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Tag Archives: Jeffrey Carr
"Russia hacked the election" and other fake news — whatever happened to journalism?
Update: Please note that the original article begins after the asterisk
Listen carefully to what Obama says in his final press conference delivered on January 18th [I have highlighted the relevant section]:
So with respect to WikiLeaks, I don't see a contradiction. First of all, I haven't commented on WikiLeaks, generally. The conclusions of the intelligence community with respect to the Russian hacking were not conclusive as to whether WikiLeaks was witting or not in being the conduit through which we heard about the DNC emails that were leaked.
From the official transcript available at the White House archive.
I have also embedded a youtube upload of the full speech below so that you can watch how he delivers this statement beginning at 8:00 mins, with a prolonged hesitation after saying "The conclusions of the intelligence community with respect to the Russian hacking were not conclusive as to whether WikiLeaks was witting or not…"
Because what does he intend when he says "witting or not" – "witting or not" of what precisely? Wikileaks has never denied being "the conduit through which we heard about the DNC emails" – so why does Obama say any of this? And, more importantly, why does he then conclude this statement saying "…the DNC emails that were leaked." Weren't the DNC emails allegedly hacked? Wasn't that the whole point?
When I posted the previous article, not for a moment did I anticipate this already stale (nearly six months old) and contrived accusation of Russian hacking might be reheated and making the headlines well into the new year. Nor could I have envisaged that in the interim no fewer than two 'intelligence reports' would be issued to serve as flimsy support for otherwise groundless claims. Two reports with extremely serious sounding titles and elaborate illustrations, but not a single shred of evidence between them. Although that last part comes as no surprise at all, of course.
But before considering these twin tissues, not of lies, but of unsupported assertions, it is helpful to first remind ourselves what is to be understood when we read that "Russia hacked the election". Because in spite of the seeming inference contained in those excitable words, the accusation falls far short of any literal suggestion that the Russians hacked into electronic voting machines or otherwise meddled directly in America's electoral process.
Instead, the fragile claim is only that 'the Kremlin' (read Putin) hacked into the Democratic National Committee and thereafter released evidence to wikileaks exposing, amongst other things, how DNC staffers were manipulating the primaries to ensure Clinton prevailed against Bernie Sanders. Thus the outrage might be neatly encapsulated as follows:
Back in July it was quite evident that this fantasy about dastardly Russian interference had been concocted in order to misdirect everyone from the incriminating substance of the emails as such. And up to a point the distraction worked wonderfully well, even if the leak still did result in the embarrassing and untimely resignation of DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Indeed, as the election neared, this evidence-free story was quietly sidelined, since Clinton's victory had then appeared a nailed-on certainty.
But now, in the wake of Clinton's shock defeat, the same unfounded insinuations that provided such a convenient decoy, with Putin standing in as a readymade scapegoat, have been rehashed again. Promoted by a neo-con establishment suddenly desperate to play the Russia card once more, we witness a choreographed outcry from the likes of Brennan and McCain, and the frenzied release of these half-baked 'intelligence reports'.
Released December 29th, the Joint Analysis Report is the collaborative product of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. A jumbled concordance to the existing fable about the misadventures of hacker groups "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear", it introduces us to an exciting new protagonist named "Grizzly Steppe" (actually the chosen moniker for the report itself!), but first comes the disclaimer:
This report is provided "as is" for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained within.
Jeffrey Carr, who is a cybersecurity expert and author of Inside Cyber Warfare, writes:
The FBI/DHS Joint Analysis Report (JAR) "Grizzly Steppe" was released yesterday as part of the White House's response to alleged Russian government interference in the 2016 election process. It adds nothing to the call for evidence that the Russian government was responsible for hacking the DNC, the DCCC, the email accounts of Democratic party officials, or for delivering the content of those hacks to Wikileaks.
He concludes:
If the White House had unclassified evidence that tied officials in the Russian government to the DNC attack, they would have presented it by now. The fact that they didn't means either that the evidence doesn't exist or that it is classified.
If it's classified, an independent commission should review it because this entire assignment of blame against the Russian government is looking more and more like a domestic political operation run by the White House that relied heavily on questionable intelligence generated by a for-profit cybersecurity firm [i.e., CrowdStrike] with a vested interest in selling "attribution-as-a-service".
Click here to read Carr's full analysis.
Grizzly Steppe appeared to most experts as more of a Grizzly Misstep but never mind because we didn't have to wait long for the next instalment: the considerably longer, still glossier and top-heavily titled "Office of the Director of National Intelligence Statement on Declassified Intelligence Community Assessment of Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections" which was released on January 6th.
This final (presumably…?) 'assessment' is a good deal fatter but no less flimsy when it comes to verifiable substance than the preceding 'report'. In fact quite sensationally, it presents nothing of any relevance or further significance whatsoever – but then what did we honestly expect?
After weeks of bombshell headlines based on statements from anonymous intelligence officials, western media finally had an official intelligence report to support their bombshell headlines. Unsurprisingly, all headlines look very similar, with the Guardian even changing the title of their main story after realising it was not menacing enough.
The problem is that, much like the old stories, the new ones do not contain any evidence to support the claims, because the report itself does not have anything in that regard.
writes Ricardo Vaz, reprinted by Off-Guardian, continuing:
The report says that the "evidence" remains highly classified. These outlets are just being fed the same (non-)information in a new package, and reporting it as "remarkably blunt" (WaPo) and "damning and surprisingly detailed" (NYT) does not change the fact that there are no facts to back this thesis that there was a campaign orchestrated by the Russian state which decided the American presidential elections. Repeating the same accusation time and again is not a way of proving it, and given their track record, we cannot just take intelligence agencies at their word. 1
Click here to read Ricardo Vaz's in-depth critique.
Or here is investigative journalist James Corbett's take (and his own disclaimer):
The propaganda surrounding the "Russia hacked the election" meme is, quite frankly, beneath the intelligence of The Corbett Report community. But this hodgepodge of evidence-free assertions is still driving the 24/7 fake news cycle, so today James rolls up his sleeve and shows the latest propaganda for what it is.
The silliness justly deserves to be ridiculed but still when the world's most powerful nation is butting heads with its nuclear-armed rival we had better take stock. As we enter into exceptionally turbulent times, the mind-numbing absurdity of current affairs ought not to obscure this. So surely the most troubling aspect in the ongoing farce is the leading part played by our lamentable media, whose remaining purpose has now been reduced to the repackaging and peddling of an authorised narrative – no matter how nonsensical or deficient in factual basis.
As Glenn Greenwald recently said in an interview (January 5th) on Democracy Now! "the same people pretending to be crusaders against fake news… are themselves disseminating it more aggressively than anyone else".
Reminding us of what he described as "two of the most humiliating debacles in American journalism over the last several years", Greenwald said:
The first was on November 24th, when they claimed, based on a newly formed anonymous group, that there has been a very widespread, successful effort to implant Kremlin propaganda in the American discourse. And they accomplish this by giving credence to this secret list that this anonymous group of cowards had created in which they claim that a whole range of American media outlets and websites, such as the Drudge Report and other libertarian critics of Hillary Clinton on the right and long-standing left-wing critics of the Democratic Party, like Naked Capitalism and Truthout and Truthdig on the left—they decree them to be tools of Kremlin propaganda. And The Washington Post created this huge story, that went all over the place, based upon giving credence to this list and saying that Russian propaganda had been viewed more than 200 million times in the United States. Journalists all over Twitter, throughout the American media, mindlessly spread it, aggressively endorsed it. It became a huge story. And over the course of the next two weeks, the story completely collapsed, and there's now a major editor's note at the top of the article disclaiming the key source, saying that they did not intend to in any way vouch for the validity of the findings of the source on which the entire story was based.
But even more embarrassing was this weekend, when the Post trumpeted this story on Friday night that Vladimir Putin and Russia had hacked into the electric grid of the United States through a Vermont utility, which caused Vermont officials like the governor and Senator Pat Leahy to issue statements saying Vladimir Putin is trying to endanger the safety and the welfare of Vermonters by stealing their heat in the winter. The whole story, from start to finish, turned out to be a complete fabrication. There was no invasion of the American electric grid. The malware that was found on one laptop had nothing to do with Russia. The story was completely false. And again, the American media, in this hysteria, kept spreading and endorsing it.
And in both cases, the retractions were barely noted. So you have millions of people being misled into this hysteria, into this view that Russia is this grave threat, and when the story journalistically collapses, they barely hear about it.
Click here to watch the full interview or read the full transcript on the Democracy Now! website.
The longevity of all this 'fake news' about Russian hacking helps lay to rest the opinion that the fourth estate is merely in a state of crisis. Bereft of any vital signs, we must regretfully acknowledge that it has finally expired altogether; suffocated beneath the weight of its own self-importance. The demise of mainstream journalism is seemingly complete.
Glenn Greenwald also made a recent appearance on BBC's Newsnight on Wednesday 11th. He had been invited principally to discuss the latest revelations against the Kremlin in light of the release of memos purporting to show that Russia is in possession of compromising material on Trump – which is plausible but once again no credible evidence is being presented. The exchange of words he had with presenter Emily Maitlis was certainly memorable:
Here is a short extract (the transcription is mine):
Maitlis [from 1:20 min]: But hang on a sec, [this latest allegation] was taken seriously by the CIA – by the Central Intelligence Agency. Doesn't that elevate it above gossip?
Greenwald: Right, so the CIA is an agency that has repeatedly got caught lying in the past. It is designed to disseminate propaganda. And they're currently in open warfare with the person who was just elected President of the United States. They were behind Hillary Clinton's campaign. So I agree that once the CIA briefs the President and President-elect on this document it becomes newsworthy to report that fact, but the mere fact that the CIA tried to enshrine this document in a cloud of authenticity or credibility doesn't for me as a journalist convince me at all that the claims are true. I want to see evidence first that the claims are true.
Maitlis: Hang on a second – you're calling the CIA partisan. Are you basically suggesting that if Donald Trump then goes on to ignore everything that the CIA tells him that's no great loss to America?
Greenwald: No, I didn't say anything even remotely like that. What I said was that the CIA –
Maitlis [interrupting]: You said that the CIA was partisan – that it was pitted against the President-elect.
Greenwald: Well, that's absolutely true. The former head of the CIA, Michael Morell, went to the New York Times and endorsed Hillary Clinton. George Bush's CIA head, General [Michael] Hayden went to the Washington Post and did the same thing. They both accused Trump of being a recruit of Vladimir Putin.
Maitlis: So in that case whatever they tell him he would have to take with a pinch of salt because he would see them as a partisan organisation. Is that what you're essentially suggesting?
Greenwald: I would say that any rational human being with even minimal history of the United States and the CIA would take everything that the CIA says with a huge grain of salt. I would call it actually a dose of rational scepticism. Given how many times in the past that agency has lied and been in error. You know of course don't you that the Iraq War was started because that agency said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was in alliance with al-Qaeda. Something that turned out to be tragically untrue. So of course people would treat those claims sceptically.
1 From an article entitled "CIA, FBI and NSA produce joint report, jointly prove nothing", written by Ricardo Vaz, originally published in Invesig'Action, reprinted by Off-Guardian on January 14, 2017. https://off-guardian.org/2017/01/14/34734/
Filed under analysis & opinion, Russia, USA
Tagged as "Cozy Bear", "Fancy Bear", "Grizzly Steppe", Barack Obama, CIA, CrowdStrike, Democratic National Committee (DNC), FBI, Glenn Greenwald, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, James Corbett, Jeffrey Carr, Vermont, Washington Post, Wikileaks
Elliot Abrams and the Trojan horse of humanitarian aid


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FCS 2019 PREVIEW: Eastern Washington Football Is Set For Another Run To Frisco
HERO Sports welcomes you to "Three-a-Days", where we will preview every single one of the 126 FCS programs, with three teams being released each day from June 17 to July 28. Then, we'll preview all 13 conferences from August 1-4. Today, we present … Eastern Washington.
Eastern Washington (12-3 IN 2018)
Big Sky Conference (EWU finished T1st in 2018)
COACH: Aaron Best – At School: 3rd year (19 -7) Overall: Same
LAST FCS POSTSEASON: 2018 (National Runner-up)
2018 OFFENSE: 43.1 ppg. (4th in FCS)
2018 DEFENSE: 22.7 ppg. (27th in FCS)
KEY GAME: Sept. 14 @ Jacksonville State: This is a premier nonconference game in the FCS between two preseason Top 10 teams. On paper, this looks to be the most challenging FCS game of the year for the Eagles. Because their Big Sky schedule is quite favorable, this game will likely give us the best gauge on how good the 2019 Eagles are.
SUM IT UP: "Eastern Washington Football Ready for Return to National Prominence" — That was our headline for last year's EWU preview.
"The Eagles win the Big Sky, earn a high playoff seed and return to Frisco for a shot at the national title. They have the experience, talent and motivation to do so." — That was under our Best Case-Scenario section.
Not to brag but we ended up being pretty spot on with the Eagles last year at this time. What we didn't foresee was the amount of injuries EWU would suffer and how new players would step into huge roles in the run to Frisco. But that's especially important right now as we look at the 2019 season. The official team prospectus lists nine total starters returning — five on offense and four on defense — but there are a handful of other players who have had some starting experience here and there or have played big minutes due to those injuries.
Despite losing a class of 25 seniors and 15 players who have earned All-Big Sky honors, the Eagles have plenty of experience coming back.
Let's start with the offense, which has a chance to be extremely explosive. One of those players to step up due to injury is quarterback Eric Barriere, who is a HERO Sports Preseason First Team All-American. He'll be a top quarterback in the country and will have what could be one of the best offensive lines in the FCS. Four guys up front have significant starting experience. Spencer Blackburn, a preseason Second Team All-American, and Kaleb Levao received sixth years of eligibility and are back for their second senior season. Chris Schlichting is set to be a four-year starter and Tristen Taylor started in 2016 and 2017 before having his 2018 season cut short because of a knee injury.
Some other playmakers outside of Barriere do need to step up. EWU's top rusher and pass catcher from 2018 are gone. But offensive skilled position players are never a concern in Cheney. Antoine Custer Jr. is a two-time All-Conference performer at running back and he, Tamarick Pierce and Dennis Merritt combined for 1,521 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns last year. And keep an eye on Andrew Boston as the next big receiver for the Eagles. He was a 2018 HERO Sports Freshman All-American and caught 43 passes for 531 yards and four touchdowns. Tight end Jayce Gilder is also a reliable target who had seven touchdown receptions in 2018.
It'll be key for the Eagles to continue progressing on defense. Last year's unit was tremendous, improving from 33.36 points allowed a game in 2017 to 22.67, and from 464.9 yards allowed per game to 392.5. EWU ranked second in the FCS with 34 forced turnovers. The Eagles have four full-time starters back on that side of the ball (DT Dylan Ledbetter, DL Jim Townsend, LB Chris Ojoh and safety Dehonta Hayes). Safeties Tysen Prunty and Calin Criner along with rover Kedrick Johnson also started some games. That's not to mention DL Mitchell Johnson, who served as a key backup and was a big part of the rotation. Johnson earned HERO Sports Freshman All-American honors with his 31 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
Ojoh is EWU's top returning tackler after he had a breakthrough sophomore campaign with 105 tackles, which ranked second on the team in 2018. Overall, the Eagles have six of their top 11 tacklers back and three of their top four (Ojoh, Hayes and Criner).
OUR TAKE: We have EWU preseason ranked No. 7, which means we expect a quarterfinal appearance. But with their schedule and returning talent, there's a decent chance the Eagles get a Top 4 playoff seed and make a deeper run. They will be favored to win every game besides at FBS Washington. A road trip to Jacksonville State looks to be a 50/50 game on paper. But in the Big Sky, the Eagles avoid the three other playoff teams in 2018. It's a favorable schedule that could see an 11-1 overall record. Even with what's gone off of last year's team, expectations shouldn't lessen and the Eagles look to return to Frisco this season.
TOP RETURNEE: Jr./QB Eric Barriere (HERO Sports Preseason All-American First Team, 3,063 yards of total offense, 24 passing TDs, 8 rushing TDs)
THE FOUNDATION: Sr./OL Spencer Blackburn (Preseason All-American Second Team); Sr./OL Chris Schlichting (4-year starter); Sr./RB Antoine Custer Jr. (All-Big Sky HM, 625 yards rushing, 8 TDs); So./WR Andrew Boston (HERO Sports Freshman All-American, 43 catches for 531 yards and 4 TDs); Jr./LB Chris Ojoh (2nd leading tackler last year with 105); So./DL Mitchell Johnson (HERO Sports Freshman All-American, 31 tackles, 8 TFLs and 4.5 sacks); Sr./DB Dehonta Hayes (87 tackles)
TOP NEWCOMER: So./DB Dean Sise (Transferred from Navy and redshirted at EWU in 2018, was able to play in the national title game and played on ST)
THE QUOTE: "Our returning players will be hungry to get back to that stage, and we're going to get after it." — Head Coach Aaron Best said
WERE WE RIGHT?: Last Year's EWU Preview
PREVIEWS: The Rest Of The Big Sky
Cal Poly | EWU | Idaho | Idaho St
Montana | Montana St | NAU | UNC
Portland St | Sac St | SUU | UC Davis | Weber St
2019 FCS Kickoff Countdown: 58 Days, The Best Player Who Wears No. 58 Is SUU's Zach Larsen
FCS 2019 PREVIEW: Elon Football Eyes Third Straight Playoff Berth

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Waiting on Wednesday: Retribution by Sherrilyn Kenyon
By Kimberly 1:35 AM // 4 comments
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine which spotlights eagerly anticipated upcoming releases!
I've been a fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor for...jeez...going on thirteen years now (I feel old). Even after all these years, I'm still always excited for her upcoming books and Retribution is no exception. The Dark Hunters are one of my favorite series of hers, and I'm ecstatic that Sundown is finally getting his book :)
Title: Retribution
Series: Dark Hunters, Book 30
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Sherrilyn Kenyon Reading Order can be found here on Wit and Sin.
Book Description (from Sherrilyn Kenyon's website):
Harm no human…
A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he'd spend eternity protecting the humans he'd once considered prey.
Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief- Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters...
Waiting on Wednesday: Darker Still and Psychic Moon
By Kimberly 3:58 AM // 11 comments
Once again, I have two very different books I'm waiting on this week. Both are by authors I've never read before and both are paranormal. One, however, is a male/male romance and the other is a YA historical.
Title: Darker Still
Series: Magic Most Foul, Book 1
Author: Leanna Renee Hieber
Genre: YA Paranormal Historical
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Book Description (from Amazon.com):
The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Pride and Prejudice, with a dash of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
New York City, 1882. Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart's latest obsession is a painting of the handsome British Lord Denbury. Something in his striking blue eyes calls to her. As his incredibly life-like gaze seems to follow her, Natalie gets the uneasy feeling that details of the painting keep changing...
Jonathan Denbury's soul is trapped in the gilded painting by dark magic while his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the city slums. He must lure Natalie into the painting, for only together can they reverse the curse and free his damaged soul.
Title: Psychic Moon
Author: M.D. Grimm
Genre: Male/Male Paranormal Romance
Publishers: Dreamspinner Press
Book Description (from Dreamspinner Press):
Humane Officer Derek Wiliams has been toying with the idea of asking out Brian O'Donogue since the veterinarian started working at the Pet Rescue Center two years ago. So why hasn't he made his move? It's complicated… but it has something to do with the fact that Derek occasionally likes to run around on four legs instead of two.
Recovering from an abusive relationship and hiding supernatural abilities of his own, Brian takes a chance and agrees to go on a date with Derek. The ensuing relationship is better than either of them could have hoped—until a rogue wolf shifter attacks Brian while he's walking his dogs. The abrupt attack forces Derek to confront his feelings, but the danger isn't over. The rogue shifter is out there, and he's hunting them.
Tuesday In Review
By Kimberly 3:39 AM // No comments
It's update time :)
Below are the newest reviews I've written over on Joyfully Reviewed and Romance Junkies. The master list and categorical lists on the right-hand side are updated as well.
Reviews for upcoming releases:
- Cowboys Like Us (Sons of Chance, Book 6) by Vicki Lewis Thompson (available 7/19/11, Kindle edition available 8/1/11)
- Dangerous Magic by Samantha Hunter (available 7/22/11)
- One Night in London (The Truth About the Duke, Book 1) by Caroline Linden (available 8/30/11)
- The Seduction of Scandal (Scandals and Seductions, Book 5) by Cathy Maxwell (available 8/30/11)
All other new reviews:
- Undercover Lovers by Dee Carney, Chloe Cole, Cari Quinn, and Dee Tenorio
- Stranger (Blades of the Rose, Book 4) by Zoë Archer
- Baby, Drive South (Southern Roads Trilogy, Book 1) by Stephanie Bond
- Baby, Come Home (Southern Roads Trilogy, Book 2) by Stephanie Bond
- Lord Langley Is Back in Town (The Bachelor Chronicles: The Standon Widows, Book 3) by Elizabeth Boyle
- Handcuffs and Glory Holes (Rawlings Men, Book 2) by Kim Dare
- Handcuffs and Headlocks (Rawlings Men, Book 3) by Kim Dare
- Handcuffs and Spreader Bars (Rawlings Men, Book 4) by Kim Dare
- Strong Arms of the Law by Cerise DeLand
- Hail Mary by C.C. Galloway
- Slave to Fashion by Debra Glass
- Stolen Justice by DJ Gross
- Shadowglass (The Shadowfae Chronicles, Book 2) by Erica Hayes
- Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane Series, Book 2) by Elizabeth Hoyt
- Jared (Red, Hot & Blue, Book 4) by Cat Johnson
Waiting On Wednesday: As Time Goes By and Unlikely Protector
By Kimberly 12:00 AM // 3 comments
I have two very different romances I'm waiting on this week, both releasing this month and both by debut authors. As Time Goes By is a WWII romance and Unlikely Protector is a dystopian romance.
Title: As Time Goes By
Author: Anna Lee
Genre: Historical M/M Romance
Publisher: MLR Press
Book Description (from MLR Press):
In 1944, Matt Jackson, a wounded RAF pilot, ends up in the Royal Infirmary after his squadron is attacked. When he meets Doctor Trynt Andrews, both men's lives are changed with the instant connection they feel for one another. Alone and injured, Matt is invited into Trynt's home and they become inseparable, finding a love they thought they never would. As the year goes by, their commitment deepens despite having to keep their love a secret. When Matt is deployed and his plane goes down during battle will all be lost? Or will he make it home to Trynt?
Title: Unlikely Protector
Author: Nicole Sheldon
Genre: Dystopian Romance
Publishers: Amazon and B&N
Book Description (from Nicole Sheldon's blog):
What would you bring to the plate if the world ended? Moria is finding that her knowledge of wine and club clothing isn't much help in the end of times, but her ability to problem solve has landed her a job at the camp she and a few other survivors live in. But she can't seem to solve the problem of her ever constantly growing sexual tension for the man who saved her life and brought her there. When their safety is threatened and the camp has to move, will Moria find new safety and solve her biggest issue in the process?
Waiting On Wednesday: As Time Goes By and Unlikely...


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Two LIH researchers on scientific leave share their experience
Dr Tatiana Michel and Dr Danielle Perez Bercoff, both principal investigators at LIH's Department of Infection and Immunity, had the opportunity during 2016 and 2017 to benefit from a scientific leave - a mobility period abroad to conduct research projects and acquire new expertise.
This initiative was supported by LIH and the INTER mobility programme of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) that promotes the exchange between research institutions in Luxembourg and leading research groups abroad.
The two researchers readily communicated their impressions about their unique professional and personal experience in a short interview.
Dr Tatiana Michel
Research group at LIH: Department of Infection and Immunity - Innate Cellular Immunity and Chronic Inflammation
Host institution: Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, US
Laboratory Head: Dr Bruno Conti
Dates: 08/2016 - 07/2017
What was the aim of your visit?
TM: 'I work on the immune response in chronic inflammation, mainly in the context of asthma. With my visit at "The Scripps Research Institute" I aimed to extend my knowledge to the field of neuroimmunology. I got insights into methods that were completely new to me to explore the neuroimmune system by performing brain dissection in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases and the analysis of neurons.
I was also keen about working in a different research environment and system. At the institute I met very open people coming from all over the world. This experience was truly enriching.'
What were the major outcomes?
TM: 'My research work in California led to the co-authorship of an article published in April 2017 in the "Journal of Neuroinflammation". Another manuscript is currently in preparation. The visit allowed me to establish a solid collaboration with the host laboratory that I want to maintain. The technical skills and conceptual knowledge I acquired will help me to develop my research in a new direction.'
What did you like most about your stay?
TM: 'I liked the structure of the research location a lot. In La Jolla, laboratories are located in close proximity to start-ups, which facilitates technology transfer and application-targeted research. This created a vibrant environment favouring the interaction between people and boosts scientific progress and innovation.
I took the sabbatical at the same time as my husband, working at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), who joined the University of California San Diego for one year. Together with our children we also enjoyed a lot being close to the seaside and having excellent weather almost all the time. I think Californian people always get up with a smile on their face, and so did we.'
Dr Danielle Perez Bercoff
Research group at LIH: Department of Infection and Immunity - Cellular Immunity and Chronic Inflammation
Host institution: Department of Virology, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France Laboratory
Head: Prof Simon Wain-Hobson
Dates: 02/2016 - 07/2016 and 01/2017 - 06/2017
DPB: 'I have been working for many years on HIV and in particular on viral assembly and protein trafficking. More recently, I have been investigating the molecular mechanisms leading from inflammation to cancer development in chronic viral infections, with a focus on interferon-induced APOBEC proteins, a family of DNA cytidine deaminases.
My visit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris allowed me to deeply investigate the function of those proteins and to get insights into their role in other contexts of chronic inflammation. I am now progressively moving away from the field of virology to specialise in cell and molecular biology and investigate signalling pathways.'
DPB: 'I have a manuscript in preparation about the work conducted in the laboratory in Paris. A fruitful collaboration is now established and I look forward to continue interacting with the team. Most importantly, the sabbatical gave me inspiration for the development of new research topics here at LIH.'
DPB: 'I was able to do a lot of bench work. Meetings and administrative tasks were rare, so I could fully concentrate on science. I enjoined being part of a dynamic team working on different projects that all converge to one thematic.
I am still fascinated and inspired by the innovative mind-set of Prof Hobson whom I got to know when I invited him to give a seminar in the frame of LIH's Lecture Series in Infection and Immunity back in 2015.'
FNR CORE funding for five research projects at LIH


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Royal Barge Procession 2007
in honour of the King
The Royal Barge Procession 2007 sailed on 5 November 2007 to celebrate the 80th birthday of HM King Bhumipol Adulyadej exactly a month later. King Bhumipol is in the 61st year of his reign and it is customary for HM the King to present new robes to the monks at the end of the Buddhist Lent.
This ritual called the Royal Krathin Ceremony is traditionally held at Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, an old temple from the Ayutthaya era. Unfortunately King Bhumipol is still recovering from a recent illness and HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn officiated at this ceremony.
A total of 52 royal barges and 2,098 members of the Royal Thai Navy took part in the procession this year. The 1.5 km long convoy started from the Wasukri Pier, a Royal Thai Navy pier in Samsen Road and wound its way down to Wat Arun on the Thonburi bank of the Chao Phraya.
As the Royal Barge Procession 2007 is in conjunction with a religious ceremony, it was relatively somber compared to the earlier ones.
Finding a place to view this spectacle took a little effort. Most of the public places along the river banks were occupied. The two biggest public areas are at the King Rama VIII Bridge and Santi Chai Prakan Park next to the old Fort Phra Sumen.
But these places were filled by then. Other areas along the banks are mostly private property.
However after much frantic searching along the banks just before the start, I was lucky to find the ideal location; the new Siam Riverview in Phra Arthit Road near Sanam Luang.
The hotel has a riverside terrace along the stretch of the Chao Phraya between Rama VIII Bridge and the Phra Pin Klao Bridge just north of Sanam Luang.
This gives a superb view of the Royal Barge Procession as it emerges from under the King Rama VIII Bridge and comes into full view. You can't get any closer than this.
Coming into view – the Rama VIII Bridge is to the right
For those of us at Siam Riverview, the Royal Barge Procession 2007 came into view at 1536 hours, when the first of the escort barges sailed in to the distant chants of the men of the Royal Thai Navy manning the royal barges.
The chants and drums beats grew progressively louder as the procession approached us.
Ten minutes later, Anantanakharat, the leading royal barge with the seven-headed Naga at the bow, passed carrying the Royal Krathin robes on a golden pedestal for the ceremony at the Temple of Dawn.
Leading escort barges sailing past
Anantanakharat – the seven-headed Naga
Another wave of colorful escorts adorned with mythical creatures like Garuda and Hanuman the monkey god followed in the wake of the seven-headed serpent.
The next wave of escorts
Then it was the turn of Suphannahongse, the King's royal barge and the pride of the royal barges to make her appearance with the HRH Crown Prince on board.
Suphannahongse – pride of the Royal Barge Procession 2007
Trailing behind the golden swan were the watchful eyes of the Ekachai escort barges with Hera, the mythical horned dragon at the bow.
Ekachai escorts with Hera the horned dragon
Two more royal barges followed in this grand procession; the Narai Song Suban King Rama IX with Vishnu astride Garuda at the bow and the Anekchatphuchong.
Royal barge Narai Song Suban HM King Rama IX
Royal barge Anekchatphuchong
The Royal Barge Procession 2007 is the 16th procession in the reign of HM King Bhumipol Adulyadej.
The first was in 1957 after a 25 year break, to mark the 2,500th year of the Buddhist era. I managed to catch the last three in 2003, 2006 and 2007.
By 1600 the last of the escort barges passed under the Phra Pin Klao Bridge and sailed towards the Temple of Dawn preserving a tradition that dates back to the 13th century Sukhothai kingdom.
Last of the escorts
Towards the Temple of Dawn
To have an idea of the atmosphere at the other two processions, please see Royal Barge Procession 2003 and Royal Barge Procession 2006.
For the history of the royal barges and details on the types of royal barges.
To return to Royal Barge Museum.
Explore Bangkok on your own with Tour Bangkok Legacies – the e-book my Smashwords edition of an-e-guide book for the independent traveller.
Other Royal Barge Processions
History of the Royal Barges
Types of Royal Barges
My Smashwords e-book


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Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation Partners with NASA to Accelerate the Mapping of the World's Coral Reefs
Satellite imagery of coral reefs near Al Wajh in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea
Annapolis, MD — Coral reefs are in crisis. Corals are an ancient life form and, because of the reefs that they build, the survival of countless other organisms is predicated on healthy coral ecosystems. But coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. The world has lost more than half of its reefs over the past 40 years. The remainder could be lost by the end of the century if reef conservation efforts don't score some swift victories. To conserve anything, first you need to know where it is, and how much you have left. This has been difficult to track for coral reefs as they are hidden beneath the waves, but that is changing as scientists develop new technologies to map coral reefs from space.
To meet this challenge, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) is partnering with NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley to use the Foundation's extensive high-resolution data about reefs to expand NASA's coral mapping capabilities. This partnership will allow NASA to create maps of all the coral reefs in the world and track how reefs are changing through time, giving scientists around the world the insight needed to address the coral reef crisis.
The Space Act Agreement with the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation gives NASA access to data from the Foundation's Global Reef Expedition, one of the largest surveys of corals ever completed. The partnership will use this massive dataset in conjunction with the NeMO-Net neural network and the Pleiades supercomputer at Ames, which powers NeMO-Net. The NeMO-Net project aims to map and track the health of the world's coral reefs to give us the best look beneath the waves we've ever had. Using a revolutionary new remote sensing instrument, NASA's FluidCam, capable of seeing beneath ocean waves without distortion, coral reefs can be surveyed at the centimeter scale in 3D from drones and aircraft. NeMO-Net uses data from this next-generation instrument to classify corals around the world. With this combination of tools and information, NeMO-Net's maps will become more accurate, giving researchers and environmental managers better information about what's happening to coral reefs and how to protect them at a time when they are experiencing unprecedented anthropogenic pressures.
On the Global Reef Expedition — the largest coral reef survey and mapping expedition in history: an international team of scientists set out to assess the health and resiliency of coral reefs.
To assemble the dataset that will train the NeMO-Net neural network, the Living Oceans Foundation spent ten years mapping and surveying coral reefs on the Global Reef Expedition. This research mission circumnavigated the globe in an effort to address the coral reef crisis. It involved hundreds of scientists, who spent tens of thousands of hours underwater surveying coral reefs in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans as well as the Red Sea. In addition to scientific reports on the state of the reefs, the Expedition resulted in the creation of 65,000 square kilometers of high-resolution coral reef habitat maps — or about one-fifth of the world's coral reefs.
"When the Foundation launched the Global Reef Expedition in 2006, it was an incredibly ambitious undertaking. We were inventing the technology as we went, pioneering new ways to map coral reefs using satellite imagery and verified with data taken in the field," said Sam Purkis, KSLOF's Chief Scientist as well as Professor and Chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Purkis led the Foundation's coral reef mapping efforts on the Global Reef Expedition and is excited to see NASA use the Foundation's data to take coral reef mapping to the next level. "This is a game-changer," said Purkis. "NASA's new imaging technologies and supercomputers dramatically change the landscape of what is possible in terms of mapping coral reefs."
Through neural networks and machine learning, NASA is automating a process that took a team of KSLOF's scientists years to do on their own. But all of this automation requires massive amounts of training data, data NASA did not have, but KSLOF collected on the Global Reef Expedition. NASA has acquired some of the data they needed with the help of tens of thousands of citizen scientists around the world playing the NeMO-Net game, an interactive citizen-science video game in which players identify and classify corals from 3D imagery of the reefs. The global dataset KSLOF is providing to the agency, including all of the coral reef habitat maps created on the Global Reef Expedition, will validate and ground-truth training data they need to accurately map coral reefs from satellite imagery on a global scale.
"If you're using deep learning or machine learning, the quality of the data you use matters tremendously," said Alexandra Dempsey, the Director of Science Management at KSLOF. "The Foundation has the gold-standard dataset for training something like deep learning because we know it's right — we took a ship and actually went there." The only way to gather a very accurate global data dataset is to go into the field. "When we embarked on the GRE, we had no idea our data could be used in this way, the technology evolved so quickly, but we knew we were collecting valuable data that needed to stand the test of time."
Conducting a coral reef survey on the Global Reef Expedition
The problem for coral reef science is that the vast majority of the world's reefs are so remote that scientists can't get there, or can't get there often. At the moment, the only way to see how reefs are changing over time is through SCUBA divers, which is expensive, time-consuming, and can be dangerous and subject to bias. "With this data in NASA's hands, now suddenly you don't have to go into the field, you can map coral reefs from space. What an uplift to conservation that becomes," said Purkis. By using old satellite imagery, NASA will not only be able to record what reefs are like today, but they can also track how they change through time. NASA's maps are likely to become even more accurate in the future, as satellites are launched into orbit with new technology the NeMO-Net program is developing to see beneath the waves.
"These maps will be incredibly valuable for coral reef conservation," said Dempsey, who has spent her entire career working on coral reef science and conservation. "It is really hard to develop effective conservation strategies such as marine protected areas if you don't know what you're conserving. These maps fill that gap and have the potential to benefit coral reef ecosystems, and the people who depend upon them, for generations to come."
See article here
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is dedicated to the conservation and restoration of living oceans and pledges to champion their preservation through research, education and a commitment to Science Without Borders.®
© 2023 Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
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US To Begin the Invasion of Syria
June 28, 2015 Rich Winkel Leave a comment
US policymakers sign and date paper calling for the division, destruction, and US occupation of Syria.
Unbeknownst to the general public, their elected politicians do not create the policy that binds their national destiny domestically or within the arena of geopolitics. Instead, corporate-financier funded think tanks do – teams of unelected policymakers which transcend elections, and which produce papers that then become the foundation of legislation rubber stamped by "legislators," as well as the enumerated talking points repeated ad naseum by the corporate-media.
Such a policy paper has been recently written by the notorious US policy think-tank, the Brookings Institution, titled, "Deconstructing Syria: Towards a regionalized strategy for a confederal country." The signed and dated open-conspiracy to divide, destroy, then incrementally occupy a sovereign nation thousands of miles from America's shores serves as a sobering example of how dangerous and enduring modern imperialism is, even in the 21st century.
Pretext ISIS: US Poured Billions Into "Moderates" Who Don't Exist
The document openly admits that the US has provided billions in arming and training militants fed into the devastating and increasingly regional conflict. It admits that the US maintains – and should expand – operations in Jordan and NATO-member Turkey to provide even more weapons, cash, and fighters to the already catastrophic conflict.
It then recounts the rise of the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS), but fails to account from where its money, cash, and weapons came. It should be obvious to readers that if the United States has committed billions in cash, weapons, and training on multiple fronts to alleged "moderates" who for all intents and purposes do not exist on the battlefield, a state-sponsor of greater magnitude would be required to create and sustain ISIS and Al Qaeda's Al Nusra Front who Brookings admits dominates the "opposition" uncontested.
Image: By all accounts, including Western think-tanks and corporate-media, ISIS territory includes corridors that lead up to NATO-member Turkey's borders, as well as US-ally Jordan's. Both nations host a significant number of US military personnel as well as CIA and special forces contingents. Clearly ISIS is a creation and perpetuation of the West, subsiding on a steady stream of supplies streaming from these two bases of operation.
In reality, ISIS' supply lines lead right into US operational zones in Turkey and Jordan, because it was ISIS and Al Qaeda all along that the West planned to use before the 2011 conflict began, and has based its strategy on ever since – including this most recent leg of the campaign. …
The US Invasion of Syria
After arming and funding a literal region-wide army of Al Qaeda terrorists, the United States now plans to use the resulting chaos to justify what it has sought since the beginning of the conflict when it became clear the Syrian government was not to capitulate or collapse – the establishment of buffer zones now called "safe zones" by Brookings.
These zones once created, will include US armed forces on the ground, literally occupying seized Syrian territory cleared by proxies including Kurdish groups and bands of Al Qaeda fighters in the north, and foreign terrorist militias operating along the Jordanian-Syrian border in the south. Brookings even admits that many of these zones would be created by extremists, but that "ideological purity" would "no longer be quite as high of a bar."
Image: The West has only thinly veiled its support for Al Qaeda and ISIS before an impressionable general public. In policy circles, talk of using Al Qaeda to divide and destroy Wall Street's enemies around the planet is lively and enthusiastic.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-to-begin-the-invasion-of-syria-washington-policymakers-call-for-the-division-destruction-and-military-occupation-of-syria/5458628
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Review of: In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea, by Danny Goldberg
I was ten years old in the "Summer of Love" of 1967 and mostly unaware—if not entirely blissfully—of the cultural and political turbulence rocking our nation far beyond the confines of my comfortable New England middle-class home, where the sounds of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos rose from our record player rather than that of Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane. Music industry veteran Danny Goldberg—author of In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea—was only seven years older than I in that pivotal year, but those few extra cycles of the sun put him dead center into an era that extolled youth and decried the over-thirty crowd. As such, Goldberg was both an observer and a participant in what was a radical, albeit fleeting, transformation of America that carved some indelible grooves in the nation, yet often feels as far distant from our times as the American Civil War.
In his ambitious In Search of the Lost Chord, Goldberg delivers a well-written and wildly polychromatic snapshot of an epochal moment that is, alas, just about as tangential, unfocused and uneven as the year 1967 was. What Goldberg sets out to do is to describe with one single long rhythmic stroke of his pen all the concurrent aspects of the emerging counterculture that were manifested on both coasts: folk and blues morphing into a new brand of rock; antiwar activism ramping up to radical resistance; the civil rights struggle evolving into militant black power; the sexual revolution; pot and LSD and the drug scene; extreme variations in religion and spiritualism; a renaissance in art and literature; television and mass media; hippies and yippies standing against "the Man." Sex, drugs, rock n' roll. And much more. And a huge cast of characters. All in just over three hundred pages. Goldberg tries to do it all, to fit it all in, and of course falls short, but not for lack of effort. In the end, it reads like one long Rolling Stone article, which in style is certainly emblematic of the era he chronicles, a rough blend of memoir, history and anecdote.
Looking back, it seems as if America was never the same after John F. Kennedy was murdered in November 1963, but all of the forces that defined the rest of the decade were roiling beneath the nation's superficial complacency long before Dallas. The Eisenhower years were famously dubbed by one historian as "the time of the great postponement," because Ike's failure to act in so many critical arenas simply kicked a plethora of dangerous cans down the road in the fractured landscape of civil rights, urban decay, poverty, and other looming crises. JFK's death led to the accidental presidency of the less cool-headed Lyndon Johnson, whose cavalier decision to introduce large-scale ground troops into Vietnam proved to be the grand hypocenter for a legion of foreshocks of coalescing discontent. 1967 was the year the veneers cracked spectacularly, unleashing elements equal parts utopian and malign, although that was hardly clear at the time, near the dawn of the "hippie idea." The real faults ruptured the following year, in 1968, with anarchy and assassination.
The problem with In Search of the Lost Chord is that it lacks historical context. Imagine a history of the Civil War that began with Fort Sumpter, with no backdrop to the Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, John Brown or the election of 1860. Like those first shots at Sumpter, the ideas and events of 1967 were not products of a virgin birth, but emerged from a long gestation that Goldberg fails to probe. Another complaint is that while the narrative explores the counter-culture, there is almost no sense of what is going on in the rest of the nation or the rest of the world in 1967, with all of those people who were not hanging out with George Harrison or Jerry Garcia or Allen Ginsberg or Abbie Hoffman—with the vast majority of the country who were listening to Nancy Sinatra on the radio instead of Janis Joplin. Conspicuous in its absence is the larger picture of what was going on in the jungles of Vietnam, in the Cold War standoff with the Soviets, or with LBJ's Great Society experiment; yet each and every one of these are critically related to the social revolution gaining ground in San Francisco, L.A., New York City and beyond. The audience to Goldberg's book comes upon these various movements and the people that made them much like Gulliver washing up on a distant shore to find strange cities and exotic inhabitants like none he has ever encountered before. I lived through the era, so I recognized most, if not all of it. A reader of another generation would simply be lost. To his credit, Goldberg does include a timeline of 1967 events as appendix, although it is too brief and disconnected to the narrative to be of much use. More helpful perhaps would have been a biographical index of the large number of individuals who people this chronicle, since so many names are dropped it is a great challenge for the reader to recall all of them and their various connections.
It is manifestly impossible to describe the LSD experience to someone who has never dropped acid. But you need not have lived through 1967 to study it as history. Goldberg is a fine writer, but he is no historian. Given the year and the topic, it may especially verge on cliché to describe Goldberg's effort as kaleidoscopic, but nevertheless that is often what the narrative feels like, packed with so much material tossed at the reader from so many angles that in the end it is far stronger on content than on coherence. That may be more of the fault of the editor than of the author, but it remains a fault nonetheless. That is not to say I would advise against reading In Search of the Lost Chord, only that it cannot be your sole guide to 1967, because if it is, you will no doubt find yourself disoriented: it won't be a bad trip, just a confusing one.
In 1973, sixteen years old and wearing shoulder length hair, six full summers after the "Summer of Love," I was among 600,000 people at Summer Jam at Watkins Glen—according to the Guinness Book of World Records the "largest audience at a pop festival" ever—listening to the Grateful Dead, the Band and the Allman Brothers. The chord of that hippie era I was trying to embrace was already lost to us, but we did not know it then. Nixon, who had come to represent all that was wrong with America, would resign the following year, in the wake of Watergate. But not even seven years later, Reagan was President and America rewound to Eisenhower. Revolution and renaissance were indefinitely postponed.
A half-century later, we can perhaps remember 1967 best as a year that promised a great many possibilities, most of which went sadly unfulfilled. As this review goes to press, on the final day of 2017—perhaps the worst year in American history since 1968—the metaphorical "lost chord" of 1967 seems even further beyond our reach. Still, this has ever been a nation of reinvention, of reimagining ourselves, of stubborn and irrepressible optimism. Reading Goldberg's book is a reminder that there was a time that optimism put on legs and took to the streets as well as the airwaves. We may never find that lost chord, but we may yet again strike a new one that carries longer and with more vigor, in the years to come.
[Note: I read an Advance Reading Copy edition of this book, as part of an Early Reviewer's program.]


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There's a book for that
Interview with Emma Kavanagh
Posted on October 25, 2016 October 25, 2016 by gavinsherriff
Emma Kavanagh drew on her experience as a police and military psychologist with her book, The Missing Hours, out in November (Arrow paperback, £6.99).
Partly inspired by a true story, the book tells the story of a mother who vanishes without trace, only to reappear with no memory of where she has been. Surely it's only chance that her disappearance coincides with a murder?
Emma explained how she came up with the intriguing idea.
"A number of years ago, I read about a case in which a mother vanished and left her small children behind in a public place. She reappeared unharmed, but refused to tell anyone where she'd been.
"There was no crime involved but that scenario intrigued me. What could prompt a mother to walk away, leaving their small children alone? What kind of back story could lead to such an unlikely event? Hence The Missing Hours was born.
It's a tense and dramatic tale, but Emma's time working with people such as police hostage negotiators has left her with plenty of inspiration.
She recalled, "I attended a scene in which an individual had doused themselves in petrol and was threatening to set themselves alight. Whilst I was not involved in the negotiation, but rather worked with the team behind it, it was an extremely tense situation and took many, rather stressful hours to resolve. "
"My experiences with police hostage negotiation really helped me to create the kidnap and ransom world that runs through The Missing Hours. There are intense pressures involved in negotiation, especially when a victim's life depends upon the outcome."
Like many published people, Emma knew she wanted to write a book one day, even though she was enjoying a successful career in a different field.
"Being an author had always been my ultimate ambition. That said, I'm not sure that it was ever a conscious decision to become one rather than the other. I still love psychology and make efforts to keep abreast of the latest research. Fortunately, psychology is such a valuable tool to use in writing that the two tend to go hand in hand."
Away from her writing, Emma reveals that her two young sons keep her grounded in the real world.
"They are five and two. We are big readers and the greatest possible punishment for my boys is to be told they've lost bedtime stories! We do make up stories when we are out and about – fairy hunting in the park is our favourite game. You also have to watch out for those bears. They're rampant in Welsh parks.
"The littlest one mimics everything, making him look like a 40 year old in a 2 year old's body. My eldest has an uncanny knack for saying exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time – "Gosh, Mummy, are you really 38? You look FAR older than that." Frankly, if you didn't laugh, you'd cry."
If you like the sound of this book, click on the image below.
The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh (Published in paperback by Arrow, 17th November 2016, £6.99
Posted in Crime, Thriller, Uncategorized
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The time in which we were only able to use traditional equipment on a playground is a thing of the past. Modern technology allows for a broad spectrum of new and exciting possibilities. But what is interactive play exactly and do we even need it?
Why interactive play?
At Yalp, we see interactive play as the interface between the digital and the real world. 'Gaming in the physical world'. The gaming world offers imagination, learning, fun, variety, the excitement of reaching the next level and the possibility to adapt levels to an individual player. The physical world brings physical activity, social interaction, community involvement and the rewarding feeling of being outdoors. Combining both really brings our development to the next level. We consider interactive play the 'best of both worlds'.
Interested in more information?
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Interactive playground for the new generation
Interactive play is a lot of fun, not only for the 'new generation', but also for adults. Rapid developments in technology continuously create new opportunities. Back in 2007 when we first started interactive play with our Dance Arch Sona, we could tailor games to trends like Idols and Dance Revolution. Because we are able to develop new games or audio samples and update them to all of our existing locations, we can go along with important yearly events or societal themes. Currently, we for example customize our Memo activity set games to include a broad variety of STEAM games of history quizzes. We educate users on cultural integration, healthy nutrition or play a 'scary' Moon monster game on the Sona around Halloween. We can even fully customize a game set to specific demographics or ages, like we did for the Sona when developing a game set specifically for the more mature adults. As a result, our dance arch Sona is being used in several retirement homes and senior living communities.
Besides being able to adapt our play opportunities, we are also monitoring user statistics. We know for a fact athat our interactives are being used extensively. Over the last decade, this has proven to be tremendously important. Not only to show a social return on investment but also to further develop our products. We are able to see what works and what doesn't. Not only in terms of type of games or features, but also in case of maintenance problems. We can reboot the system or calibrate the sensors or camera's remotely, without having to fly installers all over the world. Naturally, physical parts have to replaced from time to time, but our experience over the last decade has learned that the maintenance on our interactive play products is much less compared to our traditional equipment. Both because we carefully select our components based on durability, but also because we hardly have any moving parts and therefore less wear and tear.
What is interactive play?
Everyone thinks it is relatively new, but our first interactive products were developed in 2006, so we have over a decade of experience. Nevertheless, it is a fairly new concept to many countries across the globe. As the front leader on interactive play in the industry, we think interactive play is much more than simple electronic play and being able to generate a sound or light. Of course children can be stimulated when they suddenly hear a bird chirping after stepping onto a platform or by chasing light patterns that appear on tiles, but typically it won't make children loose sense of time. To us interactive play is so much more than that. It is not a basic reaction to a certain activity. A two-way information flow is critical to interactive play. Being able to experience the excitement of reaching higher levels, to exceed your limits, to continuously get new game updates, to customize content, to look at user statistics and to do maintenance and settings remotely.
We are even taking it to a next level. After setting a score on our interactive ball wall Sutu, users can choose to use our free Yalp Sutu app. Please mind, this is just an extra play feature, the app doesn't have to be used. But it allows players to claim their score, enter the worldwide Sutu competition, set up their own competitions, earn all kinds of badges, invite their friends and share their score on social media. And that is not all. If you allow the app, it will even send you push messages. So imagine sitting on your couch at home watching TV after you have claimed sixty two miles per hour with the Speed Sutu game and suddenly receiving a message. 'Your best friend has just beaten your high score'. Interactive play probably won't result in people no longer watching TV, but does a message like that make you want to go back to the park again? We hope interactive play can contribute into making your playground into a destination playground.
Benefits of interactive play:
It stimulates social interaction
Encourages kids to explore
Good for skill development
Encourages kids to be creative
It is always fun
Where would you incorporate interactive play?
Interactive play can truly complement traditional play. Adding a high tech eye-catcher with interactive play capabilities can really enrich your existing traditional playground. Our interactives are often used to renovate older sites. However, have you ever thought about creating something completely unique by designing a complete interactive playground with multiple interactives? A true playground of the future (even though the future is now). Maybe even more interestingly, interactives can be used in places you would not typically expect a playground. Because of the fact they are all ground level and have a relatively small use space, they can also be put in more informal spaces or small urban lots. A Sona dance arch requires a smaller footprint than a regular swing. They don't have to be in a park or on a schoolyard, we have great examples of installations in front of city halls, retail areas or roof tops.
We know that interactive play can be placed everywhere, provides opportunities for interdisciplinary, collaborative and hands-on learning, stays fun and truly activates all. Where will your next interactive playground be? If you can't decide on the best spot, please reach out and we'll be happy to share our knowledge!
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Mrs. Gasthaus - Zoo & Adventurepark Thule
"The Sona Play Arch is well accepted. It requires no supervision or game manual. The children love to listen to the Viking's voice, because he explains which game they are going to play."
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Rio del Sol STEAM School, Oxnard, California
Rickey Koga, Second Grade Teacher
"The YALP Memo is a fantastic addition to any playground and brings a new, fresh, and innovative dimension to outdoor playtime. The YALP Memo allows students to learn through unstructured play, which helps them develop communication and negotiation skills between peers." - Rickey Koga, Second Grade Teacher, Rio del Sol STEAM School.
Woodforest, Wallaroo Park
"The Sona Arch in Woodforest has turned out to be one of our most popular parks. We have a large group of home schooled children and I have heard this is one of their weekly lessons for young grade school children. It is a popular evening spot after school and filled on the weekends with all age children. The community loves it and they think it is really neat to have something so high tech for the kids to play on."
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Skating in the Park 2015
Huntsville, Ala – It's time to dust off those ice skates, Huntsville! The Huntsville Museum of Art and Lead Sponsor Redstone Federal Credit Union are excited to announce the return of the fourth annual Skating in the Park. The ice rink will open Friday, November 20, at 4 p.m. and run through January 4, 2016.
Located directly behind the Huntsville Museum of Art in Downtown Huntsville, the rink will be open seven days a week, including holidays. Concessions and outdoor restrooms will be available on site. Special skate events are also planned, such as Skating Nights with the Huntsville Chargers and Havoc, the second annual youth hockey tournament, and a Skate with Santa. (Dates TBA)
"Skating in the Park has become a holiday tradition for Huntsville residents and visitors to the Rocket City," Christopher J. Madkour, Museum Executive Director, said. "It is very rewarding to see downtown so alive and full of families," Madkour added, "and we can't thank the City of Huntsville and our loyal sponsors enough for their continued support in helping to make this happen."
The Foundation Board of the Huntsville Museum of Art, under the leadership and guidance of Board President Dane Block, first presented the ice skating rink during the 2012-2013 holiday season to help raise funds for the Museum. Since that first year, Skating in the Park has attracted more than 34,000 skaters, not to mention thousands of spectators, to Big Spring Park.
"We are extremely excited to present our fourth season of skating," Dabsey Maxwell, current Foundation Board President, said. "This event is a major collaborative effort between sponsors, the City, the Museum board and staff, and we thank everyone who has helped create this tradition in our community." Maxwell added that with the addition of a 2002 Mini Zamboni, or ice resurfacer, this year, the rink staff will be better able to keep the ice in good skating condition.
Rink hours will be Monday through Thursday 4 to 10 p.m.; Friday 4 p.m. to midnight; Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight; and Sunday noon to 8 p.m. The rink will open with extended hours during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday and during the area schools' Christmas break. The rink will open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on November 23-26. On Black Friday as well as Saturday, November 28, the rink will open from 10 a.m. until midnight. Visitors can also skate on Christmas Day and New Year's Day from 2 until 10 p.m.
Admission will be $10 per person for ages 9 and up, $5 for ages 8 and under, and $8 per person for groups of 10 or more. Skaters have the option to rent skates for $3 and scooters for $5. Skaters may also use their own ice skates.
Following the Thanksgiving break and prior to the release of Huntsville City Schools' students for the winter break, the museum will offer AREA SCHOOL GROUPS discounted rates: $8 per student for ages 9 and up (which includes skates and scooter rentals) and $5 per student for ages 8 and under (including skates and scooter rentals) on Monday through Wednesday. Dates for this special school rate are Monday, November 30 – Wednesday, December 2; Monday, Dec. 7 – Wednesday, Dec. 9; and Monday, Dec. 14 –
Wednesday, Dec. 16. No reservations are necessary to schedule a school group skate, but schools with questions should contact Andrea Petroff at [email protected] or 256-535-4350 ext. 214.
BIRTHDAY PARTIES ON ICE
To inquire about scheduling a Birthday Party on ICE, event, or other group outing, interested persons should email Candace Bean at [email protected], or call 256-535-4350 ext. 223.
Additional financial support for Skating in the Park was provided by Rosemary and Joe Lee, Progress Bank, Propst Properties, and SEA Wire and Cable, Inc. Media partners include WAAY-TV, Mix96.9, Cumulus, Alabama Media Group/al.com/The Huntsville Times, BBD Graphics, and Our Valley Events.
For more information, visit www.hsvmuseum.org or call 256-529-7995 for the rink's direct line or 256-535-4350 for the museum's main line. Weather related closings and delays will be posted on the Skating in the Park Facebook page at www.facebook.com/skatinginthepark. The public may also follow the fun on Skating in the Park's new Instagram site at skatinginthepark or by searching for #skatinginthepark.


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How do you read literature like a professor?
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Reading List by Thomas C. Foster Poems of W. H. Auden by W. H. Auden. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Beowulf by Unknown. Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
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Last Edit : 2019.7.10 WEN 15:07
Campus Reporting
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Are You Ready to Hit the Road?A chance to mature through travel
Park Joo-yuen Assisstant Reporter | jy0209@yonsei.ac.kr
Too soon to think about summer vacation? It's never too soon. As soon as school starts, you will find yourself longing for summer.
Besides, backpacking, one of the main features of "romantic college life", requires several months of preparing. Finding a theme, tracing the itinerary, calculating the cost and earning money... That is why this month's issue helps you enter the exciting world of backpack travelling with its pros and cons. Start dreaming about your own unique summer vacation.
- Lim Ga-eul, Editor of Culture Div.
HAVE YOU ever heard of the 50 MUST-DOs in your twenties? These 50 events are commonly shared by youth in their twenties. The list suggests reading books to broaden your thoughts, volunteering for the poor to start making little differences in the world, and falling in love because love is required to feel the true happiness and sadness that we must all go through in life. Another item that particularly catches many people's eyes is backpack traveling where you can learn what the real world is like.
▲ Photos taken in India with Indian children and in front of the Taj Mahal.
(Contributed by Lee Yoo-mi)
What is backpacking?
As you can see by the name, backpacking infers traveling with only essential necessities and carrying them with you in your bag. The point of backpacking is to cut down traveling cost to its minimum and enjoy your journey at a low price. This might restrict you from sleeping at cozy places and eating nice food, but people should remember that the motive of backpacking differs from normal touring.
Why do students go backpacking?
Every event has a purpose, and so does traveling. Surely, most students just don't go on a trip only to spend their free time and sightsee. Backpacking especially requires more precise planning because it depends entirely on how you behave and prepare ahead.
"I planned about two months in advance to sort out which places to visit, what transportation to take, and how much money I would need. In this process I had the opportunity to test myself if I really am capable of managing on my own," says Oh Min-hee (Soph., Seoul Women's Univ.) who went to India in winter, 2005. "After the journey, I also realized that my view towards the world was too narrow to foresee various events, environments, and cultures. In the end, although most of my problems arose from language issues, it was Indian college students' different life styles that made me really re-evaluate my college life in Korea." Other factors more personal- can influence one's motive to travel. "I toured around Korea by bike with a companion because I was inspired by the book, 'Bike Journey' by Kim Hoon," says Kang Tae-young (Soph., Dept. of History). "He wrote of his feelings and adventures from his journey. After reading, I developed a strong adventurous spirit, so I decided to tour the country by bike."
The changing trend of traveling
It has been more than 10 years since backpacking began. And for the last six years, the number of people going backpacking has increased rapidly. The biggest reason is because knapsack traveling is now a "must do" event among college students. "In today's global society, unlike our parents' generation, college students have more opportunities to directly or indirectly experience foreign cultures. Also, the education that they receive plays a role in having a global mind, and so students feel less uncomfortable in using foreign languages in different environments," says Won Shin-hee (Manager, Hyecho Adventure Tours, LTD).
At first, Japan, China, and Europe were the most frequently visited places by Korean travelers. Nowadays, however, going to unfamiliar and less developed places such as India, Nepal, Tibet, and South America is becoming popular. "Europe was and still is the most popular tourist attraction to Korean college students," says Won. "However, a growing number of students are willing to travel to less-known places. The biggest reason is because Europe is so well known that it cannot be considered 'fresh' anymore. Also, the expense needed in order to travel Europe is much too high for college students. On the other hand, India or Western Asia require about less than half of the cost of Europe." Kim Ji-young, Manager in Shoes String Travel Agency claims, "Our company is developing traveling programs to South America and Africa because we think consumer demand will increase."
The forms of traveling have also developed under the influence of people's various demands. In the beginning, most travelers went on a tour with a guide. This didn't require sophisticated planning because it was already planned by the travel agency and led by a guide. Later, people began to plan their routes and collect information on their own. They only needed a little help from the agency, like making reservations in hotels and arranging for transportation. As a result, many new types of traveling products such as air-tel(airplane ticket+hotel), hotel pack(only hotel reservations), and group backpacking are now appearing. These products can be useful and very cost-effective when you find the matching one for your plan.
In addition, goals of traveling vary nowadays. In the past, the main goal was just sightseeing, but now people have more diverse purposes for traveling. For example, there is theme traveling. Basically any trip can be regarded as theme traveling if it has an extraordinary purpose like visiting sites of the Hiroshima Bombing or seeing the Middle East, which once led the world's civilization. Moreover, students desire not just to travel, but to learn something from it. On a new program like Top Deck, you can experience various cultures and learn language at the same time by traveling with foreigners, so its popularity is increasing. Another big difference compared to the past is that views towards traveling have changed. "It was difficult for civilians to go on foreign trips because the Korean government didn't allow them," says Kim. "There was a time when if someone had traveled abroad, that became a major point of discussion between friends. And the biggest factor of a trip used to be cutting down on expenses. Compared to the past, people consider travel's goals more importantly."
Moreover, backpacking is becoming rougher. This means that people just head out for their destination without any precise plan. They visit places based on the days' situations and their spontaneous feelings. This offers an opportunity where people can really test their problem solving skills and exploring abilities.
▲ Unlike ten years ago when backpacking was uncommon, programs like Top Deck offers a chance to make friends from different cultures.
(Provided by Shoes Stiring Travel Agncy)
Things to watch out for
Although youth has unlimited power and passion, there are things to watch out for when traveling. Apart from basic elements such as safety and health, there are several more to consider: Problems might occur between partners because even if they start off together, they cannot have the exact same thoughts and plans about the journey. "On the third night of our journey, we all sat down and talked freely about the uncomfortable atmosphere around us," says Lee Yoo-mi (Soph., Ehwa Women's Univ.) who went to India in winter, 2005. "As a result of sharing our thoughts we prevented serious conflict from breaking. So it is important to work it out with plenty of conversation."
Furthermore, it is crucial to have background information about where you are going. Not just because it is convenient to have information on landmarks and culture, but because your range of learning and experiencing differs whether you know about the place well or not.
But always remember, you shouldn't rely too much on your youth. "Youth is definitely full of passion and power, so youngsters have a tendency to do anything they wish and they don't anticipate the agony that might occur. Sometimes they even act dangerously and illegally, giving others a negative impression of Korea," says Won. When ample preparation and reasonable behavior meet youthful passion, the resulting synergetic energy will make the journey more fun!
Embracing traveling culture enthusiastically
It is important to embrace traveling culture enthusiastically and make it a part of one's leisure activities. Since traveling requires a lot of planning and complicated procedures, there may come a time when an agency's help is needed. So there's a chance that one might just fall into a commercial marketing plan and lose the original purpose of one's journey. "Luxury traveling was regarded as enjoying a trip with the most luxurious and attractive events. However this may give consumers unrealistic expectations because these types of trips are more likely to be a marketing technique by travel agencies," says Kim. It isn't wrong to receive help from agencies but remember, it is important to stay on your own track and not imprudently follow the industry's commercial business.
▲ You can see exotic places, scenes, and people when backpacking.
(Provided by Hye Cho Avenue Tours, LTD.)
It's the perfect chance - If you are ready
In college, there is more opportunity to carry out your plans than ever. Not just because college is a place where one can live one's dreams, but also because it's where one has time, the thing more precious than gold. College is the perfect time in life where one can enjoy traveling without the burden of reality. There are things learned through traveling that cannot be learned in any lectures. Wouldn't it be wise to use your time and youth in a meaningful, life-changing way? Start planning now and grab your bag and head out for somewhere during your summer vacation. This is real life.
EVER SINCE I was in high school, I wanted to go backpacking with close friends once college starts. Writing this article, I couldn? hide my excitement because I was thrilled just imagining those amazing places and experience those new cultures.
The unique route Won recommended (the route in the box) especially interested me the most. Although the traveling might be tough, it would offer me a great chance to learn how to enhance my life, rather than just gaining pleasure by buying new conveniences. Also, I realized once more that to have a successful travel, you have to plan ahead and gather as much information as possible.
One thing that you always have to keep in mind is that youth is full of passion and it becomes useless if you don? let out. Personally, I consider traveling as the best opportunity to extrude your passion. The dream that I had since high school is about to come true because I? traveling this coming summer. I will also remember to express my passion at the fullest, always.
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Thor: Ragnarok Review (2017)
The God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) is back in a new adventure and this time he's brought his sense of humour along. Thor: Ragnarok finds the Asgardian (or the strongest Avenger as he likes calling himself) in a spot of bother as he tries to stop Hela (Cate Blanchett), the Goddess of Death, from destroying…
October 26, 2017 in Comedy, Comic Book, Science Fiction, Superhero.
IT Review (2017)
Hollywood has never been shy about taking on Stephen King's literary works, and the results have been quite a mixed bag. From rousing highs such as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, to dismal lows with the likes of The Mangler and, more recently, The Dark Tower, the audience can never really tell what…
September 8, 2017 in Horror, Supernatural.
Logan Lucky Review (2017)
When people give you the elevator pitch for Logan Lucky, they are bound to say something along the lines of "Think Ocean's Eleven, but with rednecks". This may sum up Steven Soderbergh's return to feature film-making after a bit of a hiatus, but that description really doesn't do justice to this smartly-written story about a…
August 20, 2017 in Caper, Comedy, Heist.
Annabelle: Creation Review (2017)
Ghosts and demons and dolls…Oh My!!! Annabelle: Creation is a prequel of a prequel set in The Conjuring Universe. Yes, I know, we now live in a world where major studios keep trying to make their all their properties into a cinematic universe, but to be fair, The Conjuring Universe just sort of happened naturally.…
August 15, 2017 in Horror, Supernatural, Suspense.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Review (2017)
Based on a series of French science fiction comics called Valérian and Laureline, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the latest offering from one of the more imaginative directors in the industry, Luc Besson. The story is centred on two space-time agents, Valerian and Laureline, as they are charged with returning a…
August 12, 2017 in Action, Adventure, Comic Book, Science Fiction.


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AMAZING DECISIONS
AUTOBIO
SHORTS + STRIPS
POSTERS + COVERS
M. R. TROWER
Series of custom buttons for Center for Advanced Hindsight website, 2016.
Icon designs for a variety of apps, including MoneyComb, Conscience+, Pocket Ariely, and Moral Minder (pictured below in that order).
Comprehensive mockups for Pocket Ariely, an app showcasing the work of behavioral economist Dan Ariely. The app contains a variety of media, including audio, video, text, and surveys. I created wireframes and mockups for every aspect of the app to guide the developer team. Pocket Ariely is available here.
App icon and assets for the Relish app, which was used to conduct research in partnership with a local co-op grocery store. Users were "primed" with certain images or phrases to measure the effects on their purchasing behavior. 2016.
Provided art and UI Design for the Attaboy!! app through the Center for Advanced Hindsight. The app was designed to play with the act of giving and receiving compliments. Users either give or receive a compliment to a random (anonymous) user, then rate their level of happiness. Generally, research finds that giving a compliment makes a person happier than receiving one. This app intended to test this concept as a simple and playful game.
Worked with a team of researchers and developers to create Relish, an app to test the effect of different prompts on users' grocery purchasing practices. Put to work in the field at a local grocery store, the app automatically sends users a text or image prompt in exchange for a coupon. Researchers take data on how this does (or does not) change their purchasing practices. I am responsible for the icon, general look, and illustrated prompts.
Series of illustrations and buttons for The Medical Professionalism Project website. I also provided basic design elements and wireframing for the site.