text:
Personal Damage - Steppin Razor
If you wanna live
Treat me good...
Personal Damage is Bungee, Baño & Earbean, a trio from Los Angeles who's members have also been in bands such as Abuso de Poder, Krigshoder and Hate Preachers.
They released a demo tape last August (https://1753.bandcamp.com/album/personal-damage-demo) which was compared with the likes of Wasted Youth, The Fix, White Stains & Chain Whip.
A few months later as 2021 crept towards a close they followed it up with a 6 track ep on 1753 Records titled Ambush. The tracks are definitely influenced by 80's hardcore, they're short, aggressive and very enjoyable. If you like your punk energetic and fat free then you can find the ep here (I'm not sure if there's any of the ltd edition cassettes left but it's also available as a name your price download) : https://1753.bandcamp.com/album/personal-damage-ambush
A little surprisingly for a hardcore punk release, the song I'm highlighting is a cover of reggae artist Peter Tosh's Steppin Razor (it was actually written in 1967 by Joe Higgs and recorded by Bob Marley, Sinéad O'Connor, Sublime & The Kills but the version on Tosh's 1977 Equal Rights album is the best known https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLJFRgE4Ywk).
A very different beast to Tosh's version, this is Steppin Razor...
Labels: 2021, hardcore, Personal Damage, punk
The Monofones - No No
The Monofones (https://www.facebook.com/monofones) are a "lo-fi garage trash inferno" from Bern, Switzerland. They're a trio who "produce loud and wild 60s garage trash with a pinch of punk." They're also very good.
They've been together for around 14 years, have a line up of El Miguel (drums), Miss O.O. (vocals) & Sir Haemesly (guitar/vocals) and have just released their 6th album. It's titled Loud & Lousy (which is only partly true as they are loud but they certainly aren't lousy) and it's available via Little Rebel Records on vinyl, cd and digital download. You can get it here : https://monofones.bandcamp.com/album/loud-lousy
It's a very consistent album, all the songs being highly enjoyable. The first one I heard was Shut It Out (I played it on this week's show and it went down well in the chatroom) and there's a fun video for it here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Np5jPTt81A
For the blog though you're getting this one. It's called No No...
Labels: 2022, garage, punk, The Monofones
Clobber - Karens, Gammons, Hippies & Conspiracies
Buckle up… it's clobbering time!
Can I recommend you all have a listen to this week's Just Some Punk Songs show (today at 8pm UK time https://www.facebook.com/events/1093166834816214/). 24 songs by 24 bands, 14 who have never featured before. If you're looking for a show that concentrates on new punk music you'll struggle to find better.
One of those bands making their debut are Clobber (https://www.facebook.com/Clobber.uk). They're a hardcore punk quartet from London who've just released a debut ep titled Tribal Rites of the New Friday Night. It's a rip roaring introduction to a very promising outfit who I'm sure you'll be mightily impressed with.
It's opinionated; it asks what's wrong with the world today. It then provides an answer, the world's gone mental. As the band say, "The world around us has Irreversibly, devastatingly and unrecognisably changed, we have endured so much from a party who show no consideration for the working class and left us to die while they partied. They gutted the hallowed halls where we cut loose and spent our youth for fancy towers and railroads and they continue to laugh at us from the top of the hill and we won't take this lying down. We too have changed as people, we're stronger, more unified and together we can conquer anything, these are the Tribal Rites of the New Friday Night."
The ep barrels along at a breakneck pace, it's heavy but doesn't forget to anchor that hard hitting sound with a modicum of melody. If I was going to make a comparison I'd maybe say Clobber (on this release) are in the same ball park as Crown Court. You can get it here ; https://clobberuk.bandcamp.com/album/tribal-rites-of-the-new-friday-night
"This song is the culmination of watching the news all over the world in 2020. It's about how many people stood by and watched the world suffer and somehow made it all about them. How people would conjure ghost stories and excuses to excuse their deep seeded prejudices while people literally took to their streets in a desperate attempt to stand up for basic human rights." It's called Karens, Gammons, Hippies & Conspiracies...
What is wrong with the world today? All you silly mugs got to have your say, your inability to see another view, its only fucking gospel if it comes from you.
Karens, gammons, hippies and conspiracies, statues, masks, blaming 5G and PC.
Painting a target on your head, convinced a minority wants you dead, it ain't about you, it never was, you just want a word in just because...
Labels: 2022, Clobber, hardcore, punk
NOBRO - Bye Bye Baby
NOBRO (https://www.facebook.com/nobrocity) are from Montreal and feature a line up of Sarah Dion (drums/vocals), Lisandre Bourdages (percussion/vocals), Kathryn McCaughey (bass/lead vocals) & Karolane Carbonneau (lead guitar/vocals). They list amongst their influences the likes of Jay Reatard, The Damned, Royal Trux etc. Their sound is an energetic mix of garage, punk and down & dirty rock n roll. They're a band that like to shred.
They released an ep in 2020 titled Sick Hustle and they're about to follow it up with one called Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar. It'll be out on Feb 23rd but 3 of it's 7 tracks are streaming now. You can pre order it here : https://nobro.bandcamp.com/album/live-your-truth-shred-some-gnar
All 3 of the available songs are very good, this one's the most recent release. This time around guitarist Karolane takes lead vocal duties as she blasts out a passionate response to the worst break up of her life. This is Bye Bye Baby...
Labels: 2022, NOBRO, punk
Silicone Values - 1977
I've featured Bristol DIY collective Silicone Values on here a couple of times so far with their songs Utopian Futures (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2020/10/silicone-values-utopian-futures.html) and The Last Work Of Piss Artists (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2020/12/silicone-values-last-work-of-piss.html). They always go down very well (as they did in the chatroom when I played their Streaming TV single on the show towards the end of last year) and although any write ups I see about them are always positive, I reckon they're deserving of a higher profile.
Their sound is lo fi post punk, most of their releases have a similar kind of sound but that's certainly no problem as they're very good indeed.
They return today with the flip side of their new single. Featuring a line up of Brin Davies (Guitar/Vocals/Drum Machine), Anthony Richards (Guitar/Vocals) & Ben David (Bass Guitar), we're treated to 2 new tracks, both of which are of equal merit.
"Recorded without due care or attention at No Clear Objective Studios January 2022" we're treated to title track Burn The 1980's and 1977. Both possess an endearingly retro feel, both highly recommended. You can get the ep here : https://siliconevalues.bandcamp.com/album/burn-the-1980s-b-w-1977
Maybe this will be the song that earns them fame, a contract from Virgin and an early death. It's called 1977...
Labels: 2022, post punk, punk, Silicone Values
Glaas - I'm The Problem
Glaas are a "supergroup" from Berlin featuring members bands such as Clock Of Time, Idiota Civilizzato, Useless Eaters, Lacquer etc.... The line up is Jan (Drums), Cosey Mueller (Keyboard), Alexis (Vocals), Raquel Torre (Bass) & Seth Sutton (Guitar).
They've an album titled Qualm on the way via Static Shock Records which will be out in the spring but to give us an idea of what to expect they recently released a Self Titled ep. 3 tracks, all very fine examples of dark but energetic post punk. It stands out from the crowd due to an impressive turn on the keyboard from Cosey Mueller who's also in synth punk duo Das Das. Clock Of Time's Tobias Lill is on production duties.
You can get the ep here : https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/glaas
There's a video for the song Concrete Coffin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbMOzCbX7ZY) but the track I'm highlighting today is called I'm The Problem...
Labels: 2021, Glaas, post punk, punk
Thank - Dread
So I was passing the time of day trawling round the internet searching out new music worthy of playing on next week's Just Some Punk Songs show and my ears were pricked by a new song by a band from Leeds called Thank (https://www.facebook.com/thankleeds).
They were new to me but as their back catalogue goes back to 2017 maybe they aren't new to you. Anyway, my first impression was they sound a little like current media darlings Yard Act. My second impression was, damn, this is better than I originally thought. Maybe they sound like I'd like Yard Act to sound.
After deciding to post the song on here I noticed they've been garnering a fair bit of attention with comparisons being made with the likes of McLuskey and The Fall. I also noticed they've a new album out on Feb 4th. Titled Thoughtless Cruelty, it'll be available on green vinyl via Box Records (UK) and Exploding In Sound (US). 3 of the tracks are already streaming here : https://thankleeds.bandcamp.com/album/thoughtless-cruelty
This song will get the phrase "There's never been a good band from London" stuck in your head. It's called Dread...
Labels: 2022, alt, post punk, Thank
The Red Eyes - When The Last Note Died
The Red Eyes (https://www.facebook.com/The-Red-Eyes-174928245876759) are a 70's style punk band from Glasgow who formed in May 1997. You can listen to their previous releases here https://theredeyes.bandcamp.com/ but today I'm posting a song from their new album, Falling Thru' The Cracks.
Veterans of The Rebellion, Nice 'n' Sleazy and Wasted festivals and regulars on the gig scene (you may have caught them supporting the likes of SLF, Theatre of Hate & Spear of Destiny, UK Subs, 999, Undertones, The Alarm, Goldblade, Sham 69 etc, they're a band who pride themselves in the strength of vocalist Alan Bishop's impressive song writing skills. What's more, they're improving with every release.
To highlight those skills, here's a song written about the Miami Showband massacre in Ireland back in 1975 when three members of the Miami Showband were killed by loyalists in a bomb and gun attack when their bus was stopped near Newry in 1975 as they travelled back to Dublin from a gig. You can get background info on the massacre here : https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/14/miami-showband-massacre-uk-government-accused-lies-payout-northern-ireland-troubles
This is When The Last Note Died...
Labels: 2021, punk, The Red Eyes
Thatcher's Snatch - Wapping Dispute
"THEY CONTROL THE MEDIA
THEY CONTROL THE WORLD"
How do you get your new band noticed? Try thinking up a name that'll cause people to do a double take. Thatcher's Snatch (https://www.facebook.com/ThatchersSnatch) have done exactly that, but even more importantly, they're damn good so those people who are tempted to listen to them because of their name will stick around.
I must admit, I missed today's song when the video for it was posted on Youtube back in July but I've finally caught up thanks to the release of the Naam/Melbourne 5 piece's debut Self Titled ep which is out now on Hardcore Victim Records. Despite the band (Dave Brown - Vocals, Lance - Drums, Skinhead Joe - Guitar, Scotty Scallops - Guitar, Snaps - Bass) being based down under, their sound is definitely influenced by the UK82 scene and is pitched as a "blend between the raw fury of Riot City records with the big sound production of early Clay albums!"
The Bandcamp write up tells us that the lyrics on the ep deal with "the insidious relationship between Maggie Thatcher and the Australian born media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the hate filled and bible fuelled evangelical maniac/rugby player, Israel Folau, mismanaged government funds and general anti authoritarian antics." As you might expect, those lyrics are set to an aggressive and energetic backbeat of authentic sounding, old school punk.
The band recommend you play their music as loudly as possible and I'm not going to argue with them so click the link and turn it up... https://hardcorevictim.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-ep-3
This is the lead track, the one about Maggie subjugating the press, it's called Wapping Dispute...
Labels: 2022, hardcore, punk, Thatcher's Snatch
Artsick - Stress Bomb
Last month I posted a song by Kids On A Crime Spree (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/12/kids-on-crime-spree-when-can-i-see-you.html) and whilst I was checking out their new album on the Slumberland Bandcamp page I also had a listen to a couple of tracks from another of the label's upcoming releases. They were teaser tracks for an album by Oakland trio Artsick and they were very good so I made a mental note to check out the full length.
And now it's out, it's titled Fingers Crossed and I like it.
Before writing this I did a quick double check to make sure I'd not featured the band before and I haven't, but I have mentioned them a couple of times whilst posting songs by Boyracer. It turns out that Christina Riley is also a member of both Boyracer and Burnt Palms. Drummer Mario Hernandez is also in Kids On A Crime Spree and Ciao Bella whilst bassist Donna McMean has been in Lunchbox & Hard Left (a band much loved round here and who need to get a move on releasing new material!).
Being a Slumberland Records release you won't be surprised to hear that Fingers Crossed is an indie punk delight. Think C86, think Talulah Gosh, think scuffed up pop with a jagged edge. Or as the label describes it, "an album just bursting with racket and heartbreak and love and enthusiasm." Enjoy... https://artsick.bandcamp.com/album/fingers-crossed
Despise was the song that initially made my ears prick up a few weeks ago (I played it on the show at the time) but I'll post one of the other album tracks today, this is one of those tambourine led, shambling kind of songs that's easy to fall in love with, it's called Stress Bomb...
Labels: 2022, Artsick, C86, indie, punk
Strawberry Blondes - New York Neighbors - Tell Di World
I've just checked and it's been 20 years since I first heard Newport band Strawberry Blondes (https://www.facebook.com/strawberryblondespunx). Their debut release, the Kingmob ep, was great. Even better was their classic 2007 album Rise Up. It's one of this millennium's best releases packed full of catchy punk/ska anthems such as Rise Up, Beat Down Babylon, Rip It Up etc. The follow up, Fight Back, wasn't half bad either and cemented the band's position as one of the UK's most popular new punk bands.
And then they slowly faded from the scene. There was the Nothin' Left To Lose ep in 2012 and a Vans Warped tour cd gathering together some of their best songs but otherwise things went a little quiet. They never quite went away though, even back in 2018 they were debuting a new song on BBC Radio Cymru and promising a new record was on the way. There were still live shows but it's been I long wait for them to release something new.
That wait is over. For now, it's only a track on a compilation album but it demonstrates that the band can still turn out a catchy tune. The comp is titled Still Stubborn - Volume 1, it's on Stubborn Records of New Brunswick and it celebrates the 30th anniversary of the label. There's some great bands on there and you can check it out here : https://stubbornrecords.bandcamp.com/album/still-stubborn-volume-1
The Strawberry Blondes line up with Mickie Stabbs (Vocals / Guitar), Emma Jones (Trumpet / Vocals), Ryan Londons (Bass / Vocals) & Scott Harris (Drums / Vocals) and their contribution to the comp is a mash up of 2 tracks; York Neighbors (original version by King Django from the album Roots Tonic) and Tell Di World (original version by Rocker-T. and Version City Rockers from the album Nicer By the Hour).
It's a reminder of how good the band are and it's an appetite whetter for new material. C'mon guys get your fingers out, I think you've kept us waiting long enough.
This is New York Neighbor - Tell Di World...
Labels: 2022, punk, reggae, ska, Strawberry Blondes
Be Fair - Veins And Capillaries
Today I'm bringing you a contender for the title of the UK's most promising new punk band...
Last year I posted a song from a demo by a band I'd stumbled across from Sheffield & Leeds called Be Fair (https://www.facebook.com/BeFairSY/) and I mentioned how they played catchy, fast paced, self recorded no nonsense punk (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/08/be-fair-cero-deniro.html). I said they sounded very promising indeed.
Pat on the back for me time! I appear to have been correct. At least if their debut single is any indication of things to come.
Released today, I've listened to it 4 times already and feel the need to quickly bang out today's blog update before I dash off to work. I'm trying to decide who they remind me of. They're very energetic, they write ear worms, they have multiple vocalists all working together to produce a full sound, those vocals are quite gruff but very palatable. Maybe they remind me of Dauntless Elite? Maybe Miloy? Maybe there's "US Beardy Fest Style" punk influences added to the mix. I'm not sure, but I do know that they're going to prove very popular on the UK gig circuit (they're playing a free gig in Bradford on Thursday at Nightrain if you're in the area).
The single's on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/1e0m76PHK5U13rjwipNBYG
It's called Veins And Capillaries...
Labels: 2022, Be Fair, punk
The Trouble Seekers - Cruel Summer
Kevin McGovern is a familiar name to readers of Just Some Punk Songs, he's been rocking out as frontman of The Prostitutes (https://www.facebook.com/tutespunk) since 1995. A name maybe not quite as familiar on here is Hillary Burton though she's also been active on the scene as drummer with The Pandoras and more recently as vocalist & guitarist with Honeychain (https://honeychain.bandcamp.com/).
Kevin mentioned to me a number of years ago that he was looking to enhance The Prostitutes' sound by adding female vocals to the mix, now at long last that aim has come to fruition in the form of an aggressive, new wave/experimental punk duo called The Trouble Seekers (https://www.facebook.com/TheTroubleSeekers/).
With The Prostitutes you knew that you were guaranteed classic sounding US punk rock done with both energy and style. The Trouble Seekers bring more of the same but the addition of those female vocals certainly adds to the mix. The debut single has been released and is streaming on Bandcamp (https://thetroubleseekers.bandcamp.com/releases). It'll be followed in the summer by a debut album via Rock n Roll Manifesto Records.
A heady brew of old school punk mixed with garage pop swagger, this is a very promising calling card, it's called Cruel Summer...
You wanna crash
Waste your time with me
No surprise
No third degree
Never caught your act
Don't show me the way
Momentary lapse
Were you thinking out loud?
You forgot the script
And a heart that's ripped
Gone awol
I'm breaking down
Don't think I ever said
I would stay
There's nothing left
Stop and go
You're on a roll
Cruel summer shade
The minutes slipped
The record skipped
Something out of place
Labels: 2022, new wave, punk, The Trouble Seekers
Wrong War - Distraction Diet
(photo : John Massel)
Chicago hardcore punk 4 piece Wrong War (https://www.facebook.com/wrongwarmusic) formed in 2019 and featured on here at the end of the following year with a track from their debut album, Fixed Against Forever (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2020/12/wrong-war-first-shot-misses.html).
They return today with an equally blistering song from follow up album Once Upon A Weapon. It's more in a similar vein, it's hard hitting music providing a back beat to political lyrics such as "Feigned compassion... As your profits decreased" "Resist whatever seems so inevitable... Resist all who seem incredibly invincible" "It's all punching down... With tyrannous aspirations" etc...
I'd also like to mention that I really like the album cover which is a 1918 oil painting by Dublin born artist Alexander Stanhope Forbes titled The Munitions Girls. It adds an extra touch of class to a very fine release.
It'll be available this summer on Atomic Action! Records and Council Records but is streaming here now : https://wrongwar.bandcamp.com/album/once-upon-a-weapon
This track is about the babble of fake news that seems to be blaring out from every direction. It's called Distraction Diet...
You could be so enraged these days
So many idiocies to engage
A distraction diet
Of lies and entitlement
We've lost our way
And it's once, or so you think
Repeating viral weapon
Turned on by savagery
Turn it off and
Get the fuck away
You could be so enraged
these days So many idiocies to engage
Retreating static essence
Turned on barbarity
Takes you so
Ever far away
And a chorus rose behind him
And a chorus rose behind her
And a chorus rose behind them
And a chorus of no consequence answered
Turn on by savagery
Turn it off and get the fuck away
Labels: 2022, hardcore, punk, Wrong War
Slobheads - One Law
If you saw the Just Some Punk Songs end of year chart you'll have noticed that one of the songs featured was by south west London duo Slobheads (https://www.facebook.com/slobheads). That song, Rothman Blues, is the opening track of a debut album by the band titled The Big Stink. Happily, it's not the only highlight.
It featured on here last year (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/04/slobheads-rothman-blues.html) as did follow up single, Ain't Nothing New (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/05/slobheads-aint-nothing-new.html). Now that the full album has landed I'm happy to confirm that the guys, Harry Jarvis (guitar/vocals) & Macey Sherman (drums) have followed through on the promise displayed in their early releases and given us a full lp's worth of top notch trashy punk. Influenced by punk's early days but very much a modern sounding record, you can check it out on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/5fRhq2HcK4ZGeyZroAuNme
I could have pretty much selected any of the tracks to highlight as it's a consistently good album so I'll post one today and then play a different one on this week's Just Some Punk Songs show. This is One Law...
Labels: 2022, punk, Slobheads
The Jimmys - Commander Data
This blog started up in 2013 with the intention to explore strange new music, to seek out new bands and new songs, to boldly go where no blog had gone before...
(It actually started because I was bored and wanted to post a few songs that I liked but that wouldn't have been as good or as apt an intro to today's update!).
Anyway, Captain's log stardate 14.01.22 and we're discovering a band who are from a place fertile with punk lifeforms called Portland, Oregon. Their line up features Luke Lover (guitar/vocals), Funeral Boy (guitar/vocals), Ugerman (bass) & Keg from the Grave (drums). I'm not sure what tag we're attaching to this kind of lo-fi diy malarkey this year (are terms like egg, chain, devotional still in fashion?) but it's that kinda style of scrappy but fun punk music.
The band released a demo ep in 2020 on Magut records (https://thejimmypunk.bandcamp.com/releases) and have followed it up by re recording some of those songs and adding a bunch of new ones to produce a cassette album titled Eggy Pop (Ahh, maybe the tag for this kinda sound is now eggy pop?). It's got stuff on it about Ebay, Tiger King and watching tv plus there's a Jay Reatard cover. It's available via Swiss label Fart Food Records https://fartfoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-jimmys-eggy-pop-mc
This is my favourite track, it's called Commander Data...
Labels: 2022, egg, punk, The Jimmys
Split System - Hit Me
If you've been following this blog over the last few years, or even if you've just been keeping up with the global punk scene, you'll no doubt be aware of what a fertile field Australia is when it comes to exciting genre music. Today I'm featuring a song by a new 5 piece which contains members of 3 bands I've posted on here previously and a couple I haven't listened to yet but will do so in due course.
Split System are from Melbourne and line up thus;
Jackson Reid Briggs - Vocals (Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters)
Arron Mawson - Guitar (Stiff Richards)
Ryan Webb - Guitar (Speed Week)
Deon Slaviero - Bass (The Black Heart Death Cult)
Mitch McGregor - Drums (No Zu)
I don't know anything about them other than what it says on Bandcamp... They only had one jam together last year before lock down kicked in again but 5 songs were written so the band recorded their parts separately and the results are being released on a Self Titled ep by Legless Records. There's one track streaming now and I think it's fair to say it's not a million miles away from what you'd expect from a band boasting Jackson Reid Briggs and Stiff Richards' guitarist. It's driving garage rock and it's very good. The full ep will be out early this year on 7" vinyl.
https://splitsystem.bandcamp.com/releases
This is Hit Me...
Labels: 2022, garage, punk, Split System
Bitch Diesel - I Don't Wanna Go Out
Another cool song today that I missed last year, it's by a trio from Melbourne called Bitch Diesel.
It's also, as you may realise once you listen to it, a cover of a 1979 single by a Sydney punk band called X. It featured on their debut album X-Aspirations and you can check out the original here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4zkE0SLR1U
Bitch Diesel have been together since 2016 and their most recent release was a 4 song cassette titled Hail.
Recorded and mixed in the French Pyrenees while the band were touring Europe in late 2019 it's a release that showcases the band's versatility.
As mentioned above, this is the cover, it's called I Don't Wanna Go Out...
Labels: 2021, Bitch Diesel, post punk, punk
Sweet Knives - Possessed (Guest Review By Ralph J Rivera)
Just as I was turning in for the night I got a message from my good buddy Ralph; "Okay Mick you asked for it! I got a brand new album by Ali Trout and "Sweet Knives" (https://www.facebook.com/sweetknives) that's gonna drop in a couple days. First great album of 2022! You good with a review?"
The obvious answer was "Hell yeah, Ralph." So here it is...
Welcome to 2022 everyone! New Year and new expectations. Well leave it to Ms. Alicja Trout to be the first to come through. After not putting out a full length since 2017's Self Titled (https://sweetknives.bandcamp.com/album/sweet-knives-s-t) she has returned with a vengeance!
"Spritzerita" is a no holds barred attack on all things that are wrong with this world. Shitty relationships and a world we really don't fit in. 12 tracks of Modern Punk Rock & Roll played by one of the best in the game. The album drops on Jan. 15th but it's up on the FDH Bandcamp site for your listening pleasure https://fdhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/spritzerita
If you like this album dive into their past because Sweet Knives have been putting out amazing music since 2016. The new year is looking better already! My pick for best song off this album is "Possessed". Ms. Trout showing off her incredible guitar skills!
Labels: 2022, garage, punk, Sweet Knives
NiiS - Fuck You Boy
The early days of a new year are often a difficult time to find exciting new music to play on the Just Some Punk Songs show as most bands have been quiet during the festive season and it sometimes takes a few weeks for the releases to begin flowing in any great number. It does however give me the opportunity to mop up a few of the many songs I missed during the previous year. One of those features on this week's show (8pm Uk time today and then it's repeated on various global online radio stations during the week) and is getting posted on here today.
NiiS are based in Los Angeles. I only stumbled across them recently and know very little about them aside from their being influenced by the likes of Dead Kennedys, The Bags, Bad Brains and X. They've a single on Bandcamp titled Media Blitz which is good https://niisla.bandcamp.com/releases (and which has a very cool Elastica cover on the B side) and they recently posted a video on Youtube for a track which is Mimi SanDoe's heartfelt reaction to breaking up with an ex.
This is straight from the heart, it's titled Fuck You Boy...
Labels: 2021, hardcore, NiiS, punk
Mitch Kramer - Hate and War
(Photo : Patrick Hennessy)
"Who's Mitch Kramer?" you might ask after listening to the song at the bottom of this update. "His vocals are familiar but I don't recognise the name."
Mitch Kramer is a new outlet for the talents of Jeffrey Thunders, the New Haven (Connecticut) punk rocker who first came to my attention as frontman of The Lost Riots (https://thelostriots.bandcamp.com/) and has featured since with a number of other cool outfits including The Ratz and Jeffrey Thunders And The Scabs. Influenced by the likes of Black Flag, The New York Dolls, The Replacements, Joe Strummer, Rancid and Jay Reatard, Jeffrey's been pretty damn prolific over the last few years and can always be relied upon to turn out some top notch punk rock tuneage.
On this latest venture, he's decided to utilise a revolving door policy of guest musicians to back him up. The aim is to bring something a little different to the table with every release. The debut offering will be a 5 track ep titled Grand Avenue which will be available soon on lathe cut 7" vinyl. On this recording he's joined by Scott Fitch, Mike Sanchez, Ines Segarra and 3 time grammy nominated musician Roger C Reale.
This is a teaser track from the ep, those influences are at the forefront of this tale of a volatile relationship laced with remorse and regret. It's titled Hate and War...
I just came to town and I drove past your house and remember all the times that we had there
Hate and war what are we fighting for there's just got to be something better
Standing by your grave not feeling so great if I could only take those words back
Labels: 2022, Jeffrey Thunders, Mitch Kramer, punk
Friday, 7 January 2022
Kid Kapichi ft. Bob Vylan - New England
A big hello today to the first great song of 2022. A song that covers similar territory to some of the best tracks that already grace this blog. A song that takes aim at Fool Britannia, that drips with scorn but which combines that ire with a groove that's as good as anything you'll hear anywhere. Who'd have thought punk rock music could be as good, or as relevant 4 and a half decades down the line. Sit up, take note...this is the real deal.
Hailing from Hastings, Kid Kapichi (https://www.facebook.com/KidKapichi/) are an ascendant 4 piece featuring a line up of Jack Wilson & Ben Beetham (joint lead guitar/vocals), George Macdonald (drums) & Eddie Lewis (bass). They've already attracted the attention of big hitting media outlets such as the BBC & NME so no doubt this new single will be everywhere that matters very soon...
...Especially as it also features Bob Vylan (https://www.facebook.com/BobVylan).
It's a song about patriotism. About the yearning for a time that never actually existed. It's about being sold a dream by agenda pushers. It's a song that wonders if people are so entrenched in their beliefs, does it matter anymore what our leaders do? Are we going to carry on regardless or are we ready for change?
It's called New England...
Welcome to the new world The New England Come witness the greatness of Britain Driving around in a German car Stop for lunch in a sushi bar Get my news from the daily star Get my kicks from the tits and arses Never mind about social classes I'll cast my vote regardless Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change Welcome to the new world The New England All heroes, no villains Double decker bus and a bowler hat Bob the Builder Postman Pat Social change, no I don't want that, just sitting eating crisps in my one bed apartment Politics that's not my department But I'll cast my vote regardless Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change You're such a fool Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so vane You've gone insane 'Coz you've been fooled Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so strange You've gone insane Welcome to the new world The new normal Look at us queuing up, so formal Sunday roast God save the Queen Man United with the boot cut jeans Money in my pocket no I'm not too keen That's why I keep voting for the rich and heartless Bored of all these moaning artists So, I'll cast my vote regardless Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change Is it you can't change, Or that you won't change You're such a fool Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so vane You've gone insane 'Coz you've been fooled Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so strange You've gone insane Too many idiots breathing up the air Huffing and puffing like they just run up the stairs Fighting and cussing like they haven't got a care but they care about everything that happens over here Not over there, they couldn't give a toss, if it's a brown country they steal all the crops Blow it to smithereens and let the bombs drop Then cry about the borders when they try and come across Oh gosh I think this place is going nutty Too much spice, less British bacon butty Worry about your neighbours and worry about the druggies but not the Eton graduates that's taking all your money Seems they're taking the piss, not blaming the brown fella is hard to resist You'd of thought that the nation was smarter than this But I've got a couple of questions Please answer me this. You're such a fool Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so vane You've gone insane 'Coz you've been fooled Britannia Britannia fooled again Britannia you're so strange You've gone insane You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in You ain't shut them out Ya just locked us in Au Revoir Arrivederci
Labels: 2022, alt, Bob Vylan, Kid Kapichi, punk, rock
Monday, 3 January 2022
Neon Belly - Don't Hide Your Hate
Neon Belly are the lo-fi punk band from Wilmington, North Carolina, who impressed back in September when they released a very decent name your price S/T ep on Fort Lowell Records https://fortlowell.bandcamp.com/album/neon-belly
I described them as "straight up shouty, enthusiastic punk... Female vocals, rough and ready production all performed with great gusto" and posted a song called The Boys Are Alright https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2021/09/neon-belly-boys-are-alright.html
That song has just resurfaced on a new album by the band titled What's Mine Ain't Yours. The other tracks from the ep also feature, along with a few new tracks including a very fine cover of the Zero Boys' classic Civilisation Is Dying. It's just the kind of enthusiastically scrappy punk rock that I gravitate towards. You can find it here : https://neonbelly.bandcamp.com/album/whats-mine-aint-yours
In my previous piece on the band I mentioned I was impressed with their cover of a single originally released back in 1978 by Netherlands band Filth. This is it, it's called Don't Hide Your Hate...
Labels: 2021, lo-fi, Neon Belly, punk
Rum Lad - Hate Tory Scum
Those that were paying attention will have noticed that chart bothering, potty mouthed The Kunts weren't the only band that were critical of Boris and his capitalist wide boys in 2021. Wonk Unit topped the Just Some Punk Charts with an anthemic singalong criticising the government and today I bring you another song in a similar vein.
Rum Lad (https://www.facebook.com/rumladpunk) has featured on here several times previously. He's from South Normanton and is a modern day Mr Angry. My Facebook feed is often full of his withering put downs (recent examples including; "The rumour is Boris Johnson is set to be cleared by Lord Geidt over the donation for the Downing St flat refurbishment. Does that sound ok to you? Do you go out your mind worrying about paying tax etc to see it spaffed up the wall like this? Im calling all you bastards out next year.....", "Lets make this clear...the Maxwell guilty verdict means absolutely fuck all unless they start naming and shaming the cunts that were buying young girls and abusing them...until then sex trafficking will remain" and "Are we knighting war criminals now?? Fuck all surprises me anymore....jobs for the boys."
He says it as he sees it.
And this applies very much to his music. He's just followed up LP1 Vandalism and LP2 Punk AF with LP3 Wonder Meat. It'll be out on blue vinyl sometime later this year but for now you can get it digitally (pay what you want) here : https://rumladuk.com/home or here : https://rumlad.bandcamp.com/album/wonder-meat
For one man, it's a big sound. Don't expect 70's style sub 2 minute traditional punk ditties. The anger is the same but the songs are a little longer giving them more room to breathe. It's biting acerbity that could quite easily be filed under post punk and it works.
This is probably the most simplistic song on the album and it's the one I'm sure will be sung loudest at upcoming live shows. It's called Hate Tory Scum...
Labels: 2021, punk, Rum Lad
DIS-TANK - Wasting Prayers on a Fucked Up System
Who Is Your God?
Where Is He Now?
James Domestic must be one of the UK's most prolific artists. He's been responsible, or at least involved in more projects than I can remember over the last few years. Off the top of my head I can think up The Domestics, Tokyo Lungs, Bring The Drones, PI$$ER, KÖRD VÄRLD, Froggy & The Ringes & Hazard Profile. As well as this he's released his own solo material (a new solo single will be available digitally on January 14th with pre orders for a new album probably going live on the same day) and he runs Kibou Records releasing music by the likes of Las Ratapunks, Negativo, The Bristles etc...
Another one of his bands are DIS-TANK (https://www.facebook.com/distank). They're a D-Beat influenced hardcore outfit who released an album in 2015 titled Hardcore D-Beat Bruisers Vol.1 https://kibourecords.bandcamp.com/album/hardcore-d-beat-bruisers-vol-1
As far as I'm aware, we never got a Vol 2 but plans were in place a couple of years ago to release more tracks as part of a split 7" but due to Covid and other shit, it never happened. The DIS-TANK tracks were already mixed and mastered and now they've seen the light of day on a 4 track ep titled Wasted Prayers on a Fucked Up System. You can find it here : https://kibourecords.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-prayers-on-a-fucked-up-system
The ep kicks off with a statement of intent called D-Beat Existence and never lets up. All tracks are brief and brutal slabs of pummelling noise with James shouting enthusiastically over the top of a blitzkrieg backbeat. It's a hell of a way to test out how bad that New Year's Day hangover is so play it loud.
This is the title track, it's called Wasting Prayers on a Fucked Up System...
Labels: 2021, d-beat, DIS-TANK, hardcore, punk
Strawberry Blondes - New York Neighbors - Tell Di ...
Sweet Knives - Possessed (Guest Review By Ralph J ...


text:
Home Blog Anti-immigration NumbersUSA hones talking points: Say 'welfare queen'; say 'dependents'
Anti-immigration NumbersUSA hones talking points: Say 'welfare queen'; say 'dependents'
John Tomasic
In a strategy conference call with supporters Monday, anti-illegal immigrant group NumbersUSA geared up to counter a large immigration reform rally planned for next week in Washington. Conference call participants suggested Mexican women in the States should be branded as "the new welfare queens" and that their children should not be referred to as "babies" but as "dependents." "We have babies. They have dependents," said one caller.
"We will make a note of that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that," said NumbersUSA moderator Chad MacDonald in response to the suggested "new welfare queens" meme.
MacDonald emphasizing that the point was to create a perception of a broad and deeply felt grassroots movement opposing reform.
The call drew roughly 45 participants, mostly representatives of Tea Party groups, according to former Colorado Independent writer Erin Rosa, who called into the conference to report the story for Campus Progress.
Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA and a man connected in the past to white supremacist groups, also attended the conference.
From Rosa's notes:
CALLER 1: I would like to speak out on something. I feel the new welfare queen in America today is women coming from Mexico with a bunch of babies. So I feel they're all coming over here and having all these babies, they are the new welfare queen in America….
New people in America today with a lot of babies, 'cause they coming from Mexico having a bunch of babies. And our tax dollars is taking care of them babies, 'cause the mothers are illegal. So to me, we need to speak out about letting them know they're the new welfare queens in America.
CALLER 2: That was well said brother!
MACDONALD: We will make a note of that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
CALLER 3: One piece of information would be, they aren't babies, they're dependents. Don't use babies. It's emotional to them. They have dependents. We have babies.
Studying the perception that immigrants drain American tax revenues, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2008 1997 that immigrants generate more public revenue than they draw. According to a release summarizing the study, immigrants on average contribute roughly $80,000 more in taxes than they receive in federal and state and local benefits over the course of their lives.**
NumbersUSA plans to push the talking point that immigrants are welfare dependent and to flood federal lawmakers with calls and emails during the March 21 pro-immigration reform March for America. NumbersUSA will craft talking points for callers.
"It's not about reality, it's all about perception," Beck told conference attendees, referring to the group's successful push to halt reform efforts in 2007.
"What happened in 2007 is that we as a movement created the perception on Capitol Hill that most American's did not want amnesty, they did not want comprehensive immigration reform, and that there was an intensity to the people who didn't want it that could really cause political damage to the careers of members of Congress. That's what moves Congress."
Tea Partiers may be coming to NumbersUSA partly through the efforts of the intense "immigration restriction" group Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), which is making a concerted effort to enlist Tea Party groups to its cause.
ALIPAC announced last week that it planned to direct thousands of calls to Senate Republicans to oppose any coming reform legislation and organize "Tea Party Against Amnesty" events to be held across the nation.
** Edit note: The accuracy of the summary release of the National Academy study has been disputed in some corners. The Colorado Independent is reviewing the study itself and will report on its findings in the coming days.
Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
campus progress
chad macdonsald
erin rosa
march for america
National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences
new welfare queens
NumbersUSA
roy beck
tea part against amnesty
Writer, editor, teacher, web wrangler. He has worked for art, business, culture, politics publications, five universities and a UN war crimes commission. @johntomasic jtomasic@www.coloradoindependent.com | 720-432-2128 |
Littwin: The shutdown was a political fiasco, but the real losers here are the Dreamers
Littwin: Bold on immigration reform! (It doesn't take much)
Littwin: GOP immigration showdown plan hitting full fizzle

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Edmund Rice Education Australia Touchstone
As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, our community is accepting and welcoming, fostering right relationships and committed to the common good, through the provision of an approach to pastoral care that nurtures the dignity of each person as uniquely reflecting the image of God.
Pastoral Care Review
Throughout 2019, the Pastoral Team led by Deputy Principal, Mr Jay Sutton and Director of Pastoral Care, Mr Paul English conducted a review of the Pastoral Care system to ensure that the strategies that we employ in this domain are grounded in current research and reflect the values and philosophy inherent in the Touchstones, Inclusive Community. The Pastoral Team explored current practice evidenced in other schools and other external research, and formulated a range of initiatives to be introduced in 2020, that are designed to meet the wellbeing needs of students in a deeper and contemporary manner.
Many new initiatives will be introduced to support the range of strategies that are currently implemented, with some of the current strategies modified and improved. At the centre of these new initiatives is an absolute commitment to providing the best possible care for our boys in an environment which is nurturing while challenging them to be the best they can be.
The following initiatives will be introduced in 2020:
Positive Behaviour for Learning focus: Positive Behaviour for Learning is a framework for creating safe and orderly learning environments in schools, while improving the social-emotional outcomes for students. It is a proactive approach that relies on research-based practices, including developing clear behavioural expectations, teaching these expectations, acknowledging appropriate behaviour, consistently correcting inappropriate behaviour and using behavioural data to systematically solve problems.
Wellbeing Program: The Wellbeing program has been created so that our students have a strong sense of connectedness through developing respectful relationships, as well as meeting the Emotional and Social Learning needs of all students at St Edward's. The program consists of fortnightly Wellbeing lessons for all students in Years 7 to 9. These lessons are timetabled as Wellbeing and are taught by Wellbeing staff to ensure that students know that we take their wellbeing seriously and thoughtfully. In addition to the fortnightly program, each year group (Year 7 – 10) will rotate through an extended Wellbeing program each Friday afternoon. Throughout the year, Year 11 and Year 12 students will also be involved in health and wellbeing opportunities.
Home Room: Home Room (previously known as Tutor) is the first point of contact between the College, the student and his family. It is here that significant relationships can be developed. Through these relationships, a student will gain a sense of belonging and connection to the College. The College will also be exploring Home Room team building activities in line with the Colour Houses to build a sense of belonging.
Student Voice Committee: In 2020, a Student Voice Committee will be introduced. The goal of this committee is to improve the wellbeing for students, teachers and the school community, involve students in the future planning of the College, support the Prefect group, drive student engagement, create positive change that benefits the whole school community as well as have a different perspective and insight into the school environment, culture, and experience.
Certificates of Merit: The Certificates of Merit system affirms students who strive to achieve personal excellence in College life. Merits are intended to recognise effort and may be given for high standards of behaviour and uniform. When students have received a certain number of certificates of merit they can apply to their Pastoral Leader for a Pastoral Leaders Award, which will be presented at a Year Assembly. Once a student has three Pastoral Leader Awards they may apply to Director of Pastoral Care for the Principal's Award. At a whole school assembly, the student receiving the award will be presented to the Principal by their Pastoral Leader.
Re-Structure of the Level System: The Level System is integral to St Edward's Positive Behaviour for Learning program. It encourages students to be safe, be a learner and be respectful.
Change in Canteen Operations in 2020
St Edward's College has been in a unique position for many years in the way in which the canteen has operated. Through the wonderful work of staff employed by the College in managing the canteen with the support of a large number of volunteers throughout the College history, the canteen has been able to provide an excellent quality of nutritious food to students. This form of canteen operation is not the norm in many high schools as many schools have not been able to rely on parent volunteers, which are crucial to ensuring that the service can be sustained.
The changing work life patterns of our own families however has resulted in a steady decline in the number of volunteers willing to commit to assisting in the canteen over recent years. We have now reached a stage whereby the number of volunteers has declined to a point that the current operational arrangements are no longer sustainable. On most days of the week, we have insufficient volunteers to ensure that all boys are served, without calling on other staff from across the school to assist, drawing them away from their own responsibilities or lunch break.
As a result of this changing trend, it is with mixed feelings that the decision has been made to outsource the operation of the canteen to a local company called Fresh Food Fast. I say with mixed feelings, as I am aware that volunteering in the canteen is one of the opportunities available for parents to engage with their son's learning community. The canteen has provided parents and carers with a means of connecting with other families, teachers and students.
In making this decision, it was important to ensure that the quality of food, the service and affordability of food items matched the current canteen operations. These were key criteria in selecting Fresh Food Fast to take over the operations of the canteen. We are very confident that these criteria will not only be matched, but also will be built upon. The Flexischools payment system will continue to operate and a sample of the Term one menu is available at the following link.
St Edwards College Cafeteria Menu – Term 1
I would like to thank the wonderful St Edward's staff and the many volunteers who have been an integral part in the success of the canteen over many years. Without your support, the canteen would not have been able to operate as it has for as long as it did.
Staff Development Day
A reminder that a Staff Development Day has been scheduled for Friday November 22. This day will be devoted to teaching staff completing many of their mandatory hours of compliance training required for Teacher Accreditation with time also allocated to planning for the 2020 school year.
Outstanding Achievements by Year 11 Students
James Norman – International Powerlifting League World Champion
James Norman of Year 11 recently competed in the International Powerlifting League World Championships representing Australia in the under 75 kg Juniors, in Limerick Ireland. James participated in the Squat, Bench Press and Dead Lift events recording a personal best result in taking out the Gold Medal. In achieving this result, James holds the title of World Champion in his class. We congratulate James on this outstanding achievement.
Kai Darwin – Junior Australian Lifesaver of the Year
Congratulation to Kai Darwin of Year 11 who was recently awarded the Junior Australian Lifesaver of the Year at the National Awards Ceremony held on the Gold Coast. Kai has made an outstanding contribution to Life Saving on the Central Coast and across the country assisting with the organisation of National Tournaments. Kai balances this with his studies, volunteer work with the Emergency Services and the part time work and study through Newcastle TAFE in the field of nursing. An amazing achievement by a truly inspirational young man.
Outstanding Achievements in Virtual Debating
This year the College had two teams that participated in the National Virtual Debate Competition. This is a unique competition that allows schools from around the country to break away from a local geographic group of competitors and compete against opponents from all over Australia.
Our Year 9 and 10 Debating team are to be commended on their outstanding performances throughout the National Virtual Debate Competition. Ikey Allen, Jai Heaney, Jett Heaney, and Kai Wheelock were the only team to go into the grand final undefeated out of over 30 other teams nationwide. The boys debated some challenging topics including, The Fourth Estate Is Fundamental to Democracy, Climate Change Is the Cause of Extreme Weather Conditions in Australia, and that Drinking Water is a Human Right. Unfortunately, the team did not win the grand final this year, nonetheless the boys should be very proud of their accomplishments. Thank you to Mrs Katie Moon for her wonderful work in guiding these boys throughout this competition.
College Board Expressions of Interest
The St Edward's College Board requests interested members of the community to submit an expression of interest to fulfil the role of Board member commencing in February 2020. School Board members are volunteers working collaboratively with the Principal in the stewardship of the College within the context of EREA. Members of School Boards are chosen to meet the expertise requirements of the Board, not as representatives of any body. Any person interested in being considered for a position on the St Edward's College Board is asked to complete an expression of interest form, using the following link.
Expression of Interest Form College Board
The expressions of interest should be addressed to the College Principal at principal@stedwards.nsw.edu.au
Further information regarding the design and functions of the College Board is available from:
The Design for EREA School Boards
College Old Boys Annual General Meeting
The Old Boys Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday December 2, commencing at 6.00pm in the College Board Room. The newly designed Old Boys Union Constitution will be discussed at this meeting with a view to accept the recommended changes. All Old Boys of the College are welcome to attend.


text:
Q: How to check the value of wscript.arguments(0) without two if statements I want to be able to check the value of the first passed argument to a windows script.  But I want to be able to do it in such a way that the script will not give a runtime error if there are no arguments passed.
This is only a matter of curiosity as I am able get my script working with two if statements, but I want to know if there's a way to do it with just one (like
monthly = false

if wscript.arguments.count > 0 then

    if wscript.arguments(0) = "monthly" then

        monthly = true

    end if

end if

It would be neater if this could be done...
if wscript.arguments.count > 0 and wscript.arguments(0) = "Monthly" then

    monthly = true

end if

But that gives a subscript out of range error because the scripting engine is trying to check the value of an array item that doesn't exist.
I know I can do this type of check in PHP (if(isset($_POST['somevariable'])) && $_POST['somevariable'] == 'somevalue')

A: The answer is you can't do it because VBScript has no short-circuit and operator.
Since this is out of curiousity, you can check these links :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-circuit_evaluation
VBScript conditional short-circuiting workaround

A: If there is more than one test for the argument, you don't have to keep repeating the double if/then conditions.
Test once for the argument and put it in a variable. All other checks after that only need one if/then against the variable. Or use 'case' to select.
dim argument
if wscript.arguments.count > 0 then
    argument = wscript.arguments(0)
end if

if argument = "test1" then
  msgbox "test1"
end if

if argument = "test2" then
  msgbox "test2"
end if

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


If you are headed to San Francisco next week for RSA there are a few things you will want to check out. Obviously the main tent of RSA is a huge event for the security industry but there are other things going on also that you will want to see for yourself.
As you are planning your schedule for sessions during RSA make sure to circle Dwayne Melancon speak on Tuesday at 3:40. He is going to give a talk called The IT Blind Side. Don't worry this is not a boring vendor pitch. It is a great presentation about real world experiences that you will be able to relate to as a security and compliance professional. Dwayne was nice enough to let us stick a camera in his face to give you a sneak peak into what the talk is all about.
You can find out all the details about the event at the Security B-Sides San Francisco page. The event is happening all day Monday February 14 – Tuesday February 15. The event is officially full but they will be accepting walk ins as space allows. It is literally on the same block as RSA. It will be full of great people and great content. This group is a ton of fun and more importantly they know their stuff. The speakers here are second to none and very passionate about their topics. This is an environment where you go for the content and the people not the structure of a traditional conference. The other thing you will want to attend is the party on Monday night. All the details are in the link above.
If you can't make this event there are more coming up and more being developed all the time. You can keep up with all of them here.
Mini Metricon is an event I was introduced to by Gene Kim last year. As I looked into it, I quickly found that this group is having some very cool discussions around metrics and data models. This event is also happening on Monday February 14 at the Moscone Convention Center. You can find the schedule of events here.
Mini-MetriCon 5.5 is intended as a forum for lively, discussion in the area of security metrics. It is a forum for quantifiable approaches and results to problems afflicting information security today, with a bias towards specific approaches that demonstrate the value of security metrics with respect to a security-related goal. Topics and presentations will be selected for their potential to stimulate discussion in the workshop.
I will be starting off my week over here to here Alex Hutton speak about the cool things he is doing over at Verizon.
You might roll your eyes at the fact I'm telling you to come by our booth. Yes I want you to see the great solutions we have to offer but I really want you to see something we are doing that started last year at RSA. I spotted a booth last year that was made of video screens and I was pretty enamored with it. I lobbied for a media wall for a year. We will be streaming social media content to a huge monitor but there is a much bigger wow factor in the booth. They took a simple request and blew it out of the water. It is something you will want to come see.
If you don't have one you will want to download a QR code reader. We are going to have some fun with QR codes. You don't have to have one but if you want your own we suggest iNigma for the iPhone and Windows Mobile and BeeTagg for Android and Blackberry. I can't really give away the big wow but you will notice when you come by. Monday I might be able to tweet out a video of the object of my affection.
Tripwire is proud to be the sole co-sponsor of this event with RSA. Last year we were part of the same event and it was very cool. It is held in San Francisco City Hall, which is an impressive building. The music will be great, food will be filling and the entertainment promises to be entertaining. We will be having some fun that night being topped off by giving away a Vespa. This promises to be a great end to a packed week.
You can check out the Flickr pics from last year and some videos from the event.
As always – If we can be of assistance to your sucess at RSA next week please let us know.


text:
package edu.ucla.nesl.flowengine;

public class SensorType {
	public static final int ECG_SAMPLE_INTERVAL = 4; //ms
	public static final int RIP_SAMPLE_INTERVAL = 56; //ms

	public static final int CHEST_ACCELEROMETER = 1;
	public static final int ECG = 2;
	public static final int RIP = 3;
	public static final int SKIN_TEMPERATURE = 4;
	public static final int PHONE_ACCELEROMETER = 5;
	public static final int PHONE_GPS = 6;
	public static final int EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER = 7;
	public static final int PHONE_BATTERY = 8;
	public static final int ZEPHYR_BATTERY = 9;
	public static final int ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN = 10;

	public static final String CHEST_ACCELEROMETER_NAME = "ChestAccelerometer";
	public static final String ECG_NAME = "ECG";
	public static final String RIP_NAME = "RIP";
	public static final String SKIN_TEMPERATURE_NAME = "SkinTemperature";
	public static final String PHONE_ACCELEROMETER_NAME = "PhoneAccelerometer";
	public static final String PHONE_GPS_NAME = "PhoneGPS";
	public static final String EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER_NAME = "ExternalAccelerometer";
	public static final String PHONE_BATTERY_NAME = "PhoneBattery";
	public static final String ZEPHYR_BATTERY_NAME = "ZephyrBattery";
	public static final String ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN_NAME = "ZephyrButtonWorn";

	public static final String ACTIVITY_CONTEXT_NAME = "Activity";
	public static final String STRESS_CONTEXT_NAME = "Stress";
	public static final String CONVERSATION_CONTEXT_NAME = "Conversation";
	public static final String MOTION_CONTEXT_NAME = "Motion";
	public static final String OUTDOOR_CONTEXT_NAME = "Outdoor";

	public static final int ACTIVITY_STILL = 0;
	public static final int ACTIVITY_WALK = 1;
	public static final int ACTIVITY_RUN = 2;
	public static final int ACTIVITY_BIKE = 3;
	public static final int ACTIVITY_DRIVE = 4;

	public static final int NO_STRESS = 0;
	public static final int STRESS = 1;

	public static final int QUIET = 0;
	public static final int SPEAKING = 1;
	public static final int SMOKING = 2;

	private SensorType() {}

	public static String getSensorName(int sensor) {
		switch (sensor) {
		case CHEST_ACCELEROMETER:
			return CHEST_ACCELEROMETER_NAME;
		case ECG:
			return ECG_NAME;
		case RIP:
			return RIP_NAME;
		case SKIN_TEMPERATURE:
			return SKIN_TEMPERATURE_NAME;
		case PHONE_ACCELEROMETER:
			return PHONE_ACCELEROMETER_NAME;
		case PHONE_GPS:
			return PHONE_GPS_NAME;
		case EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER:
			return EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER_NAME;
		case PHONE_BATTERY:
			return PHONE_BATTERY_NAME;
		case ZEPHYR_BATTERY:
			return ZEPHYR_BATTERY_NAME;
		case ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN:
			return ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN_NAME;
		}
		return "UnkownSensor";
	}

	public static int getSensorId(String name) {
		if (name.equals(CHEST_ACCELEROMETER_NAME)) {
			return CHEST_ACCELEROMETER;
		} else if (name.equals(ECG_NAME)) {
			return ECG;
		} else if (name.equals(RIP_NAME)) {
			return RIP;
		} else if (name.equals(SKIN_TEMPERATURE_NAME)) {
			return SKIN_TEMPERATURE;
		} else if (name.equals(PHONE_ACCELEROMETER_NAME)) {
			return PHONE_ACCELEROMETER;
		} else if (name.equals(PHONE_GPS_NAME)) {
			return PHONE_GPS;
		} else if (name.equals(EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER_NAME)) {
			return EXTERNAL_ACCELEROMETER;
		} else if (name.equals(PHONE_BATTERY_NAME)) {
			return PHONE_BATTERY;
		} else if (name.equals(ZEPHYR_BATTERY_NAME)) {
			return ZEPHYR_BATTERY;
		} else if (name.equals(ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN_NAME)) {
			return ZEPHYR_BUTTON_WORN;
		}
		return -1;
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Recruiting and retaining top legal talent is a strategic priority for every law firm. For decades, top firms have followed the recruit-train-retain formula to protect their brand and increase billable hours. However, as competition pushes more firms to segment their services and re-think their billing models, the traditional hiring model is also evolving. Today's firms must be careful not to retain associates simply for retention's sake. The same goes for hiring new associates: hiring elite talent solely for status without any consideration for long-term fit is shortsighted. To remain competitive, your firm must recruit and retain the right attorneys to serve your firm's unique market position both now and in the future.
Is your firm's talent roster in sync with your firm's long-term goals? Retaining a partner whose practice is incongruous with your firm's priorities or onboarding the wrong personnel can have costly financial and strategic consequences. Not only will your firm be paying top dollar for talent that is failing to grow billable hours, but you also risk hurting firm morale. It is no longer enough to recruit from the top law schools or even entice a rainmaker to join the practice with a hefty salary. You need to carefully consider how each of these hires aligns with your firm's current position within the marketplace. Failing to do so can adversely impact revenue and shrink future growth potential.
A successful recruitment process must now begin with in-depth planning and analysis long before you review a resume or conduct an interview. Doing so is essential to assembling the right legal team that will best serve your current clients and advance long-term strategic goals.
Historically, law firms have followed the "Cravath Model", which emphasizes the importance of recruitment, rigorous training and internal promotion. Associates joined a firm right out of law school and stuck with that firm for life with the singular goal of making partner. While many firms continue to follow this model, shifting market dynamics are changing the rules of the game.
The legal marketplace has changed dramatically over the last decade in response to the Recession of 2008. Prominent law firms either failed or merged, and new, lower cost legal service providers emerged. Competition intensified for elite law school talent, while graduates from second and third-tier law schools struggled to land offers. Most recently, the firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP made headlines with the news that they would begin paying first-year associates $180,000 for starting salaries. The dramatic 12.5 percent salary increase sparked an immediate backlash. Corporate clients feared they would be left footing the bill for the salary hike by paying top dollar for transactional services that required minimal specialization and experience. Already dealing with tight budgets, corporations that don't receive efficient, effective and transparent counsel from their legal providers are considering alternative cost structures and sources for mid and low-service tier work.
With corporations pushing for greater billing transparency and competition offering lower cost alternatives, firms are finding it difficult to maintain existing cost structures. Your firm may be feeling the pressure to deliver top value, justify pricing and continue maintaining the traditional partner model. Or, your firm may be on the flip side – streamlining offerings and adding niche bench strength to better meet mid-market demand. Regardless of where your firm finds itself in the marketplace, you must understand your current position prior to beginning recruitment.
In order to recruit and retain the right talent for your firm, your hiring manager needs a clear understanding of your firm's place within the existing legal marketplace. This starts with an in-depth analysis of marketplace perception, client relationships and your firm's current approach to rates, size and specialty.
How does the current marketplace view your firm?
Are you considered to be a prestige firm or a value firm? Does this perception align with your services and talent roster?
How do you view your firm?
Is your perception of your firm aligned with the marketplace, and if not, is this misalignment adversely impacting your clients and attorneys? Perhaps you consider your firm to be among the elite Bergdorf Goodmans of the world, but the market thinks of your firm as a middle-of-the-road Macy's. In this case, you can't charge Bergdorf-pricing or assume you can attract Bergdorf-level clients (or elite talent, for that matter). A misalignment between your perception and the marketplace's perception can hinder growth and handicap your recruitment and retention efforts.
Where does your firm want to be in the marketplace?
Has your firm achieved its marketplace positioning objectives or is this still a work-in-progress? Are those positioning objectives realistic? For example, if you do want to be amongst the elite firms of the world, is that an achievable goal, or should your firm focus instead on targeting a different segment that could ultimately be more profitable in the long run?
Your clients may be Fortune 500 companies, small or medium-sized businesses, non-profits, startups or individuals. Do you have a mixed client base or a clear specialty?
What is your relationship like with your clients?
Evaluate your client relationship strength and how these relationships are nurtured. Do clients consistently seek your legal counsel on a range of issues or do they only turn to you sporadically for more nuanced advice or transactional needs?
What is the average client tenure?
Are these long-term clients carefully cultivated and maintained by your partners over the years? Or, are they new clients with short-term transactional needs who are less likely to require repeat services?
What challenges/opportunities are your clients facing within their industries?
Consider your clients' challenges. Are they being squeezed by the competition or constantly under threat of legal action? How is their industry evolving and how will this evolution impact their need for legal services in the future? Can you add bench strength now in anticipation of these future needs?
What billing structure do your clients prefer?
Are your clients resisting rate increases, pushing for lower rates or requesting for alternative billing structures, such as fixed, flat or capped fees rather than a traditional billable hour structure? Is your current billing structure consistent with your clients' needs and marketplace expectations? You can't market your firm as value-based but charge high-end prices.
What direction is your billing going?
Clients who once agreed to standard rates are increasingly asking to adapt rate structures to their internal budgets. When evaluating your current client roster, consider whether your rates are consistent with your goals and structure. If so, you may be poised to gain market share. If not, you should be prepared for the possibility that your clients demand new rate structures. Finally, if only a small percentage of your business is done for rate-sensitive clients, you may decide that those clients are inconsistent with your firm's strategic goals. Can your current billing structure continue to support your firm's growth and recruitment goals, or will existing elite talent ultimately be too costly to keep on board if billable hours decline?
What are your current practice specialties?
As demand for legal services evolves, firms are increasingly segmenting into specialized practices. Practices with niche specialties like healthcare law, intellectual property rights, insurance defense and employment practices are all growing. If your firm is in the process of specializing its offerings, does your current talent roster align with these specialties?
How sustainable is your firm's current growth trajectory?
The recent trend towards firm consolidation through mergers and lateral acquisitions is resulting in larger firms. Firm size directly impacts profitability and bigger isn't always better. Law firms don't enjoy economies of scale like manufacturers or wholesale distributors. The larger the firm, the higher the level of non-revenue-generating administrative support required for the firm to operate successfully.Firm growth can also raise more conflict-of-interest issues. While client conflict waivers have increased, not all can be waived. Growth-focused firms must be prepared to address conflicts-of-interest and anticipate the increased costs to address them.
How does your firm balance rainmakers versus non-rainmakers?
A highly successful attorney can generate sufficient work to keep several other attorneys busy. If he or she is your only rainmaker – or one of a few in your firm – you may go to considerable lengths to keep that attorney content. But what about other attorneys in your firm who bring in less business individually but still account for the majority of your revenue?
If you only incentivize rainmakers, you may sharply restrict the field of lateral candidates who would be interested in joining your firm. Or, should your star rainmaker decide to leave, you may find yourself facing a serious gap in billable hours without any viable talent ready to fill this gap. Carefully consider your firm's internal dynamics and structure in comparison to the broader marketplace when developing your recruitment and retention strategy.
Profitability pressures, the emergence of alternative service providers, and shifting elite talent demands are changing the rules of the recruitment and retention game. By completing a comprehensive marketplace analysis, you will be better positioned to develop an effective talent recruitment and retention strategy.
Does my current talent roster align with our core service offerings, or are we paying top dollar for prestige talent that doesn't match our growth direction?
How will a new hire add to our niche bench strength and position the firm to best serve our clients' future needs?
Do not wait until an offer is on the table to consider the bigger picture and ask these tough questions. Avoid recruitment and retention pitfalls by completing a comprehensive market analysis first. Only then will your firm be positioned for long-term growth.
I'm interested in your experiences and perspectives on this topic. Please send your ideas and comments to me at mmartin@lucasgroup.com.


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 * and open the template in the editor.
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package project.addmoto.javasqlquerybuilder;

/**
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Resources Events Request a Demo
Degreed VIEW: Creating A Learning Culture Highlight |Intro to Creating a Learning Culture
When you commit to helping your people learn and build skills for the future, it's incredibly important to think of a strong learning culture as the foundation of your learning strategy. To create a learning culture, it's important to enlist learning champions at your company and secure stakeholder buy-in, create strong employee engagement with learning and use data to share your successes.
Kelly Palmer, Chief Learning & Talent Officer at Degreed, kicks off the day's agenda. Explore how creating a learning culture is critical for building the foundation of your learning and skill-building journey. Find out why upskilling not only helps people advance their careers but creates real value for your business.
Register for VIEW Highlight Reels Today
About Your Speaker
Kelly Palmer, CLO, Degreed
Kelly Palmer is on a mission to change the way the world learns and builds skills. A well-known thought leader on learning, business, and career development, she is currently on the executive team of Degreed as the chief learning/talent officer and was formerly the chief learning officer of LinkedIn. She is the co-author of the book The Expertise Economy: How the smartest companies use learning to engage, compete, and succeed, which was named one of the best business books of 2019. She speaks regularly at companies and business conferences around the world, has been featured in Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc, and Barron's among others. Kelly lives in Denver, CO.
Copyright © Degreed, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


That is too funny. Your so creative.
You forgot the ice cream.
no I did not she does not need it yet. I got to find a rubber ice cream prop too lol.
my niece traded me for some ponies for it. It goes in a doll house they have like 3 of them.
Love it! It's the perfect accessory for her!


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Q: Wrap part of a foreach loop in a div I am trying to wrap everything after the second item in a doc. Here's the code that doesn't work. It's being used in a Razor view.
@{var j = 0; var count = 10;}
@foreach (var reply in comment.CommentReply.OrderBy(x => x.DateCreated))
{

    if (j == 2 && count > 2) {

    }

    Html.RenderPartial("_Reply", reply);

    j++;
    if (j == count && count > 2) {

    }

}

I believe it's still waiting for the closing div so the else doesn't get read. How do I fix this?

A: You need to prefix the half-tags with @: to prevent Razor from parsing the HTML.

A: I misunderstood the original question. Disregard the following:
Try something like this instead:
@{var j = 0; var count = 10;}
@foreach (var item in replies)
{
    if(j <= 2)
    {
        Html.RenderPartial("_Reply", item);
    }

    if (j == 3) {

    }

    j++;

    if (j == count) {

    }
}


A Lovely Lark: Nice Niche!
As you can see, the previous owner had quite the penchant for animal print. When we started this room, we ripped out the carpet, took down the animal print purse border, the hubster smoothed out the cracked plaster and bumpy walls, and we painted the room a fresh creamy color.
Have you created a cozy space for a bed, comfy chair, etc.? Tell me about it - I would love more inspiration!
Me too! I want a niche now!


Clinked has been a lifesaver in what could have been a messy, time-consuming project!
Ren Diller is the author of debut novel The Fracture of a Dream, a literary-fiction work about life, death, and everything in between. As a first-time author, Diller has been navigating the world of publishing using trial-and-error, looking for time-saving ways to put together a professional product.
Diller had enlisted the help of an editor friend to comment on the first draft of her manuscript. They started by editing within Microsoft Word and sending a flurry of e-mails back and forth, asking questions and responding with suggestions. It quickly became clear that this was not an efficient system—especially when Diller decided to bring on a second editor to read her next draft. The many e-mailed critiques and ideas were already becoming buried among discussions of book layouts, website design, marketing, and other writerly concerns.
Protection of the creative and intellectual property the group was developing, Diller wanted a secure and private space for the group to continue its work. She also needed a way to streamline the suggested edits she was receiving from both editors, to make the revision process more efficient. Clinked had everything they needed, including an online document editor, activity stream, task scheduler, and a dedicated area for threaded discussions (no more jumping from topic to topic!). Best of all, Clinked had a minimalist design that seemed engaging, rather than clinical and impersonal. Diller wanted to keep the workspace appealing and bright during the editors' thankless task of scrutinizing 94,000 words—multiple times.
Clinked had everything they needed, including an online document editor, activity stream, task scheduler, and a dedicated area for threaded discussions (no more jumping from topic to topic!). Best of all, Clinked had a minimalist design that seemed engaging, rather than clinical and impersonal. Diller wanted to keep the workspace appealing and bright during the editors' thankless task of scrutinizing 94,000 words—multiple times.
"We quickly found that staff were working more efficiently and communicating better with each other because they were actively engaging around ideas, discussions and documents that were all in one place. "


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FEATURES Brandon Can't Dance Relates to Jack Torrance By Andrew Parks · January 25, 2017
When Brandon Ayres was 13 years old, the future Brandon Can't Dance frontman felt torn between three part-time pursuits: skateboarding, drawing, and music. Typical adolescent stuff, really. And while the first two eventually fell by the wayside, as teen dreams often do, Ayres couldn't stop trying to awkwardly top indie rock auteurs like Silver Jews and Beck.
The only problem was his limited means: a worthless computer mic and primitive Microsoft program. Aryes persevered, though; a growing obsession with recording resulted in the avant-pop architect trying to learn everything he could about cutting tracks, whether that meant playing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" over a karaoke tape deck, or melding his own two-chord melodies with absurd lyrics on a newly acquired 4-track.
"I'm not big on computer recording programs," Ayres explains. "With anything though, the more you work at it, the better it gets. The less influence you take from the outside, as far as proper technique, the more it becomes your own style."
A cursory look at Brandon Can't Dance's sprawling back catalogue reveals just how far off the deep end this DIY-or-die ethos has gone over the past decade. Hit any album at random and you might find minimalist whiffs of Joy Division ("The Holy Grounds"), bold industrial balladry ("Natural Natures Way"), synth-pressed post-punk ("Blood Drips in 4's"), or abrasive traces of the drums-and-guitar duo Rasputin's Secret Police. That dearly-missed project actually predates Ayres work as Brandon Can't Dance, and ended rather abruptly a few years back, despite the best intentions of Ayres and his childhood friend Josh Phillips.
"It was the band I wanted to pursue my music career with," says Ayres. "I focused on it more than anything else, but it didn't work out. Josh and I don't even talk anymore. It's a bit of a sore subject, honestly."
BRANDON CAN'T DANCE
Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
Graveyard of Good Times BRANDON CAN'T DANCE .
Maybe that's why Brandon Can't Dance's new album (the aptly titled Graveyard of Good Times) is as manic as the singer/multi-instrumentalist has ever been, switching its gears from a severe thrash anthem ("So Deep, So Tortured, So Freak") to rain-slicked nursery rhymes ("A Greyhound Named Chelsea") to an endorphin-flooding examination of depression, and the thin line between feeling mighty fine and absolutely fucked ("Headspace"). That's what happens when one's disquieted mind is left to its own devices—the way Ayres' was, during a night shift he no longer works at a local retirement home.
"I got to write a lot of ideas down while working there," he explains. "I would bring my guitar inside on breaks, or sit in the car on a summer night, roll the windows down, and strum away. I think I thrive when I'm alone in a comfortable setting as far as art and music go."
Sure enough, Ayres draws some parallels between his restless personality and the tenuous grasp on reality found in movies like Taxi Driver and The Shining. "Both of their main characters are slowly going crazy," says Ayres, "but in different ways. I can relate to that level of loneliness and having a lot going on in your head. Working nights at the retirement home sometimes felt like the Overlook Hotel all over again."
The mercurial nature of Ayres' music is exactly what earned him his earliest fans, the most vocal of which has been recent Domino signee Alex G ("I wouldn't have started recording on my own if I didn't see Brandon had done it first," Alex says). When he was still a part of the Lucky Number Music stable, the rising Philly artist mentioned Brandon Can't Dance repeatedly in interviews, and even played some of Ayres' songs for his label.
Lucky Number A&R/product manager Nathan Roberts remembers putting the LXVE II tape on repeat, especially its strong opener "17." He catches you off guard with his simplistic but effective song structures, and the fact that he dips into so many styles means it's easy to fall in love with the music," Roberts says. Lucky Number Music ended up reissuing LXVE II last September .
Listen a little closer to his music and you'll also find Ayres' tongue firmly placed in cheek on joy rides like "Where My Boys At," a party hard paean that reeks of stale cigarette smoke, tall malt liquor bottles, and cold leftover pizza.
"That's part of the subtle humor I can offer," says Ayres. "I'll have a dark, serious song and then follow it up with a fun pop song about nothing. It's a very bi-polar album—very much who I am."
Alternative experimental rock indie rock
Read more in Alternative →


Our client, a global leading mining and metals organisation is in search of an experienced Electrical Reliability Engineer to be based at their port facility in Port Headland.
The primary role of the Reliability Engineer is to identify and manage asset reliability risks that could adversely affect plant or business operations. This role is covers three main areas: Loss Elimination, Risk Management and Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM).
Track equipment availability losses and abnormally high maintenance cost assets, then find ways to reduce those losses or high costs. These losses and high cost equipment are prioritized to focus efforts on the largest/most critical opportunities. The Reliability Engineer in full partnership with the maintenance and operations team develop plans to eliminate or reduce the losses identified.
Identify risk to the business plan caused by equipment failure to ensure appropriate controls are deployed to prevent these failures to achieve FMG's strategic objectives for HSE, Production and Cost efficiency.


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Jonathan Witt & Jay Richards < Back to Voices
Jonathan Witt and Jay Richards are the authors of the 2014 book The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot .
Jonathan Witt, Ph.D., is a Senior Contributor to The Stream and a senior fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He has written many popular and academic articles, scripted three documentaries that have appeared on PBS, and is the co-author of A Meaningful World. He was the lead writer for the PovertyCure Series and the award-winning film Poverty, Inc. He also served for a time as managing editor of The Stream.
Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America, a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, and Executive Editor of The Stream. He has authored and co-authored many books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated and Indivisible, as well as Money, Greed, and God, The Privileged Planet and The Untamed God.
More by Jonathan Witt & Jay Richards
Opinion, Politics, Economy, Film, Books | 5 years ago
Tolkien on Liberty and Limited Government
Director Peter Jackson's blockbuster Hobbit trilogy, like his three Lord of the Rings films before it, has brought a resurgence of interest in the fantasy novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. Of course, Jackson's movies did not create the Tolkien juggernaut; they merely capitalized…


Ciwan, who would only give his first name because he has family still in Syria, escaped with his son from his hometown Idlib, Yayladagi, Turkey, March 22 , 2012.
A tent city among the ruins of a former tobacco factory along the Turkish-Syrian border is home to Syrian refugee Ciwan and his four-year-old son. The Yayladagi camp is swarming with Syrians fleeing the bloodshed of their homeland. But for Ciwan, a Syrian Kurd, it's unfamiliar living among the predominantly Arab population.
"Over there I lived mostly with my people, but here I am with them, it's not very easy but slowly I am getting used to it," he said.
His unease defines the struggle of Syria's largest ethnic minority, the Kurds. The violent year-long political and social upheaval in Syria has left the country's estimated two million Kurds reeling.
Lodged between decades of oppression and the uncertainty of a future Syria ruled by the Arab-Sunni majority, Kurds have approached the uprising with caution.
They say they want to see President Bashar al-Assad's brutal reign end, but they also see this as an opportunity to reverse their suffering under the hand of an Arab nationalist regime. The Kurds fear a post-Assad, Sunni majority government might enact conservative Muslim policies curtailing a secular state.
As Syria's largest ethnic minority, Kurdish leaders and some experts believe the Kurds have the power to tip the scales of the conflict and help an emerging opposition bring down Mr. Assad.
The Kurds are a non-Arab population native to the central Middle East. Oppression of culture, language and their national identity has defined life for the Kurds in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq to varying degrees over the last half century and longer.
In 1962, the Syrian government stripped the citizenship of more than 100,000 Kurds, after holding a census in the Kurdish region. With this data, the government claimed these Kurds had illegally crossed the border into Syria. Today that number has grown to nearly 300,000, with the descendents of these Kurds unable to claim Syrian citizenship.
Even in peaceful times, Ciwan, who asked that his last name be withheld, had to protect his son from the Syrian state's oppression of the Kurdish population.
"They did horrible things to us, they changed our villages' names into Arabic," he said. "They brought Arab people from other parts of Syria to our land, and they now live in our land. They don't let us give Kurdish names to our children. My child's name is Sexubun, but I have to give him an Arabic name too."
At the start of the government crackdown in April 2011, in an attempt to appease the ethnic minority, the Assad government granted citizenship to about 200,000 of the stateless Syrian Kurds.
Still, Kurds were not safe as anti-government protests spread nationwide.
Ciwan says he escaped the violence in his hometown of Idlib, after seeing Kurds killed in the unrest.
Haunted by their past, the Kurdish consensus seems to be it is time for Mr. Assad to step down.
"We as Kurds envision [see] our rights in this revolution and in toppling this Assad regime with all its symbols," said Radwan Hussein, a Syrian Kurd, as he protested outside an Arab League meeting in Cairo.
But for the Kurds, the challenges would not end with the downfall of President Assad.
"The regime is illegitimate," said Dr. Abdulhakim Bashar, secretary-general of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Syria. "We're done with that already. But we need to think of a post-Assad era now."
As the former head of the Kurdish National Council, a unified bloc of Kurdish parties, Bashar outlined the Kurdish demands to join the Syrian National Council, Syria's opposition umbrella group.
They are seeking constitutional recognition, human rights initiatives, compensation for suffering, and participation in a nationwide democratic process. They promote the idea of a decentralized government, a decision to be made by Syrians through a referendum vote. And they want to drop the word "Arab" from the country's official name.
"Arab nationalists need to understand that Syria doesn't only belong to them," Bashar said. "They shouldn't hijack the revolution for their own agendas."
This stance has left them at odds with opposition groups.
The Kurdish delegation walked out of a meeting of Syrian opposition figures in Istanbul this week. In protest, the Kurds refused to sign on to a declaration naming the opposition Syrian National Council as the "formal interlocutor and formal representative of the Syrian people."
The SNC is emerging as the main political group backed by the West and Arab nations as the replacement for the Assad government.
Michael Weiss of the London-based Henry Jackson Society said the Kurds are the "decisive minority group" in Syria playing a "savvy game" with the opposition to ensure their rights.
"It's hard to imagine the revolution succeeding without their full participation in it," he said.
Mona Yacoubian, a senior adviser for the Middle East at the Stimson Center, says Kurdish support for the opposition would force a tougher hand on Kurds by the Assad government.
The Assad government has minimized its assault on Kurdish areas in what analysts see as an attempt to keep the Kurds from rising up.
"The eastern part of Syria has been relatively quiet," Yacoubian said. "If the Kurds decide they want to throw their lot in with the opposition, I think that could change things significantly."
But Robert Lowe, manager of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics, says he believes the opposition can succeed without the Kurds.
"I think some of them are watching and waiting to see which way it might swing," he said. "And if it was swinging in favor of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime, I think the Kurds would very quickly become a part of it. But I don't think their involvement is absolutely essential."
Back at the refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border, Ciwan wants to bring his son home to a Syria free of the Assad government where he could live freely as a Kurd.
"All we want is to have our rights," he said.
Henry Ridgwell in Turkey, Elizabeth Arrott in Cairo and Sirwan Kajjo in Washington contributed to this report.


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Watch Ghost In The Shell 2.0
"It Found A Voice... Now It Needs A Body"
Ghost In The Shell 2.0 is an animated film set in the future. Humanity has embraced the science of cybernetics. This has given people new opportunities in life. Some use their cybernetic abilities for good, and others for evil. Maj. Motoko Kusanagi specializes in crimes related to cybernetics. She's specially equipped for the task due to her high cybernetic ratio. She's quite literally more machine than human. This makes her especially concerned about a new criminal mastermind named The Puppet Master. The Puppet Master can take control of other people's cybernetic systems. It's up to Maj. Kusanagi to stop the one man who might be able to turn her greatest strength into a weakness.
Action, Animation, Science Fiction
| 2008 | 1 hr 25 min | 8.0/10
Atsuko Tanaka, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera, Tesshô Genda
Watch Unlimited
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Watch Ghost In The Shell 2.0 Trailer
Ghost In The Shell 2.0|1:02
Watch Ghost In The Shell 2.0 Online - Watch online anytime: Stream, Download, Buy
Ghost In The Shell 2.0 is available to watch free on Tubi TV, Vudu Free and stream, download, buy on demand at Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube VOD online.
Ghost In The Shell 2.0 News
Scarlett Johansson Offered Lead in 'Ghost in the Shell' Movie
Johansson will reportedly star in the adaptation of the anime franchise.