During every Durga Puja festival time, I get inconsolably homesick. The grey cloud lasts until the week-long festivities are over and only after that, do I manage to limp back to normalcy. What can I say? Durga Puja is a very special time of the year for me and even after so many years of expat life, I miss home terribly during this festival. The biggest celebration in Eastern India, Durga Puja makes my hometown, Calcutta gear up like an excited bride. There is no place on earth, a Bong (local abbreviation for Bengali or people from Bengal) would be rather than their home state at that time and I am as much of a Calcutta girl as it gets. Funnily enough, you do not have to be a Bengali to be a Calcuttan, and irrespective of your cultural roots, the city rubs off its character on you. You end up following quintessentially Calcutta rituals like reading the newspaper with your morning tea at a very relaxed pace. And if you stay one generation long, some very time-bound Bengali practices of applying talcum powder in summer, rubbing Iodex on your chest for cold etc creep over your daily habits.
Recently I read a very interesting article called "Why Calcutta Is The Best City In The World" by Vir Sanghvi. It reflected upon the city's quirky character in his humourous, witty words. One excerpt particularly struck me as good as gold and that is, Calcutta is essentially Bengali. In his own words, " Calcutta's strengths and weaknesses mirror those of the Bengali character. It has the drawbacks: the sudden passions, the cheerful chaos, the utter contempt for mere commerce, the fiery response to the smallest provocation. And it has the strengths (actually, I think of the drawbacks as strengths in their own way). Calcutta embodies the Bengali love of culture; the triumph of intellectualism over greed; the complete transparency of all emotions, the disdain with which hypocrisy and insincerity are treated; the warmth of genuine humanity; and the supremacy of emotion over all other aspects of human existence." Those are the very words of premier journalist Vir Sanghvi, who spent many fond years of his life in Calcutta and the city's charm lies in its unruly character.
This is not a travel guide. This is a love letter to my hometown. For a proper Calcutta food guide, check out Calcutta Belly.
There is more to Calcutta than brick and mortar buildings, landscaped parks and it is possibly India's dirtiest and poorest metro city. But that does not stop the heart from loving this difficult grand dame of the British colonial empire and the city comes with a lion-sized touchy ego. Places have a way of changing people and believe it or not, most of the changes that Calcutta has brought on its patient residents are good ones. I have heard new residents of Calcutta claiming to be more humane, sociable, and people friendly while getting more culturally active every day. The city thrives on intellectualism and it is not easy to swim against this tide of thoughts and feelings. To love Calcutta is to understand it and the only way to do so, is to feel the city, let it seep into your blood, take over your brain completely until you start functioning nearly like a Bengali, and finally steal your heart forever. Only then, will the city be truly yours and wherever you go, a part of Calcutta will always go with you. I brought Calcutta with me all over the world and have inadvertently sought its familiarities with many foreign cities.
It always struck me how the Rhine sunsets in Cologne, Germany were as gorgeous as the ones in summer in Calcutta. Or how downtown Havana in Cuba with its vintage cars and crumbling mansions resembled BBD Bag Calcutta with its yellow Ambassador taxis? I loved the feeling of Deja Vu while walking down the streets of Yangon in Myanmar and often get disoriented in parts of Cairo. It finally dawned on me that it was not the cityscape which was familiar but the underlying connecting human emotions like elation at sunset colours, the chaos of Yangon markets, and the fierce pride in the cultural heritage of the Cubans which made me yearn for my city in a foreign soil. This is the magic of Calcutta and needless to say, it is a feeling that will never go away. So, I asked some of Calcutta's visitors, "how do you describe this city of emotions in words?" 'Simple', they replied. 'Just pen down your sensory memories of Calcutta' and you will have the city alive and humming on your page. In the upcoming series, I will showcase Calcutta through the eyes of its resident (me) and visitors alike. Called, "This is my Calcutta", the series is a travel photo essay on emotions, culture, and the reality of loving Calcutta.
One of my favourite memories of Calcutta is of the evening walks which I took in the Southern Avenue part of the city. The walk was a part of my evening routine every time I went home and sunsets and piling on weight due to home food cause such enthusiastic efforts. West Bengal is puddled with lakes and rice fields and their fish is king. Fish and rice along with noon siesta, are our daily staple and we, Calcuttans would love to have both every day. Calcutta was experiencing monsoon the last time I left and it was very romantically pretty.
Monsoon flowers were in full bloom and wild blackberries were splotching the broken sidewalks with deep purple. In fact, most Calcutta monsoon days are very purple with dark violet clouds crowding a damp sky and twilight which falls in deep lilac tones. Even the dusk is velvety at that time, with an intense indigo blue lighting up with a slice of soft waxy moon. Coconut leaves rustle in a wet breeze and its only on Saturday evenings that the city murmurs joyously despite the monotony of the tedious rain. Such scenes rush through my mind like stills from a lovely movie and I can even smell the signature fragrance of autumn "shiuli" flowers in my desert beige Cairo neighbourhood.
Settled in the eastern part of India, Calcutta is located on the banks of the river Hooghly (which flows through rest of the country as the Ganges) and is very close to the Bay of Bengal. It is a laid back riverine city, hard to love at first sight, but has a peculiar charm which slowly creeps over and overpowers its visitors completely. A proudly bohemian crumbling city, Calcutta is like a grand dame of the colonial era also known as the British Raj. A long and complicated chain of national and international events spawned its birth on 24th August 1690 and it was founded by a British called Job Charnock. An equal number of conflicting stories exist about its christening, but it had been long proven that the sprawling colonial city was formed out of three villages of Gobindapur, Sutanuti, and Kolikata.
It was the capital of the British East Indian empire until 1911, after which Delhi took over the helm of power. Always a fiery city, Calcutta had been a hotbed of controversies, revolutions, and scandals. Numerous rise and fall of regional empires saw the royal exiles roosting in its palatial homes, the opium trade, jute, indigo burst and diminish its coffers in phases and independence and violent Marxist-Maoist movements bringing the city to bloody standstills. Incidentally, Calcutta, the capital of the state of West Bengal, was the headquarter of Communist Party of India and it dominated the political scene for more than three decades.
Why is Calcutta so bohemian?
Its regime was also the world's longest of democratically elected Communist government and Maoist-Marxist, Communist, bits of Fascist, Calcutta had experimented with them all. The city truly believes in freedom and breaking away from the socially accepted, the mundane. It was this love for experimentation which led to some of the earliest acceptable interracial marriages in Calcutta, so much so that it almost became a fad in the 18th century. Such unions between the Europeans and local women, both Hindu and Muslim created the origin of the city's substantial Anglo-Indian (or Eurasian) community and the city celebrates one of the classiest Christmas in India.
Strive for constant freedom, refusal to conform to norms and obstinacy, lead post-independence Calcutta to be extremely volatile and it heralded more than a decade of unions, bandhs (standstills) and economic stagnation. The painful birth of Bangladesh from India brought ceaseless waves of immigrants into the city (active still now) and with that came poverty, squalor and utter lack of hygiene. Epidemics, leprosy and other horrifying illnesses scarred the beautiful city and it turned into a living hell in the early 90's. Missionaries arrived in swarms, the most famous being Mother Teresa and they brought with them endless aid, changes, and more controversies.
You will find beauty in Calcutta if you seek it well.
Poverty still remains in an objectionable amount in Calcutta and it has often been termed as a poor man's metro. Also known as the "City of Joy", Calcutta is home to a huge population of migrant workers, especially manual labourers who move into the city for better prospects and the movie featuring Patrick Swayze (also by the name of "City of Joy") portrays their heart-rending tale beautifully. As mentioned before, straight from the horse's mouth, Calcutta is hard to love at first sight but its distinction from the rest of the country can be felt from the very beginning. Beauty in Calcutta is scattered at every step with nearly every sight, sound and smell and in spite of the broken, faded facade, its grandeur is apparent and undeniable.
Check out the rest of West Bengal series on travel, food, and culture.
Calcutta lanes are crowded with architectural jewels which have seen better days and rich British officers, governors, Indian elite, princes in exile, courtesans, traders, artists, rebels have thrived in their winding interiors in phases. They all have loved Calcutta, possessed it with fervour and poured parts of their soul into the city. They lent the city its real beauty, its untamed, bohemian spirit and in spite of a much culturally homogenous population, Calcutta is the proud home of the artistically inclined, wild spirited, beauty-loving Bengalis.
While erstwhile Bengal included the myriad hued and more culturally rich Bangladesh, today it is restricted up to the bank of the Hooghly river. This has given rise to the sharp demarcation of Ghotis (original Indian Bengalis) and Bangals (Bangladeshi immigrant Bengalis), who in spite of being Bengalis to the core, never agree on anything. Strangely enough, even though they have similar cooking styles, their food differs in taste, texture, and consistency just like their dialect. Calcutta too is sharply divided into North and South, and the divisions do not end here.
A sports-loving city, Calcuttans are eternally divided over football clubs (Mohun Bagan and East Bengal), renowned musicians, writers, just about anything and everything. This attitude stems from the fact that Calcuttans love politics, art and arguments over a few cigarettes and cups of tea and nothing charges a Bengali's mind more than an aesthetic discussion. Great patrons of idyllic mental pursuits and gentle use of time, Calcuttans can argue over President Trump for days (as if it's happening in our backyard), spend hours searching for the freshest duck eggs and hunt throughout the length and breadth of the city for the famous tender young goat meat, which we relish as mutton. Passion drives us and Calcuttans can part ways for generations due to falling out over sweets, fish preparation, music, sports, and politics.
It does not matter which walk of life you come from, in Calcutta we are always ready for a good debate.
In Calcutta, we take pride in our women, fish, sweets, and music. An abundance of fish and the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 lead to clever fish-based dishes, indigenous to only this part of the country and we are proudly fishy people. Much to our fellow countrymen and visitors' surprise, we devour every part of a fish, including the tail, bones, head, eyes and even the intestines and happily pick them clean. Fries rule our palates and we fry just about anything we get our hands on. From regular potatoes, onions, okra, and eggplant fritters churned out for every meal, our festivities call for exotic ingredients like marigold, pumpkin flowers, coral jasmine leaves, lamb fat etc. Sweets according to us are divine gifts to mankind and we have the most famous sweet tooth in the country. We add sugar to our cooking, take insult to our taste in fish and sweets very personally and heartily keep a tab on the number of deserts consumed (by self and others only to excel the last count) at wedding reception parties.
With all that energy which goes into artistic and sensual pursuits, it is needless to say that Calcutta is an intelligent city. Every nook and corner of Calcutta have either well-constructed concrete shacks or hole in the wall rooms called clubs, where boys of that locality gather to gossip, play carom, cards, chess and watch cricket or football matches. These clubs also hold the yearly discussions and proceedings of the grand Durga Puja festivities and lots of heated arguments over them. Art and culture play major roles in the lives of Calcuttans and every residential lane has an art, dance, recitation etc school. Plays and concerts draw major crowds and some of India's most prominent artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and models are/were Bengalis or hailed from Calcutta.
Calcutta women are deemed the most beautiful in the country and more fiery and independent-spirited than the rest of their counterparts. From the very childhood we are bred as equals to men, if not more and are trained, pushed and encouraged to excel. Although not quite the most stylish or prettiest women in the country, our sharp as nails, wily ways of talking, making pretty eyes, confidence and "intellect" help people not see that reality and we get away carrying those major chips on our shoulders. This spirit, however, changes subtly with different parts of the city and while the sedate ( but no less fiery) north Calcutta is definitely more architecturally beautiful and historically important (being the nerve center of the old moneyed), it is the racy, fast, nouveau rich South which prides itself on its vibrant spirit.
Cabaret, music, food, Dada art movement, and sports, almost every aspect of Calcutta still drips with a charmingly severe (British) Raj hangover and these make life there very pleasant. So as I sit here on a lonely Cairo winter day and yearn for my family, let me lead you to Calcutta, the city of artists, rebels, Ambassador taxis, trams, dreamers and big talkers. Let me lead you home.
You may check out these excellent Calcutta travel blog posts by Migrationology, Urban Adventures, and Vir Sanghvi.
Happy Mahalaya! I hope by sharing the story will ease your missing of the city…Beautiful story of Calcutta and the photos are lovely.
Thank you very much. You are a sweetheart. Yes it did ease my wistfulness a bit. Calcutta is quite photogenic. You will like it. Please be my guest some time.
Subho Mahalaya. It felt good to read your blog on Mahalaya while listening to the voice of Birendrakrishna Bhadra on Radio.
Do Read my Blog on Bonedi Barir Puja to relive Durga Puja moments of Calcutta.
Thank you. Shubho Mahalaya to you too. I miss listening to Birendrakrishna Bhadra's Mahalaya. Looking forward to your Bonedir Barir Pujo.
Very impressive and interesting text and authentic photos 🙂 K.
Thank you very much Kamila. Glad that you liked it.
Thank you. Your proud Calcuttan daughter.
i really liked Kolkata the brief time i was there so many years ago now. Great that you're so proud of the place! would love to get to know a place like Kolkata more deeply.
Please be my guest next time you are in India. I would love to show you around my city. I am happy that you liked Calcutta and hopefully will visit again.
Thank you very much for your kind words. Calcutta is a treat for creative minds. A belated Shubho Mahalaya to you too.
You've brought the city to life. The pictures are as evocative as the words. To me, Kolkata is home to Ramakrishna Paramhans. On my last visit, went to Kalighat, but it was shut.
Thank you very much. Ramkrishna Mission is loveliest during the evening prayer time. You will love it then.
Very Nice pictures along with a vivid description. i could not find about Kumartuli where the craftsman make excellent idols. There is no mention about Mishti doi, Rossogulla and street foods. No calcuttans or Bengalis can live without them. A photograph of edengarden or Babughat is also missing. Kindly add them, if you may so like.
Thank you. The post was a prelude to my Calcutta series. I am planning to mention them zone wise. Thank you for your suggestions. Calcutta is unimaginable without mishti doi, rossogolla and street food. Please do give more ideas and feedback about the Calcutta series. It's about our home after all.
Thank you very much. Glad that you enjoyed the post.
Your love for your home, Calcutta is oozing in every word… you have penned it down so beautifully! And I love the post most for those wonderful images.
Thank you very much. Distance makes the heart grow fonder I guess.
Wish you a happy puja!
Thank you. Wishing you a very joyous Puja too.
Beautiful pictures…enjoyed the old world charm in those lanes…Kumartuli snap is awesome!
Thank you very much. Glad that you enjoyed the trip.
Thank you Shreya. Wishing you and your family a very happy Puja and Mahalaya too.
Straight from your heart, I see. I feel like I just travelled to the heart and soul of your home city. Lovely write up (as always 🙂 and pics. Thank you for the trip.
Thank you for your kind words. Glad that you enjoyed the trip.
I love Kolkata.It's where I did my schooling and fell in love with the very laid-back atmosphere and very nice people.I miss it all the time but life has to move on 🙂 . Anyways happy pujo to you and family.
Thank you very much. Wishing you and your family a very joyous Pujo.
I really enjoyed this post, you speak very endearingly about your home. The photos are captivating and you speak just how intriguing this city really is, great work.
When you long to travel, but don't have the time remember that others have been there and can share thoughts, feelings, and love for these locations. Maverickbird has done this here on this post.
Nice pictures. I am nostalgic about the city of Kolkata.
Beautifully written, Svetlana.Keep the good things rolling. Though the daily grind of Calcutta tires me out, your article provides a nice breather away from the grime and the squalor.
Thank you very much Abhimanyu. Shubho Bijoya.
Thank you, Subho Bijoya to you too.
Thanks for sharing the whole story of Calcutta , I had been to Calcutta in 1977 competing for Asian bodybuilding or M Asia 1977 organized by Mr Monothos Roy. Calcutta is like Manila in the Philippines where all people in the province aspire to move to Manila for better life and for the people who are not succeeded will added to poverty.
Thank you for your heartfelt comment. I am quite surprised that you visited Calcutta and more so that you compared it with Manila. Good, bad and ugly, I love my hometown. It is actually me.
Thank you. Glad that you liked the post. I like Ahmedabad very much.
After a long time I came across such a lovely post.
Thank you very much. Glad that you liked the post.
Very pretty pictures. You made me nostalgic. By the way, Didi has changed Calcutta to Kolkata.
Thank you very much. Yes for her it is Kolkata, for me it will forever be Calcutta.
Thank you very much. Glad that you liked the post. Hope you like the rest of the series.
Such a great introduction to the City of Joy !!!
Wow Sreejith. Thank you for your wonderful words. You made my day.
Like your style of writing. Loved the vivid photos, too. Thank you.
Having ancestral roots from Kolkata, I am always inspired by its culture. I would love to celebrate Durgo Pujo here someday.
What a great post this is, Svetlana. Clearly reflects your immense love for the city.
Wow, what a wonderful post and so many beautiful pictures. I am so much motivated to go through your travel stories. This is the first time I came across your website, and I feel really motivated. Thank you for sharing good work.
Wow! Thank you for your kind words.
Nice post. Keep sharing more posts like this. This place is truely amazing, I will definitely visit it soon. Your way of explaining this post is quite nice, thanks for sharing it with us.


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Protein methyltransferase SUV39H2 was reported to methylate histone H2AX at lysine 134 and enhance the formation of phosphorylated H2AX (γ-H2AX), which causes chemoresistance of cancer cells. We found that a series of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine compounds that we synthesized could inhibit SUV39H2 methyltransferase activity. One of the potent compounds, OTS193320, was further analyzed in in vitro studies. The compound decreased global histone H3 lysine 9 tri-methylation levels in breast cancer cells and triggered apoptotic cell death. Combination of OTS193320 with doxorubicin (DOX) resulted in reduction of γ-H2AX levels as well as cancer cell viability compared to a single agent OTS193320 or DOX. Further optimization of inhibitors and their in vivo analysis identified a compound, OTS186935, which revealed significant inhibition of tumor growth in mouse xenograft models using MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and A549 lung cancer cells without any detectable toxicity. Our results suggest that the SUV39H2 inhibitors sensitize cancer cells to DOX by reduction of γ-H2AX levels in cancer cells, and collectively demonstrate that SUV39H2 inhibition warrants further investigation as a novel anti-cancer therapy.


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Biographical essays written by Stefan Zucker.
Born in Trieste in 1920, Barbieri debuted in Florence, in 1940, toured Germany, Belgium and Holland in 1943, retired because of marriage but reemerged in 1945. She is perhaps best remembered for Azucena but in the 1960s turned increasingly to character parts, notably, Quickly. During a total career of 55 years she appeared in Milan, Verona, Rome, Salzburg, Buenos Aires, London, Paris, Vienna, San Francisco and New York in a repertory of 110 roles, including Cenerentola, Don Carlo, Carmen, Orfeo and Giulio Cesare. She made a great number of recordings, among them Ballo, Favorita, Gioconda, Suor Angelica, Aïda, Forza, Trovatore, Don Sebastiano, Medea, Eracle (Handel) and Linda di Chamounix.
The following interviewtook place on "Opera Fanatic," on WKCR, October 12, 1985. Carlo Bergonzi spoke in Italian (I translated). Also present in the studio were Dr. Umberto Boeri, pediatrician, a close friend of Bergonzi; Robert Connolly, writer, a frequent collaborator on the show; Kenneth Rapp, accompanist; Annamarie Verde, Bergonzi's New York concert producer; and other friends of Bergonzi. Throughout the evening, we interspersed records of Bergonzi in songs and arias.
SZ: With whom did you study?
CB: I first began to study as a baritone, beginning at the Parma Conservatory with Maestro Ettore Campogalliani.
Born in 1900 in Paris to a well-to-do family, Cigna studied music theory, also piano with Cortot and voice with Calvé. She was a painter and ceramist. In 1927 she debuted under her married name, Ginette Sens, at La Scala, as Freia. After studies with Storchio and Russ and performances in the Italian provinces, she reemerged under her own name at La Scala as Donna Elvira and went on to appear in Florence, Verona, London, Paris, Cologne, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, Hanover, Dusseldorf, Berlin, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto. In 1947 on her way to perform Tosca in Vicenza she was in an auto accident. She crawled out the window of the car, arrived at and sang the performance but at some point suffered a heart attack. This caused her retirement.
Her repertoire included 50 roles, from Poppea to Kostelnicka. Her principal parts were Turandot (which she performed 493 times), Norma, Gioconda and Violetta. She also sang a prodigious number of recitals. Her recordings include Norma, Trovatore, Turandot and Aïda.
Adami Corradetti was born in 1903. Her father, Ferruccio Corradetti, was among the most important baritones from the late 19th century into the 1930s as well as an actor and critic. Her mother, Bice Adami, created the leading soprano part in Mascagni's Le maschere. Both parents made many recordings. Adami Corradetti began as a concert pianist. Toscanini attended a party at which she not only played but sang. He engaged her for La Scala, where she made her debut in 1927, as the Page in Wolf Ferrari's Sly. For several years she mostly sang comprimaria parts. She appeared under Toscanini's baton and those of every other famous Italian conductor of the period as well as of Blech, Mascagni, Zandonai and Strauss. Adami Corradetti performed nearly 100 parts in operas by composers from Carissimi to Menotti, creating roles in 35 operas, including many by more than 20 now-obscure composers favored by the fascist regime. Famous for Zandonai's Francesca, at La Scala from 1938 she "owned" Butterfly. In 1946 she married and, to please her husband, retired—a decision she came to regret.
Born in 1927, she debuted in Bologna, as Mimì, in 1948, and appeared in Rome, Venice, Turin, Palermo, Parma, Verona, Munich, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Zurich, Geneva, Bordeaux, Cairo, Dublin and Vienna. She made her Scala debut in 1955, replacing Callas in Chénier. There she also sang Cavalleria, Fanciulla, Butterfly and Pagliacci. Her recordings include Tosca, Fanciulla and the world premiere, at La Scala, of I dialoghi delle Carmelitane. Her Minnie was filmed.
An uneven singer with an ample, round, dark sound, at her best she had a warm vocal personality—tender, endearing, adorable, sensuous, feminine, passionate, cuddly. She was a Minnie who laughed, loved, raged, suffered and exulted—electrifying. She was wild at "Vieni fuori! Vieni fuori!" in Act II. She sometimes sang slightly flat. She was insecure on high B and C.
Valentino Fioravanti was born in Rome, September 11, 1764. After studying literature and art, he took voice lessons from Toscanelli, a singer at St. Peter's, and counterpoint from Jannacconi. He studied composition with Sala in Naples, 1779-81, where he was counseled by Fenaroli, Insanguine and Tritto, who later was one of Mercadante's and Bellini's teachers. From 1781 he conducted in various Roman theaters, composing the intermezzo Le avventure di Bertoldino in '83 or '84, followed by other comedies. Gl'inganni fortunati, Naples, 1788, established his success. During the next ten years he composed a spate of operas, mostly well received, for Rome, Naples, Venice, Florence and Milan.


Utetheisa ornatrix - Hodges#8105 (Rattlebox Moth).
Size: approx. 15 mm. Photo: 09/05/11, 2 pm.
Rattlebox (or Bella) Moth (Utetheisa ornatrix). Until recently there were two subspecies recognized and this one would have belonged to U. ornatrix bella. All developmental stages are protected by an alkaloid which is also transferred during mating from the male to the eggs via its sperm.


Lake Orovillen and other Foothill bass fisheries - Winter and early spring are prime time for spotted bass on Lake oroville and other foothill lakes. Fishing has been pretty darn good and with stable weather in the forecast fishing should be pretty consistant. Fish on Oroville are averaging 1-2 pounds but some bigger fish in the 3-5lb range should start to be in the mix as we move into late winter and early spring.
Winter Striper Fishing - it is no secret that the lower sac is an amazing year round striper fishery but winter rarely provides river conditions that allow fly anglers to get out on the water but with the mild winter we are having we have been getting out pretty frequently between storms. The river is in good shape and with steady weather forecasted for the foreseeable future. We are going to be getting out on the river ALOT. Winter is when we catch some of the biggest fish of the year and is truelly trophy hunting season for the anglers that have the patience.
Spring Steelhead Dates - Swinging flies on the Lower Feather is a great way to get your switch, trout spey, or light spey rod out...The Lower Yuba River below Daguerre diversion dam is also a great place to swing flies during the spring months. While most of the fishing requires the ability to wade we do access the river via drift and jet boat so hiking is minimal. March- Mid May.


June 25th, Chuck Taylor, Joel Ong and I led a workshop at Governor's Island that was well attended and received. We started outside on the grass with Joel leading a "tuning in" exersice and then went inside for a short lecture / background of the project from each of our perspectives, to finally give everybody an opportunity to play with the Bird Song Mimic. Now preparing for the next workshop / hands-on demo in New York city at Harvestworks on July 19th.


text:
import os

from setuptools import setup

with open('README.rst', 'r') as f:
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def get_packages(package):
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setup(
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    packages=get_packages('djoser'),
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    author='SUNSCRAPERS',
    description='REST version of Django authentication system.',
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    install_requires=['django-templated-mail'],
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    url='https://github.com/sunscrapers/djoser',
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        'License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License',
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        'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.4',
        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5',
        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6',
        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7',
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)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
Institute of World Culture
Program for 2021
American Symbols
Presenters: Russ Lewin and Carolyn Dorrance
The very idea of America evokes liberty, opportunity, hope and inspiration. American symbols are representations of the underlying principles of the Republic. However, many of the symbols are mysterious, and point to deeper dimensions of meaning. Our goal is to explore some of these symbols in an attempt to revitalize and regenerate our understanding of the core ideas of the American ideal. Symbols of interest include the Great Seal of the United States, the Statue of Liberty, the Gateway Arch, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the American Bison, and others. Washington D.C. itself is a symbol that was designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfrant who envisioned the city based on the ideal that every citizen was equally important. Hence, he established the Capitol building, representing the people, as the center point rather than the White House because America has no king.
Joining the Forum:
Members will automatically be sent a link for the program.
Non-Members: If you are not a member and would like to participate, please send an email to donna@worldculture.org with "Registration-American Symbols" in the header subject area. Include your full name and the email you would like us to use to send you a Zoom invitation. Non-member spaces are limited and invitations will be given on a first come, first serve basis, so please request an invitation as early as possible. Invites will be sent out the week before the event. If you would like to become a member, or have questions or suggestions, please email donna@worldculture.org.
Click here for a printer-friendly flyer
Mahatma Gandhi as a Symbol of Truth
Presenter: Jonathan Colbert
"To me religion means truth and ahimsa or rather truth alone, because truth includes ahimsa, ahimsa being the necessary and indispensable means for its discovery. Therefore anything that promotes the practice of these virtues is a means for imparting religious education and the best way to do this, in my opinion, is for the teachers rigorously to practice these virtues in their own person."
More information to follow. Please check back.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


9 linear feet (20 boxes), 1 oversized papers box and 4 oversized papers folders (OP), 9 bound volumes (BV), 1 oversized bound volume (OBV), A/V Masters: 1 linear feet (1 box) and 9.8 MB of born digital materials.
Papers of African American artist Mildred Thompson, including correspondence, manuscripts, artwork, photographs, printed material and a small amount of born digital material.
Materials predominantly in English with a small amount of material in German.
Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance for access to some sound recordings in this collection.
Series 8: Access to born digital materials is only available in the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (the Rose Library). Use of the original digital media is restricted.
Researchers are not permitted to copy or download any of the digital files from the computer workstation.
[after identification of item(s)], Mildred Thompson papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Born digital materials processed by Erika Farr, June 2015. The born digital materials currently available to researchers were transferred from 7 3.5" floppy disks. Bitstream images of this media were captured and files extracted from the images. For more information, see the processing note in the description of Series 8, Born digital materials.
Mildred Jean Thompson (1936-2003), African American painter, sculptor, printmaker, musician, and photographer, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1936. Thompson began her formal training as an artist at Howard University in 1953, under the guidance of James A. Porter. After graduating, she traveled to Germany where she studied at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. In 1961 Thompson briefly returned to the United States. However, after encountering racism while trying to exhibit her art, Thompson expatriated to Düren, Germany. She returned to the United States once again in 1974, assuming a position as artist-in-residence in Tampa, Florida. She worked for a few years in Washington, D.C., and Paris before finally settling in Atlanta, Georgia, with her partner, Donna Jackson.
While Thompson is perhaps best known as an abstract painter, her oeuvre also includes wooden sculptures, drawings, lithographs, and photographs. She was also involved in a variety of other creative pursuits. Thompson was a musician/songwriter who wrote original music and performed in a blues band, Wedo Blues, with Donna Jackson. She also wrote poetry and prose, and served as a contributing editor at Art Papers, an Atlanta-based art magazine, from 1987 through the early 2000s. Throughout her career, Thompson taught drawing and art courses at numerous institutions in the United States and Germany, including Dusseldorfer Schule Kollegium in Düren, Spelman College in Atlanta, and The Atlanta College of Art.
The collection consists of the papers of Mildred Thompson from 1949-2009 and includes correspondence and personal papers; artwork; writings; subject and teaching files; printed material; photographs; audiovisual material; and born digital materials. The materials document Thompson's work as an artist, musician, photographer, writer, and teacher.
Correspondence is both professional and personal in nature, and includes numerous letters from Thompson's friend and fellow artist Gillian Lewis; personal papers include notebooks, a scrapbook, and other materials. Artwork includes numerous hand-made books composed of original photographs by Thompson, as well as three other original works of art. Writings consist of poetry and prose, including several children's books with illustrations by Thompson and articles written for Art Papers, as well as a few pages of sheet music. Subject files primarily relate to Thompson's projects and exhibitions, while teaching files document her teaching career at various institutions, including Spelman College in Atlanta and The Atlanta College of Art. The bulk of the printed material consists of articles by Thompson and materials pertaining to Thompson, primarily about her exhibitions. Photographs include those taken by Thompson, including portraits and a few albums, as well as photographs of her and a small number of other photographs. Audiovisual material consists primarily of sound recordings of Thompson's original keyboard compositions. There are also sound recordings of Thompson's blues band, Wedo Blues, and a small number of recordings of other events. Video recordings include events featuring Thompson, interviews with her, and videos of Wedo Blues performances. Born digital materials date from 1993 to 2000, and include email correspondence and documents about projects, exhibits and creative activities.
Organized into eight series: (1) Correspondence and personal papers, (2) Artwork, (3) Writings, (4) Subject and teaching files, (5) Printed material, (6) Photographs, (7) Audiovisual material, and (8) Born digital materials.
African American art. African American art.
African American artists. African American artists.
African American photographers. African American photographers.
African American women college teachers. African American women college teachers.
African American women composers. African American women composers.
African American women poets--20th century. African American women poets--20th century.
American poetry--African American authors--20th century. American poetry--African American authors--20th century.
Children's literature, American--20th century. Children's literature, American--20th century.
Women blues musicians. Women blues musicians.
Women periodical editors. Women periodical editors.
Works of art. Works of art.


text:
Dec. 24, 2014 / 9:48 AM
Inventory data dings oil prices
Brent holding above the $60 threshold after recent rallies.
By Daniel J. Graeber
NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Global crude oil prices in Wednesday trading were off close to 2 percent on average on word U.S. crude oil inventories were on the rise.
Brent, the global price index for crude oil, lost more than 2 percent of its value from the previous session to trade near the $60 per barrel mark for the February contract early Wednesday. Brent has been able to hold above the $60 threshold, largely on good economic data from the United States and China, but is still well below the June levels above $100 per barrel.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fared no better, shedding 1.7 percent from the previous trading day to sell for $56.14 for the February contract.
The American Petroleum Institute released data late Tuesday showing U.S. crude oil stockpiles grew by 5.4 million barrels for the week ending Dec. 19. Prices mid-day could rally after the U.S. Energy Information Administration releases its weekly report, which is expected to show a decline in inventory of about 1.8 million barrels.
A rally could also follow U.S. stock indices after the opening bell on word the U.S. labor market was improving. The Dow Jones Industrial Average passed the 18,000 mark for the first time ever Tuesday on signs the U.S. economy was improving.
Low energy prices are translating to a de facto economic stimulus. Economists with the International Monetary Fund this week said low oil was a "shot in the arm" for the global economy.
Investor T. Boone Pickens told CNBC this week the low price of oil would be a short-term phenomenon. Prices for Brent should recover to at least $90 per barrel within the next 18 months, he said.
T. Boone Pickens
BP to be more transparent about climate efforts amid investor concerns
Feb. 1 (UPI) -- BP on Friday announced plans to increase disclosure on its efforts to fight climate change after requests from two groups of investors.
Crude oil prices rise early Friday amid supply concerns
Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Oil prices rose early Friday amid supply concerns following reports of smaller-than-expected stocks, and amid reduced expectation of interest rate hikes.
Oil nearly flat in pause after previous session's gains
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Oil prices were near flat early Thursday in what was seen as a pause after gains in the two previous sessions, as traders considered geopolitical developments.
Petrobras sells Chevron $350M Texas plant bought for $1.2B
Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Chevron bought a Houston refinery for $350 million from Petrobras that had cost the Brazilian state oil company over $1.2 billion little over a decade earlier.
Oil prices rise amid ongoing concern about Venezuela
Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Oil prices rose Wednesday amid expectations that Venezuelan oil shipments would see some disruption following U.S. sanctions.
IEA: Greater use of rail would save energy, lower emissions
Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Increased railway use would save energy, help the environment, and also be safer, according to reports prepared by international environmental experts.
Crude oil prices rise amid renewed Venezuela concerns
Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Oil prices were higher early Tuesday amid renewed concern about Venezuelan supplies but market worries about China-U.S. trade issues prevented higher gains.
U.S. fuel prices near last month's levels, unlikely to change
Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Average fuel prices in the United States started the week at $2.26 per gallon, showing little change from the last month or last week, and may remain flat.
Venezuela's Guaido to name new boards of PDVSA and Citgo
Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Venezuela's President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, will name new director boards at state oil company PDVSA and its United States subsidiary Citgo.
Major companies, cities buying into Texas' green energy boom
Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. wind industry is in a scramble to get a batch of turbine farms running in the next two years, before the federal government phases out a key tax credit.


text:
//
// PackageIdFromFileName.cs
//
// Author:
//       Matt Ward <ward.matt@gmail.com>
//
// Copyright (c) 2015 Matthew Ward
//
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
// of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
// in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
// to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
// copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
// furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
//
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
// all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
// IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
// AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
// LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
// OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
// THE SOFTWARE.
//

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using MonoDevelop.Core;

namespace MonoDevelop.Paket.Completion
{
	public class PackageIdFromFileName
	{
		public PackageIdFromFileName (FilePath fileName)
		{
			string fileNameWithoutExtension = fileName.FileNameWithoutExtension;
			Match versionMatch = Regex.Match (fileNameWithoutExtension, @"\.\d");

			if (versionMatch.Success && versionMatch.Index > 0) {
				Id = fileNameWithoutExtension.Substring (0, versionMatch.Index).Trim ();
				IsValid = true;
			}
		}

		public bool IsValid { get; private set; }
		public string Id { get; private set; }

		public override string ToString ()
		{
			return Id;
		}

		public override bool Equals (object obj)
		{
			var other = obj as PackageIdFromFileName;
			return (other != null) &&
				string.Equals (other.Id, Id, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
		}

		public override int GetHashCode ()
		{
			return Id.GetHashCode ();
		}
	}
}


text:
Search in titles only Search in Military,Veterans,LawEnforcement,Fire and Rescue only
Military,Veterans,LawEnforcement,Fire and Rescue
D-Day after action report
deaddog
NORMANDY BEACHHEAD, June 12, 1944 – Due to a last-minute alteration in the arrangements, I didn't arrive on the beachhead until the morning after D-day, after our first wave of assault troops had hit the shore.
By the time we got here the beaches had been taken and the fighting had moved a couple of miles inland. All that remained on the beach was some sniping and artilleryfire, and the occasional startling blast of a mine geysering brown sand into the air. That plus a gigantic and pitiful litter of wreckage along miles of shoreline.
Submerged tanks and overturned boats and burned trucks and shell-shattered jeeps and sad little personal belongings were strewn all over these bitter sands. That plus the bodies of soldiers lying in rows covered with blankets, the toes of their shoes sticking up in a line as though on drill. And other bodies, uncollected, still sprawling grotesquely in the sand or half hidden by the high grass beyond the beach.
That plus an intense, grim determination of work-weary men to get this chaotic beach organized and get all the vital supplies and the reinforcements moving more rapidly over it from the stacked-up ships standing in droves out to sea.
Now that it is over it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the beach at all. For some of our units it was easy, but in this special sector where I am now our troops faced such odds that our getting ashore was like my whipping Joe Louis down to a pulp.
n this column I want to tell you what the opening of the second front in this one sector entailed, so that you can know and appreciate and forever be humbly grateful to those both dead and alive who did it for you.
Ashore, facing us, were more enemy troops than we had in our assault waves. The advantages were all theirs, the disadvantages all ours. The Germans were dug into positions that they had been working on for months, although these were not yet all complete. A one-hundred-foot bluff a couple of hundred yards back from the beach had great concrete gun emplacements built right into the hilltop. These opened to the sides instead of to the front, thus making it very hard for naval fire from the sea to reach them. They could shoot parallel with the beach and cover every foot of it for miles with artillery fire.
Then they had hidden machine-gun nests on the forward slopes, with crossfire taking in every inch of the beach. These nests were connected by networks of trenches, so that the German gunners could move about without exposing themselves.
Throughout the length of the beach, running zigzag a couple of hundred yards back from the shoreline, was an immense V-shaped ditch fifteen feet deep. Nothing could cross it, not even men on foot, until fills had been made. And in other places at the far end of the beach, where the ground is flatter, they had great concrete walls. These were blasted by our naval gunfire or by explosives set by hand after we got ashore.
Our only exits from the beach were several swales or valleys, each about one hundred yards wide. The Germans made the most of these funnel-like traps, sowing them with buried mines. They contained, also, barbed-wire entanglements with mines attached, hidden ditches, and machine guns firing from the slopes.
This is what was on the shore. But our men had to go through a maze nearly as deadly as this before they even got ashore. Underwater obstacles were terrific. The Germans had whole fields of evil devices under the water to catch our boats. Even now, several days after the landing, we have cleared only channels through them and cannot yet approach the whole length of the beach with our ships. Even now some ship or boat hits one of these mines every day and is knocked out of commission.
The Germans had masses of those great six-pronged spiders, made of railroad iron and standing shoulder-high, just beneath the surface of the water for our landing craft to run into. They also had huge logs buried in the sand, pointing upward and outward, their tops just below the water. Attached to these logs were mines.
In addition to these obstacles they had floating mines offshore, land mines buried in the sand of the beach, and more mines in checkerboard rows in the tall grass beyond the sand. And the enemy had four men on shore for every three men we had approaching the shore.
And yet we got on.
Beach landings are planned to a schedule that is set far ahead of time. They all have to be timed, in order for everything to mesh and for the following waves of troops to be standing off the beach and ready to land at the right moment.
As the landings are planned, some elements of the assault force are to break through quickly, push on inland, and attack the most obvious enemy strong points. It is usually the plan for units to be inland, attacking gun positions from behind, within a matter of minutes after the first men hit the beach.
I have always been amazed at the speed called for in these plans. You'll have schedules calling for engineers to land at H-hour plus two minutes, and service troops at H-hour plus thirty minutes, and even for press censors to land at H-hour plus seventy-five minutes. But in the attack on this special portion of the beach where I am – the worst we had, incidentally – the schedule didn't hold.
Our men simply could not get past the beach. They were pinned down right on the water's edge by an inhuman wall of fire from the bluff. Our first waves were on that beach for hours, instead of a few minutes, before they could begin working inland.
You can still see the foxholes they dug at the very edge of the water, in the sand and the small, jumbled rocks that form parts of the beach.
Medical corpsmen attended the wounded as best they could. Men were killed as they stepped out of landing craft. An officer whom I knew got a bullet through the head just as the door of his landing craft was let down. Some men were drowned.
The first crack in the beach defenses was finally accomplished by terrific and wonderful naval gunfire, which knocked out the big emplacements. They tell epic stories of destroyers that ran right up into shallow water and had it out point-blank with the big guns in those concrete emplacements ashore.
When the heavy fire stopped, our men were organized by their officers and pushed on inland, circling machine-gun nests and taking them from the rear.
As one officer said, the only way to take a beach is to face it and keep going. It is costly at first, but it's the only way. If the men are pinned down on the beach, dug in and out of action, they might as well not be there at all. They hold up the waves behind them, and nothing is being gained.
Our men were pinned down for a while, but finally they stood up and went through, and so we took that beach and accomplished our landing. We did it with every advantage on the enemy's side and every disadvantage on ours. In the light of a couple of days of retrospection, we sit and talk and call it a miracle that our men ever got on at all or were able to stay on.
Before long it will be permitted to name the units that did it. Then you will know to whom this glory should go. They suffered casualties. And yet if you take the entire beachhead assault, including other units that had a much easier time, our total casualties in driving this wedge into the continent of Europe were remarkably low – only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been prepared to accept.
And these units that were so battered and went through such hell are still, right at this moment, pushing on inland without rest, their spirits high, their egotism in victory almost reaching the smart-alecky stage.
Their tails are up. "We've done it again," they say. They figure that the rest of the army isn't needed at all. Which proves that, while their judgment in this regard is bad, they certainly have the spirit that wins battles and eventually wars.
-Ernie Pyle
Endeavor to persevere.
Call sign: Limp Wrist
Damn that's powerful writing. Some units in the first wave on Omaha suffered 92% casualty rates.
Pyle is worth reading, any time.
-Remote locations are cheap insurance.
-There are two kinds of ships: Submarines and targets
olyeller
Should be mandatory reading 6th grade and up, each year, every class, every grade. So should pictures of the concentration camp liberations.
It's not that Democrats are so damned ignorant. Their problem is that everything they know is wrong.
Wimachtendienk, Wingolauchsik, Witahemui
He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.
He who knows not and knows he knows not, is wise.
DesertMarine
"The United States Marine Corps is a drug and I am a recovering addict."
"American by birthright… U.S. MARINE by the Grace of GOD!"
"And on the 8th day God created Marines and like fish, we came from the sea!"
Fredvon4
So sad we have not taught accurate US history since the 60s........generations of kids ignorant....CRIMINAL IMO
i was born 1955....catholic schools mostly from 1962.....and damned near every day I am on the internet I learn something NEW I should have known all my life! DANG NAB IT!
This will just make you hang your head in embarrassment. Customer that is in my age range came in today and asked why I was wearing a red white and blue flag shirt today. I told her because today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy invasion. She says oh, I didn't know that was today, was that before or after Pearl Harbor? How the hell can a college educated American born in the early 60's not know at least the chronological order of Pearl Harbor and Normandy?
Ozark Ed Since you are in the Show Me State, show her a history book and the door and tell her to read it before she goes outdoors again. She is a waste of good air.


text:
technology – The Steeple Times
Arise The Gavinator
by Matthew Steeples
Gavin Newsom brings hope to America and we expect him to great things as 40th Governor of California; we also urge him to do what he can to free the victims of parental abuse, the Menendez brothers Gavin Newsom, as the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, achieved much. This spirited businessman brought in same-sex … Continue reading "Arise The Gavinator"
The Point of POS
by Lucy Smith
Lucy Smith takes a look at developments in point of sale systems It is human nature to take for granted that which we interact with on an daily basis. After all, when was the last time that we contemplated the technology behind an online transaction? We simply point, click and wait to receive confirmation … Continue reading "The Point of POS"
A Beginner's Guide to E-Commerce
New contributor Lucy Smith shares her thoughts on how to make the most of the world of electronic commerce Have you been ever considered opening up an online store? Do you have a product or service that you believe will appeal to the general public? If so, the world of E-commerce could represent an … Continue reading "A Beginner's Guide to E-Commerce"
A Bit Of An Enigma
Bonhams to auction two Enigma machines at their science and technology sale for six figure sums Tomorrow in Knightsbridge, Bonhams will auction two Heinsoeth Und Rinke enigma enciphering machines at a sale of instruments of science and technology. Produced in Germany in 1941 and 1943, the two devices offered feature QWERTY keyboards … Continue reading "A Bit Of An Enigma"
#GetMohamedAJob
Refugee Mohamed Elbarkey could not get a job; he did not give up and took enterprising action to try to get work Mohamed Elbarkey came to Britain as a refugee from Libya. He worked hard and got degrees from the University of Southampton and University College London yet still could not get a job … Continue reading "#GetMohamedAJob"
Picture of the Week – High Above The Highlands
International Space Station astronaut captures a truly amazing cloud free photograph of the Scottish Highlands Photographs taken from aeroplanes and spacecraft are generally blighted by cloud cover but an image shared this week in the Daily Mail captured by the International Space Station of the Scottish Highlands in February is without flaw. Taking … Continue reading "Picture of the Week – High Above The Highlands"
Analysing Borwick
The Cambridge Analytica connection you've most likely never heard of; meet The Hon. Thomas Borwick, son of ex-Tory MP Lady 'Call Me Victoria' Borwick The Hon. Thomas Borwick is a figure in the Cambridge Analytica scandal you've probably never heard of. Bizarrely largely overlooked by the mainstream media, the son of the ousted … Continue reading "Analysing Borwick"
We're Back!
by General
The Steeple Times returns after a prolonged hiatus After not having published in quite some time, today The Steeple Times returns after a hiatus resulting from issues caused by technological nuisances connected to an old crooner terrified about what went on in a paddling pool full of olive oil. Aside from having been … Continue reading "We're Back!"
An Idea Car
Futuristic 1952 Chrysler styling prototype to be auctioned in New York; its "wild technology" includes a hydraulically operated spare wheel Concept cars don't generally go far and most end up sidelined to the world of dreams, but a 1952 Chrysler D'Elegance by Ghia headed to auction in December is something quite to the contrary. … Continue reading "An Idea Car"
A Bargain Boat
by Edward Kay
Edward Kay reports on the sale of a truly striking 1-of-1 Aguti 20-metre wooden motor yacht that cost £6.4 million to build; it is offered for just £1.4 million As most of Germany is relatively landlocked, with just the borders of the far northern cities meeting the Atlantic Ocean, it's no surprise that some … Continue reading "A Bargain Boat"
Annabel Mullin – What's on your mantelpiece?
A 20-question interview with criminal justice expert, former police officer and Liberal Democrat candidate for Kensington Annabel Mullin The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? To live every moment to the fullest and make the biggest difference to people's lives that I can. "Don't get even, get medieval" is, … Continue reading "Annabel Mullin – What's on your mantelpiece?"
Best in Britain
EXCLUSIVE – "Nationally important" Grade II* listed Berkshire mansion in 130 acres for sale for £26 million; its interior is yet to be renovated A Grade II* listed building capable of being reinstated as one of Britain's finest country houses has just been placed on the market for £26 million. Benham Park – … Continue reading "Best in Britain"
The Busy Borwicks
Son of Kensington MP Lady Borwick's curious connections to the people who ensured both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump revealed On Sunday, Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer published a lengthy and well researched article that, amongst other things, examined the connections between The Hon. Thomas Borwick – the son of the Conservative hereditary … Continue reading "The Busy Borwicks"
Jack Turner – What's on your mantelpiece?
A 20-question interview with English born, Los Angeles based actor and musician Jack Turner The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? Treat people well. Try and learn your blind spots. "Don't get even, get medieval" is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What's yours? Be nice, but don't … Continue reading "Jack Turner – What's on your mantelpiece?"
A Pointedly Pricey Plot
Seriously expensive waterfront building plot goes on sale outside San Francisco; it comes with plans for the perfect home for a tech titan 14.5 acres of forested land with 2,000 feet of frontage to San Francisco Bay shoreline has gone on sale for what could be one of the highest prices ever for a … Continue reading "A Pointedly Pricey Plot"
Viewing Velapp
by John Carlson-Nobel
New contributor John Carlson-Nobel takes a look at Velapp, an edit-as-you-shoot app for video footage Velapp will change the way you use your mobile. It is an app that can film video footage and put together a finished edit of the best parts in one click. It is easy to use and the results … Continue reading "Viewing Velapp"
Sex and the Single Zillionaire
Belvedere, CA home of late tech billionaire and author of 'Sex and the Single Zillionaire' Thomas Perkins for sale; he entertained amongst others Sophia Loren and Rupert Murdoch there Thomas Perkins (1932 – 2016) had it all. Born in New York, this Harvard University and MIT graduate made his fortune in Silicon Valley, California … Continue reading "Sex and the Single Zillionaire"
The Times They are a-Changin' (and All it Takes is a Tweet)
Matthew Steeples highlights the workings and truths behind the changed political landscape of 2016 2016 will be remembered as the year when the world flipped convention on its head. With the brutal monster Fidel Castro finally gone, Donald Trump headed for The White House and Brexit in Britain, comes a new era but it … Continue reading "The Times They are a-Changin' (and All it Takes is a Tweet)"
Emir Bahadir – What's on your mantelpiece?
A 20-question interview with 25-year old New York based BHDR real estate brokerage and development firm founder Emir Bahadir The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? My driving force is being able to bridge the gap between international investors and local markets. Being a member of the fifth generation of … Continue reading "Emir Bahadir – What's on your mantelpiece?"
Quote of the Week – Annoying Anna
Oliver Estreich perfectly sums up Anna Wintour's gathering of the brazen and the not so bashful
Brooke Barzun
Art curator, philanthropist and ambassador's wife Brooke Barzun is of Pilgrim Fathers ancestry and hails from the family that controls Jack Daniel's.
Slash and die
Asking price of Californian estate cut by £37.8 million; condition of owner being allowed to live there until he dies removed
Yasser Khattak
Former Maidstone Grammar School for Boys pupil turned inventor Yasser Khattak was suspended from school 16 times and taught himself at home.
The Hollywood Special: Bristol Cars – Back on track
Bristol Cars market a stunning 402 'Hollywood Special' just as they prepare to move into a new showroom and launch their first new model since 2003
Website of the Week: MyCloudtag app
MyCloudtag is a training companion that will improve your health and fitness levels
Suzanne Noble: "What's on your mantelpiece?"
The Steeple Times asks the founder of the Frugl app Suzanne Noble: "What's on your mantelpiece?" The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? Laughter, love and the search for a great Reuben sandwich. "Don't get even, get medieval" is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What's yours? "Shit … Continue reading "Suzanne Noble: "What's on your mantelpiece?""
The Devil tweets
Should prisoners like Giovanni Di Stefano be allowed access to social media? Convicted conman Giovanni Di Stefano is in jail for 14 years for committing a £3 million fraud yet today we purportedly received a tweet from him.
The Politics, The Powerhouses, The People
Latest advertising campaign for 'The Steeple Times' As featured in the September edition of the California Courts Monitor. Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here:[wysija_form id="1″]
Meyer and Mayer
Record price set for a mansion in San Francisco by Yahoo! chief San Francisco's Pacific Heights is best known for its extremely expensive properties and as home to the likes of novelist Danielle Steele, SKYY vodka tycoon Maurice Kanbar and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. With the sale of 2950 Broadway for the record breaking price … Continue reading "Meyer and Mayer"
Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud
This grandson of the brother of the Saudi Arabian ruler was the Head of User Operations for Facebook Arab until August 2011 and once stated: "Facebook is the reason I'm not going for an MBA right now. Facebook was my MBA. Facebook was my PhD. [Working at Facebook] was the most educational opportunity I ever … Continue reading "Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al Saud"
A Minor problem
Former billionaire Halsey Minor files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Last October we featured the story of the $25 million Koshland Mansion in San Francisco's Pacific Heights. The price of the property has now been slashed to $21 million and today its former owner, Halsey Minor, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with liabilities of … Continue reading "A Minor problem"
Samuel Whiting and Lucas Alexander: "What's on your mantelpiece?"
The Steeple Times asks the duo behind the Heart of House music label, Samuel Whiting and Lucas Alexander: "What's on your mantelpiece?" The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? Dedication to the groove and the drive to evoke and discover new feeling. "Don't get even, get medieval" is, in … Continue reading "Samuel Whiting and Lucas Alexander: "What's on your mantelpiece?""
Bond's base
A home suitable for James Bond The latest James Bond film Skyfall is the talk of the town and it's received many a rave review. The fictional James Bond allegedly lived in Royal Avenue, off the Kings Road in SW3, but if he were looking for a house today, we think 9 Hillgate Street … Continue reading "Bond's base"
Nad's not that Mad
Matthew Steeples suggests that Nadine Dorries is perhaps right to head for the jungle Don't get me wrong: I think Nadine Dorries is an utter loon. For those who haven't heard of her, she's the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire and a bit of a mouthpiece. Her entry on our roll call attracted over 8,000 hits … Continue reading "Nad's not that Mad"
For the love of Jobs
Edward Kay takes a look at a yacht that forms part of the legacy of Steve Jobs In a bittersweet moment, Steve Jobs's yacht was launched on 29th October from the Feadship's de Vries yard in Aalsmeer, The Netherlands with his wife and three children aboard. The Jobs family gave the members of the … Continue reading "For the love of Jobs"
Adele Adkins
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EDF, a giant French utility…
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American consumers will drive less…
Tsvetana Paraskova
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.
Why The U.S. Won't Back Down From Syrian Oil Fields
By Tsvetana Paraskova - Nov 07, 2019, 3:00 PM CST
The U.S. military near the oil fields in northern Syria has every right to defend against other forces if oil is threatened, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman.
Proceeds from the oil fields under U.S. control will not go to the United States, rather they will go to the Kurdish allies Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to the spokesman.
On Wednesday, a senior State Department official said, commenting on Syrian oil:
"Our local SDF allies are reliant upon the oil fields. We also have had – ever since we went in there, and in fact even before we were in most of that Syria, we were doing it from the air – the mission of denying the oil revenues to Daesh, because this was a major source of Daesh money."
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a wider mission for the U.S. military to protect oil fields in eastern Syria, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials. The expanded mission to secure Syria's oil posed questions as to whether the U.S. military had the legal right to defend against attacks from Syrian, Russian, or other forces should they threaten the oil fields, according to the AP.
While the mission would be a win for American commanders that have insisted that U.S. troops remain in Syria to ensure that ISIS won't be resurrected and take the oil fields, it's the Pentagon that would ultimately give direction to the U.S. military in Syria, such as should they fire at other forces if oil is threatened, the AP's Lolita C. Baldor writes. Related: Trump Vows To Protect Syrian Oil Fields From ISIS
President Trump has vowed to protect Syrian oil fields from ISIS, and the United States may leave 500 troops in northeastern Syria and send in battle tanks and other equipment with the purpose to help the Kurds in the area to protect oil fields that used to be controlled by Islamic State during its so-called caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
"The Oil Fields discussed in my speech on Turkey/Kurds yesterday were held by ISIS until the United States took them over with the help of the Kurds. We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!" President Trump tweeted at the end of October.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Mamdouh Salameh on November 07 2019 said:
If President Trump's mission in Syria is just to defend Syrian oilfields against ISIS (Daesh), then he can withdraw his troops and let the Syrian Army who successfully smashed ISIS in Syria and liberated most of the country do the job of defending its own oilfields.
However, nobody believes President Trump's claims. His mission in Syria is to deprive the legitimate government of Syria of its own oil and continue to stir trouble to prevent an end to the civil war there.
President Trump shouldn't shed crocodile tears about his ex-allies, the Syrian Kurds having shamefully and cowardly abandoned them in the face of Turkey's military onslaught.
The Pentagon is claiming that proceeds from the oil fields under U.S. control will not go to the United States. If this is the case, then why would a retired American General accuse President Trump of turning US forces deployed in Syria into oil pirates.
President Trump is not only turning his illegal occupation and exploitation of Syrian oilfields into a daylight robbery, he is also disgracing his country by violating international law and the sovereignty of an independent country.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London


text:
\subsection{Propensity Score Matching}\label{sec:psm}

We use a one-to-one propensity score matching to match \emph{co-active} and \emph{Reddit-only} users that were similar in the pre-banning period.
Propensity score matching (PSM) is a simple yet powerful method to account for selection bias that balances the distribution of observed covariates between groups.
This method allows us to mitigate the risk that observed differences in post-banning antisocial behavior exhibited by \emph{co-active} and \emph{Reddit-only} users come from user characteristics,
e.g., co-active users may be more toxic pre-banning and respond differently to the banning event.
PSM ensures that we consider users with equal probability to become active on the fringe platform.

PSM consists of three stages: (i) propensity score modeling, (ii) propensity score matching, and (iii) estimating a treatment effect after a successful balance check.
(i) We train a logistic regression classifier (LRC) to estimate the likelihood that a user will post on the fringe platform after the banning---the propensity score.
In particular, we trained the LRC on a set of user features computed on the pre-banning activities described in \cref{tab:predictors}.
(ii)  We match each \emph{co-active} user to a \emph{Reddit-only} user using the nearest neighbor algorithm.
We discard matches with a similarity below 0.68.
See \cref{app:methodology} for more details.
(iii) We test the quality of the matching by measuring the standardized mean difference of each covariate used in the PSM.
We obtained absolute standardized mean differences smaller than the standard $0.1$ threshold~\cite{austin2011introduction}.

\subsection{Difference-in-differences}\label{sec:did}
Considering the matched sample in the eighteen weeks before and after the ban date of each subreddit, we estimate the effect of co-activity in a fringe platform on users' behavior on  Reddit with the following difference-in-differences (DiD) model:
\begin{equation}
    \begin{split}\label{eq:base_did}
  Y_{it} =& \beta_0 + \beta_1 \text{Coactive}_i + \beta_2 \text{Period}_t + \\
       +&\beta_3 \text{Coactive}_i \text{Period}_t + \varepsilon_{it},
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where $Y_{it}$ is user $i$'s outcome (e.g., toxicity, we discuss outcomes in \cref{subsec:outcome_variables}) in period $t$ on Reddit.
$\text{Coactive}_i$ indicates if user $i$ is \emph{co-active} or not.
$\text{Period}_t$ indicates if the current time $t$ is before or after the ban ($t=0$), and $\varepsilon$ is the error term.
Under the assumption that the difference in outcomes between \ca and \ro users is constant over time in the absence of co-participation on fringe platforms (the ``parallel trends assumption''), the coefficient $\beta_3$ captures the causal effect of co-participation in the fringe community on the outcome variable.

\subsection{Outcome Variables}\label{subsec:outcome_variables}

\paragraph{Toxicity}
Previous works have shown how subreddits like \subreddits are prone to toxic language use~\cite{horta2021platform}.
These subreddits are home to many antisocial behaviors, such as incivility, harassment, trolling, and cyberbullying.
In this direction, the work of \citet{grover2019detecting} is particularly relevant, as it suggests that antisocial behaviors may be captured through automated text analysis.
Therefore, we employ the Perspective API~\cite{perspective} to measure the toxicity level of users' posts; see \cref{sec:rel_work} for details.
To infer a user's $i$ toxicity, we compute the median toxicity score $T_{it}$ of all the user's posts within a given time window $t$.
Specifically, for each user, we group their posts in weekly time windows to obtain weekly toxicity scores.

\paragraph{Engagement in controversial subreddits}

We measure users' engagement with other controversial communities on Reddit as a second proxy for antisocial behavior.
For each user $i$, we compute the number of posts made in subreddits hosting discussions similar to the banned subreddit during a time window $t$.
We normalize this number by the total number of posts on the whole Reddit made by $i$ in the same time window.
We refer to the resulting measure $E_{it}$ as \engagement:
\begin{equation}
    E_{it} = \frac{\sum_{s \in S_K}{\lvert \lvert  P_{it}^{s}\rvert \rvert}}{\sum_{s \in R}{\lvert \lvert  P_{it}^{s}\rvert \rvert}}\,,
    \label{eq:affinity}
\end{equation}
where $S_K$ is the set of the k-th most similar subreddits to either \subreddits, $R$ is the set of all subreddits in Reddit (excluding the focal ones),
and $\lvert \lvert P_{it}^{s} \rvert \rvert$ is the number of posts made by user $i$ at time $t$ in subreddit $s$.

To find the $k$-th most similar subreddits to \subreddits, we create a similarity scale in the interval [-1, +1] where 1 represents the highest similarity to the focal subreddit (see  \cref{app:methodology} for details).
We fix k=$50$ and manually verify that the similar subreddits host indeed similar discussions to \subreddits.

\subsection{Longitudinal Analysis}

The upper row of \cref{fig:data} shows the toxicity of posts written on Reddit by users of \input{subreddits} before and after the ban.
Note that here we consider the matched sample obtained after propensity score matching.
Following the ban, we observe that all users increase their toxicity (\cref{fig:data} grey line).
The post-banning average toxicity grows by up to 61\% of the pre-banning toxicity (from 13 to 22).
This observation confirms the finding by \citet{trujillo2022make} of a marked increase in toxicity in the aftermath of community bans.
By comparing \ca and \ro users separately (purple and orange lines, respectively), we see that the toxicity of \ca users grows faster than that of \ro.
For r/The\_Donald, \cref{fig:data:thedonald} shows a 68\% average increase in \ca users' toxicity after the ban.
This is a net increment of 23\% compared to \ro users.
Similarly, we find a net increment of 41\% and 20\% for r/GenderCritical and r/Incels, respectively.

Qualitatively similar conclusions can be drawn when observing the \engagement of \ca and \ro users.
For instance, in the bottom row of \cref{fig:data}, we observe that \ca users of r/The\_Donald and r/Incels exhibit a steady increase in engagement towards controversial communities.
In particular, \ca users of r/The\_Donald increase their engagement from 9 to 19, while in r/Incels, they go from 15 to 50.
The case of r/Incels is particularly interesting, as the community remained active both on Reddit and in the subreddit r/braincels.
This subreddit gave continuity to members of r/Incels as they maintained their antisocial behavior habits.
However, even under these circumstances \ca users show  more engagement towards Incels-related content than \ro users (see \cref{fig:data:incels} bottom)

\subsection{Difference-in-difference Analysis}

\begin{figure*}[t!]
    \centering
    \begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
    \caption{r/The\_Donald}\label{fig:did:thedonald}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/The_Donald_did_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/The_Donald_did_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}\hfill
   	\begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
   	\caption{r/GenderCritical}\label{fig:did:gc}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/GenderCritical_did_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/GenderCritical_did_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
	\caption{r/Incels}\label{fig:did:incels}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/Incels_did_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/Incels_did_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}
    \caption{Estimated DiD effect of co-participation for toxicity (top row) and \engagement (bottom row) shown for r/The\_Donald (\cref{fig:did:thedonald}), r/GenderCritical (\cref{fig:did:gc}), and r/Incels (\cref{fig:did:incels}).
    Effects are shown for the 5 four-weeks chunks (one for the pre-banning and four for the post-banning period).
    Error bars represent the 99\%, 95\% and 90\% CIs. Errors are clustered at user level. For details see \cref{table:coefficients} (top)}
    \label{fig:did}
\end{figure*}

We analyze the differences highlighted above with the DiD regression introduced in \cref{sec:methods}.
We quantify the effect of \emph{co-participation} in fringe platforms on \emph{Reddit} antisocial behavior.
To do so, we consider the four weeks before the ban as our pre-banning reference, and we group post-banning periods into four-weeks chunks.
We formalize this regression following \cref{eq:base_did}.
Specifically, the dependent variables $Y_{it}$  are the toxicity ($T_{it}$) and the engagement ($E_{it}$) of each user $i$ at time $t$ grouped by $\text{Period}_t$, i.e., four-weeks chunks.
The categorical variable $\text{Period}_t$ refers to any of the five four-weeks chunks (one pre-banning and four post-banning).

In \cref{fig:did}, we show the DiD effect, i.e., the difference in toxicity or \engagement between \ca and \ro net of pre-ban differences.
We observe that the pre-ban difference is zero, suggesting that the propensity score matching (see \cref{sec:psm}) adequately controls for pre-ban differences.
Most importantly, from \cref{fig:did}, we find that the DiD effects associated with each post-banning period increase over time for both toxicity and group engagement.
The four DiD coefficients (reported in \cref{table:coefficients}) increase with time, indicating that Co-Active users on Reddit become more toxic and engage more with controversial subreddits.
This result provides evidence that the adoption of antisocial behaviors by \ca users not only increases but also \emph{diverges} from that of \ro users.
However, we do not find evidence of such divergence in the cases of \engagement for r/GenderCritical (see \cref{fig:did:gc}(bottom)).
We speculate this might be since r/GenderCritical was banned with other $2,000$ subreddits.
Such a mass ban might have caused most of the controversial communities associated with r/GenderCritical to get banned, too, thus limiting the ability of r/GenderCritical users to regroup.
For instance, the two subreddits r/TrueLesbians and r/Gender\_Critical, closely associated with r/GenderCritical, were jointly banned.

Interestingly, we notice that the DiD effect increases slowly for approximately eight weeks after the ban and starts to increase faster afterward.
This finding is in line with the observation that users of banned subreddit may need time to become active (i.e., writing a post) on the fringe platform.
Indeed, 84\% of \ca users make their first post on the fringe platform between the eighth and twelfth week.

Additionally, we consider that co-participation may not necessarily be binary, i.e., whether a user is coactive or not.
Instead, it can be interpreted as exposure to the fringe platform.
We formalize this exposure as the fraction of posts made on the fringe platform over all posts made by the user across platforms, i.e., Reddit and the fringe platform.
We hypothesize that increased exposure to a fringe platform increases antisocial behavior on Reddit.
We then run a regression for \cref{eq:base_did} where we substitute the binary variable $\text{Coactive}_i$ with the continuous variable indicating the user's exposure to the fringe platform.
Under this setting, we run this regression for r/The\_Donald to test if increased exposure leads to an increase in antisocial behavior (i.e., toxicity and engagement).
We find evidence supporting this hypothesis.

In synthesis, our results provide evidence that co-participation in fringe platforms affects users' antisocial behavior on Reddit.
We show that the toxic behavior of \ca users diverges over time from that of \ro users.
In the following section, we estimate the rate of divergence.

\subsection{Divergence Analysis}

We expand the regression of  \cref{eq:base_did} such that it considers the following dependent variables:
(i) $t$ as a continuous variable taking values in $[-18, +18]$;
(i) $\text{Period}_t$ a discrete variable indicating before and after ban periods;
(ii) a fixed-effect $u_i$ for each user $i$.
We then model the dependent variable $Y_{it}$ as the log of $T_{it}$ and $E_{it}$.
This transformation addresses two issues observed in the data: the skewness of the dependent variable and a non-linear increment of antisocial behavior over time.
We formalize this regression as:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:temp_did}
\begin{split}
	\log(Y_{it}) =& \beta_0 + \beta_1 \text{Coactive}_i+ \beta_2 \text{Period}_t  + \beta_3 t +\\
   +& \beta_4 \text{Coactive}_i \text{Period}_t + \beta_5 \text{Coactive}_i \text{Period}_t +\\
   +&\beta_6 \text{Period}_t t +
       + \beta_7 \text{Coactive}_i \text{Period}_t t + u_i+ \varepsilon_{it}\,.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
The coefficient $\beta_7$ captures the weekly percentage increase in antisocial behaviors of \ca over \ro users.
Therefore, $\beta_7$ measures the divergence between the two groups.
The results are reported in \cref{table:coefficients}(bottom).
In \cref{fig:did_t}, we show the fitted models for the three subreddits.
\Cref{fig:did_t:thedonald} top and bottom shows the model fitted on r/The\_Donald.
We observe that \ca users diverge consistently from \ro users in toxicity and engagement.
In particular, we find that the increase in toxicity and engagement for  \ca users exceeds that of \ro users by 2\% and 6\% \emph{per week}, respectively.
In r/Incels, the results for \engagement are qualitatively similar to those of r/The\_Donald.
In the case of r/GenderCritical, we find that the effect size on toxicity is similar to the one observed for r/The\_Donald, albeit less significant.
We hypothesize that the lower statistical significance results from the smaller sample size of r/GenderCritical ($3,263$ samples against $50,628$).
We do not find evidence of an effect of co-participation on the toxicity of r/Incels users.
This last result is not surprising as users of r/Incels continued their activity on r/brainincels.
r/braincels allowed users of r/Incels to maintain their antisocial behavior, therefore mitigating the effect of the banning.
Similarly, we do not find evidence of an effect of participation on the engagement of r/GenderCritical users.
Again, due to the mass ban of 2020, we argue that r/GenderCritical users could not find subreddits hosting similar groups.

With this analysis, we provide statistical evidence that the antisocial behavior of co-participating users not only sharply increases immediately after the ban but keeps growing at a higher rate than that of Reddit-Only users.
This differential growth results in a steady divergence in antisocial behavior once co-active users start participating in the highly toxic fringe platforms.

\begin{figure*}[t!]
    \centering
    \begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
    \caption{r/The\_Donald}\label{fig:did_t:thedonald}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/The_Donald_time_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/The_Donald_time_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}\hfill
   	\begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
   	\caption{r/GenderCritical}\label{fig:did_t:gc}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/GenderCritical_time_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/GenderCritical_time_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}\hfill
	\begin{subfigure}{.33\linewidth}\centering
	\caption{r/Incels}\label{fig:did_t:incels}
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/Incels_time_toxicity.pdf}\\
    \includegraphics[scale=.6]{Figures/Incels_time_affinity.pdf}
    \end{subfigure}
    \caption{Divergence of toxicity (top row) and engagement (bottom row) for \ca (purple) and \ro users (orange).
    The average predicted relative increase for toxicity and \engagement are shown for r/The\_Donald (\cref{fig:did_t:thedonald}), r/GenderCritical (\cref{fig:did:gc}), and r/Incels (\cref{fig:did_t:incels}).
    The shaded areas represent the 95\% CIs. For further details see \cref{table:coefficients} (bottom)}
    \label{fig:did_t}
\end{figure*}

\section{Ethics Statement}

A positive outcome of our research is that it can help mainstream platforms design policies to mitigate the spillover of antisocial behavior.
For example, a platform might introduce automatic labeling of communities similar to banned ones, allowing users to make more informed decisions about their participation.
However, our findings may also be used to justify turning a blind eye to problematic communities, citing spillover concerns.
For example, a platform might tolerate abusive behavior in isolated communities rather than risk the spillover of that behavior to the wider platform following a ban.
We primarily use publicly available data that does not require user consent.
We collect data from the fringe platforms because it is an integral part of this research.
We do not use any personally identifiable information (PII) from the dataset, and we do not make any inferences about individual users.
Similarly, we do not name any other subreddits or users associated with the banned communities.
We confirm that we have read and abide by the AAAI code of conduct.
\subsection{Methodology}\label{app:methodology}

\paragraph{Subreddits similarity scale}

To create a similarity scale between subreddits, we map the similarity score to $[-1 ,+1]$, where 1 represents the highest similarity to the considered community.
To do so, we follow the method proposed by \citet{waller2021quantifying}.
We consider our focal subreddits r/The\_Donald, r/GenderCritical, and r/Incels and their polar opposites r/HillaryClinton, r/asktransgender, and r/feminists, respectively.
Given a subreddit $s_j$, we define as relevant a subreddit $s_r^{(j)}$ where at least ten users of $s_j$ posted at least five times.
We then define a graph for a focal subreddit $s_j$ and its polar opposite $s_{\hat j}$ (e.g., r/Incels-r/feminists).
The nodes of the graphs consist of (i) $s_j$ and $s_{\hat j}$, and (ii) all relevant subreddits for the two polar opposites $s_r^{(j)}$ and $s_r^{(\hat j)}$.
We draw a weighted edge between two nodes if the corresponding subreddits share at least five users.
The weight corresponds to the number of users shared.
Inspired by recent success of graph methods to obtain vectoral representations \cite{zhang2019graph, russo-etal-2020-control,russo2022disentangling}, we train the Node2Vec~\cite{grover2016node2vec} algorithm on each graph to get embeddings of each subreddits of the graphs.
Finally, we use the cosine similarity to obtain the similarity between our considered subreddits and those included in each graph.
Using this similarity scale, we compile a list of the top \emph{fifty} most similar subreddits to r/The\_Donald, r/GenderCritical, and r/Incels.

To validate the subreddit similarity scale, we refer to the concept of convergent validity.
This concept measures the correlation between our similarity scale and other measures based on the same construct.
We use the only publicly available subreddit embeddings by \citet{waller2021quantifying} for this comparison.
The embeddings from \citet{waller2021quantifying} are not explicitly trained towards finding similarities between specific communities.
Nevertheless, they provide a general measure of subreddit similarity.
We calculate Spearman's rank-order correlation between the 1000 subreddits most similar to r/The\_Donald, r/GenderCritical, and r/Incels  according to our and \citet{waller2021quantifying} ranking.
We find a significant (p < 0.05) moderate correlation (0.64) between the two.
This result corroborates that our similarity scale successfully measures similarity to r/The\_Donald, r/GenderCritical, and r/Incels.
We manually analyze the top 50 subreddits on the similarity scale and confirm that they host discussions similar to r/The\_Donald, r/GenderCritical, and r/Incels.

In the following, we define the covariates we use to perform the PSM to match \ca and \ro users.
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Participation}: We compute \emph{participation} following the approach of \citet{phadke2022pathways}.
We define the partecipation of a user $i$ at time $t$ as $p_{it}=\frac{n_{s_j}\text{sim}(s_b,s_j)}{N_i}$.
Where $n_{s_j}$ is the number of comments made on the  subreddit $s_j$, $\text{sim}(s_b,s_j)$ is the similarity between the embeddings of the banned subreddit $s_b$, (e.g., r/Incels) and $s_j$ computed as described above.
$N_i$ is the total number of comments on Reddit of user $i$.
$p_{it}$ is bounded between 0 to 1, with higher scores indicating high participation in the banned subreddits discussion.
\item \textbf{Generality Score:} The generality score is a measures defined by \citet{waller2019generalists}. It is bounded between -1 and +1. Users with a score of +1 post in multiple and diverse subreddits. Users that have a score of -1 are instead specialists. The generality score is the average cosine similarity between the embeddings of subreddits in which a user $i$ is active and his center of mass, weighted by
the number of contributions by the community. $ i$'s center of mass is defined as the weighted average of the embeddings of the subreddits in which $i$ participated.
\item \textbf{First Day post}: The difference in days between the date of the first post and the banning date of the subreddit.
\item \textbf{Toxicity}: We compute the weekly average toxicity of a user as described in \cref{sec:methods}
\item \textbf{Anger and Anxiety}: A count of anger and anxiety-related words identified via LIWC~\cite{tausczik2010psychological}.
\item \textbf{K-Core centrality}: We build a communication network using only the banned subreddits. Nodes are users, and edges exist if a user has answered another user's post more than five times. The k-core centrality is the subgraph of nodes in the k-core but not in the (k+1)-core.
\item \textbf{Eigencentrality}: Using the same network we used to compute the k-core centrality, we compute the eigencentrality of each node.
\end{itemize}

\paragraph{Outcome Variables} To compute the engagement in controversial groups for a user $i$, we need to individuate the top-K most similar communities to the subreddit associated with user $i$, i.e., \input{subreddits}.
In particular, according to the similarity scale defined above, we identify the top K subreddits as those more similar to \input{subreddits}.

\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:introduction}
\input{02intro.tex}

\section{Related Work}
\label{sec:rel_work}
\input{03relatedwork.tex}

\section{Data}
\input{04data.tex}

\section{Methods}\label{sec:methods}
\input{05methods.tex}

\section{Results}\label{sec:results}
\input{06results.tex}

\section{Discussion}\label{sec:discussion}
\input{07discussion.tex}

{ \small \setlength{\bibsep}{1pt}

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