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You know what would be awesome?
If you've been following this blog or any part of the atheosphere lately, you know that famous atheist Richard Dawkins has recently taken to throwing rocks at the hornet's nest he helped build. (In case you've been living in a cave with no wifi, start here and here for some background).
His latest entertaining spectacle was to accuse Adam Lee of lying in his piece in the Gaurdian. The article consists of reprinting a bunch of stuff Dawkins posted, framed by Adam Lee's opinion that Dawkins's behavior is bad for the atheist movement. It's not even necessary debunk the accusation of lying -- it doesn't even make sense. It's like Dawkins has crossed the line from merely displaying a glaring blind spot to seriously giving the impression that he's losing his marbles.
But you know what would be awesome?
Imagine Dawkins posts something even more bizarre tomorrow. Then he posts something even more bizarre the next day. Then he waits a week or two for it to percolate through the community and then announces:
It was all a test. I wanted to see whether my fans really embrace critical thinking. I wanted to see, given a choice between loyalty to me personally and loyalty to the ideals I stand for, who would choose which one.
Labels: atheism
Win-win for Feminism!!
When I was writing my post the other day on the grand reunification of the feminist movement, I was kind of wondering what it looks like from the other side's perspective. And I think this piece by Amanda Marcotte "There Is No Such Thing as Radical Feminism Anymore" perhaps captures it.
It's very short, so go read it and come back.
I agree essentially with Marcotte's points. I take issue with her refusal to call the anti-trans radical feminists by their chosen name. They still exist, and they still call themselves radical feminists -- they were recently profiled in the New Yorker. And, more to the point, they really are one modern splinter of the radical feminist movement of the 60's and 70's. To deny them that name is a little like saying that the FLDS have no business calling themselves Mormon.
On the other hand, Marcotte is totally right that those radical feminists are not anywhere near the mainstream of the feminist movement. One can certainly argue that they aren't the true intellectual heirs of the earlier radical feminists. Marcotte is also totally right that the original radical feminists brought us a lot of fantastic ideas that are now completely mainstream, at the heart of current feminist thought:
It was not enough to pass the ERA or legalize abortion, they believed, but we should also talk about cultural issues, such as misogyny, objectification, rape, and domestic violence.
Personally, I can't help but feel like "Yay, my team won!!" As I wrote the other day, on the issues I cared about, my position won the mainstream, and sex-positive feminism succeeded in making itself irrelevant.
But the other side won, too. Their bad ideas, like trans-women not deserving to be seen as women, plus the items I mentioned the other day, have been stripped off and shunted to the margins, and their good ideas have won the mainstream of feminist thought. They also succeeded in making themselves irrelevant as a separate movement.
It's the textbook example of a win-win situation.
Labels: atheism, feminism
Stuff the atheists can learn from the feminists!
Whatever happened to sex-positive vs. sex-negative feminism?
Back when I was in college and grad school, I thought there was a significant division within the feminist movement over the question of whether sex is good or bad for women. As I've written, my thoughts on this division have evolved, and it's not just me. The division has disappeared to such a degree that when I was writing my latest post on Saturday, I started wondering whether it ever really was a thing. Was I just hallucinating?
So I got out some of my old feminist books off the shelf, and confirmed that, no, I was not hallucinating. I think the following statement from Ariel Levy in the 20th anniversary edition of Andrea Dworkin's Intercourse kind of sums it up:
With the possible exception of the Shakers, it is difficult to think of an American movement that has failed more spectacularly than antipornography feminism. In the late 1970's, when a prominent faction of the women's liberation movement -- including Brownmiller, Dworkin, Steinem, Morgan, Audrey Lourde, the writer Grace Paley, and the poet Adrienne Rich -- turned their attention to fighting pornography, porn was still something marginalized, as opposed to what it is now: a source of inspiration for all of popular culture. [...] If the antiporn crusade was a losing battle, it was also a costly one: it divided, some would say destroyed, the women's movement. The term "prosex feminist" was coined by women who wanted to distance themselves from the antiporn faction.
The idea was that sexually explicit words and images created for the express purpose of arousal are inherently harmful to women. Not just abuses within the porn industry or negative messages in some types of porn, but the whole kit-and-kaboodle, on principle. It supposedly caused rape. This theory was part of the mainstream of feminist thought as recently as 2006 when I wrote my blog entries "A feminist in favor of porn" and "yes means yes".
One problem with the "porn causes rape" claim is that there was never any evidence to back it up. And, as I explained in "porn and me", that inspired some people to claim that instead of insisting on evidence, we should value supposedly female types of reasoning like intuition or some other such rot -- which made me hate the antiporn feminists all the more.
Then there was this little problem with antiporn crusader Andrea Dworkin muddying the waters on the definition of rape (as I discussed here). In the early days of the Internet, I had the misfortune of getting into a dispute with a feminist who claimed that heterosexual sexual intercourse is inherently degrading to women -- that, regardless of her desire or consent, the mere act of a penis penetrating a vagina is psychologically harmful to the vagina-haver -- and cited Dworkin as proof that this is "the feminist position." I assume this is a misrepresentation of whatever Dworkin said, but the experience reinforced my impression that Dworkin has had a very harmful impact on feminist thought.
As a consequence, people like me ended up going too far in the other direction. As recently as ten years ago, I would have told you that I don't think that feminists should focus on issues like date rape or misogyny. I would have given some reasonable-sounding reasons for this, but looking back, I think it was more a question of the fact that those issues were claimed by Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, and their fans -- and, frankly, I didn't want to be in the same movement with those guys.
But then what happened?
With the rise of the Internet and the corresponding rise in instant access to all sorts of content, the evidence became overwhelming that sexually explicit imagery for the purpose of arousal is not inherently harmful to women -- and, in particular, it does not cause rape. The idea that porn causes rape dropped completely out of the mainstream of feminist thought.
One of the awesome things about this development is that it demonstrates quite conclusively that basing one's conclusions on evidence is a female type of reasoning! The other awesome part is that we don't have feminists debating about whether sex is good or bad across the board -- we've realigned along the idea that consent and autonomous choice are the measures of whether a given sex act is good or bad. And now we're mostly all friends again.
Last Saturday morning I wrote about how making women feel safe and welcome in the atheist movement actually increases the probability of a given straight male atheist getting (consensually) laid. I want to add the disclaimer that that's not the reason why women should be included in the atheist movement. Women should be included in the atheist movement because women are people too, and can contribute to and benefit from the movement just like any other people. However, since the sexists were claiming that the feminists are just a bunch of man-hating prudes, I wanted to make it clear that that's not true. Helping guys get consensual sex is not the point of feminism, however it is a noteworthy side-effect.
Unfortunately, since Saturday morning, Richard Dawkins's descent into taking leave of his critical thinking skills has only gotten more appalling (see these links). He has decided that his new battle is to make sure we lady atheists know our place in the atheist movement.
Sam Harris also got into the act, posting a defense of his claim that critical thinking is a guy thing. Harris surprises me less than Dawkins. Sam Harris is the guy who claimed that guns are on balance beneficial to women, including in situations of domestic violence. He even posted on his FAQ that his debating opponent's case was based on evidence that shows the opposite, yet, instead of wondering (and researching) why that might be, he continued to repeat his initial reasoning for his original (debunked) assertion. That's not how critical thinking works. A similar thing happened when Harris debated a security expert over his idea that airport security should intentionally adopt a policy of racially profiling people who "look like Muslims." Basically the biggest mystery is how this clown got on the stage in the first place.
Does the arc of history bend towards justice? In general, not necessarily. But the atheist movement -- with its love of the scientific method in all its error-correcting glory -- is a different story. The "Men's Rights Activists" that are currently such a blight on our movement...? Their influence will decline and vanish, even if some of our most popular big names choose to sign onto Team Sexism.
In the worst-cast scenario, Richard Dawkins will do about a decade's worth of damage to the atheist movement he helped to create -- and he will flush his own legacy down the toilet in the process. (Are these tweets really what you want to be remembered for, Mr. Dawkins? Because that's the direction you're heading...)
This should be an interesting ride.
Labels: atheism, feminism, sexuality
Atheism and ruining it for everybody!!
After this latest round of sexy sexism in the atheist community, I've decided it's time for me to weigh in.
I hope that you recall that I'm the lady who advocates having sex on the first date. I am enthusiastically sex-positive. And today I would like to remind you that free love only thrives in an atmosphere where there is a healthy respect for consent.
Back when I was young and cute (before becoming a (happily married) old lady), I would have been more than happy to go to atheist conferences with the express intention of hooking up. And it is the people who are in favor of clear anti-harassment policies at conferences that make that sort of thing possible. I'm sorry to have to explain something that should be a no-brainer, but just because a chick is looking for NSA sex, it doesn't mean that she wants to be harassed or raped by whichever guy sees her first.
If you are a straight guy looking for a little fun and love, the rapists and rape apologists are not doing you a favor. Quite the opposite. Those guys are telling women: "If you wear that, if you get drunk, if you flirt at a conference -- then it's your own fault if you get raped." And when that's the message that wins the day, then that smart, hot, fun girl you might have met at that conference...? She won't be there. She's smart enough not to go.
Richard Dawkins in particular has been putting his foot in his mouth lately with idiotic distinctions. ("Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think that's an endorsement of date rape, go away and learn how to think.") Well, let me make one of my own:
Personally, I have never been raped. I have had an ex-boyfriend lock me in an apartment, hold a knife to my throat, and threaten to kill me (see here). Given the choice between the two, I'd say I would have preferred to have been "just" raped. (And, by the same token, I'm pretty damn glad it didn't happen in the US where the equivalent guy would have had a gun -- in which case I probably wouldn't be here typing this today.) But those aren't the choices. It's not like there's one camp that says, "Oh, I would never rape a woman -- sure I like to mutilate and kill them, but not rape them," and the other says, "Oh, would never hurt a woman -- I just like to non-violently harass and rape them." The real two camps are the people see women as autonomous humans and those that don't.
In my situation, it wasn't rape, but it was the same damn thing. It was a question of a man being led to believe that if a woman won't be with him in the way he wants, then he's perfectly justified (as man) in making her do what he wants. She has no business making such decisions for herself.
It is the rapists and rape apologists who say stupid shit like "You should be glad he only raped you -- he might have killed you and cut you up in little pieces." Because those were his options. A normal person says something more like, "Wow, I'm sorry you had any contact at all with that criminal -- he needs to be stopped before he rapes again, or worse."
As far as Dawkins is concerned, I don't think he is for or against hearing more diverse perspectives in the atheist movement. I think it's simply a subject he's never has any reason to think deeply about, and, consequently, unsurprisingly, he has nothing insightful to say on the subject. Unfortunately, because he's the famous guy, he gets quoted on it, and his voice is amplified above the voices of people who actually have expertise and interesting things to say about it.
I agree with Terry Firma that it would be in Dawkins's own interest if somebody would succeed in persuading him to stay the hell away from Twitter. I was thinking that two twitter scandals earlier. But I'm less in agreement about this point Terry made:
It's not a breakdown of his intellect, which is intact. Rather, Dawkins seems to suffer from an extreme form of tone-deafness. It's almost as if Star Trek's Mr. Spock is modeled after him: cool, rational, detached, and faintly amused by the emotional human fools with whom he is forced to interact.
I think that is an insult to Mr. Spock, who is one of the most awesome fictional characters of all time. I mean, Spock might say insensitive things when asked, but he would have the good sense not to go out of his way to broadcast his random stupid musings.
I think Dawkins's real problem is a debilitating case of "I shit gold" syndrome. After being worshiped for such a long time by so many smart people, he's come to believe that any idea that pops into his head must be made of gold. It has severely compromised his ability to critically analyse his own thoughts and actions, which is unfortunate because (not just criticism, but) self-criticism should be one of the most highly regarded virtues in our movement.
Coincidentally, I should be going to see Dawkins in person today. He's here in Zürich giving a lecture at the Denkfest -- friends of mine will be in attendance. And because I want to make friends with the Zürich Freethinkers (who, I think, organized the thing), I am very hesitant to be typing this. I don't want to be "the difficult one" like I was back in church, many years ago. Yet, I also don't want my attendance to be registered as a vote for "we have to get somebody like Dawkins because he brings in the audience and the money." Therefore, I will be attending tomorrow. I am totally in favor of and impressed by everything about this conference except for the fact that it was billed as "RICHARD DAWKINS!!!! and some other people..."
I hope the local freethinkers will be willing to forgive me for this. I'm sure they are already well aware of how herding cats works. We mean well, but we are simply never going to all get in line.
But hopefully our movement is capable of self-reflection and learning.


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Q: Php dynamic subpage and nginx address rewriting I created a website based on ajax tech. and now I want to achieve similar effects using php (nginx). The problem is I don't want to create (even dynamically) .php documents for every user or offer or anything. I have templates for every pages like userTemplate.php and it works fine with $_GET method, which fill it with proper data BUT the address is not acceptable, hoe can I convert that requestexample.com/userTemplate.php?id=1 to example.com/users/1. I tried with rewriting it in config files, but then it redirects me to the path /users/1 which is ofc wrong... Is it possible? Please I've already spent hours looking for any answer.

A: Try this:
location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location ~* /users/(\d+) {
    try_files $uri /userTemplate.php?id=$1;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    #
    # With php5-cgi alone:
    # fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    #
    # With php5-fpm:
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
}

If you want to go for an alternative approach, have a look at Creating NGINX Rewrite Rules. If you need different, more complicated regular expressions, perhaps start here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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University of Missouri–St. Louis By: University of Missouri–St. Louis
Eye on UMSL: A Triton welcome
With a clink of the coffee cup, Louie the Triton officially welcomes Joshua Evans to his new role as coordinator and VA certifying official of the University of Missouri–St. Louis Veteran's Center. Evans helps oversee services for military-connected students, including admissions support, GI bill advising and certification, academic support and networking opportunities while providing a supportive and relaxing environment for students to hang out or study in the student lounge over a pot of coffee.
He's more than familiar with the needs of veterans and their families having utilized the Veteran's Center services and helped others as a student worker while working toward his BS in psychology and minor in veteran's studies, which he earned in 2019. Previously, Evans served four years active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps as a motor vehicle operator and six years in the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a mental health technician.
Learn more about Evans or the UMSL Veterans Center services.
Taken on August 18, 2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Sweeping changes at a Golden Gate Fields race track after 22 horses die at sister track in SoCal
ALBANY, Calif. (KGO) -- The mysterious death of 22 racehorses at Santa Anita is having an impact on the Golden Gate Fields track in the East Bay.
The Santa Anita Race track is now closed after 22 horses died-- the latest just Thursday, euthanized after a sudden injury.
The same company that owns the Southern California track, also owns Golden Gate Fields in Albany.
Groomers there are bracing for more horses to be shipped north to race at the Golden Gate Fields track instead this weekend.
RELATED: Horse euthanized at Santa Anita Park, becoming 22nd to die
Oscar Cruz is a grooming foreman and said, "My bosses sending more horses for the races. 30 horses down south or more-- I have now 10 more horses."
And on race days-- no more whipping or drugs.
The Stronach Group's Tim Ritvo said, "Today, we are announcing a complete transformation of our race tracks in California."
All joint injections, steroids, and Lasix will be banned.
Lasix helps stop pulmonary bleeding and is a diuretic-- and an empty bladder can help a horse run faster.
Rafael Hernandez has bought nearly a hundred thoroughbreds from Golden Gate Fields to train and groom. He's never had a problem with the horses and he's glad to see all of the changes.
Rafael Hernandez said, "I applaud them for making any changes that will result in more positive results."
PETA meantime sees things differently and wonders, "why are unfit horses being put on the track?"
sportsalbanysouthern californiabay areahorsesmysterious death


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Home Small Business TalkerNet Opens London Office
TalkerNet Opens London Office
By Tania Hershman | January 22, 2001
[JANUARY 21] - TalkerNet is opening a London office, its first base outside Israel, from where it plans to introduce Europe to its voice access platform for mobile Internet. "WAP works for specific things. Our technology breaks down all the barriers [facing mobile Internet access]," said TalkerNet chief executive, Ronen Dvashi. "Voice access means that if you talk to the system, the system talks back to you. You need a huge amount of technology to do this, and it doesnt exist today."
"There are 'voice portals' such as TellMe, BeVocal and Quack," he said, "but these companies have to prepare a directory of services in advance."
TalkerNet's platform, Surf On Mobile, is based on its Total Voice technology, and does not require advance preparation of Internet sites, such as rewriting them in Voice XML, the voice version of HTML, said Dvashi.
The platform, which is a software-hardware combination, slots into a mobile operators network and voice-activates websites in real time.
The technology analyzes the requested webpage and turns it into a collection of speech objects, creating a voice menu on-the-fly. The user chooses by issuing voice commands, currently limited to up to three words, and the content of the page is read to them over their mobile phone.
The technology will be ready for beta trials in the next six weeks, and TalkerNet is currently in negotiations with potential test partners in Israel, Europe (the company's main target market) and the U.S.
TalkerNet was established officially in April 2000, when it raised half a million dollars in seed funding from angel investors, although research and development has been ongoing for the past 18 months.
The company, which has 10 employees and will soon be adding one more in the new London office, is currently in the midst of a $3 million round of funding and is looking for strategic partners.


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Books > Philosophy > Vedanta > Advaita Vedanta - An Introduction
Advaita Vedanta - An Introduction
by Arvind Sharma
From the Jacket :
The novelty of this book consists of the fact that it introduces the reader to the basic tenets of Advaita Vedanta in three independent but complementary ways: scripturally, rationally and experientially. All the three elements are usually found intertwined in accounts of Advaita Vedanta. They are presented distinctly here in the hope that each perspective will enrich one's understanding of Advaita Vedanta as a whole and also allow the reader to form his or her own opinion about the relative merits of each approach.
Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in the faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University; and was the first Infinity Foundation Visiting Professor of Indic Studies at Harvard University. His previous works on Advaita Vedanta include: The Experiential Dimension of Advaita Vedanta (1993); The Philosophy of Religion and Advaita Vedanta (1995); and The Rope and the Snake: A Metaphorical Exploration of Advaita Vedanta (1997).
He lives in Montreal, Canada.
The Biblical recognition of the fact that to the writing of books there is not end must surely not be used as an excuse for writing books indiscriminately. The readers therefore have a right to ask why another book on Advaita Vedanta?
Most of the existing books on Advaita Vedanta rely on the scriptural approach in presenting it. Some books mix it with the rational and experiential approaches as well without always distinguishing clearly between them. This book tries to accord an independent status to each of these approaches without losing sight of their interconnectedness in the hope that the reader will find such a presentation refreshing.
I hope that this pedagogical variation in the way Advaita Vedanta is thematically presented will be welcomed by the readers.
] It might be helpful to say a few words about the nature of philosophy as it is pursued in India, prior to providing an introduction to the school of Indian philosophy known as Advaita Vedanta.
Both Western and Indian philosophers admit that the nature of the relationship between philosophy and religion follows a different pattern in Western and Indian civilization but they tend to differ in their assessment of the significance of this divergence. Both accept that philosophy essentially consists of a rational investigation into the nature of Reality. The nature of the Reality, however, also constitutes, in its own way, the subject matter of religion, so the nature of the relationship between the two needs to be considered.
A relationship between religion and philosophy is considered peripheral in Western culture for historical and philosophical reasons. In the West, philosophy represents an intellectual movement which first distinguished itself from theology and then proceeded to achieve an independent status. This meant that the attitude of Western philosophy towards religion came to be marked by indifference, aversion and perhaps even rejection. Such a development did not occur within Indian culture. Thus, although the distinction between philosophy and religion can also be drawn in the Indian context, such a distinction therein tends to be analytical without being antagonistic. It can even be claimed that the two, even when they become dual, remain undivided. Moreover, the distinction between philosophy and religion in the West additionally rests on the distinction between reason and faith, with reason constituting the cornerstone of philosophy and faith that of religion. This distinction is strengthened by the fact that the results of faith are typically accessible only posthumously, while the results of rational investigation are typically available here and now.
A separation of philosophy and religion is intellectually approved of in the West. as this allows for the pursuit of philosophical truths untrammeled by religious scruples. Many Indian thinkers, however, take a different view of the matter. According to them this divorce of philosophy from religion runs the risk of reducing philosophy to a merely intellectual pastime, far removed from the kind of ultimate concern which should ideally characterize philosophy. In this context they make a further point: that although the claims made by Indian philosophy may sometimes seem to possess a religious nature, they are attainable within this life, and are therefore, in principle, verifiable.
The successful attainment of such results is characterized by the term jivanmukti. Not all schools of either Indian philosophy, or of Hindu philosophy, make such a claim but Advaita Vedãnta does'—along with the Hindu systems of Sankhya and Yoga. The claim also characterizes much of Buddhist and Jaina thought. The term jivanmurti is often translated as living liberation, as the word mukti means liberation and divan means while living. The idea underlying jivanmukti thus seems to be that one can attain the results of one's faith while still living in this world. There is no reason in principle why faith in reason could not also represent such faith.
These ideas contrast, perhaps even sharply, with those found in the thought of other religious systems such as those of Christianity and Islam. In Christianity and Islam, specifically in their more traditional versions of Catholicism and Sunni Islam, the benefits of faith are to be enjoyed in a post-mortem existence. That is to say, one does not experience the results of one's faith until after death, or perhaps not even until the Day of Judgement, which takes place not at the time of one's death but at the end of the world or of Time itself This leads to the curious situation that one of the questions critically debated in those traditions which accept jivanmukti is "What happens to the liberated one after his or her death" rather than "What happens after death"! The grand question is not what happens after death as in Christianity and Islam, but what happens to the liberated person after his or her death.
It is clear that the concept of faith itself also carries very different connotations in the schools which accept jivanmukti, compared with those of the West. In schools which accept jivanmukti, faith is understood as faith pending realization - it denotes the trust one must have in order to undertake an experiment, but the outcome of the experiment is independent of such faith. It is even possible that the revealed results might contribute towards strengthening faith, just as one's faith in science is strengthened when one expediently discovers that water is made of two gases.
It is in the light of these considerations that Indian thinkers take a more positive view of the fact that philosophy and religion have not been sundered in India, as in the West. This attitude is also reflected in their treatment of Advaita Vedanta. To recapitulate: Philosophy in the Western world consists of rational investigation into the nature of reality. For Indian philosophers, however, philosophy in the Western world is only half of what it should be. They like to say that Western philosophy is a purely intellectual activity, and that in the West religion and philosophy have been broken apart. In the West, then, reason is opposed to faith. This split, they argue, has not occurred in the Indian tradition. Thus many schools of thought in the Indian religious traditions feel no awkwardness, embarrassment or self-consciousness in discussing the ultimate nature of reality both from a philosophical and a religious perspective. Advaita Vedanta is one such school.
Since Religion cannot be completely overlooked when dealing with philosophy in the Indian context it is useful to draw a distinction between Indian Religions and Indic religions. The term Indian religion refers to all the religions found in India such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam and so on. The term Indic religions by contrast is used to refer only to the religion of Indian origin collectively namely Hinduism Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Indian philosophy again by contrast is classically taken to refer to the philosophical systems which characterize the Indic religions.
Religion, Philogophy and Advaita Vedanta 3
Part I 15 - 49
Advaita Vedanta: A Scriptural Approach 17
Part II 51 - 76
Advaita Vedanta: A Rational Approach 53
Part III 77 - 110
Advaita Vedanta: An Experiential Approach 79
Note 113
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I want to talk about a myth, a misunderstanding and a mistake.
The myth is that companies must give to charities. It's completely untrue. There is no law. They are not obliged to contribute.
The misunderstanding is describing companies' support of charities as "corporate giving". This term was used to describe corporate fundraising in the 1990s because the motivation for companies back then was mostly philanthropic. Now we call it "corporate partnerships", because the motivation for companies is more central to their business and both parties can gain significant benefits by working together.
The mistake is criticising companies for not contributing enough. Unfortunately this seems to happening more of late. Criticising companies in public is hardly going to encourage them to increase their support. Businesses who already make a huge difference might feel under appreciated, and those companies who barely contribute will see it as another reason not to engage.
If companies aren't increasing their support of charities, then maybe the charity sector is partly responsible for that. Companies receive uninspiring and unsolicited requests from charities every day. It must make them numb to the need.
Companies have an enormous capacity to make the world a better place. On an international level Reckitt Benckiser's partnership with Save the Children is raising £23.5m to stop diarrhoea being the second biggest killer of children under five. In the UK Innocent Drinks' partnership with Age UK is helping older people stay warm in winter. And a local solicitors' partnership with Katharine House Hospice in Stafford is helping families coping with an end-of-life illness receive the care and support they need and to make the most of the time that is left.
Charities have the capability to provide massive inspiration to companies to help them change the world. And they can show them how to do it by creating remarkable partnerships that deliver major benefits for both parties.
So let's replace the myth, the misunderstanding and the mistake with INSPIRATION!


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December 16, 2022 December 16, 2022 Cristina Blanaru All News, Business, Digital & Media, Media, OOH / DOOH, Studies
From a global perspective, the media advertising revenues grew by 7% in 2022 to an estimated 795 billion USD and are expected to continue the advance in a slower pace by 5% in 2023, with the biggest increase in the digital sector, according to the Global Advertising Landscape report issued by Magna in December 2022.
Locally, in Romania, the market was influenced by the return to outdoor activities and lower TV ratings but managed to keep the same advertising revenue compared to 2021, while Digital, Radio, and Cinema end the year with positive figures and expectations. Overall, the Romanian media market reached 642M€ (+7% vs 2021), with 350M€ from TV (flat compared to 2021), 32.1M€ in Outdoor (+7%), 31.9M€ in Radio (+10%), 5.6M€ in Print (-10%). Digital media grew by 20% with accent on search, video and social media.
Alexandra Olteanu, Managing Director Initiative Romania:
"In a time marked by war, inflation, political instability, and a feeling of uncertainty that is best illustrated by the new word of the year "permacrisis", the media market turned out to be stable and predictable, in accordance with the historical trends that include the transition from traditional media to digital. In 2023 Initiative estimates a further slightly positive market evolution in the range of 1% to 4% increase driven mainly by Digital expansion complemented by Radio and OOH positive support, with a flat evolution for TV, while Print is expected to continue the decline".
After two years of COVID19 pandemic that reshaped and influenced the consumer behavior according to the different levels of restrictions, 2022 was marked by a return to the previous known trends of TV audience decline and it even brought historic lows this autumn.
With the year almost completed, the audience numbers show a 10% drop of Total TV viewing on the 18-54 Urban commercial target, more abrupt than the one in 2021 (-8%), and in line with Initiative's predictions made in H1.
The new audience fall has also led to a further 11% drop of the sold GRP30'', and together with the usual sold-out inventory (minutes) as well as double digit increase in production costs created the premises for implicitly increasing advertising costs. Moreover, despite the uncertain macroeconomic evolution, the demand for TV advertising was not affected and this led to the TV market to remain stable and flat, in accordance with our estimations.
Even though we've seen stable audiences in early autumn, giving the impression of an evolution in line with the milder historical decrease trend, of approximately -6%, October came with a negative record of -20% compared to the previous year. However, in this case, the erosion was also boosted by the dramatic effects of the pandemic in the autumn of 2021, when Romania recorded both a peak in cases and COVID19 deaths, but also in TV audiences, with the highest numbers of that period in the last 5 years (16% TTV rating on the commercial urban target 18-54 vs 12.4% this year).
The Generalist channels recorded decreases that varied throughout the year depending on the success of the programs from each season: Pro TV has lost 8% on commercial urban target and 7% on national target, although with the success of Survivor in spring, the station's decrease was at that time only 3%. Antena 1 decreased by 15% compared to last year, while Kanal D reduced its loss from 47% to around 30% on urban and national target. Prima TV also ends the year with approximately -4% on the urban target, although it had positive figures in the first months. As for the share of audience, Pro TV gained 0.4 pp and 0.7 pp on urban and national target, Antena 1 lost 0.8 pp on urban target, Kanal D dropped by 2.6 pp on both targets, and Prima has + 0.1 pp on urban and 0.2 pp on national target.
The News stations recorded audience increases because of the Ukraine war, especially at the beginning of it. The results dropped significantly since then but are still strong enough to keep the news stations in the top for the rest of the year. Romania TV registered an increase of 6% compared to the similar period of 2021, Antena 3 CNN has plus 3%, while Digi24 has completely lost its gains and dropped to -2%. Realitatea Plus is also up by 19%, while B1TV is the only news television with a major loss of 25% this year.
The 10% drop in TV audience was also reflected in the balance of GRP30'' sold by the stations. Compared to January-December 2021, the overall decrease is around 11%, only SRTV channels which broadcasted FIFA World Cup and a few TV niche stations from the entertainment, movies and family category managing to end the year with positive figures. Pro TV has a decrease in GRP30'' balance of up to 10%, and a 0.6 pp increase in share, while Antena 1 lost 14% and 0.4 pp share, and Kanal D has -29% and -2.8pp. The main news stations have had big drops in recent months, but the beginning of the year made the January-December period end for Digi24 and Antena 3 CNN with -6%, and for Romania TV with -3%.
The changes in the sales policies this year are reflected in the buying target definitions, the increase in the reference CPP, premium surcharges and seasonality indexes – plus the investments in the World Cup Qatar 2022 generated a double-digit inflation of the average buying CPP and same TV advertising revenue compared to 2021 (350M euros).
Looking at the new year, 2023 will continue sales policies adjustments started in 2022: the extension of the buying target towards more mature national groups and the increase of the seasonality indexes, especially in the low season months (Jan-Mar, Jul-Sep and Dec).
Despite the lack of predictability in the macroeconomic context for 2023 and the years to come, we can cautiously estimate that the value of the TV market will remain flat in terms of revenues, in the best case, as the TTV Rating will continue the downward trend, generating double digit CPP buying inflations.
Digital will continue to increase and take share from overall market (including 2023), driven especially by organic factors (ecommerce, consumption shifts).
As with all recessions, budgets gravitate towards formats and campaigns that are the easiest to attribute to revenue, so Search is expected to be totally "recession-proof" (+12% vs 2022), even for the long tail of small businesses which rely on hyper-targeted lower funnel advertising. Considering data restrictions, keyword-based search advertising formats will strength even more, as they are less impacted under any legal limitations.
Video is expected to continue its robust growth, with all its components on a positive trend and a focus on short form user generated content (YouTube, Twitch, etc.), therefore increasing by 7% in 2023.
Multiple headwinds (plateauing reach and usage, brand safety concerns, targeting limitations) combined to cause social media advertising revenue to slow down its growth (+3% in 2023), TikTok being the only social media platform to expect significant extension.
From devices perspectives, budgets follow consumers on their journey, prompting mobile advertising sales (revenues from impressions and clicks on smartphones) to get +80% of total digital spending (in 2023 Desktop based ad revenues is expected to be flat, while mobile and CTVs to continue growing).
The 2022 OOH net market increased by 7%, totaling around 32M€, as summer festivals campaigns boosted this year's overall OOH spending. For 2023, report estimates a 20% inflation for rent services, and an approximative 15% increase of price for the production services, that will induce an increase for the volumes invested in OOH.
After a cautious H1, the report notices major increases in radio budgets and loading at the end of the year (Sept-Dec). This compensated the first period, which means that 2022 ends with an increase of 10%, reaching 31.9M € (from 29M€). Radio stations continue to focus on increasing interaction with listeners through 360° packages (radio, online, social media) or through loyalty campaigns adapted to listeners' interests/needs. For 2023, the same upward trend for radio as this year is expected.
About Initiative
Initiative is one of the largest independent media networks in the world, providing specialized planning and buying media services, strategy, media consulting and new media.
Initiative is a member of the Interpublic Group of Companies and is affiliated with the International Initiative Worldwide network. In Romania, Initiative is a member of the group of companies that also includes the MullenLowe, Golin and Medic One agencies.
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Firefox was just chosen by Info Magazine as the best software and best browser of the year for 2008.
A few weeks ago I summarized some of the activities of Mozilla in Brazil so far and promised an outline of the next steps.
I wanted to share the tremendous progress that has been made so far in Brazil in 2008. Here's a summary of the activities and some of the results.


Our goal is to identify risk and protective factors for health during travel (discovery science), to test if travel advice and interventions improve health (evaluation science), and to assess ways to implement these findings into travel clinics and daily life (implementation science).
This project studies the risk and protective factors for becoming colonized with multidrug resistant enteric pathogens while travelling to Southeast Asia.
Euro TravelNet collates data on travel related illness imported to Europe.
We are studying antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract in travellers returning from Laos or Zanzibar to compare them with bacteria found in the local population, local chicken and chicken meat in the respective regions.
The Geosentinel Network monitors travel-related illnesses and links epidemiological data with exposure information.
We are standardizing the varied European recommendations for best practices in travel advice.
The study aims to demonstrate that viremia and antibody production after yellow fever vaccination is comparable in travellers under low dose methotrexate and healthy travellers.
A multi-centre prospective cohort study on the immunogenicity and safety of tetanus booster vaccine and hepatitis A vaccine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, psoriatic arthritis and vasculitis and healthy controls.
This projects combines modeling of bicycle traffic flows with calculations of health benefits and risks resulting from bicycling.
ITIT is a systematic review of the infectious disease profile of migrant groups in Europe.
MalChemoPro evaluates the European Expert recommendations for malaria prevention.
We investigate the role of travel medicine in updating measles vaccinations in the Swiss population.
This is a cohort study of the epidemiology of respiratory pathogens acquired during deployment in Kosovo.
We conduct a systematic review of the interactions between anti-malarials and drugs used for chronic illness.
T-MAP develops a user friendly platform to support planning of recreational trails, including health impact assessments.
This study uses new mobile Health (mHealth) technology to expand our understanding of risks to travellers and ultimately improve advice offered in Swiss travel clinics and world-wide.
This study investigates varicella seroprevalence in Swiss travellers with a negative or unknown varicella history.


Many older people are independent. But later in life, you or someone you love may need help with daily activities like shopping, cooking, and bathing. A variety of services and facilities can provide help that lets people stay active and connected with family, friends, and neighbors.
Talk with your healthcare provider, or family and friends if you're having trouble with everyday activities like walking, managing finances, or driving.
Learn about the types of services and care in your community by talking to healthcare providers, social workers, family, and friends. The Area Agency on Aging and local and state offices of aging and social services can give you lists of home healthcare providers, adult daycare centers, meal programs, companion services, and transportation services.
Learn how much long-term care would cost. Find out how much of the costs Medicare or your insurance plan will pay. You may want to look into long-term care insurance or other plans that can help pay the costs. The Area Agency on Aging and local and state offices of aging and social services may have information to help.
Assisted-living communities. These offer different levels of care that often include meals, recreation, security, and help with bathing, dressing, and housekeeping. Residents often have their own rooms or apartments as part of a larger community. These could also include continuing care retirement communities. They have several different levels of care that residents can move through.
Nursing homes, or skilled-nursing facilities. They give round-the-clock service and supervision, medical care, and rehabilitation for residents who are mostly frail, very ill, or have dementia.
Ask questions. Your state's office of the long-term care ombudsman can give information about specific nursing homes.
Call around. Contact places that interest you. Ask questions about vacancies, number of residents, costs, and payment methods. You should also ask about services that may be important to you like special units for people with Alzheimer's disease.
Visit the facilities. When you find a place that sounds right, go and talk to the staff, residents, and residents' family members. Check out the facility for cleanliness and safety. Watch the way the staff treats residents.
For more information, visit the National Institute on Aging, the Eldercare Locator, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).


The American Water Ski Association and BallofSpray are proud to announce The Water Ski Ambassador Program. The purpose is to connect people who are curious about skiing (but not currently involved) with skiers who are currently involved and passionate about the sport. Anyone with passion for water skiing and access to a ski site and boat can be an Ambassador. Ambassadors are asked to simply introduce new skiers to the sport. When possible, Ambassadors will take new skiers out to a ski site and show them what opportunities are available. Most Ambassadors' commitment will be minimal, and depending on the Ambassador and their location, the job will be conducted a little differently for each person.
For more information on how to get involved with The Water Ski Ambassador Program, click here (PDF).


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Episodi di Alfred Hitchcock presenta – episodi della serie televisiva del 1955
 Episodi di Alfred Hitchcock presenta – episodi della serie televisiva del 1985

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Religion and the faltering reasoning of mankind always create entrance requirements for heaven that is wrong. The Biblical view stands alone to correct this error. The most common belief is that God holds us up daily and places our lives and actions on an imaginary scale to see if our 'good' out weigh our 'bads.' This paints a picture of God that is ridiculous. He is not that frivolous.
In a phone conversation I had with an old friend in Washington the day after Michael Jackson's death I was to surprised to hear my friend remark that Jackson must be OK with God because he gave to over 39 separate charities. Having been well taught in scriptures I was amazed to hear my friend use the imaginary scale in the sky idea to console him self about Jacksons death.
The answer given by Paul is the difference between eternal life and eternal separation from God. It is a question that neither regards a person's status in life, poverty or riches, fame or obscurity or any other condition. Paul said "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:31) The jailer did believe and his wife and family followed suit.


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When Hugh was a baby, maybe around a year old, I remember sitting in a hospital waiting room passing the time by looking at the posters on the wall. Life was difficult. Hugh's seizures were more severe, increasingly frequent and were showing no signs of being controlled by epilepsy drugs. His development was now obviously delayed and any chance of him ever catching up was slipping further and further from our grasps, despite my best efforts. I remember looking at a poster for a tube feeding support group and thinking 'at least he hasn't got one of those'. In the depths of my despair, when life was really bad, I remember believing how much worse it would be if he needed a feeding tube.
Hugh had had an NG tube once or twice when ill (a nasogastric tube, which passes up the nose down to the stomach). Otherwise though he ate relatively normally- he drank bottles of milk and he ate basic baby style purées. It wasn't an entirely age appropriate diet but it was enough to sustain him and, despite the amount he vomited, he slowly put on weight.
Hugh became fully dependent on an NG tube just a few months after I spotted that poster. I blamed myself for tempting fate that day. His seizures led him into a prolonged bout of status epilepticus and when he finally emerged from his drug induced sleep he was forever changed; unable to smile, unable to swallow, unable to lift his head, at times barely unable to open his eyes.
The NG was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure. I mentally allowed him 6 weeks to recover and relearn the skills needed to eat. Oh how naive I was! For a long time, it was simply unsafe to give him anything orally. Hugh struggled to hold his head up independently and couldn't coordinate his swallowing. There was a very real risk that he'd aspirate - the food or liquid would go into his lungs, causing chest infections and pneumonia. Months passed before I could try him with tiny tasters of food and although he loved it, he simply found it too exhausting. Progress was slow at best. The majority of the time I felt we were going nowhere and Hugh ever being tube free began to look impossible. I was devastated and felt I'd failed as a mother. I couldn't even feed my own son.
I hated the NG tube, but I think Hugh hated it more: he'd rip it out at any given opportunity and we ended up keeping socks on his hands at all times so he couldn't grab it. Re-passing the tube was a nightmare for all concerned. It regularly drew blood from his tonsils and adenoids (we've since discovered they were huge) and Hugh would hold his breath and go blue in fear and anger. It generally took two people to hold him down while a third passed the tube. Sometimes this was as often as five times a week. It was sheer torture for Hugh and heart-breaking to watch. The skin on his cheeks was red raw from the surgical tape holding the tube in place.
It was a necessary evil though- one that was keeping him alive. He could no longer eat or drink safely, so no matter how much he/we hated it, he needed it.
As time passed though, I realised how useful it was. Sickness and diarrhoea bugs could be successfully managed at home now. Previously they'd always required hospital admissions because any illness made Hugh so sleepy that he wouldn't eat or drink at all. He'd get dehydrated quickly and end up being admitted. Now I could give him diorylite very, very slowly through the tube and keep him at home. It also made giving medicines easier. Hugh had an awful lot to take for both his epilepsy and his reflux which I'd give at regular intervals throughout the day so that he didn't have to take too many at once. The tube made giving medicines easy - he always got the full dose at the right time; no more waiting for him to wake up or worrying about how much he'd spat out.
When Hugh was originally given his 'temporary' feeding tube an experienced speech and language therapist spoke to me about gastrostomy tubes (a tube that goes straight into the stomach from the abdomen instead of passing through the nose). I laughed at her, explaining that Hugh's tube was only temporary and he'd be eating before long. She nodded and humoured me, no doubt realising how unlikely that was.
In June 2012 Hugh had his gastrostomy tube fitted under general anaesthetic and I can honestly say we've never looked back. Thankfully we've had no major issues with it at all; it healed beautifully and has been infection free since. The risks associated with the gastrostomy are minimal in comparison to the naso-gastric tube – there's much less chance of the feeds going into his lungs by mistake and there's less chance that Hugh can pull it out – especially now he has swapped to a button.
Hugh's waking and sleeping patterns run to a timetable all of their own and I can't imagine how I would get him up and ready for school if I had to try and wake him to feed him breakfast too. Instead, I can attach his feed while he sleeps. Likewise, when he's poorly, I know that I can still ensure he is adequately hydrated and getting all the medicines he needs. The feeding pump which seemed so complicated at first is easy to use and Hugh has been happily fed in all sorts of places – in the back of a car, at parties, in pub beer gardens and while walking to the shops. It's actually incredibly convenient. Children often ask about it when they see the tube and I explain that it's the lazy way to have his dinner – he can even eat while he's asleep.
The pressure I put on myself to wean Hugh off his NG tube was immense. Meal times became a battle, one I always lost, because he just couldn't manage to eat enough calories. Now though, Hugh can eat for enjoyment. Every day he eats a small amount of yoghurt or blended fruit and he has a few spoonfuls of whatever the other children at school are having for dinner – all blended down to a smooth puree consistency. He's a big fan of pizza (just like his mum then!) and he loves chicken curry too. Sweet treats are firm favourites as well for example ice-cream and chocolate. The thing with having a feeding tube is that I know that he's getting all the vitamins and calories he needs from his milk supplement, so he can eat whatever he likes, just for the sheer enjoyment of it.
The thought of a feeding tube used to fill me with fear and dread, now it is just simply a part of my son, one that has helped keep him happy, alive and well.