text:
Switzerland: The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Jihad
by Bruce Bawer
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11082/switzerland-islam
What you would never know, from all this hand-wringing about "Islamophobia," is that only a few weeks before the conference, the country's media had reported on a popular imam in Biel who, in his sermons, "asked Allah to destroy the enemies of Islam -- Jews, Christians, Hindus, Russians, and Shiites."
The imam in question, Abu Ramadan, preached that Muslims who befriended infidels were "cursed until the Day of Judgment" -- which, of course, is not radical at all, but is straight out of the Koran.
The crisis is real. But, says Swiss Muslim author Saïda Keller-Messahli, Swiss politicians, "especially on the left," refuse to address it. Instead of trying to defend their country from radicalism, they think their job is to "protect minorities and multiculturalism."
Mosque kindergartens and youth groups, too, are "places of religious indoctrination" for Swiss Muslims. So are the German-speaking public schools, in which imams are permitted to teach classes in Islam using instructional materials from Saudi Arabia or Turkey.
If you listen to some of Switzerland's pollsters and government officials, the country is suffering from a serious and ever-intensifying crisis -- anti-Muslim bigotry.
In August, a study concluded that Swiss Muslims "are generally well integrated into Swiss society." Their main problem? They face "Islamophobia."
Another study the same month found that the percentage of Swiss non-Muslims who feel "threatened" by Islam had more than doubled since 2004, from 16% to 38%.
At a September 11 conference, Switzerland's Federal Commission against Racism (FCR) issued an explicit alert: "hostility toward Muslims," it warned, was rising – and was "fed by facts that have nothing to do with Muslims themselves."
Conference organizers blamed this "hostility" on online "propaganda"; Interior Minister Alain Berset accused Swiss citizens of erroneously holding "Islam responsible for all the extremist acts committed in its name."
What you would never know, from all this hand-wringing about "Islamophobia," is that only a few weeks before the conference, the country's media had reported on a popular imam in Biel who, in his sermons, "asked Allah to destroy the enemies of Islam -- Jews, Christians, Hindus, Russians, and Shiites." The imam in question, Abu Ramadan, preached that Muslims who befriended infidels were "cursed until the Day of Judgment" -- which, of course, is not radical at all, but is straight out of the Koran.
Abu Ramadan has been living in Switzerland for almost two decades. In 1998, he came to the Alpine country from Libya as an asylum seeker, but over the years has returned home several times -- in addition to visiting Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries. This fact should have automatically negated his right to asylum and resulted in his expulsion. But the years went by, and the government, ignoring the evidence right there on his passport, did nothing.
On the contrary: over the years, in fact, the Swiss state had given Ramadan the equivalent of $620,000 in welfare payments.
Reportedly, some public officials were well aware of his hate sermons -- but until the content of those sermons surfaced in the media, nobody in the government had made any effort to do anything about him. Instead, people such as Interior Minister Berset and the members of the FCR had kept busy going to conferences and tarring the general public as "Islamophobes".
At least one high-profile individual in Switzerland has long rejected the official line about successful Muslim integration and unfounded infidel Islam-hatred: Saïda Keller-Messahli. Of Tunisian descent, living in Zurich, she has spent years investigating institutional Islam in Switzerland and urging politicians to take action against it. Asked in a recent interview whether Abu Ramadan is an isolated case, Keller-Messahli said no: such preaching, she explained, is common in Swiss mosques, part of an international strategy to plant a "discriminatory" and "violent" Islam in Switzerland and elsewhere in the West.
Keller-Messahli has just published a book entitled, Switzerland: An Islamist Hub ("Islamistische Drehscheibe Schweiz"). It is sort of a field guide to Islam in Switzerland. The country's mosques belong to various networks based here and there in the Muslim world; many of the imams have been trained in Egypt or Saudi Arabia; many of the mosques receive funding -- and take orders -- from organizations in Turkey. In her book, Keller-Messahli draws all the connections, follows all the money trails, and spells out the poisonous articles of faith. And she prescribes strong medicine: monitor the mosques, cut off the foreign cash, and expel the preachers of jihad.
Saïda Keller-Messahli, the Swiss Muslim author of Switzerland: An Islamist Hub, has spent years investigating institutional Islam in Switzerland and urging politicians to take action against it. (Switzerland photo by Monk/Wikimedia Commons)
Keller-Messahli has not only probed the mosques. She has also visited prisons. In some of the prison libraries, she reports, she had found not a copy or two but hundreds of copies of pro-jihadist works. When she told a reporter that imams who work as prison chaplains are past masters at turning Muslim inmates into jihadists, and argued that the position of Muslim chaplain should therefore be eliminated, her interviewer asked whether that wouldn't amount to "unequal treatment." Keller-Messahli pointed out that the concept of prison chaplain does not even exist in Islam but "was invented precisely for the sake of equality."
Mosque kindergartens and youth groups, too, are "places of religious indoctrination" for Swiss Muslims. So are the German-speaking public schools, in which imams are permitted to teach classes in Islam using instructional materials from Saudi Arabia or Turkey: "All they do," complains Keller-Messahli, "is give them suras to learn by heart, the veil for the girls and the segregation of the sexes as soon as possible. And all the 'students' do is learn words without understanding them." The result: "social segregation, exclusion, contempt for women, honor crimes."
The crisis is real. But, says Keller-Messahli, Swiss politicians, "especially on the left," refuse to address it. Instead of trying to defend their country from radicalism, they think their job is to "protect minorities and multiculturalism." Keller-Messahli actually took part in the design and implementation of a course that warned prison employees about the dangers of Islamic radicalization. It was, she said, "a huge success" -- but an order by a Zurich court put an end to it. "Right and center," she laments, "politicians prefer to stay in their comfort zone and close their eyes."
Keller-Messahli does not mince words. The relentless spread of jihadist Islam in Switzerland, and the see-no-evil response by Swiss authorities, give her "a tremendous sense of betrayal. We trusted these people, we opened the doors of our country and our institutions. They say they want to be our partners in dialogue. But none of it is true." She reports that some Swiss residents with Muslim backgrounds have thanked her for speaking up and have told her that organized Islam does not speak for them. She is grateful for their support, she says, but she "would prefer it if they did not keep so silent."
The picture Keller-Messahli paints is a grim one. Is there any hope for change? Well, during the last few days it has become clear that at least some Swiss officials do not wish to remain silent about the enemy within. On September 21, it was reported that federal prosecutors had brought charges against the president and two members of the board of the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS), the country's largest Islamic organization. The charge: making videos in Syria featuring a top Al-Qaeda member and posting them on YouTube and other sites.
Only days later, the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted by a narrow margin to prohibit mosques from taking foreign money and to require that imams preach in the local language. The upper house has yet to debate the bill; the Federal Council, which constitutes the government's executive branch, opposes the measure on the grounds that it places Muslims "under general suspicion" and "fuels the argument of extremists."
It will be interesting to see where these developments lead. Will the bill pass the upper house? Are federal prosecutors looking into non-ICCS mosques? Stay tuned.
Bruce Bawer is the author of the new novel The Alhambra (Swamp Fox Editions). His book While Europe Slept (2006) was a New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
Recent Articles by Bruce Bawer
Yellow Vest Riots Spread: Week Five, 2018-12-18
France: A Revolt against Europe's Elites?, 2018-12-12
More UN Chicanery, 2018-12-09
British 'Justice': Poppycock, 2018-06-02
UK "Justice": "Silencing the Silencing", 2018-05-31
Nils Eric Sundin • Oct 15, 2017 at 11:58
There are only two sources of Islam. The Quran as well as the biography (Sira) and the stories (Hadiths) of resp. about Muhammed.
Saïda Keller-Messahli who is mentioned in the Gatestone Institute article (link above) is no source of Islam.
She has worked for the Swiss government and founded in 2004 "the forum for a progressive/modern Islam" that is said to promote "a liberal Islam".
However, Islam can by no means be changed since it is the words of Allah and there is no authority that has the right to change anything of it (anything in the scriptures mentioned).
Therefore, I don't see anything positive in the existence of "the forum for a progressive/modern Islam" but in the contrary something negative.
It gives nothing but false hopes and is therefore very dangerous since it suggests that a modernization of Islam to make it liberal/peaceful is possible but that is obviously not the case (see above).
Islam will remain Islam as we know it (since ~1400 years) and it is anything but liberal/peaceful.
Erwin Hodel • Sep 29, 2017 at 18:12
My impression is that none of the other comments came from a Swiss citizen. Although the author of this article delivered a profound insight into the present state of islamist activities in Switzerland, he forgot to mention the background of most Muslims in my country. The majority of Swiss Muslims stem from the Balkans and the second-largest group from Turkey. Especially the first ethnic group are not known to be prone to extremist Islamic views. My own neighbours to the left and right of my apartment are Turks. Although my guess is that the male members of this families don't share western views on how to treat women, these people are otherwise state-of-the-art examples of integration.
In other words, the cultural background makes the music: there are not many people from Arab countries in Switzerland. Even less if you look out for Afghans or Pakistanis.
As for the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, two out of three of their leading members now under investigation are Swiss citizen who converted to Islam.
Saida Keller-Messahli's assessment is basically right but it concerns a minority of die-hard Muslims in my country. The large majority of the Swiss Muslims have nothing in common with these extremists. Therefore, Switzerland is one of the few countries in Europe where the term Islamophobia is justified.
Ulli Vollmer Erwin Hodel • Oct 17, 2017 at 04:21
The term Islamophobia is also in Switzerland not justified. Islam doesn't stand for peace, it stands for hate, violence and death.
"The large majority of the Swiss Muslims have nothing in common with these extremists."
Maybe, but do they take a stand against the extremists? Except for a hand full like Saïda Keller-Messahli they don't.
How can we non Mohammedans then know what they want, if they are being quite or even behind the scenes more or less actively supporting the further Islamisation of Switzerland.
As a Swiss/Swede, I can tell you that in Sweden the population slept too long, the situation in Sweden has become extremely bad (it is easy to see, figure out).
Chandra Segaran • Sep 29, 2017 at 07:51
All this Islamic appeasement is due to damaged brain of some politicians unable to deduce right from wrong. Beware so long as these politicians are re-elected to govern they will drive you through to hell with their lopsided views.
UNCLE VLADDI • Sep 28, 2017 at 23:37
These leftopaths want to pity everyone as an equal victim, both the predatory criminal aggressors and their innocent victims alike, while calling those who get angry with criminals and their crimes, in an attempt to solve problems and prevent crimes, "hateful" for daring to accuse the criminals of their crimes. When they make hate into a crime, they really make it illegal to hate crimes and the criminals who commit them.
This happens on the individual, familial, clan, tribal, national and international levels, in private industry, in the education and judicial systems, in government, among nations and in global finance.
So why is useless static fear-focused PITY and suicidal masochism always being endorsed as the highest moral virtue, while useful and hope-focused dynamic anger (aka "HATE!") being derided as the worst of all sins
everywhere all the time?!
(Both are emotions, which means idolatries - removed from and pre-empting rational fact-based logical thinking of the individual causes and effect involved in each separate set of situational circumstances; as such, they are by definition pre-judicially biased bigotry and psycho-pathic exercises in thought-killing. But only libertine "liberal" criminals insist they have they right and responsibility to try to both pity criminals as fellow victims, AND also to be angry, all the time - at least at those who refuse to pity every one and every thing as equal victims, too! Rational conservatives show both compassion and anger only where it's earned, case-by-case).
Well, for individuals, showing pity (aka compassion and tolerance) goes along with our innocent-until-proven-guilty memes, and more importantly is allows people to virtue signal while simultaneously avoiding the risk of endangering them selves personally by daring to accuse potentially dangerous and violent criminals of their crimes.
In short, it's an obvious exercise in hypocrisy.
But why is such dangerously retarded behaviour allowed on a global scale, one might ask?
Banksters always support both sides in every given conflict, because then the losers will still owe them and the winners, the winners will still owe them, and both will want to borrow even more money for the reconstruction efforts to repair all the destruction they mutually caused.
And while law-abiding conservatives want nothing more than to be left alone to literally mind their own businesses, supporting the predatory criminally aggressive libertine "liberal" criminals is a much more lucrative venture for the banks, simply because there's no money in solutions!
Whee.
Crickets • Sep 28, 2017 at 15:29
Who will eventually have to protect you when YOU become one of the minorities? And when they do takeover (Jihad and liberalism) you will not have multiculturalism either.
Why has the West become so insanely dumb when dealing with her survival?
Anne • Sep 28, 2017 at 13:41
About Islam read and learn...Read what an X-Muslim has to say about this whole Islam and Muslim business. ..It's time for all nations to wake up to the fact that Muslims are NOT invading to assimilate and live peacefully. Consider this:
Wake up America! From a Muslim's mouth... By Teresa Nolivo. The following reveals the truth of the most diabolical group on the planet who take advantage of anyone who are foolish enough to allow them to.
The truth of Islam Jihad, Sharia Law, ISIS, AND Hijrah. This is his story:
I was born and raised a Muslim. My whole family is still Muslim; I know every genetic code of Islam because I have been fully indoctrinated, and I know and understand the Islamic brain.
I live and breathe with them, but I am now an insider. I left Islam once I understood that Islam is a sick and evil power that thrives on death, even the death of their own family members.
The following is the Islamic message to the United States Of America.
To the infidels of the West,
We will fight you infidels to death while your own laws protect us.
Your Democrats and your news media will support us.
N.G.O. ( Non Governmental Organisations) will legitimize us.
(C.A.I.R.); The ( Council on American–Islamic Relations) will incubate us.
The A.C.L.U. (American Civil Liberties Union) will empower us.
Western Universities will educate us...for free.
U.S. Mosques will shelter us.
O.P.E.C. The (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) will finance us.
Hollywood and their foolish celebrities will love us.
Kofi Annan and most of the United Nations will cover us.
Our children will immigrate from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia and even from India to the US and to the other Western countries. They will go to the West for education and be given full scholarships. America is paying and will continue to pay for our children's education and their upbringing in state funded Islamic schools.
We will abuse your welfare system because you will allow us to. Our children will also send money home while they are preparing for Jihad. We will take full advantage of American kindness, gullibility, and compassion, and when the time comes, we will stab you in the back.
We will say one thing on the camera and teach another thing to our children at home. We will give subliminal messages to our children to uphold Islam at any cost. Our children in America will always care more about Islamic Country's interest than US interest.
We will teach our children Islamic supremacy from their very childhood. We will teach them not to compromise with the Infidel. We do this from a very early age so our children won't hesitate to be a martyr.
We will take over the Europe first and then the US will be next. We already have a solid ground in the UK, Holland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, and we are now in the United States working diligently for the day when we overtake your country.
Your news media at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS; and others will paint a deceptive picture portraying Islam as a victim of US and Israeli oppression. The lying news reports will spread like wildfire saying " American military killed 10 Muslim babies, the Jews killed two Muslim women", We will use these lies to turn your own people against you, and many of them will march in the streets, burning US flags and destroying cities as the sympathize with Muslims.
You will be impressed when you meet a moderate Muslim personally. As your next door neighbor, coworker, student, teacher, engineer, professionals you may even like us. You will find us well mannered, polite and humble that will make you say, wow, Muslims are good and peaceful people, but they will become vicious and violent when the call for Jihad sounds. Massive emigration into all countries across the globe known as Hiram; a Muslim invasion.
We will use your own laws and values of kindness against you. You are destined to lose... I copied and paste from a different story here is true. And so can you please copy and paste
jayell • Sep 28, 2017 at 13:32
It seems like the Swiss are giving these Saudi Muslims such a ridiculously easy time that it's not so much a case of 'The Hills are alive with Sounds of Jihad', more 'The Hills are a Skive for the Hounds of Riyadh'. (Sorry about that!). Seriously, what's wrong with these Swiss people? Have the cuckoos escaped their clocks and invaded their heads?
Ronald Brauer • Sep 28, 2017 at 13:24
Islamic immigration to Europe is the modern day Trojan Horse. It will be revealed by the demographic time bomb. It breaks my heart that Switzerland is being destroyed from within by surrealistic politically correct mass mind control that has welcomed the destroyer of my ancestral homeland. I pray for Switzerland and Europe.
John S • Sep 28, 2017 at 12:15
The Left is the same in Europe, the USA, Asia, etc. Their motto is "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". The left's enemies are Christianity, Conservatism/Libertarianism, sovereignty, etc. All these views, which are the opposite of collectivism, represent a thorn in their side to have a One World Government. Therefore, they will do anything to remove obstacles to their path, including even supporting radical Islamists who will, in turn, one day cut their heads off. It's exactly the same as when the Communists came to power in Russia 100 years ago. Among the very first persons the communists killed when they came to power were their supporters who got them to power. Simply because (human nature), the communists did not trust anyone who wasn't loyal. The Left of today is just as disposable by their leaders.
Walter • Sep 28, 2017 at 12:08
Great article. Two Muslims: The good Saïda Keller-Messahli and the bad imam Abu Ramadan. Both represent ISLAM: The Quran and the Sunna. Yet, their ideology and works are totally different. How come? Keller-Messahli follows the Mecca Quran whereas the imam follows the Medina Quran. One Quran, two contradictory books. In Mecca Mohammed is portrayed as the prophet who preaches peace and love even towards the Jews and Christians. In Medina he becomes a politician and highly successful warrior and Jihadist in the name of Allah. His new command to the Muslims: Conquer the Non-Muslims who refuse to submit to Allah by the sword - kill, behead, rape, enslave - until there is no disbelief anymore and the religion and worship is for no other God but Allah alone.
The masses in Switzerland are slowly but surely waking up to the perils of political ISLAM, whereas most of the political and cultural elite prefer to repeat the mantra of political correctness over truth and reality. If you speak truth about ISLAM you are a bigot, hater, islamophobe etc. and risk being punished. Welcome to BIZARRO WORLD.
Jack Thomas • Sep 28, 2017 at 12:00
Hitler's ideology was banned, yet the apologists for the deranged, depraved sect of Islam see no harm with it. Europe's governments are ruled by leftist, who never let fact, reason, logic, nor law interfere with ideology. This is a good definition of insanity, and the Swiss government is, no doubt, ruled by the insane.
John Cox • Sep 28, 2017 at 10:29
Another Sweden in the making.
Mary Houghton • Sep 28, 2017 at 10:25
Had the U.K. and the rest of Europe nipped any misbehaviour by Muslims from the get go, they would not have felt so emboldened to progress as far as they have. How did we get to the point where halal food is served in our schools and offered in many fast food outlets. How did we get to the point of allowing hate preachers standing and screaming against "the infidels" whilst our spineless police just stood by smirking at the oh, so kooky, harmless men threatening to slaughter non-believers. They represent a very tiny minority in Europe but look at the phenomenal power they exert. Let's say the average European country (apart from France & Germany) has about 5% Muslim population. One can only imagine the power they will acquire when they reach (not if, when) 50% of the population. Many schools in London/Birmingham are 100% Muslim, and yet when a school is 100% it is lambasted by officials for not being diverse enough. These extreme wing people live on a different planet to most normal people, and I really do fear that once they open their eyes and see what damage has been done by them it will be way too late to do anything about it.
C. Weir Mary Houghton • Sep 28, 2017 at 12:18
This is what happens when a society is ruled by political correctness. P.C. obscures/denies reality, and persecutes those who try to raise red flags. Multi-culturalism doesn't make a society safer from extremist viewpoints, actions. It makes the society more vulnerable, dangerous. The leaders of countries, including police/law enforcement agencies, are primarily concerned with keeping their jobs. No one wants to be accused of being "racist," "islamaphobic," etc. I fear that this problem is already making inroads into American culture. Will America's leaders, young people wake up to these inconvenient realities in time? It's going to take more than "love," "being nice." We are going to have to say no--no more mosques--you will be sent back if it is known you have jihadist mentality and/or connections. No to sharia law infiltrating our justice systems. No to teaching only a white-washed, positive version of Islam in the public schools,etc.
tiki • Sep 28, 2017 at 10:17
Islam in the Swiss Alps......and in Stockholm, Oslo, Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna etc.etc.etc.
When will the West finally understand that the Caliphate has been established in their back yard.
But if they don't care, why should we?
If they refuse to see the facts, let them eat the poison ivy.
When they refuse to act, let them go under.
Islamization of the West is G-d's revenge for the Holocaust and the murder of 6 million innocent Jews.
Henry tiki • Sep 28, 2017 at 21:18
Tiki, you are correct. Weak humans can't survive. It is a pity that the Western democracy has transformed itself into the caricature of liberty, no-freedom-of-speech, pro-Islamic, Marxist-feminist conglomerate; however this is how the history unfolds. I do agree that the West is paying for the murder of 6 million innocent Jews. The problem though that Jews are under threat again.
Lorelei Vision • Sep 28, 2017 at 10:00
It's too late for the European Continent. They've been infiltrated. Most importantly, they've allowed themselves to be infiltrated by the Horde and those few that are awake and aware to the slaughter are verbally strait-jacketed with leftist PC Propaganda. For good measure, most of Europe kicked God off their land. Now look what has replaced God, the Satanic Cabal seething and gnashing their teeth, awaiting the time that they can kill all the infidels.
What a mess! I pray for Europe, but I fear it is too late for them no matter how loud a few beat the drum or blow the horn. Europeans won't be able to get their nations back without a bloody fight, if they get them back at all.
David Ashton • Sep 28, 2017 at 08:57
An excellent review of a most important research work that requires comparable detailed investigations in other nations. Question is: who will read it and who will act upon it?
There will always be those who cannot tell the difference between a pineapple and a hand-grenade, so to speak.
jeb • Sep 28, 2017 at 07:59
Here again we have an example of a double standard imposed by secular liberal socialists who believe Islam is more compatible with socialism than other religions and discriminate accordingly. They will defend sharia institutions with the same bias they persecute or attack the church. See Marx and Islam, Oxford dictionary on line. In the USA behind the false positive moderate Muslims are hurt by defining radical Islam and affirming that without reforms Islam does not qualify as a religion at all but is a religious/political totalitarianism. Liberals like totalitarians, they still see no value in having removed a mass murdering tyrant like Hussein advocated the withdrawal of all US forces and are responsible for the crisis is Syria and Iraq today. And that is just one example.
Hanna • Sep 28, 2017 at 06:30
All I can say about this depressing article is --- IT IS TIME FOR ALL JEWS TO LEAVE SWITZERLAND!!! In fact, it is time for all Jews to leave Europe, AGAIN... As for the so--called "politicians" --- they too will be sorry one day, after they will be forced to convert to Islam, or else... Switzerland used to be a nice little country at one time, with many happy people. No more, IT IS TOO LATE. This is one way to destroy a country --- how stupid is that??? Thank you Bruce Bawer and Gatestone.
Jeff Page • Sep 28, 2017 at 05:31
This is another warning that the leftist apologists for Islam are refusing to take action against. Just as in other European countries, they assume that any fears are unfounded. They themselves can see the evidence, and yet seem to interpret this evidence in an entirely different way to their citizens. They don't appear to realise that it is their citizens that have to live with Muslims who are displaying their hatred and indifference to European culture and practices. How these so, called, elitists can see better just what is happening on the streets and in the Islamic places of worship and still maintain their ignorance is amazing!
It's almost as if they need to have a knife to their throats before they open their eyes to the problems Islam is bringing to Europe. Muslims bring their baggage with them, they bring their belief and culture, they bring their resentment for Christianity right into the heart of the very people showing them kindness and welcoming them. They laugh in secret, they laugh out loud, they laugh at our weakness.
Western politicians have welcomed a religion that encompasses the whole of a Muslims life, there are variations, but hardline Islamists are at work and basically controlling the majority of Muslims by fear, threats to life, and yet the authorities in Europe ignore this, they actually think that this control is a good thing. They don't realise, it is also a very great danger. This is just another article exposing real problems in Europe that are being totally denied and ignored. We hear more stories every day, and still, nothing is done
Docvisuals • Sep 28, 2017 at 05:28
Saudi Petrodollars bought Geneva and Switzerland back in the 1970s. The Europeans have been bowing and scraping ever since. The harvest sown is being reaped.
David Ashton Docvisuals • Sep 28, 2017 at 13:13
The West should never have become increasingly beholden to Muslim regimes but instead have gradually developed alternative sources of supply. So far as Saudi Arabia goes it now appears to be making a rapprochement with Israel versus Iran, while still funding madrassas in Europe.
FREE SAEED SHIRZAD!
Saeed Shirzad a 27-year-old children's rights activist, was arrested in Tabriz, Iran on June 2, 2014. Shirzad was charged with "taking part in human rights activities and collaborating with Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran." After more than 14 months in prison, he was given a trial, but his lawyer was not allowed to attend or to access his file. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Saeed was kept solitary confinement in Evin Prison and later transferred to Rajai Shahr prison, where he was subjected to physical and psychological torture.


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text:
Q: Looking for a Banach space in which projection on a closed convex set is empty? It is well-known that projection on closed convex sets is nonempty in Hilbert spaces. I am interested in seeing a Banach space where the projection is empty on a closed convex set.
Definition of Projection of $x $ on set $C$:
$$   P_{C} (x) := \{ y \in C ~| ~ d(x , C ) = \|x -y\|  \}  $$

A: This MO answer solves your question. First, a small technicality: if $C$ is empty, it is a closed convex set such that all projections on $C$ are empty. This is technically a solution, but we want to exclude it.
Let $X$ be a non-reflexive Banach space (e.g. $\ell^1$). Let $f : X \to \mathbb{R}$ be a continuous linear functional of norm $1$ on $X$ which does not attain a maximum on the closed unit ball of $X$ (e.g. $(x_n) \mapsto \sum_{n \geq 1} \frac{n-1}{n} x_n : \ell^1 \to \mathbb{R}$). Let $C = \{x \in X : f(x) = 1, \lVert x \rVert \leq 2\}$.
$C$ is closed and convex, since it is the intersection of the closed convex sets $f^{-1}(1)$ and $\{x \in X : \lVert x \rVert \leq 2\}$.
Since $\lVert f \rVert = \sup_{\lVert x \rVert = 1} \lvert f(x) \rvert = 1$, there is some $a \in X$ such that $f(a) = 1/2$ and $\lVert a \rVert \leq 1$. Then $2a \in C$, so $C$ is nonempty.
Now suppose for contradiction that $P_C(0)$ is nonempty; let $y \in P_C(0)$ -- in other words, $y \in C$ has minimal norm.
Since $f(y) = 1$, we have $y \neq 0$. Thus, let $z = \frac{1}{\lVert y \rVert} y$. Since $f$ does not attain a maximum on the unit ball, there exists some $z'$ such that $\lVert z' \rVert = 1$ and $f(z') > f(z)$. Now let $y' = \frac{1}{f(z')}z'$, so that $f(y') = 1$. Moreover,
$$\lVert y \rVert \leq 2 \implies f(z) = \frac{1}{\lVert y \rVert} f(y) = \frac{1}{\lVert y \rVert} \geq \frac{1}{2},$$
so
$$\lVert y' \rVert = \frac{1}{\lvert f(z') \rvert} \lVert z' \rVert = \frac{1}{f(z')} < \frac{1}{f(z)} \leq 2.$$
Thus, $y' \in C$. Finally,
$$\lVert y' \rVert = \frac{1}{\lvert f(z') \rvert} \lVert z' \rVert = \frac{1}{f(z')} < \frac{1}{f(z)} = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{\lVert y \rVert} f(y)} = \lVert y \rVert.$$
This contradicts the prior conclusion that $y \in C$ has minimal norm.

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This was the cutest place to stay! It's literally right in front of the pier and has great ocean views. So happy I got to stay here!
This hotel needs some major updating and fixing. Our bathroom had mold/mildew in the window sill and just the overall condition of the room was beat up.
Front desk closes at 5pm. If you will be arriving after 5pm, please call +1-949-492-1234 for check-in instructions.


It's a long way from Hybart to Washington, D.C., but Jeff Sessions is never far from his old Alabama hometown.
Sessions, 65, rose from rural Monroe County to become a federal prosecutor and Alabama attorney general. As a U.S. senator, he has embraced the role of financial watchdog for the nation.
Sessions, a Republican who makes his home in Mobile, serves as ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. He has railed against wasteful federal spending and the deepening national debt — joking that he's earned a nickname as the Senate's "designated curmudgeon."
During a recent speech in Mobile, Sessions presented a detailed argument — complete with PowerPoint slides — on the urgent need for fiscal discipline in Washington.
"Unsustainable debt," he said, "is the greatest threat to our long-term future. We simply cannot continue to live beyond our means, or disaster will ensue."
Sessions' viewpoint is deeply rooted in his upbringing. As a boy in Hybart, north of Monroeville, he worked alongside his parents in their country store.
He swept floors, stocked shelves and delivered everything from hoop cheese to hardware. The little store served as a local gathering place, where families came for school supplies in the fall, red wagons at Christmas and sundries all year long.
"Our customers were country folks — fine people," he said. "It was a very close-knit community. We all helped our neighbors whenever help was needed."
His parents, who endured the Great Depression, "worked hard and were frugal," he said.
"They taught me to work hard, value a dollar and do an honest day's work," he said. "It was a very valuable lesson for me."
Sessions said he tries to bring his work ethic and rural values to the Senate.
A former U.S. attorney serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he emerged as a tough critic of President Barack Obama's nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sessions has experience on both sides of the nominating process. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan picked him for a seat on the U.S. District Court bench. His nomination failed in the Senate amid allegations that he was racially insensitive.
The pivotal votes against him came from Sens. Howell Heflin, an Alabama Democrat whom Sessions would eventually replace, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., whom Sessions succeeded as ranking member on the Judiciary Committee. But the harshest criticism came from U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who called Sessions "a throwback to a shameful era."
"That was the most unkind thing that has ever been said about me," Sessions told the Washington Times in 2009. "It was exceedingly painful to hear someone of that prominence make that statement, and it was hurtful because it wasn't true."
Sessions returned to Alabama, winning office as attorney general in 1995 and senator in 1997 — enabling him later to joke that he owed his first election victory to Kennedy. Specter recently named his vote against Sessions as one of his greatest regrets.
With his service on the Judiciary Committee, Sessions' legacy appeared set, but he opened a new chapter in 2011, sliding into the senior Republican seat on the Budget Committee. It's there, as a budget hawk, that political analysts suggest that he's hitting his stride.
Sessions has sharply criticized Obama and Democratic leaders in the Senate — where the party holds a majority — for failing to produce a budget for the past three years.
"If you won't tell the American people how you're going to spend their money, then I don't think the American people ought to send another dime to this place," he said in a recent speech from the Senate floor, his voice rising with contempt. "Not another dime!"
Said one of his closest Senate colleagues, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.: "When Jeff talks about the budget, the rest of us listen, because we know two things: first, Jeff has done his homework, and second, he has his feet planted firmly on the ground in Alabama."
Alexander, a former high school principal, said Sessions' straightforward approach is an anomaly in Washington. "His common-sense leadership will be indispensable in resolving the debt crisis," Alexander said.
When Sessions was 11, his father sold the Hybart store and purchased a farm equipment dealership in nearby Camden in Wilcox County.
The business struggled as Alabama agriculture entered a downturn. Sessions said he watched his father sacrifice profits to help his customers through hard times.
"There wasn't much money, but he believed that a business deal should be good for both sides," Sessions said. "He would split a profit if he felt a deal was too one-sided."
Sessions said his mother, Abbie, kept the books and that the business remained debt-free. Still, he saw plenty of farm families lose everything to bankruptcy.
"That was hard for all of us, because they were people we knew," he said. "They got crushed by debt, and the lesson was clear: You simply cannot live above your means or it will catch up to you."
Sessions attended Camden public schools, where he starred as a student. He was active in the Boy Scouts, one of a troop of nine boys who still remain in contact. Eight of the nine — including Sessions — achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and every one went on to earn a college degree, he said.
Sessions graduated from Huntingdon College, a Methodist liberal arts school in Montgomery, and received a law degree from the University of Alabama.
Scouting made a strong impression on Sessions, who keeps a copy of the Boy Scout motto — "Be Prepared" — glued to the back of the nameplate that sits on his desk in the Russell Senate Office Building.
He also displays framed photos of his family home in Wilcox County — a modest two-bedroom house, with no central heat and air — and his old school building in Camden.
"They remind me where I came from," he said of the pictures.
Among Sessions' Camden classmates were Kay Ivey, now serving as Alabama lieutenant governor, and Judy Bonner, the current interim president of the University of Alabama and the older sister of U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile.
"The Senate has not changed him — and I mean that in the best possible sense," Jo Bonner said. "At heart, he's still an Eagle Scout."
Sessions enjoys substantial support in red-state Alabama, based on election tallies. In 2008, winning a third term, he captured 63 percent of the vote to defeat state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile, a popular and well-regarded Democrat.
He's hardly a household name outside his home state, yet that could change if Republicans make a strong showing in November.
Democrats currently hold a majority of 53 seats in the Senate. If the GOP can pick up four new seats in the fall election, they'll take control and Sessions would likely be elevated to chairman of the Budget Committee. That would raise his national profile in ways similar to that of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who chairs the House Budget Committee and ranks as one of the country's most influential voices on economic policy.
"If that happens, I think it would be absolutely critical — I mean a responsibility of the highest order — for us to produce a budget that will put America back on a sound economic path," Sessions said. "I feel a deep, abiding obligation about that."
Conservative commentator George Will said that Sessions is well-positioned to be a force in the budget debate. "He is a man of the law, and as such he is viscerally offended by the Democrats' failure to obey the law and produce a budget," Will said, citing a 1974 act that requires Congress to draft an annual budget.
The act has no teeth, however, and Sessions said he is "willing to look" at adding a provision that would block senators from being paid until a budget is completed.
Will brushed off any suggestion that Sessions — who consistently ranks as one of the Senate's most conservative members — is too partisan to be an effective leader.
"Obeying the law shouldn't be a partisan matter," Will said. "You can be judged 'effective' if you make enough compromises and pass a bunch of mish-mash legislation. But that doesn't help the country. What we need are men and women of principle who will stand up for fiscal discipline, and Jeff Sessions is certainly well-equipped to fill that role."
As Sessions makes his rounds across Alabama these days, he delivers a speech that serves as a stern warning about the dangers of debt.
"Your nation," he said at a town hall meeting this month in Evergreen, "is not operating very well."
Sessions, like a prosecutor presenting his case to a jury, displayed charts showing the staggering U.S. debt. The average American's share of the total, he said, is $44,215 — even greater than the $38,937 per capita in Greece, a country teetering on the verge of collapse.
Costs incurred by Obama's health care reform plan, he said, will send the government plunging deeper into the red.
"We are on an unsustainable course," he said during an hour-long lecture in Mobile. "We're heading right over the cliff."
At a table near the podium, Sessions' longtime political adviser, Chuck Spurlock, rubbed his temples and grimaced.
"Chuck doesn't like me to carry on about this. He says I should be more positive," said Sessions, who is up for re-election in 2014. "The best I can tell you is, it's not an impossible situation and it's not too late to fix it. It won't be easy, and we've got to establish a national consensus for how to accomplish it. But I have no doubt we can put this country back on the right path."
Sessions said in an interview that the debt issue transcends party politics.
"I think all people are worried about it, Democrats and Republicans," he said. "And they are just as upset with politicians who won't take action to stop it as they are with the politicians who are spending all their money."
He conceded that Republicans must accept responsibility for running up debt under President George W. Bush, who inherited a budget surplus when he entered office in 2001, and left in 2009 with a deficit of $1.2 trillion.
Bush, he said, got distracted from the budget following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"He was not focused enough on spending and management, and we failed to make him focus," Sessions said. "We all deserve criticism for that, but the fact is we've been on this trend for over a decade. The difference now is we have a dramatic, borrow-and-spend philosophy in the current administration."
Sessions said he returned about $500,000, or 15 percent, of his Senate office budget to the U.S. Treasury last year in a show of fiscal discipline.
He said that governments at every level in America — cities, counties and states — have all taken steps to tighten spending. "They're all leaner, and they'll be healthier when growth does return," he said. "The federal government is the one institution that hasn't become leaner and more productive. That must change."
It's an economic discipline, he said, that is straight out of tiny Hybart.
"My father watched every dime. We managed our money and we watched what we spent," he said.
"I just can't escape the fact that this is somebody's money. Some hard-working person sent it to Washington, D.C., and I feel a deep loyalty to those Americans to be a good steward of their dollars.
"There's been too much cavalier treatment of people's money for too long. People deserve better than that. That's why I came to Washington and, for better or for worse, that's what I'm going to be about as long as I'm there. It's just who I am."


With LinkedIn having completely reinvented the networking game, the business card is holding less relevancy as the business world becomes digitised. But that's no reason to completely abandon them. The internet is making us informed but forgetful.
Something tangible, like a business card, will increase the chances of being remembered by someone you want to remember you. Firstly, because it's becoming a rarity to receive them and secondly, your contact details will physically be in their possession.
However, getting your business card from your pocket into their's is one thing. Making it worth looking at is a whole other kettle of fish. Courtesy of Creative Market, here are the ten commandments of creating the perfect business card.
Nobody wants to be handed a business card that flops over like a soggy piece of bread. A strong stock card makes a strong impression.
Business card real estate will always be limited, you'd love to stick your CV on there but it's ill advised. Even with the most basic information, you're going to be pushed for space so watch the size of your type.
Printing changes a lot about the font you design on your computer screen. Too heavy of a font can cause ink running which will make your business card look like it's crying.
Don't make your card an eye-sore, keep it minimalist and tasteful but at the same time, inject a bit of your personality into it. It's a hard balance to achieve but keep practicing.
You'll most likely be using your card as a way to network within your industry so make it appeal to people with the same interests as you. You'll probably do this sub-consciously but it's good to think about an 'audience' when designing your card.
As we mentioned before, you have to be sparing with your info so design the card based on a content hierarchy. Make the stuff like primary email address easier to read than, say, your home phone number.
The card on your screen will look very different to the one you print out so be sure to proof print a few to see what they look like in your hand. You might decide it's time for a full re-design.
No-one will want to network with some stingy punk. Spend the extra on, as we mentioned before, good card but also think about quality ink.
The card should reflect both your personal brand as well as your company. Keep the logos and fonts consistent to the brand.
A while back we reported on a business card that doubled as cardiograph, this is the kind of creativity that gets you noticed. It doesn't have to be as elaborate as a heart monitor but thinking outside the box is what makes for stand-out networking.


You don't often see a client list like Rob Clarke's. From finessing the famous Capitol Records logo to redrawing Cadbury's iconic 'Glass and a Half' icon, his custom logos and lettering have been wrapped around some of the world's biggest and most beloved brands. Polo, Carlsberg and Smirnoff are just some of the recent names that have joined what is an already exhaustively impressive collection of clients that also includes game development giant (and Candy Crush creators), King. With a background in graphic design, Rob's initial training as a calligrapher's assistant is evident in his prolific body of work; a process that often starts with hand-rendered sketches. Working from his home studio just outside of London, he tells us about the challenges of tackling strict commercial briefs and how he carved out his own niche in the industry.
I design logos and custom fonts both directly for clients and through collaboration with design and advertising agencies. I've worked on some of the world's largest brands including Air Asia, Carlsberg, Dulux, Tesco, Cadbury and Capitol Records.
I start at 9am and work without much of a break until 3pm. I have a few hours away from my desk which involves picking my children up from school and cooking dinner. I then start work again at 7pm finishing at 10 or 11pm. This may not always be the case but it allows for flexibility when working for clients in different time zones, but most importantly gives me valuable time with my young family.
After spending around 10 years sharing workspace with other design groups in London, I decided to work in my own studio which at the moment is in my home just outside of London. I was concerned it would become lonely and isolated but I actually love the independence…and the lack of a commute! Although I may not become involved with studio chit chat anymore I manage to properly focus on my work without many distractions and can play my music at a ridiculously loud volume.
Nowadays the majority of my work comes through ongoing relationships or word of mouth. However I'm also active on social media and see opportunities here to promote myself. Being the right person for the job is something I seriously think about. What makes the client choose me over another? It might be something as simple as cost but it may also be reliability, delivering appropriate solutions to the brief, attention to detail, speed, or maybe just being a nice guy to work with?
Very collaborative, almost every job I do is (virtually) alongside a team of designers, account handlers and project managers. I strongly believe collaboration helps achieve better solutions. The process depends on the job but I might start with a marker or brush pen and do between 10 and 20 sheets of scribbles. I rarely write the whole word perfectly, often piecing together two or three sections. Once scanned and imported into Illustrator I draw a very quick vector over the top. Although some of the points may be in the correct position I don't worry too much about their placement as initially, I'm after a rhythm. I then push and pull the vectors around until I'm happy to present the next stage. When the client has signed off the final route I redraw from scratch with all the anchor points in correct positions, making final adjustments as I go along. Every job is different and deadlines are always tight but a typical project may take between three to five stages of development. I like to keep the client aware of my progress and welcome feedback as I work through each stage.
Unsurprisingly, the least enjoyable aspect of my job has to be the admin…tax returns, invoicing, chasing purchase orders and of course, chasing payments – I'm also not keen on conference calls. The most enjoyable aspects are having the freedom to work on a variety of projects, seeing my work in the environment and hopefully making a difference.
It's impossible to name just one. It can be exciting to work on a well-known brand that you've known for years and grown up with, such as Polo mints or Carlsberg Export for Taxi Studio in Bristol. But similarly it's great to work on a fledgling brand such as Bronx Banner for Elmwood in New York or Glacialis for Carter Wong in London.
The ability to analyse the brief and deliver appropriate solutions is probably the most difficult aspect of my job and takes experience to nail it. If you want to make a sustainable living from designing type and logos then time management is also essential. It's easy to get carried away on an enjoyable project but you must have discipline and stick to a strict timetable. This doesn't mean cutting corners, on the contrary, it may mean working late in order to give the next project your full attention.
Yes, but this is very rare. I hope to produce one or two self-promotional posters. Whether these will ever materialise remains to be seen.
Nothing special. Soft or mechanical pencils of various widths; Pentel markers; brush pens; paint brushes; layout pads or any scraps of paper lying around (backs of printouts). I use an iMac and the majority of my vector work is done in Adobe Illustrator, Fontlab but I'm just getting into the Glyphs app.
A policeman at first but then a computer games designer. I suppose I was a bit of geek at school and spent any spare moment creating games on my ZX Spectrum.
There is no history of a design career and my family come from humble beginnings where nothing came easy, so I guess a strong determination and work ethic was instilled in me from a young age.
Very useful. I studied general graphic design and still see myself as a graphic designer although what I do now is very niche. University allowed me the space to discover what it was I wanted to aim for as a career and focus on what drove my enthusiasm.
I've only ever had one other job which was as an assistant to a calligrapher and it took a few years before I was let loose on real projects. At most, there were four or five of us but its small size gave me experience of dealing with all aspects of working life, including supplying estimates, presentations and time management.
Leaving suburbia and moving to London has to be the biggest step I ever took. It opened my eyes and made me more ambitious.
Not really but some years ago I worked on my own logo and this gave me licence to try a few different things. It proved pretty successful and gave me some exposure on a few blogs. Since then I've been asked to produce many other logos in a similar style.
I'm constantly learning but my most important objective is to be creative. I try to keep up with technology and new software but I must admit I'm finding it harder and harder.
I've done a few silly things over the years but these are 99% based around money. Working without contracts can be dangerous and I've had my hand bitten on a couple of occasions. It's always good practice to get the cost agreed before starting any work and if possible get at least 50% payment upfront. I've learnt to not cut corners trying to save money at the detriment to the quality of the job and have increasingly collaborated with the best and most appropriate people.
No, it's better! I guess I'm kind of lucky to find myself in the niche of lettering which has become increasingly popular since the turn of the century.
I don't really have a plan. Maybe do more self-initiated projects as much of my work is commercial and follows a strict brief. I think I work too many hours so I should probably work less and party more!
I have no aspirations in setting up a larger company with people on the payroll. I'm happy with my situation; I would have loved to work in a different city or country but this passed me by what with starting a family…but never say never I guess! Over the last few years I've tried to mentor and help whoever I can that shows an interest in a career in type. On this basis I would love to continue to give something back.
What advice would you give to a young creative wanting to become a type designer?


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The 11th Military Police Brigade is a military police brigade of the United States Army Reserve based in Los Alamitos, California.

Subordinate units

As of 2017 the following units are subordinated to the 11th Military Police Brigade:

 11th Military Police Brigade, in Los Alamitos, California
 96th Military Police Battalion (I/R) (EPW/CI) San Diego, California
 159th Military Police Battalion (CID), in Terre Haute, Indiana
 324th Military Police Battalion (I/R) (EPW/CI), in Fresno, California
 387th Military Police Battalion (CS), in Scottsdale, Arizona
 393rd Military Police Battalion (CID), in Bell, California
 607th Military Police Battalion (CS), in Grand Prairie, Texas
 390th Military Police Battalion (CS), in Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington established 2018

Heraldic items

Shoulder sleeve insignia

Description:On a green disc within a  yellow border  in diameter overall, two vertical black bars surmounted by a yellow demi-double bladed battle axe, detailed green, issuing from base.
Symbolism:
Green and yellow are the colors traditionally used by Military Police units.
The circular shape denotes the unit's continual service to maintain justice.
The bars allude to the unit's designation number, "11" and the black color signifies might.
The double-headed axe represents the unit's military readiness and vigilance, to enforce military security.

Background:The shoulder sleeve insignia was approved effective 17 September 2004.

Distinctive unit insignia
Description:A gold color metal and enamel device  in height overall, consisting of a green scroll on two gold rollers, unrolled vertically and bearing two upright gold ionic columns all within a continuous gold motto scroll passing behind the green scroll at the sides and arced across the top and base inscribed on the top arc "COMMAND", and on the lower arc "PLAN AND CONTROL", all in black.
Symbolism:
Green and yellow (gold) are the colors used for Military Police organizations.
The scroll, ancient symbol for a legal document, is emblematic of the laws, decrees and edicts to be maintained by the organization.
Order out of chaos are among the many symbols attributed to two columns and signify the embodiment of the unit's operation and jurisdiction. The two columns also simulate the numeral eleven and allude to the unit's designation.

Background:
The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 11th Military Police Group on 6 June 1969.
It was re-designated for the 11th Military Police Brigade effective 17 September 2004.

Lineage
Constituted 29 December 1966 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 11th Military Police Group
Activated 25 February 1967 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Inactivated 3 February 1972 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Re-designated 13 March 2003 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Military Police Brigade; concurrently, withdrawn from the Regular Army and allotted to the Army Reserve
Activated 16 September 2005 at Ashley, Pennsylvania

History
The 11th Military Police Brigade was originally constituted on 29 December 1966 in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 11th Military Police Group, and activated 25 February 1967 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The brigade received its distinctive unit insignia on 6 June 1969.

It was Inactivated on 3 January 1972 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Re-designated 13 March 2003 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Military Police Brigade; concurrently, withdrawn from the Regular Army and allotted to the Army Reserve. It received a shoulder sleeve insignia on 17 September 2004.

Activated 16 September 2005 with headquarters in Ashley, Pennsylvania. The 11th MP Brigade provides peacetime command and control of six Military Police Battalions in Pennsylvania, Texas and Maryland.

The 11th Military Police Brigade served as Task Force MP North, Camp Cropper, Iraq, August 2008 to June 2009 conducting detainee operations. During this time thousands of detained Iraqis were released to their village leadership or turned over to the Government of Iraq for prosecution. The 11th Military Police Brigade earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation for superior performance during this time.

The 11th Military Police Brigade was moved to JFTB Los Alamitos, CA in October 2009.

References

011
Military units and formations established in 1967
Military units and formations disestablished in 1972
Military units and formations established in 2005
Military units and formations of the United States Army Reserve

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Using the findings from the Emory pilot, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) implemented a tablet-based teleneurology service. The service has proven that inexpensive mobile technology is a more efficient and cost-effective means of providing emergent teleneurology care to patients in community-based hospitals that have little or no neurology coverage. For these hospitals, the cost of the tablet technology, at just under $1200, is considerably less than the cost of traditional telemedicine carts. The usability of the tablets, as well as the healthcare providers' familiarity with these types of devices, promotes their use and efficiency.


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Survivorship Bias's Fatal Flaw – Love Your Work, Episode 251
March 18 2021 – 07:30am
There's an important bias to avoid: Survivorship bias. Unfortunately, people who might otherwise do something with their lives hide behind survivorship bias. Just as important as knowing when survivorship bias matters is knowing when survivorship bias does not matter. Survivorship bias has a fatal flaw.
Listen to "Survivorship Bias's Fatal Flaw"
Example: Abraham Wald avoided survivorship bias to bring back more survivors
In WWII the US military was trying to improve their planes. Each time a plane came back from a mission, they made a record of the bullet holes. Since most bullet holes were on the wings and tails of the planes, the military concluded they needed to add more armor in the wings and tails.
But statistician Abraham Wald said, No – that's not where you want to add more armor. You want more armor around the engine.
That seemed weird. Their map of bullet holes showed very little damage to the engine compartment.
Wikipedia: McGeddon
What Wald noticed that the military hadn't noticed is they were only seeing bullet holes on planes that returned from missions. The bullet holes they weren't seeing were the bullet holes on planes that did not return. And the bullet holes on planes that did not return were the ones bringing the planes down.
Abraham Wald was cleverly taking into account what would become known as survivorship bias.
Example: How survivorship bias can be used by an investing con artist
In his book, Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Taleb tells a story of a con artist. He'd send out 10,000 letters. Half the letters predicted the stock market would go up in the next month. Half the letters, down.
The next month, the con artist would send not 10,000 letters, but only 5,000. The following month, 2,500. Then 1,250, and on and on.
Why did he keep sending fewer and fewer letters? Because he only sent follow-up letters to those who had received correct predictions. After enough letters, he had 150 or so victims hanging on his every word, eager to have this mystery genius invest money for them. Of course once the con artist received their money, they never heard from him again. They had been "fooled by randomness." They had been fooled by survivorship bias.
Survivorship bias doesn't account for ergodicity
Both these stories are useful examples of survivorship bias. In the first case, Abraham Wald used an awareness of survivorship bias to avoid getting a false signal from the data. In the second example, the recipients of the letters didn't realize they could be getting a false signal from the letters.
Survivorship bias is an important phenomenon to understand, but survivorship bias has a fatal flaw: Survivorship bias doesn't account for ergodicity.
What is ergodicity?
What is ergodicity? Imagine you enter a dimly-lit bar just as it opens. A table of patrons across the room light up cigarettes. You can see the cascading trails of smoke rising. When they're done with their cigarettes, they don't smoke anymore the rest of the night.
When you get home, you realize your clothes smell like smoke. How could this be? You were nowhere near the trails of smoke.
Well, after the trails of smoke rose from the cigarettes, they dissipated around the room, until a faint haze of smoke filled the entire room.
Randomness eventually touches everything
That's ergodicity. The smoke was rising from the cigarettes in a random pattern. But when a random pattern continues for long enough, that random pattern eventually fills the entire space it could have filled. The smoke spread randomly, until it filled the whole room.
Ergodicity is why it's not only 1% of Americans who are in the top 1% of income. As time passes, people enter and leave the top 1% of income. In a lifetime, 10% of Americans spend a year in the top 1%. More than half will spend a year in the top 10%.
Ergodicity is why – even though life expectancy is about 76 – a 76-year-old only has a 4% chance of dying. The small risks of dying each year of life accumulate over time.
Not every game is do-or-die
Next time some entrepreneur or creative gives advice, or is profiled in an article, look at the comments or responses. You'll probably see something like this: Don't forget about survivorship bias! You didn't hear from the thousands of others who followed that same advice, but didn't succeed!
Sometimes this is useful. More often than not, this is as damaging as survivorship bias itself.
Example: Survivorship bias in Russian Roulette
Imagine Russian Roulette was a spectator sport (thank God it's not, but imagine). Chances are, there would be some "Michael Jordan" of Russian Roulette. Through mere chance, this person has survived hundreds of Russian Roulette matches.
It just so happens that of the thousands of times this "champion" has spun the cylinder on the revolver, pointed the gun at their temple, and pulled the trigger, the chamber hasn't had a bullet in it once. If there were millions of Russian Roulette players in the world – playing college Russian Roulette and little league Russian Roulette, hoping to make it to the Russian Roulette big leagues – a person like this would probably exist.
Just like there is today in entrepreneurship and creativity, there would be an entire cottage industry of journalists and courses and Russian Roulette podcasts, all touting the advice from this Russian Roulette champion. How to spin the chamber, what thoughts to think while pulling the trigger, how much pressure to use, what gear like like gloves and jerseys to wear, and exercise programs for strength and conditioning.
That would be survivorship bias at its finest – or worst. It's all random. This "champion" has no skill. All their advice is useless.
The Queen's Gambit was not a "survivor" – then it was
In 1983, Walter Tevis published a novel. He soon after optioned the screenplay rights to Jesse Kornbluth. Then Tevis died, and the project was cancelled.
Nine years later, in 1992, Kornbluth could no longer afford to keep the option. Allan Scott bought the screen rights.
Fifteen years later, in 2007, plans were underway to make a feature film out of this novel. Then the director died. (That director, Heath Ledger.)
Finally, in 2020, the story from this novel was released as a Netflix series. At least 60 million people watched it. It's Netflix's most popular limited series ever.
That series: The Queen's Gambit. For the first time, the novel, The Queen's Gambit, became a New York Times bestseller.
This overnight success was almost 40 years in the making. For 37 years, The Queen's Gambit was one of the "thousands of others who never made it." In 2011, Kornbluth – who had the screenplay option before Scott had rights – said the rights had been bought by "people who will never get the film made."
The Queen's Gambit was not a "survivor." In fact, it went out of print. Not to mention at least two people literally did not survive to see it on the screen.
Creative work is not Russian Roulette
When you play Russian Roulette and lose, you are out of the game forever. Fortunately, as creatives, we are not playing Russian Roulette.
If you build a company that fails, you can try again. If you write a blog post that falls flat, you can try hundreds or thousands more times.
Creative work happens in Extremistan
When someone says "Don't forget survivorship bias," what they're really saying is, "Show me the exact steps to follow that guarantee success." In creative work, there are no exact steps that guarantee success. Those only exist in Mediocristan.
Even The Queen's Gambit, which was wildly successful, wasn't guaranteed success. It could have just as easily stayed out of print.
Creative work happens not in Mediocristan, but Extremistan. No failure will come from pure lack of skill. No success will come from pure good luck.
Creatives are like poker champions
I have a friend who is a professional poker player. He knows if he plays poker online eight hours a day, he'll average 100 dollars an hour.
But he also knows for long stretches of time he'll be losing money. It will look as if his career is over. On the contrary, he'll also sometimes be flush with cash. It will look like he's making way more than 100 dollars an hour.
His career only works if he has one critical thing: "bankroll." He needs a certain amount of money – a certain amount of padding – to help him weather losing streaks. If he goes bust, he's out of the game entirely – he's lost Russian Roulette.
He has tremendous skill. That's how he can survive as a professional poker player. But there's no fighting randomness. His bankroll allows him to let randomness run its course long enough for ergodicity to even things out.
The creative career is riding randomness
Your results in creative work are not a direct reflection of your skill. Even if you're "So good they can't ignore you," you could be toiling in obscurity for a while as you wait for your big break.
If you aren't cut out for that, fine. But admit it to yourself and don't use survivorship bias as your scapegoat.
Stay in the game long enough to survive
But if you're willing to try something that, as Seth Godin says, "might not work," go ahead and try that advice. Maybe it will improve your odds a little.
What's important is you stay in the game long enough to let ergodicity give you more shots at a win. That could be literally having the bankroll to stay in the game. That could be making sure you make small enough bets – with high enough potential upside – that you don't go bust, but have a chance to hit the jackpot. You have to watch your eggs long enough for a Black Swan to hatch.
Our Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


1.Cherish the good times and the timeless memories made with friends this Diwali. Have a lovely festive time.
2.May the festival of joy become more beautiful for you and family. All your new ventures get success and progress.
3.Hoping this Diwali turns out to be an extra special one for you and your dear ones and may success be always with you.
4.May you make beautiful moments this Diwali which will be treasured by you and family forever. Have a blessed Diwali!!
5.May this Diwali not only your house light up but also your spirit, dreams, and hope. May Lord bless you with health and happiness and all your ventures fulfilled. Wishing you and family a very Happy Diwali!
6.Wishing you and your family a bombastic Diwali!!! Have loads of fun and loads of masti!! Happy Diwali!!
10.I'm maachis and you're pataka, Together we are and it will be double dhamaka!!!
11.On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, I pray that God fulfills all your dreams. May you get lots of gifts, sweets and good wishes this Diwali.
12.Today I feel gifted and blessed that my Diwali is full of affection, love, and happiness. May God always bless us.
13.Maa Laxmi will come to your house and will shower her blessings upon you. Remember to keep your doors open and decorate them with lots of lights and flowers.
Green Diwali or Polluted Diwali ?


I've seen pictures of the Xoopar Pokket Mouse (mice? mouses? meece?) here and there on various Pinterest travel boards and I gotta admit they always catch my eye.
With the many beautiful hues of orange, green, blue, pink, white, black, and even red, each slim and colorful square seems like it's even glowing a bit.
"Pokket is a slim wired optical mouse with a portable concept for traveling use.
Pretty cool for a computer mouse that's for sure.
There's only one problem though, that unavoidable black wire that tethers the mouse to the laptop. Sadly that's a deal breaker for me, especially in a travel mouse.
Too bad because each Pokket travel mouse looks quite beautiful! Might work for someone else though that doesn't care about the wired aspect of it all. What do you think, would this work for you or not so much?
Thanks for your help in my decision.
Hey great to hear that it helped :). The Pokket is a good looking compact mouse, hopefully they come out with a wireless version someday because I'd love to have it as a travel mouse. Anyway, hope the Pokket works out for you, the black one looks really nice.
check out the xoopar website. they now have a wireless version.
I have an orange one I've had a couple years now. Love it. Yes, it does glow very brightly. Actually have to unplug it at night if it'll be in the same room, it's that bright. Mine actually came with a coordinating orange retracting cord.
I was looking to get another — my first is working just fine, I just need one to pack with another computer I now also travel with — and I did notice the wireless. Intriguing, but I like my little wired buddy, I think I'll just go with getting it a twin…..or maybe…..
I LOVE mine. The cord is minimal, long enough, and retractable. Only drawback is that after a few years, the mouse gives out, and no battery to change that I'm able to find. And it takes two weeks to get a new one. But I deeply dislike the fingerpad on my laptop so this mouse, which is about the thickness of four credit cards, has been terrific.


KENTUCKY- Americans are becoming more and more shaped like ovals. This has got to stop before we get so big that our stomachs explode literally, Dr. Shawzee Boh, a health expert, said. In an attempt to stop the rapidly increasing obesity rates, one small town in Kentucky is revolutionizing how we think of fast food. Local legislature just passed into a law an ordinate that would give the right to any transportation company to search for fast food on their clients. They also have the power to kick off any clients that have fast food on them. Obesity is a major health concern. Drastic situations call for drastic actions. Paul Bober, who came up with idea, defended it. However, a law like this never goes in without speculation. Some people say that it's against the constitution to decide what you can and can't eat. Other people that this is too drastic. I was strip searched for fast food, Sarah Goffman said. That's not even funny, I thought this was supposed to be the land of the free.
UNITED STATES- Several alleged sightings of ninjas have occurred and many incidents have been blamed by these ninjas. One of these incidents involved three ninjas infiltrating a bank and stealing all the money. When police forces tried to stop them, the ninjas attacked leaving everyone either unconscious or dead. The ninjas left the scene allegedly untouched.
This is not the only incident that was reported involving ninjas. Several other cases from around the country have been reported including ninjas chasing people with machetes, pooping on highway traffic, and even tepeeing the White House.
"At this point we're not certain whether or not the incidents involved the same people. It is important to stay calm as our defense cracks down on them," Head of Homeland Security said in a national press conference.
The FBI has added the Ninjas on their most wanted list. Reward is set at 100,000 if you have any information leading to the arrest of the ninjas.


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7 principles for AI application by Google
A lot of companies are bringing Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities to their software applications and platforms. All major players such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Baidu are at the forefront of bringing Artificial Intelligence in almost every area of our daily lives.
AI aka Artificial Intelligence is powerful technology and it is said, with Power comes a Responsibility. AI being developed at such a rapid rate, there has to be a framework to its humungous growth.
Google has come up with 7 principles for use of artificial intelligence.
Here are these 7 principles,
AI will take into account a broad range of social and economic factors and strive to make high-quality and accurate information readily available while continuing to respect cultural, social, and legal norms in the countries.
AI will avoid unjust impacts on people, particularly those related to sensitive characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, income, sexual orientation, ability, and political or religious belief.
AI systems will be tested for safety
AI systems will be subject to appropriate human direction and control.
AI system will encourage architectures with privacy safeguards, and provide appropriate transparency and control over the use of data with appropriate notices and consent.
AI developments to maintain high standards of scientific excellence and share knowledge by publishing educational materials, best practices, and research that enable more people to develop useful AI applications with utmost responsibility.
AI technologies will be made available according to these principals and limits
The blog from Google also stated that AI applications will not pursue areas that cause overall harms including weapons, surveillance technologies beyond accepted norms etc.
The original blog post is available at blog.google.
PC: pablo,unsplash
#artificial-intelligence
#artificial-intelligence-news


U.S. Rep. William O. Lipinski is slated to chair a high-powered new state task force that will consider mergers and other steps to get the state's numerous transportation and planning agencies to work together better. The appointment by Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected later this week, a spokesman confirms.
Mr. Lipinski, a Chicago Democrat, will continue to hold a key committee post in Washington, D.C., but is believed to be interested in coming home after Congress approves a new, multiyear transportation appropriation bill, likely next year.
Area members of Congress have complained for years that they have to play traffic cop over excessive and often conflicting local agendas.


text:
Q: How to know which website under an app service is consuming CPU I have an Azure App Service Plan on the S3 tier which runs many websites. The service plan is spread across 3 instances. Occasionally I'm seeing periods of high CPU usage for the service plan coupled with general sluggish performance for all websites.
Is there a way (ideally through the portal) to see which website is consuming these resources without going into each of the individual sites? Similar to how a SQL Azure Elastic Pool shows which databases are consuming resources.

A: As I know, we could not find the web app CPU usage of each site in Azure App Service Plan. All apps related to a Azure App Service Plan share the same resource, it only gives Azure App Service plan CPU usage in Azure portal. At currently, I am afraid you need to go into each of the sites to find out which use the most.


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Participants & Partners
Digital acceleration applied to product engineering
Thursday 13th of June, 09:15 – 09:45 am (Jean Touton Amphitheater | "Scattering and Deployment"
Stéphane Régnier, Expert, Virtual Mockup engineering and design, in his talk will address the industrial use of digital mockup with virtual reality at Renault, in the scope of new vehicle design at product engineering department, through innovative processus, methods and tools which lead to better performance.
Mr Stéphane Régnier, Expert, Virtual Mockup engineering and design | RENAULT
Stéphane Régnier is currently Expert Virtual Mockup for Engineering and Design departments at Renault. He received a computer engineer's degree from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées in Lyon, in 1990.
He has been involved in various visualization software developments, simulation tools, and Virtual Reality, since the early 90's, in various departments at Renault: R&D, Style, Engineering. He has managed several R&D teams, and has a large experience of Virtual Reality, immersive systems and 3D visualization solutions.
He has in charge the transversal animation, the vision, the roadmaps of virtual mockup methods and tools, among them VR and AR.
Renault group, which has been making cars since 1898, is present in 134 countries and has sold 3.9 million vehicles in 2018. To meet the major technological challenges of the future while continuing to pursue our profitable growth strategy, we are focusing on international expansion and drawing on the synergies of our five brands.
© 2023 It3D Summit | Bordeaux | Juin 2019 All rights reserved


TheMacHouseBlog | Blog : Beauty Summer Camp!
Schedule your appointment or group lesson! This is a SUPER limited offer that you wont regret taking!
Most lessons will take place at my "in home studio". I will go on location for parties of 4 or more! Email me with any questions! Looking forward to spending some time with all you gorgeous ladies!
And YES - $35 is the price for a one on one lesson as well! (In Studio). Like I said....SUPER good deal!


This 4 Bedroom, 3 bathroom holiday home set in a tranquil area of Hervey Bay is sure to please the largest of families. The home offers magnificent coastal views, ocean breezes and is also in close distance to shops, beaches, and boat ramps.
•	Main Bedroom with Queen Bed, Ceiling fan, Flat screen TV, Walk in robe and Ensuite.
•	Second Bedroom - Double Bed, Ceiling fan and Built in robe.
•	Third Bedroom - Single bunk bed + another single bed, Ceiling fan and Built in robe.
•	Bathroom with Shower and Bath tub, Separate toilet and vanity.
•	Lounge Room with views, Flat screen TV + DVD player and Ceiling fan, Double Sofa Bed.
& Filtered water, Breakfast bench with stools overlooking the views to Fraser Island.
•	Dining Room with views, 6 seater timber setting, Bar fridge.
•	Laundry with Washing Machine & Indoor Clothesline.
•	Bathroom with shower recess only, separate toilet and vanity.
•	Kitchen with gas cook top & Convection microwave.
•	Laundry with Front loader washing machine & Clothes dryer.
•	Carport with room for a tinnie.
•	Sorry Garages are not for bookings use.
•	16 kms (17 mins)to the Heart of Hervey Bay & Major shopping Centre.
•	Sorry pets are not permitted.


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What is "Challenging Life"
What is Challenging Life?
What does 'Challenging Life' mean to you?
Our slogan was created in the midst of a discussion between 3 men who came together to co-create something spectacular. We all had our own unique ideas and for the most part of our conversations there was more butting heads than actual creating being done, but in that madness this slogan came to me, "Challenge Life"…… Life was challenging me at these moments to truly make sure I really wanted this, and it does so in everything we set out to achieve, to push us into breaking points, to bring us down to our bare naked essence, and in some cases lying in a puddle of our own blood sweat and tears asking ourselves why we began to do it in the first place.
This is the universes way of testing if you TRULY, ABSOLUTELY, 100%, WITHOUT A DOUBT want what you're asking for. If you can complete these challenges that life throws your way then you are greeted at the finish line with all that you desired when you began and so much more, because you have now developed such an appreciation for that which you asked for, and its because you had to work for it.
Who here reading this can honestly say they truly appreciated something that they were given when it was given to them without a struggle, without a second thought, BAM! Here you go…. OH, WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH…. And then a little time goes by and that thing you received is now collecting dust in the corner because you have a new thing you just bought or got from a friend or family member. There was appreciation for it but it didn't last because you weren't 'challenged' enough to receive it, and those who have fought for something so much and finally go it will understand what I'm trying to say here.
When you are truly challenged in life for something you want to achieve, it makes it so much sweeter when you finally grasp it, and if you gave up before you got to the finish line then you never really wanted it in the first place, otherwise you would never have given up.
There are many analogies and examples that come to my mind when I think of this and the list is endless, but I will give you my own.
When I came out of high school I wanted to become an electrician, I thought I wanted to build robots and work with circuits because I was always hands on and loved pulling things apart to figure out how they worked then trying to make something new with the parts. But then life threw some challenges my way; first I signed up for electrical engineering and then found out all the theoretical work I would need to do and that pushed me off the path to then seek an apprentice in the field as a commercial electrician. I applied for many jobs and got to the third stage of an interview with a powerline company but lost out at the final interview to someone with more experience. Then I began an apprenticeship trial with a commercial electrician who at first was highly keen on signing me up and from what I could observe at the time was pleased with my work demeanour and character. I was meant to begin my apprenticeship a month after my 2-week trial in a city building until the building was deemed unsafe due to asbestos, so I was put on the sideline until it cleared up which was 6 months at the time. 6 months turned into a year and I was no closer to my goals and completely disheartened by the ordeal that I quit trying to get into the field.
Shortly after I began soul searching and decided that I love my martial arts and I love learning new and exciting things that are out of the normal mindset of modern society, so I decided to begin studying as an acupuncturist with the intention of beginning my own clinic/martial arts club where I could teach Taekwondo and treat and heal people in the one place.
This was my goal!
In my first year of uni I was energised and ready to take on the world, absorbing all that came my way and learning as much as I could… then the challenges began………First was a big breakup with my girlfriend of 3 years which had me going through an emotional rollercoaster and eventually switch my focus towards going out and partying instead of studying.
Second was the lack of knowledge in wester biology and lack of interest because all I wanted to learn was the eastern philosophies and teachings.
Third was the lack of money flow that came after my first year which forced me to seek more employment during my studies…. And so on, and so on…….
But this time I didn't let it stop me…. I really loved what I was learning and I was willing to let nothing stand in my way and stop me from reaching my goals.
I dropped all my subjects but the western sciences so I could focus on them solo and after failing them more times than I could count I finally passed them and began to understand more than I knew about the world before I began this journey. I took up 3 extra jobs which completely obliterated my weekends and social life to pay off my debts and get back up on top financially and then began attending full time studies all the way through to the end and developed my focus towards that end goal.
This was only one aspect of the challenges that life threw my way and is still throwing my way. There were bigger blocks placed on my path in the area of the martial arts club that me and my father re-commenced in 2014 and I could go on. But the purpose of this was to give you my own personal example of the challenges that can be thrown your way to MAKE CERTAIN that what your asking the universe is something you truly seek with all your heart and soul.
One thing I must mention here is that life is not a bully with a magnifying class burning ants on a hill and we are not the ants getting burnt just for a laugh. Everything I had to overcome along the way has helped shape me into the man I am today and all of these blocks and challenges that life placed in my path were not just obstacles to bulldoze through, but tasks that had to be met and mastered in order to shape me into the person I had to become to completely realise my goals and achieve them with the highest intentions
Today I have a centre I can call my own, teaching over 250 students 6 days a week and treating patients in Chinese medicine and Acupuncture.
It took me 9 years of hard work, sacrifice and many physical and emotional rollercoasters but I did it, I reached my goal to have a place that I can do both of the things I love and I rose up and mastered all of life's challenges, I embraced each and every one of them and used them as the stepping stones that got me past the raging waters across the shore safely and with more strength, focus, determination and wisdom than when I first began.
But my journey has only just begun and now I have a new set of goals to achieve, and I'm ready to take on all that life has to offer me along the way!
So, ask yourself these questions;
What do you want out of life? What does your heart truly desire? Are your ready to "Challenge" your life?
If the answers are yes, and you are ready, then go out into the world and embrace all that life has to offer you!
Accept the challenge and rise up to meet it!
Challenge your life!
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your journey!
With love & Gratitude
Master Peter
The Heart, the Stillness and the Monkey
History of Taekwondo
Toyama Ryu Iaido
Be-Balanced Yoga


Come to Google to meet with Dan Morrill at June 10th. for the insight of new Android 1.5 SDK in June. This event is hosted by Silicon Valley Android Developers Meetup (http://Meetup.com/Android) and Google Technology User Group. If you cannot attend the event, you can watch the live broadcast or video later.


I would consider myself to have a quirky and different look about me. I love fashion and creating my own sense of style (literally) making some of my own clothing. I have a large wardrobe of unique and beautiful clothes with a variety of colours, fabrics , textures and styles. I would say my main style of clothing is hippy/bohemian and I own plenty of accessories to accompany my outfits.
I would say I'm a very open minded and out going individual. I love meeting new people and would like to think I'm easy to work alongside and get along with.
I have very long dreadlocks and have 11 tattoos. One large sunflower on my shoulder. A sun and moon tattoo on my left rib cage. 2 mushrooms on my belly. A butterfly on my back and a DreamCatcher on my upper back. I have a daisy chain garter tattoo on my right thigh and a tattoo on my left collar bone that reads "be the change you wish to see in the world" I have an Indian elephant tattoo on my right forearm, another small flower on my right rib cage and an indian mendhi style pattern on my right foot. I also have a nose piercing.
I am very open to TFP and collaboration shoots so long as its of very mutual effort and is a new and exciting project, please don't hesitate to drop me a message if you have an idea and think we could create some great images.