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text:
Of Course, War Is Evil!
controversy, cooperation, multilevel selection, warfare
Thank you, Joe and all people who left comments. It has been an extremely thought-provoking discussion, so I thought it's worth a separate blog to address the issues that most resonated with me.
Let me start by repeating that the title, "War! What is It Good For?" was not mine, but Ian Morris's. It's not how I would choose to frame the issue. However, I admit that when I saw it first, I thought it was very clever, because it plays on the tension between 'war' and 'good', which was clearly designed to catch people's attention and sell books. In retrospect, and especially after reading Joe's article, I believe the title misfired. The ideas in Ian's book are good, but they probably needed to be framed in a different way to make an impact on the broad audience, instead of a narrow circle of those who have trained themselves to step outside the imposed frames.
Also in retrospect, juxtaposing war (tacit or outright approval of violence that causes deaths) and Things-That-Are-Good (to follow Joe's excellent analysis) is especially dangerous in the American context. Both Ian and I are not native Americans, so we may have missed this important point. In America there is an influential intellectual strand that glorifies war and actively promotes a 'muscular' foreign agenda. In the last decade or so, the most prominent group that is identified with this strand is the so-called neocons. However, Anatol Lieven in his America Right or Wrong traces this strand deep into American history (think Andrew Jackson).
Andrew Jackson and his ragtag band of Americans repel the British at the Battle of New Orleans, Jan 8, 1815. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
Let's not forget that we spend as much on what is euphemistically called defense as the rest of the world put together. Also, since World War II the United States started more foreign wars than any other nation on earth, the Soviet Union included. As William Blum writes in Rogue State:
From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.
One may quibble with Blum's numbers, but clearly there is a gulf between the US and such European countries as Germany or Denmark that, to my knowledge, did not start any wars since 1945 (although the gulf becomes more shallow if we add UK and France to the comparison).
In my personal politics I am very much in tune with the American officer-turned-scholar Andrew Bacevich; see in particular his New American Militarism.
I believe that war can never be good. It is evil.
Having said that, I also believe that there can be even greater evils than war. I'll give a personal example. We know what was to happen, had the Nazi Germany won its war against the Soviet Union. The Germans had a detailed plan, which they actually started implementing even before they won the war. All Jews, Communists, and any potential leaders were to be executed. The Russian culture was to be destroyed and the Russian population moved from the cities to the countryside, where they would be put to work on plantations under the supervision of the German masters. So had the Germans won, either my parents would be killed, or at best I would grow up as an illiterate agricultural slave.
I think most of my readers would agree that a war can be a lesser evil, given such an alternative. But now I want to enter a more perilous area.
I am currently working on a book that tries to answer the question of how we came to live in huge, complex, wealthy, cooperative—and peaceful societies. My answer is: competition between societies. And during most of human history, this competition took the form of warfare (this logic is explained in this post).
My analysis shares some common ground with that of Ian's, and differs significantly in other ways. But I agree with him that it was war that created large cooperative societies. So when we abolish war, as I believe we must, we also need to be careful not to be hit by unintended consequences.
Suppose that Alpha Centaurians arrive in the Earth's orbit, and effectively stop all interstate wars. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Yes, for a while. But if the Centaurians do not implement an effective alternative mechanism for peaceful intersocietal competition, the utopia will gradually evolve into a dystopia.
Without intersocietal competition that eliminates dysfunctional states, they will start losing their capacity for internal cooperation. This will, most likely take the form of power elites becoming more selfish and making arrangements that would enrich them at the expense of the common people (does this sound familiar?). Eventually, the population will stop cooperating with the elites, while the elites will fission and stop cooperating among themselves. Eventually, if this process will be allowed to go unchecked, the society will implode and descend into war of small bands against each other.
The economy will crumble, homicide rates will spike, and the human life will become "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Sounds fanciful? You tell me.
Chris Kavanagh July 29, 2014 at 12:24 am
Peter just wanted to check if you were aware that the phrase 'War? What is it good for' is also a famous lyric for a popular anti-war song by Edwinn Starr from 1970 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWmlRNfLck). I actually assumed that invoking this famous lyric was the original choice for the title- as the answer given in the song is 'Absolutely Nothing' and Ian is providing an alternative answer.
Peter Turchin July 29, 2014 at 12:34 am
That's precisely right. You should read Ian's book, you'll find it very interesting!
Jukka Aakula (@jaakula) July 29, 2014 at 1:07 am
"Without intersocietal competition that eliminates dysfunctional states, they will start losing their capacity for internal cooperation. "
But there exists alternatives to competition based on war – at least to some degree. Competition between companies in the market place for example. The companies which are incapable of co-operation, collapse. Those companies which invent new mechanisms for enchancing co-operation, flourish.
Ofcourse companies as countries may fail because of other reasons too – say because of too complex business models. In a Tainterian way:
http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/04/the-collapse-of-complex-business-models/
Peter Turchin July 29, 2014 at 1:09 am
That's the point. We do not need war, but we need non-lethal intersocietal competition. When companies fail, it's hard on their employees, but they can join other companies. If you are killed, that's it.
dashui July 29, 2014 at 8:31 am
Can u give me your definition of war? Do you only mean organized conflict between states for political purposes, or do you mean "violence" in general?
Peter Turchin July 29, 2014 at 10:09 pm
War is a lethal conflict (causing deaths) between groups.
EdwardT July 29, 2014 at 8:53 am
War usually eliminate dysfunctional states where there is a lack of cooperation: the leaders have completely disengaged from themselves, the people, and the people from each other. If we don't want war we need to stop states becoming dysfunctional; so we need to understand what causes state breakdown – such as secular cycles.
I think Ukara Island is interesting. It is a society of 16,000 crammed onto a small island in Lake Victoria that has a relatively advanced agricultural system, no hierarchical layers and apparently no history of warfare or social breakdown.
I believe this is because Ukara Island breaks the secular cycle. It is so easy for aggressive leader types to leave the island for the mainland, so they don't stay, pile up, get rich, go mad and cause trouble.
Can Earth become "Ukara Island" if we colonize space? Of course this might imply the problem of war and competition is shifted out into space, such as onto Mars. This may depend on technology. If technology exists to expand colonize further than Mars, build living space cities, there could be so many outlets for leadership and creativity for the human population that war might be considered a ridiculous thing.
pjricherson July 29, 2014 at 10:31 am
I would put it like this. War is hell. I think William T. Sherman said that. Sometimes war is necessary. The German plan for Russia was truly horrific and the invading German troops telegraphed that as did Hitler's propaganda. The USSR had to fight. Likewise, the Palestinians cannot help but fight Israel by any poor means at their command. Most wars of choice are counter-productive like every US war since 1945.
The good comes from peacemaking. When the combatants are exhausted wiser folk can sometimes create reforms that prevent future wars. In anticipation of wars, institutional innovators can sometimes create new social arrangements that reduce or deter war. Or create the social wherewithal to win wars imposed by predatory outsiders, often by uniting smaller scale societies. Peter T's paper on the world religions helping build empires strong enough to resist pastoral nomad confederations is an example. Of course, organizing societies to resist predators often makes it possible for a newly powerful society to become predatory in it turn. The Muslim conquests resulted from Mohammed's peacemaking. Britain's organization to resist Napoleon created a navy that could support a binge of empire building.
susiemorrow July 29, 2014 at 2:06 pm
Are we talking about morality here and how to score a war on a scale of morality? I am sure each side would have their own take on that. Can I be controversial and ask for a reductionist breakdown of war – is there such a thing, are there intrinsic rules of war and drivers that cause wars? Can we look at the Gombe chimpanzee war in the 70s and make a comparison, or are our cultural overlays just too thick and complex to make that idea laughable?
Inter company competition may be a place to have a comparative study though, as a board member of a company (the only female one) I am struck by the alpha male, chest beating that goes on and the political machinations involved in sidling up to potential clients whilst at the same time denigrating the competition. However, I often see co-operation in business, but it's usually to overthrow a larger more agile competitor. I've even seen quite aggressive competitive behaviour in social entrepreneur based organisations where you'd think they'd be less confined by the need to make massive profits for share holders. Could this mode of operation be replaced by an alternative way of doing business (aka waging war)? I'm not sure it could easily within the confines of capitalism – and as competition for earth resources increases as population grows, how can we possibly avoid competition based aggression?
Richard July 29, 2014 at 5:23 pm
Well, are you saying you want a world without competition? Because I'm not sure that is possible, feasible, or even wanted. Communism did not get rid of competition. It just made humans compete in other (twisted, uglier, IMHO) ways & was a structure where psychopaths flourished. Can you think of a sustainable model of human society that existed without competition (that we would actually want to live in)?
Obviously, lessening violence and brutality is good, but what allows that to happen? Civilization? The state? The very organization that comes about through waging war, no?
susiemorrow July 30, 2014 at 2:24 am
Of course not Richard! The question was rhetorical and I said in fact that as competition for resources increases then the likelihood of being able to contain competition is reduced – the comment about capitalism was to reference the fact that it is a social construct that actively encourages (often quite aggressive) competition and is there a sustainable alternative to capitalism, well people are trying and I hope to bloody god they find one, but as competition can be healthy and is part of normal animal behaviour, I doubt it will be one with no competition! Oh and BTW just because I said something negative about capitalism, doesn't mean to say I'm promoting communism!
Richard July 30, 2014 at 9:49 am
Well, I didn't accuse you of promoting communism.
In any case, you'd have to find a workable alternative first. Do any spring to mind?
Even the Nordics are capitalist (though they have a kinder form of capitalism . . . which unfortunately has very little chance of succeeding in the US).
susiemorrow July 30, 2014 at 10:11 am
How about anarcho-syndicalism? I think we'd have to reduce the population by several billion first though. To be honest I haven't a clue how to sustain any political system in a world where beings are rapidly (or pretty much already in fact) outnumbering resources and the elite have a powerful grip on the status quo (although I believe Peter wrote an article that revolution happens from the top down, so maybe it's already afoot. For the short term that'd be a horrendous time to live through of course. I don't live in North America but I have a number of friends who do and I daren't mention the socialism word to them as it tends to elicit a scary response (I write this from a NHS hospital in the UK a wonderful wonderful institution). 😉
In the long-term, anarcho-syndicalism sounds horrendous as well. Not to mention that I don't believe that that will be a stable equilibirum since power abhors a vacuum and indeed, power corrupts.
Have you heard about the Swiss research into alternative societies? I read it in New Scientist a few months ago but can't find the reference now. Apparently they have spent a billion euros looking into this.
p.s. I looked into anarcho-syndichalism a while back and its really not applicable to our current world order, who knows what could work with 7 billion+ mouths to feed
Lee Doran July 31, 2014 at 2:17 pm
In answer to your last para's query, Steven Pinker (In: Better Angels…) said:
1) The state
2) Commerce
3) Feminization
4) The widening circle of (human) empathy
5) Increased (rational) understanding
Not a bad list. I would add:
6) Sport — real, imaginary, virtual — whatever — so that there is one more 'legitimate' outlet for the male tendency to aggress.
Actually, the sport was added by Norbert Elias way back when he started his serious study of civilizing forces. He was amazing … and still so readable and applicable, today.
Cheers from here,
Many thanks, Peter, for this post — and for hosting us.
My apologies for the length of this but there are a lot of things to link in…
A Tale of Two Sexes: One fighting, the other not
For Homo sapiens, the core unit of physical violence is the human male. He comes by his propensity to aggress naturally. The Y chromosome that he received from his father (down the long line of males only, since the beginning) carries the Sry gene. It kick-started his testes and their testosterone (T) production 7 months before he was born. All his intrauterine development subsequently, including his brain, received the T soak.
The female of the species had no such exposure and as a result shows a greatly reduced tendency to physical violence by comparison. She does it only under extreme conditions; the context is usually a threat to or from a person in an intense relationship with her, such as a child, spouse or close relative.
Human physical violence 'out in the world' against other humans for other than personal reasons, then, is a guy thing. This has been widely noted, though its implications are seldom widely shared. It likely emerged over hundreds of thousands of years of increasingly sophisticated hunting of 'wild' animals for food. The species was primarily gatherer-hunters then. The context included the benefits from concentrated food sources (protein) to aid in the growth of his large and growing brain.
Under the settled conditions beginning perhaps 10 millennia ago, the male of the species was pre-adapted for (if not already practicing) physical violence against other humans. The Earth was getting human full-ish then. Moving on was less of an option and settling down meant accumulating stuff that others could covet and might well strive to get. Warriors emerged to gain the resources – land, food, women, minerals, you-name-it – that they desired from their neighbours. (Physically he was prepared, too: over-sized upper body with limbs 'designed' to throw, club and punch; eyes fixated on acute visual tracking, etc.)
Both hunter and warrior worked best – were most successful — through coalitions of their peers. Mammoths and neighbours were best attacked or fought by small coalitions ('sympathy' groups) of 10 – 15 men. This is a foundational and fundamental human grouping – even to this day and even for the physical violence of our own time where it is directly personal.
As civilization 'progressed,' larger and larger groupings emerged both for the promulgation and for the control of the human (male) violent tendencies. One original grouping was thought to be the 'Dunbar group' of about 150 people; it is said to exist and operate, still, as well.
Until at present, we have, arguably, a globalized or at least globalizing civilization from which very few can claim exemption. Thousands or even millions of peoples' behaviors are manipulated/coordinated through the hierarchies of civilization. And of course, those hierarchies are themselves integrated/coordinated at certain levels and nodes, as well.
The hierarchies do business, government, manufacturing, religion, education, health, selling, finance … the list is endless. And they also do violence, either explicitly (military) or as a proxy for the real thing (economy) or as something else altogether (charitable or altruistic: NGOs +). And many individual people belong to more than one of these groupings so the whole situation gets quite complex.
In some Earth societies, individuals have a wide latitude to choose among which and/or what kind of hierarchy they will join, spend their lives in. Those who 'need', crave, enjoy explicit physical aggression will choose the more aggressive hierarchies; others will choose differently. Some will choose none, go their own way, wing it out on the margins of society's hierarchies.
The whole situation is complicated further, now, because in those same societies the female of the species has started to be admitted to membership. Immediately we have problems. She, without the significant T priming of her brother, doesn't relate in the same way to her peers. In fact, she would rather cooperate than compete. We/they are struggling through the early learning stages of this development, most everywhere that she has been admitted. It promises to be a long – though ultimately fruitful if completed successfully – journey. The world of hierarchy will certainly – is certainly – changing.
The question for him, her brother, though is where and how he can find the T surge his body is designed to seek. Does he need 'intersocietal competition' to be complete, to get his multiple-daily-ideally surges? Based on the conditions of his coalitional legacy, one might guess not. Any coalition of males that's doing something it believes worthy in competition with (an)other male coalition(s) should suffice, wouldn't you think?
Well, it probably depends upon the level or intensity of his T addiction, which in itself probably has genetic and age-related and who knows what other components. But surely things like modern-day professional competitive sports qualify. As does leadership in business or government or … well, you get the picture… any status and power achievement will likely work for him.
One of his problems, however, is that the highly complex civilization of the modern world is best managed within-group by sensitive awareness and understanding of other peoples' feelings and needs. And the female of the species with her 'tend and befriend' orientation is the prime candidate for the task. (He, by contrast is primed to 'fight or flight' which, as we have seen, he has been doing through his civilizations for quite a long time. He even designed his institutions to do it, do even more of it – sometimes violently, more often these days, not). She also doesn't have the emotional commitment to fighting it out that he does.
Fear not. Sport at the professional level is exempt from her intrusions. She will never have – barring technological invasions — the upper body strength to punch and throw and club in direct competition with him. He has other avenues, too – man dens where male coalitions compete exclusively. Things like the mafia and street gangs which tend to be designed and to operate in the primeval ways.
As for intersocietal competition, I guess it depends on the definitions of who is competing against whom for what and against which other? Or does one or a few types of competition trump (an)other(s)? Who knows?
And what about Europe? How did it go from warring lords to warring nation states to integrated-across- the-continent-regional economic power, at least, without an army? Surely it's a long and complicated story. But surely, too, there is an answer at one level that is quite simple: They made up their minds. They achieved enough of a consensus to agree: "Never again." And then set out on the long challenging unexplored road to get there.
Violence has its alternatives — antidotes, even — too. Surely the species can advance peacefully without violence if it actually decides in sufficient numbers that it should, or must?
For a longer take on this question from about a month ago but with more of the details, go here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzQ Yv_kS-cXKLU5Ib0dQVEhZNlU/edit?usp=sharing
So basically it's all mens fault? (I'm smiling as I write, but I can relate to all of the above you mention).
Lee Doran July 31, 2014 at 7:58 am
OMW Susie … I guess it depends upon what 'it' is that is being faulted?! If men's antics brought us 'civilization' while women kept the species alive (literally) back in the day… hmmmm … where does that take us? Which was more important? Obviously rhetorical…
In the end, of course, people work best when they work with other people — and by analogy with how couples work best in couples (!) I believe civilization will work best when there is a balanced sex/gender ratio of people running the show. But it is hard to bring forward case studies of situations/places/times when there were or have been a balanced gender/sex ratio of people in charge.
However, we do have some clues or hints out at the margins:
The Iroquois did it, I've read, by having a Women's Council which had the final, binding say on the men's decision to go to war. Now that's interesting.
Kerala demonstrates something a bit different, but still on topic. It has/had (?) a high 'development/well being' rating while having at the same time one of the highest 'poverty' rates in the world. Now what does that do to those who believe that economic development is an essential component of 'development' (in general or overall) or of well-being? Turns out the two are not linked as many believe.
How did Kerala achieve this 'impossible' state? I believe in the starkest terms (you will love this Susie) that it was a communist matriarchy.
I'm wondering if EdwardT's island in Lake Victoria is another interesting case of how to constrain/curate the sex and violence in society? Sounds like it might be.
Overall, we've got a lot to learn and a long way to go. But we will be greatly aided on the journey if we understand clearly 'the problem' we're setting out to solve. And realize that what brought us is not necessarily what will take us forward to survivance as a species.
In many ways, Susie, it was all men's fault … in many other ways it was men in certain places and certain times that moved things forward (had to be by definition because the women weren't allowed in!)
But it got us here, we're still here … and we're glimpsing what we need to save ourselves from ourselves going forward. That's not all that bad, is it?
Especially if we all keep smiling, along with you Susie, along the way…
suzedablooze11 July 31, 2014 at 1:21 pm
I think you spotted me being purposely facetious Lee 😉
It would be an interesting experiment (whether mind or otherwise) to see how women would run the world, I'm not sure we'd do any better a job, might be different though, thinking of bonobo and chimpanzee worlds and how different they are. I don't know a great deal about socio-cultural anthropology but has anyone done any relevant studies within the few matriarchal societies we do have?
I don't think aggression is something missing from the female sex, but violence out of aggression seems to be where we draw the line. I do like the idea of a counter balance like the one you mention where the women made the final decision on going to war – the question is, can you really see western men allowing women to have so much power – it's hard enough getting the bloody remote control out of the hands of a man!
This blog is really great for collating the multitude of cultural approaches to society, be nice to see it compiled in a relational manner with some sort of mapping capability to find patterns (I suppose that's what you're doing manually)
p.s. I'm not a communist, I don't really have any political affiliations, I'm still waiting for one that fits with my mind set (might be a long time waiting!)
p.p.s. I couldn't agree more that balancing gender within any given context, commercial or political and so on is a much healthier way to proceed. In the area I work in (software development) it is highly male dominated (very irritating actually). However, I have seen that as technology becomes more consumer centric and communication orientated, the input of female designers has a very positive effect (I gave a panel speech on this in fact a coupe of years ago to an all male audience and it actually went down better than I thought, apart from the odd comment that I was being sexist, sigh)
It's interesting that the Iroquois are mentioned and their matriarchal society is approved of, since the Iroquois were extremely bloody-minded and the number of tribes that they wiped out totaled to be several times the number of tribes that are in the Iroquois League.
I don't know Richard. I've been trying to learn more about this whole Iroquois thing..
But we do have to distinguish the in-group's internal behavior from its actions with respect to its out-group in all these cases. What I had read was that the Women's Council was routinely consulted and had the right of veto over men's decisions to go to war. That doesn't really speak at all (to me at least) to their vehemence or effectiveness once they had decided to go.
I suppose you could make an argument (purely hypothetical on my part) that when the decision was made it had the full support across the whole society which might provide increased motivation to the warriors to do their thing better (?)
Well, the Iroquois benefitted from being united. Native American alliances between nations shifted all the time, but while some Iroquois nations may decide not to go on the warpath during a war with some other tribes/confederacies, they never fought against each other (at least until the American Revolutionary War, when they picked sides). Also benefitted from being allies/trade partners with the Brit/American colonies (for the most part, though they also fought the Europeans on occasion), which gave them a weapons advantage with which they could exterminate other Native American tribes (the French had Native American allies as well among the various Algonquin tribes, but for the most part, for whatever reason, the Iroquois tended to fare better in war).
Hi again Susie,
I keep reading that there has never been a 'truly' matriarchal society. I'm not expert enough to judge but that tends to be my belief. That;s why something like Kerala is so interesting.
I'm pretty sure there have been some recent studies showing that women get just as angry as men, but they don't respond with physical violence — whereas in men it is virtually the default reaction (if not automatic) for some at least.
It's interesting you mention mapping as I'm trying to do a 'paper' for an upcoming conference (it's really more like a presentation) that would use a mind map to map in a very general (qualitative) way different social schema on two axes: 1) masculine –> feminine and 2) individual –> collective. I've sketched it out by hand and its quite interesting. Now trying to learn enough of some mind mapping program to make it 'presentable.'
I think there's a lot of sympathy for trying/discussing or at least thinking about different ways of running the world. And besides there are lots of sympathetic men (not to mention men with feminine-ish minds) who get it. The 4 decades of feminism have laid he groundwork for serious talk — and even experimentation across the sex/gender divide. And the younger folks (raised by the 70's feminists) really don't see sex/gender in many cases– amazingly, perhaps — just like the civil rights survivors in the US don't/didn't see race…
There are some positive things brewing. The question of the hour, though, is whether they are happening fast enough to save ourselves from ourselves!
I'd be very surprised if there was a truly matriarchal society – isn't it dependent on resources and control, biological drivers and life histories?
Maps are great tools. I'm a fan. I use them a lot in my job, to me, it's the only way to pull related items together and see the bigger picture. Do you use a mapping tool? You don't have to use a specific tool, if you can write it out on paper you can use something like Visio (even powerpoint) to create a digital version of it. If not get a 30 day trial of one of the mind mapping tools out there. It'd be interesting to see – will you make it publicly available?
As for saving ourselves, from ourselves, Im a bit pessimistic about it. Although it's been shown that we have a lot lower incidence of violent deaths in current times compared to our neolithic ancestors, it really doesn't feel like it. We should be further ahead than we are, I'm hoping cliodynamics will give us the tools to really learn from our past mistakes.
p.s. women most certainly get as angry as men (you should see me in full flight) but you're right, it is less common for us to resort to violence, however, some 'folk anthropology' observations – I've noticed in working class areas (I'm a rare person who spends time across the class divide in ol' blighty) that violence amongst women is not as rare as I once thought it was…generally, we're not as strong as men though, so maybe the outcomes aren't as noticeable.
Lee Doran August 1, 2014 at 7:46 am
Thanks so much Susie.
I'll be experimenting with how to present the map in the next while. I'm optimistic it will work out despite my rudimentary (at best!) graphics capabilities.
Oh sure, it will be available for anyone who's interested.
Yes, I do think women have more latitude to express themselves these days …. except in the view of the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey who said they shouldn't laugh in public the other day!
And then he put the other foot in his mouth by saying something about talking on cell phones all day about recipes!
It is truly hilarious sometimes…then I think I read people started laughing back at him on social media. He certainly had me laughing!
Best, L.
suzedablooze11 August 1, 2014 at 11:07 am
When I read something like this you've written here re the Turkish deputy PM, I am very worried. There seems to also be a backlash against feminism these days – it seems (and I include women in this attitude) that feminism is seen as a dirty word, when really all it is about is wanting to have equality, why on earth can anyone think that's a bad thing? Beats me (well I have my theories about that actually).
There are some horrifying anti-female practises going on in many parts of the world, I just thank my lucky stars I live in the UK where it's not too bad (has its moments though, I could tell you some things that have happened to me that would make any intelligent, empathetic man mortified).
There's an excellent site called 'everyday sexism' you should take a look at some of the comments.
Anyway, I don't want to take over forum discussion by bleating on about stuff like this, it's a bit stereotyped of me 🙂
I'd very much like to see your map once it's done, do post a link
Lee Doran August 1, 2014 at 2:36 pm
Thanks Susie.
I understand your concern but I'd like to be optimistic that we (the species) are passing through this patch when the diversity of views and opinions on these issues is probably larger than ever before and that out of this will emerge a kind of majority consensus that shows the best of humanity for humanity going forward… let's hope.
Yes, I've seen that site previously, and yes, I'll post something on the mapping outcomes — but probably not until October-November timeframe, after the conference.
susiemorrow August 1, 2014 at 4:16 pm
OMG…I hope you're right. Hope the conference goes well and I'll look forward to seeing your mapping exercise 🙂
Hi Susie,
I saw this in the Guardian today and thought of you … how women are changing the world of comedy:
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/01/edinburgh-fringe-number-female-standups-comics-women
susiemorrow August 4, 2014 at 2:44 am
Thanks for this Lee – a Guardian reader eh! (me too)
Yes, it's always perplexed me why there's a lack of female comedians, especially stand ups – most women I know have fantastic sense of humours and some are extremely naturally funny. There was a comedy festival recently in the UK, a major one and the organisers didn't invite a single female comedian even though we have some excellent and well known ones.
dashui July 29, 2014 at 7:01 pm
http://www.jack-donovan.com/axis/2011/03/violence-is-golden/
tribalypredisposed July 29, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Some critical points which are most often missed, in my opinion:
First, it is simply false that only competition between groups in the form of war can lead to the cooperation we see in humans. A broadly ignored Dugatkin paper notes that any sufficiently hostile environment will suffice. Think about a human alone in Africa…he cannot outrun the predators. He is not stronger, not heavily armored, not poisonous, has no claws or fangs…any pack hunter like lions or hyenas will find him or her incredibly easy prey. l find it obvious that for humans Africa during our evolution was plenty hostile enough to force us to cooperate without considering war. In fact, it is the cooperation which makes war possible, not the other way around.
Second, when we look at competition in the natural world around us we have a bad, and evolved, tendency to see it in a dualistic manner. Cooperative or selfish, predator or prey, mutualist or parasite. In fact there is a continuum from predator to parasite to mutualist, and often one organism can be several depending on the circumstance and/or it can be hard to determine if it is a symbiotic mutualist or a parasite, what the final tally is. There is also, I argue, a similar continuum when it comes to governments, corporations, even NGOs and how they compete and interact with society. Often people of various political views compare either government or corporations, or both, to parasites and infer that they should be eliminated. No, they are necessary for the health of the societal superorganism just as our gut bacteria are for us. And just as our gut bacteria can turn on us, so can our government and our corporations. The question then, in my view, is what conditions promote lower virulence and more mutualism in our government and corporate societal symbionts. I have just started this journey and it will be a long one. My first very rough effort is here – http://theroadtopeace.blogspot.ca/ – along with another paper seeking to understand the role of altruism in war, and attempting for what I believe is the first time to detail the process psychologically that takes us from joining a group to being willing to kill for it.
O.Voron July 31, 2014 at 1:08 am
"After the end of the Cold War, when the apostles of globalization argued that trade would soon eclipse warfare, the military strategist Edward Luttwak predicted that they would soon be proved wrong. Although capital would replace firepower as a weapon of choice, and market penetration would play the role that bases and garrisons had in earlier generations, the driving force of international relations would be conflict rather than trade. As he put it, we would have "the grammar of commerce but the logic of war." Luttwak's prediction seemed misplaced at a time when countries such as Russia, China, India and Brazil were rushing to join the global economy."
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/07/30/clashes-with-russia-point-to-globalizations-end/
Jonas August 2, 2014 at 9:31 am
It's a very glum hypothesis, but there's a lot to be said for it. However, unlike original post and some of the other commentors, I don't think competition is the key. It's fear.
War is one of the few thing that's elites fear, and therefore the only thing that stops them from taking the whole pie from the common people. Common people in both Greek and Roman took full advantage of war to increase the "market share" of democracy in their society. Other forms of intersocietal competitions don't engender this fear, and can easily be dealt with from meta strategies like M&A, and so do not replace war.
On the other hand, like another poster is saying (tribalydisposed), I think a sufficiently hostile environment will also suffice, because it also creates existential angst among the elite. Thus it's no surprise to me that liberals tend to like to promote environment apocalypse.
At least I believe that to be the traditional mechanism of social balance. Hopefully, we'll evolve past that and come up with some new mechanisms. It'll be pretty sad, if that were the final answer.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In "Point Break," a young FBI agent, Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey), infiltrates a cunning team of thrill-seeking elite athletes–led by the charismatic Bodhi (Edgar Ramirez). The athletes are suspected of carrying out a spate of crimes in extremely unusual ways. Deep undercover, and with his life in imminent danger, Utah strives to prove they are the architects of this string of inconceivable crimes. The film is replete with the most daring athleticism ever seen in a motion picture. These action adventure feats are performed by elite athletes representing the world's best in class in big-wave surfing, wingsuit flying, sheer-face snowboarding, free rock climbing, and high-speed motorcycling.
Critics Consensus: Loaded with dazzling action but bereft of purpose, the Point Break remake will be remembered as the first film to make audiences pine for the simultaneous presences of Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey.


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Martín de Orantes o Dorantes fue un conquistador español que participó en la conquista de México.

Criado y hombre de confianza de Hernán Cortés, por mandato de este fue el encargado de regresar a la ciudad de México con cartas que certificaban que Cortés seguía vivo y se disponía a regresar para recuperar el gobierno de la Nueva España, del que se había apropiado Gonzalo de Salazar, quien se había hecho con las riendas del poder aduciendo que Cortés y sus hombres habían muerto en la campaña de Honduras.

Estas cartas, la acción de Orantes presentándolas ante el cabildo (que, obedeciendo a Cortés, decidió entregar la gobernación y la capitanía general a Alonso de Estrada y a
Rodrigo de Albornoz) y la posterior llegada del propio Cortés supusieron un periodo de enfrentamientos y gran tensión que finalmente se resolvieron con el apresamiento de Salazar y sus partidarios.

Dorantes o De Orantes
El apellido de este personaje aparece escrito de ambas formas en sendas ediciones de la Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España de Bernal Díaz del Castillo, por lo que los historiadores y escritores posteriores han usado Dorantes o De Orantes según la versión utilizada. Asimismo, en las actas del cabildo de México figuran igualmente las dos formas.

Bibliografía
DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO, Bernal: Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Edición de Carmelo Sáenz de Santa María. Introducción y notas de Luis Sáinz de Medrano. Barcelona: Planeta, 1992. Capítulo CLXXXVIII «Cómo Cortés envió un navío a la Nueva España...»
IBARRA, Eduardo: «Manuscritos cortesianos. Más aportes documentales a la historia de México», en Anuario de Historia. Volumen 1, 2007 (pp. 155-184). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Notas

Conquistadores españoles de México
Conquistadores españoles del siglo XVI

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Breathe. Our bodies are breathing all day long to keep us alive, but how aware of our breath are we?
Bringing your intention to your breath is a powerful way to connect back to the moment and get into your body.
If you're alive and reading this, your body is breathing. Thank you lungs!
Yet, most people are not aware of their breath during the day. Your breath is the connection between your mind and body. By bringing awareness to your breath, you can breathe deeper and connect back to the present moment.
Taking a few deep breathes is often what you hear when you are having a moment of panic. Yet, it really IS a powerful antidote to help calm down your nervous system.
In yoga, pranayama is breathwork practice. Pranayama translates into "a force in constant motion."
When you are moving with your breath - in life or yoga practice - you're connected and grounded.
Bringing awareness and consciously working with your breath is one tool. One of my favorite pranayama exercises is alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhan). It's a simple tool of alternating breathing in and out of each nostril, and it provides a deep sense of calm and relaxation in a few minutes of practicing.
Another tool is letting your body breathe you. In restorative yoga or meditation, I can let go and let my body breathe me. Instead of forcing my breath, it happens naturally. It's an amazing experience of trust and appreciation in my body to know that it's always taking care of me - by breathing.
In movement practice, especially yoga, you can let your movement be guided by your breath. Instead of forcing your body to go at a different pace, you can move based on your breath. Your movement will seem more fluid and connected, and you're tapped into this resource - your breath - to support you.
"The oscillation of breathing is a perfect mirror of the fluctuations of life. Life is like a swinging pendulum, some changes bringing with them difficulties and pain and other changes bringing with them ease and joy. If we are open to this process, life will move us. If we are unable to integrate life's changes, we begin to resist by restricting our breath. When we hold the breath and try to control life or stop changes from happening, we are saying that we do not want to be moved. In those moments our desire for certainty has become much stronger than our desire to be dynamically alive. Breathing freely is a courageous act. What we discover is that our desire for stasis, our clinging to the life we know, and our bending of every situation to the security of our mental constructs are the very things that destroy our creativity and ability to live freely."
Learn to breathe and be breathed.
It will open up freedom in your body - and life.
Use it as a mantra to remind yourself during the day - "Breathe."
Breathe before meals. Practice mindful eating by taking 5 deep breaths before meals. It helps you connect to your "rest and digest" nervous system, eat slower (rather than rush your meals), and connect to your body to eat intuitively.
Practice pranayama. Watch Kara Lydon (The Foodie Dietitian)'s video on alternate nostril breathing, and practice it a few minutes each morning.
Breathe in your movement practice. Whether you practice yoga or any form of movement, focus on your breath at the beginning. Let your breath guide you and notice how your breath changes. If you're running or walking, you could match your breath to your pace. In yoga, you can breathe into each pose and move with the breath.
How are you going to use the intention of BREATHING in your life this week?


text:
The term Tsinghua clique refers to a group of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politicians that have graduated or have taught at Tsinghua University (). They are members of the fourth generation of Chinese leadership, and are purported to hold powerful reformist ideas (a number have studied in the United States following graduation from Tsinghua, and some are said to be influenced by the reform ideals of Hu Yaobang). Just like their predecessors, they attach great importance to socialism with Chinese characteristics. Their ascendance to power is likely to have begun in 2008 at the CCP's 17th National Congress.

Many Tsinghua graduates rise to political prominence. Among the 7 standing committees at the Politburo, there is one Tsinghua graduate; among the 25 Politburo committee members, there are three.

Key figures are reported to currently include:
Xi Jinping
Wang Qishan
Chen Xi
Li Xi
Hu Heping
Chen Jining
Zhang Guoqing
Yang Yue

Retired or deceased:
Zhang Dongsun
Zhang Junmai
Luo Longji
Fei Xiaotong
Pan Guangdan
Qian Weichang
Peng Peiyun
Kang Shien
Wu Guanzheng
Hu Qili
Huang Ju
Yao Yilin
Song Ping
Li Ximing
Wang Hanbin
Zhou Guangzhao
Zheng Tianxiang
Zhu Rongji
Hu Jintao
Wu Bangguo, although he is generally considered more loyal to Jiang Zemin's Shanghai clique
Lin Wenyi, chairman of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
Liu Yandong

The Tsinghua clique also referred to a group of Nationalist Chinese politicians who held high power in the Republic of China government and fled to Taiwan with the government during the Chinese Civil War. All of them are deceased:
Yeh Kung-chao
Yu Guohua
Yen Zhenxing
Mei Yi-chi
Luo Jialun
Hu Shih
Sun Li-jen

See also
 Shanghai clique
 Generations of Chinese leadership
 Tuanpai

References

"The rise of Qinghua alumni in Beijing's political circle", by Ting Wang, Hong Kong Economic Journal, 29 December 2005

Factions of the Chinese Communist Party
Qinghua clique
Tsinghua University alumni


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Decision making by companies during the COVID-19 pandemic
by Melanie Munyori and Wamuyu Mathenge | May 19, 2020 | Legal update | 0 comments
Companies conduct their business by holding general and special meetings pursuant to Part XIII of the Companies Act 2015. These meetings are generally conducted by congregating an assembly of members. The COVID-19 crisis has necessitated social distancing measures to safeguard public health. Kenya passed the Public Health Act and the Public Health Act (Prevention, Control and Suppression of COVID-19) Regulations 2020 to further regulate the spread of the pandemic. Therefore, companies can no longer hold meetings as previously envisioned by meeting at a physical place.
Meetings are not only a question of decision taking by members but they are required by law as a form of compliance and reporting. Under Section 310 of the Companies Act 2015, public companies must hold an Annual General Meetings and file the annual returns to the Registrar of Companies.
Further, for public listed companies, paragraph 1.8 of Capital Markets Act Guidelines on Corporate Governance Practices by Public Listed Companies in Kenya requires annual reports where they must disclose their activities and accounts for the financial year in question. Private companies, however, are bound by their Memorandum and Articles of Association, therefore the mode of holding minutes may be by physical meeting or by written resolutions.
Notably however, the scope for passing written resolutions is limited, as under section 262 (2) of the Companies Act, written resolutions may not be passed with respect to removal of company directors and company auditors. In the circumstances, holding physical meetings is inevitable to companies to conduct their daily business.
In this article we seek to highlight the legal issues surrounding decision making by companies during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) the nature of the company constitution; and (2) the powers of the Court.
Company Constitution
A company conducts its business by the rules and regulations contained in the articles of association, for instance, how and when to conduct meetings. The Articles of Association and the resolutions are collectively known as the Constitution of the company. A company may have its own Articles of Association, customize the Model Articles of Association under the Companies Act 2015 or adopt the Model the Articles of Association.
Under Section 21 of the Companies Act 2015 the model articles will apply to the company if the company does not register its own articles or if it registers articles that do not exclude or modify the application of the model articles to the company.
A company's Memorandum and Articles of Association operate as a 'statutory contract' under Section 30 of the Companies Act 2015. This means that the constitution binds the company and the members to the same extent as if the company and its members had entered into a personal covenant to fulfill its provisions (Hickman v Kent or Romney Marsh Sheep-Breeders' Association [1915] 1 Ch 881).
Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic frustrates the obligations of members because the members can only make decisions regarding the company business in the manner prescribed under the Articles of Association. Indeed, many companies had not contemplated a situation where physical meetings would be a health risk and thus hampering business operations.
Private and Public Companies
Private companies are bound by their Articles of Association which provide leeway for the companies to amend their articles in order to hold virtual annual general meetings. Under Section 22 of the Companies Act, a company may amend their articles of association by way of a special resolution. A special resolution for purposes of the Act is a resolution passed by at least seventy five percent (75%) of the members (Section 257 (1) and (2) of the Companies Act).
Where the special resolution is by a private company and by way of written resolution, it must be proposed as a special resolution and be specifically passed as such. Private companies can therefore amend their Articles of Association by way of written resolutions, to provide for the company to hold their annual general meetings virtually.
Written resolutions
A written resolution, under Section 262 of the Companies Act 2015, is a document containing proposed actions and changes and on which members of a private company can signify agreement by communicating with the company. Such a resolution however, cannot be passed for the removal of a director or an auditor from office before their term in office expires.
The written resolution may be passed at a meeting of the company or may be circulated among the members by electronic means and in turn, the members can intimate their support or opposition to the content of the resolution by voting (Section 263 of the Companies Act 2015). A change through a circulated written resolution would allow them to hold meetings virtually if the articles did not contemplate the situation, we are in.
Pursuant to Section 255 of the Companies Act, resolutions for a public company can only be passed at a meeting of the members. Further under Section 275, such resolution will only be validly passed if notice of the meeting and the resolution is given and the meeting is conducted in accordance with the Companies Act 2015 and the Articles of Association. Public companies therefore, cannot make decisions by way of written resolutions.
Powers of the Court
As noted above, there are certain constraints in obtaining special resolutions by way of a written resolution. Large private companies whose members are scattered around the country may not have the opportunity to pass written resolutions.
In the recent High Court case of Bharat Kumar Thakar v Capital Marketa Authority, Miscellaneous Application No. E680 of 2020, the High Court being moved under section 280 of the Companies Act, granted companies the freedom to hold meetings without strict compliance to their Articles of Association due to the current impracticability. However, the freedom to hold meetings is conditional on the company obtaining approval from the Capital Markets Authority. The companies may hold virtual meetings and vote in other electronic means but they must also adhere to the other requirements of the Companies Act 2015, for example, issuing proper notice to members and observing quorum restrictions.
The order, however, did not apply to unlisted public companies and private companies. Therefore, unlisted public companies and private companies, ought to make an application under section 280 of the Act to the court for similar orders.
It is important to note that the issuance of an order to hold the annual general meeting under section 280 of the Companies Act is a discretion of the Court. The following are some of the factors that the Courts will consider in making the order.
The Court will not allow its discretion to be used to infringe on the rights of shareholders (Harman v BML Group Ltd [1994] 2 BCLC 283);
The court will not make the order without considering the right of a majority shareholder to remove or appoint a director (Union Music Ltd v Watson [2003] EWCA Civ 180);
The court will not order a meeting if there is a possible but untried method to hold the meeting as per the articles of the company despite disagreements among the members (Might SA v Redbus Interhouse plc [2003] EWHC 3514 (Ch);
The court will refuse to order the meeting if the effect of the order is to override quorum requirements of the shareholders' agreement (Ross v Telford [1998] 1 BCLC 82, CA) and;
Where the company is using the order to resolve a deadlock between two equal shareholders or to affect substantive voting rights or to shift the balance of power between the shareholders.
Further, as held by the Court in Njoroge Macharia & another v Registrar of Companies & another Ex-Parte & another [2017] eKLR), an order directing a company to convene and hold a general meeting will only issue where the court is satisfied that it is not possible for the company to convene the meeting in accordance with the Act or the Articles of the Company. An order of Mandamus will only be issued as a last resort where there is no other equally effective remedy to achieve the objective. For an order of mandamus to issue it must be shown that there is a specific and determinable duty to act and that the body mandated to so act has refused to act despite requests made to it to do so.
The pandemic has presented opportunities for inventive methods to continue with company business and to fulfill regulatory obligations. Companies are well advised to consider the pandemic as a teachable moment to draft articles that can anticipate various forms of impracticability that may prevent smooth running of operations especially in decision taking by members.
This article is provided free of charge for information purposes only; it does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. No responsibility for the accuracy and/or correctness of the information and commentary as set out in the article should be held without seeking specific legal advice on the subject matter. If you have any query regarding the same, please do not hesitate to contact the following: Melanie Munyori or Wamuyu Mathenge vide melanie@wamaeallen.com or wamuyu@wamaeallen.com respectively.
Melanie Munyori
Melanie is a transactional advocate specializing in real estate, securitization, banking and finance
Wamuyu Mathenge
Advocate Trainee, 2020
https://wamaeallen.com/author/wamuyu-mathenge/
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2) IN THOSE DAYS WE- Released!!! Writers include Meg Tuite, Len Kuntz, David Tomaloff, Ryan Bradley, Molly Gaudry, Marcus Speh, Parker Tettleton, Chadwick Reddon, Jesse Bradley, J.A. Tyler, Ben tanzer, Kyle Hemmings, Robert Kloss, Norman Lock, Kathryn Rantala, Andrew Borgstrom, and me. I have two pieces in this anthology- "Buried," and "California Tan." Thanks editor, Jennifer Tomaloff!!!
I love getting new books. I still experience that over-stimulated feeling, like when my mother would take my little sister and me to our local library and we were allowed to bring home no more than five books. Yesterday a book I'd long anticipated arrived "Fire In the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz." To say DW is one of my mentors is a given. I am one of the fortunate folks to have known him in real life. Needless to say, I'm devouring this book like some exotic treat. What are you reading? Does it engage you? Enthrall you? Bore you?
This entry was posted in Hump Day Hangouts on November 28, 2012 by Robert Vaughan.
Gobble Gobble! Happy Holidaze. I am currently reading the new John Irving book and believe it or not…a "new" Kurt Vonnegut book! Oh and "Girl Gone" is in the wings waiting. I love new books too. Happy Hump Day to all and to all a new book.
Great outdoors and laughing a ton. How wonderful!
Great to have you back at the HUMP, Robert! I'm reading Steven King's 11/22/63. I like it but it's fairly slow-moving.
I have been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or weblog posts in this kind of area. I finally stumbled upon your site. Reading this information… so i'm satisfied that I have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I found out just what I needed. I so much, no doubt, will make certain to not overlook this website and give it a glance regularly.
Greetings from across the ocean! This is just what I was looking for, and you wrote it well. Thanks so much!
I enjoy your blog so much and am reading (in addition to all these great links!) Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It's memoir, and I love it!
The last book I read was Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith. It was really good and I recommend it.


text:
Q: How Can I get Rake to use RVM's Ruby? I'm trying to install an application  on Ubuntu that uses ruby. I installed RVM and Ruby 2.0 and ran rake install, but Rake tried using an older system version of Ruby. So I uninstalled the system version and tried running Rake again. This time it said "No such file". How do I get Rake to use RVM's ruby? Below is the output from different commands.
 $ rake install
sudo bundle --without production staging test levelbuilder --quiet
sudo: unable to execute /usr/local/bin/bundle: No such file or directory
rake aborted!
...
/home/ubuntu/../rake_utils.rb:33:in `system'
..
/home/ubuntu/../rake_utils.rb:43:in `bundle_install'
/home/ubuntu/../Rakefile:198:in `block (3 levels) in <top (required)>'
..
/home/ubuntu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p643/bin/ruby_executable_hooks:15:in `eval'
...

The path and version look right:
$ echo $PATH
/home/ubuntu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p643/bin:/home/ubuntu/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p643@global/bin:/home/ubuntu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p643/bin:/home/ubuntu/.rvm/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

$ ruby -v
ruby 2.0.0p643 (2015-02-25 revision 49749) [x86_64-linux]

$ which ruby
/home/ubuntu/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p643/bin/ruby

Here's my .bash_profile:
[[ -s "$HOME/.profile" ]] && source "$HOME/.profile" # Load the default .profile

[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && source "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" # Load RVM into a shell session *as a function*

and here's the bottom of .bashrc:
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin" # Add RVM to PATH for scripting.

A: Execute source ~/.bash_profile

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Axie Infinity Play to Earn Games
latest news about axie infinity game
Hey, I am Koby Bunce. Sometimes I feel like I'm an amateur everything. I play online games, road bike, paint occasionally, blog even less often, love NFT sports, and am always looking to try new things and learn new things… but I never really master anything! I like to think that makes my resume diverse, but you can give me a hard time about it if you'd like.
This is my website, where you can find a lot of information.
© 2023 Axie Infinity Play to Earn Games. All rights reserved.


text:
By Cristina Bastos On 28 May, 2018 2018 | Memory Lane Comments Off on Professor Carlota Saldanha's Memory Roadmap Tags: slider
Born and raised in Beira, Mozambique, she moved to Lisbon when she was 17 years old and was here to stay.
As a little girl, she would only be away from her parents to participate in scouts gatherings or to take school exams. She remembers the beaches, the parties she used to organise with her friends and the playground games, where she could roller skate or play football with the boys. As a student, she always thought that the books from her school's Library did not match her "will to learn."
We were received by Maria Carlota Saldanha Lopes, or Professor Carlota, with a sweet voice and a determined look.
She knew from an early age that she wanted to study at the Higher Technical Institute, because it was an "extremely organised" place, as she considers that "having rules is essential to any decision she makes," she said. "However, the existence of rules does not mean that there is no place for creativity or liberty. When I talk about rules, I mean basic rules, which I apply at the lab or at home."
She studied Chemical Engineering and now has a career in the field of Teaching and Research. She believes that there should be a larger number of optional subjects and intermediate years, so that students are allowed to go to other places, improve their knowledge in other fields, because "it is important to understand that life is more than just opening and closing drawers, because opening and closing drawers dehumanises people."
The FMUL and the Higher Technical Institute are her second home.
As a mother of two children, who are already in their forties, she is well aware of the fact that she was forced to deprive her children of many things to get to where she is today. However, when she spent time with them, she dedicated herself to them 100% and "they always knew they could count on me." She has plans to return to Mozambique sometime soon, as she promised her granddaughter that she would be there for her birthday and a promise is a promise.
She was honoured by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and by all the people who worked with her and, because she won't stop, a few days ago she heard that she will receive another award, the Farhraeus Medal Award, from the European Society of Hemorheology and Microcirculation (ESHM), which will be given to her in Cracow, at " The Joint Conference of Three Societies, ESCHM-ISCH-ISB, in July, where she will conduct the "Farhraeus Lecture." The nomination for this award was voted by the national representatives of each European country that are part of the European Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation Coordinating Committee.
On March 19, you were the great Honouree. What did you feel at that moment?
Carlota Saldanha: It was a great surprise! First, Professor Miguel Castanho said he needed to talk to me the following week and when the day came, he called me, and I took my notebook. He started by saying that since Professor Sayon Roy was coming to present the "iMM Monday Lecture," we would do a longer session and the Director of our Faculty would also make a speech, along with Professor Fausto Pinto and Professor José Fernandes e Fernandes and I, far from imagining what was going to happen, was very excited and commented "that's nice, Professor Sayon Roy will be very pleased." I thought it was an excellent idea! And we left it at that…
Then, when I arrived here at the office, Ana Silva-Herdade started laughing and said, "I was anxious the entire Sunday, because, even though I knew what was going on, I told you I did not" and although I did not understand what she was talking about, I said "it will be great, it is going to be a great party." And as she thought that I had understood, she continued "we need to arrange a lunch, or a tea." I agreed and mentioned we could get some samosas and something like that, because I know Professor Sayon loves Indian food. And that was it. At the end of the day, as I stopped thinking about what I was writing for a while, I started recalling a few loose sentences and I thought "wait… this is a double event." Because I know that every time someone leaves the Biochemistry Institute, Professor Miguel Castanho likes to organise a farewell party.
However, I only realised that when Professor Miguel told me that "Professor Fernandes is going to give a lesson in your honour," only then did I realise that they would be honouring me. I was really emotional and very happy. I did not see that coming.
Professor, you started your career as a teacher at the FMUL in 1973. What was it like to balance that academic life with your personal life at such troubled times?
Carlota Saldanha: I started working here after finishing a degree from Advanced Studies Centre of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which is now the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Gulbenkian Science Institute). That degree was later considered to be a Master's Degree and at that time, at home, we were already sharing the house chores. When I came to FMUL, I was already pregnant, but still at an early stage, so Professor Carlos Manso did not notice anything. He only realised it later. In fact, there were two of us and we were both pregnant. My son was born in June, right after the revolution of April, 25th and I only spent a month at home. At the time, it was already a bit complicated. It was summer and I remember that I had to study, but I also wanted to take my son out to enjoy the sun.
The revolution of April 25th had no impact on my professional life. Except maybe in 1975, as more than one thousand students enrolled in the University and the lectures took place at Aula Magna and so it was a bit difficult to manage at the time.
Were there less students in the previous years?
Carlota Saldanha: Yes, a lot less! In the previous years there were less students and they were usually older. I remember teaching my classes in the Anatomy auditorium and the students being older in those years that preceded the revolution. But it was always a very fulfilling experience.
The research we were doing at the time was very appealing, but very hard, because the conditions were bad. I had just left the Advanced Studies Centre of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where we would submit a request at night and would have the book or the reagent available the following day. We had it all.
Did you begin your career as a researcher at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation?
Carlota Saldanha: I started at the IMI, which was an Institute at Poço do Bispo, but I did not have a good experience there, because they did not respect the schedules and I don't think that I learned a lot there. Then, I had this opportunity, as Professor Van Uden started the first Biochemistry degree for Engineers of the Advanced Studies Centre of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and it was a good experience. Everything I have learned about Biochemistry, in terms of animal experiments, I learned from English, American and some Portuguese teachers. It was a very complete degree. Later, this degree was recognised by the Nova University of Lisbon as the equivalent to a Master's Degree. It was very demanding, as there were many assessments, but it was a very good experience. The atmosphere was really good, with people from different countries, almost all engineers. Those were really good times!
How did you end up at the Faculty of Medicine?
Carlota Saldanha: O come from Africa, where I lived for 17 years, I studied there at a Catholic School. The books we had access to at the School's Library were all related to religion and I always felt that there was something missing there. For me, it wasn't enough just to repeat common knowledge. I wanted more. From an early stage, I knew that I wanted to come to the Higher Technical Institute, because it was very well organised. And to me, having rules is essential to any decision I make and, in this case, it was no different. However, the existence of rules does not mean that there is no place for creativity or liberty. When I talk about rules, I mean basic rules, which I apply at the lab or at home. For example, we should only touch whatever belongs to us.
When I started studying Engineering, Process Chemical Engineering, I knew from the beginning that I could not go to a factory or to a quality laboratory and do the same thing every day. Doing the same thing every day was not what I wanted to do with my life. I had to go to a place where I could make discoveries.
Meanwhile, at the Faculty of Medicine there were some vacancies for Assistant Professor and so I sent my application and I was very happy because I was going to do something completely new. It was a stage in my life when I was constantly faced with challenges.
Teaching back then was very different from what is practised nowadays…
Carlota Saldanha: Yes, it has clearly evolved! I started with physiological biochemistry, by teaching theoretical-practical classes to small yet very exciting groups. I now realise that I was very demanding with my students, in terms of behaviour. However, I've always enjoyed interacting with young adults.
As far as teaching is concerned, it is important to consider that we go from a lower numerus clausus to a higher numerus clausus and one of the things that I have observed and that always concerned me was that students arrive at the university with basic and poorly structured knowledge in the field of chemistry. We started, at the time of molecule biochemistry, by trying to organise small courses of organic chemistry, which started with some small enquiries to understand the students' level of knowledge. At the end of the courses we repeated the enquiries to find out what they had actually learned. We tried in many ways to stimulate the students' interest in organic chemistry, but it was impossible to spend a week or two, or even a month, teaching organic chemistry.
It was when Professor Martins e Silva joined the Biochemistry department that we started teaching Molecule Biochemistry, which I mentioned earlier and, at the time, there were no practical classes. That's when I felt that I had to create a course to teach the basics for research and laboratory work. I had many students, some of whom are now experts in a variety of fields. Teaching someone is helping them learn and we also learn a lot during that process. So, I implemented the free courses. I felt that it was necessary to create more opportunities for medical students. These were completely free courses, I invited many foreign experts and we did a lot of experimental work. These courses kept evolving.
I still remember, at the beginning of these free courses, for example, the cooperation with Surgery II, with Professor Bicha Castelo, by inducing diabetes in piglets. And every morning we had what he called the Pig Brother. The students had to check on their sick pig and monitor the evolution. These courses had other components, which obviously allowed us to assess the learning process and teaching. It was a real interactive learning.
Allow me to tell you that here at the Faculty of Medicine there is a stronger connection between teacher and student: the teacher/student relationship is completely different now than when I was a student at the Higher Technical Institute.
With the end of the numerus clausus for access to the degree in medicine, we started having an excessive number of students and so the logistics and time capacity was exceeded. And then came the Bologna Process, according to which students get a degree in three years. It is not enough time, there is no time to learn; people need time to absorb, assimilate, reason and communicate with teachers and their colleagues. My Master's degree thesis in medical education focused on the learning processes and styles. How do students study? What is their approach?
After 44 years at the Faculty, you probably have some stories to share. Would you like to share any in particular?
Carlota Saldanha: There are a lot of moments in relation to the team I did research with. There are a lot of stories related to the students also; there was a time when they brought a box with two duchese because we were talking about metabolism in class. One thing that they enjoyed a lot was that when I arrived I always said "Good morning girls, good morning boys." I wouldn't let them talk to each other. There were always the handsome boys, who are those that look like the centre of a flower, and the petals are the girls that are always around them, and that was a problem. I had to dismember that group. There is another moment that will never forget: exchanging e-mails with a student until 4 a.m. We had had an exam and the students had to select the right answers from a variety of options and almost none of them had answered the question. I always told them the content from the theoretical classes would be assessed through a written test. But, obviously, many of them did not attend the theoretical classes; the first year is always good, but from the second year, they lose it (laughs). And so I included a question on that exam that was challenged by one of the students, because she had talked to various Paediatricians and that was not right, and I kept explaining to her why, and she would reply with copies or pictures of clinical books and would reply again using other arguments, until she had no more arguments – my children used to tell me that my students "saw me as a barrier" – and, then, a student asked me "Did you see how many of the good students answered that question?" and, of course, I checked the tests of the students who had the best marks and who answered that question correctly and told her that she had found my Achilles heel, and that I would remove that question and that was it, but it was a hard struggle.
But I also have some unpleasant stories.
We were still in the old building, and one afternoon, right after lunch, I arrived and found all my assistants gathered around that big table in the meeting room, with the reports spread on the table, and they walking around. I obviously asked what was going on and they said "Oh, nothing…" They didn't want to get me upset, until they came to me and told me "there has been plagiarism… this year's students used last year's reports." We all went to the theoretical class and I explained what had happened and told them that they would all have to take the final exam. We had to cancel the continuous assessment. And, so, all the work they did as part of the continuous assessment was not considered for their final mark. I even got phone calls. It was a very unpleasant situation, but my decision was final.
There is another funny story, but only the people working at the time know about this one, and many years have passed since then. One afternoon, shortly after I arrived, I asked what was going on, because the bathroom door had been closed for a long time… they told me that there was someone inside. And that was it. But I started to get suspicious and demanded an explanation, because that afternoon I was the most qualified person there and had to know what was going on, "you have to tell me what is going on," and they told me that there was a pig in the bathroom (Laughs). When they brought the pig, the bioterium was already closed and they didn't want to take it back. I remember thinking, "What are we going to do now?" We had to find a solution to leave the pig with some water and no food until the next morning, until it could be taken into the bioterium. I spent the night worrying that someone would listen to it grunting, if it was hungry, if it would be dehydrated or cold, because we left the window open because of the smell and we were still on the 6th floor.
There is also the day when I found out that two of the researchers who worked with me were pregnant. It was a very difficult day… knowing that in a few months I would be without two members of the team, even if for a period of time… that was a terrible day for me (she said, smiling).
You talk about your students in a very caring way. Do you still meet your students, Professor?
Carlota Saldanha: Many times. I can tell you that one of those moments was on a day when Professor Sayon Roy was here. We went to lunch and I had found a place, close to Dona Estefânia, but when we got there, it was closed. I saw a girl passing by and I asked her if she knew any restaurant nearby and she says "Oh, Professor Carlota…" and it was a great coincidence. I meet them all the time, during flights, on waiting lines at the supermarket, when I go to concerts… Even when I enter the operating room for minor surgeries, I find out that the anaesthesiologist was a student of mine. Normally, they are the ones who recognise me.
And how do you feel in those moments?
Carlota Saldanha: I feel very grateful. The other day, I was with Professor Ana Silva Herdade. We went out to take care of something and then went for tea and I exchanged looks with a student that told me "Professor Carlota… you look exactly the same," and I blushed like a little girl. My relatives and friends tell me "You are known for being too harsh on your students, but they like you a lot." (Laughs) Because I demanded a lot from them, they had to study. But then I lost that characteristic… we get softer with age. But those are very rewarding moments.
You were responsible for the Applicant's Day since its beginning in 2008. What was it like to coordinate that project?
Carlota Saldanha: It was so good! All the experiences were very good, but I remember the commitment and the enthusiasm of starting a project… I always had to have a strategy associated with the projects I was a part of. I think that it is essential to have a strategy and I've always tried to pass that idea on to my students.
What was it like to coordinate … First of all, it was very important to give all secondary schools in the country the chance to participate on this Day, by providing them with all the information in a timely manner. The second concern was to ensure complete safety. I was completely paranoid about safety and the procedure began with the explicit consent of the students' parents. Then, it would be necessary to have a programme in place that would give them an overall perspective of what was going to happen. This plan evolved naturally, because it was outlined with the team. The entire team was really enthusiastic; we shared everything. We would do preparatory meetings, where everybody would spontaneously present their suggestions and we listened to each other.
Fotografia de grupo, Dia do Candidato, 2011
Fotografia da equipa organizadora, Dia do Candidato, 2013
The plan consisted of showing the different facilities, in terms of teaching and research.
Then, there was a time when we realised that the programme did not include the 6th year and that was a major flaw in terms of advertising the Faculty and so we included the 6th year in the programme. So, we kept adjusting it. We developed the initial and final surveys, which also assessed the level of satisfaction. Promoting that event has always been one of our concerns, because it is such a significant day for the students, even if they do not intend to study medicine. Some years, they would only apply because they were curious and not to choose medicine.
I remember one particular year, when we were fully booked and during the morning a new group arrived and wanted to stay. For that reason, it was our concern to create a safe and appealing event that would please everyone. And I cannot forget the important cooperation of FMUL's Students Association, who have always supported me; it would be really difficult without them. We knew that they assured, through the older students, the visits to the various teaching-learning facilities. Usually, the day ended with a presentation from the Students Association and of all the activities developed by it.
They were a great support and I'm glad you came to talk to me (gets emotional) because when, following the honour that I received from FMUL and which I consider to be an honour to the Faculty and all the people that worked with me, I heard about it, I knew I had to stress the great support I received from the Students Association of the Faculty.
At the end of 2016, I asked not to be a part of the following edition of the Applicant's Day, the 2017 edition.
Professor, your research is focused on hemorheology, which means the blood, its properties and elements. Basically, on the whole blood dynamics. However, we know that you favourite cell is the erythrocyte, which is the red blood cell. How did you develop your interest in this area?
Carlota Saldanha: I began my research work with Professor Carlos Manso on the erythrocyte metabolism, with Dr., currently Professor Lúcio Botas; apart from the classes and preparing them, I began researching on the literature we had; and I even thought about taking some medicine classes. I even went to see Professor David Ferreira to ask for his opinion.
Then came Professor Martins e Silva, whose work was in the field of red blood cells and metabolism and whose thesis was on purines and pyrimidines, if I am not mistaken. But he was interested in the red blood cell and it was at this stage that I started to implement methodologies for the use of the erythrocyte as an experimental model to establish the connection with the clinical area. That's when I got excited about blood pressure; trying to understand the mechanism was a great challenge. Going to conferences and explaining what I had quantified in the red blood cells and trying to establish the connection with the clinical part was very hard, because there was no knowledge regarding that connection. I was highly focused on that part of the metabolism, always with different pathologies. Then, I focused on diabetes, there were no kits that allowed us to perform the Ac1 testing. It was I who designed the first method for quantifying the Ac1, which I presented at a Congress organised by Professor Pádua.
In the 80's, I began studying hemorheology with Professor Martins e Silva. It was in Germany where I learned the aggregation and deformability techniques of the red blood cell, as well as other methodologies for assessing the membrane composition which has been applied to different pathologies.
But I am a Chemical Engineer and, therefore, I had to do my Doctoral studies in the field of Engineering. The red blood cell contains an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase and I have dedicated myself to studying its kinetics, by applying the knowledge I have acquired in the field of enzymology when I attended the previously mentioned course, at the Gulbenkian Science Institute. I attended courses at NATO, one of which on "Enzymology," with the major experts at the time who were responsible for the best compendiums on this complex field. Everyone kept asking me what I was doing, because this enzyme is "insane;" they said, "that is very complicated, do not go that way, change the subject, change it," but, as you can see, I'm a woman who likes to face challenges. Not knowing the role of such enzyme was what actually caught my attention. Previously, as suggested by Professor Martins e Silva, we had verified and published with the group of Professor Nogueira da Costa the increase in the enzymatic activity in the erythrocytes of patients suffering from high blood pressure. But we didn't know why that happened; it hydrolyses the substrate, which is acetylcholine (its natural substrate; it is a molecule which is found at the level of neuromuscular junction and in several brain tissues) which prevents us from receiving nerve impulses all the time.
In order to develop my thesis, I had to leave the country, because here I didn't have the amount of blood cells or the devices needed to purify the enzyme and, for that reason, I had to leave and I have been received in Bern, where I spent more than a month inside a white-tiled room with many litres of blood cells to be able to purify the enzyme. They allowed me to bring the purified enzyme and with the help of Mr. Carlos Moreira (currently a Professor at FMUL), who developed a program adapted to the enzyme's kinetic curve. I really enjoyed this work. I learned a lot and consolidated the knowledge I had previously acquired. It contributed to establishing an understanding between the basic part and the clinical part.
In 2000, there was the need to give a direction to the research on the acetylcholinesterase and I started analysing the vascular part and the Nobel Prize on the NO caught my attention; I was fascinated by the fact that they have used little pieces of the pig's artery which would dilate after being injected with acetylcholine or, if they caused damage to the endothelium, it would contract when exposed to acetylcholine. Later, I found, in literature, that a group in Japan had found that the acetylcholine was present in the blood flow and that it was produced by the endothelium and by the lymphocytes, in cases of inflammation. So, my reasoning was to think that if the acetylcholine dilates the endothelium, will it also be capable of modifying the blood cells' deformability? And if the acetylcholine causes that endothelium to release nitric oxide (NO) both to the lumen and to the smooth muscle causing the vascular dilation, maybe there is NO in the erythrocyte? These were the two key questions and, in fact, I confirmed the presence of NO in the erythrocyte and that the acetylcholine increased the blood cells' deformability. From then on, I continued to develop that work, knowing that the acetylcholinesterase associated with the substrate and/or inhibitors shows active, less active and inactive forms. I found that this enzyme plays the role of receptor in the signal transduction mechanism of the NO and is mediated by the NO
As a Group Leader at the CSaldanha. LAB has it always been your intention to embrace the interests of those who work with you and I also know that as a leader you always maintained a close relationship with everybody? Is this what makes a good leader?
Carlota Saldanha: I have to look at others as a whole. I have always tried to understand why people have certain interests and what makes them move forward. I have always tried to make them feel good about each other. And I also applied that same method as Interim Director of the Biochemistry Institute. But, of course… there were rules in the lab, the rules I talked about earlier, and in that matter I am truly intransigent. However, when it comes to working hours, every researcher had the freedom to set their own working schedule. I always tried to be involved in everything, by being receptive to everything and everyone.
I have always believed in people, which makes us more vulnerable at times, like, for example, when you find out that someone is leaving on the day before the deadline for delivering a thesis or the day before the beginning of the academic year. At the time, I felt powerless. But I needed to fix it, and I did.
Professor, I know that a few days ago you were voted for receiving the Fahraeus Medal Award, a prize awarded by the European Society of Hemorheology and Microcirculation, that highlights the great scientists in the field of Hemorheology and Microcirculation. How did you feel when you found out?
Carlota Saldanha: I wasn't expecting it,; I feel very honoured and happy, but, yet again, it represents another challenge, because I have to give a lecture, which is the highlight of the Conference. I want to give a memorable lecture.
Professor, have you been to Mozambique since you moved to Lisbon?
Carlota Saldanha: I have been there twice. The first time was 10 years ago and then 5 years later. The first time, my son took me to Beira, where I realised that my School, which I thought was so big as a kid, was actually very small. We went to Kruger, in South Africa and it was an amazing experience. I didn't get the chance to go to Gorongosa, but as I recall it, it was magnificent. It makes you feel so peaceful.
And what about the future?
Carlota Saldanha: I have to finish reviewing an article, which is what is concerning me at the moment; I went to a conference; I have to attend three more this year, including crazy travelling, that is, I have to make many stops, for economic reasons. I still have articles to publish. I am very pleased to have this room here at the Biochemistry Institute, which has been provided by Professor Miguel Castanho. It is very good for me, as working at home is not the same. I'm not much of a planner, but I intend to live up to my motto "being better tomorrow than you were yesterday" and to be more available to my family.
Allow me, Cristina, to thank all my friends across the different areas in the 2 buildings of the CAML, for their unconditional support and for treating me so well.
Acknowledgement – The editorial team would like to thank Professor Ana Santos Silva Herdade and Professor Ângelo Calado for their valuable contribution and for their help in collecting the information and preparing the interview.
Cristina Bastos


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Smooth and mellow with a very berry flavor! - We love this wine. This was our first experience with the 2016 and it is a very young wine but still very pleasant now and will likely mature with time.
A great wine for the price - This wine was first introduced to me at an Italian wedding. I later found it at a local store and now thru Empire Wine & Spirits. I purchase it by the case. A very drinkable, smooth wine by itself, with a sharp cheddar or a handful or white grapes!
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I like it. It's my go to wine. But I'm getting bored.
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No questions about Gran Passione Veneto Rosso 2017 posted yet.


Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku is now tied with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo with four goals in the Russia FIFA World Cup tournament, leading all World Cup scorers.
Lukaku's first score of the game came in the 16th minute, putting Belgium up 2-0. The Belgians held a 3-1 edge at halftime, before claiming a 5-2 victory in the Group G clash at Spartak Stadium.
Lukaku's second score was an absolute masterpiece.
Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne fed the ball into midfielder Thomas Meunier at the top of the box to begin the sequence. Meunier dribbled around the the outside of the boundary, before slipping in a pass between two defenders.
Lukaku bolted into the box and used his first touch to chip the ball over Farouk Ben Mustapha with his right boot in first half stoppage time.
The goal gave Lukaku 40 career international scores. He also has back-to-back games with at least two goals.
Lukaku also scored twice in Belgium's 3-0 win against Panama on Monday at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia.
Belgium plays its final Group G match against England at 2 p.m. Thursday at Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad.


text:
ARRIVEDERCI, KIM'S VIDEO
For a final post of '08, I'll note the closing of the Kim's Video rental store on St. Marks Place, that home of region-free art cinema, scuzzed-out sexploitation VHS, and the occasional bootleg. As noted in Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, the collection is being packed up and shipped… to Salemi, Italy.
From the blog post:
According to the extensive informational poster on display in Mondo Kim's on St. Marks, "The town of Salemi is planning to launch the Neverending Festival, a non-stop public projection of Kim's Video Collection DVDs in their new home."
In addition, "For paid-up Kim's members, access to the collection will always be free of charge. Furthermore, Salemi will provide accommodations to both Kim's members and students who want to have access to the collection at minimum charge."
Hear that? Let's go to Sicily and watch Teenage Devil Dolls and Delinquent Daughters!
I didn't stop to think tonight whether I had any money left on account.
The Daily News is covering this as well. From Lauren Johnston's article:
For owner Yongman Kim, losing his video collection marks the end of an era. "I think my passion in loving film to share and introduce to New Yorkers is no longer valid,"he told the Daily News via e-mail.
Kim cited the "so-called Internet revolution"as one cause of the store's demise. Online rental services like Netflix hurt business, and Kim also blames digital distractions like e-mail and YouTube – activities he says occupy the time people once spent watching movies at home….
"I now do not want to fight against the new stream,"Kim said. "I just want to disappear calmly."
So, tonight, let's toast Mr. Kim and the end of a downtown cultural institution. He had a great run, and if I'm ever in Salemi I'll be sure to stop by.
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Immersive Storytelling for The Lost Children By Mark Harris on Dec 23, 2012


text:
Q: Process Zip files in Hadoop map I am an newbie to Hadoop and Mapreduce.
Now I need to process a zip file in myproject using Mapreduce, like input have to be a zip file and the output may be zip or text file.
Can anyone give me sample or suggest me a link for that.
Thanks,
varadhan.S

A: I am also currently working on Hadoop and Mapreduce. there is no need to specially specify anything for Zip file. the hadoop automatically unzips and processes them. But, Output is Text what I am using. I am processing currently Huge number of Compressed files where each tar.gz file contains one text file each.
Regards
Balaram


text:
Q: Should I implement my own mean, std. deviation and median in C++? Should I implement my own mean, std. deviation and median in C++, or there is already existing code I should use? I need to calculate these for a std::vector.
Thanks