it to bring Roosevelt down.
And just like 1896, went on the warpath against him in this incredible way. And I, again, have a lot of fun in the book quoting and giving illustrations of what their war on Roosevelt looked like, it's very funny, but again there's a reason historians don't write about this stuff, it's revolting, there's a lot of scientific racism that's bound up in the war on Roosevelt, because, as I said, it's a democracy scare. So it's not just that they're angry at Roosevelt, they perceive that the deplorables are coming to get them. You know, it's the whole sort of bottom half of society is trying to get above its station, is trying to order its betters around.
There's a section of the U.S. elites that were very pro-Hitler, starting, of course, with Henry Ford who was a sort of well-known one. It was given the equivalent of the Iron Cross by Hitler.
Wait, isn't that Lindbergh?
No, no. Henry Ford. Ford used to send Hitler, I think it was $500,000 every year on his birthday (in today's dollars).
Oh, my God.
And Hitler actually credited Ford with inspiring his anti-Semitism and opening his eyes to the threat of the Jews
Oh yeah, Hitler was a big fan of Ford and vice versa.
I was surprised at how much fascism there was in the United States in the 30s. William Randolph Hearst ran newspaper columns by Göring, I didn't know that. I mean, there were all sorts of little local fascist groups that were set up to break strikes, that sort of thing.
General Motors was arming Hitler. When Hitler invaded Poland, he was doing it in vehicles made by GM.
What really got me, Paul, is reading through the sort of barrage of hate directed at Roosevelt, and it's like I say, it's almost exactly analogous to what they did to William Jennings Bryan in 1896, and I was reading through it. You know, the Internet is such a wonderful thing, Paul, you can do this research without going to the archives or to the library, right, but you don't have to spend every waking hour there anymore, you can do so much of it over the Internet. I was able to read all of these pamphlets issued by the American Liberty League, many of which were transcriptions of radio speeches and the red-baiting of Roosevelt is just incredible. And as I mentioned before, the eugenics, I was so surprised at how many times these antagonists of the New Deal, and these are prestigious men, these are leading economists, leading lawyers, leading captains of industry, came back to eugenics as a way of describing what they were trying to say, which is that the ruling class rules because they are better people.
So FDR does not try to have, quote-unquote, bipartisan politics because of this populous support, he fights his enemies, he does not try to compromise with these other sections of the elites, which is kind of in itself fascinating. And then he picks—
They do offer the olive branch to him very early on. The elites say you know, go back on the gold standard, stop encouraging workers to organize, this is what the National Association of Manufacturers, one of the big corporate front groups, said to him. And he and his associates basically laughed it off. They're like, 'no way, no way are we doing that', and so then the war was on, yes, and he did not compromise.
This is one of the most extraordinary things about Roosevelt, he fought them very forthrightly and was really upfront about it, gave prime time radio speeches about what he saw happening. 'We have taken the power away from this country's dynastic rulers and they want their power back', and he said this to the American people, and it rang true. I mean, they could see that that was the case in their own lives.
And he advocated something that, frankly, even Bernie Sanders didn't advocate, although I'm sure he supports, Roosevelt advocated public ownership, though. He talked about the electrical utilities.
And if they can't service the population with effective and reasonably priced electricity, then they should be taken over and turned into publicly owned utilities, and you can extend that principle.
Yes, he did say that, and that's the famous, what's the law called, PUHCA (Public Utility Holding Company Act ), I'm trying to remember what it stands for. It finally got repealed and or mostly got repealed of one of the big deregulatory measures a couple of decades ago.
You once said something to me in one of the interviews we did earlier, "that the liberal elites that run the Democratic Party, the aristocracy of the Democratic Party, it's not that they don't like the left of the party, Bernie Sanders and such, they hate it," you said, I'm quoting you.
They just despise them, yeah.
And I think it's really interesting that they idealize or idolize FDR, but they despise the actual policies he advocated and the people that supported him.
That is exactly right they like him because he was a winner, and look, he is the reason you have a Democratic Party today. It all goes back to Franklin Roosevelt. So they admire him because he was a master politician. I was reading one of the biographies of him, they said you could take a map of America and draw a line across it, and every county that the line went through, Roosevelt could tell you who it voted for, who is in charge in that county, what the issues were that the people there cared about, etc. So he was an excellent, preternaturally good politician. And, yeah, if it wasn't for him the Democratic Party would not really exist today. So they have to admire him. But, yeah, you're exactly right, they hate and despise the kind of people that supported him and that made up his administration, and that we're doing things in the 1930s that made this country a middle class.
You know, Paul all my conversations with you, we come back to the ironies of American history. The success of the New Deal gives you, in turn, the great middle class, suddenly blue-collar workers are paid, not suddenly but you give the New Deal a couple of decades to work, and by the 1960s, blue-collar workers are being paid. They're middle-class citizens and they have a house in the suburbs and they have two cars and etc., and a lot of them become Republicans. I'm sorry, that's too much, I bit off too much there. I want to go back to the 30s, I want to stick with Roosevelt.
So the campaign against him is shocking, but it involves the same kind of iron-clad consensus of elites that you saw in the 1890s. And I think the best illustration of this is, one I just found by chance. I was reading, of all things, Thomas Hart Benton's memoirs. Benton was from Kansas City. And I finally got around to reading his memoirs, I meant to read it for many years. He used to just drive around the state of Missouri, just meeting people, you know, taking pictures of them, you know, painting them, and that summer he describes, you know, driving around, meeting people, and he's in the home of a banker somewhere, a retired banker, a man of standing, and Benton apparently makes the grave faux pas of saying something nice about the New Deal, you know, and the banker just erupts and talks about how we're going to put your class back in their place and we have the machine guns and this kind of thing, this is a most extraordinary outburst. But that was the feeling on the ground, this hatred of Roosevelt, the newspapers of this country just absolutely despised the man.
And I take a whole lot of illustrations of this from the Chicago Tribune, which is legendary for their anti-Roosevelt invective. They would put every day on the front page or there would be a little notice at the bottom, this is in 1936, leading up to the election, it would say "You have X number of days in which to save your country", however many days it was counting down to the election and they did this every day, and you can look it all up, its all easy to find online now, you can go back and read your Chicago Tribune and they would run an editorial every day under the headline "Throw the Rascals Out", you know, denouncing Roosevelt as a communist, denouncing him as, "it's class war", these people are incompetent, these people are paranoid, these people are mentally ill, "they" meaning the new dealers. You know, this is the worst elements of society trying to lorded over their rightful masters, this is the world turned upside down, that's how they greeted the New Deal, and then, of course, he won in one of the greatest landslides of all time, Roosevelt totally prevailed.
So they were able to defeat William Jennings Bryan with this strategy, but Roosevelt beat them. He had the radio, he had his support among the people. His support was very strong, they could see he wasn't really a communist, he wasn't really crazy, he wasn't a dictator, he wasn't an authoritarian, they could see that and they could hear his voice on the radio. And he won in this overwhelming landslide. Where was I going with all this? The thing is that it was another democracy scare, so this was a pattern, Paul, that recurs throughout American history. In 1896, then again in 1936, and it always consists of the same thing, so the press comes together unanimity, you have this coming together of academics, there are all of these statements signed by a whole bunch of economists, something that you see, again, in our own time. But orthodoxy, orthodoxy is the key orthodoxy came together against Roosevelt and his experimentation. And this whole idea of the unfit members of society rising up against their betters.
So we head into World War Two, and I'm going to just jump through so many things that one should talk about if you're digging into this.
But that's what the book does, the whole idea is to do this episodically because you can't do the whole history, right.
I want to hit something that maybe isn't as touched into the book, but I think we need to talk about, Roosevelt's vice president by this point is Henry Wallace. And it's really of mainstream politicians that really embody these kinds of progressive, populist, socialist ideals it's certainly as socialistic as you'd get it in a vice president.
Yeah, and from Iowa, from this sort of radical farmer. Actually, he didn't think of himself as a radical, but he was from this sort of farmer background, farmer labor background-
-The policy he came to in the end was as radical as anything you could find him, and that kind of politics. But at the Democratic convention, I guess it's in 1945
1944, yeah, they tossed him overboard.
They dump Wallace, Truman becomes president. Then Truman drops atomic weapons on Japan and is part of, goes along with ushering in the House un-American Activities Committee, McCarthyism, which attacks anything that's certainly anything communists, socialists, but even anything populist, anything that even smells slightly of a kind of left populism gets viciously attacked and, you know, practically drives it underground in the 1950s.
And that becomes who the Democratic Party is for quite some time.
Yeah, but I would go easier on Truman than that. It is true that he sort of unleashed the McCarthyism, but he clearly thought it was out of hand when McCarthy got going. You know, McCarthy called him a communist.
Yeah, well, not just the McCarthyism, because there's no bigger democracy scare than the Cold War.
Yeah. Well, that's another great moment of hysteria. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I feel often like we're living through some version of that again today, you know, but we'll talk about that later. What they did to, Henry Wallace is one of the heroes of the book, so Henry Wallace also was a great user of the populist language. He wrote a book even called, 'The Century of the Common Man', and it was supposed<|fim_middle|> until I saw it on a high definition TV. Kane is talking to his wife or something, there's a closeup on his face, he's wearing a fancy tie with a stick pin in it, and the stick pin is the letter K, great big gold K, that's Trump. It's everything about Trump, these incredible narcissists, you know.
It's a demagogue based on William Randolph Hearst, as imagined by Orson Welles, and this is Trump's hero. Isn't that amazing?
Okay, well, I'm jumping, too, but I've been wanting to ask you this, so now as good a time as any, why does that type of narcissist, at least now days appeal to so many rural and some working-class urban, but more rural, people, a complete, utter narcissistic character, so obvious to see, and he's not the only one that appeals to people like that, why?
Oh, my God, Paul. That should be the subject of my next book, but there are so many people that have tried to understand that. So we're putting aside, you know, the possible legitimate reasons people might have for voting for Trump, which you and I have talked about at great length, putting out some ideas, yeah, there are some. And we're also putting aside the sort of scapegoating reasons, the sort of racist reasons that people might have voted for him. And you're talking about something else, which I think is bound up in our mass culture in this country and in sort of the logic of TV, the logic of specifically of reality TV, which has taken over television entertainment. And yet people think there's something normal about that. They think there's something maybe even admirable about that, by the way, I would include, I think the left has gone down this path to a certain degree also, and we'll talk about this, I hope, later on, what I call the utopia of scolding. I can't understand the logic of it because it's not how you build a political movement.
Let's hang on to that, because I think that's really important, and we're gonna do that in the next segment. But I want to go at this a little more because it's not just a political figure like Trump. I've always found it fascinating, I cannot quite understand a culture, which at least until very recently, was very homophobic, loved Liberace, I mean, the gayest guy you could find. I mean even somebody as narcissistic as Elvis Presley, I don't know the kind of gold and stuff he wore. I mean, there's a reason why you go into a transvestite and other kinds of clubs where people portray different characters and they love to portray Elvis Presley because of the flamboyancy. How does that appeal to conservative rural Americans?
The same people who loved Woody Guthrie and the Joads (Grapes of Wrath), you know, we're the people we keep on acomin'. Paul, I don't know the answer to that. Even if I did, I couldn't do it in one minute, so.
That's the next book, man.
Okay, that's the end of part two, we're going to do a part three with Thomas, please join us for that on theAnalysis.news podcast.
This entry was posted in Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Income disparity, Media watch, Politics, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class on July 29, 2020 by Yves Smith.
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vlade July 29, 2020 at 4:55 am
TBH, I can't comment too much of FRD's domestic policies, because I never dug deep into the domestic US politcs of the time, but his foreign policy was appaling, and to a large extent was responsible (in not a good way) for the post WW2 world.
FDR was entirely naive in dealing with Stalin, who he tried to charm and failed miserably while falling for Stalin's "intimacy". FDR's "Atlantic declaration" was nice in theory, but in practice he ignored it, trying to run the same realpolitiks as before (for example, sacrificing Polish London govt for Stalin's support of the UN's idea. Which was ironic, because it was more or less proving that the UN would be mostly ineffectual anyways. Better than the lame League of Nations, but ineffectual nevertheless).
His China politcs was a mess (appointing Stillwell to head China there was as dumb as it comes because Stillwell understood nothing about fighting there) arguably directly leading to the Chinese communist winning the inevitable civil war (and also arguably pushing Chiang from a reformist to reactionary. There are historians who say that today's China is what Chian's envisioned in 1930, as opposed to what Mao did)
His inability to deal with de Gaulle was famous (mind you, hardly anyone could, but in the end the British had a better relationship with him than Americans, which few would have believed before the war), and I could go on.
PlutoniumKun July 29, 2020 at 6:18 am
Do you mean Chinault, not Stilwell? I'd always had the impression that Stillwell was a good soldier, but a lousy diplomat (despite his fluent mandarin and general sympathy for ordinary Chinese). Chinault is I think considered to have been something of a disaster by most historians of the period and he left a hell of a mess. China was such a confusing mess at the time its hard to see what would have been the 'right' strategy for any outsider, although it was certainly right to try to stop the Japanese from completely conquering the country.
Stillwell hated Chennault (and vice versa), and in that row he (Stillwell) was actually right, as Chennault held the dumb (but seems widely shared by some Allied commanders) idea that you can win a war by bombing alone.
Stillwell's problem was the total inability to grasp the fact that the Chinese army (and, to a large extent, Chindits and Marauders) didn't operate like the US land forces did. As in the average Chinese consript was often conscripted forcefully, underfed, w/o any effective armaments etc., fighting in environments that even trained Western soldiers struggled, yet Stillwell kept asking things of them as if they were well trained and equipped troops fighting somewhere on the plains of the US. And when they didn't perform, he blamed them, not the himself, which pissed off many Chinese and British commanders who understood what was happening on the ground much better.
Stillwelll also forced Chinese to concentrate on areas that sort of made sense strategically, but caused them to lose/abandon areas that they had to hold on to feed the army (as much as they could) – which he ignored. Say Burma was strategically important, but it didn't help to feed Chinese army a whit.
For his good points, he did keep asking for more materiel, which FDR routinely denied (and when anything was sent, it was sent to Chennault), but it was still w/o fully understanding the practicalities on the ground.
The whole point of FDR's China policy was to keep China in the war with Japan. Which Chiang knew, and often tried to blackmail the US by threatening to make peace with Japan. This was way less efficient after it became apparent that the USSR would, sooner or later, go into war with Japan as well.
But FDR tended to overpromise on materiel and under-deliver. Which was, in a way, one of the reasons why at one time Chiang asked FDR for a massive loan which was refused (and presented in the US media as "Chiang wants to cash that check for himself". No doubt non-trivial part of the money would be gone, but likely still some would make it to the troops in forms of materiel).
From that perspective, I believe McArthur was the best at playing the "get me the resources" game in the US army, but that was likely because FDR saw him as a real threat if McArthur decided to run for a president. There were rumours at the time that FDR struck a deal with McArthur that he (McA) wouldn't run against FDR and in return he would be given resources and a relatively free hand to fullfill his "I shall return".
Thanks for that, despite my interest in the period, I haven't read up much on the US perspective of the politics and military in China. Stillwell certainly had a very low opinion of the British high brass, with pretty good reason and that coloured a lot of his decision making. I suspect that like many military men, he was good at tactics but lousy at strategy. Chennault (sorry for the bad spelling above) was a terrible choice in so many ways for a mission like that. The entire land war in Asia was a mess of incompetence, cowardice and corruption from the point of view of the Allies, Mao was lucky in his enemies.
I think you could also argue that had Japan not taken the bait laid out by FDR (admittedly, the fuel embargo was probably justified on the basis of the massacres the Japanese were busy carrying out), then they could well have won a land war in Asia, especially as they had learned the hard way not to challenge the Soviets.
Chennault was a prima-donna with way overblown idea of himself, fuelled by the press (what's new?).
Stillwell was actually pretty good logistician (as was many of the US generals TBH), his real problem was that he was xenophobe IMO (it was very clear with British, he was massively anglophobic), but he never really cared to understand anyone else except for the US (and US troops). I believe that when he was given Okinawa command later on (with US troops), he performed pretty well.
The history of the WW2 generalship is really fascinating, as while there was a lot of politicking and infighting in Red Army (the massive RA casualties in battle of Berlin are a direct consequences of his rivalry with Konev and Staling egging both of them to be "the conquror of Berlin"), and with Whermacht (worse llater on when being a Hitler yes-man was more and more important than any military competence), the UK and US armies were really almost non-functional. Monty for the UK was really a large PR machine (he was handing out his signed photos to the press), and while he was a good trainer, he was terrible at both tactics (he hated tanks, which he equated with cavalry) and strategy. His most famous victory at El-Alamein was actually prepared by Auchinleck and Monty's plan (feint in the south) didn't work, so he went to brute force, and failed to use the breakthrough. He was famously cautious, except for Market Garden, which was his idea..
US army had its (very large) share of primadonnas – most people know about Patton, McArthur etc, but say Mark W. Clark was referred by his soldiers as Marcus Aurelius Clarkus, because he insisted of all photos taken of him to take his "imperial nose", and got obsessed with taking Rome for the headlines.
When you read some of the details of those things, you sort of wonder how the hell Allies could have managed to win, when as often as not the unit next door was seen as much of an enemy as the Germans by their commanders.
Scott1 July 29, 2020 at 8:58 pm
I'm reading "Tower of Skulls". It is by another Frank apparently. The delineated negotiations between Roosevelt and the Japanese are eerily similar to current negotiations with China, Communist China, which seems to have a propensity to become Stalinism. Sure is in the only Communist China ally: North Korea.
Within the book is a warning concerning personal diplomacy, or that that depends on proximity and status instead of that created by competent Foreign Service officers. Staffs.
That there was created an expectation for a sneak attack is pretty clear. We may find that the Communists of China believe now, as did the Japanese then, that war with the US is inevitable. If that is so then will we attack Communist China before they attack us? In 1942 we came close to losing the war in the Pacific. And of course the full on Presidential experience is a big war. If Trump gets a war with China he'll move to cancel the election, I have no doubt.
What I know of some of the characters involved in China during the Second World War is General Wedemeyer who made the plans for the invasion of France. Churchill is said to have hated the guy for he cared no whit for the Empire and the soft underbelly. He may have been wrong for wanting to invade France before the Atlantic Wall was built if you think the US Army didn't have a competent army, which they did not. North Africa and up through Italy made the surviving soldiers hellasus soldiers. They became soldiers who so hated their enemies they went into combat with the same zest for killing the enemy as the great generals like Eichenberger in the Island Hopping Campaign. A real zest for killing the enemy. God bless Eichenberger for saying he hated the phrase "mopping up". "How do you tell a guy that lost 5 out of 8 fellow soldiers in his squad it was "Just Mopping Up".
As we sit now dependent on the reputation of the US dollar and the gift to all of it as bonds that give anybody some interest for no particularly good reason, in a serious Trade War with China, in Hybrid War with Russia for their international crimes the UN was supposed to fight. Screwing with Iran and totally stupid about the DPRK, our best bet is to at least make friends with Viet Nam and arm them and arm Japan to the hilt.
Or say give the UN these jobs. Just give the UN an Army Navy and Airforce, Spaceforce, and make them enforce their laws. What other thing to do has any hope of avoiding war with China at this point? P.S. Wedemeyer was shunted off to China because of Churchill. He was depressed by all the corruption that accompanied Chaing Ki Shek.
US Army would get a very nasty surprise and a beating if it tried to invade northern France in 1943, as Operation Torch shown (cf Kasserine pass).
The corruption in China was endemic, and one of the (many) reasons why many nationalistic soldiers went unarmed and hungry, with their officers taking a cut until nothing was left (although some were better, and actually funded their troops from their own pockets).
Chiang's government (and I believe Mao's as well during WW2) major income was from opium. That's tells you a lot of what you need to know.
The Rev Kev July 29, 2020 at 9:20 am
Had to go digging into Wikipedia but wasn't Chennault's second wife, Anna Chennault – born Chan Sheng Mai – a force to be reckoned with herself in American politics for decades? I remembered that she had a role in spiking the peace talks for Vietnam so that Richard Nixon could win the Presidency and Wikipedia conformed it-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Chennault
flora July 29, 2020 at 10:36 am
Barbara Tuchman's book Stilwell and the American Experience in China is a good read.
PlutoniumKun July 29, 2020 at 11:16 am
Thanks Flora, that book looks fascinating.
I should have already read that. Tuchman is a gift to all historians.
rkka July 29, 2020 at 9:19 pm
"FDR was entirely naive in dealing with Stalin, who he tried to charm and failed miserably while falling for Stalin's "intimacy".
It wasn't Stalin's "intimacy" FDR found to be important, but the Red Army's capacity to eat Nazi Corps, Field Armies, and Army Groups raw. This was very important in ending Adolpf's war of racial extermination against the various Slavic untermenschen, Poles & Ukrainians very much included.
"FDR's "Atlantic declaration" was nice in theory, but in practice he ignored it, trying to run the same realpolitiks as before (for example, sacrificing Polish London govt for Stalin's support of the UN's idea.)"
Well, when the London Poles lied about the Red Army "just standing by, passive and ostentatious" during the '44 Warsaw Uprising, it's no wonder. The obvious attempt to break up the anti-Hitler coalition was blatant & ridiculous.
vato July 30, 2020 at 6:33 am
China headed for a reformist politico-economic society in the 1930's??
Are you out of your mind??
China was a feudal, deindustrialized – devastated by centuries of foreign exploitation – totally reactionary mess with millions dying each year from malnourishment and reoccuring famines.
Nice to see liberals – or whatever your Orientalistic trail of slime indicates – still treat China and the Chinese Communist Revolution as some kind of Western 'failure' that should've been prevented.
Totally disgusting…
Musicismath July 29, 2020 at 6:05 am
[McCarthyism is] another great moment of hysteria. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I feel often like we're living through some version of that again today, you know, but we'll talk about that later.
I kind of wish Frank had decided to go there, because I think there's a lot of mileage in that. (Though I can't blame him for ultimately declining to.) If we see mid-twentieth-century anti-communism's purpose as providing a means to purge a very broad swathe of the left via guilt by association and innuendo, rather than being primarily aimed at the small number of actually existing communists, then the current ways in which moral "hysteria" around identity is being instrumentalised by antileft liberals and centrists seem very similar. In the UK, the AS smear is being used extremely effectively to drive off what remains of the formerly resurgent economic left from Labour. What Frank Furedi calls the "movement without a name" currently sweeping through Anglosphere institutions seems likely to have a similar effect: driving out or silencing economic leftists who are unwilling to publicly join in narrowly "centring" Left priorities on identity issues, rather than class or "universal concrete benefits."
What we have to keep stressing is that people like RLB aren't the "collateral damage" of these forms of reaction and counter-revolution occasionally overreaching; they're the actual primary targets.
Bruno July 29, 2020 at 9:08 am
I was shocked by Frank's total suppression of The Kingfish from his discussion of US populism in the 1930's. The plutocratic contumely against Huey Long was even worse than against FDR, and it continues unabated to this day amongst our FDR-admiring Newdealer Liberalists. No "great writer" ever perpetrated an "All The King's Men" to slander FDR, but the Lone Nut assassination in 1935, which was indispensable to Roosevelt's 1936 reelection, has never received the critical exposure that befell its historical successors (JFK, RFK, Malcolm, MLK). Only slightly less shocking was Frank's treatment of Henry Wallace, who was chosen by FDR as his war VP in 1940, after "Dr. New Deal" had been proclaimed dead and replaced by "Dr. Win The War"; and was dumped by FDR (not by some agentless "they") for the candidate of the racist Pendergast Machine (heir of the Border Ruffians well known to Frank's Kansas).
Watt4Bob July 29, 2020 at 12:52 pm
FDR had a lot of help "dumping" Wallace.
Apologies, yes, from wiki;
Party leaders, such as James F. Byrnes, strongly opposed his renomination. They regarded Wallace as being too far to the left, too "progressive" and too friendly to labor to be next in line for the Presidency.
Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Frank C. Walker, incoming chairman Robert E. Hannegan, party treasurer Edwin W. Pauley, strategist Edward J. Flynn, Chicago Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly and lobbyist George E. Allen all wanted to keep Wallace off the ticket.
Their group was deemed by Allen as "The Conspiracy of the Pure in Heart."
They privately told Roosevelt that they would fight Wallace's renomination, and they proposed Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman as FDR's new running mate.
Adam Eran July 29, 2020 at 2:58 pm
I've read that Claude "Red" Pepper was literally tackled by the party functionaries as he tried to make his way to the podium at the Democratic convention to nominate Wallace…
flora July 29, 2020 at 3:47 pm
I think Claude Pepper must be rolling in his grave seeing what's happened to the Dem party. Watching FL go GOP marks how bad the modern Dem estab is wrt Main Street issues.
Basil Pesto July 30, 2020 at 9:50 am
Long is discussed in the book
Carolinian July 29, 2020 at 9:41 am
I'm not sure how seriously one should take Citizen Kane as a social critique. Pauline Kael called it a "shallow masterpiece" and perhaps that's why our less than deepthink president likes it–because it's one of the most entertaining movies ever made and, yes, about a larger than life figure who likes to see his name in big letters.
The more interesting question is why Trump–a completely different character than FDR–generates the same kind of hysteria among the elites. Clearly even faux populism is seen as a huge threat that must be strangled in the crib. And it isn't just the elites as the left in general doesn't seem to think much of those "bitter clinger" rural white people. Perhaps we as a society should spend a lot less time judging each other and more time devoted to practical solutions–Roosevelt's true, rather non ideological legacy.
That was an interesting bit. Also interesting that the elites in both parties attack T in the same way earlier elites attacked earlier populists – russia and Putin being the modern standin for 'the devil'. ;) One interesting thing Enjeti on Rising said yesterday is that T numbers among the working class – white, latino, black – are rising as a proportion of the GOP voters, and that the only group pushing up Bidens numbers are middle and upper middle class suburban voters. I haven't seen the polls, except Biden has a problem with latino voters.
I never thought about the Citizen Kane comparison but it seems apt. T may be a demagogue. But he did pull out the TPP and TPIP treaty negotiations, even as he gives the elites every tax break and bailout money they ask for. But pulling out of the elites cherished trade deals was beyond the pale, and they will not forgive him no matter how much else he gives them. (Killing the Post Office or SS will destroy his support among the working class, imo.)
An aside: Huey Long was called a demagogue by the elites, too. Maybe that's why Frank didn't cover him.
Oh, wait, there are several page references to Huey Long in the book's index. So he does cover Long in the book.
Patrick Thornton July 29, 2020 at 10:12 am
In today's second segment with Thomas Frank about his new book The People, No Paul Jay pondered why rural Americans sidle up to the likes of Trump, or Liberace, or Elvis (or professional wrestling) and came up with no explanation that, as Thomas Frank said, could be provided in "one minute". Here is a thought: cultural conservatives (i.e., "rural Americans") tend toward the myth, the narrative, fantasy. Trump, Liberace, Elvis, professional wrestling, religion, military might, American Exceptionalism, freedom, the American Dream, Manifest Destiny, MAGA. Sometimes even conspiracy theory (Alex Jones). All part of the peddled myth. On the other hand, the "left" is not so susceptible to the myth and does a better job of sorting bullshit from the truth. Thus they understand that Trump – and lots else about America – is a con or, put more mildly, part of the national narrative, the myth offered by powerful elite storytellers that is used to bind us together.
On the other hand, the "left" is not so susceptible to the myth and does a better job of sorting bullshit from the truth.
Yes. It's too bad so many on the left talk down to rural Americans, people in flyover, and consider them write-offs instead of people willing to engage.
The nat Dems ignore flyover even as state Dem parties beg for resources. There used to be many Dems elected to Congress from flyover – mostly from the populist tradition. Starting at least 25 years ago the Dem party decided to ignore midwestern Dems. imo. In the 90's even my red state sent Dems to Congress. People in my state didn't suddently swing hard right, the Dem estab stopped caring about winning state and nat elections in flyover. Maybe we didn't have enough mega-rich industries with lots of money to feed the nat. Dem appetite.
ObjectiveFunction July 29, 2020 at 12:17 pm
Funny, plenty of conservatives think similar things about the Left (at least the non-Woke folks): lots to agree on when it comes to diagnosing the problems, and many enemies in common, but dangerously naive (susceptible to myth) when it comes to solving them, especially using government power.
'Cultural conservatives' in my experience tend to be primarily people of faith who live by moral codes. Typically they also think life would be better if everyone followed those codes. Some may be hypocrites, but that's not a given. (And yes, I get that many left progressives are also people of faith)
I think the flag waving Nascar American Dream types you're describing are more libertarians, who idealize self-reliance and free will. They might also profess faith, but they don't really want the preacher all up in their business any more than the gubmint. They typically don't spend much time thinking about what other folks ought to do, other than take care of their own business and leave them alone.
A nice remedy for this kind of thinking: "Adam Ruins Everything" on Netflix. Now if he'd only take on economics!
steelyman July 29, 2020 at 4:32 pm
Do you really believe the " 'Left' is not so susceptible to the myth and does a better job of sorting bullshit from the truth." Even after 4 plus years of pretty much non-stop Russia! Russia! Russia! delirium?
Patrick Thornton July 29, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Let's distinguish the "left" from "Democrat Party corporate-captured liberalism" aka "faux liberals". Yes, all homo sapiens subscribe to myth – we all live by the narrative, the story. Today's "red scare" ("russia gate") is only the de jour political warfare sideshow in our winner-take-all two-party political system that divides us down the middle and that doesn't really offer a viable alternative capable of transcending the myth of corporate capitalism. Two wings of the same bird of prey. Nothing new here.
Offtrail July 29, 2020 at 6:25 pm
Here is a thought: cultural conservatives (i.e., "rural Americans") tend toward the myth, the narrative, fantasy.
In the third part of the interview Frank points out that the myth that the liberal elites believe in is that of their own eliteness.
occasional anonymous July 29, 2020 at 9:24 pm
Really appreciate the assault on Hofstadter. None of his work holds up.
Yet, Frank describes Hofstaeder's characterization of Populism ( "anti-intellectual, antisemitic, anti-science, etc ") as a mere 'failure', so that Paul Jay tries to intervene but gets 'cross-talked' before he could've made a point which would have been, I guess, that Hofstaeder's deceptive obfuscation of the Populist movement and its historical interpretation was deliberate and not just a mistake from which the corporate dems now live on.
Mr. House July 29, 2020 at 10:16 am
"The more interesting question is why Trump–a completely different character than FDR–generates the same kind of hysteria among the elites."
I concur with this, unless all the Dems took a class from Vince McMahon on studio wrestling. Trump took one and knows perfectly how to play the heel.
Off The Street July 29, 2020 at 10:35 am
Ford, General Motors and scores of other companies sure had a keen eye for foreign investments, didn't they? /s
Frank covers more history, threads and intriguing rabbit holes than the typical past student was likely to encounter, unless really motivated toward much independent research to find those somewhat hidden sources. Now, eightyish years after the fact, some of the information is leaking out more widely.
I was rather stunnend that he, as an historian, wasn't aware of the fact that Hitler had major financial and technological support from American industrialists
The Rev Kev July 29, 2020 at 10:51 am
Does anybody know if Thomas Frank mentions the 1934 Business Plot, aka The White House Putsch in his new book? I hope that he does as it would not be complete account of these times without mention of that little episode to show the lengths the opposition was willing to go.
hunkerdown July 29, 2020 at 11:11 am
Of course they do. FDR was the quintessential machine politician and worked to STOP the New Deal by (and stop me if you've heard this one before) using the conservative wing of the party as an institutional monkey wrench. There is a whole chapter dispelling the beatification of FDR in Walter Karp's Indspensable Enemies: The Politics of Misrule in America, walking through the handbrakes he, unforced, placed on the New Deal. Whatever bourgeios hagiographies Frank is reading, he needs to pull his head out of his "master narrative" and understand how power works.
It's clear that ruling classes are, every single one, irresponsible, malicious, mendacious, and downright deadly. Isn't it time we reconsider whether we shouldn't eliminate the entire line of business and replace them with citizen democracy rather than bourgeois democracy? I believe so.
(A little add-on note: freedom and liberty are diametric opposites. Freedom is the condition of not being bossed. Liberty is the ability to boss others. Note carefully how these have been propagandistically conflated in neoliberal discourse.)
Bourgeios hagiography…nice!
Michael Parenti referred to this ilk as 'gentlemen historians'!
Parenti is himself a hack who literally doesn't know what he's talking about much of the time.
I would really like to know the source for Paul Jay's statements "Hitler actually credited Ford with inspiring his anti-Semitism" and "Ford used to send Hitler, I think it was $500,000 every year on his birthday (in today's dollars)."
I think both of these statements are false. A quick search of the internet, including Wikipedia and a PBS article on Ford's antisemitism turns up no mention of these.
Ford's antisemitism was highly discreditable. That doesn't permit you to say anything at all you like about it.
H. Ford was notorious for his anit-sem. Hard for me to think herr Mustache learned anti-sem from Ford. Anti-sem was a 'thing' back then. Paul Jay might have overstated the case wrt herr Mustache, but it would not surprise me if herr Mustache found ideological confirmation and support, pre WWII, from Ford's views.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/henryford-antisemitism/
The $500k is new to me. I don't dismiss it out of hand, but need more sources before accepting it as confirmed data.
The past is a foreign country, as the saying goes.
Much, much shorter: when capitalism goes wrong it looks for a scape goat.
Jeff W July 30, 2020 at 1:03 am
I obviously don't know the specific source of Paul Jay's statement regarding Henry Ford sending a large monetary gift to Adolf Hitler in his birthday every year but this site, quoting Trading with the Enemy The Nazi – American Money Plot 1933-1949 by Charles Higham, says "Invariably, Ford remembered Hitler's birthday and sent him 50,000 Reichsmarks a year." (I'm not vouching for the site, the book or the specific quote.) This "historical currency converter" gives the value of 50,000 Reichsmarks in, say, 1936, as roughly $285,000 (in 2015 US dollars).
freedomny July 29, 2020 at 10:47 pm
Franks cheery tone and pleasant voice….yes, it does go down that much easier :)
Sound of the Suburbs July 30, 2020 at 2:59 am
WW2 ended after six months as no one could afford for it to go on any longer.
Wait a minute, that didn't happen.
What did the economists learn in the 1940s?
http://delong.typepad.com/kalecki43.pdf
In the paper from 1943 you can see …..
They knew Government debt and deficits weren't a problem as they had seen the massive Government debt and deficits of WW2.
They knew full employment was feasible as they had seen it in WW2.
After WW2 Governments aimed to create full employment as policymakers knew it could be done and actually maximised wealth creation in the economy.
Balancing the budget was just something they used to do before WW2, but it wasn't actually necessary.
Government debt and deficits weren't a problem.
They could now solve all those problems they had seen in the 1930s, which caused politics to swing to the extremes and populist leaders to rise.
They could eliminate unemployment and create a full employment economy.
They could put welfare states in place to ensure the economic hardship of the 1930s would never be seen again.
They didn't have to use austerity; they could fight recessions with fiscal stimulus.
To get here, the economists had to forget what they learnt in the 1940s.
They went back to 1920s ways of thinking with neoclassical economics.
I have seen MMT YouTube videos and they have evidence that a lot of what they are saying now, was known in the past.
They should add that paper from Kalecki, a real insight into what the thinking was at that time.
The hard lessons of the 1930s were fresh in their minds, and they were looking for solutions to those problems.
Fabio Gorgonzola August 1, 2020 at 7:05 pm
When Wallace visited the Soviet Union in 1944 he was completely taken in by the Potemkin villages Stalin built for him. He described the Magadan concentration camp as a "combination of Tennessee Valley Authority and Hudson's Bay Company". If such a clueless rube had become president, things might have turned out even worse than they did under Truman.
Too bad progressives have a persistent tendency to be hoodwinked by tyrants.
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LaRuse on Links 2/2/2023Re: The Daily Stoic So I was introduced... | to be his reply, his pushback to when Time magazine said that this is the American century, he said, no, this is the century of the common man. That kind of language was very common in the New Deal days, and especially during the World War Two iteration of the New Deal when they were trying to persuade the rest of the world that we were not just fighting to rescue the British Empire, which is what we turned out to do.
Truman was clearly less radical than Wallace, but he did do a couple of really wonderful things. And one of them, I mean, they didn't get anywhere, but he's the one that proposed universal health care for America and really fought for it and was beaten on this, this is within two years of the end of World War two, the right is pushing back in exactly the way that you just described, and his universal health care never gets anywhere, but we've never got it in this country, and damn, it would be nice if we had it now, I keep thinking about that as we go through this epidemic.
See, the way I see it, from Truman, and then you get into, and Kennedy, and the party gives up this kind of, real policies to some extent rhetorical, but actual policies of Roosevelt, of taking on the concentration of wealth, taking on the big banks. There's a fascinating quote from Roosevelt where he says "this merging of corporate interests and the government and the state is the definition of fascism", and it's in one of Roosevelt's speeches.
The Democratic Party turns its back on all of that after World War Two and becomes (associated) with Kennedy, the party of the greatest expenditure on the military-industrial complex ever, it starts with Truman. Ellsberg has an interesting quote, Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon papers, he said he thinks now, he said, "the Cold War was essentially a commercial subsidy for the aerospace industry, they needed an excuse to spend all this money on bullshit.
That's pretty cynical, but it's hard to avoid that conclusion when you live in, nowadays, when you live in Washington, D.C. One of my friends was describing this the other day, he said basically, " we fight these wars is just as a way of subsidizing these companies", that's what we have the army for, it's just a subsidy racket for these private companies.
The whole SAGE radar system, the thing, like Dr. Strangelove, a total fraud, never worked for a day, over a trillion dollars over 25 years, goes on and on where the whole military-industrial complex fight fundamentally driven by commercial interests with the excuse being the Cold War. But the reason I'm going there is because the Democratic Party, at least an important part of it, and the party still continue to control the machinery of it, is very much that party and which includes the Vietnam War, and it's that section of the Democratic Party that so despises what they call populism.
So I talk a lot in the book about the populist culture of the 1930s, and one of the sorts of great expressions of that period was this movie 'Citizen Kane', which I'm sure you've seen and I myself seen many times, but while I was writing the book, I finally got to see it in high definition one of these modern TV sets. And I was really struck by it because, it's on the one hand, very, you know, populist as all the stuff from that period is, but it's also the story of a demagogue and the sort of left culture of the 1930s was very, very, very concerned with the problem of the demagogue. But the fascinating point is that they could draw a bright line between the demagogue and between legitimate populism. So Kane is the great demagogue and he's appealing to the underprivileged and the underfed and all this, and it's all bullshit, and everyone can see that. And, the other characters in the movie sort of reminding him of how full of shit he is. Here's the thing that I want your that people don't remember, that's Donald Trump's favorite movie.
Oh, he totally misunderstands it. He thinks that the demagogue character in the movie, Kane, Citizen Kane is the hero. He doesn't get it.
So there's this moment where Kane is running for governor of New York and he's in speaking in Madison Square Garden. And he's giving this kind of Trumpian speech, and there's this huge picture of his own face behind it with his name in gigantic letters, and it's like that's what they did at the Republican convention in 2016, remember Trump's name in huge letters, Trump puts his name on everything. And one of the promises that Kane makes in this speech, do you remember this, is to lock up his rival, he's going to throw his rival in prison and lock him up. I was watching this and I'm like, oh, my God.
I suddenly get where Trump came up with all this crap. But there's this scene where that I never noticed | 1,054 |
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Work on your personal development
Take a hard look at your skills and experience and work out where the shortfalls are. Get the training or mentoring you need to fill the gaps, whether that's within your organisation or outside it.
"I knew that I needed to grow and develop my industry knowledge and experience," explains Anna Delvecchio, commercial account director at infrastructure giant Amey.
"I didn't want to stagnate so making time to think about your own personal development is key." Sometimes, a non-executive role or short-term project or contract can help you learn valuable new skills, she adds.
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Try to avoid getting bogged down in minutiae
The people who reach senior positions are really great at managing their time: they delegate the grunt work and focus on big, strategic moves that attract positive attention.
"If you want to be senior, you have to stop managing work and people and start managing the business," says Lions. "Employ people to take on the work. If you're not able to hire people yourself, then speak to your manager about expanding your team. Ask if you can manage the new starters. Businesses grow when you have the right people behind you. I would be really impressed if someone took the initiative in my team, and asked to manage so-and-so because I want to do more of x or y."
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Speech and language therapist Anna Allen found herself caught in the middle management trap when she became a team leader a decade ago.
"I was given more and more 'management' responsibilities - meetings about meetings - so I spent less and less time with patients," she says. "I left this job for a post at the top of the pay band below. This is the ceiling for a solely clinical post."
Rather than let the experience stymie her ambition, she has set up a private practice outside her NHS work. This has let her take control of her career, while allowing her to continue the job she loves.
Move companies
Unfortunately, the best way to get ahead is often to switch employers. If you have been passed over or ignored at your current organisation, go for a promotion somewhere else.
According to Lions, it is easier to get caught in middle management at bigger corporations. "It's not hard to reach the middle but it's really hard to get more senior because of the structure," she explains.
"I left a job with a big company that employed thousands worldwide to join a company with just 10 people. There, I was able to shine. I had autonomy for the first time: I was left to sink or swim, which brought out my entrepreneurial streak and helped me to grow."
Image credit: Hulton-De | 778 |
In the Fall of 2020, Appalachian Botanical Company rented a building in Foster, West Virginia. By the Spring, 2021, that building was renovated to provide a home for offices, operations, and distribution for the Appalachian Botanical<|fim_middle|> more plants. Here are a few of the people who make that happen. | Company.
Get a view into some of the daily operations happening on our farm in late Summer and early Fall of 2020. We're propagating new plants, putting some of those plants in the ground, and we're preparing the fields to be planted in the Spring.
WV Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt visited the ABCo farm operations on Oct. 22 with ABCo CTO Marina Sawyer and President Jocelyn Sheppard.
In Spring and early Summer of 2020 we built beehives, propagated lavender plants from existing plant clippings, and celebrated our first harvest.
In the Winter and Spring of 2020, Appalachian Botanical Company restored a high tunnel that had deteriorated to a dilapidated, metal framework. We put on a new roof, built raised beds inside and did some general, all-around-fix-up to get this high tunnel back to operability. This video documents that process.
Appalachian Botanical Co. is growing lavender on reclaimed coal mine land in Ashford, Boone County, West Virginia. We planted 20,000 plants in the spring and have our first bloom. Now we're prepping to plant 40,000 | 252 |
Red Bull 3Style DJ World Championship 2017
Rani January 4, 2018
Red Bull just ended 2017 with the Lebanese leg of the talent-driven Red Bull 3Style World DJ Championship at Discotek, Beirut. Whether with the judges, the participants or the crowd it was yet another sonic landmark for the local DJ scene in Beirut. Incredible talents have risen to the surface and showcased to a tasteful crowd that's well-aware of musical flows and blows.
The special guest DJ and judges were a premium line-up covering different genres and worlds, brought together by a passion for crate digging and turntablism. The night kicked off with founder of Beirut Groove Collective, Mr. Ernesto Chahoud, whose an avid vinyl collector and a master selector. Ernesto has been playing and collecting vinyl since the late 80s, he certainly knew how to set the mood for a night of grand proportions.
After the groovy lift-off, Caesar K took over the mothership controls. Caesar is a pioneer of the breakbeat genre in both Lebanon and the Middle East since the late 90s. He's the founder of VL Records and had collaborated with artists such as RZA from the Wu-tang Clan, Shavo from System of a Down and the outstanding artist and producer Nile Rodgers. His set was a masterclass in DJing that gave us a hint of what to expect through out the night.
Another pioneer joined the stage, our host Chyno, whose an MC, rapper and a producer, but he was there on hosting duties leading us into the competition. The 6 competitors were: DJ Goadman, RossBD, Edrien, Oh J!, DJelios and DJ Beats. Every DJ had to play a 15 minute set each crossing over more than 3 genres. It got pretty weird, which is usually a good thing when it comes to sonic structures. From hiphop, reggae, rock n roll, pop, breakbeat and a lot of bass tunes, the competitors demonstrated some wicked mixing skills. They were judged based on crowd interaction, choices of music, originality and technique.
Now the ball was in the court of our judges, who were another handful of infinite talent to join the championship. ESKEI83 helmed the Red Bull 3Style Championship in 2014 and has been a busy bee since. His routines are an internet sensation and a sure way of firing up any dance floor around the world. Dan Gerous was a finalist in 2015 and he has been touring the world's dance floors ever since. Last but not least, the Lebanese DJing virtuoso, MaDJam, who has been leading the Lebanese scene with his vibrant character and unmatched drive for sonic exploration.
It's not easy to let go and play with these masters judging your every move, but our contestants brought it all to the turn-table and even dared to break unprecedented boundaries by introducing Arabic pop to breakbeat. It was all thrown in the mix. After the round of sets, DJ Beats was dubbed as the champion of the night for his buoyant personality, peculiar selection, pumping vibe and slick mixing techniques. He got qualified to represent Lebanon internationally as a finalist in Red Bull 3Style World DJ Championship in Poland.
The night was closed by ESKEI83 and Dan Gerous performing their beat-breaking breath-taking routines. It was an overwhelming experience having that much explored and unexplored talent spinning under the roof of Discotek. Stay tuned for the finale of Red Bull 3Style DJ Championship that is coming up, and it only gets bigger.
Rani spends his days slaving away for a multinational advertising giant and writing clickbait articles for online publishing platforms about technology, brands and 10 ways to boost your morning routine to become the ultimate entrepreneur. Come nightfall, he lets out his big speakers and plays air-guitar to his mirror until sunrise. He's in charge of content on Revolver, something he does to compensate his flop as an actual musician.
Mayada: The 1960s Lebanese Diva You've Probably Never Heard Of
Bernie December 4, 2017
Revolver Podcasts: Joelle Safi [Episode 05]
Revolver Podcasts<|fim_middle|> 2018 | : Solitary Pursuits [Episode 07]
Ibrahim Maalouf: Top 10 Songs
Team Revolver February 16, 2014
Video Premiere: Hear & Hakim Murphy – Motion Currents (Wareika Remix)
Bernie March 13, 2019
Top 6 Most Crazy Songs by 1980s British Punk Band Toy Dolls
Bernie September 10, | 95 |
Introduction of H.R. 4015/S. 2000, The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014, was a huge step towards replacing Medicare's payment formula. The House passed H.R. 4015 on March 24, 2014. This bipartisan legislation permanently repeals the flawed Medicare physician reimbursement formula, averting a pending 24% cut in payments to doctors that treat Medicare beneficiaries. The SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014 established a new payment system that rewards value and quality over volume, giving physicians positive incentives to improve performance each year. This program is known as the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), a process that combines existing Medicaid incentive programs and creates a composite performance score that will inform a provider<|fim_middle|> relevant privacy and security laws and to purchase claims data for purposes of quality improvement and patient safety. | 's reimbursement rates based on four performance categories. The policy implements a process to improve payment accuracy for individual provider services and provides incentives for care coordination efforts for patients with chronic care needs.
The bill also incentivizes coordination across payers and the transition to new payment models that focus on coordination and patient outcomes by providing a 5% bonus to physicians that provide a substantial portion of their care through alternate payment models (APMs) that include a quality-measurement component and risk of financial losses or a patient-centered medical home. Participants in the program would have to receive at least 25% of their Medicare revenue through an alternative payment model in 2018-2019, and the threshold would increase over time. The policy also provides incentives for private-payer alternative payment models and it establishes a technical advisory committee to review and recommend physician-developed alternative payment models based on criteria developed through an open-comment process. Qualified entities are able to provide analysis and underlying data to providers for purposes of quality improvement, subject to | 205 |
N Chandrasekaran Addressed The Students At Convocation Ceremony 2019 At FLAME, Pune
Chief Guest N Chandrasekaran gave an inspiring speech to the young graduates and honoured them with the degree certificates.
N Chandrasekaran addressing at Flame University Convocation.
06 May, 2019 by BW Online Bureau
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The annual convocation ceremony of FLAME University saw a total of 243 students being awarded their degrees (2018-19 Batch) from the undergraduate, post-graduate and scholars programmes. Also, 18 students received awards for academic and all-round excellence.
Welcoming the gathering and sharing his words of wisdom with the soon to be graduates, Dishan Kamdar, Vice Chancellor, FLAME University said, "Humility and knowledgeability is the most potent combination that can determine anyone's success. Success will definitely come to all those who work hard, but it will reward those who are willing to embrace failure before they can succeed". Urging them to go and make a difference to the world, he added "Be Authentic…not Conformists - Dare to be Disruptive and Different".
Earlier in the afternoon, the Chief Guest, N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman Tata Sons, was welcomed on campus by the president, vice-chancellor, members of the governing body, deans, faculty and other senior members of the FLAME community.
Addressing the graduating students at the Convocation 2019 ceremony held at the FLAME University, N. Chandrasekaran said, "Every time there is a massive disruption in technology that impacts all, there is a huge opportunity. We are at a time where AI is going to make a tremendous impact. We probably have the most exciting challenges and opportunities in the next 20-30 years sop".
"You are entering the next phase of your life, and the timing couldn't be better in the global and Indian context.<|fim_middle|> projects and alumni startups through various activities and initiatives over the last academic year. One such project called 'Edibl', a startup idea that will enable rural employment generation while reducing plastic consumption in HORECA sector by making edible cutlery from ingredients such as staple foods. Edibl was conceived as a part of Babson Collaborative Challenge, in collaboration with Babson College and FLAME University Entrepreneurship Department, that focuses on startup ideas by students based on UN Sustainability Goals.
FLAME Investment Lab
The FIL students outlined the achievements of their efforts in the field of investments during the preceding academic year. Certificates were given away by the President of the FLAME University to the deserving students of the FLAME Investment Lab.
Discover India Programme
A Book and AV launch of three prize-winning projects under the DIP was also held during the pre-convocation ceremony. They were the Mud and Mirror Project, the Real Madras Handkerchief, and Mayurbhanj Chhau.
The Convocation 2019 concluded on a high note with the ceremonial hat toss by the graduating students, signifying the conclusion of their journey at FLAME. A journey filled with unforgettable memories of learning, growing, gaining knowledge, building bonds with their 'Gurus', mentoring their juniors, making friends for life, having fun in and outside the class, interacting with influencers, leaders and more.
The evening ended amidst happy and emotional moments with families, friends and classmates hugging each other, taking selfies one last time, as they bid adieu and prepared to go back home and step into the real world from tomorrow.
FLAME University Convocation | The next decade when you are in the prime of your careers will be an exciting one. As you build your career it is important to keep your moral compass on to do things right. Eventually, you will get success" he further advised the students.
Chandrasekharan concluded his address saying, "When you are in a tough spot and you can't move forward, it requires a change in mindset. Gratitude with the right attitude will take you altitude".
The FLAME campus was brimming with high energy levels reflecting the enthusiasm amongst the soon to be graduates and their families. The audience accorded a rousing welcome as the ceremonial procession comprising the Vice-Chancellor, Chief Guest, members of the Governing Body, Faculty and graduating students entered the venue.
The Chief Guest and Vice Chancellor gave away the various awards and certificates celebrating meritorious academic and all-round excellence. Proud family members and friends cheered loudly as the students went up on to the dais to receive their awards and graduation certificates. A total of 243 students graduated from the Undergraduate, Post Graduate and Scholars programmes respectively.
Celebrating Student Successes at FLAME
Academic and All Round Excellence
Students received awards for academic and all-round excellence. Medals were given away by the Chief Guest N Chandrasekaran to toppers of the Undergraduate, MBA, MBA in Communications programme and the FLAME Scholars programme. The Dean's Roll of Honour and Trail Blazers Awards were presented to 87 students at the pre-convocation ceremony.
FLAME Entrepreneurship Lab
FLAME Entrepreneurship Lab (FEL) helped over 100 students and supported 15+ business | 338 |
Reasons to be Cheerful – Dr John Tregoning
Nov 17, 2021 | Blogs, Notes in the Guestbook, Words | 0
Reasons to be Cheerful
by John John Tregoning
Not so long ago, an unknown respiratory pathogen swept the world causing disruption and death; there were anti-mask leagues, quarantines, physical and social isolation.
Sounds familiar? This wasn't 2020, but 1918. The pandemic was caused by influenza – though the infectious agent wasn't known at the time. It was believed to be caused by a bacteria (the confusingly named Haemophilus influenzae). The virus that causes influenza wasn't discovered until 1931 – 10 years after the pandemic had receded. COVID-19 has been a tragedy, but pales in comparison to the 1918 flu, which caused 50-100 million deaths worldwide, ten times more than the First World War that had just ended, destroying entire communities.
But in the last century everything has changed. And in a good way. And this is an important point, things do get better. We are on an upwards trajectory, maybe not year on year but decade on decade. Sometimes, this gets lost in the general doom-scrolling that was such a feature of the last two years.
So, let's look at the successes:
One of the biggest breakthroughs is the treatment of HIV. Thirty years ago, Freddie Mercury died of AIDS, caused by the virus HIV; now thanks to the amazing anti-retroviral drugs, HIV is a chronic, treatable, condition. AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 64% since the peak in 2004. Yes, more needs to be done to ensure equitable access to drugs and a vaccine would be a vital intervention. But we are making real progress in controlling this killer virus.
Another viral success story is hepatitis C virus (HCV). This is often<|fim_middle|> for adults (though good news fans will be pleased to hear that there is a highly promising vaccine entering late stage clinical trials). And of course, there are threats on the horizon – antimicrobial resistance, the impact of climate change on health and the next pandemic. And this progress needs continued investment in science research and education, as well as international aid being distributed. But with the return of the expert (look no further than the standing ovation received by the Oxford vaccine developers at Wimbledon), now is the time to consign infectious pathogens to history.
John Tregoning is a research scientist and reader in respiratory infections at Imperial College and author of the new book INFECTIOUS published by OneWorld. Available here.
PreviousShave and a Haircut – Robin Ince
NextSorting the Post Apocalyptic Library – Robin Ince | overlooked and infects many marginalised members of the community. It is a chronic infection, leading to slow liver death and was previously untreatable. In the last 10 years a new cocktail of drugs has meant it is curable. Thanks to the new drugs, the number of people living with HCV in the UK has dropped by one third from 174,000 in 2015 to 118,000 in 2019. Finding, supporting and treating individuals remains a challenge, but as with HIV real progress is being made.
Other non-viral infections are also in retreat. Sleeping sickness, caused by the African trypanosome has fallen from 27,000 cases in 2000 to 1,000 in 2018; in August 2020, Togo was the first country to be declared sleeping sickness free. Leprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae fell from 5.2 million cases in the 1980s to 209,000 in 2018. Malaria continues to be driven back – in 2021 China and El Salvador joined the 38 other countries that have now been declared malaria free, with China dropping from 30 million cases in the 1940s to zero this year. For reference 86 countries still report malaria cases, but in 2019, forty six of these reported fewer than 10,000 cases per year.
And no infectious disease success story would be complete without vaccines. Let's look at the UK, in 1940 there were more than 60,000 cases of diphtheria, leading to 3,283 deaths. By 2002, vaccination had almost eliminated it – with just two deaths from diphtheria between 1986 and 2002. Meningitis C, invasive pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenzae type B and rotavirus have been virtually eradicated. Polio and smallpox have both been completely eradicated. These successes are reflected on a global level. The WHO estimates that vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and measles prevent 2–3 million deaths every year. In 1963, when the vaccine was introduced, measles killed 2.6 million people a year; this has been cut globally to fewer than 100,000 – though this is still far too many for a vaccine preventable disease. And that's not even the biggest stories Smallpox has been completely eradicated for over forty years; in that time you are more likely to have died by atomic wedgie (one recorded instance) than smallpox (no recorded instances).
Of course, there is lots of distance yet to travel, for example we still don't have a truly effective TB vaccine | 628 |
The Marked Zone annotation<|fim_middle|> a PolarPointSeries. | defines a closed figure plotted on the view-port. Its boundaries are set according to properties defining values along two axes of the series. There are two marked zone annotation: CartesianMarkedZoneAnnotation and PolarMarkedZoneAnnotation.
BackColor: Sets the back color of the annotation.
BorderDashStyle: Defines the dash style of the border of the annotation.
BorderDashPattern: Defines the dash pattern of the border of the annotation.
BorderColor: Sets the color of the border of the annotation.
BorderWidth: Specifies the width of the border of the annotation.
HorizontalAxis and VerticalAxis: Used for associating the annotation with the chart axes.
BackColorL: Defines the back color of the marked zone.
BorderColorL Specifies the border color of the marked zone.
BorderWidth: Sets the border width of the marked zone.
In the following example additional styling is applied to the default look of the annotation.
The PolarMarkedZoneAnnotation defines a pie arc segment painted on a Polar area. This annotation is compatible for series using a Polar coordinate system: RadarColumnSeries, RadarPointSeries, and PolarPointSeries.
Four properties need to be set for a polar marked zone annotation.
PolarFrom: Gets or sets the starting point on the Polar axis.
PolarTo: Gets or sets the ending point on the Polar axis.
RadialFrom: Gets or sets the starting point on the Radial axis.
RadialTo: Gets or sets the ending point on the Radial axis.
The values set to the RadialFrom and RadialTo properties need to correspond to the type of the series. In the case of Radar series, one needs to use categories as values and in the case of a Polar series one needs to use angles.
The example below adds a PolarMarkedZoneAnnotation to | 357 |
Topological matters: Toward a new kind of transistor
Billions of tiny transistors supply the processing power in modern smartphones, controlling the flow of electrons with rapid on-and-off switching.
But continual progress in packing more transistors into smaller devices is pushing toward the physical limits of conventional materials. Common inefficiencies in transistor materials cause energy loss that results in heat buildup and shorter battery life, so researchers are in hot pursuit of alternative materials that allow devices to operate more efficiently at lower power.
Now, an experiment conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has demonstrated, for the first time, electronic switching in an exotic, ultrathin material that can carry a charge with nearly zero loss at room temperature. Researchers demonstrated this switching when subjecting the material to a low-current electric field.
The team, which was led by researchers at Monash University in Australia and included Berkeley Lab scientists, grew the material from scratch and studied it with X-rays at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), a facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
The material, known as sodium bismuthide (Na3Bi), is one of two materials that is known to be a "topological Dirac semimetal," meaning it has unique electronic properties that can be tuned to behave in different ways - in some cases more like a conventional material and in other cases more<|fim_middle|> of visible light allow to see tiny objects as living cells and their interior.
Plasma electrons can be used to produce metallic films
Computers, mobile phones and all other electronic devices contain thousands of transistors, linked together by thin films of metal.
Flatter graphene, faster electrons
Scientists from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and the Department of Physics at the University of Basel developed a technique to flatten corrugations in graphene layers.
Researchers develop one-way street for electrons
The work has shown that these electron ratchets create geometric diodes that operate at room temperature and may unlock unprecedented abilities in the illusive terahertz regime.
Photons and electrons one on one
The dynamics of electrons changes ever so slightly on each interaction with a photon.
Read More: Electrons News and Electrons Current Events | like a topological material. Its topological properties were first confirmed in earlier experiments at the ALS.
Topological materials are considered promising candidates for next-generation transistors, and for other electronics and computing applications, because of their potential to reduce energy loss and power consumption in devices. These properties can exist at room temperature - an important distinction from superconductors that require extreme chilling - and can persist even when the materials have structural defects and are subject to stress.
Materials with topological properties are the focus of intense research by the global scientific community (see a related article), and in 2016 the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for theories related to topological properties in materials.
The ease in switching the material studied at the ALS from an electrically conducting state to an insulating, or non-conducting state, bode well for its future transistor applications, said Sung-Kwan Mo, a staff scientist at the ALS who participated in the latest study. The study is detailed in the Dec. 10 edition of the journal Nature.
Another key aspect of the latest study is that the team from Monash University found a way to grow it extremely thin, down to a single layer arranged in a honeycomb pattern of sodium and bismuth atoms, and to control the thickness of each layer they create.
"If you want to make a device, you want to make it thin," Mo said. "This study proves that it can be done for Na3Bi, and its electrical properties can easily be controlled with low voltage. We are a step closer to a topological transistor."
Michael Fuhrer, a physicist at Monash University who participated in the study, said, "This discovery is a step in the direction of topological transistors that could transform the world of computation."
He added, "Ultra-low energy topological electronics are a potential answer to the increasing challenge of energy wasted in modern computing. Information and communications technology already consumes 8 percent of global electricity, and that's doubling every decade."
In the latest study, researchers grew the material samples, measuring several millimeters on a side, on a silicon wafer under ultrahigh vacuum at the ALS Beamline 10.0.1 using a process known as molecular beam epitaxy. The beamline allows researchers to grow samples and then conduct experiments under the same vacuum conditions in order to prevent contamination.
This beamline is specialized for an X-ray technique known as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, or ARPES, which provide information about how electrons travel in materials. In typical topological materials, electrons flow around the edges of the material, while the rest of the material serves as an insulator that prevents this flow.
Some X-ray experiments on similar samples were also performed at the Australian Synchrotron to demonstrate the ultrathin Na3Bi was free-standing and did not chemically interact with the silicon wafer it was grown on. Researchers had also studied samples with a scanning tunneling microscope at Monash University that helped to confirm other measurements.
"In these edge paths, electrons can only travel in one direction," said Mark Edmonds, a physicist at Monash University who led the study. "And this means there can be no 'back-scattering,' which is what causes electrical resistance in conventional electrical conductors."
In this case, researchers found that the ultrathin material became fully conductive when subjected to the electric field, and could also be switched to become an insulator across the entire material when subjected to a slightly higher electric field.
Mo said that the electrically driven switching is an important step to realizing applications for materials - some other research efforts have pursued mechanisms like chemical doping or mechanical strain that are more challenging to control and to perform the switching operation.
The research team is pursuing other samples that can be switched on and off in a similar way to guide the development of a new generation of ultralow-energy electronics, Edmonds said.
The Advanced Light Source is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.
Scientists from the Australian Synchrotron, Singapore University of Technology and Design, National University of Singapore, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and YALE-NUS College in Singapore also participated in the study. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Australian Research Council's Centers of Excellence and DECRA Fellowship programs, the International Synchrotron Access Program, and the Monash Center for Atomically Thin Materials Research.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov.
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Related Electrons Articles from Brightsurf:
One-way street for electrons
An international team of physicists, led by researchers of the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, Germany, has recorded an ultrafast film of the directed energy transport between neighbouring molecules in a nanomaterial.
Mystery solved: a 'New Kind of Electrons'
Why do certain materials emit electrons with a very specific energy?
Sticky electrons: When repulsion turns into attraction
Scientists in Vienna explain what happens at a strange 'border line' in materials science: Under certain conditions, materials change from well-known behaviour to different, partly unexplained phenomena.
Self-imaging of a molecule by its own electrons
Researchers at the Max Born Institute (MBI) have shown that high-resolution movies of molecular dynamics can be recorded using electrons ejected from the molecule by an intense laser field.
Electrons in the fast lane
Microscopic structures could further improve perovskite solar cells
Laser takes pictures of electrons in crystals
Microscopes | 1,260 |
Nadia A. Heninger
Assoc Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
<|fim_middle|> then, she was a postdoctoral visiting researcher at Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Mass, and an NSF mathematical sciences postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego. She earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Princeton University and a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley.
nheninger@ucsd.edu | Cybersecurity, applied cryptography
Heninger's research focuses on security, applied cryptography, and algorithms, with particular interest in cryptography in practice, cryptanalysis, privacy, computational number theory and coding theory. She is best known for her work identifying widespread vulnerabilities in cryptographic keys on the Internet.
From 2013 until 2018, Heninger was an assistant professor in the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania. Before | 91 |
Make Easter Even More Special - Astralis Diamonds from JFJ
Posted on 11/04/2014 12:40:04 pm in New Collections & Gift Ideas by Susie Pollock
JFJ
These diamonds have a heart like no other.
They feature the Astralis star cut, personally designed by master cutter Gabi Tolkowsky.
As you'll see in the video link, he is the Albert Einstein of diamonds.
Just click here to see the video.
It reveals the secrets of the Astralis diamonds.
Each one comes with Gabi Tolkowsky's signature on the girdle of the diamond.
Plus, your Astralis diamond comes with a<|fim_middle|> of the Astralis cut.
Gabi Tolkowsky is the world's most revered diamond cutter. His is a remarkable career spanning over 50 years.
All Astralis diamonds are cut under his stewardship. And all of his Astralis diamonds are a cut above the rest.
Gabi Tolkowsky has cut the world's most valuable diamonds, including the De Beers Centenary Diamond and the Golden Jubilee Diamond.
In his video, he tells how Astralis is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to unlocking the brilliance in diamonds.
I met Gabi Tolkowsky when I visited Antwerp on my diamond pilgrimage last year and he is an inspiration.
Diamonds are a big part of our life at John Franich Jewellers and we are proud to present the Astralis range of diamonds to you.
The Astralis is a diamond like no other. Visit JFJ to see the difference for yourself and be inspired too.
Yours in jewellery and diamonds, Jenni Franich
Visit JFJ for a world of distinctive jewellery that you'll be proud to own. We love to see you and to help you select jewellery that uplifts your own personal style.
PS: Contact our store in advance if you'd like a private consultation to discuss a commissioned piece with John Franich, master jeweller. | star gazer device that you can take home.
The star at the heart of the Astralis diamond is absolutely mesmerising.
And with the star gazer device, you will be able to look at the heart of your diamond time and again, and marvel at the perfection | 54 |
This is what makes central California such a fantastic place for every member of the traveling group as the sea-lovers will have their fill with the wonderful Pacific Ocean, while the greener, more forest-types, always have Big Sur to tromp around in! For the golf lover, there is, one of the most elite golfing locales in the entire world. Pebble Beach. If fine wines and five-star restaurants are listed as must do's and eats, then it is Monterey California, and only Monterey California for the best in both of those finer art of living endeavors. A trip to Monterey California will shows the best of what California has to offer, and will remind one. Why California is one of the greatest state in the world!
Monterey California has everything for the vacationer and then some! For starters, there is Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row, made famous by legendary writer John Steinbeck, these iconic locales can be found in the beautiful city of Monterey California! While in Monterey, the family can take in the amazing sights of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This world famous aquarium has over 100 species of native marine wildlife that can be seen for the first time by every member of the family. To spend half a day in this fantastic and wonderful family adventure is to see exactly what central California is all about, the animal life and the people that make up this dynamic location. After having the fill of marine life and other swimming-things, it is time to take the show on the road and head to Cannery Row!
By accessing Highway 1, the Big Sur coastline, and its infinite beauty, will start and point the way toward a vacation of a lifetime! The famous Cannery Row area of Monterey is best accentuated and demonstrated at the Cannery Row Block Party. Every June 7, from 11 AM to 5 PM., the vacationer can turn into a 'festival block party hound' and have a day filled with fun, animal shows, balloon artists, live music, and even the famous rib-eating contest!
Monterey California is more than just one dynamic and up-and-coming city; it is a conglomeration of wonderful central California towns and sleepy little hamlets, each bringing out the best in the Golden State. Another fine family location, for a weekend excursion, is the town of Marina California. This central Californian location is home to one of the most spectacular and user-friendly beaches of them all, Marina State Beach.
The visiting<|fim_middle|>.
The kids will just adore the parents as they are treated to a day at the Salinas Valley's Wild Things Animal Ranch. What's important to notice about the difference in this animal ranch from other animal ranches is that the children won't just meet lions and tigers and bears, oh my, there are also porcupines, kangaroos, elephants and many more types of animals, which will fascinate and excite and also educate the youngsters! Monterey County offers so many activities for the traveler, it is difficult to list! A months worth of activities would be only a small mentioning of the totality of opportunities that exist in Monterey California!
As the date of departure grows nearer, smooth those frowning faces of the family and get on over to Carmel California. A great town for the dynamic and wonderful vacation of a lifetime in Monterey, California. In Carmel, California, there is Carmel's Forage in the Forest, which is an authentic forge shop! Just like back in the gold miners day of the late 1800's. Imagine the look on the children's faces as not only will they get to see and experience what it was like to be a miner in the Golden State in the 1800s, they will also be able to physically touch and feel the authentic steel that was used to make rail-road spikes and other objects of metal.
As the vacation comes to a sad ending, it is best that the family, or the independent traveler, seeing one more location before leaving Monterey County. This is the Monterey Museum of Art, located in the anchor city of Monterey California. The Monterey Museum of Art focuses on the dynamic and rich artistic heritage of central California, with such timeless works by artists such as Francis McComas, Armin Hanson and the intellectually-stimulating William F. Ritschel. Ansel Adams even has a collection of works that will surely astound and educate the entire group. Make the vacation of a lifetime to Monterey County, where the smiles never end! | family can watch brave and courageous hang-gliders soaring high like eagles, upon the currents of the air, as surfers ride the tasty waves below. Once the vacationing family has had their fill of the Pacific Ocean, it is time to head a bit inshore for a great meal and maybe some nighttime entertainment! Just one town over is the popular Salinas California village | 75 |
The Blue Aeroplanes: 'Welcome, Stranger!' reviewed
4 January 2017 Nick Walters Music 0
❉ Top tunes, fabulous riffs and memorable lyrics – this is their poppiest and most accessible album yet.
'Welcome, Stranger!' is a concentrated, cohesive statement of intent that could prove to be the Blue Aeroplanes' breakthrough album – at long last! At 41 minutes and ten songs, it's short, sharp and in-your-face, all killer and no filler.
Who are the Blue Aeroplanes? Only the best band to come out of Bristol. You thought that was Massive Attack? Think again, or rather, don't, because it's apples and oranges. Massive Attack are (broadly) dance and the Aeroplanes are (broadly) rock. They're both the best band to come out of Bristol. Massive may be more famous and have had the bigger hits, but the Aeroplanes are more prolific, with thirteen albums compared to Massive's five. (There is overlap between the bands – Massive Attack's 1998 album 'Mezzanine' features the distinctive sound of former Aeroplanes guitarist Angelo Bruschini.) The Blue Aeroplanes have also been around far longer than Massive Attack. They began life in 1978 as the Art Objects, releasing one brilliant album 'Bagpipe Music' (an Aeroplanes album in all but name), before becoming the Blue Aeroplanes in 1981.
Since then, the Aeroplanes have released aerodromes full of music, played numerous gigs and festivals, supported R.E.M. on tour, gone through 40-odd band members, and almost hit the big time with the albums 'Swagger' (19<|fim_middle|> bassline underpins a spiky, catchy tune with 60s-style psychedelic undercurrents, soaring backing vocals and a wandering keyboard line. To the lugholes of this old fan it could hail from any Aeroplanes album from as far back as 'Tolerance' (1985) and is the most traditional Planes song on the album.
Over a low-key opening of muted drums and yet more lovely guitars, Gerard deadpans, "Seagulls – we eat their fish, so why shouldn't they eat our chips?" Fair point.
Next up is the single, Dead Tree! Dead Tree! Holy wow. This is utterly, utterly beautiful, brilliant, funny and up there with the very best of the Aeroplanes. A riotous, hilarious collision of music and imagery, here the band truly takes flight. Over a riff which recalls The Beatles' Here Comes The Sun (that '60s influence again) Gerald intones, "In Victoria Park there's a dead tree / [backing vocals: dead tree dead tree! ]" Victoria Park is just down the road from my house in Totterdown, and I can attest that yes, in Victoria Park, there is indeed a dead tree. The song shifts between sections propelled along by riffs and frills and thrills and mentions of Peter Cook's Devil in 'Bedazzled'. Chris Sharp's nimble bass-playing deserves a mention here – it really helps the song barrel along. The fast pace and catchy riffs make this a very summery song, in fact, the whole album is very up and sunny and will brighten these dull winter months.
Things slow down a little for Walking Under Ladders For A Living. Over a low-key opening of muted drums and yet more lovely guitars, Gerard deadpans, "Seagulls – we eat their fish, so why shouldn't they eat our chips?" Fair point. The song then explodes into life before settling down into a loud/quiet song structure laced with webs of scintillating guitar. If I sound like a pretentious music journalist, I don't care, because how else to describe music this beautiful, this uplifting?
Side Two (showing my age; I always divide CDs, or downloads or whatever, into two halves) begins with yet another belter, Elvis Festival. Pounding drums introduce a massive riff which is almost Fall-like in its repetition (it recalls their 2005 single Pacifying Joint) over which Gerard recites an affectionate lyrics about Elvis impersonators: "You sing – badly! But no-one cares! You are Elvis! They accept you – gladly!" and "His wife sewed on the sequins but he made the cape himself." Great fun!
Nothing Will Ever Happen In The Future is a slow-burner, this album's What It Is or Sixth Continent. Built around a see-sawing bass, it features a cameo from original Aeroplane guitarist Nick Jacobs in the middle. It's a swirling, intricate piece, surging and flowing, twined together by guitars like ivy winding its way around a crumbling cathedral whilst violins keen like circling ravens. It's the album's calm centrepiece.
The Blue Aeroplanes have always found space for vocalists other than Gerard, and previous albums have featured songs by the likes of Rodney Allen and Gerard Starkie. This time it's the turn of Bec Jevons, who has her own band iDestroy, and her song Skin is a brisk and sparkling indie rocker that to these ears recalls the Pretenders, especially as Bec's voice reminds me of that of Chrissie Hynde.
Here Is The Heart Of All Wild Things ushers in the calm before the storm. A poignant guitar line over skittering drums starts things off, before a massive great riff comes crashing in. Things alternate between the two parts of the song, anchored by Gerard's lyrics and soulful backing vocals, until the whole thing comes to a slamming crescendo. The song has a dark and somewhat menacing atmosphere that provides a counterpoint to the rest of the album.
Things come to a head in the final track, Poetland. Previous Aeroplanes albums have ended on epic, sprawling soundscapes such as Cat Scan Hist'ry ('Swagger'), Sixth Continent ('Beatsongs'), Fragile ('Life Model'), Secret Destination ('Rough Music') and most recently Cancer Song ('Anti-Gravity').
'Welcome, Stranger!', however, bows out in a different way, in a manner true the ethos of the album. Epic not in length or scope, but intensity, Poetland brings it all together in a frenetic whirlwind of music and words that fair takes the breath away. The coruscating Aeroplanes guitars are joined by swirling keyboards to great effect. The band and Gerard both sound angry and on fire.
Lyrically it's very dense and I've yet to unpack all of Gerard's words, but there are many gems here: "Frank Sinatra, he was not a punk as such, but there's not much difference to some audiences." "Poetland – it's like Poundland, only weirder." The song ends on a wonderfully funky workout. "Fly down the waterway, sail down the road, drive the endless skies to Poetland", exhorts Gerard as ironically angelic backing vocals join in, and the whole things ends on a clanging chord and that's it.
Overall, 'Welcome, Stranger!' is a concentrated, cohesive statement of intent that could prove to be the Blue Aeroplanes' breakthrough album – at long last! It's enough of a piece with their canon to satisfy old fans like me, and is poppy enough to attract the new audience they richly deserve. At 41 minutes and ten songs, it's short, sharp and in-your-face, all killer and no filler. What it lacks in light and shade, it more than makes up for in sheer drive and power. This is the band's most commercial album since the glory days of 'Swagger' and 'Beatsongs', and, whilst some of the hardcore fan-base might bemoan the lack of outright weirdness, there's no denying that 'Welcome, Stranger'! is a powerful pop-rock album crammed with top tunes, fabulous riffs and memorable lyrics. It's fun. It's fab. It deserves to find a wider audience. Welcome indeed – for if you are a stranger to the world of the Blue Aeroplanes, this is a great place get on board.
❉ The Blue Aeroplanes new album, 'Welcome, Stranger!' is due for official release on Friday 6th January and is available to download here via Pledgemusic
❉ Check out our interview with Gerard Langley: https://wearecult.rocks/interview-the-blue-aeroplanes-gerard-langley
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Angelo Bruschini
bagpipe music
beatsongs
Bec Jevons
BEV JEVONS
Gerard Langley
Mike Youe
Welcome Stranger | 90) and 'Beatsongs' (1991). Their music, a thrilling fusion of rock, folk, and indie, defies categorisation (didn't stop me trying though). Their mainstay, Gerard Langley, looks like a cross between Eric Morecambe and Tom Baker in Ray-Ban shades, a beat poet dressed in black with a delivery style somewhere between Bob Dylan (in his prime) and Robyn Hitchcock. They have a dancer, Wojtek, whose incredible, balletic, ecstatic contortions make Bez out of the Happy Mondays look like a statue. Their closest analogue is The Fall; both bands have been around a long time, and both bands have had many members over the years. Yet, both bands' current line-ups have been stable for a while (the current Fall line up has been around for ten years, the current Planes crew for coming up to five years). Musically, the Aeroplanes are more mainstream than The Fall, but whilst some of their songs, such as World View Blue from 'Swagger' or Angelwords from 'Beatsongs', sound a bit like Dire Straits (Gerard even has a husky Mark Knopfler thing going on in the latter track), others, such as Police: 38 Divinity and Cat-Scan Hist'ry or Weird Heart are, well, weird, and could almost be mistaken for Fall songs. Their more recent material, however, leans more towards the mainstream.
And so it is with their new album, 'Welcome, Stranger!'
It was born out of sessions where Gerard Langley, guitarists Bec Jevons and Mike Youe bashed out and refined songs, with Gerard mining five years' worth of lyrics (their last album, 'Anti-Gravity', came out in 2011). The eventual tunes were then recorded at Vale, a studio renowned for its classic, vintage equipment, to what Gerard calls "major label standard, only quicker". The resulting album is a turbo-charged Aeroplane ride that is easily their poppiest and most accessible album yet.
The whole album is brilliantly produced, with a depth and clarity which brings out the best in the songs.
It opens with Looking For X's On A Map, one of their heaviest songs. Sabbath-like riffs in the verses vie with a propulsive chorus. Live, it is deafeningly overpowering. On record, it is no less thrilling, brought to life by fantastic production – the whole album is brilliantly produced, with a depth and clarity which brings out the best in the songs (something that can't be said for Swagger, arguably the Planes best album, which is smothered and stifled by Gil Norton's indifferent production). Lyrically, Gerard lets us know that despite the band's longevity, they are right on the ball – "I tap directions on the app." A rocking opener and a fine start to the album.
Second track Sweet Like Chocolate is a surprising cover version of a 1999 No. 1 single by garage band Shanks and Bigfoot. It's no straight copy, though; the Planes have made it their own by turning the distinctive synth riff into stop-start guitar power chords, adding extra lyrics, and an archetypal Aeroplanes riff which snakes around a sweet tune that includes a dulcimer (I think) during the bridge. The result is complete and utter joy, a hit of sunshine straight into your heart. It's a sweet love song, or as close to a love song as this band ever gets, recalling Sugared Almond from 'Rough Music' (and not just because of the confectionery-related title). What's really noticeable is how energised the band sound, how focused, how interesting the instrumentation is, how great the production – it really is a treat for the years.
Retro Moon follows, with more of those beautiful, beguiling guitars and Gerard on fine form: 'I sometimes walk down there-and-back-again lane / Not very far obviously, 'cos there's nothing there.' A funky | 839 |
Tony Xu grew up as the child of immigrants, working in his mom's restaurant<|fim_middle|> to be authentic to who you are and to define your work on your own terms.
Being in control of your schedule and actively planning how to spend your time plays a significant role in your work and life happiness. Most people actually have more control over their time than they believe. | before going onto Stanford and working at McKinsey, eBay, and Square. In 2013 he started the food delivery service DoorDash, at first running the deliveries himself. Now his company employs 500 people, works with over 200,000 delivery people, and operates in 600 cities. We talked to Tony about how he runs it all.
My background has taken me from the world of cancer research to business and now technology. There's no linear path forward; I search for hard problems that offer tangible impact and a potentially continually challenging learning curve. It's why I feel so lucky doing what I do everyday. Building a company as fast growing as DoorDash is like always climbing uphill.
My days are split between 1:1s, team meetings, customer meetings, recruiting, and general thinking time. I spend 50%+ of my time in recruiting, as I find it has the highest output to input ratio. I work best in the mornings so I try to spend my efforts on the hardest problems then.
I spend 50%+ of my time in recruiting.
iPhone. Besides the phone, my top apps are Gmail, Slack, iMessage/text, Lyft, and of course DoorDash.
No desk, just my MacBook Air, iPhone, and AirPods. This enables me to work most freely, truly feel the office, and be a fly on the wall for many conversations among teams.
Put the phone in a room separate from your bedroom so you can sleep through the night.
The best part of working at DoorDash is collaborating with incredible teammates who all share similar values. I may try to edit things here and there, but in general, the teams run solo.
My least favorite thing to do is the laundry. The only reason I have clean clothes is that I trade chores with my wife: I do the dishes (her least favorite thing to do), and she does the laundry.
I go on long runs in Golden Gate Park or in the Marin Headlands. I also read literature outside of tech, typically nonfiction. Currently, I'm reading a book on city gentrification, Ray Dalio's Principles, and a PhD thesis on automation.
Most people have more control over their time than they believe.
When I get into something, I'm all in, so I used to love running marathons. But that's been too intense an endeavor to keep up with since starting DoorDash. So I am in search of a new hobby these days.
I'd recommend Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets by Al Ramadan. It's a great reminder | 544 |
Contrary to popular perception, containers have been around for quite some time. Containerization technology first emerged as a service called chroot, in version 7 of UNIX. Its next iteration was as Jails, in the year 2000, as part of the FreeBSD operating system. In 2008, containers came to Linux and finally captured the popular imagination as Docker in 2013.
Docker made it easier for developers to package code, libraries, environment variables, and configuration files into a self-contained<|fim_middle|> environments, containers improve VM workload density, since multiple containers can be packed onto the same VM.
Containers can also be deployed directly onto bare metal servers without the use of a hypervisor. Deploying containers directly onto bare metal servers frees up the resources that would have otherwise been allocated to individual VM OS instances in a virtualized environment. This essentially means that containerized environments on bare metal support the same workloads with less resources as compared to a purely virtualized environment. This does however give up all the associated benefits that come with virtualization and having infrastructure as software.
Additionally, freeing up workloads from OS dependencies makes them extremely portable. For DevOps teams this means increased flexibility in terms of where their applications can run. Containerized workloads are no longer locked-in into proprietary VM formats and can be moved seamlessly across multiple local or cloud hosts.
Request a quick 20 minute demo to learn how best to leverage cloud VM's for your Kubernetes clusters and make infrastructure cost savings of up to 30%.
Want More Visibility and Control over Kubernetes Costs? | container image. With Docker, containers could be easily spun up and pushed into production environments. Kubernetes went a step further, making it possible to deploy and manage containers at scale.
But what's the big deal with containers, you ask? To answer that we have to pivot to another technology; Virtualization. Containers and virtualization are bound by the same goals. Both reflect the relentless march of data center/infrastructure technology towards hyper scalability, workload isolation and portability and resource usage optimization.
Virtualization one-upped legacy bare metal infrastructure through the introduction of virtual machines (VMs). VMs are abstracted from the underlying physical hardware, using a software layer called a Hypervisor. Whereas legacy bare metal servers were only able to support a single application, Virtualization allowed multiple VM's running isolated process or applications to run on a single bare metal server, sharing the underlying resources.
Before virtualization came along most hardware only saw a 5 to 15% utilization rate. With virtualization, workload density improved dramatically, jacking up infrastructure utilization rates. Stacking VMs onto bare metal servers also made the infrastructure more scalable; new VM's could be easily provisioned on top of the current infrastructure to respond to increased demand.
Workload portability also improved, if only across the proprietary virtual machine formats of virtualization vendors. But it was still a problem. VMs did still lock-in service providers into the virtual machine formats of virtualization vendors. In addition, migrating VMs meant migrating the entire OS along with it.
VMs however, still have a pretty big resource footprint. Each VM on virtualized hardware has to run its own operating system which in turn requires RAM, storage, and CPU resources. These resources build-up over hundreds of VMs across multiple virtualized environments and can become a considerable drain on resources. Resources which could otherwise be allocated to applications are being used simply because every VM runs its own operating system.
Containers address both these challenges. Containerization technologies like docker introduced operating system (OS) abstraction, enabling multiple containers to leverage the same underlying OS. When used on top of virtualized | 424 |
1670, 10 and 11 Nov., 1670, pp. 522–3; see also Lex Ignea, or the School of Righteousness, a sermon preached before the king, 10 Oct. 1666, by W. Sancroft, London, 1666; Register of Dean of St. Paul's; Wren, Parentalia; Dugdale, History of St. Paul's). He also rebuilt the deanery, which had been burnt down (Familiar Letters of W. Sancroft, 1757, p. 21), at a cost of 2,500l., and he added to the diaconal revenues. It is said to have been largely by his exertions that the Coal Act was passed, which rendered the restoration of the cathedral possible within so short a time. In September 1668 he refused the bishopric of Chester, desiring to carry out the rebuilding of St. Paul's (Hist. MSS. Comm., Report on Manuscripts of S. H. Le Fleming, esq. p. 59). On 7 Oct. 1668 he was admitted archdeacon of Canterbury. He resigned in 1670, and he was in that year pro<|fim_middle|>eth Palace chapel. One of his first acts was an endeavour to win back the Duke of York to the English church; the king suggesting that Bishop Morley of Winchester should assist him. On 21 Feb. 1679 they waited on the duke in St. James's, and the archbishop addressed him in a long speech (printed in D'Oyly's 'Life of Sancroft,' i. 165 sqq.). His efforts were quite ineffectual.
In the ecclesiastical duties of his office Sancroft was assiduous and energetic. In August 1678 he issued letters to his suffragans requiring more strict testimonies to candidates for ordination. He had the courage to suspend Thomas Wood, bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, a protégé of the Duchess of Cleveland, for neglect of duty (document printed from the 'Archbishop's Register' in D'Oyly, i. 194–6). When Charles was on his deathbed Sancroft visited him and spoke with great 'freedom, which he said was necessary, since he was going to be judged by One Who was no respecter of persons' (Burnet, ii. 457). | locutor of the lower house of the convocation of Canterbury. It was about this time that Sheldon entrusted to Sancroft the publication and translation of Laud's 'Diary' and history of his trial; but Sancroft's appointment to the primacy caused him to lay this task aside. In 1693 he resumed it, and was actually engaged on it when he was seized with his last illness. By his directions the work was undertaken by his chaplain, Henry Wharton, who completed it in 1694 (Wharton, Introduction to the History of the Troubles and Tryal, &c., London, 1695).
His lowly mind advanced to David's grace.
He was consecrated on 27 Jan. 1678 in Westminster Abbey; Le Neve (Bishops, &c. i. 200) says in Lamb | 188 |
Gate of Awakening ~ Awakening to<|fim_middle|> the vital healing energy flow that lies within. Awakening and opening the energy channels and energy centers.
Gate of Nurture ~ The ability of self nurturing through practice grows. Through this practice, self healing begins to take place.
Inner Balance begins to grow.
Gate of Transform ~ Body transforms, energy transforms, consciousness transforms. The negative emotion transforms. The negative habit transforms. The negative thinking transforms. The base energy transforms to a higher energy.
Slowly, all aspects of oneself begin to become bright, fresh and positive.
Gate of Purify ~ Body becomes pure. Heart becomes pure. Energy becomes pure.
All becomes clean, pure and clear. All becomes balanced.
Gate of Union ~ All aspects of body, energy and spirit gain a union and harmony.
One begins to gain union and harmony with all of nature and the universe. | a new view of life, living, and a new view of our connection with nature.
Awakening | 20 |
You're sure to agree that this feline can sing.
A high performance fuzz-octave pedal with superb accuracy.
A fuzz-octave guitar effects pedal that combines vintage and modern parts for an unrivaled tone.
Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Jack White and Josh Homme, our octave up generator utilises germanium diodes for authentic vintage tones. We then combine them with a premium studio quality audio transformer to provide far better frequency response and tracking than any other analogue octave pedal on the market. The fuzz circuit is a specially voiced version of the Bigfoot King Fuzz for fat lows, powerful mids, and detailed highs.
The Octo Puss Prime can track chords far more accurately than other analogue octave-up effects pedals. In addition, the octave circuit is uniquely placed before the fuzz circuit, allowing us to design a fuzz which retains a strong bass response and ensures the treble response doesn't ever become harsh.
This is the perfect tool for premium quality fuzz-octave that's always perfectly balanced.
-Gain pot (top left) adjusts the amount of distortion.
-Volume pot (top right) sets the output level.
-On/off footswitch (bottom middle) is available with true bypass or buffered bypass wiring options.
-On/off indicator LED (top middle).
-Mono 1/4" input and output jack sockets (side-mounted).
-Industry standard 2.1mm centre negative power supply socket (top-mounted).
9vDC power supply or internally fitted PP3 battery. Current draw > 5mA.
Connect it anywhere on your pedalboard and get consistent tone every time.
All analogue, hand built in England UK.
-Weight 0.43 kg (0.95 lbs).
Our products are built to order. You will be contacted with an accurate lead time once your order has been received. Typically dispatched within 7-10 days.
The same as the Octo Puss Prime, but with dual footswitches.
A high performance octave-up guitar effects pedal with the addition of a foot<|fim_middle|>ist Choice Award winner! | switchable fuzz circuit.
Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Jack White and Josh Homme, our octave up generator utilises germanium diodes for authentic vintage tones. We then combine them with a premium studio quality audio transformer to provide far better frequency response and tracking than any other analogue octave pedal on the market. The footswitchable fuzz circuit is a specially voiced version of the Bigfoot King Fuzz.
The Octo Puss XL GE can track chords far more accurately than other analogue octave-up effects pedals. In addition, the octave and fuzz circuits can be used independently or simultaneously. We uniquely place the octave circuit before the fuzz circuit so that we can balance out the side effects of frequency doubling.
This is perfect tool for adding a premium quality octave-up effect to your palette alongside a classic boutique fuzz.
-Volume pot (top right) sets the fuzz output level.
-Octave on/off footswitch (bottom left) is available with true bypass or buffered bypass wiring options.
-Fuzz on/off footswitch (bottom right) is available with true bypass or buffered bypass wiring options.
-Octave on/off indicator LED (top left).
-Fuzz on/off indicator LED (top right).
9vDC power supply (no battery option). Current draw > 5mA.
-Weight 0.44 kg (0.97 lbs).
"Delivering a raucous, ripping, harmonically rich fuzz on the low strings that will make you want to keep riffing all day long." Guitarist magazine - Guitar | 307 |
Our work in schools is interdisciplinary and story inspired. Artists and teachers collaborate on choosing a parable or story,<|fim_middle|>ellers and dancer/choreographers to join us on our projects. Most of our work in schools involves teams of artists. The work is process oriented and child focused, guided by the story. Results are remarkable and often reflected upon and showcased or celebrated to the greater community. We reach up to 50 schools a year and ensure equity of access to schools on a sliding scale depending on need. Programs are subsidized by our many corporate and individual donors and through our fundraising events. | often reflecting social justice including diversity, bio-diversity and personal responsibility. We work with our own roster of artists including sculptors, puppeteers, new media, mixed media, visual artists and filmmakers. We invite guests artists including musicians, storyt | 50 |
Review – Powerful drama 'The Hate U Give' hits harder than the average teen movie
16/11/2018 20/11/2018 Tom Beasley 0 Comment 2018, Algee Smith, Amandla Stenberg, Anthony Mackie, Certificate: 12, Common, Drama, George Tillman Jr, Issa Rae, KJ Apa, October 2018, Rating: Pop, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Sabrina Carpenter, The Hate U Give
UK Release Date: 22nd October 2018
Director: George Tillman Jr
Writer: Audrey Wells
Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, KJ Apa, Issa Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Common, Anthony Mackie
Synopsis: A black girl caught between her roots and the predominantly white school she attends becomes an unwitting political figure when she witnesses a childhood friend being shot dead by police.
It's a little too easy to proclaim that a movie about racism in today's America is "timely", but it's rare that a film fits that label as strongly as The Hate U Give. Based on the novel of the same name, which was published just last year, it's a film that not only tackles the horrifying plague of police shooting unarmed black people but explores the very nature of what it means to be a black teenager growing up in that world.
The film begins with a father (Russell Hornsby) sitting his kids down to give them 'the talk'. In this case, though, the talk is about what<|fim_middle|> audience member is forced to feel the injustices foisted upon people of colour. These are the story's strongest moments but, when it's not doing that stuff, it suffers from being stuffed with a few too many unnecessary subplots – Mackie's snarling kingpin adds very little to proceedings – and subsequently feeling somewhat bloated at well over two hours in length. On the flipside, though, this extended runtime leaves plenty of room to allow the audience to become fully immersed in the milieu of Starr's complicated existence.
As a showcase for Stenberg and a teen movie that credits its audience with astute political awareness, The Hate U Give is a refreshing antidote to the often fairly conventional world of filmmaking for young people. There's a slightly raggedy feel to some of it as it lurches between subplots, but it so obviously comes from a position of personal experience and genuine anger that it's impossible not to be pulled into its well-realised and plausible world. When Stenberg finally grasps a megaphone and speaks her mind, you want to punch the air and join her.
With all of the political resonance in the world at its back, The Hate U Give is a fierce, essential teen movie that has plenty to say about the state of American society today. Amandla Stenberg shines as the protagonist through whom the action orbits, albeit from a few too many separate directions at times, and makes the most of a meaty, dramatic role that enables her to break free of her YA roots.
← Review – Submarine thriller 'Hunter Killer' is too dull to find campy charm
Review – Messy Queen biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' rocks hard enough to keep fans happy → | to do when they are inevitably pulled over by the police, in order to provide no excuse for white officers to cause trouble. It's a chilling evocation of what it's like to grow up in an under-privileged black community. One of the kids in question is Starr (Amandla Stenberg), who is a prime example of how young black people are forced to engage in "code-switching". In the week, she tones down her "blackness" in order to blend in at her affluent, predominantly white school with her white boyfriend (KJ Apa) while, at the weekend, she seeks to move away from "whiteness" when she meets her friends in the neighbourhood.
Stenberg, who has shone in otherwise ropey YA movies like Everything, Everything and The Darkest Minds, absolutely relishes the chance to get her teeth into a role that matches her impressive talent. The two sides of Starr's life collide in horrifying fashion when her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) is shot dead by a white policeman after reaching for a hairbrush. Suddenly, she's facing a push and pull between a desire to speak up for her friend, the prospect of becoming a figurehead for an activist movement led by April (Issa Rae) and the threats of a local drug dealer (Anthony Mackie), for whom Khalil occasionally worked.
It's a nightmare scenario for Starr, and George Tillman Jr's film clings tightly to her as she navigates the complex racial landscape. Stenberg does a terrific job as the reluctant activist who initially states that "I just gotta be quiet", before gradually realising how important her voice could be. This comes through clearly in the reaction of her white school colleagues who publicly stage woke walkouts in support of Black Lives Matter, but privately have a great deal of support for the cop who pulled the trigger on Khalil. These walkouts are portrayed like a grotesque clown show of privilege, especially through Sabrina Carpenter as Starr's distinctly Mean Girls friend, giving The Hate U Give some of its most subtly potent moments.
The film is incendiary in its political anger and, through Stenberg, even the most privileged | 442 |
Jennifer & Zach's Wedding + Reception / Water's Edge Event Center
Home/Maryland Wedding DJ/Jennifer & Zach's Wedding + Reception / Water's Edge Event Center
Jennifer & Zach got<|fim_middle|> sparkler sendoff for the newlyweds capped off a near perfect evening. Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Stakowiak! | married last night at Water's Edge Event Center and it was wonderful! There ceremony was held outside along the water and officiated by the Bride's Great Uncle. Cocktail hour followed the ceremony as family and friends enjoyed good eats, adult libations and music by the Zach Brown Band, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Marvin Gaye and more. DJ Frank formally introduced the Parents of the Bride & Groom, the Bridal Party and Mr. & Mrs. Stakowiak into the ballroom as he played Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop The Feeling". All guests were then invited to circle the dance floor as Jennifer & Zach danced to "Grow Old" by Florida Georgia Line for their first dance as a married couple. The Bride's parents welcomed everyone and then the Maid of Honor and Best Man both offered toasts to the Bride & Groom. A fabulous served meal was next, the cake was cut and then Jennifer and her Father danced to Tim McGraw's "My Little Girl" and Zach and his Mother danced to "There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney. DJ Frank enjoyed working with the great staff at Water's Edge, Matt from Editing Life Videography, Photographer Marlayna Demond of Marlayna Photography and he enjoyed a cupcake provided by our friends from Flavor Cupcakery! Last night's celebration featured a 10 minute apron dance of non-stop polka hits! Jennifer & Zach both danced and enjoyed a family tradition with their loved ones. Jennifer also tossed her bouquet to the ladies as Beyonce's "Single Ladies" was played. This small, but really fun crowed danced the night away to requests by Bruno Mars, Wild Cherry, Chris Brown, Bryan Adams, Kenny Loggins, Neil Diamond and many more. The beginning of the weekend ended just before midnight with all couples joining the Stakowiaks for one last dance to "I Got Away With You" by Luke Combs. A | 394 |
FROM THE PASTOR….MY DEAR PARISH FAMILY, After tucking their three-year-old child Sammy in for bed one night, his parents heard sobbing coming from his room. Rushing back in, they found him crying hysterically. He managed to tell them that he had swallowed a penny and he was sure he was going to die. No amount of talking was helping. His father, in an attempt to calm him down, palmed a penny from his pocket and pretended to pull it from Sammy's ear. Sammy was delighted. In a flash, he<|fim_middle|> with music ministry for helping us to pray twice. | snatched it from his father's hand, swallowed, and then cheerfully demanded, "Do it again, Dad!" You got to give it to Dad….he tried. This weekend we honor all those Dads who have tried so hard to bring love, comfort and support to their children. So often, we fail to stop and say "thanks" to Dad. So today, we honor them for all the good they have done and will continue to do for their children. To those Dads who are still with us, we say, "Thanks for being an image of the Eternal Father's love for us." And for those who have gone to their eternal reward, "May God grant them eternal rest and peace." God bless all Dads this weekend.
Just a reminder to our EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS – please come up to the altar during the sign of peace. I have started to notice that some ministers wait until the "Lamb of God" is over. If we wait that long, then ministers sitting in the pews are not sure if substitutes are needed for that Mass. So again, please come up in plenty of time to be seen. Thanks.
I want to thank THE JUNIOR MUSICAL THEATRE CLASS and the KENNEDY KIDS for their rendition of HONK, the musical version of "The Ugly Duckling" that was held last Saturday in the school gym. Because of their effort and talents, $625.00 was raised for Holy Name of Mary School in Beyin, Ghana. Holy Name of Mary School is the other mission group to which I belong. The school is under the direction of Fr. Raphael Mensah who will be with us for a few weeks this summer. I am grateful to all those involved, the kids, directors and stage hands for a wonderful production. I am sure God will bless you all for your help in educating the children of Ghana.
1. The bus will be leaving our parking lot at 7:30 AM.
2. We will not be stopping for breakfast, UNLESS we make good time and need to "waste" some time. So please eat lightly.
3. We will not be stopping on the way home to eat dinner. With all the eating being done at the ball park, there will be no need to stop for dinner on the way home.
4. I hope to be back in State College by 9:30 PM, depending on traffic after the game.
5. If there are any cancellations, please call so that we can fill you seat.
6. Pray for good weather.
As the choir season ends for the year, I want to THANK all those who participated in our liturgical ceremonies through the gift of music ministry. From the regular liturgical celebrations –Sunday Masses – to the extra celebrations – First Communion, Confirmation, the Bishop's ceremonies, etc. I want to say thanks for a job well done. St. Augustine said, "He who sings prays twice." I want to thank all those who are associated | 626 |
As we set out from the trailhead, we quickly found ourselves absorbed in conversation, catching up on recent adventures and good reads. Crossing the bridge over the outlet of the pond, our conversation died abruptly as we broke out into the open basin. As a group, we stood at the south end of Gold Creek Pond simply staring as the low clouds swirled around the snow dusted trees and rocky ridgelines. Cameras came out and many, many photos were taken. At some point, I managed to tear myself away from the misty magic to rope a very nice stranger into capturing a few group photos for us, then we headed off for our loop around the pond.
At the north end of our loop, the ice vanished from the<|fim_middle|> its own domovoi - one of the quirky household demons from the book. On Ashley's suggestion, we even had our first book-related game of guessing at the correct pronunciation of the many complicated Russian names and places (batyushka anyone?). All around, the day felt like a hyggelig gathering of old friends, the perfect start to another year of book club adventures! | surface of the pond, revealing a vibrant emerald mirror of water. While beautiful, this made the many tracks of footprints from the southern shoreline out onto the extremely thin ice all the more concerning. At least we didn't see anyone step out onto the melting surface of the pond, but I couldn't help worrying that others would try to follow in those bootprints! Soon our trail took us away from the pond - and visions of unwary people plunging through the brittle ice - and back to the meandering forest service road.
While it was remarkably warm for the season, after our jaunt around the pond the cabin was still a wonderfully welcome sight. Even with such a large group, we quickly settled around the woodstove and into our discussion of our January book - The Bear and the Nightingale. We speculated as to whether or not the cabin might have | 175 |
The Light Blues gaffer admits the club has been in a "dark place" in recent years but is delighted with today's result.
Mark Warburton praised the Rangers supporters after his side knocked out Celtic and booked their place in the Scottish Cup Final.
An enthralling encounter ended 2-2 after extra-time but Rangers won the penalty shoot-out 5-4 to set up a final against Hibs next month.
Warburton said: "The club has been into a dark place in the last four, five years and they've deserved this so hopefully they enjoy this and we move forward.
"I'm delighted, listen outside,<|fim_middle|> young squad has come together quickly so all credit to the players.
"I think they deserved a little more respect.
"I'm just delighted for the fans. The level of support they've given us again was magnificent.
"They've been in some dark places over the last four or five years, so it's tremendous that they can enjoy days like today and last week.
"We were down to the bare minimum with 16 players and young Liam Burt on the bench, but I thought to a man they were outstanding today.
"I thought we deserved to win the game of football. That's the most pleasing thing.
"Our message before the game was do what you've done all season just do it better against the number one team in the country and I think we did that today." | the fans were magnificent, the players were outstanding. I thought we deserved it and that's the most important thing.
Celtic, on the verge of sealing a fifth straight Premiership title, were heavy favourites going into the game.
But the Light Blues, who wrapped up the Championship title earlier this month, dominated for long periods of the game - despite missing four key attacking options.
Warburton added: "The favourites had to be Celtic. Anyone who understands football will say they have the stronger squad, they have the experience and they were the favourites and I can understand this.
"I was irritated by people underestimating Rangers.
"I read reports about them getting battered by Celtic today. Well they showed today that they've got quality, they've got the commitment and the work ethic and that gap is a lot, lot narrower than people are talking about.
"We've been good this season. We're not clear in the league by 17 points by chance.
"We deserve to be and the | 199 |
Blog > News > Can deputyship appointments be inherited by successive office holders of approved organisations?
A qualified person can be appointed as deputy for property and financial affairs by virtue of holding an office in an approved organisation. The appointment will continue even if the office holder is<|fim_middle|>The Public Guardian suggested that the Court should take into account the limits of that company's professional indemnity insurance when determining the level the bond should be set at.
Following submissions by the Applicant regarding the drafting of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, HHJ Hilder interpreted section 19 (2) of the MCA 2005 as allowing an office holder to be appointed as deputy. That appointment should remain affective when the office holder at the date of appointment is replaced. The Court agreed with the Public Guardian's concerns about the need to consider the suitability of successive office holders. The proportionate way to do this was part of the Office of the Public Guardian's ongoing supervision requirements.
HHJ Hilder was satisfied that Focus was a suitable organisation and the current holder of the Head of Business Development and Client Finance was a suitable person to be appointed as property and affairs Deputy for SH. The appointment included provision for remuneration of Focus at the public authority rate.
The Court was concerned that sufficient professional indemnity insurance was not in place and set the level of the security bond to that of SH's known assets. No order for costs was made due to an agreement between the parties to bear their own costs.
Focus' articles associations did not specifically provide for acting as deputy. The Court felt that it was not the appropriate place for a determination of matters of company law and therefore required Focus to confirm by way of a statement that it did have the authority within its articles association to act as deputy.
Following submissions by the Applicant regarding the drafting of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, HHJ Hilder interpreted section 19 (2) of the MCA 2005 as allowing an office holder to be appointed as deputy. That appointment should remain effective when the office holder at the date of appointment is replaced. The Court agreed with the Public Guardian's concerns about the need to consider the suitability of successive office holders. The proportionate way to do this was part of the Office of the Public Guardian's ongoing supervision requirements. The office holder was ordered to inform the Public Guardian of any change in the position or the competencies of the company.
This approach offered advantages of transparency "because in any organisation, it should be clear at any given time who holds the relevant office, and therefore who discharges the function of deputyship".
It is interesting to note the position of the Court that where insufficient professional liability insurance is in place, the deputy will be bonded at the same rate as a lay deputy.
The outcome of this approach will hopefully be that P's estate is not subject to the unnecessary costs of making additional applications to the Court of Protection in similar circumstances in the future. Saving costs to P was clearly important in the Court's reasoning however It might be that in higher value cases, the Court take a different approach. | replaced by another person. The Office of the Public Guardian should be informed of a change in office holder or other relevant circumstances.
An application was made for the Head of Business Development and Client Finance of Focus Independent Adult Social Work (Focus) to be appointed as property and financial affairs deputy for SH. SH was seventy-one years old at the time of the application and lacked capacity to manage her property and affairs due to a persistent delusional disorder. Evidence surrounding SH's lack of capacity was not disputed. SH had one son, MH, who was notified of the proceedings but played no part in them.
SH's assets were modest (totalling less than £10,000). Her only source of income at the time of the application was her state pension.
The application sought the appointment of the Head of Business Development and Client Finance, rather than a named person. The application form was signed by Miss Sarah Hawker (the current Head of Business Development & Client Finance). The COP4 declaration accompanying the application also gave details of and was signed by Miss Hawker. Miss Hawker changed her name to Mrs Savage during the application.
– A lack of transparency of who is actually acting as deputy at the time of the appointment and subsequently.
The deputyship work Focus managed was previously administered by North East Lincolnshire Council. Sarah Savage herself was previously part of the council's deputyship team which had subsequently restructured. As a result, Focus was launched as a separate entity to become a community interest company limited by guarantee.
Focus was to take on the functions of deputy appointments still in the name of the authorised officer North East Lincolnshire council. Focus was, for all intents and purposes, acting as the local authority deputy. The bond provider began to require bonds to be taken out in the name of 'Head of Business Development and Client Finance" so Focus began to seek the appointment in those terms.
Focus was not a regulated entity and the holder of the post of Head of Business Development and Client Finance need not be a regulated professional. Focus complied with the Office of the Public Guardian's professional standards requirements and was audited by North Lincolnshire Businesses Connect. It is also a member of the Association of Public Authority Deputies. Focus felt it "should be treated as part of the public authority".
The Applicant claimed that the Court could and should appoint the holder of a specified office as deputy and that any subsequent change to the holder of the position will not affect the deputyship appointment.
The Applicant appreciated that a change in office holder might affect the Public Guardian's assessment of risk and did not object to having to notify the Public Guardian following a change. Any future post holder would likely have similar qualities and experience to the current post holder. As such, the Court would likely be satisfied of any suitability. A requirement for a formal application to the Court would only add cost for the protected person without adding any real benefit.
The Applicant initially maintained that it was within their powers as a company to act as deputy and that the Public Guardian had confirmed satisfaction with their insurance cover. It subsequently transpired that the Applicant would not be covered for any error or omissions in respect of investments of client's funds.
The Public Guardian did not object to the individual appointment of Sarah Savage in a personal capacity. He did however object to the appointment of the office holder without specifying the name of the individual holding such post at the time of appointment.
Appointing an unnamed office holder would deprive the Court of the opportunity to make a best interest decision on who the new deputy should be, if or when the current post holder leaves.
The specific requirement to return to Court if the office holder at the date of the appointment ceased to hold that office would diminish the Public Guardian's concerns. This would however have a financial impact on P. The Public Guardian was satisfied in taking a supervisory role and to be informed on any subsequent change of office holder. If the Public Guardian felt it appropriate they could then refer the matter to the Court of Protection.
| 803 |
Q: Different kinds of trace for statistical ensembles In the chapter 7 of the book "A Modern Course in Statiscal Physics" by L. Reichl, we found $Tr[\hat{\rho}]=1$ for microcanonical ensembles and $Tr_N[\hat{\rho}]=1$ for canonical and grandcanonical ones. I looked for the meaning of $Tr_N$ in the book but I didn't find it. It seems that it is related to number of states with a given energy E, but I don't know how this relation looks like. Thus
-What<|fim_middle|>_E}{k_B}\hat{H}}\right]=1=e^{\frac{\alpha_0}{k_B}-1}Tr_N\left[e^{\frac{\alpha_E}{k_B}\hat{H}}\right]$, (2)
for canonical or grandcanonical, where $\hat{H}$ is the hamiltonian operator and $\alpha_0$, $\alpha_E$ and $k_B$ are constants, that I also doesn't understand these results.
About Eq. (2), it seems that, if $Tr_N$ has the property
$Tr_N\left[\hat{A}\hat{B}\right]\equiv\frac{1}{N}Tr[\hat{A}]Tr[\hat{B}]$, (3)
where $\hat{A}$ and $\hat{B}$ are diagonal matrices and $N$ is the dimension of $\hat{A}$ and $\hat{B}$, I can understand (2), but not even more Eqs. (1).
A: Using the comment of @MarkMitchison, since $e^\hat{C}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{\hat{C}^k}{k!}$ and $e^x=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{x^k}{k!}$ (as can be seen here), so $e^{\alpha\hat{I}}=e^\alpha\hat{I}$, and I "can take the first term outside the trace in Eq. (2). You don't need to assume any special properties of the trace".
Again, thanks @MarkMitchison.
| does $Tr_N$ mean?
or
-What is the difference between $Tr_N$ and $Tr$?
A consequence of this difference in the book is
$Tr\left[e^{\left(\frac{\alpha_0}{k_B}-1\right)\hat{I}}\right]=1$, (1a)
$e^{\left(\frac{\alpha_0}{k_B}-1\right)}N=1$, (1b)
for microcanonical ensemble, and
$Tr_N\left[e^{\left(\frac{\alpha_0}{k_B}-1\right)\hat{I}+\frac{\alpha | 136 |
A quick way to increase the perceived value of your product is by adding embossing / debossing, or metallic and pigmented foils to your custom product packaging. These design elements add a new dimension, and elegance, to your packaging that can't be achieved by print alone. This is done through a process known as hot stamping where a metallic die is used to imprint an image on a surface.
Embossing raises a graphic element above the surface of the paper, whereas debossing depresses the image. The result is an image that can be seen and felt. When combined with printing that plays off an embossed image or logo, the composite graphic can be quite stunning.
Golds, Silvers, Holographics(?), Oh My!
Metallic foils such as golds and silvers are one element that just can't be duplicated with print. When a custom box is foiled, a very thin metallic film is stamped onto the box in the shape of the desired image during the hot stamp process. The resulting foiled image accents, highlights, and reflects light as only a metal can, thus drawing attention to your custom packaging, which is ultimately what you're striving to do. You want unique packaging? Try adding a holographic foil to your custom packaging – this finish always attracts attention.
Foiling and embossing are two processes that really do complement each other. Custom printed boxes<|fim_middle|> these options to your printed boxes – you'll be in good company. | containing these elements comprise maybe 5% of all custom packaging, and are usually seen in high end luxury brand merchandise packaging. So, if you are looking for new product packaging ideas to set your custom packaging apart from the crowd, consider adding | 48 |
Winners (CD Audiobook)
Un libro in lingua di Danielle Steel Miller Dan John (NRT) edito da Brilliance Audio, 2014
Il pre<|fim_middle|> Fiction Self-actualization (Psychology) Fiction Fathers and daughters Fiction | zzo è variabile in funzione del cambio della valuta d'origine
Even the most perfect lives can be shattered in an instant. In this moving, emotionally charged novel, Danielle Steel introduces listeners to an unforgettable cast of characters striving to overcome tragedy and discover the inner resources and resilience to win at life—once again.
Lily Thomas is an aspiring ski champion training for the Olympics, a young woman with her heart set on winning the gold. But in one moment, Lily's future is changed forever, her hopes for the Olympics swept away in a tragic accident.
Dr. Jessie Matthews, the neurosurgeon who operates on her that night, endures a tragedy of her own, and instantly becomes the sole support of her four young children, while her own future hangs in the balance.
Bill, Lily's father, has pinned all his hopes on his only daughter, his dreams now shattered.
Other lives will entwine themselves with theirs: Joe, a financial manager, faces a ruined career at the hand of a dishonest partner. Carole, a psychologist at Mass General, is a breast cancer survivor, her body and heart scarred by what she's been through. Teddy, with a spinal cord injury worse than Lily's, dreams of college and becoming an artist.
From the ashes of their lives, six people fight to alter the course of destiny and refuse to be defeated. When Bill builds a remarkable rehab facility for his daughter, countless lives are forever altered, and each becomes a winner.
Winners is about refusing to be beaten, no matter how insurmountable the challenge. And when Lily gets on skis again and enters the Paralympics, the battle to brave life again is won.
Winners is about more than surviving, it is about courage, victory, and triumph. When all appears to be lost, the battle has just begun.
Titolo del Libro in lingua: Winners (CD Audiobook)
Autori : Danielle Steel Miller Dan John (NRT)
Editore: Brilliance Audio
Collana: Brilliance Audio (CD/Spoken Word)
Data di Pubblicazione: 30 Settembre '14
Genere: Fiction Contemporary women
Argomenti : Teenage girls | 455 |
Exactis, the marketing and data aggregation firm, was the subject of a data breach in which customer information ended up on the Internet for hackers<|fim_middle|> could commit financial fraud, there is a chance the hackers can profit in other ways. | or anyone else to view.
According to a report in Wired citing security researcher Vinny Troia, the researcher discovered earlier this month that a database with nearly 340 million records was accessible on the company's server. The data included personal information of hundreds of millions of adults in the country and millions of businesses. It's not clear how many individuals the data was comprised of. Wired noted that it doesn't appear to include sensitive information such as a credit card account number or social security number. But it was close to two terabytes of data, including phone numbers, addresses, emails and other information such as interests, habits and the number of children a person has.
Exactis was alerted to the leak last week — as was the FBI, noted the report. The database is now protected. The company did not respond to inquiries by Wired. Although the database didn't contain any information about a person's financial accounts or their social security numbers, it was detailed enough to help hackers trick consumers into giving up logons and passwords. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, said that while there isn't a big chance that hackers | 231 |
Time off such to be a mini vacation, hotel night, day at the spa. Like a busy mom, getting an opportunity would be wonderful on occasion. Even if its a special time out with my family, such like a trip for the zoo, or are they a night by a hotel in conjunction with a movie. If its just my better half and I, or just a trip out by myself, just some precious time where I am not saying thinking about housework and issues is fantastic. Another idea is to make her a romantic meal and also a cake. That virtually is always a hit, and are interested to know her precisely how to choose much you love her.
Films & Television additionally played an especially substantial role in mainstreaming the biker rings wherever in films and also in the television dramas bikers have been demonstrated sporting a considerable amount of rings and other jewelry. These rings are now aspect from the counter culture and which has often been portrayed as positive anti hero community. Many rings are also worn by celebs have got labored during these videos and quite a few of them at occasions even placed on them afterwards which offer you a mainstream sensation to the rings.
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The same method applies the gold jewelry. It accumulates so much dust and greasiness generated by the daily wear. It tends to get rid of its shine and newness in this way. So, you constantly must have to give it a washing and cleaning session. May do your gold jewelry stuff in the solution of a light detergent or possibly mild soap with domestic hot water. Do not soak it for an extended time otherwise it may harm your jewelry.
The princess cut halo engagement ring is relatively recent on the scene. Increased metabolism center stone is completely surrounded by little round diamonds. These little round stones form a complete circling of the main diamond, generating what's been dubbed a samsung i8520 halo.
For clarity, you make use of a magnification device. If the stone is graded SI1 (Slightly Included 1), it is advisable. IF (Internally Flawless) is the most expensive type.
But more than passage of the time people have realized how the Jewelry new additionally found inside other gemstones which didn't been proposed by their ancestors and forefathers. Sometimes the old ruby in the jewelry new looks a lot better than the new one but sometimes it do not. The jewelry new show many emotions like love, eternity, commitment, honor and fidelity. Any women would want to see their loved one to bend on one knee and propose these types of be with for lifespan. Thus men should be aware of how important the jewelry new are to women and then they must choose a good ring to keep the women good.
Another purpose to be ensured is the maximum reflection of light from the stone develop. While examining the setting, see more top surface of diamond is open. It should not be protected by metal just about all. Open surface allows for more reflection of light from the surface facets. This reflection gives brilliance and fire into the diamond.
Condition is often a major determining factor in the price received for your jewelry. Damaged and broken jewelry frequently justify the restoration costs but most of the time damaged jewelry is only valued at its intrinsic worth. Jewelry repair in many cases is counter-intuitive. I have seen jewelry which have been mangled in such a way that the price restoration is minor and simply justified. Though what seemed to be an insignificant problem rendered the jewelry unrestorable. Jewelry repair with the area simply because be a "do it yourselfer". Allow professionals do it, or it will finish up squandering your a fortune.
It was De Beers and its tag of a "A diamond is forever" that made the nuptial ring a common gift even among regular class. Mostly due for this marketing strategy, diamonds are now widely used as engagement gifts.
The trickiest part of on-line auctions is far more transaction. May trust whom first. Normally the buyer sends funds, then<|fim_middle|> row of diamonds communicates the ring glitter more. Website diamonds are small, they cost less compared to a single big diamond. Secondly, the surrounding beads supplement the brilliance of the diamond and the mass of diamonds are not immediately simple.
If you a fan of eco-friendly fashionable items, World Market carries cool themed reusable totes for as low as .99. Satin bags, scarves and beaded belts short lived solution few of accessories which will purchased there as let me tell you.
Don't look and feel pressured into spending that 'traditional' amount – 8 weeks of your earnings! Have confidence in us – genuine effort . absolutely nothing remotely romantic about finding into debt paying as a ring! Possessing stated that – don't be a reduction skate sometimes! Consider to create a practical spending budget when you're going about it again. It's an crucial expense body that symbolizes your dedication and relish. So you are comfortable NOT basing your budget allowed on one thing your thrice divorced buddy mentioned! | owner sends the piece. The seller need to give a time period of time for your buyer an extra chance the item for a complete refund. The transaction could be problematic or smooth. May all your experiences be trouble free, but the transaction problems I have tracked typically run between 20% and 35% belonging to the attempts have problems.
Have the ring you intend to wear while having special day (wedding) at and acquire an gemstone that matches it. Procedure reflects nicely on as well as makes it simpler when purchasing. The common rings worn on wedding day include gold, platinum and white gold so have a ring made with those materials.
In these days, it's very useful looking at a ring for concentration. As you or your girl absolutely wear it throughout life, it's critical to make it possible so as is the most ideal ring for you/her. Inbound links while others think that a proposal without having wedding ring can be happened as they go to decide it on the internet. While many possibilities be aware that she'll these kinds of ring and considers it as a ring of charm. Some may would prefer to check out purchase the ring their own close friends or mother, or might be with their Spouse within a romance date to chose the wedding bracelet. Additionally you determine what kind of knickknack she often wears, together with borrow a single will a person to discover her ring size to shop.
Another setting that could Jewelry new look very expensive is the Pave setting. In this particular setting, small diamonds are inserted into little holes in you have to of the ring from a continuous short period. The surrounding metal is crafted to mimic tiny beads to hold the diamond securely. There are several advantages here. First of all, the | 352 |
Simplifying Legal Help Blog
Tag: Conference
2018 Hawaii Access to Justice Conference: Fighting for Access to Justice for All
July 5, 2018 jgitzesLeave a comment
Written by: Kara Doles
Kara Doles is Legal Aid Society of Hawaii's Technology Project Coordinator, and has been working with the Microsoft, LSC and Pro Bono Net teams on the Simplifying Legal Help portal pilot in Hawaii. Hawaii was selected as a pilot project because of their demonstrated track record in establishing new and collaborative resources for meeting civil legal needs; their embrace of technology's potential to expand access to legal assistance; and their vision of partnering<|fim_middle|> and Suzanne Brown-McBride, Consultant with Pew Charitable Trusts discussed and clarified the platform's objective. Session attendees were fortunate to hear three different perspectives, and discover how this project is truly a collective effort of many players working to merge the legal and technology worlds together. Participants were especially intrigued about the artificial intelligence and machine learning elements, and raised questions about cultural language nuances ("pidgin"), access for LEP persons, and the platform being a trusted source. All things considered, panelists received overwhelming positive feedback on how the advent of this tool symbolizes a remarkable milestone in educating and empowering pro se litigants across the Aloha state.
This project has been of significant and ongoing interest to the legal, social, and human services communities in Hawaii as it promises to produce a resource critical to solving multi-dimensional legal issues affecting the most vulnerable in the state. The 2018 Access to Justice Conference attendees left the day feeling more hopeful, connected, and encouraged to keep charging forward as Hawaii leads the nation in making access to justice a reality for all people to another level.
Stay connected as the Legal Services Corporation, Microsoft and Pro Bono Net partner with justice communities in Alaska and Hawaii to develop statewide legal access portals that simplify the process of finding legal help.
Role of the Courts and Legal Navigation in Alaska
LSC Moves Forward with Legal Navigator Project
Milestone reached: AI at heart of Legal Navigator complete, will connect people with legal resources | with allied non-legal networks such as social services, public libraries, and health care institutions to help people identify and resolve their legal issues and related social needs. Learn more about why Hawaii was selected in our previous post.
Prior to her work on the portal project in Hawaii, Kara served as an AmeriCorps Advocate with the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii's Intake Unit and Center for Equal Justice after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in French language and Philosophy (law and ethics focus) from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In this piece she discusses her experience at the Hawaii Access to Justice Conference in 2018.
Conference attendees comprised of lawyers, non-attorney advocates, judges, court staff, government officials, social service providers, and community members came together to be invigorated and inspired by the 2018 Hawaii Access to Justice Conference, "Fighting for Access to Justice for All," held on June 29 at the William S. Richardson School of Law. Sponsored annually by the Hawaii Access to Justice Commission, this conference offered a unique forum of engagement around initiatives and programs that aim to expand access to the civil justice system.
The Hawaii Access to Justice Commission was established in 2008 by the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii in response to the findings of representatives from several legal organizations concerning the unmet legal needs of Hawaii's low and moderate-income residents. Among other notable conclusions, it was determined that significant barriers to obtaining legal assistance in Hawaii, in addition to an inability to afford an attorney, include language and cultural barriers, lack of knowledge of one's legal rights, lack of knowledge of available legal services, and difficulty in accessing legal services programs.
Friday's conference atmosphere buzzed with eager and hopeful change agents who devote their life's work to "making music with what is left." This analogy was brought to life by Rachael Wong of the Department of Human Services in her session, "Collaborations and Innovation for Equal Justice" during which she emphasized two ways to reach more people and extend scope: 1) Partnerships with new allies; and 2) Use of Technology. Amidst a group of people who collectively want to make progress in this area, there always remains the question of "Where do we go from here?" Rachael suggests connecting and collaborating with new partners such as libraries, folks in the health care industry, and navigators in the community. Additionally, she stressed the importance of leveraging resources and getting more impact for existing resources through the use of technology and creation of online options.
The one day conference covered topics including Worker's Rights for the Low-Income Employee, Sexual Harassment and Access to Justice, Access to Justice for Immigrants, Technology in Mediation, Expanding Civil Access to Justice in Prisons and Jails, and Ensuring Access to Justice with the Revival of the Hawaiian Language. Attendees were also very excited to learn about the Legal Access Platform's progress and future plans in the session, "Incubating Innovation in Access to Justice through Technology: The Microsoft Legal Access Platform" where panelists Nalani Fujimori Kaina, Executive Director of Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, Carly Ichiki, Lead Project Manager at Microsoft, | 653 |
Khaled Abdullah / Reuters Anti-government protesters attend a rally to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of Mohamed Bouazizi (pictured in posters), the Tunisian man who set himself on fire in an act of protest which inspired the Arab Spring, in Sanaa, December 17, 2011.
MICHELE PENNER ANGRIST is Associate Professor of Political Science at Union College. She is editor of Politics and Society in the Contemporary Middle East and co-editor of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance.
Last Friday, Zine el-Abidine Ben<|fim_middle|> middle of the most recent unrest to boost employment and cut the prices of basic goods could not stop the momentum of the protests.
On a more fundamental level, Tunisians are protesting dictatorship. They have had just two presidents since the country's independence from France in 1956. The first was Bourguiba, who led the independence battle against the French and then erected a secular, single-party authoritarian regime. The second was Ben Ali, who engineered Bourguiba's ouster in 1987, when it appeared that Bourguiba had grown too old and detached to govern effectively. Despite his early rhetoric emphasizing political pluralism, Ben Ali cracked down against free speech and any potential dissent. He cited the danger posed by the country's Islamists, who gave some cause for concern over the extent to which, if elected, they would respect democracy and the relatively equal rights Tunisian women had achieved after independence. During the 1990s, he eliminated the Islamist movement and consolidated an even darker and more repressive dictatorship than that of Bourguiba. Ben Ali retained Bourguiba's governing political party, renaming it the Constitutional Democratic Rally. The name was a cynical choice, for Ben Ali's Tunisia would come to have zero press freedoms, a censored Internet, monitored phone and e-mail communications, and only token opposition in a toothless parliament. | Ali fled Tunisia after 23 years as president. He was driven out of the country by the cumulative pressure of a month of protests, sparked by a young man's economic despair and subsequent self-immolation. Much of the reporting on the demonstrations has emphasized Tunisians' economic grievances: unemployment, inflation, and the high cost of living.
But material difficulties were not the central driver in pushing Ben Ali from power. After all, economically motivated riots broke out in Tunisia in the early 1980s but did not bring down the government of then President Habib Bourguiba. And Ben Ali's promises in the | 125 |
I was feeling pretty sentimental earlier this month when Lin Manuel gave his very last performance in Hamilton. Ever since I had the amazing opportunity to see the show (thanks to my friends Justin and Cate) I listen to the entire album an average of 4-5 times per week. That might sound insane but there's something so addictive about it I just can't get enough. So on Lin's final night I decided to go back to the very restaurant I dined at right after seeing<|fim_middle|> items I could have spent a day just on those three food sectors alone. But here are a few products that really stood out to me over the course of three crazy food coma days.
"Healthy" beverages were a HUGE theme running across the show. I sampled so many coconut waters, kombucha's, micro-brewed teas and chia seed energy drinks that I was practically floating. One of my favorites was Detox Water created by Kenneth Park right here in Brooklyn, NY. | the show- Momofuku Nishi- to pay tribute to the show.
Since my last visit there have been quite a few changes to the menu and even the service was a bit different than before- in a good way. The servers seemed more comfortable in the space, more knowledgeable about the menu and beers were poured with care instead of one big glass of foam.
It's New Brew Friday and I'm drinking a beer that's so new I didn't even know it existed- Double Two Hearted from Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I've always been a big fan of their regular Centennial hopped IPA Two Hearted so seeing this double version on tap at the Double Windsor is sheer excitement.
Huge aromas of candied orange, grapefruit and pine burst from the glass. All the flavors of a regular Two Hearted are present but ultra magnified; intense grapefruit, mango, pine and sweet malt with an aggressively bitter hoppy finish. This is one big boozy DIPA- cheers to the weekend!
BBQ and America go together just like beer and pretzels. So 4th of July we headed to Fette Sau to celebrate and have a much needed meat fest.
Fette Sau is set up very similar to Hometown BBQ with a counter in the back for ordering food, a separate bar focused on local craft beers and big communal tables both indoors and outside. The line was pretty long when we arrived but it ended up taking us only about 20 minutes to get to the ordering station.
I was pretty bummed that the smoked pastrami and beef ribs both ran out before we got to the front. I guess that's one of the downfalls of dining over a holiday weekend. However we did our usual over-ordering and had more than enough to eat with Spare Ribs, Pulled Pork and Brisket.
I really liked the smoky, crackly brisket that was right in between fatty and lean and of course the amazing side of Baked Beans.
Chateau Macay 2011 Classic- This wine has a gorgeous clear garnet color with bright, aromatic dark fruit flavors and subtle hints of spice. It's a soft elegant wine perfect for just about any occasion.
Almost every sushi spot in the city offers some sort of lunch special. Many are pretty terrible (slimy green salad and stringy spicy tuna rolls anyone) but some are absolutely fantastic. Like any of the 15 different lunch specials at Momoya all for under $20.
Miso soup or salad always to start; the standard carrot-ginger dressing on top of crisp greens and sliced radish. Followed by entree choices like Bento Box with Teriyaki Chicken or Salmon, Donburi with Eel or classic Sushi Bar dishes like the 6 piece sushi with California roll.
As you can see each piece of fish is beautifully dressed; sliced jalapeno on Yellowtail, yuzu mayo dollop atop Ebi and fish roe on Snapper. The sushi is always incredibly fresh and even the avocado in the roll was the perfect ripened texture. Plus sitting at the sushi bar means conversing with the chef's who are so friendly and eager to share their delicious creations. Momoya offers lunch 7 days a week from 12:00- 2:30 each day.
La Sirena is the brand new restaurant from Italian superstars Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The last venture these two opened in NYC was Eataly, arguably my favorite spot in the city, so I was beyond hyped up for this meal. Usually this kind of excitement leads me down a dark path of sadness and disappointment but at La Sirena my every expectation was met and more.
Let's start with the cocktail program which is fantastic. The menu has over two dozen drinks broken down into six different categories like Fresh & Crisp, Rich & Robust and Stirred & Boozy. Of course there are the classic Negroni's and Sicilian Sour's but also fun old favorites like the Singapore Sling served here with Cherry Herring and pineapple.
The space itself is stunning both inside and outside. The weather was fabulous when we dined so we opted for the terrace where the white tiled floors and fresh flowers made it feel like we were at a resort somewhere far away.
I absolutely love what's happening in the West Village lately. All of my favorite restaurants from the far reaches of the city are migrating into one small area over there. Bob White has expanded west onto 7th Avenue South, Tacombi has moved down from Madison onto a busy corner of Bleeker and just a few blocks east of that is the new JG Melon's; one of my favorite burger places from the UES.
There's nothing particularly fancy about this burger which is one of the reasons it's so good; fluffy lightly toasted bun, American cheese and a juicy patty that's always cooked a perfect medium rare the entire way through with just a bit of crisp salty char on the outside.
There's no crazy toppings like foie gras or peanut butter...you could add on some crispy strips of bacon if you prefer but I think the original is best.
Round, crinkly Cottage Fries to round out the experience; comfort food at it's finest and always a solid meal. Welcome to the West Side!
Each June the Specialty Food Association kicks off their annual Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Center; three days filled with a staggering amount of the latest and greatest in the food and beverage industry. This year was the biggest event yet with over 47,000 industry professionals in attendance and 2,670 exhibitors. Obviously I wasn't able to taste everything. There were so many different coconut chips, specialty chili chocolates and coffee infused | 1,193 |
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Home > Vol 18, No 1 (2018) > Yas
From Natural Selection to the Sentient Symphony of Life: A Chaotic Reading of Wertenbaker's After Darwin
Khalid Ahmad Yas, Arbaayah Ali Termizi, Rosli Talif, Hardev Kaur
Darwin's theory of evolution was shaken to the core by the discovery of the second law of thermodynamics and entropy. While it accentuates that the world has evolved from simple to complex, and it moves from disorder to order, the second law preaches the opposite totally. Such inconsistency remains unsolved until the advent of chaos theory, which emphasises that the universe has the capacity to renew itself from within through a process called self-organisation. As a new paradigm shift in science, it pushed scientists to re-read Darwinism from an entirely different perspective. The paper intends to trace the various interpretations of Darwinism in Timberlake Wertenbaker's After Darwin (1998) through characters' responses to evolution, utilising chaos theory as a theoretical and methodological framework. The play, which offers a Darwinian-Dawkinsian vision of competition, ends by embracing Margulis and Sagan's view of cooperation inspired by the new science of chaos. As the only species endowed with an independently functioning brain, Man is able to adapt and turn the table against the brutality of natural selection to establish his own values.
evolution theory; thermodynamics; entropy; chaos theory; self-organisation
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Barr, K. S. (2008) Darwin on Stage: Evolutionary Theory in the Theatre. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. Vol. 33(2), 107-115.
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Brooks, D. R. & Wiley, E. O. (1988). Evolution as Entropy: Toward a Unified Theory of Biology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Butz, M. R. (1993). Practical Applications from Chaos Theory to the Psychotherapeutic Process, a Basic Consideration of Dynamics. Psychological Reports. Vol. 73(2), 543-554.
Capra, F. (1996). The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor Books.
Crutchfield, J.P. (2011) Between Order and Chaos. Nature Physics. Vol. 8(1), 17-24.
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Dawkins, Richard. (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.
Freeman, S. (2010). Tragedy After Darwin: Timberlake Wertenbaker Remakes "Modern" Tragedy. Comparative Drama. Vol. 44(2), 201-227.
---. (2002) Adaptation after Darwin: Timberlake Wertenbaker's Evolving Texts<|fim_middle|> J. (1989). Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. New York: W. W. Norton.
Gribbin, J. R. (2004). Deep Simplicity: Chaos, Complexity and the Emergence of Life. London: Allen Lane.
Hayles, N. K. (1991). Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science. In N.K.Hayles, (Ed.). Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science (pp. 1-33). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
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Kauffman, S. (1995). At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity. Oxford University Press.
Kellert, S. H. (1994). In the Wake of Chaos: Unpredictable Order in Dynamical Systems. University of Chicago Press.
Lewin, R. (1999). Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos. University of Chicago Press.
Longa, V. M. & Lorenzo, G. (2014). Self-Organization and Natural Selection: The Intelligent Auntie's Vade Mecum. Biolinguistics. Vol. 8(2014), 130-40.
Margulis, L. & Sagan, D. (1995). What is Life? Berkeley: University of California Press.
Midgley, M. (1983) Selfish Genes and Social Darwinism. Philosophy. Vol. 58(225), 365-77.
Parker, Jo. A. (2007). Narrative Form and Chaos Theory in Sterne, Proust, Woolf, and Faulkner. Palgrave Macmillan.
Porush, David. (1991) Prigogine, Chaos, and Contemporary Science Fiction. Science Fiction Studies. Vol. 8(3), 367-386.
Prigogine, l. & Stengers, I. (1984). Order out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature. Bantam Books.
Remer, Roy. (2003). Chaos Theory and its Implications for Counseling Psychology. Retrieved January 06, 2017 from https://www.google.com/#q=Chaos Theory and its Implications for Counseling Psychology
Ruddick, N. (2001) The Search for a Quantum Ethics: Michael Frayn's Copenhagen and Other Recent British Science Plays. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. Vol. 11(4), 415- 431.
Steenburg, D. (1991) Chaos at the Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Harvard Theological Review. Vol. 84(4), 447 466.
Taghizadeh, A. (2016). Faith and Reason in the Mad Subjectivity: Cormac McCarthy's Post-apocalyptic Narrative "The Road". GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies. Vol. 16(2), 173- 185.
Wertenbaker, T. (1998). After Darwin. England: Dramatic Publishing.
Wilcox, D. (1996). What Does Chaos Theory Have to Do with Art?"
Modern Drama. Vol. 39(4), 698-711.
Yas, K. A. (2017). The Butterfly Effect Hits Complicité: A Chaotic Reading of "Mnemonic" and "A Disappearing Number." 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies. Vol. 23(2), 109-122.
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Gould, S. | 197 |
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Meredith and Evan have a simple approach to life that draws from much deeper roots.
They have been taught by faithful families to appreciate the sweet, small joys in life, and they see the beauty of legacy and the reward of living with intention.
Quiet mornings spent fishing, afternoons in the kitchen bringing a recipe to life, and creating music with friends and family as the sun goes down – these are a few of the things that make them slow down, breathe, and be grateful.
Meredith and Evan both relish the joy and fulfillment from hard work – in fact, they are honing their creativity and work ethic and taking old, forgotten homes, and restoring them together! They spend their days together painting, refinishing, and reimagining a new life for these fixer-uppers. Sooo.. #thenextChipandJoanna – am I right?
Like the constant love and work that goes into caring for a home<|fim_middle|> Mettler Family Vineyards in Lodi, California was the perfect place for Meredith and Evan's vision of a romantic, natural, and classic celebration, and we absolutely LOVE how radiant these two faces were throughout the day. It was a calm, gentle radiance – and materialized in the sweetest smiles each time they locked eyes.
Surrounded by a family rooted in faith, Evan and Meredith were generously covered in prayer and song throughout the day. Their family even gathered around to sing a hymn over the couple during the toasts – oh how precious! | , Evan and Meredith have committed to prioritizing the maintenance and care of their marriage. Their beautiful wedding at | 21 |
BREWDOG READING OPENS THIS WEEK!
Another week, another amazing BrewDog bar for craft beer fanatics in the UK. Hot on the heels of the opening of<|fim_middle|> showcase of Irish craft beer. From Aberdeen to Bristol we are pouring some truly amazing beer from the Emerald Isle you won't want to miss - and hopefully if you are unfamiliar with the breweries you'll discover a new go-to source for great beer. Irish beer is about so much more than one beer drunk on one particular day! | BrewDog Seven Dials in London we have another hop hideout breaking cover for the people of the South of England. Just in time for the weekend we are opening our 33rd UK bar in a city where we have long wanted to plant the BrewDog flag. BrewDog Reading opens its doors at 12pm on Friday 16th March.
And the first 100 people through the doors will qualify for a raffle to win free beer for a year!
Also, Equity Punks – you can sign up for a special shareholder preview on Thursday 15th here!
Reading has been somewhere we have had our eye on for a while, thanks to its deep heritage in music and emerging craft beer scene. We finally managed to pinpoint an exact site in which to open, in the old Public bar at 11 Castle Street. The cool neo-classical two-story building looks awesome and we can't wait to open up in this perfect location, a short hop from the Oracle Centre and ten minutes from the station.
Inside we have added the BrewDog stamp to the building and GM Sean and his crew will be pouring from twenty taps of curated craft beer from ourselves and breweries we know and love. The team will also be serving a range of spirits (including LoneWolf), Dear Green coffee and a range of bottled and canned beer to take away from four of our new-look cooler fridges.
BrewDog Reading will also offer a range of food for those wanting to stick around a while, from our fully-loaded burger and wings menu – and the bar will also be open at 11AM on weekends for brunch. Sound good? Our team is on-site at the moment pulling out all the finishing touches and we cannot wait to serve amazing beer and food the people of Reading.
BrewDog Reading will be open on Friday (the 16th) and Equity Punks, don't forget to sign up for that sneak preview the night before!
Also arriving this weekend is a festival across our UK bars, the like of which hasn't been seen probably since #CollabFest. But then, St Patrick's Day is only once a year. This Saturday, 17th March, from open to close every single one of our UK BrewDog Bars (including Seven Dials and Reading) are hosting a day-long tap takeover of the cutting-edge of Irish craft brewing. We have teamed up with some truly amazing breweries to host a bar-wide party!
If you think St Pat's is just about a certain brand of dry Irish stout, then you go to the wrong places. Head instead to your local BrewDog Bar for beers from Boundary, Kinnegar, White Hag, DOT Brew, YellowBelly and Wicklow Wolf. The guys at these incredible breweries have sent over some super-fresh beers in every possible style you can think of - from passion fruit sours to 10% imperial stouts and everything in between. It truly is a perfect snapshot of modern Irish brewing.
Check out your local BrewDog bar on Facebook for details of what they are pouring on Saturday in our | 632 |
Built-in 4 up-converters and 8 colour correctors. Also comes with redundant power supply.
The compact 2RU mainframe size switcher is standardly equipped with 16 HD/SD-SDI input channels. All inputs feature a built-in Frame Synchronizer. It is also mounted with 4 up-converters and 8 color correctors. Its standard output configuration includes 4 HD/SD-SDI output channels and 2 DVI-D output channels. In addition, it features 4 Aux busses*1, and the Aux 1 comes with a MIX transition function. In combination with mix effects<|fim_middle|> pan-tilt camera systems*3, including the AW-HE100 HD integrated PTZ camera. You can control one camera via direct serial connection, or up to 5 in conjunction with system controllers*4. Up to 10 preset positions may be stored or recalled for each camera. | , the switcher enables a flexible production workflow, and the redundant power supply ensures smooth field operation.
*1 You can also add an SDI embedded audio input.
Standardly equipped with a dual-monitor multi display function. A maximum of 20 channels including program (PGM), preview (PVW), and input video signal can be simultaneously displayed on 2 screens. The exclusive feature lets you work comfortably with only two monitors, even at large-scale events.
The built-in upstream keyer includes luminance and chroma key functions. The HS450 chroma keyer employs the powerful Primatte® algorithm, previously only available for use with high-end non-linear editing systems. Widely used in motion picture and TV production, incorporation of Primatte's algorithm into the HS450 now provides easy to adjust, high-precision compositing technology for live production. In addition, the switcher comes equipped with dedicated hardware for 2 DSK and 2 independent channels of picture-in-picture.
Primatte® is a registered trademark of IMAGICA DIGIX Inc.
The copyrights of Primatte® belong to IMAGICA DIGIX Inc.
The patents for Primatte® belong to IMAGICA DIGIX Inc.
You can store up 10 memorized image states for background transition pattern, PinP size, position and border width. The switcher is also equipped with an effect dissolve function*2. These enhanced memory functions enable a smoother and more intuitive production workflow.
*2 You can smoothly switch from the current image to the image or operation store in the SHOT memory.
In addition to standard wipe, mix, and cut transitions, powerful 2D and 3D DVE effects such as squeeze, slide, rotation, and page turn are now available. Dual channel DVE effects are also available for dramatic key effects and other creative transitions. Useful new effects include variable mosaic and selectable defocus.
The HS450 offers advanced control of Panasonic | 398 |
The Worst Time to Launch
Creating a business while the world masked up, scaled back and shut down
By Matt Steel
At the beginning of summer in the year when every day felt like Tuesday – aka 2020 – I left a well-paying job and launched a new business with only one client.
Covid was in full effect. In the US, riots bloomed like wildfire from Seattle to DC. Social and political upheaval surged on every continent. The words economic crisis hung over the world like a motionless thundercloud that could burst at any moment.
It was a hard year to start a business, but I know I wasn't alone. Other people started businesses in 2020, of course, especially near the end of the year as lockdowns and restrictions began to lift. That said, I suspect many of them planned longer, saved more, didn't have several kids.
What was I thinking? People rely on me. My wife, Leslie, is our family's coo (read: her very full-time job is caring for our children and managing our home). The kids? Two girls, two boys. Eight eyes looking to Leslie and me for guidance and care. Forty growing fingers, forty fidgety toes.
Hunker down and hang on till the storms pass, said the lizard brain. Responsible grownups earn regular paychecks, said conventional wisdom. This is an awful time to start a company, said almost everybody else.
Read Luna's essay here<|fim_middle|> Chad and Ali for the many lessons, laughs and words of comfort. I'm grateful for all of Parisleaf's wonderful clients who believe in the power of branding with purpose. I'm grateful to Gretchen, Elisa, Kendyl, Kyle, Jessica and Abbey for putting up with my shortcomings and more dad jokes than anyone should have to endure. God's peace to all of you.
To Jon and our clients and comrades: I choose Must today and always, and my family and I choose it with and for you. My knives are sharp, polished and ready.
Let's get cooking.
Notes & References
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FL — NC — US — XO | . Fair warning: radical career and lifestyle changes may ensue.
I'm all for responsibility, but I never cared much for convention. The timing? Better to start with why. To frame my purpose, I'll turn to the artist and author, Elle Luna. If you've read her soul-stirring visual essay, "The Crossroads of Should and Must,"1 you might guess what I'm about to say. If you haven't, either read it now – I'll wait for you – or bookmark it for later.
Here's a sliver from her beginning.
"There are two paths in life: Should and Must. We arrive at this crossroads over and over again.
"Should is how others want us to show up in the world – how we're supposed to think, what we ought to say, what we should or shouldn't do. It's the vast array of expectations that others layer upon us. When we choose Should the journey is smooth, the risk is small.
"Must is different … [it's] who we are, what we believe, and what we do when we are alone with our truest, most authentic self. It's our instincts, … the things and places and ideas we burn for, the intuition that swells up from somewhere deep inside of us."
At the crossroads of Should and Must, I believe timing matters very little. We aren't in charge of time, after all, and our best plans are just guesses. Choosing Must is a terrifyingly simple matter of doing or not doing.
Must arrives unexpectedly. For me, it tends to come after and sometimes within deep prayer and solitude. Must is clear. Must is calm and overwhelmingly vibrant. It's like standing on the rim of an erupting volcano in total, unshakeable equanimity.
I reached the crossroads of Should and Must, or rather it reached me, on a walk with Leslie on a bright Saturday afternoon, April 4, 2020. And I knew, I just knew in my bones what I had to do.
To learn contentment in all things: this is vital. But working against the grain of your own design is destructive. It dishonors God. It dishonors the people who raised and nurtured you, even if they're the ones telling you to play it safe.
For some of us, for the misfits, the path to responsible providence and even long-term stability requires breaking molds and bucking systems. Even when the world is coming unglued.
I ran a design studio from 2009–2013 and was a partner at another agency for a few years after that. Since then, I've learned a thing or twenty about business management. In 2020, I lept again and my prayer is that this is my final leap. Not a startup, but an end-up. A last job. Something to leave for the grandkids. And this time, I wasn't alone. I set out to build a brandworks and design practice with a partner. A brother, in fact.
Jon Steel enlisted in the US Army in 2008 and was nearing the finish of an overseas deployment as I wrote the first draft of this story. He began in the Infantry and moved into Firefighting, Combat Engineering, leadership training and logistics. Outside of the Army, Jon has advised and invested in several successful ventures. He's sold everything from mountain bikes to investments and wine. Jon makes friends everywhere he goes. He talks straight and pulls no punches. There's no façade and zero bullshit with Jon. He could sell backcountry camping to Coco Chanel.
Jon leads business development, finance and operations. As an avid outdoorsman, conservationist and land rights activist, Jon brings a strong affinity for environmental and social justice to our studio.
I do what I enjoy most and have done since 2003: guide clients through the creative process from start to finish.
Naturally, we called it Steel Brothers.
The Design Problem
One word sums up all of our reasons for starting this practice: design.
I'll unpack that in a bit. First, I'd like to reflect on my time at Parisleaf, my last job, and express gratitude to the bosses who befriended me and showed great kindness to my family.
When I accepted the job at Parisleaf, I wasn't sure if I'd ever come back to self-employment. But, I was certainly ready for someone else to shoulder the burden of business development. Chad and Alison Paris provided that and then some.
I got to work and the work was medicine. In less than four years, I had the joy of leading the creative process for dozens of large and small projects, more than twenty of which proved to be portfolio-worthy. Our work brought clients to happy tears on a few occasions. We rebuilt the agency's creative team. I began to understand and practice brand strategy. I began to learn how to lead.
All of these links will take you to project pages on Parisleaf's website. I'd show them here if I could! Also, they changed some things on their site after I published the first version of this story in June 2020. It seems the Enneagram left along with me. Essential Branding is no longer part of their positioning. In fact, they've repositioned and rebranded the agency entirely. Alas, Percy's nowhere in sight anymore. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre.
For the Cade Museum,2 we fused influences from Monty Python and Marshall McLuhan to form a witty and inquisitive identity. We designed a color-drenched exhibit that graces the Museum's central rotunda.
We helped Walker Architects articulate their purpose and position, which they used the next day to pitch and win their first-ever eight-figure contract. Eighteen months later, we watched them flex their brand identity and turn a dilapidated Bob's Big Boy into a chic new studio.
I incorporated the Enneagram into Parisleaf's branding process, resulting in brand narratives and identities based on real human motivations and attributes. Qualitative discovery was already happening at Parisleaf, but the Enneagram component brought a more authentic dimension to the work. In turn, those brands proved to be vital money-making and culture-building tools for clients. We gave this approach a name: Essential Branding. Chad and Ali took a gamble by allowing me to weave a piece of what Ian Cron calls "spiritual technology" into the branding process. It's unusual, it's powerful, and I'll keep using the Enneagram in my work and personal life until I'm dead.
We brought Crippen, a Central-Florida accounting firm, out of the design doldrums. We rewired their brand platform with a focus on the results they provide for their clients: simplifying the business of business.
We helped Chestnut Hill, original purveyors of the Dunstan Chestnut tree, navigate a complex communications challenge. We gave them a unified brand strategy and identity with branches that speak to two very different markets.
We partnered with Cala Luna, a boutique hotel in Costa Rica, to identify what they're all about: We're here to wake people up in paradise. We delivered a lyrical visual identity that celebrates liminal spaces and the joy of savoring life with all six senses.
We accidentally rebranded the City of Gainesville. Fast Company wrote about it.
Chad and Ali entrusted me to lead them through the rebranding process. We changed Parisleaf's logo and much more.
In April 2018, Chad and I were driving back to Gainesville after a business trip. He asked, "If you could boil Parisleaf down to one word, what would it be?" My immediate response: "Purpose." Turns out, he had the exact same word in mind. Now, everything they make is grounded by purpose – helping clients discover their "why" and make their mark.
I designed a symbol that reflects the insight it takes to bring essential truths into the light. Today, Percy the owl soars on their website and business cards.
From this perspective, the job sounds plum, right? But as I said before, there was a design problem.
Bringing Back the Knives
Shortly before I left Parisleaf, I saw an interaction between two agency owners on Twitter that grabbed my attention. One of them remarked that "The one thing they never tell you about starting a company is don't do it." The other wryly quipped, "You know that thing you love doing? Wouldn't it be great to manage people doing that?"
Oooh.
Granted, I wasn't an owner at Parisleaf, but I was part of the leadership team and that quip hit me square in the feels.
Running a business is a creative activity. Mentoring is creative. Creative direction – obviously. I love all of those things. Teaching people and watching them hone their chops over time – it's magical.
But what if you also love coming up with ideas and using your actual hands to bring them to life? What are you supposed to do if that love never fades, if authorship lives at the very center of your being? What if your interaction with the work is mainly reviewing other people's work, leaving you feeling like a penniless window shopper on Madison Avenue? You paint or write poetry on weekends, but that doesn't quite fill your cup. You studied graphic design (or English, or farming, or brain surgery) so you could do it, not graduate from it. You feel torn and inauthentic. Are you broken?
Imagine a chef whose first love is cooking, but eventually, she takes a job as a food critic. Let's pretend this is the typical path of advancement in the culinary world. In the early days, she apprentices for some gastronomic guru, works on the pastry line, opens her own bistro, sells it, then becomes the food editor of Garden & Gun. The story she tells herself is that she's being responsible. The travel perks! The shorter workdays! Food is still in the picture, even if that only includes consumption and critique. The writing is fine; everything's fine. Her knives still see occasional use for the odd dinner party or Sunday brunch.
And yet… and yet. She's always hungry. She doesn't know why.
As the head of a small team at Parisleaf, I often had to roll up my sleeves and pitch in. I was glad to do it. But I was rarely the project lead; that's not your typical creative director's job. A cd mentors the team, reviews work and shows it to clients. At bigger shops, they never design or write at all.
The model works for many agencies and in-house teams. But I came to realize it is not for me.
As I remember these hunger pangs and the desolate feeling of penniless window-shopping, I sense envious competition leaking through. Envy is wrong and toxic, especially when it directly affects the people you're supposed to lead and inspire. Envy fosters discontentment and resentment. But if we notice the desire that stirs envy, we may discover that we're fighting against the good and wholesome parts of our nature. Sometimes the best way to battle our demons is to lay down our arms.
If and when Steel Brothers grows to the point of hiring a select few full-time creatives, we'll operate like the city-states of ancient Greece: a small fellowship of largely autonomous, senior-level makers. My name may be on the door, but I'll be just another monk in the monastery, drawing leviathans in the margins and helping clients figure out how to communicate in a world that won't stop yelling.
In my last months as an employee, I came to terms with three things.
I was made for independence. I have a vision for the kind of place where I can do my best work, and it doesn't include having a boss. And at the same time, having a trusted partner means greater focus, going farther and staying clear of self-absorption.
I need simplicity. You wouldn't know it from the gabby yarns I spin, but this value is a vital corrective. Take one pill a day for the next five decades and call me in the afterlife, says the doctor. Do more with less, as I've told the team at Parisleaf. Simplify, says Thoreau. Stop gibbering, says you. Simple is elegant. Simple is really freaking hard.
It's okay if I, if you, if anyone doesn't fit someone else's definition of creative director, marketing director, cmo, ceo. If that's true, don't send yourself back to the factory or put your pencils into storage. Make your own damn mold. Serve and lead people from that place.
Jon and I are very different, thank goodness. But the differences are complementary, and our common principles of authenticity, grit, independence and simplicity will anchor us "in any weather," as the Florida fight song goes.
When we moved to the Sunshine State in 2016, I thought the entrepreneur in me had gone tits up. Whether that guy was deceased or merely comatose, he's awake and roaring today. He isn't broken and he isn't alone. And if any of these words resonate with you, then take that as hard proof that you are not alone, either.
I'm grateful to | 2,752 |
This is a story about Waikawa, Southland between 1887 and 1893.
When you start writing about a place and a time far removed it's tempting to be distracted by incidents: by shipwrecks, and sawmills; local dances and balls; court proceedings, or the body of a man found washed up on the flats. But it's not those things which are crucial to understanding: it's something else. Something earlier.
What really comes to define a place in a colonised country is that time when someone came to that area with some paper, and a pen and the equipment required to complete a surveyor's map.
With that person came the impulses and skills of a particular culture. Out of that map of Waikawa would come plots of land for sale, and then countless short reports in local newspapers about the transfer, for cash, of the newly divided plots of land from one party to another. It's that map that explains shipwrecks, and sawmills; local dances and balls; court proceedings, and the body of a man found washed up on the flats. As with most things in history, what shapes the architecture of our lives is hidden in plain sight in the most drab news items and documents.
Surveyor's maps are a great violence to nature, and to all un-industrialised minds. They put straight lines across a world where no such lines exist and call it order. Which is what makes them pleasing to the industrialised mind. To that mind they give a sense of control over what has been uncontrollable. That type of mind takes the chaotic turn of a river – which is not chaotic but obeys another law – and grids it off. Having demarcated the land as a resource it can have materials extracted from it, planted on it. Jetty, road, railway: they can follow. Shops. Schools. Churches<|fim_middle|>nuku, and the story of world they both inhabit.
Chart: Map of Otata, Waikawa & parts of Toetoes & Tautuku survey district, drawn by W. Deverell, April 1899.
[ 2] News of the Week. Otago Witness, Issue 1052, 27 January 1872, p.14.
Because I am not a religious person and because it is a fairly simple idea I do not find Darwin's theory on the origin of species through natural selection particularly hard to accept. Mostly I prefer scientific explanations to other kinds of explanations when it comes to my concrete understanding of how things work. Of course that's not the problem. Eleanor did not ask me how my father died, she asked me why. And so we are back to why, and here things remain uncertain.
To me it seems that religion is helpful around why, and unhelpful around how we happen to be here. Science has it the other way round.
That is what is so alien about evolution to those who prefer a religious explanation of life. When two religions clash they clash over who has it right about the point of life, and the right actions to undertake to serve that point. Evolution on the other hand is pointless, and doesn't tell you how to live. If you are looking for a more meaningful answer to the meaning of life than "to pass on our DNA" you had better not become a scientist.
To pass on our DNA.
Looking at your existence this way life would be pretty f**king awful and depressing. We had better think of something else.
The something else probably leads us back to Eleanor's question: "Why do people die and why do people suffer?" Darwin and Dawkins have an explanation. Suffering's use to us as a species is that it generates sympathy in the human heart, the desire to put a gentle hand on the shoulder of another, and sympathy is one of the cornerstones of community – something that binds people together. Community is important for humans because it makes us smarter, we learn to communicate and share ideas, and our chances of survival go up. Of course an ancient, instinctual source of sympathy (other than feeling bad for your mate when he gets eaten by a sabre tooth tiger) comes from the need of a parent to nurture their helpless child.
Here is my Dad standing with his class a long, long time ago. They look like a lively bunch of kids. Half of them are grinning with teeth too big for their mouths, and they seem barely able to contain their joy somehow. The little character clutching the sign has cow lick hair, and his mate to the right is sitting up very proud and serious. Who knows where life took them. One or two might remember their teacher that year, but I suppose it's unlikely.
Teaching didn't work out for my Dad.
A few years ago my Dad's sister told me something that surprised me. She said that my father had always thought when he was a teacher that you should treat children with love, and that he couldn't adjust himself to the idea of corporal punishment. I suspect this may have been at odds with the prevailing attitude in Otago in the 1950s.
It made me quite sad to hear this. Sad because I would have liked to ask him about it. I suppose that sadness was a kind of suffering. Not the kind that is worth much notice in a world of enormous pain; just the fleeting, small bump of regret that passes through the human heart sometimes. If it serves any purpose it might be to bind me a little closer to my mother, my wife and my child. It reminds me that I must introduce Eleanor to my Dad, and tell her about him as she gets older, because he would have liked to know her, and it reminds me again about the importance of love in a life, and in the interactions of people.
So I come back again to the words of Robert Kennedy on the death of Martin Luther King. These words are not much consolation for loss, but they are something. They are something to hold up against the question why, and something to teach my classes at school.
But we can perhaps remember – even if only for a time – that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short movement of life, that they seek – as we do – nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can. | and halls.
Think of it this way: the universe is a chicken. To serve the chicken we can 'order' it with our blade in different ways. We can cut it in the way of an Asian, or in the way of a European. With a cleaver or a knife. Including the bone or avoiding it. Suddenly seeing the world as a survey map is like being shown the way the British carve a roast after years of chopping like the Chinese. Everything seems to be going the wrong way; but there are only ways and they are neither right nor wrong. And, of course, there is the chicken itself which does not understand itself as food.
The rules that underpin the complex but comprehensible systems of nature make another kind of sense of Waikawa; are another way to order things. Yet an imaginary line through a creek, across a hill, bisecting a tree can unleash in the minds of men who believe in those lines hot words, fists, and lead. Lines that the bird, the fish, and the wind do not accept.
…and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Or we could see Papatūānuku as the Māori saw it. As nodes of seasonal resources governed by the moon and connected to groups of people. As groups of people connected to land and each other by relationships and history. Like a net thrown loosely across the land and the sea; bunched in some places, spread in others, with – in areas – the layers of other nets underneath and above.
The coloniser's history of a place begins with the map. That is not wrong. It is a place to start. One of many. It may be fairer to existence though to start the history of an area in multiple arbitrary places, and follow the network of the events that constitute different stories. There are three suggestions above for how to proceed: the story of the people of the map, the story of the people of Papatūā | 445 |
In mathematical logic, a proof calculus or a proof system is built<|fim_middle|> in syllogisms, carried out under the aegis of term logic.
Gottlob Frege's two-dimensional notation of the Begriffsschrift (1879) is usually regarded as introducing the modern concept of quantifier to logic.
C.S. Peirce's existential graph easily might have been seminal, had history worked out differently.
Modern research in logic teems with rival proof calculi:
Several systems have been proposed that replace the usual textual syntax with some graphical syntax. proof nets and cirquent calculus are among such systems.
Recently, many logicians interested in structural proof theory have proposed calculi with deep inference, for instance display logic, hypersequents, the calculus of structures, and bunched implication.
See also
Propositional proof system
Proof nets
Cirquent calculus
Calculus of structures
Formal proof
Method of analytic tableaux
Resolution (logic)
References
Proof theory
Logical calculi | to prove statements.
Overview
A proof system includes the components:
Language: The set L of formulas admitted by the system, for example, propositional logic or first-order logic.
Rules of inference: List of rules that can be employed to prove theorems from axioms and theorems.
Axioms: Formulas in L assumed to be valid. All theorems are derived from axioms.
Usually a given proof calculus encompasses more than a single particular formal system, since many proof calculi are under-determined and can be used for radically different logics. For example, a paradigmatic case is the sequent calculus, which can be used to express the consequence relations of both intuitionistic logic and relevance logic. Thus, loosely speaking, a proof calculus is a template or design pattern, characterized by a certain style of formal inference, that may be specialized to produce specific formal systems, namely by specifying the actual inference rules for such a system. There is no consensus among logicians on how best to define the term.
Examples of proof calculi
The most widely known proof calculi are those classical calculi that are still in widespread use:
The class of Hilbert systems, of which the most famous example is the 1928 Hilbert–Ackermann system of first-order logic;
Gerhard Gentzen's calculus of natural deduction, which is the first formalism of structural proof theory, and which is the cornerstone of the formulae-as-types correspondence relating logic to functional programming;
Gentzen's sequent calculus, which is the most studied formalism of structural proof theory.
Many other proof calculi were, or might have been, seminal, but are not widely used today.
Aristotle's syllogistic calculus, presented in the Organon, readily admits formalisation. There is still some modern interest | 372 |
Not your typical Sunday service (Drive Day 37 minus 14 years) « "T<|fim_middle|> Drive: Searching for Lost Memories on the Pan American Highway. On sale now. Get yours through the buy-the-book links at the bottom of the landing page on my teresabrucebooks.com website or here or here. Like The Drive's Facebook page and tweet back at me @writerteresa.
This entry was posted in Mexico, travel. | eresaBruceBooks"
No cameras are allowed so I concentrate on my other four senses to commit this place to memory. The smell of pine straw hits first, when my eyes adjust to the darkness inside the San Juan de Chamula church. Then I get a whiff of wax, which makes sense when worshippers drip it onto the tiled floor to serve as a molten base for rings of candles. Women fan out what look like black fur skirts and gracefully sit in the center of the flickering rings. It's the perfect position for grabbing live chickens by their scrawny necks and dangling beaks inches from the heads of sleeping infants. Others pass whole eggs through the candle flames and give themselves gentle massages with the warmed shells. Men in thick wool vests strum guitars and burn torches of incense, streamers fluttering from their black hats. It's all watched over by traditional Catholic saints in glassed-off window alcoves, and suddenly, a busload of European tourists.
Their presence feels invasive so we slip out the back entrance. Our campground is about two hours away by foot. The Central American Handbook strongly advises against hiking through Zapatista-held villages, but the only roadblock we encounter is this group of kids demanding to be photographed: for cash.
Follow this bonus-material blog and ride along on a one-year road trip that inspired the memoir The | 275 |
Three Creeks Station is a family owned, working sheep property in the Flinders Ranges. It is located east of Cradock, South Australia. The owners Amanda and Simon Hilder are 4th and 5th generation graziers and 2016 saw them diversifying their business to include tourism. This has been their dream for many years..
Three Creeks has a secluded and relaxing environment that is<|fim_middle|> are lined with big old gums. When the wild flowers come it is a favourite time of year with many native species showing carpets of colour.
stay at Three Creeks between Easter and October. | quite unspoilt. It is also wild in parts with large hills running into each other to form many points of interest for campers, walkers and 4 wheel drive enthusiasts. The property has a number of natural springs scattered throughout the hills that have been very important for merino sheep grazing since the late 1800's. The hills are covered in spinifex and native pines, and the creeks | 85 |
Life science research is growing at an unprecedented rate. The advent of DNA sequencing and editing has created new fields of research, commercial products and applications. Progress in cell therapy and personalised medicine is driving the need for new approaches to research and manufacturing. The output of modern biolabs is scaling rapidly as manual processes give way to workflow automation. Synthetic biology has also emerged as a new field with great potential, driving the need for new molecular<|fim_middle|> to us about life sciences? | design tools and synthesis approaches. Our team works in these and other emerging application areas, inventing, developing and implementing effective commercial solutions.
Building on a long track record in life science instrumentation, we routinely design systems capable of meeting demanding biological and physical hardware requirements. Understanding the interplay between the fundamental biology of a process and the physical behaviour of a system is critical to successful development. Recognising this, we have built a tightly integrated team of biologists, physicists and engineers capable of optimising solutions with a very high degree of multi-disciplinary design complexity.
We have extensive labs and fabrication facilities, including a bio-MEMS lab. This allows us to rapidly prototype, iterate and validate the biological and physical aspects of system design. Beyond prototyping we have the capacity to scale to pre-production and transfer to manufacture.
TTP has also established an advanced molecular design capability, taking engineering to the molecular level with a view to achieving improved molecular or cellular recognition, reaction mechanisms and detection chemistries. We develop cutting-edge methodologies for diagnostic systems and can rapidly develop novel biomarker detection scaffolds for improved diagnostics, immunoassays and research tools.
Want to talk | 231 |
The Peirson Family be attempting the three peaks challenge 21st-2<|fim_middle|> very tough indeed!
Well done for even thinking of doing this Team Pierson. J+M.
Sorry I was a bit late guys. So proud of all of you. Well done!!
Good Luck to you all and well done.
Well done you lot - hope it goes well!
I hope you all make it to the end! | 2nd April. That is, they intend to climb the 3 tallest peaks in England, Scottland and Wales in 24hrs; Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon.
We have a week (yes, we are well known for our organisational skills and preparedness) to raise as much money as we can, for Grassroots, a charity we have supported for many years who provide food, education, medical care, and accommodation to children in India, Kenya, Romania and Tanzania.
Father Peirson's practice promises to match any funds raised to go to The White Helmets; volunteer rescue workers entering bomb sites in Syria to rescue anyone they can from the rubble, so go big!
Well done Peirsons - an epic achievement!
Congratulations - | 157 |
One of the people who was instrumental in getting the original Star Wars film made in 19<|fim_middle|> was an honor to have worked with him & I know I am better man just for having known him".
Lucasfilm also released a statement on StarWars.com eulogizing Kurtz, which you can read here.
I am truly saddened to hear of his passing. Back in the summer of 1980, I was in Boston for the World-Con and I was lucky to meet and talk to him about production on The Empire Strikes Back. He was a good person and very open to talk at that point. So sorry to hear this. | 77 has passed away. Gary Kurtz, who served as producer on Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) died yesterday after a battle with cancer. In addition to his work on Star Wars, Kurtz also produced American Graffiti (1973), The Dark Crystal (1982), and Return to Oz (1985). Kurtz was 78.
The importance of Kurtz's contributions to the early days of Star Wars cannot be understated, as he worked closely with George Lucas as they struggled to get their strange little science-fiction movie made. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
Peter Mayhew, who portrayed Chewbacca in the Original Trilogy was first to tweet his condolensces to the Kurtz family this morning, saying, "RIP Gary Kurtz. A great filmmaker and man has just passed. Without him there would have been no "force". You will be remembered in the incredible films you made that touched the lives of millions."
Luke Skywalker actor, Mark Hamill, also sent out a tweet about Kurtz, which read, "I've lost a lifelong friend. The world has lost a kind, wise, multi-talented artist & filmmaker whose contributions to cinema cannot be overstated. It | 270 |
Kylee Phillips
Kylee Phillips is a pop/folk singer, pianist and songwriter from Plymouth, Michigan. Since beginning her "professional" music career at the young age of 14, Kylee has built<|fim_middle|> words, "I've gone through times in my life when playing music didn't seem practical or realistic and I tried to pretend like I could get by without it, but it always made me feel like I was sitting on a shelf collecting dust, like I was wasting the best tool I've been given. I finally came to the conclusion that whatever comes of it or doesn't, I'm just going to keep making music." | a loyal local following with her personal lyrics and intimate performance style, garnering comparisons to the likes of Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile. During her years at Wayne State University in Detroit she was afforded many unique performance opportunities, including several choral performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and appearing as a soloist in the premier of Russ Miller's jazz composition Suite Justice. She has also had the honor of performing as a soloist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Philharmonic and many other choral, orchestral and musical theater groups. All of these experiences have certainly shaped Kylee as a performer, but it is as a singer-songwriter that she truly shines.
Kylee's earliest memories of songwriting are at the age of 10 or so, writing words and melodies in her head. By the age of 14 she was able to put chords and instrumentation to those songs and begin to refine her craft. Now, as an adult, she finds herself looking at much of the world through the lens of a song. "When I started writing music I was mostly drawing on my own thoughts and experiences and that definitely still plays a role in the songs I write, but lately I've been looking at other people and situations and trying to tell stories that are bigger than just me and my life. The biggest compliment is when someone tells me, 'I hear myself in that song, it's so nice to know that someone else feels this way,' so I'm hoping that these songs will lend themselves to more of that."
Kylee has performed all over the state of Michigan, from her hometown of Plymouth to local music hot spots like Detroit and Ann Arbor performing with Vanessa Williams, Kris Allen, and The Proclaimers among others. Kylee has also had the pleasure of appearing on several Metro Detroit radio stations, including Ann Arbor's 107.1 where her sound was described as, "Absolutely modern… fresh, and really good," by Michigan radio DJ John Bommarito.
In her own | 407 |
You are here: Home › Boise State reverses course, will drop baseball
Boise State reverses course, will drop baseball
By Kevin Reichard on July 4, 2020 in College Baseball, News
After reviving its NCAA baseball program and making plans for a new on-campus ballpark, Boise State decided to eliminate baseball completely in the face of budget cuts at the Boise university.
The school is facing budget cuts as a result of reduced NCAA revenues and potential lost of income from the football and basketball programs due to coronavirus concerns, to the tune of $3 million. The school's swimming and diving programs will also be cut, with additional savings realized via department and program operating budget reductions.
Boise State announced in 2017 that it would launch a new baseball program in the 2020 season. It was initially believed that the university could<|fim_middle|>iming for 2021 Opening, Boise State Picks Ballpark Contractor; Boise State Refocusing on On-Campus Ballpark; Boise State Reconsiders Joining Hawks Ballpark Plan; Boise State to Play 2020 Season at Memorial Stadium; Boise State Will Not Open New Ballpark in 2020; Boise State Lands Properties Needed for New Ballpark; Boise State Gets Okay to Use Eminent Domain for Ballpark Project; Boise State Ballpark Planning Moves Forward; Boise State Ballpark Planning Underway; Boise State to Pursue On-Campus Ballpark; Boise State Making Plans for Baseball; Boise State Will Need to Spend More on Women's Sports to Add Baseball; Boise State to Add Baseball
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Boise State Broncos, Boise State University, ncaa, NCAA baseball
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Cleveland to reexamine Indians name, branding | share a proposed downtown ballpark with the Boise Hawks (short season A; Northwest League), but Boise State announced in October 2017 that it would instead pursue its own on-campus baseball facility, citing economic reasons. The university later acquired land near football's Albertstons Stadium for the facility, but announced in February that it would not open in 2020 as originally scheduled. The on-campus ballpark had progressed to the point where a general contractor for the project was named.
"This is one of the hardest decisions athletic departments have to make, but it comes at a time when we are facing the most serious financial challenge we have ever seen," said Athletic Director Curt Apsey in a press statement. "Times like these are difficult for many people and we appreciate everyone who has supported these programs over the years, including our coaches, current and former student-athletes, donors and fans. We take all these measures seriously, knowing that the long-term stability of our department must remain a high priority."
"Today's decision came after an extensive review and in-depth analysis of the athletics department's budgets and programs by several senior leaders," Boise State President Dr. Marlene Tromp said in a press statement. "The university had already been working closely with athletics to create a sustainable budget. The pandemic has made a challenging financial situation unsustainable. Ultimately, the reduction of the number of sports in which we compete allows Boise State a better chance of remaining competitive at the highest level and provides a more realistic roadmap to a sustainable future for the University and athletic department."
RELATED STORIES: A | 317 |
Parc Andre-Citroen is a blooming public park located on the left bank of the river Seine<|fim_middle|> closing at 5pm is no use in Queuing... visit the Park to compensate without any interest.
Beautifully modern and minimalistic park, it could have been designed by IKEA designers. A lot of greens and places for kids to spend their energy. Also a top place for wedding pictures or Instagram pictures. The Sunday is packed with families with the kids playing around, joggers going around. There is a lot of places to sit and enjoy the views. The public toilets are clean and there is a drinkable water fountain. A restaurant serving snacks at the entrance in front of the hospital. | . If you're looking to get away from the bustle of the city, try this verdant haven, embellished with two greenhouse pavilions that host exotic plants and Mediterranean vegetation, and are separated by running fountains.
As you venture to the southern part of the park, you'll find a monumental canal, the "Jardin des Métamorphoses", composed of an elevated reflecting pool. Head to the northern side for the six "Serial Gardens", each with a distinct landscape and architectural design, and a "Garden in Movement" that presents wild grasses selected to respond at different rates to wind velocity. Add Parc Andre-Citroen and other attractions to your Paris trip itinerary using our Paris road trip app .
The Parc de la Villette is exuberanter, even more vivid-nevertheless, give me but Parc André Citroen to stroll in around. Nice!
Arriving at 3.30 pm to get into the balloon, we are told that | 202 |
Reading: The Places Where We Lived
by Healah Riazi The Garage
Every HighTide production and play reading starts life as a commission, and we find our writers through an annual programme called First Commissions. We work with 6 writers who are paired with our Associate Artists to develop an idea from conception to full production - two of which are produced for performance at a HighTide Festival.
HighTide First Commissions presents a reading of The Places Where We Lived by Healah Riazi.
Saman is eighteen and has just been refused asylum. Cam's estate is about to be knocked down. Sharon works at the Home Office and is starting to crack.
A play about displacement and identity. The Places Where We Lived intersperse three monologues to explore what happens when people are pushed to the edge in a changing city landscape and ask who<|fim_middle|>HighTide Festival Aldeburgh 2017 Friday 15th September Book tickets
Healah Riazi Writer
Healah is a playwright from London who has spent the previous five years working with refugees as an advisor - helping people settle in the UK. Her first play was shortlisted for Soho Theatre's Young Writers' Award in 2014 and she has had short plays performed at Tristan Bates Theatre, Camden People's Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre and RichMix Cinema. The play she would like to write is as yet untitled but will focus on two people - a 25 year old Afghan asylum seeker, and a British mother and son living in a soon to be demolished estate. The play seeks to give a voice to the lesser explored view of the refugee crisis, looking at who is left behind and what might happen to an entire, young undocumented generation who may go underground in their search for a new life - unable to seek asylum through conventional routes. | is left behind.
Healah is a playwright from London who has spent the previous five years working with refugees as an advisor - helping people settle in the UK. Her first play was shortlisted for Soho Theatre's Young Writers' Award in 2014 and she has had short plays performed at Tristan Bates Theatre, Camden People's Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre and RichMix Cinema.
Running time: 1 h 10m
| 90 |
First Oxford India Lecture highlights role of 'smart health' in improving access to healthcare
Solving the large challenges facing healthcare systems around the world will require a huge shift in the way care for patients is provided, Professor Robyn Norton said in the first Oxford India Lecture on Monday 15 September.
Professor Robyn Norton is Principal Director of The George Institute for Global Health and James Martin Professorial Fellow at the University of Oxford.
This is the first time the University of Oxford has organised such an event in India, and is only the second time it has done so outside the UK following last year's Oxford China Lecture in Shanghai. It reflects the strong ties the University has in India, particularly through world-class partnerships with many Indian research institutions.
Professor Norton's lecture, 'Mobilising healthcare: harnessing science, technology and entrepreneurship', for an invited audience was introduced by the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Professor Andrew Hamilton.
Professor Andrew Hamilton said: 'We are delighted to be holding the first Oxford India Lecture in New Delhi. We want to celebrate the many links between Oxford and India that have existed for many years. Indeed, the large number of research partnerships that exist between Indian institutions and Oxford University is likely to surprise many people.
'It is through top researchers working together across the world that we are most likely to gain insight and new knowledge in many of the challenges facing us in the 21st century. How best we deliver healthcare affordably to a global population facing increasing rates of common diseases like cancer, diabetes, dementia and heart disease is certainly one such challenge.'
Professor Norton believes that the transformative change needed in healthcare – the UK, in India and globally – will need to harness science, technology and entrepreneurship, and be based on the best medical evidence.
She used her lecture to look at how technology, together with cutting edge research and expertise from business, can ensure that many more people can access decent healthcare in the years to come. She gave a number of examples of medical research taking place in India through Oxford-India research partnerships and through the work of the George Institute for Global Health.
'Currently 5 of 7 billion people on the planet do not have access to<|fim_middle|> to know that health outcomes using new technologies are as good or better than what went before. We need to know how patients and doctors will use the technologies, and how new systems can be implemented.'
Professor Robyn Norton AO
Principal Director, The George Institute for Global Health
K Krishnaswamy
kkrishnaswamy@georgeinstitute.org.in
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Preview: Oxford India Lecture 2014 | safe, effective and affordable healthcare,' said Professor Norton. 'Transformative change is required if the healthcare needs of the world are to be met. Healthcare services must move away from their reliance on expensive hospital care to a greater focus on primary care and preventive health services. Patients and populations must also be more actively engaged in their healthcare, and mobile technologies will be part of the solution.'
In the UK, there is increasing demand for care but also increasing pressures on the NHS's finances, coupled with a need to move away from hospitals to care provided in people's homes and communities. In India, there is a great challenge for healthcare systems and infrastructure to achieve universal health access, reach large rural areas, and cater for the growing middle classes without the increase in health spend breaking the bank.
'Both countries face a similar problem for different reasons,' said Professor Norton. 'They both need to move to affordable new systems capable of satisfying growing healthcare demands. This is where we see technology having a huge amount to offer.'
'Mobile phone ownership in India means they have more reach than the health infrastructure,' Professor Norton pointed out. 'Even if individuals don't have a phone, someone will have in any village.'
Digital and mobile phone technologies can help in diagnosing patients with disease or at high risk of disease, increase the role of healthcare workers other than doctors in clinical decision making, and enable patients to monitor their own condition or manage their own treatment.
One example is a 'smart health' project being trialled in India by The George Institute for Global Health, with the support of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Oxford University. Health workers in rural areas are being trained to use a smartphone programmed with custom-designed software, to help them identify and manage people with heart problems.
Evidence-based guidelines for heart disease have been incorporated to enable health workers to obtain the right information from patients about their symptoms, to then determine the condition an individual has, and then to assist them in determining the way treatment should be provided. The system also allows doctors centrally to monitor the decisions being made.
The research is showing that the lower-level health workers in the field are identifying health problems and recommending the best treatments equivalently to highly-trained doctors in more well-equipped clinics.
With there being many times fewer doctors per head of population in India than in the UK, approaches like this could make a significant difference in improving access to the best healthcare.
Professor Norton said: 'Science has to underpin all of this. We need | 496 |
Home » Features » ALL IN GOOD FUN
ALL IN GOOD FUN
Bess Rogers talks EPs, Lilith Fair memories and more
Posted on September 7, 2010 by medleyville in Features // 0 Comments
There's no need to be scared or suspicious if you see a young woman playing a crappy ukulele as she makes her way around New York: That's just singer/songwriter Bess Rogers working on new material.
"I have definitely gotten some confused and possibly frightened looks from other drivers," she says. "I tend to write a lot while I'm in the car or on public transportation, so I'm sure people look at me zoning out into space and assume that I'm on drugs or something."
Writing songs on a ukulele — or coming up with a song's lyrics and arrangement before even touching an instrument — is a byproduct of Rogers' constant touring over the past two years, both as a solo artist and as a supporting player. Recently, she spent some quality time on the road as a member of Ingrid Michaelson's backing band.
"Playing the Lilith Fair [with Michaelson] this summer was pretty surreal," Rogers recalls. "Everyone was so warm and welcoming, and we got to see and meet some incredible artists. During the<|fim_middle|> Sept. 10: Tin Angel — Philadelphia
* Sept. 11: Cafe Nola — Frederick, Md.
* Sept. 12: Southern Cafe & Music Hall — Charlottesville, Va.
* Sept. 14: Averett University — Danville, Va.
* Sept. 15: The Garage at Biltmore — Asheville, N.C.
* Sept. 16: Evening Muse — Charlotte, N.C.
* Sept. 17: Smith's Olde Bar — Atlanta
* Sept. 18: Moonlight on the Mountain — Birmingham, Ala.
* Sept. 20: Third & Lindsley — Nashville, Tenn.
* Sept. 21: Birdy's — Indianapolis
* Sept. 23: Elbo Room — Chicago | encore, everyone who played was invited onstage for a version of 'Because the Night.' I found myself standing with one arm around Emmylou Harris and the other around Nancy Wilson. I'm surprised I didn't pee in my pants."
Rogers began a tour this month in support of her latest solo EP, the pop-flavored Bess Rogers Presents Bess Rogers.
"Being on the road so much has left me with little time to record, and making EPs enables me to get music out faster and more regularly," she explains. "I felt the response to [2009's] Travel Back was good, and I didn't want fans to have to wait two years before I put out a full-length. I do plan on recording an LP this winter while I have some time off."
And as if she doesn't already have enough to do, Rogers also finds time to play in a country/bluegrass cover band called The Flux Capacitors.
"We strive to cover mostly big hits from the '80s," she says. "I like to see people laughing and singing along, so we really don't go for the super-obscure songs. Some of my favorites are [Def Leppard's] 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' — which I will be playing at a lot of my shows this fall — [Robert Palmer's] 'Addicted to Love,' [Prince's] '1999' and [Twisted Sister's] 'We're Not Gonna Take It.' "
— By Chris M. Junior
Bess Rogers on tour (schedule subject to change):
* Sept. 8: The Saint -— Asbury Park, N.J.
* Sept. 9: NightCat — Easton, Md.
* | 357 |
Home Clubs Manchester United Man United have found their new Ronaldo – Ex-striker reveals
Man United have found their new Ronaldo – Ex-striker reveals
LIV 0-0 Man Utd: The Red Devils maintain the top spot on EPL table
Firmino plays mind-game with Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found Manchester United's next Cristiano Ronaldo in Mason Greenwood.
<|fim_middle|>Barcelona set to make an audacious bid for Chelsea star | That's according to former Red Devils forward Dimitar Berbatov, who says the youngster is so promising United don't need to sign another foward.
Greenwood started in United's 3-0 win over Brighton on Tuesday, and opened the scoring for the Red Devils in just the 16th minute.
He later turned provider when he set up Bruno Fernandes to score, after he played an inch-perfect chipped pass to his team-mate.
"His left foot is unbelievable along with his vision, I don't think many signings are needed to take United to that next level.
"They need to be really classy players to make the difference, someone who is going to be better than the current squad of players."
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was also full of praise for Greenwood following his performance against the Seagulls.
"He's getting better," he said. "You can see clearly that he's maturing and improving, he's only 18 still so we will see more from him.
"I've said it throughout the year that as long as we can get him faced up in and around the box he'll create chances for us but in this game his hold-up play and his link-up play and general movement was fantastic as well.
"It's great when he can go inside and outside, both to his left and right.
"He's a special talent, a special kid that we are going to look after, try to develop into a top top player.
"He's doing well now but he is still young and has things to learn. He knows that but we have a special talent there we have to nurture."
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer
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BREAKING: EPL Club Sacks Manager
| 417 |
"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns… Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord<|fim_middle|> for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. | our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure' — | 53 |
Some of the best names in Italian furniture design; Minotti, Rimadesio, Matteograssi, Pellizzoni leather, Gallotti & Radice, Foscarini, and more can all be found in Miami's Design District at the Abitare-Minotti showroom. This is the only place in addition to Milan, Italy where enthusiasts of fine Italian contemporary furniture can find this six thousand-square-foot space. Many of the brands have exclusive agreements with Abitare-Minotti, therefore the showroom is the only place to find some of the brands in Florida, and in some cases, all of the United States.
Nicola Belletti, owner of Abitare-Minotti, grew up learning about the Italian furniture business. His grandfather was recognized as one of the pioneers of Italian modern design style in home decoration. His Italian Company was founded in 1937, and in the early 1960s<|fim_middle|> introducing modern home design to people that had grown tired of the traditional look of old European decorative furniture.
In 1997, after studying architecture at schools in Florence and Milan, Belletti decided to steer his family business in a new direction. In 1998, he opened his first store in Coral Gables. Two years later, due to an outgrowth in space, he moved his store to the Miami Design District. "Miami offered a new and exciting challenge, and the city has so much going for it. Not many places in the world can offer the climate that Miami has and not many places have such a rich environment, full of different cultures, languages and diverse people." This year, the showroom underwent an immense remodeling to showcase the fine Italian furnishings in artistic living spaces. "In our showroom, customers can really get a vision of what can be done in a residence, and how any space can be transformed. When a client walks in the door theycan see for themselves the kind of place they could be living in. Our most common comment from visitors is 'I could just live here. Can I move in?' " Says Belletti.
The experienced staff at Abitare-Minotti introduces ideas of design into each space, by putting together a total lifestyle to best suit individual tastes and needs. "We are here to help our clientele achieve a whole lifestyle, and to assist them in moving to the next level in designing their home." Abitare-Minotti is committed to creating a personal experience for its clients with its top-of-the-line service assistance including delivering, installing, and even setting up pieces. In 2008, Abitare set up a partnership with Italian coffee company Lavazza ensuring that each visitor receives a cup of coffee when they visit the showroom.
Minotti is a true trendsetter in the world of modern design furniture, and is one of the Showroom's most popular brands. "Made in Italy" is the essential component of the brand's identity. "Most of the time, the simple words Made in Italy are sufficient enough to explain the quality of the product," says Belletti. Minotti's products are craft-finished and combine tradition and technology to give its pieces a truly unique style. "In Italy, there are different levels of quality and design," explains Belletti. "This top-quality production level in Italy is unmatched." Other remarkable brands that can be found at Abitare-Minotti include Kitchens by MK Cucine, sliding glass systems and doors by Rimadesio, and hand-made leather furniture by Pellizzoni.
Abitare-Minotti also works with clientele who want to create custom pieces for their home. Whether they wish to add just one piece of furniture to an already existing décor or complete renovation is requested, Abitare-Minotti designs modern interiors that exemplify living the ultimate, Italian luxury lifestyle. | was one of the first to import furniture from Denmark, | 11 |
328 pages; 6" x 9"
This important book includes a compelling selection of original essays on euthanasia and associated legislative and health-care issues, together with important background material for understanding and assessing the arguments of these essays. The book explores a central strand in the debate over medically assisted death, the so called "slippery slope" argument. The focus of the book is on one particularly important aspect of the downward slope of this argument: hastening the<|fim_middle|> | death of those individuals who appear to be suffering greatly from their medical condition but are unable to request that we do anything about that suffering because of their diminished mental capacities. Slippery-slope concerns have been raised in many countries, including Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. This book concentrates most of its attention on the latter two countries.
Voluntary and Nonvoluntary Euthanasia: Is There Really a Slippery Slope?
Michael Stingl is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta. | 109 |
CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE ROYAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CORNWALL
1. NAME : The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (hereafter referred to as The Society)
2. STATUS : The Society founded 11th February 1814 is a Registered Charity,No.231501. It is affiliated to The Geologists' Association.
3. OBJECTIVES The Society will, on its own or in partnership with other bodies, seek: a) to promote the study of geology and related earth sciences for its members via lectures, meetings, field visits or other means. b) to promote knowledge of and respect for Cornwall's geological and related heritage. c)to improve access to and the conservation and study of selected geological sites. d) to publish and broadcast geological and related knowledge and ideas through all suitable mediums. e) to create and manage a geological collection and library in Cornwall open to the public. It will work for accreditation with the appropriate official body. f) to encourage a responsible attitude to the collection of specimens and respect for geological sites with due regard to landowners' rights.
4.ORGANISATION The Society shall consist of a Council, Honorary Members, Life Members, Corporate and Supporting Bodies, Members and Joint Members.
5.HOLDING TRUSTEES a) The Society's capital assets shall be vested in the names of three Holding Trustees, who must be members of The Society. They shall be appointed for a three-year period and embodied in a Deed of Trust. Replacements within a three-year period shall be by a Special General Meeting. b) The Holding Trustees shall act in accordance with the Deed of Trust and lawful directions of the Council.
6.OFFICERS. GENERAL a) Lawful Direction of the Meetings: the President is required to keep order; check irregularities in the proceedings of the meetings: to state every question in putting it to the vote, according to the true intent of the proposer and seconder: to declare truly to the meeting how every question has been decided; to ensure that minutes are taken of the proceedings during their progress and when the minutes of the former meeting have been confirmed as a true record to sign them. b) The Officers of The Society shall act in accordance with the Lawful Directions of the Council and the Society. c) The President be elected to serve for a maximum of three years but may then not be re-elected as President for a further three years, although s/he may be elected to another post. The President shall chair all Society Meetings. S/he shall have one vote as a member and in the event of a tie a casting vote<|fim_middle|> Council and other eligible members of the Society) to be specific Officers exceeds one or in the case of members of the Council exceeds four, a vote shall be taken to elect those needed. c)The procedure, method of voting, minutes etc shall be the same as Council Meetings clause 10(h) except that the meeting may not discuss or decide business unless 20 per cent or more members are present. d)The members assembled in an Annual or Special General Meeting may require Council to examine and report on special matters, scientific or otherwise, relating to the objects or concerns of the Society. e) The Annual General Meeting will set the date for the next Annual General Meeting. Notices of Motions to be submitted at least 28 days before the Annual General Meeting. The relevant papers to be sent out by the Secretary 21 days before the Annual General Meeting. f) When it is intended to propose, alter or repeal the Constitution and Rules, written notice to that effect must be delivered to the Secretary four weeks before the final Council Meeting and details of all proposed alterations shall be included with the agenda and sent to all members.
19.SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING. a) Special General Meetings of members shall be held as there may be occasion for the purpose of considering special matters of concern to the Society. b) A Special General Meeting shall be convened by the President to consider any matters of urgency affecting the Society or on requisition signed by not less than 10per cent of the membership and sent to the Secretary specifying the business which they desire to bring before the meeting, which shall be held within one month. c)The quorum for the Special General Meeting is 20 per cent of the paid membership. If a quorum is not present within half an hour of the due time the meeting shall be adjourned and reconvened with at least 7 clear days' notice. If then there is still no quorum within 15 minutes the meeting shall proceed. Decisions as agreed at the meeting will not be ratified until a Special General Meeting or the next Annual General Meeting. d) In the event of the death or resignation of the President a Special General Meeting shall be held within two months for the purpose of filling the vacancy. e) Not less than two weeks' notice shall be given to every member of the date, time and object of every Special Meeting. f) The procedure, method of voting, minutes etc, shall be the same as for the Annual General Meeting (clause 18c). g) In the absence of all Council members, the proceedings and decisions of such a meeting must be submitted to the President and Council for agreement before becoming effective.
20.ORDINARY GENERAL MEETINGS a) shall be held as often as the Council shall decide. A programme of meetings and events shall be sent to all members with the Annual General Meeting papers and posted on the Society's website. b) The quorum for the General Meetings is 20 per cent of the paid membership. If a quorum is not present within half an hour of the due time the meeting shall be adjourned and reconvened with at least seven clear days' notice. If then there is still no quorum within 15minutes the meeting shall proceed. Decisions will not be ratified until a Special General Meeting or the next Annual General Meeting. c) In the absence of the President, a member of the Council shall be appointed Chairman for the occasion. d) At these meetings any presentations made to the Society may be exhibited. e) Persons not members of the Society may be introduced by Members and be present at these meetings and take part in the discussions.
21. PUBLICITY - WEBSITE a) The website shall inform the public of dates and venue of meetings and field trips. b) It should serve as a link with other likeminded Societies. c) It shall include the Constitution and Approved Minutes of the Society, Application Forms and Nomination Forms which can be downloaded. (Go to 'Become a Member of the RGSC' for the forms)
22.TRANSACTIONS a) Every paper communicated to and published by the Society shall be deemed the property of the Society, which shall hold the copyright thereof. b) Papers read or submitted to the Society may be published after refereeing, under the title of "Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall." c) The consideration of papers to be selected for publication and the form in which they shall be published may be referred to the Council for a final decision.
23.PUBLICATIONS a) One copy of the Transactions shall be available to all Members listed at the time of publication. b)The prices of back copies of the Transactions and other publications shall be fixed by the Council.
24.AWARDS Medals and Certificates of Merit. a) The 'William Bolitho' Gold (or silver gilt) Medal may be awarded annually" to such member(s) of the Society, whether Honorary, Life, Ordinary or Associate, whose attainments, labours and discoveries in Geological Science shall in the opinion of the President and Council of the Society best deserve recognition". The medal may be awarded more than once to the same individual. b) The 'William Bolitho' Silver Medal may be awarded annually to a member(s) under the age of 25 who has presented the best and most original paper of Geological interest to the Society. c) The 'Hosking' Bronze Medal may be awarded annually to a person under the age of 21 who has presented the best paper with an interest in Geology or other related subject. d) The Society's Certificate of Merit may be awarded annually to a person(s)under the age of 17 who has presented the best paper with an interest in Geology or other related subject. e) All papers submitted for an award shall be assessed by a judging panel nominated by the Council and if found suitable the Council shall propose the granting of the award to be made at the Annual General Meeting. f) The Council reserves the right not to make an award if the papers submitted are of insufficient merit.
25.DISSOLVING THE SOCIETY If the Council decides that it is necessary or advisable to dissolve the Society the Council Members will remain in office as Charity Trustees and be responsible for winding up the affairs of the Society. It shall call a Special General Meeting of the Society giving at least 21 days' notice, stating the terms of the resolution to be proposed for the entire membership. The proposal must be confirmed by a two thirds majority of those present and voting. The Council Members must collect in all the assets of the Charity and must pay or make provision for all the liabilities of the Charity. The Council must apply any remaining property or money: a) directly for the objects. b) by transfer to any Charity or Charities for purposes the same as or similar to the Charity. c) in such other manner as the Charity Commission for England and Wales (the commission) may approve in writing in advance.
The members may pass a resolution before or at the same time as the resolution to dissolve the Charity specifying the manner in which the Council Members are to apply the remaining property or assets of the Charity and the Council Members must comply with the resolution if it is consistent with the above paragraphs. In no circumstances shall the nett assets of the Charity be paid to or distributed among the members of the Charity (except to a member that is itself a charity).The Council Members must notify the Commission promptly that the Charity has been dissolved. If the Council Members are obliged to send the Charity's accounts to the Commission for the accounting period which ended before its dissolution, they must send the Commission the final accounts. | . d)The Secretary shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. S/he shall attend all meetings of the Council, send out calling notices for meetings, take minutes of such meetings. S/he shall receive correspondence which shall be forwarded or scanned and forwarded to each Council Member and reply as decided by the Council again with copies being circulated to the Council. S/he shall present reports to Council, Annual General and Special General Meetings. Calling notices and other communications shall be equally valid whether forwarded electronically or on paper. Hard copies of agendas, minutes, discussion papers, official correspondence, bills, receipts and commissioned reports shall be kept at the appropriate archives. e) The Treasurer shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting. S/he shall keep the accounts in compliance with The Society, Charity Commission and national regulations ruling at the time and advise Council on budgets, investments etc. Accounts to be presented as required by the Council, Annual General Meeting and Special General Meeting. e) Accounts to be prepared Annually in accordance with the current accounting requirements of the Charities Act 1993(as amended)and regulations made under part VI and be presented to the Annual General Meeting. The annual accounts will be audited by an independent person who is not a member of the Society, (if the income or expenditure exceeds limits set down in the said Regulations of the Charities Act 1993./Charity Commission. The financial year shall run from 1st April to 31st March in the following year. e) Following the Annual General Meeting the Council will set a limit on the expenditure that can be spent without prior approval from the Council. e) General expenses up to a limit set by the Council can be delegated by the three Officers.
7.OTHER APPOINTMENTS Membership Secretary a) The Membership Secretary shall be appointed by the Council. S/he may or not be a Council Member. S/he shall maintain an up to date register of members according to the Data protection Act 1998 and subsequent amendments, pass on all monies received to the Treasurer, a current copy of our constitution will be provided on the website b) The Membership Secretary shall provide Membership Lists on request of the President, Treasurer and Secretary and report as required to the Council.
8.WEBMASTER. a) The web-master shall be appointed by the Council and shall maintain and keep up to date information and links on the Society's website. b) Ensure all passwords are stored securely and confidentially on behalf of the Society. c) To report as required to the Council.
9. OTHER POSITIONS An events' secretary, Editor, Librarian, Curator, Shop Manager, and any other appointments that might be required to be appointed if needed by the Council. These posts may be held by Council Members but shall not in themselves entitle a person to sit on the Council. They will report as required to the Council.
10.MANAGEMENT. a) The Council runs the day to day affairs of the Society and is responsible for the Society's properties within policies set by the membership. Major accessions or disposals or major changes in the Society's objectives to be subject to membership agreement at the Annual General Meeting or exceptionally at Special General Meetings. b) The Council shall consist of the Officers of the Society and four eligible members of the Society. c) The Council shall normally meet at least three times a year, one meeting to be in October/ November to decide upon Annual General Meeting Paperwork. Dates and locations shall be set at the first meeting after the Annual General Meeting. d) A Special General Meeting may be called by the Council or convened by the Council if 10 per cent of the membership request it with 21 days' notice and discussion restricted to the specified topic(s). e) The quorum of the Council Meetings is four. If a quorum is not present within half an hour of the due time the meeting shall be adjourned and reconvened with at least seven clear days' notice. If then there is still no quorum within 15 minutes, the meeting shall proceed. Decisions shall not be ratified until a full meeting of the Council. f) When any Council Meeting is to be held the Secretary shall notify every member of the Council not less than two weeks prior to the date of such meeting stating the business to be brought before that meeting. No adjourned meeting shall discuss new business. g) In the absence of the President a member of the Council shall be appointed Chairman for the occasion. h) The method of voting shall be by show of hands or by ballot and the decisions of the majority shall be the decision of the meeting. When votes for and against are equal, the Chairman shall have a casting vote. i) The Council may co-opt additional members to fill necessary needs to make quorate decisions, provided that at no time the number of co-opted members exceeds one third of the Council. Such co-options to end or be confirmed at the next Annual General Meeting. j) With the exception of the President, all members of the Council shall be re-elected on an annual basis at the Annual General Meeting.
11.GENERAL a) Insurance; The Society will cover its members for meetings and field visits organised as part of the Society's official events programme. All children under 16 years of age attending events and accompanied by a parent or guardian who are members of the Society are covered by the insurance policy. b) The Income and Property of the Society shall be applied solely towards the promotion of its objectives. None of the income or property of the Society shall be paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend bonus or otherwise by way of profit to any member of the Society. Expenses may be reimbursed as agreed by the Council. c) A member, not being a Council Member, may tender for works or services for the Society and be reimbursed from Society funds against an invoice. d) The Society may purchase indemnity insurance for the Council Members against any liability that by virtue of any rule of law would otherwise attach to a Council Member or other officer in respect of any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust of which he or she may be guilty in relation to the Society but excluding fines, costs of unsuccessful defence against criminal prosecution arising out of the fraud, dishonesty or wilful or reckless misconduct of the Council Member or other officer or liabilities to the Society that result from conduct that the Council Member or other officer knew or ought to have known was not in the best interests of the Society.
12. CATEGORIES OF MEMBERSHIP a) ORDINARY MEMBERSHIP is open to any interested person over the age of 16 interested in earth sciences. No person under the age of 16 may become a member but may attend ordinary meetings or events if accompanied and transported by a parent or guardian who is an existing member. b) HONORARY MEMBERSHIP may be conferred out of esteem for advancing the cause or study of geology or of the Society. Their election to be confirmed at the Annual General Meeting. c) Honorary Members are elected for Life and shall be exempt from payment of any subscription. d) The mode of election shall the same as for admission of Ordinary Members. The Membership Secretary shall send to each Honorary Member on election a letter of confirmation and if not already a member of the Society, a copy of the Society's Constitution and Rules, a copy of the latest Transactions and the programme of meetings. e) CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP is open to all groups, societies, organisations, companies and educational establishments upon payment of the agreed subscription. One nominated representative may vote, but not be eligible for office. f) LIFE MEMBERSHIP is open to a member who pays a set multiple of the ordinary subscription. g) JOINT or FAMILY MEMBERSHIP shall be available for two or more members living at one address.
13. METHOD OF ADMISSION of corporate members, ordinary members. a) Every candidate for admission into the Society must complete an application form and submit to the Society. b) The Secretary shall forward the application for membership to a General or Council Meeting for notification.
14.TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP.A member may resign by writing to the Council. The Council may resolve to terminate membership but the member must have a letter sent by recorded delivery giving 28 days' notice of the meeting dealing with the matter so that the member, or if s/he chooses, a representative has an opportunity to respond. Failing a receipt of a reply within two months or any unsatisfactory reply the Council shall be empowered to remove the name of the member from the Society's register.
15. ANNUAL SUBSRIPTIONS a) The Annual subscription and life membership rates shall be such sums as the Council may recommend to the Annual General Meeting for approval. b) Subscriptions shall be payable on joining and thereafter on April 1st each year, or within six weeks of the Annual General meeting. c) Members in arrears may not vote or stand for election. Members in arrears after six months will be deemed lapsed.
Current membership to an Annual General Meeting will be checked on arrival. New Members must be accepted at least 28 days prior to the Annual General Meeting in order to vote.
16 RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERS. a) All paid up members have the right to be present, to state their opinions and to vote at all General Meetings of the Society, to nominate Officers and members for the Council, to introduce visitors to the Ordinary General Meetings and to the library and other rooms of the Society, to have access to the library at all reasonable times, subject to any regulations that may be decided by the Council to protect the Society's property. b) All paid up members (except Corporate Members) are eligible as Officers and Members of the Council.
17.DATA PROTECTION ACT 2018 and the GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATIONS 2018. Members are advised that the personal information supplied by them shall be held in electronic and written form and kept securely in compliance with this legislation. Membership data is kept for the single purpose of providing Members with regular notices and publications of the Society. All membership data is kept securely and only authorised access to the Membership Secretary and President. NO PERSONAL DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE OR SHARED WITH ANYONE OR ANY MEMBERS. However, a list of Members' names only may be available within transactions. Membership of the Society shall be deemed to constitute a contract to the holding of relevant personal data in accordance with Data Protection legislation. Any person objecting to such data being held or wishing to examine their own personal data may do so in writing to the Secretary. Please see Privacy Notice.
18. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. a) The object of the meeting shall be to hear the President's address; to receive from the Council and Officers their annual reports: to elect the Officers and members of the Council for the ensuing year; to present awards; to appoint an independent person to audit the accounts. b) The Council shall recommend for the adoption of the meeting the names of persons to be President, Secretary, Treasurer, and members of the Council and an independent person (non-member) in accordance with Clause 6(e).ii. If the total number of persons proposed (by the | 2,306 |
MSP 501 Vanguard Award: Platte River Networks
Written by Edward Gately
Platte River Networks' Intuition Security+ platform fulfills 95-100% of most industry security requirements.
Three years ago, Platte River Networks decided to develop its own managed security platform after offering some security services to its customers, but not nearly enough to meet today's business requirements.
The arduous process resulted in its Intuition Security+ platform, which includes: single sign-on and multifactor authentication; internet monitoring, filtering and protection; security awareness training; enhanced network monitoring and management; corporate and user policy provisioning; and security operations center (SOC).
This effort has earned Platte River this year's Channel Futures MSP 501 Vanguard Award, which is bestowed on a company that demonstrates thought leadership in terms of digital transformation.
Platte River Networks' David DeCamillis
"We're always looking for new technology, not only to improve our service delivery and the customer experience, but also in helping our customers improve their technology to help grow their business," said David DeCamillis, Platte River's vice president of sales and marketing. "So digital transformation is definitely front of mind. In fact, we actually have five of our 35 engineers on a task force and they're constantly looking at new technology."
Horizons North Credit Union has been a Platte River customer for more than 15 years, and the MSP has always assisted with its security audits. With the help of Platte River's managed security platform, Horizon North's Coalfire audit score this year moved from "less than satisfactory" to "strong."
Diane Arthur, Horizon North's senior vice president and CFO, had just one thing to say in response: "Yippee!"
Now in its 17th year of business, Platte River has always managed business IT, and 11 years ago it launched its Intuitive managed services platform, which included the best-practices security of the time.
"About five years ago, we started to see the need to up our game on security and it started at the customer level, DeCamillis said. "We work in the credit union industry and our customers were going through state and federal audits annually, and we noticed that the requirements from a security perspective at the audit level were increasing and increasing. We also noticed it with our asset-management firm clients from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and our legal clients who started to require cybersecurity insurance from some of their large clients."
Go here for access to the 2019 MSP 501, the world's most comprehensive ranking of managed service providers.
Platte River began vetting new products and services, and came to the conclusion that it needed five key critical products and services, he said. And rather than introduce them individually, it wanted to ensure they all worked together well and integrated with its existing managed services platform so that "we were in a better position to not only manage our clients, but also secure them,"<|fim_middle|> for a customer's staff, like internet usage, remote access policies, BYOD policies, incident response and passwords, he said.
"There are a ton of policies that you have to put into place not only to protect your staff, but also to protect your company, and that's something that a vendor doesn't provide," DeCamillis said. "We actually built those and wrote those ourselves. We created roughly 20 that we thought covered the whole gamut. And our customers don't necessarily use all 20 policies; they probably use anywhere from five to 10 unless they're in a very regulated industry. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requirements are insane and those customers are using probably 15-20 of the policies."
Customers' security audits were useful in determining …
Tags: MSPs Best Practices Business Models Digital Transformation MSP 501 Security Specialty Practices Strategy
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Ask the MSPmentor: Cyxtera's Tina Gravel on Privacy Laws, Protecting Personal Data | he said.
"It was difficult because for every new service and new product, you had multiple vendors and they all tend to do it slightly differently," DeCamillis said. "So for some of the products and services, we vetted five to 10 vendors, and it took months, it took a good year to actually confirm which of the vendors, and the products and services we were going to go with."
One of the items that did not require a vendor was policy creation management, he said. That includes acceptable use policies | 107 |
A 911<|fim_middle|>911 caller said.
That caller said it appeared one of the plane's wings had snapped off and the other was bent. | call has been released after a plane crashed at the Butler County Regional Airport Tuesday morning.
The pilot of a plane that crashed this morning at the Butler County Airport was breathing but unconscious and not responsive, according to one of several 911 callers.
The caller estimated the pilot's age at about 60 years old.
The pilot was the only person in the plane, according to the caller.
The caller told the 911 dispatcher that he was reaching into the plane's cockpit to get the man's vital signs.
"They're gonna have to extricate him," the caller said.
Later in the call as Air Care arrives, the pilot seems to be "coming to" as emergency responders tell him repeatedly not to move and loud moans can be heard.
"He hit pretty hard," a witness at the scene told a 911 dispatcher, describing the plane crash on the west end of the runway.
That caller described the plane involved in the crash as a monoplane, which is an airplane with one pair of wings.
"I don't see nothing but the plane broke in half," another | 223 |
This year's Bruxism Awareness Week lecture entitled "NTI-tss Therapeutic Protocol – Traumatic Occlusion and Bruxism" will be delivered by Dr Barry Glassman one of the world's leading authorities in the management of TMD, Migraine and dental sleep medicine and very popular speaker in the USA.
This prestigious event will be held at the Royal College of Physicians in London on 24th October 2011.
S4S are sponsoring the event and have agreed to provide all our SDS Occlusion Blog subcribers with a special booking package which includes your place at the event and a Kit of 5 NTI splints (worth £105.00) all for a 20% discounted rate of £280.00 (normally £350).
To take advantage of this offer book online HERE, select the "special offer booking package", use discount code "CWK" and mention which kit you would like in the<|fim_middle|> plenty of practical and theory. Thanks to Roy and Andy. M.C.
Excellent and enjoyable, I feel I have gained a lot of relevant information by attending. Location was easy to find and well equipped. D.T.
One of the BEST courses I have ever been on! S.P. | "order notes". Alternatively you can call S4S on 0114 250 0176.
Alyn Morgan is an endodontist we work closely with at my practice. He not only does great endo, but is also prepared to share his knowledge and skills with fellow-GDPs through his hands-on courses, to be held at Optident Ltd's HQ in Ilkley.
This laboratory based, intensive 2-day course is the ideal introduction to essential occlusal principles and practical skills.
Roy and Andy, as general practitioners who know what works in practice, will pass on dozens of practical tips for how to make your dentistry more predictable, better looking and longer lasting, and make your patients think you are amazing!
Thank you for a great weekend. Learned a whole lot – tip of the iceberg though! A.N.
A fantastic weekend with | 180 |
The company has a GSP warehouse with the area of 1500 m2, including a normal temperature zone of 820 m2, a cooling zone of 432 m2 and a freezing zone of 580 m2. According to the GSP standard for drug management, the warehouse is divided into inspection zone, zone for qualified goods, zone for disqualified goods and zone for returned goods. It also has separate storerooms for psychotropic drugs of category II, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), T<|fim_middle|>ution and pest, rat and bird control, as well as lighting and fire-fighting equipment in accordance with safety requirements. | CM decoction pieces, anabolic agents & peptide hormone drugs and APIs.
The zone area is flat, free of water and weed, no polluting sources, with roof over loading area. The store area is clean and spacious; the surface of walls and roof is smooth with seamless ground and tightly-structured doors and windows. The warehouse is equipped with shading, ventilation and drainage system, equipment for anti-dust, anti-wet, anti-mold, anti-poll | 94 |
New aviation company established in Walterboro
By Patrick Hoff
@PatHoffCRBJ
phoff@scbiznews.com
Walterboro is a city of 5,923 people, with a hospital in the center of town and the University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie off the main street of antiques shops and jewelry stores.
Former Boeing S.C. vice president Marco Cavazzoni sees potential in the municipality for something bigger: the manufacture of composite light aircraft.
Cavazzoni lives in downtown Walterboro with his wife and son, who both also work at Lowcountry Aviation Co., the business he founded after retiring from Boeing last year.
Lowcountry Aviation is a holding company for three separate companies: Lowcountry Aviation MRO, which provides aircraft maintenance and repair; Austin Aviation, a charter flight company; and Sky Arrow Aircraft, which will manufacture composite light aircraft in a facility at Colleton County's Lowcountry Regional Airport.
Cavazzoni said it was important to him that Lowcountry Aviation have the capability to manufacture, maintain and fly aircraft.
"The uniqueness of the strategy that we have is that if you take large aircraft manufacturers, typically what they do is they make airplanes and then in some cases ... they maintain them," he said.
Airlines also have only two focuses, Cavazzoni said: flying and maintaining their aircraft.
"We're actually going to make them ... and then we are flying with our charters, and then we maintain them," he said. "So that's kind of a cool thing."
The company also has its own fuel farm for its planes, which Cavazzoni said was integral to the company's ability to charter and manage its planes and other people's aircraft.
"It gives us the flexibility with our customers, frankly, to offer very good deals," he said.
"Some people will decide to base their airplanes here even though they live somewhere else," he said. "And when they call, we'll go pick them up. Obviously having the fuel flexibility for us allows us to do that service and not charge, frankly, for that for as much as it would cost."
A blank canvas
If Walterboro seems like an odd choice to locate<|fim_middle|> lease those services through him rather than trying to maintain insurance, maintain a pilot and an aircraft out here at the airport."
Colleton County will give Lowcountry Aviation the aircraft it currently owns in exchange for aviation services. The county is currently contracted to using Lowcountry Aviation's services for at least 20 hours a year.
"We are excited to have Lowcountry Aviation locate at Lowcountry Regional Airport with the services and opportunities it brings to Walterboro, Colleton County and our region," Walterboro Mayor Bill Young said in a news release. "We are pleased to welcome them to Walterboro."
This story originally appeared in the April 30, 2018, print edition of the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
Reach Patrick Hoff at 843-849-3144. | an aviation company, Cavazzoni agrees; but he said the city is a blank canvas with a lot of potential, especially considering its airport.
"You can build all kinds of things, but it's really difficult to build long runways," Cavazzoni said. "The process of going through that is crazy. So what Walterboro offered from an infrastructure perspective is this incredible underutilized airport. It's a white canvas, and a white canvas can scare people, or a white canvas can be an opportunity."
Lowcountry Aviation is currently housed in a single hangar near one of Lowcountry Regional Airport's three runways; it has plans to build three more hangars behind the initial one to house its planes and production facilities. The concrete was poured for a second hangar at the end of April, and Cavazzoni said he's hoping it's operational by the end of July.
Lowcountry Aviation is also looking to hire 36 new employees, mainly to work on maintenance and assembly of airplanes.
According to the Census Bureau, 3,489 people commuted from Colleton County to work in Berkeley, Charleston or Dorchester counties between 2006 and 2010, the most recent data available.
"Our thought process was, you know, if there are ... a large number of people that do that, we could probably find 36," Cavazzoni said.
Additionally, Lowcountry Aviation has a certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration that will allow it to train employees internally. Lowcountry Aviation has a Sky Arrow plane outside of its hangar that's been torn apart to allow people to practice working with it, and general manager Patrick Croghan said he plans to teach classes.
"We can hire people that have good mechanical ability and we can train them in-house," Croghan said.
At previous jobs, he's hired heating, ventilation and air conditioning technicians and auto mechanics and trained them to work in aviation.
Croghan also said 36 hires is a conservative estimate.
"Between the maintenance operations we have between the Sky Arrow production, the maintenance on the Austin Aviation aircraft, and the target customers that we're targeting to bring their aircraft here ... I want us to do the work," he said.
Building airplanes
Sky Arrow planes will be built entirely out of composite, a light but durable material that's resistant to corrosion.
"It's not a standard thing in the commercial aviation market," he said. "There's a very large composite airplane at the (Charleston International) airport with the Dreamliner ... but it's very unique to have in this category a composite aircraft.
Cavazzoni said the lighter material allows Sky Arrow planes to carry a large number of sensors — up to 250 pounds with a single pilot — which makes the aircraft great for law enforcement to use for surveillance.
Farmers can also use the planes to map their agricultural fields.
"If you don't have one of these, you can either have drones, which are kind of like the cool thing, or you can have helicopters, or you can have other fixed-wing aircraft," he said.
The problem with helicopters is that they can't fly as low as Sky Arrow planes can. Drones require more time in the air to map the fields, as well as constant battery changes and maintenance. With a drone, Cavazzoni said, a farmer could map 220 acres in an hour; a Sky Arrow plane can map 8,000 acres per hour.
The plane, which Cavazzoni said is relatively easy to fly, seats two people and can be flown from either seat, so a passenger can sit in the front. Cavazzoni also said he's working with a company called Able Flight so that people who are unable to use their legs can fly the plane.
The clear dome that covers the cockpit allows the pilot and passenger to have a broad view of the world below, especially from the front seat.
"Once you're inside, you get great visibility, which is not something that you typically do on aircraft," Cavazzoni said. "So you can look around whether you're in both seats. You can actually take the windows off ... if you want more air."
Cavazzoni said his goal is to deliver the first Sky Arrow plane by the end of the year, pending FAA approval.
Working with the county
Cavazzoni said he considered locating the company in other states but chose South Carolina because of the relationships among the state, Colleton County and Walterboro.
"The economic impact benefits everybody ... and the city understands that, and they've been tremendous in term of support," he said.
Colleton County administrator Kevin Griffin said the county had been trying for several years to attract a company to Lowcountry Regional Airport.
At one point, Griffin said, the airport was placed on a shortlist of potential locations for an expansion by Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., but those plans fell through.
"We've got a great resource in the airport with the current facility there and the land available around it," Griffin said. "We've tried to prepare for projects such as this, but it sure is nice to see one finally come to fruition."
Colleton County has also signed an agreement with Lowcountry Aviation for the company to provide services to the sheriff's office, assisting with search-and-rescue and surveillance operations.
Griffin said the sheriff's office owned a plane to handle its aviation needs independently, but Cavazzoni approached the county and offered his company's services.
"It's got the capability to also help us in our tax assessment office for GIS-type applications and other things," Griffin said of the Sky Arrow plane. "After talking through it, it was a much better arrangement for us to | 1,155 |
Poly launches its official eTail store in India
By Express Computer on May 5, 2022
Poly has officially launched its Polyc in India, on e-commerce platform Amazon.in.
As workers and employers in India continue to adapt to a long-term hybrid work model<|fim_middle|> to deliver a collaborative environment to connect people, spaces, and technology to not just allow for seamless communication both in the office and beyond, but also to deliver a more seamless and equitable work and meeting experiences, wherever business happens.
"We are thrilled to expand the availability of Poly's portfolio of beautifully designed and engineered audio and video products for the hybrid workforce of both today and tomorrow," said Charlie Harb, Director, APAC Consumer eTail, Poly. "We want to solve the dilemma of working from anywhere, and to create equity between those in the room and those who aren't, by providing our customers the professional grade gear they need to see and be seen, hear and be heard clearly no matter where they are."
The new Poly online store will enable consumers' easy access to an extensive selection of Poly's professional grade unified communications and collaborations solutions, including the Voyager family of wireless headsets, the Blackwire family of wired USB headsets, the Studio P family of personal video bars and web cameras, as well as the Sync family of USB/Bluetooth speakerphones, which also includes the new Sync 10 all-in-one USB speakerphone for home offices.
Amazon.in.IndiaeTail storen e-commerce platformpoly | , organizations now more than ever need | 7 |
This article first appeared in the June 2000 issue of Monitoring Times.
THE CASE FOR APCO PROJECT 25
In January 1982, during a snowstorm, Air Florida flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street bridge in Washington, D.C. Half an hour later a Metrorail accident occurred just a few miles away. Responding rescue personnel from federal, state, and local public safety agencies quickly discovered that coordinating their efforts was extremely difficult because radios from each agency used different frequencies and signaling techniques. On-scene commanders were forced to borrow radios from one another to coordinate their crew activities.
More recently, the Oklahoma City bombing further emphasized the need for interoperability. More than a dozen search and rescue teams arrived, each with at least fifty personnel and their own communications system. The systems, for the most part, could not communicate with each other. Two-way radio was the only way to relay information back to dispatchers and request specific support, since wireline and cellular phone lines were damaged or overloaded. At one point it became so bad that one agency had to resort to sending runners with messages.
Major natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods are typically handled by several different public safety agencies where the ability to communicate between agencies is also a necessity.
To address the problem of interoperability as well as make better use of scarce radio frequencies, in 1989 the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International (APCO) established Project 25 (P25). Representatives from Federal, state, and local governments began an effort to develop a set of common technical standards for land mobile radio systems. An additional benefit of a common standard would allow any number of manufacturers to produce compatible equipment, thus increasing competition and lowering prices. P25 promised to avoid locking customers into a proprietary system from a single manufacturer.
Equipment manufacturers control most standards processes. In contrast, P25 documents were developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) based on user community needs, then approved by the APCO Project 25 Steering Committee. Phase I of P25 is nearly complete, with 30 of 32 standards documents now available, totaling more than 1800 pages.
P25 is not a single standard but really a number of individual protocols that can be mixed and matched. A "Project 25 compliant" system may really use only a few of the many standards. For instance, a P25 system may be conventional or trunked, use encryption or transmit in the clear, and carry voice, data, or both.
Common Air Interface
P25 systems use what is called the Common Air Interface (CAI). This standard specifies the type and content of signals transmitted by compliant radios. One radio using CAI should be able to communicate with any other CAI radio, regardless of manufacturer.
At present, most public safety channels are 25 kHz wide. Current P25 radios are designed to use 12.5 kHz wide channels, allowing two conversations to take place where only one used to fit. Eventually, P25 radios will use 6.25 kHz channels, allowing four times as many conversations compared to analog.
P25 radios must also be able to operate the old way, in analog mode on 25 kHz channels. This is called backward compatibility, and allows agencies to gradually transition to digital while continuing to use older equipment.
P25 transmissions may be protected by encryption. The standards specify the use of the U.S. Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm, but other algorithms may be used. There is an additional specification for over-the-air rekeying (OTAR) to deliver new encryption keys to radios.
P25 channels that carry voice or data, called traffic channels, operate at 9600 bits per second (bps). These channels are protected by a substantial amount of forward error correction, which helps receivers to compensate for poor radio frequency conditions and improves useable range.
P25 also supports data transmission, either piggybacked with voice (so-called slow data), or in several other modes up to the full traffic channel rate of 9600 bps.
Digitized Voice
The most important difference to scanner listeners is<|fim_middle|>7.4000, 867.4375, 867.4625, 867.8250, 867.9000, 867.9250, 867.9875, 868.1000, 868.1250, 868.1500, 868.3000, 868.4500, and 868.7000 MHz.
Project 25 scanners
Although the APCO Project 25 standards are expensive for non-governmental agencies (more than $2000 for the full set), they are open and available. It is certainly possible to produce a scanner, or an add-on box to an existing scanner, that could decode the IMBE voice portion of P25 traffic channels. Stay tuned to the column for further developments along this line.
One possible stumbling block to a hobby P25 scanner is the fact that the IMBE vocoder is covered by patents assigned to Digital Voice Systems, Inc. DVSI has licensed IMBE for use in P25, it is not clear whether they would do so for a scanner application.
Both Motorola and IFR manufacture communications analyzers that will decode P25, but are priced well above the price range of an average scanner listener.
That's all the space I have for this month. I welcome comments, questions, frequency lists, talkgroups, and general updates via electronic mail to dan @ decodesystems.com. My web page at http:// www.decodesystems.com also has a variety of radio-related subjects.
Comments to Dan Veeneman
Click here for the index page.
Click here for the main page. | the fact that voice transmissions are now digital rather than analog. P25 uses a specific method of digitized voice called Improved Multi-Band Excitation (IMBE). The IMBE voice encoder-decoder (vocoder) listens to a sample of the audio input and only transmits certain characteristics that represent the sound. The receiver uses these basic characteristics to produce a synthetic equivalent of the input sound. IMBE is heavily optimized for human speech and doesn't do very well in reproducing other types of sounds, including dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) tones.
The IMBE vocoder samples the microphone input every 20 milliseconds and produces 88 bits of encoded speech, or said another way, the vocoder produces speech characteristics at a rate of 4400 bits per second. Error correction adds another 2800 bps, and signaling overhead brings the total rate to 9600 bps. P25 standards specify exactly how that information is structured and transmitted.
Project 25 Manufacturers
Only a handful of manufacturers have demonstrated P25 mobile and portable radios, and all of them have been non-trunked. These companies include Motorola, Transcrypt International/EF Johnson, Racal, RELM and IDA. However, it appears most agencies have chosen to purchase Motorola radios, specifically the Spectra mobiles, ASTRO portables and the XTS-3000 portable.
Project 25 versus Motorola Astro
There is some confusion regarding the similarities and differences between Project 25 and Motorola's ASTRO product line.
ASTRO equipment is capable of operating using the P25 CAI, transmitting and receiving IMBE digital voice at 9600 bps. Depending on configuration, ASTRO equipment may also use a different method of digital speech called Vector-Sum-Excited Linear Prediction (VSELP), which is also used in some digital cellular systems but is not compatible with Project 25.
ASTRO systems may also use an "analog" control channel (usually Motorola Type II format) operating at 3600 bps rather than the P25 trunking standard at 9600 bps. This is commonly done to support older analog radios that can only understand the 3600 bps control channel.
Many public safety agencies are moving to P25 systems, switching their voice traffic from analog to digital IMBE.
The State of Michigan claims their Public Safety Communications System is the first APCO Project 25 compliant statewide radio system. The Motorola 800 MHz ASTRO SmartZone digital trunked communications system complies with P25 standards for common air interface, trunked operation, and encryption. All seven State Police districts are part of the system, as well as a number of other public safety agencies, including park rangers, highway workers, county and municipal police and fire departments, and 9-1-1 dispatch centers. The complete system is scheduled to be in operation by the spring of 2002 serving a total of more than 14,000 mobile and portable radios.
The Florida Highway Patrol shares a large 800 MHz P25 system in central and southern Florida with a number of other state agencies including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Alcohol and Tobacco, Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and Motor Carrier Compliance. The system has recently experienced some problems, described as a "glitch" that occasionally disables the system for it's 3,000 users. Technicians are working with Motorola to identify and correct the problems in the $350 million system, but have not conclusively fixed the glitch.
Frequencies include 853.9625, 854.0125, 854.0375, 854.0875, 854.1125, 854.1375, 854.1875, 854.2375, 854.2625, 854.2875, 866.4500, 866.9375, 866.9625, 866.9750, 866.9875, 867.4375, 867.450, 867.4750, 867.9375, 867.9500, 867.9625, 867.9750, 867.9875, 868.4500, 868.4625, 868.4750, 868.4875, 868.9375, 868.9500, 868.9625, 868.9750, and 868.9875 MHz.
Last December the State of Connecticut announced the activation of their $47 million wireless voice and data system. Motorola sold them an 800 MHz ASTRO SmartZone trunked voice system, including equipment for a dozen dispatch centers and more than 2,000 P25-compliant digital radios.
In addition, a RD-LAP wireless data communications system connects patrol car laptops and global positioning system (GPS) receivers to the nearest dispatch center, providing in-car access to state and federal criminal information databases. The data system operates on a different set of frequencies than the voice network.
41 towers provide coverage for nearly all areas of the 5,000 square mile state. The system is expected to be in full operation by mid-2000.
The city of Mesa, Arizona, recently approved a $15 million contract with Motorola for a new 800 MHz digital trunked radio system for police, fire, and other city workers. Nearby municipalities of Gilbert and Apache Junction will share the system.
Fairfax County, Virginia is in the process of replacing their 20 year old analog system with a twenty channel, 800 MHz P25 trunked radio system that will use IMBE voice. Although scanner listeners won't be able to hear the 800 MHz transmissions, county Fire and Rescue have promised to simultaneously broadcast dispatch information on 460.575 MHz.
Eight repeater sites will be located in Butts Corners, Fair Oaks, Great Falls, Lorton, Merrifield, Mount Vernon, Reston, and Springfield.
Last fall the City of Baltimore switched to a digital system using an IMBE vocoder for all voice communications. Control channels are reportedly still operating at 3600 bps.
Active frequencies include 866.2250 866.3500, 866.6625, 866.6250, 866.8250, 866.8500, 866.8750, 866.9000, 867.1500, 867.1750, 867.2125, 86 | 1,551 |
CenturyLink $50.00 ** 10 - 940 Mbps DSL 69%
CenturyLink $50.00 ** 10 - 940 Mbps Fiber-optic 10%
Midcontinent Communications $50.00 10 - 1,000 Mbps Cable 97%
Vast Broadband $39.00 - Cable 96%
Vast Broadband $39.00 - DSL 0.660%
Western Communications $48.0<|fim_middle|> in densely populated areas may experience slowed speeds during peak usage times.
Internet prices for Midcontinent Communications start at $50/mo.*, which is about the same as the average starting price for internet in Rapid City, $53.66.
Midcontinent Communications customers who choose the lowest-priced plan can expect speeds up to 10 Mbps, which comes to an estimated $5.00 per Mbps, higher than the average cost per Mbps for the lowest priced plans in Rapid City, $3.83.
For those who value internet speed as much as cost, Midcontinent Communications offers download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps in 57701 ZIP code. These download speeds are available to 97% of the area, and are much faster than the average max speeds from all Rapid City's providers, 390 Mbps.
Satellite internet from HughesNet and Viasat offers 100% availability in 57701 and the greater Rapid City area. HughesNet starting prices are significantly higher than average in Rapid City at $64.99/mo. for speeds up to 25 Mbps. Viasat starting prices are significantly higher than average in Rapid City at $69.99/mo. for speeds up to 150 Mbps. Satellite internet is a less appealing option for many in the 57701 ZIP, however, as service typically comes with high latency and low data allowances.
Fixed wireless is another popular internet option for those in rural areas. Those living in or just outside of Rapid City may have access to fixed wireless internet service from HughesNet, with plans starting at $64.99 and available download speeds up to 25 Mbps. Fixed wireless service is less likely to come with the high latency of satellite internet, but monthly data limits can still be an issue compared to Rapid City cable, DSL, and fiber-optic internet providers.
Midcontinent Communications is the fastest internet provider in the 57701 ZIP code with download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps. These speeds are available to 97% of households in 57701. The next fastest internet provider in the 57701 ZIP code is CenturyLink, offering download speeds up to 940 Mbps to 69% of the area.
Vast Broadband offers the cheapest internet in the 57701 ZIP with service starting at $39/mo. This is significantly less than the average starting price for internet in Rapid City, $53.66.
CenturyLink is the largest fiber-optic internet service provider serving the 57701 ZIP code, covering 10% of the city.
How do I get faster internet?
Upgrading your internet plan or switching to a new provider that offers faster internet service is the best way to get significantly faster speeds, but that will likely also come with a price increase. To get faster internet without changing your plan or provider, upgrade your internet equipment or reduce the number of devices connected to your network.
Home page South Dakota Rapid City 57701 | 0 10 - 30 Mbps Wireless 100%
**Speeds/pricing may vary. Service is not available everywhere.
Provider: Midcontinent Communications
DSL - 0.790%
At 99%, broadband coverage in the 57701 ZIP code is comparable to the rest of South Dakota - 98%, and comparable to broadband coverage across the U.S. - 95%.
The vast majority of those living in the 57701 ZIP will have access to cable, which covers 98% of households. Fiber-optic internet is also an option for many, offering service to 39% of the area. No DSL providers are currently available in Rapid City, but satellite or fixed-wireless providers may offer broadband options in your area.
There are six internet providers serving the 57701 area, and 98.18% of households will have internet options from more than one provider. Among six internet providers in 57701, prices start at $39 and available download speeds reach up to 1,000 Mbps.
Average internet speeds in Rapid City
Viasat 8 Mbps 0 Mbps Satellite
Midcontinent Communications 115 Mbps 27 Mbps Cable
*Data sourced from M-LAB speed tests taken by real users in Rapid City.
Rapid City – 123 Mbps
SD – 104 Mbps
Rapid City – 23 Mbps
SD – 32 Mbps
The largest internet providers serving the 57701 ZIP code are CenturyLink and Midcontinent Communications bringing DSL, fiber-optic, and cable options to the area.
DSL internet from CenturyLink is available to most in the 57701 ZIP code, covering 69% of households. Some will also have the option of fiber-optic from CenturyLink, which covers 10% of the area. Rapid City's third most-available internet provider, Midcontinent Communications, offers cable to around 97% of residents in the 57701 ZIP code.
CenturyLink DSL internet
DSL from CenturyLink offers broadband to most households in the 57701 ZIP code, covering 69% of the area.
DSL internet from CenturyLink uses telephone lines to deliver service, which often leads to lower prices and higher availability, though download speeds are likely to be slower than cable or fiber-optic internet.
Internet prices for CenturyLink start at $50/mo.*, which is about the same as the average starting price for internet in Rapid City, $53.66.
CenturyLink customers who choose the lowest-priced plan can expect speeds up to 10 Mbps, which comes to an estimated $5.00 per Mbps, higher than the average cost per Mbps for the lowest priced plans in Rapid City, $3.83.
For those who value internet speed as much as cost, CenturyLink offers download speeds up to 940 Mbps and upload speeds up to 40 Mbps in 57701 ZIP code. These download speeds are available to 69% of the area, and are much faster than the average max speeds from all Rapid City's providers, 390 Mbps.
CenturyLink fiber-optic internet
Fiber-optic from CenturyLink offers broadband to a limited number of households in the 57701 ZIP code, covering 10% of the area.
Fiber-optic service from CenturyLink is popular for its fast download and upload speeds, even during peak usage times, but may be less available throughout 57701 ZIP code than other internet types.
For those who value internet speed as much as cost, CenturyLink offers download speeds up to 940 Mbps and upload speeds up to 1,000 Mbps in 57701 ZIP code. These download speeds are available to 10% of the area, and are much faster than the average max speeds from all Rapid City's providers, 390 Mbps.
Midcontinent Communications cable internet
Midcontinent Communications
Cable from Midcontinent Communications offers broadband to nearly all households in the 57701 ZIP code, covering 97% of the area.
Midcontinent Communications's cable network is likely to offer faster speeds than DSL or satellite service, but 57701 residents | 914 |
Code & Data Security
Introduction to Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST)
February 17, 2014 - by Irene Abezgauz
Tiny Url for this post: https://tinyurl.com/q7pqw7n
IAST is the emerging technology which is rapidly transforming the way code security is done. Instead of security being a pain and a worry, IAST enables a fully automatic process that ensures no code vulnerabilities creep in during development.
IAST technology works by hooking into the application and analyzing it from within as it runs. Just as a debugger would do, IAST looks into code execution in memory and seeks out specific events such as database queries, file system access, web service calls, input validations, and more. These events are analyzed to see how they may lead to vulnerabilities.
Currently there are two approaches to IAST:
One of them is Active IAST, meaning there is a component generating malicious traffic and a component that monitors the application in runtime. The two components work together to identify vulnerabilities, clear out false positives and verify risk by performing simulated attacks.
The other is Passive IAST which is composed just out of a monitor that looks at the application in runtime. Passive IAST has an inherent accuracy problem similar to the traditional static analyzer because it has no way to see how the application would really behave under an attack.
For this reason we focus this explanation on Active IAST, ideally paired with data flow analysis.
A basic deployment of Active IAST requires two components: one is a component that monitors the application and the other is a console that drives simulated attacks. These components work together to see how the application will behave under a real attack to see where and how it is vulnerable.
Analyzing the application in runtime allows to accurately see how vulnerabilities happen (for example – track user input from the moment it enters the application, through the point it goes into a database query, and up to a point the database returns a dataset which is then returned to the end user). It also provides an accurate location of the problem in the code by analyzing the runtime and tracing it back to relevant code. Even if no code is available (3rd party components or on-the-fly code) it would still provide the location of vulnerability.
Using the runtime code analysis agent, it is possible to monitor everything taking place in the code execution and memory of the process, including (but not limited to):
HTTP Requests received by the application and HTTP Response writing and creation by the application
Parameter Propagation within code execution
Database queries (such as ODBC), Directory queries (such as LDAP), file system access
String manipulations live in runtime (String merging, splitting, etc.)
Memory (Watch specific values in memory, identify tainted input, etc.)
Usage of 3rd party libraries
Calls to external applications or services
Execution of specific lines of code
What are then the advantages of this technology?
Accuracy without false positive : It automatically finds vulnerabilities, performs exploitation to clean false positives, shows vulnerable line of code and suggests relevant remediation. No human intervention needed. This means it can (and is by many of our customers) be interfaced directly with existing software testing automation to give fully automatic application security as part of the SDLC.
Cleaning false positives means the combination of seeing what is happening in memory in runtime together with simulated attacks that verify all vulnerabilities ensures the identified problem is an actual security threat.
Testing is fast. Real fast. A probe is sent to see what parameters go where (database, file system, etc) and then the console generates only relevant attack attempts. This means testing is between minutes and hours. Even for large apps.
3rd party applications, on-the-fly generated code or applications for which source code is not available also can be tested because IAST runs on the compiled application in runtime. Old code nobody remembers where it came from? 3rd party code? Standard platform with customization? IAST tests it all the same
It's indifferent to the underlying framework. It can be Spring, Struts, MVC, or anything else – as long as the core technology is supported in runtime they all look the same.
It needs no customization. No manual work is needed. It does not matter what function is called as long as the input can be traced to it in runtime. It does need to be manually told which web services are invoked – it sees this information directly in runtime memory<|fim_middle|>. She is the Product Manager of Seeker, the new generation of automatic application security testing, as well as the leader of the research center in the company. She has discovered and published numerous vulnerabilities in products of leading vendors, and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences.
Learn more about Seeker
Successful Code Security in Agile Development - 8 Actionable Tips
Does PCI Compliance mean PII and Card Data Security?
Context Aware Application Security Testing
Simple Interfaces for Complex Technology
Heartbleed, use Seeker to Check whether you are Vulnerable to one of the "Worst Vulnerabilities the Internet has known"
How to Keep Security from being the Wet Blanket
Who Cares About Code Security Anyway?!
How to Choose an Application Security Testing Solution
When Applications Fail Data Security – Analysis of the JP Morgan Data Breach
The Lessons we can Learn from the MongoHQ Hack | . It does not need custom rules. It's simple to operate.
Do you want to see it in action ? REQUEST A DEMO
AboutIrene Abezgauz
Irene Abezgauz (@IreneAbezgauz) has ten years of experience in information and application security, focusing on application security testing and research | 71 |
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The damage and clean-up process doesn't need to be an expensive affair.If you had an insurance policy, they are going to cater for all the necessary payments to return your house or business building to its original state.Professional restoration teams also consider the health of your family.If your building is damaged by water, you have mold and many other water-related health risks to deal with.This company that can discover more and alert you on any inherent risks from the damages that you have.By using the services of a professional, you are going to get your house reclaimed very fast.
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Are you wondering just what is injection molding and also why it is widely utilized in the production process? Injection molding is a production technique that utilizes plastic pellets in a fluid form as well as adds it to the vacant tooth cavity mold. The majority of the products that we utilize in our lives are created making use of injection molding. Among the reasons that suppliers prefer this method is that it is fantastic for mass production. This is a single financial investment where you could get advantage in the future. After the payment of initial expense, the price for every device generated is minimized. It additionally decreases as more systems are developed. In this article, we have gone over why producers favor generating plastic components using shot molding.
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Barcelona President Reveals Arsenal's Next Coach
Former Barcelona<|fim_middle|> importance of having former players in key positions at the club after they retire.
"It's always been my opinion that Football Club Barcelona should produce players, but, at the same time, we should produce coaches for our first team in order to maintain our style," Laporta said. "That's an advantage Thierry would have with Arsenal over many other coaches." | president Joan Laporta backed Thierry Henry as the right man to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, saying he would make "a very good coach."
Laporta signed Henry from Arsenal in 2007 and compared the former striker to Pep Guardiola, whom he hired as Barcelona coach in 2008 despite having no previous head coaching experience.
"The same requirements we were appreciating in Pep Guardiola when we decided to put him as a coach of the first team, Thierry has many of them," Laporta told the Telegraph.
"If he wants to become a coach and more specifically wants to coach Arsenal, then it is because he is convinced he will do it very well because he is looking for excellence all the time — just as when he was a player. He knows football, as one of the best players in the world. These kinds of people, like Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff, they know very well football. They don't need the extended period maybe that other coaches need to be a great coach.
"He knows Arsenal, the supporters, the club and he's a guy that deserves everything he would like to achieve. I believe he could be a very good coach. For him, with his reputation, it's not acceptable to fail."
Laporta added that Henry would also be a good fit for other roles at Arsenal and emphasised the | 278 |
Investigator Initiated Trials and Collaborative Research
PNH
Geographic Atrophy
IC-MPGN / C3G<|fim_middle|> of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Biostatistics.
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Home / About Us / Our Team
Jeffrey Eisele, PHD
CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Jeffrey Eisele, PhD, joined Apellis in September 2020 and is responsible for overseeing Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs, as well as the late-stage development and commercialization of our geographic atrophy program. Jeff brings over 25 years of global experience working at Novartis and Alcon Pharmaceuticals as well as deep expertise in ophthalmology. Prior to Apellis, Jeff was Vice President, Global Biostatistics Head, Neuroscience and Ophthalmology Development Units at Novartis. He has successfully contributed to the design, execution, and approval of several products across a broad spectrum of disease areas, and his experience spans across Biostatistics, Clinical Development, Information Technology, Clinical Operations, and Biometrics. Jeff holds a BS in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from The George Washington University, and a MA and PhD in Statistics from the University of Michigan. He also completed postdoctoral research funded by the National Eye Institute at the University | 223 |
RCS Remembers 9-11 and Honors First Responders, Military
Submitted by Teresa Hendren in RCS Highlights on September 15, 2021
By: Mr. Bruce Johnson
Patriots Day Assembly is an annual program at Redwood Christian Schools dedicated to remembering the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks which changed our nation forever. On the 20th Anniversary of 9-11, RCS once again gathered to remember and recognize the sacrifice first responders and their families paid on 9-11, as well as those lives lost since then. We are so thankful for our first responders and military servicemen and women, who continue to protect all of us both at home and overseas.
Last Friday, September 10, Mrs. Lynn Conley led her and Mrs. Laura Vanegas' third grade classes<|fim_middle|> Flag was Paul Huitsing, and the Christian Flag was Jordyn Graham. Leading the Pledge to the Bible was Ella Isschiki, and Micah Chock led in prayer. Mrs. Conley led everyone in singing our National Anthem. The poem "Take A Moment" by Joanna Fuchs was read by the third grade classes; bringing our focus onto everyone who has and is protecting each of us. "Thank You for Your Service," written by RCS Music Teacher Beverly Mayne, was sung showing our continued appreciation for those who protect and serve us.
Law enforcement officers from the Oakland Police Department where Mrs. Conley's brother Will served, as well as the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and the Alameda County Fire Department, also attended and were recognized for their dedication and service to our community.
Mrs. Conley reminded all present why it was so important to always remember those who sacrificed their lives for us, and those to serve us today. All the military branches were represented (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard) and recognized all present for their military and service as a First Responder.
Local Heroes were honored by Student Rebecca Seymour, who read a tribute to the United States Military Service Members in honor of her cousin, and student Noli Dawit read a tribute to Firefighters, and student Madison Jones, daughter of Oakland Police Officer Trevelyon Jones, read a tribute to those who serve us in law enforcement. Mrs. Conley led everyone present singing God Bless America.
Dr. Al Hearne, Superintendent, closed the assembly by thanking event coordinators, servicemen and women. He also reminded the students that when they see someone in uniform, they should go up to them and thank them for helping to keep them safe, and prayed for our first responders and those who serve us in the military. Finally, the assembly ended with the VFW playing "Taps."
After the
assembly, our honorees – veterans and those currently serving in our military as well as first responders – remained and shared time by visiting with the students in the parking lot. Students were excited to "ride" on Oakland Police Department motorcycles, get an up close look at an Alameda County Fire Engine, receive safety information, and pose for pictures with their new found heroes. Other organizations present distributed patriotic items and general information.
The leadership of RCS uses every opportunity to "instill a Spirit of Patriotism" (one of the school's Core Values) by fostering a "Love for our Great Country," remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in the greatest country on Earth, as well as those who serve us every day as our First Responders.
Redwood Christian Elementary Principal Megan Sinisi stated "I am so proud of our students and the respect they continue to show for our First Responders and military service members, both past and present. Nurturing a Love of Country and modeling appreciation for everyone in uniform for our children is the responsibility of all of us."
Photo credit: Teresa Hendren, Amber Warner | , in honoring not only our military and those who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, but also first responders, who risk their lives daily. Mrs. Conley's brother, Will Seuis, died while serving as an Oakland Police Officer in 2004.
Students are taught to honor first responders (including law enforcement, fire, and EMT) as well as those who serve or have served in our Armed Forces. This is not taught passively, but with the purpose to ensure that our students remember that their lives are safer due to the sacrifices of those who serve us.
The Patriots Day Assembly opened with a welcome by Mrs. Conley followed by the Flag Ceremony from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW Post 9601), American Legion and two Army Recruiters, followed by students leading all present in the Pledge to the American Flag, Pledge to the Christian Flag, Pledge to the Bible, Prayer, the singing of our National Anthem and posting of the colors.
Leading the Pledge to the American | 218 |
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Maximum Signal Max Amp Mobile RV Cell Booster Kit. This is an introductions to the Maximum Signal Max Amp Mobile RV kit. The Max Amp RV Booster Kit has innovative new | 152 |
Just how to<|fim_middle|> A Professional Emergency Plumbing Company? | Cut Costs While Fixing Plumbing Problems?
2. toilet will always be unclogged plumbing and heating contractors in greater manchester. To cut costs from resolving bigger issues, make sure that you focus on the matter while it is just little. If you discover some dripping water under your pipe, ensure that you fix the problem immediately so the leaks will not worsen. Once an issue worsens, this is actually the period that you will need to retain qualified help and that means you will need to save money money onto it. You ought to inspect your water resources every on occasion to make sure that they're not receiving damaged or broken. Any signal of destruction should allow you to arrive at the situation fast so that it won't worsen. Do not dismiss small leaks as this could become large and present you bigger problem. In the event the problem is really large presently or should you choose not know anything about plumbing projects, you're able to just simply turn to experts. With them, you're sure enough to have benefits and possibly fix the situation that you will be dealing with.
Howto Choose A Qualified Emergency Plumbing Company?
Howto Select | 227 |
'Cabaret' Swings Eastern Theatregoers back to Nazi Germany
Home Newsroom 2018 November 'Cabaret' Swings Eastern Theat<|fim_middle|>qué musical numbers and choreography, including an act where the ensemble dressed and danced in drag.
"The choreography was so different from what I'm used to," said Hannah Avena '21, who played a Kit Kat girl named Helga. "We had to make contorted shapes with our bodies. To act in a play from a different time period – the way the people dressed and conveyed themselves – was fascinating to me."
"Cabaret" was originally a book by Joe Masteroff, based on the play "I Am a Camera" by John Van Druten, which was adapted from the novel "Goodbye to Berlin" by Christopher Isherwood.
"Most of the characters are based on real people," explained Hannah Zammarieh '20, the play's dramaturg. Cliff Bradshaw, for instance, is based on Christopher Isherwood himself, who lived in Berlin from 1929-1933 for the purpose of writing a novel: "Goodbye to Berlin."
"While there are no exact dates for the timeline of the show, based on the time that Isherwood was in Berlin, it can be assumed that the action of the musical takes place during the time when Adolf Hitler was just coming into power," said Zammarieh. By 1934, one year after Isherwood's departure from Germany, Hitler had named himself fuehrer (leader) of Germany.
Musical direction for "Cabaret" was provided by Anthony Pandolfe. In addition to an extensive musical career as a freelancer who has performed in such prestigious locations as the Vatican, Pandolfe is director-of-bands at Edwin O. Smith High School in Mansfield. Director Johnson also served as choreographer. In addition to being a lecturer at Eastern, she is the founder of The Complex Performing and Creative Arts Centre in Putnam, CT.
Categories: Music, Theatre | regoers back to Nazi Germany
The first theatrical production of the fall 2018 semester at Eastern Connecticut State University was "Cabaret," the Tony Award-winning musical set on the eve of Nazi-controlled Germany. With six performances between Oct. 18 and 28, theatregoers were dazzled by a stage set in the seedy Kit Kat Klub in early-1930s Germany, a time rife with political tensions that ultimately brought Adolf Hitler to power.
The Kit Kat Klub is a promiscuous nightclub whose patrons seem happily oblivious to the shifting culture and crumbling society outside. Cliff Bradshaw (Harold Gagne '20) is an American writer seeking inspiration. He finds his way into the 'klub' and becomes enamored with one of the dancers, Sally Bowles (Zoe Czerenda '19). Cliff is quick to notice the rising Nazi movement, but Sally and her Kit Kat patrons would rather not think about politics.
Eastern's rendition of "Cabaret" was directed by Eastern alumna and adjunct faculty member Nichola Johnson '05. In her director's notes, Johnson describes 1932 Berlin as a city in chaos, with economic hardships that severely stratified the country since the end of World War I.
"With German citizens hungry, out of work and hopelessly dreaming of a better future, a rising extremist movement calls for hatred of the 'other,' the 'other' including Jews, African immigrants and gay people," writes Johnson. "The rising populace is schooled to believe in a gloriously revived Germany, a Germany that returns to the purity of its roots."
Further describing the cultural context of early-1930s Germany, Johnson mentions the rising condemnation of artists and intellectuals, misogyny and ethnic intolerance. "It is deeply disturbing," she writes, "that almost a century later, we are locked in the same struggles for acceptance and human rights, newly made acute by waves of populism taking hold all over the world."
"I'm grateful to have had the honor to participate in such a culturally relevant show," said Edward Lorsin '21, who played Max, the owner of the Kit Kat Klub. "The themes within this decades-old musical highlight societal struggles that people continue to deal with today."
Showcased in the Proscenium Theatre of Eastern's Fine Arts Instructional Center (FAIC), the set for "Cabaret" featured an elevated platform from which a band of contracted musicians played jazz and swing music. On either side of the platform were stairs leading down to the stage, which served as swanky staircases for the Kit Kat girls to dance on.
Staying true to the form of theatre that is "cabaret," the play featured a flamboyant emcee (Jacob Buckley '21) and ris | 576 |
What Is The Sacred Word?
Last week I provided a summary of Centering Prayer. I mentioned the four steps of Centering Prayer. Today I will discuss Step 1.
Select a sacred word as the symbol of your intent to open yourself to God's presence and action within.
It is best to keep it simple. Choose a word with one to three syllables. You might select: Jesus, love, ocean or peace for example. When I first began to practice centering prayer I used the word "Jesus". I also recall that I used the words "love" and "let go".
Some people choose an interior image rather than a word. I receive the Richard Rohr daily meditations. On a past meditation I noticed a Jesus icon. I began to use this<|fim_middle|> your eyes and internally repeat the sacred word slowly and silently.
I hope you will continue to join me over the next three weeks. | image as an interior sacred image to use during my practice. To this day, I continue to use this sacred interior image.
Amos Smith uses the sacred glance. When my fifteen year old daughter sits with me, she does too. The sacred glance is performed with the eyes open. You simply stare at a spot three to five feet in the distance as a way to bring your self back to the Presence.
Lastly, some people use the sacred breath method. They return again and again to their breath as a means to bring them back to the purpose of their sit: to open to the presence and action of God within.
It is best to use the same sacred method during your silent sit. If you find that you want to change it, that is fine, use your new sacred method for your next sit. As I mentioned, I remember that I used three different words before I settled on the sacred image. I will continue to let the Spirit nudge me.
I am a visual person. That is probably why I gravitated to a sacred image. If you are an auditory learner you might do better with a sacred word. If you are a kinesthetic learner, the sacred breath might work best too.
Sit comfortably, close | 247 |
When we hear about a tragedy and feel a strong emotion are we feeling sorry for them because of what they are going through or are we feeling sorry for ourselves because "that could've been me"?
The way I understand it is: All of human experience of others, can only be understood through human experience of our selves.
In other words, the only way you could really feel what someone else is feeling, is if you once felt it yourself.
Therefore, subconsciously, when we<|fim_middle|>be me" personally.
The trait of Compassion is connected to the idea of "Giving", and therefore does not have to be connected to only being worried about one's self, i.e. "Taking". | see a disturbing occurrence we automatically "translate it" to be as bad as whatever we ourselves have experienced in the past, and we measure it according to different degrees of difficulties that we have already "recorded" in our "experiential memory" .
This explains why a child might go to the edge of a rooftop and not be scared; he has no experiential background of what to be scared about.
So we are not feeling strong emotion because "it could have been me", necessarily; but we do feel the emotion because of something that we went through personally in the past, that was now triggered and aroused by what we see.
Beyond all this, we each embody a heavenly trait of Compassion; this trait gives us the ability the feel for others in their situation, independent of the consideration that it could ever " | 167 |
Testifying on the Proposed Sale of OBIG Subsidiaries
7/25/2014 By Jonathan Terrell
On July 23, I attended a public informational hearing of the Pennsylvania Insurance Department regarding the proposed sale by One Beacon Insurance Group of four of its subsidiaries, including One Beacon Insurance Company and Potomac Insurance Company.
The proposed transaction is intended to separate the ongoing, profitable specialty underwriting business of One Beacon Insurance Group from its significant legacy liabilities for classes of claim including asbestos, environmental and Workers Compensation. The hearing was presided over by Deputy Insurance Commissioner Stephen Johnson. The stated purpose was to receive commentary to assist the Department in its evaluation of the proposed transaction.
The hearing began with a presentation from General Counsel Maureen Phillips and Chief Financial Officer Paul McDonough of One Beacon Insurance Group, explaining their position that the sale would be economically neutral and that policyholders would be better off as a result of the sale.
We then heard from representatives of two actuarial consulting firms. Christopher Bozman and Sandra Santomenno from Towers Watson summarized the two analyses they had undertaken on behalf of OBIG, including a stochastic modeling exercise. They were followed by actuaries from Risk & Regulatory Consulting, which had undertaken a peer review exercise on the Towers Watson report on behalf of the Department.
This was followed by a presentation by Brad Huntingdon, the CEO of Armour Group Holdings, the Bermuda-based company that wishes to acquire the companies from One Beacon Insurance Group and manage the run-off of the legacy liabilities. He explained that Armour would employ approximately 45 of One Beacon's claims professionals, oversee the relationship with the National Indemnity claims handlers, and deliver cost efficiencies for the benefit of policyholders.
These presentations were responded to by a number of speakers representing parties with various interests in the proposed transaction, including myself; I was the second speaker.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Deputy Commissioner Johnson stated that the Department required written responses to all questions and comments made from OBIG or Armour, as appropriate. He admonished them to substantiate their responses. A transcript of the hearing will be posted to the Department's website no<|fim_middle|> Zurich Financial Services, JP Morgan, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Learn More About Jonathan | later than July 30. The comment period will remain open until 30 days after the written responses are received from OBIG and Armour.
Click here download Jonathan Terrell's expert report filed in advance of the hearing.
About Jonathan Terrell
Jonathan Terrell is the Founder and President of KCIC. He has more than 30 years of international financial services experience with a multi-disciplinary background in accounting, finance and insurance. Prior to founding KCIC in 2002, he worked at | 104 |
The majority of underwater photographers take 35 mm print or slide film, although there are a few using medium/large format film or digital cameras. At the current time no reasonably priced digital cameras produce good enough results for large size reproduction, although many, particularly the 3-5,000 pixels per inch models, are adequate for producing small digital images for a web site, e-mail transmission and prints up to 6 x 4". But if you are taking pictures to sell or to print them A4 or larger for your own use, then film is currently the best means of capturing the original image.
Once captured on film it becomes possible to digitally scan your pictures at high enough resolution to be able to reproduce them at a reasonable size. However the process of digitally scanning a transparency or negative does require skill and lots of time, not to mention money.
If you can afford one, then drum scanners will give consistently better results as they cope better with high contrast images, often a feature of underwater wide-angle shots, where the sun or surface is in the picture.
The results you get from a standard scanner will depend very much on how it is set up and how it is adjusted for each individual slide or film type and of course how skilful you are at using it. Having said that, I have used a CanoScan 2700F for a couple of years now and find it adequate for producing small digital images for this website.
Scanner resolution is usually quoted in dots per inch (dpi). The higher the number of dpi, the greater the quality of the resulting image. Most scanners allow what is called interpolation, where the scanner fills in the detail between scanned points. Interpolated images, at up to double the dpi of the optical scan, may not be as good a quality as an optically scanned (un-interpolated) image of the same resolution.
Colour depth is usually quoted in bits. The higher the number, the greater the colour depth.
Prices of standard slide scanners range from £120 for a 1800 dpi, 36 bit scanner up to £3,000 for a 4000 dpi, 48 bit scanner. Drum scanners cost considerably more!
Whatever your choice, you will need to purchase a scanner that is compatible with your computer. Most modern computers such as PCs running Windows 95, 98, 2000 or XP and MACs use a USB (Universal Serial Bus) or Firewire port to connect with peripherals such as scanners. However, if you have a computer running Windows NT, then you may need a scanner that connects via a SCSI or Ultra SCSI card, as my CanoScan 2700F currently does on my old Windows 95 computer.
You will also need a fast processor (1 GHz or more), a minimum of 256 Mb RAM and a high capacity hard disc drive (40 Gb or more) in order to manipulate and store the scanned images, unless you don't mind waiting many minutes each time you make a change to your image . You will also probably need a CD-Writable or DVD-Writable drive to store copies of your digital images. The latter are usually supplied with suitable software to enable the drive to 'burn' digital data onto a disc.
A large (17" or more) monitor will enable you to manipulate your images more easily. Then of course you will probably want a decent colour printer! This package will set you back around £1,500 to £2,000, but specifications change rapidly and prices have been falling at a similar rate, so that the same system twelve months on will be noticeably cheaper or you'll get<|fim_middle|>.
If you cannot afford either the time or money, then you could consider sending your images to a bureau, but bear in mind that you get what you pay for. | faster processing, larger hard drive capacity etc for the same price.
Standard slide scanners usually come complete with scanning software, which has to be installed on your computer before you can get down to scanning your favourite pictures. If you are using a SCSI interface, then you will need to install the appropriate software and SCSI card first or get your computer supplier to install it for you.
The scanning software is usually quite easy to install and use, enabling you to select film type, image resolution in terms of dots per inch, and gives you some control over contrast and brightness. The scanning software usually interfaces with image manipulation software, normally purchased separately, so that you can capture an image via the manipulation software.
Before you start scanning, however, it is very important to calibrate your monitor so that the colours you see on screen are the same as those on your transparency. For this you can use calibration software such as OptiCal 3.3. If you are using a PC, set the gamma at 2.2 and the colour temperature to 5,500K, which is similar to a light box.
Although it is tempting to push the resolution beyond the optical limit of your scanner using interpolation, where the software fills in the detail between individual scanned point, you should, if hoping to sell the results, check with your photographic agency as to whether they will accept such images.
All images should be saved as 24 bit RGB TIF format using Adobe RGB (1998). This file format does not lose detail with subsequent manipulation like JPEG format. If you subsequently need to reduce file size for web-deployment always keep the TIF file as an archive and name copies appropriately.
It is vital that all shadow and highlight detail in the slide is retained in the scanned image. Assuming you are using Adobe RGB (1998) then the RGB 'density' reading for shadow should not be much less than 10 while the highlight detail should be around 240.
Ideally the finished file size should be 50-60 Mb, or larger if you are intending to sell your digital images through an agency, or if there is relevant detail or scanning medium/large format film. If you are scanning to generate A4 or smaller prints then a file size of 20-25 Mb may be adequate. If selling your pictures as digital images and your agency is using PCs than they may only accept PC compatible files.
Once captured, you may want to manipulate the image, to increase or decrease sharpness, contrast, brightness, colour saturation etc and perhaps to crop the image to improve its composition. Manipulated images can produce stunning results, but again if you are selling your pictures through an agency, you should check that such images are acceptable.
The most popular image manipulation software is probably Adobe PhotoShop 6.0 (cost approx. £560 for Windows; £575 for Mac) , followed by JASC's PaintShop Pro 7 (cost approx. £90.00, Windows only). The latter is considerably cheaper. However, Adobe PhotoShop Elements, a cut-down version of Adobe PhotoShop is slightly cheaper still (cost approx. £70.00).
These image-manipulation software programmes can do most things that could be achieved in the darkroom and much more. The results you can obtain are limited only by your imagination and skill. If you really are serious about manipulating your scanned pictures then I recommend that you attend one of the many courses that are becoming available | 717 |
This entry was posted in animals, Nature and tagged frog pond, frogs, nature, save the frogs. Bookmark the permalink.
Wow! This is really cool, Josie. I love how your pond turned out. And Cyde looks like he was a lot of help. 😉 Can I have your permission to reblog this tomorrow? (Today is MMGM.) I'd love to share it with my readers.
How wonderful! I really enjoyed how you documented thewhole process and included a photo of the project overseer, Clyde! I wish it were moist enough to do something like this in my yard, but I do leave pots in the garden in case visiting frogs need a place to rest! Thank you for sharing this with us, Josie!
I was just thinking, you have a great new spot to sit and draw the frogs too.
I'm HOPPING for joy over your pond, and wonderful post, Josie! What a fun family project with Clyde as supervisor! Great job!
Paw-some, Josie! Looks great. Those are some lucky frogs.
This isn't my usual kind of post, but I loved this<|fim_middle|> permission, Josie!
Way to go Josie! And you created a nice spot in your garden to sit and enjoy. I would probably bring a book as I relaxed and watched the frogs.
This is the coolest thing!!! I'm going to reblog it on my next not-yet-scheduled posting day. Y'all are great nature role models! | idea by an amazing kid and wanted to share it with my readers. Thanks for granting | 17 |
Calyx Managed Services Limited is a Manchester headquartered ICT support business, with the ability to act as a single, independent source for IT support, IT infrastructure and converged communications solutions to a large number of customers.
Calyx reported revenue and normalised EBITDA of £22m and £0.4m respectively in the year to 31st December 2014.
Calyx and M-Hance Group. Calyx reached underlying operating profitability for the first time in 2014, leaving it well placed to enter into a disposal process in a rapidly consolidating sector.
Rickitt Mitchell was appointed by Better Capital to lead and run a competitive sale process. In conjunction, a plan to restructure the business organically was devised, should the offers received fail to meet Better Capital's expectations.
- To maximise value for our client via a competitive auction process.
- To defend any attempts to "price-chip" or change the terms of the deal that would have an adverse impact for our client.
- To co-ordinate the overall transaction and act as an interface with a variety of interested parties and their advisers.
- To complete the transaction in a tight timeframe.
- The rapid completion of a detailed and comprehensive information memorandum, highlighting key strategic benefits an acquirer would gain from the acquisition.
-<|fim_middle|> large number of interested parties, due diligence and ultimate deal delivery was all successfully navigated within a 16 week timeframe.
- Winner of Insider Deal of the Year 2015 (Sub £10m).
The £9m value achieved was some £4.1m above the most recent fund valuation of Calyx in 2014, significantly exceeding the expectations of Better Capital.
Despite a highly competitive process with multiple offer stages, Rickitt Mitchell delivered the deal within 16 weeks from preparation stage to completion. This enabled Better Capital to fully cash out, at a value significantly in excess of their expectations in a timely fashion. | The positive presentation of the business and strong negotiation through a competitive auction process helped secure a 22.5x EBITDA multiple, with the shareholders realising 100% cash out.
- The maintenance of pricing tension throughout the process to ensure that the original offer price was fully delivered on completion.
- The use of a "locked box" deal structure and our support and management of the due diligence process ensured a fast process with no price renegotiation.
- Working closely with both Better Capital and the Calyx management team throughout the process, providing support and guidance through the complexities of a transaction of this nature.
- The co-ordination of a large team of advisers, acting as the interface with the acquirer, vendor and all related parties.
- Extensive process preparation, a competitive auction process involving a | 164 |
Tchaikovsky's Bravura Concerto
When Tchaikovsky completed the first draft of his piano concerto in 1875 he showed it three days later to the great Russian pianist, Nicolai Rubinstein, along with another musical friend, Nikolai Hubert. Tchaikovsky was rather hoping that Rubenstein would premiere the work at Moscow's Russian Musical Society in Moscow.
Nicolai Rubenstein
However, they apparently viewed his work as 'worthless and unplayable, with passages so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond rescue.' Rubenstein (pictured) decreed that the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places Tchaikovsky was accused of having stolen from other composers. Only two or three pages were declared worth of preserving, the rest should be thrown away or completely rewritten.
As one might expect, Tchaikovsky was astounded, outraged and upset by the incident. And when Rubenstein came to console him afterwards Tchaikovsky declared 'I shall not alter a single note, I shall publish the work exactly as it is!'
And he did…!
Hans von Bülow
The premiere of the concerto actually took place later that year half a world away in Chicago, USA with Hans von Bülow (pictured) as the pianist describing it as 'so original and noble', and to whom Tchaikovsky was to subsequently dedicate the piece.
The audiences loved it too. However, the critics were not so impressed, one writing that the conc<|fim_middle|>-Weaver will be the piano soloist, pitted against the full weight of the symphony orchestra under the baton of George Jackson.
Firebird in February
St John-the-Evangelist, Oxford @ 6pm
Generously sponsored by the Morris-Venables Charitable Foundation
Mozart Overture to Die Zauberflöte K. 620
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in Bb minor, Op. 23
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
George Jackson conductor
Marc Corbett-Weaver piano
https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Tchaikovsky.jpg 1134 883 London Firebird Orchestra https://www.londonfirebird.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/firebird11.png London Firebird Orchestra2018-11-18 23:30:072018-11-18 23:31:18Tchaikovsky's Bravura Concerto
Musician of the Month: Tiffany Cheng View from the Rostrum | erto was 'hardly destined …to become classical'.
The unmistakable opening bars of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 makes it immediately recognisable as one of the best loved piano concertos of all time. However, it wasn't always like that…
Concerto cover
But when the Moscow premiere finally took place, the conductor was none other than Nikolai Rubinstein. He had come to see the merits of the work and was to go on to play the solo part many times throughout Europe.
A year later Tchaikovsky did make some small amendments to the score. The most obvious was the alteration of the opening piano chords which were originally arpeggiated to the solid chords we are more familiar with today.
Click to listen to the original opening of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No1: https://vimeo.com/300252834
Tchaikovsky's magnificent and much loved Concerto No.1 for Piano and Orchestra will be a highlight of Firebird in February when Firebird's Artistic Director Marc Corbett | 222 |
Nav 9.1: What is<|fim_middle|>position or incorrect/no application of legislation? What would be the reason for the member state to not comply with EU legislation?
Road safety: Are speed cameras saving lives, and are old cars dangerous? | on the agenda?
Introduction Chapter 11 has shown that the European Commission plays a pivotal role in monitoring the correct application of EU legislation. In this exercise you will look at recent infringement cases and see for what reasons the Commission is taking action against specific member states.
The Commission publishes a 'monthly package of infringement decisions' on the EU press release website Rapid.
Select one of the press releases that contains the monthly overview in the form of a table.
Make a rough count of the number of cases per member state and per policy area and compare these with Figure 11.1 and 11.2 of the book.
Review the information the Commission presents on the case. Which of the three types of problems mentioned on page 261 of the book is the reason for the Commission's action: non-communication, incomplete/incorrect trans | 170 |
Salt The Planet
Jeremy Morris is a Christian prog rocker who goes by the name of Jeremy. This is his third album of instrumental music. It is much in the vein of his other two releases. It is perhaps most similar in texture to the work of Larry Fast's Synergy, Vangelis and Kraftwerk, but other leanings show up from time to time. Morris works alone, making this a true "solo" album. Fans of keyboard oriented instrumental progressive rock should really enjoy this one.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2002 Year Book Volume 1 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2001-and-2002.
A rich, atmospheric tone starts the cut. After a time, rhythmic textures take the piece in sort of a space rock excursion into a techno sound. A melody that feels a bit Native American comes<|fim_middle|> this one on guitar. It runs through this for a while before a sedate melody takes the piece in fairly atmospheric waves. Eventually the rhythm goes away, and a new day seems to dawn with an all new and rather pretty melody emerging. The spacey sound continues in waves across the face of this soundscape. This evolves in new directions again, feeling a bit Yes/Genesisish at times. This new segment takes the composition in triumphant ways to new ground, ending both the piece and the album. This is a very strong cut. | in after a while. Eventually a killer synth line moves the piece to new, but not unfamiliar ground. After running through themes, the cut drops back to a mellower, almost Kraftwerkian state to take it to its conclusion.
Backwards tracking begins this one in rhythmic patterns, and these elements remain as the rhythm while synth tones wash over top. After a time a piano melody takes the composition. The unique rhythmic structure really sets this one apart. Eventually the rhythm leaves, and the synthesizer just washes through, like waves on a beach.
A hammering rhythm with atmospheric keyboard textures serves as the intro. That rhythmic structure feels quite a bit like a factory, but synthesizer textures weave the melody over and around it. The cut builds for a while, then drops down temporarily before coming back up, the rhythm more busy this time. It goes to nearly unaccompanied rhythms before the keys return, sans the pounding, to take the tune through its outro.
Unaccompanied keyboard textures open the piece. Artificial rhythms join, feeling appropriately like a heartbeat. One of the most powerful melody lines of the album carries the piece forward. As it continues it works around this melody, becoming more lush in its arrangement.
One of the two extended pieces on the CD, this one comes in Kraftwerkish, then a melody line ensues. As the arrangement carries on it lushes up a bit. After running through that line for a time, the cut sort of stops, then that Kraftwerkian rhythmic segment begins again. This carries the composition to its next mode, a variant on the original theme. After a time, this segment runs through, then sweeps down to stop. A new element emerges, almost like a new song. This one is more heavily rhythmic and has a heavier melody. It feels rather industrial at times, while Pat Methenyish melodies come over the top. After carrying through this way for a while, a new, sequenced type keyboard texture takes the track, at first alone. Then an extremely powerful keyboard melody emerges over top.
This one is a hard-edged, slightly off-kilter number that does feel rather like an earthquake. It is also quite King Crimsonish and rather cacophonous. It is the hardest rocking piece on the disc. After a time it crescendos, and a lull takes the song. A foreboding, but beautiful melody come up and begins to grow for a time. Then it seems to fight with that storm for control of the number. The storm type sounds gain dominance. Then a new keyboard emerges, ever so softly, before a sound that seems a cross between a flying saucer and a siren moves across the soundscape. More melodious, but atmospheric tones take over to quietly end the track.
Appropriately space oriented tones begin this one, the other long piece on the album. A rhythmic pattern emerges after a time, and when the melody enters it is in the form of something that easily be heard as the soundtrack of a sci-fi show. The cut builds on this theme for quite a time, becoming very lush and powerful before the melody goes away, leaving just a driving electronic rhythm. Waves of space sound are the rhythm's only company for a time. Then another new melody ensues, | 667 |
We are looking for a talented, energetic physical therapist or physical therapist assistant to work full-time in a school setting in the White Plains area as part of our team. You job responsibilities would include: evaluations (PT only) , treatments, documentation and communication with staff and families in the school.
LOCATION: Our offices are located in Port Chester and Mount Kisco, NY as well as school-based setting opportunities. The hours would take place during a working school day.
If you are a licensed Physical Therapist or Physical Therapist Assistant, love working with children and would like to work in Westchester – we'd love to hear from you! Please email your resume to info@developmentalsteps.com or call<|fim_middle|> fun! This would be in our Mount Kisco location.
For more information, please email a resume and cover letter to info@developmentalsteps.com or give us a call at (914) 939-6400!
Developmental Steps is 14-years strong and 100% physical therapist owned! Our offices are located in Port Chester and Mount Kisco, NY, where we service children ages newborns through 18 years old. What our patients love most about our therapists is their creative approach to helping each child succeed while keeping a fun and supportive place for their family. Our staff loves working here and has created a strong team environment. | the office at (914) 939-6400.
It's a great opportunity for someone that's looking to grow their clientele, is looking for an opportunity with flexible days and hours, and wants to use their creativity to develop classes and have a lot of | 58 |
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Cave Hotels and Hot Air Balloons
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Cave Hotels and Hot Air Balloons – Cappadocia's Biggest Attractions The Anatolian region of Cappadocia in central Turkey boasts of many quirky aspects including<|fim_middle|> cities, and ancient churches but by far, two of its biggest attractions luring thousands of travellers every year are its cave hotels and early morning sunrise hot air
All About Turkey
As the 37th largest country in the world, the diversity of culture, traditions, weather, landscapes, and food throughout Turkey is overwhelming in itself. Even the history of the country would fill a book containing thousands of pages, yet it is because of its past that we see the glory of Turkey as it is now,
Biblical Turkey and the Seven Churches of Revelation
Despite Turkey's status as a secular Muslim country, its historical timeline in Christianity is strong and still evident in the country today. Indeed the Cappadocia Fathers, who later became saints stemmed from the central Anatolian region and are widely contributed with spreading Christianity in its early days. Saint John, Paul, and the Virgin Mary also | fairy chimneys, underground | 5 |
This rich, luscious, flavorful gravy not only helped meat to<|fim_middle|> reduced. | stretch farther, but was also a wonderful way to use up milk (which could be quite plentiful at times!) and pairs beautifully with Drop Biscuits!
Brown over medium-high heat until all is broken up into small pieces and the meat is no longer pink. If you have a particularly fatty brand of sausage, remove the rendered fat until you have just enough left on the bottom so that it runs slightly when you tilt the pan, but not so much that the sausage is standing in oil. (about 2 tablespoons total in the pan plus what is on the meat).
Reduce heat to medium-low and sprinkle the about 3 tablespoons of the flour over the meat as evenly as you can (this will help reduce lumps!). Stir well and keep adding the rest of the flour bit by bit until you have as much as you can add before the sausage looks completely dry. Cook for a minute or two to brown the flour (which adds yet more flavor!!).
Add the milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps until the first four cups of milk is incorporated. Make sure to scrape up the bottom of the pan as you go. . .not only does this prevent burning, but it also incorporates all the lovely browned bits of flavor into your gravy!
Keeping the heat on a low simmer, stir the gravy for about 8-12 minutes, until it thickens to your preferred consistency. Taste and season to your liking with salt and pepper. It should be a thick, rich consistency and richly flavored. If it gets over-thick, just add the remaining milk bit by bit until you are happy with the result. If it is too runny, keep simmering until it is perfectly | 341 |
Registration now open for "Hidden Gems", October 15-16
OnlineConference2020
The ICDAD 2020 virtual conference looks at "hidden gem" objects, exploring collections from Asia, Europe, the US, and Mexico. Please register here.
Times are listed for New York, Paris, and the local time of each presenter.
DAY 1: Thursday, October 15
7:00 AM USA Eastern time; 13:00 Paris; 16:00 Ekaterinburg, Russia; 19:00 Taiwan; 20:00 Japan
Naoyuki Watanabe — Oda Collection of 20th Century Design
Annie Ting-An Lin — Objects Betwixt and Between: Objects from the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
Ludmila Budrina — Malachites of the Demidoff Family: Reconstruction of the Collection and Potential Digital Representation
Moderators: Melissa Rinne, Shoshana Resnikoff
12:00 PM USA Eastern time; 18:00 Paris; 18:00 Netherlands; 19:00 Finland
Femke Coevert, Dafne Diamante, Aafke Weller, and Maud van Suylen — Panoramas from the Depths of the Rijksmuseum's Storage Room
Maddalena Napolitani — Balthazar-Georges Sage: The "Hidden Collector" and his Cabinet<|fim_middle|>1)
Copyright © 1992–2021 ICOM ICDAD.
ICOM Activities | of Decorative Arts
Leena Svinhufvud and Susanna Thiel — The Design Attic: Investigating Hidden Processes in Designer Archives
Moderators: Kai Lobjakas, Shoshana Resnikoff
7:00 PM USA Eastern; 1:00 Paris; 6:00 PM Mexico Central
Rebecca Tilles — Uncovering Hillwood, Washington D.C.'s Hidden Gem
Harrison Schley – The Zalinsky Collection: A Union Soldier's Trove of Japanese Swords and Art
Claudia Marín — Devotion and Self-Representation in the 18th Century: Arts and Crafts at Museo de Arte Religioso Ex Convento de Santa Mónica
Moderators: Annamarie Sandecki, Shoshana Resnikoff
DAY 2: Friday, October 16
9 AM USA Eastern; 15:00 Paris; 14:00 Portugal
Levi Higgs —Mining the David Webb Jewelry Archive
Naoko Adachi — Finding a Place in Museums for Japanese Photograph Albums from the Late-Nineteenth Century
Samantha Coleman-Aller — Hidden Gems: A Rare Group of Irish Glass Pieces
Conference Archive (34)Letters from the Board (15)
(1)1992 (1)1993 (1)1994 (1)1995 (1)1996 (1)1997 (1)1998 (1)1999 (1)2000 (1)2001 (1)2002 (1)2003 (1)2004 (1)2005 (1)2006 (1)2007 (1)2008 (3)2009 (1)2010 (4)2011 (2)2012 (1)2013 (2)2014 (3)2015 (2)2016 (1)2017 (2)2018 (1)2019 (1)2020 (8)2021 (4)Austria (3)Azerbaijan (1)Call for papers (4)Conference (33)General Assembly (1)Grants (2)Italy (3)Japan (1)Online (4)Poland (2)Portugal (5)Slovenia (1)Switzerland (2)United states (2)china (1)croatia (1)czech republic (1)estonia (1)finland (1)france (1)germany (3)latvia (1)letter (9)netherlands (1)norway (1)spain (1)sweden (1)turkey (1)united kingdom ( | 626 |
Scientists differ from ordinary mortals by their ability to admire loquacious and complicated delusions.
Scientists, in a broad sense, are persons engaged in the systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method.
Hannes Alfvén, as quoted by Anthony L. Peratt, Dean of the Plasma Dissidents in "The World and I" (supplement to the Washington Times, May 1988), p. 192.
Michael Behe, molecular biologist, says in Darwin's Black Box.
Wernher von Braun in his Introduction for Dagobert David Runes (ed.), A Treasury of World Science (1962), viii.
Vannevar Bush (1945) as quoted by George H. W. Bush in remarks while presenting National Medals of Science and Technology (13 November 1990).
There is a noticeable general difference between the sciences and mathematics on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other. It's a first approximation, but one that is real. In the former, the factors of integrity tend to dominate more over the factors of ideology. It's not that scientists are more honest people. It's just that nature is a harsh taskmaster. You can lie or distort the story of the French Revolution as long as you like, and nothing will happen. Propose a false theory in chemistry, and it'll be refuted tomorrow.
I have watched the #metoo campaign as avidly as anyone. I have gone to bed each night wondering who will be outed as a sexual harasser in the morning, whether it will be another one of my political heroes or someone we all recognize from mainstream media or Hollywood. We've seen many of these perpetrators lose jobs, be forced to resign, and face economic difficulty because of their abhorrent behaviors.
But I have not gone to bed a single night in all these months wondering what scientist would be sacked in the morning because of his transgressions—let alone be publicly outed—because scientist-harassers rarely lose their jobs.
Are people who engage in sexual misconduct actually making scientific advances that would not be made without them? I'd say it's more likely that swifter, greater advances would have occurred if there were fewer perpetrators limiting opportunities for their victims. When part of your brain has to be occupied with workplace stress—from unwanted sexual advances to witnessing abuse between colleagues—you have less to give to your science.
If we punish these perpetrators, especially by taking away their funding, won't their trainees suffer? I wonder how many grad students would be better off, relieved of the pressures of working for a predator. As federal funding agencies grapple with this problem, they have begun to figure out solutions, such as assigning a new principal investigator if the original one can't continue. It doesn't kill the project or leave students and staff out of their jobs. Removing the perpetrator from a project also saves the pedigree of the trainees; few want their published work tainted with the name of a known sexual harasser.
The last concern is the trickiest: Why don't we do anything when we know about the perpetrators in our midst? So far, consequences for scientist-harassers are few and far between. In academia it's common to get sanctions like "no more female grad students" or "no more undergraduate teaching" or "please work at home for now." These are mild punishments at best, but departments are unsure what other options they have—and universities don't make it easy to fire professors. The institutions know that perpetrators generally have more resources than victims and are more likely to sue if they are fired. It is a good financial decision, then, to do nothing about a perpetrator, even if they are guilty.
So this is where we find ourselves today: In many professions sexual misconduct is now cause for dismissal. In the sciences, not so much. What's more, many science workplaces use legal definitions of sexual harassment to set the standard for workplace conduct. If that is the bar that has to be met for a disgusting behavior to be considered actionable by a university, research institute, or field station, it is a high one. An enormous range of disrespectful and even frightening behavior can slip under that bar, even though it damages the<|fim_middle|>, nearly always possess hidden desires to push science in this direction or that, " for science's own sake ". The goal selected is the one that accords most closely with the basic emotional set of the scientific agitator. And the emotional sets of scientists may be classified, broadly, into two elementary groups, materialistic and vitalistic.
William Moulton Marston, The Emotions of Normal People, (1928), p. 7.
The creative scientist lives in a 'wildness of logic,' where reason is the handmaiden and not the master.
Some 500,000 scientists all over the world are devoting their knowledge to the search for weaponry more sophisticated and more deadly.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, stated reinforcing his warning to the United Nations. Cited in the article: Apocalypse—What Is It?, The Watchtower magazine, 2/15, 1986.
A scientist worthy of the name, above all a mathematician, experiences in his work the same impression as an artist; his pleasure is as great and of the same nature.
In contrast to composers, there are few scientists whose last works are their greatest.
Martin Rees as quoted by Jessica Bland in Martin Rees looks back to understand why 'scientific citizens' will be important in the future. In Verba, The Royal Society (16 January 2012).
As a result of scientific man's creativity there arises an ordered, illumined, determined world, imprinted with the stamp of creative intellect, of pure reason and clear cognition. From the midst of the order and lawfulness we hear a new song, the song of the creature to the Creator, the song of the cosmos to its Maker. | careers of victims and bystanders, holding back scientific advancement.
Kathryn B. H. Clancy, "Have the Sciences Had a #MeToo Moment? Not So Much.", National Geographic, (05/2018).
Scientists and doctors to me, are at the leading edge of what all human beings do all of the time; which is to change, everything. We've never been satisfied with what we're given. We don't accept the earth as a given. We change our body chemistry, our physiology, our biology, our biochemistry. We clear the forest, we build our own environment, we climate control it . . . And, the interface between that impulse and the human body often is doctors, biologists, and biochemists.
David Cronenberg, "David Cronenberg", Bette Gordon, BOMB Magazine, (Jan 1, 1989).
What is a scientist after all? It is a curious person looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on.
Richard Dawkins (1996) "Human gullibility beyond belief,— the "paranormal" in the media". The Sunday Times. 1996-08-25.
Scientists are just as vulnerable to wishful thinking, just as likely to be tempted by base motives, just as venal and gullible and forgetful as the rest of humankind. Scientists don't consider themselves to be saints; they don't even pretend to be priests (who according to tradition are supposed to do a better job than the rest of us at fighting off human temptation and frailty). Scientists take themselves to be just as weak and fallible as anybody else, but recognizing those very sources of error in themselves and in the groups to which they belong, they have devised elaborate systems to tie their own hands, forcibly preventing their frailties and prejudices from infecting their results.
So many people today — and even professional scientists — seem to me like someone who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest.
The genuine scientist is not moved by praise or blame, nor does he preach. He unveils the universe and people come eagerly, without being pushed, to behold a new revelation: the order, the harmony, the magnificence of creation! And as man becomes conscious of the stupendous laws that govern the universe in perfect harmony, he begins to realize how small he is. He sees the pettiness of human existence, with its ambitions and intrigues, its 'I am better than thou' creed. This is the beginning of cosmic religion within him; fellowship and human service become his moral code. And without such moral foundations, we are hopelessly doomed.
Everyone here would die for the sake of truth. Everyone here lies constantly for the tiniest chance of personal gain. This is what it means to be a scientist.
We scientists are clever — too clever — are you not satisfied? Is four square miles in one bomb not enough? Men are still thinking. Just tell us how big you want it.
Most scientists, however, have more respect for narrative. Nobel Prize winners Steven Weinberg, Frank Wilczek, and George Smoot, notable theoreticians Stephen Hawking, Lee Smolin, Leonard Susskind, Lisa Randall, Steven S. Gubser, Brian Greene, and many others have written accessible books that utilize the capacities of natural language and narrative to represent the contemporary scientific picture of space and time. They are following the example of Charles Darwin, whose Origin of Species (1859) was written in the educated layman's idiom of his day, and even Albert Einstein, parts of whose Relativity (1920) may be understood without mathematical training.
Elana Gomel (18 February 2014). Narrative Space and Time: Representing Impossible Topologies in Literature. Routledge. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-134-51963-7.
I do not like to see all the fine boys turning to the study of law, instead of to the study of science or technology. … Japan wants no more lawyers now; and I think the professions of literature and of teaching give small promise. What Japan needs are scientific men; and she will need more and more of them every year.
Lafcadio Hearn, in letter to Masanobu Ōtani (1894), collected in Elizabeth Bisland The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn (1922), Vol. 14, 273.
Gerald Holton, quoted in 'Where is Science Taking Us? Gerald Holton Maps the Possible Routes', The Chronicle of Higher Education (18 May 1981). In Francis A. Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (1982), 80.
Scientists are supposed to live in ivory towers. Their darkrooms and their vibration-proof benches are supposed to isolate their activities from the disturbances of common life. What they tell us is supposed to be for the ages, not for the next election. But the reality may be otherwise.
Science for its part speaks against the special importance of any object of science, including human beings. … Science as opposed to religion recognizes nothing sacred either outside man or within him. But collectively, science is the assertion of man over non-man, surely an unembarrassed claim to importance and rule. Yet as individuals, scientists are anonymous factors in the scientific enterprise, each one substitutable for another. For all science cares, scientists could as well be numbered as named.
Our problem is : What are the underlying desires or wishes, that lead some scientists to insist upon mechanistic conceptions, and others equally eminent, to espouse some form of scientific vitalism ? For in psychology, as in other sciences, a materialistic or vitalistic bias may be found at the root of nearly all factional schools, or contentious groups. Sometimes, of course, the underlying desire relates solely to the advancement of the personal fortunes of the workers concerned ; and such purely egoistic motives probably play a considerable part in the evolution of every scientific doctrine. In addition to this, however, originators and promulgators of conceptual systems of thought | 1,289 |
Lippincott is a creative consultancy specializing in brand and innovation.
We blend business acumen with pioneering creativity to drive growth.
Combining strategic rigor and creative thinking, we help companies find new purpose, be ever more relevant, and thrive into the future. Everything we do is anchored in a deep understanding of our clients' businesses today and the possibilities for tomorrow. With a commitment to achieving measurable and sustainable results, we translate vision into reality with bold ideas that work.
Brands today are built not just from what they say, but what they do and what they make possible for their customers. We help our clients create meaning in their customers' lives by turning innovative ideas into captivating experiences. By working in a studio model that uses rapid prototypes, we design bold, forward-looking customer solutions that set trends rather than chase them.
We see design as a vehicle for transformation. Since our founding in 1943, design excellence and a commitment to craft has been at our core. With a team of visual<|fim_middle|> or partnering with Samsung to disrupt new categories, our multidisciplinary teams continue to blaze trails with leaders all around the world. By maintaining the same pioneering spirit we were founded with, we design new ways to create meaning every day.
And we continue to drive growth and create meaning in customers' lives. | and verbal designers, we push the boundaries of design to shape how people emotionally connect with brands and see the world today.
We are proud to be part of Oliver Wyman which allows us to integrate deep industry, risk and operational expertise to deliver end-to-end breakthrough solutions. Together, we help clients better connect with their customers, optimize their businesses, improve their operations and accelerate their organizational performance.
We've been shaping iconic brands and experiences for 75+ years.
Lippincott was founded at the intersection of design and strategy. From day one, it was a culture of innovation with a focus on solving complex problems. Integrating a cutting-edge set of capabilities from product and industrial design to corporate identity and marketing strategy, we went on to partner with early innovators such as Sprite, Xerox and IBM.
Rigor has always been at our core. We were early pioneers of consumer research, analytics and brand strategy, continuously investing in the development of intellectual capital that pushed the boundaries of our approaches. Our first Sense Magazine was published in 1956, creating today's industry tradition of developing and sharing thought leadership.
Whether taking Starbucks beyond coffee, helping Delta achieve new heights | 237 |
Peruse the Mark Twain Library's art show virtually from the comfort of your couch
Keith Loria
Dec. 3, 2020 Updated: Dec. 3, 2020 6 a.m.
The 48th Annual Mark Twain Library Art Show will be available for in person and virtual viewing this year.
Courtesy of the Mark Twain Library / Contributed photoShow MoreShow Less
Mark Twain Library / Contributed photoShow MoreShow Less
Tarryl Gabel's plein air paintings will be featured in the 48th annual Mark Twain Library Art Show, which is available for in person and virtual viewing.
Tarryl Gabel / Contributed photoShow MoreShow Less
Tarryl Gabel's plein air paintings will be featured in the art show.
The literary genius Mark Twain surely would have had some biting words for those who refuse to wear a mask and dismiss the COVID-19 pandemic, as this was the man who wrote "No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot" and "Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
Its gems like those that have cemented Twain and his writings into the hearts of millions, which is why the announcement that the 48th Annual Mark Twain Library Art Show would continue in 2020 is such good news, as it will continue to raise funds for this Redding institution.
The art show is a juried show that draws talent from more than 100 local and regional artists and displays their amazing pieces at the library.
Because of the pandemic, the event will be held virtually for the first time, but that only means even more people will have the chance to see the works of the show. Not only will the gallery be open for in-person, socially distanced viewing from Dec. 6-13, but it will also be available online for anyone to view from their own homes.
This allows for many more art lovers and collectors to both see and buy the artwork that makes it into this juried show.
"As much as possible, we are trying to present the art show in the same ways we have in the past, so we're moving forward in that direction and we'll accommodate as needed based on the Governor's rules," said Angie Kane, art show exhibition chair. "We're still hanging the show and have proper safety measures in place."
One of the things that needed to be eliminated this year sadly, considering it is one of the cornerstones of the Mark Tw<|fim_middle|>COVID-19 has made it difficult for most organizations, especially nonprofits, to stay funded and afloat, so this fundraiser assists with that as well as brings recognition and exposure to many fine artists and their artworks."
For more information, visit www.marktwainlibrary.org/fundraising/art/.
Keith Loria is a freelance writer. | ain Art Show, is the preview reception. In lieu of that, there will be what's being called "the Art Show Premiere," an online event on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., through a webinar-type program that requires tickets.
"We created some programming and have three distinct segments, where for the first time our patrons and lovers of the art show will get to see a behind-the-scenes look at what happens and get a more up-close-and-personal peak at some of the artists," Kane said.
The night will include studio interviews with Redding's own internationally celebrated artists Babette Bloch, James Grashow, Robert Mars and Marc Mellon.
"We will also have a history of the art show segment, where two of our very long standing artist volunteers (Kathy Anderson and Pamela Reese) will be interviewed by a special guest—yet to be revealed," Kane said. "They will talk about their decades-long involvement of bringing the art show to the community."
Another segment will feature artist Tony D'Amico, who is serving as a juror this year, and he will talk about the things he considers during an art show and what goes into analyzing a painting.
After the content is finished, there will be an online silent auction. Once that concludes, the virtual online gallery will open.
The online gallery is for those who don't want to visit the gallery yet still get the same experience of seeing the show and the chance to purchase the artwork they love.
"This is the most important fundraiser of the year for the Mark Twain Library, which is a cornerstone of our town, founded by Mark Twain himself," Kane said. "The gala is a standout event typically. Our library is only partially funded by taxpayers in Redding and the lion's share is from fundraising. It's a win win win, because we are supporting our artist community, art lovers are getting to buy art they love and we are helping the library."
Among the artists in the show this year are Thomas Adkins, Kathy Anderson, Serena Bates, Barbara Boeck, Tarryl Gabel, Theresa Hartley, Dorothy Lorenze, Linda Pickwick, Annette Voreyer, George Zipparo and many more.
Gabel will be displaying oil paintings that were all done plein air.
"I will have two paintings I just did last month when I spent a week painting in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then Cape Cod—I love painting the fall colors," she said. "This is the first year I am bringing works for the portfolio. Artists are offered the chance to bring a bin that will have 20 unframed 8 x 10-original oil paintings available. My works will all again be painted from life."
She is hoping that the show will do even better despite Covid and no big reception because people can "really take their time, view and purchase the works more closely and leisurely online."
Bates will present "Precipice," a bronze statue of a male figure seated high on a peak clasping his head in anguish and dismay.
"This is how many of us feel right now with all that is going on in the world," she said. "Some days it is hard to cope and deal with and we all have on our plates, moments when we think we just can't handle one more thing. This piece acknowledges the fear and pain we are all suffering."
She's also displaying "Survivor," a ceramic interpretation of a harbor seal which was barrel fired to give it smoky markings, then broken and put back together in the fashion of Japanese Kintsugi, the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery.
"I was drawn to this show because of its importance supporting the vital programs of the Mark Twain Library for the past 48 years," Bates said. " | 768 |
The Power of Darkness (German:Die Macht der Finsternis) is a 1924 German silent drama film directed by Conrad Wiene and starring Petr Sharov, Mariya Germanova and Maria Kryshanovskaya. It is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's play The Power of Darkness.
It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich.
Cast
Petr Sharov
Mariya Germanova - Anisia
Maria Kryshanovskaya - Aniuta
Alexander Wiruboff - Nikita
Pavel Pavlov - Akim
Maria Egorowa - Akulina
Sergej Kommissarov
Nikolai Massalitinov
Vera Orlova
Vera<|fim_middle|>Films shot at Bavaria Studios
Silent drama films
1920s German films
1920s German-language films | Pawlowa
George Seroff
References
Bibliography
Jung, Uli & Schatzberg, Walter. Beyond Caligari: The Films of Robert Wiene. Berghahn Books, 1999.
External links
Films of the Weimar Republic
1924 films
German silent feature films
German drama films
Films directed by Conrad Wiene
German films based on plays
1924 drama films
German black-and-white films
Bavaria Film films
| 107 |
HomeMemorialsManuel Eugene Hartsook, Jr.
Manuel Eugene Hartsook, Jr.
March 20, 2016 530
Date of Service: March 20, 2016
Interment Location: Garden of Devotion
Man<|fim_middle|>ue Ward
June Collins | uel Eugene "Gene" Hartsook, Jr. 68, Johnson City, passed away Wednesday, March 16, 2016 in the Sycamore Shoals Hospital. A native of Johnson City, he was a son of the late Manuel Eugene and Mary Kathleen Fair Hartsook. Gene was a 1965 graduate of University High. He was retired as Vice President of Dealer Sales from Appalachian Oil Company.. Gene was a member of East Unaka Christian Church. He was an avid Golfer.
Survivors include his wife: Yvonne Kite Hartsook. Two Children: Shira Evans and husband Scott and Brian Hartsook and wife Julie all of Johnson City. Two Grandchildren: Aiden and Sadie Hartsook.
Funeral Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 20, 2016 in Memorial Funeral Chapel with the Rev. Reece Harris officiating. Interment will follow in Happy Valley Memorial Park. Active Pallbearers will be: Brian Hartsook, Scott Evans, Ross Tutterow, Jerry Pearman, Pat Smith, Bill Schroding, George Williams and David McLaney. The family will receive friends from 12 Noon to 2 p.m. Sunday in the funeral home. Condolences may be sent to the family at our web-site www.memorialfcelizabethton.com.
Memorial Funeral Chapel is serving the Hartsook family
S | 304 |
IT'S TIME FOR YOUR LIGHT KIT TO DO MORE!
Featuring a compact 12.4 x 13 x 2.6″ design and<|fim_middle|> can also run on optional V-mount batteries when mains current is unavailable. | a multitude of color control options, the 728 RGBW LED Panel from Dracast is a versatile fixture that offers a wide range of creative possibilities.
The light has two means of color control. The bi-color mode presents the user with expansive color temperature options, adjustable from 2000 to 5600K to meet any ambient light challenge or match other fixtures while maintaining a high CRI of 96 – an indication of accuracy in color rendition.
The RGB mode offers 360° color wheel selection that yields literally millions of colors with hue and saturation control that's dimmable from 0 to 100%. Yet another valuable feature is Multi-Light Control Capability that allows you to adjust the settings of multiple fixtures from a single "master" light. The 728 RGBW LED Panel is ready for worldwide use thanks to its included 100 to 240 VAC power adapter but it | 196 |
When people think about things to do in Stanford, visiting the many exceptional wine farms in the area is often very near, if not at the top of the list. Many of these wine estates are internationally renowned and offer an excellent selection of vintages to buy and to taste, as well as restaurants where you can enjoy a meal.
The wine estates in Stanford genuinely are a must-do for anyone who finds themselves in the area – whether you live there or are just staying for a short time. The rich history of growing grapes and turning them into delicious wines is just one of the many reasons to visit the estates. You can do tastings to discover what makes each one so special and why people come from all over the world to buy from them. You can also wander through the grounds and marvel at the splendour of the Overberg region.
The Cape Whale Coast truly is a special place with its rich diversity in flora, fauna and landscapes. The different types of soil in the valleys and on the mountain slopes provide excellent grounds for growing a wide variety of grapes. This great range allows the winemakers to produce everything from deep merlots to vibrant sauvignon blancs to tantalising blends. Whether you like sweet or dry, wooded or unwooded, red or white, or anything in between, you'll be able to taste it all.
The history and the grounds of each estate is full of stories worth hearing and retelling. Whenever you go for a tasting or a meal at one of the wine farms in or around Stanford, be sure to chat to the sommeliers, the waiters and if you're lucky, the wine makers. They'll<|fim_middle|> that are a foodie's dream come true. Be sure to look at the menus when touring the wine farms.
For the Stanford locals, it's really wonderful to have so many excellent wine farms right on your doorstep. You can get farm prices on exceptional wines and keep a good looking wine cellar in your own home. Bottles of unusual or rare vintages also make excellent gifts, and having these farms close by means you always have a good supply of potential presents for family members, friends and even for work events. | be able to tell you all about how the farm started, what they grow there and maybe something about their special processes that make their wines stand out from the crowd. Many estates also offer farm-to-table dining experiences | 42 |
Next up in our Nordics Digital Enterprise Festival speaker insights is Petra Sundstrom, Director Of Innovation at Husqvarna Group. Petra is among a fantastic line up of speakers for our event on 20th October in Stockholm.
Go to www.digitalenterprisefest.com to view the agenda, speaker line-up & to book a ticket, this event is not to be missed!
DEF – Can you tell us a little about your role at Husqvarna Group?
DEF – How is digital transformation affecting your industry and which new trends do you think will have the biggest impact in the future?
DEF – Where is Husqvarna Group on its digital transformation journey, and how are things changing for your staff and customers?
PS – We are off to a good start. We have done a first scan of our potential service and solution offer and arrived at three prioritized areas for the Group. We have a Virtual Innovation Lab that help the organization to work in new ways using design thinking and with partners looking at the new business for the Group. We are building our first Smart factory, and we have acquired startups such as Koubachi.
But we are also struggling, we are struggling with faster, agiler but also collaborative ways of working due to a more traditional organization. What a new organization that also can handle solution planning, i.e. products and services together look like is though not that easy to say.
DEF – What advice would you give an organisation at the start of its digital transformation journey?
PS – The Multidisciplinary Connectivity Hub that we started with was, in fact, a great start. Demonstrators in the form of design fictions and fully working prototypes have also help a lot – Seeing is believing.
DEF – The theme of the Nordics Digital Enterprise Festival is "the future belongs to the fast" (encouraging large companies to transform digitally at a quicker rate). As a large organisation, how does Husqvarna Group make sure it can respond quickly to the opportunities and challenges of digital?
PS – Virtual Innovation Lab has helped us show to solutions like Battery Box, a fully working digital pop-up store renting out products instead of selling them, and how we can build such solutions fast with partners has been a great driver for the Group.
Design fictions presenting the future in terms of a fictive customer catalogue staging all ideas in a shared context also with competitors and other trends happening has also been a great driver<|fim_middle|> are used to do things. | to collectively understand what this development is all about.
DEF – Without giving too much away, what can attendees expect to learn from your session "The Importance Of Explorations & Continuous Innovation?
PS – I will shortly talk about what we have done so far, some pros and cons with our journey so far, but also, I will talk of our Battery Box project pushing the boundaries for ourselves and for what we understood we could do, and how we | 90 |
Ethan Gilsdorf
12:56 pm Fri, Jul 31, 2015
The Dwarven Lord of Kickstarter
If you're headed to Gen Con in Indianapolis this weekend, you might swing by booth number 1201, the headquarters of Dwarven Forge.
As you enter the exhibit hall, you can't miss their stall. You'll know you're at chez Dwarven Forge because, well, you'll feel you're home again — home in a miniature-scaled, two-inch high dungeon, that is. Just insert Dungeons & Dragons figurines and a tiny gelatinous cube and feel your geeky imagination swell.
Such is the domain of Dwarven Forge, makers of what is essentially a Lego set for fantasy gamers. The company produces hundred of different miniature terrain pieces, each cast from either resin or what they call "Dwarvenite" (a custom variant of PVC, or polyvinyl chloride). Using these parts that look like walls, corridors, tombs, caverns, staircases, and buildings – think a modular 3D version of graph paper — RPGers can build highly-realistic environments for their underground or above-ground game settings. Like Lego, each is element is compatible with every other, and can be joined in endless configurations to make fantastical and/or ludicrous layouts for your favorite game setting, be it D&D or Pathfinder, old school or 5.0. (There's even a sci-fi set.) The pieces are scaled at 25-28mm (or 1/58-1/64 size), which makes them more-or-less compatible with miniatures from most miniature companies, including Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings and Warhammer lines.
Amazingly, these playthings are incredibly popular. How popular are they? Dwarven Forge has become one of Kickstarter's biggest successes. Their last three fundraising campaigns have netted a total of $6.5 million.
"This year, thanks to the amazing support of our customers, we will cast our 5 millionth piece of Dwarvenite," says Stefan Pokorny, who founded the company in 1996.
Hang out at Gen Con's Dwarven Forge booth, and you'll inevitably meet Pokorny. He'll be the cheery, enthusiastic guy, probably wearing chainmail. Once upon a time, Pokorny, 48, was a classically trained painter and sculptor. But this artist was also a medieval fantasy dreamer. He collected 25mm figurines. And he played a lot of D&D. When his art career didn't pan out—"I tried for ten years to get galleries in New York to hang my work," he says, speaking by phone from his Brooklyn studio (the company itself is based in Westport, C.T.)—he began to create his scaled-down dungeon-making accessories, a setting for where his imaginary adventures might take place. "The plan was to make some money and go back to painting, but this ended up being my profession."
Dwarven Forge was born.
Those art school sculpting skills came in in handy. Each piece is impressively-crafted down to the last scrupulous detail: stone floors apparently cracked by time; limestone-like formations brimming with eerie green goo; portcullis gates that could easily pierce a kobold or your hapless magic-user; sarcophaguses studded with jewels; dungeon doors, seemingly pre-battered by orcs or trolls, that practically creak on their tiny metallic-painted hinges.
Dwarven Forge had enabled the kind of literal world-building that most gamers guard privately, in their heads. In doing so, Pokorny has helped bring the "tactile" back to the tabletop gaming, an industry under attack from the digital realm. "I'm just a dude," Pokorny says, "an artist who found D&D when I was a kid and just loved it and started crafting my own worlds through decades."
But not all customers buy the sets for their miniature and role-playing games. Some are content to use the modular pieces to build elaborate dioramas, and then take pictures of them. That fact might help explain why sets like the 20-piece "Narrow Dungeon Passage Pack" ($65), the 31-piece "Catacombs Set 2" ($119), or individual pieces such as the "Falling Block Trap" ($8) and "Raisable Portcullis" ($8) sell so well.
Case in point: Back in April, Pokorny's company raised $2.4 million on Kickstarter to fund its new batch of gaming terrain, the City Builder System, which (when it's released in January, 2016) you be able to use to build medieval-looking cityscapes. In scoring of this latest horde of cash, Dwarven Forge's City Builder System became Kickstarter's 35th most-funded project of all time. This isn't the first time Pokorny has struck crowd-funding gold. In 2014, he raised $2.1 million for another set of gaming "caverns" [now sitting at number 41 on the all-time list] and in 2013, he raised $1.9 million for a set of gaming tiles [number 48].
That's three gangbusters campaigns in three years, each landing in Kickstarter's all-time top 50 money-makers, making Dwarven Forge one of the most lucratively crowdsourced companies ever.
What's interesting about Pokorny is that's he's not just an artist, gamer and entrepreneur, but he's an insanely dedicated Dungeon Master who has been working on his campaign world of Mythras, which he began creating at age 12, some 36 years ago. His miniature terrain pieces are just one way of helping him visualize this world. When he DMs, he puts on a show, what he called "theatrical D&D," using costumes, sound effects, smoke machines, as well as his massive Dwaven Forge layouts. (More on this below.)
"I've got my own sort of spin on D&D, to make it more of an experience. Obviously, I'm the guy that makes terrain. So right there, it's more of an experience than just spirit of the mind."
How does Pokorny do it? What makes his products so popular? Why does Dwarven Forge have so many loyal customers?
"I don't know!" he says. "We've got good fans, good backers." But surely there's more to the Dwarven Forge story than that. I had an opportunity to chat with Pokorny to learn more about the origin story Dwarven Forge, the secret to its success, some DM's tips for how to use the terrain pieces in a game, well as what special items and announcements to expect from Dwarven Forge this weekend, July 30-August 2, at Gen Con.
One likely sight if you swing by to visit booth 1201: Pokorny, wearing chainmail, bent over a gaming table, tweaking his tiny labyrinths, and inviting you to come play in his world.
Ethan Gilsdorf: Let's talk about the artistry here. Stefan, how long does it take you to sculpt a typical piece?
Pokorny: Anywhere from several hours to several days if it's complex. Sometimes you just need to step away from it, sleep on it, and see your work with fresh eyes so inspiration can hit.
Gilsdorf: Now that your company is growing, are you still doing the sculpting?
Pokorny: I would say I still do about half of the sculpting. I try to hire really good sculptors. My forte is more in the stonework. I like to sculpt stones and architectural kind of things. My father was an architect. Stone, and that kind of stuff. I'm not good with putty – that two part epoxy they use. I hate that stuff. That's why I don't do the real miniature stuff. I probably could sculpt it if I wanted to try. I did a few details on this Kickstarter. I had a bridge that had a couple of dragons and a troll head, that are really, really small and detailed. I used regular clay. There was literally a toothpick and an Exacto knife sculpting these details. It's hard to sculpt when it's not putty because all you have to do is graze it and it puts a mark. But I manage.
Gilsdorf: Tell me more about your art training and its connection to Dwarven Forge.
Pokorny: I've been trained, from the time I was 15 years old, as a classical artist. I went to art school. I have a master's degree in painting. And that was really what I thought I was going to do, was be a painter. But it was during the age of abstraction and being a realistic artist, it was impossible to get anyone to show my work. So as a Plan B, I started Dwarven Forge in 1996 and it just took off from the start. 18 years later, it's still going!
Gilsdorf: So: "Dwarvenite." What the heck is it? And why did you switch from using resin terrain to Dwarvenite?
Pokorny: Our older, classic sets are resin, all hand painted. Dwarvenite is the new, indestructible, yet highly detailed, material we introduced via Kickstarter in 2013. It's not a polystone material, which is too subject to chipping and cracking. It's actually a proprietary PVC derivative, modified to stay flexible, take paint and hold tight details in casting and tested to ensure safety and stability. Resin, while not extremely delicate, has to be handed and packed with more care. Dwarvenite can simply be swept off the table into one of our canvas totes to carry and store.
And it's great! You can throw it against a wall, you can step on it, and it doesn't damage at all. That's been great for me, if I wanna go and play somewhere, I just throw everything into a box, or duffle bag, and a backpack, and just spill it out onto a table. So that's been a godsend from the transportation aspect. And the customers love it.
Gilsdorf: Any thoughts on why your products are so successful at attracting Kickstarter funding?
Pokorny: I think when we post the goal, it's not really a realistic goal. It's not the goal that we really want. But I think if we were to go on there and say, "Hey, we want to hit 1 million," that would probably turn people off. We try to be a little more modest. But really in our minds, we feel like we want to equal what we did last time. So that's really just sort of a ghost goal, really. There's always a bit surge at the end. It's a big sigh of relief.
Gilsdorf: So you've raised millions on Kickstarter. Are you getting filthy rich?
Pokorny: While we're very happy, I can't say we're getting rich. We're trying to run the company smartly — get and pay the best people we can to help, invest as aggressively as we can into new development, our tooling, keep a better inventory of new products where possible, price products fairly, pay our taxes, and save a little bit for a rainy day.
Gilsdorf: How big is your company now? How many people?
Pokorny: We're a very small company, a private two-person partnership. This year it went from me just working out of my home, even though I'd been in business 18 years, me sculpting out of my home, to having to rent an office space that was 600 square feet. That was, like, six months ago. To now having to move into a 2,200 square foot space. And I have at least 5 or 6 people in there every day. Sometimes I've got 10.
We're sort of exploding.
We're lucky enough to have some great creative collaborators. I've got writers coming over, I've got illustrators, I've got plumbers, I've got carpenters, I've got me sculpting. It's craziness. And it's all being filmed, on top of that. So it's very exciting. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I'm always just one phone call away from a nervous breakdown, honestly.
Gilsdorf: Being filmed?
Pokorny: I'm even producing my own TV pilot. It's kind of a reality show about Dwarven Forge. They've been following me around for months and filming our processes that it takes to create these dungeons. They've been filming me in the office and they've been filming me running games in bars. We're surrounded by a whole bunch of wacky people. We make the Jersey Shore people seem dull. It's really a production that I'm pouring a lot of money into. I produced it myself because I wanted to make sure it was done the right way. I want people to see that we're not just a bunch of smelly guys in a basement. That stereotype.
And I want to show that these games are great games for anybody. Girls love to play it. It's not just losers that play these games. There are a lot of very creative, intelligent people that play these games. This is really what I want to show people. I have really high hopes for this and the footage we've got so far is fantastic. And it's not just about D&D – it's about Bushwick, the very artistic neighborhood out here it's like the new SoHo, back in the old days of New York, full of crazy, wacky people doing crazy things. And it's all part of this energetic sort of culture we have here. There's just incredible stuff going on here.
Gilsdorf: What's the big news you'll be talking about at Gen Con? Any new products? I see on your Facebook page that at Gen Con, you've got you City Builder System available if folks missed your Kickstarter, as well as unique individual pieces available for sale. There's also mention of a preview of your new book. What's that about?
Pokorny: We will be at Gen Con, with some City Builder prototypes, and, if all goes well, a surprise new product. Our biggest announcement, at least to me, is the introduction of my campaign world of Mythras, my home grown personal world which I started creating when I was 12 years old, 36 years ago. Over that time, I imagined and re-imagined, created, and re-created Mythras and the City of Valoria.
We're not just releasing the terrain, there's also going to be the modules. Dwarven Forge's first module. This will be our first foray into actually making adventures. From the time I was a teenager, I've been drawing maps from my own personal world. A lot of them no one's ever seen. There's the dungeons, the maps. People have been asking me to sell the maps, make them available. And 30 years later, here I am, about to launch it. So it's really exciting for me. We are working on a large tome detailing parts of the world ["Maps & Secret Dungeons"] a collectible hardcover art book that features maps I've drawn by hand over many, many years of gaming. Of course, because we produce terrain and miniatures, you can actually build in 3D the whole scenario using our terrain sets.
I felt this was the time to introduce the City of Valoria since we were doing modular city components at this moment. I have been told that modules don't make money but I honestly don't care about that — my partner won't be happy with that answer— because for me, I have the best occupation in the world, a get to dream like a child, and then watch those dreams take form, like magic. And now it's about to see the light of day. Once again, I'm scared, but I'm also very excited that I'll finally be able to share this with so many people.
Gilsdorf: Wait, surprise new product? Can you say more?
Pokorny: I'm afraid we can't do this yet. We also promised to unveil it at Gen Con for the first time. I can tell you that it is a special edition gamer product that is integral to our world of Mythras and a great complement to using our terrain.
Gilsdorf: Let's talk about your latest set of terrain, the City Builder System. You're leaving the dungeon. Now you want to build cities. Where did that idea come from?
Pokorny: This city that we're selling now, this terrain, is modeled after my city that I've drawn out in the city of Valoria, in the world of Mythras. And this world is inspired by all my travels to Italy and Greece. Both of my parents were European. My mother was born in Rome and my father was born in Czechoslovakia. They both grew up in Europe and they came here later in life and they adopted me.
I'm half Korean, half American. They adopted me and we all grew up as immigrants in New York City. So, all of those things have been put into this world of mine, this combination of travels through Europe. And I just kind of picked up things here and there and threw it all into a campaign. And it's a mishmash of a lot of things: Greek gods; the streets of my city are modeled after Pompeii, the houses are Tudor but then there's also Czechoslovakian – Prague. What people are going to realize is, this city is based on my world, and then we're going to release the map of the city with all the descriptions of the various taverns and inns of my own city with characters. We're actually going to make miniatures of some of the main characters in the city, and we have stories that revolve around the politics and history of the city.
For instance, our city was built upon another city that was destroyed thousands of years ago. There's ruins under the city, and there's rat men and there's were-rats, and there's sanitation workers with their own guild. There are all of these exciting things that are part of this campaign. And I'm hoping that people are going to be excited about it and realize that, "Hey, if you're buying terrain, you're not just buying terrain, you're buying the whole campaign world." And we're just going to keep unleashing more and more stories about this city so you'll have a reason to have this terrain. Hey, if you're not used to running adventures in cities, don't worry, we're going to give you the adventure if you want. That's what I hope will be more of a boost for this whole endeavor.
One last thing: It's going to be a book that's a whole bunch of my maps with blank pages throughout the book so the Dungeon Master, the game master, can take this book, look at the maps, and then make up their own world. It's an experiment, because people look at the maps and they're fascinated by the maps. We'll have one book that's just maps and blank pages so you can design your own world, and then another book is going to be my actual campaign – I have history, I have illustrations, monsters, all that – and then a third book I think is going to be artwork. Maps, scribbles, everything related to my artistic drawings and things like that. Three books. I see it like a starting point for people.
I find that there's people that have great imaginations and good writing and they have all these ideas, but they aren't artists. They can't draw. So I've drawn all these maps and I can present it to them blank, and they can make up whatever they want. I feel like this would be a good tool for them.
The funny thing is, when we made the modules, this is basically what our starting point was. I really hadn't fleshed out any history for my campaign or really thought too much about it, I didn't have to present it to anyone. So when I decided, now we have to present this to the world, I thought, "We've gotta flesh this thing out." So I hired these guys who sat down and looked at my maps, and just started to make up stories. Like, "Hey, we imagine this, we imagine that." And it was all inspired by the maps. They were helping me come up with all these ideas about a history, and it just grew bigger and bigger and bigger. And it's still growing! And it's all just inspired by looking at my maps. The names of the mountains, and there's things on my maps that say stuff like, "The Hills of Ud and Nud." And I have no idea who that is. I was going to make it up at some point, who Ud and Nud was, but I never did. So these guys just start making things up.
The Hills of the High Priest. I never made who the High Priest was, so they made things by looking at my maps. And I was seeing how it was inspiring them so much that I thought, "Wow, this is great! We should have a book like that. Other people might want to do that."
Gilsdorf: What version of D&D do you play?
Pokorny: I played a little bit of second edition. My world of Mythras is a mix of first and second or else what I picked up along the way or make up. I'm very ignorant of a lot of other systems because we just kind of played D&D in my own little cave, little world. I didn't really play out of modules. I just played in my own world. I'm really not much of a gamer, per se. I haven't played a lot of games.
I just play D&D. So I'm ignorant of all these other games, these card games that everyone is passionate about.
Gilsdorf: What is your sense of how most people are interfacing with your terrain? How many people are using it for their D&D campaigns, are using it for other games, and do you get a sense some people are just collecting it and making layouts, taking pictures and stuff, but not actually using it during a gaming session?
Pokorny: I have no statistics. I have hunches, but I do know that we have a website where people are really passionate about what they build, and they take photos and they post it. There are some people that just like to build the stuff and takes pictures up close, as though you're in the dungeon or the city, then they post it. But a lot of people just like to play with the pieces.
And I know that, our generation, they have children, boys and girls that are growing up that are going bananas for it. So a kind of second surge is coming now where the kids of the gamers are now growing up with our terrain, just loving it. It's like when we were kids, and I grew up with Legos, and I think they're luckier than us because they're growing up with some really awesome terrain. I really feel that we're going through a D&D or RPG renaissance right now. And I think a great deal to do with it, is just because of this. All the gamers have children who are discovering role playing games for the first time.
And they're really excited about it. And I really feel it could be something big. If you think about it, look at how when D&D first came out, it spread like wildfire. And that was before social media or emails, text messages, anything like that. I personally have seen in Brooklyn, I posted signs up in the area saying, "Hey, learn to play D&D, come to this bar. We'll give lessons, or run games in the basement." I set up some terrain and I found a smoke machine and I found a cloak and armor and we had music, and people just went crazy for it. The room was filled every day. Seriously, if I wasn't so busy, I would run these games every week. I probably would have all of Brooklyn playing D&D.
Gilsdorf: Sounds like another side project for you.
Pokorny: We have plans for that. If it gets big enough, I'm going to open my own game store and start playing these things, we're going to send people out to run games. I really feel that, when you look at the other game stores in New York – the Die 20 store, the Brooklyn Strategist – these places are full of people! They're full of hipsters and a younger generation of people who are saying, "Hey! There's something I can do here other than go to a bar and drink. I can play these really cool games."
And there's this generation that's not totally blown away by video games. It didn't happen to them, they just grew up with it. It was always there. So this, to them, is more of a new thing. And to us, video games were new to us. Like, "Wow! Check that out." They're actually kind of going back in time. This is cool. This is cooler than the video games that kids play now. It used to be, "This is what the nerds play." But now, this is what the cool people play.
Gilsdorf: And your version of D&D, as you DM it, is pretty theatrical.
Pokorny: When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by those magicians who used to go out there and do magic acts on the street, and I remember being mesmerized by these guys, the circus, the magicians, these kinds of things. I grew up in New York, you know, where there's crazy shows and events. I think all this influenced me a little. So I try to put on a show. I've got costumes, I've got the miniatures, I've got props, I've got sound. I've got sound effects. You open the door and I've got a creaky door. When the mummies attack I've got the mummy growling, I've got a smoke machine. I try to act out as much as I can. Theater.
I play these games sort of in the dark. I think when everything's dark, people are more concentrated on what you're saying. There's less distraction. So all my games, what I call it is "theatrical D&D." And it's not the only way to play. I'm perfectly fine to just play a regular D&D session without any of that stuff. It's a piece of cake compared to what I've got to do to run these games. It's wearing me out. It takes me like, four hours to set up. And days to plan, to set up, and then I'm just drained. It's like I've been drained a couple levels at the end of the game. But people love it. They pay me a lot of money to come out here, and I run games for the patrons up on the Kickstarters now, like $3000 a game.
Gilsdorf: Whoa. Three grand?
Pokorny: I guess I've sort of become a professional Dungeon Master. It's a pretty big deal. Wow, people pay me now, to play D&D! And why not? I feel like any artist gets paid for what they do. Dungeons & Dragons is kind of an art. It can be done in an artistic way. I feel like it's sort of a mixture of theater and writing. It's a mixture of a lot of things. It's its own art form. All on its own. I feel like people should understand that. But there's nothing like it, so I feel like people really don't know how to classify it.
Gilsdorf: I'm wondering about your thoughts on the difference between playing a role playing game, D&D, with miniatures and a map, and in your case, with three dimensional dungeons and buildings, versus none of that . When you're playing and the props are in front of you, do you find yourself and the other players focusing on what's happening on the board, and not having to imagine the game in their minds?
Pokorny: That's an interesting question. When I run a game, it's usually a little of both. I usually, before I had the city, I would start off in my city and it was all theater of the mind for a couple hours. And it was only until they got out and into a dungeon that we started to play on the table, so to speak. And I think it takes away a little bit from the total imagination and it becomes a little more of – I wouldn't say a war game, but people start to look at the table.
And they start to look at – let's face it, my terrain is pretty good to look at. So they start looking at it, and they marvel at all the little details. I cover it all with cloth, so each room I uncover, they're immediately going, "Oh, wow." People are taking pictures. It's kind of a different experience. I don't think it's better or worse, it's a different experience, that a lot of people haven't experienced before.
Everybody that's willing to drop a few thousand dollars on a layout like that, most D&D is theater of the mind or if they have miniatures, they just pop them down on a mat. And they're mostly imagining stuff.
That's why, when we go to the miniatures, I realize that they're focusing on the miniatures now and all the characters are painted, they're moving them around, and all the monsters I bring out are painted. And it's really kind of a cool experience because it's rare that you find someone that really goes all out, painting everything. Every room fleshed out. It's a fun experience, I encourage them to role play their characters so it's not just you moving your things around like Monopoly.
And I'm acting out the characters, and I try to make sure that it's still an RPG game, it's not a war game. But even when you have the rooms, there's a lot of things that go on. You have to talk as the monsters. What I find I do less as, when I'm playing with the props, is that I'm not describing to them the rooms. Because they can see the room. Whereas with the theater of the mind, I have to describe the room to them. So what I try to do, I have the musical, the sound effects, I've got the props, I've got the miniatures, so it's very intimate, in kind of another way. Which is fun.
Gilsdorf: How do you set it up in advance, and how much time do you spend pre-game setting up the terrain?
Pokorny: It takes hours! 2 or 3 hours to set it up, everything with little bits of cloth, and as we move through each room, I take away a section of the cloth. And it's fun, because they don't know what's going to be coming. And they really huddle around and they move their miniatures like, "I'm gonna go here, and you go there." Obviously, the reason to use the miniatures is to know where you are. Because in the theater of the mind, it's hard to really imagine where anyone is. Especially if 16 kobolds come out, you'll have no idea who's where, or what's going on.
But it's kind of cool to actually see 16 kobolds in the dungeon.
Gilsdorf: So you have this massive dungeon you've laid out on the table, but you don't want to reveal it all at the time to your players. How do you handle that?
Pokorny: I find that cloth is the best, T-shirts, or I get a big sheet of felt and just cut it up into little squares. Because let's say they're going down a passageway that comes to a T shape. I'll just roll it back, and when they get to the T shape, I'll stop it there. Cloth is the easiest to manipulate. That works best.
Plus, if I get a whole bunch of bits of cloth, I can put some fake bits here and there so that they don't know – "Oh! There's going to be more dungeon over there." You just put more cloth around, and then they don't know. You sort of trick them.
Gilsdorf: It sounds like Dwarven Forge has been an unexpected turn into you life and artist career. You wanted to be a traditional artist. You ended up an entrepreneur. Not what you planned, but that's the way life turns out sometimes.
Pokorny: That's how life is. It gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
Gilsdorf: There are worse things you could do.
Pokorny: I make a very effective lemonade.
Gilsdorf: And you still get to make art.
Pokorny: What this game's all about, it's about you, using your imagination. People using their creativity. That's what I love about what I do. I unleash this terrain, and people come and they post pictures online. It's a community they share with one another and are very excited. I've got the best backers, customers, in the world! They're a great bunch of guys, girls. too. And it's a wonderful experience.
It's so much more fulfilling to me than the art world. It's a horrible world. The gallery owners spit on you, the clients abuse you, they make appointments with you,<|fim_middle|>dorf: I have a little. I have friend with a 12 year old son and he was eager to introduce D&D to him. So I played a little. I think they did a great job. I like the packaging and the production especially, but I haven't had a change to dive deep into the rules yet. I tend to play rules light with my regular group, you know? What do you think of 5th edition?
Wheaton: I absolutely love it. I think that they've taken the best of every edition that they've ever released and put it into this one, and they've managed to get rid of all the stuff that I've not liked from the previous editions. It's really fantastic. I really like it a lot.
Gilsdorf: When did you first get into gaming, whether RPGs or board gaming? How far back in your life does gaming go?
Wheaton: I cannot recall a time in my life when I didn't play board games. It is very much a tradition in my family. As long as I can remember, we would spend New Year's Eve playing The Mad Magazine game as sort of a tradition in my family. And one of my babysitters when I was very young always brought Payday.
Gilsdorf: Oh yeah! I remember that one. That was great!
Wheaton: Yeah, and a game called The Ungame. The Game of Life. But [my introduction to RPGs came] when I was about 10 or so, when my great aunt gave me the red box set of Dungeons & Dragons, which is how a lot of my generation was introduced to role playing games. That sort of alerted me to the existence of these non-traditional games that existed. I fell in love with Dungeons & Dragons, and the storytelling of it, and the weird dice, and the fact that it didn't use a traditional board. It felt like I was a part of something special and almost kind of like a secret club because a lot of people didn't know what it was, and didn't understand it. Then as I got older, when I was around 14, I discovered what we considered to be sort of modern tabletop games. It predates the Euro game wave that sort of hit in the early nineties, but around 1987, my friends introduced me to games like Car Wars and Awful Green Things from Outer Space, and role playing systems like GURPS, and games like Warhammer 40,000. And that was when I really became a capital G Gamer.
Gilsdorf: For many people, when you say "board game," they think of Monopoly, Battleship, Scrabble. There are those who use the more current term "tabletop games" and those people know about Settlers of Catan, Cards Against Humanity, and Munchkin. There are some people who play both kinds of game. When you tell people, "Hey, I play board games," are they confused which kind you're talking about?
Wheaton: I think that that probably would have been true as recently as four years ago. But since we started TableTop, and we have put the existence of these games into the mainstream. And as we used to call them, we didn't know what they were. We didn't know what to call them. We called them "nerdy board games" or hobby games for a really, really long time. And I have noticed since TableTop has become what it has become, and not to mistake correlation for causation, but I have noticed that people refer to these games that we play as "tabletop games."
Gilsdorf: Is there a divide there? Do these two groups not talk to each other?
Wheaton: I don't think that that divide is as wide as it once was. There's certainly still I would say a very thin line between what are considered maybe twentieth century and twenty-first century tabletop games. But if you walk into a Barnes & Noble, they now have a section of tabletop games that is as big as the section of tabletop games at any of the big box retailers. And if you walk into Toys 'R Us, you will see, on the shelves with Cootie, and Monopoly, and Ants in the Pants, you'll see Settlers of Catan and Munchkin and Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride. I think that divide isn't really there anymore, because people are just playing games. There's a massive group of gamers who are coming to tabletop games. They're not being introduced with Risk or Sorry or Aggravation. They're being introduced to tabletop gaming with Ticket to Ride, or Settlers of Catan or Magic the Gathering or Pandemic. They're coming into it now because just everybody's playing.
Gilsdorf: Five or ten years ago, hardly anyone would say, "Hey me and my buddies are going to play a game tonight," as an adult, not as a 12 year old or a 10 year old, but as an adult. Now it does seem like it's a legitimate way to spend a night, not just playing cards or poker or Texas Hold 'Em, but Settlers of Catan. There's really been a shift.
Wheaton: I would have to agree with that, but I will add that my friends and I, we self-identify as tabletop gamers predating the current tabletop game movement. We've been doing that forever. That's been very normal for me, going all the way back to 10 years old and on, getting together for an evening of Dungeons & Dragons, or a day spent playing a big box game. Back in the old days it would have been Axis & Allies, and today it's going to be something maybe like Quips or something like that. But that's a thing that's existed for us for a very long time. And I would agree that it's becoming more normalized and more mainstream, but there are a lot of us who have been doing that for a really long time. I personally think that it's really wonderful that it is becoming kind of a mainstream hobby, to get together and spend a day or evening playing games – and not just with friends and family, but also by going to a game shop, or one of the gaming cafes that seem to be popping up all over the place, and playing with strangers. My friend and producer, Boyan [Radakovich], he coined the phrase "Tabletop games are powered by friendship." And I think that that is something that you see everywhere you go where people are playing games.
Gilsdorf: Do you think that the Internet is helping to mainstream board games? Some might think, "Oh, the Internet is the downfall of board games," in the same way that "video games are the downfall of tabletop role-playing games." But it does strike me that that because of the Internet, people are communicating with each other. They connect with each other. Gaming doesn't have to be a niche hobby. What are some of your thoughts on how board gaming culture got to be so big? That's a big question, sorry.
Wheaton: It's a big question that. I'm trying to think of the most efficient way to answer that. You're kind of mentioning a lot of things that overlap and support each other. To the best of my knowledge, a lot of people who play video games also play tabletop games, and vice versa. I know, just speaking for myself, I prefer tabletop games because I like to be with the people who I'm playing with. I enjoy that. At this moment in time, the world of video games has become so toxic and miserable—and I'm confident that's a temporary phenomenon, because we video gamers have endured worse than what we're enduring right now. Well, maybe that's not true. We've endured things that are as much of a threat to our identity as gamers as we are right now. But with video gaming being so toxic at the moment, that atmosphere seems to come around over and over again in video gaming. It just doesn't exist in tabletop gaming. And I think a lot of that has to do with the reality that when we play tabletop games, we're sitting down with people, and we're making an effort to play with people, whether they're friends or strangers. And there's real-life consequences for your behavior at a table that I think don't exist when you're playing online. I think people tend to forget there's a human being on the other side of that screen. You can't forget that there's a human being on the other side of the game board.
Gilsdorf: Certainly with Gamergate and other kinds of harassment that happens online, you can't imagine that happening in a public place or even in a board café.
Wheaton: It wouldn't exist in a public place. That stuff is enabled by technological conditions that allow cowards and bullies to take actions that are essentially consequence-free. And in tabletop gaming, we just don't see that. Within the tabletop gaming community, there's games for everyone, from the person who wants to play the extremely technical strategy game where you spend an entire weekend seeing what would happen if a Roman legion led by Napoleon were to encounter the 1946 post-World War Two Russian army, in North Africa. You know? There's a game like that. Or there's games like Warhammer Fantasy Battle where someone can spread out a hundred square feet of armies and play like that. And that goes all the way to the other end of someone sitting down to play a couple hours of Stone Age, or two people, like my wife and I, sitting down to play Blokus or Splendor. Because there's something for everyone, I think people can self-select. One of the things that I've never seen in tabletop gaming is this juvenile notion that the existence of a game that I don't like, or the existence of a gamer who's different than me, threatens my very existence and the very existence of my hobby. That's pretty prevalent in video games at the moment, and it's really not prevalent in tabletop gaming. And I don't want this to turn into the battle of tabletop games versus video games, but just because at this moment in time it's something we're all really thinking about. I think it's culturally relevant.
Gilsdorf: Do you get a sense of how big the audience is for TableTop, who watches it, and how influential the show has become?
Wheaton: If you just look at the number of views on YouTube, our audience is global and in the millions. And one of the things that is most surprising to me is that we are viewed extensively by families. I've heard from people who have reached out to me. It's gotta be in the thousands now. The new episode of TableTop comes out, they watch it with their family, and then parents and kids get together after watching TableTop and play a tabletop game. And we see that there's people who watch TableTop the day it is released, and then there is a huge spike the Saturday after it's been released. And this lines up with stories that I've heard from people, that their friends come over and they sit down and they watch the episode, and then they spend the rest of the day playing board games.
Gilsdorf: Do you think it's impacting sales? Your show goes on, and the next day, does Amazon get huge orders for whatever game you happen to showcase that week?
Wheaton: I actually know that that is the case because I have talked with distributors who send these games out to retailers, and I've talked with publishers. One publisher told me that, when we played their game on TableTop, that it added $1.4 million to their sales for the year. I think that's what she told me. Virtually every game we play sells out, almost within the month that the show has been released. And this is actually something that we didn't expect that to happen when we started the show. So for the second and third seasons, we actually coordinate. Once a game is chosen, we contact the publishers and ask them, "Will you keep this game in print? Are you able to meet the demand that TableTop drives for games?" And almost always they say "Yes." But if a publisher's going to not be able to keep the game in stock, we're less likely to play it. Because people really want to play the games that we play. And I want people to get so excited that there's just more and more gamers in the world.
Gilsdorf: Nothing more frustrating than getting excited about a game, then finding out the thing's on backorder for six months.
Wheaton: It's one of the reasons that for this season, and just because we're crowd-funded this year I was able to do this, I published the list of games and the people who played them during production. People who really want to be early adopters, or people who have been thinking about a game but maybe haven't gotten it, will have an opportunity months in advance to get a game before the TableTop effect hits that game.
Gilsdorf: You must be pretty pleased by the response to the Indiegogo campaign. Was that surprising to you?
Wheaton: I was really confident that we would be able to fund at least the $500,000 that we needed to do a partial season. I was very surprised at how fast that happened. And then I really wanted to hit our $1 million goal so we could do this RPG show next season, because I want to do for role playing games what we did for tabletop gaming. I really wanted that to happen. I was not confident that it would. I was just delighted. The only hint was, "Okay, stop giving us money. We have what we need." Then people just. Kept. Supporting us. And what that meant was, we were able to invest so much more into the show, and make the show more than we expected to. I was able to give my crew a raise. Everybody who works on the production, I was able to give everybody raises, which really made me happy because we're not doing this to get rich. It's a passion project, and we try to squeeze a buck and half out of every dollar that we spend in the budget. It was really kind of exciting and wonderful for me to be able to do that because of the generosity and the support and the enthusiasm of people who like our show.
Gilsdorf: This show on RPGs, will that be another season ofTableTop, or will be a totally differently branded show?
Wheaton: It's a completely different spin-off show where we're going to play a role-playing campaign that's going to last for a full season. It's going to be the same players, same characters, going on an epic journey to tell a pretty epic story that will unfold over the course of an entire season. What I'm hoping for, if we do this right, is we will produce a show that has characters and story arcs that an audience can get invested in. Instead of those characters and story arcs being powered by a writers room, like you would see in a show like True Detective or something, it's going to be powered by the players and the game master and the adventure that we're writing. So I'm really, really excited for that, and if it works, that show has the potential to go on indefinitely.
Gilsdorf: Does that show have a name yet? Or is it still unnamed?
Wheaton: At the moment, we call it "the TableTop RPG show." I don't know what it will end up being called.
Gilsdorf: I know you've done those celebrity games at PAX, with you and the same group coming back every year to play. It sounds like, at least within the gamer community, that there's definitely an audience for that.
Wheaton: Yeah. I think it's going to be really fun. Well, I know it's going to be really fun. I believe that the audience is going to like it because they're going to get something very different from this than they get from what I used to do at PAX. Those were effectively one-shots with persisting characters. And what we're doing with the RPG show is a full campaign with persisting characters. So what we're going to be doing is more of a season of a television series than, sort of like movies with sequels.
Gilsdorf: Will you be using the new D&D system for your RPG show, or is it going to be something of your own design?
Wheaton: We haven't announced anything about what system we'll be using. So that's still under wraps.
Gilsdorf: I know you need to get back to editing TableTop. It's been a pleasure and honor speaking with you. Thanks for your time.
Wheaton: Thanks a lot. Take care.
[This interview has been edited and condensed.]
10:29 am Wed, Dec 3, 2014
A look at the new Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide
Of the triumvirate of Dungeons & Dragons holy texts – the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, the Dungeon Master's Guide — it was always the last that most enthralled me. How do you manufacture a potion? How long might a wood elf live? What chance might my character have engaging in "non-lethal and weaponless combat," or fighting something while riding on a flying carpet? The DM's Guide had the answer to every question I had.
10:26 am Tue, Nov 25, 2014
Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophy
In Plato's Phaedo, the character of Socrates declares that the best way to prepare for death is to be a philosopher. But "Socrates was wrong," writes Christopher Robichaud in "Save vs. Death: Some Reflections on the Lifecycle of PCs," his contribution to a new anthology of essays he's edited entitled Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy.
Why was Socrates wrong? Because he never played Dungeons & Dragons, Robichaud quips. Therefore, he couldn't have known that, actually, "There is no better preparation for thinking about death – or just as importantly, for thinking about many of the important features of life – than regularly playing D&D."
By day, Robichaud is a Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. By night, he uses his doctorate in philosophy from MIT to examine the intersection of moral and political philosophy with geek culture such as superhero, zombie, and vampire stories. Now he brings the same eye to one of his first loves: D&D.
"I've been writing articles that bring pop culture into conversation with philosophy for close to a decade now," Robichaud says. "As the fortieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons approached, I wanted to edit, and contribute to, a volume on D&D and philosophy that acted as a sort of love letter to the game that changed my life." Robichaud has also edited The Walking Dead and Philosophy, another book in the [FILL IN THE BLANK] and Philosophy series published by Wiley/Blackwell, and has contributed articles to others volumes including Iron Man and Philosophy, X-Men and Philosophy, Watchmen and Philosophy, and Game of Thrones and Philosophy.
Robichaud says it was important for Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy to be "ecumenical" in representing both a range of schools of philosophy and editions of the game. No edition wars, or Kant vs. Nietzsche vs. Kierkegaard psionic showdowns on the Astral Plane. "Philosophers can be a lot like D&D fans: They have their favorites, and adopt a disdainful attitude toward anyone or anything else," he says. "I think the spirit of 5e is to put that sort of thinking to rest, and in academics, I see a most welcome new push to cross philosophical boundaries."
I was impressed by this smart, witty, and readable book of popular philosophy — so impressed, that when I discovered Robichaud and I both live in Boston, we connected and decided to organize an event tonight, Tuesday evening, Nov. 25, in Cambridge, Mass., called "Head-Banging, Dice-Rolling, and Summoning Demons: A Talk about Rock, Dungeons & Dragons, the Occult, and Philosophy." The reading features Robichaud, me, and another Boing Boing contributor Peter Bebergal, author of the new book Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll.
Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy is divided into six sections: "Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Evil"; "So Did You Win? Philosophy and D&D Gameplay"; "Crafting Worlds"; "Foray into the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance"; "The Ethics of Spellcasting"; and "Dungeons & Dragons out in the Real World." Robichaud says articles look at D&D through the lens of gender theory, metaphysics, ethics, and existentialism. At around 230 pages, the book is a quick but satisfying read; in fact, he wanted it "to be lean, not bloated," with the feel and look of a "supermodule." (The cover art is intended to feel like an homage to Larry Elmore paintings for the iconic Red Box Robichaud says he unwrapped "many Christmases ago.")
The ideas here are as fresh as guzzling a hearty mug of ale as you and your future party gathers in the tavern, seeking new adventure.
In "Sympathy for the Devils: Free Will and Dungeons & Dragons," Greg Littmann asks, "Why should we feel sympathy for the evil-aligned monsters of D&D?" Because they have no free will. "The infant roper, newly hatched, can't truly have a choice about whether to be a killer if it is already a fact that in the next twenty years it will slaughter twenty dwarves, devouring their flesh and, for some reason known only to itself, storing their treasure in its 'special gizzard.'"
In the chapter "Dungeonmastery as Soulcraft." "Ancient creation epics are about the formation of the world and the filling of it with creatures who call it home," writes Ben Dyer. So, too, Dungeon Masters create worlds, places, and dungeons, and fill them with foes, danger, and magic to complicate and aid the characters' journey through them. "With each choice, the development of a fantasy world (and subsequent campaign) reveals something about the mind of the DM who creates it."
Just because these are deep thought does not mean they need to written as dry as a scroll locked in some accursed crypt guarded by a lich needing a moisturizing facial. The contributors to Robichaud's book not only know their thinkers, and their D&D, they also know how to be funny. "Who hasn't heard of Socrates (469–399 BCE, chaotic good)? You may know him from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," Neil Mussett writes in one of the compilation's standout essays, "Is Anyone Actually Chaotic Evil?: A Playable Theory of Willful Wrongdoing." "[Socrates] would have made a good DM: he spent most of his time in rowdy groups of young guys, asking them questions about magic rings, dungeon escapes, complicated mythical cities, and non-material worlds." His essay goes on to cite everyone from the "lawful good philosopher. St. Thomas Aquinas" to "John Stuart Mill (lawful neutral)," "Adolf Hitler (lawful evil)," and "Richard Dawkins (chaotic neutral)."
Robichaud says that practicing philosophy and playing D&D overlap in some interesting ways. "I'm a bit of an OSR guy myself, and one of the thrills with navigating one of those delightfully treacherous deadly dungeon delves, like Tomb of Horrors, was figuring out just how the scenario ticked," he says. "And you never accomplished that simply by taking things at their face value." Same with philosophy, which "pushes precisely on those beliefs we think aren't worth examining anymore, and it forces us to approach them once again, from outside the box, looking at them in a new light."
Take the chapter "By Friendship or Force: Is it Ethical to Summon Animals to Fight by Your Side in Dungeons & Dragons?," Samantha Noll presents this situation: "What if a druid is attacked in the forest by group of bandits? Panicked, she calls out to the animals nearby for aid, and several birds, rabbits, and a boar come to help. In the process of defending the druid, several animals suffer injury and two of the rabbits die. In this instance, was it ethical for the druid to call upon the animals for help, even if giving this aid may mean their death?" You'll never look at your do-gooding druid the same way again.
Like D&D, Robichaid says philosophy must find a balance between creativity and rigor. "One of the pleasures of playing the game is the dance between improvisation, creative problem solving, and mathematical calculation. Philosophy does a similar dance, balancing imagination with argumentation and logical analysis."
6:54 am Mon, Nov 10, 2014
A Conversation with John Cleese
John Cleese is a tall man. He is a funny man. And he has written a new book.
The Monty Python's Flying Circus alumnus was the star of Fawlty Towers and the genius behind other comedic works–from being a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report to writing and acting in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and A Fish Called Wanda. Now he can add author to his resume, as his new memoir, So, Anyway…, hits shelves.
The memoir charts Cleese's origins, from being a six-foot-tall 12 year old in a sleepy English town to his first forays into comedy at Cambridge University and London's West End. That led to TV work with David Frost, Peter Sellers, Marty Feldman, and a 20-year writing relationship and friendship with future Python Graham Chapman.
The comedy scene of the 1960s and 1970s was a heady crucible, and Cleese and his contemporaries were desperate to break free from what his memoir calls the "deferential, stuffy, compulsively super-polite and excruciatingly cautious" climate of British culture. This set up his career up for what American audiences know him for most: His work with his five other co-Pythons, whose groundbreaking comedy mixed social satire, silliness and absurdity, to which Cleese brought his impressive gifts as a physical comedy.
In the course of reflections about his life and career, So, Anyway… discusses the origins of Python's famous "dead parrot" sketch, and provides excerpts from several lost comedy routines from The Frost Report and At Last the 1948 Show, among other nuggets. He also reveals that his family name "Cleese" originally was "Cheese".
The charming, funny, articulate comedian, who celebrated his 75th birthday last week, is in the midst of a multicity book tour which takes him to the Chicago area tomorrow night, and later to dates in Kansas City, Vancouver, Seattle, various California cities, Miami, and elsewhere. Boing Boing caught up with Cleese during his stopover in New York City. Via the magic of telephony, I resisted the temptation to ask him the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow. My only regret? I wish I could have interviewed Cleese in person, and asked him to show us just one more of his amazing, body-bending silly walks. What follows are excerpts from our conversation.
Ethan Gilsdorf: Happy birthday! It's amazing that someone at your age can continue to do as much as you're doing. And I mean that as a compliment.
John Cleese: [Laughs] I know you do! I know you do. It's still funny when people say, you know, "Someone of your age." The only problem is, the last few months have been very tiring, and I've been very lazy about taking exercise. So really, the thing I'm looking forward to most today I'm actually going to go to the gym. And walk rigidly on a treadmill. I'll have a stick with me. It's a funny idea, isn't it? I'm going to slowly get a little bit of my health back, and stretch a bit. Because the trouble is, I'm six foot five, and I used to be able to get into small spaces a little more … easily.
4:00 am Fri, Sep 26, 2014
The hands and minds behind The Boxtrolls
There's a very cool Easter egg at the end of The Boxtrolls, the new stop-motion film that opens today. As the credits begin to roll, we hear the riffing voices of Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade, who play the dimwitted henchmen Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles. As they spout existential babble about free will and whether they really control their fates, we see the sped up movements of a stop-motion animator flitting about a miniature set, manipulating them both.
That moment exemplifies what separates the art and craft of stop-motion animation from the computer generated kind. In short: With stop-motion, a technique that goes back at least until 1898, what's filmed is real, not pixels.
7:27 am Thu, Aug 28, 2014
An Exclusive Inside Look at Denver's Dinosaur Hotel
In an effort to stand out from their competition, hoteliers will try all sorts of gimmicks. They'll build hotels from former jails, refurbished castles or retired railroad cars. They'll float boat hotels, make teepee hotels, and dig underground and underwater hotels. From a Beatles fan fantasy hotel to, yes, a B&B shaped like a giant beagle, hotel owners cater to practically every imaginable oddball interest.
Now, add paleontology to this list of niche themes.
The formerly mundane Best Western Denver Southwest has been transformed into a Jurassic period playground. The new "digs" feature dinosaur relics and quirky paleontological touches, from sandboxes where kids can go digging for fossils to a Pteranodon weathervane.
Located just outside of downtown Denver, the Best Western Denver Southwest is owned by husband and wife team Greg and Meredith Tally who, emerging from the Great Recession, knew their hotel needed a facelift to keep attracting visitors. Then came inspiration. One day, Greg was out hiking in the Dakota Hogback region of the Rockies, near Dinosaur Ridge, one of the world's most fertile fossil sites. "That set a light bulb off and made me realize, 'Why not remodel celebrating some of that unique paleo history we have right in our immediate area?'" he remembered.
Two years and almost $5 million dollars later, the renovated "Dino Hotel" opened for business in October of 2013. Greg and Meredith's vision was to create "an immersive experience," Greg said, "where you feel like you're walking into a 19th century explorer's club in the Gilded Age of dinosaur exploration."
Documentary proves girls will play D&D with boys
Boys like Dungeons & Dragons. Girls don't.
Or, girls aren't particularly interested in D&D, because they don't even know what the game is. Because they've never played before.
Such is the story about gender and D&D. But to what extent is it true?
Here to debunk this conventional wisdom about girls and RPGs is the documentary DnDnG. The micro-budgeted, seven-minute film is brief, cuts to the chase, and packs a powerful punch.
The premise? A gang of four boys, aged 9 to 11, are asked if they ever play D&D with girls. "Nope," they say. "I've never had any girls in either of my groups." Why?
Because "boys prefer aliens and stuff," says one boy named Johnny. "Girls prefer princess." Another boy, Danny, worries that the fairer sex might "might pass out because of gore."
Meanwhile, a group of girls are asked if they'd like to play. Four gals, ages 8 to 11, agree. Before long comes "the unthinkable," the narrator of DnDnG jovially declares. "Boys playing Dungeons & Dragons with girls."
Why create this little pre-adolescent social experiment in the first place?
"My boyfriend, Sam Parnell, loved playing D&D growing up, so he decided to teach our friends' sons, ages 9 to 11, how to play," says producer Meredith Jacobson, in an email. "He even talked me into playing with him once, and I have to admit that it was a lot more fun than I was expecting." One afternoon, Jacobson overheard Sam telling the boys that girls their age would never play with them.
"When the boys nonchalantly accepted that as fact, I knew it was time to prove to the kids and to Sam that girls could absolutely play, and they would even have fun."
Thus, the idea for DnDnG was born.
5:32 am Mon, Jul 21, 2014
An exclusive look at the new D&D Player's Handbook—and The Warlock
Will Wizards of the Coast get D&D right this time?
That's the question on the minds of adventurers young and old ever since the announcement that new rules for Dungeons & Dragons would finally be revealed this year. (At various times, this rebooted D&D has been called "D&D Next," "5th Edition D&D" and "5.0." Wizards of the Coast, D&D's publisher, is now simply calling the game "Dungeons & Dragons.")
But whether the release schedule is designed to whet or frustrate our appetites is another question. As if compressing a decade's worth of D&D iterations into six months, Wizards has planned a clever summer-into-fall roll out of this latest rule set, with many a product to buy along the way. Craftier than a mage casting a spell of Confusion, Wizards first teased us with a free PDF called Basic Rules for Dungeons & Dragons D&D Starter Set, a rulebook and adventure package, complete with dice and pre-generated characters, that will remind many gamers of the quick-to-learn Basic boxed sets published throughout D&D's history. Thus far, the 5th Edition rules I've seen nicely mix just-complex-enough magic and combat systems with playability, while also emphasizing character creation and roleplaying. It's a balance that veteran gamers should appreciate.
Next come three hefty hardcovers that hearken back to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks. The first one, the Player's Handbook, doesn't arrive until August 19; the Monster Manual is scheduled for September 30; and the climax and clincher, the Dungeon Master's Guide, we won't see until November 18.
Boing Boing was offered an exclusive preview of that character-building tome, the Player's Handbook, which promises to provide "Everything a player needs to create heroic characters for the world's greatest roleplaying game." And here's some of rulebook's art, as well as an exclusive reveal of a new D&D class: the Warlock. While these nibbles don't give you much of a flavor for the rules, they do show you some eye-candy that will get you into a dungeon-crawling D&D mood.
"There's an old joke in roleplaying, that people will always want to tell you about their character," said Mike Mearls, Senior Manager of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, who led the game design for 5th Edition D&D. But Mearls doesn't need to remind you that in a D&D game, "any character can die at almost any time, just because of a bad die roll."
So enjoy this brief taste from Player's Handbook, and may you roll your dice well, fellow adventurers.
8:20 am Fri, Jul 18, 2014
A visit to the basement where Dungeons & Dragons was born
With the 40th anniversary of the iconic and influential role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons upon us, and the release of the game's new version this summer, many wonder, where exactly did D&D begin?
Here's an exclusive look at a video that answers that very question.
5:00 am Mon, May 26, 2014
Meet the man who remade Middle‑earth
You may not know John Howe, but you have probably visited his worlds.
Howe is among the best-known illustrators of J.R.R. Tolkien's works. Since the 1990s, Howe has helped visualize Middle-earth by creating art for various bound editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and other works. He also provided artwork for more obscure Tolkienania, such as calendars, posters, postcards, jacket art for the covers of audio editions and games and trading cards. Not only that, he's the man behind the pen for a variety of other fantasy art projects: Beowulf board games, Anne McCaffery book jackets, Magic: The Gathering cards, children's books, and folk tales such as Rip Van Winkle and Jack and the Beanstalk. Howe has also illustrated books on dragons, knights and "how to" instructional manuals for how to draw your own fantasy art.
But Howe's stature as a fantasy artist catapulted to new heights when Peter Jackson tapped him and Alan Lee, another prominent Tolkien illustrator, to serve as conceptual designers for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jackson has said that even before he hired Howe, the illustrations that Howe drew of Gandalf (see banner image above), Bag End, the Balrog and the Nazgûl's flying beasts helped guide his vision for Middle-earth.
6:29 am Sat, May 17, 2014
Do we need another Godzilla?
Do we need more scenes of this primordial, wailing, rubber-suited monster interfacing badly with humankind? Need we witness the ongoing struggles of this beast, as he battles other implausible creatures, as they all wreck our cities like piles of blocks and HO-scale train sets?
In short, we do. Yes we do.
2014 is a giant year for pop culture. The Mac computer turned 30. D&D turned 40. Dr. Who celebrated the Big 5-0, while the Beatles also invaded U.S. shores five decades ago. This year, our beloved Godzilla, also hit a milestone, springing to radioactive life 60 years ago.
It all began in 1954, when Toho Studios producer Tomoyuki Tanaka channeled his nation's fears about atomic power into a wild thing sacking Tokyo. In Japanese, the creature is called "Gojira," a combination of the words for "gorilla" and "whale." Some 29 Godzilla movies have since arrived, some American, but mostly made in Japan.
Now comes number 30, from British director Gareth Edwards, here to remind us that our need to enact fantasies and nightmares about domination by monsters is as strong as ever.
6:00 am Thu, May 8, 2014
The Art of Ralph Steadman's "Slightly Maniacal" Humor
Ralph Steadman's self-inflicted Rorschach tests, if you want to call them that, might lead to a howling dog with human legs. Or to a whacked-out portrait of a slavering addict shooting up, or a skull smoking a cigarette, or some sick dude attached to an IV drip, or some other half-real, half-dreamed, screaming, bloody grotesquerie.
Steadman's tormented scribbles and splotches of paint have led him to all these places. But as Charlie Paul's documentary For No Good Reason makes clear, it was Steadman's association with Gonzo journalist Hunter. S. Thompson that helped him find this "rawness," the wildness, the "slightly maniacal" humor he was seeking for his art. (more…)
11:21 am Tue, Apr 22, 2014
The 1964 World's Fair opened 50 years ago today
Walt Disney's "It's a Small World." The "Carousel of Progress." Billy Graham's religious film "Man in the 5th Dimension." Full-scale models of the engines of a Saturn V rocket. Wisconsin's "World's Largest Cheese. A US Royal tire-shaped Ferris wheel. A recreated medieval Belgian village. DuPont's musical review "The Wonderful World of Chemistry." Intricate miniature dioramas of a possible world in the near-future, Futurama II, presented by General Motors.
All of these exhibits and pavilions, nutty ideas and contradictions were on display at the 1964-65 World's Fair. Today marks the 50th anniversary of that fair, which first opened on April 22 in New York's Flushing Meadows. The fair showed visitors a "spectacle that embodied the innovative, lunacy, hope, and fear of the Sixties," according to Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America Hardcover, a new book New York City journalist Joseph Tirella. (more…)
7:24 am Fri, Apr 18, 2014
Technophobia goes off the Depp end in Transcendence [Movie Review]
In the official poster, a sinister AI remnant of genius Dr. Will Caster evinces inhuman mastery of Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic
In the near future posited by the film Transcendence, which opens today, residents of Berkeley, California are living in a kind of police state. The power grid is down. No computers, no Internet. Which means no Facebook, either (thank God). A shopkeeper uses a beat-up laptop as a doorstop. We know the end days are especially dire because a dirt-caked, cracked cell phone lies lifelessly on the sidewalk. Its technological purpose has been reduced to mere object. A potential tool for an enterprising human. Recall the opening scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey: Instead of apes smashing skulls with bones, the aftermath survivors of Transcendence may as well be wielding their iPhones as weapons.
"They say there's power in Boston, some phone service in Denver," intones a melancholic Paul Bettany, playing a neurobiologist named Dr. Max Waters. We quickly discover Max had a hand in creating all this mess. After what he calls an "inevitable collision" between humankind and technology, "things are far from what they were." Existence itself, he says, "feels smaller" without the Internet.
That's all, folks. Welcome to the not-so-brave world of the new Johnny Depp anti-technology thriller Transcendence. (more…)
7:43 am Fri, Apr 4, 2014
The Disorienting and Disturbing Arthouse Science Fiction of Under the Skin [Review]
If Her was all about Scarlett Johansson's off-screen presence–the vagaries of her voice, and what meaning might be read into its inflections–Under the Skin is all about Johansson's looks. And her looking. At you. It's about skin, and bodies, and silent facades. Johansson plays her extraterrestrial invader practically as a mute.
The script for Under the Skin, which opens today in New York City and Los Angeles, and April 11 in select U.S. cities, probably contains a few thousand words of dialogue, max. What conversation there is bridges long silences. Viewers will find no traditional alien versus human action. No chases, or gun battles, or heads exploding with green goo. No little green men or tattooed Klingon wannabes hatching plans to destroy the earth, either.
Likewise, fanboys (and girls) drooling over Johansson won't be treated to some mindless sexcapade. As a nameless woman, Johansson cruises the streets of Glasgow, using her newfound wiles to seduce men for her nefarious purposes. She's an alien femme fatale, and once she's snared you in her spell, gentlemen, her sultry face clicks back to its poker-faced, robotic demeanor. Look out. | they never show up. They treat you like a prostitute. I've felt so horrible all the time. And now in this world, of gamers, I feel so privileged. I get so much great feedback from people. It's a wonderful place to be in. I want more people to get into this. I want to share my work with others, and I feel like I'm just an artist creating stuff for D&D and getting it out to other people.
5:00 am Fri, Jun 12, 2015
Meet the scientific storytellers who can make the public afraid of anything—for a price
You'd think that the American public would not be so easily duped about the consequences of climate change. Or, for that matter, about the dangers of cigarettes, asbestos, acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, or any number of a host of hazards to our species.
And yet as the new documentary Merchants of Doubt makes clear, distorting science to favor corporate interests is a simple matter of the media quoting the right – or wrong — industry-funded think tank spokesperson. The result? Scientific truth is twisted, and left twisting the wind.
Directed by Robert Kenner (who also made the Academy Award-nominated Food, Inc. and Two Days in October), Merchants of Doubt plots this journey into the dark heart of spin. The film, which has been rolling out this spring in selected theaters across the U.S., peeks behind the curtain of charismatic pundits who are hired by the very industries under fire for posing a hazard to the public—from dioxin to pesticides to flame retardants in furniture.
Sold to the media as "experts," these authorities' main purpose is to sow doubt in the public mind. The technique dates back to the 1950's, when the tobacco industry realized the mounting, irrefutable evidence that smokes were carcinogenic would cut into profits. All their lawyers and PR wizards had to do was create doubt, to keep the debate about the safety of smoking alive.
As Merchants of Doubt makes scarily clear, that same tactic is used by energy companies today to raise questions about climate change.
"We thought this was a fight about a science," John Passacantando, the former executive director of Greenpeace USA, says in the film. Clearly, it isn't. The fight is rarely about the data. And because scientists are not nearly as skilled as highly-paid PR agencies at spinning the story in their direction, they are easy target. Doubt-sowers go after the scientists, not the science.
The list of supposedly impartial think tanks and which industry backs them reads like doublespeak excerpts from Orwell's 1984. The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition was created by Philip Morris in response to a 1992 EPA report that nailed secondhand smoke as a smoking gun. Citizens for Fire Safety claimed to be citizen-based, but was actually created by the three flame retardant chemical manufactures. Save Our Species Alliance, financed by a forestry trade group called the American Forest Resource Council, actually opposes the Endangered Species Act. The Center for Consumer Freedom is run mostly by fast food companies.
You get the picture. So when so-called experts from these organizations speak on CNN or Fox, beware of what they say. That's the thrust of Robert Kenner's film Merchants of Doubt.
I had a chance to chat with Kenner, as well as Dr. Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science and earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University. Kenner based his documentary on Oreskes's 2010 book Merchants of Doubt, How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco to Global Warming (co-authored with Erik M. Conway). Oreskes also appears in the film. Through the magic of the word processing and the Internet, my conversations with both Kenner and Oreskes have been combined and edited below.
Ethan Gilsdorf: I was fascinated to learn that these tactics of industry creating doubt in scientific research go back to the 1950s.
Robert Kenner: We knew cigarette companies knew tobacco caused cancer in the early '50s, and what became the basis of our film was, how could guys who represented tobacco keep doubt alive about a product for 50 years when it was known it caused cancer and it was known that it was addictive. Nicotine was addictive. They were really good at it! And they developed a playbook, and the playbook was to create doubt. Remember the applesauce line in the film? [One Philip Morris executive, when asked if cigarettes are harmful, says, "Anything can be considered harmful. Applesauce is harmful if you get too much of it."]
Gilsdorf: Yes. Horrifying.
Kenner: Now in climate [change], it's really, again, like the tobacco playbook. Create doubt and delay. Another tactic is to attack the messengers. To attack the scientists, and then to attack Naomi, and now to attack me.
Gilsdorf: Naomi, as a result of your book, did you find people going after you? Was there any character assassination or efforts to discredit you?
Naomi Oreskes: Oh, of course. That's their whole modus operandi. The point of the book is to explain that. We're being attacked again now in predictable ways. They try to create controversy by attacking you, making all kinds of allegations. They drum up alleged controversy and then try to discredit you by saying your work is controversial. Well, my work is not controversial among historians. It's only controversial among the people I expose who obviously have a vested interest in discrediting me.
Gilsdorf: What I found interesting was that the "creating of doubt" strategy has changed over time. Especially in climate change. Initially, doubters said, "climate change doesn't exist." Now they might say, "Oh, it exists but it's not being caused by humans," or "It's being caused by humans but, A, there's nothing we can do about it or, B, it's not worth the cost to fix it so we might as well just do nothing."
Kenner: It shape shifts. So, in other words, the whole goal is just to create inaction. That's the goal. It doesn't matter what the argument is. You keep moving the target, but the point of whatever the argument is, is that we shouldn't do anything. And they're really good at it. They're very clever. Everything is really designed to stop regulation. But what I've found is, stop regulation, until you can find regulation that can help you.
Gilsdorf: Like with the successful effort to distract people from the issue of cigarettes causing house fires, to the false idea that instead, we need flame retardants in our couch cushions. When house fires are never started that way.
Kenner: "Let's put chemicals in couches." How brilliant is that? Peter Sparber said, "It's not cigarettes that cause house fires, it's couches, and we need to put chemicals in them." [The tobacco industry planted Sparber, a veteran tobacco lobbyist, into the National Association of State Fire Marshals to shift attention away from the countless fires started by smoldering cigarettes.] And it turns out those chemicals don't stop fires, but they cause cancer.
Gilsdorf: When it comes to regulations, it seems like it simply depends how you look at them. That "big government" versus "small government" debate feels moot, since the issue comes down to what kind of big government you like. If "big government" means regulating in a way that requires your company's product to be used in something like flame retardant cushions, then of course you're in favor of big government in that case.
Kenner: [Those who oppose regulation] have the ideological backing of being libertarians and fighting regulation. But secretly they'll be fighting for their own regulation that benefits them. Recently, there's a new bill to stop sales of solar panels. In Georgia, one of the original Tea Party members formed the Green Tea Party, because she found that home owners could not put solar panels on their property and sell excess energy, because the Koch Brothers and Southern Company were fighting it.
I think she helped turn it around. Now the Kochs and people are putting up what they call the Electric Freedom Act to prevent you the right of doing this. What inspired me for this film as much as anything was, when I was doing Food Inc., going to a hearing whether to label cloned meat and a representative from the meat industry said, it would just be a burden for the consumer to have that kind of information. And I though, who says such a thing? And you look and find groups funded by fast food industries are creating front groups called Center for Consumer Freedom to stop you from knowing what's in your food. Center for Consumer Freedom. It's just this Orwellian world, with Electric Freedom Act, and these groups. They always have "freedom" and "center" in them.
Gilsdorf: Those words appeal to a certain person.
Kenner: Like with Citizens for Fire Safety. It was three chemical companies. It wasn't citizens. They could have called it "Three Largest Chemical Corporations Trying to Defend their Product" but that wouldn't be as effective.
Gilsdorf: Naomi, it seems to me that part of the problem is that newspaper reporters, editors and TV producers aren't doing their due diligence to check these people out, whether they are tobacco cancer deniers or climate change deniers. Has that gotten any better?
Oreskes: For so long, journalists were presenting this as a debate — a "he said" "she said" problem. They would juxtapose a climate scientist with someone from the Cato Institute and put that on television, put that in the paper. Some journalists are still doing that, but by and large, I think the journalistic community has begun to get it and say, "This is not a scientific debate, so please don't present it as one."
And B, that it's a false equivalent to put a climate scientist against some guy from the Cato Institute. But it's amazing how long it's taken. It's taken a long time for the journalistic community to get there. I think now, because of our work, and some other people who have written about this, I think the journalistic community has kind of woken up and realized they have to be a little more sophisticated about how they think about balancing objectivity in their own reporting.
Gilsdorf: As a journalist, or TV producers, even if your goal is always to provide two sides to every issue, it would seem to be pretty simple to see who is backing these so-called experts.
Oreskes: Right. You would think so. But if you have a 5 o'clock deadline, and you haven't been covering climate science, and you certainly didn't cover the ozone hole back in the 1990s or acid rain back in the '80s, you don't realize that these are the same people over and over again. So, we thought that was a really crucial part of the book saying, "Hey, look at this, this is a pattern. These same people are showing up over and over again. That's telling you something important."
Gilsdorf: Has the situation of scientists not being as savvy about presenting the facts, the data, begun to change at all?
Oreskes: Scientists used to think this was a problem of public understanding of science, and if they only just explained the science more clearly, or had clearer graphs, or clearer charts, or less complicated charts, or less complicated slides, that this could all get cleared up. Now, the scientific community understands that while public understanding of science is extremely important, and certainly it's very, very important to the scientific community to do whatever it can to explain the science clearly, that that's not what's driving climate change denial.
And so that's makes it a much more challenging problem, because scientists have to find other ways to communicate.
And I think one of the things is to make alliances with people like Bob Inglis [a former Republican Congressman from South Carolina's 4th District who changed his mind about climate change] or Katharine Hayhoe [a Christian geoscience professor at Texas Tech University], who have the credibility with conservative communities. Because so much of this is political and ideological and cultural. It's not enough just for scientists to explain the science.
Gilsdorf: Robert, now that you have a couple of these types of films under your belt, what for you is the biggest peril as a director when you are trying to put together an argument or a movie that is muckraking in its purpose? What are the things that you need to worry about or the things that you have to keep in mind as you start to tell your story? What can go wrong?
Kenner: Good question. First of all, you'd better be factually correct. You'd better be able to defend every word in your film. Because people are going to come after you. But I think one of the problems is, don't make medicine. At the same time, I want to make it an entertaining movie. Which is strange. I just didn't want to make it just chock full of information, because people don't remember facts. Facts disappear. Characters and emotions, humor, is remembered.
Gilsdorf: Was it hard to get some of these climate change critics sit down with you and talk, whether for the book or movie? I'm thinking Fred Singer [a physicist and director of the Science and Environmental Policy Project who argues that carbon dioxide increases do not increase temperatures] or Marc Morano [who runs ClimateDepot.com, a leading site for climate change skeptics]. They would have suspected what your motives would be — to try to discredit them.
Oreskes: In general, my experience with these guys is that they're always very anxious and eager to get their message out. And because they're very good at what they do, they are usually pretty confident they can get their message out. So in general, my experience is these people do agree to talk.
Gilsdorf: Do you think these guys — I'm thinking particularly a guy like Marc Morano or James Taylor [senior fellow at the Heartland Institute and managing editor of the free-market environmentalism journal Environment & Climate News] — do these guys actually believe what they're selling? Do they enjoy the spotlight or the ride? Or maybe they're just getting paid absurd amounts of money to say what they say.
Kenner: I appreciated Marc. Because he was very honest. A guy like Steve Milloy [who runs the climate change-denying site JunkScience.com] pretends to be one thing when he's really the other. Steve Molloy's the guy that went on Glenn Beck. And Glenn Beck said, "Are you in bed with Big Oil? And if so, how good in bed are they?" He said, "I'm just trying to do the right thing."
Well, that's not true. He's being paid a lot of money. He lives in a freaking mansion. And he's being paid big bucks to fool people.
He's just out there to work for his client. He doesn't have any regard for the truth. He's just looking to defend a product. He'll talk about asbestos. He'll talk about tobacco. He represents numbers of products that killed thousands of people, if not more. But the one thing I've learned. I asked Stan Glantz [who researches the health effects of secondhand smoke], "Did those tobacco executives, when they stood up and said that nicotine is not addictive in front of Congress, were they lying?"
And Stan said the one thing he's learned from his lawyer is to not to say what people are thinking. When Singer wrote me a friendly letter saying he's thinking of suing me, he said, "If you called me a liar for hire" — which I did not call him — "the word 'liar' implies that I know something and I'm saying otherwise." And he said, "How are you going to prove that?"
Gilsdorf: We were talking earlier about characters and stories and feelings. I thought that the interview with Bob Inglis was the most moving. I don't know if I would agree with most of his politics or particular issues, but stuck his neck out, changed his mind about climate change, and got screwed for speaking his mind about the issue and lost reelection. It's sad story.
Kenner: Well, it's sad, but at the same time, it's a very heroic story. For me as a filmmaker, my greatest thrill is coming across Bob Inglis, to come across people where we don't have the same opinion but we have total respect for them. And to sit and talk with Bob, I think it's a great treat to disagree and try to understand his perspective. Bob is a very conservative man, and we probably do see the world differently. It's a treat to meet people who have different ideas.
Gilsdorf: In watching your movie, I was reminded that there are these other hot-button issues that seem to have disappeared. Growing up in the '80s, everyone was talking about acid rain. In the '90s it was all this talk about the ozone layer. You never hear people talk about that stuff any more. What happened?
Kenner: First of all, it was Richard Nixon who created the EPA and the Clean Water Act and fifty other environmental issues, it was Ronald Reagan and George Shultz [U.S. Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration] who solved and created international treaties based on ozone, and it was George H. W. Bush who solved the acid rain problem.
So ironically, the Republicans have a great history of creating regulations and treaties around these issues and have led on environment. As George Shultz and Bob Inglis say, it's conservative to conserve. And they've taken the lead and are certainly capable of taking the lead again. And that's where hopefully we see it going. It's another Nixon goes to China moment.
Gilsdorf: Does it make you a little despondent or a little disheartened to learn that Americans are so easily duped by all these fake experts and industry-funded tactics?
Kenner: This is where a new part comes into the story. It takes the media to help dupe Americans. And they're not easily duped. These guys, they've got a lot of money. They've been able to fool the media a lot of times, and I think we need a media that can work harder and not present Steve Milloy as an independent agent, or James Taylor, who's taken a few science classes, as an independent agent. And I'm not only talking Fox news. Many forms of media have been presenting as if there's two sides of an argument – the earth is round, the earth is flat. I applaud the media for showing two sides, but you can't show it when there aren't two sides. It's not a debate, it's not a fight.
The debate could be, "What do we do about it?" Do we want business to take the lead, like Inglis or Shultz would say, or do you want government to take the lead? That's a real, honest debate. The science is not a debate. And, first of all, science shouldn't be a debate for the public anyway. Almost every scientist in the world, every climate scientist, says [climate change] is true, 98 percent or something. Of the 2 percent, they're getting paid by fossil fuel companies. And yet, our Senate, and our Congress, more than half of them believe it's not true. First of all, I don't think they believe it's not true. As Bob Inglis says, a lot of the Republicans think it's true, they just don't want to be voted out of office like Bob was.
Gilsdorf: Ultimately, Americans don't want to be asked to make sacrifices or change their consumption habits.
Kenner: Bob Inglis's talk at the end saying, "We don't want it to be true."
It's a very moving talk and it crosses ideological lines. We all like the life we have and we don't want to change. Change isn't easy and it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat. A doctor from Oregon, a cancer doctor, heard that on the radio and wrote me a piece saying, "You know, it's so true. People don't want things that are bad for them to be true." And he sees it because he sees smokers who get cancer who still smoke because they just don't want it to be true.
And it's just human nature. But we need to help in turning that around and recognize that we can save this planet. It's a really moral question that we need to take some action. I'm thrilled to see the Pope changing Catholic doctrine.
It used to be "Dominion over the earth," now it's, "You have to preserve that earth." I see change coming and people are capable of changing. Look at gay rights. In '08, not only were Republicans against [same sex marriage], Democrats were. It's now the law of the land. So things can happen quickly. I hope they happen quickly on a number of issues, including climate. So I think of this film being more about the playbook than any one issue, and climate happens just to be the big payday at the end.
Gilsdorf: Naomi, are you hopeful?
Oreskes: Well, I think the situation is very mixed. In a way, I'm a little depressed. We started working on the book in 2005. I started working on climate change as a historical question in the early 2000s. So I've been working on this for about 15 years now. Fifteen years ago, [we thought] with enough work and enough effort to communicate, people would get it and would start taking steps to address this problem.
When you understand the history and you understand how long scientists have understood this, it's a little shocking how successful the merchants of doubt have been. It's hard to look that in the face and not be demoralized. I would be lying if I said, "Oh yeah, this is all great, I'm not worried, I think this film will change the world and we'll fix this problem." On the other hand, if I didn't think there was hope, I wouldn't be doing the work I do, I'd just go back to writing, I don't know, maybe poetry or something. Or retire and take care of your dog.
Obviously, you don't write a book, you don't make a film, unless you are fundamentally optimistic, and you fundamentally believe the action of writing a book or making a film has the capacity to change people's minds and therefore to change what they do. It's this weird balance between, on the one hand, being ambitious and on the other hand, not becoming narcissistic. But I don't compare myself to Rachel Carson, obviously.
But, the fact is, Silent Spring changed the world. The book changed the world we live in. It made an enormous difference. So it tells us that it's possible for books and films and people to make a difference.
4:00 am Thu, Mar 5, 2015
Fan films and the future of fantasy
With the Oscars come and gone, many budding and lapsed filmmakers might feel inspired to try their hand at producing their own movie. So why not do it? Well, maybe you don't live in Hollywood. Or perhaps what's holding you back is the notion you need megabucks in funding before you can shout "Action!"
Director Peter Jackson has proved that a DIY spirit gets movies made. He's practically the poster boy for the homegrown filmmaking movement. Think what you want of his latest outing (The Hobbit trilogy), but after the success of The Lord of the Rings, Jackson demonstrated that with few bottles of spirit gum, some truckloads of hand-crafted hobbit feet, and throngs of naive and gung-ho Kiwis, anyone can make their own swords-and-sorcery epic. The widespread popularity of Game of Thrones has only fueled the fires of filmmakers wanting to be crowned the next fantasy master.
7:00 am Mon, Jan 12, 2015
The best books for nerds from 2014
I'm only one man. I can only read so many books in 365 days. And I'm a slow reader.
Worse than that, last I heard, some 600,000 new titles are published annually in this country alone. How can anyone keep up? We can't. I often feel overwhelmed with books I should read, books I want to read, books I've abandoned only half-read.
Nonetheless, we geeks must fight the good fight. And we make our lists. Here's my stab at 15 books, from fiction to nonfiction, kids to coffee table, that spoke to my inner nerd in 2014. Please remember, I'm only one opinionated nerd. But of course, feel free to disagree.
4:00 am Wed, Jan 7, 2015
A nerd's 12 best and worst films from 2014
The various film critics associations and circles, from Boston to Los Angeles, have made their best film selections. The Golden Globes, A.K.A. the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has also released its nominations of best movies and TV shows. Some predictions, like Best Picture going to Richard Linklatter's Boyhood, or Michael Keaton nabbing best actor for Birdman, have come true. There's been some surprising choices, too, such as the National Board of Review handing out its Best Original Screenplay award to (ahem) The Lego Movie. Now begins the long wait for the 87th Academy Awards; nominations will be announced January 15, and the final envelopes will ripped open February 22.
7:06 am Fri, Dec 19, 2014
A Conversation with Wil Wheaton
Like many celebrities who have managed to create lasting careers, Wil Wheaton has learned to diversify.
The actor was thrust into the spotlight at age 14, when he co-starred in Rob Reiner's coming-of-age film Stand By Me. His installation into the geek firmament came after being cast as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wheaton went on to become an author, blogger, podcaster, voice actor, Twitter addict, and overall nerd culture champion.
Wheaton's most recent incarnation is as "game show host." No, not that kind of game show. For the uninitiated, Wheaton is the creator, producer, and host TableTop, a webseries in which Wheaton plays board games and talks trash with stars from pop culture, entertainment, Internet fame, and sports. Guests have included NFL player Chris Kluwe; actors J. August Richards (Angel and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) and Erin Gray (the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss, and Dork Tower comic book artist John Kovalic. A frequent guest is nerd goddess Felicia Day, co-creator of Geek & Sundry, a multimedia production company, and the YouTube Channel on which TableTop is "broadcast."
People are watching Wheaton's show: Season 2 of TableTop pulled in about 8 million views on YouTube, with an average of about half a million views per episode. Funded by a crazy-successful $1.4 million Indiegogo campaign, Season 3 launched this November. Between now and August 13, 2015, episodes will feature guests such as actor Jason Ritter, video game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott, and video game voice artist Jennifer Hale.
I recently had the chance to interview Wheaton in Los Angeles, during a break during the editing of Season 3 of his hit program. We discussed the effect of TableTop on the board game industry, why board gaming is safe from trolls, and his plans for a future "TableTop RPG show."
Ethan Gilsdorf: It's great to finally connect with you. Our paths in the nerd universe have come close to meeting. I'm the author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. A copy of my book got handed to you at Pax in Seattle, I think back in 2009.
Wil Wheaton: Oh my gosh. Yes! Of course. I know that book.
Gilsdorf: I'm that guy.
Wheaton: You're on my bookshelf. You're right next to Of Dice and Men .
Gilsdorf: That's cool. Thank you. In my book, I talk about my Dungeons & Dragons background. I started playing in the 1970s and the 1980s. After a long, 25 year break, I'm back to playing D&D again. Now the new edition is out, and the 40th anniversary this year is obviously a milestone.
Wheaton: Have you played 5th edition yet?
Gils | 6,103 |
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