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Home » Science » Young man and a dog killed by a TSUNAMI in 1600 BC unearthed in Turkey
Young man and a dog killed by a TSUNAMI in 1600 BC unearthed in Turkey
Skeletons of a young man and a dog who were killed by a TSUNAMI triggered by the eruption of Santorini's Thera volcano 3,600 years ago are uncovered in Turkey
Archaeologists found the remains at the Late Bronze Age Çeşme-Bağlararası site
The man's skeleton showed signs of having been swept along by a debris flow
This is the first time that victims of the Thera eruption have ever been unearthed
In total, traces of at least four distinct tsunami inundations were found at the site
Radiocarbon dating placed the timing of the eruption at no earlier than 1612 BC
The remains of a young man and a dog who were killed by a tsunami triggered by the eruption of the Thera volcano 3,600 years ago have been unearthed in Turkey.
Archaeologists found the pair of skeletons during excavations at Çeşme-Bağlararası, a Late Bronze Age site near Çeşme Bay, on Turkey's western coastline.
Despite the eruption of Thera being one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history, this is the first time remains of victims of the event have been unearthed.
Moreover, the presence of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası show that large and destructive waves did arrive in the northern Aegean after Thera went up.
Previously, based on the evidence available, it had been assumed that this area of the Mediterranean only received ash fallout from the eruption of Thera.
Instead, it now appears that the Çeşme Bay area was struck by a sequence of tsunamis, devastating local settlements and leading to rescue efforts.
Thera — now a caldera at the centre of the Greek island of Santorini — is famous for how its tsunamis are thought to have ended the Minoan civilisation on nearby Crete.
Based on radiocarbon dating of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası, the team believe that the volcano's eruption occurred no earlier than 1612 BC.
The remains of a young man (pictured) and a dog who were killed by a tsunami triggered by the eruption of the Thera volcano some 3,600 years ago have been unearthed in Turkey
Archaeologists found the pair of skeletons during excavations at Çeşme-Bağlararası, a Late Bronze Age site near Çeşme Bay, on Turkey's western coastline
Despite the eruption of Thera being one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history, this is the first time remains of victims of the event have ever been found. Pictured: part of the fortifications at the Çeşme-Bağlararası. The remains of the dog can be seen on the wall, while beneath that can be seen a shell-rich muddy patch deposited by the first wave
The presence of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası show that large and destructive waves did arrive in the northern Aegean after Thera went up. Previously, based on the evidence available, it had been assumed that this area of the Mediterranean only received ash fallout from the eruption of Thera. Pictured: a map of the dig site as seen in 2012, showing the location of the human and canine remians within the Late Bronze Age fortifications
ABOUT TSUNAMIS
A tsunami, sometimes called a tidal wave or a seismic sea wave, is a series of giant waves that are created by a disturbance in the ocean.
The disturbance could be a landslide, a volcanic eruption, an earthquake or a meteorite; the culprit is most often an earthquake.
If the landslide or earthquake triggering the tsunami occurs nearby the shore, inhabitants could see its effects almost immediately.
The first wave of the tsunami can arrive within minutes, before officials have time to issue a warning.
Areas that are closer to sea level have a higher risk of being affected.
Inhabitants should seek higher ground or move inland immediately.
The study was undertaken by archaeologist Vasıf Şahoğlu of the University of Ankara and his colleagues.
'The Late Bronze Age Thera eruption was one of the largest natural disasters witnessed in human history,' the researchers wrote in their paper.
'Its impact, consequences, and timing have dominated the discourse of ancient Mediterranean studies for nearly a century.
'Despite the eruption's high intensity and tsunami-generating capabilities, few tsunami deposits [have been] reported.
'In contrast, descriptions of pumice, ash, and tephra deposits are widely published.'
Amid stratified sediments at the Çeşme-Bağlararası site, the researchers found the remains of damaged walls — once part of a fortification of some kind — alongside layers of rubble and chaotic sediments characteristic of tsunami deposits.
Within these were two layers of volcanic ash, the second thicker than the first, and a bone-rich layer containing charcoal and other charred remains.
According to the team, the deposits represent at least four consecutive tsunami inundations, each separate but nevertheless resulting from the eruption at Thera.
Tsunami deposits associated with the eruption are relatively rare — with three found near the northern coastline of Crete and another three along Turkey's coast, albeit much further south than Çeşme-Bağlararası.
Traces of misshapen pits dug into the tsunami sediments at various places across the Çeşme-Bağlararası site represent, the researchers believe, an 'effort to retrieve victims from the tsunami debris.'
'The human skeleton was located about a meter below such a pit, suggesting that it was too deep to be found and retrieved and therefore (probably unknowingly) left behind,' they added.
'It is also in the lowest part of the deposit, characterized throughout the debris field by the largest and heaviest stones (some larger than 40 cm [16 inches] diameter), further complicating any retrieval effort.'
The young man's skeleton — which shows the characteristic signatures of having been swept along by a debris flow — was found up against the most badly damaged portion of the fortification wall, which the team believe failed during the tsunami.
The full findings of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Traces of misshapen pits dug into the tsunami sediments at various places across the Çeşme-Bağlararası site represent, the researchers believe, an 'effort to retrieve victims from the tsunami debris.' Pictured: the excavation site
Tsunami deposits associated with the eruption of Thera are relatively rare — with three found near the northern coastline of Crete and another three along Turkey's coast, albeit much further south than Çeşme-Bağlararası
The eruption of Thera was one of the most devastating in Earth's history and destroyed the Minoans living on Crete, 60 miles away from the volcano. Pictured, the volcano at the heart of Santorini — which used to be Thera — as seen in the present day
WHO WERE THE MINOANS?
The Minoan civilisation arose on the Mediterranean island of Crete in approximately 2600BC and flourished for 12 centuries until around 1400BC.
The origins of the Minoan and Mycenaean peoples have puzzled archaeologists for more than 100 years.
Last year it was revealed that the Minoans and Mycenaens were descended from early Neolithic farmers who migrated from Anatolia to Greece and Crete.
Modern Greeks, in turn, are largely descendants of the Mycenaeans, the study found.
Experts from the University of Washington, the Harvard Medical School and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, together with archaeologists and other collaborators in Greece and Turkey, gathered data from the region.
The results showed that Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically highly similar, but not identical.
The early Neolithic farmers they descended from likely migrated thousands of years prior to the Bronze Age from Anatolia.
While both Minoans and Mycenaeans had both 'first farmer' and 'eastern' genetic origins, Mycenaeans traced an additional minor component of their ancestry to ancient inhabitants of Eastern Europe and northern Eurasia.
Back in 2013 it was revealed that weapons that dominated Europe for more than 3,000 years were introduced by the ancient Minoan civilisation.
Swords, metal battle axes, long bladed spears, shields and possibly even armour were brought to Europe by the Minoans who ruled Crete.
Since towns and palaces in Crete, the home of the mythical Minotaur, were first dug up and studied a century ago the Minoans have been widely regarded by archaeologists as an essentially peaceful people.
But a reassessment of the role of warriors and weapons in Ancient Crete, which was at its peak from 1900BC to 1300BC, now concludes that the Minoans were a violent and warlike people.
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When we share photographs for our reviews and comparisons, our tendency is to edit the images as little as possible so that our readers know what they can expect from a particular camera model in terms of image quality, colour rendering, white balance and so on.
However, when it comes to our personal body of work, we often enjoy applying presets, as doing so not only saves us time in post-processing but also allows us to give a cohesive look to a set of related images.
Long-time readers of MirrorLessons probably know by now that we are particularly fond of the presets from the Rebecca Lily collection. The artist behind these presets is Rebecca Patience, a fine art photographer who, in her quest to streamline her workflow, has developed over 475 stunning presets for Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw since 2009. Suitable for both professional and enthusiast purposes, her collections are diverse in style, including colour, pastel, film-inspired, vintage, and black and white presets. You can see examples of how we've used her presets in the past by checking out our reviews of the PRO Sets II (here) and III (here).
Recently, Rebecca released the fourth edition of the PRO Set, which she kindly sent to us to review. This particular set includes more presets than ever before: 36 in total (colour, black and white, pastels, vintage, indoors), each with three, four or five versions. It also comes with 40 tools to help you adjust toning, clarity, sharpening, vignetting, grain, and even rounded corners.
The pastel presets which are now adjustable in five steps instead of just three.
The more extensive collection of black and white presets.
The new indoor and vintage presets.
Note: these presets have all been thoroughly tested on all RAW and JPG files from the most popular brands including Canon, Nikon, Leica, Fuji, Sony, Hasselblad and Phase One.
The pastel presets, of which there are nine in this set, have long been our favourite because they give a soft etherial look to your image that is difficult to achieve in-camera.
Unlike the previous versions that only allowed you to adjust the intensity of the pastel effect in three steps, the new PRO IV set expands this to five. The base version (V1) of the pastels is milder than those in PRO III and works well if you already have a bright scene, while V5 is ideal for backlit shots or when you need to increase the brightness. They aren't as effective if your image is taken indoors or is brimming with heavy shadows.
Each pastel preset imbues your image with a specific tint. For example, the Mint preset I used for the butterfly above has given the image a cool and crisp blue-green appearance, while the bare tree below was edited with Pastel Lilic, which has given the image a delicate purplish hue.
The pastel presets are also ideal for portraits as long as the skin is correctly exposed in-camera or slightly overexposed in the case of caucasian models. If you severely under or overexposure, the presets won't always be able to compensate for the incorrect tonal range.
With the release of PRO IV, Rebecca has greatly expanded the range of black and white presets. Their appearance ranges from bright and delicate with super-fine detail, to gritty and bold, and can be applied to a variety of images.
I really like how a handful of the B&W presets are able to pull a significant amount of detail out from images that would generally require a lot of post-processing to look decent. A good example is the image below taken in the Turin metro. Left in colour, it looks flat and unremarkable, but applying one of the stronger presets – in this case, Charcoal – highlights the woman's face in the corner and the strong lines of the track.
Interestingly, Rebecca named one of the black and white presets after her husband, art photographer Johnny Patience. According to Rebecca, they worked on the "Johnny" preset together to bring it close to his signature look with black and white film. One of the punchier and grainier presets in the set, it works best when applied to images with lots of contrast or images whose dark greys and blacks require deepening.
In contrast to the pastel presets, the new vintage presets feature deeper colours and tones, most of which are warm and earthy. Though they have been designed to give an "old school feel" to your images, and even incorporate vintage lens characteristics, they are subtle enough to be used for professional purposes.
What I really appreciate about these vintage presets is their ability to reveal or intensify colours that might otherwise remain too subdued to be noticed in the original image. For example, in the case of the flower image below, it might never have occurred to me to intensify or brighten the colour of the sepal had I been post-processing this image on my own.
As for the Indoor presets, there are only two to choose between: Cold and Warm in three levels. I admit I wasn't as drawn to these presets on a personal level because I rarely do indoor photography. However, they appear to do an excellent job of evening out harsh contrast and over-saturated colours, as you can see from the example below which was taken inside a poorly-lit pub.
A final preset I'd like to mention is neither Vintage nor Indoor but rather one of the Color set. Aptly named Shadowland, it is Rebecca's take on the unique look of Leica M9 and the colours of underexposed Kodak slide film. It makes even the brightest images appear darker, richer and more moody, like many of those found in Rebecca's 365 day photography project from 2016.
It has been seven years since Rebecca first began producing her Rebecca Lily PRO sets, and the PRO IV set is easily the most beautiful and refined set she has released to date. From the film-inspired pastels to the expanded black and white range, there is something to suit every kind of photograph.
Perhaps the real evidence of Rebecca's expertise in the field of digital post-processing is that you rarely have to dedicate time to tweaking the presets to achieve the desired result. This means you can spend less time editing in front of the computer and more time out shooting.
You can purchase the Rebecca Lily PRO Set IV, or any of her older sets, on her official website for $119. To stay up to date with her work, you can also follow her on Twitter.


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Q: Python3 SSL: SSLV3_ALERT_HANDSHAKE_FAILURE Pretty straight forward. I'm trying to do some SSL Handshake and get the endpoint certificate from sslsocket documentation: do_handshake. Instead, I greeted with this specific error:
  File "/usr/lib/python3.10/ssl.py", line 1342, in do_handshake
    self._sslobj.do_handshake()
ssl.SSLError: [SSL: SSLV3_ALERT_HANDSHAKE_FAILURE] sslv3 alert handshake failure (_ssl.c:997)

The certificate will be used to extract any SubjectName or CommonName. Been looking around with 100 chrome tabs, busting my memory only for browsing. I have tried many steps:
# Monkey Patch to use Unverified Context
ssl._create_default_https_context = ssl._create_unverified_context

# Disable SSL Verification
sslContext.check_hostname = False
sslContext.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE

# Using Custom Ciphers
cipher = (':ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DES-CBC3-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES128-SHA:AES128-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES256-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3:EECDH+AESGCM:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:EDH-AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:ECHDE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECHDE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECHDE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256+EDH:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-A$:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:HIGH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!3DES:!MD5:!PSK')
sslContext.set_ciphers(cipher)

# Using Custom OpenSSL Config

openssl_conf = openssl_init

[openssl_init]
ssl_conf = ssl_sect

[ssl_sect]
system_default = system_default_sect

[system_default_sect]
Options = UnsafeLegacyRenegotiation

None of them that able to fix the issue. Here's my current modified script based on sslsocket documentation
import socket
import ssl
import platform
import time

cipher = (':ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DES-CBC3-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES128-SHA:AES128-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES256-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3:EECDH+AESGCM:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:EDH-AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:ECHDE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECHDE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECHDE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256+EDH:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-A$:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:HIGH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!3DES:!MD5:!PSK')
ssl._create_default_https_context = ssl._create_unverified_context

sslContext = ssl.create_default_context()
sslContext.check_hostname = False
sslContext.set_ciphers(cipher)
sslContext.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_NONE

clientSocket = socket.socket()
secureClientSocket = sslContext.wrap_socket(clientSocket, do_handshake_on_connect=False)

t1 = time.time()
retval = secureClientSocket.connect(("example.com", 443))
print("Time taken to establish the connection:%2.3f"%(time.time() - t1))

t3 = time.time()
secureClientSocket.do_handshake()
print("Time taken for SSL handshake:%2.3f"%(time.time() - t3))

serverCertificate = secureClientSocket.getpeercert()
print("Certificate obtained from the server:")
print(serverCertificate)

My Setup
openssl version
OpenSSL 3.0.7 1 Nov 2022 (Library: OpenSSL 3.0.7 1 Nov 2022)

python3 --version
Python 3.10.8

I'm in desperate situation, anyhelp is highly appreciated.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Seven sites every United Methodist should see
A view from the pulpit where John Wesley once preached at The New Room in Bristol, England. Courtesy of TimE Photography/TMCP.
Ocean Grove, NJ once was dotted with 660 tents for Methodist camp meetings as part of the Holiness Movement of the late 19th century. Photo by Tracey James.
World travelers may seek out pyramids, cathedrals and safari parks, but United Methodists have destinations across the globe that hold their own allure. Here are suggestions for seven fascinating places to visit.
Where Wesley Walked
Methodism's first building, "the New Room," was used by John and Charles Wesley, and others, as a meeting and preaching place, and a center for educating people in need. It is located in Bristol, England. This photo shows a statue of Charles Wesley standing near the building. Photo by Victoria Rebeck.
England is the cradle of Methodism, where John Wesley started the worldwide evangelical movement in the 18th century, and where travelers today can visit three main sites that trace the steps of the socially minded Anglican minister. In Bristol, where Wesley preached his first outdoor sermon, the New Room stands as Methodism's first building, used by Wesley and other early Methodists as a meeting and preaching place and a center for helping and educating people in need. "[The New Room] is soaked in prayer. It's a great thrill to stand in the pulpit," says Jo Hibbard, heritage officer for the Methodist Church in Britain. London is home to Wesley's Chapel and House, the hub for Wesley's later work and considered the Mother Church of World Methodism. To explore where Wesley grew up, take the three-hour train ride from London to Epworth to tour the childhood home of John and his hymn-writing brother Charles. Here, their revered mother, Susanna, instilled in her large brood of children the methodical manner that later would characterize her sons' approach to religion.
Cathedral Church of American Methodism
St. George's United Methodist Church, constructed in 1763 in Philadelphia, Pa., is the oldest house of Methodist worship in continuous use in America and is designated a heritage landmark of The United Methodist Church. Photo courtesy of Historic St. George's UMC.
The oldest house of Methodist worship in continuous use in America, St. George's United Methodist Church of Philadelphia houses an active congregation that began as a Methodist society in 1767 and has occupied the historic church building since 1769. The congregation went to court during the 1920s to save the structure from being razed to make room for the Ben Franklin Bridge. The site of many firsts, St. George's is where missionary Joseph Pilmore made the first public statement on Methodist principles and beliefs and held the nation's first Methodist prayer meeting. Francis Asbury, the pioneering bishop of American Methodism, preached his first American sermon at St. George's in 1771 and called the place The Cathedral Church of American Methodism. Want to learn more about those early days? St. George's offers a Time Traveler's tour on certain dates.
God's Square Mile at the Jersey Shore
Each spring, 114 tents are erected and leased to summer residents of Ocean Grove, N.J., a seaside community founded by Methodists in 1869 as a camp meeting site. Photo by Tracey James.
The embodiment of Methodist camp meetings and the Holiness Movement of the late 19th century, Ocean Grove, N.J., was founded in 1869 during a prayer meeting on land set aside for the perpetual worship of Jesus Christ. Today, the seaside community still offers residents and visitors opportunities for spiritual birth, growth and renewal in a Christian recreational setting. Ocean Grove (pop. 3,342) holds a camp meeting revival every Sunday, closes its beaches to the public on Sunday mornings, features streets with Biblical names, sells no alcohol, and maintains a commercial-free boardwalk along one of the most pristine beaches in America. At its center is the 6,000-seat Great Auditorium, used for regular worship services and family-friendly concerts and featuring an 11,000-pipe organ. Each spring, 114 canvas tents are erected around the auditorium and rented to tenants, many of whom are fourth- and fifth-generation summer residents. "There's a peaceful spirit here. It's like stepping back in time," says J.P. Gradone, executive director of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, the United Methodist-related group overseeing the grounds.
Witness to the World
Dedicated in 1924, the United Methodist Building (left) is the only non-governmental building on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy of the Board of Church and Society.
Dedicated in 1924 in the heart of Washington, D.C., the United Methodist Building is the only non-governmental building on Capitol Hill — giving public witness at the seat of U.S. government that The United Methodist Church is an advocate for justice and peace throughout the world. Located across from the Capitol and next to the Supreme Court, the Italian Renaissance-style building houses offices for several United Methodist agencies and numerous other church and ecumenical groups. Filled with rich history, the structure was dedicated amid the Temperance Movement and the Labor Reform/Social Gospel Movement. Weekday visitors can take a self-guided tour (or arrange in advance for guided tours) and attend noon worship services each Wednesday in Simpson Memorial Chapel.
Quiet Space
A woodcarving of da Vinci's The Last Supper is the focal point of The Upper Room Chapel in Nashville, Tenn. Photo courtesy of The Upper Room.
A gem of tranquility in a bustling district of Nashville, Tenn., Upper Room Chapel is a place of prayer and reflection, as well as the anchor of a spiritual formation ministry that since 1935 has distributed millions of copies of its flagship devotional guide to 100 countries in 35 languages. The campus includes a prayer room, a Christian art museum and the home of global United Methodist ministries focused on spiritual development. It has become a pilgrimage destination for thousands of people who have learned about God and grown their faith through the quarterly grassroots-written publication called The Upper Room. The chapel holds a worship service each Wednesday morning, and the art museum features rotating exhibits. Admission is free, although donations are welcome.
Beacon of Hope
Africa University is a United Methodist-related school which opened in 1992 in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photo.by Mike DuBose, UMNS.
In the midst of a United Methodist evangelistic movement on the world's second most populous continent, Africa University stands as a beacon of hope to the people of Africa's underdeveloped nations. The United Methodist-related school opened in 1992 in Mutare, Zimbabwe, near a mission site established a century earlier by the Methodist Episcopal Church, where a founding bishop envisioned that youths holding books one day would walk in the valley. Today, the vision at Old Mutare Mission is being fulfilled as the university molds thousands of students from dozens of African nations into educated, principled Christian leaders.
Repository for Relief
This pier on Bayou Teche in Louisiana is part of the Sager Brown Depot. Located in Baldwin, the depot ships $7 million worth of supplies and relief kits throughout the world for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Photo by United Methodist News Service.
If you want to see where ministry and mission converge, the bayou country of Louisiana is the home of the primary U.S. depot for the United Methodist Committee on Relief, where 2,600 volunteers pass through annually to process and ship $7 million worth of supplies and relief kits distributed throughout the world. Located in Baldwin, 90 miles from New Orleans' strategic seaport, Sager Brown Depot has been a hub of UMCOR missions since Hurricane Andrew hit the Gulf Coast in 1992. For more than a century prior, however, the campus served as a Methodist school and home for black children orphaned by the Civil War. Tours of a small museum and the depot are available by appointment. "We're a hands-on place," explains executive director Kathy Kraiza. "A lot of hands touch these relief kits by the time they end up in the hands of somebody in a Third World country or in the midst of disaster." Kraiza suggests visiting between November and April when sticky bayou temperatures subside.
Curiosity piqued? We only shared seven suggestions but you can see more heritage landmarks of The United Methodist Church, with notes from the Commission on Archives and History.
Read about other fan favorites.
*Marta Aldrich is freelance writer from Franklin,Tenn. This story was first published on July 31, 2014.
A Traveler's Guide to Heritage Landmarks of the United Methodist Church
Methodist Heritage in Britain
St. George's United Methodist Church
Ocean Grove (N.J.) Camp Meeting Association
United Methodist Building
The Upper Room Chapel & Christian Art Museum
Africa University
Sager Brown Depot

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Tag: North Macedonia
Elections during Covid-19
Whilst the world is trying to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, the normal functionality of most states is taking a back seat. That includes elections and democratic processes. The challenge for all leaders is to ensure that emergency measures put in place for times of crisis are rescinded as soon as they can be and normal democracy and personal freedoms are once again allowed to flourish.
So far, at least 20 countries have had elections postponed and more decisions are needed all the time. A few have tentatively named new dates in the autumn, but most are as yet un-scheduled. Some ballots have struggled on, but it has become clear that this will not be possible for much longer. Elections which had hoped to get under the wire, such as France's local elections, have been pushed back. In the first round, the government asked voters to stay three feet apart and bring their own pens. Despite these and other measures, turnout dropped from 63% in 2014 local polls to 45%, prompting President Macron to postpone the second round.
And yet there remain a few polls which may still take place. According to International IDEA, "elections in South Korea (15 April 2020), Russia* (public vote scheduled for 22 April 2020) Bolivia (3 May 2020), New Zealand (19 September) and Romania (late 2020) are being held as originally scheduled despite concerns related to COVID-19."
(*Note that the Russian vote has now been delayed).
The decision for lawmakers is how they can balance democracy with the health of their populations. Can mitigation measures be put in place to allow an election to go ahead, or will it put the health of voters and poll workers at risk? And is there a risk that one section of the population – typically older people – will be less inclined to vote, thus affecting the legitimacy of the outcome?
Reading the expert scientific opinion, we know that the virus can be spread by sneezing and coughing and by social contact. It is yet to be shown how long the virus can live in the open air, but places where large numbers of people can be expected to gather are at risk and such comings together have been banned in many states. Facemasks and disinfecting might help, but probably not enough to ensure that busy polling places are not without at least a degree of risk. And it would not be practical to ask every person to wear a mask or to wipe down all surfaces between each voter.
Even if it were possible, the level of concern among voters would be significant and would surely affect turnout – a factor that is not in the interests of any candidate, nor of democracy.
In those cases where elections have happened regardless – often in a country's early stages of dealing with Covid-19 – various mitigation measures have been tried. For instance, in Israel, special polling places were set up for roughly 5,500 people self-isolating and these featured plastic sheeting and poll workers in protective gear.
Postponing elections is an easier option, but it has a significant impact on the democratic legitimacy of those who stay in office longer. And in many countries it is simply not legal to extend terms. Over the past few years, the annual survey of the state of democracy in the world has shown a small degree of backsliding. One of the tenets of a democratic society is that elections are held regularly and freely. Postponing them obviously risks this and so must only be taken as a last resort. In cases such as North Macedonia's parliamentary elections slated for April 12th, the delay is less important as these were early polls in any case. Postponing them until the originally scheduled date in the autumn might not have a significant impact on the democratic health of the country.
One might also argue that the democratic deficit created by postponing local and mayoral elections for a year is not huge as these are less powerful positions. But it may still be the case that a postponement is unconstitutional. In an emergency session of parliament on 15th March 2020, Austria passed the 'COVID-19-Law'. The law does not mention elections, but allows for far reaching restrictions to public life, including bans of assembly for more than five persons. Local elections scheduled for 15th March in Vorarlberg and for 22nd March in Styria have both been cancelled. Indefinitely postponing elections is not in Austria's Constitution and its election laws prescribe: "In the event of circumstances that prevent the beginning, continuation or completion of the election, the election administration can extend the election or postpone it to the next day." If a new date is not pencilled in soon then it may be that such instances will result in court fights.
Another case of concern is the vote on a new constitution for Chile due to be held on April 26th which has now been postponed to the autumn. This vote was the outcome of many years of protests about the Pinochet-era constitution. Instead of voting to replace widespread restrictions to personal freedoms, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced a 90-day "state of catastrophe" to confront the growing outbreak. The move gives the government extraordinary powers to restrict freedom of movement and assure food supply and basic services. The military is permitted to intervene and uphold order when necessary. A significant test of every country's leadership will be how restrictive the measures are that they feel they need to put in place and how soon they can start to ease them.
And what of the November election for the US President – the most powerful elected office in the world? There couldn't really be a serious debate about extending this term of office because it would fall immediately into an argument about President Trump himself. But if there could be an objective discussion, where would that end up if the virus was still having a major effect on American life? And how do we even get to the November elections which are reliant on a series of primaries to determine presidential and down-ballot candidates?
Various suggestions have been made about alternatives to the normal voting rules and procedures, but the oft-touted concept of all-mail voting does not come without significant risks. In particular, fraud, or the potential for it, is much higher based on the experience of the UK.
The idea of implementing an all-mail ballot is an attractive one, but comes up against significant barriers in the US context. Chief among these is that elections are a devolved responsibility with states and counties having their own laws and procedures. Just 34 states have a vote by mail option and the federal government cannot mandate its adoption. That is not to say that states might not choose to provide such a choice where they currently do not, or to expand it where it is currently limited, but such action comes at a price – both financial and logistical. One state that will be trialling an all-mail vote is Maryland where a special election is to be held on 28th April.
As an international election observer for more than 20 years, I know also that taking ballot papers out of the confines of the polling station carries a significant increased risk of fraud. And in a large election with many contests, there will be a significant rise in spoiled ballots and voter confusion in cases where there is not an official on hand to explain the process to those who may be unsure.
Such problems are exacerbated where the vote by mail is not obtained through choice but is universal. In the UK we trialled this over several elections between 2000 and 2002. The aim was to raise turnout in years which traditionally had low participation rates. The problem was that ballot envelopes are easily identifiable and can be taken by someone other than the intended voter. This happened chiefly where the voter had moved on or was not interested in voting and is an even bigger concern in multi-occupancy dwellings where residents have access to the mail of others. Where a voter has applied for a postal vote, they are more likely to raise the alarm when it does not arrive on time. But where they might not be expecting their vote to arrive in the mail, they may not know it is missing – particularly if they are someone who is less inclined to vote in the first place.
The other issue we faced in the UK was of unscrupulous campaigners stealing votes, pressuring voters and even creating 'fraud factories' to open up completed ballots and change them if they were not cast to the liking of the criminal parties.
With accusations of electoral fraud common in the US in recent years, even the possibility that this might be happening would be enough for candidates from across the political spectrum to throw accusations. This would damage trust in democracy and the credibility of those declared the winners.
Whilst in the UK we continue to allow postal voting on demand, we have tightened the system significantly. The all-mail election experiment was abandoned and the signature and date of birth of all postal voters are held by election officials with every returned ballot having a signed declaration which is checked before the ballot envelope is included in the count. It is a long and costly business with an impact on personal privacy and also leads to some valid votes potentially being excluded. But it is considered the fairest balance. Campaigners in the US have already made this a point of contention with some arguing for ballots without a perfect signature match to be counted.
That is not to say that all-mail ballots cannot work. The Swiss use such a system and there are few, if any, accusations of fraud in that country. But it should not be thought of as a risk-free option for the USA or elsewhere, even in these extraordinary times.
Technological solutions such as voting using text messaging, via the internet or by telephone were also trialled in the UK and found to have significant security risks. In a country where foreign agents are accused of having sought to disrupt the last election, it would be foolish to consider introducing more opportunities for hacking. The only country that routinely uses internet voting for public elections is Estonia and they have invested billions over many years into hardware and software to improve the security of the vote. The chances of any other country doing so for an election due in the next couple of years is negligible.
Inevitably, there is no easy solution to this challenge. Postponement, all-mail and technological solutions each have their benefits but also significant drawbacks. The debate to identify the least problematic option or options should continue. But it will only be successful if accepted by all parties and candidates as the best alternative.
UPDATE: International IDEA has now produced a technical paper looking at the options for holding elections.
Reading List: 25th March 2020
EU opens up accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia
The EU Council of Ministers has given the go ahead to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. The move had been delayed following an objection from President Macron of France in December.
Opening accession talks is a long way from the countries actually becoming members of the EU, but it is a hopeful sign for countries which have already made substantial economic, social and political reforms with a view to membership.
Russia's 'Public Vote' delayed
In an expected move, President Vladimir Putin has announced that the 'public vote' on changes to the constitution will be delayed from its 22nd April date due to the coronavirus. It will now be held 'at some future moment'.
The constitutional reforms were announced by President Putin in January and the original proposal would have prevented him from seeking another term in office after 2024. However an amendment tabled in the Duma proposed to wipe the slate clean and allow Putin (and Dmitry Medvedev, the only other living President) to serve a further two terms.
Online political ads should be labelled
The UK's Law Commissions have produced a report on changes to the rules governing elections and campaigning. Among the suggestions they make is for all political adverts to carry the equivalent of the imprint that paper campaigning materials must carry. This sets out who is responsible for the publication.
The commissions also suggest changing the rules on postponement of elections to give returning officers more powers in the event of floods and other natural disasters. They also want to see electoral paperwork made mroe simple.
North Macedonia delays election. What about others?
Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia have been postponed as a result of the Covid-19 virus. The polls were set for April 12th. The election observation mission from OSCE/ODIHR had already been withdrawn from the country.
The election was called by former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in response to the decision by the EU not to formally open accession talks with his country. French President Macron was believed to be behind the decision to halt the process.
Parties in North Macedonia must now hammer out a deal to decide when and how the elections can be re-scheduled.
With around 70 elections scheduled to take place this year, there will be many debates as to what is right for each particular circumstance. As the US primaries show, even if the main election is not due until much later in the year, problems now can still have a major impact
A paper by International IDEA discusses the challenges faced by those trying to hold elections at this time. They cite the need to balance public (and poll worker) safety with the curtailment of democracy if elections are suspended. But even if elections are pushed through, there is a high risk that many people will not risk going to vote and these may be disproportionately from certain groups. Using new technologies (or even old tech such as postal voting) is certainly on the table, but is very expensive to implement, requires high levels of voter education and opens a much greater risk of fraud.
The UK has taken the decision to delay local and mayoral elections by a whole year. Other countries will seek to delay for a much shorter period – perhaps hoping that circumstances will allow them to proceed in the autumn. Two other options might be to bring ruling parties and opposition together in a government of national unity for the period of the outbreak or to hold elections now, but recognise that these might not be fully representative and hold a fresh election in a year's time.
Reading List – 15th March 2020
Is this the end of the Open Skies Treaty?
If you have never heard of the Open Skies Treaty (or fully understood what it means), the possibility that the USA might withdraw is a good excuse to read this short article which explains the treaty and sets out why it would be a mistake for President Trump to undermine it.
Facebook Extends Political Ads Rules to Balkans Before Elections
Elections will (coronavirus permitting) shortly take place in North Macedonia and Serbia and are also scheduled for Montenegro in the autumn. Just a month before the first of these, Facebook has extended its political adverts policy to the region.
Keeping His Options Open: Why Putin Decided to Stay On
Rather than indicating a definite course of action, amendments to the proposed new Russian Constitution suggest that President Putin is keeping his options open – and keeping oligarchs and the siloviki on their toes.
Afghanistan's Election Disputes Reflect Its Constitution's Flaws
Abysmally low turnout, a six month counting process, rival candidates refusing to accept the result and each declaring themselves the winner. This is the reality of the Afghan presidential election where the US has intervened in each previous contest to declare a winner.
Elections to watch – 2020
It's no surprise that the USA will host the biggest, most expensive and most important elections of the year on November 3rd. Donald Trump's efforts to gain a second term will be played out across news bulletins around the world, whilst his various Democratic opponents will aim to get airtime when faced with the most media-dominant President in history.
It is often said that a second term president becomes a lame duck almost immediately, but that won't be the case for Trump who has shown that he is willing to make quick, and often un-signalled, decisions on major issues. Apart from tax reform, Trump has relied less on legislation than almost any President before him. But he has been willing to withdraw from international agreements and upset the established liberal world order like never before.
Down-ballot, the chances of radical shifts in the House or Senate are slim, but we will see how the impeachment efforts will play out on those races.
However the US elections are far from being the only pivotal polls in 2020. Two contests – in Georgia and Belarus – will help us to understand the limits of Russian influence in countries in their immediate orbit and a third – Serbia – is a traditional Russian ally.
There are also re-runs of elections held originally in 2019 which, for different reasons, failed to produce a result. Israel will hold its third election in a year whilst Bolivia will attempt a clean election following the departure of Evo Morales.
There are also key contests in Egypt and Myanmar – countries dominated by the military – and elections in South Korea, North Macedonia and Iran which will be closely watched by foreign governments as they could signal the impact of international decisions on domestic attitudes.
Iran, Parliament (March)
Iran continues to play its role as the grit in the oyster of Middle East politics with a network of official and semi-official proxies around the region. The country has always had its reformers and its hardliners and the spring election will be another test of strength between those factions.
Elections in Iran are largely conducted on a professional and democratic basis but with all but 5% of candidates (who represent religious minorities) subject to approval by the Islamic authorities.
The last elections in 2016 saw reformists emerge as the largest faction but without an overall majority. Iran has a reputation for huge numbers of candidates as 6,200 candidates ran for the 290 seats in 2016.
As well as its funding for militant groups and factions, Iran has also built up significant cyber capabilities and has allegedly used them extensively to interfere with the functions of other states for the past two years. Its nuclear programme is of concern to the west and the USA has pulled out of the JCPOA leading some to wonder whether military strikes are imminent. Iran's position on the Staits of Hormuz also gives it unique powers to affect the world's oil supplies.
Every country will be watching these elections with interest to see if the results may affect any of these interests. But it seems safe to predict that there will be no outcome that would comprehensively reverse any aspect of Iran's current course.
Israel, Parliament (March)
The third election in Israel in a year will again be between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz with the former having won his Likud leadership primary at the end of 2019. This poll comes after a second indecisive election and the failure to form a government under Israel's list election system which splits Parliamentary representation between ten different parties.
It is impossible to foresee a majority party emerging and this contest will see voters tasked with giving either Likud or Gantz's Blue and White the upper hand. But there is no provision for what might happen if the parties are again evenly split. Netanyahu has refused to give up the post of Prime Minister in any coalition in which his party features and Gantz refuses to serve under the longest serving Prime Minister the country has ever had.
Bolivia, President, Chamber of Deputies and Senate (March or April)
President Evo Morales stepped aside at the end of 2019 after his election win was found to be corruptly obtained. He won't be a candidate in the re-run, but that won't prevent the poll being highly controversial and tightly fought. In the aftermath of the failed poll, Morales sought asylum in Mexico as the army took a grip on the country and many of his former supporters were arrested. Since then there has been a general de-escalation in tensions and detainees have been released. Interim president Jeanine Añez will remain in charge until the vote in March or April.
North Macedonia, Parliament (April)
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called these early elections after the failure of EU members (largely at France's behest) to agree the start of accession talks for his country and Albania. The country is also due to become a full member of NATO in the spring. In the last couple of years North Macedonia has formally changed its name to satisfy a long-standing complaint from Greece as well as undertaken large-scale structural reforms to bring it more into line with EU norms. The reward for these unpopular measures was to be the start of the long journey towards EU accession.
The election will pit Zaev's SDSM against the anti-agreement VMRO-DPMNE of Hristijan Mickoski. The SDSM candidate won the presidential election in May 2019 but the parliamentary poll will be closely fought.
A win for Zaev's party might give him and his supporters among existing members of the EU a boost before the next summit in June where France may be persuaded to change her stance. New EU President Croatia hs promised to keep the issue high up the institution's agenda. A win for the opposition would surely end any prospect of further integration measures for the foreseeable period.
South Korea, Parliament (April)
There are significant domestic issues at play in this year's legislative elections but these will play second fiddle in the minds of other countries to relations between South Korea and its neighbour to the north. At times President Moon Jae-In has been central to peace talks but has recently been sidelined by both President Trump and Kim Jong-Un. And whilst left-wing and pro North Korean parties are banned in the South, there are significant differences between the parties which will be a major factor in voters' minds.
Proposed changes to the voting system would mean the small PR element changing from a parallel to a compensatory system, favouring smaller parties.
Polls suggest that the Democratic Party is well ahead of its main conservative opponents the Liberty Korea Party but effort to game the new voting system could leave the outcome in the balance.
Serbia, Parliament (April)
North Macedonia and Albania may have been seen as being at the front of the queue for EU accession, but Serbia has also been in the frame for membership for a number of years. And for the largest state in the former Yugoslavia, this would represent a significant departure from historic ties to Russia which seeks to maintain at least one friendly presence in the Balkans.
The major hindrance to western integration is the continued failure to establish common ground with Kosovo. Talks of a land-swap to settle a border dispute between the two were effectively quashed by Angela Merkel who saw this as a dangerous precedent for other countries.
The current government is led by the pro-Western Ana Brnabić but previous elections have been criticised for the misuse of state resources and the lack of media independence and there is a proposed boycott by a number of opposition parties and groups. With decisions on Kosovo and western-oriented reforms likely to hit the popularity of the SNS government, it is possible that the coming election might be more competitive than assumed.
Belarus, President (August)
Few people will predict anything other than comfortable re-election for President Lukashanka but this election will be more notable for the tone than the outcome. Belarus has sought to maintain a balance between historic and economic ties to Russia whilst trying to avoid being perceived as a puppet of the Kremlin.
One of the potential routes for Vladimir Putin to remain in power after his second (and officially final) term in office comes to an end in 2024 is said to be a formal union with Belarus. This seems unlikely, but tax, currency and other financial ties remain under discussion. At the same time, the West, while being careful not to undermine Lukashenka by getting too close, will keep pressing for reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty.
Last year's parliamentary elections saw the removal of the only two opposition law-makers from Parliament in what was seen as a retrograde step. Will this contest shed any light on likely succession-planning?
Georgia, Parliament (October)
Electoral reform is not the usual issue to cause mass protests but such is the case in Georgia where a pledge to implement a more proportional system appears to have been abandoned. The state remains heavily dependent on Russia despite the continuing 'frozen' conflict over Abkhazia and South Ossetia which the Kremlin recognises as breakaway states but Georgia (and most of the world) does not.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has seen almost half of its support drain away according to the most recent opinion polls, but the main opposition groups have also lost ground. Such fragmentation, as well as possible boycotts, make the elections unpredictable.
Egypt, Parliament and Senate (November)
Egypt's flirtation with more genuine democracy resulted in the election of the Muslim Brotherhood. Subsequently, President el-Sisi has received significant support from the rest of the world as a bastion against terrorism and he has been able to limit popular expression in the country and put state organs in charge of much of the poll. The removal of the powers of the General Intelligence Directorate to create and approve candidate lists might have been seen as a progressive step, but their role has been taken by the National Security Agency instead. Prominent opposition figures have been arrested but there are reports that the Coalition of Hope, a moderate opposition group, may be about to contest the elections.
Myanmar, Parliament (November)
Aung Sang Suu Kyi, for many years the symbol of opposition to military rule in Myanmar, has lost much of her lustre around the world as she has sought to defend what is seen as possible genocide against the Rohinga people in the west of the country and failed to overturn military dominance – the armed forces still has reserved seats in the parliament which makes fundamental change unlikely.
How the people will react when given the chance to vote – and how free the military allows the elections to be – will be at issue in this contest.
Venezuela, National Assembly (December)
The constitutional crisis in Venezuela – with two presidents claiming legitimacy and being backed by different countries – continues. The parliament remians the main opposition to President Nicolas Maduro whilst the Constituent Assembly, extablished to write a new constitution, are his main backers. Officially the constituent assembly will lose its mandate shortly after the parliamentary elections. However the outcome of the vote is unlikely to satisfy both sides and the battle for legitimacy will almost certainly continue.
Moldova, President (date unknown)
Moldova faces a Presidential election less than a year after the unlikely coalition government of pro-Western technocrats and pro-Russian socialists fell apart. That deal was done in order to oust the the Democratic Party of oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc which was widely perceived to be corrupt. However there has been little time to complete reforms and the coming presidential poll will probably see a contest between incumbent Igor Dodon of the Socialist Party and former Prime Minister Pavel Filip who seems likely to receive the Democratic Party nomination.
Reading List – 4th November 2019
Some not very upbeat articles for the first Monday in November
Balkan leaders warn that EU accession delay risks stoking tensions
First up, the FT has interviewed the leaders of Noirth Macedonia and Albania in the wake of the EU's decision not to open accession talks to the countries. France blocked talks with North Macedonia and they, together with Denmark and the Netherlands said no to progress with Albania. Both leaders talk about the EU failing to live up to its side of the bargain having made consistent reforms since 2003. Zoran Zaev of North Macedonia warns that his country may slide backwards as a result.
Poll reveals majority of eastern Europeans 'fearful for democracy'
The Guardian reports the results of a poll conducted by Open Societies Foundations across central and Eastern Europe where people say they are not confident about the state of democracy, the conduct of elections or the institutions such as the government and media. However there does seem to be a willingness among so-called 'Generation Z' respondents to seek to make their life better.
Facebook will allow UK election candidates to run false ads
CNN reports that Facebook will apply its policy of not fact-checking adverts paid for by political parties or candidates to the UK general election. There are widespread warnings that this could lead to massive disinformation campaigns likely to mislead voters. The company has confirmed, however, that it will allow its third party fact-checkers to establish the veracity of non-party groups such as Leave.EU.
The Electoral Reform Society has also reiterated its campaign for action to prevent 'dark ads' from affecting the election.
EU expansion decision will endanger reforms in Western Balkans
The EU has failed to agree to move onto the next step of enlargement as France, the Netherlands and Denmark have blocked the current hopes of North Macedonia and Albania joining. There have been warnings that this move will endanger liberal reforms in those countries as well as lessen the chances of a full peace settlement between Serbia and Kosovo.
The issue was discussed as part of this week's EU Council meeting in Brussels. It has been reported that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was happier to see progress made in the case of North Macedonia but he, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, see EU structural reforms as a higher priority and so blocked further discussions before the Western Balkans summit in Zagreb next May.
This decision will have a number of knock-on effects. In North Macedonia, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has a staked a lot on achieving agreements with Greece that resulted in changes including that of the name of his country. That, together with expensive constitutional, economic and political reforms, were all geared towards starting the long process of EU membership. Without the hope of membership, Zaev's credibility with his electorate will take a tumble and the reform process will likely stall.
Albania has a constitutional crisis of its own already and the country was seen to be less ready for EU membership, but the reform process had been started and will almost certainly now end, significantly endangering anti-corruption efforts and action against organised crime.
The EU decision may also affect the Kosovo/Serbia debate. Both countries had expressed a desire to join the EU, albeit on a slower track than Albania and North Macedonia. One of the key requirements for their membership to progress would be a lasting peace deal and border resolution. There will now be less incentive to make this happen.
And whilst the EU and its member states will continue to be important partners for the countries of the Western Balkans, this decision will leave the door open for stronger ties with other major players. Russia is a traditional ally for Serbia and has major interests in the whole region. Likewise, China is investing heavily as part of its Belt and Road Initiative having put funding into Serbian railways and leasing the port of Piraeus in Greece among other projects.
In reality, the timetable towards EU enlargement may be relatively unaffected by this decision. Completing the different chapters of the acquis communautaire is a lengthy process and could have been stalled in a more diplomatic way had member states wished. The negative effects could have been avoided had North Macedonia alone been given the green light with a warning that formal accession would only take place after the organisation's structural reforms had been completed. This choice, however, raises major concerns over the credibility of any further enlargement.
UPDATE (21st October 2019): North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, apparently furious at the decision of the EU, has called snap elections to allow his country "to decide what path it wants to follow". The election is set to take place on April 12th 2020.


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A can of Pringles and the Kris Kringle present.
Umm and also guys, I have to leave early to make it to a dental appointment at 3, so hopefully we can do the gift-giving earlier!
Yeah we were going to do it early always!
D: at 3?! Naww... I wont be able to see you!
So who should i call then?
And what's with the weather?! It's so cold out!!!


text:
Biology, Geology and Environmental Science
DeAnna Beasley
Field Station Affiliations
Division of Biology
B.S. Biology
Pre-Health Careers
B.S. Biology: STEM Education
Biology Minor Degree
Division of Geology
About The Geology Program
Geologic Settings
Division of Environmental Science
B.S. Environmental Science
Environmental Science Minor Degree
Geographic Information Science Minor Degree
Graduate Degree in Environmental Science
M.S. Environmental Science Graduate Program Handbook
Graduate Student Forms
Post-Baccalaureate Acceptances
Department Accomplishments
Technical and Educational Publications
Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
Environmental & Human Health
Geospatial Sciences
Molecular Biology, Cell & Physiology
Systematics & Biodiversity
Scholarships and Awards Information
2017 Awardees
Past Student Awardees
Additional Department Resources
Pre Health Care Careers
Chemical Hygiene Plan
GIS at UTC
Metacommunities and Greeninfrastructure
Community Resource Mapper
Institutional Animal Care and Use
Dr. DeAnna Beasley
Ph.D., University of South Carolina at Columbia
Deanna-Beasley@utc.edu
Beasley Lab Website
My research broadly explores the impact of human activity on the physiology,development and behavior in insect model systems. My current research explores the environmental implications of urbanization and climate change, particularly as they relate to insect development, immune function and insect-microbial interactions. Additionally, my involvement in interdisciplinary collaborations has allowed me to explore broad research areas including the microbial ecology associated with humans and their implication for human health.
Grants/Projects Since 2009
National Science Foundation, Dimensions of Biodiversity Workforce REU-Broadening Participation Supplement, 2015. Award: $20,000
Publications Since 2009
Li, H., Li, T., Beasley, D.E., Hedĕnec, P., Xiao, Z. et. al. (2016). Diet diversity is associated with beta but not alpha diversity of pika gut microbiota. Front. Microbiol. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01169. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffmicb.2016.01169
Beasley, D.E., Koltz, A.M., Lambert, J.E., Fierer, N. and Dunn, R.R. (2015). The evolution of stomach acidity and its relevance to human microbiome. PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134116.
Beasley, D.E., Bonisoli-Alquati, A. and Mousseau, T.A. (2013). The use of fluctuating asymmetry as a measure of environmentally induced developmental instability: A meta-analysis. Ecological Indicators. 30: 218-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.02.024
Beasley, D.E., Bonisoli-Alquati, A., Welch, S.M., Møller, A.P. and Mousseau, T.A. (2012). Effects of parental radiation exposure on developmental instability in grasshoppers. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 25(6): 1149-1162. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02502.x/full
Beasley, D.E., Benson, E.P., Welch, S.M., Reid, L.S. and Mousseau, T.A. (2012). The use of citizen scientists to record and map 13-Year periodical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada) in South Carolina. Florida Entomologist. 95(2): 486-488.http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0236
100 Davenport Hall | Dept 2653 | 615 McCallie Ave | Chattanooga, TN 37403 | (423) 425-4341 p | (423) 425-2285 f | About UTC


text:
Guardian is the authentication toolkit for Elixir. It provides token based authentication. It does not provide implementations for the challenge phase (the first verification of the resource/user) built to suit Elixir idioms.

To perform the challenge phase of authentication you can use [Ueberauth](https://github.com/ueberauth/ueberauth) to help you or use whatever methodology makes sense for your application.

## Defaults

The default token type for Guardian is JWT. This is not fixed. Guardian can use any token that conforms to the [Guardian.Token](Guardian.Token.html) behaviour.

JWT is a reasonable default that can be used in most situations including browser, mobile, 3rd party services over any communication channel. If you can get a token to your application, Guardian can use it.

## Guardian

Guardian's functionality has two core pieces.

* Creating Tokens
* Verifying tokens

It also provides

* [Custom Tokens](tokens-start.html)
* [Plug integration](plug-start.html)
* [Phoenix integration](phoenix-start.html)
* [Permissions](permissions-start.html)

## Tokens in your application

Guardian provides behaviours so that different implementations can be created.

For example you could have two token types for different purposes both backed by the default (JWT).

```elixir
defmodule MyApp.TokenModuleOne do
  use Guardian, otp_app: :my_app

  # ...
end

defmodule MyApp.TokenModuleTwo do
  use Guardian, otp_app: :my_app

  # ...
end
```

By allowing different modules to be implemented you can have multiple configurations inside your application for different purposes.

Token implementations are provided via an adapter pattern. By implementing the [Guardian.Token](Guardian.Token.html) behaviour your backend can be implemented any way you need, and specified in your configuration via the `token_module` option as either an option to the `use` call or in your configuration.

```elixir
defmodule MyApp.TokenModuleCustom do
  use Guardian, otp_app: :my_app,
      token_module: MyApp.CustomTokenBackend

  # ...
end
```

or via configuration

```elixir
defmodule MyApp.TokenModuleCustom do
  use Guardian, otp_app: :my_app

  # ...
end
```

```elixir
use Mix.Config

config :my_app, MyApp.TokenModuleCustom,
  token_module: MyApp.CustomTokenBackend
```

All configuration for your implementation module can be done this way - either via arguments to `use` or inside configuration.

Check the [implementation module docs](introduction-implementation.html) for more information.

# Tutorials

* [Getting started](tutorial-start.html)

## Guides

To contribute to the guides, please submit a pull request to the [guardian](https://github.com/ueberauth/guardian) project on GitHub.

You'll find the content under `guides/`.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


My children and I have a weekly Bible verse that begins each day for us - I'm amazed at the end of the week how my children have learned it so well. Last week's verse was from 1 Peter and it was about respect. I caught my daughter quoting it to her younger brother at one point while he was not exhibiting respect. Too funny!
So, this week I'll share our verse with you. I'd like to link up to Mom's Mustard Seeds. Rebecca is starting a weekly link-up where everyone shares the verses they are memorizing. Hopefully we'll all be able to hide God's word in our hearts and draw upon it in a myriad of ways when the time arises.
"All people are like grass.
flowers fall to the ground.


BRUSSELS – Korey Mallien, a former longtime Door County Advocate sports editor, is the new athletic director for Southern Door School District, the Advocate reported.
Mallien, a 1987 Southern Door High School graduate, earned his journalism degree at UW-Oshkosh before starting his career as a reporter for the Rhinelander Daily News in 1992. He returned to Door County that summer and went on to work 25 years at the Advocate. During his tenure, Mallien won numerous national and state newspaper awards, including four consecutive WNA Best Sports Pages honors.
After working for the Door County Economic Development Corp., for nearly a year, Mallien is excited to get back to sports.
Mallien fills the opening created by former AD Michelle Kanipes, who left to become Washington Island's middle and high school principal.


text:
Disneyland River Gets a Refill
By Scott Weber	• Published May 3, 2010 • Updated on May 4, 2010 at 5:55 am
Fans of Rivers of America at Disneyland noticed something missing these past few months: the river. But the water is returning as of Monday morning.
The 6 million gallon river was drained over a seven day period in January for maintenance and upgrades. Crews have been working for four months to replace boat tracks and add new features to the shoreline, the OC Register reported.
Among some of the items found in the empty river bed: half of a canoe from Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoe ride, hundreds of cell phones and walkie talkies, sunglasses, and of course, Mickey hats.
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Much of the water was sent to a recycling facility where it was put in holding ponds, the OC Register reported.
"They are theoretically getting some of this water back," Mike Markus, general manager of the Orange County Water District, told the OC Register. "There's a certain cycle to it. They drained it, we treated it, it became part of (the) groundwater basin and they are extracting it."
Water began flowing back into the attraction around 9am and will take about three or four days to refill, according to a park spokeswoman.
Many of the river attractions are scheduled to reopen around May 21 in time for the summer vacation season.


Caits Meissner is PEN America's Prison and Justice Writing Program director. Before joining PEN America, Meissner was an integral team member in developing community arts and education programs for organizations such as Tribeca Film Institute, The Bronx Academy of Letters, Urban Arts Partnership, The Facing History School, and The Lower Eastside Girls Club. She has taught, consulted, and co-created extensively for over 15 years across a wide spectrum of communities with a focus on prisons, public schools, and college classrooms at The New School University and The City College of New York. From 2012–2014, Meissner served over 500 women worldwide in an original intensive online writing course that matured into live programming, including a reading series, courses for incarcerated youth and adult women, and state-sponsored cultural exchange in Malaysia. In 2017, Meissner reenvisioned the concept of book tour for her illustrated poetry collection Let It Die Hungry (The Operating System, 2016), pairing public speaking engagements with opportunities to work with incarcerated writers across the United States. Meissner holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York, where she was awarded The Jerome Lowell DeJur Prize in Creative Writing, an Educational Enrichment Award, and The Teacher-Writer Award. She is deeply invested in the transformative, restorative, and change-making capacities of imagination and creativity.


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text:
The Documentation Project: Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Campaigns in Canada A project of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Home Canadian Arab Federation says Israel "indiscriminately" killed Palestinian civilians
Canadian Arab Federation says Israel "indiscriminately" killed Palestinian civilians
November 18, 2019 , Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi	, Comments Off on Canadian Arab Federation says Israel "indiscriminately" killed Palestinian civilians
Nour El Kadri, President of the Canadian Arab Federation. Photo: Screenshot Aljazeera video
On November 15, 2019 the Canadian Arab Federation issued the following statement regarding the latest round of fighting between Israel and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza:
[Facebook post] Statement by the Canadian Arab Federation sent to the prime minister, minister of foreign affairs and opposition leaders. This morning we got correspondence from the prime minister's office confirming it is sent to his and the minister's attention!
[CAF's statement] The Arab-Canadian Community is appalled and disgruntled at the condemnation of the Canadian Government of the firing of rockets from Gaza which caused not a single casualty and its one-sided and unjustified neglect to condemn Israel for its indiscriminate bombing of innocent women, children and seniors who are civilians. So far 38 people have died most of them women and children. Do Palestinian lives matter to the Canadian government? Where is the sense of Canadian fairness, objectivity and sanctity of civilian lives? We are dismayed and feel humiliated by this violation of Canadian values and cherished principles. We call on the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Freeland to correct this biased position and total neglect of the human suffering and basic rights of Palestinians in Gaza. We also call on the Right Honorable Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau to step up to the leadership expected of him and exhibit a similar position to that he did when Canadian doctor Tarik Loubani was shot in Gaza last year. Mr. Trudeau,
Palestinian Lives Matter!
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center published its findings about the Palestinian casualties: 13 were military operatives of the Islamic Jihad, 1 Hamas military operative, 1 affiliated with Hamas, 3 military operatives of Al-Aqsa Brigades/ Nidal al-Amudi, 2 military operatives of the Popular Resistance Committees, 9 civilians (7 were killed in a house the mistakenly identified as a military target) and regarding 3 it was not determined whether they were military operatives or civilians.
Official Operational Recap: pic.twitter.com/ISoA5Z0HWX
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 14, 2019
Posted in Uncategorized. Tagged as Canadian Arab Federation, Gaza, Islamic Jihad, Israel, Palestine, terrorism
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Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd.
Canadian PFLP operative praises terrorist attack in Jerusalem
January 21, 2020 , Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi , Comment Closed
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Heated confrontation: "What a f---ing Jew you are. You are a Jew? You are a piece of sh--"
Heated confrontation: "What a f—ing Jew you are. You are a Jew? You are a piece of sh–"
© 2020 The Documentation Project: Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Campaigns in Canada.


First, are our purposes still relevant?
What do these purposes imply for our national economic policies today, at the end of 1994?
What of the role of the Fund and its future?
Your Majesties, Mr. President, Honorable Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of the IMF, Your Majesty, I would like to begin by stressing how much we appreciate the exceptionally cordial hospitality we have found in Madrid. And it is a very special honor for me to render homage to the formidable economic progress achieved by Spain during your reign, a progress that has gained vigor and meaning as democratic institutions have been established, maintained, and strengthened. We know how much all those in need here in Spain, and how much all those active in the unique world of Spanish art, owe to Her Majesty Queen Sofia. We all know how much Spanish democracy owes to its King. All of us here remember, among many other occasions, the long vigil of February 23,1981. Not only Spain, but also Europe and the world, owe a great debt to Your Majesty for that contribution to the history of our times.
I would like to begin by extending an especially warm welcome to our new member Eritrea, a country that so fully deserves international cooperation and solidarity!
are the purposes of the Fund still relevant to our times?
if they are, what do they suggest to our governments for today?
and what for the Fund and its future?
Let us take those three questions in turn.
and the Fund giving confidence to members.
then, of course, the huge task remaining to be accomplished for stability, reform, and growth in many of the countries in transition.
What do our purposes imply about how we should face such challenges? They tell us we should not miss the opportunity offered by this recovery to secure durable, more broadly based, higher-quality growth, and to raise living standards worldwide. To do so, we must act decisively on the many lessons we have learned in the past fifty years. This is what the Interim Committee intended last Sunday when it adopted its Declaration. I can, therefore, limit myself to proposing six rules for the wise use of this recovery.
First: Never relax in the fight against inflation! We have learned, at considerable cost, that inflation does not provide a lasting solution to any problem. The preemptive tightening of monetary conditions in recent months in a number of industrial countries where expansion is well established is a welcome sign that this responsibility is understood and accepted.
Second: Ensure strong domestic saving and fiscal discipline! Fiscal positions will now tend to improve in the industrial countries as activity picks up; but this should not be mistaken for the structural improvements that are required. A lot can still be done to cut unproductive spending everywhere, not least through cutting subsidies. Most industrial countries have adopted medium-term consolidation plans, but many need to do more to make decisive inroads into their structural deficits. The current expansion, and especially 1995, provides the opportunity for doing so.
Third: Fight unemployment! Of course, a strong recovery will perform part of the task. But expanding economic activity alone will not reduce unemployment to tolerable levels. This unemployment— especially in Europe—is largely structural in nature. More determined action is needed in the environment of this recovery to improve the flexibility of labor markets—including restructuring unemployment benefits, reducing nonwage labor costs, liberalizing employment and wage-setting practices, and improving training.
Fourth: Make full use of the engine of growth that trade provides! The first priority now, of course, is ratification of the Uruguay Round agreements. Further liberalization will be desirable within the framework of the World Trade Organization.
Fifth: Adjust and reform for sustainable growth! Structural adjustment is the strategy that has led to remarkable success stories in East Asia, Latin America, Central Europe, and some countries in Africa. It is the strategy that enabled a group of about forty developing countries to grow at such a pace in 1993 that the world was able to achieve growth of 2.3 percent even when Europe and Japan were in recession and the countries in transition suffered a decline in output of 9 percent. These countries have become an engine of growth in their own right! Is that not a formidable achievement? We are proud to have been associated with such successes through our policy advice, technical assistance, and financing. Such strategies and successes—based on strong fiscal and monetary discipline, structural reform, openness, social policies as an integral part of programs, and good governance—should inspire all countries that are still in the process of structural adjustment or that have not yet started along that path. We know it can be a painful and protracted process. But we also know there is no other way to achieve a sustained improvement in living standards. And when boldness in reform and perseverance are there, external support must be there also.
This brings me to rule six: four simple words—intensify cooperation and solidarity! And this in turn brings me to the Fund and its role for the future.
I am both impressed by, and grateful for, the abundance and quality of suggestions from so many quarters about how the Fund should move forward into its second half century. There are, of course, differences of view among the membership on a number of issues; but there is also much that is agreed, and much of it is fundamental. In a nutshell, the Fund continues above all to be entrusted with the same two basic tasks.
First, financial assistance. Over the past decades, the Fund has continually adapted its financial instruments to meet the changing needs of its membership. This adaptation continues. In fact, one of the most gratifying developments in my time at the Fund was the renewal earlier this year of ESAF, our most concessional window, with twenty-four developing countries participating as creditors and donors. What a fantastic turnaround in their international position, from being recipients of international support to becoming contributors to that window! And I am particularly pleased to mention, Mr. Chairman, that your country, Bangladesh, is among these.
Looking to further adaptation of our instruments, the Executive Board has in recent months been working to put together a "package" to help meet the sizeable financing needs of many developing countries and countries in transition. Consultations will have to continue on that, and I fervently hope that in the coming weeks the membership will be able to resolve the issues involved in a positive way. Today, I can welcome the Committee's endorsement of the early adoption of a temporary increase in access limits. You can be certain that in implementing this we shall continue to ensure that our members, when they are in difficulty, adopt sound and credible programs. Sound conditionality is a responsibility we owe to our members in difficulty, not least to preserve our catalytic role. The Fund's endorsement of policies is what other creditors and donors look for before providing their own support. The Fund's seal of approval must maintain its credibility, and we shall ensure that it will.
But the Fund's catalytic role relies on partnership. Our partnership with the World Bank over the past fifty years has been most effective; it will continue to be central for us. Together with the World Bank and the regional development banks, we need all potential bilateral creditors and donors to complement our increased contributions by providing adequate and timely financial assistance to the many developing countries and economies in transition cooperating with us. I would emphasize in particular the importance for low-income countries of a flexible and speedy implementation of the Trinidad terms of a stock of debt reduction of two-thirds, as well as of the continued availability of external assistance on concessional terms. We cannot be satisfied with official development aid (ODA) continuing to languish at a level that is only half the United Nations target of 0.7 percent of industrial countries' GNP.
Our second major task is to strengthen the international monetary system by promoting more effectively the stability of the exchange rate system. This is called for even more now by the increasing integration of markets.
First, strong surveillance at the center is of the essence. In a global market, the risk that the domestic policy mistakes of one country will spill over onto other countries is increased. This makes our task of surveillance even more important, to avoid negative spillovers and weak policies, which often lie at the root of exchange rate volatility and misalignment. I, therefore, greatly welcome the Interim Committee's new call for the Executive Board to pursue its work in strengthening our surveillance, as the central element of the Fund's contribution to better economic policies and more effective cooperation, and to deepen its work on capital markets. And through these efforts to sharpen our analysis and surveillance, we must try to provide the world with an even more reliable early-warning system of emerging economic risks.
Second, we must further intensify our efforts to promote global current account convertibility. In this context, I am pleased to note that sixteen additional countries have accepted the obligations under Article VIII since my appeal last year. This is far more than in any other year of the Fund's history. But with eighty-three countries still to go, this progress must continue!
Third, the Fund will need to continue playing an active role in encouraging further trade liberalization, in close collaboration with the World Trade Organization.
Fourth, we must also intensify the encouragement we provide for the liberalization of capital account restrictions. The progress already made toward greater freedom of capital movements means we must consider more fully the best way of guiding the countries that are in the delicate transition to full liberalization. It also invites us to give early consideration to the appropriateness and modalities of the establishment of a fast-disbursing, very short-term financing mechanism, which would help cushion the reserves of countries experiencing short-term balance of payments pressures in spite of sound fundamentals and policies.
that all members should have a stake in the SDR system.
In each of these areas, work is proceeding.
Sixth, the role of the SDR; even if its role is controversial today, the globalization of the world economy and financial system makes the question of a central reserve asset issued by an international monetary authority even more pressing. The question of the future of the SDR, in line with the Articles, calls for in-depth study. This work will, of course, require time, and it will have to take account of progress in Europe with the development of the European currency unit.
The seventh and last suggestion for action is strengthened cooperation and a stronger sense of solidarity in addressing at the global level macroeconomic and monetary issues of a global dimension. This means strengthened cooperation at the Fund! The Interim Committee's continuing efforts to strengthen its contribution to the effective exercise of surveillance and policy coordination are directed toward meeting this need. I especially welcome the intention of the Committee to establish a methodology for reviewing progress in the implementation of the policies set out in its Declaration. The Committee is the only forum where economic policymakers representing the entire world—central bank governors and finance ministers—meet twice a year to reach understandings on policies and policy cooperation. A place where, whether we agree or not, we always seek to move forward. For those who want a locus for global and more effective economic policy cooperation, there is no need to look any further. Let us continue to concentrate on strengthening our cooperation, on ensuring that the Committee focuses on the global dimension of government policies, and on ensuring that the Committee makes its policy guidance concrete and decisive.
Cooperation and solidarity are the key words. During the last fifty years, what the Fund has been able to achieve—in moving the world toward current account convertibility, in handling the oil shocks and the debt crisis, and in helping developing countries and countries in transition in their journey toward high-quality growth—has depended upon the cooperation of its membership. We continue to need that cooperation now, to help deal with so many problems that still disfigure the global landscape. And we shall need your cooperation tomorrow as much as ever—cooperation for a world that has certainly advanced, a world that is more promising, but a world that also presents great risks. This world requires from us a renewed commitment to our purposes and, if we are to achieve these purposes, a renewed commitment to cooperation. Cooperation, but also solidarity. A few days ago, I read on the banners of the demonstrators here in Madrid, I quote, "Solidaridad es Ternura de los Pueblos." Ternura de los Pueblos! Yes, ternura, or in English, perhaps, compassion—all that our hearts can add to the coldness of international relations. Solidarity is all of that, but also the last word of reason and wisdom.
The first two paragraphs of the address were delivered in Spanish.


The community is expressing compassion and support for Salisbury Police Chief Barbara Duncan, whose husband, Richard, died last weekend.
His funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Friday at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church.
Reached briefly late Saturday, Chief Duncan stated she was struggling and by that evening, friends had begun posting messages of sympathy on Facebook.
"My sincere condolences to you and your family," George Randolph of Atlanta, Ga., formerly of White Plains, N.Y.
"Hey Chief, just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about Richie's passing. I'm in total shock as I'm sure you and the kids are. You all have my love and sympathy. May he rest in peace. I'll never forget him," Emma Blauvelt of Westchester, N.Y., wrote.
Salisbury City Council President Jack Heath said the City Council will "keep the chief and her family in our thoughts and prayers at this very difficult time.
"As always, we will rally around her and support her in whatever she needs and we ask that all citizens keep her in their thoughts as well," Heath said.
The Greater Salisbury Committee canceled its Business Roundtable set for Friday.
"We know canceling this meeting is the right and honorable thing to do. Please join me in keeping Chief Duncan and her four sons in our collective thoughts and prayers at this difficult time," Dunn wrote.
Barbara Duncan was named the city's 10th police chief and the first woman in the city's history in 2010. She was formerly police chief in Mount Vernon, N.Y. She began her career there in 1989.
Her husband retired from the Mount Vernon, N.Y., police force in 1998. On his Facebook page, there's an older snapshot of him in full uniform standing behind a police motorcycle.
"I'm an adorable and harmless old man," he wrote as a self-description.
His daughter, Erica Donnachaidh posted a photo of her father, smiling slightly, in a white undershirt and what appears to be a chef's hat, each of his hands on the shoulder of two young daughters.
"Everyone's going to miss his humor and love. He was the kindest, funniest and best man I've ever known," she wrote.
In March, Duncan posted a photo of daughter Carissa Duncan, and praised her for shaving her head to raise money for St. Baldrick's for childhood cancer research.
"She will also donate her long, beautiful hair for a wig for a cancer patient. I would appreciate any contribution you can make. As always, I am very proud of her," he wrote.


The broadest survey of writing for web and multimedia available, this book covers gaming, copywriting, journalism, business communications, academic writing, electronic poetry and fiction and more. Chapters on web design, web portfolio development, and copyright law are included.
This article, which was originally a paper presented on a panel at CAA, discusses ways in which narratives that reinforce gender norms become embedded in graphical interfaces. For example, recognizing what Lev Manovich has called a "logic of selection" inherent in all new media, the article considers ways in which graphical interfaces manifest a cultural logic of selection relating to gender norms—and how my own digital media works "fracture" or deconstruct them.
EXCERPT: While Ryan's model sees a gradation of experience when moving from interpretive to configurative texts (e.g., from art/literature/film to new media), and from real life to cyber environments, a quantitative approach to the characterization of aesthetic experience (e.g., indicating that it is more or less interactive) seems to ignore important qualitative differences between embodied experience of real life and of cyber environments. Inspired by feminist criticism, this discussion considers select theories and artists that highlight some of those differences and suggest a focus on embodiment that looks at the sensorial body and moves to the social body in ethical contexts.
Review: "The Films and Animations of Deanna Morse"
THESIS STATEMET: Move--Click--Move (a reference to stop-action animation) is not merely a DVD collection of Morse's 30-year body of work; it is a sharing of process and meaning, a portrait of the artist and her relationship to her work and her public, and a study of the act of animation itself--a continuous metaconversation about meaning through bodily movement, and a focus on embodied difference.
EXCERPT (regarding the film entitled "A.m. Afternoon"): While there is circularity here as the artist's recurring childhood dream of flying materializes in looping animation sequences and repeating narrative, there is also horizontal movement, as the artist finds freedom in time-based media (the "move—click—move" of frame animation; the "mouse-click-move" of computer animation) and in embodied movement ("travel"). "Now," she says, "I would not find solace in those suburban hiding places. Now, when they say 'Get out, get out,' I MOVE. Now, when they say 'Get out, get out,' I MOVE ON. Is that so unusual?" We come to realize that it is indeed unusual for a woman to fly (and for us deeply rooted Midwesterners to "move," for that matter). Finally, it is complex for any of us to contemplate movement: change in domestic setting, change in our bodies, movement from our home towns, and the importance of imaginatively taking flight. This complexity of movement is the focus of Morse's work, in both form and content.
"Representing the Body in Cyberfeminist Art"
EXCERPT: Whether we acknowledge it or not, in interactive media, the configurative language of the computer has become part of the interpretive language of the art form. For example, any representation of the body in cyberspace carries with it the idea that it has been digitized/mechanized by computer code. This idea might be no more or less problematic than the idea of body imagery being rasterized for digital video or photography, were it not for the fact that the Internet and other cybertechnologies have changed how we understand the body itself in relationship to that computer code (and by extension, in terms of semiotic code).
(and Other Reflections on Altar-ations)"
The museum requested that I write this essay as a companion to my new media art project called "Altar-ations" This was an invitational project that was included in the "Relationships" theme of the "Imagining Ourselves" exhibit web site during the duration of the exhibition in San Francisco.
CAA Recognizes the New Media Caucus"
EXCERPT: In his 2003 Ars Electronica review entitled "Don't Call It Art" (Rhizome Digest 9.17.03), Lev Manovich argued that much of digital art is fundamentally at odds with contemporary art because the very term "digital art" (and, by extension, "cyberart", "new media", etc.) presumes a formalistic preoccupation with medium. Therefore, he argued, digital art is not compatible with contemporary art, which comes from a conceptual art tradition. As one of many counterpoints to this argument, the CAA New Media Caucus, while asking some of the same questions Manovich has raised ("What exactly is [sic] the phenomena of . . . 'digital art,' 'new media art,' cyberart,' etc.?), presented us with digital work that operates in a larger field of cultural production.
EXCERPT: Art David of Wave Light Digital Images, Inc., who has worked in compositing and digital shot clean-up on several major motion pictures such as The Matrix, Judge Dredd, Contact, and Starship Troopers, said that "students need to develop problem-solving skills" in order to be competitive in a rapidly shifting technological environment. David illustrated the challenges of the digital effects industry by discussing the dramatic changes in staffing at ILM and other digital effect houses worldwide over a period of just eight years. He also emphasized that the workload is being redistributed to smaller firms and to various locations worldwide, and that students must be willing to adapt to the industry if they want to remain viable.