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NHK Ignores Tokyo Self-Immolation
A man sets himself on fire in protest at Abe's policies. But that's not news for NHK.
By Kyla Ryan for The Diplomat
Credit: Japanese police via Shutterstock
On Sunday, June 29, a man set himself on fire in protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to reform the constitution in order to expand the scope of the Japanese military.
The incident happened around 1:20 p.m., after the man gave an hour-long speech on a pedestrian bridge in Shinjuku, downtown Tokyo. He was hosed down by the Tokyo Fire Department, who were at the scene after receiving an emergency call that a man was about to commit suicide from a bridge. The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The self-immolation quickly became a major topic among Japanese users of social media sites such as Twitter, and was also reported by foreign network channels such as the BBC and China's CCTV.
However, Japan's national public broadcasting organization, NHK, decided to skip the topic on its flagship and bilingual 7:00 p.m. news, despite it being one of the most talked about, and tweeted, events of the news cycle.
Opposition to Abe's plans to reinterpret Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is widespread, and some dissenters have taken to the streets in protest. Critics claim that a constitutional change to enable the use of collective military force would be a radical departure from Japan's postwar pacifism, and would further antagonize a relationship with China that is already strained over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
NHK is a public organization chartered by the Japanese Broadcasting Act, which is funded through license fees that viewers in Japan are obligated to pay according to the Broadcast Law. The broadcaster's 12-member board of governors are appointed by the Diet.
Katsuto Momii, the current president of NHK, expressed his loyalty to the government at a conference held in January this year. When asked if NHK would report on international issues from only Japan's perspective, he responded that that was his duty, "If the government says right, I won't say left." In this case, NHK is indeed reporting right and ignoring the left.
When Momii was asked about the comfort women issue with South Korea, he responded that it was something that every nation made use of, not just Japan. He also said that the treaty signed between South Korea in 1965 has resolved the situation, and so he did not understand why it kept being raised.
This was not the first time NHK has faced controversy on the comfort women issue. It was accused of censoring and editing out crucial content in a documentary that aired in 2001. It was latter acquitted by the Supreme Court.
NHK also sparked protests in 2012, when it censored and edited the emperor's speech on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that subtly contradicted the government's statements.
The broadcast's decision to ignore Sunday's shocking incident will doubtless give its critics further ammunition.
Kyla Ryan
collective self defense
Japan Self-Defense Forces
Japanese Broadcasting Act
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Self-Immolation
Polls Give Abe a Bump, But Not on Collective Self-Defense
By Clint Richards
Polls indicate dissatisfaction with Abe's main policies, but lack of opposition probably means no change.
Japan Debates Changing Its Pacifist Constitution
By Craig Mark
Can Shinzo Abe actually succeed in his plan to amend Article 9?
To Shoot or Not to Shoot?: Japanese Legislators Debate SDF Weapons Use
Japanese lawmakers in the ruling coalition are debating the merits of allowing greater weapons use by the Japanese military.
Japan's Human Rights Record Comes Under Scrutiny
Three international reports highlight concerns about Japan's past and social equality.


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Q: API Security - Sending CC info Im trying to design a payments API, and it requires the sending of CC info over the wire. So for this I was thinking of using a public key to encrypt the CC info and decrypt it on the server. Keep in mind that the connection is https also. Any suggestions on the topic?

A: If the connection is https encrypting it a second time won't do any good, except if someone breaks SSL/TLS. In that case trust me your API will be the least of the world's problems..

A: If the connection is HTTPS, no need to encrypt the CC details.

A: In contrast to the earlier answers I would strongly suggest you read up on PCI-DSS. Basically you want to keep the card number encrypted until it is absolutely needed in plain text, such as when authorizing or settling. Its not clear what exactly your api calls will do, but at a guess you almost certainly don't want the card number to appear in plain text as soon as it hits your webservice.
In addition if you have a client side component that captures card details, then that will fall under the scrutiny of PA-DSS.

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text:
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People, policy, politics
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Ark academies celebrate A-level success
Following A-level results, Ark students are heading to top universities across the UK
Posted by Stephanie Broad | August 24, 2016 | People, policy, politics
#ark-academies
#a-level-results
#universities
#higher-education
Ark academy students are celebrating strong A-level results, with pupils receiving offers from top universities including Oxford, Imperial, Warwick, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds.
Melissa, from Ark Globe Academy, is off to university to read International Relations.
She said: "I am very excited right now. I just opened my results and I am really happy. I am really grateful to my geography teacher for helping and supporting me. I want to go into International Relations and work for an NGO. I'm going to change the world. I'm still figuring [out] how, but I will."
Melissa moved to the UK from Nigeria with her family when she was 10 years old. She says: 'It was just for me to have a better chance at life, to get a better education and better resources, that's part of what motivates me because I want to make their sacrifice worth it."
Russell Reid, from Ark William Parker Academy, is going to study Physics at Oxford University, Corpus Christi College
From an early age, Russell has known he wanted to pursue the subject. He says: "I enjoyed maths when I was growing up and you would come up with equations, but you couldn't really conceive what they meant easily – physics is a way to input that into the real world."
Russell is already looking forward to his career after university and the great opportunities a degree in Physics from a top university will open up. He says: "I'd quite like to do a PhD, and then maybe go into lecturing. Or I might try making documentaries for physics.'
Sinem Oyzoyn from King Solomon Academy is the first in her family to go to university, and is set to go to the University of Warwick.
She said: "I've wanted to go since year seven. My parents both didn't go to university, so to go to such an amazing institution, it's such a massive thing for my family."
Sinem wanted to give special thanks to her teachers. "They are amazing people who give hours of their time and work so hard to get us where we are.'
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ACL Surgery Graft Options
More in Orthopedics
Hip & Knee
Causes of Pain
Kneecap (Patella) Conditions
Knee Ligament Injuries
Meniscus Injuries
Replacement Implants
Fractures & Broken Bones
Leg, Foot & Ankle
Assistive Devices & Orthotics
Medication & Injections
Jonathan Cluett, MD
Jonathan Cluett, MD, is board-certified in orthopedic surgery. He served as assistant team physician to Chivas USA (Major League Soccer) and the United States men's and women's national soccer teams.
Medically reviewed by Miho J. Tanaka, MD on July 19, 2020
Miho J. Tanaka, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who specializes in the treatment of sports medicine injuries.
Miho J. Tanaka, MD
Repair vs. Reconstruction
Patellar Tendon Autograft
Hamstring Tendon Autograft
Allograft (Donor Tissue)
ACL reconstruction is a surgical procedure to replace the torn ligament for someone who has sustained an ACL tear. Once an individual has decided to have surgery, they will have to make several decisions about their surgery with their doctor. The most common question patients face is: which type of ACL graft should they choose?
The ACL graft is the type of tissue used to create the new ACL ligament. ACL reconstruction can be done with several different graft choices. The most common options include patellar tendon, hamstring tendon, and donor tissue (allograft). Each of these choices has advantages and disadvantages.
yenwen / Getty Images
ACL surgery is commonly, but not correctly, referred to as an ACL repair. A repair implies that you can fix something that is torn or broken. If an ACL is completely torn, the ends of the torn ligament will not heal back together, even if the torn ends were sewn together.
What has been shown to be successful: removing the torn ends of the ACL and replacing the ligament with a different structure—a procedure called an ACL reconstruction. A graft is tissue that is moved from one location to another. When the source of the graft is from the individual having surgery, it is called an autograft. When the source is from a donor (cadaver), it is called an allograft.
To secure the grafted ligament into the position of the normal ACL, tunnels are made in the shin bone (tibia) and thigh bone (femur), and the graft is passed through these tunnels to reconstruct the ligament.
The patellar tendon is the structure on the front of your knee that connects the kneecap (patella) to the shin bone (tibia). The patellar tendon averages between 25 to 30 mm in width. When a patellar tendon graft is selected, the central one-third of the patellar tendon is removed (about 9 or 10 mm) along with a block of bone at the sites of attachment on the kneecap and tibia.
Advantages: Many surgeons prefer the patellar tendon graft because it closely resembles the torn ACL. The length of the patellar tendon is about the same as the ACL, and the bone ends of the graft can be placed into the bone where the ACL attaches. This allows for "bone to bone" healing, something many surgeons consider to be stronger than any other healing method.
Disadvantages: When the patellar tendon graft is taken, a segment of bone is removed from the kneecap, and about a third of the tendon is removed. There is a risk of patellar fracture or patellar tendon tear following this surgery. In addition, the most common problem following this surgery is a pain on the front of the knee (anterior knee pain). In fact, patients sometimes say they have pain when kneeling, even years after the surgery.
The hamstring muscles are the group of muscles on the back of your thigh. When the hamstring tendons are used in ACL surgery, one or two of the tendons of these muscles are removed and "bundled" together to create a new ACL. Over the years, methods of fixing these grafts into place have improved.
Advantages: The most common problem following ACL surgery using the patellar tendon is pain over the front of the knee. Some of this pain is known to be due to the graft and bone that is removed. This is not a problem when using the hamstring tendon. The incision to obtain the graft is smaller, and the pain both in the immediate postoperative period and down the road is thought to be less.
Disadvantages: The primary problem with these grafts is the fixation of the graft in the bone tunnels. When the patellar tendon is used, the bone ends heal to the bone tunnels ("bone-to-bone" healing). With the hamstring grafts, a longer period of time may be necessary for the graft to become rigid.
Studies have suggested that allograft (donor tissue from a cadaver) has higher failure rates in patients under the age of 25. For many recreational athletes, the strength of the reconstructed ACL using an allograft is sufficient for their demands, and allografts appear to provide equal stability to autografts. Therefore, this may be an excellent option for older patients or for patients who do not want to have a tendon taken from another part of their knee.
Advantages: Performing ACL surgery using an allograft allows for decreased operative time, no need to remove other tissue to use for the graft, smaller incisions, and less post-operative pain. Furthermore, if the graft were to fail, revision surgery could be performed using either the patellar tendon or hamstring grafts.
Disadvantages: Historically, these grafts were of poor quality and carried a significant risk of disease transmission. More recently, techniques of allograft preparation have improved dramatically, and these concerns are less of an issue. However, the process of graft preparation (freeze-drying) kills the living cells and decreases the strength of the tissue. The risk of disease transmission also still remains. While sterilization and graft preparation minimizes this risk, it does not eliminate it entirely.
How to Choose an ACL Graft
Many surgeons have a preferred type of graft for different reasons. The strength of patellar tendon and hamstring grafts is essentially equal. There is no right answer regarding which is best, at least not one that has been proven in scientific studies.
The strength of allograft tissue is less than the other grafts, but the strength of both the patellar tendon and hamstring tendon grafts exceed the strength of a normal ACL. The bottom line is that 75% to 90% of all patients will have clinically stable knees following ACL reconstructive surgery.
Dealing with joint pain can cause major disruptions to your day. Sign up and learn how to better take care of your body. Click below and just hit send!
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. ACL Injury: Does It Require Surgery? Updated September 2009.
Macaulay AA, Perfetti DC, Levine WN. Anterior cruciate ligament graft choices. Sports Health. 2012;4(1):63–68. doi:10.1177/1941738111409890
Samitier G, Marcano AI, Alentorn-Geli E, Cugat R, Farmer KW, Moser MW. Failure of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. Arch Bone Jt Surg. 2015;3(4):220–240.
What to Expect From ACL Surgery
Medically reviewed by Stuart Hershman, MD
What to Expect on the Day of Your ACL Surgery
Using Donor ACL vs. Your Own Tissue
Medically reviewed by Miho J. Tanaka, MD
FDA Approves New Implant for ACL Tears
Why Some Athletes Re-Tear Their ACL After Surgical Reconstruction
How to Reduce the Risk of Complications From ACL Surgery
Is Your Own Tissue or Donor Tissue Better for Orthopedic Surgery?
How ACL Repair Differs From ACL Reconstruction
Purpose of Knee Arthroscopy
By Kristen Gasnick, PT, DPT
Recovering From ACL Surgery
What an MRI Can Tell You About a Knee Injury
Can ACL Rehab Be Accelerated for Athletes to Return to Sports?
Knee Arthroscopy: What to Expect on the Day of Surgery
Trapeziectomy: Everything You Need to Know
Kneecap (Patella) Injuries: Types, Causes, Treatment
Double Bundle ACL Reconstruction Surgery


Trump acted Tuesday to impose new tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines in a bid to help U.S. manufacturers.
The administration is imposing an immediate tariff of 30 per cent on most imported solar modules, with the rate declining before phasing out after four years.
For large residential washing machines, tariffs will start at up to 50 per cent and phase out after three years.
Germany is criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on imports of washing machines and solar panels.
Economy minister Brigitte Zypries said Tuesday that Germany campaigns for "fair and free trade, and against protectionism.
Zypries said she concerned Trump's decision could trigger a new trade war with China and South Korea, which in turn would have repercussions for Europe and Germany.
President Donald Trump is signing a measure Tuesday imposing tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines in a bid to help U.S. manufacturers.
The administration says the decision is part of Trump's pledge to put American companies and jobs first.
The U.S. solar industry is split over the issue. Two small subsidiaries of foreign companies that made solar cells in the U.S. favour tariffs, but a larger number of companies that install solar-power systems say their costs will rise and jobs will be lost.


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Thailand's Genial Nightmares
Gabriel Winslow-Yost
Kick the Machine/Strand Releasing
Jarinpattra Rueangram as Keng and Jenjira Pongpas as Jen in Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendor, 2015
When Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's new film Cemetery of Splendor was introduced at the New York Film Festival last fall, a statement from him was read in which he described it as being set in a country that has gone "from less democracy to no democracy." (He also said that he didn't mind if the audience fell asleep, and wished them pleasant dreams if they did—a joke that seemed darker and darker as the film unfolded.) The film—which has just been released in New York and elsewhere—takes place in and around a ramshackle clinic in northeastern Thailand, set up to house a group of Thai soldiers who have fallen mysteriously and, it seems, permanently asleep. Jen (played by Weerasethakul regular Jenjira Pongpas), a middle-aged volunteer nurse with a crippled leg, becomes attached to Itt, one of the soldiers, who has no family nearby to care for him. Eventually Itt and a few of the others manage to waken, intermittently and temporarily, and he and Jen strike up a friendship, half romantic, half maternal.
Weerasethakul's version of cinematic protest is passionate but oblique. What is ailing the soldiers is revealed before too long: in what seems a bizarre literalization of Stephen Dedalus's quip that "history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake," it turns out that ancient kings, who once lived, warred with one another, and died in this area, have commandeered the life-force of soldiers, and are using them to continue their endless war in the invisible realm of the spirits. The symbolism of his central conceit—patriotic Thais struggling unsuccessfully to wake up, vampiric autocrats sucking the life out of their subjects—is clear enough, though the film itself treats it so concretely, and with such patient attention, that it's easy to forget. The boogeyman lurking just outside the frame is the Thai government, a military dictatorship since the May 2014 coup and none-too-tolerant before that. "I see no future in being a soldier," says Itt, in one of his interludes of consciousness; he'd rather be a baker. But it isn't up to him, and soon after he says this he falls back asleep.
Weerasethakul is certainly an unlikely political filmmaker. Though only forty-five, he has been Thailand's most acclaimed director for over a decade. His earlier works were driven by more intimate matters: a pervasive romantic desire, a good-natured amusement at the vagaries of the human body, a sense of the world as alive, interconnected, and constantly changing. It is true that one of his films, Syndromes and a Century (2006), was subject to harsh government censorship, but this was an almost comical overreaction: the objectionable scenes included one in which a Buddhist monk plays an acoustic guitar, and another in which some doctors share a drink in an empty hospital room. (Weerasethakul at first refused to alter the film for Thai release, then eventually screened an ostentatiously butchered version in which the deleted sections were replaced with long stretches of black film; audience members were directed to YouTube to see what they had missed.)
His films are delivered with a kind of mystic deadpan. No matter what is happening onscreen—from a dental appointment to the sudden appearance of a dying man's dead wife at the supper table—his camera never wavers, his long, slow takes never speed up, no one screams, no music swells. There is no distinction between the mundane and the supernatural, and Weerasethakul never fixes on a single tone or meaning, always holding a bit of mystery in reserve.
Descriptions of his work slide inexorably into paradox: it is sincere and ironical, improvisational and elaborately structured, earthy and uncanny at the same time. His 2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives—surely among the least likely winners of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and the first from Thailand—turned the last days of its title character, terminally ill, into the frame for a shaggy succession of memories, fantasies, and paranormal visitations; it was at once one of the goofiest movies about death and mourning ever made, and the saddest movie ever to feature a catfish-on-human sex scene. Its predecessor, the nearly perfect Syndromes and a Century, inspired by the courtship of Weerasethakul's parents, was a film in two parts that told the same story twice (two doctors meet, first in a quaint rural hospital, then in a gleamingly modern urban one) without ever really telling it at all: an aching romance in which the love affair never quite gets off the ground.
Cemetery of Splendor is similarly incongruous. By far the most nakedly political film of Weerasethakul's career, it is a gentle, open-hearted story of human connection, and it is underlain at every moment by rage and dread. Midway through the film, the two main characters, Jen and Itt, go to the movies. In a slick modern multiplex, they watch a trailer for a schlocky horror flick, a fevered montage of impalements, heaving breasts, and prehensile tongues. This sequence is as close to a direct statement of intent as you'll ever find in a Weerasethakul film. Cemetery of Splendor has no gore, no bug-eyed demons or shrieking victims, and it makes time for flirtatious conversations with the local librarian, a long sales pitch for a miracle skin cream, and several public group workouts (a charmingly inexplicable staple of this filmmaker's work). But it too is a horror movie, all the more unsettling for its poky, daylit geniality.
There is a scene early on of the soldiers eating in an auditorium, just after they have woken up for the first time. It is a bright, sunny room, and the soldiers are smiling, chatting with their friends and family. As far as they know, their mysterious ordeal has ended. Itt and Jen are just beginning to get acquainted. And then one of the soldiers simply passes out into his food; his face hits his plate with a little clatter. The reactions are typically restrained—the man across the table lets out a high-pitched giggle of disbelief, Jen and Itt look at each other expressionlessly—but the effect is chilling: relief has fled, and fear has filled the room.
Between features Weerasethakul is a prolific maker of short films and installations, and several of them anticipate Cemetery's turn toward politics. The hour-long Mekong Hotel (2012, but receiving a belated US premier alongside his new film at the IFC Center in New York) is a ramshackle amalgam of fiction and documentary, mixing behind-the-scenes sequences with his actors (including Jenjira Pongpas) and bits of a supernatural story about cannibalistic spirits, largely consisting of shots of his actors smeared with blood and chewing gorily at various corpses—all of it set to lilting acoustic guitar. Its alternation of low-key charm with sudden undercurrents of violence is surprisingly effective, and not all the violence is fictional: in one scene Pongpas wistfully recalls her girlhood military training, required by the government.
The much shorter Phantoms of Nabua, one of the highlights of Weerasethakul's 2011 "Primitive" installation at the New Museum, is an extraordinarily beautiful vision of play and art in the shadow of destruction. Plotless and nearly abstract, it shows a group of young men playing soccer at night with a flaming ball, in front of a movie screen showing a lightning storm. Soon the screen, along with much of the field, catches fire and burns down, and the game ends. Nabua, a village near the Laotian border where Uncle Boonmee and all of the works in "Primitive" are set, was the site of a brutal military occupation for several decades starting in the mid-1960s.
The clinic in Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendor, 2015
Cemetery addresses Thailand's catastrophes a little more directly, though still mainly by sideways glance and implication. Backhoes are digging up the fields around the clinic, and no one knows why; it may be for fiber-optic lines, or for a secret government project, "so secret they're digging right out in the open." Near the end of the movie, in an echo of Phantoms, we see some children playing soccer on a field torn into vertiginous hillocks and valleys by those backhoes; no one comments on the complete absurdity of the game. After Jen and Itt watch that trailer at the movie theater, they and the rest of the audience stand for the royal anthem, which is played before every movie in Thailand; but we hear nothing, just silence, as the moviegoers stare blankly ahead with hands over hearts, and then the soft, insidious whir of the ceiling fans in the clinic, above the sleeping soldiers.
Later, Jen walks with Keng, a sunny young woman who is also the local psychic, through a dilapidated riverside park, while Itt sleeps in a nearby pavilion. Keng has, she says, allowed herself to be inhabited by Itt's spirit, to allow him to talk more with Jen. As they meander along, Keng/Itt describes the invisible splendors of world in which he spends his sleeping life—the palaces of the undead kings. He makes Jen step carefully over thresholds, and pause to admire gold and jewels, none of which anyone else can see. She counters with descriptions of the park itself, its restoration, its partial destruction by a recent flood.
It's an astonishing sequence, at first ridiculous and then more and more affecting, its cumulative power entirely dependent on Weerasethakul's unique way of committing to his material without ever quite tipping his hand. At the end, they sit on a bench to rest, and Jen shows Keng/Itt her surgically repaired leg, ten centimeters shorter than the other (Pongpas did in fact injure it in a motorcycle accident). Her companion kneels down and massages the scarred limb ("It's therapy… Trust me"), then begins to kiss it. Jen laughs at first, embarrassed, then weeps.
Jen is optimistic, devout, and devoutly patriotic, and part of the drama of this relentlessly understated film is her slow, almost invisible awakening to the malevolence of the world around her—her realization of the hopelessness of her friend's situation, of how wantonly his life is being wasted. She plies him with coffee, herbal remedies, and spicy food, trying desperately to keep him awake. "When you're asleep," she says, "even the bright city lights feel dull."
She prays to a pair of local goddesses on his behalf, and receives a visitation: they come to her at a picnic table, in the guise of fashionable young women out shopping. "We came to tell you," they say, "that those soldiers will never recover." And they don't. The film's final shot is of Jen, sitting outside the clinic, her eyes wide open, unblinking, her face a frozen mask. Cemetery of Splendor has yet to be shown in Thailand, and Weerasethakul has told interviewers he will no longer make his films in his native country.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendor is now playing in select theaters.
Russia's Darkest Filmmaker
Taiwan's Master Timekeeper
China's Exploding Future
—— July 18 ——
Which Way to the City on a Hill?
The Driest Eye
Deborah Eisenberg
America's Indefensible Defense Budget
Jessica T. Mathews
The Case of Yiyun Li
The Road Taken


Konami has said it is "not long" until the demo for Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 will be released.Jon Murphy the PES European team leader confirmed the news on the official Konami blog."Not long to go now until we release a demo for everyone to test. You'll get a chance to see the new PES for yourselves and make up your minds about how we've reflected what the what fans want," he said.PES' rival FIFA 2010 will release it's demo this week on 10 September ahead of its release on 2 October.Konami hope PES 2010 marks the return to the top of the video games football league after playing catchup with FIFA in recent years. The game will feature full 360 degree dribbling along with a reworked and more realistic master league.PES 2010 is set for a staggered release with the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions being launched first on 22 October.


text:
50 Years of Teaching
Fondest Memories
50th Events & Initiatives
The Rise of the Corporate University
By adminOctober 2, 2016 No Comments
In the late 1980s, post-secondary institutions across Alberta were feeling the effects of the recession and budget cuts. The University of Lethbridge was no exception. It was widely known in the university sector that the U of L was broke, student enrolment was going down and there were discussions about closing the University.
When I became president of the U of L on June 1, 1987, the institution was experiencing challenging times. My area of interest is corporate and institutional turnarounds, and there were a number of things that had to be done.
One was to make sure that we didn't lose the academic expertise that we had in the faculty.
We revamped senior administration and built a new team. We developed a core of strength with VPs serving as chief officers. We recruited Dr. William Sibley (LLD '00) from Stanford University back to Canada to become our new vice-president (academic). Dr. Ian Newbould followed Sibley, and a few years later, Dr. Séamus O'Shea (LLD '13) took over the VP Academic office.
University representatives and members of the Faculty of Management celebrated the opening of the University of Lethbridge Building in downtown Edmonton.
Our financial administration team, with people like Nancy Walker (BMgt '82) and Karen Clearwater (BASc (BA) '80), was first rate. They were key to our financial recovery. They devised a new budget system where deans received the tuition generated by their Faculties and, for the first time in a Canadian university, kept the funds they did not spend. By providing academic units with carry-forward, they could plan and save for initiatives they wanted to invest in. Government funds were then allocated to other sectors of the University.
We had a very good Board. They worked hard and represented a cross section of business people. We changed the structure of the Board of Governors with the addition of three students and two faculty members. This gave a route and a vent for problems.
In terms of student recruitment, we had to recognize we weren't just a Lethbridge and district university — our market was Alberta. We started targeting one-third of our enrolment out of Calgary and 10 per cent out of Edmonton, recognizing that only one in four of our target enrolment would come from Lethbridge and area.
A new notion of coopetition was implemented. The U of A and the U of C were not to be poached from. At the U of L, we did things differently. We recruited parents directly in Calgary and rural Alberta. The Chancellor, Dr. Keith Robin (LLD '92), and I travelled to meet with prospective parents and their students; parents wanted a smaller city — and once their kids started at the U of L, they stayed.
We also changed the image of the institution from an undergraduate teaching university to a full-fledged research university with a defined mission. I began meeting with the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada's research agencies, which helped generate a flow of research dollars and we started to find success. One of the things that I'm happiest with is that people now refer to the three research universities in Alberta — the universities of Alberta, Calgary and Lethbridge.
With a very good Master of Education program already in existence, we implemented a new model of graduate programs for other areas, introduced the MA and MSc programs, and established a PhD program.
The Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience (CCBN) was at the U of L in many ways for many years, even before I arrived. The Kolb-Whishaw team was doing work that was at the Canadian standard and had a shot at being at the North American level. We had to focus our research so they could shine. Part of that was saying we couldn't do everything — they would be our first priority to develop, just as other priorities have come down the line. Our goal wasn't to be the best in Alberta or even Canada. We wanted to be known in North America.
Dr. Bryan Kolb (DSc 115)
The Calgary and Edmonton campuses began with the notion of the post-diploma program — which the U of L pioneered in Western Canada — and saying that students who complete year one and two at colleges are very qualified to transfer to the University in their third year and complete the Bachelor of Management program. Once the transfer agreements were made with the initial 23 institutions, we started to see a significant amount of our enrolment transfer in from other institutions.
Dr. Ian Winshaw (DSc' 08)
The Faculty of Management asked why should students come to Lethbridge if they are working full time in Calgary or Edmonton. The logical thing to do was to offer the management program in these cities. In 1996, we opened campuses in both Calgary and Edmonton. The value these campuses bring is to the student. They provide another type of quality undergraduate education to people who would otherwise not have access to it.
Student enrolment soared at the U of L in the 1990s.
From 1990 to 1999, enrolment nearly doubled, growing from 3,953 students to 6,009. Campus changed considerably over that time. In the fall of 1990, we opened four new residence buildings — Aperture Park — which were built on time and on budget. That same year, we also opened Turcotte Hall and the Students' Union. In 1995, modular classrooms were installed north of the Physical Education building to help alleviate classrooms shortages, and in 1999, we opened Hepler Hall and a classroom addition to the PE building, and we broke ground for the Library Information Network Centre (LINC).
Our library led the way in applying digital technology with a traditional library, and it was designed for the future. Going to a small university doesn't mean you do without. In fact, it means that as a student you get more access to more equipment than you would as an undergraduate going to a large institution.
A key thing for a university in its teaching, research, scholarship and performance is that it be an innovator. And I believe the U of L is an innovator. We are continuously innovating: our research, scholarship and performance are in balance.
I enjoyed the whole process of being president. We were supported by the community and the government. In the 13 years that I was president, we had three substantial budget cuts, and on each occasion we grew, expanded and were better at the end of the period. We established financial stability, retained good faculty and built enrolment.
When Bill Cade became president in 2000, we had a smooth transition. He changed things as the marketplace and academic world demanded, but it's about as good a transition as anyone could have imagined. The University continued to prosper.
We are an Alberta institution all Albertans can be proud of.
Story By Dr. Howard E. Tennant, President Emeritus.
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© 2021 Celebrating 50 Years at the University of Lethbridge. University of Lethbridge | 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4. All images, videos and feeds are the property of the University of Lethbridge and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the U of L.


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THE RAPIST'S REP
Home / General / THE RAPIST'S REP
PFMLIT February 19, 2004 General, SHAME ON YOU, STATE REPRESENTATIVE
California Rep. Lynn Woolsey's reprehensible behavior in a recent rape case has been buried by the national press and National Organization for Women elites. This is what they won't tell you: Last July, Stewart Pearson, a 20 year old thug, soaked a rag in toilet bowl cleanser and Ajax and used it to smother 17 year old Tina Phan while she was sleeping in her Terra Linda, California home. She gasped and tried to fend him off, but he overpowered her with a knife. Pearson raped and brutalized Tina. She said he told her he had committed the same crimes before and planned to do it again. Tina bravely persisted in pressing charges. Pearson initially denied raping her but admitted his guilt last fall. As first reported by the Marin Independent Journal, Woolsey, an outspoken feminist and anti-violence-preaching Democrat, attempted to intervene in the case. On her official stationery, she sent a letter to the local presiding juge in support of the convicted rapist. She wrote: Stewart Pearson is a young man from a supportive family. I believe he has a promising life ahead of him, and I urge you to consider these factors when deciding on a suitable sentence. She further noted that he had volunteered for her campaign stuffing envelopes, as if that would somehow mitigate the violence he committed against Tina, whose promising life Woolsey didn't bother to show an ounce of concern for at all. The judge, thankfully, ignored Woolsey and sentenced Pearson to eight years in prison, the maximum allowed under a plea deal.
Turns out Pearson is the son of one of Woolsey's aides. Woolsey told the Marin newspaper, In my mind, he is not a criminal. She admitted she knew nothing about Tina's rape case and Had no idea what the courts had found.
Tina has courageously gone public to hold Pearson and Woolsey accountable for their actions. Her congresswoman, Tina blasted, represents the rapist who took advantage.
WHEN SEX OFFENDER IS TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
SEX CHARGED FOR GLENDALE MAN


Working at the intersection of theater, visual arts, and critical practice, the collective My Barbarian (Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade) uses performance to theatricalize social problems and imagine ways of being together. The group's New Museum exhibition and residency, "The Audience is Always Right," are organized as part of the Department of Education and Public Engagement's R&D Season: DEMOCRACY. The residency includes a series of workshops, performances, and public programs that culminate the eight-year international tour of My Barbarian's project the Post-Living Ante-Action Theater (PoLAAT). The performances and workshops bring together performers and artists from different backgrounds and cultural sites—including choreographers, actors, musicians, and visual artists from Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas—to collectively consider current political situations near and far. The title of the exhibition and related residency takes on a critical and ironic undertone in this dangerous moment when politics are more hyperbolic and spectacle-driven than ever before: "The Audience is Always Right." Except, of course, when they are wrong.
Composed of five techniques—Estrangement, Indistinction, Suspension of Beliefs, Mandate to Participate, and Inspirational Critique—the PoLAAT responds to historic theatrical models that attempted to create social change, including Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's antiteater, and Julian Beck and Judith Malina's Living Theatre. The project addresses these and other methods, often buried or overlooked, of critical and revolutionary theater from the 1960s and later, while situating its own enactment in (and against) the seemingly antirevolutionary contemporary moment. The PoLAAT occupies a space between memory and rehearsal, joke and laugh, and commentary and critique. It is the theater that happens after an experience but before action is taken. It is a rehearsal.
After developing the PoLAAT during a residency at the New Museum in 2008, My Barbarian initiated a series of PoLAAT performances in international contexts at various host venues, including Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt, and Galeria Civica in Trento, Italy, which are both now defunct. In each iteration, groups of local participants were brought together for a workshop period that often involved the translation and transformation of the PoLAAT's five guiding principles through exercises, songs, and choreography, followed by a public performance for a local audience. For "The Audience is Always Right," My Barbarian brings the PoLAAT back to the New Museum, reuniting a select group of former participants from previous incarnations of the project for a new series of performances and workshops. The exhibition illustrates the eight-year history of the PoLAAT in an installation that documents its various performances and many participants—professional and amateur alike—by means of an archive of ephemera and props, a sixty-minute single-channel video, and a large-scale mural that nods to such strategies as those utilized by the visionary Chicano art collective Asco, as well as artists employed by the WPA under the New Deal in the 1930s and '40s. This installation both documents and serves as a backdrop for the demonstrations and participatory lectures during the PoLAAT workshops held throughout the run of the exhibition.
The exhibition is curated by Johanna Burton, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement; Travis Chamberlain, Associate Curator of Performance and Manager of Public Programs; and Sara O'Keeffe, Assistant Curator.
This project is co-presented with the French Institute Alliance Française as part of the Crossing the Line Festival 2016.


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Squamish Youth Basketball returns with excitement and new partnerships
August camp starts this week and more camps will be available in the fall.
Basketball is back on the court in Squamish. Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images
Squamish Youth Basketball is mounting a comeback after taking off about a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The camp started in 2019, but had to pause because of the pandemic, said creator Mike Wheaton. He said the camp started up again this spring and is currently running at the outdoor courts outside of Howe Sound Secondary.
"I started the camp, and you know just did a little bit of advertising, and found that it moved quite quickly from five or six kids to 20 kids. And parents were quite excited to have basketball in town," said Wheaton.Wheaton said the camp quickly grew to have a girls program, a seven to nine-year-old program and a 10 to 12-year-old program.
"Then, of course, COVID hit and that shut everything down," he said.
Since returning, Wheaton said he has partnered with Jr. NBA and Canada Basketball which has helped provide a lot of structure for the camps as well as resources for parents who would like to get involved with coaching.
The camp runs as a non-registered not-for-profit, Wheaton said, because he wants to get as many kids as involved as possible. Plus, participants get their own reversible jersey and ball this time, he said.
"They got their jerseys — they were pumped about that. You know, we have Raptors, Lakers, Celtics and Golden State jerseys."
The participants were a little more excited for this August camp than in the spring, said Wheaton.
"I think kids were coming out of a kind of a shell," said Wheaton said of the Spring camp. "They weren't out, they weren't socializing, they weren't sure how close they could get… I could tell that we've been open from COVID for a little bit of time [with this camp] because kids are coming out of their shell."
Ultimately, Wheaton said he is glad that kids in Squamish have a chance to play and learn about basketball while also learning about teamwork.
"It was nice to see the kids working together because team sports in this town, there's not a huge focal point on them — a lot of individual stuff. I do notice, in my previous camps, when kids come together, dealing with each other's emotions, working together, being respectful."
"I'm excited to see the kids of Squamish — whether it be with Squamish Youth Basketball or with Hoop Reel — get out there and play."
Interested players and parents can find more information about the upcoming camps and prices at squamishyouthbasketball.ca.


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Traffic Engineering Studies
Traffic Engineering Design
Bicycle and Pedestrian Studies
Home > About > Leadership > Staff Bios
Willie Roman, PE, PTOE
Las Cruces, NM & El Paso, TX
Willie is a Senior Project Manager with a background in both engineering and management. With almost 20 years of leadership and engineering expertise within the public and private sectors, his experience includes 10 years of executive management of a multi-discipline, multi-office engineering and surveying company, and nearly 6 years with municipal government where he served as Administrator of Street & Traffic Operations and also as the City's Traffic Engineer at the City of Las Cruces. While at the City of Las Cruces, he managed a large municipal operations section and oversaw day-to-day operations of Traffic Engineering, Traffic Operations (Signs and Markings, Signals, and Street lights), and Street Operations (Road Construction, Maintenance, Weed and Flood). His alma mater is New Mexico State University, having received a Bachelor's Degree (with Honors) and Master's Degree in Civil Engineering in addition to a Master's in Business Administration, all from NMSU. Academic memberships include Chi Epsilon (National Civil Engineering Honor Society) and Beta Gamma Sigma (Honor Society for Accredited Business Schools), and professional associations include the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He previously served on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Mesilla Valley MPO. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in both New Mexico and Texas.
As a Sr. Project Manager with Lee Engineering, he is tasked as the lead on developing offices in Southern New Mexico and far West Texas. His project experience includes performing studies and assessments concerning traffic operations, traffic impact analysis, traffic engineering concepts, signal optimization, roadway/intersection safety, land development, utilities, and hydraulic & hydrology studies.
Willie is a big sports fan and likes outdoor activities such as hiking and mountain biking. He enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, physical fitness, and nutrition science. He also volunteers his time coaching youth sports.
Send Willie a message:


Rachel Sapoznik's life has been rich with life lessons. She realized as an adult that the team sports she played as a youth helped her build better executive teams. She learned after the birth of her second child that careers can change quickly – and being self-sufficient is a key to success.
Today, the president of Sapoznik Insurance & Associates finds herself teaching others – about the value of good health coverage, the importance of wellness and the perils of taking either for granted. Her mission for the insurance agency she launched in 1987 is to educate customers and provide customized employee benefit programs for national retailers, municipalities, manufacturers and other sectors.
Along the way, she's been recognized as a leading regional insurance agency, a Top 10 woman-owned business, and among the Top 100 minority businesses.
The Business Journal held its inaugural South Florida Ultimate CEO Awards on Sept. 29 at the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, where more than 350 were in attendance to celebrate 15 of the tri-county region's top executives. Click here to see photos from the event.
Health care is undeniably challenging. Any challenges unique to South Florida? The biggest challenge is educating people about personal responsibility. Now that we have the Affordable Care Act, people feel entitled to health care. Unfortunately, when there is an entitlement, many times there's not personal responsibility, meaning there's abuses. Those abuses end up increasing costs, instead of reducing costs. I have a real mission out there, which has been a core of my business, of educating employees on the best way to use their health care so they are healthy and their claims costs are contained in a proper manner. Because that's the only way we're going to be able to sustain affordable health care. If not, we're going to be looking at a future of rationed health care, which is a very scary thought to me.
What would Rachel of today tell 18-year-old Rachel to change? Rachel of today would tell Rachel at 18 it's OK to ask questions, to say "I don't know how to do something," it's OK to fail. Because you can only learn from your failures. Some of my greatest failures have been some of my greatest lessons, and when we're 18 years old, we're so afraid and "I don't want to fail here." But you do want to fail because that's how you're going to learn.
If you could ask one executive one question, who and what would that be? Steve Jobs: How did you leave us so early, with all the access to brilliant health care you had available? Why didn't you take care of yourself? You changed the world, but you didn't use that energy to help yourself. He did not take care of himself from a health standpoint. He had bizarre eating habits, sleep habits. Was it all these things that shut down his immune system and then allowed the cancer to come in? We don't know. Had he lived, he maybe could have found out what caused his cancer through the research. But he got diagnosed late in the game. He left too early; there was so much more for him to do.


Palestinian Terror Groups' List of war crimes committed intentionally against Israeli Civilians- Hamas is the leading culprit.
Unlike Israel that always tries to limit civilian casualties during defensive operations, these organizations engage in offensive operation that seek to kill as many civilians-men, women, and children, as possible.
These are the worst kinds of wars crimes imaginable.


The Meatloaf concert - while you may be aware that Meatloaf had been sick and cancelled some shows. Sadly this should have been one of them. We love this artist, and thank goodness we have watched him perform numerous other times or we would be so disappointed. It was obvious form the start that he was still very ill, and the only thing that kept the show alive was his back up singer and the band. But the music still moves us, and honestly I would still go to another show. My heart was pounding when he literally collapsed on stage while performing the encore. It turns out he was ok, but it was terrifying then.
It is hard to believe this is the last month of school. All the kids had a great year, and we are so privileged to be able to attend school and sporting events with all of them. Every one of the five make us proud, whether it is school. sports, or just being great kids.
I am going to save the Slave Lake post for July, so I can tell you all about it.
Thanks for sharing our adventures.
The Cameron and Campbell kids playing Beanbag Toss - carrying on a long tradition!


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Bernadine Zanoni
Posted Friday, May 31, 2019 12:00 am
WAKE FOREST — Bernadine Zanoni, 82, "Bernie" as she was affectionately known, was born in New York City on July 9, 1936 to the late Joseph and Josephine Morton.
On Aug. 28, 1966 she married the love of her life Richard Zanoni. Bernie's career included working for the Dinner Bell Deli in Westwood, New Jersey and the Suburban Bank of New Jersey in Emerson, New Jersey. In 2000 Richard and Bernie left their home in Delaware to be near family in Wake Forest.
A memorial service was held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 22 at Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home.
Bernie is survived by her husband of 52 years, Richard "Rich" Zanoni; niece, Gail Murphy and husband Kevin of Wake Forest; great-niece, Kim Murphy; great-nephew, Kevin Murphy, Jr. and numerous friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and her 10 siblings.
The family would like to express sincere thanks to Heartland Hospice for all of their care. They would ask that memorial contributions be made in Mrs. Zanoni's memory to the Heartland Hospice, 4505 Falls of Neuse Rd #650, Raleigh, NC 27609.
A service of Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home, Wake Forest.
Dorothy Margaret (McQuaid) Gonnella
Michelle Leigh Fladung
Nyle Carl Hart
The Honorable I. Beverly Lake


In order to analyse diversity management in cultural institutions the working group has implemented a benchmarking tool, which tracks the potential journey of a cultural institution from a basic level where the institutions recognise the need to reflect society's diversity by adapting rules and making statements, through two intermediate levels to an advanced level, where the cultural institutions as organisations fully reflects society's diversity and promotes participation.
Please register to fill the Benchmark!
MCP Broker is financially supported by the European Integration Fund (Community Action) of European Commission DG Home Affairs.
© 2015 Brokering Migrants' Cultural Participation, All rights reserved.


Unparalleled luxury and privacy on offer from this richly appointed modern estate. Combining world class location with lavish construction and contemporary amenities, this property dubbed "The View" at Willis Point is a stunning example of an expansive traditional European-style home perched atop 42 acres of rugged West Coast landscape.
Neither luxury or utility knows compromise here. From the moment one passes the custom 1930-built wrought-iron gates, premium fit and finish abounds from extensive stone work to coffered ceilings, Swarovski crystal chandeliers, pillared arches, intricate window and door casings, travertine tiled floors, and beautifully landscaped gardens. The custom Alderwood and granite gourmet kitchen and adjoining butler's pantry are fit for grand soirées, with house-wide indoor/outdoor multi-media system ready to serenade.
Located a mere 20-minute drive from Victoria, Swartz Bay ferry terminal, and Victoria International Airport on one of Southern Vancouver Island's last underdeveloped promontories.
Activities in the area include world-class golf, fishing, whale watching, surfing, and dining.


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Borki  is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Mrozy, within Mińsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland.

The village has a population of 200.

References

Villages in Mińsk County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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As COVID-19 rewrites playbook on social safety net, majorities support idea of basic income of up to 30K
But who will pay? Two-thirds reject increase in their own taxes, most feel wealthy should be responsible June 18, 2020 – As the federal government extends the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, a program that has sustained more than seven million
Four-in-five Canadians support complete ban on civilian possession of assault style weapons
Fewer, but still two-in-three, also say they support a ban on handguns May 1, 2020 – With the Trudeau government poised to ban some "assault style" weapons, it finds significant support for a change first promised by the Liberals in
Most say money laundering in Canada a problem; three-quarters support limits on cash purchases to combat it
Majorities everywhere outside of Atlantic Canada support inquiry into money laundering by their province September 17, 2019 – Revelations that an RCMP official charged with breaching a Canadian official secrets law was overseeing a Russian money-laundering probe are refocusing national
Quebecers support religious symbols ban, but are divided on how – or even whether – to enforce it
People in Québec evenly divided over firing those who would violate Bill 21 May 8, 2019 – With public hearings underway in Québec's National Assembly on Bill 21 – the proposed law that would ban public employees in positions of
Should Canadians have the right to be forgotten? Most would follow Europe on Internet search law
By two-to-one ratio, Canadians support right to petition search engines to remove negative information January 7, 2019 – In the European Union, citizens have the right to request that search engines remove information about them that is outdated, inaccurate, or
Cannabis is legal, but debate continues: Vast majority would set minimum age for cannabis above 18 years
One-in-four Canadians shopped for, purchased, or used cannabis during first two weeks of legalization November 14, 2018 – Less than a month since Canada became just the second country in the world to legalize the sale and consumption of recreational


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Home New Releases pike-shotte
pike-shotte X
Field Marshal Ake Henriksson Tott
Orphaned at a young age, Ake Tott spent his youth duelling his fellow students at the university of Uppsalla, where he became better known for his skill with a sword than for his academic studies. At the age of fifteen,...
Ottavio Piccolomini
Embracing the Italian traditions of soldiering, Ottavio was schooled in the art of war in Florence, enlisting in the Spanish army as a pikeman at sixteen. A year later, he was given command of a cavalry regiment in Bohemia, dispatched...
Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony
Johann Georg was born in Dresden in 1585, and developed a passion for hunting and drinking at an early age. He became Elector of Saxony in 1611 but had no interest in closer ties with the Protestant Union. Although a...
Gottfried Heinrich, Graf zu Pappenheim
Pappenheim was a Catholic League cavalry commander and later Imperial Field Marshal. Renowned for his bravery and recklessness, he was usually to be found at the head of his beloved Cuirassier regiment, the Pappenheimers. Pappenheim joined forces with Count Tilly...
Count Gustav Horn
One of Gustavus Adolphus's most gifted lieutenants, Count Gustav Horn fought with distinction for the Protestant cause before his capture brought a premature end to his military career. Born into Finnish nobility, Horn learned his military trade from the revolutionary...
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand
Almost all senior commanders in the Thirty Years War were of noble birth but few could claim a higher status than the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Spain. The King of Spain's intention was to guide his son into a church career...
Thirty Years War Generals
Add six giants of the Thirty Years War to your collection. This set includes: Field Marshal Ake Henriksson Tott Ottavio Piccolomini Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony Count Gustav Horn Gottfried Heinrich, Graf zu Pappenheim Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand Each one of...


Cute Starter Home Close to Everything Including Downtown Grapevine. Easy Access to Major Arteries & DFW Airport. Big Backyard, Covered Patio, Granite Kitchen Counters, Update Master Bath, Recently Replaced Front Door.
Directions:North on Main St, Grapevine. Rt pm Dallas, Left on Rainbow Trail, House on the Rt.
Listing provided courtesy of David Folsom, eXp Realty, LLC.
SchoolsClick map icons below to view information for schools near 829 Rainbow Trail Grapevine, TX 76051.
Home for sale at 829 Rainbow Trail Grapevine, TX 76051.
Description: The home at 829 Rainbow Trail Grapevine, TX 76051 with the MLS Number 14067289 is currently listed at $212,000 and has been on the Grapevine market for 11 days.
You are viewing the MLS property details of the home for sale at 829 Rainbow Trail Grapevine, TX 76051, which includes 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and has approximately 1066 sq.ft. of living area.


On Friday 30 students from WHSAD teamed up with the Greenpoint Chamber of Commerce to beautify the neighborhood. They joined police officers from the 94th Precinct, the Greenpoint Youth Corp, and local volunteers for the first graffiti clean up day. Also present at the event was Assemblyman Joseph Lentol.


First Line: "They say it's like slicing through warm butter, when you cut into young flesh."
Five pre-adolescent boys have disappeared in south London in a matter of weeks. They have nothing in common with each other except that their bodies have all been found, drained of blood, on beaches along the River Thames. The media have gone wild, parents have begun keeping a very close eye on their children, and someone named Peter Sweep is taunting everyone online.
No one is keeping as close an eye on things as six friends who are all about the same age as the victims. Among these six friends is a lonely twelve-year-old, Barney Roberts. He has his own reasons for being even more obsessed with the media-dubbed "Twilight Killer" than his friends. He also has an ace up his sleeve that his other friends don't: a next-door neighbor named Lacey Flint. But when the killer starts paying attention to Barney, will Detective Constable Flint be able to piece together the clues before it's too late?
I don't frighten easily, but author S. J. Bolton has scared the bejabbers out of me with her depiction of the River Thames. Under her skilled, tale-spinning pen, this river is a living, breathing entity. It groans. It moves as though there's "something beneath it, pushing to be free." In Bolton's Lacey Flint novels, the Thames deserves to be listed in the cast of characters, and Lost is no exception. The Thames at night provides more than enough chilling atmosphere to have readers jump at the slightest unexpected noise.
There's much more to Lost than atmosphere, which will come as no surprise to anyone who's read one of this author's books. Lacey Flint is still an uncomfortable character. You're never certain which way she's going to jump, and her impulsiveness can be both a blessing and a curse to her fellow officers. This particular case has Detective Inspector Dana Tulloch on a knife's edge, and she begins to behave in ways that shock her team. Flint and Tulloch are an explosive pair when put together, but there's another character who steals the spotlight every chance he can get-- twelve-year-old Barney Roberts.
In recent weeks, Barney has been left to his own devices too often, and he has plenty of time to obsess about this murder investigation of children his own age. It's been a long time since I've read a book that stirs up such a whirlpool of emotions amongst all the characters. Bolton is superb at misdirection. As these people and their behavior become known, there are sound reasons for them all to be the killer. What's fun is to attempt to focus on the character whom you believe is The One. That's what I did, and I found it to be impossible. My choice ebbed and flowed with the tides of clues that the author provides.
A creepy river, a scared and lonely little boy, police officers determined not to lose another child, and a fantastic list of suspects. Once again, S.J. Bolton has given me an emotional and intellectual high. This is an author not to be missed.
Cathy - Glad to heary ou enjoyed this so much. I agree that Bolton evokes atmosphere very, very well, so I'm not surprised she does so here.
Bolton's just a first-rate writer, full stop.
I appreciate your review, but wonder if I should read this book. I want to read one of S.J. Bolton's books, but I am a scaredy cat if ever there was one.
I'd have to read this with all the lights and TV on.
This sounds quite creepy and frightening, if even you, a veteran of reading all kinds of books, some bolder than I would read, found it "scared the bejabbers" out of you. It gives me pause.
As much as I ever hate to advise someone NOT to read a book, with what you've told me, Kathy, I think Bolton's books may not be for you.
I must say though, I think readers should read the first book in the series first..Now You Seem Me, I believe.
Yes, Now You See Me is the first book, and I agree. Lacey is such a complex character that it would be good to start from the beginning.
Drat; I thought you'd say that. Maybe if I read the book in full daylight and not at night I can get away with it. I've got to try sometimes or else I'll keep all the lights and TV on. I must broaden my horizons here bookwise!
I try to broaden my reading horizons from time to time. Sometimes I'm successful. Sometimes I'm not.
If you follow the CWA Daggers, I'll look for reviews here. Some of the books have a lot of violence, especially against women. I think one of them surpasses my tolerance.
I'll check in here to see if you've read and reviewed any of them.


Mitsubishi recognizes the dedication and achievements of the hardworking women and men of the military. Your investment in this country is to be commended, and in recognition of your efforts, Mitsubishi Motors is offering you a $750 rebate on select models. Important restrictions and rules apply. See your participating Dealer for the program details. Thank you! Offer valid from 04/02/2019 through 04/30/2019.


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Space Exploration Meta
Space Exploration Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
How is the Chebyshev method used by JPL?
In the DE packages, NASA gives us a series of coefficients for the Chebyshev approximation. As I understand it, those approximations are given by a series of polynomials $T_n$ for the interval $[-1,1]$. Then we consider $f(t)$ to be $\sum_i a_i T_i(\tau)$ (where $\tau$ is the normalised time). What is $a_i$ and what are its values?
Then we consider an approximation using a Taylor series defined as $f(t)=\sum_i b_i\tau^i$. What is $b_i$? Is it a Bessel function?
The last two relations represent the Clenshaw algorithm. Here I don't exactly understand how it works. Also does the number of 13 coefficients have something to do with Runge's Phenomenon?
Below are Eqs 3.52 through 3.59, from section 3.3.3 (Chebychev Approximation) in the book Satellite Orbits: Models, Methods and Applications* by De Oliver Montenbruck and Eberhard Gill Springer 2000, ISBN 978-3-642-58351-3 which is viewable in books.google.com
orbital-mechanics jpl-horizons ephemeris
uhoh
Alexandru LapusneanuAlexandru Lapusneanu
$\begingroup$ It would be great if you could add a link to the source that you are reading. $\endgroup$
$\begingroup$ books.google.com/… $\endgroup$
– Alexandru Lapusneanu
$\begingroup$ That's a fantastic book by the way! $\endgroup$
The $a_i$ are the coefficients for the Chebyshev approximation. As you say, NASA gives us those. That is what you find in the DE files, e.g. de430.bsp. (Don't click on that unless you want to download a >100MB file.) NASA/JPL needed a way to provide high resolution and high accuracy functions of time for the positions of the planets, and the most compact way was coefficients of Chebyshev polynomials. The functions are broken up into small intervals, within which the coefficients and resulting functions are valid.
No, the $b_i$ are not Bessel functions. They are the coefficients of a Taylor series that estimates $f$ over the $\tau$ for that interval. That equation was taken out of context, where that context was discussing why Chebyshev polynomials, $T_n\!\left(\tau\right)$ are used for the approximation instead of a Taylor series, which uses the polynomials $\tau^n$. The reason is that a Chebyshev approximation will require fewer terms for the same accuracy.
The Clenshaw algorithm is simply a way to both generate the Chebyshev polynomials and to multiply by the $a_i$ and add them up, all at the same time to minimize the number of operations required. It is well described in the Wikipedia page linked, and can be easily derived from the recurrence relation for the Chebyshev polynomials near the top of your image.
Mark AdlerMark Adler
$\begingroup$ The Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides DE430 and DE431 $\endgroup$
$\begingroup$ The error in a Chebyshev approximation is not flat. It oscillates and is close to that of the minimax polynomial of the same order. The difference between a well-behaved function $f(t)$ and the minimax polynomial of order $n$ that approximates this function over that interval exhibits $n+2$ extrema, where $n$ is the order of the polynomial, with the absolute value of the difference at each extremum being the same. There's no guarantee of how the error function behaves for a Taylor series, or even for a least square error approximation. ... $\endgroup$
– David Hammen
$\begingroup$ A user of an approximation typically cares about the worst thing the approximation can do to them rather least square behavior. That Chebyshev polynomials are close to the ideal minimax polynomial is why they're used so widely. $\endgroup$
The article Format of the JPL Ephemeris Files has a detailed breakdown of how to use the Development Ephemeris including an example walkthrough and example source code.
I think you have a lot of superfluous information, all you really need is:
$$ \sum_{i=1}^{n}a_i T_i(x) $$
Where $a_i$ are the coefficients, $x$ is the time variable normalized to the interval $[-1,1]$, and $T_i(x)$ is defined as follows:
$T_0(x)=0$
$T_1(x)=x$
$T_{n+1}(x)=2xT_n(x)-T_{n-1}(x)$
Code in Javascript to perform this computation:
function computePolynomial(x,coefficients){
let T=new Array();
T[0]=1;
T[1]=x;
for(let n=2;n<coefficients.length;n++)  {
T[n]=2*x*T[n-1] - T[n-2];
let v=0;
for(let i=coefficients.length-1;i>=0;i--){
v+=T[i]*coefficients[i];
Note the summation of all of the variables is done in reverse order, from smallest to largest to avoid floating point rounding.
The Github repository gmiller123456/jpl-development-ephemeris has non-optimized source code in several languages which implement the whole process.
Greg MillerGreg Miller
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text:
Q: Uninitialized string offset: 0 codeigniter index.php A PHP Error was encountered
Severity: Notice

Message: Uninitialized string offset: 0

Filename: index.php

Line Number: 154

here is the code
if ( $stCurlHandle !== NULL )
{
    curl_setopt($stCurlHandle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($stCurlHandle, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 12);
    $sResult = @curl_exec($stCurlHandle);
    if ($sResult[0]=="O") //line number 154
     {$sResult[0]=" ";
     // echo $sResult; // Statistic code end
      }
    curl_close($stCurlHandle);
}

A: curl_exec doesn't return an array, just raw data in a string ... if you need the first character of the string you can use
$sResult{0}

A: $sResult is not having offset zero. try to do
print_r($sResult);

before line 154 , and you will find out the error reason  and solution.

A: It's likely returning false from a failed request. You should make that one of your test cases before testing for actual results.

A: If there is a chance that $sResult is returning false, which is a boolean and not a string or an array.
Try changing the conditional to:
if ($sResult !== FALSE && $sResult[0]=="O")
{$sResult[0]=" ";}


TEACHING BLACK HISTORY: Local poet and activist Robert "Zack" Zachary plans a series of talks and discussions on how black history should be taught.
Thursday, Feb. 7. The Proper and More Effectual Method on the Teaching of Afro-American History: A pictorial presentation of combined poetry, storytelling, expressive thought, musical expressions and dialogue, with audience participation. The BLOCK off Biltmore, 39 S. Market St., Asheville, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9. Storytelling and poetry: The Proper and More Effectual Method on the Teaching of African-American History; and Dialogue Café: Getting America Talking Again — an open dialogue on subjects confronting us. Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road, Asheville, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb 10. Hosting Asheville FM [103.3 FM]. An open interview, storytelling and dialogue on Afro American Hidden History. Storytelling and poetry: The Proper and More Effectual Method on the Teaching of African-American History; Dialogue Café: Getting America Talking Again — an open dialogue on subjects confronting us; along with two other community scholars on the subject. 1-2 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 23. The Proper and More Effectual Method on the Teaching of Afro-American History: A presentation combining poetry, storytelling, expressive thought, music and dialogue, with audience participation. Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Road, Asheville, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb 24. Hosting Asheville FM [103.3 FM]: an open interview, storytelling and dialogue on Afro American Hidden History. Storytelling and poetry: The Proper and More Effectual Method on the Teaching of African-American History; Dialogue Café: Getting America Talking Again — an open dialogue on subjects confronting us; along with two other community scholars on the subject. 1-2 p.m.
Please note: Most of the Asheville events call for a $15 contribution or donation, with all being invited and none turned away.
For more info, contact Robert "Zack" Zachary at zackandhealinglove@gmail.com or 828-215-5935.


text:
» BepiColombo - ESA/JAXA Mercury Orbiters
Re: BepiColombo - ESA/JAXA Mercury Orbiters
*Dear European members of New Mars: I've not yet seen posts relative to this mission. Search indicates it's not been posted previously here either.
I'm going to feel free, then, to post it.
The mission is still in the planning stages, so the description in the article may change. The lander portion of the mission has been cancelled due to "budgetary constraints." (Darn. Where are those frickin' bored billionaries when you need them?).
Current planning is for a 2-component mission: "...the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO)."
The scientific objectives for the mission are to study Mercury's form, interior structure, geology, composition, and craters, origin, structure, and dynamics of its magnetic field, composition and dynamics of the vestigial atmosphere, test Einstein's theory of general relativity, search for asteroids sunward of Earth, and to generally study the origin and evolution of a planet close to a parent star.
*Okay, by "search for asteroids sunward of Earth," I hope they mean *Vulcanoids*. We already know there are asteroids in the inner Solar System.
Collaboration with Japanese Space Agency (ISAS) is being discussed; it might contribute a "Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter and exchange of hardware."
Lots of techy stuff. I don't see a launch date. "BepiColombo is named for Giusseppe (Bepi) Colombo (1920-1984), scientist, mathematician and engineer at the University of Padua, Italy."
They should have named it Voltaire.
Good luck with this! Now the space exploration community has two Mercury missions in the works. :up:
--Cindy
We all know those Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
remcook
i had to look up vulcanoids...
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/m … 40126.html
But what I think they mean is, when Mercury is at opposition, it will look away from the Sun, to a region we can't see from Earth.
launch date is at the top of the article you posted (in boldface! ): 2012
from ESA itself:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120391_index_0_m.html
Yang Liwei Rocket
2012..darn that !
It's a very long time away, however i think its great they will use two craft,
two craft is always good cos if one fails there is always back up and aswell data and pics can be collected much better
the NASA twin Rovers have been doing great work on mars
and the China-ESA Double Star project TC-1 and TC-2 ( Explorer ) has also been doing very well
BepiColombo should be good. Gone will be the days when we just launch single probes into space, soon we may be launching fleets of craft to explore outerspace
'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )
It is also part of the Messenger mission to aid in the search for them. Other efforts have been tried but with no success in finding them.
Other search turned up this older article also.
http://www.space.com/news/chasing_asteroids_000124.html
"These objects are zipping along faster than any bullet on Earth."
Is that really possible?
:laugh: (At least I knew what Vulcanoids are ... yourself! :;): ) But I'd better go get my eyes examined, to have missed something like that (good grief). Thanks for pointing it out, remcook.
*Great article, SpaceNut. I posted one similar (but not the same) a while ago in one of the old "New Discoveries" threads, IIRC. To answer your question: I'll give scientists the benefit of the doubt that they wouldn't make such a bold-faced statement without some data supporting it (and no, I certainly don't purport to speak for them :-\ ).
even rockets (or Earth orbiting satellites) go faster than bullets, so something that's passing Earth from a hyperbolic orbit (velocity is larger than the escape velocity) will definately go faster.
bullet speed: up to 1500 m/s:
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/MariaPereyra.shtml
Earth orbits: up to 8000 m/s:
http://www.marsacademy.com/traj/traj5.htm
some more info on it
Launch methods are presently under study.
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMLN5T1VED_index_0.html
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object … ctid=31350
From: Upstate NY, USA
Would a radar sweep be an effective method of searching for these vulcanoids>
Or would the Sun completely scrabble any data?
"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane
Some have though that there may be a Vulcanoid rock region inside the orbit of Mercury, although neither Mariner missions nor the NASA/ESA Soho have found anything
Gaia might be the mission for this it will measure Galaxies, extra-solar planets, do a 3d map of a billion suns and also Gaia is able to view the 'blind spot' found between the Sun and Earth's orbit and from Earth, we can only observe this area during the daytime one group known as the Atens could be dangerous, maybe it can also look for evidence of the existence these Vulcanoids.
http://www.astronomytoday.com/exploration/gaia.html
here is the new-mars Gaia thread
http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1443
Bepi-Colombo looks like it may be a joint ESA and Japanese mission. Just as MESSENGER is arriving at Mercury, ESA's BepiColombo mission will be lifting off the launch pad.
Update on BepiColombo
*2013 as prospective launch year.
Finland is really getting involved. Sounds good.
Hopefully some former funding issues have been resolved. Not that we can expect any of our wonderful zillionaire friends to help out with a science mission...(no $$$$ in it for them, no dice).
Rxke
Not that we can expect any of our wonderful zillionaire friends to help out with a science mission...(no $$$$ in it for them, no dice).
Offtopic: Ever heard of the Allen telescope? BiosphereII ? These things do happen, I seriously so do not like Bill Gates, but even he donates lotsa money on science (drugresearch)
ExoMars' launcher's 2nd stage is probably en route to Mars. Unsterilised...
Offtopic: Ever heard of the Allen telescope? BiosphereII ?
*Yes. Allen Telescope Array -- another recent article at space.com. Can't resist giving them a poke, though. There isn't enough help for some projects which could benefit from generous private donations; more could be done/given (refer to 1st post in the thread).
As for Gates, I don't follow his philanthropy closely, but it's mostly for humanitarian causes...not space. Which is fine (humanitarian); just saying.
Back on topic...
EuroLauncher
From: Europe
The European Space Agency
02/05/2007, page 17
The European Space Agency will split a €329-million ($424.4-million) prime contract for Bepi Colombo Mercury mission, the agency's next major science project, between Astrium and Alcatel Alenia Space. Astrium Germany will be overall prime contractor, with Astrium U.K. and Alcatel Alenia Italy as co-primes, says Jacques Louet, ESA's director of science projects. But Astrium Germany will shoulder the full program risk under a "political expedient" approved last week by ESA's industrial policy committee. The green light for the €665-million mission is to be given by ESA's science program board later this month, along with a call for ideas for the next round of science missions planned for 2015-25. Three large (€650-million) and three medium (€300-million) missions are expected to be proposed for the tender, expected to be realized in October. The first, a medium mission, would be launched around 2017. To ensure approval, Louet said, science planners will propose €200 million in cuts through 2015. The bulk of the savings--€110 million--will come by offering to merge ESA's Solar Orbiter mission with NASA's four-satellite Sentinel project, eliminating one Sentinel and carrying the four remaining units aloft on the same launcher, with shared instrument packages.
cIclops
Good to see ESA going ahead with more science missions, hopefully they will choose some original projects this time.
Let's go to Mars and far beyond - triple NASA's budget ! #space channel !! - videos !!!
Cool animations: Critical operations for BepiColombo
BepiColombo - ESA's first mission to Mercury - will be conducted in cooperation with JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and is scheduled for launch later in 2013. Scroll down to view a series of highly detailed, realistic animations showing the critical operational phases.
The mission will consist of two separate spacecraft: ESA is building the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and the Japanese space agency JAXA will contribute the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). MPO mission operations will be controlled from ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, while MMO operations will be controlled from the Sagamihara Space Operation Center, near Tokyo.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/ … S7F_0.html
"ESA PR 3-2008. The European Space Agency and Astrium jointly invite the media to attend a press conference on the occasion of the industrial contract signature of BepiColombo, the first European mission to Mercury. The event will be held at Astrium Friedrichshafen on 18 January 2008."
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7C83MDAF_index_0.html
I knew the name of the mission was familar and that we had a topic for it....
Fixed artifacts and minor shifting.....
BepiColombo Mission to Mercury on Track for April 2018 Launch
"BepiColombo is on track for launch in 2018. At the moment we are preparing for some final acceptance tests. On our 'Mercury Transport Module' (MTM) we need to finish the installation of some late deliveries and then the module has to undergo a thermal verification and thermal balance test. This is to proof that the thermal shielding of this spacecraft module works as predicted by the models," Johannes Benkhoff, BepiColombo project scientist at ESA, told Astrowatch.net.
Similar tests have been already conducted for all the other modules of BepiColombo. After the MTM thermal test the engineers will have to perform a mechanical verification test of all the units together. This is to proof that BepiColombo will be able to survive the vibrations during the launch of the spacecraft. The vibration test is foreseen to be performed in early 2017.
After all these tests, BepiColombo will be shipped to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, from where it will be launched in April 2018.
This is a 2 for 1 mission launch....
The mission will consist of two separate spacecraft that will orbit the small rocky planet. ESA developed the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), and JAXA provided the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). MPO will study the surface and internal composition of the planet, while the MMO will study Mercury's magnetosphere.
BepiColombo will be launched by ESA's Ariane 5 booster on a direct escape trajectory to Venus. During its journey to the solar system's smallest planet it perform two gravity assists of Venus and four gravity assists of Mercury. The mission is expected to arrive at Mercury in December 2024 and to operate until May 2026.
This joint European-Japanese venture has been in development for nearly two decades, but should finally get to the launch pad in 15 months' time.
Europe's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and Japan's Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO)
BepiColombo to Uncover Mercury's Mysteries
BepiColombo: Joint Mercury mission ready for 'pizza oven'
ESA's BepiColombo Mercury mission thrives on ambition and co-operation
Wow topic is really old and goes to show just how long mission hardware can take to be made...
BepiColombo is a joint mission of the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to the planet Mercury. The mission comprises two satellites launched together: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Mio. The mission will perform a comprehensive study of Mercury, including characterization of its magnetic field, magnetosphere, and both interior and surface structure.
It was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on 20 October 2018 at 01:45 UTC, with an arrival at Mercury planned for December 2025, after a flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and six flybys of Mercury.
The mission was approved in November 2009, after years in proposal and planning as part of the European Space Agency's Horizon 2000+ programme; it is the last mission of the programme to be launched.
BepiColombo set to explore our smallest, wrinkliest planet


May | 2006 | Okay, Whatever.
This is not where I wanted to be. I can imagine what it might be like being where I wanted, but this is not it. When it comes down to it, I'm on the brink, staggering. When it comes down to it, my heart still races at the thought of never being able to jump. Scared at the chance being taken away.
But that's how it goes: we forge our pathways. Movie plots don't work out in life. This path or that.
This is the part where I get introspective. Bear with me.
Imagine walking in fog. That's what it's like, knowing enough for a few steps, but not enough for ten thousand. Steps are like days, and days are like plot turns.
Hang on. No really, I mean it. Let me crouch it in euphemism: the edge is merely a plain waiting for soil and gravity (and every disappointment is cause to write a book).
This is why you don't stop looking – I think – why you can close your eyes – I also think – why you sift the wind for waves – I think yet again – why I broadcast.
You can count on this: poetry. Not particularly accomplished or ground down to structure and facet, but words strung together like water, like sand on the tongue.
This is the part where I weave my fingers together and press down. Beat with me.
And no, I'm not talking about the Postal Service song. Last night I dreamed my sister Kristin was in the hospital and that I was trying to visit her – there was more in there too but I can't remember it very well. What I do remember is the weird design of the hospital. If I recall correctly it was like a Frank Ghery building, except on the inside. And I never did get to her before I woke up. I wonder what it all means.
Since I've been in need of things to occupy my mind lately (and having written the starting pages of a novel I may or may not be continuing), here are some glimpses into my mind.
Privacy is one of those things that is simply going to stop existing. Maybe you'll have private communication of some form, and maybe you'll have privacy in your home, but you certainly won't have it in public or on the internet.
This isn't some malicious plot by the government or people interested in gathering datapoints whilst stealing your identity. It's simply the logical outcome of what's already happening. Cameras in public and private places, coupled with ultrabroadband internet connections means that a lot of stuff is going to end up on the web in some form.
The key is, I think, who controls the data, and who can access it. A most helpful piece of legislation would be that all cameras in public places must be publically accessable. That is to say, if it's in public, the public must be able to see what it see. Could this be dangerous? Sure. It'd make the world a heck of a lot smaller. But the potential applications for good are also staggering, much like most technology. Imagine, for instance, Google Face Search. You want to know if your children are in a public place somewhere? Google's face recognition software finds them, if possible, and tells you whether or not they're safe.
The good thing is if this technology is ubiquitous, it can't be targetted. It's not like a camera installed in the home, which obviously watches a small subset of the population. But public cameras – public defined as broadly as needed – are going to become popular. There will (and I guarantee this) be cameras on and in cars one day. They will probably be webcast-capable, since your cars will be wireless capable as well.
Google is making everything searchable. Or that's at least their defined goal. And I imagine that most of what we know as humans will eventually end up on the web somewhere, somehow. It's already begun. You want to know something? Google it. Check Wikipedia. You don't necessarily need to have a broad knowlege of anything except how to know, and how to search. As long as you're near a computer – and you will be near a computer all the time in the future – you can find almost anything out. You just need to know the right question.
Some people are optimistic that this will bring a flowering of human exploration into whatever sphere they deep worthy. I, however, think search culture will bring about something of a stagnation of human knowlege: as everything becomes searchable, a broad insight into a lot of different things is lost. For instance, when I search for something on the web, I rarely look into what I'm not already looking for. My search generally leads me to the right place, and search is only getting better. However, when I read a book on something, no matter how narrow its focus, I always find out something about something else that I would not have found merely searching the web. The act of reading a book is simply different from the act of aquiring data.
This is way distant future, but imagine matter editation become feasible and you can instantly have whatever you want for minimal cost. Imagine, for a moment what that might do to the economy.
It would do exactly the same thing to the economy in real-world items that electronic distribution has done to music industry: it will make anything that can be duplicated cheaply essentially worthless.
And, like the RIAA today, there will be a large subset of resisting "intellectual property" owners attempting to place false barriers in the way of that replication. Because, after all, in order to expect people to pay, there must be some sort of un-met demand. And you can't have unmet demand where people can simply copy what they want, when they want.
But then, it's a lot easier to hide a pirated album than a pirated designer car.
If you like good music – as I do – you should probably find yourself clicking on the link below. Or maybe you just want a free MP3, you greedy sucker of blood.
I get so much comment spam it's not a funny little joke anymore. Seriously, I must get over 50 per day. That's almost as much email spam as I get on my Gmail account!
This is, I think, more proof that spammers do indeed rule the internet.
This post is for Nick. Cause he does stuff like this.
I am going to weigh in – like every other blogger in the world, and his cat – on the Da Vinci Code. But I'm not critiquing content or combatting conclusions. I'm looking at the violence of encounter, or the clash of worldviews, or the soft words of tolerance as their own encryption.
The book itself is for idiots to believe. A work of fiction, yes; also, a bad work of fiction (that is, insult to injury, being fleeced with a cheesegrater). No need to argue that point.
Rather, what underpins the argument? I think this determines what terrain you choose. My personal leaning is the conflict between objective and subjective historicity or its sythesis, but even that is too far from centre.
Deeper: how do I confront the book's assertions and its rails? This is essential, to know what to do. I can do several things, not all of which I'll spell out, but one of which is ignore it and go my own way. Some would see this as ceding ground, and others would see it a being tolerant. Others would fight a surface battle of assertion/counter-assertion while making history object/subject or trying to do both at the same time.
But let me ask you: are you afraid of what will happen at the collision of these two opposed visions? Will you try to squeak them by eachother or try to throw each a bone? You know in the heart of you each encounter is a thing of violence. Either I am right or you are right. In this place there cannot be both. But there's a third dimension of the casual nihilist trying to just get along with a fake smile and such.
That's the guy you want to kick in the ribs. While the screaming Dan Brown army is obvious, the snake-oil tolerance salesman is not, though he should be. You can ignore the crowd with pitchforks and torches trying to loot the gold between the bricks of the church; Jesus Christ has bee victorious over Nero. Dan Brown is the poppy seed inbetween God's teeth.
Tolerance, on the other hand, is like mainlining those poppies: easy to fall asleep. But it breeds its own problems. (Aside: I am not speaking of grace, and peace, and longsuffering, and humility; I am speaking of that sort of slimey you-have-you I-have-me that won't stand for anything except when it inexplicably stands for something.) The idea is an excersize in futility. The world wasn't designed so that all poles of a magnet are equal forces. Tolerance – obviously – can't tolerate intolerance, for instance. But more to the point, tolerance won't tolerate land mines, genocide, female circumcision, or neon pink leg-warmers.
And in this age where tolerance – a concept lost on our father's fathers – is the catchphrase on every goody-two-shoes lips, one has to wonder if the concurrent rise of rigid fundimentalism isn't at all exacerbated by the inherent internal conflict of tolerance as a culture watchword. Or more to the point, does the internal violence of the postmodern lack of metanarrative breed the sort of insane fundimentality we see both in our cultures and others? Can we even imagine an age where men had grand passions?
This is the Da Vinci Code to me. It's a cultural polarising agent. It will breed five types of people: followers, detractors, rabid detractors, the supposedly tolerant, and those who just don't care. And there will be an inherent violence to the confrontations between those groups: when they encounter, people retreat licking wounds. Even the tolerance brigade will at some point have to oppose something.
For those of you interested, this is the music I'm excited about right now (you could always find out what I like by going to my Last.fm page, but that wouldn't really tell you what gets my blood boiling).
Espers recently released Espers II, and I have my little paws on a copy! This is exciting in the extreme, as I didn't think they would actually release another disc, but here we are. And if you like psych-folk (not to be confused with freak-folk like Akkron Family or Animal Collective) with strong melodies that you just can't pin down, I'd urge you to check them out.
Also, there's apparently an EP called The Weed Tree out there; I'll have to look into that, too.
To the amazement of some, I really do like Xiu Xiu's album La Foret. A lot.
I've also received some Wooden Wand from a friend, and it seems like decent folk, even a little on the freak side. But whatever, I'll have to check them out.
We Are Scientists are amazingly catchy. Not good, but catchy. I'm listening to With Love and Squalor.
New, also, is Calexico's Garden Ruin. Ever since I got their collaboration with Iron and Wine, I've wanted to hear more, and the disc didn't disappoint. Check this one out.
The Burning Paris: what are they? Non-instrumental postrock? Interesting. The disc is And By December although I believe the title in full is much longer than that.
Also, who didn't tell me about Built To Spill? And why? Indie pop forefathers, and I've never heard about them until now. Sad, sad, sad.
And last but not least, I'm still digging Mutemath. Atypical. Enjoyable. Rocking out. Kevin needs to hear this disc, because I think he could appreciate it.
As you can see, the old depressingly boring theme is gone, and in its place a theme called Fork, a modification to K2 done by some good people on the interweb.
Also, the shoutbox is back, and I've added a link to the sidebar called "My del.icio.us".


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Instructions to get "Reset", the bad ending achievement.
To get the bad end, you have to make it so Misato and Tomoki are already "gone."
Eventually, you can choose to go to the first-year classroom, to which you can choose "Approach her" or "Call out."
Written by Crimson Angel of Judecca.