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Facilitated Democracy and Its Discontents
August 4, 2020 • By Ian Beacock
Reconstructing Democracy
THIS IS AN unlucky book. Since it was written, the world has changed beyond recognition. Millions have been quarantined or sickened by COVID-19. Hundreds of thousands have died. In the United States, pandemic lockdowns were the most astonishing event of 2020 — until the streets filled with protesters demanding the defunding and demilitarization of police departments, the protection of Black lives, and an end to white supremacy.
Between the cruel indifference of Washington's pandemic response and the monstrous violence used by police, it's clear that authorities have abdicated their responsibilities to all but the wealthy and the well connected. The work of mutual care has fallen back onto neighborhoods and local communities. Ordinary people have taken it upon themselves to collect medical gear and deliver meals to front-line health-care workers, to provide refuge to protesters and put their bodies between their fellow citizens and state violence.
It's hard not to wonder how these things are related — if the experience of lockdown hasn't in some way replenished the human solidarities now driving the protests. Both pandemic and mass protest teach us that daily democratic habits are not luxuries. They're essential for individual survival and collective resilience.
Reconstructing Democracy: How Citizens Are Building from the Ground Up should be precisely the book for this moment. Co-authored by philosopher Charles Taylor, political scientist Patrizia Nanz, and social change consultant Madeleine Beaubien Taylor, it's a smooth, optimistic manifesto about grassroots democratic renewal. But can it reassure us about democracy's future? Do we still speak the same language?
In about 100 pages, the authors present our contemporary democratic crisis as a twofold challenge. First, they write, democracies are getting worse at solving problems. Elected leaders "often don't know which policies are adequate" for a complex and interconnected world. This failure is compounded by growing distance between regular people and those who rule them. Leaders "are afraid to take drastic measures that might not be supported by their constituents" (e.g., on climate) while voters no longer grasp how politics works.
Our only hope, the authors propose, is to "reconstruct democracy from the bottom up." The book elevates "experiments [in] revitalizing democracy" from North America and Europe, though what they mean isn't labor activism, protest, or electoral organizing but rather dialogue-driven community planning and new forms of consultation. Guided by an earnest faith in expertise, rationality, and consensus, Reconstructing Democracy is about how ordinary voters can learn to speak in ways that their rulers can understand. "Only if we enhance and reinvigorate democracy at the base," they argue, "will the citizenry find clarity about what to ask for, or what future to envision."
There are democratic lessons here, but not the ones imagined by the authors. For although it honors ordinary citizens, this is a book for elites. Reconstructing Democracy is a balm to power, a reassurance that the old tools still apply. Already a relic from our very recent past, it speaks volumes about how the powerful are meeting this crisis: equipped with the same faulty assumptions that led us here to start with. It also teaches us to beware. Not all forms of local democracy are made equal.
In 2004, the Canadian province of British Columbia established a pathbreaking Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. Balanced by gender and regional representation, with two seats set aside for Indigenous members, this group of 160 randomly selected citizens spent a year learning about electoral systems, reflecting on shared values, and holding public hearings. In their final report, they recommended the province switch from the infamously uneven first-past-the-post system to a form of proportional representation.
The Canadian model has since traveled. Ireland made headlines by legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015 — and then abortion three years later. Both constitutional amendments, endorsed by referendum, emerged from national citizens' assemblies. The Irish panels are rebooted regularly with new participants and mandates. The third and current assembly is focused on gender equality. Chosen at random, 99 citizens gather monthly to hear expert presentations, listen to testimonials, propose policy changes, and write ballot questions.
Also in 2015, the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg used the citizen assembly model to defuse tensions related to refugee resettlement and integration. A "wisdom council" of 23 citizens, selected at random, met with the help of expert facilitators to identify conditions for peaceful, prosperous coexistence. Members of the gender-balanced council were aged 18 to 75. One-fifth of them had personal or family experience with migration. Feelings of anger and fear gradually gave way to a new consensus: that newcomers and locals should be in regular contact, refugees should be supported in achieving economic independence, and residents should be given more volunteering opportunities to help the process along.
The co-authors propose that these bodies represent a fourth political power they call the consultative (next to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches). Advisory councils of randomly chosen citizens cannot replace elections, nor should they. But they do seem useful for handling divisive issues, practicing deliberative habits, and tackling challenges that extend beyond the terms of a single parliament or presidency. What's distinctive and important about assemblies or "future councils" like these is that they give regular people new tools for remaking existing political structures. They bring non-elite voices right into the corridors of power.
Some of Reconstructing Democracy's other case studies are less innovative, although not less valuable. The co-authors tell us about Lawrence Community Works, a Massachusetts "community development corporation" that builds networks among low-income residents so that they can provide services to their own even more vulnerable neighbors. Of course, ordinary people have used the bonds of local community to help one another long before they found the vocabulary (social capital, community assets, etc.) to make it attractive to wealthy donors. And a truly decent democracy would ensure that none of its citizens was too poor to live, rather than asking them to arrange meal-sharing services for themselves.
Indeed, it's a strangely private vision of the public sphere that structures Reconstructing Democracy. A project like Lawrence Community Works is evidently important. But even as it testifies to neighborhood vitality, it also draws the eye to a deeper civic predicament, about which the co-authors have extremely little to say: the privatization of public goods, the marketization of our democratic imaginations, and the shunting of shared obligations onto the shoulders of individuals and local communities. This is nothing to celebrate.
What it means for an activity to be democratic is not a question the authors ever explicitly answer. They seem to equate democracy with deliberation or dialogue, but it's not always clear how the forms of participation they write about are assertions of power by free and equal citizens. The strange result is that certain examples don't feel that democratic at all.
Take, for instance, the Market Creek Plaza (MCP) project in San Diego's Diamond Neighborhoods district, a poor and diverse corner of the city tucked among intersecting freeways. In the 1990s, the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation acquired a 20-acre industrial site and asked local residents how they'd like to develop it. The Jacobs team imagined a profitable commercial center that would serve the community's needs (public space, a supermarket, a movie theater, etc.) and that would be owned, in part, by those who lived nearby.
Beginning in 2001, community investors (mostly educated African American women homeowners) were allowed to purchase shares in the complex, up to 20 percent of the entire capitalization. A glowing 2007 report in the Stanford Social Innovation Review called it "the people's IPO." Reconstructing Democracy holds up MCP, which opened in 2004, as an achievement "of great human and also political importance," an example of participatory democracy "which has itself something of the nature of an artistic creation."
A quick Google search reveals a sadder story. Since 2010, MCP has been struggling. Pride in ownership has dissolved into disappointment. The movie theater was never built; just a DVD rental kiosk. Many community-owned businesses have vanished. Replacing the craft store and women's fitness center are Starbucks, Papa John's Pizza, Subway, and T-Mobile. Here, "reinvigorating democracy at the base" apparently means acquiring a minority stake in an outdoor mall choked with chain stores and run by philanthropists.
Nanz and the Taylors are bullish on the idea that expert-guided deliberation (we could call it facilitated democracy) could revitalize economically distressed zones in Europe and the United States, from eastern Germany's post-communist coal country to the shuttered towns of the American Midwest. These areas are caught in what the co-authors call the Appalachian predicament. Communities suffering economic decline lose their "capacity to self-organize" or "develop new ideas to move forward." Lacking the cultural and social capital to respond to a changing world, people get worse at understanding "the mechanisms of change" and, left to their own devices, are unable to "collectively take their fate into their own hands and move on." They turn against democratic institutions that don't serve them and reject political systems that they no longer understand.
Could facilitated democratic deliberation be the answer? The co-authors call our attention to Wisconsin Rapids, the once-thriving seat of Wood County, Wisconsin. Downsizing hit the community hard in the early 2000s. The paper industry contracted and 40 percent of all local jobs were lost. A local community foundation called Incourage moved to address urgent needs (job retraining, transit benefits for students, etc.) while convening a series of "community conversations" about the region's future. Using this "participatory planning process," the foundation worked with locals to decide how best to transform the town's folded Daily Tribune newspaper building into a community center. It's telling, though, that the co-authors of Reconstructing Democracy single out for praise not citizens but rather the staff of a Louisiana-based firm called Concordia, hired by Incourage to direct public meetings and build consensus.
The co-authors frame this project as part of "a democratic counterblow against the current drift to stagnation and xenophobic exclusion." They assert that the efforts of facilitation firms like Concordia and foundations like Incourage will have a long-term impact on the democratic future of poorer communities by renewing civic bonds and strengthening political habits. "[W]e usually need to start with the question of how to initiate and foster the process from the outside," Nanz and the Taylors write, but expert-guided deliberation can be "the engine of a reconstruction of democracy from the bottom up."
Reconstructing Democracy tells the hopeful story of Wisconsin Rapids using surveys and reports that date mostly from the early 2010s. What happened in 2016? Wood County voted overwhelmingly, by a margin of 20 points, for Donald Trump. (One way of explaining that election is that it was a frustrated repudiation of a technocratic neoliberal presidency guided by many of the same assumptions as this little book.) The community project to reimagine the local newspaper building, however, is still underway.
This idea of an "Appalachian predicament" is more than a little condescending. But it tells us something essential about how the co-authors understand democracy — and how they believe regular citizens should participate. One assumption here is that the crisis of democracy is primarily a crisis of knowledge: citizens don't understand the world, don't know what they want, and don't know how to speak to powerholders about what they desire and value. A second belief appears to be that facts are democracy's cure-all, that when given accurate information human beings will make rational decisions. "In any case," they write, with all the procedural optimism of a corporate annual report, "well-crafted solutions to recalcitrant problems will draw support." The third conviction is that citizens need experts, to acquire that knowledge and learn to communicate well. Finally, Reconstructing Democracy assumes that the ideal democratic condition is consensus, that with enough dialogue or deliberation, we can all basically agree on the things that matter. We're asked to "imagine the synergy created" if downtrodden regions were able to find consensus "around the best direction to go" instead of voting for xenophobic populists.
To put it all differently: If former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg were a book about fixing democracy — not the daring generational crusader who entered the race pledging to pack the Supreme Court, mind you, but the technocratic consultant who departed it while warning about the price tag of universal health care — at any rate, if Pete Buttigieg were a book about fixing democracy, he'd be this one.
The point, of course, isn't that expertise is unnecessary for democracy or that deliberative processes don't work or that consultations aren't important. If we can't reason together in public, the democratic game is lost. And so it's worth developing new ways to master the habits that allow us to rule ourselves, as free and equal citizens, through deliberation and debate and sometimes even consensus, not coercion or violence. But there's a metonymic quality to the vision of democratic politics guiding this book, a small part standing in for the larger whole. Dialogue and deliberation are critical for democracy, but the procedures alone don't keep us democratic. How they relate to power makes all the difference.
Here are some things that do not appear in this short book, published in 2020, about "how citizens are building from the ground up." Electoral movements. Black Lives Matter and protests about criminal justice. Climate protests. Women's marches. Labor activism. The 2018–'19 red-state teachers' strikes. Surging interest in local elections. Bernie Sanders. It is odd, frankly, that a book selling local engagement as the antidote for illiberal populism would deliberately omit so many vital examples of citizens asserting their public power.
More frustrating, however, is that the co-authors look at forms of democratic action that aren't dialogue-driven and see only failure. Protests and movements, to their mind, can't achieve real change because they're not coordinated with existing institutions. But this misses the forest for the trees. In Wisconsin Rapids, the co-authors proudly tell us, more than 500 people attended 75 local planning meetings. How many more residents of south Wood County have, in recent years, attended rallies for populist presidential candidates, or joined marches, or knocked on doors, or made donations to political candidates? What feels more satisfying right now, and more democratic: talking or acting?
The expert vision of facilitated democracy offered here is guided by an abiding faith in reason and procedure. But it has little to say about the world as it actually exists for us as we enter this third decade of the 21st century: profoundly unequal, structured by massive concentrations of political and economic power, relentlessly violent, challenged by dark alternate visions of racial and political community, and, at least in the United States, ruled by bad faith actors no longer all that convinced by democracy. Sometimes, we are learning, you can't argue your way into a fairer distribution of resources or a more just share of power.
Democracies do need a certain level of underlying social agreement. The co-authors aren't wrong. But any meaningful democratic consensus, about the kinds of political action and ideas we wish to allow and the ones we don't and who's included and who's kept out and where those lines are drawn — none of that just exists in the world. It has to be won.
Ian Beacock is a writer and journalist. Trained as a historian, his essays and reporting have appeared in The New Republic, The Atlantic, and elsewhere.
Ian Beacock
Ian Beacock is a writer and journalist. Trained as a historian, his essays and reporting have appeared in The New Republic, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. He lives in Vancouver, where he is working on a book about democratic feelings.
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As a kid, I remember a time where my father was interested in the guitar. I don't remember him actually playing the guitar, but he was always tinkering with it, buying strings, and trying to get it in tune.
Unfortunately, that poor guitar was the victim of four young boys using it as a toy machine gun, a battle axe, and even a trampoline. If you have ever played a musical instrument (I haven't), knowing how to get it in tune is necessary.
How about your body? Do you know how to get it in tune? When you suffer from discomfort in the joints, do you immediately blame the site of pain?
For example, millions of people complain of lower back pain. I have clients who were afraid of doing an exercise due to lower back problems. Their history is filled with visits to the doctor, a variety of pain medications, and even surgery.
"My lower back pain isn't my fault, it's genetic. I always had problems there. I just have a weak and tight back."
Is your lower back to blame?
Functional Movement expert Gray Cook has an excellent way of explaining this. The victim and the culprit. Most of us are not in tune with our bodies. We are unaware of what areas are truly the tight or stiff regions, and blame our back as the culprit.
"They will more often complain of the stiff and sore back than the significant mobility restrictions in their hips. However, if we tested both the hips and spine for mobility, they might be surprised to find the actual mobility of the back is closer to optimal than are the hips.
In this all-too-common example, the back is the overworked victim, not the slacker causing the primary problem. The hips are further from optimal mobility than the back and therefore are a larger problem.
Sitting all day at work, in your car, and then at home causes the hips to be tight when they should be mobile. In the all too common sitting position, the upper back (thoracic spine) also tightens, rounds forward and loses its mobility.
This mobility has to go somewhere, and so enters the "victim" in our story, the lower back (lumbar spine). End scene, cue the orchestra.
If that sounds like you, don't accept daily back pain as your fate. Stop being the victim and learn how to tune your body.
First, set a baseline position.
Second, choose a movement that addresses the problem, in this case the back. Set an alarm to go off on your phone multiple times a day and then get up off the chair and do THIS MOVE.
After a few days, see how that "tight" back feels. This approach can be used for other parts of the body.
I've had clients with knee problems return to their activity of choice after addressing tight ankles. The practice of tuning in to your body can happen when you do any movement.
It's an opportunity to teach the brain how to move better. The goal is to know and trust your body's ability to do things without hurting yourself.
Sometimes a simple stretch will help and sometimes it won't. You might have to stop eating inflammatory foods and drop some weight in order to get relief.
Or maybe the problem is running more than 20 miles a week with a heel strike.
Sometimes you will have to ask for help from a professional.
The point is that if you try one thing and it doesn't work, don't give up and and wait for things to magically get better.
Do what my father did when working on his guitar. Curse a little bit, take a deep breath to set your baseline, and then get back to tuning.
If you enjoyed the article, share it!
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Big Eyes Coin, Potential 10X Altcoin Crypto
in ADA
Liqwid's Mainnet Should Arrive This Week
SPONSORED POST*
Despite being a terrible year for the crypto space, 2022 still had a few gifts to offer. Among them is Big Eyes Coin (BIG), the token making rounds today. Since entering the market, this token has got the attention of so many crypto enthusiasts, partly because of its appearance in Times Square.
So what's unique about this coin, and why is it generating so much hype? Alongside crypto giants Cardano (ADA) and Binance Coin (BNB), could it take the portfolio of crypto users to 10x status? This article contains information that answers this question.
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) – A Memecoin Here To Dominate
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) is a new cryptocurrency project that aims to provide its community with the best possible rewards for using its token. It is powered by a meme coin, the Big Eyes Coin (BIG), which hopes to attain DOGE status quickly.
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) is a cat-themed meme coin that expresses both the cuteness and loyalty of felines to its users. For one, it will be majorly controlled by the community of its users, which it calls the kitty cuddlers. They'll be partly responsible for sharing the word about the token through memes and will have a say in future decision-making processes affecting the project's policies.
In addition, Big Eyes Coin (BIG) will reward faithful users for trading with the coin and possibly staking with it soon. For these alone, it's attracted a ton of followers. Big Eyes Coin is also particularly interested in ocean conservation.
The project is so concerned about marine protection that it has dedicated 5% of its total token reserve to safeguarding the oceans. In addition, it will regularly provide financial aid to charities making efforts to reduce ocean pollution and save marine life.
Moreover, the Big Eyes Coin project has a stellar marketing team that hopes not only to inform people of the advantages of using the token but also of the benefits of web3 and DeFi. So far, this project has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in its presale stage, and the best is yet to come.
To partake in its progress, it would be best to buy the token now that its value is still relatively low. By connecting your wallet and using either BNB, USDT, or ETH to get some Big Eyes Coin (BIG), you can set up your portfolio for potential returns soon.
Cardano (ADA) – A Cryptocurrency Desperate For All-Time High Status Once More
Cardano (ADA) is a big name in the crypto space. Since its inception in 2017, its made waves, especially during the bullish run of 2021. Despite its epic crash from its all-time high of over $3, it is still a favorite among many crypto enthusiasts. So much so that it still gets over a hundred million dollars worth of transactions with its coin, ADA, daily. Right now, there are predictions that the coin could have an upward growth curve next year. And from recent market trends, this may just be the case.
With a growing market cap of over 10 billion dollars, the chances of ADA failing in the 2023 market are slim. So, buying ADA now may be one of the best ways to prepare yourself for the new year.
Binance Coin (BNB): The Native Token of The Trading Giant
BNB is the native cryptocurrency of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. Binance currently has one of the most diverse ecosystems of blockchain applications and functionality. Its Binance Smart Chain, a quicker and scalable alternative to Ethereum, hosts an incredible and growing number of blockchain projects.
Binance, as a trading platform, is powered by its native token, BNB. With its current plans to expand its global reach, all indications point towards BNB increasing in value rapidly next year.
Big Eyes Coin (BIG), Binance Coin (BNB), and Cardano (ADA) are three coins that show the potential to provide 10x returns for their users smart enough to buy and trade them in the proper proportions. Getting these three cryptocurrencies will likely give its users a great boost to their portfolio.
In addition, the team behind Big Eyes Coin (BIG) has announced that they are doing a bonus tokens giveaway. To benefit from the giveaway, just use the code: SUSHI766 when buying BIG tokens.
To find out more about Big Eyes Coin (BIG), visit the links below:
Presale: https://buy.bigeyes.space/
Website: https://bigeyes.space/
Telegram: https://t.me/BIGEYESOFFICIAL
*This article has been paid. The Cryptonomist didn't write the article nor has tested the platform.
Tags: 10xAltcoinBIGcoincryptoeyespotential

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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TAFE Students Help Build $20.25m Facility For SW TAFE
South West TAFE construction students will help build a multimillion-dollar Learning and Library Hub at the Warrnambool campus as part of the Andrews Labor Government's Big Build Apprenticeships program.
The project is one of the first under the Labor Government's $33 million Big Build Apprenticeships program which will be a training ground for the next generation of highly skilled construction workers in Victoria.
Local apprentices and trainees from SW TAFE will comprise 10 per cent of the construction workforce and work alongside professional contractors like builders, plumbers and electricians to gain real-life industry experience constructing the $20.25 million Learning and Library Hub.
The Big Build Apprenticeships program will provide 1,500 opportuniti
210310 - TAFE Students Help Build $20.25m Facility For SW TAFE.pdf
es to Victorian apprentices and trainees each year for four years to kickstart their careers on some of the state's largest projects, including the new Footscray Hospital and the North East Link.
It will help provide a strong pathway to the workforce and support employers by enhancing the pool of highly skilled workers in Victoria. School leavers and young people are encouraged to apply, with priority given to workers who were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, disadvantaged Victorians and those under-represented in the construction industry.
The $20.25 million Learning and Library Hub will be a state-of-the-art facility for students and the community, replacing the existing SW TAFE and Warrnambool libraries. It will be more than four times larger and feature study and meeting rooms, exhibition and display areas, a digital media zone, computer areas and a café.
The Labor Government provided $16.3 million funding for the project, with Warrnambool City Council contributing $3.12 million and SW TAFE contributing $830,000. It is currently out to tender and is expected to be completed in 2022.
Since 2015, the Labor Government has invested to rebuild TAFE, refurbish campuses, launch Free TAFE for Priority Courses and support disadvantaged students into training and jobs. A record $1 billion investment was made in the Victorian Budget 2020/21 to make sure the state has the training and skills system it needs to emerge stronger from the coronavirus pandemic.
For more information on the apprenticeship program visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/big-build-apprenticeships-bbaExternal Link
Quotes attributable to Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney
"Big Build Apprenticeships will give the next generation of apprentices and trainees the practical experience they need to get rewarding and well-paid jobs across our major infrastructure projects - if you live in the south west and have an interest in working in the construction industry, I encourage you to visit SW TAFE today."
Quote attributable to South West TAFE CEO Mark Fidge
"This is an incredible opportunity for construction students and works alongside our vision to provide life-long learning and the very best opportunities to everyone in our community."
Reviewed 09 March 2021


Viktor Bilak is an award-winning designer with 4 featured award-winning projects.
Viktor Bilak is certified designer, working in the field of design more than 15 years. Professional education of the Stroganov Moscow State Art Industrial University in Russia and the Academy of Bauhaus Dessau in Germany allows him to synthesize Russian and European design traditions and offer original design solutions. In the field of industrial design from Viktor Bilak point of view is the most important to find expressive artistic image and to provide the high quality of it realization.


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FinanceLifestyle
Will gold again cross 56,000 amid Corona's second wave, the right time to invest?
Gold bars and Financial concept,3d rendering,conceptual image.
By the end of December 2020, the rate of corona infection in the country had started to decline. At the beginning of 2021, the glow of the dollar and US bonds started to fall apart again, this put pressure on gold, and its brightness started to fade. In April 2021, its price went down to Rs 45,000 per 10 grams. But now it is showing an edge again.
Ever since the second wave of Corona started spreading in April, gold prices have been witnessing a steady rise. Its price on MCX is currently running above Rs 47,000 per 10 grams. In such a situation, experts believe that gold prices can once again go to new heights. But why are gold prices increasing?
Gold has always been considered a safe investment. Whenever the crisis of economic crisis is seen around the world, then investment in gold increases. Manav Modi, an analyst at Motilal Oswal, says, "Increased cases of the corona, repeated attempts to increase liquidity in the market, fears of rising inflation, the rising debt burden on major economies of the world, tensions in West Asia and the US and Trade wars between China are some of the factors that are continuously strengthening people's perception of investment in gold. Gold prices are also increasing due to this.
According to Motilal Oswal Investment Services, the price of gold has also been seen at the international level in the last few months. Recently, it recorded a further increase, its price on the commodity exchange COMEX reached $ 1,800 per ounce (calculated at Rs. 46,540 per 10 grams). Manav Modi says, "In the coming days, he hopes for gold to reach new heights. It looks likely to go from $ 2,050 per ounce (Rs 53,000 per 10 grams) to $ 2,200 per ounce (Rs 56,800 per 10 grams). '
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In the Indian market, the price of gold is fixed in grams. While in the international market its price is fixed in ounces. There are actually 28.3 grams in one ounce, but to simplify the calculation, it is often set to 30 grams. Similarly, in the Indian market, the price of gold is determined on the basis of weighing, to simplify the calculation, a measure of 10 grams is taken in a weighment, whereas in reality, weight is 11.66 grams.
Manav Modi says that fund managers can sustain the rise in gold prices through investment. This is a good level of gold in the domestic market after the decision made on the duty on gold in the budget. It is moving towards touching the figure of Rs 50,000 immediately and may remain at a new high of 56,500 or more in the coming 12 to 15 months.
Kshitij Purohit, head of Commodity and Currency, CapitalVia Global Research, says that gold could touch Rs 51,700 per 10 gram in the next month. In such a situation, it is the right time for investors to invest in gold and hold a little. In the medium to long term, it can give them better returns.
Investors can buy gold or invest in digital gold if they want. But apart from this, there are many options also. The first installment of the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme for 2021-22 will open from May 17 to May 21. The Reserve Bank of India has fixed a price of Rs 4,777 per gram for this time. A discount of 50 rupees will also be available on digital payment. These bonds come with a lock-in period of 5 years and a maturity period of 8 years. At the time of being sold, along with the price of gold, it also gets an interest of 2.5% per annum.
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150 Series: non-insulated suit with Aluminized Zetex outer shell plus a flame retardant cotton lining for extra comfort and protection.
550 Series: Same as 150 Series except with a vapor barrier lining of flame retardant neoprene coated FR poly-cotton. Aluminized Kevlar, Nomex, or PBI/Kevlar are also available as outer shell fabrics. Wool or quilted Nomex linings are available.
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Samsung doubles bursary, restores some faith in South Africa's future
By Ryan Noik 29 November 2019 | Categories: news
Get connected with your customer in 2021, or else....
PUMA FUSE shoe hits the cross-training market
Four AI trends to look out for in 2021
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TechSmart News sponsored by the Huawei Global Developer Programme
If you are looking for some good news, or perhaps a sign that perhaps South Africa is in better shape than the economy suggests, then this week delivered.
At a small, intimate event, aptly titled Empowering Tomorrow, held by Samsung South Africa at its offices in Bryanston this week, the company presented several university students with bursaries to further their studies.
Following its initial investment of R7 million in 2019, Sung Yoon, President and CEO of Samsung Africa, confirmed that the company would be continuing its bursary program in 2020 for a further R7 million, for a total of R14 million rand.
The universities participating in the program include the University of Pretoria, North-West University, University of Johannesburg and Gauteng City Region Academy (GCRA), which is a branch of the Gauteng Department of Education responsible for promoting skills development in the Gauteng City region.
Sung Yoon
"We are continuously working to build on and expand the programs we offer to young people across South Africa. Samsung is committed to improving the use of IT technology in education, providing access to smarter learning environments to support students' creativity and to reduce the digital divide. We strive to reduce local education gaps and turn potential into power," commented Hlubi Shivanda, Director: Business Innovation Group and Corporate Affairs at Samsung South Africa.
The students who were the recipients of the bursaries are pursuing careers in business, marketing and IT. Additionally, Samsung announced that the best-performing students would also receive the opportunity to work at Samsung as part of a leadership programme, so as to further prepare them for a career in the ICT sector.
Yoon explained that along with the power of innovation, a considerable focus of the company's recent Power of Ten campaign was the power of the youth.
However, the announcement that a major technology company is putting its money where its mouth is to further youth development was not the only part of the event that restored some faith and optimism in the country and where it is heading.
It also came from the recipients of the bursaries themselves, who spoke of their hopes and potential to create a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities being realized.
Take a watch at the video below of Thenjiwe Khatle, one of the students – I dare you not to end up with a smile on your face at the end of the two minutes.
SamsungSamsung South AfricaPower of Tenbursary programEmpowering Tomorrow


We need to use a breathable stone, and would like limestone. Do you do an impregnator as opposed to a sealant?
We need to use a breathable stone, and would like limestone. Do you do an impregnator as opposed to a sealant? It must be suitable for underfloor heating, so what stone would you recommend?
We offer two different types of sealers which are categorised as follows, 'Impregnating or Surface' sealers. The impregnators (LTP Mattstone, Mattstone H20, Colour Intensifier and Stainblock, LPG etc) offer a barrier to stains soaking in but provide a breathable surface up through the tile. Surface sitters (Ironwax range) create a barrier 'film' over the surface of the tile and will therefore not be breathable. All of our sealers are fine for use with underfloor heating systems.
It is important to note that within each of the Impregnating or Surface sealers, there will be a few different sealers to choose from depending on your personal preferences for finishes etc.
If you would like further information about our range of sealers and their uses, please feel free to call our sales team on 01283 730388.


Thousands of families of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide continue to be denied justice, truth and reparation, said Amnesty International today as the world marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre that left more than 8,000 dead.
"Two decades after the world averted its gaze from the worst crime to be committed on European soil since 1945, the families of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide are still awaiting justice," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Twenty years after Bosnian Serb forces advanced into the Srebrenica enclave, a designated UN "safe area", and summarily executed thousands of Bosnian-Muslim (Bosniak) men and boys, the fate and whereabouts of more than 1,000 people remain unclear.
The bodies of almost 7,000 victims of the Srebrenica genocide have been exhumed, identified and buried. These include 421 child victims, one of them a new-born baby, and a 94-year-old woman. The recovery and identification of about 1,000 remains is ongoing.
Overall, more than 8,000 people from across the country have been "missing" since the war ended in 1995, and the national missing persons institute has seen its funding cut further with each passing year. The Law on Missing Persons has never been fully implemented, leaving families of the missing with no access to reparation. A fund to support families of the missing persons is yet to be established, despite the law having been enacted in 2004.
Official policies and laws do not acknowledge the genocide and even school curricula contain no reference to the crimes in Srebrenica. The reconciliation process has not progressed and internal ethnic divisions persist.
Despite the high-level prosecutions of the principal architects of the Srebrenica genocide – Radovan Karadžiæ, Ratko Mladiæ and Slobodan Miloševiæ – at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the convictions of 74 others by the Tribunal, there is still a huge backlog of unresolved cases. Prosecution of crimes under international law in domestic courts is very slow. The vast majority of those suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity enjoy impunity, safe in the knowledge that, without political will, they will never be held to account.
Whilst Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken positive steps towards increasing the resources available for the prosecution of war crimes, funding is still insufficient and the government has been slow in implementing the national war crimes strategy. New investigations and prosecutions need to be launched and witness protection guaranteed in order to ensure witnesses are able to testify without fear.
"Srebrenica not only stands as stark reminder of humanity's capacity for depravity but also of the failure of the international community to prevent genocide from happening in plain view," said John Dalhuisen.
More than 8,000 (official estimate: 8,372) Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed after the Bosnian Serb army attacked Srebrenica on 10-11 July 1995, a designated UN "safe area", despite the presence of UN peacekeepers.
A European Parliament resolution officially made the 11th of July a Day of Commemoration of the genocide throughout the European Union.
Bosnia and Herzegovina should adopt the Transitional Justice Strategy - a comprehensive non-judicial framework that addresses the neglected or underrepresented issues relating to the war crimes and serious human rights violations of the war. It should also adopt the national law criminalizing genocide and war crime denial and implement the War Crimes Strategy and national and international obligations instructing the pursuit of accountability, justice and reparations.


text:
COVID-19: Progress and Setbacks
October 19, 2020 Healthcare Consumer Rights Foundation
Healthcare Consumer Rights Foundation
As we enter the fall and winter months, and as cases begin surging again across the country and world, we provide an update on all things COVID-19.
From testing and tracing to the progress the medical community has made developing therapeutics and vaccines to what you and your loved ones can do to protect yourself against the next wave, we will discuss it all with our special guest, Dr. Bob Wachter, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco, where he is the Holly Smith Distinguished Professor in Science and Medicine and the Benioff Endowed Chair in Hospital Medicine.
A prominent voice for accurate information on all things COVID-19, Dr. Wachter has been a frequent commentator in the media. It is an honor to have him on Fight Back to talk about this national crisis.
All content © 2023 Fight Back.


Liverpool have made possibly one of the signings of the summer by capturing Belgian striker Christian Benteke. Benteke cost the Reds a cool £32.5 million from Aston Villa, and will begin training with his new teammates when they return from their pre-season tour.
One of Liverpool's main problems last season was scoring goals. When the SAS (Sturridge and Suárez) were on song all season the Red's scored 101 goals and finished 2nd in the league. The following season, without Suárez, and Sturridge out injured for the majority of the season, the Reds finished a dismal 6th and only scored 52 goals.
In 100 appearances for Aston Villa, Benteke manged nearly a goal every two games, scoring 49 in league and cup competitions. Benteke's consistency is questionable, his form for Aston Villa has been hot and cold. On his day Benteke is unstoppable, and if Benteke is able to maintain the form he had at the end of the 2014/15 season, he may prove to be one of the signings of the summer.
The Belgian international will add a new dimension to Liverpool's attack. Adding pace and strength up front, Liverpool will be able to utilize the flanks more with Benteke playing as a target man, receiving more direct, vertical passes from deep, and bringing the other attackers into the game.
One question that many fans may ask is where will he fit in. With the arrival of Benteke, many of the Liverpool strikers will be working hard to lock down a position in the starting XI. Benteke's arrival may have already pushed two and possibly three strikers out of door. Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini are the two strikers who are most likely to leave Liverpool. Both strikers have failed to have an impact in their time at the club and between them have only managed 6 goals. Norwich City are reportedly interested in Rickie Lambert, as they look to bolster their front line for the upcoming Premier League season, whilst Serie A giants Fiorentina are said to be interested in Borini.
Benteke may also force Mario Balotelli out of Liverpool. The Italian who only signed for Liverpool in the summer transfer window last year only managed 4 goals in 28 appearances. Although Rodgers has stated that Balotelli's future at Liverpool is in his own hands, the signing of Benteke may force Balotelli out. But with Daniel Sturridge sidelined until September, a move away from Anfield seems unlikely.
Benteke's arrival is sure to mix things up for Liverpool, and perhaps add more competition for a starting spot. No matter who leaves or who stays, the signing of Christian Benteke is a sign that Liverpool are moving in the right directions and a Champions League position may be in reach sooner rather then later.
I am a Journalism Student currently studying at the University of Queensland, in Australia. I am a massive football fan and just enjoy watching good quality football. For more news on football follow me on twitter @jeremy_hawkins8.


text:
Students may elect to write their M.D. thesis in the history of medicine.
Creating the Thesis
The thesis, like all Yale M.D. theses, is to be based on original research on an aspect of the history of medicine or public health, including attitudes and institutions of the medical profession, medical ethics and policies, the conceptual foundation of the biomedical sciences, the management of health and disease in their cultural and social contexts, or the life of a selected historical actor.
Students are expected to undertake their research in light of extant historical scholarship, which will therefore involve the preparation of a bibliography and the discussion of the readings at prearranged meetings with the thesis advisor. On the basis of this collaborative activity, the student will define the historical questions the thesis will address and develop with his or her advisor an appropriate research strategy.
Research will focus largely on primary works, typically published texts or unpublished manuscript documents, clinical patient records, letters, diaries, and other archival materials. For some theses, students may use films, television, or other visual materials, as well as museum objects and other artifacts or oral interviews.
Presenting the Thesis
The model thesis presented to the Section of the History of Medicine should be, with appropriate revisions, suitable for submission for publication in a medical history journal (for example, the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Medical History, Isis, Social History of Medicine), or to any general or specialty medical journal (such as Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, the Archives of Internal Medicine, and Academic Medicine).
Examples of Recent M.D. Theses in History of Medicine
"I Viewed Them Sick: Photography and Addiction Medicine as Activism During the "Speed Freak" Crisis of the Long 1960s"
"Shoot the Abortionist Twice: The Crisis in Abortion Training in the United States"
"Medicine in the Margins: Access, resistance and Health Care Utilization Among the Tuareg of Niger"
"Mish-Mash: How the Health Care "Crisis‰ of 1970 Resulted in Dichotomous Portrayals of Physicians in Films of the Era"
"Re-Emerging Fear: The 1991 Outbreak of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in the New York Prison System"
"Germs of Progress: Schistosomiasis, Health Research and Dam Development in Senegal, West Africa, at the End of the 20th Century"
"Portrayals of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Personality, and Self-Concept, 1987 to 1994"
"Strong Work: The Forces that Shape a Medical Student into an Intern"
"Perception and Poverty: A Historical Look at the Persistence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the African-American Community"
"Pregnancy and Childbirth Practices and Popular Literature in Twentieth-Century America: Historical and Social Perspectives"
Pursuing an M.D. Thesis
Students who wish to explore the possibility of pursuing an M.D. thesis in the Section of the History of Medicine should meet with the Director of Medical Studies for History of Medicine or with any member of the Section of the History of Medicine. The DMS will also provide more specific instructions for preparing the M.D. thesis in History of Medicine, including some of the ways that such historical work differs from scientific papers in the basic and clinical sciences. Funding to support research is available from the Office of Student Research (see the Yale M.D. Thesis Requirement, for more general information) .
Director of Medical Studies
Marco Ramos Jr
marco.ramos@yale.edu
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Our client, a church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wished to retain a young religious worker from Taiwan for its campus ministry. Herman Legal Group was retained to secure a nonimmigrant status for this religious worker on behalf of our client. To achieve this end, we filed an I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker.
Fast approval time may inspire some envious sentiment, but worry not, this is no longer so for applicants. After a string of fraudulent activities in early 2000's, applications for this category receive careful reviews. That is, reviewing officers read statements and examine evidence with greater scrutiny than before. Should you consider retaining a capable religious worker, the Detroit immigration lawyers at Herman Legal Group are ready to be at your service.
Therefore, our client's beneficiary, the religious worker, should be granted a nonimmigrant religious worker status.
In one day, our client's choice religious worker received approval.


text:
John Vorhaus: Author, Producer, Screenwriter Shows a Winning Hand
How do you interview a guy who's jumped out of planes, written for the Los Angeles Times, been multi-published in multi-genres, and says of himself:
I've taken psychedelic drugs.
I've seen Stonehenge.
Not on the same day.
I played in a women's poker tournament, in drag. Made the final table, too.
I've worked as a mime, a ventriloquist, a jester, Santa Claus on stilts, and a pretty crap juggler.
I knew not where to begin, but I jumped in anyway. So here's what else John Vorhaus had to say for himself, when I began asking questions.
Poker. Fiction. Comedy Writing. Is there any subject or genre (teen vampire romance?) that you've tried to write and failed?
I keep trying to write a great hard-boiled mystery/thriller with lots of dead bodies flying around, but I just can't bring myself to kill with relish, which is what I think that genre requires. Meanwhile, I've tried and failed to write many things within my own genres (sunshine noir, snarky comedy, pop philosophy, how to). My hard drive is filled with projects that have crashed and burned. Every self-respecting writer's is, IMO.
How do you pick what you're going to write next? For a beginning writer, would you advise sticking to one project until it is done, or switching back and forth between two or three?
Sometimes I'm writing what's next on my to-do list -- and more and more these days I'm playing catch-up with a longish to-do list. But when I reach that blessed place where the only thing to write next is... whatever comes next, then I just listen carefully for the muse, and write what she whispers in my ear. I very strongly recommend having more than one project going on at once, for several reasons.
First, your projects learn from one another; discoveries you make over here are discoveries you can apply over there. Second, if you get stalled on one project, you have some place to turn other than "I suck" despair. Third, when your brain gets worn out from a long day of, say, writing dialogue, it still has energy to apply to a different sort of creative problem, for example developing a story. These tasks engage different parts of the brain, and thus extend a writer's daily window of productivity.
What genre or authors do you like to read for pleasure and/or developing your own skill set?
I read tons of non-fiction, just for fun and for learning. I'm a history buff. I adore anything by Bill Bryson, and learn by studying his airy, unforced prose. On the fiction side, I'm not too interested in reading "literature." I want my fiction reading to be easy and fun. A novel is meant to be a ride, and if I don't feel like I'm being taken along on a good ride, I tend to put the book down.
I met you at a writers' group called AWG, then more recently online via Writer Unboxed. You'll be speaking again at AWG in Glendale (California) on April 7. Why do you think writers groups are important, and is there such a thing as belonging to too many groups?
Writers groups serve a text purpose and a subtext purpose, both important. On the text level, there is so much to learn about writing that working with others engaged in the same effort is always a fruitful way to spend time. On the subtext level, we writers always want to know that we're not out there all alone, lost in solo suffering. Writers groups send the strong message that "You are not alone," and that, too, is always good. I don't think you can belong to too many groups unless you fully substitute being in groups for actual writing. As I've always said, improving as a writer is easy: If you want to get better, write more. If you want to get a lot better, write a lot more. That'll happen whether you interface with writing groups or not, but it WON'T happen if you just talk about writing without actually doing it.
Platform is the new buzzword for writers. We know you need some kind of online presence if you want to be taken seriously as a novelist or a non-fiction author, but what about screenwriters? Would having a platform help their careers - and if so, where would you advise starting - website, blog, Twitter?
I don't think having a platform would be all that helpful to a screenwriter. The purpose of the platform (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) is to create a bridge between writer and reader (buyer). But that's a mass-market kind of thing. Your public space wouldn't attract enough of the right kind of screenplay buyer (producer, agent, studio) to be all that worthwhile -- nor would it necessarily tell them that you have the right stuff. Then again, I'm such a huge fan of "going off in all directions at once," I would never discourage anyone from having a public presence, because you never know when your market will shift and you want to reach out to consumers directly.
[Bev here: Might be useful for screenwriters to start with Twitter. Some screenwriters have leveraged it for success, and at the very least, by Following various people in the industry, you'll be updated on what's trending. It would be difficult, IMO, to write a contemporary script without some hands-on knowledge of social media.]
What's your personal time split - how much time do you spend writing, and how much time on platform/networking/promotional stuff? Do you consider time spent playing poker to be fun or Research?
Time spent playing poker is fun. It's only research when I'm working on a new poker book; but really, if I call that research, I'm glorifying the term. Poker is how I unwind from writing. As to how I split my time, like almost every writer I know, I spend too little time on promotion, and too much time feeling guilty about that. The thing I love -- my drug -- is putting words on the page. The rest is just a necessary evil. However, you could look at it this way: No matter what your job is, you don't get to do only the fun part. Consider a baseball player. They love to play the game, yet even the most successful ones take batting practice and fielding practice every day. That's not the fun part, but it's necessary. Generally I devote Mondays to promo because, what the hell, it's Monday and it's not going to get any better anyhow. Also, if I run around in my writing (as I often do), I know that I can still be productive by devoting some time to promo.
Musing further, I realize that part of my daily habit is posting something new to Twitter and FB every day, first thing in the morning. For the past six months, I've been doing stuntwords: words of my own creation and definition. For instance, today's stuntword is MEGAHURTS: what a megakick in the meganuts does. I think my followers (@TrueFactBarFact on Twitter and John Vorhaus on Facebook) appreciate the daily hit of creativity, so much so that they'll then sit still for the endless links to my books that I throw in.
You travel to many different countries, like Bulgaria, Norway, Jamaica, to teach and consult. Americans have borrowed a lot of comedy from the UK - is there anything we could or should be stealing from other countries? Is there anything that surprised you - something that Romanians, say, think is hilarious, that absolutely would not go over well in the US?
One thing I've noticed and appreciated is how the mere act of translating a phrase from one language to another can make it seem fresh and new. There's a French expression, for example, that translates into English as "The train of your sarcasm rides upon the rails of my indifference." If I use that line, I will sound terribly clever, but really all I've done is poached a translation.
I've also noticed that many writers in many countries are terribly self-conscious about being writers. They don't think they have the right to take a stand with their work, tell other people what to do and think. Well, I think that this is not just the writer's right but obligation, so I'm constantly encouraging them to rise up, step out, and FAIL BIG! We Americans find this concept easier to grasp, because we've been taught from an early age to try to get the things we want. Maybe it's an entitlement thing or a Manifest Destiny thing, but Americans are less afraid to go for it than the people of many countries I've visited. However, writers do feel fear, regardless of nationality. To writers who feel fear, I would say... FAIL BIG. That's a mighty liberating attitude to have.
Your latest book is the little book of Sitcom. I don't write sitcoms, I write [drama; fiction; paranormal romance; poetry; thrillers]. Why would I want to buy this book?
Well, because it has something to teach you dramatic (not just comic) story and scene structure. Are you aware that every scene has a pivot? The pivot is the new piece of information that triggers a change in emotional state, and it divides the scene into three parts: pre-pivot, pivot, and post-pivot. Say a guy is out having drinks with his buddies. He's having a good time; he's happy. Then he sees his girlfriend on a date with another man. That's the pivot, the new piece of information that triggers a change in emotional state. After the pivot, he is angry and concerned. The pivot tells you what the scene is about, and that is true of comic scenes and dramatic scenes alike.
Not for nothing, you'll also learn how to have an effective practice of writing, use logical tools to solve knotty creative problems, and oh by the way obliterate writer's block forever. At $5.99 at the little book of SITCOM, I think that's kind of a steal.
What question have you never been asked, that you always wanted to answer?
What's an apostrophe catastrophe? An apostrophe catastrophe is a big grammar failure and one of my absolute pet peeves. Consider the phrase, "PUNKS NOT DEAD." Well, how many punks? If it's more than one punk, then there's a word missing. It should be PUNKS ARE NOT DEAD. And if it's punk, the concept, then the apostrophe is missing, and that's just an apostrophe catastrophe. Here's another one I saw last week: "It looked at it's self in the mirror." That sort of usage makes me want to slit my wrists, yet at the same time I celebrate such unintended fails and even, I confess, collect them.
John Vorhaus is best known as the author of The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You're Not. This seminal book on writing comedy for television and film is now available in four languages, and continues to be a definitive source of information and inspiration for writers from Santa Monica to Scandinavia.
An international consultant in television and film script development, Vorhaus has worked for television networks, film schools, and production companies in 30 countries on four continents, including half-year stints in Romania and, God help him, Russia in winter. He has traveled regularly to Nicaragua, where he helped build a social-action drama designed to teach the young people of Nicaragua to "think for themselves and practice safe sex."
I did mention he's speaking in Glendale, California, on April 7, right? Which means that while you are welcome to leave a comment and ask John any question you like, right here (and I hope you do), you can also, if you're in the Los Angeles area, come to the AWG meeting and ask him questions in person, for FREE! Have him autograph his books for you. Rub his pretty head for luck.
(Okay, I am not actually sure that last would be cool with him. Maybe you should ask first.)
But, you can meet John Vorhaus. And I can tell you, you will be entertained, and enlightened.
Got questions (or thoughts to share), now?
Please do.
Labels: e-books, humor, interview, John Vorhaus, professionalism, support
e-books|humor|interview|John Vorhaus|professionalism|support|
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text:
namespace System.Reflection
{

    using System;

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyCultureAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private String m_culture;

        public AssemblyCultureAttribute(String culture)
        {
            m_culture = culture;
        }

        public String Culture
        {
            get { return m_culture; }
        }
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    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyVersionAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private String m_version;

        public AssemblyVersionAttribute(String version)
        {
            m_version = version;
        }

    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyKeyFileAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private String m_keyFile;

        public AssemblyKeyFileAttribute(String keyFile)
        {
            m_keyFile = keyFile;
        }

        public String KeyFile
        {
            get { return m_keyFile; }
        }
    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyKeyNameAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private String m_keyName;

        public AssemblyKeyNameAttribute(String keyName)
        {
            m_keyName = keyName;
        }

        public String KeyName
        {
            get { return m_keyName; }
        }
    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyDelaySignAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private bool m_delaySign;

        public AssemblyDelaySignAttribute(bool delaySign)
        {
            m_delaySign = delaySign;
        }

        public bool DelaySign
        {
            get
            { return m_delaySign; }
        }
    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, AllowMultiple = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyFlagsAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private AssemblyNameFlags m_flags;

        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public AssemblyFlagsAttribute(uint flags)
        {
            m_flags = (AssemblyNameFlags)flags;
        }

        [CLSCompliant(false)]
        public uint Flags
        {
            get { return (uint)m_flags; }
        }

        public AssemblyFlagsAttribute(AssemblyNameFlags assemblyFlags)
        {
            m_flags = assemblyFlags;
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    }

    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Assembly, Inherited = false)]
    public sealed class AssemblyFileVersionAttribute : Attribute
    {
        private String _version;

        public AssemblyFileVersionAttribute(String version)
        {
            if (version == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("version");
            _version = version;
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        public String Version
        {
            get { return _version; }
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}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
iPhone 14 rumor claims Touch ID is totally dead
By Tom Pritchard
last updated 21 August 2022
Leaker says that Touch ID won't be on iPhone 14 or future models
The iPhone 14 is coming, but the latest rumor suggests that it may not be coming with the standout feature you were hoping for. Because this one claims Apple's engineers have dropped plans to add in-screen Touch ID to the iPhone.
It's not the first time we've heard rumors that the iPhone 14 will skip Touch ID, but this one is different. Over at iDropNews (opens in new tab), LeaksApplePro claims Apple is dropping plans to include Touch ID on all future iPhones — rather than simply skipping over the iPhone 14.
"After multiple talks with sources related to the matter who wish to remain anonymous," LeaksApplePro said, "I can now confirm Apple engineers are no longer working on an under-display fingerprint sensor for the iPhone."
Instead, Apple is supposedly diverting its efforts onto the notchless iPhone. Rumor is that Apple plans to place Face ID sensors underneath the screen, while the front-facing camera will be a hole-punch design akin to those we've seen on so many other phones.
If true, this would not be a huge surprise. The notchless iPhone has been rumored before, and it was obvious from the beginning that Face ID was here to stay. Unfortunately, LeaksApplePro claims that the iPhone 14 won't be getting this upgrade, because it's not up to Apple's rigorous quality standards yet.
In other words we're not likely to see this new feature in action until at least 2023, and the launch of the iPhone 15. Having just heard speculation that the iPhone 14 will also avoid making the 120Hz ProMotion display a standard feature, these early leaks don't paint a particularly good picture of the next iPhone — assuming there's any truth to them of course.
Even if they are accurate, there's still the question of whether the under-display Face ID tech will be up to scratch by next year. So far, under-display cameras have proven themselves to be resoundingly mediocre in quality. Though having Face ID sensors under the screen may be a little different to putting a fully-fledged camera there, since picture quality isn't of the utmost importance.
Unfortunately, this means that the prospect of Touch ID's triumphant return to the iPhone may be a little more unlikely. That's a little bizarre, considering the vast majority of premium phones have long-included in-screen fingerprint scanners with no issue. More so when you consider Apple already sells a product, the iPad Air, that features a Touch ID sensor in the power button.
Whatever happens, we're just going to have to be patient and see how things play out in the coming months. Meanwhile we'll be sure to bring you all the latest iPhone 14 news and rumors as and when we hear it.
Next: The iPhone 14 may not need Touch ID, according to one of our editors.
Today's best Apple AirPods deals
117 Amazon customer reviews (opens in new tab)
Tom Pritchard
Automotive Editor
Tom is the Tom's Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he can usually be found knee deep in stats the latest and best electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't let him buy the stuff he really needs online.
Sophos Home Premium for Mac review
Get a free copy of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor when you snag a Ryzen 7000 CPU
Narvik just took the No. 1 Netflix movie spot out of nowhere — stream or skip?
Samsung Galaxy S23 prices leak for Europe — and it's bad news


text:
Adobe Type Manager 4.5
By Galen Gruman
Sometimes a product is so seamless that you take it for granted and don't bother with updates. In the case of Adobe Type Manager (ATM), that would be a mistake. While not exactly a quantum leap over version 4.0, ATM 4.5 adds a host of small and medium-size features that make it even more indispensable for the typographically inclined.
For many, the biggest selling point will be ATM's new compatibility with Mac OS 8.5 and 8.6. The previous version usually worked with Mac OS 8.5, but not always; users reported a variety of incompatibilities, including many that led to system freezes with some programs. In our testing, the new version didn't cause such system hang-ups, although some problems may remain for specific programs.
But what we like most about ATM 4.5 are the improved font-management functions. For example, when ATM finds a damaged font, it highlights that suitcase icon to make it easier to find. And you can now copy all the fonts in a set to a new location–perfect for desktop publishers who need to give their service bureaus copies of fonts for output.
Other handy features include the ability to search for fonts by name and have ATM find and delete duplicate fonts. The new version also offers better compatibility with Adobe Acrobat 4.0, which can now use ATM's font list when printing. In addition, ATM now includes the updated Adobe Type Reunion 2.5. Less useful is ATM 4.5's ability to create temporary font sets; it seems just as easy to create a set and then deactivate or delete it if you don't need it any longer.
There's still room for improvement; for example, ATM 4.5's font cache uses three times as much RAM as version 4.0's did for the same set of fonts on our test system (1MB versus 384K), and the 15 included fonts are ho-hum designs you're not likely to use. In addition, Adobe Type Reunion won't work with QuarkXPress 4.0X's palettes, although it works fine with the Font menu; the company says a fix is in the works.
Adobe Type Manager 4.5 is a must-have upgrade for current ATM users; publishing-oriented users simply depend on fonts too much not to take advantage of the program's improved stability and management abilities. With the new version, you'll once again be able to take ATM for granted.
PROS: Better font management; improved interface; compatible with Mac OS 8.5 and 8.6. CONS: Uses more memory; Adobe Type Reunion has some incompatibility problems. COMPANY: Adobe Systems (800/833-6687, http://www.adobe.com ).
LIST PRICE: $99.95.
September 1999 page: 54


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Tiny Pineapple
ananas comosus (L.) minimus
A Plethora of Pineapples
Nurse Books
Career Romances
What's All This Then?
To the Bottom
Christmas in Eight Measures
Posted: December 20th, 2006
My mother sang alto in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for over a decade, so when Christmas rolls around, the Choir's Christmas CDs are in heavy rotation in the car and at home.
As I was driving home tonight, their 2004 recording of Mack Wilberg's arrangement of "Away in a Manager" came on and I had to pull over for a bit. I've had the pleasure of singing that arrangement with a number of excellent choirs, and every time I do I have to watch out because the third verse will knock the wind out of me if I'm not careful.
I assert (and my friend, Brent, will back me up on this) that Mack Wilberg is one of the most brilliant arrangers in the world, and I give you this recording, with the 360-member Choir and the 110-piece Orchestra at Temple Square, as Exhibit A.
The first verse is sung in unison by the women; the second verse by the men. It's all very simple and straightforward up to that point, with the beautiful, flowing orchestration providing the only real points of interest.
And that's where we pick things up…
As the sopranos, altos and tenors come in on the third verse, the orchestra drops away, leaving the voices suspended in mid-air…and the next eight measures are probably the closest thing to perfection that I'll ever be a part of in this life.
Away in a Manger (Clip)
For tenors, life doesn't get much better than this. You just hang there at the top of your register singing the most interesting note in each of these intricate, unexpected chords. And when you drop into "…and love me, I pray," it's like coming home.
For me, those eight measures…those eight beautiful, delicate, haunting measures…full of longing, hope, and joy…are what Christmas is all about.
Sleeping With The Light On
Posted: May 4th, 2004
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Emma and I were reading quietly and Zoë was doing a puzzle on the floor when, out of nowhere, Zoë started singing:
There's an order to things
There's an order to things, now that you're gone.
It's the chorus of "Sleeping With the Light On" from Jonatha Brooke's new CD, Back in the Circus :
Sleeping With The Lights On
It's a melancholy song to begin with, but to hear those words carried through the air on that sweet, crystalline, little voice was downright haunting. I haven't been able to get the song out of my head since.
Posted: March 14th, 2003
OK, I think I'm ready to name my "Top 10 Albums of 2002." Why, you may ask, am I just barely getting around to this in March 2003? Well, while I have pretty decent critical analysis skills, I'm a little slow.
When I walk out of a theater and someone asks me, "What did you think of the film?" I almost have to say, "Ask me in a week or two." It takes me that long to reflect on the film's bouquet, roll it around my tongue (assessing the film's body, acidity, sweetness, fruitiness, etc), take in a little air, reflect on the finish (Was there a pleasant aftertaste? Did it still resonate after a week?), and then cleanse my palette with a mindless action flick. Only then can I come up with a, "Yeah, I sorta liked it."
I've been thinking of launching a column entitled "Delayed-Reaction Film Critic" where you can read my stunning insights on films that have just left a theater near you.
Anyway, to get back to the matter at hand, here are the Top 10 Albums of 2002, by the Delayed-Reaction Music Critic:
#1. Beck: Sea Change
I've never been a big Beck fan. It's not that I've avoided his stuff in the past, I'd just never gone out of my way to listen to it. What little I'd heard seemed rather smug and self-absorbed. It seemed like my job as a listener was to stand back and admire how hip and clever he was. I'd never heard anything that drew me in and made me feel like I was supposed to be a part of what was going on. I have now.
Beck supposedly wrote the songs on "Sea Change" in a one-week marathon song-writing session after breaking up with his long-time girlfriend. It may not be true, but I want to believe it anyway because for the past few months I feel like Beck and I have been heartbroken drinking buddies (granted, I don't drink, but still…), swapping tales of loss and regret. After each song I'll lift my head off my desk, nod vaguely, and mumble, "I hear you, brother. I know exactly how you feel."
One of the most gut-wrenching songs on the album is "Guess I'm Doing Fine":
There's a blue bird at my window
I can't hear the songs he sings
All the jewels in heaven
They don't look the same to me
I just wade the tides that turned
Till I learn to leave the past behind
It's only lies that I'm living
It's only tears that I'm crying
It's only you that I'm losing
Guess I'm doing fine
…and a little later in the song he laments:
Press my face up to the window
To see how warm it is inside
See the things that I've been missing
Missing all this time
I hear you, brother. I know exactly how you feel.
Some long-time Beck fans have complained that they can't even make it through "Sea Change," but by moving from the self-referential to the self-revelatory he's won me over completely. Or maybe it's just that misery loves company.
Best Songs On The Album:
Nothing I Haven't Seen
Side of the Road
#2. Bright Eyes: Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
This is the fourth album from Conor Oberst, a 22-year-old snot-nosed genius-punk from Omaha, Nebraska, and it is a big, sloppy, rambling mess. The music careens all over the place, the lyrics veer from the simplistic to the overripe in a matter of measures, and the whole production is so pretentious that you sometimes just want to reach through the speakers and slap the boy silly.
Trouble is, I can't stop listening to the big, sloppy, rambling mess. And every time I listen to the big, sloppy, rambling mess, I find something else to love.
Lover I Don't Have To Love
You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.
#3. Kris Delmhorst: Five Stories
So, how can one of the best albums of 2002 be something that was released in 2001? Like I said, I'm a little slow. I'm not sure how I missed Kris Delmhorst for as long as I did. I'm pretty familiar with the folks in the Boston folk scene, but somehow, even though Patty Larkin and Jennifer Kimball sang backup on her debut album (and JK sings backup on this one, too), I wasn't even aware of her existence until halfway through 2002. That just goes to show you how much I know…
There is some really beautiful stuff here. Take this from "Damn Love Songs":
How can I carve your name in the trunk of a tree that'll be here long after we're gone?
I can't even write it in the steam on the mirror.
And with nobody listening, not even myself, it's as much as I can do
To whisper those words in your ear.
After all of these years, look at me here
With this love song stuck in my throat.
Got the weight of the world and there's not too much else I can hold.
Even taken out of the context of the music, her lyrics are fantastic. She has a real gift for melody, she's got a great voice, her guitar playing is rock-solid (all the more impressive since she only started playing the blasted instrument six years ago), and the album's production is pitch-perfect.
I really love it when I discover new artists. I only wish I'd discovered her sooner.
Damn Love Song
Words Fail You
Just What I Meant
#4. Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
This is the kind of album Radiohead would be putting out if they hadn't become Navel-Gazing Robots of Electronica. This is brilliant, well-crafted rock-and-roll. 10,000 Gwyneth Paltrows can't be wrong.
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
#5. Martin Sexton: Live Wide Open
I'll have a chance to see him again, live at the Zephyr Club, on March 18. I just hope it's a more pleasant experience than last time.
In The Journey
Freedom of the Road
Black Sheep (All nine minutes of it…)
#6. Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel
This album proves that Elvis Costello is the exception to the rule that, with time, all great artists just become caricatures of themselves.
When I Was Cruel No. 2
15 Petals
#7. Nickel Creek: This Side
A word of advice: Always put out a crappy debut album. It makes any follow-up that much more impressive.
Nickel Creek had the unenviable task of coming up with something to top their stunning self-titled debut…and they came close. Not quite, but close. Rather than just doing more of the same traditional bluegrass that they do so well, "This Side" is all over the genre map, from a reworking of Pavement's "Spit on a Stranger" (easily better than the original), to the funky/poppy/bluegrassy title track.
Some of it works, some of it kinda works, but it's fun listening to the kids playing with new ideas and styles when they could have just repeated themselves for the next ten years without anyone complaining.
Spit on a Stranger
Should Have Known Better
This Side
#8. Patty Griffin: 1000 Kisses
Personally, I loved Flaming Red , but for some folks it was too much of an ear-popping altitude adjustment from Living with Ghosts . Those people will be happy to hear that Patty seems to have recovered from being possessed by Melissa Etheridge with little or no residual effects.
And "Nobody's Crying" may be one of the most beautiful songs you'll ever hear.
Nobody's Crying
Making Pies
#9. Badly Drawn Boy: About A Boy
A warm, witty, and charming soundtrack from a warm, witty, and charming film. It's just a genuine pleasure to listen to.
Above You, Below Me
River, Sea, Ocean
#10. Dixie Chicks: Home
Their music becomes more rootsy even as they become more slick and glamorous. Something's gotta give but, until it does, enjoy the music.
White Trash Wedding
Long Time Gone
Travelin' Soldier
Hot Shot City Is Particularly Good
Posted: December 6th, 2002
This may sound odd, but some the best comedy writing today may be going on over at Amazon.com.
There has been some bizarre confluence around Looking For–Best of David Hasselhoff [IMPORT] that has resulted in (as of today) 420 of some of the most hilarious reader reviews you'll ever have a chance to read. Go. Read. Now.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they are discovered, disapproved of, and deleted, so I've preserved the last ten entries here for your enjoyment:
I have seen the light!
In fact, I quite literally saw the light; within ten seconds of forwarding to track six (Hot Shot City, which is particularly good), I had an aneurysm and woke up twelve hours later in hospital. Sadly, the ambulance crew who went to my aid also suffered an array of mysterious head or ear-related maladies upon reaching my house – in the end they had to force a power cut before anybody could safely enter.
I would dearly love to rhapsodise further the merits of David Hassleheamorrhoid's album, but the doctors have warned against me having any further contact with said product. I shall have to content myself with buying a pair of very tight jeans, black leather jacket, and installing an effetely-voiced Speak and Spell in my car.
A white-knuckle, deep-throated love fest!
If there's one thing the Maori are known for, its their age-old wisdom and curly hair. Through generations of oral tradition and perseverance, the proud Maori people have endured as storytellers, innovators, and as Jango and Boba Fett in the latest George Lucas installment. David Hoopervamp knows this, and he openly admits taking this formula for success and making it his own. So with the release of "The Best Of David Hoopervamp (IMPORT)" he reinvents the wisdom-and-curly-hair thing. The end result is a sweeping epic of kapa haka proportions.
Brimming with freshness and musky skank and accompanied by a voice that sounds like eight llamas impaled on a jousters lance, these hymns of hunkiness stay with you like an extended case of mono. Hoopervamp takes off his leather boots, rubbing his moistened feet all over the compact disc, even rubbing it between his toes to soak up the funk. When we listen to this CD, it is as if we are inhaling the aroma of his sweaty, hairy callouses with all the power our lungs can muster. And who wouldn't want that?
The song Hot Shot City is particularly good.
Don't you feel sorry for all of those misguided fools who were manipulated by an over powering global network of media "style over substance" ethos? All of those who voted for "Imagine" by John Lennon as the greatest song of the last millenium were duped.
Duped by a global conspiricy. A conspiricy that will not market this album, scared of the political and social upheaval that it's success may entail.
This seminal album has changed so much of my life already with the brilliance of the tracks included, so imagine my surprise when after a long session of what I call my "David" time I noticed something that had been staring me right in the face the whole time.
That's right…..the title. It made me think, in this world full of despair and misery are we not all looking for something to make our lives a happier and generally more fulfilled?
We're ALL looking for David Hasslehoff.
We're ALL looking for the best of something.
On import.
We're ALL looking for Hot Shot City, a place for revolutions at 11 o'clock, which after all is a particularly good place to be.
BEYOND THE PARADIGM: PUSHING THE LIMITS OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT
There are the good. There are the great. There are the truly great. And there Is David Hasselhoff; a man alone on a lonely musical pinnacle. This is a record for everyone; a multilingual multigenre powerhouse compilation that brings to you, the grateful listener, the majesty of David's euvre to date.
There is, to my knowledge, no better way to kick off such an anthology than with an uplifting rock anthem to freedom. Track one is entitled 'Looking for Freedom' That'll do nicely, sir. Track 13, 'Freedom for the World', just piles on the joy all over again, showing that he has not forgotten what a groovy hep thing freedom is.
David proves he's no stiff with the zany fun of 'Do the Limbo Dance', a masterpiece of crazy party fun that would disarm a heart of stone.
'Flying on the Wings of Tenderness' proves that David's no clichᅵd macho man, with levels of lyrical tenderness unrivalled in the history of literature.
For the young sophisticate, 'Everybody Sunshine' is a searching existential critique that, in my humble opinion, could stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest works of Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer or Minogue.
I could go and on about this remarkable man's achievements, his tunesmith's ear, his lyrical genius, his truly euterpian connection to the music of the spheres, but I think one listen to 'Hot Shot City' will say more, far more than my stumbling mortal words can express.
The sound of a sperm whale being minced into sausages
If music were a religion, its Messiah has arrived in the form of the uber bouffant David Hissyfit. With a voice that has been justly compared to the sound of a steam train colliding with a busload of eunuchs, the Hasslemeister belts out hit after mind numbing hit, covering all genres of music from banal to trite.
His facile defence of his dishonest friend in "I Believe – Laura Branigan", shows that not only is he a hackneyed entertainer par excellence, but he's also a decent bloke. Somewhere in heaven, the angels are putting down their harps, picking up pointy, 80's styled guitars, and strumming out cover versions of such venerated classics as "Flying on the Wings of Tenderness" and "Everybody Sunshine." Only a genius could make the word 'sunshine' a verb.
A master of production wizardry, Hanselgreteloff, has included the sphincter gritting song "Danice Dance d'Amour" which played backwards becomes track three "Do the Limbo Dance. " Also included on this compilation of excrutiating Euro chart toppers is the legendary "Wir Zwei Allein", which was awarded the prestigious Institute de Dentist prize for best tooth grinder 1987. Your enamel won't stand a chance, and neither will your loins when you get to "These Lovein' Eyes". The song's enigmatic title has spawned scores of Internet sites where people espouse theories as to the extra 'e'. My own take is that it's a typo and that there should be a space after the 'e', making it "These Love in Eyes", since Hasbro's trill vibrato is enough to make the strongest man bust a nut with such vigour that you'll want to have your eyes closed, lest you go blind from sheer the velocity of your well spent love juice. I'm getting half a mongrel just humming the tune to myself.
With the particularly good "Hot Shot City" in his repertoire, Knockitoff, is not merely a bigger love walrus than Barry White, he is truly a sperm whale.
Liquid love
Take my advice, buy the album new and not second hand. Why? Because the previous owner must have died to have parted with it, maybe from a terrible disease. Yes, it's that good.
Buying this album is an investment in your ears' future, and you will be richly rewarded by them for your effort. A mixture of puppy dogs for the soal and the stark reality of life on the streets, it will have you running the full gammut of emotions, from "a" through "k."
Don't just buy this album, live it.
Craseey for Daviid
The first time I saw David singing I was 13. I saw him on ITC's "The Chart Shor", he did his song "Crazy for You". The way he punched the air repeatedly with his leather glofe clad fist whilst he was riding on his motorbike through the forests of Bavariea got me hooked like only Elkie Brookes or Kim Carnes had done before. I think David is a very good singer and i am sure he is a talendet guitar player an harmonicist. When the Berlin Wall came down I saw him in his light bulb jacket like on the pink Fliyd oalbum and I thought that maybe he would do a cover of "Love in the school yard" or "it's a time of mayhem", but he didn't, he did the wonderful "Looking for Freedom" and I think it's really good, better than the Bergman movie or that thing with the two angels when a rock lands on someone's head and he's dead and he wakes up by the wall and it's in black and white. David's better than all that and Baywatch and NichtRider prove it, but his singing is the best of it all and this compilation, which i have on my mp3 player and my jukebox and i play it all the time on my BMX, proves it, and I hear kids today and they're asking about what's the best music to listen to, and I say david hasselhopf and they say "who's he" and I say he's the person off nightr ider and baywatch and theyy've seen the shows byt they don'g know he sings and i say he dows and they listen and they hear "looking forf freedom" and all the hits and i say "now you know, this is waht music is about and your bf49 isn't as good and they say, yes i know.
Well, that's what david hasselhoff is about to me. He is like a fine wine that matures, and that bit at the bottom of the bottel with all the sediment is the best, and david's like that, his voice, his powerful persona, his big hands and his curly hair like a garden full of peat. I love david and I will play his music to my child when she comes out of hospital and maybe when she hears his voice she will realise that the world has been made what it is as the result of david's presence and she will know that when she is older all she has to do is look at baywatch and knith rider and listen to the song "looking for freedom" and she will have mmore of an opinion of the world than if she went to kindergarten or read books or learnt how to speak.
A Milestone in Music History!
For decades, musicologists the world over have pondered one question: Could anyone achieve a divine synthesis of the advances of Schoenberg and Stravinsky that would include the breakthroughs of musicians like Ellington, Parker, Armstrong and Mingus, yet also include the emerging tonalities and rhythms common to Carribbean cultures, West Africa and certain parts of the Yalu Valley? And now, my friends, we have the answer: David Hasteloff!
In the same way that the ruggedly handsome Hassletoff's contributions to the dramatic arts have challenged the very boundaries of theater, compositions such as "Is Everybody Happy?" or the instant classic "Flying on the wings of Tenderness" challenge us to rethink the very definition of music. More than the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, "Everybody Sunshine" is an ode to mankind's greatest joys; more than Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, "Do You Believe in Love" challenges us to question the very nature of our existence.
As a singer, Mr Hustlenoff is without peer. Hearing the easy bilingualism of "J'Taime Means I Love You," the only possible comparison is with Placido Domingo's effortless transiton between various operatic idioms.
Perhaps most praiseworthy of all is the fact that, unlike so many of the 20th century's great artists, Mr Hesslefoff has used his considerable gifts in the service of a philosophy that flies in the face of the nihilism espoused by the likes of Schopehaur and Neitze. In compositions such as "The Best is Yet to Come," he clearly acknowledges the darker side of the human predicament, and yet adorns it in rays of radiant hope that spray outward like rays from some sort of hope-producing ray gun.
This is talent of a sort which cannot be denied. Ignore him at your peril!
He is simply the best.
David Hankelbonk is someone who does not call a 'spade a spade', he calls it a 'shovel'. This is evident throughout this latest masterpiece that has me diving through the surface of the lyrical content to discover what is and what could well be.
The world is David's lobster, as he has proved time and time again through his career firstly as a man who traveled the frontiers in his talking car and then as Mitch Buchanan, a modern day 'Charles Ingels' on Malibu Beach.
His music is as forceful as his TV shows. One walks away from each gem of a song wondering about life and what we can do to make things a little better for ourselves – and boy there are many things! When I listen to his crooning I am taken away to a magical place where only people with clean underpants are admitted. This place is 'Hot Shot City' which is a particularly good song.
Not Yet Heard It
As I have not yet heard this album, could someone recommend any tracks as being particularly good
Viva La France
Posted: July 30th, 2002
A few weeks back, the California correspondent for Libération in Paris (France, not Idaho) contacted me about the death of Radio Free Tiny Pineapple. She was doing a piece on the impact of the recent CARP ruling and wanted my perspective on things.
They published the piece this past weekend, but since I don't speak French I've had to rely on the web-based translaters in order to see how it turned out. As sometime happens, it appears that most of my stuff ended up on the cutting room floor, but near the end of the article entitled "American webradios with the barks" I'm quoted as saying:
[Note: This sounds especially good if you say it with an indignant French accent.]
"Honestly, I do not see any means of survival for the majority of radios Internet. The industry of the disc does not want any, and will return the impossible life to them."
I don't know about you, but I will henceforth always refer to the media conglomerates as "the industry of the disc." And I if anyone ever crosses me, I swear I'll "return the impossible life to them!"
© 1999-2019 Grettir Asmundarson (). All Rights Reserved.