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'Interstellar,' 'Planet of the Apes,' 'The Hobbit' and 'Transformers' Still Alive in Oscar Visual Effects Race
Despite the parting of the Red Sea and the recreation of the flood, Biblical movies "Exodus: Gods and Kings" and "Noah" are left off the list
Steve Pond | December 5, 2014 @ 12:13 PM	Last Updated: December 5, 2014 @ 3:12 PM
AWARDS BEAT
"Interstellar," "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" are among the 10 films that have advanced in the Oscar race for Best Visual Effects, the Academy announced Friday.
The other shortlisted films are: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," Godzilla," "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Maleficent," "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past."
Also read: How 'Planet of the Apes' Took Monkey Business to a New Level
Two shocking omissions were of Biblical proportions: Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings," with its recreation of the parting of the Red Sea and the plagues sent down on Egypt, and Darren Aronofsky's "Noah," which created a menagerie of animals and set them adrift in the flood.
See photos: 26 Best & Worst Moments of Oscars 2014 (Photos)
Other presumed contenders that didn't make the cut with members of the Visual Effects Branch's Executive Committee were "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," "Into the Woods" and "Edge of Tomorrow."
The presumed frontrunners could include "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," "The Hobbit" and "Interstellar" — but if the last of those films also lands a Best Picture nomination, its rivals have reason to worry. The last time a best pic nominee lost in this category to a non-nominee was 1970, when "Tora! Tora! Tora!" beat "Patton."
Filmmakers behind the shortlisted films will show 10-minute excerpts to members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch on Jan. 10, 2015, and those members will then vote to choose the five nominees.
Also read: Harry Belafonte Chides and Challenges Hollywood at Academy's Governors Awards
Nominations will be announced Jan. 15.
The shortlisted films are:
'Citizenfour,' 'Life Itself,' 'Last Days in Vietnam' Make Oscar Documentary Shortlist
By Steve Pond | December 2, 2014 @ 10:27 AM
How 'Planet of the Apes' Took Monkey Business to a New Level
By Steve Pond | July 9, 2014 @ 10:37 AM
Sony's Animation and VFX Group Bolts Hollywood for Canada
By Jordan Zakarin | May 30, 2014 @ 6:03 AM
Steve Pond's inside look at the artistry and insanity of the awards race, drawn from more than three decades of obsessively chronicling the Oscars and the entertainment industry.
The Latest From AWARDS BEAT
Oscars Eliminate Executive Committee Picks for International Feature, Expand Shortlist
By Steve Pond | January 15, 2021 @ 2:50 PM
How Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Became 1930s-Style Tunesmiths for 'Mank'
As Oscar Race Drags Into 2021, Who Are the Front Runners for Best Picture?
By Steve Pond | January 15, 2021 @ 11:30 AM
Forget the Beatles: Daniel Pemberton Wrote a New Song for 'Chicago 7' Instead of the Fab Four
Koné Bakary's Road to the Oscars: Recite a Poem, Land a Big Role


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Q: Как создавались мнемоники Языка ассемблера из двоичных кодов? Подскажите, где копать информацию, или, пожалуйста, объясните, как из команды, например, сложения на двоичном коде 0000 0100 создали мнемонику ADD?
Кажется чистой магией, что из тумблеров и дырок/отсутствия дырок на перфокарте создали вводимый на дисплее текст, который трансформируется в цифры.

A: Изначально программисты писали программы в машинных кодах, составляя длинные последовательности из нулей и единиц. Машинные коды в буквальном смысле представляют высокие и низкие уровни напряжения на "ножках" микросхемы процессора. Внутренняя структура логических элементов микросхемы из которой образуются арифметико-логическое устройство и диктовала то, какие уровни должны были быть выставлены на управляющих пинах.
Программирование в машинных кодах было очень трудоёмким и порождало огромное количество ошибок, дебаг которых был адской задачей. Очень быстро стало понятно, что процесс поиска нужной машинной команды для определённого действия можно автоматизировать и в 50-х годах начали применять мнемонический язык ассемблер. Он позволил представлять машинные кода в более удобном для людей виде.
Для того чтобы не запоминать кучу машинных команд программисты используют  транслятор который "подставляет" вместо мнемоник ADD определённые значения типа 0000 0100. Грубо говоря как операция "Заменить" в текстовых редакторах.
Для более подробного понимания могу посоветовать книгу "Цифровая схемотехника и архитектура компьютера" Харрис Д.М.
Так же есть прекрасный курс "NAND2tetris" (на английском, бесплатный), который позволяет пройти все этапы проектирование своего микропроцессора от базовых логических операций до компьютерной игры, проходя все уровни абстракций.

A: Все было не совсем так, если уж идти к истокам. Люди изобрели цифр и операции над ними задолго до.... Вначале были камни, потом веревки, косточки и счеты. Над эими элементами делали всевозможные операции - складывали и вычитали). Создав машину её заставили выполнять понятные для людей операции - сложения, вычитания, переноса, сдвига (ADD, SUB, MOV, SHIFT, PUS, POP). Для машины их закодировали двоичным кодом, (скорее всего как в голову взбрело). А для людей, чтоб облегчить им программирование придумали трансляторы с эквивалентов понятных людям слов слов в код. JAMP - C3 ;)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: Draw an electrical machine I want to draw the following figure on Tikz:

I have tried with this code, but the lines are distorced:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[yscale=0.6,xscale=0.6]
\def\n{24}
\def\nst{6}
\coordinate (O) at (0,0);

\draw[black, line width=1mm] (0,0) circle (5);
\draw[line width=0.3mm] (0,0) circle (1);

\draw (7.5,0) node [anchor=east][inner sep=0.75pt]    {$A_Z = 0$};

\foreach \angle in {1,...,\n}{%
\pgfmathsetmacro\compute{\angle*360/\n}
\begin{scope}[rotate around={\compute:(O)}]

\draw (3.5,0) -- ++(0:0.5)  arc (0:7.5:3.5) -- ++(7.5:-0.5) arc (0:7.5:3);

\draw (4,0) arc (0:7.5:4);

\end{scope}
}

\foreach \angle in {1,...,\nst}{%
\pgfmathsetmacro\compute{\angle*360/\nst}
\begin{scope}[rotate around={\compute:(O)}]

\draw (2,0) -- ++ (0:0.3) arc (0:-10:2) -- ++ (0:0.5);
\end{scope}
}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Does anybody can give me some tips and help me?

A: This is a possibility. All is pretty straightforward except for the blue lines. For them I used the calc library to previously compute some coordinates (rotating a scope).
This is my code:
\documentclass[tikz,border=5mm]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line cap=round,line join=round,thick,rotate=30]
  \draw[line width=1mm,fill=gray!15] (0,0) circle (5);
  \draw[red,fill=white] (-1.5:4) foreach\i in {0,10,...,350} {arc (\i-1.5:\i+1.5:4) -- (\i+1.5:3.5) arc (\i+1.5:\i+8.5:3.5) -- (\i+8.5:4)};
  \foreach\i in {1,2,...,6}
  {
    \begin{scope}[rotate=60*\i-60]
      \coordinate (A\i) at (-10:2.5);
      \coordinate (B\i) at ($(A\i)+(0.4,0)$);
      \coordinate (C\i) at ($(A\i)+(0.4,-0.2)$);
      \coordinate (D\i) at ($(A\i)+(0.6,-0.2)$);
      \coordinate (H\i) at (10:2.5);
      \coordinate (G\i) at ($(H\i)+(0.4,0)$);
      \coordinate (F\i) at ($(H\i)+(0.4,0.2)$);
      \coordinate (E\i) at ($(H\i)+(0.6,0.2)$);
    \end{scope}
  }
  \draw[blue,fill=blue!20] (A1) \foreach\i in {1,...,6}
     {-- (B\i) -- (C\i) -- (D\i) to[out=60*\i+10,in=60*\i+230]
         (E\i) -- (F\i) -- (G\i) -- (H\i) arc (60*\i-50:60*\i-10:2.5)};
  \draw[fill=white] (0,0) circle (1.5);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

And the picture:

Edit 1: And these are the coordinates I'm using.

Edit 2: A little bit explanation of some syntax. Let's take a look at the line
\draw[red,fill=white] (-1.5:4) foreach\i in {0,10,...,350} {arc (\i-1.5:\i+1.5:4) ...};

This will draw a complex path starting at the point (-1.5:4), that is, a point which polar coordinates are radius 4 (4 cm from the origin) and angle -1.5 (1.5 degrees from the x-axis, clockwise). Then it will repeat the code inside the curly brackets six times, substituting \i for the values 0,60,120,180,240,300. For example, the first iteration will be for \i=0, so
\draw[red,fill=white] (-1.5:4) arc (0-1.5:0+1.5:4) ...;

So the first part of the complex path will be an arc starting at the point (-1.5:4) with an initial angle of -1.5 degrees, a final angle of 1.5 degrees and a radius of 4 cm. In this case all the angles are centered at the origin, but for more information about the center of the arcs this post could be helpful: How is arc defined in TikZ?


text:
volunteer login >
Free Fitness and Fun for Everyone
FAQs and Disability Information
Coaching Guidelines
New Athlete Enrollment
FAQs for Parents
Current Schedules
--Maryland
--Washington DC
--Northern Virginia
KEEN Virtual Programming Library
Cancellation Due to Inclement Weather Policy
KEENFest
--Athlete Special Events--
Honor and Memorial Donations
Stocks, Investments and Planned Giving
2021 Funding Partners
Coaches Committee
KEEN is modeled on an innovative program established in Oxford, England by Elliott Portnoy, who brought KEEN to the Washington, DC area in 1992. With help from a handful of parents and volunteers, KEEN started as a single program in the Greater DC area.
In 2005 KEEN began its expansion into select cities across the United States. As KEEN Greater DC grows, it is committed to maintaining its basic ideals: providing free recreational opportunities to children and young adults with disabilities by pairing them with trained volunteers for fun, noncompetitive activities. KEEN seeks to develop each athlete's self-esteem and confidence, as well as recreational skills and talents, and to increase each athlete's ability to participate in a broader range of recreational activities and environments.
The KEEN logo was designed in 1988 by Richard Hunt, one of KEEN's original athletes in Oxford. Richard loved to draw pictures for KEEN volunteers, which he would bring to sessions and give to his coaches. When we launched KEEN in Oxford, I asked Richard to design the logo of a KEEN Athlete playing tennis, as KEEN grew out of a tennis coaching program for young people with disabilities. Richard jumped at the chance, and came to my flat one afternoon with his mother and quickly came up with what we now know as "Ken". - Elliott Portnoy, KEEN founder
Timeline: KEEN Greater DC Milestones
Celebrates 30th Anniversary.
After 17 months of virtual programs, KEEN Greater DC-Baltimore returns to in person activities in all four program regions: Montgomery Co, Baltimore, MD, DC and VA
Within a week of shutting down programs due to the COVID pandemic, KEEN Greater DC-Baltimore transitions into KEEN Live at Home on virtual, online programs. Creates 8 online programs.
Launches two new programs for young adults: ZamDance in Chevy Chase and in partnership with the Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, and Yoga in Washington, DC.
Launches Yoga for young adults in partnership with the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Silver Spring, MD, as well as Teens Tae Kwon Do in MD. Launches Zumba in Arlington and Bowling in Falls Church, VA.
Celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Launches three new programs: KEEN Baltimore Bowling, KEEN Arlington Sports and KEEN DC Zumba.
Holds its first annual KEEN Prom for teenaged athletes living in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, thanks to the Bullis School Community.
Adds one more sports session at Key Center School, for a total of 3 Sports sessions (2 for kids, 1 for teens) at this program site. Starts VA Bowling program, which takes place 2x a month. Moves Baltimore Sports program to Dundalk HS.
Establishes a new young adult program--MD Dance. Launches an UNSTOPPABLE campaign, building excitement for KEENFest.
Launches a new Sports program in Vienna, VA. KEEN Greater DC establishes an extraordinary relationship with Johns Hopkins University with the University creating a for-credit undergraduate course, "KEEN: Practicum in Neuroscience".
Celebrates its 20th Anniversary.
Establishes two new Music/Sensory Programs for kids and teens in Northern VA. Launches new DC Soccer Clinic program is in April.
Establishes two new Sports Programs for kids and teens in Northern VA. Launches new DC Basketball program is in September. President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition selects KEEN Greater DC to partner with it on activities aimed at emphasizing the importance of sports, fitness and nutrition to people with disabilities. KEEN Greater DC is again selected by the Catalogue For Philanthropy: Greater Washington, in recognition of the outstanding quality of its programs for special needs children and young adult.
Expands the music program in Southeast DC. Olympic Gold Medalist Dominique Dawes joins KEEN Greater DC as an honorary board member.
Establishes a new Music Program in Southeast DC.
Celebrates 15th anniversary. KEEN launches a new (fourth) swim in MD. Moves the Southeast DC: Sports program to St. Coletta school.
Launches in Southeast DC with two new programs, Sports and Swim. KEEN Greater DC begins collaboration with other local organizations to create much needed programs for adults over 25 years old with disabilities.
Is selected for inclusion in the 2005 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington as one of the small charities "making a difference in the DC area. "In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Washingtonian magazine names KEEN Greater DC as one of the "40 organizations [that] strengthen the bodies and spirits of young Washingtonians."
Begins providing dance and music programs to kids and teens. KEEN becomes a national organization and renames the founding affiliate KEEN Greater DC.
Adds two new programs: Bowling for young adults and Tennis for kids and teens in Northern Virginia.
Celebrates its 10th anniversary and holds its first annual KEEN Sports Festival, inviting athletes from every program to come together as one group at an outdoor recreational event and picnic. KEEN doubles existing sports programs to four weekends a month.
Launches Fit and Sports programs for young adults. Hires the first executive director. KEEN holds KEENFest, a dinner and silent auction, which becomes a second major annual fundraiser.
Establishes first U.S. spin-off at the University of Virginia.
Hires a part-time staff person. KEEN Swim launches, serving all KEEN athletes.
Creates the KEEN Club program to give teenagers with disabilities an opportunity to play team sports and go on outings with peer companions.
Launches its first major fundraising effort: the annual KEEN Golf Classic.
Holds its first session in the United States.
KEEN England's founder and interested parents and community members in Montgomery County, Md., meet to discuss starting a U.S. version of the program.
Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) is founded in England.
KEEN Greater DC-Baltimore PO Box 341590 Bethesda, MD 20827-1590 Tel. 301.770.3200 [email protected]
KEEN Greater DC - Baltimore is a non-profit 501(c)3

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Because people are not spending they are saving which does not grow the economy in the short run by less consumer spending will have an effect on investment from businesses to have low confidence which all contribute to AD (C+I+G).
it's difficult to differentiate between MPS and MPC.
What is MPW?? Don't you mean MPS, the Marginal Propensity to Save? 1-MPC=MPS, right??
Answer 4, if the lower income households receive more income, their MPC will likely tend toward 1 as they are poor and could want to spend the money on goods that they want, hence (a) stays the same, and b increase which will lead to increase gradient and upward slope curve.
Answer 1, in order for a household to keep a pile of wealth, an increase in income tax will decrease the marginal income, so the household may want to save the extra income rather than spending it as income tax took a proportion off it. Answer 2, as a recovery from a recession goes, it may increase average confidence in the economy, and hence MPC increase, but as average price level increase due to increased demand, real income may then decrease and MPC will decrease too. Answer 3, if there's anticipation of an increase in inflation, confidence decrease and MPC decrease and savings increase. However, most households wouldn't anticipate an increase in inflation.


text:
What Selena Gomez's Latest Hair Change Means
Story from Celebrity Beauty
Does Selena Gomez's New Haircut Represent Something Deeper?
Samantha Sasso
Photo: Backgrid.
We've all been in a salon chair, ridden with nerves about getting a fresh new 'do. No matter if we were cutting off an inch or foot, someone almost always attempted to ease our minds with one well-intentioned reminder: "It's just hair." But that's definitely not true. Even if our transformations weren't nearly as drastic as those you'd see on America's Next Top Model, there's still a lot of power behind a big haircut or colour change. And Selena Gomez might be the best example of that.
Whether it's a bob, bleached blond hair, or a curtain fringe, the singer has done it all. In fact, Gomez has tried every last one of those looks in a matter of four months — the latter of which she revealed less than a week after reportedly completing treatment for anxiety and depression. Which has left us wondering: Is there a deeper meaning behind all of her epic hair changes?
Not every haircut is as cut-and-dry as a "breakup" haircut, but we can learn something from the meaning behind getting one. As Dr. Sanam Hafeez, clinical neuropsychologist and professor at Columbia University, told Refinery29, "Changing your hair can be a big statement. It may mean you announcing something without announcing it or signify a metamorphosis. It's an instant statement that may actually make you feel like a new person." In other words: A haircut can be a harbinger to something else that you aren't even aware of yet. And if parts of your life feel somewhat out of your control, changing your hair is an easy way to get that power back.
Now, does that mean Gomez's new wispy layers indicate anything more than a fringe trim? Maybe not. But is there something to be said about a haircut being a form of self-care? Absolutely. Gomez is doing what she needs to do in order to focus on her well-being, and whether that's hanging with her four-year-old sister, going to church, or switching up her hair — that sounds like a positive thing to us.
Selena Gomez Hair - Meaning Behind New Fringe Self Care
Celebrity Beauty • Hair
written by Samantha Sasso
More from Celebs & Influencers
Euphoria's Makeup Has Evolved & TikTok Is Taking Notes
Euphoria is back in all its glam and gory glory. The HBO show continues its chokehold on Gen Z with its thrilling storylines, completely impractical but ic
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When I think of Christmas, I think of the ultimate in Christmas albums — Now That's What I Call Christmas!: The Signature Collection, a compilation
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When I tell people that I'm going to be interviewing TikTok famous Tinx, the general response is along the lines of, "Omg, I love her." A
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"Beauty, to me, is about truth," Gemma Chan shares to me over the phone. "It's about […] integrity, purpose, as well as artis
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Lori Harvey On The Merits Of Eye Cream & Lash Extensions
As a 26-year-old who wakes up every morning with purple hollows below my eyes, when 24-year-old model Lori Harvey tells me she can't live without eye
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Over the past year, many of us began to think of our hobbies outside of work. For me, it wasn't so easy. See, I get paid to write about Victoria Beck


TOKYO — Ten Japanese companies said Monday they plan to install electric vehicle chargers at the sites of drinks vending machines across Japan in a cost-cutting tie-up.
Charging machines "will be installed where beverage vending machines already exist or together with new ones. There are various options," she said.
Automakers such as Nissan, which launched its all-electric Leaf last year, are gambling that electric cars with zero tailpipe emissions will catch on and, some time in the future, start to drive traditional gas-guzzlers off the road.
But many consider the lack of a charging network as the key obstacle to the proliferation of electric vehicles, prompting consumer concerns such as "range-anxiety", or the fear that their cars will run out of juice between charging points.
Next Next post: Is Brazilian Coffee Simply the Best for Vending Machines?


In April 2018, the journal Nature [study 1 and study 2] published two different articles in the same field to the MIT research team led by the Spanish Pablo Jarillo-Herrero. The first, on the results of an investigation that indicated that, if two layers of graphene (layers of carbon atoms in a hexagonal network of a single atom thick), exposed to a small electric field and cooled to 1.7 degrees above the absolute zero (-271.4 degrees Celsius), were rotated among themselves at an angle close to 1.1 ° (which researchers of this material call 'magic angle'), were surprisingly converted into an insulating material.
And that same day, Nature, exceptionally, also published to the Jarillo-Herrero Group of the MIT, other results even more extraordinary. If a change in their electric field is applied to the above graphene layers, they suddenly become a superconducting material, in which electricity flows without resistance and therefore without loss of energy.
Seven months later, other research groups have independently verified those results. Physics World magazine, of the prestigious Institute of Physics (IOP), chose these scientific findings as the most outstanding scientific discovery worldwide in 2018. Nature endorsed this choice by publishing them at the top of its list of the ten best discoveries of the year.


If you can't afford a $5,000 trip to Bora Bora, here are the next best gifts.
Your friends would still prefer the Bora Bora trip, just sayin'.
Wondering what to gift your favorite travelers this holiday season?
I've made my picks with the help of other travel professionals and frequent fliers, who have collectively traveled millions of miles in the last few years.
The enthusiastically-sounding GRID-IT! is one of my favorite organization tools. The grid of elastic bands helps you securely hold and arrange (and rearrange) everything from headphones and pens to bundles of cables and medicine bottles. They start at just $10, which means you can get one for your favorite traveler friend and one for you. You know, in the off-chance he gifts you something not quite as useful.
I seem to be the only person that ever packs one of these into my bag when traveling. On every single road trip that I've been on, my iOttie Easy One Touch 2 has been simply indispensable (along with a phone charger). I genuinely believe that the more people buy one of these things, fewer people will fumble around with their phones while driving, and fewer accidents will happen and more lives will be saved. I think.
It's a widely accepted scientific fact that a world map is the best-looking thing you can put up on a wall. However, your globetrotting friends world probably run out of pins after all their travels. They won't be having that problem with this Scratch-Off World Map. The map comes with all the countries covered in gold foil that scratches off to show off where they've been.
The TravelCard is probably the most useful thing I carry in my pockets. When I'm out exploring a city during my travels, I've never had a day when my iPhone lasted from morning till night. This USB battery is quite unbelievably the size of a credit card (albeit a fat one) and it holds about 50% charge. Now, that isn't a lot, but this battery has legitimately saved me on countless occasions when I absolutely needed to call for an Uber home/search for directions on Google Maps/send an important text/post that Instagram photo.
If you're ever been stuck in a hotel room with no entertainment, or rented a car with a broken stereo system, or found yourself at a summer pool party that wasn't properly thought out, having a portable Bluetooth speaker can instantaneously brighten up your vacation. The UE Roll 2 is easily the best for the job. It sounds better and plays louder than other [read: more expensive] speakers, plus it has a slim, waterproof, rugged design that lets it survive almost any journey yet still slip easily into a backpack or laptop bag.
Unless you're skydiving or mountain biking or doing something mortally irresponsible while filming it, most people wouldn't have a GoPro on their wishlist. But in my experience, the GoPro makes for a fantastic travel camera. It's ridiculously compact, it's ready for snorkeling and scuba diving with its waterproof case, and it takes great videos and photos. Above all, it's one of the easiest ways to capture wide-angle shots on your trips.
Need some proof? Most of the photos I shot when I flew on the Singapore Airlines Suites was shot on an old GoPro. Can afford something better? I recommend the higher-end GoPro HERO5 Black retailing for $399.
Ever walk past a passenger with earphones on an airplane and wonder how he's sleeping so peacefully? Well, wonder no more — he's probably wearing the Bose QuietComfort 20, the very best noise-cancelling earphones on the market right now. It's certainly not cheap at $249, but my goodness it makes an airplane sound like a library. Some other folks opt for the over-ear headphones model, the Bose QuietComfort 35, but I personally prefer the portability of the QC20 earphones.
Frequent fliers unequivocally recommend the Travelpro Platinum Magna 2. At 22-inch, this model is suitable as carry-on luggage. It's light, the wheels are built to last, and it's big enough to easily fit a week's worth of clothes. Compared to other bags in this price range, you also get surprisingly high-end components and a warranty that covers anything (even airline damage) for the life of the bag.
"What camera do you use?" is perhaps the most common question I get. If you were expecting a huge DSLR with an enormous lens, you couldn't be more wrong: I carry around a pocket-sized Sony RX100. But don't be mistaken — when Sony introduced the RX100 back in 2012, it was groundbreaking. It was the first tiny camera with a large, high-quality sensor. In many tests, it had comparable results with a much bigger DSLR. These days, I usually leave my DSLR at home and use solely my RX100 on 95% of my travels.
The RX100 also comes in higher-end models such as the Sony RX100 III and the Sony RX100 V, retailing for $698 and $998 respectively.


First issue, Binding B: cream vellum-paper boards stamped in red; 50 pp. One of 350 or fewer copies of the first issue were published by the publisher before bankruptcy in 1921; binding B - what remained of the first issue were bound circa 1917 during the war. The rest of the 1000 sheets had a complicated history and very different bindings. The first regularly published book by one of the great figures in American Literature of the 20th Century. Crane A2B. A very scarce (far scarcer than Binding A) and fragile binding, this copy with light wear at edges, spine darkened, else fine.


text:
Julius Weinberg resigned as KU VC on the first day of teaching of the academic year
Weinberg's 'golden goodbye' causes outrage among lecturers
Written by Meka Beresford on November 29 2016
Former vice chancellor Julius Weinberg has been accused of taking an "absurd golden handshake" for £250,000 in his new role of 'president', after stepping down from his position at the beginning of the term.
Weinberg will continue in the role of president, a job believed to be created for him, on a higher wage until December 2017.
Kingston's University and College Union (UCU) Chair Dr Andrew Higginbottom said: "This looks like a very golden handshake. It is really unfortunate because front line staff are working hard to keep the university going and improving on significantly less salaries."
Dr Higginbottom called for Weinberg to donate some of his bonus to lower paid colleagues within the university.
He said: "He could do a decent thing and donate his charity to about 80 or 100 cleaners, low paid staff, catering staff at the university. He's getting paid more than 10 times more than front life staff, for what?"
Weinberg received a 1.6 per cent increase on his wage as VC up to £251,461 for his new role as which will see him raise KU's external body and lead other development activity.
Higginbottom said: "There are lots of questions to ask. I do think the university incoming management could think about, in general terms, making the university a more democratic place.
"This extreme salary differential is just one expression. Someone on that type of money is just living in a different world to what most students are living in to what most staff are living in.
"It means that they take decisions based on very different criteria. These salaries are absurd, we want to see a more democratic university and alongside that a more equitable salary structure."
Salaries of senior leaders at the University are set by the Board of Governors remuneration committee. Kingston University's latest financial statements show that Professor Weinberg received £247,000 in the 2015-16 academic year.
Higginbottom added: "I can't imagine he is going to be doing anything to justify this type of salary and a lot of people work very hard for literally less than a tenth."
Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Steven Spier will earn £190,000 until a permanent replacement is chosen in preparation for September 2017.
This salary information was obtained via a freedom of information request.
University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: "Despite clear calls from government for pay restraint at the top, many vice-chancellors enjoy bumper pay rises while holding down pay for their staff.
"The arbitrary rises that vice-chancellors receive expose the need for better transparency of senior pay in our universities and the time has come for a national register of vice-chancellors' pay and perks," Hunt added.
Over the last four years, Weinberg has seen an increase of 12.6 per cent in the role of VC.
Dr Higginbottom and many other staff members in the union are concerned about Weinberg's continued, high rate salary.
Weinberg said: "I haven't had the opportunity to discuss the latest figure that you have with colleagues but I do know in particular colleagues in unison the ancillary staff union have expressed their concern about this golden handshake."
"There is several levels of unfairness. Why do these key decisions being made, perhaps with good intention, but we really don't know what his role is still and we don't know what he is going to be doing for this money. "
Weinberg stepped down over "differing" views on the future of the University between himself and the board of governors.
The professor held the position of vice chancellor for the past six years but stepped down after the university faced challenges.
At the time of his resignation, Weinberg said in an email to staff: "It has become evident to me that the board of governors and I hold differing views. The time has come for me to step down from my post to pursue new challenges.
"I am heartened by the significant progress we have already made and have every confidence that the university will build upon the considerable change that has taken place," Weinberg added.
Weinberg stated that he did not make the decision lightly.
The resignation came after a series of major changes instigated by Weinberg, including going from eight to four modules a year and a reorganised IT system.
His departure follows disappointing results in the latest league tables, with Kingston student satisfaction dropping 125th to 145th in the National Student Survey.
In the Sunday Times Good University Guide league table 2017, Kingston dropped to 122nd.
julius weinberg UCU unison Weinberg weinberg wage 2016-11-29
Meka Beresford
About Meka Beresford
Meka Beresford studies Journalism at Kingston and is News Editor of The River. She enjoys the finer things in life; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Wu-Tang and halloumi. During the weekends, Meka can be found writing for PinkNews.
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Home › The Government Taketh Away
The Government Taketh Away
American Governance and Public Policy series
Public Policy (US)
352 pp., 7 x 10
The Politics of Pain in the United States and Canada
Leslie A. Pal and R. Kent Weaver, Editors
Selected as a 2003 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title
Democratic government is about making choices. Sometimes those choices involve the distribution of benefits. At other times they involve the imposition of some type of loss—a program cut, increased taxes, or new regulatory standards. Citizens will resist such impositions if they can, or will try to punish governments at election time. The dynamics of loss imposition are therefore a universal—if unpleasant—element of democratic governance. The Government Taketh Away examines the repercussions of unpopular government decisions in Canada and the United States, the two great democratic nations of North America.
Pal, Weaver, and their contributors compare the capacities of the U.S. presidential system and the Canadian Westminster system to impose different types of losses: symbolic losses (gun control and abortion), geographically concentrated losses (military base closings and nuclear waste disposal), geographically dispersed losses (cuts to pensions and to health care), and losses imposed on business (telecommunications deregulation and tobacco control). Theory holds that Westminster-style systems should, all things being equal, have a comparative advantage in loss imposition because they concentrate power and authority, though this can make it easier to pin blame on politicians too. The empirical findings of the cases in this book paint a more complex picture. Westminster systems do appear to have some robust abilities to impose losses, and US institutions provide more opportunities for loss-avoiders to resist government policy in some sectors. But in most sectors, outcomes in the two countries are strikingly similar.
The Government Taketh Away is essential for the scholar and students of public policy or comparative policy. It is also an important book for the average citizen who wants to know more about the complexities of living in a democratic society where the government can give-but how it can also, sometimes painfully, "taketh away."
Leslie A. Pal is professor and director, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University.
R. Kent Weaver is professor of public policy and government at Georgetown University; senior fellow in Governmental Studies at The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC; and the coeditor of Do Institutions Matter?
Gerard W. Boychuk, Karen Mossberger, and Mark C. Rom, Series Editors
"A remarkable volume . . . First, the contributions contained within it are uniformly admirable as scholarship without being cursed with the obscurantist and obsequious lingo that too often renders such tomes either impenetrable or unappealing to the attentive and intelligent public. Second, they provide genuinely informative and compelling explanations of why public policy works (or doesn't work) the way it does. Finally, by giving sufficient detail about selected policy areas to make them intelligible, and then by adding informed reflections and cogent conclusions, they provide citizens, public officials and politicians with the intellectual tools necessary to comprehend problems that may be only apparently insoluble."—The Innovation Journal
"A fine collection that deserves wide attention. The theoretical framework is systematic and thorough, the selection of policy fields is unusually logical, and the case studies are all both rich in substance and tightly focused on the common unifying questions about loss imposition and policy formation more generally."—Robert Young, professor of political science and codirector of the Political Economy Research Group, University of Western Ontario
1. The Politics of Pain
Leslie A. Pal and R. Kent Weaver
2. Cutting Old-Age Pensions
R. Kent Weaver
3. Controlling Health Care Costs for the Aged
Carolyn Hughes Tuohy
4. Telecommunications Deregulation
Richard J. Schultz and Andrew Rich
5. Tobacco Control
Donley T. Studlar
6. Closing Military Bases
Lilly J. Goren and P. Whitney Lackenbauer
7. Siting Nuclear Waste
Barry G. Rabe
8. Gun Control
Leslie A. Pal
9. Abortion
Raymond Tatalovich
Transatlantic Policymaking in an Age of Austerity
Diversity and Drift
National Health Insurance in the United States and Canada
Race, Territory, and the Roots of Difference


It is often claimed "don't do the crime if you cant do the time". Such a statement, as well as being morally dubious, presumes that the criminal justice system rationally allocates prison time on the basis of just deserts. In fact sentencing is both more random than that and far more bias. More often than not it is the person rather than the crime that attracts the sentence. This can be personal but is often a response to the lawbreakers age, class and race.
Everyday through google alerts I get a couple of hundred news stories delivered to my inbox and today I got the following two stories one after the other in an e-mail.
The theft of $573K was deemed to require six months in prison whilst the young woman who spat at a policeman got a year in prison and two years post prison supervision. Both pleaded guilty - to do anything else is to risk far more severe penalties- so we only hear the states case. But the idea that courts (or lawmakers) can in any meaningful way weigh up crimes and allocate, as if by science, an appropriate amount of prison time which justly correlates to the specific crime is clearly total nonsense. So both sentencing law and practice develops its own logic and the white collar criminal who carries out a fraud in a calculating way is deemed to need six months whilst the young woman, who lip is cut in a struggle with a police officer and then spits gets a year.
Of course the whole idea of using prison as the standard response to almost all lawbreaking is silly and pointless but the way when it is used it is used disproportionally on the young, social excluded and powerless displays the inherent injustice of the criminal justice system.


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Visit North Cascades Harley-Davidson at 1337 Goldenrod Road, Burlington, WA 98233 during normal business hours between Saturday, March 16, 2019 at 9:00am and Friday, May 3, 2019 at 6:00pm Pacific Standard Time and fill out a Register Now form as noted within the dealership. One Register Now entry is allowed per person. One additional entry will be allowed by eligible entrants as noted under ELIGIBILITY who hold a valid motorcycle endorsement and Demo/Test Ride a Royal Enfield during the Contest dates.
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Pembrolizumab and PFS in Advanced Melanoma
Leanne Marcello, MS
Researchers report on the best pembrolizumab protocol for advanced melanoma.
Researchers from New Jersey, California, Canada, Israel, Australia, and several European countries joined forces to determine what the optimal course of anti-PD-1 is for patients with advanced melanoma. After 5 years of follow-up on patients from the KEYNOTE-006 study, the authors published their findings in The Lancet Oncology.
Compared with ipilimumab, pembrolizumab improves progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced melanoma. Once this became the first-line standard of care, researchers began to explore and hone details of the therapeutic protocol.
KEYNOTE-006 was a multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled, phase 3 study carried out across 87 academic institutions, hospitals, and cancer centers in 16 different nations. Advanced melanoma patients aged 18 years and older with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 were recruited. None had been treated with ipilimumab, but had had up to one previous systemic therapy. All had known BRAFV600 status. They were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 10 mg/kg intravenous pembrolizumab every 2 weeks or every 3 weeks, or to four doses of 3 mg/kg intravenous ipilimumab every 3 weeks. Treatments choices were randomly assigned through a centralized computer system. Data used to perform analyses of the two different pembrolizumab dosing regimen were not protocol specific. Treatment with pembrolizumab was continued for up to 2 years (24 months). Patients who stabilized and discontinued pembrolizumab after 24 months or discontinued after a complete response following at least 6 months, but then progressed, were eligible for an additional 17 cycles.
The researchers used coprimary endpoints of OS and PFS. They analyzed efficacy in all randomly assigned patients, and analyzed safety in all randomly assigned patients who had been assigned at least one dose.
In 2013 and 2014, 834 patients enrolled in a randomized study to receive treatment with either pembrolizumab (every 2 weeks, n=279; every 3 weeks, n=277), or ipilimumab (n=278). After a median follow-up at 57·7 months (IQR 56·7–59·2), median OS was 32·7 months (95% CI 24·5–41·6) in the combined pembrolizumab groups and 15·9 months (13·3–22·0) in the ipilimumab group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·73, 95% CI 0·61–0·88, p=0·00049). Median PFS came in at 8·4 months (95% CI 6·6–11·3) in the combined pembrolizumab groups vs 3·4 months (2·9–4·2) in the ipilimumab group (HR 0·57, 95% CI 0·48–0·67, p<0·0001). Grade 3–4 adverse events from treatment occurred in 96 (17%) of 555 patients in the combined pembrolizumab groups and in 50 (20%) out of 256 patients in the ipilimumab group. Among all events, the most often reported were colitis (11 [2%] vs 16 [6%]), diarrhea (ten [2%] vs seven [3%]), and fatigue (four [<1%] vs three [1%]). Significant adverse events stemming from treatment were reported by 75 (14%of) patients in the combined pembrolizumab groups and by 45 (18% of) patients in the ipilimumab group. One patient taking pembrolizumab died as a result of sepsis caused by treatment.
The authors concluded that pembrolizumab treatment offered superior outcomes compared with ipilimumab after almost 5 years of patient follow-up. These results support the protocol of pembrolizumab in advanced melanoma patients.
MelanomaSkin Cancer
FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to Pembrolizumab Plus Personalized Immunotherapy for Metastatic Melanoma
BLA for Cosibelimab Submitted to FDA for Management of Metastatic/Advanced Cutaneous SCC
Omid Hamid, MD, on Trailblazing Research in Melanoma


Plus, which stars are interested in joining the newest edition of the reality series? THR surveyed some of the show's biggest Hollywood superfans to find out.
When news broke that longtime CBS reality series Big Brother would be dipping into celebrity territory, it was met with an outpouring of interest.
And it wasn't just from viewers and superfans of the show — Hollywood fans of the series made it clear they would consider stepping inside the Big Brother house.
Executive producer Allison Grodner tells The Hollywood Reporter, "We've had an overwhelming response from people who want to be on the show." Adds host Julie Chen, "They're getting tons of calls from agents."
So, who in town is dialing up the show to pitch themselves for a spot? And better yet — what are they exactly pitching themselves for?
So far, few details have been revealed about what the newest edition of the series will look like, but in order to keep viewers up to date on the latest, THR gathered the most important details to know (including which stars and superfans of the show want in).
When will it premiere? The newest edition of the franchise will hit the small screen on Feb. 7. The two-hour finale will take place on Feb. 25.
It will be a shorter, condensed version of the summer broadcast. Unlike the summer broadcast, the cast will not be locked away for 90-plus days. "It's going to be more intense than what you're used to seeing because it's going to be concentrated," says Chen. "Picture everything about Big Brother, but nonstop action because it's going to be on a fast-forward button." Instead, the series will run for a little less than three weeks and will feature 13 episodes total. And the 24/7 uncensored live feeds will be back.
Why now? The idea for a celebrity edition was first brought up at the network dating back to season two of the series. Says Chen, "Paris Hilton agreed to do it, and Roseanne Barr also said she was going to and then she backed out. It didn't come together, and I'm glad it didn't so early on into the series." Now on the heels of the show's 19th season this past summer and having reached its highest ratings since 2011 with an average 7.35 million viewers (including a finale watched by 7.8 million), the spinoff was a no-brainer.
Says executive producer Rich Meehan: "With success for 19 seasons and always being a strong performer, which in today's market is really rare, it's a fun new way to expand the brand and the Big Brother universe." Adds Chen about the conversation she had with CBS chief (and her spouse) Leslie Moonves: "If you know one thing about my husband, it has to make economic sense. They crunched the numbers and said, 'Based on the following we have, we could do it and make it work and make it profitable, but certain things need to happen.'"
The house will get an extra redesign. Every season the series changes the set of the show to match up with the new twists it invites viewers in to watch. This year, the celebrity twist is sure to warrant a redesign on set. "It'll certainly be a new look," says Grodner. Adds Meehan, "We're doing it more of an event instead of a three-month series. There will be some tweaks and changes to the rooms and the outside." But they can't rule out other factors, such as adapting to the weather. Says Grodner, "It's a winter edition, so we need to think about the weather. The outside will reflect that." The last time the show had to deal with colder weather in Los Angeles was for Big Brother: Over the Top. The last time its studio got an overhaul in design was in season 16.
The Chenbot is taking a pay cut. Another one of the things Moonves mentioned to his wife was that in order for it to work, she wouldn't be compensated the same as during the summer broadcast. Speaking candidly about her conversation with her husband, Chen previously revealed to THR, "He comes home for dinner and says in a very Godfather, mafioso-style, 'Jules, you tell your lawyer this is not a negotiation. This is what the deal is and you're going to accept it.' And I said, 'Is that the way you speak to your wife?'" With a laugh she continued, "He said, 'You tell your attorney this is not a game we're playing. Everyone's taking a haircut. This is the only way it will make sense financially. You shouldn't be expected to be paid as if it's a full series. It's a condensed version.'"
Another reason for the pay cut is to fit the bill for booking talent to join the show.
Which stars are ready to align? When news of the show's celebrity edition was first announced, many speculated that it would be difficult for the series to book talent. Says Grodner, "There's no privacy and that's going to be a hurdle in getting a celebrity onboard." Adds Chen of the casting challenges, "We're being realistic. It's not going to be all Oscar winners." Adding that they'll look at the model that has worked for other celebrity-driven shows, she notes, "Whoever casts Dancing With the Stars does an amazing job. They don't always get household names, but some people kind of reinvent themselves and suddenly I see that person all over the tabloids."
So what do stars and fans of the show like Me, Myself and I's Bobby Moynihan, *NSYNC's Lance Bass, American Ninja Warrior host Matt Iseman, The Bachelorette lead Kaitlyn Bristowe and MTV alum Spencer Pratt think about possibly walking through the Big Brother doors?
Iseman, who also won Celebrity Apprentice, jokes to THR, "I am way too emotional. I think it's easy for me to focus on long-term strategy sitting at home, but in the house I'd probably get myself evicted first week. Hell, my stay would likely be shorter than [season 19's] Cameron [Heard]." He adds, "I'm an emotional guy. I'm a bit too trusting." As for Iseman's favorite former winner? He picks season 16's Derrick Levasseur, who he says "blew him away."
Superfan Moynihan shares that sentiment. The actor and SNL alum, who credits fan sites like Hamsterwatch for keeping him up to date over the years, calls Levasseur a "phenomenal player." On joining the game himself, the actor jokes he wouldn't be able to cope with the constant camera surveillance and lack of privacy: "If I did it, I would never go to the bathroom." But Grodner and Meehan have their eyes on Moynihan, telling THR that having him join the cast "would be awesome."
Bristowe, who fronted the 19th season of ABC's The Bachelorette, says she and fiance Shawn Booth "want to do it so bad." She adds, "That's the one show that we can think of that we'd want to go on after being on our kind of show." Bristowe also plans on having BB alumni on her Off the Vine podcast, and says she and Booth already have a strategy to win the game: "We know what we would do. We were talking to Spencer and Heidi [Pratt] who did Celebrity Big Brother in the U.K. and were treated as one houseguest. We're all for it." She adds with a laugh, "Do we have to apply?" Bristowe cites some of her favorite players as season 19 winner Josh Martinez, whom she wants as her new best friend, season 18 winner Nicole Franzel and fan favorite Britney Haynes from seasons 12 and 14.
Spencer Pratt (who competed twice on the U.K. version of Celebrity Big Brother) is all in as well. Telling THR he and friend Perez Hilton have been waiting for the day that the U.S. had their own celebrity version of the show, he jokes, "[It's] the Willy Wonka golden ticket of reality TV. Who doesn't want to be filmed 24/7 for CBS? That's like dying and going to heaven." And, like Bristowe, he already has a strategy: "You can't just go in there and be a villain. You need a strategy. You need to figure out who the strongest players are, then take him out." The former reality star adds, "You have to be able to adjust to what happens in the game."
Pratt's wish list of players to join? Nene Leakes, Scott Disick, O.J. Simpson, Billy Bush, Caitlyn and Brody Jenner and last season's runner-up, Paul Abrahamian.
Former *NSYNC member Bass has similarly expressed excitement about the possibility of joining the show. He tells THR, "It's about time! They ask me to do the British one every single year, but there's no game to it. Depending on the cast I might be tempted to go in the house, because I really think I have a strategy to win the game."
And it's a strategy that he's already practiced against Big Brother legend Dan Gheesling. Reveals Bass, "We created a Big Brother event at my house four years ago and Dan and his wife played with us. I was the only person to ever get Dan out. I had to turn on him at the very end." Chen hints that Big Brother may not be too far off in Bass' future, saying, "I won't say names, but maybe more than one member of *NSYNC is trying to get in there." Other names Chen has thrown into the ring have included Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg, Anthony Scaramucci, Tonya Harding and her longtime friend Andy Cohen. As for how the Watch What Happens Live! host thinks he'd do, Cohen jokes, "I'd have a target on my back because of my background stirring things up with the Housewives." As for which Real Housewives star he thinks would do well in the game, Cohen (who says season five of Big Brother is his favorite) suggests Lisa Vanderpump. All will be revealed as to which stars will play Big Brother soon enough, but until then, expect the unexpected.
Who do you want to see join the cast of Big Brother's first-ever celebrity edition? And how do you think they'll do in the game? Sound off in the comments section below and stay tuned to Live Feed for all things Big Brother.


The slums of La Saline.
Sometimes the world seems very big.
Children in developing nations looooove having their picture taken and shown to them. Especially if, as is often the case, they've never had their picture taken before.


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Station: Militants control an outlet in Iraq and this is what they do to make money
Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
by RamblerNash on Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:47 am
Twilight News
The Iraqi militias after the imposition of economic sanctions against Iran are threatened to reduce the funding of military and political activities in the country, according to the channel "Arab".
The US Treasury Department earlier disclosed the existence of files condemning Iraqi individuals, companies and banks linked to money laundering and smuggling operations for the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which in turn provides financial and military support for these militias.
Iraqi economic expert Muammar al-Araji told the channel that financial transfer companies and private banks owned by Iraqis and Iranians under the cover of banking and trade are exploiting the currency market, which has become a fertile market for money laundering operations for militias.
It is noteworthy that Iraq ranked 208 in the risk index of money laundering, ahead of Iran, which list in the center of 219.
Al-Araji added that many question marks revolve around the Iraqi economic system. The widespread corruption in the state's financial institutions has turned it into a haven for illegal activities, including the activities of Daqash, Hezbollah and the Quds Force.
He pointed out that there are large private banks using illegal and twisted methods to finance the militias of Iran and Iraq.
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on the Islamic Bank of the country and its partner, Aras Habib al-Fili, who won the last legislative elections for linking the financing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Contracts and fake projects
Al-Araji explained that the financing of these activities takes place through contracts and fictitious projects, salaries of thousands of fictitious employees, financial market transactions, currency exchange, thefts, bribes, kidnappings and extortion. The Iraqi militias may be affected by US sanctions against Iran.
It is noteworthy that the Central Bank of Iraq through its official window, the sale of between 150 million and 200 million dollars a day, to secure cash for government work, in local currency.
As for the extortion and bribes, a private security source, who asked not to be named, told Al-Arabiya.net that border ports and ports are one of the most important places of kidnapping and extortion. He pointed out that the Euphrates port in Diyala province due to the actions of the Udayb and Badr militias has become unsafe for many. Of traders who impose royalties on imported goods.
The source added that the work of these militias not only to impose royalties, but are trying to smuggle some trucks from this port, and if they are prevented, the bomb is bombarded by the mortar at night, to be easily accused of an organization calling for it.
With regard to seaports, the source explained that it is one of the most important financial sources. There are special offices for each militia called "customs trustee", which facilitates the entry and protection of goods in return for money, pointing out that the traffickers evade the administrative routine. Ships.
http://www.shafaaq.com/ar/Ar_NewsReader/150558a9-bc82-4d81-b35c-22bab39f5eaa
RamblerNash
Dodenex, Jjp5576, OrlandoT, Purpleskyz, RamblerNash
» The delegation of the Iraqi-French Friendship Committee visits the Iraqi Embassy in Paris
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When Can New York See the Once-In-a-Lifetime Green Comet?
The last time this comet was nearby, was about 50,000 years ago.
Don Morgan
Rare Comet Over New York, Not Seen In 50,000 Years
Here's when and where to see this rare green comet. Last time it traveled over this area, New York didn't exist.
'Bright, Fast Moving Star' Will Appear In The Skies Over New York
It's extremely rare that Upstate New York gets to watch a NASA rocket launch, but this week is our lucky chance.
See NASA's Stunning Pics of Upstate NY Fall Colors – From Space!
Upstate's great even from space!
15 New York State Observatories To View Space Like The James Webb
Where can you look at stars across New York State? Where are the top observatories and places to view space?
Kaylin
NASA Sending Nudes to Space in Hopes of Attracting Horny Aliens
U up?
Look Up! Dazzling Northern Lights May Light Up New York Sky
We may get lucky and catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights over New York.
Longest Lunar Eclipse This Century Visible In Upstate New York
Will the longest lunar eclipse of this century be visible here in Upstate New York when it happens on November 19th 2021?
NASA Rocket That'll Be Visible Across New York State Now Set To Launch Friday May 14th
NASA's "Black Brant XII" rocket will launch from their Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia Friday May 14. We should be able to watch across New York State.
NASA Rocket Launch Saturday Night Should Be Visible Across New York State
Here in Upstate New York, it's pretty rare for us to see a rocket launch from NASA. If the odds play in our favor, that may change this week.


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The WikiLeaks Panel
"Still, why not have the benefit of being thought disagreeable – the luxury of recorded observation?"
– Henry James, The Impressions of a Cousin.
In late January, the Center for Jewish History hosted a panel of information professionals on the topic of WikiLeaks. I paid the $10 entrance fee and sat in the audience. Scantly did I know other folks at the gathering, and sat alone, having just got off work and still in that unrelieved decompression zone that barnacles one who works a job that you above all do not bring home with you. When I walk out of the Croisic Building on 26th & Fifth Ave it is like the Biohazard agent returning from the Danger Zone in his Hazmat suit to the de-radiation chamber before entering the secret control room where tired analysts eat Fritos. The security at the WikiLeaks event must have been on to my trip, since I was probed twice going in before they found the loose coinage I didn't know was in the pocket of my London Fog.
The combined pedigrees of the five panelists, as read off by moderator Peter Wosh, of NYU, spanned a swooning horizon of opportunity for a student hoping to make a living in the Archives field. A magnum of verbiage which one might paste to one's name, for sustenance. The litany of pedigrees cast the panelists in an almost intimidating light as they sat on stage in grouped silence, like bishops of the Church. But by the end of the event, after all bishops had spoken, the spell drooped. Like the classroom, some were well-spoken, and others a tax on the good intention of good attention.
When provoked, the panel did not bite, and did not want to bend either way to the topic at hand. Ms. Trudy Huskamp Peterson, an ex-Archivist of the U.S., was smart and informative and broke down some of the bullet points behind the way WikiLeaks functions. But when it came to the big issues – spying, law enforcement, lack of security – she was mum (the panel aside, Ms. Peterson responded to an inquiry I posted on the SAA listserve with an abundance of archival tips for which I was eagerly and bowingly grateful). Mr. Pulzello, a "Solutions Architect," struck one as probably not the consultant most capital for hire, the type who takes 20 mins to answer a question that could have been answered in 2, like an uncle who talks about cars all the time while sitting in his armchair. An audience member asked a question about the accountability one might find themselves beholden to after a grave breach of security. The Solutions Architect, with the hunched air of a glib moral stickler, advised the woman that she should prepare her resume for a new job. She must have had a sense of humor, because she didn't laugh.
One should not exactly expect William F. Buckley v. Gore Vidal at an Archivist panel, but there is no shortage of potential agitation regarding the topic of WikiLeaks. It was as if whale oil merchants had gathered at town hall to discuss the advent of gas light. I had an existential moment wondering what we were all doing in the audience, staring up at these talking heads, like what happens when you go to a bad movie you thought would be good. Maybe I was the moral stickler.
The most lively and interesting of the group, a CUNY professor who blogs on information law, concluded with the ironical prospect of "doing nothing" in response to WikiLeaks – the idea that attention-hogs are best disarmed by ignoring them. He had a lively schpiel, the most performing of the group, but when this idea was challenged by an audience member, the panel responded with silence, as if exercising the Fifth Amendment at a mob trial.
It would have been encouraging to hear someone at least stick up for Julian Assange. Whether from personal belief or the risk of peer alienation, no one did. There were phrases dropped by the panel which I did enjoy, like "stovepipe of information," and "costless storage," and "netcentric diplomacy," which it would seem Julian Assange is a champion of, though no nod was made by the speakers. As a greenhorn, just a student and intern, and a new audience member to esteemed panels, I ventured to assume that such tiptoeing must be how one gets invited to esteemed panels. In all, it was encouraging to have WikiLeaks caucused by the Archives world. I chose to skip the post-panel reception, where I might have, along with wine and cheese, stuffed my maw with the proverbial foot and discouraged any prospect that foot might have of crossing paths in the future with anyone in attendance. The point is to have a job you don't have to scrub-off at the end of the day.
The information materials with which Julian Assange barters – the classified cables, videos, documents, etc. – are not "his," in that he had nothing to do with their generation or recordsmaking, yet Assange has roguishly granted himself the authority to broker deals with the Fourth Estate using these materials as currency. In a recent New York Times Magazine cover story, editor-in-chief Bill Keller synopsizes the paper's coterminous relationship with WikiLeaks as if the secrets had not been already planned to be made public on WikiLeaks. Keller may underestimate the capabilities of the average reader to digest information. The Times, like Der Spiegel and the Guardian, saddling themselves with a certain responsibility to protect both the public and government, acted as press agents for Assange. They helped Assange sell tickets to the show. Like the Wiki-panel, Keller treats Assange offhandedly while at the same time indulging the journalistic intrigue which Assange prompted for the newspaper. These major newspapers enter into Assange's black market, and then capitalize on the lawlessness in order to dishonor the agreements previously made, in the style of 1960s spy movies.
Like Bill Keller at the Times, Assange is listed on the WikiLeaks masthead as its "editor-in-chief." The Times, in its coverage of the release, refers to the collection as an "archive." Julian Assange is a unique kind of paranoid archivist, and the controversy caused by WikiLeaks portends a society where no power controls information. Assange avows that WikiLeaks is a work of "scientific journalism," which "allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true?"
The open media sources which exemplify the creed of WikiLeaks distrust the analog filters of media and the law. Politicians have employed the semantic tropes of Populist agitation against Julian Assange. His actions have been equated with terrorism, and enforcement of the Espionage Act against WikiLeaks has been bandied about in the press. Some have even called for Assange's assassination. Such Sunday morning talk-show vigilantism casts Assange as both a crusader and an agitator, and serves the behavioral patterns of Populism in the United States. But where Populists after the Civil War drew meagerly from the words of the small town press and travelling speechmakers, the political critics of WikiLeaks fear that the digital data stream is drowning society in information.
The outcry against Assange has been voiced by both the Right and Left, insofar as such bicameral ideologies make habit of afflicting their own platforms. Politicians aligned with the 21st century, in-vogue monkeywrench reactionary Tea Party have voiced a pick-axed opposition to WikiLeaks, as has Democratic Senator of California Dianne Feinstein, who deliberately used the op-ed page of The Wall Street Journal to invoke the Espionage Act against Assange, recalling that the Act is founded on the idea that information can indeed cause injury to the U.S. Government.
By releasing classified State Department cables, which involve the diplomacy of world nations, WikiLeaks frames the United States as a formidable archival central command. If an archive can be defined as a set of materials which has outlived its primary use, then the fact that the New York Times refers to a collection of WikiLeaks documents as the "Iraq War Archive" might suggest to readers that the war is over. For Julian Assange, the secrecy promotes the meaning and gravity of the files, and the context of history loses meaning without the conspiracy that history is presumed to be.
In 1890, Ignatius Donnelly, a Minnesota Congressman, published a novel of pseudo-historical science fiction, Caesar's Column, to promote his vision of a future doomed by the sickness of the present. Set in 1988, "rapacious business methods, the bribery of voters, the exploitation of workers and farmers by the plutocracy" bring about "a sadistic anti-utopia" whose capital is New York City, where the high bright lights disregard the old dichotomy of day or night.
The future of Ignatius Donnelly is no less cataclysmic than the intentions behind the hackers' consortia which threaten to demobilize the corporate data-wave in defense of WikiLeaks. An online aggregate of e-protester anti-communities under the name "Anonymous" had indicated the vulnerabilities it is ready to exploit in the digital infrastructure of MasterCard and PayPal. Not unlike the Sedition Laws of the young United States, such cyber-sabotage asserts itself in support of the freedom of information. In turn, Apple Inc., an arkheion of technological lifestyle, subsequently dropped the WikiLeaks application from its iPhone, citing that it "violated our developer guidelines." Each maneuver between those in favor of and those against WikiLeaks results in the withholding of info.
"Democratic societies need a strong media," Assange argues, because "the media helps keep government honest." After Assange's release from police custody in London, a result of sex crime charges, Judge Riddle ordered that Assange must reside, under surveillance, at Ellingham Hall, a Georgian mansion owned by Vaughan Smith, the founder of The Frontline Club, a society of journalists. Perhaps the Judge intended to punish Assange by imprisoning him in a domicile of newspeople.
There has been plenty of blowback against Assange, which he surely must have expected, and indeed might relish. In this context, the "do nothing" policy offered at the Wiki-panel might serve the purpose of transcending revenge paradigms. Assange's alleged profile on OK Cupid, the hook-up website, has been leaked, as well as a continuum of legal documents regarding his rape investigation.
Meanwhile, Assange is not the true whistleblower. The documents posted on WikiLeaks were retrieved by Private First Class Bradley Manning (downloaded to CDs marked "Lady Gaga," which serves the patterns of pop culture and secret information exemplified by the Watergate scandal voiced by "Deep Throat"). Bradley Manning now languishes under 23-hour solitary confinement in a military prison, while Assange drinks tea and decks himself in British-spun raiment. News coverage of Manning's incarceration indicates that the case against the PFC is foundering. A detailed breakdown of how Manning was able to access the secret documents is described here by the National Journal – essentially an indirect result of mismanaged intelligence overhauling by the U.S. government after 9/11.
The lifestyle of technology excites the hope that information is subject to its users rather than the users subject to it. The U.S. government has retorted that the information in the WikiLeaks documents itself is not of gravest consequence, but that the act of defying classified status is an act of espionage. The file means nothing without the technology by which it is coded. Populists fabricated the evidences of knowledge in fantastic novels and town square hamhock oratory. WikiLeaks bases its actions on the open record, kept secret less because of security, than because of power. The consequence is history.
Filed in Campus Whits ·Tags: Center for Jewish History, Croisic Building, Ignatius Donnelly, New York Times, panel, Populism, Solutions Architect, WikiLeaks


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Festivals Pop Montréal 2018
The country's hitting as big as it ever has.
Words: Emma Swann
Photos: Emma Swann
In its 150-or-thereabouts years of existence, Canada has proven itself pretty good at the ol' music thing. POP Montréal is an urban festival centred around the bars and venues of the city's Mile End neighbourhood: an area which itself has connections to Arcade Fire, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and Grimes, to name just three.
Local hero of sorts Richard Reed Parry is one of the big-name performers this year, alongside UK indie stalwarts The Charlatans and Gaz Coombes, plus electro queen SOPHIE, and other established acts US Girls, Bill Callahan, Wolf Parade, and Zola Jesus.
But most of POP Montréal is about the newcomers, and Thursday night at Casa Del Popolo has exactly that. Headliners BODEGA are, of course, from south of the border, but first up come Montréal's own Slight. Stacking synth on top of synth - both literally and metaphorically, they're akin to a half-speed Tame Impala, whirling atmospherics topped by noodling guitars and reverb-heavy vocals. Toronto's Queen of Swords follow, the two-piece layering operatic vocals on top of a backing track owing more than a little to the Twin Peaks soundtrack.
It's another Montréal band that are the night's revelation. Equal parts gnarly garage rock and in-your-face post-punk, Lemongrab are nothing short of brilliant. Vocalist Gaëlle Cordeau spends the set prowling the stage as if it's every bit her territory already: think the steely menace of Savages' Jehnny Beth coupled with the playfulness of Shame's Charlie Steen, as she screams vociferously in the middle of a quickly-opened 'pit.
BODEGA may be a known prospect, but that doesn't make tonight's set any less exciting. Debut 'Endless Scroll' now firmly canon, 'Jack In Titanic' finds itself a fists-in-the-air anthem - and there's barely a lyric not yelled back at the New Yorkers' faces throughout, despite it being their first time here.
Part way through his daytime set in the Parc du Marché des Possibilities, Jacobus - a well-known name in Canada, the Nova Scotian was part of hip hop outfit Radio Radio - is teaching a member of the crowd a dance. It's a strange situation, sure: the assorted crowd are both festival-goers and confused locals, dogs in tow. But it's one that fits his set, interjecting the odd English word into a largely French output, his tongue-in-cheek songs touching on hand-me-downs, and, to laughter from the Canadians present, the snow having melted.
Locals Vanille open Friday's evening festivities at L'Escogriffe. Describing themselves as "your area sad band" the outfit, formed around singer-songwriter Rachel Leblanc, bring impeccable jangly indie melodies to the fore, not unlike compatriots Alvvays - with touches of Pavement's slacker vibe on standout 'Cherry', or Camera Obscura's dreamy pop.
They're followed by another Montréal-based act, ggpeach. Opening with a solo number before being joined by a full band, she switches between classic rock'n'roll and almost Beck-like funk in an instant, her silky vocals a constant. The night finishes at the Barfly, where Newfoundland's Soap Opera not only forget their name, but treat the tiny bar to intense, swirling psych numbers.
Saturday's block party features a record fair - and being the weekend, a lot of small children. Whether they're in to Art School Girlfriend, here as part of the Focus Wales showcase, remains to be seen, but Polly Mackey and band's dark, moody atmospherics belie the daylight, outdoor venue, with more than a hint of The xx in their sound.
The day closes with another Montréal act, Mort Rose. Their name is, we're told, about playing dead, or falling in love. Their music veers between Mac DeMarco jangly indie and '90s alt: one number is as if be-hatted grump Badly Drawn Boy was, well, happy.
As the sun sets on the daytime acts, it's back to Casa Del Popolo, and some riotous punk courtesy of Rose Bush. The Montréal group begin with a "One, two, fuck you", and it's no stretch to say they're heavily influenced by '90s riot grrrl. With bassist Ali Levy and guitarist Amanda Lea sharing vocal duties - switching it up between gang, call-and-response, and plain singing to each other - it's scratchy, minimalist and discordant. Amanda's guitar lines bring to mind Sleater-Kinney; Ali's shouty vocals are more Bikini Kill. There's even a hint of Pixies, too, as the trio - completed by drummer Brigitte Naggar - shout "Save me Jesus… fucking Christ!". In direct contrast, Sea Moya (also from Montréal) are all about introspection. Noodly electronics and bouncy rhythms are the name of their game.
At Barfly, Newfoundland's Lo Siento are smashing through their Spanish-language garage rock. It might be the ramshackle nature of the tiny bar's setup having its way with the sound, or just Argentinian frontwoman Pepa Chan's pitch, but we'd be lying if we didn't note a musical similarity to Hispanophone sisters Hinds. The subject matter on show is quite different, though, with anxiety, female solidarity and indigenous people all touched on.
Finally, it's the turn of Chiffres. Another Montréal act, the trio peddle intense, brooding post-punk, visceral and to-the-point, bristling with a compelling menace.
If POP Montréal has shown us one thing - and, with plenty of time to discover the city during the daytime, it allows for much more than that - it's that below the big names, under even the buzzy new acts, Canada's hitting as consistently as it ever has.
Pick of the Pops: artists' albums of 2019
Who have been your faves' faves of 2019?
BODEGA - Shiny New Model
On this highly danceable new addition they barely make a mis-step.
Bodega reveal new single 'Knife On The Platter'
It's the latest slice of their forthcoming mini-album 'Shiny New Model'.
Tracks: Mystery Jets, The Big Moon, Swim Deep, BODEGA and more
All the biggest and best tracks of the past two weeks, rounded up and reviewed.