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Things that Have Inspired Me Part 3: Yoga
27th August 2015 /1 Comment/in writing inspiration/by Kathy Hopewell
I've been trying to work out if what I know about yoga, which I've practiced on and off since childhood, can help me with freewriting because these two activities seem to be very similar in their aims.
The aim of yoga postures, as I understand it, is to alter the way the mind works. Whilst breathing deeply is very beneficial, and having a slimmer, more flexible body and stronger, leaner muscles is good too, the point of yoga is to learn to step back from habitual thought patterns. The aim is to unite mind and body into one. Then, instead of spinning back over the past, or endlessly speculating about the future, or becoming obsessed with judgement, comparison and self-recrimination (or indeed self congratulation) there is total awareness without ego.
Well, I've never even got close to that enlightened state, but I think I might have glimpsed what it might be like once or twice for a few seconds in a yoga class. Then, each time, inevitably, I look around and start wondering what's for tea or how good I am compared to the others in the room at a particular posture or am I wearing a T shirt as flattering as the one the woman in front is wearing and on it goes. The trick you are meant to use in yoga relaxation for this chatter in the mind ("monkey mind" as it's sometimes called) is to observe it with detachment and let it go.
In freewriting the idea is to write down anything and everything that is running through the mind without any value judgements and without stopping. It's observing the mind in another way. But as soon as you allow those same sorts of thoughts that bedevil yoga practice to take over (is this a waste of time? am I writing as much or as fast as everybody else? will it be any good? why should I do this when Virginia Woolf, or whoever happens to be your role model, didn't need to bother [actually, she did, but that's a subject for another day!]), the flow is lost. The same monkey-mind thoughts of past, future, comparison and self-worth, reassert themselves and the writing falters and/or becomes stilted, clichéd, self-conscious and boring.
Because I've been to a lot of yoga classes I know now to leave my competitiveness and vanity (mostly) behind. In a yoga class, the value of my forward bend is its value to me, not in its relative merit to the person's next to me (who is inevitably reaching further and looking more svelte while doing it). So if I bring this same attitude to freewriting I might be able to go beyond myself into some bigger realm where the writing and me are at one and not pulling in different directions. For instance, in yoga I accept that I need to practice the same posture again and again and will never reach perfection because the practice is whole point of it: it's the process, not the result. To accept the same thing about writing would be to release all the energy and possibility of my life's experiences and knowledge into potential material (once edited) and circumvent that monkey the ego who jumps up at every opportunity to undermine me with notions of good and bad.
So I think it is true: both yoga and freewriting require relaxation, a lack of competitiveness and a focus on the process not the result. And the aim of both is a dissolving of the self into the practice, whether that is the body stretching or the hand writing so that the ego finally gets out of the way.
Well, we all need something to aim at!
Photo credits: tourismpicks.com/travel-workout-programs
Warrior II a4gpa on Flickr
both Creative Commons
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Sex and the Surrealist Image
25th June 2015 /2 Comments/in Articles about Surrealism/by Kathy Hopewell
What is your definition of beauty? Have you got a favourite line of poetry that describes beauty by using an image to suggest it? If you have, it's probably not this often-quoted Surrealist simile:
"As beautiful as the chance encounter of an umbrella and a sewing machine on a dissecting table."
The author is Isidore Ducasse (the self-styled Comte de Lautréamont) and it's from The Songs of Maldoror, a prose poem of 1868. Lautréamont's work, and this line in particular, was so popular and important to the development of Surrealism that Man Ray created a ready-made inspired by it.
I thought it might be interesting to "unpack" Lautréamont's simile, and see if it could be used as a model for creating new Surrealist images.
First of all, how does it work? A conventional simile would try to find some commonality or similarity between the thing being described and the thing it's compared to (such as the moon and a silver coin, which are both round and sort of the same colour) but likeness was not the criteria for Surrealist images, neither was appropriateness (and it was most definitely not good taste!).
The Surrealists (whether visual artists or poets) were not interested in reproducing the world as it is, the idea was to plumb the unconscious and use words to produce "unremembered, previously non-existent realities," as Anna Balakian helpfully explains in The Road to the Absolute.
So the principle of the Surrealist simile or metaphor is the dramatic clash of unlikeness; an impossible meshing of opposites. In fact, writes Robert Short, "the power of an image was in direct proportion to the incongruity of the entities which it brought together".
So this is all fine and dandy, but Robert Belton, in an essay from 1990, has a very specific reading of Lautréamont's simile and large claims for its influence on later Surrealist poetry:
"The coincidence of a man's phallic accessory and an unthinking domestic instrument on a 'bed' designed for bloodletting was simply too potently, aggressively, and violently sexual to be avoided…Ducasse's simile, as the archetypal act of collage, virtually ensured that other juxtapositions would connote sexual violence for the male surrealist."
Now I was rather taken aback by this reading of the sewing machine and umbrella as a sort of rape scene because it had never occurred to me, but the image does have a lasting power which means it is very likely to have a sexual subtext (why else do we remember that Cadbury's Flake ad of the woman lying in the boat going through a waterfall rather than countless other television images involving chocolate bars?). But is Lautréamont's simile really an encoded image of a pierced woman on a bloody bed?
It's often been remarked that a lot of Surrealist visual iconography is of women in pieces: women beheaded, dismembered, partitioned, bound, gagged or blinded. Whitney Chadwick ponders this phenomenon in Surrealist art by men at the end of her book Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement:
"the link [between the unconscious and reality] was often a woman…onto whose image could be projected the secret, and often forbidden, desires and obsessions lodged in the unconscious […] The erotic violence that does exist in the work of woman artists tends to be absorbed into their images of themselves rather than directed out into the world and lodged in an image of the Other".
I've often wondered if the ruined umbrella and draped material in Leonor Fini's painting of 1940 called L'Ombrelle, (The Parasol) is a reference to Lautréamont's simile. There is a woman's eye peering out from behind one of the slashes in the umbrella which, now I have it in my mind, rather supports Belton's interpretation and Chadwick's point too.
Surely it's possible to draw on the power (which Balakian describes as a sort of electricity) of Surrealist opposition without promoting sexual violence or even being restricted to the predictable territory of male heterosexuality.
Of course not all Surrealist poetic images draw on the abuse of women's bodies. For instance, Robert Desnos' "I have so often dreamed of you that you become unreal" must be one of the tenderest love poems written (and it's almost unbearable to know that Desnos died in Terezina concentration camp at the age of 45).
Perhaps my favourite image in Surrealist poetry is the final line of André Breton's 1948 poem "They tell me that over there", which describes a mythical paradise and ends with a line describing the absence of evil:
"All the flowering appletree of the sea".
This metaphor splices two things together so perfectly that you can't see the join. I've spent hours enjoying this image and repeating it to myself: it never loses its magic and suggestibility! Is the sea flowering with surf the colour of apple blossom? Is the tree like a sea of flowers? Is the apple tree from the Garden of Eden or is the sea suggesting the origin of life? It's all of these, and all at the same time!
Joyce Mansour is a poet I've recently discovered. She was an athlete with Egyptian parents and joined the Surrealist group in Paris in 1954. In her poem "Remember" written the following year, she is addressing a lover and conjuring memories of their time spent together:
When we heard the rats jingling around
Eating poppies
As Mary Ann Caws (the translator) says, we do not know who is eating the poppies, the rats or the lovers, because the poem is "constructed for both possibilities".
So why not try this yourself? Make up a simile beginning "As beautiful as…" and make sure the elements are as unlike as possible but somehow joined at a deeper level. Or create an image that has a "double" movement like Breton's or Mansour's, vibrating between meanings.
And watch out for that subtext!
https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png 0 0 Kathy Hopewell https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png Kathy Hopewell2015-06-25 12:06:262020-01-05 19:25:50Sex and the Surrealist Image
Leonora Carrington at Liverpool Tate: hit or miss?
22nd May 2015 /2 Comments/in Surrealism/by Kathy Hopewell
Major solo exhibitions of women Surrealists are extremely rare so when I first heard that Liverpool Tate were putting on an exhibition of work by the painter and writer Leonora Carrington, I was excited.
This would be the first British exhibition for 20 years and, after her death in 2011, it felt like a summing up. Before going, I had heard that there was very little information about her in the exhibition, and no catalogue. Well, I thought, this is perhaps a good thing. Every article I have ever read about Leonora begins with a journalistic account of her extraordinary life from Lancashire debutante to muse of Max Ernst in Paris, then mental breakdown in Spain and finally dramatic escape to Mexico where she lived into old age, continuing to paint and write. The story is irresistible and I, too, am guilty of exploiting it by selecting parts to dramatise in my own novel, Swimming with Tigers. But I was hoping that for once a woman artist might be presented as an artist first, and that biography, in the form of the perennial obsession with women's sex lives over and above their artistic practice and influences, would be of secondary or minimal importance.
So I went to Liverpool full of high hopes and there were indeed very little details. Of any kind. Worse still, apart from perhaps half a dozen paintings, it felt as though her best work was missing and instead there were many of the more pale, fanciful, schematic pictures plus a lot of juvenile work, some interesting but not particularly gripping theatre artefacts and a frankly embarrassing film that she'd designed costumes for in the early 1970s. It was wonderful to see The Giantess (1950) and have the opportunity to study the tiny figures at the base close up, to see the scale of the magnificent Temptation of St Antony (1947) and the compelling Oval Lady (1942) (well annotated, as an exception). Also there was the entrancing And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur (1953), whose dancing figure on the right is perhaps my favourite piece of Carrington iconography.
But in the three rooms of the exhibition there was none of that fizz of energy, excitement and transgression that a good Surrealist exhibition has, and that the Manchester Art Gallery's exhibition of 2009, Angels of Anarchy, had in spades (Carrington's The Inn of the Dawn Horse, 1937, was a highlight in Manchester and noticeably absent from Liverpool). I blamed myself. Perhaps I was not in the right mood? Then I started to blame Leonora! Could it be that her life's work didn't really add up to much after all?
At home I looked again at Susan Aberth's excellent book Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art (2004) and began to suspect that it was the selection, as well as the curation, of the Liverpool exhibition that had let her down. I know next to nothing about putting together an exhibition of this kind but I did notice how the overwhelming majority of the work was described as belonging to private collections. This is not unusual for Surrealist work, I know, but was it part of the problem? The difficulty of gathering Carrington's strongest work from individuals across the globe must be immense. But the minimal commentary was not excusable. I know from many years of working on women writers and teaching classes about them that readers have to be given the tools to understand and enter into unknown work. It was good to avoid the "superstar" or tabloid gossip approach but information about Carrington's intellectual and artistic context was sorely needed. Surely it would have been better to fill one wall with ideas and references than with the series of paintings she did at art school, age 16!
The critics have been fairly neutral. Alice Spawls in The London Review of Books remarked on the curious lack of humour in a show about one of the wittiest of the Surrealists, (although I did revel in the delightful bronze Albino Hog (2003), which was black!). The best newspaper review is by Alastair Sooke in the Telegraph and although it is negative overall, he does try to assess Carrington on her own terms, suggesting she was less of a Surrealist than part of a British tradition of fairy painters. I hope there will be a further, better, show of her work before too long and would encourage everyone to go to Liverpool (the exhibition is on til the end of May) and decide for themselves!
I'm extremely glad that Tate Liverpool have put the spotlight on her and I hope it will send interested people (perhaps including Alastair Sooke?) to seek out Abeth's book which demonstrates what a unique, fascinating and gifted artist she really was. Carrington's literary work: hilarious, politically subversive and truly surreal, will be the subject of another post.
https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png 0 0 Kathy Hopewell https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png Kathy Hopewell2015-05-22 16:27:562017-12-09 12:07:33Leonora Carrington at Liverpool Tate: hit or miss?
Things That Have Inspired Me Part 2: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
17th February 2015 /1 Comment/in writing inspiration/by Kathy Hopewell
One of my favourite books about writing is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.
It's full of cheering jokes and really useful advice from a startlingly honest writer. One of the best chapters is about how an editor's rejection of a re-written manuscript sent her into complete mental meltdown. "Luckily, I was still drinking then," she writes and I hoot at that line every time (no, I know alcoholism isn't funny, but even so).
Anyway, although Lamott doesn't mention freewriting as such, her recommendation of starting out with "shitty first drafts" is in very similar territory, because Anne Lamott knows all about the terrors of the blank page. Here's her description of the writer sitting down to write:
"You turn on the computer and bring up the right file, and then you stare at it for an hour or so. You begin rocking, just a little at first, and then like a huge autistic child. You look at the clock, yawn, and stare at the paper again…and you try to quiet your mind so that you can hear what that landscape or character has to say above the other voices in your mind… They are the voices of anxiety, judgement, doom, guilt."
This is where freewriting can really come into its own. By enforcing just one requirement, namely writing continuously for an agreed length of time, freewriting makes it possible to bypass these voices. What you write probably won't be usable as it stands and it certainly won't be perfect but it will be a start (a "shitty first draft"). It's a triumph of creativity over negativity.
Anne Lamott passes on another suggestion for dealing with negative, inhibiting, critical inner voices. A hypnotist recommended to her that she imagined each of her inner voices as a speaking mouse. Then she was to imagine picking up each mouse by the tail and dropping it in a jar. Next, the lid goes on and the voices get turned right down to nothing by a volume control button. "Watch the frantic mice lunge at the glass," says Lamott, "and get back to your shitty first draft".
I recently had one of the most immovable writer's blocks of my nearly eight years of fiction-writing. The cause? I taught creative writing at a university. All of a sudden I was an authority on writing! It froze me stiff, and every approach to the blank page was drowned out by voices telling me that unless I was a naturally and genuinely gifted writer I had no business claiming to be able to teach others. Without freewriting I'd have made no progress at all on my new novel that was straining to get into the light but punched back every time by the voices of perfectionism.
So it makes sense to separate writing into two processes. First there are the early, freewritten, drafts. This is where you do whatever it takes to create a permissive zone into which no judgement, no assessment, and no authority figures can gain access: it's the playground, the sandpit, the colouring book. Then, with plenty of messy, generous, rubbishy writing you can invite back the critic, the editor, the one who knows about genre and structure and dialogue and plot and find the beginnings of a viable piece of writing. Then you edit. And you rewrite (and maybe you freewrite some more). Then edit again and eventually, after the third, tenth or hundredth draft, you'll have something that retains the wildness and the "you-ness" of the first, free, "shitty" draft and it will be worth reading. It might even be publishable. But that's another story.
https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png 0 0 Kathy Hopewell https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png Kathy Hopewell2015-02-17 22:55:252018-10-12 18:01:46Things That Have Inspired Me Part 2: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Things That Have Inspired Me to Write, Part 1: Baking bread
17th January 2015 /3 Comments/in writing inspiration/by Kathy Hopewell
I have a friend who runs a microbakery from home and this week I did a short course in sourdough baking with him. We made ten different types of bread: white, wholemeal, with black olives, with sunflower and sesame seeds, round-loaves, long loaves, flat loaves, plaits, rolls and baguettes. One was studded with candied fruits, another was dimpled with tomatoes, but all were created from the humble mix of flour and water.
I brought home a tableful of bread to share and store. It's made me want to bake, of course, but surprisingly I came back full of enthusiasm (sorely lacking in these bleak January days) for the process of writing and the making of written forms. As much as anything else it was the array of "things" he owned and used to make these edible creations that inspired me: the scrapers and scoops and brushes and bowls and boxes and baskets and tins and racks and the whole fragrant space of the kitchen warmed by the two ovens that were on all afternoon.
Coming back to my writing room, I have a child's desire for felt-tip pens and coloured inks. For card and rolls of that old printer paper with perforations at the side. For big blank drawing books and coloured A4 sheets, even for scrapbooks of grainy grey sugar paper. For pin-boards and postcards, and index cards in pastels colours. For thick vanilla paper with flourishes embossed on it.
Notebooks are my usual diet and like the sliced bread of supermarkets they can usually satisfy, especially a certain brand of floppy black ones that has somehow got linked up with Hemingway and a European, expatriate glamour. Now, after the messy dough and the flour-strewn countertop, I'm more interested in the sort of writing that comes from forgotten scraps of paper or cut-ups or splurges in a diary. But I want order, too. Thinking about the wooden handles of the dough-cutters, the gleaming, waist-high rack for cooling, and the steel peels that slide in the pizzas, I am craving box files and hanging files and pigeon-holes attached to the wall so that each individual idea has space to breathe. I want boxes for card indexes and in-trays that slide and detach for bringing to a desk. I want anything with drawers.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all, the experiences of shaping and kneading and weighing and combining ingredients calls up in me the primal desire for the making of image and line; character and story. First to introduce a dry name and then add the bubbling ferment of incident, dilemma and crisis. To mix together a stream of picture-words onto a white sheet of paper like pouring water into airy white flour. Then to mix it all, with a pen or with the fingers on the keyboard, and leave it to rise in the dark warmth of my mind. Next day, to lift up the cloth and shape it, ready for the final tempering by the heat of honest critique. And to hope, hope that it grows and expands and splits its sides and becomes a thing of beauty, and sustenance.
The writer and the baker (using all the skill and equipment they can muster and cherish) both create new forms. My appetite for words was renewed by the bread I baked in such an inspiring, creative place.
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Freewriting is Surrealist!
27th June 2014 /0 Comments/in freewriting, Surrealism/by Kathy Hopewell
Most creative writing guidebooks, even when they recommend freewriting (or whatever they call it) don't mention its origin in Freud's theories and Surrealist practice. Knowing where it came from might enlarge the way we do it. If freewriting is magic then going back to the origin might be where the magic is strongest.
https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png 0 0 Kathy Hopewell https://www.freewriterscompanion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Full-Logo-2-lines-300x84.png Kathy Hopewell2014-06-27 09:17:172018-12-03 11:34:17Freewriting is Surrealist!
It's Time for Surrealist Games!
Going to the Moon
Publish or Perish
Dieting for the Unconscious
Wolves, Dreams and Memories
The Great Spring
Posts about Freewriting
Become a Writer in 10 MInutes a Week
Six Uses for Freewriting
Rock Stars of Freewriting
Does Freewriting Work?
Freewriting Back to Basics
Posts About Surrealism
The Surrealist Muse
Tanning at the Tate
Surrealist Novels?
Posts About My Work
Breton's Nadja and my novel-in-waiting
The Art of Making People
Truth Versus Fiction
Freewriting in Performance
Hopewell Ink Exposed
Hopewell Ink an exclusive preview


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Ancient Ruins, Ancient Temples
Athens,Attica,Greece
For most people, Athens and Greece are first of all associated with the Acropolis. It is difficult to imagine a more recognizable place in the Greek capital and in Greece itself as well. A rocky hill that is rising in the heart of Athens attracts the rapturous glances of both tourists and proud Greeks from afar.
The word "Acropolis" comes from the Greek words "ἄκρον" ("the highest point") and "πόλις" ("the city").
The Acropolis is quite an important contribution to the world history. Here, at an altitude of 150 m above the sea level, unique masterpieces of ancient architecture are located in harmony with nature. They clearly demonstrate the power, wealth and magnificence of Athens in ancient times.
Despite the fact that the term "Acropolis" also applies to some other objects in Greece, the value of the Acropolis of Athens is so great that no clarification is needed when referring to it.
According to historical data, the hill had been inhabited long before the first religious buildings dedicated to the patron goddess of Athens appeared there. In the 13th century BC, a fortification wall was built around it. It was more than 700 metres long and had been serving as the main protection of the Acropolis until the 5th century BC. The wall followed the natural terrain contour, and two narrow stepped ascents were cut into the rock along the hill. In the north-eastern part, a deep crack appeared as a result of an earthquake — a well was made there, which served as an invaluable protected source of water in case of a siege. The fortress itself was the centre of the Mycenaean kingdom — the Mycenaean Megaron palace was located here. All that remained of the palace is the base column and a few pieces of limestone steps.
During the 7th and the 6th centuries BC, as a result of attempted coups, the Acropolis got under the control of Quilon and of Pisistratus. Thanks to the latter, structures such as the Hecatompedon, which preceded the Parthenon, and the entrance gate of the Propylaea appeared on the hill. In addition, in the 6th century, under Pisistratus' rule, the old temple of Athena appeared, which was the earliest building on the Acropolis dedicated to Athena Polias. Nowadays, only fragments of the basement and two stone columns are preserved. During the same period, the Brauroneion appeared to the south of Propylaea. This temple was erected in honour of the Brauronian Artemis, the defender of new mothers and of pregnant women. The large number of items of luxurious sacrificial offerings, which have been excavated here, make it possible to draw a conclusion about the greatness of the cult of Athena in the archaic period.
In the middle of the 5th century BC, the Acropolis became the seat of the Athenian League, and the city itself was the greatest cultural centre of its time. By order of Pericles, a construction program was established that lasted for the entire second half of the century. The greatest architects, sculptors and artists of that time were working on the objects that became the most important in the history of Ancient Greece — the Parthenon, Propylaea, Erechtheion and the temple of Athena Nike appeared during this period.
The 5th century BC was the time of a significant economic growth and cultural development in Athens. This period is called the Golden age of Athens.
The Northern part of the Acropolis was dedicated to the cult of the Olympian gods, while the southern side was dedicated to the patron goddess of the city, Athena. The Athenians venerated the goddess for her many qualities, praising her for the help in defending the city (Athena Polias), in battle (Athena Promachos), in crafts (Athena Ergane), in victory (Athena Nike), and in many other areas.
During this time, several other sacred structures were erected on the Acropolis, but there is no evidence of their existence to date. During next several hundred years after the end of the Peloponnesian war, no new buildings were built on the Acropolis, only the damage to existing ones was repaired. In 27 BC, a small round temple of Augustus and Rome was erected to the east of the Parthenon. It was the last significant structure built on top of the rock.
In 161 AD a grand theatre appeared on the southern slope of the Acropolis — it was the Herod Atticus Odeon. During the Roman period, many shrines were ravaged and damaged, including the Odeon, which suffered from the Herulian invasion in the 3rd century. The walls of the Acropolis were repaired, and additional buildings were added, such as the Beule gate that returned the Acropolis to the function of a fortress.
After the establishment of Christianity, the temples of the Acropolis in Greece were turned into churches. The Parthenon became a church dedicated to Virgin Mary, and was later renamed the Church of Panagia Athiniotissa. Erechtheion was dedicated to the Saviour, the temple of Athena Nike was converted into a chapel, and the Propylaea became a Bishop's residence.
During the Latin period, the Acropolis served as the administrative centre of the city. The Parthenon was the city's Cathedral, and the Propylaea was a part of the duke's palace. An additional tower was built — the Francopyrgos, which was later demolished in the 19th century.
During the Ottoman rule, the Parthenon became the headquarters of the Turkish army garrison, and the Erechtheion was turned into the governor's private harem. At the end of the 17th century, during the siege of the Acropolis, the buildings suffered significant damage, because the Parthenon was used then as a powder magazine, which led to an explosion because of a shell hit.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Acropolis suffered from the devastating by Lord Elgin, who brought a part of the sculptural decorations of the Parthenon, the temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion out of Greece.
After Greece gained its independence, most of the sites of the Byzantine, Frankish and Ottoman periods were destroyed in order to restore the original appearance of the Acropolis of the Ancient Greece period.
How to navigate in the Acropolis in Greece
Throughout the centuries-old history, the Acropolis has undergone changes and additions, but due to various circumstances, such as time, natural disasters, military actions and human impact, many structures did not survive to this day, and some are just barely distinguishable ruins.
There are 21 historical monuments on the Acropolis of Athens.
At the entrance to the ancient Acropolis, there was a monumental gateway, the Propylaea. Once a gate of Mycenaean fortification was located here, and later — the first gate of Pisistratus. The Propylaea, which has survived to the present day, was part of the Pericles' ambitious construction program and was built from pentelic marble by the architect Mnesikles in the 5th century BC.
A small temple of Athena Nike was erected to the south of the entrance. A wooden cult statue of the goddess was set inside. The goddess was holding a helmet (a symbol of war) in one hand, and a branch of a pomegranate tree (a symbol of peace) in the other. Pausanias mentioned this temple, calling it "Apteros Nike" ("Wingless Victory"). He noted that the statue of the goddess did not have wings, so as not to be able to leave Athens.
The most famous monument of the Acropolis, the Parthenon is located in the very centre of the hill. The temple dedicated to the patroness of the city is a unique masterpiece of ancient Greeks. The architecture of the Parthenon included many unique decorations and the structure itself was phenomenal as well. In the cella of the Parthenon, an ivory and gold statue of Athena Parthenos was erected: the goddess in armour was carrying victory in her right hand to the inhabitants of the city.
A little northward of the Parthenon, the Erechtheion was located. The building had an unusual shape — the height difference between the western and the eastern parts of the structure was about 3 metres, which was due to the features of the landscape. The eastern side of the temple was dedicated to Athena Polias, and the western one was dedicated to the cult of Poseidon–Erechtheus. According to ancient mythology, this place was the home of Athena's sacred snake. Inside, a cult statue of the goddess made of olive wood was set. Arrephoroi draped it with sacred ashes during the Panathenaic celebrations. The porch of one of the facades was decorated with female Caryatid statues that were supporting the roof.
Five statues of Caryatides, as well as many significant historical artifacts, are located in the Acropolis Museum. The sixth statue got to the British Museum being looted by Lord Elgin in the 19th century.
To the south of the platform, on the top of the Greek Acropolis the Dionysus theatre was located, where the works of famous ancient playwrights were first staged the ones by Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Aeschylus.
In order to experience all the Acropolis' points of interest, you need to get to the centre of Athens. There are several ways to do this:
By the underground:
the ACROPOLIS underground station, then via Dionysiou Areopagitou street.
the ACROPOLIS underground station, then via the southern slope' archaeological site, Dionysiou Areopagitou and Thrasyllou streets.
the MONASTIRAKI underground station, then through the archaeological site of the Ancient Agora or via the Plaka district.
If you arrive by a cruise ship, it is easier and faster to use taxi services in the port.
You can take a walk from the Plaka district. Walk up the street until you reach a small road that runs around the area and go west (to your right). The most convenient way is to go along Dionysiou Areopagitou street — it starts from the Hadrian's Arch and leads along the southern slope of the Acropolis. Reach the marble paths, which lead to the hill.
A sign at the entrance reads that you can enter the complex no later than half an hour before the closing time. The best time for a quiet visit to all the attractions of the Acropolis is in the morning, because at this time of a day, there are not many guests.
Those who are interested in history or just want to examine carefully all the buildings, should expect a few hours of walking. Take drinking water with you and don't forget to take your hat.
People with disabilities can also visit the Acropolis. There is a lift for wheelchairs, as well as for parents with small children, which is located 350 metres from the entrance. However, to clarify the details, you should contact the representatives by phone. In case of extreme weather conditions and strong winds, the lift does not work.
(Ακρόπολη Αθηνών, Acropolis)
Tickets, prices
Ancient Temples
Acropolis Museum
Speciality Museums, Museum of History and Archaeology
Agia Irini Church
Churches & Cathedrals (Orthodox)
Statue of Lord Byron
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Sotira Lykodimou Church (Russian Church)
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Scottish division of a UK housing charity has called for an extra £200m a year to tackle poor housing and homelessness.
Shelter Scotland has urged the Scottish government to make affordable homes for rent a priority in the upcoming budget.
The money would help to build 10,000 of homes each year for the next three years, said director Graeme Brown.
The call was made as MSPs and Scottish ministers ended their summer break and returned to Holyrood.
Brown said there had never been a more pressing need for investment in affordable homes to rent.
The charity added that the recent rise in the number of affordable homes being built had been offset by properties being sold under right-to-buy legislation.
Jacqui Wyatt, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, supported Shelter's call for more funding.
"Due to money being brought forward to be spent this year, housing associations are seeing gaps opening up in their housing budgets for future years," the BBC reported Wyatt as saying.
It also reported a spokesman for the Scottish government as saying it was "pulling out all the stops" to increase the supply of affordable homes.


3 yrs. & up. This charming collection will delight children with whimsical animal tales. Paperbacks and CDs. Ella the Elegant Elephant, by Carmela D'amico and Steven D'amico, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?, How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?, How Do Dinosaurs Say Good-night?, by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, Giraffes Can't Dance, by Giles Andreae, Is your Mama a Lllama?, by Deborah Guarino.


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Q: Find the co-ordinates within selected rectangle in openlayer map I have drawn some points on openlayer map based on geo position co-ordinates, now I will draw rectangle on the map,now I need to get all my co-ordinates within my rectangle
https://openlayers.org/en/latest/examples/draw-shapes.html
I need to get my drawn positions within rectangle

A: One way would be to handle the DRAWEND event of ol.interaction.Draw and retrieve all features with vector.getSource().getFeatures(). Iterating through the features gives you the point geometries and the rectangle geometry. With rectangleGeometry.intersectsCoordinate(pointCoordinate) you can check if the point is inside the rectangle.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I sometimes imagine a long-ago unicorn moment when a path appeared that, had it been taken, may have dramatically altered the lives of America's working class, or what we now call the 99 percent.
In the mid- to late-part of the 20th century, the labor, civil rights, environmental and feminist movements were at an apogee, an emerging counterweight to the wealth extraction and concentration grinder of capitalism. Looking back, the potential was breathtaking.
Each group had their own issues, but beating in a collective heart was a vision of social justice, equality, workers rights, and economic security, a vision of a society in which capitalism and democracy worked hand in hand to provide opportunities for success and happiness to the maximum number of people and communities.
What might have happened if these groups had, for example, joined together to form a political party, demanded fundamental changes to the wage-based economy, and fought collectively for health care for all and other initiatives to promote the well-being of worker-majority?
Instead, it all fell apart.
Hindsight is twenty-twenty and seen through rose-colored glasses. I was barely alive in those years, and unquestionable progress was made on several fronts. But why did such magnificent potential fail to fundamentally alter the oppressive structures and thwart the means by which the powerful game the systems of capitalism to favor a few?
The reasons are complicated, but in part, within labor at least, the blinders of white male supremacy threw up obstacles, preventing these grass roots movements from coalescing to jointly realize a vision of a different type of society. Anti-communist hysteria didn't help, as it marked left leaning reformers as enemies of the state.
In light of today's declining influence of labor, extreme and ever-growing disparity of wealth and privilege, continued racial inequities, poverty and so much more, honest attempts to reckon with that past are emerging, as progressives try to figure out a path forward.
In her book Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, Jessa Crispin examines this topic from the perspective of the feminist movement, looking back and forward at what we have wrought, where things took a wrong turn, and how we might move forward.
Crispin first reviews the history. Here is a little taste of Crispin's thoughtful perspective, colored around the edges by my own experiences.
As barriers fell, women who had previously been denied entered the workforce in droves (although it is important to call out this this is largely a "white" feminist history, women of color historically have been employed, with fewer economic avenues to choose otherwise). The white feminist movement of the last 20th century celebrated the apparent reduction of barriers to working as a major achievement while looking away from the parallel economic reality that real wages for all workers were declining. Instead of demanding change, working to dismantle systems that oppress all workers, and to create accessible social programs focused on education, child care, income sharing, health care access, decentralized authority, and the like, we persuaded ourselves that accommodation and "leaning-in" to the existing system was somehow the same as changing the system. We reverted to our culturally-programmed desire to please.
"In order to make feminism palatable to everyone, they have to make sure no one is made uncomfortable by feminism's goals…feminism has become fashionable, the actual feminist work of creating a more equal society is as unfashionable as it has ever been," Crispin writes.
The movement has now evolved into one in which ensuring at least an appearance that woman's choices are not overtly constrained is marked as progress. Some women have been very successful in this establishment model, enabling them to live lives that not so long ago were open only to men. In other words, they have opportunities to accumulate wealth and real choices. But the vast majority of women (and men) do not. Is there value in being "allowed" to work a low-wage job with no health insurance or economic security? Is this really a choice?
"By fighting for your own way to inclusion, you are not improving the system, you are simply joining the ranks of those included and benefiting. You are doing your own excluding and exploiting. In other words: you, a woman, are also the patriarchy," Crispin observes of women hovering around — or even above — the glass ceiling.
In later chapters, Crispin takes issue with the outrage culture of feminism, amplified by social media, in which an often-unintended insult can ruin a man's life — referring by example to the Tim Hunt saga that shook the scientific landscape a few years back. She goes on to provide a devastatingly illuminating critique of a constraining culture in which marriage and children define a women's worth. "Romantic love isn't just how we give meaning to our lives, it's how we organize society." In other words, the choice remains either to rely on men or to remain single, and the anticipation and dominance of this choice shapes us from adolescence onward. Above all else, we must be lovable, and ideally, more lovable (and sexier) than other women, according to Crispin.
Like many books that seek to re-imagine the future, Crispin presents a strong critique of the past and the present, but the prescriptive sections are less compelling. I did not find much of a manifesto here in any pragmatic terms. But that's okay. The answers to counterbalancing the current dysfunction of capitalist structures are not obvious. And it's not really a job solely for feminism. Crispin has made a big enough contribution to identify the failures, to remind and inspire us of what the radical end of feminism can — and should — still achieve.
The prose is clear and strong, and appropriately — in my view — acerbic. However, a taunting tone aimed at, in essence, collaborators with the patriarchy, pervades some parts of the discussion, and the revolutionary fervor and associated language, could turn off many people, including women who might otherwise be engaged. For women on the inside, opportunities do exist to foster change. Does this tone relegate the book into the category of preaching-to-the-choir? Perhaps. Does that matter? Probably not. The choir could use some reinforcements right about now.
While I don't agree with everything Crispin puts forward, I don't need to agree with everything to find this book a powerful catalyst for the debate and discussion so deeply needed by feminists as we reconsider our individual actions and goals in the wake of widening divides across this country. Is it time to renew and reinvigorate the original visions of the glory unicorn days?
"Radical change is scary. It's terrifying, actually. And the feminism I support is a full-on revolution. Where women are not simply allowed to participate in the world as it already exists—an inherently corrupt world, designed by a patriarchy to subjugate and control and destroy all challengers—but are actively able to re-shape it. Where women do not simply knock on the doors of churches, of governments, of capitalist marketplaces and politely ask for admittance, but create their own religious systems, governments, and economies. My feminism is not one of incremental change, revealed in the end to be The Same As Ever, But More So. It is a cleansing fire."
Bold words and certainly more than words are needed. But words are a form of leadership, and we have to start somewhere. I encourage others to read this thought-provoking book.


Coastal Carolina was not your typical #16 seed. The Chanticleers put up a decent fight in the first half on the offensive end, shooting 52 percent from the field while making 5-of-6 three-pointers, but they still trailed Wisconsin by 15 at the break. Coastal Carolina made plenty of athletic plays, with Shivaughn Wiggins and Josh Cameron combining for 21 of their 32 first half points. Seth Davis even said Coastal Carolina would have been a #15 seed in the 64-team format, making them a better-than-normal #16 seed. The Chanticleers went 24-9 this season, winning their conference tournament and dropping in at #141 in KenPom – four spots higher than fellow mid-major and #15 seed North Dakota State. Their decent play isn't surprising, but neither is Wisconsin's throttling of them either. All credit is due to the Badgers, who seem to have five legitimate play-makers on the court at the same time.
Wisconsin's entire roster is made up of shooters. Every Badger in the starting lineup nailed a three-pointer in the first half, and Wisconsin totaled 11 treys over the course of the win. Along with those shooters, almost every player is a threat to drive as well, forcing Coastal Carolina to respect each player on the ball, off the ball, in the post, on the perimeter, on the bench and on the bus. Wisconsin made it look easy in passing the ball around the perimeter and being maddeningly patient with its shot selection. And when Wisconsin doesn't turn the ball over, they're incredibly hard to beat. Add in the Badgers' 36 total rebounds to the Chanticleers' 25 and you've got a recipe for a classic Wisconsin beatdown. Coastal Carolina wasn't the first and won't be the last team to get pummeled by the Badgers' fantastic shot selection and efficient rebounding.
Coastal Carolina's ability to get shots should concern Bo Ryan. If you were in CenturyLink Arena a couple hours before Wisconsin's win, you were treated to a much sloppier shootout between Oregon and Oklahoma State. The Ducks emerged victorious, and despite turning the ball over 12 times, Joe Young and Elgin Cook regularly found open looks from both long range and in the paint. If Coastal Carolina can find good looks, rest assured that Oregon can too. And the Ducks won't have only two scorers on the floor at once like Coastal Carolina – they're a fully functioning scoring machine, albeit with a turnover problem, but they're definitely apt to put up a ton of points.
Star of the game. Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin. Frank the Tank went 10-of-14 from the field, doing his usual thing by scoring both inside and outside. The National Player of the Year candidate went for 27 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in leading his team to another NCAA Tournament victory.
With seven days left until the Field of 68 is announced, the Circle of March continues to shed contenders. Three more automatic qualifiers were anointed on Sunday — Coastal Carolina, North Florida and Northern Iowa are going Dancing — but 15 other schools will have to wait until next year. The next couple of days will be light in terms of eliminations, but we'll be going from today's 222 eligible teams to a third of that in really short order. Tonight the CAA, MAAC and SoCon will decide their champions. Enjoy the ride!
The first automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament were handed out over the weekend. The first school to earn an automatic bid was Belmont, which upset Murray State on Saturday night to receive the Ohio Valley automatic bid. Yesterday, they were joined by North Florida (Atlantic Sun), Coastal Carolina (Big South), and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley). There will be three other automatic bids handed out later today with the Colonial, Mid-American, and Southern Conference all awarding their titles. If you are looking for a handy although not real-time infographic showing who is remaining in the field check out our Circle of March feature, which is updated daily.
On Friday, NCAA handed down its sanctions against Syracuse after looking into the school for eight years (full 98-page report here). The headline of the sanctions is that Jim Boeheim will have to sit out for half of next year's ACC regular season (nine games) and have 108 wins vacated from his record (moving him from 2nd to 6th on the all-time Division I men's wins list for the time being), but the other sanctions and the stain it will leave on the program and those around it will probably have a more significant long-term effect. The scholarship reductions and limitations on the number of assistants who can go on recruiting trips could significantly impact the program for years to come. On an individual level, this will also make it more difficult for Mike Hopkins (the long-time coach-in-waiting) to succeed Boeheim and will also make it more difficult for him to get hired. The level of penalties (and the decision by the NCAA to only prosecute violations starting a few weeks after Syracuse won its only national title–very convenient…) should also make other schools–like one in particular in North Carolina–nervous.
Speaking of NCAA violations, based on a report from Yahoo! Sports, Cliff Alexander is being investigated by the NCAA because his mother received a loan from a company that typically makes loans to professional athletes and agents. While it is not unusual for college athletes (or their families) to receive these type of loans it is usually after the athlete has finished competing in college as such a loan would be a NCAA violation. According to the report, both the NCAA and Kansas are trying to move the investigation along, but that Alexander's legal counsel might be slowing it down. Given what we have read about the situation we doubt that we will see Alexander in a Kansas uniform again (at least until they need him for a promotional photo).
The coaching carousel is starting to heat up. As of Sunday night, the two newest positions to open up are at Holy Cross where Milan Brown was fired and Penn where Jerome Allen will step down (a nice way of saying he was fired). We doubt that either is big enough to attract a big name candidate both positions should attract attention from mid-major coaches although there is a possibility that someone who is out of coaching might use one of the positions as a stepping stone to get back in. During his five seasons at Holy Cross, Brown went 69-83 with only two winning seasons (15-14 in 2011-12 and 20-14 in 2013-14). Allen, a former star at Penn who was a 2nd round pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, is 66-103 in six seasons heading into his final game on Tuesday.
Senior nights are special in a lot of ways, but Georgetown's senior night on Saturday stands out for the return of Tyler Adams, who has been sidelined since his freshman year due to an arrhythmia. While Senior Nights are typically reserved for individuals who remained on the team, John Thompson III, who has kept Adams on scholarship despite not playing for the team, decided to start Adams and ran the first play for Adams, which he dunked. Even though there were a lot of highlights from the weekend this moment will stick with us for the class that Thompson and Seton Hall showed giving Adams one last moment as a player as he enters the next phase of his life.
Joe Harris and Virginia Avoided History by Rallying to Beat Coastal Carolina(USA Today).
History was almost made and almost repeated. Coastal Carolina came very close to being the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 tonight. The Chanticleers, champions of the Big South Conference, took it to the ACC champions in the first half. Virginia trailed by as many as 10 points and went into the break staring at a 35-30 score in favor of the overwhelming underdogs. For old-time ACC fans, today brought back memories of a similar situation that is known as "Black Saturday." In the 1979 NCAA East Regionals held in this same city of Raleigh, Duke and North Carolina both fell in huge upsets in back-to-back games.


Union Catholic, Oratory Prep, Roselle Catholic.
Union Catholic, Oak Knoll, Benedictine.
10-Doane Academy at 2-St. Joseph, Hamm.
Westfield was third seed, Bridgewater-Raritan the top seed.
Summit was the top seed, Northern Highlands the second seed.
Group 4 final: Westfield vs. Southern at Somerville, 5 p.m.
Group 2 final: Summit vs. Somerville at Ridge, 5 p.m.
Johnson was 10th seed, Rumson the top seed.
Group 1 final: Johnson vs. Mountain Lakes at Livingston, 5 p.m.
Group 2: 2-Rumson at 1-Summit, 4 p.m.
Group 1: 3-Bernards at 1-Oak Knoll, 4 p.m.


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Q: I have to double click a button for an animation to work. It does not work on single click I have created a button called runButton, and I want some labels to get unhidden, and I also want a visual effect with blur to appear. The visual effect with blur has a width and height of 0 in the viewDidLoad function. I want the animation to expand it's size to fill the entire screen and blur it. The I want the hidden labels to get unhidden. But, I have to double click the button to execute the animation. Here is my runButton code:
 @IBAction func runButton(sender: AnyObject) {
    outputLabel.hidden = false
    var name = textFieldText.text
    outputLabel.text = "  Console output: Hello \(name)!"
    xButton.hidden = false

    UIView.animateWithDuration(0.5, animations: {
        self.visualEffectView.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 320, height: 568)

    })

}

What happens is that the animation executes only when I click the button twice. I want it to happen with one click.

A: Please check below in your code, forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.TouchUpInside -
button.addTarget(self, action: "runButton:", forControlEvents: UIControlEvents.TouchUpInside)


Barcelona, 14/11/2017. -SEAT is exhibiting four major developments in mobility of the future in smart cities at the seventh edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress. All the initiatives are framed in the guidelines of the Barcelona city council's Urban Mobility Plan, which seeks mobility that is safe, efficient, sustainable and equitable.
SEAT President Luca de Meo pointed out that "SEAT's commitment to improving urban mobility with solutions that are innovative, easy and smart is in the spotlight at this new edition of the Smart City Expo". In addition, de Meo emphasised that "our commitment is to continue strengthening our ties with Barcelona as a benchmark Smart City, and for this reason, we are presenting initiatives which are aligned with the four pillars promoted by the city in its mobility plan".
With reference to sustainability, part of the 10-strong fleet of eMii prototypes, which will soon be made available to the employees of Metropolis:Lab Barcelona and Pier 01 in a car-sharing project, will also be highlighted at the event. This service enables the brand's electric technology to be verified, and the cars are equipped with the Digital Access solution for users to gain access to the cars with their Smartphone. Visitors to the three-day congress will have the opportunity to test drive this zero-emissions prototype by SEAT in the parking area outside the exhibition venue.
New developments in equitable initiatives for smart cities will have their forum at the congress by way of the Virtual Mobility Lab project by CARNET, the only centre of urban mobility research focussing on Barcelona created by SEAT, Volkswagen Group Research and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. This simulation tool analyses and evaluates the impact of mobility projects on the city of Barcelona and enables results to be extrapolated prior to implementing any pilot test.
In one of its initial tests, the Virtual Mobility Lab verified that by using 500 On Demand Shuttles, 2,000 private vehicles could be taken off the streets of Barcelona, with the resulting improvement of traffic and pollution levels in the city.
The project kicked off in April this year. Over a six-month period, the 50 students from 9 participating Spanish universities were tasked with developing software that enables self-driving scale model vehicles to successfully navigate through a closed circuit.
For the occasion, CARNET has created a closed circuit driving environment inspired by the city of Barcelona, where the finale will take place. The vehicles will be competing to overcome all the obstacles, proving that they can successfully drive on their own in an urban setting.


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DocumentsBolivarian Project
Victor Alvarez: "Venezuela's Currency Controls Are No Longer Justified, and Are Only Used as a Means of Political Domination"
Leftist economist and former high-ranking government official Victor Alvarez offers a critical perspective on state economic policy under the Bolivarian Revolution, arguing that it has perpetuated a neo-rentier logic via exchange controls and other measures that must be abandoned for socialism to advance.
By Mario Villegas/Victor Alvarez- QuintoDia.Com
May 5th 2015 at 11.43pm
image_3.jpg
Victor Alvarez (quintodia.com)
foreign currency exchange21st Century SocialismSocial MissionsImports
Ever since he was minister of Mining and Basic Industry in Hugo Chavez's cabinet and president of the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation at the same time (2005-06), Victor Alvarez has refused to hold any other public office. He had previously been president of the Foreign Commerce Bank, director of PDVSA and the executive director of the Industrial Development Council.
-If I became convinced of anything within those positions it was the amount of dogma, myth, and taboo that imprisoned many of the country's important leaders, he confessed.
Including president Chavez?
-Yes, he was also prisoner or committed to many old ideas. My intention was to construct 21st century socialism with new ideas, and that is what I have dedicated myself to doing from the grassroots and social movements.
Alvarez is an economist, an investigator, a university professor and writer, columnist, lecturer and adviser, as well as a convinced militant of the Bolivarian Revolution and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), from which standpoint he maintains without duplicity very critical postures regarding the governmental management of the country's current economic crisis.
Has the economic model established by Chavez collapsed, or has the current administration failed at managing it?
-What has failed is the socialist neo-rentier model based on extraction that has existed in Venezuela since petroleum first appeared. This model first manifested itself in rentier capitalism, where the petroleum income was allocated for the transformation from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy. This rentier capitalism failed and made way for a new form of the same extractionist model- which I call neo-rentier socialism, and under which the emphasis of distribution of income has been for the financing of social investment.
And that is, in other words, the model adopted by Chavez?
-Correct. In essence what failed was the same extractivist model. Not by coincidence, the same economic problems that plagued the 4th republic [neoliberal era preceding Chavez] ended up being the same in the 5th [today]. Now we have them on a larger scale, given the income is much greater.
Forex Controls
Is it necessary to maintain controls on foreign exchange?
-The forex controls make up a temporary measure, which countries are obligated to adopt in very specific situations, such as disproportionate capital flight that threatens to liquidate foreign reserves…and when that fall in reserves deteriorates the backing of the national currency and spending power is lost as inflation spirals upwards. This was the situation in Venezuela in 2002, but it disappeared in 2005, and in 2006 there was practically no economic reason to maintain the controls.
Do those reasons exist today?
-Today it's true that we have low foreign reserves but the currency controls have been continued not so much for economic reasons, rather they ended up being used as an instrument of political domination. In the end, the controls in their worst manifestation, namely the regime of multiple exchange rates, have had disasterous effects, in which a very cheap and a very high rate of exchange coexist, creating a perfect incentive for the profit hunters who always manage to capture their cheap dollars from the Cencoex [foreign commerce division] to be sold in the parallel market or even the Simadi [official free-floating rate].
At what point should it be abolished?
-If the currency controls were abolished today and the government, instead of giving out the dollars for 6.30 or 12 bolivars, sold them at the Simadi rate [currently 198], the latter would begin to decrease and the government would obtain the necessary resources to safeguard the missions and social programs. It's false that maintaining preferential rates has anti-inflationary effects. In 2014, inflation in the cost of food was 102%, much higher than the 68% world average. The controls have worn themselves out as an anti-inflationary policy and no longer make sense because their impact has already been conveyed.
Was it a wise decision to cut dollar allotments for foreign travel?
-Those allotments are part of the rentier culture. The petroleum income became so great that it no only afforded abundant social investment and projects in economic sectors, but also the financing of the luxuries and pleasures of the middle and upper classes. This populist measure of patronage was easy to maintain in times of abundance but becomes unsustainable now that the country is receiving a third of the petroleum income that was coming in two years ago. They are perverse and distorted privileges that should be corrected in the transition to a post-rentier Venezuela.
Fedecamaras and Missions
How should we interpret the announcement of president Nicolas Maduro that he will radicalize the revolution?
-If the country needs anything, it's an understanding between the public and private sectors. That determination to destroy the capitalist economy without having created an alternative communal, socialist, or even state economy, has been the quickest route to failures in production, scarcity, hoarding and speculation. Private investment has been deactivated and the voids left behind have not been filled or balanced out opportunely for the social and public economy, and what public economy does exist is not working.
Does this mean that there is or is not an economy war?
-When you analyze the causes of scarcity, hoarding and speculation, you find that 70% is due to depletions, deviations, and errors in economic policy, while 30% is caused by those sectors that oppose the government and play at destabilization. This means that the government has in its hands 70% of the solution to win the economic war if it takes the proper legal, monetary, financial, exchange rate, and price measures necessary. It would disarm those who wish to attack, destabilize and overthrow.
Is it necessary to dialogue with Fedecamaras [industry cartel] and the unions?
-Dialogue with the productive labor sectors is urgent. We have to recognize the guilds and commercial associations that the business sector recognizes. The business movement does not doubt the authorities of Fedecamaras, Conindustria and Consecomercio. They are the bodies the business sector has organized, they are the spokespeople, and if the government wants to speak with the productive sector they have to recognize those spokespeople. And if the private sector wants to speak with the government they have to recognize their representatives.
Are the social missions in danger?
-Of course they are in danger if they don't recover their income and if the government does not take measures to compensate the setback in petroleum income. One very important point is the increase in gasoline [prices].
Why haven't they raised the price of gasoline?
-Because the government is prisoner to taboos and superstitions, to limiting beliefs. They continue to believe that the increase would detonate a social conflict at a moment when there is already unrest because people are tired, fatigued of waiting in lines, of scarcity, of watching their spending power wash away like salt in water. Another limiting belief is that raising the price of gasoline would have a high political cost during a year when there are National Assembly elections. Paradoxically, this increase could save them because with the 12.4 billion dollars that the state avoids receiving today [by subsidizing gasoline] they could banish the danger that hovers over the missions, social programs, while reducing the fiscal deficit and stabilizing PDVSA's finances.
We Don't Need to Go to the IMF
Would going to the International Monetary Fund be an option for the governing Chavista movement?
-Venezuela does not need to go the IMF because it has important maneuvering room. If it does what needs to be done at the right time, it can correct the instabilities that are affecting the national economy and making an enormous social impact today. Countries go to the IMF when they have nothing left to do. Only inaction, government inertia and a deterioration of the situation could bring us to impose an IMF package. If the government does not react, act, and do what needs to be done, it will be they themselves who bring us to the IMF, and we know even with the tremendous makeover they've attempted, these IMF programs have a tremendous social cost.
Why has the Venezuelan Central Bank not revealed inflation data this year?
-Because it has opted to conceal the problem, believing that in this way it will disappear or resolve itself.
The Three R's of Chavez
[Revision, Rectification, and Reactivate the revolution]
Are you concerned that for your critical opinions you'll be accused of being a counterrevolutionary?
-My position, my critiques and demands are from the left. They are a result of my long process of investigation and express interest and empathy with workers and popular sectors. What I am is an investigator who confronts reality with scientific method.
And if, on the contrary, the president invites you to hold a ministerial office- would you accept?
-No. I want my contribution to be the generating of revolutionary awareness that permits us to transform the economy and Venezuelan society to eradicate the structural causes of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. I am not overly pro-government, mostly because the revolution I believe in is carried out by social movements and new processes of economic and productive organization, and that is what I'm working on.
But there is no doubt of your support for the president?
-Of course, what I want most is for the government of president Maduro to be successful, to correct all the deviations and errors that are diminishing their support among the social and political bases and eroding socialism as a viable option for humanity and for the country. In the end, all these problems that the government insists on attributing to the economic war are in a great part the product of its own mistakes and policy errors. If they had the humility to recognize these flaws and make the necessary decisions, many of the issues the population currently laments would not exist. Now, I believe that the government is prisoner of the legacy of Chavez, who left a combination of measures like the currency and price controls, the energy agreements and the reforms of the Central Bank and the Developmental Fund, which in the past proved their logic but with the years they have been exhausted. I am sure that Chavez would have applied his three R's and corrected a large part of these problems, as he knew how to do during his time. Now they believe that eliminating the currency controls, relaxing price controls and fixing what no longer works is the same as betraying Chavez's memory.
Alvarez's Manual
When asked for the formula he would apply to refloat the national economy, Victor Alvarez listed the following:
-Balance fiscal administration. Convert the funds created by neo-rentier socialists to spend money into funds to save resources that will permit us to stay afloat during times of scarcity, like the Fund for Macroeconomic Stabilization.
-Reestablish the autonomy of the Central Bank in its emitting of capital and the management of foreign reserves. Reforms have driven the bank to finance government projects without backing and with inflationary results.
-Review energy agreements with other countries, because those generous policies of solidarity were indiscernible during times of abundant income, but the country is no longer in conditions to make such a large sacrifice.
-Clear up the threat of a default and avoid the embargo of our assets abroad. Initiate an aggressive strategy to buy back our debt, which is closing out at 40% [interest] because stockholders believe Venezuela is unable to honor it. This will reduce principal and interest payments and mitigate commitments.
-Reduce military spending. Obama's decree has exacerbated military reactions in the country, but even if we arm ourselves to the teeth we would be swept away in a week. We must demonstrate we are a country of peace and save those resources.
-Reorient state imports in favor of national production. The government spends between 8 and 10 billion dollars in the purchase of other countries' food and medicine that we could produce here with significant savings.
-Restructure the capital component of all the developmental work hired from Brazilian, Iranian and Belarusian companies, countries that are truly our friends should receive [high-interest] Venezuelan bonds as part of their payment.
-Elimate currency controls, which no longer has economic justification and is being used only as an instrument for domination.
-Raise the cost of gasoline.
-Cultivate an understanding between the private and public sectors.
Abridged and translated for venezuelanalysis.com.
Raising the Price of Gasoline: An Inflationary Measure for No One's Benefit
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A comprehensive programme for lovers of history, heritage and arts developed between Olomouc and Kroměříž, which provides a comprehensive insight into the rich cultural and spiritual history of a large part of Moravia within its more than thousand-yearslong development. Only after visiting all the three heritage sites of Spiritual Axis of Moravia, the visitors will fully understand the importance and scope of activities related to Olomouc Archdiocese in Moravia.
The programme consists of guided tours through the three heritage sites and products of joint publishing. Education, presentation and marketing activities. The Individual historic objects and collections represent a respectable summary of different architectural styles and art exhibits. as well as the opportunity to establish a real Gateway to learning the history of towns and regions, landscapes and communities. traditions and spiritual values of the Olomouc Archdiocese.
Local and Economic Management of Olomouc Diocese and Archdiocese.
The Archbishops Palace belongs to the most important early-Baroque buildings in Moravia. It was built under the project of the Italian architect Filiberto Luchese on the site of an earlier Renaissance palace. The layout of the Palace consists of seven two-storey wings, surrounding two inner rectangular courtyards. The long street frontage has a richly structured facade with three portals. A representative staircase and ceremonial halls emphasize the palatial character of the building. An original Baroque stucco decoration of the rooms has been preserved in the interior. The bishops residence has undergone several reconstructions realized by leading European architects and painters. The last major reconstruction of the Palace was implemented after a fire in 1904 under the Archbishop Francis Bauer. Many prominent personalities visited the Palace; including Franz Joseph I. who ascended the Imperial throne here in 1848.
Olomouc Archdiocesan Museum was inaugurated on the 1st June 2006. It is located in a reconstructed national cultural monument the Přemyslid Castle (the chapter deanery, the tower with St. Barbara´s Chapel and the Romanesque Bishop´s Palace). The grounds are the evidence of thousand-years of structural development and ranks among the oldest permanently settled sites of Central Europe (finds dated around 4000 BC). In 1306 the last Czech king Venceslas III Přemyslid was assasinated here. The permanent exhibition presents, in 16 halls, more than 300 items from Roman style to baroque, inclusive of the famous Madonna of Šternberk or the coach of bishop Troyer.
The Archbishop´s Chateau and Gardens represent a unique historic landmark that is one of the most significant Moravian tourist attractions. For most of its history, the Chateau served as a summer residence of the Olomouc Archbishops. Architecture, gardens and collections that can be found here belong to the most valuable cultural heritage of our country. There is no doubt that both Chateau and gardens are deservedly featured on the UNESCO World Heritage List.


Following the first trailer from way back in September, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the upcoming adaptation Inherent Vice, which opens in limited release on December 12 before expanding nationwide on January 9. This trailer offers plenty of new footage, along with a more streamlined explanation of this complex adaptation, based on Thomas Pynchon's novel. The story centers on L.A.-based private investigator Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), who is roped in by his ex (Katherine Waterston) to find her new lover (Eric Roberts), after he was kidnapped by his wife and her boyfriend in a plot to throw him in the loony bin.
It's the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," that's being way too overused-except this one usually leads to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists... Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp-all Thomas Pynchon.
For those who aren't in New York or Los Angeles, Warner Bros. has also announced that they are holding advance screenings of Inherent Vice in 14 cities across the country on Saturday, December 13. The cities hosting these screenings are Austin, TX, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, OH, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, MO, Miami, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver. If you live in or near one of these cities, CLICK HERE to RSVP for this special advance screening, and check out the new trailer below.