text:
It isn't nothing, it's everything! (Rarity Takes Manehattan)
August 31, 2014 mlp season 4, my little po-mo, my little pony: friendship is magic
I am about 80% sure this bit was added in just to explain
Pinkie Pie talking about hot dogs back in Season 1.
If the qlippoth are the anti-sephiroth, then the absence of sephiroth, the "hole" which can be filled with any fruit of the Tree, is Da'at, Knowledge. In Jewish tradition it is identified with the awakening of self-awareness and with adolescence, and divided into the "upper gate" that mediates between wisdom and understanding, and the "lower gate" that mediates between pure intellect and emotion. It is thus the heart of the creative process and the path to Enlightenment–and yet it itself is empty, just a container into which any of the ten true Vessels may be place.
In some variants of the European occult tradition, most notably Aleister Crowley's, it is a gateway to the Abyss, beyond which lies the inverted tree of the qlippoth, and which must be crossed to attain true Enlightenment. There is battled the formless demon Choronzon, the shifting one who becomes your own shadow; there one is forced to either abandon the quest or abandon the Self.
Back in the Jewish tradition, the Zohar calls it "the key that opens six." Just so we're clear on what we're talking about.
It's January 4, 2014. The top song is still Eminem and Rihanna with "Monster." The top movie is once again and quite deservedly Frozen. In the news, a pair of terrorist bombings in Volgograd, Russia; ISIS takes control of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi; and attempted arson at a gay nightclub in Seattle results in only a small fire and no injuries.
In ponies we have Dave Polsky penning "Rarity Takes Manehattan," and something more or less new for the series: a season-long, preplanned arc.
That this arc is season-long and preplanned is not controversial; that this is something new for the series and in this episode might be, so let us consider. First, there are some intimations of arcs in the first and third seasons. However, the creators of the show have made clear that the Grand Galloping Gala was not a preplanned arc in the first season, but a throwaway reference that they decided to run with; meanwhile, the Princesses' testing of Twilight ended up, thanks to the reduced length of Season 3, compressed into the premiere and the finale, so not so much an arc as a single story and its sequel.
The second objection is that the arc was introduced with the appearance of the crystal box at the end of the season premiere, so how can it said to be introduced in this episode? And the answer is that no event can be the "First Annual…" anything; it's not annual until the second year. Likewise, an arc can be intended, but it doesn't become an arc at the beginning; only when a second episode continues it can it be clearly seen as an arc. Of course, in hindsight "Castle Mane-ia" and arguably even "It's About Time" are part of the arc as well, but watching the series in order, that is not yet apparent as of "Rarity Takes Manehattan," while it is fairly straightforward to recognize that the ending implies that the rainbow thread will return–and since we know the ponies are keeping their eyes open for six unknown keys, parsimony suggests the rainbow thread as a candidate for one, making this episode a sequel to the premiere and implying five more like it, presumably one for each of the Mane Six. (Which is, of course, what occurs.)
So what, actually, is happening in this episode? There are three layers at work here, all important.
The first is the running theme we've been seeing all season of exterior intrusion. In this case, it's again an ideological alien, namely our villain of the week, Suri Polomare, notably voiced by Tabitha St. Germaine, the same actress as Rarity. We have, in other words, a pony with the same voice and profession as Rarity, but devoid of her essence. Chokhmah is literally Wisdom, but in the process of creation it represents the underlying creativity, and is also known as the power or palate of selflessness, a fitting choice for the pony of Generosity. Its qlippothic counterpart in Crowley's system is Ghagiel, the force that hinders the creative process, surrounds itself with pride and ego, and dwells in a world of illusion and lies.
Thus we find Suri Polomare, the embodiment of the capitalist ideal of the economically rational actor. She is motivated purely by her own self-interest and pursues only her own advancement, exploiting those too weak to stand against her, such as Coco, sucking up to those with the power to give her what she wants or stand in her way, such as when she tricks Rarity into giving her the fabric, and then betraying her benefactors when they are no longer useful or powerful enough to endanger her, as when she tricks Rarity into staying away from the judge. She is without scruple, perfectly willing to be dishonest, violate the trust of others, or steal, as long as she profits from it–even in the face of defeat, she will use trickery and underhanded tactics to get the victory, as long as it's in a way that she thinks she won't get caught.
By contrast, Rarity's song "Generosity" presents the more typical pony way of life, which is basically a socialist utopia. She describes Manehattan as a gift economy in which ponies, motivated purely by the desire to help others and confident that it will eventually come back around, do favors for other ponies. She demonstrates by giving a hotel bellhop an enormous tip and, along with the others, helping a taxi driver fix his wheel. After the song, the episode demonstrates the power of this concept by having the taxi driver, out of gratitude at the Mane Six's earlier help, volunteering to take Rarity to the fashion competition when she needs to get there in a hurry, and then the bellhop helps the rest of the Mane Six get Rarity's dresses there in time. But note that Rarity helped several other ponies during the song, none of whom do anything to help her in the rest of the episode. Such is the nature of generosity; while the rational actor is entirely about personal profit and thus works to guarantee it, the generous actor doesn't care about their own personal gain, and accepts that it might work out in the end or it might not. The point of generosity is not to accumulate gratitude as a sort of currency, but to be generous; personal gain is irrelevant.
This means that it is quite possible for a rational actor to exploit a generous one, as Suri does to Rarity. In the short term, Suri comes very close to destroying Rarity, making her act extremely ungenerously as she pushes her friends hard to make a second round of clothes for the contest (the image of young women in a small room, working themselves to exhaustion on sewing machines, is almost certainly a reference to sweatshops). But here we get the second layer of what's going on in this episode: Rarity is being tested. She is pushed to the limits of her generosity by Suri's greed and manipulation, and very nearly falls into the trap letting herself be guided by personal gain, denying the ideals she expressed at the beginning of the episode. This is the illusion Suri/Ghagiel weaves, because the rational actor wins in the short term, making it often look as if economic rationality–or, to call it what it is, callous, manipulative selfishness– is the winning approach, that the bastards will always win in the end.
But Rarity passes. She abandons the contest to find her friends. Winning, acquiring, gaining, is less important than making and maintaining social bonds–and it's true. An excessively rational person cannot be trusted, because they will eventually betray you once that is in their best interest; loyalty is irrational, and therefore only a somewhat irrational person can be trusted. The illusion in which Suri traps Coco is, as Coco notes, in getting her to believe that everyone is as cruelly rational as Suri, and that Coco must therefore go along with Suri's desires in the hopes of one day being able to advance her own goals. But this is false; people are far more generous than is logical, as Coco realizes from observing the generosity of Rarity and the Mane Six.
This is the third layer: by passing her test, abandoning gain in order to reconnect with and do something nice for her friends, Rarity teaches Coco about generosity. Rarity is evolving beyond being merely an icon of generosity; she is a source of it, spreading it to others. And because Coco learns generosity, she gives Rarity a gift as well, allowing Rarity to win out over Suri in the fashion contest and netting Coco a new job as a costume designer with the theater company. As the simulations in the article I linked demonstrate, the selfish bastard wins in almost any isolated contest, but over time and a sequence of contests, the altruistic and generous–the followers of strategies the researchers dubbed "nice"–triumph because they are able to trust one another and cooperate, while the rational actor becomes isolated.
The illusions and selfishness of Gaghiel are defeated. The first key is found, and moreso we have found the formula for acquiring the rest: each pony shall be tested, and in passing their test, shall teach another–fitting for the fruit of Knowledge.
For now we are done, but we shall be returning to the Abyss soon enough.
Next week: But there are more shadows here than just the qlippoth. This episode had perhaps the highest density yet of references for the older viewers, from the Fifth Doctor to the cast of Mad Men to Grumpy Cat. The bronies are invading the show more and more–what darkness follows them? The dread specter of adulthood is here…
Kill la Kill Liveblog Chat Thingy Returns!
August 30, 2014 Kill la Kill, liveblogs
How to participate in the liveblog chat:
Option 1: Whenever you watch the episode, comment on this post as you watch with whatever responses you feel like posting!
Option 2: Go to http://webchat.freenode.net/. Enter a nickname, then for the Channels field enter ##rabbitcube, and finally fill in the Captcha and hit Connect! We'll be watching the episode and commenting there starting at 2:00 p.m. EST today.
Chatlog below the cut!
[14:05] Is everyone using Crunchyroll?
01[14:05] I'm using Netflix.
[14:06] I'm using Hulu. Crunchyroll keeps skipping to the end of the video.
[14:06] Netflix here
01[14:06] Oh yeah, I remember where we left off, they're all going to conquer the schools of Japan, yeah?
[14:06] Yup. Raid trip.
[14:06] This was good after that tournament arc. While it was saved by al the character development
01[14:06] Wait, is this their equivalent to the School Trip episode!?
[14:07] Yup
01[14:07] And yeah, I think that was one of the least painful tournament arcs I've seen.
[14:07] Mosdef
01[14:07] (Indigo League in Pokemon remains the best.)
[14:07] I could cosplay the tracksuit versions. ^^
01[14:08] (Wait, no, I forgot, technically Yakitate Japan is nothing but tournament arcs. Those are all the best.)
[14:08] Because magic bread is awesome.
[14:08] FoME, how did you become indebted to me?
[14:08] I gotta watch that.
[14:08] Jinx.
01[14:08] WORLD-DESTROYING, TIME-TRAVEL-INDUCING MAGIC BREAD
[14:08] Maybe a future liveblog idea, Fro?
[14:08] BREAD TAHAT GUARANTEES YOU WILL GO TO HEAVEN.
01[14:09] Hmm, I was half expecting the opening credits sequence to change after the arc shift. Maybe next ep, this is the halfway mark of the series isn't it?
[14:09] Ad.
[14:09] paused
01[14:09] I still think my favorite is either the bread that turns you into Gamera or the bread that teleports you to Middle-Earth and then becomes Sauron.
[14:09] And the next credit sequence is kind of spoilery at this juncture.
[14:09] I need to watch this don't I?
[14:10] The bread becomes Sauron?
01[14:10] Hmm, possibly Viga. I'm still pondering what to do after we finish Kill la Kill, though it looks like new MLP will be sooner than I expected.
01[14:10] Yes, the bread becomes Sauron.
[14:10] O_O
[14:10] I'm back.
[14:10] I'm tempted to suggest that we watch a Chip Cheezum Metal Gear LP
01[14:10] So, yeah, this school is really, really militant.
[14:11] Mako-chan! <3
01[14:11] I'm still waiting for the part where this becomes a CRITIQUE of militant nationalism like Charles Dunbar claimed, so far it's looking like an endorsement.
01[14:11] Also, blech, Mako.
[14:11] "It's my mind that's boggled!"
01[14:12] Haha, it's funny because her level of geography knowledge would be normal for an American hihg-schooler.
01[14:12] …Oh, for a second I thought that WAS Ryuko, wearing glasses and dressed as a boy for some reason.
01[14:12] …I am really bad at telling the characters in this show apart, aren't I?
[14:13] No, there's definitely a resemblance. It's the hair.
[14:13] There's a recipe for the croquettes I left at home.
[14:13] 🙁
01[14:13] The scruffy teacher with the glasses IS one of the two guys with a sniper rifle during the tournament arc, right? Those aren't two separate characters?
[14:13] Right
[14:13] You are correct.
[14:13] He's the one who takes his shirt off
[14:14] We interrupt your introspective moment to bring you crazy yelling people.
01[14:14] Lol, okay, the boy opening the window is the first time I've laughed out loud watching this show that I can recall.
[14:15] lol
01[14:15] Ah, he's the Intrepid Reporter standing up to the Fascist Machine State.
01[14:15] Oh for fucks sake.
01[14:15] Shut up Ryuko, get in the Eva.
[14:16] I can't wait to see what Trigger does net after this
[14:16] are you guys familar with Inferno Cop
[14:16] ?
01[14:17] I've seen like two or three episodes.
[14:17] Not familiar
01[14:17] Pretty absurd, kinda amusing.
[14:17] It makes even less sense than Kill la Kill.
[14:17] Same studio. 2 minute episodes. Crazy !
[14:17] This show is big on crowd scenes full of identical dudes
[14:18] Revocs make me think its Reebok but pronounced with an accent.
[14:18] Fun fact: The No-Star students are all unique in design.
01[14:18] I do like how evil-lady's speeches to her troops are staged like fashion shows.
[14:18] The Ominous German Chanting is also a treat.
[14:18] Is this her first appearance so far?
01[14:19] *facepalm*
[14:19] She's had a few appearances
01[14:19] COVERS
01[14:19] I only just got that!
01[14:19] Also, is she FONDLING her OWN DAUGHTER?
01[14:19] Ew.
[14:19] I mean out in the open. Not just a voice
[14:19] Dracula logic. No one recognizes the name when it's reversed.
01[14:19] Yeah, we've seen her a couple of times.
[14:19] She got in a helicopter
[14:19] and yeah…THIS IS WHY I DROPPED THIS SERIES AT ONE POINT! ARGH! I really hate her
[14:20] Yeah, Ragyo is kind of… well, there's a reason one of her fan nicknames is "Mama Bad Touch."
[14:20] It gets worse too… 🙁
[14:20] Viga, be very strict about no spoilers
01[14:21] Yeah, please no comments about things to come from the people who've seen the show before.
[14:22] Last one.
01[14:23] This is feeling very much like a prep episode so far.
01[14:23] You know, setting up the next arc.
01[14:23] And apparently that ad killed FoME.
[14:23] Back.
01[14:23] WB FoME.
[14:23] Wish I knew why that happens.
01[14:23] Are you back from the ad as well?
[14:24] Yes.
[14:24] The covers/revocs thing is a little bit harder to spot because the terminal 's' doesn't move
[14:24] I didn't notice till now.
[14:24] IIRC this episode is the first time they say "covers" so imo it isn't possible to spot before that
01[14:24] …Why are they filling armored cars with trash cans full of basketballs?
01[14:25] Or… spiked footballs? Da fuq?
01[14:25] Oh ffs.
[14:25] Athletics clubs. What did you expect them to use?
01[14:26] Okay, I'm declaring a new principle, I shall call it the Law of Korra: Programmatic characters angsting is really obnoxious and boring.
[14:26] Programmatic characters?
[14:27] Characters in TV programs. I think.
01[14:27] Characters that exist solely to fulfill plot functions, as opposed to having their behavior emerge organically from interactions between motivations. It's related closely to being a flat character, but a flat character isn't necessarily programmatic.
01[14:27] And a programmatic character may not be entirely flat, if they're cliche enough.
01[14:28] Ah, of course newsboy is evil.
[14:28] At least Ryuko's over herself.
01[14:28] That's true.
01[14:28] Wait, so Nui is a master of disguise now too?
[14:29] Grand Coutier. What's a disguise but a change of clothes?
01[14:29] I do love her leaning on the titles.
01[14:29] Well, that was unexpected.
01[14:30] Is Satsuki about to rescue Ryuko?
[14:30] Nui! <3
[14:30] Unwinnable boss battles are always frustrating.
01[14:31] Oh shit, this is the midseries revamp of the main character's mecha, isn't it?
01[14:32] Okay, that picked up at the end.
[14:32] Yeah, this isn't a series content with letting its characters stew in their own angst.
01[14:32] Still don't feel like there's sufficient investment in Ryuko's nonexistant character to care about her angst, but at least it was over quickly.
01[14:33] Anyway, 'twas fun!
[14:34] 'Twas. 🙂
[14:34] Crystal later today, right?
01[14:34] I believe there's no Sailor Moon today, right?
01[14:34] I actually don't think there's an episode.
[14:34] I mean't yup to twas fun not crystal
[14:34] It's been two weeks…
01[14:34] It's First and Third Saturday, not every two weeks.
01[14:34] This is the fifth Saturday in August.
[14:34] Nope. It's just 4 up
[14:34] Oh. And you're right.
[14:34] Huh, it's true, 5 isn't out yet
[14:35] Next week, then.
[14:35] 5 is next week
01[14:35] Yeah, I'm pretty sure the new Crystal is next week, so that's when we'll have the double live blog.
Fiction Friday: Continuing the XS fanfic where we left off…
August 29, 2014 der wanderer und sein schatten, fanfic, fiction fridays, xenosaga fanfic
Seth lay on his bed, watching computer code scroll through the air. "Well, looks like it's not hiding in your personality routines, whatever it is."
"You're sure it's there?" asked Izzy. "I can't find it."
"I'm sure," said Seth. "Your unused cycles aren't. Something's running in them, and I want to know what it is and how it got in you."
"It's creepy, not being able to detect it."
"Yeah, well, that's what has me worried. A virus that can infect youhas to be more than some kid playing around. It's somebody who knows what he's doing. But the virus doesn't seem to do anything! It's processing something in spare cycles, but it has no inputs or outputs I can find, and it always gets out of the way whenever you need the cycles. It's like it's waiting for something — but if that's the case, why run at all? Why not just sit there quietly until it's time to do whatever it's programmed to do?" Seth threw a grease pencil through the display. "Turn it off. I'll work on it later."
"Hey, boss, you made me, remember? You'll figure it out."
Seth rolled back off his bed and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair he'd slung it over. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked out into the hall. His footsteps echoed on the shiny metallic deck, kept meticulously clean by a small army of cat-sized maintenance robots, one of which whirred past his door as he left the room. The walls were a warm, friendly shade of tan above and silver-gray below, marked here and there by the golden splash of a lamp. A multicolored stripe ran between them. Potted plants, marked as "oxygen reclamation units" on the ship's blueprints, lined the corridor, and a holodisplay in the corner was busy cycling through Izzy's latest attempts at drawing. Privately, Seth thought she should stick to interior design; her drawing of him looked like he'd lost a fight with several very large, very angry bouncers and one extremely irate barber.
He walked the other way down the hall, toward the elevator that led to the cargo deck and the AMWS bay.
"You all right, boss?" asked Izzy.
"You're worried," she said. "Is it money?"
"Nah. We'll make do. We might have to make ourselves scarce in Federation space for a while until we can make some of those back payments, but we'll figure something out."
"Vix isn't going to stay much longer if you don't find a way to pay her soon."
"I know," said Seth. "But we need a crew. If people figured out you can run the ship alone –"
"You're worried about the virus, aren't you?"
"It shouldn't be possible to hack you, Izzy! You're way too complex and self-referential for an intruder to hide."
"And a computer that can be hacked can't be trusted to control the ship unsupervised. You'd need at least one more crewmember, and you can't afford the ones you've got."
"That's not what I'm worried about!" The elevator reached bottom, and Seth stepped out into the AMWS bay.
"Aw," said Izzy. "That's sweet of you, boss."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to see if I can tweak any more maneuverability out of AMWS Two. Watch the drive output while I do, huh?"
"Captain!" shouted Wehj's voice over the intercom. "We've picked up what looks like a space battle near the fifth planet!"
"Izzy, feed it to the AMWS' screen." Seth watched as lines of light and blossoms of fire erupted around a large cargo ship, boxier and more heavily defended than the sleek Isolde. It was no match, however, for the dagger-like warship bearing down on it or the AMWS units picking off its defenses.
"All right!" said Vix. "A chance at some decent salvage. I'm staying somewhere with a tub tonight!
"Pirates," Seth hissed between clenched teeth. "Both of you, get down to the AMWS bay, now. We launch in five minutes."
"Captain, you can't mean we're going to help them! That's a real warship out there, with real military AMWS! We can't take on something like that," Wehj whimpered.
"That's an order!"
Seth hopped down from AMWS Two. "Prep the launchers and load AMWS One's missile batteries. Arm all weapons, and set us on an intercept course with that warship, best speed," he ordered Izzy.
He had his flight suit on and was just sealing his helmet when the others arrived. "Suit up!" he ordered. "We're launching in two."
"This is crazy," said Vix. "There's a pocket cruiser and a dozen military-grade AMWS out there! We've got one bow cannon, one out-of-date military AMWS, and a pair of heavy lifters you slapped partacs on! Besides, what does fighting them accomplish? We drive off the pirates, we get to keep whatever debris they leave behind. Maybe a few damaged AMWS at best, and we have to split it with the ship they're attacking. Just wait a little while, and we'll have an entire ship's worth of scrap metal, any munitions or cargo the pirates don't carry — way more stuff."
"I gave an order!" snapped Seth.
Vix stepped forward, topping him by a full head. In her black flight suit, the helmet still deflated and dangling from her collar, she looked sleek and deadly. "I refuse to risk my skin with nothing to be gained from it."
"I am the captain of this ship!" Seth shouted, beginning to purple.
"Not for long, unless you figure out how to pay off some of those loans."
"Bounty," said Wehj.
The other two turned to look at him.
Wehj cringed but kept talking. "Federation has bounties out on hundreds of pirates, and we're not far from their space. There's a good chance we can sell these scraps to the Feddies for a lot more than market value?"
Vix rubbed her jaw. "Yeah, okay, could be worth it," she admitted.
"We launch in 70 seconds," Seth said, ignoring her. "Finish getting on your suits and power up your AMWS." He climbed the concealed handholds on AMWS One's leg and swung into the upper of its two cockpits.
"You all right?" asked Wehj, eyeing Vix warily.
Vix growled. "If this doesn't pay off, that's it. I'm bailing, and forget the back pay. There's gotta be some other ship in this shitpile system that needs crew." She glanced at Wehj. "You with me?"
He considered a moment. "…Yeah, I guess I am."
I'm feeling silly
August 28, 2014 avatar the last airbender, crossovers, doctor who, legend of korra, silliness
In the season premier of Doctor Who: The Legend of Korra, "Deep Breath of Fresh Air," the Doctor tries to deal with the spirit vines choking Victorian London, but her loss of connection to her previous lives makes this difficult.
Utena Dump, Episodes 26-30
August 27, 2014 mark watches, reviews, revolutionary girl utena, tv reviews, utena reviews
I have a guest post on Doctor Whooves up at Phil Sandifer's TARDIS Eruditorum. Give it a read; then, on the off-chance you haven't already, read everything else he has ever written. He does to Doctor Who and British comics what I do to ponies and Madoka, only better.
If you're coming over here from there, welcome! A brief explanation: what you're looking at currently is a biweekly dump I've been doing of my comments on Mark Watches, another site at which I am a semi-regular commenter. As the title implies, this particular dump is my comments on Revolutionary Girl Utena, episodes 26-30.
If you're looking for something more in-depth and Eruditorum-y, I recommend clicking on either of the two Readers' Guides links in the sidebar. My Little Po-Mo is my ongoing project studying My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, while The Very Soil is my now-complete project on Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Ep 26-7
[Due to illness, I never commented on Mark Watches Utena 26. My irate paragraph of comments on MWU 27 was an apology for this. We pick up with the second paragraph:] Fortunately, if I HAD to miss an episode, at least it was Miki's Nest Box, which I find the least interesting episode of the series. I am pretty sure it is only there because the formula demands that a duel with Saionji be followed by one with Miki.
This episode is, fortunately, a lot more interesting. More than any prior episode, it really makes clear that for all her cruelty and posturing, Nanami is incredibly, toxically innocent. It is an important contrast to the Akio car and its offer of the adult experiences unavailable in Ohtori. As horrifying as that is, this episode is a reminder that being stuck in childlike innocence is no less horrifying. Whatever the path away from horror is, it lies through experience and out the other side, not cowering and clinging to a safe, comfortable past.
Poor Nanami. Her Tragedy is that her sense of worth is entirely wrapped up in the approval of others, and as the rich little princess that approval comes not from anything positive she does, but from remaining in her define place and following all the (impossible, contradictory) rules laid down for her. Of all the characters, she is perhaps the one who needs to break the shell most–and, interestingly, in this episode she metaphorically does so by exploring her maternal side in defiance of social rules that say when and how she is permitted to do so.
And Chu-Chu hatches, leading me to my latest theory: Chu-Chu IS the World Revolution. He is what breaking the world's shell creates.
One thing that really stands out to me in this episode is the scene of Shiori and Ruka first meeting. First, it definitely foreshadows the end of the episode, but I've never seen anyone (myself included) actually catch it on first viewing: Shiori HAS to be lying about polishing his sword every day since he's been gone, since Juri's been captain of the fencing team since the first episode and Shiori only transferred in partway through the Black Rose Saga.
Shiori's hair looks brown in the orange light bathing the lockers. Given that orange is Juri's color, it may be a reference to how Juri makes her feel so ordinary and unspecial.
Anyway, I utterly despise Ruka, and this episode contains one example why: He lied about someone polishing his sword, and Shiori lied about being the one who did it, so apparently in Ruka's eyes that makes Shiori a liar and himself cunning. Yay double standards!
It's appropriate his hair is a darker version of Miki… he's basically what Miki could become if he let his entitlement overwhelm his empathy and crossed over into full-on manipulative bastard–he's basically the PUA to Miki's Nice Guy Syndrome.
(Of course, "Miki lets his entitlement overwhelm his empathy" works as a capsule description for basically every Miki episode. When he's not the focus, he's a pretty cool kid who needs to mature up a little. Moment he gets to be the focus character, he starts getting all "Mine!")
And then there's Shiori, who… yeah, okay, she lied to get the boy she liked and was a willing participant in his schemes against Juri. But I don't think she's acting out of entitlement, but rather the same horrifyingly low self-esteem we saw in the Black Rose Saga. Shiori has always struggled with feelings of inferiority, and always believed Juri looked down on her. Compounding that now, Shiori also hates Juri because she believes Juri pretended to be her friend just to get into her pants. This doesn't justify Shiori's actions, of course, but it does help make clear how Ruka is able to manipulate her in this episode. (Surprise surprise, the proto-PUA predator went after the girl with low self-esteem that he could easily control. What an upstanding guy.)
Have I mentioned that I utterly, ferociously despise Ruka?
As for Juri… Eh. We don't really learn anything about her we didn't already know. After Miki and Saionji, that's kind of becoming a pattern in he Car Saga.
Trigger warning: rape, homophobia, sexual violence against lesbians
Shiori is a WRECK when Juri talks to her. She really did develop feelings for that asswipe Ruka.
Ruka physically pins Juri and forces a kiss onto her. So we can add straight-up sexual assault to his list of sins. Then he threatens to destroy Juri's most precious possession, all to make her hate him enough to duel him, even after she's agreed to do what he wants, all so he can set her up as "to blame" or a "willing participant."
And now that he has Juri doing "whatever he wants," Mr. Sexual Assault takes her on a ride in the sexmobile so that they can take the role of bride and groom in the duel.
And then at the end of the episode we learn that this was all a scheme by Ruka, who's got a crush on Juri, to "free her" from her destructive crush on Shiori.
So, yeah. He sexually assaulted the woman he's interested in to end her same-sex attraction. That's called "corrective rape," and it's a real thing that happens to lesbian women.
Ruka is a complete, utter monster who never shows a trace of doubt or remorse. He cares only about HIS wants and HIS perceptions, and uses his strength and fencing skill to violently force them onto Juri. He is the worst person in this entire show, and the fact that he's deathly ill excuses NOTHING.
At least we get a fucking amazing dueling song?
And Juri is still, 29 episodes in, the only member of the student council Utena has never actually beaten.
But whatever, Ruka's a homophobic, misogynistic, rapist asshole and we're well rid of him.
/Trigger
What's most interesting to me about this episode (besides it being just generally relentlessly uncomfortable) is how much like typical, non-fantastic, generic shoujo soap opera it is. I mean, Utena looks older than she is thanks to being a billion feet tall, so it would be easy for a viewer who's never seen Utena before to think this is about a high school girl with a crush on her best friend's kinda skeevy older brother, as opposed to RELENTLESS NAIL-BITING HORROR.
The One Actually Funny #AskIslamicState Tweet
Most of the #AskIslamicState hashtag is a predictable melange of testosterone-poisoned, armchair-general posturing, racism, and religious bigotry, but one tweet I saw in my brief sojourn into the hashtag's depths stood out as being actually pretty funny:
How do you think you'll fare against your rivals at Islamic A&M? #AskIslamicState
— Niles Felterbush (@wolodjowski) August 23, 2014
…And yeah, I'm aware that this is probably not going to be remotely relevant by the time it actually goes up, thanks to me actually having a buffer for once. *shrug*
I'm on a podcast: Lucifer vol. 1 with Uncle Yo
August 25, 2014 dc comics, lucifer, podcast, uncle yo
I'm a guest this week, and for the next several weeks, on geek comedian Uncle Yo's podcast, We Are the Geek. We'll be discussing Mike Carey's comic Lucifer one volume at a time–he's read them all before, I've only read as far as the volume we discuss. Our conversation about volume 1 is here!
Round up our critters (Bats!)
What is it with cartoons, songs about bats, and earworms?
It's December 28, 2013. The top song is still–quite appropriately, as we shall see–"Monster," and the top movie is still the second Hobbit. In the news, members of the Russian band Pussy Riot are granted amnesty and released from jail three months before their sentence would have ended; British WWII hero and computer pioneer receives a posthumous pardon more than 50 years after he was chemically castrated for the crime of homosexuality; and the sign-up deadline for Obamacare arrives.
Meanwhile, Merriwether Williams' delightful "Bats!" airs. In addition to being a strong episode in its own right, this episode also harkens back to the themes of the season premiere more than any prior episode, albeit in three relatively subtle ways.
The more straightforward of these thematic echoes is in the use of concepts of corruption and dark mirrors. Corruption in the premiere was fairly obvious, from the decay of day and night to the transformation of Ponyville into an outpost of the Everfree Forest by the Plunder Vines to the transformation of Luna into Nightmare Moon. Here in "Bats!" we are treated to even more examples of corruptive influences at work from the very beginning of the episode, starting with the transformation of Applejack's apples into globs of gray goop by the vampire bats. This, in turn, leads to a corruption of Applejack and the rest of the Mane Six (except Fluttershy) over the course of the deliciously creepy song "Stop the Bats," from Applejack's initial, understandable position of wanting to protect her crop to a five-pony mob chanting their hatred of bats.
The centerpiece of the story is the corruption and physical transformation of Fluttershy, as feedback from Twilight's magic causes Fluttershy to become gradually hybridized with the bats into a fructivorous "vampire pony."
The figure of a vampire is a classic figure of corruption. The infectious nature of its bite, traditionally, leads to physical and spiritual decay, from the bat- and rat-like features of the titular character of Noaferatu to the conversion into a soulless, super powered predator as in Fright Night or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here, Fluttershy's physical transformation involves acquiring bat-like features, while her mental transformation begins as a craving for fruit and ends with her becoming aggressive and territorial, along with apparently losing her capacity for speech.
This corruption is accompanied by a frequent presentation of dark mirrors of characters. In the premier, there were several such pairings: Discord as the trickster mentor, who uses aggravation and teasing to teach Twilight not to accept special treatment that separates her from her friends, is a distorted reflection of Zecora as the sagely mentor, who teaches Twilight about history by providing a helpful elixir. Nightmare Moon, the darkness of a solar eclipse, is a reflection of Celestia, the light of the sun. And of course the Plunder Vines themselves, plants with the power which consume the landscape and distort magic, are reflections of the Tree of Harmony, which eats the magical Elements and restores order to the landscape.
Likewise "Bats!" contains numerous dark mirrors. The clearest such pairing are Fluttershy, or more accurately Flutterbat, and Applejack themselves: both, after all, are motivated by a desire to take the apples for themselves and prevent others from having them. To a lesser extent, Flutterbat's craving to suck the juice from the apples reflects the running gag of Rainbow Dash's obsession with cider. Even her vampirization itself, as an unexpected transformation into a demonic creature resulting from a seemingly unrelated spell cast by Twilight, is a dark mirror Twilight's transformation and apotheosis at the end of Season 3.
The most subtle thematic echo is also the most important: we once again have a crisis caused by parasitic creatures attacking trees, which means that all of the apple trees are substitutions for the Tree of Harmony, which we have already identified as the Tree of Life, the Sephiroth. In the article on "Princess Twilight Sparkle," I noted that the identification of the tree's symbols with the 10 Sephiroth is in places tenuous, most notably for Applejack and Fluttershy. Since they are the focus characters of this episode, that is now worth re-examing.
The two Sephiroth in question are chesed, the Sephirah of Loving-Kindness, and gevurah, the Sephirah of Strength. Chesed refers to the capacity to care for others, protect and nurture them, and provide for their needs; gevurah refers to the capacity to reject what is dangerous, wicked, or false. A common description of the is as the right arm that embraces and the left arm that pushes away. Fluttershy's gentle, nurturing, self-effacing nature makes her a natural fit for chesed, while Applejack's sometimes-blunt honesty, drive, and strict adherence to a particular notion of How Things Should Be make her a good fit for gevurah.
However, in the Tree of Harmony, Applejack's apple symbol was in the position where we would expect chesed, while Fluttershy's butterfly is in the position of gevurah. This episode helps make sense of that apparent contradiction. At first, Applejack is clearly the one rejecting that which is destructive, namely the bats, while Fluttershy is defined by her kindness toward them. However, the descriptions of the Sephiroth I gave above are not complete, because they reflect only one perspective on the Tree of Life, that of the path to enlightenment, from mundanity at the bottom to enlightenment at the top. The Sephiroth, however, are also the process of creation, from inspiration (or, if you prefer to capitalize "Creation," the Divine) at the top to material product (or the World) at the bottom. In that respect, chesed is the boundless love of the creator for the created, the enthusiastic and potentially infinite expansion of the project; gevurah is the capacity to set limits and boundaries (which is why it is sometimes also called by the Hebrew word din, "judgment").
It is thus significant that this episode is set on Applebucking Day; the last episode set on that day, Season 1's "Applebucking Season," was about Applejack's inability to set limits on her kindess to others or her creative labors (and farmwork does follow the creative process–it begins with an idea, continues as a series of conscious decisions, and ends with a material product, shaped by those decisions, which would not otherwise exist). Here in "Bats!" Applejack admits that she is more concerned with saving Fluttershy than stopping Flutterbat from devouring her crops. Applejack has more than a little affiliation with chesed, in other words; her association with it in the Tree of Harmony, at least where this episode is concerned, is not entirely wrong, even though normally we would place her with gevurah.
Likewise, Fluttershy is very much defined by her boundaries and limits, particularly her social anxieties–and perhaps more importantly, when others cross those boundaries, she is quite capable of forcefully rejecting that which is dangerous or wrong. Indeed, at the end of the episode she states that she she shouldn't have gone along with a plan that made her uncomfortable–that, in other words, she needs to work on boundary-setting where her friends are concerned. Fluttershy has some gevurah to her, and she belongs there in this episode.
The combination of the Qabbalistic theme with corruption and dark mirrors suggests something else may be present in this episode: we should be seeking the qlippothic here as well. In Jewish Qabbalah, the qlippoth (actually kelipoth, Hebrew for "husks") are the obstacles which must be overcome on the path to enlightenment, which get in the way of fully realizing each Sephirah; they are the peels or husks which must be penetrated to get at the "fruit" of the Tree. Certainly there is plenty of that here. Applejack's attempts to drive off the bats are constantly thwarted, because she is using the wrong aspect of gevurah; she should be trying to set limits on them instead, by providing a sanctuary. Fluttershy, meanwhile, finds that her attempts to be kind to the bats are undermined by her excessive meekness and willingness to go along with her friends.
The notions of corruption and dark mirrors, however, become more interesting when we consider the Hermetic interpretation of Qabbalah, in which the qlippoth are corrupted reflections of the Sephiroth. Here we find the associations between Applejack and gevurah on the one hand, and Fluttershy and chesed on the other, are strengthened. The qlippothic reflection of gevurah's strength is the destructive and self-destructive impulse, which we see in this episode in Applejack's determination to stop the bats at any cost, which keeps making things worse for her. The episode avoids mentioning it, but the spell Applejack has Twilight cast is a cruel death sentence–it makes the bats uninterested in eating fruit, their only source of food. And, of course, it is that spell which creates and unleashes the Flutterbat.
Flutterbat is of course the qlippothic reflection of Fluttershy herself, and unsurprisingly it epitomizes the qlippothic reflection of chesed's loving-kindness, the impulse to devour and consume. Flutterbat appears to have no desires except the mindless consumption of all the fruit she can find, until none is left. As is often the case with the vampire, she is reduced to nothing but a hungry predator, (albeit a strictly fructivorous one), leaving drained husks–qlippoth!–in her wake.
And yet Fluttershy insists twice, once during her debate with Applejack at the beginning of the episode, and again after the ponies finish setting up the bat sanctuary at the end of the episode, that the bats' destruction of the apples is, in the long term, good for the trees and the farm, spreading seeds and helping the trees grow stronger. What she is asserting is an alchemical idea we briefly touched on back in Season 1: putrefaction. Literally a form of fermentation, in traditional European alchemy putrefaction is the creative power of decay, the emergence of life from death and value from rot. A rotting peace of fruit looks and spells repulsive to us, but it is also an explosion of life, molds and bacteria and flies. These form the basis upon which the survival of creatures we find more attractive, and ultimately ourselves, depends; the husks make the tree stronger.
In Jewish thought, the qlippoth are not evil or even entirely corrupt; they serve a positive and useful function in that they prevent the energies of the Sephiroth from escaping. The husks make the Tree stronger. This episode thus ties the Hermetic notion of the qlippoth as distortions of the Sephiroth to the Jewish conception of them as having a useful function by way of putrefaction: the corruption and decay of something pure is not inherently evil, and may make it purer and better.
It's a point worth remembering in a season that opened with two fundamental changes to the show's premise, namely Princess Twilight and the introduction of a true seasonal arc–and more changes are coming.
Next week: Speaking of the arc…
No Kill la Kill Liveblog Today…
August 23, 2014 mario bros, mega man, pokemon, sentiment, video games
Sorry, but I'm at Intervention, enjoying a con where for once I have no responsibilities and, if past years are anything to go by, regenerating my creative energies for the remainder of the year.
In the meantime, have some videos! Today's theme: videos that celebrate the oft-forgotten minor enemies in video games.
First off, this great song parody by the inimitable Smooth McGroove and Dookieshed, "Pokemon: Try to Catch a Few!"
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/zItKxjn57YQ&source=uds
Second, this brilliant original song by Matthew Taranto of Brawl in the Family, "Ode to Minions."
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/VrO2KDT8jCw&source=uds
Speaking of Matthew Taranto, he has an *incredible* ability to make songs/videos that give me actual feelings about personality-less classic video game pixel-collections. For example, "If It Takes a Lifetime," which examines what the video game concept of "extra lives" would really mean, passing through horror to something actually kind of sweet:
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/tpeXTgwh7F4&source=uds
But the one that makes me actually, I kid you not, cry for a sprite with virtually no characterization is "Prodigal Robot." I tear up at 2:11, and just lose it at 2:29 every goddamn time, because I am apparently a sentimental loser:
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/98DG-rEaxGk&source=uds
Fiction Friday: Some Old Stuff
Well, I don't really have time to write anything new, but since apparently some of you actually do like this feature after all, and one person expressed liking for that "Choosing Ones" bit… have some very old writing of mine, the beginning of the story that that scene would eventually be part of. I'm going to be posting what there is of that story for the next few weeks, while I work on M.L.Po-Mo vol. 2 and the Madoka book, since I have it and it's not completely terrible.
Seth crouched in the corner as the soldiers' weapons pounded at the door. It exploded inward, into the kitchen, chunks of roof falling all around him as the cold night air rushed in, black-clad, masked and goggled soldiers just behind it.
Alarms blared; the Isolde was under attack. The ship was damaged, couldn't move, and the captain lay spread-eagled on the floor, under a broken strut.
His mother lay under the smashed remnants of the kitchen island.
Any moment now they would fire again. The Isoldewould be destroyed. The soldiers would kill him.
He screamed, and there was a terrible explosion of red light, and a terrible, all-engulfing silence.
Seth's eyes flicked open and he gasped once, quietly but sharply.
"Morning, boss!" said Izzy merrily.
Seth cursed, not for the first time wondering why he'd designed the Isolde's computer with such a bright, perky voice. "Blarg." He rolled over.
"You had the nightmare again."
"You know," Seth said, voice slightly muffled by the covers, "they have this thing called 'privacy' now. It means computers notwatching their crews in their sleep just because they can."
"Aw, you're not really mad. Those centers of your brain aren't getting hardly any blood."
"Don't watch me in the shower!" Seth warned, rolling out of bed and stomping to the stall–one of the perks of being captain was getting his own. Not that it mattered, since currently he only had two crewmembers to use the two crew showers. On the way to the bathroom, he stubbed his toe on one of the many piles of mechanical junk, broken electronics, and tools covering most of the floor, and swore again, vividly and at length.
"Gasp, my virgin microphones!" He never could tell when Izzy was being sarcastic. "It's not like I can't see through your clothes if I want to, anyway. Not that I do–guys made of meat aren't my thing."
"You've been talking to Vix again," Seth muttered, turning on the shower. "Now leave me alone for a bit."
A few minutes later, he stomped out of the bathroom in his boxers, a toothbrush dangling from his mouth. "Hey! Since when do you have an MRI?"
"I don't," Izzy giggled. "Just messing with you."
Vix sat back in her chair, feet up on the navigator's console, watching Imaginary Space drift past.
"Ten minutes to the Bethel Gate," Wehj reported from behind her. "Everything's running smooth, for once."
Vix waved acknowledgment. "Great."
Wehj looked forward. "It's beautiful, isn't it? Creepy, but beautiful. Red and orange ribbons of light, slowly drifting and curling, all around us, going on and on forever. A whole universe of them, hiding behind our own."
"Eh," said Vix. "I always thought it looked like somebody threw up a bunch of blood right after eating cotton candy."
"Hate to interrupt your poetry jam, but the captain's on his way up," said Izzy. "And would you quit putting your feet on me?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Vix, sitting up.
"Hey, Izzy, don't we put our feet on you every time we stand up?" asked Wehj.
"Don't remind me."
The doors at the back of the bridge hissed open and Seth walked in, a short, wiry young man in a black bomber jacket, with close-cropped red hair and messy bangs. He flopped into the captain's chair behind Wehj and raised it to nearly ceiling height. "What's our status?" he asked.
"Six minutes to Bethel Gate," Wehj answered. "Toll signal just coming in."
Seth punched it up on the armrest and authorized payment. He frowned as the money disappeared from his dangerously small account balance.
"So," Vix drawled, "we gonna get paid on this stop, cap'n?"
"Well, maybe. If I don't buy any food or fuel."
"Shit," said Vix, "we barely have enough fuel to make it to Ur-Chaldis after we're done here! How're we supposed to salvage anything if we can't fly? And I am not eating another one of Wehj's bean and yeast-culture surprises."
"Hey!" said Wehj. "It's not my fault we're out of everything else!"
"So, we're agreed," Seth said. "I'll give you an IOU."
"You know what I think?"
"Yes, Vix, we know what you think," said Seth.
"They'll pay a lot of good money for medical supplies on Artaxerxes. A lot more than the Federation's paying us to deliver them."
"I told you before, Vix," said Seth. "We're not pirates. We're not going to steal."
"And cheating's so different? Not two months ago you sold an antique dealer a random piece of scrap metal claiming it was a chunk of the Woglinde! Hell, for that matter, how different's being a scavenger? Isn't that stealing from the dead?"
"We collect debris from battlefields and sell it. That's a lot different from taking medicine from refugees!"
"You're right. This is safer and more lucrative!" countered Vix.
"Forget it," said Seth. "We're delivering these supplies and fulfilling our contract. That's final!"
"Approaching Gate," said Wehj quietly.
A point of darkness directly ahead of them suddenly expanded into a spherical window, through which they could see stars and the occasional chunk of rock. Then they were through, and the Gate collapsed, the only sign of it a tiny red point at the center of the slowly rotating Generator station.
"Ah, man!" Wehj groaned. "Bethel's all the way on the other side of the sun. Just our luck, we hit the system this time of year."
"Can it!" snapped Seth, kicking Wehj's headrest from his position above and behind the mechanic–as near as he could tell, the only reason the ship's designers had put the captain's chair on a movable arm. "It is lucky. We can do a big curve in, do a sensor sweep of most of the system before we get there. Maybe we'll find something left over from the war!"
"Yeah, right," said Vix. "This system's been picked clean a thousand times. Setting course for Bethel, ETA four hours."
"Hey, my grandma always told me, where there's life, there's hope." Wehj rubbed the back of his head, though his headrest had absorbed almost all of the captain's blow.
"My grandma always said, where there's life, there's shit," Vix countered. She added thoughtfully, "Then she'd get drunk and start screaming about Realians."
"All right, that's enough sharing time for me, kids." Seth returned his chair to ground level and hopped off. "I'm headed below. Let me know if you find anything interesting."


text:
Biblio Entry Summary for Wallago attu
Citation Chandrashekhariah, H.N., M.F. Rahman and S. Lakshmi Raghavan, 2000, Status of fish fauna in Karnataka.. p. 98-135. In Ponniah, A.G. and A. Gopalakrishnan (eds.). Endemic Fish Diversity of Western Ghats. NBFGR-NATP Publication. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, U.P., India. 1, 347 p.
Ref. 43636 Chandrashekhariah, H.N., M.F. Rahman and S. Lakshmi Raghavan, 2000
Page 117,130
Named Used as Valid Wallago attu
cfm script by jwee, 18.10.01 , php script by rolavides, 20/02/08 , last modified by elaxamana, 9:15 AM 1/9/09

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
tadamichi - Fotolia
Think beyond tick-box compliance
A year on since GDPR, many organisations are yet to stop fretting over fines and focus instead on business value
Cliff Saran, Managing Editor
Just over a year since the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, many organisations still have a lot of work to do to make real changes and shift focus away from fines and instead to business value, according to PwC.
When it comes to compliance with the GDPR and the UK's updated Data Protection Act (DPA), Mike Gillespie, managing director and co-founder of independent security consultancy Advent IM, says no information security professional should be driving the conversation through dialogue about potential fines. In his experience, this is both defeatist and counter-productive when dealing with senior leadership figures.
Instead, he says: "We need to focus on all the benefits that can be realised by embracing data protection as an integral and necessary business process, which is fully embedded into our business as usual."
Gillespie urges IT security professionals to start all information security and data protection activities with the organisation's business objectives in mind. He argues that security, including data protection, should demonstratively benefit the organisation and ultimately result in information being utilised and exploited in a positive way, therefore enabling the right people to have access to the right information at the point of need.
"To achieve this, it is absolutely vital to fully understand what personal information is being collected by the organisation, from where, and for what explicit purpose," says Gillespie. "The business needs to ask: Is it strictly necessary? If it isn't, then it must stop. If it is, then the next step is to identify what fair and lawful purposes are going to apply to processing this information and ensure that it is properly documented. By doing this, information security professionals can then work with the organisation to develop strategies to ensure that the information is capable of being used by legitimate users."
To information security professionals, however, this can seem like a monumental task. As a result, it is an area that is frequently shied away from, in Gillespie's experience. Rather than assign a task to an information security professional, he says businesses need to effectively integrate the role of "information asset owner" into their organisations and make the senior leadership team themselves responsible for implementing and embedding this structure.
According to Gillespie, this will enable management, using a combination of common sense, pragmatism and professional judgement, to make risk-based decisions over the collection, processing, sharing and disposal of information, with security and privacy professionals acting in a tactical advisor role, as and when required.
Beyond tick-box compliance
Now the GDPR deadline has passed, Maxine Holt, research director at Ovum, says many enterprises are reflecting that a simplistic tick-box approach to compliance, with GDPR specifically and regulatory requirements generally, has failed to gain potential benefits. Even when limiting outcomes to a compliance perspective, she says many will realise that their efforts have failed to provide flexibility and scalability to cater for the expectation that more and more stringent data protection regulations will continue to evolve around the world.
Benefits of GDPR
1. Better control over data. This can be achieved by the following.
– Creating and filling a data protection officer post or role;
– Identifying a defined owner for each data type (eg, human resources, finance, project);
– Clearly defining who can create, access and modify specific datasets (a function of the data owner).
2. Providing better protection of data (both physical and electronic) through:
– The creation of a data asset register;
– Data cleansing which would lead to the elimination of duplication, create data consistency, and identify and remove illicit copies of data;
– Implementation of fit-for-purpose access controls (for example, rigorously applying the 'need to know' principle);
– Regular data protection impact assessments (DPIAs).
3. The ability to prove due diligence in GDPR compliance – this would be valuable should the worst happen and there was a leak of personal data (for example, in terms of the level of any levied fines).
4. To create a positive marketing message as a follow-on from being able to prove compliance and due diligence.
Source: Peter Wenham, member of the BCS Security Community of Expertise
However, Holt says an approach that moves towards aligning business objectives with compliance requirements can provide organisations with better control of data. Such an approach offers the enterprise the potential to exploit benefits across all its data-driven initiatives, aligning compliance objectives with forward-looking business goals. "Compliance, and the effective leverage of data for business benefit, share the same essential requirement: absolute, granular control of data," she says. "Ultimately, this synergy will provide the high-level opportunity to restructure the people, processes and technology within the organisation to maximise both the protection and value of information."
According to Holt, compliance, alongside the need to recognise and leverage the business value of data, are data control challenges. In her experience, viewing them in this way makes the alignment of business and compliance objectives much less of a problem.
"Organisations can begin to identify existing use cases and processes that depend on this control, and form interdisciplinary teams involving stakeholders from both compliance and other business roles to collaborate on shared outcomes and objectives. From this comes shared processes and workflows, shared technology, and – to some extent – shared budgets. By intertwining compliance goals within the broader enterprise initiative for data control and value realisation, there's the potential for compliance to cease being a cost centre over time," says Holt.
"Benefits, such as improved customer relations and consumer trust, provide 'softer' returns that are often difficult to quantitatively measure over a short-term period, but can be significant and should not be neglected in calculations," she adds.
Holt says that by addressing these problems at their root, the enterprise can simultaneously improve the ability to comply with regulations such as GDPR along with the ability to leverage data for business value.
Understanding customer data
Peter Wenham, a member of the BCS Security Community of Expertise and director of information assurance consultancy at Trusted Management, suggests that a GDPR audit is a good starting point to understanding data and data risks. As well as identifying companies that offer commercial GDPR audit services, an internet search on GDPR audits should also provide a wealth of advice, including the Information Commissioner's Office website.
"A GDPR audit could be added to an ISO 27001 review for large companies," says Wenham. "For the smaller companies, undertaking an IASME Governance self-assessment is recommended as it includes both Cyber Essentials and GDPR questions. Of course, the IASME Governance self-assessment would be an excellent starting point for any organisation, irrespective of their longer-term audit and certification plans."
Read more from Computer Weekly's Security Think Tank about how to shift data protection focus to business benefits and success
Embrace data protection as a necessary business process.
Benefits of GDPR compliance.
Changing the GDPR focus to business benefit.
Align compliance objectives with business goals.
Don't dismiss the business benefits of GDPR.
Aligning data privacy with business objectives.
Beyond auditing, Wenham says the need to improve control over personal data could be obtained through better use of the security features found in access control systems such as Microsoft Active Directory. Using such access control not only locks down access to personal data, but also leads to an improvement in secure IT infrastructure.
Having a thorough understanding of what personal data exists in the organisation and the risks and opportunities associated with that data can deliver huge benefits, according to Advent IM's Gillespie. For instance, organisations can reduce their storage costs and create clarity about who should be able to access what in order to be efficient. "It can reveal poor employee practice and highlight training issues, therefore improving business quality," he says.
"We should be focusing on the benefits when we talk to our senior leaders, and the potential for fines – which is a risk and therefore cannot be ignored – should be supplementary," says Gillespie. "Only by doing it this way can we start to get our organisations to see data protection in a positive light as something they want to do, not something they grudgingly do to tick a box."
Read more on IT risk management
Security puzzle calls for some joined-up thinking
By: Cliff Saran
Security Think Tank: Translating GDPR compliance into business benefits
By: Emma Bickerstaffe
Security Think Tank: Don't dismiss the business benefits of GDPR
By: Richard Hunt
Making unified threat management a key security tool
CityFibre acquires FibreNation in £200m deal
Cyber resilience lacking due to apathy of UK leaders – ComputerWeekly.com
Security puzzle calls for some joined-up thinking – ComputerWeekly.com
Brexit might benefit genomics big data analytics ... – ComputerWeekly.com


text:
Manifest S2 released on 18/01/2021
Last year's breakout new series returns with captivating drama, heart-pounding ...
The Pembrokeshire Murders released on 18/01/2021
Based on the book Catching the Bullseye Killer, The Pembrokeshire Murders is released ...
It's A Sin released on 22/02/2021
It's A Sin, released on DVD and Blu-ray 22nd February 2021 from Dazzler Media, ...
Doctor Who released on 25/01/2021
With the fate of the Doctor seemingly hanging in the balance following the climactic ...
The Nightingale released on 01/02/2021
Steeped in the horrors of Australian history, the powerful Australian Western horror ...
The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud released on 18/01/2021
Forget Fortnite, step away from Among Us, switch off the console and step back in ...
Blindspot S5 released on 25/01/2021
In the emotional, action-packed fifth and final season of Blindspot, released on DVD ...
A Perfect Planet released on 01/02/2021
Our planet is one in a billion. How incredible, awe-inspiring life is driven by its ...
Jarhead released on 11/01/2021
Jarhead: Law of Return, released on DVD 11th January 2021 from Dazzler Media, is the ...
The Call released on 11/01/2021
From the creator of Final Destination, Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell star in The Call, the ...
Manifest S2
NewsTV18/01/2021
Last year's breakout new series returns with captivating drama, heart-pounding mysteries and the answers to last season's biggest questions in Manifest: Season 2, released on ...
Based on the book Catching the Bullseye Killer, The Pembrokeshire Murders is released on DVD 18th January 2021 from ITV Studios Home Entertainment.
It's A Sin, released on DVD and Blu-ray 22nd February 2021 from Dazzler Media, chronicles the lives of four friends during a decade in which everything changed, including the ...
With the fate of the Doctor seemingly hanging in the balance following the climactic ending to series 12, Doctor Who returns in Revolution Of The Daleks, released on DVD and ...
Steeped in the horrors of Australian history, the powerful Australian Western horror The Nightingale arrives as a Limited-Edition Blu-ray box set from Second Sight Films on ...
Forget Fortnite, step away from Among Us, switch off the console and step back in time for the crazy, retro-gaming, riproaring sci-fi comedy adventure The Intergalactic ...
6 more stories
Features01/12/2020
Possessor follows an agent who works for a secretive organisation that uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people's bodies - ultimately driving them to commit ...
What if you saved a souvenir from every relationship you've ever been in? The Broken Hearts Gallery follows the always unique Lucy, a 20-something art gallery assistant living ...
In Blumhouse's Fantasy Island, the enigmatic Mr. Roarke makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious and remote tropical resort. But when the fantasies ...
From the 1870s through to modern day, Radioactive is a journey through Marie Curie's (Rosamund Pike) enduring legacies - her passionate partnerships, scientific breakthroughs ...
Starring Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron, Academy Award ® winner Nicole Kidman, Academy Award® nominee John Lithgow and Academy Award® nominee Margot Robbie, and based ...
Writer director Taika Waititi, brings his signature style of humor and pathos to his latest film, Jojo Rabbit, a World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose ...
Peep Show S4
ReviewsTV04/11/2007
Mark and Jez are a couple of twenty-something roommates who have personalities that are completely opposite to each other - and with absolutely nothing in common. Series four ...
Reviews07/10/20091
Leon lives a sad life as an assassin for the mob, his home is a dingy flat at the end of a corridor. Every day he goes out, does a job and buys two quarts of milk. Today will ...
Braquo S4
All eight episodes from the fourth season of Olivier Marchal's French police thriller which follows a group of police officers led by Eddy Caplan who use violent and ...
Homeland S2
When Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody is hailed as a hero after he returns home from eight years of captivity in Iraq, intelligence officer Carrie Mathison is the only one who ...
The Rockford Files S2
James Garner is back once again in Season 2 of the Rockford Files, playing the role of Jim Rockford, a private investigator, who gets caught up in situations he'd rather not ...
Mark has been dumped at the wedding alter and Jeremy doesn't have any money. Welcome to series five of the private, and extremely weird, world of Peep Show as seen through the ...
Hot26/10/2020
Tragedy, revenge and redemption await in this groundbreaking DC film! Who will live? Who will die? Who will watch over Gotham? You decide in Batman: Death in the Family, ...
HotTV26/10/2020
From Vikram Seth's epic novel, the stunning new adaptation for BBC One of A Suitable Boy is released on DVD 26th October 2020 from BBC Worldwide.
From writer/director Neill Blomkamp comes the startlingly original science fiction thriller District 9 debuting on 4k Ultra HD on 19th October 2020 from Sony Pictures Home ...
From the Wachowski brothers and Joel Silver, the masterminds behind The Matrix trilogy, comes another intriguing, action-packed fantasy-thriller in V for Vendetta, released on ...
Bursting with indelible characters, quotable dialogue and jaw-dropping special effects, Tremors is back and bigger than ever in this 4K-restored and fully loaded collectors' ...
Cats and Dogs 3
It will truly rain cats and dogs when Warner Home Video releases Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite!, the next feature length installment of the popular Cats & Dogs franchise, on DVD ...
24 more stories
Releases18/01/2021
From Roland Emmerich, comes the ultimate action-adventure movie, 2012 which is available for the first time on 4K Ultra HD on 18th January 2021 from Sony Pictures Home ...
Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formics, an insectoid alien race who had previously tried to invade Earth and had ...
ReleasesTV25/01/2021
In Muscle, released on DVD and Blu-ray 1st February 2021 from Dazzler Media, upon joining a gym and attracting the attention of an intimidating personal trainer, a man's life ...
In the 1970s, a missing teacher of martial arts is the subject of a quest by his devoted and brilliant but distant students, who include Batman in Batman: Soul of the Dragon, ...
Zavvi Top BD
Zavvi BD Out Soon
Zavvi BD Picks
Zavvi Top DVD
Zavvi DVD Out Soon
Zavvi DVD Picks
Zavvi Top UHD
Zavvi Latest Releases
Nine Lives (2016)
NewsComedy
News Article Go back to homepage
Merry Cat-mas!! Join furry fiend Mr. Fuzzypants (a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) for this season's most hilarious feline caper, Nine Lives, which arrives on Blu-ray & DVD from 12th December 2016, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner, Malina Weissman, Christopher Walken, Teddy Sears
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
#NineLives
Buy BD
Tom Brand (Kevin Spacey), billionaire businessman and soon-to-be owner of the tallest skyscraper in the northern hemisphere, is a workaholic whose lifestyle has disconnected him from his family, particularly his beautiful wife Lara (Jennifer Garner) and his adoring daughter Rebecca (Malina Weissman). When Tom forgets to buy Rebecca a present for her 11th birthday he rushes out in a panic and finds himself in a mystical pet store brimming with odd and exotic cats. Fortunately the store's eccentric owner, Felix Perkins (Christopher Walken), has the perfect pet for him: Fluffy feline, Mr. Fuzzypants.
However Mr. Fuzzypants proves to be both a blessing and a curse... En route to his daughter's party, Tom has a terrible accident. When he regains consciousness he discovers that he has become trapped inside the body of the cat...! Despite being a self-professed cat hater, after a serious of hilarious scrapes Tom realises that occupying the body of a fluffy moggy can have its benefits - namely, spending more time with his family.
Boasting an all-star supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Jennifer Garner, Robbie Amell and newcomer Malina Weissman, Nine Lives is a funny, heart-warming tale about the importance of family - and pets! The purrrrfect Christmas gift to get your paws on this December.
Letting the Cat Out of the Bag: The Making of Nine Lives
Cat Bloopers
Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.
The Addiction, The Jungle Book, Eddie The Eagle, Jersey Boys, Heaven's Gate, Stand Up Guys, A Late Quartet, Seven Psychopaths, King Of New York, Kill The Irishman, King Of New York, Hairspray, Click, A View to a Kill, Antz, Batman Returns, Blast from the Past, Catch Me If You Can, Catch Me If You Can, Excess Baggage, Man on Fire, Sleepy Hollow, The Stepford Wives, The Deer Hunter: 40th Anniversary, King of New York
Baby Driver, House of Cards: Season 5, Elvis & Nixon, House of Cards: Season 4, House of Cards: Season 3, Horrible Bosses 2, NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage, House of Cards: Season 2, House Of Cards: Season 1, Glengarry Glen Ross, Father of Invention, The Men Who Stare At Goats, Moon, 21, A Bugs Life, American Beauty, K-PAX, Seven, The Usual Suspects: Special Edition
Teddy Sears
24: Legacy - Season 1, Masters Of Sex: Season 2, Masters Of Sex
Wakefield, Danny Collins, Alexander & The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Dallas Buyers Club, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Juno, Catch And Release, Dude, Where's My Car?, Pearl Harbor: Commemorative Edition, Men, Women & Children
Men In Black 3, Men In Black 2, Men In Black, The Tick: Season 2, The Tick: Season 1
HotUHD
Now more stunning than ever before, return to the stunning locations and epic adventures in Peter Jackson's Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, arriving on stunning 4K UHD 30th November 2020 from Warner Home Video.Read more
Hot PicksView
DVDBDTVBoxset
Released on DVD and Blu-ray 27th July 2020 from Dazzler Media, created by visionary award-winning filmmaker of The Raid, Gangs of London takes audiences on an immersive journey into the hidden heart ...
Elizabeth is Missing
DVDTV
DVDDIGITAL
Billy Connolly's Great ...
DVDBDTV
UHDBD
Latest NewsView
Bull S4
DVDTVBoxset
Season Four of Bull, released on DVD 15th February 2021 from Paramount Home Entertainment, returns a few months after the bombshell revelation that Dr. Jason Bull is expecting a child with his ex-wife ...
Intergalactic Adventures of ...
Death in Paradise S10
Blindspot S5
Channel Hop
Sir Ridley Scott, the renowned filmmaker who reinvented the science fiction film genre - having helmed Alien, a groundbreaking mix of science fiction and horror, followed by Blade Runner, one of the most revered and influential genre films of our time - offers his signature brand of action, thrills, scares and much, much more, in ...
Review03/09/2016
Elliot is a genuine and eager to please nice guy who sells his soul for seven wishes in order to capture the love of his life.
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the "Source Code," a program that enables him to cross over into ...
Movie quote
"With every new day, there's fresh hope."
NewsTVFeaturesReviews
BDDIGITAL26/10/2020496
DVDTV26/10/2020484
UHD19/10/2020274
Blue Bloods: Season 10
DVDTVBoxset19/10/2020232
Killing Eve: Season 3
DVDNOTES24/04/2020143
DVDBDNOTES14/02/202084
DVDDIGITALNOTES18/01/202130
DVD21/06/20053031
Austin Powers : International Man of Mystery - 10th ...
The Simpsons: Season 16
DVD03/04/2009912
Starring #HollyHunter #CraigTNelson #SamuelLJackson, why not #Revisit the #Pixar #NewsArticle #Incredibles2 availa…
DVD365.net
Out this weekView
Trickster S1
Pre-OrderView
# 1 Death in Paradise S10DVD
# 2 The Grand Budapest HotelBD
# 3 It's A SinDVDBD
# 4 Bull S4DVD
# 5 Spiral S8DVD
# 6 The NightingaleBD
# 7 A Perfect PlanetDVDBDUHD
# 8 The DoormanDVD
# 9 Blindspot S5DVD
# 10 Doctor WhoDVDBD
Trending NewsView
#1 A Perfect PlanetDVDBDUHD
#2 It's A SinDVDBD
#3 Blindspot S5DVD
#4 The Hobbit TrilogyUHD
#5 The NightingaleBD
#6 The Intergalactic Adventures ...
#7 The Flash S1DVDBD
#8 The CallDVD
#9 JarheadDVD
#10 The Pembrokeshire MurdersDVD
Top RatedView
# 1 Game of Thrones S6DVDBD
# 2 MirandaDVD
# 3 Friends CompleteBD
# 4 Breaking Bad CompleteBD
# 5 ChernobylDVDBD
# 6 Narcos S2DVDBD
# 7 Black MirrorDVD
# 8 Lie To Me S2DVD
# 9 The OfficeDVD
# 10 CherylDVD
Staff PicksView
# 1 War for the Planet of the ...BD
# 2 The TunnelDVD
# 3 The Imitation GameDVDBD
# 4 Amazon Women on the MoonDVDBD
# 5 The Night ManagerDVDBD
# 6 Terminator 2DVDBDUHD
# 7 The Lego Batman MovieDVDBDUHD
# 8 FargoDVD
# 9 LoganDVDBDUHD
# 10 Ready Player OneDVDBDUHD
News ArchiveGo to full archives
January 202118 December 202032
November 202042 October 202044
September 202038 August 202020
July 202036 June 202036
May 202032 April 202032
March 202032 February 202038
Get a free daily news update. DVD365.net works with the Amazon Alexa flash briefing skill
Running for over twenty years, DVD365.net is a free and non-profit hobby site which is run on a passion for all things 4K, Blu-Ray and DVD. We also participate in a number of affiliate programs.
Site and content © 2000-2021 DVD365.net. Content may only be used with written permission from the webmaster. All images and trademarks are copyright their respective owners.
© 2014 Planetshine theme Goliath. Powered by Bootstrap 3.0


text:
Category Archives: DUI News
If you get a DUI, you may wind up in the news.
Trooper claims he was forced to change DUI arrest record for judge's daughter
Mass. state trooper claims he was forced to change DUI arrest record for judge's daughterFox NewsA Massachusetts state trooper is claiming that he was forced to alter an arrest record for a local judge's daughter after she was stopped for driving under the influence.Continue Reading BelowTrooper Ryan Sceviour, 29, was reprimanded last month for allegedly including comments about oral sex in the Oct. 16 arrest report of Allie Bibaud, the daughter of Dudley District Court Judge Timothy Bibaud.According to Boston 25, Sceviour arrested the younger Bibaud after she allegedly swerved into a police construction detail on I-190 in Worcester. During her arrest, Bibaud allegedly said: "My dad's a [expletive] judge. He's going to kill me," along with comments seemingly implying she would trade sexual favors for leniency.Sceviour wrote everything she said in his report. He claims he was simply doing his job.Continue Reading BelowBut Bibaud's father allegedly asked friends in positions of authority to have the comment removed from the arrest report, Boston 25 reported.Sceviour claims his superiors, including State Police Major Susan Anderson, forced him to redact the arrest warrant three days later and threatened to fire him if he refused. "You are to immediately code 7 to the barracks, per the colonel. It's an order from the colonel. It's got something to do with an arrest report, umm, a judge's daughter," said a voicemail recording left on Sceviour's phone.After Sceviour edited the report, he was reprimanded for including her salty language."The revision consisted only of removal of a sensationalistic and inflammatory directly quoted statement by the defendant, which made no contribution to proving the elements of the crimes with which she was charged. Inclusion of an unnecessary sensationalistic statement does not meet the report-writing standards required by the department," a police statement said at the time. Sceviour told Boston 25 he has not been able to sleep since he was forced to alter the police report. He wants an apology and to clear his name."They have impaired his reputation. People hear his name, 'isn't that guy who faked the report. Isn't that the guy who covered up for the judge?'" Sceviour's attorney Lenny Kesten told the news station. "He said, 'I don't want to. This is wrong.' He said, 'this is morally wrong.' [Anderson] said it's a direct order from the colonel."In a statement, the state police stood behind its decision to revise the arrest report."The removal of the inflammatory and unnecessary quotation did not change the substance of the trooper's narrative, did not remove any elements of probable cause from the report, and, most importantly, had no impact on the charges against the defendant," the statement read. "The defendant remains charged – as she was initially charged — with operating under the influence of drugs, operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and two other motor vehicle offenses, and she will be held accountable for those crimes based on the evidence collected by State Police."
Source: Mass. state trooper claims he was forced to change DUI arrest record for judge's daughter | Fox News
Trustee charged with OVI ordered to spend 3 days in jail
Howland Twp. trustee charged with OVI ordered to spend 3 days in jailThe trustee was pulled over on Oct. 28 on Route 422By WKBN StaffPublished: November 10, 2017, 5:28 am Updated: November 10, 2017, 7:16 am NILES, Ohio (WKBN) – The Howland Township trustee charged with OVI will spend three days in jail.According to court records, James Lapolla, Jr. pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail, 27 of those days were suspended. His license is also suspended for six months.Lapolla will have to serve those three days in jail within 60 days. His attorney also filed a motion Thursday for Lapolla to attend a driver intervention program.AdvertisementLapolla was charged with OVI and a lane violation after police pulled him over on Route 422 on Oct. 28.A police report says Lapolla told officers he had a few drinks but didn't submit to a blood alcohol test.
Source: Howland Twp. trustee charged with OVI ordered to spend 3 days in jail – WKBN.com
Suspected drunk driver crashes into McDonald's drive-through, fights police – TheIndyChannel.com Indianapolis, IN
INDIANAPOLIS — Police say a woman drunkenly crashed into a McDonald's drive through early Sunday morning before attacking responding officers.The crash happened around 2:00 a.m. Sunday at the McDonald's located at 3649 South Keystone Avenue.According to an incident report, 29-year-old Skyla Bolden crashed her 2009 Nissan into a pole in the restaurant's drive-through.When officers responded, Bolden allegedly kicked one of them.According to police, Bolden has a prior OWI arrest and blew a 0.220 BAC on a portable breathalyzer.Bolden was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and battery on a police officer.
Source: Suspected drunk driver crashes into McDonald's drive-through, fights police – TheIndyChannel.com Indianapolis, IN
Actor Lou Diamond Phillips charged with DWI in Texas | Newsday
Actor Lou Diamond Phillips charged with DWI in Texas
This undated photo provided by the Portland Police Department shows Lou Diamond Phillips. The actor has been charged with DWI in Texas just hours before a scheduled appearance in Corpus Christi. Police in nearby Portland arrested Phillips early Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Jail records show bond wasn't immediately set for Phillips, who starred in "La Bamba." / Portland Police Department via AP
November 4, 2017 8:06 AM By The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Texas — Actor Lou Diamond Phillips faces a driving while intoxicated charge in Texas for an incident that happened just hours before he appeared at a speaking engagement in Corpus Christi.
Police in Portland, Texas, arrested Phillips around 1:30 a.m. Friday. Jail records show the "La Bamba" star was freed after posting bail, which had been set at $2,500.
Police Chief Mark Cory says an officer was conducting an unrelated traffic stop when the 55-year-old Phillips drove up and asked for directions. The officer suspected Phillips had been drinking.
Cory says Phillips' blood alcohol level was .20 percent — more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Cory says Phillips, who listed a California address, was cooperative.
Jail records listed no attorney for Phillips, a 1980 graduate of Corpus Christi's Flour Bluff High School.
Source: Actor Lou Diamond Phillips charged with DWI in Texas | Newsday
Charleston-Area State Senator arrested for DUI, providing false information – WCBD News 2
CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) — South Carolina Senator Paul Campbell has been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) and providing false information to police.According to South Carolina Highway Patrol, the crash happened on Saturday, at 9:15 PM on I-26 near mile marker 204 in Charleston County.Troopers say Campbell's vehicle rear-ended another car in congested traffic. When SCHP arrived on scene, there was discrepancy about who was driving the at-fault vehicle.AdvertisementThe incident report explains Campbell's wife told authorities she was driving the vehicle. Campbell also told authorities his wife was driving. Through witness interviews, Troopers determined Sen. Campbell was the driver of the car and administered a field sobriety test.The test registered his blood alcohol level at .09%, while the legal limit is .08%. Campbell was arrested for DUI and providing false information to police and booked in the Charleston County Detention Center. Campbell's wife was also cited for providing false information to police. She was released at the scene.Campbell is a Berkeley County Republican, representing Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties, and is Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. He has served in the SC Senate since 2007. He is also Executive Director and CEO of the Charleston International Airport.Campbell had a bond court hearing Sunday morning. However, his image did not appear on the large, public monitor. Audio could be heard in the courtroom, and the judge could see the streaming image, but staff members say the public monitor was in sleep mode.Charleston County authorities released the full video to media Monday.
Source: Charleston-Area State Senator arrested for DUI, providing false information – WCBD News 2
Driving While Stoned: The Penalties and Gray Area in Marijuana Law
As of November 2017, some 29 states had legalized marijuana for medicinal use. By 2018, eight of those states will allow the recreational use of pot, too. Add in the millions of Americans who smoke weed illegally and you have a small army of stoned individuals hanging out in public at all hours.
See Recipe for Easy Taco Skillet
At your local bar or drum circle, that's not a problem. On the other hand, when driving your kids home from school, you don't want to run into a guy who just took a round of bong hits. Likewise, marijuana users need to know the risks they face if they get behind the wheel high. State penalties for stoned driving are mostly as harsh as they are for drunk driving. Nothing kills a buzz like 120 days without your license or $1,500 in fines.
However, there is no "pot breathalyzer" yet, and officers usually need special training necessary to otherwise judge intoxication via weed. Overall, confusion reigns, and the arrests of people who hadn't used marijuana before driving have made the situation worse. Here's what everyone needs to know about pot and driving, down to the gray areas in the law.
1. The risks of driving while high
While there is agreement among scientists that driving under the influence of marijuana creates a more dangerous situation, there is no consensus of just how much danger. A 2016 paper from the Society for the Study of Addiction found the increase in crash risk "of low to medium magnitude." That assessment scaled back some of the hyperventilating following the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Even government agencies have a hard time saying how marijuana affects motorists. In February 2015, NHTSA released a study on alcohol and drug use among drivers. Once again, they found clear evidence of impairment among drunk drivers, down to the degree. Drug users proved harder to gauge. "At the current time, specific drug concentration levels cannot be reliably equated with a specific degree of driver impairment," the report concluded.
Page 1 of 8 NEXT https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/driving-while-stoned-the-penalties-and-gray-area-in-marijuana-law.html/2/
Source: Driving While Stoned: The Penalties and Gray Area in Marijuana Law
Man held for allegedly smashing in door of city home in a rage
PITTSFIELD — A city man already facing charges has had his bail revoked after allegedly starting to "act crazy out of nowhere" last weekend, damaging a car, kicking in a locked door and smashing a cellphone.
Zachary W. Love, 23, faces multiple new charges in addition to charges on two open cases, which include credit card larceny and operating under the influence, from June and July, respectively.
Responding to a report of a breaking and entering in progress on John Street about 1:38 am. Saturday, police encountered a witness who said Love had kicked in the door of the apartment and was still inside.
The door showed signs of forced entry, police said.
Police spoke to Love, who insisted nothing was going on and said the damage from the door was from a previous break-in.
Another witness told police that a group including Love had a few drinks earlier and had come back to John Street to hang out.
That witness said when the group pulled up to the house, Love began having a "crazy attitude" and accusing a woman in the group, with whom he'd had a relationship, of having received photos from another man, police said. He began hitting the outside of the car with his fists, leaving dents.
Once inside the house, Love allegedly took a woman's cellphone and went outside with it, removed its SIM card and smashed it. It was at that point, witnesses said Love was locked out of the house, prompting him to kick in the door to get back inside.When police attempted to take Love into custody, he allegedly resisted and thrashed around to avoid being handcuffed.
He pleaded not guilty in Central Berkshire District Court on Monday to three counts of vandalizing property and one count each of felony nighttime breaking and entering, larceny under $250, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest
Judge Paul Smyth then revoked Love's bail on charges of operating under the influence, unlicensed operation and threatening to commit a crime July. He set a nominal bail of $50 on the new charges.
He is due back in court on Nov. 28 for a pretrial hearing.
http://berkshireeagle.com/stories/pittsfield-man-held-for-allegedly-smashing-in-door-of-city-home-in-a-rage,523278
A Florida woman rode her horse on a highway drunk, police say.
She was charged with a DUI
Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrested Donna Byrne Thursday for riding a horse while drunk. (Courtesy of Polk County Sheriff's Office)
Nothing's unusual in Florida, a sheriff department spokesman said Friday. But some things — like a woman arrested this week for allegedly riding a horse while drunk down a busy highway — are still surprising.
Around 3 p.m. Thursday, a passer-by saw Donna Byrne, 53, on the horse looking confused and possibly in danger and notified officers, according to her arrest affidavit. Sheriff's officers found Byrne on Combee Road near North Crystal Road in Lakeland, about 35 miles east of Tampa. She smelled of alcohol and had red watery eyes. When she dismounted from the horse, she staggered from side to side.
Byrne had ridden the horse for a 10 to 15-mile stretch from Polk City, said Brian Bruchey, a spokesman for the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Byrne is being charged with driving under the influence while operating a vehicle — which in her case was a horse equipped with a saddle and bridle. She is also charged with animal neglect for putting the horse in danger of being injured or killed.
"We haven't had a horse DUI that I'm aware of. We've had incidents of bicycle DUIs and motorcycle DUIs, so this was a different kind of thing."
Donna Byrne, 53, is charged with a DUI for riding her horse drunk on a Florida highway. She also faces a count of animal neglect. (Courtesy of Polk County Sheriff's Office)
Whether an intoxicated person on horseback can be charged with a DUI or DWI varies from state to state.
In 1993, an appellate court in California ruled in People vs. Fong that people riding animals on the highway are subject to the same rules as the drivers of automobiles, meaning people must ride their animals at a reasonably safe speed and avoid reckless behavior.
The issue was a hot topic in Montana in 2011, when the state's department of transportation aired an advertisement featuring a horse picking up its owner after a night of drinking at the bar. In Montana, horseback riders can't be arrested for driving under the influence, because state law's criteria for a vehicle in a DUI excludes devices moved by "animal power."
Several criminal defense lawyers in Florida interviewed by The Post are skeptical of whether the DUI charge will hold up in Florida court. Thomas Grajek, a Tampa attorney who specializes in DUI cases, said he thinks Byrne can't be charged with a DUI because Florida law states that people riding animals on roadways or shoulders are treated as pedestrians, and are not subject to the same rules as automobile drivers. Grajek said that, if anything, someone riding a horse drunk might be charged with disorderly conduct, similarly to a publicly intoxicated pedestrian.
Officers arrested Byrne after conducting a sobriety test, during which Byrne registered blood-alcohol levels of .157 and .161, twice the state's legal limit of .08. The horse was taken to the Polk County Sheriff's Animal Control livestock facility, officers said.
"The road she was stopped on was a very busy road," Bruchey said. "Of course, if somebody hit the horse, then that person would be in danger. And (Byrne) was a danger to herself."
The Polk County State Attorney's office could not be immediately reached for comment. Bruchey, the sheriff's department spokesman, said the officer who arrested Byrne thought he had sufficient probable cause to consider the horse a vehicle.
"I can tell you it's going to be interesting if (the DUI charge) goes through," Bruchey said. "The way sheriffs look at it, the woman put a saddle and bridle on this horse and was riding it to get from point A to point B. For all intents and purposes, we look at that as a vehicle."
Byrne's criminal history includes five felony and ten misdemeanor charges, consisting of cruelty to animals, drug possession, probation violation and criminal traffic, officers said. She could not be reached for comment.
Police to begin roadside drug testing pilot program Nov. 8
(WXYZ) – In an effort to combat the dangers of drugged driving, five Michigan counties will participate in a one-year oral fluid roadside drug testing pilot program by Michigan State Police.
The counties include Berrien, Delta, Kent, St. Clair and Washtenaw counties.
The Preliminary Oral Fluid Analysis pilot program will establish policies for the administration of roadside drug testing to determine whether an individual is operating a vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance.
Over the last several years, Michigan has seen a steady increase in fatal crashes involving drivers impaired by drugs. In 2016, there were 236 drug-involved traffic fatalities.
"Motorists under the influence of drugs pose a risk to themselves and others on the road," said MSP Director Col. Kriste Etue. "With drugged driving on the rise, law enforcement officers need an effective tool to assist in making these determinations during a traffic stop."
The counties were chosen based on criteria including number of impaired driving crashed, impaired drivers arrested and trained Drug Recognition Experts in the county.
Under the pilot program, a DRE may require a person to submit to a preliminary oral fluid analysis to detect the presence of a controlled substance in the person's body if they suspect the driver is impaired by drugs.
Refusal to submit to a preliminary oral fluid analysis upon lawful demand of a police officer is a civil infraction.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/michigan-state-police-to-begin-roadside-drug-testing-pilot-program-nov-8
Rapper Fetty Wap charged with drag racing, DWI on Gowanus Expressway
PATERSON, New Jersey (WABC) — Rapper Fetty Wap was arrested for racing another vehicle on the Gowanus Expressway early Friday, police say.The rapper, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, was spotted by police driving a black 2012 Mercedes CLS AMG westbound on the highway at a high rate of speed just after 1 a.m.He was clearly racing another vehicle near Hamilton Avenue, according to investigators.When Fetty was pulled over, police say he handed the officer a suspended New Jersey driver's license.The officer noticed signs of intoxication and gave the rapper a field sobriety test, where he blew a .09.He failed another sobriety test at the precinct.He was charged with reckless endangerment, illegal speed contest, operating a motor vehicle with .08, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, motor vehicle license violation. unsafe lane change, following too close, illegal signal, driving while alcohol impaired, and four counts of a speed violation.He was charged and will be arraigned in Downtown Brooklyn later Friday
Source: Rapper Fetty Wap charged with drag racing, DWI on Gowanus Expressway | abc7ny.com
© Colorado DUI Defense & Driver License Blog


text:
Evaluation of gait symmetry in paediatric patients with hemiparesis
Belén Hidalgo presented her Master's thesis entitled "Gait kinematics and symmetry in patients with hemiparesis using an audio feedback device" on December 16th at University of Zaragoza. The work corresponds to the Master's Program in Biomedical Engineering from that university, and has been carried out during Belén's 6-month stay at the Biomechanical Engineering Lab (BIOMEC).
The project has been developed in collaboration with Sant Joan de Déu – Barcelona Children's Hospital (HSJD) and the company Draco Systems. The clinical staff, from the Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine at HSJD, selected the four hemiparetic patients involved in the study. Draco Systems designed the audio feedback device used by the paediatric patients.
Belén carried out a biomechanical study to analyse the changes in gait symmetry when patients used the device in four different scenarios. Eight spatiotemporal parameters were used for this purpose: cycle time, stance time, swing time, cadence, stride length, step length, step width and walking speed. Moreover, joint angles, range of motion (RoM) and segment's angular velocities were measured and analysed.
With this project, it was proved that the device had a positive effect on the patient's movements: they improved their gait symmetry (with respect to the natural gait without using the device) and, moreover, they kept gait improvements once the device was stopped.
BIOMEC2017-11-29T17:32:02+00:00January 21st, 2017|Biomechanics, Gait analysis, General, Master's thesis, Neurorehabilitation, News|0 Comments
Research seminar by Dr. József Kövecses, McGill University, on June 7th
New journal article "Impact of friction and gait parameters on the optimization of series elastic actuators for gait assistance"
Research seminars by Dr. Hossein Rouhani from University of Alberta organized by the BIOMEC Lab
The BIOMEC Lab participates in a pioneering project to introduce exoskeletons to the automotive industry
BIOMEC appears in the TV programme Deuwatts
CaixaImpulse
CREB
ETSEIB
Neurorehabilitation
TV Programme
BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING LAB
The Biomechanical Engineering Lab is a research group of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering. The mission of the lab is developing multibody models to simulate human movement dynamics, and designing robotic devices to assist human locomotion.
BELONGS TO
Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CREB)
Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD)
UPC Technology Centre (CIT)
Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB)
Catalonia, Spain
Tweets by biomecupc


text:
Mon·roe (mən-rō)
A city of northeast-central Louisiana east of Shreveport. Founded in 1785, it is an industrial center.
Monroe, William Smith Known as "Bill." 1911-1996.
American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who helped develop bluegrass as a musical style.
Monroe, Marilyn Originally Norma Jean Baker. 1926-1962.
American actress noted for her starring roles in films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959).
(click for a larger image)
Monroe, James 1758-1831.
The fifth president of the United States (1817-1825), whose administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida (1819), the Missouri Compromise (1820), in which Missouri was declared a slave state, and the expression of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), declaring US opposition to European interference in the Americas.
James Monroe
c. 1820 portrait by
Gilbert Stuart