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Home Blog News Flash: Plato was a Yogi!
News Flash: Plato was a Yogi!
Scott Virden Anderson January 13, 2008 Blog
Just finished reading a magnificent and most provocative piece of scholarship: The Shape of Ancient Thought: comparative studies in Greek and Indian philosophies by Thomas McEvilley, published in 2002 by Allworth/SVA (no relation).
In the course of 732 pages of beautifully written and carefully documented prose, McEvilley establishes the evidence for a number of surprising conclusions of great relevance for the Yoga Science:
Sumerians were the first scientists:
Based on careful observations necessarily made over many generations, Bronze Age Mesopotamians, in the Millennia before writing (probably around 3000BC), had calculated the precession of the equinoxes (cited here at 1 degree every 72 years) and how a number system based on 60 – the "sexagesimal system" that we still use today – has great advantages for measuring time.
They had also figured out that this number system works better than the decimal system for the tuning of string or pipe musical instruments — of which there were many in Mesopotamia.
This work long preceded and set the stage for Pythagoras and the rest of the pre-Socratics to whom we generally attribute the origins of science.
Plato was a Yogi:
In 559 BC Darius I of Persia established the Achaemenid empire that reached from the Aegean, Black, and Eastern Mediterranean Seas (including a slew of Greek cities), across Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia, and all the way to the Indus river.
Darius collected all manner of precious things from across his empire including medical systems and philosophies.
His Royal Road reached from Susa (in present day Iran) across Iraq and Asia Minor all the way to Sardes (near the Aegean end of present day Turkey).
He maintained a large retinue of translators in his capitals to facilitate communication between the many peoples in his empire.
As a result, ideas from India, in its early Upanishadic period at the time, moved readily into the stream of pre-Socratic philosophy.
McEvilley tells this story in such a way that you feel you get to know the pre-Socratics – folks like Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Empedocles – as real people.
He does side-by-side comparisons of their writings with those of contemporary Jain, Hindu, and Buddhist Indian philosophers – the documents make the case.
He reviews why no-one had ever done this comparison before.
The tale leaves little doubt that the influence here on Greek thought was deep and lasting.
The net result, by the time we get to Plato, some 150 years later, it is clear that forms of life practice that we would now recognize as Yoga, had also become an integral part of the practice of Greek philosophy.
Plato's Academy was a Yoga ashram, in effect.
Nagarjuna was a Greco-Buddhist:
Greek thought developed rapidly – by the time of Alexander, another century had passed, Greek philosophy was now considerably more sophisticated than contemporaneous Indian in its manner of argument, and had developed mature forms of syllogism and dialectic.
Alexander did not set out just to conquer the Persians militarily – he went to remake Persia into a Greek – or "Hellenic" civilization.
He equipped himself to establish Greek colonies, with a set design for urban infrastructure and the people needed to build and inhabit these cities.
He took with his army their families, teachers for their kids, craftsmen of all kinds, physicians, philosophers, and tens of thousands of prospective colonists.
He lefts dozens of "Alexandrias" across Persia, Central Asia, and North Western India.
The legacy of all this was a dynamic Greco-Indian civilization — the Gandharan.
Many of Greek descent embraced Buddhism and appear to have played a significant role in the emergence of the Mahayana and its spread into China from Central Asia.
King Ashoka was himself most likely half or quarter Greek.
Greek logic — the syllogism and the dialectic – were adopted by the Greco-Buddhists and most eloquently elaborated by Nagarjuna in the 1st to 2nd Century AD.
Bottom line – Science was Yoga Science in these ancient and globally formative times:
This is my conclusion from McEvilley's extensive evidence.
Seems to make my job quite a bit easier.
In the East, development of the Greco-Buddhist civilization was cut off by what appear to have been a number of factors – my impression is that these include climate change with desertification of Central Asia, invasions from various steppe nomad groups, and Islamization of the region during the centuries of the late first and early second Millennium AD.
In the West, development of the Greco-Indian civilization was summarized by Plotinus and the Neo-Platonist movements he spawned in the early 1st Millennium. Then, the collapse of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity and Islam led to a complex subsequent history.
What happened to the Greco-Indian synthesis?
In the East, elements of it were preserved in the Asian Buddhist traditions, perhaps most completely in Tibet.
In the West, Neo-platonism fed into the stream of esotercism that I've been discussing here based on the work of Faivre, Hanegraaff, and their colleagues.
I'm beginning to see the Yoga Science as an effort to re-integrate the seemingly divergent streams of this vastly complex history into a coherent whole as key to our global inheritance – scientifically updated and philosophically streamlined for the future.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We would like to extend our thanks to the team at iMod Digital for taking the time to visit us at The Experience Center today.
It was great to show the team completely what we do and discuss why we do it.
Below we were happy to snap a quick picture of Hiding Harvey on our Linn Klimax Exakt speakers!
While visiting a client recently we noticed that the installation that has been done in the house is very segregated and not very intuitive.
We have been looking at the plans and are going to suggest some changes to the existing installation. The audio video installation is not bad, but there are better ways that the installation can be implemented.
Introduce Audio Video Receiver to Lounge.
Surround sound capabilities for TV viewing.
Stereo for music from BeoSound Audio system.
This upgrade will give our client the flexibility to watch all video sources in every room of the house.
It will also reduce the amount of equipment installed. Also removing the cost of the additional DSTV subscription.
Most importantly the introduction of a single remote in each of the rooms makes the system far easier to use and appreciate.
We will give you some feedback on the upgrade once we have finalised the solution for our client.
With the correct planning a Crestron remote control can become a valuable part of any home entertainment installation.
We visited a client of ours whose upgrade we carried out earlier this year to make a few changes to his tastes. It is easy to see why he was happy to upgrade his entertainment system to include a properly configured Crestron control system.
All controlled by Crestron MLX-3 remote controls.
Looking for a solution like this for your home entertainment system? Fill in the contact form on our Contact Us page and we will get back in contact with you.
We have been very busy over the past few months and so has our service department. We have traded in and purchased some Bang & Olufsen equipment from clients of ours. These have all been onto the service bench for a service and clean and are now ready to find new homes. We have the following CD player, speakers, accessories and even a television available. If you would like any more information about them or would like a demonstration, please contact us and we would be happy to assist you.


True West by Sam Shepard. Directed by Daniel Goldstein.
"I don�t recognize this place at all."
"Here�s an idea," said a Mickey Rooney like character: "let�s put on a show with one set, four characters and no more than five costumes. How much could that cost?
"I know. We�ll put on one of those Sam Shepard plays that fit the description above. Simple. There�ll be some anger and some laughter and some camaraderie and some family stuff, too. How much could that cost?"
Well, folks, I don�t how much it costs, but the destruction of the props and set in your typical Sam Shepard play can really run you down into the ground pretty quickly and in the new production of "True West" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the costs must be skyrocketing in this down and dirty one set, four character, five costume play.
Director Daniel Goldstein has let the Shepard script dictate the levels of mess and mania here. His choreography of the action (assisted here ably by Thomas Schall�s fight choreography), set in a kitchen and breakfast room of a small suburban tract house about forty miles east of Los Angeles in 1980, keeps people and props flying around the space. There is more destruction in this show than in many plays about the San Francisco earthquake. I don�t know if that�s your thing; it�s not mine.
The set, by Neil Patel, puts this play into the odd context - script related - of a small movie set in a huge sound stage situation in Hollywood. The connected rooms, complete with roof and ceiling units, revolves into place (getting a large hand from the theater�s staff in the balcony-they also cheer the apprentice stage-crew at the curtain call much more soundly than they do the cast of the play) within a gigantic open space, with back brick wall, a flyspace revealed behind the missing proscenium arch, with more stage lights than are ever used, large klieg-style lights and strip lights which sometimes blind the audience as they attempt to give a semblance of real, lifelike light and the unreality of a missing kitchen door through which at least three of the actors move at times. There is too much reality in the contained space and only the vague hints of film studio interiors surrounding that space.
Lighting Designer Ben Stanton needs to sit in row B through E, house right, to get a sense of how his lighting removes a major portion of his audience from even seeing the play as it reflects off the faces and bodies of ticket-buyers, let alone trying to grasp its deeper, darker meaning (too much light over there for "darker").
Clearly the metaphor of the set and lights reflects an aspect of the play, the writing of a film script. It seems to me that the bizarre reality of the play is destroyed by the visual attempt to put it into the context of the production.
Two brothers taunt one another in their mother�s kitchen while she cruises the coast of Alaska. One is a drifter, one is a screenwriter. They fight over a story that the drifter sells to the other one�s agent by using his bizarre sexual appeal to sway the third man. The screenwriter, house-sitting, neglects his responsibilities once he loses his own contract to his brother�s and together the two of them destroy the home that Mom comes back to a few days earlier than expected.
Nate Corddry is Austin, the writer, the good son who gives up wife, family and self-respect to steal toasters and to try to live his wastrel brother�s life. Corddry gives a wonderful performance even when the written words he spouts make no sense for him at all. His transition from good to gonif (Yiddish for scoundrel) is either induced by too much liquor or by an accident of Shepard�s for there is no logical, visible transition here and the fault is in the writing, not the acting or direction. Goldstein tries misdirection with a golf club and a pile of toast. It doesn�t work - and I�m sure they�re both in the script as well.
As his brother Lee, Paul Sparks turns tables (literally), upsets apple carts (figuratively) and turns gold back into dross (actually). Anything he touches becomes garbage. Lee is a veritable whirlwind of damage come to call. He also has a drawl that seems not to belong in this family and that impedes lines, that keeps us from understanding about twenty-five percent of what he is saying. Still the overall effect of his performance is overwhelming and exhausting.
Stephen Kunken plays Saul Kimmer, the agent who switches his loyalty from one brother (Austin) to the other (Lee). His 1980s homosexual is a bit too obvious and when Lee capitalizes on it Kunken takes the fatal step into period parody. He is helped by a suit that no self-respecting 1980s homosexual would have been caught dead wearing, so the reality of the other costumes designed by Linda Cho, takes a big step backward. I wouldn�t want to assume that author Shepard has it in for gays, but the way Saul and Lee carry on it would seem that a statement of some sort (disgust, perhaps) is clearly showing through in the writing here.
Finally, at the end of two scenes during which the environment of home becomes a decimated vision of the collapse of western civilization, Debra Jo Rupp, as Mom, appears. If ever an actor was destined to almost save a production, it is Ms. Rupp. As she has often done before, she brings onto the stage a presence that pleases and surprises, shocks and irritates, all at the same time. Dressed in simple shoes, glasses and a red coat, she is the image of the unhappy traveler wearily approaching the sanctity of place. Rupp�s comedy timing is such a welcome relief here, even as she stands by watching one son criminally attack the other. Her exit comes too soon, and her entrance comes to late.
The play ends where it begins, with a visual sense of threat. The sense has increased incrementally, however, and for my part, I couldn�t have cared less where these two brothers were headed next. I was just glad that they would be doing it, going there, whatever, without me having to watch one more moment of their tiresome game. The concept of a simple play has been exhausted calamitously and Mickey Rooney is spinning in his well-earned grave.
True West plays at the Williamstown Theatre Festival�s main stage in the �62 Center for Theater and Dance, 1000 Main Street, Williamstown, through July 26. For tickets and schedules contact the box office at 413-597-3400 or go on line at www.wtfestival.org.


Filling the balloon with cool air.
What an experience!! I recommended it for you to add to your bucket list and do it as soon as possible!
An early morning start, with prayers for suitable weather to hit the skies in a Hot Air Balloon.
As I reach the gates to Peterson's Champagne house, in the darkness of the early hours of the morning, I am informed, that yes, ballooning will go ahead today.
As the 10 people who will be going up in the balloon pile onto the mini bus, we are taken to a vineyard with a plot of vacant land. Assembling the balloon for our adventure begins.
Once we unpacked the balloon and basket, two industrial fans were initially used to fill the balloon with cold air, followed by some blasts of LPG, to set the balloon aloft. In no time at all we were up, up and away.
Travelling at approximately 40km and hour, it is a truly glorious way to see the world, to glide above the trees watching the Kangaroo's bounce, the cows graze, the fog lift and the sun rise. Hot air ballooning is not an extreme or adrenaline based activity, rather one of peace, beauty and adoration for our stunning environment.


IUTER PR1MO FW17 is purple and black.
Every IUTER PR1MO piece is the result of textile development and craftsmanship. T-shirts, hoodies, trousers and jackets come with synthetic inserts (laser-cut neoprene or technical fabric), marble washes and thermo-pressed weaves.
IUTER and IUTER PR1MO pieces are designed and produced in the Cairate (VA) factory in Italy.


After a long hiatus, I'm firing up the blog again. I've been thinking about what kind of content might be of interest, and will be making a few changes that I'll roll out over the next few weeks.
I hope your end of year holiday period was happy, safe, productive and fun.
That's all for today – more to come soon.


Since former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced last Sunday that he was throwing his hat into the Republican presidential race, his digital media team has been testing a sponsored stories campaign on Facebook.
Since former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced last Sunday that he was throwing his hat into the Republican presidential race, his digital media team has been testing a sponsored stories campaign on GFacebook.
According to ClickZ, Engage, the digital firm representing Pawlenty's campaign, has been working closely with Facebook on a variety of new ad formats.
Page post ads, one of a few variations of the sponsored stories units, automatically display the latest post made to a page. So, the ads pull in the latest status update made on the candidate's page, and dynamically create ads featuring the post in copy. The ads entice users to hit like, which in turn notifies their friends of the liking action within their news feeds.
According to Engage, the sponsored stories ads give the candidate a prominent placement among news feed posts and when supporters click the like button, that action becomes part of their friends' news feeds.
These ads are both relatively inexpensive and yield a generally higher engagement rate because its targeting people who are already engaged (but might be overwhelmed with updates on their news feed if they like a lot of pages).
TBG Digital says sponsored stories have a 46 percent higher click-through rate than other types of ads on the site.
Now the elusive question: Is there evidence that these ads were effective in the Pawlenty campaign's first week? Engage is measuring the ads against engagement and action but so far it looks promising.
What do you think of political campaigns' use of Facebook ads?


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Capgemini Appoints Srinivas Kandula As India CEO
January 22, 2016 Bart Eshwar
Capgemini has appointed Srinivas Kandula as chief executive officer for India, replacing Aruna Jayanthi, who has moved to a global role within the group.
Kandula was previously the executive vice-president at IT major iGate. He is credited with driving iGate's business strategy, human resources, quality management and marketing portfolios globally. Capgemini had acquired iGate in 2015, in what was the 10th biggest acquisition of a US-based technology firm by a European company.
Capgemini currently has over 87,000 employees in India, which is nearly 50% of its total global workforce, and caters to over 800 customers globally.
While at iGate, Kandula had played a key role in the acquisition of Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems Ltd $1.22 billion and of iGate by Capgemini in 2015, in addition to spearheading integration processes in both the acquisitions.
"As we move forward, our agenda is to leverage our strong people capabilities for sustained growth and add to our client-centric innovation practices," Kandula said.


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Osi Umenyiora Says He Wants To Return; But Open To Going To The Jets
January 31st, 2013 Matt Loede Posted in News
As he approaches an offseason full of uncertainty after 10 years with the Giants, Osi Umenyiora said Thursday there's a chance he could return and finish his career with the team, despite saying shortly after the season it was "probably time to move on," Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York reports.
"There's a chance, absolutely," Umenyiora told reporters in New Orleans on Thursday. "Of course (there) is. Hopefully that'll happen. I prefer to finish out my career there. But there's a lot of things in play here. It's not going to be totally my decision. They're going to have some decisions to make also. It's going to be a collective effort. My agent's going to have his say. Hopefully things will work out there. I prefer to stay there."
Umenyiora has played out his contract and will be a free agent. The defensive end told the New York Post that while his "preference is to return" to the Giants, his agent will be contacting a couple of teams at a later time.
Umenyiora did not rule out the New York Jets as one of those teams.
"Rex Ryan, when I was coming out of college he was with Baltimore at the time and he came down to work me out at Troy, he came to Atlanta, just me and him," Umenyiora said when asked about the Jets by the Post. "We had a pretty good time out there so I've always enjoyed him as a coach and as a person. That might be a good fit. Hopefully it will be with the Giants."
Umenyiora told reporters that his decision on where he will play next season will not be "solely based on money."
"Honestly, man, I think not only do I want to get something financially, but I want a chance to prove I am who I say I am," he said. "Wherever I get the best opportunity to do that is I think where I'm going to go. Hopefully that'll be in New York."
Tags: Osi Umenyiora
One Response to "Osi Umenyiora Says He Wants To Return; But Open To Going To The Jets"
Unless Osi is going to give the Giants a 'home-team' discount, I see him as a goner. He will be looking to cash in at this stage for a big contract of multiple years that typically goes to someone virtually guaranteed a full-time starting position. Are the Giants willing to pay him 'starter' money without necessarily committing to him being a full-time starter? I don't think so. Probably in his best interests at this time to move on and for the Giants to see who can move up on their depth chart. The Atlanta Falcons look like a good match for Osi, he might be the type of player to help their Defense get over the hump. He would help the Redskins also, sure hope he doesn't land with them.


One of the most sensible and solid conservatives in the media, Robert Novak, received orders to 'stand down' today from his Commander.
God rest you, Bob. And thank you. You were the highest form of publicist, a statesman of words. Rest in joy.


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#105 Woody Held
tags: Billy Martin, Chuck Hinton, Ernie Banks, Ralph Terry, Roger Maris, Woodie Held, Woody Held
This is an "in memoriam" post, as Held just passed away on Wednesday, June 10, at the age of 77.
This is one of the brightest cards I have, especially the back, where the orange appears to be as vibrant as it was 45 years ago. Even with a somewhat well-worn lower left corner, I would consider my copy of this card to be EX-MT. Held is considered a common card, and SMR lists a NM example at $8.
Held's real first name was Woodson, but he went by "Woodie." However, all but two of the cards Topps produced for him over the years (there were 12) spell his first name as "Woody." Only his 1961 card and his final card in 1969 used his preferred spelling.
Held was able to stick around for 12 years in the majors because he had some power and could play a variety of positions. He only hit .240 for his career, but hit 179 home runs, most of which came during his 6 1/2 years with the Indians.
Woodie actually debuted with the Yankees in 1954, but was traded to Kansas City in 1957. This was during the days when the Kansas City Athletics acted as a glorified farm team for the Yankees, so being traded from New York to K.C. was on par with being demoted, as the A's were a horrible team during their entire run in K.C. Two of the players the Yankees got back in the trade involving Held were Billy Martin and Ralph Terry.
A year later, Woodie was shipped by the A's to Cleveland for a young slugger named Roger Maris. Maris would then soon get "promoted" to the Yankees.
Held was never an All-Star, but for a guy who played mostly the middle infield during his first few years in Cleveland he had unusual power. He maxed out at 29 homers in 1959, but had at least 16 long balls for seven straight year. He was the first Cleveland shortstop to ever eclipse 20 home runs, and although I haven't looked it up, I imagine the 29 home runs for a shortstop may have been the second best ever at the time (behind Ernie Banks, who routinely hit 40+ as a SS).
In 1964, Woodie hit .236 with 18 homers and 49 RBI, while playing five different positions. It was his last year in Cleveland, as he was traded following the season to Washington for Chuck Hinton.
He returned to playing mostly in the outfield, as he had as a rookie in Kansas City, during his later years, and he played his last game in 1969.
Woodie died Wednesday after a battle with brain cancer at his ranch in Dubois, Wyoming.
← June 10, 1964
#278 Bobby Shantz →
#52 Chuck Hinton « The 1964 Topps Blog
#146 Indians Rookie Stars (Tommy John/Bob Chance) « The 1964 Topps Blog


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When leaders like Prime Minister Trudeau condemn anti-Zionism as antisemitism and refuse to bow to BDS pressure, the pro-Israel community – including those on the Left, Right, and Centre – should celebrate.
This is not the first time Trudeau has forcefully condemned anti-Zionism and the BDS movement as tainted with antisemitism. His position is consistent with those of his predecessors from across party lines who stood with Israel.
On the Conservative benches, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was rightly recognized as one of Israel's best friends on the global stage, as demonstrated by his strong support for Israel during multiple military operations and opposition to the demonization of Israel at the UN, the Francophonie, and elsewhere. Current Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has adopted policies on Israel that signal a similar level of commitment.
Multi-partisan Canadian support for Israel, past and present, is worth highlighting given the global context.
Anti-Zionists have long promoted their toxic agenda within progressive activist groups, such as unions, student organizations, and liberal Protestant churches. They are growing more aggressive in trying to convert the gains they have made in these areas into mainstream progressive politics by targeting Left-of-Centre parties and elected officials. The threat that this poses to Diaspora Jewish communities should not be underestimated.
The scandal that has plagued the US Women's March, headed by someone who openly asserts that Zionists must be excluded from the feminist movement, was a precursor for disturbing developments in the US Congress. The Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, once solidly pro-Israel, now includes those who tap into antisemitic tropes of dual loyalty and pro-Israel (some might say Jewish) financial manipulation in politics.
The growth of anti-Zionism in labour unions in the UK was a forerunner to the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader. Corbyn has driven Jews out of what had been, for many, their political home for generations. A poll last month revealed nearly 9 in 10 British Jews believe Corbyn to be antisemitic. More than 4 in 10 would "seriously consider" leaving the UK if he wins the next election.
While Canada has not seen the same polarization that has marked American and European politics, we are not immune to it – and the seeping of antisemitism into mainstream parties that can come with it. History shows that Jews are at risk during times of political upheaval and popular disillusionment with public institutions.
While the economic and political discontent of interwar Germany is often cited as the wellspring of Nazism, this is just one example of a consistent trend. The antisemitic violence that marked Czarist Russia (and which led many Jews to become Zionists) was directly linked to broader political turmoil. For example, the 700 pogroms that resulted in the murder of more than 3,000 Jews in the Russian Pale of Settlement in 1905-06 cannot be divorced from the failed revolution against the Czar at the time.
When people seek extreme solutions to their problems, real and perceived, they turn to the politics (and politicians) of extremism. Jews, and many others, end up in peril. What is particularly alarming about antisemitism is the speed with which events can change. Previous transformations, including Germany's descent into Nazism, were not slow evolutions. Recent events in the UK Labour Party and the US Democratic Party have dramatically altered discourse on Zionism in both countries at a shocking speed.
We must respond quickly and decisively to such threats. To be sure, this challenge exists on both sides of the political spectrum, with far Right and far Left political players alike being courted by antisemites. On the Left side of the spectrum, this usually takes the form of anti-Zionism and BDS. This is why it is reassuring to see Canada's Prime Minister once again shut the door to these voices, for which the pro-Israel community should take note.
Based in Ottawa, Shimon Koffler Fogel is CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) - the advocacy agent of Canada's Jewish Federations.


AUROOM ART is a contemporary art platform established in Guildford, UK in 2016. Dedicated to embrace a new geopolitical significance of Central Asia, AUROOM ART presents international audiences a strong sense of the overlooked, yet exceptional contemporary art made in the region.
Fostering and expanding the dialogue between East and West, AUROOM ART focuses on four key activities – exhibitions, education, artist residency and consultation.
Currently featuring a core group of established artists from Kazakhstan, AUROOM ART aims to promote their work internationally.
Founded by an artist Uriya Jurik, UK and a high-fashion designer Assiya Daribekova, Italy, both from Kazakhstan, who have been living in Europe for many years, the gallery has its finger on the pulse of contemporary art across Central Asia and is offering public, corporate and private collectors its unique expertise in building the bridges and acquiring art from this rapidly emerging market.
To increase interest in the region AUROOM ART also hosts alternative programs and discussions and develops cultural exchange with local and international art professionals and enthusiasts.


Do you know the titles of the classic and popular games that has been part of video game history? Well you should know because that will be put to test in this ultimate quiz. Have fun!In order to take the audio questions in this quiz you will need to create an account on this site. There are only a few audio questions so if you choose not to it shouldn't affect your score by much. Test your knowledge of video games.Join now and have fun!


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'Legion' Season 3: TV Review
Thankfully not a typical Marvel series, so yes. TWITTER
Enjoy the hallucinatory brilliance of a story weirdly told and wonderfully acted, just don't get hung up on the plot.
What if the story of FX's Legion, created and scripted by TV writer (Fargo) and novelist (Before the Fall) Noah Hawley, is less about the story arc of the series itself and more the story about how and why it got made in the first place? Hawley improbably turned the brilliant Coen Brothers movie Fargo into the acclaimed, separately realized vision of a TV series. So what if Legion was a lark from a prestige cable channel rewarding a very smart writer, and the extended generosity ends up being that Hawley, no fan of superheroes, wants to make a Marvel superhero story about mental illness rather than superpowers? And he also wants to mess with the notion that the hero in question has to be heroic at all.
I mean, if you're FX, with a long history of taking chances on exceptional talents, you probably say, "OK, sure, let's see what you come up with." Which is exactly the answer you want if you love television as a creative exploration rather than predictable, formulaic movement from episode to episode, season to season.
It would certainly explain the triptastic, visually stunning first season of Legion, which was basically a more coherent exploration of weirdness than Twin Peaks. And then the perception-changing second season (Jon Hamm as a narrator that didn't exist before!), which seemed intent on taking a Marvel vehicle (that is unlikely to be tampered with again) and giving it a kind of Breaking Bad halo, disconcertingly telling its audience that the person at the center of the story, the hero they were rooting for, was in fact pretty awful.
How else to explain the fact that, by the end of that second season, anyone tuning in for a typical Marvel series was probably tuning out. Legion was seemingly moving from oddball project for Hawley into an experiment that wouldn't likely hold, given how busy he was and the inherent limitations of Marvel-centric superhero stories inside the mind of someone not particularly interested in those limitations or the expectations for that genre.
Translation: You probably wouldn't be too far off assuming, at the end of Legion season two, that Hawley's mindset was: "OK, that was a cool experiment but I'm over it." Of course, that assumption could be way off, and the third and final season of Legion was planned as the end all along (that's certainly the narrative), and all that's left is a pro forma wrap-up where the main character, David (Dan Stevens), course-corrects his Walter White excursion and the series closes with everybody doing the moral and ethical thing and putting the world right.
Sure, maybe, I don't know. I'd probably watch that.
But instead, what looks to be happening after last season's experimentation is that Hawley is once again having a blast reimagining a Marvel superhero show. He is tripling down on the visual gymnastics and mind-altering aspects, but with the kind of narrative focus that will culminate in a three-years-is-ideal big picture analysis, lovingly concluding that he got it all right, or at least right enough to be riveting.
I hope that's true, but without the full season to examine at length (out of eight total episodes, I've seen four), who knows what will happen. But I'm loving the direction the third and final season of Legion is going in because the journey has been less about Marvel and more about Hawley and, given the television track record of each, I'll take the latter every time.
There's an unmistakable creative energy about each episode of the third season, as if Hawley, his writing staff and collection of directors all gathered around and said, "Let's go out on fire." I'd argue that the second season, which simultaneously seemed to annoy fans of the comic and fall short of satisfying some critics, did its job of upending the narrative built in season one. But it also perhaps had to come to terms with the fact that its weirdness was vast, like its stable of excellent actors, and if the third season was really going to be the end, some snipping would have to be done. It wasn't perfect but it was unfailingly creative, funny and risky, which is often more than enough to overcome quibbles.
Look, Legion was doing most things remarkably well — notably giving people like Aubrey Plaza, Navid Negahban, Bill Irwin and Jemaine Clement, to name a handful of random examples, room to explore and crush the acute weirdness of their characters in a way that few series ever do. (There are 10-minute scenes in every episode of Legion where I'd take just that and only that over a full episode of something else.) And while the work of Stevens' David and Rachel Keller's Syd is the no-doors, no-safety-belt roller coaster car that fuels the Legion story, at least half the fun of the show is watching other actors run around the theme park with their hair on fire.
Which is to say, sure, if you really want to focus on the plotting, that can be your hill to die on. But all this other vigorous exploration of the mind's infinite possibilities (especially for a mutant) is pretty damned intriguing on its own.
I'm assuming, but neither hoping nor demanding, that Legion will end with a plot arc that feels satisfying. Season three could end with former hero David dying as the villain at the hands of new hero Syd, who saves the world. It could be David coming back from the depth of madness and harnessing his powers (whatever those really are) and there being some kind of interior peace for him. It could (and likely will) end... differently.
Viewers often come to the realization, after several seasons of a drama, that it's not the thing they'd hoped it would be. This is especially true for genre series like fantasy and sci-fi and superheroes. It seems as if more people should know when they sign up that their results may vary (spoiler: most don't know and thus are disappointed). But with Hawley's Legion, if you were expecting something predictable or literal, well, you weren't paying attention from the very first frame.
The journey is the joy here, and if you want yet another confirmation of that, watch the first episode of season three and look what director Andrew Stanton (all things Pixar) does with the material that Hawley and co-writer Nathaniel Halpern give him.
Season three adds David's real father, Charles Xavier (aka Professor X, leader of the X-Men), in the form of Harry Lloyd (Counterpart, Game of Thrones), and his mother, Gabrielle, in the form of Stephanie Corneliussen (Mr. Robot), who sheds some light on "The World's Angriest Boy In the World," plus an essential new character, Switch (Lauren Tsai), who is a time-traveler.
If the Professor X revelation pulls back in fans of the comic book or X-Men, it probably won't end well for them. Hawley doesn't seem to have particular interest in the franchise or superheroes in general, and was at least partially attracted to the idea so that he could portray mental illness in a different way — while also having a hell of a time with mind-bending visuals, tricky editing and now, in the final season, hallucinatory drugs adding to the fugue state effect.
Maybe, as someone not particularly interested (fine, not at all interested) in X-Men stuff, I fall into that weird subset where Legion is the perfect series. I just go with what's on the screen, revel in the conceptual ideas and applaud the acting turns, willingly negligent about Marvel-universe connections and never expecting — as others seem to be demanding — that this show, of all shows, be more concise, more linear, more understandable.
Cast: Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart, Jeremie Harris, Bill Irwin, Amber Midthunder, Jemaine Clement, Hamish Linklater, Navid Negahban, Lauren Tsai, Harry Lloyd, Stephanie Corneliussen
Created and written by: Noah Hawley
First episode directed by: Andrew Stanton
Premieres June 24, 10 p.m. FX


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NewsStargirlStargirlTV Show News
Courtney Whitmore's Origin Revealed in "Stargirl" Casting Breakdown
by Ari Bard August 16, 2018
by Ari Bard August 16, 2018 0 comment
DC Universe's upcoming series Stargirl released a casting breakdown that contains everything you need to know about the character's origins. The show is being written by Geoff Johns, who also created Stargirl as a tribute to his younger sister who died in the 1996 TWA flight 800 explosion.
Despite not being released until 2019, we have recieved a lot of information regarding the character's origins in the show. Even though Courtney Whitmore will be 15 years old in the show, producers are looking for an 18+ actress of any enthnicity that can portray traits such as "intelligent, compassionate, and athletic."
The series appears to be staying close to its comic book roots, as the depiction of a young girl living in L.A. being forced to move to Blue Valley, Nebraska because of her mother's new marriage is close to the character's first appearance in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S #1. In the comics, Courtney later discovers that her stepfather, Pat Dugan, was actually a sidekick when she steals some of his old equipment as an act of rebellion and for a school dance. Eventually, she discovers what the equipment can do and learns to become a hero under the mentorship of Pat Dugan.
It is unclear whether or not S.T.R.I.P.E., Special Tactics Robot Integrated Power Enhancer, will appear in the show, but one notable change from the comics is that Courtney will not spend any time as the Star-Spangled Kid before she takes on the mantle of Stargirl. How do you feel about this depiction of Stargirl? Let us know in the comments!
Courtney WhitmoreDC comics newsdc universeGeoff JohnsPat DuganS.T.R.I.P.E.StargirlTV Show News
Ari Bard
I am currently a Sophomore at Case Western Reserve University studying mechanical engineering. I have been in love with DC since I saw the animated series and movies in the early 2000s. I started reading comics regularly at the start of Rebirth. My favorite character is Martian Manhunter.
Wally West to Appear in 3 Episodes of "The Flash" Season 5
Review: New Challengers #4


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" document.write(adsrc) } catch (err) { console.log (err.message) } } Mitsubishi Outlander: Test Drive Review
Mitsubishi Outlander: Test Drive Review
Date: 26 November 2013 | Author:
Category: Large 4x4
P11D price: £33,999
Key rival: Hyundai Santa Fe
Mitsubishi is attempting to shed the previous Outlander's big, thirsty image with the latest model, which is lighter, cleaner, more economical and comes with less power.
The new Outlander also features a large, tough cabin and a pair of collapsible seats in the boot add to its practicality. The interior is also more refined and less plasticky too. Most of the materials are smooth rather than hard and abrasive to the touch, but the Mitsubishi still isn't as well finished as rivals such as the Hyundai Santa Fe, which has also been recently refreshed and has moved upmarket. Anyone used to the likes of an entry-level VW Touareg will still be disappointed too.
The ride and handling aren't class-leading. It can be lumpy when cornering over rough surfaces and the steering is a little vague, but it's fine given that it's designed to be more of a workhorse than anything else.
The Outlander stacks up well on costs next to its core rivals. The top-spec GX5 model tested here might scare a few business buyers off with its lofty £33,999 price tag, but it's actually a close-run thing next to equally kitted out rivals - you're looking at £34,485 for an equivalent Santa Fe and £32,110 for a Chevrolet Captiva. It's also highly competitive in terms of cost per mile, as the GX5 costs 76.7ppm next to 81.2ppm for the Santa Fe and a whopping 85.3ppm for the Chevrolet, despite the latter's lower price tag.
The lion's share of this is down to the fact that the Mitsubishi has significantly lower CO2 levels than its competitors. At 153g/km, it's streets ahead of the competition (178g/km from the Hyundai and 208g/km from the Chevrolet). Head further down the range to the more affordable variants and the entry-level GX2 gets as low as 138g/km, which is seriously impressive given the size and weight of the car. The firm's efforts in this area have also helped to bolster residuals over those of its predecessor.
Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2 DI-D GX5
P11D price £33,999
Model price range £23,699-£33,999
Residual value 32.6%
Depreciation £22,924
Fuel £8042
Service, Maintenance and Repair £2837
Vehicle Excise Duty £525
National Insurance £3707
Cost per mile 76.7p
Fuel consumption 48.7mpg
CO2 (tax) 153g/km (25%)
BIK 20/40% per month £142/£283
Service interval 9000mls
Insurance (1-50) group 22
Warranty 3yrs/unlimited miles
Boot space (min/max) 173/1608 litres
Engine size/power 2268cc/147hp
Top speed/0-62mph 118mph/11.7secs
A big step up and as cost-effective as large 4x4s come
Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2 DI-D 150 GX4: One Minute Test Drive Review
Mitsubishi reveals future eco product line-up
Outlander to 'open up' fleet market for Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi confirms plans to build plug-in hybrid Outlander
Mitsubishi ramps up electric vehicle production
Latest Euro NCAP crash test results out


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Anchorhands
Submitted by Miranda Johansson
Alison was driving north.
She had spent a week at her parents'place for Thanksgiving. On the second day out of seven she had already begun wishing it was over. Now she was returning home. It was a long drive, a cross-country drive, and she was alone in the car, and enjoying the solitude.
Every now and then, as she drove, she saw religious signs by the roadside. Billboards and the painted, sloping roofs of barns. Alison read them all. Most of them referred to various chapters-and-verses of the Bible, some of which Alison knew, most of which she didn't. One sign, which Alison seriously debated stopping to take a picture of, read: "THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD." She wondered if there was a continuation to that phrase that one was expected to know. If there was, she didn't know it.
She had grown up with such signs, had seen them every now and then on road trips and bus rides. Alison's parents weren't fundamentalists, but they were conservative Christians, and they had seemed to accept the signs as a fact of life. Now, as an adult, Alison was as fascinated with the signs as ever, but that fascination was tempered with horror.
At first glance, she thought the advertisement for the roadside attraction was another of the Christian signs. This was a mile or so south of a small town's city limits. The sign was a simple thing, just two hinged plywood boards supporting one another. It was weather-worn and painted with thick, black capital letters. The lettering was expansive on the left-hand side, and squashed together on the right.
"SEE ANCHORHANDS," the sign said. "GOD'S JOKE."
"What the fuck?" Alison mumbled to herself.
There was an arrow at the bottom of the sign, pointing right. "NEXT EXIT." For a second she was tempted to leave the highway, to find out who or what "Anchorhands" was. In the end, she kept going - she was anxious to get home, and she wasn't about to waste any time on a tourist trap, no matter how hilariously weird.
The farms and the forest began to give way to the outskirts of the town. Alison had left her parents'house early in the a.m., so eager had she been to be on her way; she had been driving for a few hours, had crossed one state line already, and the sun was only now climbing towards its zenith. She felt sluggish, the way she always did after early mornings, as if she was still not finished waking up.
She stopped at the first coffee shop she saw.
There were two baristas working the counter, but she was the only customer in there. Both of the baristas looked to be around twenty, and both had dyed hair and piercings. One of them leaned on the counter as she approached. He was tall and lanky and wore a gray beanie. There was a Jackson Pollock spattering of acne up one cheek and on the side of his forehead. "Hey, happy Thanksgiving," he said, though he was a few days late.
"Please," Alison said, before she could stop herself. "I'm so sick of Thanksgiving."
A note of real humor crept into the guy's customer-service smile. According to his nametag, his name was Sean. "Noted," he said. "So, what can I get you?"
Alison ordered a latte to go. The other barista, a short girl with a colorful spray of hair, set about making her coffee, while Sean took Alison's payment. "I know how you feel," he confided, as she punched in her four-digit code. "My parents live in the next town over. I get cabin fever after one night there. Your folks live in town?"
"No, they live south of here. I'm just passing through on my way up," Alison said, tucking her wallet in her pocket.
She warded the receipt off with her free hand, and Sean crumpled it and dropped it in a wastepaper basket underneath the counter. "Well, think of it this way," he said. "One whole year before you have to suffer through it all again."
A year might not be enough, Alison thought. Her mother was manipulative and controlling, and her father and her sister Wendy always got into screaming matches over politics, regular as clockwork. This year, Wendy had brought along her new boyfriend, who was black, and of course that was a situation just waiting to happen. Alison didn't want to be cynical, but she couldn't help but wonder if Wendy had brought him to provoke.
Alison wondered what would happen if her parents ever found out she was gay.
She mentioned none of this. "Yeah," was all she said.
"My dad just talked about profit margins," the other barista confided. The coffeemaker hissed as she worked it. "It was crazy. It was like he thought we were having a board meeting over turkey or something." She turned around and put the styrofoam cup on the counter. "Here's your coffee, ma'am."
"Thanks," Alison said, and took it. The girl barista's nametag read "Melanie." "Actually, maybe I'll drink it here. I could stand to stretch my legs some more, if y'all don't mind my company."
In fact, Alison hated driving one-handed - if she hadn't been in such a hurry to get home, she never would have ordered her coffee to go. Talking to someone not in her immediate family was turning out to be kind of a relief, though.
"Oh, not at all, ma'am," Sean said, and smiled. He and Melanie both seemed starved for conversation; slow day, Alison supposed.
Alison smiled back, and blew on her coffee to cool it down. Then a thought struck her, and she said, "Hey, I saw a weird sign by the roadside. Either of you know what 'Anchorhands'is?"
Sean's face lit up at her words, but Melanie grimaced. "Ugh, God, not that thing," she said, with an exaggerated shudder.
"Have you seen it?" Sean asked Alison. She shook her head. "Oh man, you've gotta see Anchorhands while you're in town. It's, like, the town mascot."
"Is it really?" Alison asked.
"Well, it's not an official mascot or anything," Sean conceded.
"Not an unofficial mascot either," Melanie said. "Everyone hates it. Well, everyone except Sean. The city council has tried to get the exhibit shut down, what, three times now? 'Cause it's in bad taste. The only people who go there are unsuspecting tourists, and it scares the bejeezus out of the kids."
"But what is it?" Alison pressed.
"It's this thing that they... Well, according to the story, they pulled it out of the sea," Sean said. "But that's just a story, obviously. It's this, like, animatronic thing—"
"I keep telling you, there's no way that's animatronic!" Melanie cut in. "The robots they had at the Chuck E. Cheese before they shut down, those were animatronic! The way that thing moves..." She shuddered again.
"So, what, you think it's real?" Sean asked, grinning.
"I'm just saying," Melanie said. "The way it moves..."
Alison sipped her coffee and listened to their exchange. She got the feeling that they had had this exact conversation before. The rhythm of it was natural, familiar. She wondered if Sean and Melanie were a couple, or if they'd just worked together long enough that they were entirely comfortable in one another's presence. "You're making me even more curious," she commented.
Sean turned back to her, all enthusiasm. She thought she knew the type: the kind of guy who spent nights scouring the web for horror films he hadn't watched yet. The more obscure the better. He was obviously delighted to live in the same town as this Anchorhands thing. "Then go see it," he said. "I could give you directions."
"You still haven't told me what it is."
"I don't want to spoil the surprise," Sean said. "You should seriously, seriously go."
"You really shouldn't," Melanie said. "It's dumb and creepy. Save your money." If they were indeed a couple, Alison decided, then Melanie was definitely the kind of girlfriend who patiently suffered her boyfriend's weird obsessions.
"I'll give you the address," Sean insisted. He found a slip of paper, and leaned down to write on it. Melanie rolled her eyes, and Alison grinned. "There probably aren't any people out there now," Sean said as he wrote. "You can get a solo tour with Captain Billy."
Alison had to laugh at that. "And who is Captain Billy?" she asked.
"The guy who runs the exhibit," Melanie said. "He's a creep. I mean, I don't think he's dangerous," she added. "He's just so creepy."
"Yeah, he's definitely weird," Sean admitted with a shrug. "No getting around that. But that's also kind of part of the experience, you know?"
Alison pursed her lips and tilted her head from side to side, considering. "Well, it's tempting, but I've got a ways to drive," she finally said. Seeing Sean's disappointed expression, she added, "Next Thanksgiving for sure, though."
"Well, here," Sean said. He held out his hand and offered her the paper-slip on which he'd written the address. "In case you change your mind."
Alison took it. Then, she knocked back the last of her latte and handed him the empty styrofoam cup. "Thanks. You want to throw this away for me?"
"No, ma'am," Sean said, taking the cup from her. "We'll put it in the dishwasher and reuse it." He tossed the cup into the wastepaper basket underneath the counter.
Alison laughed again and lifted her hand in farewell. "Okay, y'all take care now," she said, and turned to leave. The two baristas'goodbyes followed her out the door.
Out in the parking lot, Alison unlocked her car. Instead of getting in, though, she stopped for a moment and peered up at the sun. Then she pulled out her phone and checked the time, and looked at the address scrawled on the piece of paper Sean had given her.
After a moment, she laughed to herself. Why the hell not? Her hurry to get home was entirely self-imposed, and she was curious to see what it was the young barista was so excited about. Besides, it might turn out to be a good story: an illustration of the kind of weird shit that went on in the backwoods of her youth.
She plugged the address into her phone. The route her phone calculated took her south, back the way she came, in among a tangle of country roads. It was a long drive; the sign she had seen from the freeway had said "NEXT EXIT," but it had omitted the ten or so further steps necessary to reach the Anchorhands exhibit.
Eventually she reached a big, low building with corrugated-steel walls. A repurposed warehouse, by the look of it. It was distinctly uninviting, and such windows as it had were dark. Even with the address, she might not have known that this was the right place, if not for the sign set out in the middle of the parking lot. "HOME OF ANCHORHANDS," it read. "WELCOME."
Alison's car was the only one there. She parked in front of the warehouse and stepped out onto the parking lot.
She was in a run-down industrial area, all cracked concrete lots. Half the buildings looked empty and disused. Further down the road, she could see a vast lot of storage cubicles. It was still and very quiet. There was no sound of cars. She could only hear - not wind, but the noise of air: the sound of a million tiny air currents in concert.
Alison locked her car, and crossed the parking lot to the warehouse's front door. For a second she was certain that it would be locked tight, but it yielded when she pushed.
"Hello?" she called. Inside the door was an incredibly messy hallway. On her left was an old imitation-wood sideboard absolutely covered in junk mail, newspapers and candy bar wrappers. On her right, scattered old boots and drifts of plastic trash bags encroached on the balding carpet.
Nobody answered her, so she called out again. "Hello?"
This time there was a sound: chair legs scraping against floor. "Yeah," came the distant response, not in assent but in simple acknowledgement of her presence. Alison heard steps, and then one of the doors at the end of the hallway opened.
The man who came to greet her could only be Captain Billy. He was a bowlegged little old man with bad posture. He wore faded jeans and a flannel shirt tucked in at the waist, and he had a lined, leathery face bordered with white beard. It was all too easy to imagine him with a pipe and an old-timey captain's hat.
"Hey there, miss," he said, in a cracked old-man voice, and touched his brow in a lazy salute. "What can I do you for?"
"Hi," Alison said. She stood awkwardly just inside the door. "Uh, someone told me not to miss Anchorhands while I'm in town..."
"Ah." The old man grinned. "God's joke, I call 'im. Sure, miss, it would be my pleasure t'give you the grand tour. I'm Cap'n William Flaherty, but ever'body calls me Cap'n Billy. I'm the owner an'proprietor of this fine establishment."
The Southern twang in his voice was almost parodic. It must be an affectation, Alison thought. In fact, all of Captain Billy, from his posture to his Captain-Ahab beard to his goblin grin, was like a caricature. It was part of the bit, Alison supposed. Everything about the old man fit a cultivated image: that of the jolly old likeable sailor.
Everything but his eyes. They were huge and round, shockingly pale in the old man's leathery face, and they never left Alison's face, as if Captain Billy was worried that she would disappear if he looked away.
"Come now," Captain Billy said, gesturing for her to enter. "Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall. As a fine young man from 'round these parts once sang."
Alison didn't recognize the quote, but she followed the old man along the hallway and through the door straight ahead, which opened onto the warehouse proper.
There was an antique cash register on a little folding table right next to the door. Captain Billy walked round behind it, and from a hook on the wall he took a jacket and - yes - a captain's hat, like something straight out of Gilligan's Island. He put these articles of clothing on, then opened the cash register with a satisfying ka-chunk.
A piece of printer paper had been taped to the table next to the cash register. On it was written in permanent marker: "SORRY - WE ONLY ACCEPT CA$H."
"That'll be twenty-five dollars, miss," Captain Billy said.
Alison was momentarily appalled. There was just no way this was worth twenty-five dollars. Captain Billy stared at her. After a moment or two she reached for her wallet and paid up, certain she was being scammed.
It didn't matter - she could live with parting with twenty-five bucks if it meant satisfying her curiosity. Sean and Melanie at the coffee shop had referred to Anchorhands as "it," but Captain Billy had called it "him." So what was it?
The tour began. The warehouse was full of maritime artifacts, and lit with a myriad of colored lamps that bathed the collection in strange light. There was a grainy photograph of a much younger Captain Billy, smiling, on the deck of a ship. There was a map showing fishing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. There was a beat-up old lifeboat which Captain Billy claimed had belonged to the ship which picked Anchorhands up.
The old man led Alison through the exhibit, pointing out relevant items as he told the story of how he had come into possession of Anchorhands. It was more than a decade ago, he said, aboard a trawler working out of New Orleans. One day, they'd had trouble bringing the net up - it got stuck a foot or two above the surface of the water.
"An'lookin'down, there he was!" Captain Billy chuckled, as if the memory was a dear one. "Had those big ol'hands buried a good six inches deep in the hull. Holdin'on for dear life. Well, I could hardly believe my eyes..."
All through the tour, even when he cracked a joke and his grin made the wrinkles of his face spiderweb, his eyes never left Alison's face, and his smiles never reached them.
When Alison was little, she and her sister Wendy had once amused themselves by cutting a ping-pong ball in half, drawing black dots on the halves, and holding them in front of their eyes to make big bulging cartoon eyes. She found herself remembering that time now.
She decided that Melanie had been right. Captain Billy was definitely a little creepy.
At long last, near the end of the tour, Captain Billy led Alison to the back of the room. Along the back wall there was a threadbare red curtain, like a miniature version of the curtain on a theater stage. Above it hung a length of string, threaded with big golden cardboard letters of the type that can be bought at any store that sells party supplies. The letters spelled out "ANCHORHANDS."
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," Captain Billy said, then grinned at Alison. "Sorry, miss, been doin'this for too long. It's practically automatic at this point... Ladies and gentlemen, the moment y'all've been waitin'for!"
With a flourish, the captain flipped a switch on the wall next to the curtain; there was the whine of an electrical motor, and the curtain slowly and uncertainly parted. Behind it was an alcove. In the alcove stood a tank.
The tank was cylindrical, filled with old water, and big enough to easily accommodate an adult standing while still leaving a foot or so of headroom. The thick Plexiglas was scored and dulled, and the water and the tank's curve distorted the thing inside.
The thing in the tank was bound, by its ankles and by what must technically be called its wrists. It hung upside-down, the way a fisher might display a record-breaking catch. A grotesque joke - it certainly wasn't a fish, though it had been marked by the sea: bone and metal alike was thickly crusted with barnacles.
Anchorhands hung still, only its jaw working, its eroded teeth clicking together arrhythmically. Alison couldn't hear the clicking, with the water and the Plexiglas in the way, but she could imagine it all too easily.
"We had to tie 'is arms up," the Captain said, with good humor. "Kept scratchin'at the glass, didn't 'e?" He crouched down as he said this last part, looking into the thing's face, speaking as if to an unruly pet.
Part of Alison wondered who the old man meant by "we." She had seen nothing to suggest that anybody but Captain Billy worked at this place. Mostly, though, she was transfixed by the sight of the tank and its occupant. Of Anchorhands.
It was hard to tell, with the murky water and the clustered barnacles obscuring her view, but as far as she could tell the two jagged anchors seemed to be part of it. Where the wrist joint should be, the bone instead seemed to fuse seamlessly with the rusted metal, as if it had grown there instead of being somehow attached. The effect was to make the thing's arms look almost comically long.
For some reason, Alison didn't feel like laughing.
"Wake up now," the Captain exhorted. He was still sitting on his haunches, and was addressing the thing called Anchorhands. "Cain't you see we've got comp'ny? No sleepin'on the job!" And he reached out and rapped a knuckle on the tank.
Anchorhands reacted instantly. It jerked violently and struggled against its bonds, its head tossing from side to side. It began swinging itself from side to side to the best of its ability; its cranium hit the tank with a dull thud which made Captain Billy chortle as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. And all the while, its jaw worked, chomping water.
Alison supposed it might not have been aware of their presence up until Captain Billy knocked on the Plexiglas - it could hardly see them standing outside its tank, after all, with its eyes long gone. Then she kicked herself mentally for acting like Anchorhands was alive. It was fake. It was mechanical.
But Melanie at the coffee shop had been right about another thing: Anchorhands didn't look animatronic. There was nothing stiff and jerky about the thing's movements. Alison looked for the strings, but could see none. Water currents, she thought - jets of water might make the thing in the tank move like that. But if so, there should be bubbles...
"Well, miss? What do you think?" Captain Billy asked. "Pretty li'l thing, ain't he?"
"It's... I mean, it's animatronic," Alison said. "Right?"
"Oh, not at all, miss," the old man replied, grinning ghoulishly. "Science cain't explain it. Me, I think this is just that good Lord amusin'himself." The haunted pale eyes stared at her, unblinking.
Alison's mouth felt dry. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't bring herself to. The small sensible part of her told her that she was being stupid, but there was something viscerally unsettling about the struggling, bound thing in the tank, about the way it moved.
"I know how you feel, miss," Captain Billy said, with avuncular good cheer. "I got the shakes myself, first time I saw 'im. He's a real ugly customer."
He wants to be let out, Alison thought. He doesn't like the tank! Captain Billy's way of speaking about Anchorhands was rubbing off; without realizing it, she had slipped easily from thinking about it as "it," to thinking about it as "him." You have to let him out!
But the old man was grinning at her as if her discomfort amused him mightily. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Besides, she told herself, it's not real. Just a cheap roadside attraction. Just a magic trick.
Instead she said, "Do you mind if I take some pictures?"
Captain Billy pursed his lips, as if probing at a tooth with his tongue. "Mm... well, usually I don't allow it, but for you, miss, I'll make an exception."
I bet you say that to all the ladies, Alison thought. She got her phone out and snapped a few pictures, but the lighting was poor, and still images did not do Anchorhands justice. She switched over and recorded about a minute of video material instead. Inside the tank, Anchorhands was still struggling, but weakly now. Its teeth still clicked together in that oblique rhythm. If there was a pattern there, Alison couldn't see it. It just looked random, and reassuringly mechanical besides. It isn't real, she reminded herself again.
Captain Billy stood by, hands behind his back. When she put her phone away, he flipped the switch, and the motor whirred once more as the curtain closed. The tank - and the thing it contained - disappeared from view. Once the curtain was fully closed and the noise of the motor died away, Alison could still hear the dull, distant thumping of Anchorhands banging its head on the Plexiglas tank.
"Now, miss," Captain Billy said, "might I interest you in some fine Anchorhands memorabilia? The gift shop is just this way..."
All in all, this digression cost Alison just under two hours of daylight. That night, she had to stop further south to sleep than she would have liked. The next day, she arrived home in the afternoon, rather than late in the morning as she had originally planned.
During the following days, she thought a lot about the Anchorhands exhibit. It had affected her, touched her in a way she hadn't expected. She felt a little sick whenever she thought about the barnacle-crusted thing in the tank, the way she'd felt as a kid when she accidentally saw something too violent on TV or on the internet.
She thought about Captain Billy, too. She wondered if he'd ever actually been a sea captain, or if that was just a shtick for the sake of the exhibit. Most of the things in the old repurposed warehouse could've come from anywhere, and he might just have been a passenger on the boat where the photograph of him was taken.
She showed the video she'd taken on her phone to her friends. A couple of them were fascinated and jealous of what the weirdness she'd experienced. Most of them wanted to know why she would ever waste money on something like that. In hindsight, Alison was at a loss for how to justify it, even to herself; "I was curious" didn't seem to cut it.
If she dared so much as imply the possibility that the thing in the video was a living being, she was laughed at and relentlessly mocked. That was understandable - she had to admit that watching the video on her phone was nothing like seeing Anchorhands in person. After a while, she began to laugh at herself. She couldn't believe she had been so silly, getting so frightened by what was, when you thought about it, really nothing more than a rejected grimdark Chuck E. Cheese character.
She didn't think about Anchorhands for a few months.
Then, one day while cleaning out her phone, she found the video again. She saved it on her computer, and uploaded it to YouTube almost as an afterthought. The video quality was bad, and the video was in portrait mode besides, giving it huge, useless, black borders on the video player. She seriously doubted it would get any views.
She was wrong. Anchorhands.mp4 garnered over a thousand views in a little under a month. Apparently there was a niche market on the internet for videos of weird, creepy animatronics. Fifty people or so left comments on the video, most ranging from "that's so creepy" to "that's so dumb." One person wrote: "WTF I LIVE IN THIS TOWN!" Alison wondered if that commenter might have been Sean the barista.
A month after she had uploaded the video, she received an email alert that someone had posted a comment on it. (She'd been meaning to turn the alerts off, given the unaccustomed volume of people commenting on the Anchorhands video. She just hadn't gotten around to it yet.) She idly checked the comment, and felt a shiver despite herself.
The comment read: "omg i just noticed smth freaky! look at its teeth! thats morse code i think. hard to see cuz its shaky but i think its saying 'help me die'"


text:
Overstated EM.TV drops 22 per cent
SHARES in EM.TV, the fastest growing company on Germany's Neuer Markt and owner of the rights to The Muppets television show plunged 22 per cent yesterday when the company revealed that first-half earnings had been overstated (Carl Mortished writes).
EM.TV said its revenue of DM31.6 million (£9.6 miillion) and profits of DM6.3 million from the Jim Henson Company should not have been booked and had to be phased over the next two quarters.
EM.TV said sales at SLEC, the Formula One company, would not contribute to the first half. EM.TV bought half of SLEC, Bernie Ecclestone's firm, in March. SLEC's first-half figures were unavailable.


It should come as no surprise that New Zealand dairy farmers will be paid more for butterfat in 2018/19 than they will for protein. The implications in terms of feed and genetics are far-reaching, and the move should see New Zealand farmers ahead of the bunch when it comes to delivering what the market is demanding.
What is perhaps more surprising is the fact the rest of the world hasn't done the same. Since the turn of the millennium, butter prices have been the driving force behind rising commodity markets. On average, butter has risen $200 per tonne per year since 2001. SMP, while being more volatile, has only risen by an average of $35 per tonne per year over the same period. In fact, with the current stock in intervention, SMP prices are currently lower than they were in 2001.
As a result, globally, butter has been more valuable than SMP since the start of 2015, and certainly a long way away from the historic protein:fat ratio of 2:1 that is still engrained in most farmgate milk prices in Europe.
This means across most of Europe dairy farmers continue to be encouraged to breed and feed for protein despite the market having moved on more than three years ago.
In the dairy sector, many of New Zealand's innovations and ideas have been adopted by other leading milk producing nations over time. It remains to be seen whether pricing mechanisms around the world follow the New Zealand lead, but if farmers are expected to be increasingly responsive to market demands, effective price signals should be part of the solution.


The bicycles are another one of BM's trademarks, everyone brings their own. Decorated with stuffed animals, lights, baskets, coolers, and any other peculiar objects, all things that say a little about the drivers mostly not so conservative personalities.
This edition tested an interesting new article: around five thousand green bikes, donated to the event by one of its sponsors, were spread all over BRC. All with the inscriptions "Yellow Bikes". Inspired by a project of the Dutch government – where anyone can find a public bike on the street, drive it to their destination, and leave it there for some other pedestrian to drive – the Yellow Bikes filled up with joy the days of those who for any reason forgot their own.
The art cars, or mutant cars, are motorized vehicles packed with cheering passengers that drive on the playa at 10km/h. They're attractive art projects on wheels, in all imaginable shapes and sizes, some of the biggest ones can take up to 500 people at a time.
In their interiors we can find nightclubs, bars and even moving snack restaurants (they remind me a lot of the Rio de Janeiro Carnaval Parade cars). Their outsides are even more intriguing: a huge birthday cake, a Maia carriage, a spaceship from the movie StarWars and even a giant stereo.
Before taking a mutant car to BM don't forget the pre-registering deadlines on the official website and to schedule your DUI hotties inspection on arrival.


With its comfortable weather and misty nights, Bangalore is the perfect place to propose your loved one. Bangalore is rich with abundant gateways for couples; the most happening metro of the country offers an endless plethora of magical venues loaded with utterly romantic views and nature of goodness, all in the corners of this beautiful city. Bangalore is the right place if you wish to propose to your partner for a memorable time.
Do you want to refresh your loving moments? Are you thinking to propose to your life again? Then do not think of any other destination other than Bangalore. The Silicon Valley of India also known as City of Gardens has Palaces, forts, malls, gardens, markets, restaurants, pubs, lounges, and enchanting natural destinations in and around. Once you plan to propose in this mystical city of love, check the Bangalore hotels list and book a wonderful hotel and start impressing your loved one from the stay itself. Here are some mesmerising places for you to choose to propose and make the most of the time.
The best place for romance is in the mystic mountains of Nandi hills is a monsoon getaway near to Bangalore and is the must place you must take your loved one and propose. The pristine lakes, enchanting hills, divine temples, majestic forts and the lush green landscapes make it a worthy rejuvenating road trip. Couples can enjoy participating in the adventure activities like Paragliding, boating or spend romantic time near the Palar, Pennar and Arkavathi rivers.
What is the best way other than proposing with a glass of wine? Do it in the Grover vineyard with a walk in between the juicy, fresh, and colourful grapes. The best place to visit this vineyard is the harvesting season from February to April. Simply walk down the picturesque vineyards holding your beloved's hand or participate in the wine tasting sessions of the finest vine, whatever you choose, this date is nothing less than heavenly.
Explore this secluded, unexplored romantic place together. Thattekere is located at a short distance from Bannerghatta National Park is a home to a lot of birds like kites, bee-eaters, storks, lapwings, and kingfishers. Apart from the gorgeous landscapes, the place is also marshy and in a secluded location. The 1 km trek through the woods to the lake up in the hills is very relaxing, romantic and rejuvenating, making this place one of the most romantic places around Bangalore. Take an early-morning walk uphill and add colours to your love life with the beautiful sunrise.
For all the couples who want to propose uniquely, this is the way you can pamper yourselves in a spa, in a very romantic way. Opt for a couple massages with a blend of Ayurveda, meditation, gym, yoga, self-healing therapies, Jacuzzi, steam, sauna, and even a beauty salon. There are many customised packages provided by various spas, and also resorts including deep-oil massages, nutrient-rich scrubs, healing treatments and much more can be tried.
How about proposing high in the air? That too in a hot air balloon, isn't it exciting? Many adventure centres provide hot air balloon rides as part of tourism. Embark on this adventurous journey with your love and sore into the skies and strengthen your ties of relationship forever.
Many hotels on the Bangalore hotels list provide specialized services like decorated PDA's in a restaurant for the couples. Do take this chance to woo your lover and propose in the striking city of Bangalore.


I think that you should create multiple hubs about your "man laws" and the give the reasons why they are one, so men will no what not to do, wear, say, etc. This way other men will know it's just not what women shouldn't think they should do. I know that it would be a HUGE hit on here!
Good point! I'll do it! And you're right, they would be a big hit!
man laws are those things that allow us men to look at and do things that would otherwise get us in lots of trouble....fishing and drinking for instance.
Man Law: If you fish on a boat on the ocean or on the shore of a lake, and you have a cooler, then it is required of you to have at least one 12 pack per person in that cooler. You must also have a stereo blasting either hard/southern rock or country.
Man laws are the codes of conduct which all men know and must adhere to at all times. They are meant to ensure men stay manly while still ensuring the peace is kept and honor retained. One man law which many women will be familiar with is that at no point is a man allowed to ask for directions when driving. This would belittle our ability to navigate and calls into question the laughable idea that we don't know where we're going. We know exactly where we are, it's just the rest of the world that seems to be lost.
Quite possibly the first and most important rule of man law involves conduct in the restroom. One man may not use the urinal directly neighboring an already occupied urinal unless there is no other option. In other words, when selecting a urinal a man must choose one which is at least one empty urinal down from another occupied urinal. Thus, a polite man will automatically take the leftmost or rightmost urinal in the line if all are unoccupied.


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Volunteers needed to help work the MDNA booth at FABTECH 2017 at McCormick Place|Chicago, IL ! If you would like to volunteer to help Jim Bowman at the MDNA booth for a couple of hours please contact him directly at JBowman@locatoronline.com or 703-683-5957.
MDNA has COMPLIMENTARY ADMISSION TICKETS to MDNA members for the FABTECH 2017 at McCormick Place|Chicago, IL November 6-9.
If YOU are planning to attend, come visit us at Booth C40709.


Rna, 2005, v. 11 n. 6, p. 939-946 How to Cite?
Increasing evidence suggests that low-abundant transcripts may play fundamental roles in biological processes. In an attempt to estimate the prevalence of low-abundant transcripts in eukaryotic genomes, we performed a transcriptome analysis in Drosophila using the SAGE technique. We collected 244,313 SAGE tags from transcripts expressed in Drosophila embryonic, larval, pupae, adult, and testicular tissue. From these SAGE tags, we identified 40,823 unique SAGE tags. Our analysis showed that 55% of the 40,823 unique SAGE tags are novel without matches in currently known Drosophila transcripts, and most of the novel SAGE tags have low copy numbers. Further analysis indicated that these novel SAGE tags represent novel low-abundant transcripts expressed from loci outside of currently annotated exons including the intergenic and intronic regions, and antisense of the currently annotated exons in the Drosophila genome. Our study reveals the presence of a significant number of novel low-abundant transcripts in Drosophila, and highlights the need to isolate these novel low-abundant transcripts for further biological studies. Copyright © 2005 RNA Society.