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An exhibition about The Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case which has become the biggest and most controversial murder investigation in Icelandic history.
The Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case has become the biggest and most controversial murder investigation in Icelandic history. British Photographer, Jack Latham, has immersed himself in all aspects of the case, meeting key protagonists, exploring and photographing key sites from the investigation. From police files to conspiracy theories, forensic science to the notion of Memory Distrust Syndrome, Latham's project examines issues of evidence and truth, certainty and uncertainty, especially with regard to memory and the medium of photography.
Jack Latham is the recipient of the Bar Tur Photobook Award 2015. The book is co-published by Here Press and The Photographers' Gallery.
Reconstruction of Geirfinnur´s death, 23 January 1977. Photograph from original police archive.
The Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case has become the biggest and most controversial murder investigation in Icelandic history. However, this exhibition does not seek to solve or present new facts relating to the case. In contrast, Latham's project brings together original photographs with archival photography and other documentary materials to explore the fundamental nature of the medium of photography; questioning photography's defining principles of truth and objectivity in light of the Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case.
The photograph as visual evidence remains a potent and persuasive concept. To make a photographic image in the sense of recording the existence of the external world and fix it on paper so that it might be viewed independently of the original scene or object is a founding principle of photography itself. The mechanistic nature of photography secured for the medium its ongoing association with objectivity. Machines are unburdened by emotion, and disinterested in what the photographer frames in the viewfinder, the camera-as-a-machine simply records. This fact, combined with the indexicality of the photograph itself, secured its status as a document and a form of evidence. It accounts for the authoritative power of photography since its invention. It also highlights its crucial role in the creation of the archive, a living 'memory' of stored knowledge: accessible, legible, and not subject to human 'forgetting'.
Police investigations, conspiracy theories, Icelandic anxieties of the 1970s, retribution and justice, detection and closure, mystery and uncertainty, guilt and innocence, loss and isolation, and the role of photography in the case are writ large across Sugar Paper Theories. Drawing on Gísli Guðjónsson's notion of 'memory distrust syndrome (MDS)' (developed from case studies relating to false confessions), Latham's work actively displaces our faith in photography's truthfulness. According to Guðjónsson MDS is a condition 'where people develop profound distrust of their memory and become susceptible to relying on external cues and suggestions from others.' Following this definition, Latham's photographs ask us to reconsider the function of photography as a form of evidence and reliable truth; how can we trust what they tell us? How can we be sure of their meaning?
Images of sites of disappearance, portraits, street scenes, interiors and landscapes only complicate our engagement with the case. Latham's project highlights profound dialectical tensions, such as the troubled relationship between the documentary image and aesthetic photography. Latham's large-format photographs are composed and printed to be admired as objects in and of themselves; they are complete with aesthetic qualities that can be divorced from the specifics of the case, and yet they exist because of the case. Likewise, the archival photographs from police files possess an arresting aesthetic dimension despite the origins of their making (as factual recordings of crime scenes for forensic purposes). These evidential images reveal themselves, like the archive itself, as an active rather than passive participant in the construction of meaning.
Latham's project is a challenge to authoritative, or official, state-sanctioned photographic narratives, and by extension, documentary photography, itself. Sugar Paper Theories offers narratives of uncertainty: a photography of doubt. Here the photograph is not an endpoint – a visual evidentiary footnote to prove a point – but a beginning to a new set of questions:a recognition of photography's instability.


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Performance Shipping Inc. Announces Results of 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Changes to Board of Directors and Executive Officers
By: Performance Shipping Inc. via GlobeNewswire News Releases
February 28, 2020 at 16:10 PM EST
ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Performance Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: DCIX), (the "Company"), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of vessels, today announced that the Company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") was duly held on February 18, 2020, in Limassol, Cyprus, pursuant to a Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders dated January 9, 2020. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. acted as inspector of the Meeting.
Annual General Meeting Results
At the Meeting, each of the following proposals, which are set forth in more detail in the Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and the Company's Proxy Statement sent to shareholders on or around January 9, 2020, was approved and adopted:
(1) The election of Antonios Karavias and Andreas Nikolaos Michalopoulos as Class I Directors of the Company, to serve until the Company's 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders; and
(2) The appointment of Ernst & Young (Hellas) Certified Auditors Accountants S.A. as the Company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020.
Changes to the Board of Directors
Also effective as of the date of the Meeting, Mr. Anastasios Margaronis, Mr. Nikolaos Petmezas and Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis have resigned from the Board of Directors due to other business commitments. The Company's Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Christos Glavanis and Ms. Aliki Paliou to the Board of Directors, effective as of the date hereof, to fill the existing vacancies created by the resignations of Messrs Margaronis and Petmezas. Mr. Glavanis will be appointed as Chairman of the Company's Compensation Committee.
Biographical information for each of Mr. Glavanis and Ms. Paliou is set forth below in this press release.
Changes in Executive Officers
The Company also announced that effective today, as part of a long-term management succession plan, Mr. Anastasios Margaronis has resigned from his position as the Company's President, Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis has resigned as the Company's Chief Strategy Officer and Secretary, and Mrs. Semiramis Paliou has resigned as the Company's Chief Operating Officer, in order to devote substantially all of their business time to other endeavors. The Company's Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Michalopoulos as Secretary to replace Mr. Zafirakis, effective as of the date hereof. The above-referenced management succession plan also included the appointment of Mr. Andreas Michalopoulos to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, as previously announced on October 31, 2019.
Symeon Palios, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented:
"We welcome and look forward to working with Mr. Glavanis and Ms. Aliki Paliou as our newest Directors of Performance Shipping Inc. and welcome Mr. Michalopoulos as a new Director effective as of February 18, 2020. While we are sorry that Mr. Margaronis, Mr. Zafirakis and Mr. Petmezas have stepped down as Directors, we thank them for their hard work and support over the years and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors."
Biographical Information of New Directors
Mr. Glavanis served as a Director of Diana Shipping Inc. from August 1, 2018 to February 19, 2020. Mr. Glavanis has over 30 years of experience in the audit profession, serving in several senior roles at Ernst & Young, including as Chairman and Managing Partner of EY Greece from 1987 to 2010 and Managing Partner of EY Southeast Europe from 1996 to 2010. Mr. Glavanis was also a main Board Member of EY EMEIA Regional and a member of EY Global Council. Currently, Mr. Glavanis is a non-executive board member of W S Karoulias S.A., a beverage distribution company based in Athens, Greece and BuyaPowa Ltd., a London, England based online platform allowing users to design, launch, and analyze social sales campaigns. He is also the trustee of Phase Worldwide, a United Kingdom charity. He previously served as a non-executive board member and chairman of the Audit Committee of Korres S.A, a Greece based cosmetics company, chairman of the Audit Committee of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, board member and audit committee member of Eurobank SA and a non-executive board member of Pharmaten S.A. Greece based pharmaceutical company.
Ms. Aliki Paliou has served as an Independent Director since February 2020. She has also served as Director, Vice-President and Treasurer of Unitized Ocean Transport Limited since January 2020. From 2010 to 2015 she was employed as a Director and Treasurer of Alpha Sigma Shipping Corp. Ms. Paliou studied Theatre Studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK and obtained an M.A. in Scenography at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London, UK. In 2005 she graduated with honors from the Greek School of Fine Art in Athens, Greece. She is the daughter of Symeon Palios, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, and is married to Andreas Michalopoulos, Performance Shipping Inc.'s Director, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary.
Performance Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of vessels. The Company's current fleet of vessels is employed primarily on charters with leading charterers.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for our vessels, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.
Corporate Contact:
Andreas Michalopoulos
Director, Deputy Chief Executive Officer,
Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary
Telephone: +30-216-600-2400
Email: amichalopoulos@pshipping.com
Website: www.pshipping.com
Investor and Media Relations:
Edward Nebb
Comm-Counsellors, LLC
Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350
Email: enebb@optonline.net
Diana Containerships Inc

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The UBI Maze | Reflections on 'The Future of Work, Technology and Basic Income
David Frayne, Autonomy
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is the proposal that the state should provide a guaranteed income floor to everybody, as a right of citizenship. As someone who first learned about the policy from socialist tomes with forbidding names like Critique of Economic Reason, I can sometimes hardly believe that the idea has gone mainstream. And yet here we are. The UK Labour Party would have trialled UBI in Liverpool, Sheffield and the Midlands had they won power. Meanwhile, clips of the US Democrat candidate Andrew Yang, discussing UBI with the likes of talk show host Stephen Colbert, have been watched millions of times online.
Watching the enthusiasm grow, one might be forgiven for thinking that UBI were the solution to all the world's problems, but not everybody is so enthusiastic. Some argue that the policy would undermine the motivation and duty to work, nurturing a generation of idlers and misanthropes. Disabled groups have voiced concerns that the policy could draw resources away from targeted welfare and social programmes. Others say that the policy does too little for equality, especially if it gives the wealthy more pocket money for extravagant consumption.
Adding to the headache of thinking about UBI, vast differences also exist among its supporters. Disparate figures, from Martin Luther King to Elon Musk and André Gorz, have all supported the policy – something made possible by its diversity of justifications. The version of UBI proposed by Andrew Yang is often billed as a soft landing for people whose jobs are displaced by automation. The argument is that it could help support people while they re-establish themselves, track down the right job, or start a small business. The concerns of other supporters are differently accented. Some see the policy as a fair way to redistribute the fruits of natural resources like oils and minerals. Critics of work have viewed UBI as providing a viable exit choice for workers trapped in abusive dynamics (whether in employment or at home), and others have billed it as a policy that could potentially synergise with labour automation and a shorter working week, to the ends of increasing citizens' free-time.
Complicating this maze of arguments even further, we can zoom in on Universal Basic Income and see that the concept is actually made up of three separate parameters, each the source of their own internal debates. Asking how universal means thinking about who precisely should receive the social minimum. Are children or non-citizens included? Should basic income come bundled with any work requirements, and would there be additional means-tested support for people with more complex needs? Asking how basic means thinking about the ideal amount for UBI. Are we talking about enough money to survive without a job, or a more modest safety net? Finally, asking what income involves a tricky debate about whether the social minimum should be delivered with cash, public services, or some combination of the two.
All of this adds up to a pretty overwhelming field of discussion. Worried about saying the wrong thing, I have been looking for a roadmap to guide me through the intricacies. I feel glad to have found it in Michael Cholbi and Michael Weber's excellent The Future of Work, Technology, and Basic Income, an edited collection of essays published earlier this year. The book provides a philosophical contribution to the debate, focusing on normative questions of freedom, justice and the good life. Instead of summarising the book, allow me to say a few words about its contribution to three key questions that have been on my mind: what could basic income do for freedom, should it come with a work requirement, and what would people do with themselves without jobs?
What can basic income do for freedom?
You have signed on to benefits, surrendering your agency to the welfare bureaucrats. They force you to take part in back-to-work programmes and threaten you with sanctions for non-compliance. After weeks of scouring the job listings, you finally find a job. You take it, glad to break free from the welfare system, only to now find yourself under the law of what Elisabeth Anderson calls a 'private government'. A boss you did not choose commands an authoritarian rule, piling on the work, optimising your movements, snooping into your private life, and busting your attempts to organise. 'At least I have the freedom to find a better job', you think to yourself, but you have heard similar horror stories from your friends in other places. You are a player in the worst kind of choose-your-own-adventure game, where most choices lead to the same ending: a realisation about your basic lack of freedom.
Freedom is a key theme in The Future of Work, Technology and Basic Income. In the book's opening chapter, Matt Zwolinski finds an unlikely champion of UBI in the libertarian philosopher and disciple of the free-market, Friedrich Hayek. Hayek's support is explained in terms of his interest in a particular type of freedom – the freedom from coercion by arbitrary authorities. Whether we are thinking about the unreasonable demands of authoritarian bosses or the discretionary power of Job Centre advisors, these are all things that would violate Hayek's idea of freedom, and they are all abuses of power that are enabled, at their root, by citizens' reasonable fear of falling into poverty.
In this context, Zwolinski suggests that UBI could operate as a kind of anti-tyrant device. By alleviating poverty, UBI has the potential to eliminate some of the fear that allows coercive power to remain unchecked. With the benefit of relative economic security, people can refuse. His chapter adds an interesting insight when it suggests that in some cases, UBI might be a superior check on coercion than the alternative option, which is to suddenly ban particular practices. When a group of union members were fighting for a ban on temporary contracts at my previous university, I gave my support, and yet my predominant thought was 'if the precarious positions go, then I won't even have those to sustain me.' The crippling insecurity aside, I also secretly quite liked the existence of opportunities to work at the fringes of the institution. The benefit of UBI, according to Zwolinski, is that it puts limits on coercion by giving individuals more options, rather than taking options away.
This idea returns at the end of the book in Vida Panitch's excellent chapter on basic income and intimate labour (a category that includes commercial surrogacy, egg donation, and various forms of sex work). Panitch suggests that liberal feminists have been stuck on a core dilemma: how to preserve the possibility that intimate labour could be consenting and beneficial, permitting the freedom to undertake it, whilst also recognising that it is usually exploitative and done out of desperation. Panitch argues that debates up to now may have focussed too much on the question of criminalisation – on whether the option to undertake intimate labour should be permitted or banned – yet it is clear that neither option adequately resolves the core dilemma. Reframing the debate, Panitch suggests that feminists could focus on the potential of UBI: a policy which might preserve the option to undertake intimate labour, whilst also removing the necessity to undertake it out of economic desperation.
In the detail of their arguments, both Zwolinksi and Panitch offer a broader reminder of something often forgotten in popular discussions of liberty: the fact that no matter what abstract freedoms society permits us, the actual power to make choices has to be built on a foundation of material security. The hypothetical freedom to act is worth little when it is not backed up by the resources to take action. When fans of liberty have failed to understand this, they have tended to blame the individual ('why didn't you just look for a better job / leave the abusive partner / get yourself back into education?') Insisting on the need for more than hypothetical liberty, one of the bigger promises of UBI is that by eliminating poverty and its associated fear, it might boost citizens' actual freedom to make significant life choices.
In another chapter, Jessica Flannigan offers further insights on freedom using principles drawn from anarchism. The chapter provides a novel defence of UBI as a method of enabling people to opt out of a capitalist system of property relations – a system she suggests that nobody explicitly consented to. In this case, UBI might represent more than the freedom to move around the labour market, as some proponents have envisaged; it could also represent a freedom to reject the norms of the capitalist system and survive outside the cycle of employment and consumption. Flannigan provides a glimpse of a more radical conception of UBI, conceived as much more than a welfare safety net: a UBI high enough to allow people to experiment with fundamentally different ways of living.
Finally, in his own chapter, editor Michael Cholbi examines one of the most popular defences of UBI: the idea that it serves freedom by avoiding paternalism. As Cholbi points out, the idea of a social minimum is very clearly anti-paternalistic because it removes the power of the state to decide who gets financial support and under what conditions. In a situation where benefit conditionality has developed to include not only behavioural conditions but also forms of mandatory brainwashing, this particular advantage of UBI is hard to overstate. Whilst the anti-paternalism of a guaranteed social minimum is plain to see, however, Cholbi argues that the jury is still out on whether it is less paternalistic to provide a social minimum with cash or some variety of Universal Basic Services (things like publicly provisioned housing, healthcare, transport and so on). With meticulous reasoning, Cholbi concludes that neither UBI nor public services necessarily tell people how to live their lives: both cash and services serve a fundamental need for social security and are 'sufficiently generic in their instrumental utility', meaning that the case for one over the other must be made on grounds other than anti-paternalism. Cholbi's chapter invites us to find new arguments for the respective advantages of cash versus services, and I hope someone will take up the mantle.
Should there be a work requirement?
Even among those who support the idea of a social minimum, there are still those who question the idea that it should be offered without any conditions. As Hayek proclaimed with indignation: 'are we to subsidise their hermitages?' Bristling at the idea of a public fund for misanthropes, Hayek is asking us to consider whether basic income should ideally come bundled with some kind of work requirement. In The Future of Work, Technology and Basic Income, every author who visits the question answers with a conclusive 'no'.
In her chapter on UBI and anarchism, Jessica Flannigan suggests that an advantage of unconditional basic income is its potential to end the division of societies into groups of 'deserving / underserving', 'productive / unproductive' individuals. These are suspicious and resentful divisions, fuelled by today's means-testing and welfare conditionality. Flannigan wisely suggests that such distinctions not only undermine solidarity, but are also plain unfair, given that many in society cannot work, and many others make diverse and important productive contributions outside of employment (unpaid carers are perhaps the most obvious example). UBI could boost solidarity by conveying the message that everybody shares the same rights.
The main worry, though, is that unconditional basic income could undermine a sense of social reciprocity: the some-say sacred balance between rights and responsibilities, which deems it wrong to take something without also giving back. Another way of putting this is that UBI would violate the social duty to maintain a job. This problem was tackled by the editor Michael Cholbi, in a paper which predates the current book. Cholbi looked at the modern duty to maintain employment, arguing that it only stays valid if there are ample opportunities to contribute something useful through employment, as well a chance to receive adequate rewards in return. In today's society of dubious (bullshit) jobs and working poverty, Cholbi suggests that neither of these conditions are adequately met, making the duty to maintain employment philosophically indefensible.
Adding to these insights, individual chapters in the book by Andrea Veltman and Evelyn Forget both make the important point that the need for human labour is something that rises and falls historically. Both authors voice a truth that is rarely spoken: the fact that societies can sustain and reproduce themselves adequately on far less than full employment. Given the state's current obsession with employment as an expression of worth and citizenship (even for disabled people and full-time carers), it was refreshing to see Forget state this so plainly: if people are not needed, 'why should we worry about how they spend their time?' For both Veltman and Forget, the duty to work deserves to be treated as a limited obligation rather than something that defines personal worth and the right to survival. Veltman says we should realise that individuals satisfy a duty to work in diverse ways, with Forget adding that work responsibilities could be reasonably regulated with cultural mechanisms like esteem and opinion, rather than political sanctions. Both, in sum, argue against pairing basic income with a work requirement.
Approaching the question differently, Matt Zwolinski focuses on the impracticality of imposing work requirements. Given the myriad ways in which it is possible to contribute to society, both inside and outside the remit of paid employment, sorting out which activities 'count' as a worthy contribution is just too philosophically fraught. Zwolinski considers a hypothetical case in which someone stays at home working on the next great American novel. Should this activity officially count as a social contribution? What if the novel turns out to be a load of rubbish and nobody reads it? Should it still count? The futility of coming up with a satisfactory definition of social contribution quickly becomes clear. Even if it were possible, Zwolinksi argues, the state could never enforce such a definition without unimaginable administration and invasions of privacy. His point is that even if we think reciprocity is an ethically valid standard to apply to work, it does not follow that governments should be entrusted to enforce it.
All of these strikes against the maintenance of work requirements lead to an obvious question – one that has been posed many times by critics of UBI: if people received an income from the state, what on earth would motivate them to work? Responding to this question, Andrea Veltman makes one of the most powerful points in the book: that those who pose this question never seem to consider the problems with how we motivate people in the here and now. Most workers now are motivated through coercion: by a system that requires all but the wealthy to either work or perish, and where the worst jobs inevitably fall to those who have the least. Critics who reject UBI on the basis that there would no longer be a way to motivate workers hence succumb to a kind of slave-driver mentality – a refusal to consider the idea that there might be ways other than coercion and deprivation to ensure that society's necessary work is performed.
Sticking with this issue, Evelyn Forget's chapter offers a dose of optimism, suggesting that the labour market would likely reconfigure itself in ways that help maintain the incentive to work. Most people would presumably continue to work, either because work gives them personal value, or because they want the extra money. Some will decline, deciding that the costs of working outweigh the benefits. Their jobs will be taken by people who want them. Jobs that attract no employees will be forced to sweeten the deal with higher wages, and perhaps there will be a remainder of jobs that don't attract anybody. Forget suggests that we might treat this as the reflection of a social decision to do without these forms of labour.
All of this makes good sense, although in a separate chapter, Frank Schmode suggests that we still have to respond to the problem of 'essentially bad work'. Essentially bad work sucks not only because the conditions are bad, or it is unsuited to the worker's capacities (things which can theoretically be redeemed); essentially bad work sucks full-stop, because it involves extreme risks, harms or unpleasantness. One hope is that automated technologies will eventually be able to take care of these tasks, but the risk is that with the introduction of UBI, the work would fall to people who are ineligible for payments (those without citizenship status, or residing in countries without UBI). In response, Schmode invites us to consider the possibility of reconceiving terrible jobs as a collective social problem. Might there be a way to fairly distribute such tasks without relying on market mechanisms?
Also on the topic of bad but necessary jobs, Andrea Veltman designates a degree of responsibility to citizens. She thinks we should be more attentive to the labour on which our daily practices rely (labour which capitalism has tried very hard to keep from view). We should clean up our own mess, and try buying less stuff, if we can. I have always argued that the benefit of a post-work politics is that it takes us away from a focus on individual responsibility, to think at the policy level. Nevertheless, it is hard not to see the wisdom in Veltman's words. Think about what you are doing.
What should people without jobs do with themselves?
UBI's potential as an anti-poverty measure is clear. Nobody who is eligible will be permitted to fall beneath its income floor. Yet it is important to qualify this by remembering that in today's employment-centred societies, jobs are supposed to provide much more than an income. They are also designated as a main source of psycho-social goods such as recognition, meaning and sociality, playing a major role in how people gain self-respect, a sense of personal direction and a public life (at least in theory). If UBI is being conceived as a form of alternative income for people, in a world where more job tasks are performed by robotics and AI, it is important to acknowledge that jobs have a personal as well as economic significance.
This point was made forcefully by Amber A'Lee Frost in a recent takedown of UBI for Jacobin magazine. In the article, Frost depicted advocates of UBI (Yang supporters in particular) as 'failsons' – champions of a comfortable but spiritually empty social withdrawal, who spend most of their time on the internet. She compared this with the tragedy of the postwar middle-class housewife, who shared the economic security of her husband, but became self-destructive and chronically bored in the process, dosing up on tranquilisers or listlessly wandering the suburbs. Frost's essential argument was that UBI would enable a new generation of 'paid off and discarded' individuals, wallowing in their own social dislocation.
Frost's core concerns with isolation and the death of public life are extremely valid, but her argument was based on an odd assumption. It seemed to suggest that economic protection (what Frost derided as 'being kept') and social isolation share some fundamental connection. I would in fact argue that the loneliness of the postwar housewife was not a case against economic protection, but a case for economic security and more: a case for collectivised care, for a right to meaningful employment (for those who want it), for the death of the patriarchy, and for an injection of public life into the stuffy suburb. There is in fact nothing inherent in UBI proposals to say that individuals should be discarded or denied a public existence, but there is a question we must still ask: does UBI do enough for people who are expected to live without, or with significantly less work?
These are concerns that Evelyn Forget takes up in her chapter 'Work and Worth', which cites a number of empirical studies to show the harsh psychological consequences of unemployment. These consequences include the horrible 'deaths of despair' as a result of poor labour market opportunities, studied by Anne Case and Angus Deaton. The problem is real and deeply concerning, but reading Forget's chapter, I wondered whether the author had been too decisive in her conclusion that 'work is inherently valuable to human beings' (even if Forget acknowledges that the problem is complicated by the existence of bad jobs). The chapter's empiricism leaves no space to explore the possible contingency of employment as a source of psycho-social goods. This is a possibility that the book's co-editor, Michael Cholbi, explored in a recent contribution to Autonomy, where he suggested that employment might be more of an adaptive than inherent preference. In other words, it is possible that today's personal dependency on employment says less about the inherent psychological value of jobs, and more about our system's withdrawal of other ways to gain respect, maintain a public existence and put food on the table.
I was inclined to agree with Andrea Veltman's argument in a later chapter on 'the good of work', which suggests that even if a public preference for work can be demonstrated empirically, policymakers needn't feel beholden to this in their designs for the future. Factors like overproduction, automation, the impositions of work on freedom, and the harms of work present a strong case for policies that help people acclimate to a society where jobs are more peripheral. Here, Veltman follows Cholbi in considering the kinds of initiatives that could operate alongside UBI: things like redefining education as more than preparation for jobs, lowering the retirement age, shortening the national working week, and commending rather than shaming young people who prefer self-exploration over a job.
A separate issue from the empirical reality of work's psycho-social significance is whether, based on the data in hand, the state and related authorities should be permitted to push their own views on the goods of work. This is a highly relevant question, given recent developments in the UK. Drawing on a dubious evidence-base on the health benefits of employment, the government has been rolling out a programme of work-focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, as well as applying pressure on NHS doctors to adopt work as a 'health outcome'. By contrast, what is praiseworthy in Evelyn Forget's approach is that although she accepts the evidence on the health benefits of work, she still defends the sovereignty of individuals to decide the value of employment for themselves. This is a view she shares with Kory P. Schaff in a later chapter on UBI and inequality. Schaff suggests that although things like the opportunity for self-realisation, self-respect and community might constitute some generally agreed-on goods of employment, clearly not everyone will agree, meaning that the state has no grounds to impose these goods. As Forget writes, an advantage of UBI is that 'everyone can be their own judge'.
Finally, as well as exploring the personal significance of work and the state's right to impose its own ideas, the book takes a more concrete look at the question of what people might actually do with themselves in a society where employment was more peripheral. As a species, post-work writers have tended to be vague on this question (perhaps intentionally so), but something often stressed is that a shift away from employment need not be a shift toward idleness. This is a point made by Andrea Veltman, when she argues that it would be pragmatic to avoid couching UBI as a takedown of the work ethic. This is not because Veltman glorifies employment. Her argument is in fact no different from many critiques of work that came before: that one of the main problems with employment is it keeps people from doing work with genuine utility – a utility Veltman defines in terms of 'contributing our time and talent to communities'. Framed in this way, UBI is not so much an expression of 'anti-work' sentiments, but a case for resourcing people to opt for work that is genuinely valuable, whether this takes the form of care work, craft work, or political and civic-minded activities. It is about broadening out our definitions of what we are prepared to call, recognise and reward as 'work'.
In his chapter, 'In Defence of the Post-Work Future', John Danaher takes a different tack. Unembarrassed by anti-work sentiments, Danaher suggests that what we should celebrate in UBI (if coupled with the labour-reducing potential of automation) is the potential to reprioritise our lives in favour of a more game-like existence. As a fan of games, I was fascinated by Danaher's exploration of what constitutes play – something he defines as a 'voluntary triumph over unnecessary obstacles'. Danaher suggests that true games are something we are never required to take part in, although this is not the same as saying they have no impact in the 'real world'. Playing games involves and develops real human qualities like self-efficacy, aesthetic appreciation, character and community. What differentiates them from work, however, is that they are primarily undertaken for non-instrumental reasons, motivated by an individual's autonomous sense of what is good or worthwhile. This leads Danaher to perceive playing as a noble activity, in which there is more scope to live authentically and vigorously. The non-instrumentality of playing likens it to craftwork: activity that is directed by something other than extrinsic motivations like the promise of promotions, pay rises, or certificates. In the modern world, with its harsh economic realities, this purity of intention is a luxury that few of us can afford. According to Danaher, the ultimate promise of UBI and the post-work paradigm is a future where what we do and how we do it are no longer dictated by economic necessity.
TAGS: TECHNOLOGY, UBI, UBI Maze


The latest advances in skincare promise to treat, refine and protect. Mikki Taylor, ESSENCE magazine Beauty and Cover Director helps show you to love and protect the skin you're in. Find out how to put your fresh face forward.
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Don't believe Black doesn't crack. Harmful rays don't discriminate. And it's key to use sunblock on hyperpigmented areas to keep them from getting darker. Try Clinique Sun SPF 30 Face Cream, $18, clinique.com.


Argued March 15, 16, 1909.
Messrs. Jules C. Rosenberger, James C. Jones, and Kersey Coates Reed for plaintiff in error.
Messrs. William C. Scarritt, Elliott H. Jones, and Edward L. Scarritt for defendant in error.
This case presents a question of the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States to entertain a suit brought by Mary B. Davis, defendant in error, plaintiff below, against the Commercial Mutual Accident Company, plaintiff in error, defendant below. The case comes here upon a certificate involving the question whether the defendant company was duly served with process. The circuit court found that the service of summons was valid and sufficient to give it jurisdiction, and overruled a motion to set aside the service and dismiss the action for want of jurisdiction.
The suit was commenced by Mary B. Davis in the circuit court of Howard county, Missouri, and was removed to the circuit court of the United States for the central division of western Missouri by the defendant, a Pennsylvania corporation. The company made no appearance in the court below or in the state court, except for the purpose of raising the question of jurisdiction, and removing the case to the Federal court. Such proceedings did not amount to a general appearance in the suit. Goldey v. Morning News, 156 U. S. 518, 39 L. ed. 517, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 559; Wabash Western R. Co. v. Brow, 164 U. S. 271, 41 L. ed. 431, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 126.
'However, if you think it is right, you may send someone here to examine the body for you. Can't you also send someone authorized who could settle the claim here if your doctor found everything as reported, as most all of the claims have been paid, and I am very anxious to have the balance settled as soon as possible.
To this letter the company replied by a letter written by its secretary at the Philadelphia office, that it would have its medical representative in Fayette with authority to make an adjustment. Afterwards, on February 27, Dr. Mason went to Fayette, having received a written letter of authority from the company, authorizing him to act on behalf of the company in the examination of the body of the deceased, which letter also authorized him to adjust the claim.
The testimony is not altogether in harmony as to what occurred at the meeting of February 27. It does appear that the representative of the plaintiff and Dr. Mason met and conferred upon the matter of compromising the claim, and that afterwards an offer was made by the plaintiff's representatives to proceed with an examination of the body of the deceased. Dr. Mason declined this offer until he could have another physician present; and, after some negotiation, a deputy sheriff appeared and served process upon Dr. Mason as agent of the company, upon a petition which had been prepared before his arrival, and which was filed in the case subsequently removed to the Federal court. There is also testimony tending to show that a physician was present, who was ready to assist in the examination of the body as a representative of the plaintiff.
The grounds of objection to the service in the case may be summarized to be: First, that Mason was not a person authorized to receive service of process on defendant's behalf; second, that, at the time the service was attempted, the defendant company was not engaged in the transaction of business in the state of Missouri; third, that Dr. Mason was enticed into the state of Missouri by the trick and device of the plaintiff; fourth, that the return of service did not disclose a valid service under the laws of the United States nor of the state of Missouri.
Executed the within writ in the county of Howard and state of Missouri, on the 27th day of February, A. D. 1907, by delivering a copy of the petition in this case hereto attached and a copy of this writ to Frank G. Mason, agent of the withinnamed defendant, the Commercial Mutual Accident Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania, and doing business in the state, but having no office or place of business herein, and not incorporated under the laws of this state nor authorized to do business in this state, and while he, the said agent, was transacting business for the said defendant in our said county, and while he was adjusting or settling a loss on a policy of insurance for said defendant, or was aiding and assisting in so doing.
By H. L. Hughes, Deputy.
In view of the fact that much of the business of the country is done by corporations having foreign charters and principal offices remote from states wherein they transact business, it has been found necessary to make provision for the service of summons upon local agents, in order to give jurisdiction to try controversies which have originated in such states. With this purpose in view, many states have provided that foreign corporations, in order to do business within the state, must make provision for service upon some local agent, or by authority conferred upon some state officer to accept service of summons. And but for such statutes and the authority given by the states to obtain service upon local agents, there could be no recovery upon the contracts of such companies, unless redress be sought in a distant state, where the company may happen to have its home office. Connecticut Mut. L. Ins. Co. v. Spratley, 172 U. S. 602, 619, 43 L. ed. 569, 575, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 308; Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. Harris, 12 Wall. 65, 83, 20 L. ed. 354, 358.
In pursuance of this policy the state of Missouri has enacted the sections of its statutes providing for service upon the agents of insurance companies. In § 7992 it is provided, among other things, that service may be made by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to any person within the state who shall solicit insurance on behalf of any insurance company, or make any contract of insurance, or who collects or receives any premium for insurance, or who adjusts or settles a loss or pays the same for such insurance corporation, or in any manner aids or assists in doing either. Under this section, in part, at least, the sheriff undertook to make service upon Dr. Mason. The record clearly discloses that Mason had authority to adjust and settle the loss which was the subject of the plaintiff's claim. It is true that the statute says that service may be upon 'any person within the state . . . who adjusts or settles the loss,' etc. This language clearly has reference to the authority of the person whom the statute declares to be competent to receive service of summons, and the statute, in effect, provides that the person clothed with such power shall be capable of receiving service upon the corporation. The statute designing to reach one having the authority of the company for the purpose named, it is immaterial that the loss was not actually settled. This section (7992) is limited to the cases of companies not incorporated under the laws of the state, and not authorized to do such business within the state by the superintendent of insurance.
This law was in force when Dr. Mason came into the state, clothed with full authority to settle the loss. The company must be presumed to have acted with knowledge of this statute. The company could only be served with process through some agent. It was competent for the state, keeping within lawful bounds, to designate the agent upon whom process might be served. It chose to enact a statute providing that an agent competent by authority of the company to settle and adjust losses should be competent to represent the company for the service of process. When the company sent such an agent into Missouri, by force of the statute he is presumed to represent the company for the purpose of service, and to be vested with authority in respect to such service so far as to make it known to the foreign corporation thus coming within the state and subjecting itself to its laws. Lafayette Ins. Co. v. French, 18 How. 404, 408, 15 L. ed. 451, 453.
It is not necessary that express authority to receive service of process be shown. The law of the state may designate an agent upon whom service may be made, if he be one sustaining such relation to the company that the state may designate him for that purpose, exercising legislative power within the lawful bounds of due process of law. This was held in effect in Connecticut Mut. L. Ins. Co. v. Spratley, 172 U. S. 602, 43 L. ed. 569, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 308.
We think the state did not exceed its power and did no injustice to the corporation by requiring that, when it clothed an agent with authority to adjust or settle the loss, such agent should be competent to receive notice, for the company, of an action concerning the same.
It is further contended that the defendant company was not doing business within the state of Missouri. That it is essential, in order to obtain jurisdiction over a foreign corporation having, as in the case at bar, neither property nor agent in the state, that it be doing business in the state, is settled by numerous decisions of this court. St. Clair v. Cox, 106 U. S. 350, 27 L. ed. 222, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 354; Goldey v. Morning News, 156 U. S. 518, 39 L. ed. 517, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 559; Barrow S. S. Co. v. Kane, 170 U. S. 100, 42 L. ed. 964, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 526; Connecticut Mut. L. Ins. Co. v. Spratley, supra; Conley v. Mathieson Alkali Works, 190 U. S. 406, 47 L. ed. 1113, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 728; Pennsylvania Lumbermen's Mut. F. Ins. Co. v. Meyer, 197 U. S. 407, 49 L. ed. 810, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 483; Peterson v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. 205 U. S. 364, 51 L. ed. 841, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 513.
Was the defendant doing business in the state of Missouri? The record discloses, and the court had found, that it had other insurance policies outstanding in the state of Missouri. Upon these policies undoubtedly premiums were paid, and it was the right of the company to investigate losses thereunder, to have an examination of the body of the deceased in proper cases, and to do whatever might be necessary to an adjustment or payment of any loss. The record shows that the company sent Dr. Mason to Fayette to investigate the loss sued for in this case, and later, and at the time of the service of the process, Mason was in Missouri with full suthority to settle the loss in controversy.
Previsous cases in this court have not defined the extent of the business necessary to the presence of a foreign corporation in the state for the purpose of a valid service; it is sufficient if it is doing business therein. We are of opinion that the finding of the court in this case is supported by testimony, and that the corporation was doing business in Missouri.
Upon the testimony before the court, the circuit court reached the conclusion that the company was not induced by fraud or artifice to send Dr. Mason to the state of Missouri. This court has jurisdiction to review, under § 5 of the act of March 3, 1891 [26 Stat. at L. 827, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 549], cases in which the question of jurisdiction alone is involved, and which are duly certified here for decision. And where the decision of the court below is clearly wrong, even upon a question of fact, it may be set aside under the power conferred by the statute upon this court. We think this is the effect of the reasoning in Goldey v. Morning News, supra; and Mexican C. R. Co. v. Pinkney, 149 U. S. 194, 37 L. ed. 699, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 859.
It is contended by counsel for the plaintiff in error that the evidence is undisputed, and clearly demonstrates the fraudulent conduct of the plaintiff in obtaining service in this case. But we are not prepared, on this question of fact, to say that the court below committed plain error. The court might have found upon the testimony that there was a bona fide attempt to settle the controversy between the parties, and that it was only when they failed to settle that service of summons was made upon Mason, as the agent of the company. There is testimony tending to show that both parties expected an adjustment of the claim to be made at this meeting, which was held for that purpose. There is testimony from which it might be inferred that there was a bona fide offer to permit an examination at that time of the remains of the deceased. We do not feel authorized to find, as against the testimony set forth in the bill of exceptions, and the finding of the court below, that the purpose in writing the letter of February 20, and procuring authority to be conferred upon Dr. Mason to settle the case, and to come into the state of Missouri for that purpose, was a mere fraudulent scheme to obtain service upon the insurance company.
As the sole question before us pertains to the sufficiency of the service under the facts disclosed, we reach the conclusion that the judgment of the Circuit Court must be affirmed.


Hey Raya!! Where is that from?? A book??
It is from a song of mexican singer El Buki aka Marco Antonio Solis.
It can be heard on soundtrack of a movie "Y tu mama tambien" directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
I found it when my favourite band Maná made a cover version from it.


text:
i-Research Lab
THOUGHTS ON AVENUES FOR GHANA'S DEVELOPMENT, PREMISED ON A SURVEY IN KNUST
¹Kwakye Sylvester, ²Obiri Darko Stella, ³Sackey Lyanne
This is a working paper, and therefore it represents research in progress. This publication illustrates the authors' opinions, and it is the product of randomized data collection. It does not represent the position or opinions of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, nor the official position of any staff member or student. All blunders are the authors' fault.
This is an article based on a randomized data collection conducted among 573 students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to find out their views on the future of Ghana concerning population growth, technology, entrepreneurship, and politics.
In this article, we will be discussing the future of Ghana from the perspective of students in KNUST. We will start with a brief introduction to Ghana and KNUST. We will then move on to the results obtained in our survey as well as its statistical analysis. This will be followed by a discussion on the topic and we will finally conclude.
Ghana is a developing tropical country in West Africa with a population of 31.07 million making it the second most populated country in West Africa. 50.7% of the population are females and 49.3% are males. Ghana is currently made up of 16 regions covering a land area of 238,535km2. She shares borders with Burkina Faso to the north, Cote d'Ivoire to the west, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. Formerly known as the Gold Coast, Ghana attained its independence led by the Big Six on March 6, 1957. The independence of Ghana was quite a remarkable feat as she was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence from European colonial rule. She subsequently became a republic on July 1, 1960. Having gone through three republics, the country is now ruled by the 4th republican Constitution(1992 Constitution). Ghana is also a unitary, multiparty state with a presidential system. The country is well-known to the international community for its numerous natural resources such as gold, timber, cocoa, diamonds, bauxite to name a few. Ghana is also known for its tourist attractions, popular among them being the Kintampo national park, Kwahu paragliding festival, the Elmina and Cape Coast castles among others as well as her rich cultural and ethnic background with over 70 dialects and languages spoken but English is the official language.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is a public tertiary institution located in the Ashanti region of Ghana which aims to provide a conducive environment for acquiring knowledge and skills in science and technology to benefit the industrial and socio-economic development of Ghana. The school was established in 1951 and has since then produced students with high intellect in various fields who have a lot to offer society. In 2020, KNUST was named the best university in Ghana and West Africa as well as the 12th best university in Africa.
43.8% of our sample size believe that Ghana's population growth can positively affect the country's development. But 81.9% also agree that Ghana's population overwhelms the available facilities and social amenities in the country. Only 8.5% believe that there will be enough facilities to accommodate the population in future. 87.7% of our sample size agree that more investment should be made in locally developed technology. 68.5% also believe that locally manufactured technology can have the same potential as foreign technology. 93% of our sample size believe that research has an important role to play in the development of Ghana. Despite this, 64.3% and 76% had never even read a research paper written by a Ghanaian or by a student respectively. 89% agreed that inadequate attention is paid to the field by both students and prospective job applicants and 65% also believe that the field does not receive adequate remuneration from the government and non-profits. 86.3% of our sample size believe that students should be encouraged to pursue entrepreneurship ventures but only 18.6% of them are engaged in any businesses themselves. 84.9% also believe that entrepreneurship provides a better avenue for innovativeness than regular jobs. 65.7% think that they have the needed skills to engage in business with 41.3% citing money and 7.95% citing lack of support as hindrances to undertaking business ventures. 60% of our sample size believe that student leaders are only selected due to affiliation or favours. Only 15.5% think that students pursue leadership with the right motives. Several of them stated "money" and "fame" as the only reason students participate in politics. Some even said that "nothing" would inspire them to take up any leadership role in the school.
Statistical analysis:
From the information above, it seems that a considerable number of people believe that Ghana's population growth can have a positive impact on development. The majority of the people also agree that the country does not have enough facilities to accommodate its growing population and only a few people think that the country will have enough facilities in the future. A lot of people also believe that the country needs to pay more attention to developing its technology to achieve the same potential as foreign technology. A striking number of people agree that research is needed to enhance development and should be explored by students and job applicants although the majority of the people do not patronize research publications. It is generally agreed that entrepreneurship should be supported among students. However, only a few of the people are engaged in business ventures. The majority of the people also agree that entrepreneurship improves creativity. Only a few people think that students engage in politics for genuine reasons with a lot of people believing that politics is largely pursued for money and fame.
The population of Ghana has risen rapidly over the years with a 2.12% population growth rate as of 2020. Generally, population growth poses a host of problems to a country's development if not appropriately catered for. This is because there is overdependence on the available facilities which if also not maintained will deteriorate. Population growth also poses problems such as scarcity of food and potable water as sanitation and waste management problems
The immense benefits of technology in recent times cannot be denied. From providing faster methods of harvesting crops to easier communication with people in different parts of the world to even domestic tasks such as cooking and washing, everything can be done in a relatively short time and at one's convenience. But of course, technology would not be available if not for the advancement of science. Technology is the application of science to create devices that can solve problems. It is therefore of utmost importance to foster the interest and growth of science in our educational institutions. One commendable way science and technology have been incorporated into the school curriculum is the introduction of STEM programmes into our institutions notably in KNUST. Numerous STEM programmes are offered by KNUST with scholarship packages especially for females to enable people who have the interest but might not have the means to enrol in these programmes to do so. An example is the Empowering Africa Incorporation Scholarship which provides full-tuition for Ghanaian students pursuing STEM programmes who are academically strong and willing to make a difference in their communities. Also, initiatives such as the establishment of the KNUST College of Engineering Center for Innovation aim to bridge the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge. For example, in 2017, students in KNUST developed a solar-powered vehicle for transport called 'aCar' to aid farmers transport goods. In the same year, another student from KNUST developed the world's first open-space fire detector which was aimed at bringing down the nation's fire incidence by increasing responsive time of detection of smoke during fire outbreaks. Therefore, if appropriate attention and resources are given to students enrolled in these programmes and those who try to develop their technology, innovativeness among students and the youth, in general, will be boosted and in the long run, our country will also have the chance to attain the same level of technological and scientific advancement as the more developed countries.
Research is rapidly becoming a well-appreciated sector in Ghana. Research is all about discovering new and essential information as well as providing explanations to concepts not properly understood, enabling people to make better and more strategic decisions on the associated topic. This encourages critical and analytical thinking as well as developing problem-solving skills. Research does not only pertain to scientific topics but also business, energy, engineering, language and culture, arts and design among others. At the tertiary level, research broadens the educational experience and explore the results of applying new thought processes through observation and experimentation. It may have a positive impact on the lives of students in their field by allowing them to attach their names to findings that may reshape parameters formerly considered as the norm. KNUST as an institution is highly invested in the development of research as is seen in its establishment of some research facilities. Examples of research centres in KNUST are; The Emerging Networks and Technologies Research Lab (ENT Research lab) in KNUST which specializes in the multidisciplinary fields of Artificial intelligence, Network Security, Business Intelligence etc. and the Transport Research and Education Centre, KNUST (TRECK) which provides training, leadership and technology transfer in transport, mobility and integrated logistics. The establishment of such facilities as well as educating people on the benefits of research and encouraging interest in the sector will foster the growth of the sector and the economy at large.
As the world continues to evolve, so does competition in every economically related sector. This plays a positive role in development as it challenges people to not only apply the knowledge attained in the school curriculum but also create different sources of income. These alternatives collectively known as entrepreneurship has become popular among students. Although probably engaged in for different reasons, entrepreneurship ventures among students should be encouraged and supported as they boost creativity and innovativeness, eventually contributing towards national development as new business ventures help to create jobs and contribute to the growth of the economy. In the job setting, employees tend to sometimes lack problem solving, resilience, creativity and communication skills. These qualities are more readily available in people who engage in other extra-curricular activities and can prove quite useful in the workplace. The value of entrepreneurship must be acknowledged especially in our tertiary institutions as well as the prioritization of developing soft skills among students. For example, students in KNUST are already making a name for themselves by participating in and winning several awards in entrepreneurship and innovativeness such as the Presidential Pitch Contest, Housing Innovation Challenge, Green Entrepreneurship Awards among others. Competitions such as these challenge people to come up with original ideas that deserve recognition and explore their untapped potential as they would be rewarded.
We cannot talk about development without mentioning politics. Politics are the activities associated with gaining influence in the governance of a country, area or institution. This makes it quite necessary to develop a politically stable and friendly environment in our country and institutions. Political stability is crucial to enhancing state capacity to mobilize and allocate resources. In recent times though, politics has become associated with unrealistic policies, violence and the desire to amass wealth even among students, especially at the tertiary level. We hear of extravagant promises that are made by political aspirants to gain votes or of supporters of different candidates contesting for the same portfolio attacking each other which sometimes results in casualties or of aspirants finding means to intimidate voters into voting in their favour. This creates the impression that politics is a "dirty game" and prevents people from taking an active interest in matters relating to it which is rather unfortunate as politics affects nearly every aspect of our lives.
Given the information gathered, it is necessary to develop the facilities and infrastructure of our country. It is also necessary to adequately develop the scientific and technological base of our country. We also need to encourage students to embark on their projects or to engage themselves in activities outside of school work which is also needed to build good curriculum vitae required for job applications. Efforts of student entrepreneurs deserve to be recognized and commended to encourage them as well as others to come up with more ideas and solutions to problems in the country. Students engaged in violent and wrongful activities should also be dealt with appropriately to deter others from doing the same. If measures such as these are taken into consideration, there will be a massive improvement in the development of our country.
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text:
TelevisionSci-Fi
The First Episode of Short Treks Feels Like a Star Trek B-Plot in the Best Possible Way
Filed to:Star Trek: Discovery
Tilly shines bright in the first Short Treks minisode.
Image: CBS
I had a few misgivings about the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, but one of my biggest was that it felt like the ensemble aspect of Trek was shortchanged by the story's focus on Michael Burnham's wild journey. I wanted more time to get to know, and be invested in, the supporting cast. Short Treks could be the thing that does that.
CBS All Access launched the first in a four-part monthly series called Short Treks yesterday, a series of minisodes each focusing on a particular character from Discovery's cast. The first, "Runaway," put the spotlight on Mary Wiseman's loveably fresh-faced theoretical engineer Sylvia Tilly.
While in Discovery's first season Tilly acted as an emotional grounding-rod for the main character—a friendly foil for Michael's often icy veneer—here Tilly steps into the spotlight for a moment to deal with her own struggles.
Tilly's Mom concern-trolls her over her decision to try the Command program.
Those struggles, initially, involve wrestling with her decision to enter Starfleet's Command program, something she was slowly building towards throughout the first season of Discovery. While there we got to see Michael push Tilly to ignore her doubts, here, they begin to flare up again. That's thanks to a call from her mother (played by Mimi Kuzyk), who is a clear source for many of Tilly's own self doubts, as she puts her daughter down for even daring to think she could make it through the Command track's rigorous training. Back off, Tilly's Mom! Rude.
We, of course, get to see just why Tilly is perfectly suited for command in the rest of the short. After escaping her mother's holocall to drown her sorrows in a very unrecommended amount of caffeine, she encounters the titular runaway: Po (Yadira Guevara-Prip), a self-cloaking alien stowaway who, if incredibly standoffish at first, seems a lot like Tilly, razor-smart with tech and more pep than she knows what to do with. Like all good Trek first encounters, Po and Tilly's tête-à-tête is at first brusque and full of tension, only for alien and human alike to find common ground in their individual struggles.
After some initial standoff, Po and Tilly begin to bond.
Po, it turns out, is royalty from a planet called Xahea, a politically-crucial world undergoing the first stages of becoming warp capable, partially in thanks to Po's own technological wizardry in developing a way to stabilize and contain Dilithium crystals (in Star Trek lore, that's the mineral that basically makes warp travel possible). She was just, as she puts it to Tilly, "being extraordinary," but the combined pressures of her small world being elevated to a position of galactic importance and her impending ascendancy to rulership drove her away from the planet she loved. She's fearful of the big changes heading to Xahea—like the ecological impact of mining Dilithium, something she helped pioneer with her inventive knowhow—and whether or not she can handle the pressure of leadership. Sound familiar?
Sure, Tilly might not be a space princess (at least, in the matters of actual royalty rather than simply in our hearts), but the fear of a volatile world—after all, she did just make it out of a pretty horrifying war partially caused by her sort of best friend!—and whether she can handle being a leader are all too familiar to her. And we know that she can overcome them, because she, in turn, helps Po overcome them. Throughout it all, she's still the Tilly we know and love—excitable and more than a little goofy (and knowingly so at this point: Po's arrival turns the mess hall into a food-covered disaster, so when some fellow crewmates show up Tilly hilariously and deftly covers for it by pretending an alien rabbit escaped and caused havoc). But her compassion and supportive nature have forged Tilly into someone who can inspire others around her. In helping Po realize she's ready to be Xahea's queen in a new era, Tilly starts to accept in herself, regardless of what her mother says, that she is ready for Command.
Oh, so Mary Wiseman's just gonna start giving Anthony Rapp a run for io9's coveted "The Best Faces on Star Trek: Discovery" rankings now, apparently.
It's a small and simple little story, but it's a huge moment for Tilly as a character—and it's the sort of character arc Discovery's first season often missed out on while it was busy focusing on the very specific beats of Burnham's journey and the immediate people around her, like Lorca and Georgiou. The morality-play vibe of Tilly and Po's encounter is classic comfort-food Trek, capturing that lovingly familiar feeling of the franchise's best little character-building moments. Those side stories that formed the underpinning of episodes while not necessarily being the main plot focus—the stories that let us get to know and fall in love with Star Trek's whole crews' worth of heroes—are as vital to Star Trek's heart as the boldly going and the strange new worlds.
As glad as I am that Short Treks is delivering them, I'm almost a little sad that they're not actually integrated into Discovery itself—because keeping these vignettes isolated (and for viewers outside of the U.S. and Canada, currently legally inaccessible) makes them seem inconsequential to the ongoing story of the show. The excellence of "Runaway" not only sets a high standard for the next three Short Treks, it also proves that the moments it reveals should be anything but unimportant.
Star Trek: Discovery's Young Spock Will Be Played By Ethan Peck in Season 2
Star Trek: Discovery's Monthly Mini-Episodes Begin October 4, Here Are the First Details
Even More Changes Are Coming to Star Trek: Discovery's Klingon Design Next Season
Star Trek: Discovery Showrunner Says the Original Series Is Helping Season 2 Find Its Fun Side


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Audience Today
Saisons Russes
Les Saisons Russes du XXIe Siecle, returning to London in 2013.
Following a triumphant Coliseum Diaghilev Festival debut in 2011 and four sell-out seasons in Paris at the Theatre des Champs Elysees Les Saisons Russes du XXIe Siecle, returning to London in 2013.
Andris Liepa, former Bolshoi Ballet star turned ballet entrepreneur, is to return to the London Coliseum with his company Les Saisons Russes du XX1e Siecle from July 16th to July 20th 2013. The company will perform three programmes – a total of six ballets – which will include the London premiere of Cléopâtre – Ida Rubinstein, choreographed by Patrick de Bana plus five of Mikhail Fokine's greatest works: Le Spectre de la Rose, Scheherazade, Chopiniana, Polovetsian Dances and The Firebird.
Programme 1 Cleopatra/Ida Rubinstein, Le Spectre de la Rose, The Firebird
Programme 2 Cleopatra/Ida Rubinstein, Scheherazade
Programme 3 Cleopatra/Ida Rubinstein, Chopiniana, Polovetsian Dances
Cléopâtre – Ida Rubinstein is choreographer Patrick de Bana's tribute to the enigmatic actress/dancer Ida Rubinstein (1885-1960) and star of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes who danced in the title role during the company's Paris season of 1909. Ida danced with the company for two years and left in 1911 to form her own company. Adored for her luminous stage presence as much as her dancing, Ida quickly became a popular Belle Epoque figure in the arts world as well as a generous benefactor. Details of her personal life have remained sketchy through the decades and de Bana draws on history and urban myth to create the mysterious, glamorous world of Ida as she rehearses and performs what was to become her greatest role.
Cléopâtre – Ida Rubinstein recounts the story of the creation of Cléopâtre by Fokine in 1909; De Bana has chosen music by the great composers who collaborated regularly with the Ballets Russes such as Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, Faure and Ravel; in addition he has employed the music of Omar Faruk Tekbilek, the renowned Turkish flautist and one of the world's foremost exponents of Middle Eastern music whose compositions give de Bana's ballet a beautiful, mysterious extra dimension. The London premiere will feature Ilze Liepa, (above) sister of Andris, in the title role. Full company details will be announced early 2013.
Scheherazade is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 based on One Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights). Classically exotic and influenced by the dazzling colours and costumes of the Far East – thrillingly fashionable and excitingly new in the history of Imperial Russia – the music for Scheherazade is used in a ballet by Fokine in a racy tale of entrapment, betrayal and murder. In 1993 Andris Liepa set about restoring Scheherazade with the help of Fokine's granddaughter, Isabelle Fokina. The restored ballet – along with Petrushka and Firebird were filmed and the result, 'The Return of Firebird', was an award-winning feature film directed and produced by Andris Liepa. In 2002 Andris brought Scheherazade to Rome's Opera House and premiered the production in London in 2011.
Chopiniana is a dreamy, romantic ballet blanc that was born in St Petersburg in 1907 and moved to Paris in 1909 under the new name of Les Sylphides. Fokine's original choreography, set to music by Chopin, was introduced to the public in 1893 and conducted by Rimsky- Korsakov. "It defies an obvious single label – it's a ballet of mood, a white ballet, a choreographic suite. It is pure, simple and requires no introduction or context. It is ballet-forballet's sake and breathtakingly beautiful." (dancetabs) "The evening is a choreographic homage to my father," saya Andris Liepa. "Chopiniana was his favorite ballet. Our version recreates the designs by Ballets Russes costume and set designer Alexandre Benois."
The Polovetsian Dances are perhaps the best known selections from Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor (1890) and are often played as a stand-alone concert piece. The opera was left unfinished at Borodin's death and was subsequently completed by composers Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov. The first dance follows The Chorus of the Polovtsian Maidens which opens the act and is followed by Konchakovna's Cavatina. Andris' sister Ilze will dance the lead role in a staging that uses replicas of the costumes designed by the Russian painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich for the original production.
The Firebird is a ballet and orchestral concert work by Stravinsky written for and successfully premiered at the 1910 Paris season of Ballets Russes with choreography by Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. Stravinsky was a virtually unknown composer when Diaghilev recruited him to create works for the Ballets Russes; The Firebird was his first project.
The Art of Revival
The names of Diaghilev, Fokine, Nijinsky and many other leading lights of Russian ballet were dimmed in their native country for decades after they chose to stay in the West following the 1917 Revolution. Andris Liepa has devoted a large part of his career to resurrecting the Russian Seasons ballets in their original form, together with the Kremlin Ballet troupe and other international ballet stars.
"After the Revolution," explains Liepa, "virtually all the works went to the West, and the best representatives of Russian culture – all the artists, composers, choreographers – all went to the West. Very few remained and those who did couldn't officially say they were the heirs to artists such as Mikhail Fokine. The idea of reviving and bringing these artists and wonderful works back to life, and particularly back to Russia where they began, started on my birthday, January 6th 1991; I decided to visit Diaghilev's grave on the island of San Michele near Venice. The place was deserted. I saw the shoes dancers leave on his grave and I felt I had to give something too, so I danced my father's version of Diaghilev's Le Spectre de la Rose. Only in 1992, thanks to the Lunacharsky Library (now the St Petersburg State Theatre Library) was I able to see the things that Fokine had had sent to Leningrad. They hadn't been seen by anyone since 1957. When Perestroika happened, I was the first person allowed to see these unique things."
Patrick de Bana: Born in Hamburg to a German mother and Nigerian father, ballet dancer and choreographer Patrick de Bana (left) studied at the Hamburg Ballet School before joining the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 1987 where he quickly became principal dancer. He left Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 1992 in order to join the Compania Nacional de Danza of Spain – National Dance Company of Spain – (directed by Nacho Duato) where he stayed as principal dancer for ten years. His repertoire included works by Nacho Duato, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Mats Ek and more; he also began developing artistic ties with the world of flamenco. In 2003 Patrick formed his own company, Nafas Dance Company and won awards for Best Male Dancer and Best Dance Performance from the Generalitat of Valencia. "Nafas means 'breath' in Turkish," says Patrick. "I gave my company this title because breath is life. After my years with the Spanish National Dance Company I wanted to express myself in a new and unique way of my own; I wanted a new breath, a new soul."
Patrick worked with the renowned Spanish film director and photographer, Carlos Saura, choreographing and performing in the tango film 'Iberia' (2004) and the fado music and dance documentary 'Fados' (2006). In 2007 Patrick continued his passion for fado when he toured Europe with the internationally acclaimed fado singer Mariza and for flamenco when he toured with the world famous flamenco star Eva La Yerbabuena. Patrick has performed all over the world and has choreographed many ballets including 'Aman', a ballet inspired by the Greek myths of Penelope and Ulysses; 'Kelmady', about the cyclical nature of waiting; 'Creatures' which the Tokyo Ballet premiered in 2010; 'Jane Eyre' which premieres in Shanghai in October 2012 and 'Cleopatre – Ida Rubinstein' which premiered at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris this year and which will make its London premiere at the Coliseum in July 2013.
Andris Liepa was born in 1962 into a famous artistic family; his father Maris Liepa was one of the Bolshoi's legendary dancers. Andris trained at Moscow Ballet School and then joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company, dancing the lead role in many productions including The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Swan Lake and many more. In 1988 Andris became the first Russian dancer who was officially allowed to work in a foreign company; he subsequently appeared as a guest artist with New York City Ballet and then ABT for whom he interpreted Siegfried in Baryshnikov's version of Swan Lake, and danced in Kenneth Macmillan's Romeo and Juliet and in Balanchine's Violin Concerto. He has also appeared with Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century and was a permanent guest soloist with the Kirov Ballet. Andris has won prizes at many international competitions; he is the author of the film project The Return of the Firebird for which he revived three legendary masterpieces by Fokine: Petrushka, Firebird, and Scheherazade. In addition to dancing the lead roles in all three ballets, he was also producer and director.
Together with his sister Ilze, Andris founded the Maris Liepa Charitable Foundation. He is the inspiration and director, manager and producer of The Russian Seasons of the 21st Century.
Author adminPosted on June 25, 2013 November 14, 2016
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