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US to Rejig its Defence Department to Boost Military Ties with India
in Asia, Defense, Featured, India, National Security, Politics, U.S. News, World News
The US government in a report to the Congress said it is creating new positions in the department of defence (DoD) to strengthen its military ties with India.
Two new under secretary level posts will come up by February 2018 to steer the defence technology and trade initiative (DTTI) that seeks to overcome bureaucratic obstacles to cooperation and identify opportunities for sharing of defence technologies, said the July report.
The report was submitted jointly by DoD and the department of state, underlining different aspects of the ties, including military exercises, cyber security, technology security and India being designated a major defence partner of the United States.
Established in 2012, the DTTI seeks to identify opportunities for co-development and co-production of military hardware, collaborate on science and technology projects and jointly explore policy changes needed to further the military relationship.
The report on enhancing defence and security cooperation with India is a follow up to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) passed in December 2016.
The NDAA had set a six-month deadline for the secretaries of the two departments to give their report on issues dealing with transfer of advanced technology, strengthening of the DTTI and resolving all pending issues impeding India-US defence trade.
Since 2014, the DoD's efforts under the DTTI have been led by the under secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics (USD-AT&L).
"The NDAA for FY 2017 also directs the department to reorganise the office of the USD (AT&L) into two new under secretary positions – one for research and engineering (USD-R&E) and one for acquisition and sustainment (USD-A&S). This change will take effect no later than February 2018," the report said.
The NDAA outlined that the DTTI leadership would consist of an individual with experience in acquisition and technology to ensure the success of the US-India defence relationship. The DoD had established an exclusive India Rapid Reaction Cell in 2015 to support the DTTI.
Since 2008, India has bought or ordered military equipment worth $15 billion from the US, including C-130J special operations planes, C-17 transport aircraft, P-8I submarine hunter planes, Harpoon missiles, Apache and Chinook helicopters and M777 lightweight howitzers.
Last week, India gave nod to a $650-million proposal to buy six Apache AH-64E attack helicopters for the Indian Army from the US.
India has spent more than $100 billion on buying new weapons and systems during 2008-17, with imports accounting for around 60-65% of the country's military requirements.
At $15 billion, military purchases from the US have consumed more than a fourth of the total capital expenditure for the last decade.
The Trump administration is supporting US military contractors exploring the possibility of setting up production lines for single and twin-engine fighter jets in India.
"These proposals (for F-16 Block 70 fighters and F/A-18 jets) will help create and maintain jobs in both countries and demonstrate the depth of our commitment to defence cooperation," the report said.
The US government's decision to supply Guardian unmanned aerial vehicles, manufactured by General Atomics, to the Indian Navy is one of the major developments that has taken place after the NDAA was passed.
The deal for 22 such UAVs is expected to be worth $2 billion.
Tags: BoostDefence DepartmentIndiaMilitary TiesRejigUS
US Defence Secretary says Why He Goes to Ukraine

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Best Choice Products® Pro 2400gph 13" Sand Filter Above Ground Swimming Pool Pump 10000gal - Max suction 32ft. 19lbs sand capacity. Drum holds up to 43lbs of sand. Sand size 0018-0022in (045-056mm). Max water temp 105 deg f.
Pool Mate 372040r-pm In-ground Above-ground Swimming Pool Winter Cover, 20′ By 40′, Forest Green - 12 year warranty. All seams are heat sealed for better performance. Professional-quality polyethylene. 5-foot overlap for easy installation. Stops algae growth.
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Grow & Lead: Community and Youth Development has announced that it is now accepting applications for the Judy Watson Olson Education Enrichment Award in honor of former Grow & Lead president and CEO, Judy Watson Olson.
This $500 award assists Upper Peninsula K-12 schools, teachers or organizations with programs that help youth succeed academically. Examples of potential projects include homework clubs, field trips, mentoring or literacy support. It is preferred that funds be utilized within one year.
Applicants must be from Upper Peninsula school districts, College Access Networks or other youthserving organizations. Selection will be based on how the program addresses an unmet need, how it helps youth succeed academically, the number of youth served and other compelling data as determined by the selection committee.
The recipient organization CEO will be responsible for ensuring that award funds are utilized according to the approved project purpose. A brief evaluation report, including financial reporting, will be required. Awardees must be nonprofit organizations. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 8.
The winner of the award will be recognized at the Excellence in Education Week Awards Program April 29 at Northern Michigan University.


I know there are so many beauty tips and tricks around these days and I do try to give as many as I can along my blogging journey, through YouTube and product reviews. Sometimes though, there are just a few random tips which have no 'home' as such, so I thought I would collate some of my top beauty hacks in one place. I must warn you, many of these are life changing!
1 Make perfume last longer by applying vaseline to your pulse points first (behind your ears, neck, wrists and back of the elbows). Then spray on your perfume and enjoy a longer lasting scent! If you happen to have a solid version of your favourite perfume use that instead, it is a real bonus!
2 Apply foundation or concealer to your lips before applying lipstick. It acts as a primer and gives you a richer colour. If you smile when you apply you can get all the cracks in your lips which will then look smooth after lipstick application. I have these awful brown marks on my lips which I hate and always use concealer on my lips to cover up before applying any lipstick.
4 To set your lipstick or for a more matte lip, after applying lipstick cover your lips with a tissue and lightly dust transluscent powder over the tissue. I also like to apply one coat of lipstick, press on a tissue and then a apply a second coat to really lock the colour in. I have been using this trick for years and everyone knows me by my lipstick print tissues I leave behind!
5 Always try to exfoliate your legs before shaving them to bring those tiny hairs out of their follicles. You'll end up shaving less and will get a much smoother finish.
6 While we are on the subject of shaving legs, if you do get a nick or two now and then. Stop the bleeding and promote healing by applying clear lip balm or vaseline. This tip will work for men who cut themselves having too!
7 If you have ever managed to finish a bottle of nail varnish (well done that is quite an achievement) or if you are throwing out a nail polish which is more likely be sure to keep the brush. Keep it on hand and dip it in nail polish remover to get the perfect manicure.
8 As we are talking nails, if you have a last minute broken nail, chipped polish or find that your nails are completely clashing your outfit. Keep an easy to carry around set of XpressOn nails in your bag, you can apply them in seconds and look like you have just come straight from the nail salon! Be sure to read my full post on them here.
9 Cover up dark circles by applying concealer in an upsidedown triangle shape, this now comes as second nature to me and I almost felt like it wasn't a beauty hack but it really is! You can see me do this a countless number of times in my YouTube tutorials.
10 If you have an important date, meeting or event and you want your make-up to look on point, be sure to check your makeup when you get into your car. The lighting is all natural and you will see that you look flawless, noticed how many car selfies are on Instagram??
11 If you are after that sun-kissed or even winter glowing skin look, add a drop of oil to your foundation. Just a drop as a little goes a long way with any oil, but you will see what a difference it makes.
12 I think this has to be my favourite and newest tip! If your concealer creases like no other than you need to bake it, that's right, bake it. Start off with your upside down triangle as mentioned in point 9 and then immediately get a beauty blender or brush (but this works much better with a sponge) and apply loose powder over the top. At first it will look a little over the top but after five minutes you can sweep away the excess powder with a soft brush and after that trust me, your concealer will not crease. Again, you can see me do this in my more recent YouTube tutorials but if you would like me to do a video on baking, just comment below!


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Gaudí District
La Muralla Roja Walden-7
Location: Reus, Tarragona, Spain
Client: Patronato Local de La Vivienda
Total area: 33,000 (sqm)
Gaudi housing development was the Taller de Arquitectura first experience of urban design on the grand scale. The commission called for the construction of a very economical, low cost residential development aimed at alleviating the housing shortage created by the influx of large number of immigrants during the 60s, in terms comparable to those of innumerable projects elsewhere which resulted inhabitable peripheral suburbs.
The basic premise was to steer clear of the dormitory-suburb model by means of a wealth of shops, bars, leisure facilities, supermarkets and large public spaces. The inclusion of the greatest possible number of services was to lead...
FROM THE HISTORICAL CITY TO THE CITY OF THE FUTURE
As a preface to the study of the "Barrio Gaudi" of the "Taller de Arquitectura" the staff of "Hogares Modernos" presents a short summary of the history of urban nuclei, from the primitive hamlet to the...
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPEMENT OF THE "BARRIO GAUDI
Here, the "Taller de Arquitectura Ricardo Bofill" recounts its participation in the "Barrio Gaudí" project and comments on some of the architectonic and urbanistic points...
CHRONICLE OF AN INVASION BY JOSE AGUSTIN GOYTISOLO LITERARY EVIDENCES TRANSLATION: TOM BURGESS
Between the alphabetical indices and the ordinal numbers there is always a cranny for us to slip into and study the cunning work of the termites scratching away in the heart of the old wooden files. There amongst the piles...
THE "BARRIO GAUDI" AND THE BREAK WITH URBANISTIC CONVENTION BY CARLOS FRANQUI
The "Barrio Gaudi", a creation of the "Taller de Arquitectura de Barcelona" (Architectural Workshop) is like a hallucination, a mirage. This suburb does away with the image of suburb-prison,...
MEDITATION ON THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE BY EDUARD BONET
The problem of squaring the circle if it is only a question of "finding a square that has the same area as a given circle" becomes something so simple as a schoolboy could solve. But the Greek geometrists state...
THE "BARRIO GAUDI" OF REUS CONSIDERED AS A NOVEL BY SALVADOR CLOTAS
Though Balzac didn't invent Paris, perhaps he could have. In any case he described it in all its human, sociological, political and architectural complexity better than the architects of his time. There is also a London of...
FUTURE MEDITATION ON THE RUINS OF THE SUBURB OF REUS BY MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBÁN
There are those travelers who return to their old suburbs To destroy memories and come back to life But, impossible, The four horizons of familiar faces lure them into the snare of submarine voices Recorded on faulty tape leading...
Barri Gaudi
The city of Reus is a commercial and industrial town with 50 000 inhabitants in the province of Tarragona, near the Costa Daurada to the southwest of Barcelona. It seriously lacked affordable housing within reach of industrial...
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Project: Gaudí District
Total area: 33,000
The basic premise was to steer clear of the dormitory-suburb model by means of a wealth of shops, bars, leisure facilities, supermarkets and large public spaces. The inclusion of the greatest possible number of services was to lead to the creation of a city within a city, thus minimizing both the need to commute in and out and the marginalization of the new neighborhood.
An attempt was made to reproduce the atmosphere of communication fostered by the urban network of long-established towns, creating three independent road systems. The principal network consists of major peripheral expressways for high-speed traffic. The secondary network is for slow-moving vehicles, public parking and pedestrians, while the third system is exclusively for the use of pedestrians.
Geometrical patterns were of primary importance to the solution of the scheme. In this project an ars combinatoria of spatial "cells" simultaneously allows for open growth and hierarchical composition. The purpose of spatial organization is to facilitate man's orientation. Orientation presupposes that the individual possesses and environmental image, that is an understanding of the spatial structure of the surroundings. The spatial organization of the Barrio Gaudi proves that this is so while satisfying the demand for order as well as the need for discovery.
The 500 subsidized residential units are concentrated over eight-storey towers, which communicate with each other by means of terraces that permit pedestrian circulation between the different buildings. The north-oriented spaces are primarily used for circulation, thus leaving the spaces with greater sun exposure for housing. The scheme incorporates various residential typologies: two, three and four-bedroom apartments.
The typical floor with twelve apartments, each one different from the other, is arranged geometrically around a patio. Spectacular open air vestibules provide access to the vertical communication elements, staircases and lifts and facilitate horizontal communication with the dwellings around the other patios on the same floor; pedestrian public circulation is maintained on all levels. On the fourth floor circulation becomes elevated streets and plazas.
The construction system employed a structure of concrete with brick cladding. The economic constraints and the lack of available technology dissuaded general use of industrially produced construction elements, although where these were tried the results were found to be very positive, and are clearly visible in the completed scheme.
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SKETCHES FROM THE HISTORICAL CITY TO THE CITY OF THE FUTURE
MODEL ORIGIN AND DEVELOPEMENT OF THE "BARRIO GAUDI
As a preface to the study of the "Barrio Gaudi" of the "Taller de Arquitectura" the staff of "Hogares Modernos" presents a short summary of the history of urban nuclei, from the primitive hamlet to the modern metropolis, including the classical city. Centralization is dealt with, beginning with the creation of the capital of each country, and the division of the inhabitants into social classes, a legacy of the primitive groupings of nobles and vassals.
With the appearance of industry, which joins commerce, crafts and banking the city becomes a productive centre of wealth and knowledge, and the difference between citizens and peasants tends to be more marked. From the time of overgrowth of the great cities, due to migration from the country to the town since industry offers more chance of work, and the decline in the mortality rate, rise in birth rate, the urban shape begins to alter and land speculation appears. As land gets dearer the city, which had grown horizontally and spread like a stain, grows vertically, and sky scrapers arrive.
The summary shows that in the modern city with a choked old quarter surrounded by insufficient extensions, with badly planned and inaccessible residential suburbs, workings class suburbs, like ghettos in the insalubrious industrial zones, a strange phenomenon takes place: the center is gradually abandoned by the well-to-do who move to further out healthier districts Then the centre becomes a business zone. Thus, the living city dynamically remodels the historical city and corrects the errors of closed planning and theoretical urbanism. In spite of their interests being in opposition all social groups compete in their love for the city, and the wealthy, as kings and tyrants before them, try to justify their privileges by building palaces, and donating statues and fountains and others ornaments. But it is necessary to give the city back its communal character, which it has slowly been losing, before attempting to restore its aspect of work of art or integral spectacle in which all the inhabitants are actors and audience. The beginning of urban ideology is considered. The precursors appear on the latter part of the 19th century coinciding with the birth of the industrialized city in Western Europe. Camilo Sitte, Ebenezer Howard, Arturo Soria and Patrick Geddes all proposed new models of towns either garden or lineal cities. Their theories were soon forgotten and the industrial city continued its anarchic growth. The Russian Revolution, in spite of such important groups as the "Constructivist"", contributed nothing. The urbanistic renaissance, with its zonification schemes, was powerless-against land speculation which worsened the already mistaken lay outs of the cities.
At the end of the 2nd world war new state planning agencies emerged in the advanced countries attempting to avoid the chaos created by larger and larger urban concentrations and the huge torrent of motor vehicles in their streets.
The summary ends by pointing out the responsibility of the public authorities in capitalist countries (where they are dominated by vested interests) and in socialist countries (where the authorities are influenced by western techniques and consequently make lamentable mistakes, such as coupling industrial and residential areas, for example, or building sky-scrapers in a country where land speculation is non-existent. New attitudes are needed to deal with the problem of the growth of the great cities, based on facts and developing creative hypotheses that are flexible and open to the
possibilities of change that is in the offing.
FROM THE HISTORICAL CITY TO THE CITY OF THE FUTURE CHRONICLE OF AN INVASION BY JOSE AGUSTIN GOYTISOLO LITERARY EVIDENCES TRANSLATION: TOM BURGESS
Here, the "Taller de Arquitectura Ricardo Bofill" recounts its participation in the "Barrio Gaudí" project and comments on some of the architectonic and urbanistic points involved.
Antecedents:
Prior to the Reus project, the "Taller" had projected and directed various important undertakings but not on such a scale: there had been several apartment buildings in Barcelona, groups of apartments in seaside resorts, developments of Holiday houses, a chemical laboratory etc… Each case was an experiment in the physical form of the buildings, a deconventionalization of the interiors, classic materials and crafted forms were studied, and the most modern techniques were applied. These first works were well received by informed criticism, were displayed in the best architectural journals and were awarded various prizes.
The idea of the "Taller" was to try out their ideas of dwelling construction on a grand scale. A large space was needed to obviate having to construct in isolated blocks, and where they could create a new form of civic community, with houses connected at all levels in space by elevated streets and squares, the ground level being used only for traffic and parking. The opportunity arose by chance, when thanks to a casual conversation in a cafe, it was found that the city of Reus needed to build a suburb of 2000 dwellings. Reus is a commercial and industrial town with 50.000 inhabitants in the province of Tarragona, near the Costa Dorada to the south west of Barcelona. It seriously lacked economical housing that was within the means of industrial workers so a local building society launched a competition for the construction of a suburb. The 'Taller" rounded up all the data concerning the future inhabitants of the suburb, their habits and their needs and undertook the study of the project.
Once the data was assembled the "Taller" began to work as a team. This doesn't mean that several people studied the same subject but that one group did research from the particular to the general and the other vice-versa. Gradually both groups converged, continually exchanging references and first results. This way of working familiarized the Taller with a more than usually complex system, one which, amplified and adjusted, prepared them to undertake a more ambitious project "La Ciudad en el Espacio" (City in Space).
INTERMINGLING OF USES AND FUNCTIONS
The "Taller" was convinced that zoning, as well as the planning that usually precedes it, is a rigid system imposed from above, and that its results are disastrous, above all to the town of Reus. Instead, there should be ubiquity of the functions proper to the suburb that were not related to Reus. The members of the "Taller" were sure that the shops, the supermarket, the bars, the recreational facilities should all be intermingled with the dwellings, as happens in different quarters of an old town.
This intermingling was the only way to keep the elasticity of the ensemble, to make it more visible and attractive. Besides from the point of view of the future inhabitants of the "Barrio" this intermingling had the advantage of making the designers think of the relationship between people, the shortest ways to and from, the functionalism of the shops etc… It was more an architectonic or human solution than a merely urbanistic one, but appropriate to an intermediate urban nucleus such as the "Barrio Gaudí".
INDUSTRIALIZATION AND ARTISANAL METHODS
As the Taller could not rely on heavy prefabrication, non-existent in Spain, the construction of the "Barrio" was begun attempting to use the greatest number of mass produced elements, when these were cheaper than their artisanal counterpoints. Thus though a large series of constructive elements had been planned, artisanal means were employed instead, due to their lower cost, since the fact that this was to be low cost housing could not be overlooked.
Industrialization was only partly used, but, as it had been reckoned on, it influenced the final result. The monotony of the classic cemetery-suburbs that surround all the great cities of the world has been avoided thanks to the methodology of the project, the complexity of its structure and the system employed. Thus, to the achievement of adjusting artisanally a project designed to support a future industrial process must be added that of a visualization rich in different volumes planes and contours.
Since the "Taller" understands that the atmosphere of the streets and squares of the old quarters of a town, or of the historical city are pleasant to the passer-by, an effort was made to retain this agreeable atmosphere in a modern urban setting.
To effect this, a primary network of two broad avenues, 20 and 12 meters, were laid across the "barrio", for fast traffic; a secondary network for slow traffic leading to a parking, space, and a third, only for pedestrians which does not terminate on the ground floor, but extends to all levels of the building. This network of elevated streets and squares was a real innovation in an urban nucleus, which the members of the "Taller" are particularly satisfied with: it means that through the methodology of the structures the space sacrificed on the ground floor is recuperated several times over in elevation. It creates new communal spaces that promote the development of community life and justify the population density of the "Barrio".
VISIBILITY, SUNLIGHT AND INDEPENDENCE
The "Taller" considers that both the building-and-city block systems leave the problem of orientation unresolved, given their rigidity.
If a synthesis was desired of the dense and colorful aspect of the old city and the hygienic and other advantages of modern living, the triple problem of visibility, sunlight and independence had to be solved.
The visibility was thought principally to concern the natural and architectural landscape and with more distances that would allow visualization in all directions; this distance was put at a minimum of 30 meters though in most cases it is greater. The problem of sunlight was not solved by orientating all the dwellings towards the south, but a wider range was used, eliminating north, north-west and north-east and using these for joins and interlockings. The shape of the windows was specially studied to allow sufficient light, sun and air into the bedrooms and complete sunlight was reserved for the balconies and terraces of family rooms and communal spaces, elevated gardens and squares. Face-to-face dwellings were avoided and one tenant cannot see another when he is in his apartment, an important item in a densely populated area. Through turned planes, the construction of walls and screens, inner privacy and independence were achieved, coexisting with the total communication of the exterior.
TIPOLOGY OF THE DWELLINGS
The greatest innovations of the project lie in the form of the nucleus, in the purveyance of a larger and richer community life. That is, in aspects of exterior architecture.
It was not possible to introduce too many ideas into the interiors as the local authorities had solicited and obtained a permit from the central authority (Madrid) for 65 sq meter apartments. ln spite of the dimensional limits imposed, the Taller designed a series of variations to make possible various types of apartments that would fulfill particular needs, trying at the same time to change the conventional attitudes of the inhabitants by eliminating passages etc… Modules with 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms were designed though this logically reduced the kitchen-dining-living space. As w-ell as these three types, 3 more emerged as a result of the inversion of a normal storey, and two more from the interlocking zones of each nucleus. These 8 types are grouped in sets of 12 around the interlockings grid. The combination allows that no type is the same as its neighbor. The variations at each level enabled the construction to be carried out following a formula that made a storey plan unnecessary, to the astonishment of the builders who quickly got used to the system. All the dwellings have lifts, hot water, electrical heating, gas, collective T.V. aerial, full bathroom, extractor fans etc… That is to say, commodities that have never been offered in this kind of extra-economical housing in Spain before. All this, added to the external aspect of the "barrio", like an elevated garden suburb, gives it an air of luxury. This has been achieved by the low cost that the methodology of the project made possible.
URBAN EXPERIMENT
The principal objective was to achieve an urban nucleus that would break with the system of free-standing blocks or city blocks, reviving at the same time certain aspects of the historical city and creating a greater community life.
This was managed through an open methodology where through the interlocking of the nuclei, the inversion of storeys and the use of the upper space so created as path or gardens, an articulated group emerges, linked on all levels, and monotonous repetition of volumes is avoided. No part resembles another, the integration with the setting, land and townscape is harmonious.
The result, a balance between a futuristic treatment and a classical past, utilizes the most important discoveries for a medium sized community, 10.000 to 12.000 inhabitants, with great economy of means and working with, at times, artisanal techniques as these were cheaper than industrialized ones. The "Taller" widened its vision of the problems involved in large town planning and was led on to tackle the problem on a larger scale in "La Ciudad en el Espacio" to be built in Madrid and the complex social nucleus "Walden 7", in Barcelona.
SOME OUESTIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SCHEME
ln this section the combination rules followed in the project are dealt with. Their use based on the nucleus and its interlockings, derivations and different heights and juxtapositions according to the ensemble. The joints and their variations to give form to the "Barrio", the superimposition of storeys, all obey definite rhythms conditioned by formal and conceptual considerations. The-advantage of this system is the great numbers of possible results, and thus the variety of the ensemble is vastly superior to that of any nucleus based on the principles of functionalist architecture. All the finishings are evidently ornamental in intention, the visible materials, bricks, tiles, reinforced concrete and chromatic range of the colors employed underline instead of concealing the methodology employed.
The whole "Barrio Gaudí" looks like a great work of sculpture, remote from that rationalism that makes almost all present constructions everywhere alike. An air of dreams and magic hovers over this extraordinary work of the "Taller de Arquitectura" of Ricardo Bofill.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FORM OF THE BARRIO GAUDÍ
In the field of those problems involving architecture, urbanism, economy and sociology, many proposals have been made for cities that are called utopian since they are unrealizable, according to ideologies based on certain politico-social ideas.
The authors of these theories seem to us rather amusing, admirable in their ideological prowess, but without having really faced up-to reality. Thus one reason for the failure of present day town planning-is this sticking to a theoretical abstract model. Then, beside these models and parallel to them rises a disastrous urban reality, a consequence of the fact that the planning is carried out by people with aims contradictory to those of the creators of the abstract models: Aims which are simply the economic interest of one section of society: the speculators.
The "Taller de Arquitectura" tries to find a point of union between utopia and reality. It evolves beyond the merely architectural towards fields that affect the life of the inhabitant: and it carries out its projects.
The method of design employed is not justifiable for its own sake (though it could be considered logically coherent) but it is valid given the context of premises and conclusions involved.
The project arose as the natural result of two systems of basic factors, which were:
. on one hand : legal norms and regulations financial and economic norms to hand at the time
. on the other, our working proposal, our aesthetic norms, conditions imposed by physical structure on form.
The first group of factors was pretty rigidly imposed on us. The second comes from the "Taller" itself and we can be more specific about it. Our working proposals were a series of more or less ideal images of how a city should work. The basic reasoning was a critical analysis of block construction and the hollow city block. From this came our intention to improve on both models, and realize our image of a city (embryo of what will be "La Ciudad en el Espacio"). Not as a synthesis of the qualities of the two models, but as an intuitive leap or visualization of an urban scheme more adequate to the needs and the ways of life of a future society which is at present evolving. "The Barrio Gaudí" is just one step towards this ideal image and only contains a few of its characteristics.
Amongst other things we proposed that collective life should go on at all levels not simply on the ground floor. Collective spaces to be-larger than usual, which involved a series of specific conditions. Each dwelling have the maximum privacy. Our aesthetic norms: The method of volumetric composition and some basic criteria suggested by our sensibility attempting to make the actual process of the configuration explicit. Though it does not achieve everything it sets out to do, the result is valuable for uniting in one construction:
– Some of the proposals of the ideal image of a city of the "Taller".
-The achievement of accessible economic conditions.
-The logically simple volumetric composition producing a sense of variety and complexity.
– A low cost construction giving a sense of luxury.
-The verification of the aesthetic validity of the method of composing the architectural forms employed.
CHRONICLE OF AN INVASION BY JOSE AGUSTIN GOYTISOLO
LITERARY EVIDENCES
TRANSLATION: TOM BURGESS
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPEMENT OF THE "BARRIO GAUDI THE "BARRIO GAUDI" AND THE BREAK WITH URBANISTIC CONVENTION BY CARLOS FRANQUI
Between the alphabetical indices and the ordinal numbers
there is always a cranny for us to slip
into and study the cunning work of the termites
scratching away in the heart of the old wooden files.
There amongst the piles of stamped documents
we must search burrow through unending mounds
check dates times ridiculous addresses
on the track of the order that caused the scandal.
No trace of the culprits the affair is involved
investigations get lost in the cigar smoke
as if from department to section and section to office
someone had rubbed out the way and mixed up the registers.
Ah shrewd epoch of biros and deferred payments
that welcomes indifferently to your plastic bosom
the honest toil of the clean shaven managers
and the treachery of the furious assailants of cities.
It's a fact, it's a fact we know they did it
but there's no evidence of bribes or evidence
of their lies or bad faith or the trickery
that unbelievably got past the rules the alarms.
Could all the security devices have stopped working at once
and the tape recorders only picked up a few bars
of anodyne music and not the moist voices
of those delinquents with their jeans and their raging eyes?
They arrived with pencils and rolls of film
and gave sweets to the children and drank and smoked
strange cigarettes with colored filters that a pale girl
drew from her bag while they took measurements and pictures.
Of course they talked about trivial matters
and the town and the people got used to them
used to seeing them with their funny shirts and their hair
never realizing they could change so many things so much.
Now it's too late to be sorry and there are
the absurd staircases lawns on the attic incredible passages
painted chimney pots my god what windows
where is the lift children and old women leap along the roof.
And while the adulterers gaze on the disorder and kiss
the lizards cross from a blue wall to a violet balcony
a rhododendron usurps the hallowed place of the aerials
and the police are worn out trying to find the keys.
No porches no streets people waste time
Chat in the sun protest become insolent nobody pays
so many cats and cries what music infernal
the poor have changed all taking the air how dreadful.
This town was dignified until they came
No you can see there's nothing to be done and they've gone
probably laughing they don't care already plotting
another mockery this is intolerable intolerable.
CHRONICLE OF AN INVASION BY JOSE AGUSTIN GOYTISOLO LITERARY EVIDENCES TRANSLATION: TOM BURGESS MEDITATION ON THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE BY EDUARD BONET
The "Barrio Gaudi", a creation of the "Taller de Arquitectura de Barcelona" (Architectural Workshop) is like a hallucination, a mirage. This suburb does away with the image of suburb-prison, characteristic of those sectors of cheap dwellings meant for the proletariat. It is not made up of the usual blocks of repressive technological contemporary architecture.
The architecture of the consumer society, and even that of underdeveloped societies, goes hand in hand with capitalist repression. It is a form of physical and moral coercion, second only to work.
If a man "thinks as he lives", then the "Where" conditions him, since more than half his time is spent at home.
Art, architecture cannot liberate man but it can lead him to think, to rebel. The novelty of the "Barrio Gaudi" is that it re-establishes communal living. The "Taller" has achieved total communication in this suburb.
The balance between the individual and the community is permanent. Here, there is movement in all directions up, down and along. One can go from one end to the other of this large group of 2.000 dwellings without once setting foot on the ground. Because the streets and the squares are on all levels, they are elevated, they are reminiscent of the hanging gardens of Babylon. Each apartment has absolute privacy.
From the outside, the landscape, life, light and space come to the inhabitants. Though the aspect is luxurious, it was built with the strictest economy of means. There is no feeling of a densely populated area, though in fact it is. The beginnings of what can architectonically, be a new city is there, though they are in contradiction to the social reality that surrounds them. This surrounding social reality may assimilate and devour the "Barrio Gaudi", this actual utopia.
Economically, this architecture can successfully compete with any kind of construction. Thus it could be assimilated by the consumer society. But its powerfully popular conception would be inconvenient. Vested interests and land speculation are the worst enemies of the projects of the "Taller".
Because conservative forces are opposed to the new, the daring, to the imagination of a socially committed artistic vanguard. This would be a suitable architecture for socialist countries, if they had imagination and realized that with smaller economic means they could build humanized cities, instead of concrete prisons or horrific pre-fabricated blocks.
But the socialist countries copy the worst capitalist architecture, blocks and skyscrapers, where a man is an anonymous unit, lost in a townscape of smoke and soot.
Barcelona has often been the cradle of powerful revolutionary contemporary art (Gaudi, Miró, Picasso, Tapies). The '"Taller" of Ricardo Bofill assures the continuity of the creative process of Spanish genius. The "Taller" is made up of architects, engineers, sociologists, painters, poets and sculptors, and has centered its work on the design of large urban nuclei. Besides the "Barrio Gaudi" (Reus, province of Tarragona) the "Taller" has begun the construction of two new important projects: "La Ciudad en el Espacio" (The City in Space) in Madrid and "Walden 7" in Barcelona.
The originality consists in the transfer of the successful elements of bourgeois architecture for individuals to a collective, popular field, giving them a new sense.
The "Taller" develops to the maximum those forms that help a community to find new ways of living and relation.
The old Spanish castles lend their strength, cubism is linked poetically with surrealism, to produce an extraordinary effect on the spectator.
One day I overheard a group of foreigners who were visiting the "Barrio Gaudi": "We would love to live here forever". This is the great virtue of the projects of the "Taller". They captivate, they make people dream.
This Catalan Rocinante and its rider Don Quijote, are sought after and studied in various parts of Europe, in Algeria, in Chile, in Argentina and in Cuba, my country.
Welcome, horse and rider to the world of the revolution and the future.
THE "BARRIO GAUDI" AND THE BREAK WITH URBANISTIC CONVENTION BY CARLOS FRANQUI THE "BARRIO GAUDI" OF REUS CONSIDERED AS A NOVEL BY SALVADOR CLOTAS
The problem of squaring the circle if it is only a question of "finding a square that has the same area as a given circle" becomes something so simple as a schoolboy could solve. But the Greek geometrists state clearly "the square must be graphically based on the circle, and ruler and compass used for a limited number of operations". This way it becomes an enormous problem, unresolved until the 19th century, when it was demonstrated to be impossible.
The old architecture of the town of Reus is best understood by seeing it from the bell tower, best of all on the day of San Pedro: surrounding the roof of the church, the harmonious disorder of uneven roofs stretches away to the fields and woods, giving now and then a glimpse of the human procession.
But let us not fall into the vulgar error of thinking, because modern mathematical techniques have given us flexible algebraic formulae to tackle the problem, that the Greek proposition is strange and artificial. This would reveal a total ignorance of their method. Indeed, though they had no algebraic calculation, they had achieved a great perfection in geometric reasoning. Fundamental here is the theorem of Thales that resolved the problem of proportion through parallels, and consequently multiplication and division trough segments. Then again the theorem of Pythagoras by utilizing the compass to draw circles resolved a series of problems pertaining to the square. Thus the ruler and the compass became the basic instruments of geometric constructions. Of course this was a backward step considering the systems of calculation developed by some earlier eastern peoples. But surprisingly the Greeks made the very most of their method not only in what they achieved but also in the profound problems they proposed. Thus the followers of Pythagoras discovered the incommensurability of the diagonal of the square and its side; Euclid established in geometric language, a theory equivalent to our analyses of the real number; Archimedes and his contemporaries resolved all the metrical problems of cones, problems we deal with today through secondary equations.
The "Barrio Gaudi" of Reus, by Ricardo Bofill, seen from afar seems like a medieval cluster, but on approaching it to look for those places that used to be called after the different activities that took place there, brewing, baking, threshing, forging, we find that everything has been modified to give a network of communications and green spaces developed vertically as well as horizontally, setting off a most daring construction.
The methodological culmination of ancient geometry is definitely to be found in Euclid's elements" where, starting from a small number of axioms and the systematic application of deduction, almost all the geometry of that period is developed. The discussion on the famous postulate of the parallels occupied the mathematical thought of every age until the 19th century, when non-Euclidean geometry appeared, paving the way for the later theory of relativity which presupposed the geometry of Riemann as a base. Another problem where the Greek's marvelous intuition is evident, and which also took centuries to solve, is the existence of only five regular polyhedrons, Perhaps because we are so used to reciting "tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedrons" we have not realized that we have here a profound subject.
Whilst on the plane a polygon can have any number of sides, in space only the five abovementioned ones exist. Though the Greeks knew this they were unable to demonstrate it. The architecture of Ricardo Bofill derives from a prophetic spirit, anti-ascetic and messianic. This clever boy knows that modern society can be transformed but perhaps he has sometimes overvalued aesthetic elements as transforming agents.
Though the Greeks treated the formal problem of the regular polyhedron with perfect methodology, we cannot accept their attempt to relate these to the elemental or atomic components of nature. Our methodology of the empirical sciences not only takes into account formal rules but also introduces verification and falsification, attempting to avoid the phantasmagoric interpretation of reality.
We are not trying to sing the praises of the projects of the "Taller de Arquitectura" but simply to suggest to the reader that he analyze them with the methodological criteria adopted and that he judge these criteria in a general historical context. The "Barrio Gaudi" is a work of indisputable value. In the Greek mathematical perspective the problem of the squaring the circle could not be stated another way. But its solution, which involves not only the irrationality of the number pi, but also that this number should be transcendently and not algebraically irrational, could not have been arrived at if Evarist Gaulois, utterly uncomprehended in his own time, had not launched the basic ideas on rings and bodies that were to form the base of modern algebra.
THE "BARRIO GAUDI" OF REUS CONSIDERED AS A NOVEL
BY SALVADOR CLOTAS
MEDITATION ON THE SQUARING OF THE CIRCLE BY EDUARD BONET FUTURE MEDITATION ON THE RUINS OF THE SUBURB OF REUS BY MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBÁN
Though Balzac didn't invent Paris, perhaps he could have. In any case he described it in all its human, sociological, political and architectural complexity better than the architects of his time. There is also a London of Dickens, a Dublin of Joyce and, in Spain, a provincial city that Pérez Galdós described with the smell of a simmering casserole, and Martin Santos defined as a ramshackle town.
Perhaps the métier of architects and town planners is to invent cities. But how often do they take feelings and passions ¡into account when making a project? Do they think of jealousy, ambition, the need to be alone, the horror of emptiness? Le Corbusier considered vertical space to be the most suitable for people to live in. But he disregarded the incidence of human hysteria, neurosis, paranoia, and the statistics of sexual behavior, the consumption of alcohol or drugs. Every project contains a latent novel, or human comedy, though the author has not always foreseen those aspects which predetermine what kind. The novel of Brasilea would be different to that of Chandigarh. No better way to judge the work of a town planner than to be able to see the town suburb before it is inhabited, and to see what story the author has been able to imagine and foresee. I first saw the Gaudi suburb on a rainy day. The colors, violet, orange, ochre, brown, blue, were dull, almost sad, very dark. It seemed like an old abandoned town. It was impossible to mount the stairs, gaze at the empty perspectives, or walk from one roof to another without feeling that something had already happened in those paths, corridors, squares, in front of those strange façades, we were invaders rather than visitors, but the inhabitants had already fled. Even as invaders we felt afraid, not because of the bare dark walls, but we felt as if some great theatrical performance, diabolical or celestial, no matter which, had taken place, and could suddenly break out again. Later, a gentle sunset shone on the colors and the place took on the qualities of a faint pale rainbow. Superimposed on the ruined town, another unreal, town was born, like a mirage, like something imagined by Coleridge or Hölderlin. Then we could stroll, dream, contemplate the almost monastic calm. Leaving with night coming on, past the principal entrance with its air of an oriental fortress, one thought of the strange novel, terrifying and mystical at the same time, that the author of the project had written. And would somebody of those who were going to occupy the suburb, play the mysterious role of the protagonist?
FUTURE MEDITATION ON THE RUINS OF THE SUBURB OF REUS
BY MANUEL VAZQUEZ MONTALBÁN
THE "BARRIO GAUDI" OF REUS CONSIDERED AS A NOVEL BY SALVADOR CLOTAS Barri Gaudi
There are those travelers who return to their old suburbs
To destroy memories and come back to life
But, impossible,
The four horizons of familiar faces lure them into the snare of submarine voices
Recorded on faulty tape
leading to the wholly expressive silence
gilded girl in unending sunset
with gilded breasts licked by the glow
pointing to the dubious windows
where lechers lie dying
lashed to the rudder of their own desires
anchored in the easy chair of "is it too late?"
doubtless, life has died for them
shut in by four brick horizons
and "horizon"
is a word that forever leads to a dread
of being late, of not saying in time
and if they were to derive pleasure
from something better than staring
at the sunset on breasts
they would perish of cold
on those corners meant for deserters
from their own agony, the agony
of Sunday's pastry tiger
the cream cake smells like a groin
welcoming the finger
They would die
did you say they would die?
they would die if they found a better
pleasure than staring through the window
at the budding girl, idly stretching
cold is waiting beyond the borders
beyond the familiar names and the
unsurprising gestures
everywhere the labyrinth, everywhere
the tracks dully follow you, and die
when you rest
and you can die of sincerity
on realizing that we always go from
one fraud to another¡
from one death to another
and remember, it's living again, said
the ancients, with the shameless classicism
of those with fully-paid-up funeral insurance
beyond ?
beyond, ask the young ones, and don't
even know the answer when they return
to the place
where lilacs are pressed between
the partitions
and the deflowered girls hug babies
to their breasts
and peep through the cracks of the door
at the adolescent Onan
shot, facing the wall
boy, boy, wake up
it's eight in the morning and you're not dead yet
will architecture alter the agony?
Rimbaud thought poetry would
or perhaps he wrote life with an optimism
misplaced in a cultured french bac
no labyrinth alters the result
but greater pleasure is certain to be found
in the long untiring games
in the perpetual
ad lib. of not knowing what to do
while you are dying
build suburbs where evenings full of breasts
may be felt awaiting our hands
where the girls
will play at chasing twilight over the rooftops
pierced by the pin of the collector or the flint
of the taciturn man
who never even
gives you "good day" at the door of the lift
that never rises to a flat that doesn't exist
hither will return Onan, too
Onan, who flourished married the gilded girl
is an astronaut
letter bearer from Ohio to the Sea of Tranquility
and he comes back like a furtive bird
to peck amongst the rubble
the rubble of the suburb of Reus
it was so beautiful
the historians say
it was destroyed
no stone left standing when the barbarians
decided to raze the townscapes that shrieked
The city of Reus is a commercial and industrial town with 50 000 inhabitants...
The city of Reus is a commercial and industrial town with 50 000 inhabitants in the province of Tarragona, near the Costa Daurada to the southwest of Barcelona. It seriously lacked affordable housing within reach of industrial workers, so a local building society launched a competition for the construction of a suburb. The Taller gathered data on the suburb's future inhabitants, including their habits and needs, and undertook a study on the project.
The Taller could not rely on prefabricated material, as it was practically non-existent in Spain at the time. Artisanal methods were mainly used instead, due to their lower cost—the fact that this was to be low-cost housing could not be overlooked.
A primary network of two broad avenues, 20m and 12m wide, was laid across the barri for faster traffic. A secondary network for slow traffic was also developed, leading to a parking area, and a third was reserved for pedestrians, extending to all levels of the building, rather than terminating on the ground floor. This network of elevated streets and squares was a real innovation for an urban nucleus, and the Taller was particularly satisfied with the result: the space sacrificed on the ground floor could be recuperated several times over in elevation, thanks to the methodology applied to the structures. It created new communal spaces promoting the development of community life and justified the barri's population density. The project's greatest innovations lie in the shape of the nucleus and in the creation of a larger and richer community life.
It wasn't possible to introduce too many ideas for the interiors because the local authorities had solicited and obtained a permit from the central authority in Madrid for 65m2 apartments. Despite the limits imposed by these dimensions, the Taller designed various types of apartment that could fulfil particular needs, while trying to change the conventional attitudes of inhabitants at the same time. The combination of modules meant that each type of apartment differed from the next. The variations on each level allowed construction to be carried out using a formula that made a storey plan unnecessary—to the astonishment of the builders, who nevertheless quickly adjusted to the system. All this, added to the barri's external component, like an elevated garden suburb, gives it an air of luxury and was made possible by the low cost of the project's methodology.
An open methodology allowed defined groups to emerge through the interlocking of nuclei, the inversion of storeys, and the use of the upper spaces as paths and gardens. The groups were linked on all levels, and the monotonous repetition of volumes was avoided.
The result was a balance between a futuristic treatment and a classical past, building a medium-sized community of 10 000–12 000 inhabitants, with an economy of means that sometimes involved working with artisanal techniques because they were cheaper than industrial ones. The whole Barri Gaudí looks like a great sculpture, far from the rationalism that makes so many present-day constructions look the same.


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MSP slams 'sleekit conmen' who rob vulnerable people
Gil Paterson MSP - SNP - Clydebank and Milngavie Pic - Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament
Milngavie's MSP wants to alert local residents to Scams Awareness Month, which aims to inform the public about current threats.
The campaign seeks to address what's said to be the under-reporting of fraud, as well as the stigma felt by victims, and the unique ways different demographics are targeted. .
Clydebank and Milngavie MSP Gil Paterson (pictured), said: "These scammers are some of the worst people to exist – and I would like to make it clear to any who may see this, you will be caught and feel the full force of the law.
"Scam Awareness Month gives us an opportune moment to discuss the different kind of cons and how they target different sorts of people.
"I am however incredibly disgusted at those sleekit conmen who target innocent elderly people, often stealing thousands of pounds from them.
"This immoral practice does extend to other demographics, however, and I am glad SAM is focusing on how we can all be aware.
"Professional scammers do not just rob people of money but of their dignity, confidence and often their own sense of safety in their own home.
"Much of the time, the scam can cause embarrassment and cause the victim to decide against reporting it.
"This culture needs to change.
"I very much welcome Scam Awareness Month and fully endorse its message, one I will be helping to promote throughout the next four week".
Letter to Editor: Mugdock Road - No legal powers to stop walkers
Walkers dicing with danger at Milngavie water construction site
Bishopbriggs woman and brother taken to hospital after car accident at Ayr
Distinguished award for top Bearsden student
Investigation continues into death of eight-week-old baby boy at Kirkintilloch
More from Milngavie Herald


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text:
<< Previous TITLE 18 / PART II / CHAPTER 211 / § 3237 Next >>
18 USC 3237: Offenses begun in one district and completed in another Text contains those laws in effect on January 20, 2020
From Title 18-CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDUREPART II-CRIMINAL PROCEDURECHAPTER 211-JURISDICTION AND VENUE
Jump To: Source CreditReferences In TextAmendmentsEffective Date
§3237. Offenses begun in one district and completed in another
(a) Except as otherwise expressly provided by enactment of Congress, any offense against the United States begun in one district and completed in another, or committed in more than one district, may be inquired of and prosecuted in any district in which such offense was begun, continued, or completed.
Any offense involving the use of the mails, transportation in interstate or foreign commerce, or the importation of an object or person into the United States is a continuing offense and, except as otherwise expressly provided by enactment of Congress, may be inquired of and prosecuted in any district from, through, or into which such commerce, mail matter, or imported object or person moves.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), where an offense is described in section 7203 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or where venue for prosecution of an offense described in section 7201 or 7206(1), (2), or (5) of such Code (whether or not the offense is also described in another provision of law) is based solely on a mailing to the Internal Revenue Service, and prosecution is begun in a judicial district other than the judicial district in which the defendant resides, he may upon motion filed in the district in which the prosecution is begun, elect to be tried in the district in which he was residing at the time the alleged offense was committed: Provided, That the motion is filed within twenty days after arraignment of the defendant upon indictment or information.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 826 ; Pub. L. 85–595, Aug. 6, 1958, 72 Stat. 512 ; Pub. L. 89–713, §2, Nov. 2, 1966, 80 Stat. 1108 ; Pub. L. 98–369, div. A, title I, §162, July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 697 ; Pub. L. 98–473, title II, §1204(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2152 ; Pub. L. 99–514, §2, Oct. 22, 1986, 100 Stat. 2095 .)
Based on section 103 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §42, 36 Stat. 1100 ).
Section was completely rewritten to clarify legislative intent and in order to omit special venue provisions from many sections.
The phrase "committed in more than one district" may be comprehensive enough to include "begun in one district and completed in another", but the use of both expressions precludes any doubt as to legislative intent.
Rules 18–22 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are in accord with this section.
The last paragraph of the revised section was added to meet the situation created by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in United States v. Johnson, 1944, 65 S. Ct. 249, 89 L. Ed. 236, which turned on the absence of a special venue provision in the Dentures Act, section 1821 of this revision. The revised section removes all doubt as to the venue of continuing offenses and makes unnecessary special venue provisions except in cases where Congress desires to restrict the prosecution of offenses to particular districts as in section 1073 of this revision.
Section 7203 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsec. (b), is classified to section 7203 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Section 7201 or 7206(1), (2), or (5) of such Code, referred to in subsec. (b), are classified respectively to sections 7201 and 7206(1), (2), (5) of Title 26.
1986-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 99–514 substituted "Internal Revenue Code of 1986" for "Internal Revenue Code of 1954".
1984-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–473 inserted "or the importation of an object or person into the United States" and ", or imported object or person" in second par.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–369 substituted "venue for prosecution of an offense" for "an offense involves use of the mails and is an offense" and inserted "is based solely on a mailing to the Internal Revenue Service".
1966-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 89–713 inserted reference to offenses described in section 7203 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
1958-Pub. L. 85–595 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).
Amendment by Pub. L. 89–713 effective Nov. 2, 1966, see section 6 of Pub. L. 89–713, set out as a note under section 6091 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.