text:
American gun films - out of control ?
by Ted Welch Tue Jan 29th, 2013 at 02:47:58 PM EST
The issue of violence, with obvious reference to the US, was raised in December 2012 by a French magazine - this is a poster for it on display in Nice (English text added by me).
Since then, these have been the main American films advertised in Nice:
The famous line "when I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun", often associated with Nazi leaders, derives from this play (Schlageter, by Hanns Johst). The actual original line from the play is slightly different: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning!" "Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety catch of my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Johst
Ian Jack in the Guardian:
The school shootings at Newton, Connecticut, had happened only three weeks before Guru-Murthy began to ask Tarantino about the possible links between cinematic and real violence, which perhaps explained the director's thrilling loss of control: "I refuse your question ... I'm here to sell my movie ... I'm shutting your butt down." His view is that no link exists, that movie violence is a fantasy lacking any effect on real-world behaviour - unlike, say, the banned TV adverts for cigarettes that were also a kind of fantasy on their maker's part, though one the consumer could easily satisfy at any tobacconist's. The question may be complicated, but to deny any link absolutely is surely to protest too much, unless your reputation and the multi-billion-dollar industry you're a part of depend on it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/25/bloody-mayhem-tarantino-django-seriously
Tarantino interviewed on Ch 4:
Ian Jack:
Certain film critics also leave me at a loss. Insightful, sympathetic writers, such as this paper's Peter Bradshaw or the Observer's Philip French, accord Tarantino what, to me, is a mysterious degree of respect. "A powerful film, its dramatic brush strokes broad and colourful, its psychological points made with considerable subtlety and wit," French wrote of Django Unchained, " ... it places Tarantino among the most impressive film-makers at work today."
How can that be? In its first two hours there are some good things, not least the script, and Waltz is thoroughly engaging as the film's wittiest and most humane character. But the subjects Tarantino finds consistently exciting are people being murdered, people screaming in pain, people begging for mercy. Boring might be the wrong word for these events, but their profusion takes away meaning. So much cruelty, so much noise, rehearsed and repeated until it satisfies the man-child in the director's chair.
In the comments some people take the line that it's just entertainment - but of course this does not mean that entertainment has no effects; much advertising is entertaining and some of it works.
As the posters above indicate, it's far from being just a problem of Tarantino's films. The uniformity of the message, in a set of films from such a short time-span, in the context of so many killings in the US, is appalling.
Well, there is also:
But then it is about a president who was shot and who presided over an extremely bloody civil war, which saw the introduction of weapons like the Gatling gun.
It's good that in Europe a film like Amour gets EU support:
Michael Haneke's Amour (Love), starring Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, has won has the Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film. This accolade follows its recent string of nominations for Academy and BAFTA awards.
The film is distributed in over 20 European countries with MEDIA grants totalling €920,000, including €125,000 for the Artificial Eye's UK release.
A masterly and moving portrait of love and of elderly couple's relationship in the face of age and a debilitating stroke, the film has already accumulated a number of awards including the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2012 and European Film Awards for Best Film, Best Director and both Best Actor and Best Actress for the lead pair for their portrayal of Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Riva).
http://www.mediadeskuk.eu/latest-news/general-news/2013/january/amour-receives-golden-globe-for-best -foreign-language-film/
The MEDIA Programme helps the European Union film and audiovisual industries with financial support in the development, distribution and promotion of their work.
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/index_en.htm
But then it wouldn't appeal to 15 year-old boys.
American gun films - out of control ? | 66 comments (66 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: American gun films - out of control ? (4.00 / 2)
Art imitating life? Life imitating Art?
If gun-toting tough guys are your heroes, are you going to want to tote a gun? If the ubiquitous violence on television and in the cinema (and on the news) make you feel there's much to fear all around you, are you going to want to "weapon up"?
I think enough people answer "yes" to these questions to make the USA, because of the ease of access to weaponry, a dangerous, trigger-happy place. Also, life there is quite disempowering for many, and the fact of it reaches the whole population because of media saturation, and getting a gun is the quick (though delusional) fix for a feeling of powerlessness/impotence/vulnerability.
(Just my quick, off-the-cuff take on the topic.)
'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher
by Wife of Bath (kareninaustin at g mail dot com) on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 01:07:10 AM EST
Wife of Bath:
the ubiquitous violence on television and in the cinema (and on the news) make you feel there's much to fear all around you
I think there is a point to seperate between different types of violence and fear here. On one hand, the fantasies of power and redemptive violence in most of the examples listed, on the other hand the scary violence in the news, tv and films where someone is out to get you or your kids. All of those american series with deranged psycho sadists hunted by the cops and news reports of kidnapped babies I think is much more likely to induce fear then a violence festival signed Tarantino.
USA has compared to other countries a really high amount of gun violence. American movies are seen in USA and lots of other countries. So the first one fits better.
Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
by A swedish kind of death on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 10:34:52 AM EST
hmmm. Do people watch American gun films differently perhaps, depending on whether they are American or not?
Just speculating : an American might identify with the situations and with the gunman; for a European, it might be pure escapist fantasy, no different from sci-fi.
It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 10:38:50 AM EST
"American movies are seen in USA and lots of other countries. So the first one fits better."
But one has to take into account the context in which they are shown, lighting a flare in an open football stadium is different from the tragic case in Brazil of doing it in a nightclub (even if it had had better exits).
Showing a film encouraging the use of guns to resolve problems in the US with its levels of gun ownership (and the widepspread positive attitude about this) is different from showing it in Japan:
In October 1992, in Louisiana, a Japanese exchange student named Yoshihiro Hattori went into the wrong house on the way to a Halloween party. The homeowner's wife screamed for help and the homeowner drew his .44 pistol and yelled for the student to 'freeze!' Not understanding the American idiom that 'freeze!' means 'Don't move or I'll shoot', the student continued advancing towards the homeowner. The homeowner pulled the trigger and shot him dead.[1] While the incident initially attracted only brief attention in the national American press, the shooting horrified Japan; hundreds of thousands of Japanese have signed petitions calling for the United States to implement gun prohibition, and Hattori's parents have announced plans to begin working with the American lobby, Handgun Control Inc.[2]
To many Japanese, and to many Americans, it is simply incomprehensible that the United States has not implemented strict gun controls or prohibitions along the Japanese model. Gun control in Japan is the most stringent in the democratic world. The weapons law begins by stating 'No-one shall possess a fire-arm or fire-arms or a sword or swords', and very few exceptions are allowed.[3] Gun ownership is minuscule, and so is gun crime. As gun crime in other nations increases, many advocates of gun control urge that Japan's gun control policy be imitated.
http://www.guncite.com/journals/dkjgc.html
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 12:34:37 PM EST
Re: American gun films - out of control ? (none / 1)
The interesting thing is that Japanese society still carries a strong cultural memory of the absolute horror of arbitrary killing by the sword-bearing class.
One can only hope that a similar epiphany will happen one day in the USA, and that it won't take a military defeat accompanied by nuclear strikes to bring it about.
by eurogreen on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 04:06:19 AM EST
The idea permeating American gun-ownership is to avoid enabling a ruling class which controls all weapons...
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid on Sat Feb 2nd, 2013 at 05:28:35 AM EST
Swords were actually banned in the Meiji period- 1876. Nothing to do with WWII.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Sat Feb 2nd, 2013 at 06:58:44 AM EST
Was around at the time. Local exchange student rep said "if someone tells you to 'freeze,' please please stand still."
by Number 6 on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 12:29:56 PM EST
'68 I was in Houston. A long-haired BBC cameraman. Friend from LA told me that if the cops pull you over, don't try the immediately-out-of-the-car, claim the neutral space - "Officer, is this really necessary? gambit."
"Keep your frickin' hands on the wheel, do not turn your head, do not speak unless spoken to, and follow orders immediately." It was excellent advice.
You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 12:40:07 PM EST
Report: 98 Percent Of Americans Afraid Of 98 Percent Of Americans
Newborn babies, the elderly and the infirm are believed to comprise the non-feared 2 percent.
But watch out for those two-year olds ! - in a house where even the mother has assault weapons.
And the elderly need to be really old - those old varmits can still pull a trigger :-)
But there remains a group of elderly inmates who committed violent crimes during their golden years, proving the point that many victims worry about.
Research has shown that arrests of elderly offenders have risen.
http://www.correctionsone.com/products/medical-supplies/articles/1965383-The-aging-inmate-issue-Can- we-afford-elderly-incarceration/
by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 04:23:11 PM EST
That's pretty good advice if stopped in any State in the USA.
I can swear there ain't no heaven but I pray there ain't no hell. _ Blood Sweat & Tears
by Gringo (stargazing camel at aoldotcom) on Sat Feb 2nd, 2013 at 12:26:05 AM EST
Very good advice if you're stopped by Swedish police as well.
All of those american series with deranged psycho sadists hunted by the cops and news reports of kidnapped babies I think is much more likely to induce fear then a violence festival signed Tarantino.
I don't think they're unrelated.
Kindness and basic humanity are the new taboos in Hollywood. You can show all the sadism and gore you want, but if you show people acting humanely, audiences and critics will want your blood.
Hollywood is just a reboot of gladiatorial Rome without the free bread. The idiot-obsession with guns and gangsta machismo is a symptom, not a cause.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 07:24:58 AM EST
I agree. When I said "and the news" I was thinking about my grandmother, who was sure she was going to be robbed, raped and murdered every time she left the house. She watched and pored over every crime story there was. I tended to ignore them, and though I had several brushes with danger in my lifetime, I didn't suffer the "effects of crime" that she did.
As people pointed out during the 9-11 incident, little children whose parents didn't prevent them from seeing it over and over on television were made terribly afraid because they couldn't quite understand that it was not a continuing thing. When I was a young adult, the news didn't report every "juicy" crime that occurred in the world over and over and over like they do today. One gets the feeling that violent crime is just around every corner 24/7, but it isn't, and I refuse to listen to stories about crimes that weren't committed on my street in order to avoid "becoming" my grandmother.
I have liked some films that were violent, though, but not in an enjoyment-of-violence kind of way; it was more in spite of the violence. And "Dexter" is a guilty pleasure.
by Wife of Bath (kareninaustin at g mail dot com) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 12:48:21 PM EST
The effect of pornography seems to be to switch off interest in the "real thing".
Not sure violence works the same way.
"Just entertainment" is a cop out.
by Number 6 on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 07:30:13 AM EST
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
American children watch an average of four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may:
become "immune" or numb to the horror of violence
gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems
imitate the violence they observe on television; and
identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers
Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness.
Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see.
Children with emotional, behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence.
The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the child's behavior or may surface years later.
Young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_tv_violence
Thanks. Seems conclusive enough.
by Number 6 on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 12:26:01 PM EST
They shoot horses don't they? (4.00 / 3)
Infantry are shown gore films to dull their future reaction to a mate's head getting shot off next to them. Soldiers need to continue to obey orders. But if film gore is effective in this military context - which I presume - does it follow that there is suppression of compassion/sympathy in non-military viewing of gore?
In any case, how compassionate is shooting a bullet at someone?
by Sven Triloqvist on Wed Jan 30th, 2013 at 01:21:47 PM EST
Re: They shoot horses don't they? (4.00 / 2)
S.L.A. Marshall's work famously stated that three quarters of allied soldiers in WWII never shot to kill.
Training was improved for Vietnam. NCOs were brought in after WWII to keep the troops in line, a bit like the Optio of the Roman army. The Centurion would say "this way, men" and the Optio would say "stay in formation and keep killing people".
Current military trainers are saying outright that video games make their job easier. (See Grossman.)
by Number 6 on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 05:14:14 AM EST
The latest cultural meme that reinforces these tendencies is the zombie genre.
It effectively dehumanises the adversary -- pretty hard to feel empathy for a zombie.
In a future situation where one has to defend one's gated community from starving poor people, that could be helpful.
Lucas notably went with robots for the prequels.
Isn't the point that the adversary isn't human?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 05:53:27 AM EST
those posters for the flicks say it all really...
it's about breaking taboos. it's as if they were saying "we know this is ridiculously tasteless, playing exclusively to the lowest common cultural denominator, but admit it, you are fascinated, in a guiltily confused way, in seeing how far we will go to titillate you and inviting you to see if you are still 99% feral, with a 1% veneer of 'civilisation' and will feel the power rush as the victims writhe and the infrastructure explodes in flames, you little walter mitty you, go on, for 90 minutes you will feel like attila the hun on coke"
just another kind of porn, at the end of the day.
'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty
by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 12:55:25 PM EST
We drift towards censorship, as has been the norm forever...
by asdf on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 01:56:36 PM EST
Alberto E. on Supersymmetry (4.00 / 6)
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
by Crazy Horse on Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 02:13:46 PM EST
Re: Alberto E. on Supersymmetry (none / 1)
Well, advertisers keep the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of such ads a hidden secret. The super Bowl is watched mainly by people who want to buy beer and ride in pickup trucks, so those ads are effective. no one knows why GoDaddy does what it does. I know someone high up Madison Ave. advertising who commented to me that they regularly refer to such ads as Blue Serge suits, after the indestructibly tough suits that men wore day after day in the 1950s. They were so thick that you could pee in them if you had to during a meeting. The joke is that, like the ads, no one else really sees it, but it gives the client a warm feeling.
by Upstate NY on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 04:22:31 PM EST
surely they do see sales rise after these um, efforts?
or are they white elephants?
Sorry it took so long to respond.
Sales rise but not nearly as much to justify the cost.
In other words, there's very little bang for the buck.
Only about 20% of the campaigns are effective (in terms of impact on the consumer).
by Upstate NY on Sun Feb 17th, 2013 at 12:27:44 PM EST
Xbox games, anyone?! I enjoy shooting zombies on the xbox but have zero interest in actual guns and don't like them being anywhere near me.
Games like Call of Duty are filled with subliminal prompts to persuade young boys that being in the army would be just as cool and exciting as playing COD. It is seriously sinister.
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 09:35:28 AM EST
Huh, hadn't heard about that.
I'm behind the times I see:
The game lingers upon the face of a bloodied victim and with the push of a few buttons you insert a piece of broken glass into his mouth and punch him in the face (watch here).
In the controversial mission entitled "No Russian," you walk through an airport armed with a set of machine guns, slaughtering hundreds of terrified and screaming civilians. [...] , this mission is central to the storyline of Modern Warfare 2 and gamers aiming to enjoy the full experience of the game are likely to play it anyway (certainly most reviewers opted to play the full game).
Call of Duty supports the myth that America needs to defend itself against the perpetual threat of foreign tyranny and spontaneous terrorism, and that it is pulled into wars rather than creating them. As Modern Warfare 3 approaches, poised to become the next best-selling game of all time, we can expect a similar, propagandist appeal to warfare: you fight in New York, London, Paris, and Berlin - you are fighting for nothing less than the preservation of the First World way of life.
Things have moved on since I played Wizball.
It's truly sick. My nephews were allowed to play that game where it's okay to shoot prostitutes (Armed Robbery, or something like that) many years ago when they were kids and when I saw it for a few seconds on the screen, I had to wonder about my brother's emotional intelligence (he's a genius in lots of areas.)
Oh, Grand Theft Auto (which should have WHAT to do with prostitutes?)
Afghan president: Prince Harry is young and should be forgiven mistakes | UK news | guardian.co.uk
When Prince Harry compared fighting in Afghanistan to playing a video game, the Taliban were quick to accuse him of mental illness and cowardice, joining a chorus of criticism from all sides.
But in Afghanistan's highest reaches of government he has found at least one ally. President Hamid Karzai, usually quick to condemn western mis-steps in his country, told the Guardian that the young royal's comments may have been a mistake, but he should be let off the hook because of his age.
"Prince Harry is a young man, we do give exits to young men when they make mistakes," said Karzai, who is visiting the UK for a high-level conference, and also expects to meet Prince Charles before flying home.
by eurogreen on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 11:06:50 AM EST
Meh. If you actualy read the interview with prince Harry, it certainly doesn't seem very outrageous.
by Starvid on Tue Feb 5th, 2013 at 07:48:35 AM EST
Yet again - this time "incorruptible and pitiless" - America's latest cultural contribution in Nice:
There is also this: "When Hollywood turns to psychosis"
Over at Eschaton, when they were talking about having women in combat, everyone was "yes, women should be in combat. They can carry 60 lbs of equipment" (which is b.s. but let's get back to the argument in question). My reaction was "Neither women nor men should be in combat" which is a point that nobody in that "progressive" blog brought up.
Nobody. Not one single person.
Americans are so used to the idea of violence that they don't even question it, is my point.
by stevesim on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 01:19:56 PM EST
Well, I'm sure that a lot of progressives would agree with you - in an ideal world, but we're not in an ideal world. Of course a lot of violence is started by the US, the new imperialists; but there is the possibility of a new Hitler - or do you think we shouldn't have fought the Nazis ? A lot of Brits tried to avoid it, which undoubtedly made it so much more difficult later and a "damned close-run thing" (Wellington on Waterloo), even with the Soviets and the Americans.
hmm. Let me see. We were on the side of Stalin, the guy who murdered more people than Hitler, right?
That doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it, if you want to argue moral imperatives?
The UK and US had been doing what they could to destroy the Soviet regime since its birth:
The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... After winning the war in Europe, the Allied powers militarily backed the pro-Tsarist, anti-Bolshevik White forces in Russia.
In fact, of course, the Brits went to war with the Nazis in 1939, while Stalin made a pact with Hitler, but then Hitler invaded the SU and Stalin was forced into war.
When you're in a life and death struggle you welcome ANY help you can get and in fact the Soviets were mainly responsible for defeating the Nazis.
Very soon after that the US and UK returned to their previous stance and the Cold War ensued.
The point remains that the Nazis needed to be resisted, by combat and that there remains possibility of a similar situation, hence the need to be prepared for combat. This is not, of course, to justify all combat, nor to endorse the actions of any who become temporary allies in a desperate situation.
Hitler was partly funded by the US - specifically by one of George Bush's ancestors. It's unlikely he'd have amounted to much without that handout.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 07:43:08 PM EST
i have noticed this with n. american guests, a particularly silly giggle when seeing gratuitous violence on the screen.
just as important as the film and videogame industries is the war toy syndrome, kids are encouraged to simulate violence from such an early age, it becomes as natural as breathing to expect it everywhere, all the time.
when will we realise how small the window of childhood is, with its brief, unique opportunity to shape character for good?
instead we gleefully raise the odds against it!
i would expect casual violence to continue to grow exponentially as new generations grow up with even more OTT celluloid heroes to emulate.
yet, to put it in perspective, i saw an afghan girl saying how she wanted to go to america, where people don't shoot each other, there is peace.
i wish her luck.
Beyond the insidious culture shaping, which is overrated in my opinion (symptom and not a cause as TBG said), a lot of this comes from inertia by way of Hollywood's own faith based belief system about what makes money. In their "too risky to take risks" world guns and tits sell, or at least this is their belief system, and like all dominant belief systems it will be their belief system until isn't.
The video game industry is in the same boat - game production became expensive (and therefore entirely corporate) in the mid 90s, and by the late 90s first person shooters (like Call of Duty) had taken probably half the market. Today FPSs probably account for 75% of game releases. Like the movie industry it will be this way until it isn't.
And as with any oligopoly industry it's easy to get lazy make the mistake of assuming that their output is a reflection of what the public connects to emotionally and intellectually. This assumes a free market is present and that the market maps to human emotions and intellect. Both are false in this case, or at least there is no remotely straight line to be drawn from point A to point B. I'll skip the rant on how queasy I get when leftists of all people use this as a rhetorical technique.
I like porn as an example. In the early to mid 90's it was "common knowledge" that all porn had the same vibe because straight men were the target audience and they all had identical desires (this was actually taken seriously and still is). By 2005 production and distribution costs for porn could be as low as effectively zero dollars (utilizing the youtube derivative porn sites). Now with something almost resembling a free market you could find pretty much whatever you wanted. Not only do straight male desires run the gamut, it turns out all humans across the gender spectrum have some and varied interest in porn as well.
you are the media you consume.
by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 at 09:27:36 PM EST
What! I go away for a few years and you people get lazy and make silly, unsubstantiated claims, and these are then accepted and rec'd. Scandalous! ;)
Ok, I know, you said releases. But, let's look at sales instead. (Because they can be found. And do we really care about games released if no one buys them?)
Shooters are between 20 and 25 %. For some other potentially violent games, add Action, another 12 to 20 %. It probably depends on how the genres are defined. For example, Portal 2 is defined as shooter in the data used for the chart below. Which is kinda weird. The shooter games also seem to include 3rd person shooters. But maybe they should count too if they are violent? Action games include some violent things like Grand Theft Auto IV. This category also includes Skylanders, which is a cartoonish game for kids. So, maybe 25% total for violent games?
I am pretty sure that these are sales in shops, which ignores a huge part of the market that is on-line sales. However, I don't see 75% being even remotely reached.
Numbers are aggregated from here
Slightly different numbers here, but only in aggregate, so we can say nothing about how they have categorized things.
And, finally, an important quote that proves everything:
"It cannot possible be the case that we are influenced by the games we play. Otherwise my whole generation would have spent time running around dark rooms, listening to repetitive music, and eating magic pills." (source: The Internet)
(Apparently it was a joke by Marcus Brigstocke, it was said slightly differently, and he is annoyed at not getting credited. So lets credit him. Bravo Marcus! Well said!)
by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 11:27:46 AM EST
Wow! Glad to know you're back here! :)
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 11:52:03 AM EST
Game releases matter because it shows where the development studios are putting their efforts. That would be interesting to find - I will google around later.
And fair enough, I didn't bother looking up numbers. It doesn't change my view in this case.
by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 03:55:19 PM EST
Role-playing and adventure appears to be mostly medieval/fantasy violence so they cold be added too. Role-playing also contains Pokemon which is strange childish japanese fantasy violence. Then again chess is strange persian warfare violence, but lately it has not been assumed to trigger violent responses, so I guess it all depends on what you find violent.
And good to see you back.
by A swedish kind of death on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 04:21:54 PM EST
In the past it has:
Perhaps the oldest anecdote of violence and chess is the case of al Walid I (668-715) who was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 705-715. He was playing chess (shatranj) with one of his courtiers, who was a much stronger player than the Caliph, but was purposely making bad moves in order for the Caliph to win. One day, the Caliph observed this and was highly offended. He seized one of the heaviest chess pieces and hurled it at the courtier's head saying, `May evil befall thee, base sycophant! Art thou in thy senses to play chess with me in this foolish manner?' An Arabic manuscript says that the caliph broke his opponent's head with a blow with his firzan (equivalent to the modern Queen).
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 at 04:45:38 PM EST
Speaking of the past, I believe American films really changed when Reagan came into office. I remember how the movie Rambo was received. People were shocked at the level of violence, and it was really a herald to a new epoch in American culture - perhaps as a fantasy to help deal with the US' loss in Vietnam...
remember Reagan's rhetoric as well? about a new day in America was it?
by stevesim on Wed Feb 6th, 2013 at 03:47:25 PM EST
reagan was the start of a terrible cycle in america, indeed every time i heard him say 'it's morning in america', i always heard it as 'it's mourning in america'.
bin going downhill ever since...
by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2013 at 05:37:09 PM EST
Off the top of my head:
Straw Dogs - 1971
Last House on the Left - 1972
Death Wish - 1974
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 1974
* Rambo: First Blood - 1982
I guess Rambo brought it into the mainstream. The previous ones on the list could be considered vaguely Arty.
Ruthless Reviews has some good analysis of what makes an 80s action film
Big sweaty men! Big noisy guns! Dozens of people getting beaten and slaughtered-per scene! Entire cities razed to the ground! Liberal wimps beware as simple handguns become judge, jury and executioner!
The first Rambo is arguably liberal/progressive. The rest are conservative propaganda/fantasy.
by Number 6 on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 06:38:34 AM EST
A Clockwork Orange (1971) was not an American production, but made by an American director.
There were people back then to complain loudly about violence in the movies.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 07:19:49 AM EST
Were there any guns in it?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 10:16:33 AM EST
Interesting point.
Don't recall any, with the possible exception of the cines used in the technique.
by Number 6 on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 12:12:53 PM EST
There's always been a streak of genocide in harder SF.
It's difficult to take modern SF novels seriously unless at least a couple of planets are sterilised, and Space Marines™ are stomping everywhere.
Point being, the macho fantasy crap has deep roots.
I keep meaning to write a diary about the persistence of feudal cultures in 'modern' SF.
There are progressive alternatives, mostly written by feminists. But in the mainstream there's a constant stream of traders/gun monkeys/mercenaries/princelings and the like.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 09:10:28 AM EST
The sense of the sf genre has changed over time.
It used to be for people who liked science (that was my case anyway, in the 60s and 70s). But that's gone and forgotten (I date it from Starwars, in which there is no science whatsoever). Now, I suspect, it's a refuge for people who want politically-incorrect stories.
by eurogreen on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 09:20:23 AM EST
There was always Heinlein doing libertarian SF. And a lot of older space opera was pretty much just 'America in Space - fuck yeah!'
I hear Star Trek is immensely popular with the US military - perhaps because all that noble humanitarianism in the TV shows is how they like to see themselves.
But it's interesting how much 50s SF was about telepathy, precognition, and other mental superpowers. That's almost gone now.
Star Wars was the cross-over point between speculative-imagination SF and blowing-shit-up-in-space SF. It had military elements, and mental superpowers, and princes and princesses, and a mercenary or two. But basically it was hatin-on-the-government made widescreen.
Then there was Aliens, and that was that.
ThatBritGuy:
it's interesting how much 50s SF was about telepathy, precognition, and other mental superpowers
it was also the era when the west took on the concept of brainwashing, due to techniques used by asian and communistic states on prisoners of war.
segueing prettily into the mad men of the 60's, and its usefulness in mass persuasion.
it's a very low, dishonorable abuse of energy, to use sheer repetition to numb brain receptors into battered submission, where even negative response still ensures brand recognition and pavlovian urges to buy, buy, buy.
yet we sucked it up, and still do...
I blame it on HG Wells. Blatantly political all of his novels, and not at all the same level of science geekery as Jules Verne.
by A swedish kind of death on Thu Feb 7th, 2013 at 12:22:10 PM EST
Yes, not really science fiction:
He was a rotten scientist anyway, remarking among other things that a small, bolted-down square of Cavorite could rapidly squirt away the Earth's entire atmosphere. The student is invited to estimate what percentage of our planet's mass would be gravitationally screened off from the viewpoint of an oxygen molecule two miles up.
by Number 6 on Fri Feb 8th, 2013 at 05:58:27 AM EST
There are progressive alternatives, mostly written by feminists.
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sat Feb 9th, 2013 at 05:32:58 AM EST
someone is back! much missed, and h/t'd everytime i use trib ex, the niftiest of software, take a bow.
as to your comment, aren't they pirated, making sales figures a tad unrevealing?
US Conservatives vehemently agree seeing one single solitary naked female boob will scar a child for the rest of their life.
US Conservatives vehemently agree seeing 10,000 hours of acts of violence has no affect.
Life in America.
She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Tue Feb 12th, 2013 at 02:25:54 PM EST
Had forgot that one.
Luckily the penance for not remembering your Calvin and Hobbes is reading more Calving and Hobbes.
by Number 6 on Wed Feb 13th, 2013 at 06:44:52 AM EST
quite the trenchant comment over on clusterfuck nation about this, sums it up tidily...
Going To the Movies - Clusterfuck Nation
Someone mentioned that Tarantino would have ended up in porn if he hadn't gotten lucky in "legitimate" film. Someone else mentioned he's a pornmeister in any case. I'd go a step further: most popular entertainment is porn.
Pop porn doesn't necessarily involve sex. What it does, and what Tarantino is masterful at, is cloud the difference between empathy and vicariousness. It continually turns us to what it wants us to see--the "good stuff"--usually at the expense, if not the outright mockery, of coherence and insight.
The plot, the characters, the setting, the "content" are all just a premise, a scrim, an aspic in which to embed the things that will shock and titillate. The whole purpose of pop porn is to breed the "cool" reaction noted above--to challenge people to rise above the assault on their senses or, more accurately, suppress their natural reactions to the verisimilitude of the action, the better to disparage those who cannot. Oh, it's just a movie. Chill out.
After a while, you do get numb. You don't care. You separate. News, entertainment, ads, truth, fiction, games--meh, who cares? It's all porn. It's all got a base agenda. It's all a goof. It all keeps us simultaneously bottled up inside our own sensory experience and watching ourselves, where we play with it like an infant plays with its pee-pee. It's all designed to infantilize, to reduce us to narcissists, all the better to erode our capacity to discern the many shell games, quackeries, and outright frauds that Jim so piquantly writes about.
And it works.
by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sun Feb 17th, 2013 at 08:03:41 PM EST
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text:
Dispatches From New York During the Pandemic
View More in 'CMS News'
New York State experienced an increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases (to 242,786) over the last week, but a drop in hospitalizations. On April 19, it also experienced its lowest number of deaths (478) in seven weeks, although still an extraordinarily high number. Overall, 14,347 persons have died in New York from COVID-19. On April 20 (12:30 p.m.), New York City reported 132,467 COVID-19 cases, with 34,729 persons hospitalized. To date, the City has suffered 9,101 confirmed deaths from COVID-19, and an additional 4,582 "probable" deaths from the virus. The City provides extensive data on COVID-19 cases, including by borough, age, sex, and zip code.
New York City has consistently treated immigrants of all statuses as full residents, entitled to City services and benefits. To that end, the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) has publicly affirmed that: "Many city services are available to all New Yorkers," no matter their immigration status or income. MOIA has also created a list of resources for immigrant communities during the pandemic, which covers diverse needs such as health care, food assistance, public safety, and support to small businesses.
The Benefits and Limits of Remote Consultation and Representation
Thomas Shea is a Senior Staff Attorney with CUNY Citizenship Now!, an agency that "provides free, high quality, and confidential immigration law services to help individuals and families on their path to U.S. citizenship." In normal times, CUNY Citizenship Now! operates from six full-time centers and 30 part-time locations. Tom also serves as the Editor of CMS's weekly Migration Update.
He explains that his agency's immigration office – which will not provide in-person services until at least May 15 – now provides legal consultations by phone. It assists people with simpler form completion, such as Form I-90 (application to renew an expiring ten-year green card or replace a lost ten-year green card); Form N 400 (application for naturalization), and renewal applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Its services now depend on the capacity of the "participants" in its services to print forms and supporting documents at home. If immigrants do not have that capacity, they need to wait until the agency reopens its in-person services. Because of the complexity of certain applications – e.g., adjustment of status and consular processing – the immigration office does not provide form assistance remotely.
Before suspending in-person services, many people expected their applications to be completed from scratch in just one meeting. Now participants, for the most part, understand that their cases will proceed more slowly. Many immigrants now need assistance with computer and printing issues at home. Non-English speakers often rely on English-speaking family members for help them in assembling the final packet for US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Some participants might have to wait to proceed with their cases because they need to obtain supporting documents, such as a Certificate of Disposition (a court document which explains what happened in a criminal case), or the documents needed to overcome the public charge rule, which they cannot access during the closures.
Remote legal consultations can, in some circumstances, lead to the provision of legal services for more straightforward applications. Generally, consultations take the form of conversations that help to put the participant at ease and answer their questions. If the legal consultation proceeds to legal services, the office may have multiple conversations over the phone to gather information and determine eligibility for an immigration benefit, but with the recognition that the application packet can be finalized only when the office resumes its in-person services. It has proven possible during this difficult time to provide immigration legal advice (confidentially and effectively) over the telephone and to gather (via phone and email) information for completing application packets. However, this process is more time-consuming than an in-person meeting. Moreover, some immigrants do not feel comfortable sharing their confidential/private information remotely with a stranger. In those situations, they prefer to wait to meet in person – whenever that might be – before continuing with their cases.
Immigrants and Health Care
Last week, CMS reached out to a nurse and an emergency room doctor living in the Washington, DC area, with a few questions on immigrants and the pandemic. COVID-19 deaths in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia more than doubled over the last week – to nearly 1,000. The virus has infected African American at disproportionately high rates, with Prince George's County in Maryland a designated "hot-spot." Elected leaders in all three jurisdiction – Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia – have underscored racial disparities in infection rates and deaths.
The two health professionals worried about immigrants not coming forward during this crisis for fear of losing the possibility of status. They spoke of the danger "to all" when immigrants were not screened or tested, and lacked access to the health care system until they were in critical condition and arrived at an emergency room.
"With greater availability of test kits for the virus," one said, "the standard will be for all those with symptoms to be tested in order to identify those people needing to be quarantined properly and for the appropriate amount of time." He continued:
If symptomatic people are not tested … due to fear of risking their immigration cases, they will not effectively quarantine themselves, which will result in passing on the coronavirus to many others, which significantly raises the health risk of the entire community. Widespread screening of everyone including immigrants is the only way all communities will be able to limit the spread and allow businesses to reopen. Any segment of the population left out of widespread testing once available ensures the continued spread of the coronavirus in the community.
They also highlighted the role of the "many immigrants we depend on as caregivers." One of their elderly mothers, for example, had been receiving "24/7" care in her retirement community. No one but staff can enter her retirement home, and its "mostly immigrant staff" – its "food service, maintenance, health aids" – are on "the front lines and cannot work from home." Many of these aids are hourly employees and likely lack health insurance themselves.
When asked about the risks posed by immigrant detention centers and prisons, one replied:
Any environment such as a detention center that places people in close quarters without social distancing results in the spread of the coronavirus, which will cause a significant percentage of them to become seriously ill, with some dying. Further, any segment of the population including those in detention centers that does not maintain social distancing places the entire community beyond the detainees themselves at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
The pandemic exploits and exacerbates conditions of social inequality and exclusion, and only a fully inclusive response to it can stem its spread and mitigate its ultimate impact.
Over the last week, the number of COVID-19 cases in New York State rose from nearly 131,000 to 195,261 and deaths increased from 4,758 to 10,060, with New York City suffering roughly nearly 6,900 deaths. The virus has particularly punished poor and non-white residents of the City (and elsewhere), as illustrated by the city health department's online map of COVID-19 test rates by zip code, race, and poverty. As of April 13, Nassau (846), Wayne (704), Westchester (511), Cook (485), Bergen (453) and Essex (428) counties had also experienced high numbers of deaths. New Jersey was the second hardest hit state, with 64,584 cases and 2,443 deaths by the afternoon of April 13. Among the tragic losses in New York City, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio announced the deaths of two pastors – both immigrants – in the Diocese of Brooklyn – Fr. Jorge Ortiz-Garay and Fr. Gioacchino Basile – and three deacons, Deacon Emilio Arteago, Deacon Jaime Pinzon, and Deacon Perfecto Santana.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio reported on "war-like conditions" in city hospitals and the need for as many as 45,000 additional "clinical personnel" by the end of April. He called for a "national system to enlist" medical personnel to the front lines of the crisis. Several analysts have highlighted the need to authorize, facilitate and extend the work of foreign health-care professionals, including those who have graduated from foreign medical schools, who cannot practice in the United States, or who seek admission to the country. New Jersey and New York have announced, for example, that they will issue temporary medical licenses to foreign doctors in good standing elsewhere. As New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy explained earlier this month, such professionals are needed "to expand bed capacities, reopen closed hospitals, and erect field medical stations to prepare for additional COVID-19 cases."
Carmen Maquilon directs the Catholic Charities Immigrant Services program in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. She reports that since March 16, the program's immigration attorneys and accredited representatives have all been available remotely to the immigrant community in Long Island, "providing legal services as much as possible," including consultations, legal screenings for unaccompanied minors, and legal orientation for custodians of unaccompanied minors.
The program's accredited representatives continue to reach out to DACA beneficiaries to ensure that they are renewing their cases. Staff have also prioritized educating clients and stakeholders on the public charge rule, as it applies to services for COVID-19 and otherwise.
Ms. Maquilon reports that the program's staff have, by necessity, "become quasi social workers/case managers, advising clients about COVID-19 symptoms, [and] making sure that the many unaccompanied minors that we represent do not fall through the cracks in our educational system." It has also advocated that local school districts provide each child with Chromebooks or tablets. Most children in poor school districts, she reports, "are not receiving any equipment," leaving them behind "yet again."
Finally, case managers are using Zoom, WhatsApp and other media to assist unaccompanied minors, asylees, and refugees with cultural orientation and, especially, on how to protect themselves from infection. More than 50 percent of the program's clients live in the areas most affected by the virus (Brentwood and Hempstead). A high percentage is staying at home (not working), which has resulted in additional hardship. Many lack transportation and are afraid to venture outside. The office has been delivering food to these families and leaving the packages on their front doors.
The program seeks to live up to the Holy Father's Easter Sunday "Urbi et Orbi" blessing. "Before the many sufferings of our time," Pope Francis said, "may the Lord of life not find us cold and indifferent. May he make us builders of bridges, not walls."
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, the state now at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, has warned the nation that the crisis besieging New York City is "your future." On April 6, Governor Cuomo reported that there were 130,689 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state and 4,758 persons had died, including 2,474 in New York City.
New York City is also proudly a city of immigrants. A February 2020 report by the Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity found that immigrants "comprise 37.2 percent of the city's population but 44.2 percent of the labor force," and undocumented immigrants participate at a disproportionately high rate (77.5 percent) in the labor force, compared to less than 65 percent of the US-born population.
As the pandemic rages in New York, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) will provide weekly dispatches from New York City on immigrants and those working with them. The first dispatch is based on short reports from David A. Colodny, Director of Legal Services and Sr. Vice President, Catholic Migration Services of Brooklyn, and from Daniela Alulema, CMS's Director of Programs.
Mr. Colodny reports that Catholic Migration Services is open, with staff working remotely and providing most of the agency's services over the phone. It is continuing to represent clients with open cases, as best it can, given US Citizenship and Immigration Services office closures and immigration court restrictions and closures. Its naturalization program uses Citizenshipworks to work with clients remotely. However, its work has been challenging in areas other than citizenship. Its housing and workers' rights teams are also working remotely and providing advice to tenants and workers through hotlines. Fortunately, in New York State, there is a 90-day moratorium on eviction proceedings for all residential and commercial tenants. Staff are also assisting clients with court and agency proceedings to the extent that the courts and agencies are open.
Catholic Migration Services is finding that immigrants are prioritizing services differently than they did prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is getting fewer calls in general, and its clients' primary concerns are health and income related. Many have lost jobs and worry about their ability to pay bills and rent. Its workers' rights team is advising clients on their eligibility for unemployment insurance, paid leave and other benefits.
The program has developed a list of resources for people whose primary concerns are not legal; e.g., financial assistance, food pantries and other benefits. Overall, immigrant communities do not seem as focused now on seeking immigration legal assistance. They have pressing needs (health and economic), and the program is trying to adapt to their priorities.
Emergency Fund to Support Undocumented Youth and Families
On March 18, the New York State Youth Leadership Council (NYSYLC), an undocumented youth-led organization that works to empower immigrant youth, launched an emergency fund to support undocumented youth and families whose livelihoods have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal relief checks or unemployment benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (with certain exceptions for immigrants with temporary protections). Within a few days, the NYSYLC raised $75,000 through individual contributions and began distributing the emergency funding to the first 30 families. The NYSYLC received 1,500 requests for assistance and continues to receive donations to assist undocumented families. Initiatives of this kind will be particularly important, given that many undocumented workers will be hit "first — and worst" by the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
CMS News
North America United States

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded a trio of American scientists for their discoveries on the molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms in other words, the 24-hour body clock.
According to the Nobel committees citation, Jeffrey C Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W Young were recognised for their discoveries explaining how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earths revolutions.
The team identified a gene within fruit flies that controls the creatures daily rhythm. The gene encodes a protein within the cell during the night which then degrades during the day.
When there is a mismatch between this internal clock and the external surroundings, it can affect the organisms wellbeing for example, in humans, when we experience jet lag.
The teams discoveries of various genes and proteins involved in the internal clock helped to explain how the self-regulating mechanism works and adapts to different conditions, as well as the mechanism by which light can synchronise the clock.
Every living organism on this planet responds to the sun, he said. All plant and also animal behaviour is determined by the light-dark cycle. We on this planet are slaves to the sun. The circadian clock is embedded in our mechanisms of working, our metabolism, its embedded everywhere, its a real core feature for understanding life.
We are increasingly becoming aware that there are implications for human disease, Nurse added. There is some evidence that treatment of disease can be influenced by circadian rhythms too. People have reported that when you have surgery or when you have a drug can actually influence things. Its still not clear, but there will almost certainly be some implications for the treatment of disease too.
I think it is a fantastic development, said professor Hugh Piggins, an expert on circadian rhythms at the University of Manchester. But, he added, it was not unexpected, pointing out the work had been tipped for the win for several years.
Bambos Kyriacou, professor of behavioural genetics at the University of Leicester, who is friends with all three winners and a former colleague of two, described the laureates as being very different. Jeff [Hall] is eccentric brilliant but eccentric, he said. Michael [Rosbash], there is no stopping him he is just going 100%, he will die with his boots on in the lab, and Michael Young is the most charming, nicest one of them because he is polite and pleasant, whereas the other two arent like that, they are just crazy.
The winners will share a prize of 9m Swedish kronor (825,000), and each receive a medal engraved with their name.
Last year the prize was won by Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist who unpicked the mechanisms by which the body break downs and recycles components of cells a process that guards against various diseases, including cancer and diabetes.
In total, 107 Nobel prizes for physiology or medicine have been won by 211 scientists since 1901, with just 12 awarded to women. Nonetheless, it remains the science award with the highest such tally the physics prize has only been awarded, so far, to two women: Marie Curie and Maria Goeppert Mayer.
This years winners of the physics, chemistry, literature and peace prizes are scheduled to be announced over the coming days. The economics prize will be announced on Monday 9 October.


text:
Karl Joseph Leiprecht (11 September 1903 – 29 October 1981) was the Bishop of Rottenburg.

Born in the town of Hauerz (now Bad Wurzach) in the Allgäu, Leiprecht studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tübingen from 1923 to 1927.  On 24 March 1928 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Johannes Baptista Sproll at Rottenburg Cathedral. Over the next five years, he served as a vicar at Holy Cross Minster in Schwäbisch Gmünd and at St. George's Church in Stuttgart.

Leiprecht served as the city priest of Rottweil from 1942 to 1947 before becoming vicar capitular at Rottenburg Cathedral.
On 7 October 1948 he was named Titular Bishop of Scyrus and Auxiliary Bishop of Rottenburg; he was consecrated bishop on November 30 by Archbishop Wendelin Rauch at Rottenburg Cathedral.  The next year, Leiprecht was elected the Bishop of Rottenburg on 21 June, Pius XII officially named him to the post on 4 July and he was enthroned on 8 September. He resigned from the office of bishop on 4 June 1974 and died in 1981 in Ravensburg.

Genealogy Information about the "Leiprecht" Family : http://www.leiprecht.de/

1903 births
1981 deaths
People from Ravensburg (district)
People from the Kingdom of Württemberg
Roman Catholic bishops of Rottenburg
20th-century German Roman Catholic bishops
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
20th-century German Roman Catholic priests

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Connor Letourneau April 19, 2017 Updated: April 19, 2017 4:17 p.m.
Draymond Green is the Warriors' brash, emotional leader. On a team filled with reserved personalities, the All-Star forward's fiery demeanor has been a driving force behind Golden State's three-season run of at least 67 wins.
The same bravado that makes Green a Defensive Player of the Year front-runner is a big reason he is regularly late running back on defense, per a FiveThirtyEight report published Wednesday. The story's author, Chris Herring, pored over data from SportVU — a system of six cameras that measures the movements of all players on the court during games — and plenty of video to determine that Green leads the league in "lag rate," a stat invented to measure how often someone crosses half-court more than three seconds after the ball.
According to Herring's analysis, Green's has a lag rate of 20 percent — only one percentage point more than Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and John Wall. Herring found that Green is late running back on defense for two main reasons: Either he is upset with himself for making a mistake on the previous offensive possession, or he is complaining to a referee.
Game 2 preview: Will Warriors' Kevin Durant play vs. Blazers?
The Warriors tend to hold off opponents until Green, who finished the regular season in a three-way tie for second in the NBA with 15 technical fouls, crosses half-court. The results of this study, of course, shouldn't hurt Green's chances of winning his first career Defensive Player of the Year Award.
With Game 2 of the first round against Portland looming Wednesday night, he has likely built enough of a resume to beat out fellow contenders Rudy Gobert and Kawhi Leonard.


I created an Excel spreadsheet to track my online purchases. That way, I can free up head space for other things instead of trying to remember what all I bought. Because I buy a lot. And my memory is bad.
It's kind of like making a to-do list, which I've talked about in a previous post (see Advance or happenstance?). Lists create a space where I can park my thoughts, removing them from inside my head and thereby helping me to ease my mind. This spreadsheet just took me to another level of crazy calm (emphasis on the crazy).


This research examines the manner in which venture capitalists affect ventures' performance. In particular the underline question is to understand whether venture capitalists select or create winners. To start answering this question we examined how the early-stage syndication strategy and post-investment activities affected separately and simultaneously ventures' performance.
We hypothesised that early-stage syndication shall diminish the adverse selection problem due to the information sharing between the investors (Bygrave, 1987; Lerner, 1994) and hence increase the chances that the chosen venture be successful. We argued that the CEO replacement, unlike what was predicted by the agency theorists (i.e. Jensen & Meckling, 1976) is a means for VCs to inject missing managerial competences into the venture (Bruton et al., 2000; Wasserman, 2003) and the later the replacement is done, the less is the loss of the information advantage (Bygrave, 1987) hold by the CEO-founder, the more positive will be the impact of the replacement. We also hypothesised that the resource provision functions (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) will increase the venture's performance. Finally, we postulated that the early-stage syndication will positively moderate the effect of the VC's involvement if the value-added argument prevails (Brander et al., 2002) and negatively, if the VC behaves as a free-rider (Dimov & De Clerq, 2006) or the coordination costs among co-investors are too high to take decisions efficiently.
Gerasymenko, Violetta (2008) "CARROT AND STICK: IMPACT OF EARLY-STAGE VENTURE CAPITALISTS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF VENTURES (SUMMARY)," Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research: Vol. 28 : Iss. 3 , Article 4.


text:
Phoenix Cement celebrates 50 years
Displays and tours will be open to the public
Courtesy Photo The Phoenix Cement Plant in Clarkdale began production in October 1959 to supply cement to the Glen Canyon Dam project hear Page. By 1961, demand from other projects brought about the expansion of the plant.
Originally Published: October 6, 2009 4:55 p.m.
CLARKDALE - It was 50 years ago, in October 1959, when Phoenix Cement began production to supply cement to the Glen Canyon Dam project near Page.
The Salt River Materials Group in Clarkdale will hold an anniversary celebration Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Clarkdale-Jerome athletic field from 9 a.m. to noon. The public is invited.
On hand will be lots of equipment, including a 100-ton haul truck and a 23-ton loader. Guests can stand next to tires 8 feet tall and a bucket 15 feet wide. Also on hand will be displays and historical memorabilia, with photographs and news clippings.
Guests will be taken on bus tours of the Clarkdale plant. Those bus tours will leave from the school.
Refreshments will be provided, and guests will receive a commemorative gift.
Margie Beach, communications director for SRMG, said Phoenix Cement was built to supply cement to the Glen Canyon Dam project. She said the government decided to build the dam during the mid 1950s.
"The American Cement Corporation was formed by three owners of three cement plants," she said.
Those owners drilled and tested in Clarkdale and then came up with their bid. "We won that bid by one-half cent per barrel," Beach said. A barrel equaled three bags at 94 pounds each. "Now cement is measured by the ton," she said.
"The first shipment left here in mid October 1959, and it went to the project," Beach said.
By 1961, other projects in Phoenix and Northern Arizona were needing cement from Clarkdale, so the owners expanded the plant by one-third of its original capacity by adding a third kiln.
In 2002 a major modernization project was competed. "From 2000 through 2008, our owners have spent $180 million," Beach said. All of that has been put into modernization and upgrades. "They have made us one of the most modern cement plants in the world."
For information, call Margie Beach at (928) 639-8060 or mbeach@srmaterials.com.
A closer look: Clarkdale's Phoenix Cement Plant (with photo gallery)
Economic Lifeline
Phoenix Cement breaks ground for
modernization: $115 million project begins

Construction triples amount of workers at Phoenix Cement
Phoenix Cement Company acquires Mineral Solutions' Escalante Business Unit


Pep Guardiola believes that one Manchester United star in particular is world-class ahead of today's historic Manchester derby.
Manchester United star Romelu Lukaku has been labelled as world-class by Pep Guardiola ahead of today's Manchester derby.
While Guardiola clearly rates Lukaku, check out this Betfred promo code 2018 and have a flutter on all the big games!
The comment comes from the Manchester City boss in the build up to what could be a historic and iconic Manchester derby. Man City of course have the opportunity to seal the Premier League title today and a win against Manchester United would grant them that in emphatic style.
Guardiola's latest comments could certainly be interpreted as a questionable method of mind games. The Spaniard decided to deflect attention away from his own team to instead praise Lukaku. The Belgian has been in inspired form in the last month and it is clear that he has caught the attention of many, including Pep.
Lukaku was this week awarded the player of the month award at Manchester United for March with the striker having scored four goals and registered one assist in just five appearances.
? @RLukaku9 • #MUFC's Player of the Month for March ?
United and Mourinho will of course need their Belgian forward to continue his form into today's clash to avoid an embarrassing scenario that could see them hand the Premier League title directly to their rivals.
Guardiola took the opportunity before what could be an iconic and historic clash to praise Lukaku.


Wolfe Tones retained the Victorian League Title in an exciting Final at Gaelic Park. In difficult heavy and windy conditions, both teams struggled to hit their mark. The scores were just 2 points each at the main break, with Sinn Fein failing to make the most of their wind advantage. Sinn Fein looked to be in command in the second half notching up a 3 point advantage, but the Tones fired back with 4 unanswered points to take the lead with just a minute on the clock. In a pulsating final minute, Sinn Fein got the equalizer and were pushing for the winner when the full-time whistle sounded. The sides were locked at 6 points each at full time.
In the 1st half of extra time the Tones notched up 4 unsnswered points an looked to be in control when Sinn Fein scored a goal in the dying seconds of the 1/2. Almost from the restart Sinn Fein were awarded a penalty which they duely converted to take a 2 point lead. Wolfe Tones responded however, again scoring 4 points in succession to take out the match.


text:
Search for the palace of the designer and its historical and cultural importance
Sameh | 11 February، 2020 | unclassified
Today, dear reader, we present to you a search for the Masmak Palace, and the Masmak Palace is one of the historical signs that testify to the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Immigration The Riyadh Municipality took over the restoration of the palace, and after that the Saudi Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the General Authority for the Development of Riyadh, undertook the process of developing the palace and transforming it into a museum and still contains traces of the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by King Abdulaziz and in 1416 AH corresponding to 1995 the palace was opened by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz tastier Y was the prince of the Riyadh region at this time, and to know more about the Masmak Palace and the reason for calling it by this name and what it consists of you should stay in our interesting and useful site for Arab travelers.
Search for the Masmak Palace
In the beginning, I would like to mention that the reason for calling the Masmak or the fisherman's name to this name is because of the thickness and strength of its walls. The first purpose of its construction was to be a storehouse of ammunition and weapons to counter any aggression and a safe place to manage Riyadh's affairs.
The materials on which the Masmak palace was built
Adobe .
Plaster.
Stones.
Palm .
Terracotta mixed with straw.
Logs of the proverbial tree.
The Masmak palace and its historical and cultural significance
The historical and cultural significance of Masmak Palace is as follows: –
Masmak Palace was considered a safe place for weapons and ammunition and storing war-related equipment to prepare to face any surprise attack of the country or any attack.
Qasr Al-Masmak square was a place where the violent battle between the Al-Rashid family and the House of Saud, in which Amel bin Al-Rashid was killed and the spear in which he was killed, was held as a witness to the events.
Al-Masmak Palace contains many monuments that explain the stages that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has gone through as a testament to the sophistication and development.
Where is the Masmak Palace?
The Masmak Palace is located in the northeastern corner of the old city of Riyadh and is now considered in the Al-Dirah neighborhood and the Masmak Palace has been built of mud bricks and it is considered one of the oldest palaces that were built in Riyadh.
What distinguishes the designer palace
In addition to the strength of Masmak Palace architecture, it has many other architectural features and its own structural specifications, namely: –
the gate : The gate of the palace was made in the past from the logs of the elk and palm tree. It is located at a height of 3.60 cm 56.2 cm and the gate thickness is about 10 cm and there is one hole called (peach) through which one man can enter a curve and at that gate the fierce battles between King Abdulaziz and his opponents were carried out until He managed to kill Amel bin Rashid and the spear he used to kill him is still broken and hung on the palace gate.
The mosque : On the left side of the palace entry is the Masmak Palace Mosque, which is a single room with a mihrab, and in the room there are a number of shelves over which the Qur'ans and books are placed, and on the ceiling there are a number of openings for lighting and ventilation.
The Council (Diwan): It is a rectangular room in which there is a (and a neighbor), which is the traditional slope in the Najd area.
Horoscopes: There are 4 towers in each corner of the palace, the length of each tower is about 18 meters, and these towers are climbed up by an internal ladder made of wood, and the thickness of each tower is about one and a quarter meters, and these towers were used in the past for observation and shooting. It is called the Square and was used to oversee the rest of the palace.
well : On the northeastern side of the palace there is a water well, from which water is extracted through a bucket.
the yard : In the center of the palace there is a building surrounded by the rooms from each direction. There is also a connection between the rooms from the inside through internal doors. There are also stairs in the courtyard on the eastern side of the palace leading to the first floor of the palace. There are also 3 floors in the palace. For the establishment of the king, the second floor for the money house, and the third floor for guest accommodation.
The Masmak Palace remains a witness throughout the ages, attesting to the courage and defense of the people of Saudi Arabia in front of any aggression, and their sacrifice for them preciously and preciously, as it now contains the most important historical monuments that also attest to their progress and development.
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There's a crucial element to running a successful business — one that many owners overlook, whether they're on day one or day one hundred of their business. They aren't sure why marketing is so hard, why the sales are so much work. One possible answer? You need a value proposition.
Value propositioning is summarizing why people should buy your products or use your services.
There's another term that you should know — a USP.
USP stands for "unique selling proposition," and it's the reason that customers come to you instead of another business.
Yeti was founded by two brothers who wanted a cooler that would stand up to any kind of wear and tear imaginable and keep drinks and food ice-cold for days — one that was built for outdoor enthusiasts, not your average user.
Zappos sells the same shoes that everyone else does — but their returns and exchange process is incredibly easy, and their customer service is top notch.
Your value proposition should be unique. It is not something like "we offer the lowest prices on the market." You don't want to rely on something as weak as price to differentiate, because then the only reason your customers will stick with you is due to price. As soon as they find another company selling similar products or services for less money, they'll jump ship.
Your value proposition should be specific, memorable, and something that you can make your own.
If a competitor can easily steal your value proposition, then it isn't strong enough.
Aside from the above guidelines, here are a few more specific jumping-off points for when you're brainstorming your value proposition.
This is the most basic aspect. Yeti, the example from above, focuses on aspects of their product (more durable and effective than any other cooler on the market) as their unique selling proposition.
Two common qualities used to differentiate products are design and durability; Apple's computers are well designed, Yeti's coolers are extra-durable.
If your product is more durable, better designed, or functions differently than your competitors, then that can be your value proposition.
Related: Need Help Figuring Out What to Sell Online?
Your brand positioning (the tone used in your copy and branding) and your audience can help differentiate you.
For one example, look to Nerd Fitness — a lot of the basic content there is found elsewhere, but the branding of that content as specifically for nerds and making it feel unintimidating has attracted a huge audience.
Is there a deeper meaning behind your products? When someone supports your store, what are they supporting?
Sudara and TOMS are two examples of this — when someone purchases their product, it benefits a whole community and not just the business itself. If your product/business does something like that, or keeps a family tradition alive, then meaning should be part of your value proposition.
Zappos is a perfect value proposition example — their service is their main USP.
You can buy the same shoes from anywhere, and usually for the same price or lower — but Zappos is renowned for its easy return process, fast shipping, and amazing customer service.
Amazon has also used service as a differentiator with its Prime program, giving people free two-day shipping.
Once you've brainstormed a few ideas for each of these categories, you can combine them in different ways to create your value proposition.
We make the best socks you'll ever wear — and for every pair purchased, we give a pair to homeless shelters.
Once you have a few ideas of what your strongest differentiators are, you can put them together in different combinations to create your unique selling proposition.
You'll want to refine it over time so that it's memorable and specific, but don't feel like it has to be perfect right now — it's better to have a work-in-progress USP than no USP at all.
Need some more value proposition examples? Here you go, straight from other Ecwid users.
Munchkin Mission is — you guessed it — mission-based in their USP, as a non-profit with a very specific purpose: helping military families and children.
Taylor Family Farm has their slogan on their front page: "Fresh, non-GMO products from our farm to you." This is a combination of product (fresh, non-GMO) and meaning.
The meaning element is a little more subtle here, but when people buy from Taylor, they know they're supporting a family owned business and a small farm, over a large corporation — and that's going to factor into their buying decision.
Kokosina's about page says "we sew for people, not catwalks," while also highlighting the quality of their bags (genuine leather).
Their value proposition is a combination of product (high quality, well-designed, genuine leather) and audience (everyday people, instead of rich models).
In other words, when you buy from PocketLab, not only are you getting something that's hard to find elsewhere (a sensor with app connectivity for easy data processing, that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars) and you're supporting a company that wants to make the STEM realm more accessible to your everyday person.
I've figured out my value proposition — what's next?
Spent some time brainstorming and you have your value proposition? Make sure it's unique on the market and move to the next step: make it front and center in your website design.
If you're struggling with that, our free Starter Site Feature can help you fix it; there's a nice place for your USP right on the homepage.


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Published July 31, 2018 at 08:25PM
Fire refugees finding no rooms in Brookings
Jane Stebbins
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Scores of people flocked into the visitor information center at Crissey Field over the weekend, many of them seeking not the best art gallery to visit, nor the best clam chowder on the coast, but shelter from the smoke.
Numerous wildfires are burning in Southern Oregon, creating dense, orange smoke that officials have deemed "unhealthy" in Cave Junction, Grants Pass, Medford and other areas — and "hazardous" in Selma, 10 miles from where the Klondike Fire burns.
That fire reached into Curry County last week and is burning primarily on its northeast flank. Firefighters are trying to hold a line on the west side, as well, to keep it from creeping closer to Agness, about 15 air-miles away.
Low winds have kept the fires from blowing up, but that has also resulted in smoke settling in the valleys, making breathing difficult for everyone.
No room at the inns
Vicky DeMott, an employee at the visitor's center, said she was amazed how many people were looking for a hotel room, a campsite — anything — and shocked nothing was available.
Normally, the visitor's center receives about 200 people a day during the high summer season, she said, and they've been getting between 280 and 300 people through the doors for the past several days. She estimated about 80 percent of them were looking for shelter.
"They were all coming in, talking about their experiences, how really bad the smoke was, the fire tornados, the erratic fire — they couldn't describe how catastrophic the fires were," she said. "But they were looking for a place to stay, and there was nothing. Not in Brookings, not in Gold Beach, not in Coos Bay."
The fire refugees were coming in from as far away as the Carr Fire burning on the outskirts of Redding, California, and that has forced the evacuation of more than 36,000 people. Others are coming from Medford, Ashland, Cave Junction, all escaping the triple-digit heat and the dense, acrid smoke, she said.
She said they tried to find places for some to camp, but all the campgrounds were full, as well.
"We were on the phone and calling hotels, going through Expedia, trying to find places for these people, DeMott said. "From Crescent City to Coos Bay, nothing."
Finally, at 4 p.m., they found a room for a family from Texas. But it was in Eugene, a five-hour drive from Brookings.
"We told them, 'You can't dawdle,'" she said with a chuckle. "'Just keep going straight.'"
She even offered her home to some.
"Absolutely," she said. "I told a couple of families that if they got up the road and couldn't find anything, to call me and they could stay at my house. That's what people do (for others) when they have fires."
Lodging here
Hotel operators here experienced the same influx over the weekend.
"Absolutely," said Samantha Branion of Portside Suites in Harbor, when asked if they'd seen an uptick in people looking for lodging. "We noticed a lot more from Cave Junction, Grants Pass, Central Point. We get a lot of people who come in the summer anyway, but a lot of people were trying to get away from the smoke."
Many, she said, only intended to stay two to three nights to get a reprieve in the fresh ocean air, but others were turned away.
The rooms are full.
Amanda Garcia of the Brookings Inn said their accommodations are filled every day with fire refugees. And if a room is vacant, it is immediately filled.
"We're not the only one," she said. "Pacific Sunset Inn, Blue Coast Inn, Spindrift — they all fill up and it's all from people getting away from the fire. They say their eyes burn, their lungs feel like they're on fire, it's too hot over there. It's bad."
The Best Western Beachfront Inn in Harbor has been booked since the beginning of June — well before the wildfires were even sparked. A woman there, who declined to give her name, said they, too, have had "a lot of people" calling seeking a room to escape the high heat and smoke in the valley.
Amber Ard of The Westward Inn in Brookings concurred.
Like other lodging facilities in the area, they were booked for the entire weekend anyway.
"But we're getting calls daily," she said. "Multiple calls, people wanting to get their kids out of the smoke. It sucks because we're booked and can't help them."
She said she called every hotel in town Friday, and all were booked.
"One couple asked us to look up camping spots, so I sent them to Harris Beach," she said. "They're full. I also gave them the number to Loeb Park upriver. I hope they found somewhere. It's more than sad, it's devastating."
Reach Jane Stebbins at jstebbins@currypilot.com .
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It's not even Christmas but I can't help but think of what I'm going to wear in celebration of NYE 2015. Since my boyfriend and I will be ringing in the new year on the Las Vegas Strip, I feel the need to be glamorous! Considering that last year's festivities attracted more than 320,000 people… it may be difficult to avoid that ever dreaded "Who Wore it Best" situation.
I could also go with one of my favorite colors… G O L D. It's always a winner in my eyes, especially for New Year's Eve.
Another trend I'm loving right now is the sheer dress, but I don't know if I could handle the weather in this skin-exposing look.
Festive is always fun too… the following looks would fit perfectly in the party scene. Glitter, sequins, and pops of color are very much acceptable for this once-a-year occasion.
Decisions, decisions! I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes together for my New Year's Eve party attire.