The Fusion Art Gallery makes a fresh start with Jennifer (rosa). The group exhibition featuring the Jennifer rosa artists from Vicenza (names), entitled Alter Logos, deals with the contradiction that is in itself the coherence of being human. Through the use of a specific system, it emphasizes the tenacity and the effort, the individual's monomaniacal obsession about acting with and within the mass, the ineffectiveness of it, the frustration of the perpetual motion which determines nothing but itself, the indescribable and the unfathomable, and the race to self-affirmation through a silent body language, the other language. Whilst Alter Logos liberates the matter from its strict rational rules through acting, it also highlights its anarchic contents by curbing the scheme with rules and discipline. In fact each performance, live, in a video or in a photograph, conveys to the audience a sense of dark unconventionality and rebellion by using a tight frame, shaking movements, or by skilfully lighting up the darkness. At the same time they cool down the enthusiasm by submitting the audience to the rules' inevitable (emasculation) deprivation effect, to precepts though aleatory, for instance, by giving instructions to the performer, planning the actions, controlling the sound and visual effects, or by anticipating the audience's physical arrangement. As a result the spectators are forbidden to understand the meaning of the performance, to attend the final scene, to reach the goal, and, in other words, to be part of the show.
Jennifer rosa delves deeper into the collective behaviour of the individual. They encourage us to reflect on what we really want, the actual independence/ arbitrariness of our actions, why we surrender to the inevitability of facts, and why we are pleased with being a part of the whole (group, class, belief, movement) although it is agonizing. Nevertheless, our swindled/ brindled bodies move, proceed, suggest, discuss, and create.
The artists tell us about the everyday life, they don't seek abstraction. They encourage us. They show us what we are, the misery and nobility of the incoherence of human beings, our overflowing Ego, but also the awareness of our minimal quantum physical entity, giants on a psychological scale, but still pathological dwarfs.
The artists will be present at the opening reception September 25th 2015.
During The Day of Contemporary Art - A.M.A.C.I. - the exhibition will also feature the MASSA performance on Saturday, October 10 from 5-6.00pm to follow AperiFusion to talk to the artists, and on Saturday, October 24 from 5-8.00pm Book Presentation (limited edition 100 pieces) in collaboration with EDIZIONI INAUDITE, Collana Gli Irriverenti, and it will be attended by the philosopher Alfonso Cariolato.
With the Alter Logos Art Exhibition the new Fusion Art Gallery opens to the public. There is a new Gallery Director, Barbara Fragogna (artist, former curator of the KunstHaus Tacheles in Berlin and founder of the Edizioni Inaudite publishing project), and a new program. It includes and aims for an international exchange through the Fusion AIR Stay Project, and whose goal is to disclose/propose Italian and foreign artists inside the Piazza Peyron gallery. The Fusion Art Gallery is not a commercial art gallery but, as an independent space for artistic experimentation and research, it yearns to interact with other institutional realities of the area and beyond.
With support of: Edizioni Inaudite.


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Tiny swimming robots heal back together when sliced in half
By Ben Coxworth
One of the microbots continues on its way around a petri dish, after its severed rear end reattached itself to the rest of the robot
We've been hearing a lot lately about micro-robots, that could one day perform tasks such as capturing pollutants from the environment. Scientists have now created a sturdy batch of such bots, that heal back together when cut in two.
Most "microbots" developed so far have been made of materials such as soft hydrogels or hard polymers. Although these substances may stand up to applications such as targeted drug delivery within the human body, they could tear or snap when subjected to harsh mechanical stress in the outside world.
Prof. Joseph Wang, along with his colleagues at the University of California-San Diego, designed the experimental new self-healing robots with that limitation in mind. Each fish-shaped unit is 2 cm long (0.8 in) and consists of a layer of conductive material on the bottom, a layer of stiff hydrophobic (water-repelling) material in the middle, a top strip of aligned magnetic microparticles, and a platinum tail.
When one of the robots is placed in a weak hydrogen peroxide solution, the platinum reacts with that chemical, producing oxygen bubbles which propel the bot forward. If the robot is cut in half, the tail end will continue to swim on its own, circling around until it collides with the front end. Magnetic attraction then pulls the two halves together, joining them back into one.
In tests performed in petri dishes, the robots were even able to reform themselves after being cut into three pieces – the swimming tail first joined up with one piece, and then the two of them proceeded to merge with the other piece.
The self-healing microbots are described in a paper that was recently published in the journal Nano Letters, and can be seen in action in the video below.
Source: American Chemical Society
Small Robot Swimmers That Heal Themselves From Damage | Headline Science
RoboticsMicrobotsSelf-healingAmerican Chemical SocietyUC San DiegoNew Atlas Audio
Ben Coxworth
Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an English BA from the University of Saskatchewan, then spent over 20 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Ben is particularly interested in scientific innovation, human-powered transportation, and the marine environment.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Acanthurus maculiceps es una especie de pez marino de la familia de los peces cirujanos (Acanthuridae).

Es una especie ampliamente distribuida en el océano Indo-Pacífico, y rara en la mayor parte de su área de distribución, aunque razonablemente común en algunas áreas como el mar de Bismarck en Papúa Nueva Guinea o  Raja Ampat en Indonesia.

Descripción
Posee la morfología típica de su familia, cuerpo comprimido lateralmente y ovalado. La boca es pequeña, protráctil y situada en la parte inferior de la cabeza. El hocico es grande. Tiene 9 espinas y 24 a 26 radios blandos dorsales; 3 espinas y entre 23 y 24 radios blandos anales; 16 radios pectorales; 19 a 23 branquiespinas anteriores y 21 a 24 branquiespinas posteriores. Un ejemplar de 182 mm tiene 17 dientes en la mandíbula superior y 20 en la inferior, con 222 mm de largo tiene 18 en la superior y 20 en la inferior.

Como todos los peces cirujano, de ahí les viene el nombre común, tiene 2 espinas extraíbles en el pedúnculo caudal, que las usan para defenderse o dominar.

El color base del cuerpo es marrón-oliva , y recubierto por líneas irregulares horizontales más pálidas, difíciles de ver en algunos ejemplares. Lo más distintivo de su apariencia es el moteado, en blanco o amarillo claro, que abarca la cabeza. Tiene una pequeña banda oscura horizontal detrás del ojo, partiendo del opérculo branquial. La aleta dorsal tiene 9 líneas longitudinales más oscuras, y en su base, una línea de color marrón muy oscuro, que se ensancha hacia la parte posterior. La aleta pectoral tiene el tercio exterior de color amarillo. La aleta caudal tiene una franja blanca en la base. Los ejemplares adultos grandes desarrollan un perfil marcadamente convexo en la cabeza.

Alcanza los 40 cm de largo.

Hábitat y distribución
Es una especie bentopelágica, que habita zonas de arrecifes exteriores. Ocurre solitario o en pequeños grupos. Los adultos forman "escuelas" normalmente para alimentarse de algas, con frecuencia mezclados con especies emparentadas.

Su rango de profundidad es entre 1 y 15 m. Su rango de temperatura es tropical, entre  24 y 28 °C.

Se distribuye por el océano Indo-Pacífico. Es especie nativa de Australia; isla Baker; Cocos; Comoros; Guam; isla Howland; Indonesia; Japón; Kiribati; Malasia; Maldivas; islas Marianas del Norte; Islas Marshall; Micronesia; Nauru; Isla Navidad; Niue; Palaos; Papúa Nueva Guinea; Samoa; Samoa Americana; Islas Salomón; Taiwán; Timor-Leste; Tokelau; Tuvalu y Wallis y Futuna.

Alimentación
Se alimentan principalmente de algas. Está clasificado como herbívoro-detritívoro.

Reproducción
No presentan dimorfismo sexual aparente, salvo en el cortejo, en el que los machos varían su coloración. Son ovíparos y de fertilización externa. No cuidan a sus crías.

Los huevos son pelágicos, de 1 mm de diámetro, y contienen una gotita de aceite para facilitar la flotación. En 24 horas, los huevos eclosionan larvas pelágicas translúcidas, llamadas Acronurus. Son plateadas, comprimidas lateralmente, con la cabeza en forma de triángulo, grandes ojos y prominentes aletas pectorales. Cuando se produce la metamorfosis del estado larval al juvenil, mutan su color plateado a la coloración juvenil, y las formas de su perfil se redondean.

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 FishBase: ficha especie(en inglés)
 EOL: ficha especie(en inglés)

maculiceps
Peces del océano Índico
Peces del océano Pacífico

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Sam joined Mantle Financial Planning in 2009 having previously been with Alexander Forbes and HSBC bank. Based on the South Coast Sam covers Southampton, Portsmouth, Bournemouth and the surrounding areas as well as covering Surrey and London. In her spare time she enjoys keeping fit and socialising with her vast network of friends.


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If you're hopping on the New Year's fitness bandwagon, don't miss these local specials
ACAC is one of many gyms in the area offering discounted memberships and packages for new clients who want to drop weight for the new year. Photo: Elli Williams
12/26/13 at 1:30 PM
Tourist season at the gym is upon us. Whether folks are inspired by hitting the restart button for 2014, or disheartened by the tightness of their jeans post-holiday binging, it's no secret that January and February bring an influx of treadmill neophytes to fitness centers.
But despite an inclination for gyms and studios to incentivize new members with seasonal specials, ACAC Membership Director Joe Schwar said the bulk of the January workout rush is not made up of new clients.
"All the gym rats complain about how many people are in the club, and think we're selling all these new memberships with incentives for people to join, but we really don't," Schwar said. "The people you see in a health club in January and February are folks who have been paying all year long; they just really haven't been using it that often. If their New Year's resolution is to drop weight, their thought process is they might as well start coming in."
I'm guilty of it myself. Even as an avid exerciser, it's easy to fall off the wagon between Halloween and December 31. So once I renew my monthly membership—at a discounted price, no less—I'll be right there with you, swearing up and down that this is just the motivation I needed to start the new new year on the right foot. Luckily, Charlottesville has workout facilities out the wazoo, and most of them are more than happy to help you out with your resolution.
ACAC
All three ACAC locations are offering "the gift of wellness" through December 31. For $50, try out a four-week membership that includes access to the pool, fitness centers, and group classes. You must purchase the special by the end of the year, but can wait as late as January 31 before starting. There's also a $79 six-week membership available that must be activated before the end of December.
Carver Recreation Center/ Smith Aquatic & Fitness Center
Buy an access pass for two months at Carver or Smith and get the third month free. This offer begins on January 1 and runs through February 16.
Opal Yoga
Vinyasa studio Opal Yoga is taking 20 percent off all five-, 10-, and 20-class passes up until December 31.
Ring in the new year with Anytime Fitness in Charlottesville and Ruckersville, which is offering new members an enrollment fee of $14 in honor of 2014.
The 24-hour gym with two Charlottesville locations has dropped the $149 enrollment fee to $29, valid through the end of the year. Or, sign up for a six-month membership and get three months free, with no initiation fee.
CrossFit Charlottesville
Want to kick off the new year by running with a wheelbarrow of sandbags? CrossFit Charlottesville is offering new members a three-month, prepaid membership—which includes access to all classes—for $299 up until December 31.
MADabolic Inc.
If you're looking for intense interval training and conditioning, keep an eye on MADabolic Inc.'s Facebook page. Sometime between now and the first week of January, it'll announce a two-day flash sale with a hefty discount on memberships and packages. New clients can also try 10 days for $10.
Starting January 1, the national chain will allow new members to pay their first month dues on committed terms with no enrollment fee, or they can pay an enrollment cost and not be under a binding contract.
For the seasoned veterans
For those of you who are already active and looking for a new routine, a smaller, boutique-style gym may be up your alley.
"Unfortunately the industry has inundated people with New Year's resolutions," said Jana Burnett, co-owner of Success Studio Fitness Facility. "We definitely have more of a commitment thing instead of just membership."
Burnett said Success Studio runs a special program in February, which she's found to be the busiest month of the year for serious trainers who need to get back into a regular routine now that the kids are back in school and the holidays are over.
Other specialty studios and gyms like Solidarity CrossFit*, The Gym, and M2 Personal Training will hit the ground running in January, with regular priced boot camps and long-term goal-oriented programs. They also stress that members should prepare for a committed workout regime, not just a month-long stint.
ACAC is one of many gyms in the area offering discounted memberships and packages for new clients who want to drop weight for the new year.
*Solidarity CrossFit is not offering a New Year's special, but enter discount code C-VILLE when registering online and get $10 off.
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@eatdrinkcville
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Internet Travel Monitor - Marketing, Research & Tech
Leisure Demand Will Mean Higher Prices Less Supply for Biz Travelers
With leisure travel plowing full steam ahead and business travel and meetings zig-zagging with new variants and ongoing return-to-office delays, suppliers are beginning to envision a world where the value of the business traveler has changed. They're making planning decisions that could negatively affect travel managers and their travelers—at least for the short-term.
Less Supply, Higher Prices
The car rental shortage reported a year ago continues. Bookings are still difficult to come by. Choices are fewer. In addition, the average daily rental rate in the United States in December 2019 was $46; by December 2021 it was $81, according to travel company Kayak.
"Car rental companies are definitely being discretionary in terms of what they'll accept," said one industry consultant. "They want longer rentals, they don't like one-way, and right now they don't have to accept them." Business travelers should book a car prior to securing a flight, they recommend, adding, "It's much more severe than what is being talked about in the market. Corporate travelers are very frustrated."
Airlines, too, have made schedule changes and route cuts, particularly to secondary and tertiary markets—markets that typically were supported by business travelers—in favor of more leisure destinations.
Many carriers have noted that small and midsize enterprises are leading the return of business travel, but they will feel the upcoming supply shortage and price pinch the most. Overall, with fewer options and increased demand as business travel is expected to meaningfully return in 2022, we'll likely see higher prices first before airlines resume their schedules and routes. It's Economics 101.
While hotels are in a somewhat different situation as they have more supply, they've managed to retain their price integrity during the recovery more so than when compared with past crises. Average daily rate continued to improve during 2021. By December, it was up 6.7 percent compared with December 2019. Prices are expected to continue their recovery into 2022. STR this week anticipated ADR will reach $134 in 2022. In 2019, it was about $131.
Catering to Leisure Travelers
On American Airlines' recent Q4 earnings call, incoming CEO Robert Isom said the company was working on a plan to build an airline that can be profitable even without the full return of managed corporate travel. Its head of revenue Vasu Raja noted that leisure travelers were buying business-style products. Premium cabin sales were more robust in Caribbean and leisure destinations than typical business locations.
"That's going to lead to a lot of things," Raja said. "That's why we have done a lot of things where we are increasingly rewarding travel, which is not just for how frequently people fly, but for simply spending on our credit cards or spending all across the airline. And we think there is even more to do."
Does that mean there will be fewer business class or premium seats available for the corporate traveler as leisure travelers can more easily claim rewards? That remains to be seen. The industry consultant, however, said wholesalers and tour operators were offering discounted business and premium seats, and as with rental cars, business travelers need to book much further out to secure them.
What is clear is that loyalty programs will be in transition, for both airlines and hotel companies, with efforts focused on leisure travelers.
"With high-volume business travel down, traditional loyalty programs no longer make sense," according to the 2022 State of the Hotel Industry report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, which labeled 2022 as "the year of the 'new' traveler," stating guests are increasingly likely to be leisure or "bleisure" travelers, or digital nomads. "Loyalty programs that target the needs of business travelers and are based primarily on accruing points will be increasingly less relevant. The imperative now is programs for people who travel less and for leisure purposes."
Effect on Buyers
What does all this mean for travel buyer? For one, it could mean dissatisfied travelers. It also could make it harder for them to secure savings, especially if they need to add other preferred suppliers. For example, if a corporation had an exclusive airline, but now needed a second partner to meet coverage needs, the first carrier might not be willing to give as good a discount as previously. It could work the same for cars and hotels.
Travel managers also need to educate their travelers—both former road warriors as to the changes they are about to experience, as well as new hires during the past two years who have yet to go on their first business trip. In addition, there are employees who may have worked in an office and are now remote but need to meet with their team quarterly. They, too, are new business travelers.
Buyers also might need to revisit travel policies and increase trip budgets, not only because of rising supplier costs, but also because there is a bigger responsibility for duty of care, said a second consultant. Because business travel volume is expected still to be lower this year than in 2019, total spend may not go up, but the price-per-traveler likely will increase.
Doesn't that increase the value of the business traveler to suppliers? Perhaps, if there was more business volume. But suppliers are heeding tailwinds that say the balance between business and leisure is changing. The trick will be to make sure they don't alienate their corporate partners and travelers in the short-term, because though it may not look the same, business travel will come back, as it always does.
Copyright 2022 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. All rights reserved. From https://www.businesstravelnews.com. By Donna M. Airoldi.
To view all articles, check out the Internet Travel Monitor Archive


Mr. Avramović graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, where he received his MA and then PhD in 1988. He was elected Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Traffic, University of Belgrade, the pan-European university "Apeiron" in Banja Luka and Faculty of Management in transport and communications" in Berane (Montenegro). He is Visiting professor at the respected University American College Skopje – Faculty of Computer technology and informatics, FYR Macedonia.
Prof. Avramović has so far published 191 scientific and professional work. As a manager, author, coauthor, or associate participated in the development of 143 studies and projects.
As a technical consultant Multimedia ITV company from Belgrade designed and implemented technical and commercial solutions VAS SMS service, which was put into operation as the first solution in this part of Europe.
He realized the information-communication system that encompassed the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia and that integrate phone, communication, computer and television system as a whole, and treat any location in the telephone system of the country.
He has received a large number of awards and recognitions among which Gold Medal for Merit in Electrical, Electrical Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Grozdanović graduated from the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Department of Digital Engineering, in Nis. He defended his master's thesis in 1987 at the Faculty of Occu-pational Safety in Nis. Doctoral dissertation he defended in 1989 at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Upon graduation he was performing the following jobs: a development engineer in the Electronic Industry – Component Parts Plant, the investment programs manager in Iskra Commerce Ljubljana – the Niš Branch, the assistant general manager in TP "Elektrotehna" Niš, the assistant general manager for development and research and later the general manager deputy in EI Holding Corporation.
Within the Faculty of Occupational Safety, in 1994, he was elected the assistant professor for the subject "Ergonomic Design". In 1995 he entered part-time and in 1997 full-time employment. He was engaged in the subjects "Ergonomic Design", "Systems of Fire Detecting and Reporting" and "Living Environment Quality Planning and Control". He has been teaching Ergonomics at the postgraduate studies of the Faculty continually since the 1996/97 academic year. He was elected the full professor in 2003.
He was Dean on Faculty of Occupational Safety (2002-2004), Vice Rector of University of Nis (2004-2006) and in 2009 he held function of the Rector of University of Nis.
Prof. Grozdanović is the author of two monographs, 12 parts of books, about 220 scientific papers of which more than 120 were published and presented abroad.
The basic scientific preoccupation in his abundant research activities was the ergonomic design of management and control centers of automated systems and the methodological directions of ergonomic scientific thought development. In addition to these basic research fields, he is engaged in the problems of human reliability and human error, in quality management of working and living environment, that is the automation and human factor, in bio-cybernetic relations in the man-machine system, in human reengineering of work, in professional risk assessment, mathematical modeling of human activity, ergonomic standardization and ergonomic design of products.
At the Department of Automatic Control and Informatics Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Nis he graduated in 1983. At the same faculty he earned his M.Sc. in 1997- in the Department of Computer Science. He earned his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Banja Luka 2011. After graduation in 1984. he started working in the Electronic Industry Nis in the development sector RO "Professional Electronics". As a young engineer he is going through all the instances of the system for training engineers in the Electronics industry, which was based on continuous learning and improvement. At the beginning of a career in the electronics industry he performs a Constructor, Independent Engineers and later the Main engineer in the development sector. As the director of development at Ei "Professional Electronics" he is set in 1992, when it was realized the first national electronic electricity meters.Recognizing the importance of the market and customer relations, Ei professional electronics in 2001 formed a new marketing and development and dr Zoran Velickovic comes at the its head like already seasoned engineer.Since 2004, dr Zoran Velickovic was engaged at the Higher Technical School in Nis as a senior lecturer when start his academic career. Since 2007, he received a steady engagement at the College of Applied Technical Sciences in Nis as a Professor of Professional Studies for specific scientific areas: Computer Science and Communication with electronics. He is also engaged in basic and specialized applied studies.Prof. He published ninety-two scientific papers. In the renowned international journals and scientific conferences he has published 50 papers, while in international journals and scientific conferences he has published 42 works. The works include the field of digital telecommunications, computing, programming and digital signal processing. Prof. Zoran Velickovic is co-author of three books which are used as textbooks in basic and specialized vocational studies.
He finished the Military Technical Academy in Zagreb – the department for electronics, where he graduated in 1979 as the first of his class with score of 9.80. He acquired his postgraduate (Magister's) Degree in 1986. He obtained his PhD at the Faculty of Technical Science Novi Sad with the subject of his thesis: "Spatio-frequency analysis of radio-frequency spectrum". Between October 1981 and the end of 2009, he worked at the Military Technical Institute (MTI) Belgrade in the telecommunications department, as a researcher and head of units for electronic reconnaissance and electronic counter measure. Since 2002 he worked as the head of department for electronic reconnaissance and counter measure systems and systems engineering and as head of the telecommunications department and head of department for electronic systems.
Since 2008 he has been engaged at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, where he teaches one subject on master studies and three subjects on PhD studies. Since he started working for MTI, he has continually been engaged in research of methods and technical solutions as well as the development related to systems for electronic reconnaissance (monitoring) of radio-frequency spectrum. His expertise is the field of spatio-temporal (array) processing of radio-communications and acoustic signals, specially MUSIC algorithm (MUltiple SIgnal Classification). He had published more than 160 papers so far within both national and international conferences and magazines.Miljko Erić was either leader or involved in the various significant research and development projects within MTI, implemented for the System of Defence.
He graduated at University of Belgrade, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Department for Technical Physics in 1994. He finished Master study in 1999. in the department for electrotechnical materials and technology and Ph.D. studies in 2003. at the same faculty. Since 1995. he was employed at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy (University of Belgrade) as teaching assistant. In 1999, he was elected for the assistant, in 2005 as assistant professor, in 2009 as associated professor, and in 2013. as a full professor. Since Nov. 1st 2006. he acts as vice dean for finance at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade. At the Faculty for Technology and Metallurgy he teaches following subjects: Technical physics 1, Technical physics 2 and Measurements and process regulation. At the same faculty he formed new courses: Radiation and radiation protection, and Biophysics at Bachelor studies, Radioactive waste management, and Materials in electrical engineering at Master studies, and Measurements of ionizing and nonionizing radiation, Physics of materials, and Selected topics in biophysics at Doctoral studies. At the Faculty of Technology in Zvornik (University of East Sarajevo) he is teaching following courses: Measurements and process control at Bachelor studies, and Automatic regulation and process control at Master studies.
Up to now, he published 1 faculty handbook, 1 auxiliary handbook, 1 chapter in international monograph, 25 papers in high level international journals, 14 papers in international journals with impact factor, 4 papers in national journals, 23 reports at the international conferences printed in full, 31 reports at the international conferences printed as abstracts, 29 reports at the national conferences printed in full, and 3 expert papers. He was the leader of two national scientific projects, and participated in 11 national and 1 international scientific projects. Area of his scientific work include applied nuclear physics (radioactive resistance and reliability of electronic components and devices), radiation protection, electric discharges in gaseous, as well as photovoltage solar cells.
He graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade in 1979. Postgraduated studies he finished from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade in 1981. Doctoral dissertation with subject Contribution to methodology of software project cost estimate in process of planning and development of information systems he defended in 2000. at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade. He found a job in company Energoprojekt, Electric Power System department, in 1979, and was engaged in design of telecommunication systems in electric power industry organizations. He was engaged with the Army Military Technical Institute (MTI) in 1983. године, in the area of development and research of digital multiplex equipment as well as equipment for line transmission over wire and fibre optic cables. From the beginning of 1991. he was engaged with Energoprojekt Entel plc, for the first he was engaged in design and implementation of electric power telecommunication systems in Serbia and abroad (Qatar, Oman), next nine years he was engaged as Head of Telecom and IT department in EP Entel, and since 2003. he has been engaged as the Head of Integrated Management System (IMS) Department in Entel, in development and improvement of quality management system, environmental management system, occupational health and safety management system energy management system as well as information security management system.
During his professional and research career he was engaged in areas of telecommunications, software engineering, renewable sources of energy (use of wind energy) integrated management systems and project management. He has been published more than 130 papers, including 6 in journals of international significance. In period 2008-2012. he was engaged as professor at The Project Management College in Belgrade. He managed two projects within the National Program of Energy Efficiency (NPEE), initiated by Ministry of science and environmental protection.
Mr. Baranov was employed at the Moscow State University (MGU - Moskovskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet) in 1962. He defended his master's thesis in 1966, and the doctoral dissertation in 1974. Since 1984, he has been the Head of the Department: Control and Information Technology in Technical Systems.
As the only author or co-author, prof. Baranov has published about 300 scientific and professional papers in Russia and abroad, out of which eight monographs, one textbook and 34 author's patents.
He was awarded the Nikola Tesla Golden Medal for science in 1999 in the field of Theory of Transportation System Automatic Control, in particular because he has founded a scientific school in the field of underground train movement automatic control, has developed method for the analysis and synthesis of controllers for automatic train movement control system, and because he has obtained fundamental results in the field of quantization, time discretizations and setting up of random functions.
professor at the Moscow State University (MGU - Moskovskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet, MPS, MIIT).
So far he has published about 320 scientific and professional papers, books, publications, and he has a great number of patents in the field of electronics and electrical engineering.
Mr. Mojsejevič is winner of the Golden Medal of the Russian Academy of Electrical Engineering Sciences (RAЭN) for merits in electrical engineering, and winner of the national award of Peter the Great.


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Scientists Real and Imagined – Part 1
October 25, 2018 October 25, 2018 photog Current Events, Movie Reviews, OCF Classic Movie Reviews, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Movie Reviews movie review, sci-fi, SJW, The Thing from Another World, Them
Re-posted from 2017 in honor of Halloween
On Saturday afternoons when I was a kid I used to watch Million Dollar Movie on Channel 11 and was able to enjoy such science fiction classics as "Attack of the Crab Monsters" and "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman." Right away I figured out that really big creatures that had been exposed to atomic radiation really liked to attack. But as I became more sophisticated in my sci-fi viewing I eschewed such childish cinematic offerings in favor of more cerebral tales. No more ridiculous giant crab stories. I graduated to "Them" which is the realistic depiction of an attack by giant ants exposed to atomic radiation. In this classic of the fifties I learned that scientists were old and wore glasses and looked like Santa Claus (except for the girl scientists who were young and didn't even look like Mrs. Claus and tended to end up with the FBI agent who starred in the film, who in this case was James Arness of Gunsmoke fame). And the best ones had British accents (or at worst New England accents). Also, no matter what their area of specialization (e.g., physics, botany or myrmecology) they were all equally adept at battling giant creatures exposed to atomic radiation. And they were full of esoteric and valuable information. I found out that the plural of antenna wasn't antennas but rather antennae! This inspired in me a life-long love of the classical Greek and Latin languages. And the most important characteristic of scientists was their love of knowledge. Because of this thirst for knowledge, they were willing to venture into tunnels and basements where even the ubiquitous soldiers in their WWII vintage uniforms were afraid to go. It also meant the scientists were very likely to be munched on by the mutant du jour of the story. But you know, science. So that is how I came to admire scientists. They were cool and smart too. And they always, always, always figured out how to kill the monsters.
But one Saturday, Million Dollar Movie was playing another sci-fi film, "The Thing from Another World." I was suspicious at first. If it was from another world how did it get here? Had it been exposed to atomic radiation? Would there be enough scientists? These doubts plagued me. But I decided to give it a whirl. Encouraging signs emerged quickly. The creature was indeed radioactive and there was a whole passel of scientists assigned to this movie. One of them even had a New England accent so things seemed to check out. And reassuringly the US military was available for monster eradication duty once the scientists had done the heavy lifting of analysis. Early on a problem arose. This creature was man shaped. He was bald and had strange hands with hypodermic finger nails. But he was no more than eight feet tall. This was highly irregular and seemed to throw into doubt his qualifications for his own movie. Also the scientists in this movie were extremely assertive and gave the military officers a lot of lip. And it seemed they didn't know their primary function, figure out how to kill the monster. This was very confusing. The leader of the scientists kept saying that regardless of how many humans the creature killed, science demanded that no force should be used against it. He kept saying (in a really annoying intonation) that the creature "is wiser than we are" and that "it's our duty to die to preserve the knowledge this creature possesses." Even as a youngster I intuited that this head scientist was what we called back then "a loser." How could this be? He was a scientist! He had the answers. I found this very puzzling and dispiriting. I searched for some reason for this failure on the scientist's part to want to kill the monster. Eventually I developed an hypothesis based on a detailed comparison of "Them" and "The Thing from Another World." At first glance nothing jumped out. But once I checked the cast members it all became clear. As mentioned above, in "Them" the part of the FBI Agent and eventual boyfriend of the scientist's daughter is played by James Arness of "Gunsmoke" fame. It turned out that the part of the Thing was played by none other than James Arness! Well obviously if Arness was the prospective son-in-law of one scientist, then it stood to reason that a fellow scientist would not turn on him. What was at work here was the kind of professional courtesy that, for instance, police confer on each other's family members. Now it made perfect sense. Crisis averted. I could become a scientist without becoming a loser. But I was troubled by all that talk of monsters being wiser than us. And not killing them but instead letting them kill us. It was very strange.
Fast forward forty years. I work as an engineer. I am surrounded by R&D PhDs. They all look and sound like the head scientist in "The Thing from Another World." They drive Priuses and have Tolerance and Coexist, Bernie and Free Tibet bumper stickers on their cars. And suddenly it all makes sense.
12MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
March 12, 2018 March 13, 2018 photog Current Events, Quote of the Day, Uncategorized SJW, SJWs, Vox Day
Let's switch it up to something more topical
The Three Laws of Social Justice Warriors by Vox Day
Social Justice Warriors always lie.
Social Justice Warriors always double down.
Social Justice Warriors always project.
[socialpoll id="2489142″]
August 12, 2017 August 12, 2017 photog Current Events 1984, american exceptionalism, Animal Farm, diversity, feminism, freedom, Google, James Damore, SJW, SJWs, thought crime
Probably so much has been written about this young man that anything I write is bound to be at least somewhat repetitive. So, instead I'll tell you what bothers me about this situation. This is a pretty idealistic good-hearted kid who just got railroaded by the richest company in the world and then pilloried by the press. Can you imagine how his parents feel? Can you imagine how he feels? I listened to him answering the charges trumped up by the media. They did everything they could to twist his statements into misogynistic and somehow even racist sentiments. His answers were measured and well expressed and very much to the point. His facts were accurate and his whole approach was reasonable and genuine. He struck me as a very intelligent and very young man. Naïve is also how I'd describe him. I think he was genuinely surprised that he would be punished the way he was for opinions that were moderate and reasonable. I think his sin is believing the words that his employer told him. James Damore believed Google when they said that those with different opinions could speak openly at Google and have no reason to fear. That was the lie. Someone of my generation knows that is the leftist lie. It is a recasting of the basis of the story "Animal Farm." Basically, it is a way of saying, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Well, he's just learned that lesson. Chances are he'll be just fine. Anyone who goes to multiple Ivy League schools probably won't be out on the streets anytime soon. And I'm sure that his family connections will allow him to bounce back from this setback. So maybe this will make him a wiser man. But he's just learned a hard truth. Because he's a normal white male, he's a second-class citizen and nobody is going to come to his defense at Google or any other Fortune 500 company if he tells the emperor that he has no clothes. He'll be cast into the outer darkness where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Anyone over the age of thirty knows how the corporate diversity speak works. We're all told how important it is and to what lengths we must go to make it work. And if you want to hold onto your job you'll keep quiet and go along at least to the extent of keeping your opinions to yourself. That's what James Damore will do from now on.
But the most important thing that comes out of this whole circus is that more and more people are finding out just how pathetically twisted the whole diversity sham has become. It's become a religion from which no dissent is tolerated or allowed to survive. Possibly this will re-open the debate about the whole government affirmative action racket. Maybe something finally will be done by the Supreme Court.
I wish the best for James in the future. I hope he goes on to great success as a software programmer or whatever tech specialization he possesses. Maybe someday he'll own a company of his own and then he can treat people the way he says he thinks they should be treated. But I just hope he fires the first person who tells him he has to hire more women. That would seem to be poetic justice.
So good luck James and welcome to the real world. It ain't pretty.
The Shrieking Calliope of Rage
May 12, 2017 May 12, 2017 photog Current Events, Science Fiction / Fantasy, Trump SJW, Trump, Vox Day
I think Steampunk exists because the steam powered devices of the 19th century were so impressive to the senses. A steam locomotive fairly writhed with barely latent explosive potential. Even the safety relief valves that prevented the whole thing from rupturing into a multi-ton shrapnel device assaulted your ears with a screeching shriek that hardly spoke to any sane person's mind of safety or relief. This impressiveness transfers well to the written page. A good writer can weave a word image of the sights and sounds and the feel of the vibrations and even the taste and smell of steam coming off one of these mechanical monsters. Off the top of my head, I can think of two examples from imaginative works. The first is the Calliope and Carousel from Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes." The other is in the final scene in the boiler room from King's "The Shining." In both cases the steam powered engine is almost an entity in itself. A manic energy emanates from it and powers the action of the scene and drives the protagonist to attempt to disarm the menace of his shrieking foe.
So, where am I going with this? Oh come on, you know me by now. The hissing, sputtering, shrieking machine that threatens at any minute to explode from apoplectic rage is the MSM and its faithful audience. In the last week or so we have had any number of the usual suspects screaming, crying, cussing and threatening disaster over every and any action of the Administration. In some ways it is impressive. To keep up a hissy fit this long is no mean feat. Some of these individuals are not young and so you'd think the risk of stroke is not negligible. I'd say the most noteworthy instances to list were Stephen Colbert and Maxine Waters. Colbert had a meltdown over Trump disrespecting a CBS reporter named Dickerson. Colbert went into a rant against Trump and used some extremely derogatory sexual comments that even partisans of the left found offensive. Following that a few days later, he extemporized to his studio audience on the breaking news of FBI Director Comey's firing and was chagrined when the crowd cheered the news. He claimed it was the result of a pro-Trump audience. More likely, his constant attacks on Comey for harming Hillary's election chances temporarily confused the audience into forgetting that we've always been at war with Eastasia. I'm sure he straightened them out on that right away.
Waters took the Comey firing as the one hundredth excuse, to once again, call for the immediate impeachment of Donald Trump. When asked if she would have supported Hillary Clinton firing Comey she said she definitely would. Wow.
In the olden days B.T. (before Trump), a republican president or Congress would quail and jibber under the endless assault of the outrage machine. A Bush or a McCain would waffle and kowtow to accusations of racism or sexism or just plain ism. They were a hapless bunch and the Media and the dems knew it. That's why they are still hitting this play so hard. It always yousta work.
We may be in a golden period. A place in time where the libs are still using tactics that no longer work but before they figure out that they actually do real harm to their case. If this is the case then the trolling of Trump may actually be a very effective way of turning the public against the public positions of the left. Someone like Colbert blowing a fuse on screen might have a truly revelatory effect if at the same time an unapologetic President is managing to get things done in Washington at the same time.
As the inimitable Vox Day has noted SJWs always double down. If that is the case, then there may come a point when even the somnambulistic public wakes up to the fact that the Left has become a shrieking steam engine whose relief valve has been overwhelmed in furtherance of doubling down. And with any luck the Left will blow the whole thing sky high or run it right into a brick wall. If so I can make one last steam analogy reference, "God He stole the handle and the train won't stop going, no way to slow down."
More Anti-Asimov Ranting
March 22, 2017 June 13, 2017 photog Book Reviews, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews Asimov, book review, freedom, Heinlein, Hugo Awards, sci-fi, SJW
So, in my last post about Asimov I decried his descent into collectivist propaganda (Foundation's Edge).
I will continue my diatribe here and show how Asimov devolved from an anthropocentric viewpoint to a proponent of the hive mind.
In 1950 Asimov had a short story called Misbegotten Missionary. In the story an exploratory mission from Earth visits a world named Saybrook's Planet that is populated by communal creatures. Although these creatures take on all the forms needed to make up an ecosystem (microbes, plants and animals) they are all part of one consciousness. In addition, any one of these creatures has the ability to alter all creatures around it so that all their offspring will be communal creatures too. The explorers took precautions to protect their ship from contamination by any biological contact. But unbeknownst to them a solitary creature has stowed away on the ship and is waiting to reach Earth to begin the conversion process. It somehow realizes that the earth creatures monitor bacteria and the mice that they have on board to detect contamination by an alien life form. Because of this the creature refrains from altering any of the ship's life forms to avoid tipping off the crew. The creature is cryptic and disguises itself as a piece of wire in an electrical circuit on the ship. By the kind of remarkable luck that only happens in fiction (or the 2016 presidential election) the wire that the creature is connected to is in the circuit to open the ship door. So instead of converting earth to communalism he gets fried like a death row inmate in Florida. The conclusion has the crew discover the bullet they dodged and everyone breaths a sigh of relief.
Apparently, Asimov was unhappy with this result. So, 32 years later he corrected this mistake in the Foundation sequel, Foundation's Edge. Searching for a mysterious unseen hand in the Foundation universe he follows clues that lead to Sayshell (not Saybrook's Planet) where he learns of the existence of Gaia, a communal intelligence that not only is composed of all the living things on the planet but also the inanimate components too. Now of course, this reeks of James Lovelock's trendy 1970's theory, The Gaia Hypothesis, that Earth was one big super-organism that had become infected with the human virus (thus the Matrix, thus Al Gore). Apparently, Asimov had bought into this theory and saw a harmonization (read Borgian assimilation) of humanity by the communal organism as the perfect solution. And just to make sure no one thinks assimilation is soul extinguishing oblivion, he shows us a human component of the collective who is a cheerful woman who happens to like the protagonist. So, you see, if you glue a smiley face onto the Borg it's all good. And just to make sure no connection to Saybrook's Planet is possible, the protagonist in Foundation's Edge is not forced into the hive but gets to choose whether humanity is melted into a collective consciousness with igneous rocks and hydrogen atoms. You see it's totally okay!
Asimov displays all the symptoms of the proto-sjw that he was. He dislikes individualism. He admires the hive. He desires to remove choice from the currently free. And he dislikes all this random doing what you want to do (except probably for himself of course). And finally to hammer home the lesson that humans can't be left to their own devices we find out that Earth is a radioactive corpse and the whole Gaia situation is a master plan put together by a super-intelligent robot to try to save humans from themselves.
So my question is, what the hell happened to this doofus? And of course, the answer is he just followed the same trajectory as most of the progressives from the thirties who admired the Soviet Union before the Cold War. Now, Heinlein started out in that camp too. But when he changed wives and married a conservative he changed course and rejected the hive. I remember in his novel Methusaleh's Children Heinlein has a world where a race exists that also possesses a collective mind. And the humans also had to make a choice. If they remained they would be assimilated. Only those who feared death remained. Obviously, these collective races are the communists. Heinlein rejected it. Asimov finally embraced it, much to his detriment as a writer and a man. But it did finally earn him a Hugo. So apparently the Hugo had also made the transition by that time.
The Missionaries: A Short Book Review
November 28, 2016 June 13, 2017 photog Book Reviews, Current Events, Reviews book review, Castalia House, colonialism, comedy, SJW
"The Missionaries," by Owen Stanley is a book that can be enjoyed without having to first categorize it. But while reviewing it I feel it is necessary to identify some of the qualities present in order to attract the target audience and repel those who are clearly the targets of its humor. So, trigger warning, if you think Hillary Clinton should have won the 2016 US presidential election you're not going to want to read this book. But if you think that the high point of Boutros Boutros-Ghali's career was reached as a double entendre during a Seinfeld episode then this might be the book for you.
The book is a binge, an aristophanean binge. The characters are in some ways caricatures, but the narrative proceeds fluidly from one fantastically ridiculous scene to the next. The absurdities are piled up, one on top of the other, until the eventual catastrophe finally resolves the comedy.
The story takes place in the indefinite past that, based on tell-tales like typewriters and the existence of the UN, must be taking place during the Cold War. An island in the Pacific called Elephant Island is being administered by an appointee of the Australian government named Roger Fletcher. He has managed to pacify the indigenous (and cannibalistic) tribesmen by convincing them that he is a minor deity of theirs. When the UN is given a mandate to move Elephant Island to independence, it unleashes a chain of events that demonstrates how social justice policy decisions and stone age tribal dynamics can combine to form a close approximation of the Apocalypse.
I would be a spoil sport if I revealed all the better bits that make up this comedy. For me the innovation is seeing all of the sacred cows that are typically given the best lines in novels about the third world (or is it fourth world?) getting mugged by reality. All the pieties about empowering non-western societies come back to bite the smug leftists right in the ass. In fact, from my point of view, they get off too easily. I would have enjoyed much more pay back. But I have quite a bit of Sicilian in my family tree so I shouldn't be considered an objective judge.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for anyone on the right wing who thinks the UN should be defunded and moved to Newark, New Jersey. My only real complaint is I wish it were much longer. I could see this as the basis for series of books or a long television series with episodic action leading slowly to the eventual climax at the end of season five (or even eight). So much more could be added to the characterizations and back stories. I feel cheated that I won't get to read the prequel describing the arrival of Fletcher to Elephant Island and his taming of the natives. We could have been given flashbacks of the UN personnel in their earlier roles. And of course, we could find out whether the capital city (Ungabunga) was named by the indigenous people or (more likely) by Fletcher. But, alas, we'll probably never learn these important details. Damn you Owen Stanley!
Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly recommend The Missionaries to anyone who was ever forced to read any of that genera of modern novels that bemoan the fate of noble indigenous peoples under the control of evil, white, colonial rule. My most dreary example of this genera was a book I received as part of a subscription to a magazine. The book was "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" (APITFOTL) by Peter Matthiessen. It was just alive with noble savages and filthy with misguided missionaries and other white people getting in the way of noble savagery. Reading "The Missionaries" is a sort of catharsis for this. It's as if reading APITFOTL infected my soul and left an overgrown boil that had festered for all these years and this new book was an intellectual scalpel that lanced that boil and allowed it to drain and heal. Wow, I sound like a very angry old guy. Anyway, read the book oh my brothers. It's good for the soul.
The Dragon Awards Results
September 5, 2016 September 5, 2016 photog Science Fiction / Fantasy comic book, Convention, Dead Pool, Dragon Awards, Hugo Awards, Jim Butcher, Larry Correia, Morena Baccarin, movie review, populism, Rabid Puppies, Sad Puppies, SJW, Vox Day
Well the winners were announced yesterday. You can see the official announcement here:
I'll copy the results here:
Best Science Fiction Novel
Somewhither: A Tale of the Unwithering Realm by John C. Wright
Best Fantasy Novel
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett
Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
Hell's Foundations Quiver by David Weber
Best Alternate History Novel
League of Dragons by Naomi Novak
Best Apocalyptic Novel
Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole
Best Horror Novel
Souldancer by Brian Niemeier
Best Comic Book
Best Graphic Novel
The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series
Game of Thrones – HBO
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC/Console Game
Fallout 4 by Bethesda Softworks
Best Science Fiction of Fantasy Mobile Game
Fallout Shelter by Bethesda Softworks
Best Science Fiction of Fantasy Board Game
Pandemic: Legacy by ZMan Games
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role Playing Game
Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (7th edition) by Chaosium Inc.
So what do I think? Great!!!
What's not to love? Oh sure, I have to disagree with picking The Martian over Deadpool for best movie, but you know, it's just the movies and movies are for kids anyway.
So good for the Dragon Con folks for finally making SF&F great again
Some people are saying that the Dragons are to the People's Choice Awards as the Hugos are to the Oscars. I guess that's supposed to be a put-down of the Dragons. But I'll take that analogy. Have you seen the Oscars lately? Every movie they award and most of the movies they nominate suck
You can do a lot worse than let people pick what they like. At least it gives you a good indication of what they're willing to spend their money on. And that's good news for the winners. When a Con that musters 60,000 participants runs an award that can really put a lot of eyeballs on the results. And that's especially good for the newcomers and the smaller categories. Excellent.
Congratulations to all of them.
But of course a bonus feature of the Dragons is who hates the results. All the familiar cast of characters. The Puppy-kickers one and all. But happily they're not gloating. They're exhibiting all the familiar characteristics of angry SJWs. The three laws in full effect. Their pets didn't win. Fraud, ballot box stuffing, skullduggery and possibly even flimflammerry! Larry Correia! Vox Day! Puppies!!!
The administrators must be questioned and found guilty of serious offenses. Pressure must be brought to bear on them to confess their sins and cleanse the awards of its populist taint. Special Snowflake Fairy Dust must immediately be power sprayed onto the contest so that next year the requisite number of special categories will fill the winner's circle with socially just empowerment. They're not following The Narrative! Attention must be paid!!!
Or something like that. Anyway, bravo Dragon winners. Well done. All in all, a nice holiday weekend treat.
Bring on the SFFexit
Sad and Rabid Puppies in 2016, What Will the Future Hold
August 23, 2016 August 27, 2016 photog Science Fiction / Fantasy Convention, Dragon Awards, Hugo Awards, Larry Correia, Monster Hunter, Rabid Puppies, Sad Puppies, sci-fi, SJW, Vox Day
So last week I talked about the Hugos and Dragon Awards. And we'll have to wait for Labor Day to see if the Dragon Award voters look more like Puppies or CHORFs. I think it's an open question as to whether the type of readers who read the Puppy books will bother to vote for them. Sure it's much easier to vote for something that's free, but honestly, most normal people don't know that sci-fi awards even exist. So, to be continued.
But what I do want to write about is the situation on the ground between the Puppies (all flavors) and the CHORFs. I won't go back into the weeds of what it's all about. Instead let's talk about where it's going. This week most of the Puppy Leaders (Larry, Brad, Sarah, Kate, Dave and of course Vox) had something and sometimes a lot to say about the 2016 awards. Here are some of the links.
http://monsterhunternation.com/2016/08/22/my-thoughts-on-the-2016-hugos/#comments
http://monsterhunternation.com/2016/08/23/aw-the-guardians-village-idiot-remembered-my-birthday/#comments
Survival Guide for the Conservative, Classically Liberal, & Libertarian Science Fiction & Fantasy Author
Addressing The Problem™
The Good, The Bad, The Boring
A Puppy At WorldCon
A Wally for me!
https://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/08/post-hugo-analysis.html#comment-form
https://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-worldcon-audio.html#comment-form
https://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/08/why-worldcon-changed-rules.html#comment-form
I've read all their posts and even all the comments. I didn't visit the CHORF sites (although several CHORF trolls were quite active on the comments sections of these puppy posts). I think I have a pretty good idea how everyone is feeling and what they want.
I think the Sad Puppies (most of them) intend to continue their policy of widening the reading and voting circle to include people who like good stories instead of just literary message fiction. By building an awareness of this alternate SFF community they are creating the core of a better fandom.
And this is truly admirable.
I think the Rabids intend to torture the CHORFs whenever and however they can. This is not only to overthrow the tyrannical regime of the SJWs, but also because they really really like doing it.
And this is truly hilarious.
The rabids are the precise remedy for the hollow pomposity and hypocritical virtue-signaling that fandom has devolved into. Rabid malice is almost a separate entity in and of itself.
Now, for the folks in the audience that think that the Rabids are the offenders I direct them to this post about David Truesdale (directly below) to get a feel for how they treat people who don't agree with the narrative they enforce. They're not nice or even fair.
I guess if someone looked at the dichotomy of the two puppy approaches he might compare them to the New and Old Testaments respectively. Basically the Gospel on the one hand and Samson pulling down the Philistine Temple on the other.
Based on some voting numbers that Vox put up on a post, it looks like about 2,000 of the extra voters from last year didn't vote in the finals this year. So they didn't renew their memberships. It seems entirely possible that next year's awards will be even more contentious than 2016 when the best short story nominees included "Space Raptor Butt Invasion." I don't pretend to anticipate or even understand exactly how Vox plans to prosecute his war against the SJWs of SF but I'm almost certain that he has only just begun to torture them. He does seem to take the long view.
Those among the CHORFs that think that the worst is over because the rabid nominations were defeated in the finals do not understand what those nominations mean. For every Space Raptor Butt Invasion that wins a nomination spot, some one of the ancillary writers who faithfully vote the party ticket gets denied the promised spot on the periphery of the circle jerk. Essentially, the incentive for going along with the group-think will begin to evaporate. Before you know it, people will start reading what is actually entertaining instead of "good for you." We can't have that. So it's probably going to get worse for the status quo.
It is reminiscent of some kind of ancient siege. The CHORFs are like some city totally surrounded by a horde of merciless barbarians. They have fought several skirmishes and have even sent out sorties to win the day by concentrating all their resources on offense. But their numbers and resources are dwindling and the horde seems to only get stronger and more blood-thirsty after every encounter. I can only guess at what the mentality and morale of the besieged is currently.
Pass the popcorn.
Thoughts on the 2016 SF&F Awards (Hugos and Dragons)
August 21, 2016 August 27, 2016 photog Science Fiction / Fantasy Dragon Awards, Hugo Awards, Jim Butcher, Larry Correia, Monster Hunter, Rabid Puppies, Sad Puppies, sci-fi, SJW, Vox Day
Well another Hugo Awards has come and gone and the WorldCon convention (this edition in Kansas City called MidAmericon II) ends today after proving that the entrenched powers that be would rather eject legitimate members from their proceedings than allow any dissenting opinions.
I won't review the whole event (see story at link https://voxday.blogspot.com/2016/08/truesdale-expelled-from-worldcon.html ) but the gist of it is that a well known editor of an on-line sf review site (Dave Truesdale of Tangent Online) was expelled from the convention because during his moderation of a panel on short stories he read a statement that blamed the current impoverished state of sf/f short story sales on the unpopularity of social justice themes. Apparently Mr. Truesdale has an audio recording of the proceedings and when he makes it available it is sure to be enlightening and highly entertaining.
But I think it is painfully obvious at this point that WorldCon and the Hugos are irredeemable. I applaud the efforts of the Sad Puppies to open up the membership to a wider audience (and I celebrate the constructive destruction that allowed Space Raptor Butt Invasion to find immortality as a best short story finalist (well done Rabid Puppies)). I even see that continued efforts to influence the nominating and voting outcomes could improve the results of future Hugos above the present dismal pool.
But what I am much more interested in is whether the new Dragon Awards (associated with the Dragon Con organization) will better reflect the tastes and reading choices of the wider science fiction and fantasy public. The fact that voting is free should guarantee a larger voting pool. Of course that's no guarantee of perfect representation but it's sure easier to get people to vote for free than having to plunk down $40 or $50 to do the same.
Right off the bat, an award that has both Jim Butcher and Larry Correia competing for best fantasy novel has got my attention. The Dragon Con takes place during the Labor Day Weekend. It's just a couple of weeks until we'll know whether these awards will provide a more representative measure of the broader taste in science fiction and fantasy. If it resembles the results of this year's Hugos then I think that tells me that the great majority of sf&f readers just don't care about awards at all and depend on reviews and word of mouth to select their reading material. Either way it will be an interesting data point.
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police; A Review
August 7, 2016 June 13, 2017 photog Book Reviews, Current Events, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy book, freedom, Rabid Puppies, review, Sad Puppies, SJW, Vox Day
Discussing this book is really a combination of explaining the concept of the Social Justice Warrior (SJW) to the uninitiated (or fortunate innocent) and reviewing the efficacy of the content with respect to the book's stated purpose.
How's that for a loaded thesis?
So, for anyone who has been in a coma for the last twenty years or living in a Burmese lamasery for the same period of time, an SJW is a person who pursues a policy of seeking out and punishing anyone who does not sufficiently submit to any aspect of the ultra-progressive narrative and agenda. This transgression can be of any kind; action, inaction, word, silence, facial expression, glance or any behavior at all. Most guilty are those who regardless of any other action belong to that most detestable group; the cis-gender, male, straight, white, christian American. They have the Mark of Cain (if I may use such a Judeo-Christian metaphor). For them any punishment is justified and insufficient. The SJW's favorite method of attack is the internet swarm. These creatures will locate a likely target and using internet posting and e-mail complaints attempt to convince the victim's employer that he is a terrible person and needs to be de-employed (fired). This sounds highly unlikely but reading a few of the clearly documented and easily confirmed high profile examples from the book it's pretty clear that SJWs exist and that they do horrible damage to their victims. So in a nutshell that is the meaning of SJW. First part of mission accomplished. Hooray.
Part 2. My thoughts on the book. The author of the book, Vox Day, is an incredibly polarizing individual. For left wing individuals (especially those in the science fiction and fantasy community) he is the devil himself. Their fear and loathing of him is practically a fetish. For the political moderates he is a gadfly. He punishes them for failing to support anyone who the left labels as racist, sexist, homophobic or any other label they use to disqualify their enemies. Lately, in fact, Vox has been more of a scourge of mainstream conservatives than left-wing targets due to the Trump campaign and the reaction of mainstream republican politicians and pundits to it. Therefore he has become a lightning rod for several types of attack. He is aligned with the alt-right and nationalist groups and his popular blog site ( https://voxday.blogspot.com/ ) reflects his take no prisoners approach to the culture wars. For these reasons it would be easy to dismiss his book as a partisan screed only useful for preaching to the far right choir. But that is not the case. The book is actually an incredibly useful tool for explaining to all sorts of people and preparing them for an SJW attack. How to recognize it. How it progresses. What to do and most importantly, what not to do.
The information is laid out in a very orderly arrangement with chronological breakdown of the stages. Interspersed are examples of the high profile SJW victims from the recent past. Also Vox provides his own autobiographical account of an SJW attack.
Grabbing just one nugget from this useful guide I'd say probably the single most important rule is never apologize (although a close second is never resign).
In my estimation this book should be read by anyone who wants to protect himself from being intimidated (and potentially destroyed) by leftist culture thugs. What it also does is allow you to recognize the noxious effect that political correctness has already had on normal human interaction. Basically everyone is afraid to challenge the thought police who impose an unpopular narrative on us all. The fact that it is reinforced at almost all institutional centers (media, schools, corporations and government) shows just how serious the problem already is.
Vox Day has millions of enemies. But he has almost everyone in his debt for providing a useful tool to warn of and protect us from these totalitarian harpies.
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Grab a bargain in the huge outdoor and country clothing, accessories and footwear sale! Here you will find a wide range of discount outdoor clothing, footwear and accessories from some of the best brands in the industry. If you are looking for a shooting clothing sale you are also in luck as we have lots of discount shooting clothing and accessories up for grabs.


text:
Anti-racist Struggle Continues in Powhatan, Va.
By Ana Edwards, Phil Wilayto (Posted May 19, 2009)
The chant "No Justice, No Peace!" rang out once again in Virginia's rural Powhatan County, as some 250 people marched May 17 on the county courthouse. The protesters, almost all African-Americans and including a large number of uniformed motorcycle club members, were denouncing what they charged was a racist court decision in the shooting death of local high school student Tahliek Taliaferro.
Led by the slain youth's mother, Kaa Caputo, cousins Rev. Indee Hopewell Brown, Rev. Nichole Phillips, and other relatives, the marchers first rallied at Hollywood Baptist Church and then walked about a half-mile to the courthouse, where they circled the building's block-long lawn, chanting and waving signs.
"My prayer is that this will raise awareness and that nothing like this will ever happen again, that things will be different because of what we are doing," Rev. Brown told a reporter. "That is our prayer."
It was the second mass march called to protest the March 24 court decision in which a nearly all-white jury convicted Taliaferro's killers, but reduced the charges from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
Cousins Ethan Parrish, 24, and Joey Parrish, 18, were originally charged with homicide in the June 24, 2008 fatal shooting of Tahliek Taliaferro, 18, a popular high school athlete, and aggravated malicious wounding in the related shooting of Courtney Jones, then 15.
The murder charges carried potential sentences of 20 years to life in prison. But at the trial, the jury instead convicted the Parrishes of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in Tahliek's death — an offense that carries a maximum of just 10 years — and assault and battery in Courtney's wounding, which could bring another 12 months. Joey Parrish, a convicted felon, was also convicted of illegal possession of a firearm.
Eleven of the 12 jurors were white, as are the Parrishes. Taliaferro was African-American, as is Jones.
According to courtroom testimony, the Parrishes had challenged Taliaferro to a fight, then drove off in an SUV driven by a friend, 18-year-old Stephanie Reynolds. Taliaferro and Jones followed in a car driven by fellow teenager Lawrence Harris.
Shortly after, the Parrishes pulled off to the side of the road, covered their license plate with plastic and waited for the other car to catch up. As Harris drove by, Ethan Parrish fired six shots from a semi-automatic AK-47 assault rifle he had loaded with an 83-shot drum clip, hitting Taliaferro in the back of the head and wounding Jones, who survived after an operation in which part of his colon as removed. The cousins then fled, hiding for a brief time in Canada before returning to Powhatan to surrender to authorities.
Immediately after the court decision, Kaa Caputo along with dozens of her friends and relatives and a number of white high school students who knew Taliaferro began holding protests outside the county courthouse. When they called for a larger protest for March 29, nearly 700 people responded.
A few days later, Ku Klux Klan literature was surreptitiously distributed in the county.
The smaller number of protesters on May 17 may have been due to inclement weather and the fact that several college and university graduation ceremonies were also taking place that day. Even so, the May 17 protest was one of the largest Black civil rights marches to take place in Virginia in many years.
"It was a wonderful display of love and support and the sense of community that we have here in Powhatan County, as well as in the surrounding communities," said Rev. Brown.
Among the participating organizations were the Virginia State Conference NAACP, the Virginia State Unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, members of the Northern Virginia immigrant rights group Mexicanos Sin Fronteras, the Virginia Commonwealth University Black student organization Africana, and the community organizations Power, Inc. of Portsmouth and the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality of Richmond.
Nearly a quarter of Sunday's protesters were members of Virginia Black motorcycle clubs, outfitted in their club colors.
According to Rev. Brown, the family is calling for a third mass protest for May 26, when Stephanie Reynolds is scheduled to go to trial. Reynolds was originally charged with first degree-murder, but that charge has also been reduced to involuntary manslaughter.
A fourth protest will then take place on June 4, when the Parrish cousins are to be sentenced.
For more information or to offer support, e-mail the Taliaferro family at: wewantjustice@ymail.com.
Ana Edwards and Phil Wilayto are members of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, which helped coordinate security for the May 17 protest.
About Phil Wilayto
Phil Wilayto is a longtime activist in the labor, antiracist and antiwar movements. He is a co-founder of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality; editor of The Virginia Defender newspaper; coordinator of the anti-fascist Odessa Solidarity Campaign and co-founder of he Virginia Prison Jusice Network. He is the author of several books, including In Defense of Iran: Notes from a U.S. peace delegation's journey through the Islamic Republic, and The Feeding Trough, the first major investigation into the ultra-conservative Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. He can be reached at DefendersJFE@hotmail.com and @PhilWilayto1
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This is no doubt the worst thing to ever happen to my family. This here is a video of our strawberries being dumped, this here is worth more then you could ever imagine and within 3 days we lost it all. My mum Leena Lee Cufari and my step dad has worked years to build the empire they're sitting on now, they put all their money and effort in to build such a successful business. They work hard to make the money for our family and to have these selfish individuals destroy it is just so upsetting. My mum works day through to the night, controlling the shed and her 250 employees, making sure her strawberries are packed to perfection. This will not stop my family from doing what they do best, if anything they're going to do better. I thank everyone who supports us and all the other farmers who were affected by this horrible issue. We thank you from the bottom of our heartsTo everyone who does not know, this is due to the needle contamination. We have to throw them out because the markets wouldnt take our strawberries due to the needle scare. ** video produced from Donnybrook Berries ** Donnybrook berries will be adding precaution and putting in metal detectors and other safety equipment we can think of to give our consumers the best quality strawberries.


This week your photographic challenge is to photograph your 'favorite subject' and share the image with us.
Most photographers that I talk to have a subject that they just keep coming back to – whether it be a person, a landscape location, pet or some other kind of subject matter (I have one friend who just loves to photograph shoes and another who likes taking photos of himself jumping on beds…. yep…. beds).
So this weekend you're invited to go back to that subject that you just can't stop taking photos of and take one more!
Once you've taken your best "Favorite Subject" image, upload it to your favourite photo sharing site and either share a link to it below or embed it in the comments using the our new tool to do so. Please note it sometimes takes us a while to approve comments with images as there's a moderation queue – particularly over the weekend.
If you tag your photo on Flickr, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag it as #DPSFAVORITE to help others find it. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you're doing so that they can share in the fun.
PS: don't forget to check out some of the great photos shared last week in the 'Imperfection' challenge.
i sometimes find things that look like geography. i try not to interfere with its natural formation. my hope is to make a map using only found-geographic-looking objects. it's dorky AND educational!
My lil man is DEFINITELY my favorite object!
I love taking pictures of cars!
lets try this again, since i seem to not get it!
My FAVORITE is beach umbrellas!
this one was left for dead on the beach. kind of sad but giving me it's last "smile"
Love this place...not sure if it is my favorite thing to photograph yet, 'cause I haven't been at this long enough!
I'm a newbie here and trying to learn some skills in photography. This is a shot i got yesterday when we visited a remote village..a girl having a corn breakfast.
Horse Head Arch of Tanjung Batu,Miri,Sarawak,Malaysia.
Bugs! I can't keep my lens away from them, especiallly these rather photogenic hover wasps.
Here is one of my favorites! I enjoy night photography even with my Point and shoot Canon A710 IS digital camera!!
Don't really have a favourite subject. I enjoy taking photographs, so I'll click anything that looks good.
This was taken during a jam session, Nikon D3000. Dont remember the settings, its a couple of months old!
Sunrise and sunset. Just love it. Sadly, I miss it almost everyday (sleeping on sunrise, working on sunset).
Not sure I did this correctly the first time!
My favourite place is the lake next to my house. It's magical.
Puppy Cup - My new favorite object.
My darling on her birthday weekend.
I love this Swan and his family, I've been shooting them since last year when the babies weren't even hatched.
Since photographing my first wedding and taking pictures of the bride's shoes, I've loved shooting shoes. Here's one I did recently for a Converse tribute shoot I'm working on.
Trying this again. Hope it works this time!
As a knitting designer, that is one of my favorite subjects to photograph. It can present quite the challenge sometimes. While I need to shoot to show off the whole design, I like the arty shots that highlight one aspect of the design. Thankfully, they make great "teaser" shots to pique people's interest before the pattern is released. These are a couple of my favs from a recent shoot. The first one I've done with my 50 mm prime lens.
I always take pictures in my garden. It's so convenient.
My favorite subject is cats! Here is my Oscar kitty in the backyard bushes.
Macro photos! First time I have done this! Don't know if I am doing it right. Just a beginner at photography and would appreciate any and all comments. Bad and good!!! Thanks!
My favorite subject is capturing those moments spent with friends. Hopefully no one will consider this too morbid.
Hope this works.. am new to this site, but LOVE the inspiration from the other photographers!
I LOVE taking picts of abandoned buildings! Call me crazy, but theres something about the creepines!!
I love to take pictures of my kids and food, so I mixed that together in a picture I took tonight. Here is my eldest eating an ice cream cone.
My favorite subject, my lab Starbuck, out in the desert under some clouds.
Definitely my little 3 year old girl...so many expressions to capture!
Am I the only one who can't view the images? This time it doesn't even link to an image for me.
My Favourite is my wife..
Mine would have to be classic cars. The beautiful curves and bright deep colors.
My favorite subject during the weekend.
Mine is my little lady: Virginia.
I like abstract and architectural photography, like this one in Brussels.
I like abstract and architectural photography, here's one for my last trip, the Atomium in Brussels.
On 28 Aug 10 I went to Denton Reservoir near Grantham to catch the Sunrise and whist I was waiting this brave chap waded out into the water to fish!
I love Macro.. on budget!! with Raynox DSC 250 and home made pop-up-flash-diffuser here are the results from this morning!
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan.
This Kloster is just a few blocks from home and can be seen from everywhere in town, I must have over a 100 photos of it.
I find myself taking shots of flowers - so many varieties, colours, situations so plenty to practice on. Took this one today.
I've been shooting the same two deep purple calla lilies all week that a friend gave me. So after I read the challenge, I took them out one more time to see if I could find a different way to look at them.
Mine is the American flag against a blue sky. I just love the way it looks!.
This is definitely my favorite place to photograph. It´s a small town near where I live and it´s now "World Heritage". It´s the fourth oldest city in Brazil and its buildings and churches are just spectacular.
You may find more images at my flickr page.
Mine is the local beach and pier.
Mine is the local beach and the pier.
I love the moon. I'm hoping to gather pictures of it during every % phase possible. I create a collage of several pictures I took. I started about 2 months ago when I got a lens that can capture the detail in the moon.
@Ted, I love your picture. Your dog is adorable, and that is a great shot.
i guess i can't edit my previous posting ... sorry for the dup ... still trying to figure out how to do this stuff.
got down on my belly, pointed my point & shoot (canon powershot), and fired away.
Favorite Subject? Photography, of course!
Mine is definitely my yorkshire terrier puppy!
My favorite object would be food.


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The Met Police's sinister facial recognition trial should worry us all
Jamie Bartlett
We are extremely good at accusing others of doing the very thing we excel at. A case in point: we rightly criticise the Chinese government with its dystopian surveillance and social score systems, when we are considering building something similar.
In a recent episode of BBC Click, journalist Geoff White followed the police's pilot of live facial recognition technology. (The Metropolitan Police are running a number of pilots). In one chilling moment, a man walked past the facial recognition cameras and covered his face. The police stopped him, forced him to uncover and then took a photograph of him anyway. 'This gives us grounds to stop and verify him,' one officer said. The man got angry – understandably, I'd have done the same – which landed him a £90 fine for disorderly behaviour.
I've no idea what the legal basis is for any of this – but if covering your face is deemed suspicious, we're heading somewhere where, for once, the word 'Orwellian' isn't an exaggeration. Silkie Carlo from Big Brother Watch (who are running a campaign to stop this) reckons it's a 'free for all' taking place in a legal vacuum. 'The police are making up the rules as they go along,' she says.
I won't bother running through the possible misuses, bias data models (see here if you don't believe that technology can't contain biases), or the cost. Instead, just imagine real-time facial recognition technology running on the country's six million CCTV cameras and ask yourself if you're happy with that. And if it does roll out, I suspect thousands will do what this man did, principled or otherwise, which will surely make an ass of the law.
But what worries me most is not that facial recognition technologies won't work – but the opposite. Despite the problems, I expect it will be very effective at tackling crime and keeping us safe. At what cost?
The UK government have no intention of mimicking the Chinese Communist Party. But what might happen if, in twenty years, we elected a government that would? Once you build infrastructure and establish new policing powers, they are very rarely removed, and usually only ratchet up. The road to our techno-hell will almost certainly be paved with innocent sounding 'pilots' and pieties about keeping the public safe.
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Katie ordered the Diavola – calabrese salame, tomato, mozzarella, parmigiano, red onion for $14. She found her crust a tad overdone and was at a loss for how to eat it – it was too messy to eat by hand, yet too rubbery to cut with a knife.
She did find the sauce very tasty and the ingredients really fresh. Overall it was a decent tasting pizza, but she found the crust ruined her dining experience.
I ordered the Napoletana – tomato, garlic, anchovies, oregano, olive oil for $12.50. I loved the thin, crispy crust and ample amounts of fresh tomato sauce – molto autentica! I was very pleased that they offered several cheese-free options as well as mozzarella di bufala – for those of use who don't do the moo.
We realized on a Wednesday at 5:00pm that we needed twelve 300 page colour manuals printed and ready for use by 8:30 am the next morning.
Downtown Copy Plus Centre, who closed at 6pm, made that happen – and talk about service with a smile! Because of their outstanding customer service and ability to deliver, we recommend them to all of you for all your printing needs.
Sector Learning Solutions has been chosen as a Finalist for the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce's Business of the Year (1 to 10 employees) Award for 2012!
Awards will be awarded at the Awards Gala on Friday April 27, 2012 at the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa.
Stay tuned to hear the results!
Sector Learning Solution's CEO, Gerry Brimacombe, wants to thank Al Hasham of Maximum Express Courier, Freight & Logistics for their outstanding customer service.
Gerry Brimacombe had a problem that made him feel nauseous.
They had toiled hard and never did shirk.
But without client's payment, cash flow is rare.
The cheque was cut and sitting on a desk in Burnaby, and their courier could only get it to Sector by Dec 28th. So with only an hour to spare, Gerry decided to ask Maximum Express for help. He dialed Al Hasham's cellphone and reached him mid-commute into Vancouver.
"If visions of sugarplums dance in your head.
Then pop over to Sector where we're not in the red".
He was able to pay all the subcontractors, immediately, and with joy.
This superior treatment of their clients goes above-and-beyond the level of service that we've received from larger well-known corporate courier companies, (one of which recently delivered a "Guaranteed Delivery" a day late and refused to offer us a refund for their error).
So once again, THANK YOU Maximus Express for not only following through with exceptional service, but providing a creative solution!


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