text:
Liu Ping
Selective Cooperation and Restrained Contention — Comments on Current US-Russian Relations
By Liu Ping
Извор/Source: International Strategic Studies, 3, 2011, serial No. 101, pp 39-46, China Institute for International Strategic Studies, Beijing, China
Објављено по посебној дозволи у е-библиотеци "Философија рата и мира" у оквиру Културне мреже "Пројекта Растко" • Published under a special permission in "Philosophy of War and Peace" E-library by Project Rastko Cultural Network
Abstract: Since the beginning of this year, the US-Russian relations have been improving in general, with further increase in cooperation in some areas and the bilateral relations entering a new cycle of cooperation. However, the structural conflicts between them still exist, and the struggle between containment and counter-containment and between control and counter-control will continue for a long time. "Selective cooperation" and "restrained contention" will be the basic state of their bilateral relations.
Since the beginning of this year, the US-Russian relations have carried on the positive momentum over the past two years since the "restart", with a further general detente and a rise in the cooperative aspect. This has been a choice of policy made by both parties on the basis of national interests and the current domestic and international situation. However, the structural conflicts between them still exist. For some time to come, "selective cooperation" and "restrained contention" will dominate the basic state of their bilateral relations. The coming of the general election cycle for both countries will bring new complicating factors in their bilateral relations.
I . The US-Russian relations have been improving in general, with further increase of cooperation in some areas and the bilateral relations entering a new cycle of cooperation
1. The political relations have obviously warmed up. Since the beginning of 2011, there has been an increase in high-level contact. US President Obama and Russian President Medvedev had a bilateral meeting that lasted about one and a half hours in May during the G8 summit in Deauville, France. US Vice President Biden and Defense Minister Gates visited Russia successively in March to pave the way for Obama's visit to the country within the year. President Obama said that the US-Russian relations had been successfully "restarted" and brought positive results to both sides, that the "period of mutual mistrust" had passed, and that the development of their bilateral relations faced new opportunities. Before his visit to Russia in March, Biden issued a statement saying that the purpose of the visit was to "expand the results of the 'restart' of the US-Russian relations". Russia, on its part, said that it expected to develop a real "strategic partnership" with the US. During the G8 summit in Deauville, Obama and Medvedev emphasized four times that the bilateral relations were good. In the second half of this year, they may meet and communicate at the East Asian Summit and the informal meeting of the APEC leaders in Hawaii.
2. A new level has been reached in strategic balance. In terms of the reduction of nuclear weapons, Obama, who has been advocating the idea of a "world free of nuclear weapons", called the new START a cornerstone of the US-Russian relations and actively pushed ahead with the new round of US-Russian talks on the reduction of strategic arms. Riding the tide, Russia has given an active response and expects to maintain a low-level "strategic balance" with the US. Thanks to both parties' efforts and mutual compromise, in February 2011, US Secretary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had a meeting when attending the Munich Security Conference to exchange the instruments of ratification of the New START treaty, thus making it officially take effect. Clinton called it a "new milestone" in the US-Russian relations, and Lavrov said that the new treaty would be "helpful for international stability". In terms of missile defense, to avoid too much provocation against Russia, the Obama administration adjusted the Bush administration's plan for the Eastern Europe missile defense system, slowing down deployment, changing the sites of deployment, and pushing ahead with the building of the missile defense system with a low profile. In terms of geopolitical contention between the US and Russia, it is becoming less intense for the time being. The US has tolerated Russia's aggressive posture in the CIS and slowed down the eastward expansion of the NATO. It also declared its position in mild terms over Russia's intervention in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine's drop of its efforts to join the NATO.
3. There has been an increase in cooperation in hotspot issues. In terms of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, Russia did not oppose the US when the latter persuaded the UN to pass a resolution on establishing a no-fly zone in Libya despite its opposition to foreign intervention in the domestic affairs of Libya and other countries in turmoil. In fact, it has moved its stand closer to that of the US and other Western countries. When attending the G8 summit in Deauville, Medvedev said that the Gaddafi regime had lost its "legitimacy" and that Russia would "help" Gaddafi to step down and go into exile. Concerning the Afghanistan issue, which is one of the US' major concerns in its foreign strategy, in March 2011, Medvedev officially approved the previously reached agreement for the US to enter Afghanistan across the Russian territorial air space. This has provided a legal basis for the US and its allies when they transport weapons, military technological equipment, and military supplies as well as personnel participating in the International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan across Russia, saving at least $ 130 million for the US each year. Over the non-proliferation issue, Russia has stopped opposing the US' insistence on sanctioning Iran through the UN Security Council (SC). It voted for SC Resolution 1929 proposed by the US and other Western countries, stated that the Security Council sanction had been upgraded due to Iran's failure to give a positive response to the international community's goodwill, and suspended the sale of the S-300 air defense system to Iran to avoid provoking the US. Russia also took an active part in the Four-Party Talks over the Middle East issue in order to push ahead with the Middle East peace process. Over the anti-terrorism issue both the US and Russia have stated that the crackdown on terrorism one of the areas with the most urgent call for cooperation. Russia consented to the US' killing of bin Laden, and the US' attitude toward Russia's crackdown on the terrorists in Chechnya has also undergone a subtle change. The US decided to list Umarov, the Chechen terrorist leader it had previously called a "freedom fighter", among terrorists and has offered a $ 5 million award for information about his whereabouts. Moreover, the US and Russia have issued a joint statement about anti-terrorist cooperation, saying that they will step up cooperation in the collection of anti-terrorist intelligence and other areas. Russia's NATO envoy Rogozin said that this act was "a correct step for correcting the double standard on anti-terrorism".
4. Trade and economic cooperation has become a new highlight. The economic relatedness between the US and Russia is low in comparison with the economic relations among other major powers. Obama intended to realize his plan of doubling the US export within five years, and Russia is one of the major export markets he expects to rely on. Medvedev has said that the US is an important source of investment and technology necessary for Russia's economic modernization and that he expects American capital and technology could help Russia to achieve this goal. In March 2011, when meeting Vice President Biden, Medvedev reiterated that the economic relations between the two countries had lagged far behind their political relations. Concerning Russia's effort to join the WTO, the US government has repeatedly voiced its support for Russia and the intention to abolish the Jackson-Vanik amendment to its 1974 Trade Reform Act, an obstacle against their trade and economic cooperation. During the G8 summit in Deauville, Obama reiterated his "confidence" in completing the talks over Russia's entry into the WTO and that this would be yet another strong impetus for the development of the two countries' bilateral relations. In terms of scientific and technological cooperation, following Russia's advice, the US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission created an Innovation Working Group. During his visit to Russia, Biden gave a positive response to the proposal on establishing a "strategic partnership in innovation" between the two countries and visited Skolkovo, the Russian counterpart of Silicon Valley, which was under construction. He said that the US was willing to take part in Russia's modernization and that a new pattern for US-Russian high-tech cooperation would be established in the innovation park in Skolkovo. Moreover, the US-Russian agreement on cooperation in civilian nuclear energy was restarted.
II. The general improvement of the US-Russian relations has been a choice of policy made on the basis of national interests and the change of the domestic and international situation
1. The US and Russia have not yet fully recovered from the global financial crisis, which plunged them deep in trouble, and both of them have a continuous strategic need for improving relations. The "two wars" and "one crisis" have placed the US into the greatest plight since the end of the Cold War. Obama proposed the strategic goal of "reviving America and leading the world" for national security in the National Security Strategy report, seeking a way out of the plight through "smart power" diplomacy. The restart of the US-Russian relations is one of the key steps taken by the Obama administration for external strategic adjustment. At present, the US is still facing a host of challenges against its economic recovery; the pressure of a high financial deficit and a high unemployment rate and structural problems remain prominent; the war in Afghanistan is proceeding against heavy odds, the Middle East peace progress has yet again met a deadlock, the Iranian nuclear issue remains challenging; and thus the US has a long-term need to rely on Russia's help. Russia, on its part, has suffered a heavy blow to its economy and a serious setback in its rise due to the financial crisis. It needs to expand overseas trade and market, and has a more urgent need to join the WTO. Russia wants to resume its revitalization, improve its international image, join the WTO, and introduce foreign capital and advanced technology. As a result, it has a higher demand for a stable international environment, especially for the help of the US.
2. The pragmatic foreign policies adopted by Obama and Medvedev have provided opportunities for their practical cooperation. The Putin-Bush era saw a perpetual tension in the US-Russian relations and a great decrease in the range of cooperation; furthermore, the Russia-Georgia conflict plunged their relations to a new low ebb since the end of the Cold War. As statesmen of a new generation, Obama and Medvedev have found it easier to break with the Cold War mentality and to seek common interests through rational cooperation. After taking power, Obama proposed the idea of "smart power" diplomacy, noting that the basis of American diplomacy is "a combination of principle and pragmatism instead of fossilized ideology". Relations with Russia are one of the best platforms for Obama to implement "transformation diplomacy" and practice and display "smart power". Changing the tough policy of unmitigated suppression and containment adopted toward the end of the Bush administration, Obama highlights his effort to cozy up to Russia, repeatedly expressing the readiness to establish a partnership with Russia so that the two countries could rise to global challenges together. For Russia, relations with the US are central to its diplomatic and security strategy. After taking power, Medvedev publicized a new edition of The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation establishing the strategic goal of "turning the Russian-US relations back to the course of strategic partnership". As a young president, Medvedev also needs to display his political achievements to both his nation and other countries, enhance his prestige, and consolidate his political position both domestically and externally. These have laid a sound groundwork for both countries to adopt the concept of pragmatic cooperation based on common interests, to face up to the convergences and conflicts of interests in their bilateral relations, to get what they need through cooperation, and to prevent their differences from widening through dialog and coordination.
3. The Obama administration has secured predominance in improving the bilateral relations by taking the initiative in posture and action. US Secretary of State Clinton proffered the meaningful "restart" button first, then Obama conducted his "hamburger diplomacy" when receiving Medvedev and had a meeting of the heads of state with the latter during the G8 summit in Deauville. Unlike previous improvements of the US-Russian relations, this time the American government has come to the foreground to help the relations to develop proactively. Obama expressed the US' wish to develop its relations with Russia through reciprocal visits, meetings, phone calls and letters to or with Medvedev, and sent ranking officials and think tank members for diplomacy and security affairs for frequent visits to Russia. Moreover, he took the initiative to make the plan for "restarting" the US-Russian relations and put forward 19 suggestions for improving relations in a report on the US policy toward Russia. In particular, the two countries set up the US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission. In an attempt to incorporate the improvement of the US-Russian relations into its strategic interests, the US has prompted Russia to make pro-US promises on its major concerns, such as the Afghan situation, the Iranian nuclear issue, and the reduction of strategic weapons. In addition, it has thrown baits from time to time on Russia's concerns, such as European missile defense and the eastward expansion of the NATO, to guide its relations with Russia to a desired direction. In recent years, with the increase of Russia's diplomatic means and resources due to a rapid rise of national strength, Russia has begun to change its passive role in dealing with its relations with the US. While fully expressing the wish to improve such relations, it has taken the opportunity of the relative downturn in the US' ability to lead global affairs to give a high-profile response to the latter's moves and to be on the offensive in some areas. However, generally speaking, the improvement of the US-Russian relations has mainly benefited from actions on the part of the US, and its extent and direction in the future will mainly depends on the degree to which the US responds to Russia's interests and concerns.
III. The trend and focuses of a new round of US-Russian cooperation are largely apparent, but the structural conflicts between them remain, and "selective cooperation" and "restrained contention" will continue to dominate the basic state of their bilateral relations
1. The US and Russia may deal with urgent problems in their bilateral relations in a relatively calm and rational manner.
At present, the results achieved in more than two years since the "restart" of their relations have enhanced political and security-related mutual trust. Both Obama and Medvedev have voiced their satisfaction with the current US-Russian relations. Analysts have noted that such progress has to a large degree benefited from the restraint and pragmatism of the new leaders over issues concerning the bilateral relations. In particular, regarding urgent problems like the European missile defense, the eastward expansion of the NATO, and the contention for Central Asia, both sides have deliberately kept low-profile and calm, not taking any action that could be interpreted as provocative. On the one hand, both sides seem to have reached a tacit agreement on the division of their strategic spaces. Despite mutual offense and defense in various areas and directions, friction over such disagreements has been kept under control. The US maintains an obviously aggressive posture in the Middle East, South Asia, and the Asia-Pacific, and Russia is giving an appropriate measure of support to the US regarding the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, the Iranian nuclear issue, and Afghanistan, among other issues. On the other hand, Obama has made it clear that the US expects to establish solid and reliable political and economic ties with Russia in order to defuse accidental political threats to their bilateral relations. Moreover, Medvedev's modernization-oriented diplomatic strategy has explicitly given priority to Europe and the US. Based on these, the two countries may transcend the "restart" and take a step further toward a "new strategic partnership".
2.Judging from the current situation, nuclear disarmament, anti-terrorism, the Afghan issue, and trade and economic issues are likely to become focuses of US-Russian cooperation. Regarding nuclear disarmament, both the US and Russia have gained political bonus in this respect. To implement the treaty and garner the economic benefits of nuclear disarmament may become a common ground of their efforts. Regarding anti-terrorism, the US still faces dire threats from international terrorist forces. Moreover, the National Security Strategy report has proposed for the first time that terrorists from within the country are a major challenge against national security.1 In its New Military Doctrine, Russia has also listed illegal armed activities among one of its security threats. The killing of bin Laden by the US may be followed by a rebound in al-Qaeda's retaliatory actions. The terrorist threats against Russia are also very serious. Therefore the two countries share the wish and basis for further cooperation. Regarding the Afghan issue, the Obama administration is having a heated debate within itself over the degree and speed of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in July. The US has an urgent need for Russia and other external forces to help reduce the costs of the war in Afghanistan and relieve the political and financial pressure. Having permitted the US to transport supplies across its territory in legal documents, Russia may provide more help to the US-led NATO's action in Afghanistan. The two countries are also actively working on drug control in Afghanistan, having launched four joint operations in the first four months of this year. Regarding trade and economy, the Obama administration is adjusting the US' mode of economic development with focus on reviving real economy, export, and energy reform, while Medvedev has proposed the idea of pushing ahead with Russia's modernization through an "innovative society". Both of them have made trade and economy a new possible point of breakthrough in the bilateral relations. Currently, the total US-Russian trade volume accounts for only around 6 % of Russia's total foreign trade, suggesting a considerable potential for trade and economic cooperation.
3. The structural conflicts in the US-Russian relations remain, and the overt and covert strife will continue and extend to new strategic heights. The experience over the past two centuries has shown the bilateral relations between the US and Russia to be complex and changeable, with unpredictable ups and downs. They have joined hands to fight common enemies, and have also confronted each other in all respects. Strife has been interwoven with compromise, and conflicts have coexisted with cooperation. Anyway, the serious lack of strategic mutual trust and the treating of each other as a strategic adversary have remained largely unchanged. Competitiveness and conflicts have been always dominating their bilateral relations. In addition to the vast difference in cultural concepts, there have always existed a series of structural conflicts-containment and anti-containment in strategic goals, geopolitical marginalization and anti-marginalization, and, in terms of ideology, attempts at peaceful evolution and countermeasures. In the future, in trying to achieve the goal of "reviving America and leading the world" for national security strategy, the Obama administration will hardly give up its strategic mistrust and containment of Russia while continuing to rely on it for support. On the other hand, to protect its strategic interests, Russia will firmly resist America's strategic squeeze at low costs in an asymmetric way while trying to maintain stable relations with the US. In terms of geopolitics, the US has not given up the eastward expansion of the NATO and has begun to deploy the first batch of Patriot-3 missiles in Poland close to the Russian border. On its part, Russia has decided to prolong the deployment of its troops in Ukraine and Armenia, and to set up military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In terms of military strategy, the US is accelerating the build-up of the capability of "prompt global strike". It has conducted flight tests for the DARPA Hypersonic Falcon HTV-2 and the X-37B Orbital Vehicle; it has continued to push ahead with the plan to substitute conventional war-heads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles and accelerated the development of conventional means of long-range precision strike. On its part, Russia has incorporated its overseas interests and the security of its allies into the function of "active defense", which it has been stressing; it also emphasizes that it must ensure the capability of nuclear containment, optimize the organization and deployment of strategic nuclear forces, enhance the interchangeability of delivery platforms and warheads, and improve penetration capability. In terms of ideological struggle, the US has stepped up its efforts to intervene in Russia's domestic affairs in the name of "democracy" and "human rights", saying that it will spend more money on helping Russia to "develop democracy" and build a "civil society". Russia has accused the US of giving financial aid to opposition attempts at coup and emphasized that "any attempt on the part of American fake democrats to repeat the Egyptian event in Russia will be stopped".2 Over the missile defense issue, the Obama administration has repeated the Bush administration's argument that the missile defense system deployed by the US in Europe cannot intercept Russian missiles. Russia has asked the US to make a written pledge that its missile defense system will not be directed against Russia, and insists on demarcating a "responsibility area" for missile defense. The US and the NATO have refused to give any written pledge and insists that the NATO and Russia build and operate their respective missile defense systems on their own. Russia is now having a redoubled sense of urgency because America's deployment of the missile defense system in Poland and Rumania has entered a substantive stage. Senior Russian leaders have repeatedly warned that it is going to take appropriate countermeasures. Russian Chief of the General Staff Makarov has said of late that by 2020 the American missile defense system will tip the strategic balance between the US and Russia.
Recently Medvedev wrote to the NATO heads of state to stress Russia's steadfast position on the missile defense issue. As he put it, if Russia and the NATO fail to reach an agreement on this issue, Russia will accelerate the development of offensive strategic weapons and both sides may return to the state of Cold War. In addition, regarding the implementation of the new nuclear disarmament treaty, both the US Congress and the Russian parliament have added conditions when ratifying the treaty. The US has provided that the treaty cannot limit its development of the missile defense system; Russia has prescribed that it has the right to terminate the treaty once the American missile defense system endangers its national security and defense capability. Thus the new treaty is "reversible" and its fulfillment is uncertain.
Apart from overt and covert "positional warfare" in traditional areas, the strategic contention between the US and Russia shows the tendency to intensify and spread to new strategic heights such as the cyberspace and the outer space. Regarding the cyberspace, the Obama administration has unveiled the International Strategy for Cyberspace report and issued the first plan for building the capability of cyber warfare. The Cyberspace Command has acquired full combat capability and conducted frequent cyber warfare exercises. These have highlighted the US' attempt at "hegemony through the cyberspace". As for Russia, it is accelerating the upgrading of its military network systems and improving the management of cyber and information security through legislation and other means; moreover, it is vigorously pushing ahead with multilateral talks on information security and stepping up its efforts to guard against America's actions. Regarding the outer space, the US has made a national space policy, publicized a "new space plan", issued the first National Security Space Strategy report, and stepped up its efforts to enhance its space military capabilities in order to expand its superiority in space military technology. Russia has conducted a simulation test for the Mars-500 manned Mars probe and refined the construction of the GLONASS global navigation system. The continuous intensification of the two countries' strategic strife on the "new frontiers" has added new complicating factors to the development of their relations. In addition, the fact that both countries have entered the general election cycle has also added new uncertainties to their relations.
The Obama administration: National Security Strategy , May 2010.
As reported by the Russian website for commentaries on current affairs on February 17, 2011, Anton Demidov, leader of the Young Russia movement, the US State Department attempts to effectuate a coup d'état in Russia by financing oppositions.
(Translated by Jin Bao)


Condition: Oil on canvas, not relined. Surface dirt and varnish discolouration. Minor cracquelure. Very good impasto. In a gilded composite frame with canvas inner section and gilded slip, a couple of chips to the frame.


text:
Report from Louisville: August 28-30, 2012
Submitted by robert.shetterly on 10 September 2012 - 10:03am
For many years Americans Who Tell the Truth has had a special relationship with the city, the people and the schools of Louisville, Kentucky. The last week of August this year marked one of the highpoints.
On August 30th, The Muhammad Ali Center opened an exhibit of AWTT portraits titled Muhammad Ali and the Civil Rights Movement. 42 portraits that portray our country's long struggle for civil rights are hung beautifully in this remarkable space. The portraits on display at the Ali Center include Sojouner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, W.E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, William Sloane Coffin, and Louisville's own, Muhammad Ali and Anne Braden.
The day before the opening at the Ali Center, the recently completed portrait of Anne Braden was unveiled in the rotunda of the Louisville capitol, where Mayor Greg Fischer delivered a moving speech about Anne Braden's importance to Louisville and to the civil rights movement in the US.
Anne Braden, a white woman, was one of the staunchest fighters for civil rights in our history. She was not always honored in Louisville. In the 1950s and 60s many people called her a communist in an attempt to discredit her message of racial equality. One of the great ironies of our history is that those who stood courageously for the values of justice and equality espoused in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were often demonized and marginalized in an effort to keep racial minorities from enjoying those values.
Mayor Fischer spoke about his dream of having today´s Louisville become a city known for its compassion and dedication to justice. Other speakers included long time friends of Anne Braden -- Bob Cunningham, Mattie Jones, and Carla Wallace -- who had marched and picketed and strategized with Anne for a better Louisville. Anne's biographer Cate Fosl, head of the Anne Braden Institute at University of Louisville, gave a talk about Anne's life. And Anthony Perry, a senior at St. Francis High School, spoke about being inspired by Anne as he has worked to end the school to prison pipeline in Louisville. When I spoke, I compared Anne to Rachel Carson. I said that just as Rachel Carson had tried to warn us that chemical pollution was poisoning life on this planet, Anne Braden was trying to warn us that racism was poisoning the soul of our democracy.
Afterward, I was interviewed about the portraits by three young students from the Bloom Elementary School. One of the questions asked me by a young girl named Ella has stuck with me. Ella asked, "What is the hardest thing about telling the truth today in our culture?" I had not been asked this before. I said what's difficult is this: When we are children, we are counseled by adults to tell the truth. We are told that adults want to and need to hear the truth, and that becoming a person who always tells the truth is one of the most important characteristics of a good person. A truthful person is trustworthy, a role model -- so many good things flow from telling the truth. However, I said, as adults we often discover that adults no longer want to hear the truth -- political truth, economic truth, peace truth, environmental truth -- if it challenges the status quo, if the truth might upset the ways in which we make money or exploit resources or treat other people. The truth becomes very hard to tell because many adults don't want to hear it. When we are kids, the truth takes courage to tell when adults demand it. When we are adults the truth takes courage to tell because we want it hidden.
The next day brought a different awareness of young people, adults, and truth. For the fourth time in as many years, I visited Maryhurst, a school and detention center for teenage girls who have been in trouble with the law and are unmanageable in the regular school system. Virtually all of these girls have been abused by the adults in their lives -- emotionally, physically, and/or sexually. They have been lied to constantly by adults and, therefore, trust no one. Maryhurst attempts to educate these girls, rebuild there trust by treating them with respect and compassion, introduce structure into their lives, and give them the hope that they can lead productive, responsible lives. I tell them stories of some of the people I've painted (Lateefah Simon, LeAlan Jones, Majora Carter, Eve Ensler, John Lewis) who have come from similar backgrounds, turned their lives around, and become leaders fighting for social justice for young people. For several years now, these girls, under the guidance of their art teacher Mari Renn, have been using the model of AWTT to identify, meet and paint the portraits of Louisville citizens they admire. The young women write quotes that inspire them onto the portraits. Their portraits have been shown with mine at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in Louisville.
I had lunch with Donald Lassere, the new president of the Muhammad Ali Center. He impressed me greatly with his intelligence, energy and passion for making the Ali Center a world leader in educating young people to build a better world. I am honored that he has chosen AWTT to be one of the first educational partners of his tenure.
The opening events at the Ali Center were spectacular. A large audience of long time civil rights activists, educators, and politicians heard Mayor Fischer speak again about the importance of this exhibit. Donald Lassere spoke about how every person portrayed in the paintings had affected his life. A letter of support from Congressman John Yarmuth, who was unable to attend, was read by his assistant Gil Reyes. And Louisville City Council member Attica Scott praised the work AWTT is doing in the city schools led by AWTT educator Michele Hemenway. Then Carol Kraemer and Cynthia Fletcher led everyone in singing Bernice Johnson Reagon's Ella's Song (in honor of Ella Baker, one of the portraits) which begins :
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes...
After the speeches everyone toured the exhibit and then I was given the opportunity to talk with the audience and answer questions about the portraits and the portrait project. I was pleased to see several students from Central High School (the school Muhammad Ali attended) whom I have gotten to know over the years. They are in the Magnet Law program at Central High that is sponsored by the Brandeis Law School of the University of Louisville. One of the students said that he is so inspired by the portraits that he wants to lead a life that will make me want to paint his portrait.
During both days, Michele Hemenway and I led workshops for elementary, middle and high school teachers about how to incorporate the portrait curriculum into their social studies, literature, science and art classes. These were attended by more than 100 teachers.
These events -- the unveiling of Anne Braden's portrait at the capitol, the exhibit at the Ali Center, and the use of AWTT in the Louisville public schools -- showed us all how deeply this project can influence a community, give it pride in itself, inspire future action for social justice, and become an important educational tool.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pickle
from deepThought.util import list_to_cdf
from deepThought.stats import Pmf
from deepThought.visualizer.visualizer import visualize
import pylab as pylab
import numpy as np

def main():
    results_ref = pickle.load(open("/tmp/14-11-23--18_1k_ReferenceScheduler-results.pickle", "rb"))
    results_optimized = pickle.load(open("/tmp/14-11-23--18_1k_OptimizedDependencyScheduler-results.pickle", "rb"))
    fig = plt.figure(1)

    ax = plt.subplot(311)

    bins = np.linspace(0, 160000, 60)
    plt.hist(results_ref, bins=bins, normed=0, alpha=0.5, label="reference")
    plt.hist(results_optimized, bins=bins, normed=0, alpha=0.5, label="opt dep")
    plt.legend(loc="upper right")
    ax = plt.subplot(312)
    x_axis, y_axis = list_to_cdf(results_ref)
    ax.plot(x_axis, y_axis, label="ref")
    x_axis, y_axis = list_to_cdf(results_optimized)
    ax.plot(x_axis, y_axis, label="opt dep.")
    plt.legend(loc="lower right")
    plt.xlabel("time in seconds")
    plt.ylabel("cdf")

    ax = plt.subplot(313)
    bp = ax.boxplot([results_ref])
    #pylab.ylim([0,1])
    plt.show()

    #visualize(extremes[0])
    #plt.text(10,32,"Minimum duration of 800 simulations")
    #plt.savefig("/tmp/min.pdf")

    #visualize(extremes[1])
    #plt.text(10,32,"Maximum duration of 800 simulations")
    #plt.savefig("/tmp/max.pdf")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
AUTHORS • Julia Frey
Number of Posts: 11
http://safetygraphicfun.com
Julia was born and raised in Hawai'i and moved to Los Angeles with the plan to attend film school and work in the movies. She did and she does. Julia has been a West-Sider from her first day of orientation at LMU and since then has never lived far from the 10/405. Julia is a reader, a movie lover, a blogger, a traveler, a blond (unless she's a redhead), a writer, an optimist, a haole, a wife, a good friend and a true lover of Los Angeles.
¡Adios Foggy Bottom!, 18 Sep 2007 in Foggy Bottom
Crazy for Udvar-Hazy!, 16 Sep 2007 in History
Hard Hat Convention, 16 Sep 2007 in WTF?!
DC and the Movies, 14 Sep 2007 in Movies
Waiting in Line at Foggy Bottom TJ's, 13 Sep 2007 in Foggy Bottom
Of Crosswalk Countdowns and Missing Bricks, 13 Sep 2007 in Life in the Capitol
Sunset on 9/11, 11 Sep 2007 in Weather
A Shining Beacon in Foggy Bottom, 10 Sep 2007 in Foggy Bottom
The Afternoon at Fort McNair, 08 Sep 2007 in History
I Thought LA Was Car Crazy…, 06 Sep 2007 in Movies&WTF?!
Good Morning DC!, 05 Sep 2007 in Movies
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Saint Stephen on the Cliffs
Services and Worship
Friends of St Stephens
Parish Centre
Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham and St Stephen
The Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham and St Stephen is our Cell of the Society of Our Lady Walsingham.
The Objects of the Society are:
To honour Mary, the Mother of God and to deepen faith in the incarnation of Our Lord
To promote devotion to Our Lady and pilgrimage to Walsingham
To further, with the aid of Our Lady's prayers, the conversion of the nations and the re-union of Christendom
To seek holiness of life through prayer, the scriptures and the sacrament
Members of the society are asked to say the Angelus each day
The cell meets regularly to offer Mass for the shrine and for the objects of the society. During 2020 they will meet on:
Rosary 7.00pm
Mass 7.30pm
Wednesday 17 June
Wednesday 22 July
Wednesday 19 August
Wednesday 7 October
Members of the parish and cell travel on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham every year and anyone is welcome to join us.
Our next pilgrimage is Monday 21 - Thursday 24 September 2020.
St Stephen on the Cliffs, Holmfield Road, Blackpool, FY2 9RB
An Anglican church in the Diocese of Blackburn
St Stephen on the Cliffs PCC Reg Charity No 1131959
Friends of St Stephens Reg Charity No 1120454


text:
Q: How to vertically align Qlistwidgetitem text with the icon? I'm adding icons and text as Qlistwidgetitem in Qlistwidget.
icon size is 24*24, and it is on the left of the text. After adding the icon, text appears to be on the top of the available space, I want to align it vertically in the available space.
I tried itemToAdd->setTextAlignment( Qt::AlignVCenter) but it is not showing any effect.
Could you suggest any other method to do it?

See text are at the top of available space.
myQlistWidget->addItem(new QListWidgetItem( *GuiIconManager::ref().find("icon") , nodeValue()) );
*GuiIconManager::ref().find("icon") returns QIcon size of 24*24 and nodeValue() returns QString.
OS is linux.

A: Make sure the string you're passing into QListWidgetItem doesn't have a newline at the end of it

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Linda Gregerson's book Waterborne won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize, and her book The Woman Who Died in Her Sleep was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. She currently serves as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
2016 The Poem That Changed My Life: Ross Gay's "Bringing the Shovel Down"


A quick post to wish William Shakespeare a Happy 450th birthday.
Raise a glass to the Bard tonight and, perhaps read a sonnet in his honor.
Although no official records of birth exist, the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon has his baptism date listed as April 26, 1564, and the 23rd is generally agreed to be his birth date. He was the third of eight children born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden Shakespeare.
William learned Latin, Greek and the Classics in grammar school, but never attended university.
At 18 he married Anne Hathaway (she was 8 years his senior and pregnant with their daughter Susanna). Two years later the couple had twins, Hamnet and Judith.
He retired back to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1610 and lived the largest house in town. He died at home on his 52nd birthday (although the day of his death is also not officially known.) He was buried on April 25, 1616.
The story of Mark Antony, Roman military leader and triumvir, who is madly in love with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Earliest known text: First Folio (1623).
The last of Shakespeare's great political tragedies, chronicling the life of the mighty warrior Caius Marcius Coriolanus.
Since its first recorded production, Hamlet has engrossed playgoers, thrilled readers, and challenged actors more so than any other play in the Western canon. No other single work of fiction has produced more commonly used expressions.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1603).
Although there were earlier Elizabethan plays on the subject of Julius Caesar and his turbulent rule, Shakespeare's penetrating study of political life in ancient Rome is the only version to recount the demise of Brutus and the other conspirators.
The story of King Lear, an aging monarch who decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, according to which one recites the best declaration of love.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1608).
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most stimulating and popular dramas. Renaissance records of Shakespeare's plays in performance are scarce, but a detailed account of an original production of Macbeth has survived, thanks to Dr. Simon Forman.
Othello, a valiant Moorish general in the service of Venice, falls prey to the devious schemes of his false friend, Iago.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1622).
Earliest known text: Quarto (1597).
Written late in Shakespeare's career, Timon of Athens is criticized as an underdeveloped tragedy, likely co-written by George Wilkins or Cyril Tourneur. Read the play and see if you agree.
A sordid tale of revenge and political turmoil, overflowing with bloodshed and unthinkable brutality. The play was not printed with Shakespeare credited as author during his lifetime, and critics are divided between whether it is the product of another dramatist or simply Shakespeare's first attempt at the genre.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1594).
One of Shakespeare's most popular plays, featuring the opportunistic miscreant, Sir John Falstaff.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1598).
This is the third play in the second tetralogy of history plays, along with Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry V.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1600).
Henry V is the last in the second tetralogy sequence. King Henry is considered Shakespeare's ideal monarch.
The first in Shakespeare's trilogy about the War of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York.
Part two of Shakespeare's chronicle play. Based on Hall's work, the play contains some historical inaccuracies.
Part three begins in medias res, with the duke of Suffolk dead and the duke of York being named Henry VI's heir.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1595).
Many believe Henry VIII to be Shakespeare's last play, but others firmly believe that he had little, if anything, to do with its creation.
In the shadow of Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays lies the neglected masterpiece, King John. Although seldom read or performed today, King John was once one of Shakespeare's most popular histories, praised for its poetic brilliance.
More so than Shakespeare's earlier history plays, Richard II is notable for its well-rounded characters.
Richard III (1592-1593) The devious machinations of the deformed villain, Richard, duke of Gloucester, made this play an Elizabethan favorite.
In 1767, a scholar named Richard Farmer concluded that this play is really the revision of Shakespeare's missing Love's Labour's Won, which was likely written around 1592. It is considered a problem play, due primarily to the character Helena and her ambiguous nature. Is she a virtuous lady or a crafty temptress?
As You Like It is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies, and the heroine, Rosalind, is praised as one of his most inspiring characters.
This is Shakespeare's shortest play, which he based on Menaechmi by Plautus.
This play, modeled after Boccaccio's Decameron, is often classified as a romance. It features the beautiful Imogen, considered by many to be Shakespeare's most admirable female character.
Love's Labour's Lost is a play of witty banter and little plot, written during the early part of Shakespeare's literary career, when his focus was on fancy conceits and the playful nature of love.
Considered a "dark" comedy, Measure for Measure was inspired by Cinthio's Epitia and Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra.
The character of Shylock has raised a debate over whether the play should be condemned as anti-Semitic, and this controversy has overshadowed many other aspects of the play.
The Merry Wives is unique amongst Shakespeare's plays because it is set in Shakespeare's England. It features the Bard's beloved character, Falstaff.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1602).
A magical exploration of the mysteries of love, and one of Shakespeare's best-known comedies.
The story of two very different sets of lovers, Beatrice and Benedick and Claudio and Hero. The witty banter between Beatrice and Benedick is the highlight of the play.
Portions of Pericles are ripe with imagery and symbolism but the first three acts and scenes v and vi (the notorious brothel scenes) of Act IV are considered inadequate and likely the work of two other dramatists. The play was not included in the First Folio of 1623. In Shakespeare's sources, Pericles is named Apollonius.
Earliest known text: Quarto (1609).
The Taming of the Shrew revolves around the troubled relationship between Katharina and her suitor, Petruchio, who is determined to mold Katharina into a suitable wife.
Hailed as a stunning climax to the career of England's favorite dramatist, The Tempest is a play praising the glories of reconciliation and forgiveness. Some believe that Prospero's final speeches signify Shakespeare's personal adieu from the stage.
Troilus and Cressida is difficult to categorize because it lacks elements vital to both comedies and tragedies. But, for now, it is classified as a comedy.
Shakespeare loved to use the device of mistaken identity, and nowhere does he use this convention more skillfully than in Twelfth Night.
The tale of two friends who travel to Milan and learn about the chaotic world of courting.
The Winter's Tale is considered a romantic comedy, but tragic elements are woven throughout the play. We have a first-hand account of a production of the play at the Globe in 1611. It is one of Shakespeare's final plays.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2014 at 1:59 am	and posted in Thought of the Day.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Genetic Science
Does the shape of my face show that I have a genetic disorder?
Image courtesy UCL Institute of Child Health
Parents who suspect that their child may have a genetic disorder have a new tool in their physician's diagnostic arsenal. One British physician has improved on an old practice of examining a person's face to look for traits that come from genetic disorders.
It's true. The shape of your face, along with certain facial characteristics, can be a sign that you suffer from a genetic disorder. As many as 17,000 genetic disorders have been diagnosed [source: Deccan Herald]. Around 700 of these diagnosed disorders display abnormal facial characteristics [source: Daily Mail]. A classic example is the genetic disorder Down syndrome. This condition occurs when children inherit an extra copy of chromosome 21, giving them 47 chromosomes, rather than the usual 46. Doctors can easily diagnose Down syndrome due to the unique facial and cranial characteristics associated with it. But what about rarer disorders?
Dr. Peter Hammond created a computer program to make diagnosing some of these rare disorders easier. The program provides an accurate diagnosis, which can help parents make better decisions about treatment and genetic counseling for their child.
Dr. Hammond spent the last seven years traveling the globe collecting images of people with genetic disorders and entering them into a database he compiled. The program takes photos of children who share a genetic disorder, usually a series of 30 to 50, and creates a three-dimensional composite image for that disorder. When a physician encounters a suspected genetic disorder that has him stumped, he can introduce a photo of his patient into Hammond's database. The program examines facial traits, like the distance between eyes and the width of the nose, and compares traits found in the patient's image to those of the composites and comes up with possible diagnoses. As a control, Hammond also fed into his database images of children without a genetic disorder, creating a composite of a "normal" child.
For 30 of the 700 facially characteristic disorders, Hammond's program offers around 90 percent accuracy in diagnosis. These are generally the most easily recognizable conditions, such as Williams syndrome. People who suffer from this genetic disorder have short, upturned noses and mouths, along with a small jaw and a large forehead.
Williams syndrome is pretty rare -- some studies say it occurs in one out of every 7,500 births, while others say it's one in 10,000 births [source: OMIM]. But other genetic disorders are even rarer. For a doctor faced with a baffling condition that he has not encountered before, Hammond's program offers a chance to narrow the field. Determining which genes are associated with the possible diagnoses cuts down on the number of tests required to pinpoint the disorder. This can be important for worried parents who want to know what their child suffers from, as genetic tests can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars each [source: Science Direct].
Hammond's database has already discovered a new characteristic in autistics that can be used to diagnose autism spectrum disorder. The program found a "lopsided" effect in autistic people -- the result of one side of the brain being larger than the other side. The inventor-physician says he plans to further hone his database to be able to include factors like race and gender [source: BBC].
While his work is definitely furthering the field of medical diagnosis of genetic disorders, Hammond is actually building on an old foundation. Read on to find out about dysmorphology, the study of physical characteristics to diagnose disorders, as well as genetic counseling.
Dysmorphology Studies
Dr. Hammond's computer imaging technique builds on an established diagnostic technique called dysmorphology.
The Human Genome Project completed mapping of the genetic sequencing of human DNA in 2005. One discovery the 15-year investigation of genetics turned up is that just about every disease we are aware of has some sort of genetic factor associated with it [source: National Human Genome Research Institute].
Diseases can be the result of a variant gene passed down from parents, a mutation occurring on a gene, or one of these two factors working in conjunction with environmental factors, like smoking or poor eating habits. It's not possible for a physician to examine the external physical characteristics of a patient to determine if he has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or insomnia. But factors such as ADHD and trouble sleeping, combined with a study of physical characteristics, can help doctors in diagnosing genetic disorders.
This study of physical characteristics is called dysmorphology. Dysmorphology is based on an established set of average physical traits. By using these touchstones, physicians can determine whether a patient is displaying the physical characteristics associated with a genetic disorder. For example, eye slits are expected to be horizontal. Depending on the horizontal orientation of a patient's eye slits, say downward towards the nose, a doctor can get a good idea of what kind of disorder he is dealing with.
Other measurements that are examined in dysmorphology and were considered in Hammond's composite database include the distance between the eyes, the width of the bridge of the nose, the size of the chin and the length of the forehead.
While Hammond's programs and dysmorphology can help diagnose genetic disorders using facial characteristics, both are useful only after a person has already begun to develop physically. There are only a handful of genetic disorders that can be treated -- usually through drug therapy. Some genetic disorders that display facial characteristics also come with other, internal problems. People with Williams syndrome, for example, usually also have heart conditions. A swift diagnosis through Hammond's program can see to it that these less-obvious conditions be addressed and treated earlier rather than later.
Genetics has also produced another field, genetic counseling, which seeks to prevent genetic disorders. Through genetic counseling, parents who have or carry genetic disorders can determine the likelihood that they will pass on their mutation to their children.
In addition to being dominant, genes can be recessive, meaning defects in their structure that can lead to genetic diseases don't appear in the person carrying them. Once they're passed along, however, some circumstances -- like gender or a mate who submits another copy of the recessive gene -- can cause the gene to become dominant, appearing in the children. In this sense, genetic counseling can be a good idea for all parents. It is recommended most strongly for parents who suffer from a genetic disorder, who have already produced children with a genetic disorder, or spouses in a consanguineous marriage -- a marriage between blood relatives.
While Hammond's database and dysmorphology in general are benign in nature, genetic counseling does have the potential to become a slippery slope. While parents who become knowledgeable about their own genes and their genes' potential for producing healthy offspring can make better-informed decisions about reproducing, pushed to its extreme, genetic counseling approaches eugenics -- the quest to perfect the human race by eliminating undesirable traits.
For lots more information, including related HowStuffWorks articles, visit the next page.
Lots More Information
How DNA Works
How Gene Pools Work
How Designer Children Will Work
How Facial Recognition Systems Work
How Cloning Works
How Cells Work
Fragile X Society
Williams Syndrome Foundation
Brice, Dr. Phillippa. "Facial Scans Could Aid Diagnosis of Rare Genetic Disorders." PHG Foundation. September 11, 2007. http://www.phgfoundation.org/news/3668/
Hegde, Dr. Sridevi. "Hidden Within Your Genes." Deccan Herald. September 15, 2007. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep152007/living2007091425460.asp
Highfield, Roger and Fleming, Nic. "Face Can Help Diagnose Rare Genetic Disorders." The Telegraph. September 9, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/10/sciface110.xml
Macrae, Fiona. "Facial Scans Could Reveal Genetic Disorders." Daily Mail. September 10, 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=480952&in_page_id=1774&in_a_source
Morelle, Rebecca. "3D Face Scans Spot Gene Syndromes." September 9, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6982030.stm
"3D Face Scan Helps Detect Genetic Disorders." Blood Index Times. September 10, 2007. http://www.bloodindex.org/view_news_zone.php?id=1004
"Basic Dysmorphology." University of South Dakota. http://www.usd.edu/med/som/genetics/curriculum/2EDYSMO5.htm
"Frequently Asked Questions About Genetic Disorders." National Human Genome Research Institute. http://www.genome.gov/pfv.cfm?pageID=19016930
There's a Study on That: The Stone Age Had Just as Many Lefties
Is there a link between exercise and happiness?
What is collective hysteria?


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This page relates to the Mathematical Statistics Honours course "Introduction to Stochastic Calculus with Applications".
Lecturer for this course: Qiying Wang.
For general information on honours in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, refer to the relevant honours handbook.


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Veronica Gonzalez is the author of the novel Twin Time: Or, How Death Befell Me, and is co-editor of Inflatable Magazine. Masha Tupitsyn is a fiction writer and feminist critic. She is the author of a collection of film-based stories, Beauty Talk & Monsters, and is currently working on her new book, Showtime.


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Politics & Current Affairs — August 9, 2018
11 terrifying times assassins targeted U.S. presidents
Being an American president is a powerful but dangerous job, a fact shown by many assassination attempts.
Chaos outside the Washington Hilton Hotel after the assassination attempt on President Reagan. James Brady and police officer Thomas Delahanty lie wounded on the ground. 3/30/81. Image: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Paul Ratner
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Being an American president is a job of historical significance. Unlike most mere mortals, you are sure to be remembered for centuries and while you are in office you are the most powerful person on Earth. It is also a position that's highly stressful—many a president has gone grey while in office, not just from old age, but thanks to the constant crises that tend to erupt all over the world that are in some way the president's responsibility.
Being a president can also kill you, with over a quarter of all American presidents suffering assassination attempts. There have been over 30 attempts in all on the incumbent or former presidents since the 1800s.
Here are the four times assassination attempts succeeded in their grim intents:
One of the country's greatest, the 16th President of the United States was shot on April 14th, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was attending a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. when Booth, a popular actor of the day and a Confederate sympathizer, entered his balcony and shot him in the head. The next day, April 15th, Lincoln died.
The president who abolished slavery and led the country through a terrible Civil War was killed five days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. He was in the process of instituting a generous policy of reconciliation to unite the divided nation.
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 1865. A hand-colored lithograph on paper by Currier & Ives Lithography Company. The lithograph shows the scene on the night of April 14, 1865, when Lincoln was attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre, accompanied by his wife and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris. On that evening, the guard who was assigned to the president left his post, and John Wilkes Booth was able to enter Lincoln's private box and shoot him.
2. James A. Garfield
The 20th president of the United States was shot on July 2nd, 1881 in Washington, D.C., just four months into his presidency. He succumbed to his injuries and died on September 19, 1881.
The reason Garfield was killed? His shooter was one Charles J. Guiteau, who was deemed insane by his family a few years earlier. He became obsessed with the notion that President Garfield owed him a position in the government for his supposed help during the electioncampaign. When no such post materialized and he was, in fact, rebuffed by the Washington insiders, Guiteau's growing mania led him to shoot the president.
3. William McKinley
The 25th president was shot on September 6th, 1901, while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He was meeting the public at the Temple of Music when an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot him twice in the stomach. Eight days later, on September 14th, 1901, the president died from a gangrene that resulted due to his wounds.
McKinley was in his second term when he was assassinated. He was actually warned about an assassination attempt specifically at the Temple of Music by his Secretary George B. Cortelyou, who took the visit off the president's schedule twice. But McKinley restored it every time, leading to the terrible turn of events. After McKinley's assassination, Congress passed legislation to charge the Secret Service with protecting the president.
Part of a wash drawing by T. Dart Walker that shows the assassination of President McKinley by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901.
4. John F. Kennedy
America's 35th president was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He was riding in a presidential motorcade with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy (later Onassis) as well the Texas governor John Connally and his wife Nellie when he was shot. The governor was also seriously wounded in the attack, carried out by a former U.S. marine Lee Harvey Oswald.
After being shot, President Kennedy was rushed to the Parkland Memorial Hospital where he died 30 minutes after the incident. The sudden loss of the idealistic and promising President Kennedy, a descendant of one of America's most powerful families, was an extremely traumatic event for the country. This was especially influenced by the fact that despite investigations, like the Warren Commission, the assassination has never been satisfactorily explained for many Americans, spawning numerous prominent conspiracy theories. Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was himself killed a couple of days later, on November 24th, 1963 by a Dallas nightclub operator named Jack Ruby.
Besides the assassination attempts that achieved their aims, there were a number of other dangerous attacks on U.S. presidents. Here are some of the recent ones:
George W. Bush faced an attempt on his life in 2006, during a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, held jointly with then-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. As reported by The Washington Post, a Georgian nationalist threw a live grenade at the presidents and their staff. Luckily, it failed to detonate.
Bill Clinton had several brushes with assassination plots against him. In 1994, one Frank Eugene Corder flew his single-engine airplane onto the White House lawn. He crashed through a magnolia tree and stopped close to the Clintons' bedroom.
In 1996, Osama bin Laden reportedly tried to kill Clinton via a bomb planted under a bridge during his trip to Manila.
On March 30th, 1981, President Reagan was fired at six times by John Hinckley Jr., a man who looked to impress the actress Jodie Foster by that act. Reagan eventually recovered from his chest wound, but his press secretary James Brady was partially paralyzed after one of the bullets hit his head.
Here's that incident caught on tape:
On May 5th,1979, a transient was arrested at the Civic Center Mall in Los Angeles, carrying a .22 caliber start pistol. This happened ten minutes before President Jimmy Carter was supposed to give a speech there. What's more, the transient turned out to be part of a more elaborate plot where two Mexican hit men were supposed to shoot the president with rifles.
President Gerald Ford lived through back-to-back attempts on his life during the September of 1975. During a rally at a park in Sacramento on September 5th, a Manson family member drew a gun at Ford as he reached out to shake people's hands. Fortunately, the gun misfired and was grabbed by a Secret Service agent.
Just a few days later, on September 22nd, a radical shot at the president in San Francisco. The shot missed thanks to a bystander who grabbed the shooter's arm.
Other presidents who survived assassination attempts include Richard Nixon, Harry S. Truman, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Andrew Jackson.
Daily caffeine intake temporarily alters your brain structure
Compared to people who took a placebo, the brains of those who took caffeine pills had a temporarily smaller gray matter volume.
Why you should laugh at yourself, according to Seneca and Nietzsche
"It is more human to laugh at life than to lament it."
The violence of the Tonga eruption is a wake-up call to watch other submarine volcanoes
Out of sight, but not out of mind.
How circular economics can make us happier and less stressed
Entrenched business wisdom says that community-led economic systems are pure fantasy. Douglas Rushkoff disagrees.
The art of asking the right questions
The right questions are those sparked from the joy of discovery.
Surprising Science
NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched today. Its mission? 'Touch' the sun.
The Parker Solar Probe is the first time a spacecraft will ever get this close to the sun.


Tára looked up from the rutter she had been examining, and saw a handsome young man standing on the other side of the long table she at which she was seated.
"Do you ever stop reading, bookworm?", the young man queried.
"Hêral, do you ever read at all?", she replied.
"Not if I can help it", Hêral quipped.
Tára shook her head. Hêral was an excellent sailor, and had a natural talent for navigation by sight, but he seemed totally uninterested in the scholastic aspects of pilot's study. Tára wondered why he had been sent to the College at all.
Tára looked up quickly. Discovered? Hêral never 'discovered' anything. The young man had turned away and was slowly walking away.
Hêral half turned, and she could see he was smiling slyly.
"Oh…. Interested now are we?", he grinned.
Tára scowled once more. "That would require you to actually have anything interesting to show me, which I seriously doubt", she said.
Hêral just stood there, grinning.
Tára waited for him to try to convince her, but he just kept on grinning. Eventually, she couldn't stand it any more.
"Alright then", she said, exasperated, "but, this had better be good. I have a great deal of study to do."
Hêral still said nothing, but turn and began walking away, waving for her to follow him.
Tára closed the rutter, and carefully reshelved it, gathered up her cloak and other belongings, placed them in her satchel, and then followed the young man.
He led her out of the main library, down the stairs, and out into the central courtyard. It was early morning, and few people other than servants were about. The air was crisp, and a light mist hung about the buildings of the magnificent Lado College, the greatest Pilots College north of Azeryan.
Hêral led her across the courtyard to the main gatehouse. The great gate of the college was still closed, but servants bringing in the days provisions were using the side portal.
Tára hesitated. "You want me to follow you outside the college, unaccompanied?", she whispered.
Hêral half turned. He still had that annoying smirk. "Why," he whispered in return, "don't you trust me?"
Tára looked at him sharply. "Not one bit. Let me warn you, I am armed, and I know how to use it," she said holding aside her cloak to reveal the sheathed dagger hanging from her belt.
Hêral rolled his eyes, and without a word, turned and headed for the side portal. Tára hesitated once again, but glancing around to check that no one important was looking, followed him out of the college.
Beyond and all around the college lay the ruins of Trepûra, once one of the greatest sea ports of the northern world, until it was sacked and burned by Ivinian raiders over two centuries ago. Despite her earlier query, Tára had spent many hours searching through the ruins of this ancient city, which despite its ruined state, continued to fascinate her.
She followed Hêral, who was moving quickly through the early morning mists that cloaked the ruins, once again, grateful for the warmth of her own cloak in these cool northern lands. The young man was heading to a group of ruined and overgrown stone buildings to the north and west of the college, in an area that Tára had yet had little time to explore. They had passed beyond the gardens and the cottages of the servants of the college, and were now surrounded only by ancient, crumbling walls.
It was a quiet still morning, and Tára could hear little other than the occasional seagull above the distant sound of the sea beyond the lagoon around which the ruins were strung.
At last they reached the group of ruins to which they had been heading, and Hêral turned to her.
"Ready for a climb?", he grinned.
Climb? Clearly this young man knew next to nothing about her, if he thought climbing would be any kind of issue for her. She said nothing.
He reached up and grasped a thick trunk of the ivy that had grown up the side of the ruined tower, and began to climb. He rose up quickly, and Tára couldn't help but notice how athletic and well proportioned the young man was. If anyone had seen her looking, she might have blushed.
The ruined tower was once of the tallest structures still standing in the city, perhaps four storeys high, but Hêral was soon near the top, and lifted himself up, over, and out of sight. Tára, who had watched his climb carefully, followed using the same route and hand-holds. As she reached the top, he looked back down and offered his hand down to help her up. She ignored him, and pulled herself up and over the ruined wall.
To her surprise, the area beyond was in relatively good repair, a stone floor that had only partially collapsed.
"Is it stable?", she asked.
"As far as I can tell, yes", he replied.
"I see", she said. "So, what have you found?", she added.
"Well, for one thing… this view…", he said, grinning, and pointing out across the ruined city.
And, although she was loath to admit it, the view from the tower was impressive. Spread out about them and all around the lagoon were the ruins of that once great city. She had seen maps in the college of the city in its prime, but the view gave her fuller appreciation of the town, and of what had been lost.
"Excellent, Hêral. A view. Most impressive", she finally said, sarcastically.
Hêral only continued to grin that insufferable grin.
"Actually…" His grin was now so wide she thought his face would split.
He did not so much laugh as snort. It wasn't a pleasant sound, and she scowled at him.
Hêral turned and made his way carefully to where the stone floor had partially collapsed.
"Be careful. The stones are loose here", he said, as he lowered himself down to the next level.
She heard him drop onto what sounded like a further stone floor below, and he called back up.
"If you like, I can help you down?" His usual cockiness seemed to have subsided, and she almost felt sorry for him. He was clearly trying his best to impress her.
She made no response, however, and peering down below, saw him looking up. The floor below looked solid, and the drop was not great. She turned about, and lowered herself down, then dropped down beside him, making scarcely any noise as she did so.
"You've done this sort of thing before, haven't you?", he said.
"Climbing? Yes, I've climbed many more difficult buildings than these. Does that surprise you?", she replied.
Hêral just grinned that horrid grin again.
They were in a square room, with only arrow slits and the light from the fallen section of the roof illuminating the area. There was rubble and piles of leaves and other rubbish all around. Hêral walked over into the darker end of the room, and crouched down. He looked back at her.
She walked over to join him, moving carefully although the floor did seem solid. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw he was crouched next to a small, dirty-covered, metal box, about a foot long. Although it was gloomy, she could see that the box was covered with intricate chasing, and through tarnished, it was clear that the box was made of silver. Even in its current state, the silver alone would no doubt be worth a small fortune.
"Well, Hêral. Yes, this is something interesting. I'm sorry I doubted you", she said as she crouched down beside him.
She reached down and after examining the box, lifted the lid.
Inside lay a package, wrapped in oilskins and leather cord, both of which seemed relatively well preserved. Carefully, she lifted the package out of the box.
She glanced at Hêral. "Have you opened this?", she asked.
"Yes, but look for yourself", he said.
She got up and move back towards the light from the broken roof, and sat down on the top of the stone stairs that led down to a further level below. Hêral followed her, and sat beside her. If he was somewhat closer than she would ordinarily have allowed, she scarcely noticed. She was intent on discovering the contents of the package.
Gingerly, she undid the leather binding, and carefully unfolded the oilskin coverings.
Inside, she found a pile of parchment sheets, each inscribed and illuminated in the most exquisite colours.
"Ohh!", she exclaimed, stunned at their beauty. They were so fine she scarcely dared touch them.
"Like them? I'm… speechless." She turned back to the parchments, and holding the edges of one, held it up to the light.
She realised then that the script was not Lakíse, Ayâran, or Runic, the three scripts with which she was familiar. She was unsure what it was, although, she suspected it might be Selénian, the ancient script of the Sináin folk of Hârn. The quality of the illumination was remarkable, and the colours seemed scarcely faded at all. In fact, the parchments seemed, almost miraculously, to be undamaged.
Tára glanced at Hêral, who was watching her intently. She carefully laid the parchment she had examined back on the pile.
"Hêral… these are… priceless…" she whispered.
Tára looked at him in a new light. Perhaps he wasn't as shallow as she had thought.
She was about to ask him how he came to find the box, when Hêral held up a hand, and held a finger to his lips.
Tára looked at him quizzically, then realised why he was signalling for her to be silent... she could hear voices below them!
They sat as still as they could, and strained to hear the voices. Tára knew Hêral was right to be cautious; there were quite a number of unsavoury folk to be found in the ruins of Trepûra from time to time.
As they listened, they realised the voices were coming closer, and soon they could hear footsteps on what sounded like stone stairs below.
"... they are late, again..." Words drifted up from below.
"This is becoming a serious issue...", said another voice, lower and more intense.
There was a pause in the conversation, and Tára realised the speakers were now right below them, but neither Tára or Hêral dared move and risk giving themselves away.
Tára only just managed to stop a gasp, as she realised where she had heard that voice... for it was the Proctor of the College, Kórales al Shôral, responsible for the management of the students of the college.
She glanced at Hêral, and from the look on his face, she was fairly clear that he had also recognised the Proctor.
"Yes. Indeed", said the person with the Proctor. "As usual, I will do my best to ensure that nothing untoward happens to these new pilots…" The Proctor's companion chuckled. Tara did not think it a particularly pleasant sound.
The two young companions heard the two conspirators below them begin to descended the stairs, and Tara let our a low breath as the two voices receeded into the distance below them.
When she felt sure they were well gone, she glanced again at Hêral.
"What shall we do?", she whispered as quietly as she could.
Hêral held his finger up to his lips, indicating silence. With his other hand he indicated that Tára should remain where she was. Carefully he got up and moved slowly and quietly to peer down the stairs below them. He looked and listened for some moments, then looked out of the arrow slits, before returned to Tára.
Very quietly, whispering in her ear, he said "I think they have gone. We should go. Now. Back to the College."
Tára gathered up the box and its contents, and placed them carefully in her satchel.
"We had best not climb down the way we came; too visible", Hêral said quietly. With that he led Tára down the stairs to the room below, and carefully pausing from time to time, the two companions made their way down several flights of stairs until they reached the bottom of the old tower.
Hêral peered out of the front door of the tower, and seeing and hearing nothing, indicated that Tára should follow him.
They carefully made their way back towards the College, taking as much effort as possible to ensure that no one - least of all the two conspirators they had overheard - saw or noticed them.
As they approached the College compound, Hêral paused and turned to Tára.
"We should return separately. I will go first, in case anyone is looking for us, and draw any attention. Also - leave the matter of what we heard to me. I think I know what to do..."
Tára was about to object, but Hêral held up his hand and the look on his face suggested he wouldn't accept any disagreement.
"This was my discovery, and its my problem to solve. Are we clear?" All the sense of joviality that Tára had always associated with Hêral seemed long gone.
She simply nodded, and he slipped away towards the College.
She waited for several tens of minutes, and when she hear no sound of cries or commotion from the the College, made her way to the front gate. It was now mid-morning, and there were a good number of carters and others moving in and out of the gate. She joined a group bringing in supplies, and nodded to the gate warden, flashing her College badge as she passed through the gate.
She quickly crossed the courtyard, and headed to her dormitory. There were no other students in the dormitory when she reached it, so she felt safe in transferring the box and its contents to her locker. She knew she was late for that morning's lecture, and no doubt her absence would be noted. She gathered up several scrolls she had been studying the day before, and headed back to the library, finding a back corner and settling in. She would claim she had got caught up in study and forgotten the lecture.
The mid-day meal bell sounded, and she joined the throng of students, masters and servants in the great hall. Several students commented on her absence that morning, and she blushed, indicating she had been carried away with studies in the library. She looked around, but could see no sign of Hêral.
She had no scheduled lecture that afternoon, so returned to the library. She tried to study, but could not stop thinking about what she had heard, or discovered, or she found, about Hêral.
She was still wondering where he was or what she should do when the evening meal bell sounded. Once again, she looked for him in the hall, but could not see him. She was growing somewhat concerned, but perhaps he was busy.
After the meal, which she enjoyed little, she retired to her dormitory, and tried to rest, somewhat unsuccessfully, partly because of two students chattering at the other end of the room.
Suddenly, she heard cries and a commotion from the courtyard. The two students looked up and out the windows, then ran out the room. She rushed to the windows and saw a large crowd in the courtyard, huddled around something. She rushed out, down the stairs and into the yard, making her way as quickly as she could to the crowd.
"Back up, all of you... There is nothing you can do!" she heard a voice call out, probably that of a Master.
As she reached the group, she saw with sudden horror that a person lay on the ground, broken and bloody, around which the crowd were pressed. Several masters were crouched around the prone form, but she could tell instantly that it was Hêral... and that he was not moving and that he was not likely to move ever again.
She would have cried out, and run to him, but something stopped her. She looked up, and saw standing over the body, the Proctor who they had earlier overheard. She saw that he was virtually ignoring the body, and was scanning the crowd, clearly looking for something or someone. She stopped herself, and stood behind a fellow student.
"Back up!" said the voice that had spoken earlier, who she now recognised as the College's physican. "He is dead, I'm afraid. There is nothing to be done." The physician looked up at the Proctor.
"What happened? Where did you find him?"
The Proctor glanced around the crowd once more, then replied. "At the foot of the old tower. It seems he tired to climb it, and must have fallen..."
The physician rose, and pulled a blanket over Hêral's body. He shook his head. "How many times have we warned you all?", he said, half turning to the crowd of students. "Those ruins are dangerous and unsafe... and now... and now this..."
Several masters and students helped the physician lift up the lifeless body of Hêral and bear it away, and the crowd began to disperse. Tára did her best not to stand out, but she noticed that the Proctor hardly moved, and continued to scan the crowd and departing students.
She shivered. He knew. Hêral must have confronted the Proctor, and indicated that another student knew of the Proctor's conspiracy. That foolish boy! He'd gone and got himself killed, and now she was at a loss as to what to do.
Over the days that followed, Tára debated what action to take, but when three days later two other students who had been known as friends of Hêral's 'disappeared', she realised that the risks of approaching anyone were too great. She considered confiding in the one student she considered a friend, Výska Lédensen, a member of an offshoot branch of the ruling clan of Lédenheim, but decided against it.
Instead, she focussed on her studies, and avoided the Proctor and indeed most other students. She developed an even greater reputation as a loner. She had always found many of the Masters extremely talented, but the luster had gone off the College. It was as if a poison lay all around, but a poison which she could not draw out.
It was thus with great relief that she accepted her first commission as an apprentice pilot before the end of the month of Ilvín that year. It was only as she sailed away from Trepûra and the College that she realised how much she missed Hêral, even though she had really only known him properly for one day. Even as the ship on which she was now an apprentice sailed ever greater leagues away from the College, her dreams continued to be tormented by a sense of falling, and fear of discovery.
Read Chapter 1 of Tára - A Promising Child.
Read Chapter 2 of Tára - Finding the Search.
Read Chapter 4 of Tára - Wolves of the Sea.


I can't believe it's time for another Siblings post already. I said last month that not much had changed between Toby and Gabe and this month is more of the same. They still love each other like nothing on earth, and still spend half their time fighting and squabbling.
They make each other laugh all the time, and Toby also seems to have the uncanny ability to make Gabe cry at the drop of a hat. Toby loves to teach Gabe too – I'm sure Gabe knows more numbers and letters than Toby did at this age and that's a lot to do with Toby teaching him.
I know there'll probably always be fights and squabbles between these two but I just hope that they always stay friends and look out for each other. Toby is already saying he can't wait for Gabe to go to his school so they can sit together at lunch time and play together. It's still over a year before that's going to happen but I bet it will be here before we know it. For now they'll just have to make do with sitting together for a picnic in Grandma and Grandad's garden!


The 5 best reasons to get your kid to start playing tennis!
Tennis can be a greatly beneficial sport for your kid. It will teach him many useful skills beyond the primary physical effort that everyone first thinks about in sports. Let us explore the 5 best reasons for you to get your child started today!
Tennis is a physically demanding game. It requires the player to hit the ball and run around the court to retrieve it during the whole lesson. For that reason, when practicing tennis on a regular basis, your kid will get stronger, faster, and will enhance his endurance abilities. This is a great way to lose weight and stay fit while having fun!
When playing tennis, you necessarily lose at some point. Of course, the loss can be big or small; it can be a point, a game, a set, a match, or even a tournament. However, it is not because you lose a point, a game or a set that the match is over.
Consequently, it is capital to learn that failure is not an end, and that you can get back up on your feet after it arrives. When playing tennis, you must learn not to be overwhelmed by emotions when you lose, to be able to turn the match around. Once your kid has learnt that, he will be able to apply it to other areas of his life – so what's keeping you from enrolling your kids in tennis lessons now?
Tennis is a predominantly individualistic game. When things go wrong, there are no team mates or a bad racket to blame, just yourself (or your partner in doubles, of course!). On the contrary, when you win, you also have no one else to congratulate but yourself.
Being able to take responsibility for your actions and their outcome is a fantastic skill to have in life. Your focus should be on how to keep improving rather than stay stuck in emotions. Keep your eyes on the prize!
When playing tennis, you should remain aware of yourself at all times. Are your feet placed correctly? Will your racket hit the ball from the best angle? Where should you aim to trick your opponent? The surface you are playing on, as well as your opponent's game also must be analysed.
Tennis forces you to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses in order to win and improve. This is certainly a skill that can be applied to many other things in life, like school or work, for example.
If tennis requires a good deal of physical strength, it is also very demanding on the mind. Being fast and strong will not make you the best player out there. Throughout the match, your kid will learn how to stay in control of his emotions, not to feel overwhelmed by over-confidence when winning a point or a set and, on the contrary, not to lose all hope when one is lost.
In addition, tennis requires you to analyses how your enemy plays in order to adapt your strategy and defeat him. With every point, the way the ball is hit has to be carefully thought about, and you decide beforehand where it will land on the other side. Apply these skills in life, and you're in for a win!
Find out more on quality beginner tennis coaches, kids tennis programs and lessons and nearby you in Singapore, here!
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