text:
JG Ballard and the lost English avant garde
Posted by Ken Edwards on Saturday, May 2, 2009 Under: writing
On 19 April we lost a great English visionary. I use the qualifier deliberately: JG Ballard, perplexed ever since his arrival as a youngster from Shanghai by his newly encountered homeland (see his memoir, Miracles of Life), by its absurd fixation on the past, seems ostensibly an alien observer, at odds with the literary and socio-political mainstream of England. And yet I see him as an exemplar of an English dissident tradition; the nearest comparison among writers might be with Blake.
I met Ballard once, about 30 years ago. The adjective I reach for immediately is "jolly". He seemed a good-humoured, witty English gentleman, an ex-RAF officer perhaps, you would think. He was in the RAF, but only for a very brief period. I met him when I was equally briefly playing the part of Promising Young Writer. For some reason, I found myself at one of Emma Tennant's literary parties (I observed Harold Pinter and Lady Antonia Fraser, to my great awe, in a far corner of the crowded room). Jim Ballard was very easy to talk with, and I managed to do so at some length, though the only part of the discourse I can now remember is when he glanced at a light-fitting suddenly and remarked, "McLuhan said a light-bulb is pure information." He roared with laughter at this. By then, he was quite merry as well as jolly, and so was I.
That he was a visionary is beyond question. Countless commentators have mentioned his acute insight into the psychopathology of our time and place: the world of mass media, celebrity, instant communications, electronic iconography, narcissism on a spectacular scale; the world of airport lounges, shopping malls and motorways, of pampered Western communities and endless suburbia; and the underlying horror that one day, very soon, this world will be swept away by atavistic forces that lie so close to the surface.
Also visionary in the sense that his literary world is essentially a visual one. The writing conjures up images made of the ruins of concrete, steel and flesh and their representations. On more than one occasion he declared that he wished he had been a painter. The surface of the writing was not of primary interest, neither in his experimental phase nor in his more conventional narratives - Martin Amis says he had "no ear for dialogue" but mentions the "marvellous creaminess of his prose". In fact, the prose is functional, deliberately so, at its most extreme in the terrifyingly objective, forensic narrative of The Atrocity Exhibition. Someone once commented on my use of the passive voice in Nostalgia for Unknown Cities, and I think I must have got it from him.
My first encounter with Ballard's work was in New Worlds in the late 60s. Previously a straight SF magazine, it had mutated under Michael Moorcock's editorship into the nearest thing there has ever been in this country to an avant garde journal of prose writing, under Ballard's tutelary spirit. The tag was "speculative fiction". The content was often deemed shocking at the time, and the distributors John Menzies refused to handle it. It was there that I learned of such writers as Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pyncheon and Harry Mathews, but the magazine's British legacy of pioneering writing, Ballard himself excepted, seems to have faded.
"Speculative fiction" represented a rejection of hard SF's spaceships, alien planets and imaginary beings and proposed instead an engagement with the world as we live it now: indeed, Ballard's "inner space" and "near future". It was a rejection of the tired tropes of English literary fiction, and its obsession with social class; but it was also, implicitly, a rejection of linguistic experimentation. An essay by James Sallis in New Worlds #187 (February 1969), which I've just disinterred, mentions poets such as Olson and Creeley but makes clear a suspicion of "experiment" in writing and "the theoretical, almost antiquarian atttitude". No, New Worlds was not about stretching the boundaries of language - to find that, I had to encounter the British Poetry Revival - rather, stretching the boundaries of subject matter.
The magazine finally collapsed financially around 1970, and despite more than one attempt to emulate it (I remember Paul Brown's short-lived Other Times), there has never been anything quite like it since.
This was the period of Ballard's most far-out books, notably The Atrocity Exhibition, which is the furthest he ever went towards formal experimentation, and Crash; but he shortly returned to more conventionally written and plotted books, including of course the extraordinary Empire of the Sun, in effect a source-book for his signature imagery and sensibility.
Ballard also disliked, or was not interested in, music. For the sound of writing, once again, I felt I had to turn to the poets. But they were not at all interested in prose for the most part.
There is no living prose avant garde in England that I can detect, more's the pity. Some good speculative fiction writers came out of the New Worlds nexus, such as M John Harrison and Christopher Priest. BS Johnson flickered and Alan Burns and Rosalind Belben seem to have been forgotten. Scotland has produced James Kelman and Alasdair Gray. The nearest kindred spirit in England to Ballard is Iain Sinclair, who fills the media's "alternative fiction" slot all on his own these days (there is no room for more here). Will Self, Martin Amis? Hmm.
You'll be missed, Jim. But every time I turn on the TV or drive along the motorway these days I am reminded: the world you imagined is here, for better or worse.
Next post: Wendy Mulford and...
Previous post: Bob Dylan at the...
Tags: ballard "speculative fiction"


The Case of the Missing Marquess.
As much as I have enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories over the years, they are not necessarily titles that I would recommend to young adults. Some young readers would probably enjoy them a great deal, but they do get bogged down a bit in period detail, in just plain wordiness, and sometimes the story seems to be lost in the discussion of Watson and Holmes and how each of them is feeling about something. (Not that there's anything wrong with that; Watson just does tend to go on every now and again.) But I love the idea of a Sherlock for young people--the brainy ingenious mysteries, the atmosphere, some cool guy in his study solving the cases that elude everyone else. He's the sort of detective that in a slightly more young-adult friendly form would be an easy favorite for YAs everywhere. Well, yea for Nancy Springer who clearly felt the same way I do. Her new book, The Case of the Missing Marquess follows the adventures of Enola Holmes--the great detective's much younger sister, and it's a dandy from beginning to end.
Enola has been fortunate enough to have a very unconventional upbringing. Her widowed mother is a feminist and all too happy to let Enola pursue her own interests when it comes to learning. Mrs. Holmes isn't too impressed with what society thinks women should do or how they should dress and because of that Enola isn't too happy about these kinds of things either. (We're talking first-class corset haters here.) When her mother goes suddenly missing in the first few pages of the book, Enola feels compelled first to contact her brothers and then, when that proves to have some most unsatisfactory impacts on her life, to strike out on her own to find Mom. Along the way she falls into a completely unrelated mystery (of the missing marquess) and the way she goes about solving it is both brilliant and utterly appropriate. In fact, Springer has so carefully thought through this character and her world that everything makes perfect sense. The reader will clearly understand how Enola could solve a case that escapes even Sherlock. As to why she runs away from home--well, that is decision easily understood by anyone who has ever chafed under the loving (or arrogant) control of misguided family members. All in all, Enola is a forward-thinking, brave and resourceful young detective. Springer has started a marvelous new series with the The Case of the Missing Marquess and adult fans of Sherlock Holmes should take note that finally there is a book for all the young people in your life. Enola Holmes is really a great character and I couldn't get enough of her world.
Monkey Town: The Summer of the Scopes Trial.
Simon & Schuster. 2006. 259 pp.
For the longest time I thought, after receiving a degree in American History and going on to teach it to college students, that I had certain seminal events in U.S. history nailed down pretty well. You would think that I would know better, especially as a historian I should have known better, but I'm always surprised to learn just how off base I have always been on some things. The John Scopes trial is a perfect example of something I always thought was true and what I now know is not. The fact that I've gotten to the truth by reading a young adult novel is a bizarre twist, to say the least. But honestly, I'll take my dose of truth from any source that wants to offer it up. In this case, Ronald Kidd's crafting of a coming of age novel in the town of Dayton, Tennessee during the fateful summer of 1925 is a real treat. Yes, you learn a lot, but the story is so well written that the history does not dominate; it's just there, in the life of Frances Robinson as she tries to figure out her own truth and find her place in the rapidly changing world that surrounds her.
…the frightening thing about a roller coaster is that someone else is in control. You go whipping around--up and down, around corners, and there's nothing you can do to change it. You just have to hang on until the ride is over. He shook his head, then looked down at me. "Frances, I have a funny feeling I have just stepped onto a roller coaster."
There was no one in control of the media monster that quickly grew in Dayton, least of all John Scopes, the poster boy for the trial. What happened to Scopes, and to everyone else involved, makes Monkey Town a great cautionary look at how easy it is to initiate a plan, but how hard it is to control it once other people begin to claim it as their own. Beyond that, though, is the story of evolution versus creationism, a battle that is still actively being fought in America today. Kidd doesn't hit anyone over the head with his ideas; instead he lets Frances voice all the honest questions and concerns of someone who has believed a certain thing passionately and without question, all of her life. He lets Frances wonder and wander and work her way through all the obvious doubts, on so many issues, that the Scopes trial brought to the surface of her little country town. The fact that there really was a Frances Robinson and that so many of the other elements introduced in the story are true (as explained in Kidd's excellent Author's Note), just makes this story that much more relevant, but no less enjoyable for young readers. In the end, everyone (of any age) who reads Monkey Town will find something of real value in this story. At its heart, the book is about growing up and asking questions, issues all of us can identify with and will certainly enjoy reading.
Annick Press. 2004. 136 pp.
Nina Schindler has done a fun and different thing with An Order of Amelie, Hold the Fries. She has taken the typical boy-meets-girl story and turned it into an adventure in communication (and miscommunication) by writing her book in the form of letters, emails, text messages and notes. There is no direct communication between Tim and Amelie in this story, but it is very clear to the reader just what is going right and wrong as their relationship progresses. Part of the fun is in seeing how they tell each other what they are feeling, and how Schindler is able to relate her tale in such a fun and unique way.
Well, you can figure it out from there.
Schindler doesn't make it easy for Tim and Amelie and she doesn't give anything away to the reader. From the beginning this is the story of an unorthodox romance and so it's not going to proceed in any kind of predictable manner. I liked that it was not all a given and I also liked the very real sparks that flew between the two main characters. (It's surprising that Schindler was able convey sparks through text messages and emails, but she does a great job with few words.) An Order of Amelie is a 21st century update of the old-fashioned pen-pal romances (consider it a hip teenage version of You've Got Mail). It made me laugh out loud, and also made me nod my head in agreement. I liked Tim and Amelie and their friends a lot (and all those Leonard Cohen references also). This is the kind of story that will be appreciated by both literary and artistic readers (the book's design is quite good) and will certainly be passed along between beach chairs this summer.


text:
So, Why Not Use Huneybee, Anyway?
One of the things that surprises me as I poke around the World Wide Web looking for Deseret Alphabet materials is the presence of Huneybee and recommendations that it be used. I have nothing against its design—indeed, I am happy to see new designs of the Deseret Alphabet, particularly if they're not slavish copies of the font used for the four books printed in the 1860's—but I will confess that Huneybee's continued use makes me shudder.
The problem can be summarized in one word, mojibake. Computers, after all, don't represent text qua text; they represent text via numbers. Text is stored internally via a series of numbers, and the software involved has to somehow map these numbers into something the user can see.
In practice, there are actually three sets of numbers associated with text. The first is the keycode, the number associated with the physical key the user is pressing. The second is the character code, the number used internally to represent a particular character. The third is the glyph ID, which is the index of a particular graphic shape within a font.
Naïve users (that is to say, most computer users, especially people whose experience is based on English where text display is obscenely simple) assume that there is a direct mapping between the three. Huneybee is an example of this. You want to see a particular symbol on screen or in print, and you want to generate it by using a particular keystroke. For example, you may want to type shift-S and have 𐐝 show up at the other end. You get this result by using your font-production software by inserting the 𐐝 glyph in the slot currently occupied by S. Done!
All this works if you are generating a text for immediate display and you don't care what happens down the line, either when you transmit the text to someone else or when you come back in five years and try to edit the text. In order for this to work over space or time, you need to guarantee that the person at the other end has the right font installed and is set up to use it. If not, you get garbled nonsense, mojibake. The 2006 New Deseret Reader illustrates this. It works, if you have Huneybee installed. If not, you get illegible nonsense.
This is actually a serious problem in computer science and is one of the main motivations underlying Unicode. I still have some of the first computer-generated documents I ever made, but I can't use them anymore. They were written using defunct software with an undocumented internal format on a defunct platform (the Atari ST) using a defunct, proprietary character set. Trajan's column can still be read effortlessly nearly two thousand years after it was erected, but my own journals from the early 1980's are illegible.
(I spent a fair chunk of my wasted youth as a secretary in the Molecular Biology department at the university where I did graduate work. We started out with WordPerfect on DOS, which was a very non-WYSIWYG environment. Once, I managed to switch the font to "Greek" to insert some symbols but not switch back and didn't realize it until I printed a draft and the last two-thirds of the paper in question came out as garbage.
(I should also point out in fairness that I did this kind of thing myself out of laziness when I produced the Deseret Alphabet Triple Combination in 1997. I knew better, but I did it anyway, and I regret it now. I've managed to get away with it because the document is a PDF and doesn't store the text as text, but as glyph IDs for an embedded font, so the data is entirely self-contained. It is, however, impossible for me to take that document and back-convert it to raw text because I don't have a copy of the font I used anymore. I could probably manage to recreate the encoding, but more likely than not, I'm going to have to do the work all over again.)
The New Deseret Reader, by the way, illustrates another aspect of this problem. Because the Deseret Alphabet has thirty-eight letters in its standard form, and because it uses both upper- and lower-cases, you need room for seventy-six letters, whereas ASCII only has slots for fifty-two. That means that you have to steal slots from punctuation as well as letters, and that means that you can't use the punctuation yourself. Or Latin letters, for that matter, if you want to intermingle scripts.
There is a natural solution to this, and it comes in two pieces. The first piece is to decouple the characters from the specific font being used to represent them, and this is what Unicode does. It provides a standard way of representing text for dozens of writing systems and thousands of languages which is not tied to a specific font or platform. You still need a font covering the specific language/script in question, of course, but you don't need to have a specific version of a specific font. Thus Wikipedia's article on the Deseret Alphabet can contain Deseret Alphabet text and not require you to download and install a specific font before you can do it. You can use any Unicode-savvy Deseret Alphabet font you want. If you're on a Mac, of course, you're in luck because every Mac ships with a Unicode-savvy Deseret Alphabet font. If you're on Windows, you can use James Kass's excellent Code2001 font.
And Unicode's Web site can contain a whole page of Deseret Alphabet text and blithely assume that this page will continue to be legible for decades to come on any computer system with an appropriate font installed. And even if a font is not available, the text will be indisputably Deseret and not badly-spelled Latin.
There is a slight trickiness in doing this with somewhat older software which doesn't support the non-BMP portions of Unicode, but current font editing software and operating systems can do so. Some applications may still be lacking in this area, I'm sorry to say, but that will change over time. (Firefox, for example, doesn't display Unicode Deseret correctly.)
The other thing you need is a keyboard, that is a way of mapping particular keystrokes into particular characters. All major operation systems have a way of using custom keyboard mappings and editors for these mappings are freely available. Now, there are still issues with making a keyboard for the Deseret Alphabet which I'll go into at some future point. And yes, you do need to have them installed. Making keyboards, however, is trivial and getting them installed isn't hard.
This, by the way, is what the Deseret Language Kit did for Mac OS 9. It provided a keyboard, font, and other software pieces necessary to get the Deseret Alphabet to work in a semi-standardized way with any Mac software. It hasn't been as necessary for Mac OS X, because that's Unicode-based, which is one reason why I haven't come out with a successor. I do have a keyboard which I use myself when I want to type Deseret text, ������ ������. I have other techniques for converting lots of text at once, however, which are generally easier to use.
Now, I don't fault the people who do use Huneybee, because by and large they don't know better. They haven't run into the practical problems that made software companies like Apple and Microsoft move towards soft keyboard and Unicode. As such, it's really a communication problem. It's the responsibility of people like me who do deal with these issues to educate the public at large.
And one has to allow for the fact that people are people and don't always do things the right way. After all, I've been blithely typing two spaces at the end of every sentence in this blog, even though I know it's wrong.
But the bottom line is, if you really want to communicate with the Deseret Alphabet, use the standardized techniques which have become available and switch to Unicode. If the owner of Huneybee would like me to create a Unicode-savvy version of it, I'd be happy to oblige, pending the free time to do so.
Posted by Tseng-tsz at 12:03 PM 1 comment:
Whys and Wherefores
I suppose I should start with a word of introduction regarding me and my history with the Deseret Alphabet. My personal involvement with the Deseret Alphabet goes way back to the one linguistics course I took as an undergraduate at the University of Utah, where the instructor brought it up as an example of an interesting local linguistic oddity.
This would have been in late 1977. (Excuse me for a minute while I find a quiet corner in which to have a cry about how long ago this was.) Somewhat over a decade later, I became involved with the Unicode Standard. In those early days of Unicode, there was a list of potential scripts for encoding circulating among the various Unicodets, and amongst these was listed the "Mormon Alphabet." Knowing something about it—including its proper name—I was quick to point out that it was really not an appropriate candidate for encoding, because it was rather thoroughly dead and not much used when it was alive.
And yet as the 1990's drew to a middle, Unicode found itself in an awkward position. The standard had originally been designed to support some 65,000 different characters, but it became apparent that this would not be sufficient. An architectural change was added in Unicode 2.1 to deal with this, splitting Unicode into the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP) and sixteen additional planes, each plane supporting the same count of 65,500-ish characters.
What then happened was a bit of a chick-and-egg problem. Unicode support was beginning to appear in applications and system software, but it was of the BMP-only sort. As a result, nobody wanted their script to end up in the astral planes, as the new planes were often called; it wouldn't be supported by current software. And since the astral planes had no actual content, there was little incentive for anybody to even start the process of implementing support.
What was needed was a scapegoat or sacrificial lamb: a script which was arguably a legitimate candidate for encoding but which could live indefinitely as a second-class citizen until software support caught up with it.
As a result, I started to put together proposals for the encoding of various scripts which would reasonably end up in the Supplementary Multilingual Plane (SMP) of the standard. There were six, as I recall, and were I sufficiently ambitious I'd look them up. They included, if memory serves, Etruscan, Linear B, Gothic, Shavian and Pollard. The sixth was the Deseret Alphabet. With the exception of Pollard, these are all now encoded, all in the SMP, and work on Pollard is proceeding slowly.
(In fairness, none of these are actually driving non-BMP Unicode support. The characters making non-BMP support a sine qua non are from East Asian character sets such as HK SCS and JIS X 0213. But that would be another blog.)
Actually, Deseret (as it is called in encoding circles) is not an inappropriate candidate for encoding after all. There is a limited amount of printed material in the Deseret Alphabet, to be sure, but a fair amount of additional material of historical interest exists in manuscript. More to the point, there are hobbyists who want to use it even now, despite its serious design flaws.
I am amongst these hobbyists, I'm sorry to say, and have foisted a fair chunk of Deseret material on the world, including this blog. Now, you may have noticed that this blog isn't actually in the Deseret Alphabet. I may or may not add entries in the DA in the future, depending on software support and the amount of time I'm willing to waste on it. This is more a spot for me to think aloud, as I say, about the technical problems involved in Deseret support and its significance both in LDS culture and in the broader world.
Posted by Tseng-tsz at 4:18 PM No comments:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Customize your computer desktop picture with a Pattonville winter sports calendar.
Click through the slideshow above and find the schedule that you want to use.
Set a picture from Safari. If you see an image you like while browsing in Safari, right-click it and choose Set Desktop Picture.


text:
Hasan Helimisi (, ) was a Georgian painter and poet of Laz origin.

References

External links
 Helimişi Xasanişi Skidala

Laz people
1907 births
1976 deaths
20th-century painters
20th-century painters from Georgia (country)
Painters from the Russian Empire
Modern artists
Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the Russian Empire

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Red cloth body, 11 x 44 cm, white rayon disk, two tone golden brown rayon bevo insignia, RZM tag 323523 inside, strong full color, unissued, mint condition.
These armbands have been incorrectly identified as "SA Sports Armbands" for over 50 years. They were in fact designed for the Wehrmannschaft but evidently rarely if ever used. They are usually found unissued.
In 1939 Adolf Hitler created the Storm Troopers Military Training Defense Group (SA-Wehrmannschaft) to add to the men who were being trained for service in the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht). The mission of the SA Wehrmannschaft was to provide military training to SA members so they could serve in the Wehrmacht. The initial training consisted of standard military exercises done for a period of one to three weeks. Upon completion of this program members were expected to serve at least two evenings per week and six hours on Sunday. The SA Wehrmannschaft also trained those men who were rejected from regular military service as a result of being unfit for duty.


text:
Independent Radio News
Newstalk ZB
Independent radio
Radio news (disambiguation)
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond.
The managing director of IRN is Tim Molloy, who succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been MD of IRN since 1989.
IRN has three main shareholders: Global Radio (54.6%), Bauer Radio (22.3%) and ITN (19.7%).
History and background
IRN launched on 8 October 1973 with the first bulletin read at 0600 by Australian newsreader Ken Guy on the opening morning of Britain's first commercial radio station, LBC.
IRN was based at LBC studios in Gough Square, just off Fleet Street in Central London. The service was funded by cash payments from subscribing radio stations.
Computer technology was introduced in 1985 and in 1987, the Newslink advertising scheme was launched which funded the service and provided cash dividends to client statons.
In 1989, satellite distribution of bulletins and audio was introduced and this was also the year that IRN and LBC moved into new studios on Hammersmith Road in West London. The satellite service was managed by Satellite Media Services who were based on the ground floor of the Euston Tower.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Independent_Radio_News
Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by NZME Radio. It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them. In addition to talkback, the network also broadcasts news, interviews, music, and sports (sometimes in partnership with its sister network Radio Sport). The network's hosts include Rachel Smalley, Mike Hosking, Leighton Smith, Larry Williams, Jack Tame and Tony Veitch. Wellington has a local morning show hosted by Tim Fookes, and Christchurch has a local morning show with Christopher Rupert Lynch.
Newstalk ZB operates one of the largest news operations in New Zealand, with over 50 newsreaders, reporters and editors nationwide. The network operates a news centre in Auckland, news hubs in Wellington, Christchurch and Parliament, and regional newsrooms in Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill. The network's talk radio format has rarely changed since 1987, and its predominantly white male line-up has been criticised for lacking gender and ethnic diversity, and contributing to an under-representation of women and Māori in the media.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Newstalk_ZB
Independent radio indicates a radio station that is run in a manner different from usual for the country it broadcasts in. In countries where there exist government-run radio stations that served as the primary or only the variety of licensed broadcaster, the term independent radio generally means commercial radio stations which are not operated by the government, and thus independent of the government.
Conversely, in places such as the United States, where commercial broadcasters are the norm, independent radio is sometimes used to refer to non-commercial educational radio stations that are primarily supported by listener contributions and are thus independent of commercial advertising concerns. With the advent of large commercial broadcast radio network companies, and the general adoption of the term public radio in the United States to refer to non-religious radio-oriented listener-supported stations, the term has also been used to refer to commercial radio stations that are run independently of the large radio conglomerates.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Independent_radio
News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network. It may also include additional material such as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, commentary and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience.
Television news refers to disseminating current events via the medium of television. A "news bulletin" or a "newscast" are television programs lasting from seconds to hours that provide updates on world, national, regional or local news events. There are numerous providers of broadcast news content such as NBC, CNN or Fox News, as well as numerous programs that regularly provide this content such as NBC Nightly News. Television news is very image-based, showing video footage of many of the events that are reported; still photography is also used in reporting news stories, although not as much in recent years as in the early days of broadcast television. Television channels may provide news bulletins as part of a regularly scheduled news program. Less often, television shows may be interrupted or replaced by breaking news reports ("news flashes") to provide news updates on events of great importance.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/News_broadcasting
Radio News could refer to:
The radio news format, a radio format, also known as news/talk.
Radio News Magazine.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Radio_news_(disambiguation)
Radio News was an American monthly technology magazine published from 1919 to 1971. The magazine was started by Hugo Gernsback as a magazine for amateur radio enthusiasts, but it evolved to cover all the technical aspects to radio and electronics. In 1929 a bankruptcy forced the sale of Gernsback's publishing company to B. A. Mackinnon. In 1938 Ziff-Davis Publishing acquired the magazines.
Gernsback Era
In 1904 Hugo Gernsback established Electro Importing Company to sell radio components and electrical supplies by mail order. The catalogs had detailed instructions on projects like a wireless telegraph outfit and were the predecessor of his first magazine, Modern Electrics (April 1908). In May 1913 he started another magazine, The Electrical Experimenter. The magazines would have Gernsback's bold predictions of the future as well as fiction. In 1926 he started the magazine Amazing Stories and coined the term "scientifiction" which became science fiction.
Gernsback was an enthusiastic supporter of amateur radio. During the First World War the US government placed a ban on amateur radio and Gernsback led the campaign to lift it. Gernsback started a magazine devoted to radio, Radio Amateur News (July 1919.) The title was shortened to Radio News in July 1920.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Radio_News


We all know commenting on others blogs is a great way to build a relationship with other bloggers and it not builds a relationship but also helps you to get backlinks and traffic for your website or blog.
Which will boost up your website, Alexa ranking, receive traffic by leaving a link back to your blog?
Because of these many reasons commenting plays an important role in blogging.
So, what if you find a good blog that produces excellent quality content, receives tons of traffic and with probably a very low Alexa ranking but using Blogger platform.
If you leave your link/URL in the Blogger comment box, it will be treated as a plain text and not as a hyperlink and it's no use if you are commenting to improve your blog.
So, in order to add a hyperlink in Blogger comment, you just have to copy and paste the below code and replace with your URL/link and text/keyword.
Enjoy! And don't forget to comment on my blog.
Thanks that you loved it.
Thanks for sharing this helpful and informative article. Now, I can put hyperlinks very easily.
Thank You Krish, I was searching for it and finally got it.
Thanks for sharing this article. It is really helpful for me.


Four investment lessons from Berkshire Hathaway's fiscal year 2017 Shareholder Letter with additional insights from Howard Marks and Seth Klarman.
Why margin loans are dangerous and how Warren Buffett safely uses debt to fund investments.
Why we need to invest with our eyes open, focusing on a few fundamentals.
Why we need to stick with easy decisions and avoid excessive trading.
Why we need to be willing to be early and look foolish.
Every year, Berkshire Hathaway releases a letter written for their shareholders filled with information on their performance, portfolios, and investments. On this episode of Money For the Rest of Us, David digs into the 2017 letter and discusses four investment lessons Warren Buffet shares. It's filled with great insights that any independent investor shouldn't miss, so be sure to check out this informative episode.
Buffett writes in this letter, "Investing is an activity in which consumption today is foregone in an attempt to allow greater consumption at a later date. 'Risk' is the possibility that this objective won't be attained." On this episode of Money For the Rest of Us, David encourages his listeners to utilize debt in such a way that maximizes future opportunities while also managing the risk that comes with taking on debt. He discusses the idea of "float" money, how one investor could have avoided losing half of his portfolio, how to manage margin calls, and why you have to be confident in your decisions as an independent investor.
Unfortunately, trying to outsmart the market can lead to short-term gains but longer-term mediocrity in investing. David outlines a bet that Warren Buffett made with Protégé Partners and how Buffett learned that sticking with the big, easy decisions often pays off more than getting caught up in the minutia of constantly buying and selling. By making infrequent, larger decisions an independent investor can make better progress in their portfolio.
Investing is never a guaranteed game. All investors have a fear of looking foolish after making a decision, but Buffett explains that "A willingness to look unimaginative for a sustained period – or even to look foolish – is essential." David talks about the importance of gaining experience, not becoming caught up in the crowd mentality, and understanding that the "dust never settles" when it comes to finances. There will always be risks to take, and timing can be unpredictable. But with considerable risk comes comfortable reward. For more great information on the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letter, be sure to listen to this episode of Money For the Rest of Us.


A good chunk of Great Lakes THATCamp attendees will be coming from outside the greater Lansing area. Many will be flying in to Detroit Metro Airport or driving in from other exotic locales (like the jewel of southern Ontario – London). The result is that there will be lots of people who either need a ride or can provide a ride. So, if you can provide a ride, drop a comment as to where you are coming from, when you are going to be traveling, how many people you can accommodate, etc. If you need a ride, drop a comment as to your starting destination, when you are going to be traveling, etc, etc, etc.


text:
Oxalis montana
mountain woodsorrel
Secure (NatureServe)
Clade: Rosids
Order: Oxalidales
Family: Oxalidaceae
Genus: Oxalis
O. montana
Raf.
Oxalis montana is a species of flowering plant in the family Oxalidaceae known by the common names mountain woodsorrel, wood shamrock, sours and white woodsorrel. It may also be called common woodsorrel, though this name also applies to its close relative, Oxalis acetosella.
This species is a perennial herb native to eastern North America, including eastern Canada and the north-central and eastern United States, and Appalachian Mountains.[1] The Latin specific epithet montana refers to mountains or coming from mountains.[2]
Oxalis montana is a perennial herb which grows in patches connected by subterranean rhizomes. There are no stems, just clumps of leaves growing to about 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) in maximum height.
The leaves are each made up of three heart-shaped leaflets.[1] The leaflets move, folding and unfolding, in response to sunlight.[3]
There are two types of flowers, blooms that open and cleistogamous flowers that remain closed and self-pollinate.[4] The flower color is variable. Environmental factors may cause variation; flowers growing at higher elevations have less color in the veins on the petals, while the veins of those at lower elevations have a deeper pink-purple coloration.[5]
The fruit is a capsule. The plant reproduces sexually by seed and asexually by sprouting large colonies from the rhizome.[1] Some populations produce no flowers in a given season and reproduce only vegetatively.[4]
This plant is a climax species, occurring in mature forests and tolerant of shade. It is a dominant herb in a number of ecosystems, such as the forests of the Appalachian Mountains. It occurs there in the understory of red spruce (Picea rubens) and balsam or Fraser fir (Abies balsamea or A. fraseri).
It is also dominant in northern hardwood forest habitat and its ecotones, in the understory of red or sugar maple (Acer rubrum or A. saccharum), yellow birch (Betula lutea), and American beech (Fagus grandifolia). Other dominant understory species growing with it include false lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense), goldthread (Coptis groenlandica), starflower (Trientalis borealis), and woodferns (Dryopteris spp.).[1]
This plant's extensive root network helps it stabilize the soil. It can grow on flat ground or steep slopes. The climate is often cool and moist, with high humidity and precipitation, including fog drip, and areas of long-lasting snowpack. Wildfire is uncommon.[1]
The species is sour in flavor, and can be added to soup or salad. It contains oxalic acid, which can be poisonous in high quantities.[6]
^ a b c d e Pavek, Diane S. (1992) Oxalis montana. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved 12-04-2011.
^ Archibald William Smith A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins, p. 239, at Google Books
^ Comerro, H. K. and G. Briggs. (2000). Effects of leaflet orientation on transpiration rates and water potentials of Oxalis montana. SUNY Geneseo Journal of Science and Mathematics. 1(1) 7-10. Retrieved 12-04-2011.
^ a b Jasienuik, M. and M. J. Lechowicz. (1987). Spatial and temporal variation in chasmogamy and cleistogamy in Oxalis montana (Oxalidaceae). American Journal of Botany 74(11) 1672-80. Retrieved 12-04-2011.
^ Gates, S. C. and H. W. Vogelmann. (1969). Variations in populations of Oxalis montana Raf. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 96(6) 714-19. Retrieved 12-04-2011.
^ Lyle, Katie Letcher (2010) [2004]. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them (2nd ed.). Guilford, CN: FalconGuides. pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-1-59921-887-8. OCLC 560560606.
Oxalis montana — U.C. Photo Gallery
Wikispecies: Oxalis montana
FEIS: oxamon
IPNI: 1062559-2
PLANTS: OXMO
POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1062559-2
VASCAN: 17829
WisFlora: 4391
NatureServe secure species
Flora of the Eastern United States
Flora of Eastern Canada
Flora of the Northeastern United States
Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America)
Flora of the Southeastern United States
Flora of the Appalachian Mountains
Flora of the North-Central United States
Sour foods
Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
Eucalyptus camaldulensis
Pistia stratiotes


Forté Specialist Injector Cleaner is a complex blend of specially selected cleaning agents which act together to dissolve deposits that are formed in fuel systems which restrict the efficient delivery of fuel to the combustion chambers.
Forté Specialist Injector Cleaner is compatible with all fuel system and engine components, including lambda sensors and catalytic converters.
Forté Specialist Injector Cleaner should be used at regular service intervals or whenever symptoms indicate that treatment is necessary.


The debate on providing protection to possibly several million "climate refugees" displaced by the vagaries of nature is heating up.
Bangladesh, which may lose up to one-fifth of its surface area if sea levels rise by one metre, called for provisions in the immigration polices of industrial countries to accept "climate refugees" at the recent UN climate change talks in Bonn, Germany.
In the final days of the conference, the issue crept into the proposed negotiating text between industrialised and developing countries on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The text, which will be debated over the next few months ahead of December's big climate meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, now includes a provision to provide "means to protect people displaced by the impacts of climate change".
The mention in the proposed text, which will form the basis of the final climate deal, marks the start of debate on "climate refugees" in the "formal" talks, pointed out Saleemul Huq, head of the climate change group at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
Until now discussion had been around whether protection and support for "climate refugees" needed a separate regime or should be part of the global climate deal, explained Huq.
The final global accord to be agreed in Copenhagen becomes effective after 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty set up under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to cut greenhouse gas emissions, lapses.
The debate around "climate refugees" is controversial because of the sheer numbers of people likely to be affected. As the impact of climate change intensifies, estimates of the number of people displaced by natural disasters or rising sea levels have varied from 50 million in 2010, to hundreds of millions or even one billion by 2050.
Global meetings have been marked by emotional appeals by island states, such as the Maldives and Tuvalu, who could become largely uninhabitable by a one metre sea level rise.
The Maldives, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, has played a leading role in trying to create awareness of the issues for the past two decades.
In March 2008 the UN Human Rights Council agreed to conduct a study on the affects of climate change on human rights, especially livelihoods. The Maldives hopes the findings will inform the global negotiation process. There is a general consensus that greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to global warming, but none on how, or by how much, to reduce them.
This week the Global Governance Project - a joint research programme of 12 European research institutions including the Vrije Universiteit (VU University) Amsterdam, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research launched a web-based forum on "climate refugees" to keep the debate running.
"Political responses to this emerging problem do not yet exist - it is much too controversial, and the academic discourse has just started," said Frank Biermann, head of the Department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the VU University's Institute for Environmental Studies.
The new initiative, the Climate Refugee Policy Forum, will act "as a web-based clearinghouse, open for everyone, for up-to-date information on climate refugees and climate-related migration, including academic studies, policy papers, conference announcements, and links to key organisations active in the field," he explained.
Huq and Biermann say the debate is "still in its early stages".
Explained Huq: "The needs of the people likely to be displaced by the impact of climate change in the future is regarded as the 'second order adaptation'", when vulnerable countries are mostly concentrating their efforts on fighting for resources and funds to help them adapt to the immediate unfolding impact such as increasing droughts.
Biermann feels the debate will pick up momentum after Copenhagen. He has called for a new legal instrument specifically tailored to the needs of climate refugees — a Protocol on the Recognition, Protection, and Resettlement of Climate Refugees under the UNFCCC, supported by a separate funding mechanism, the Climate Refugee Protection and Resettlement Fund.


To perform assigned duties, including weed eating, edging, trimming, brush cutting, etc. as required by contract specifications.
Must be able to lift and carry objects up to 10 #s frequently and 50 #s occasionally.


text:
Q: How to put a fetch request inside a function and wait for the return value when I call the function I am using react-native, mongo DB and node js and I need to create some database functions and put them in some modules to be able to reuse them whenever I want. To fetch data from the mongo database, I use the fetch() function which returns a promise. So, for all functions that I created that did not return a value, I used .then and I faced no problems. On the other side, when I return a value inside a fetch().then() function and use this returned value, I get undefined. The code I use for the function looks like:
export const getUsers = () => {
  //I cannot use this function because of returning a promise
  fetch("http://1jjsd12zaws.ngrok.io/database/", {
    method: "GET",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
  })
    .then((res) => {
      res.json();
    })
    .then((data) => {
      return JSON.stringify(data);
    });
};

Then, when I try to run this code:
let users=getUsers();
console.log(users);

It prints undefined.
What I think is going on is that the console.log(users) runs before getUsers() returns its value. But I do not know why does this happen and I want it to wait for getUsers() to execute then, completes its work.

A: *

*You need to return fetch(..) inside getUsers (that's why you are getting undefined)

*You also need to return res.json() inside the first then

*Since getUsers returns a Promise, then you need to use .then (or async/await) to access the promise value: getUsers().then(users => {...})

const getUsers = () => {
  return fetch('http://1jjsd12zaws.ngrok.io/database/', {
    method: 'GET',
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }
  })
    .then(res => {
      return res.json();
    })
    .then(data => {
      return JSON.stringify(data);
    });
};

getUsers().then(users => console.log(users))

A: Async and await should cover it. The example on MDN docs explains it better than I can and should apply to your use case.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Government should think again on fixed fees in clinical negligence cases argues Nina Ali, partner, Hodge Jones & Allen
This summer the Department of Health announced proposals to fix costs in clinical negligence cases worth below £250,000 and, in doing so, raised grave concerns that many victims of medical negligence could be left without any means of obtaining compensation for their injuries.
A consultation into the proposals is expected imminently. Organisations across the board are calling on the government to carefully consider the impact the plans could have on the ability of those who have suffered life changing injuries or bereavements to gain redress or act to ensure action is taken to prevent future negligence.
Whilst capping fees might seem like a quick win for a government intent on cutting costs, the current proposals fail to address that it is the negligent actions of the NHS that drive up the NHS's litigation budget. They do nothing to deal with the underlying problems behind the rising number of medical accidents.
As they currently stand, the proposals demonstrate a lack of knowledge or understanding about how clinical negligence cases are actually run. The Government's plan is to limit legal costs and ensure that lawyer's fees reflect a percentage of the compensation received by a patient so that it is proportionate. They contest that there is no limit on fees at present and appear to work on the basis that all low value cases are, by their nature, less complex and therefore less expensive to run.
The reality is that if you take a look at any claimant clinical negligence practice, you will see the in-depth investigation that is so often necessary when acting in clinical negligence cases and see the hurdles that must be overcome in order to bring a successful action. Unlike a large proportion of personal injury cases, a claim with relatively low value does not necessarily equate with low costs. "Smaller" cases are often just as complex and sometimes more so than high value cases.
Establishing medical negligence is difficult and time consuming. Further, it is almost always the case that independent expert evidence (sometimes in a number of disciplines) is needed. This appears to have been overlooked by the Department of Health, as has another important point – virtually all medical negligence cases are brought by virtue of a conditional fee agreement (no win, no fee). The lawyers are therefore only paid if the case succeeds. If the case is unsuccessful, the lawyer, who may have worked for two or three years on the same case, gets paid nothing.
Costs budgeting
The Government should not be introducing a fixed costs regime at a time when the impact of the Jackson reforms is still to be assessed. As a consequence of the Jackson reforms, lawyers' fees are already tightly controlled, capped and limited. Costs already have to be "reasonable and proportionate" before they are paid by the insurer or NHS and the Courts rightly already hold the power to reduce any bill found to be excessive. The idea that lawyers can charge whatever they want is quite simply wrong.
This is evidenced by recent cases that have seen judges reduce claimant costs if they believe the sums requested are not justified. In Rallison v North West London Hospitals, Mr Justice Garnham sliced more than £250,000 from interim costs, arguing that the total costs were not proportionate to the complexity of the case, which he regarded as a fairly typical clinical negligence case. This followed costs judge, Master O'Hare's decision relating to a claim against Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in November, which saw him reduce a claimant's bill by more than £20,000 after ruling the work could have been done by a cheaper lawyer.
To seek to introduce further and somewhat draconian changes without waiting to see whether the introduction of costs budgeting will lead to the necessary improvement must from any angle be considered to be somewhat misguided and misconceived.
Role of NHSLA in driving up costs
The proposals also fail to consider the role of the NHSLA in driving up costs. Often legal bills are massively increased as a result of the NHS's failure to admit liability at an early stage. In a substantive action, much of the work carried out by claimant's solicitors becomes necessary solely due to the manner in which the defendant conducts its case.
Delays caused by the defendants and NHSLA can be unrelenting and are hugely distressing to clients. It should also be noted that the defendant's solicitors are not acting on CFAs and are therefore paid regardless of the result. Consequently they have no incentive to deal with work efficiently or progress claims fairly and appropriately.
A real culture change at the NHSLA and the NHS itself is needed if the issue of rising litigation costs is to be tackled.
Litigation as a force for good
The danger of these proposals is that by bringing in fixed costs, lawyers will simply not be able to take on low value cases. Inevitably many will be denied access to justice, with those most affected being the vulnerable such as psychiatric patients, the elderly and disabled, whose cases can be the most complex and challenging. These are areas where lawyers and the judiciary successfully intervene to protect patient safety.
It is not just the erosion of justice that is of concern; it is also the long term impact on patient safety that should worry the Government and all of us. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest litigation can drive the development of better practice, hold institutions accountable and be a force for change. It is not just about compensation that helps to rebuild lives; the process can identify systemic failings, ensure that sanctions are taken against poor and negligent doctors, promote early diagnosis and lead to significant changes and improvements in healthcare.
In many of our cases we see first-hand how the investigative process and the litigation that follows lead to hospital systems being reviewed and new protocols and systems being introduced to prevent such events in the future.
On occasion, the litigation process uncovers the continual poor practice of specific individuals, such as surgeons. This may then be referred to the General Medical Council (GMC) or action taken by the Trust or organisation that employs him/her. Whilst the GMC is responsible for ensuring doctors' fitness to practice, it is questionable whether without the litigation process these 'rogue' practitioners would so often be identified, let alone sanctioned.
Where deaths occur, it can be lawyers who push for inquests to investigate what happened. The HJA team have advised on cases where, without intervention, the inquest would not have happened at all and yet the outcome was a finding of neglect by the Coroner.
Legal representation at inquests would be in jeopardy under the new proposals. In most circumstances the cost of representation in these important cases is recoverable where there is a successful clinical negligence claim. This is likely to change with fixed fees, curtailing solicitors from obtaining crucial evidence for a claim in addition to being part of the inquiry into the cause of a death. In those circumstances, families and friends of the deceased could be deprived of much needed support as well as help changing systems, which is primarily what families want.
In one of our most recent cases concerning the death of a baby, the inquest highlighted significant failings by the hospital and in the training of junior midwives. As a result the coroner said that he would meet with the chief executive of the hospital to ensure safe procedures were being adhered to and would be writing to the body responsible for training student midwives to consider whether that hospital was an appropriate place to train students given the series of failings identified.
In another recent inquest we acted on, examining the death of an elderly man, the investigation found that he died as a result of a stroke which was caused by a mistake in inserting feeding tubes into the patient's neck following an operation. The Coroner identified major problems with the supervision of junior doctors in the hospital, which is now seeking to make the necessary changes.
Without legal redress there are grave concerns that poor practice will not be addressed. Tackling this and providing training where it is needed will save the NHS money in the long term. Perversely, costs could increase as specialist solicitors screen most cases out, identifying when there is legal negligence as opposed to a complaint. The medical profession could be swamped by complaints that will have to be investigated or pursued either by less specialist lawyers or potentially by injured patients who, unable to obtain legal representation, will seek to represent themselves.
At present there is limited detail about the proposals. A more in-depth explanation is expected before the end of the year. I call on the Government to stop and, rather than rushing into the introduction of a new scheme, take time to understand how clinical negligence claims work. I ask that they conduct a robust and transparent review into the impact that LASPO is already having on fees, and take into account the role of litigation in driving changes in training, policy and guidance to practitioners ensuring best practice.
Without access to justice, patients will ultimately suffer which is why at Hodge Jones and Allen we have written to MPs in England and Wales, including the health minister Ben Gummer, to express our considerable concerns about the impact these proposals would have.
Nina Ali is a partner in the complex clinical negligence unit at Hodge Jones & Allen
PrevPreviousSpecial awards ceremony celebrates North West law students who are top of the class
NextMale Oxbridge-educated barristers from London chambers still more likely to become QCs despite major reformsNext


text:
QuotesTopicsAuthors
Search more than 36,000 Quotes by over 6,000 Authors.
Famous American poet, essayist and philosopher.
View Quotes >>
Famous American actress, model and singer.
German-born mathematician and theoretical physicist.
Twilight Quotes
Wise Quotes
View more topics >>
Your Favorite Quotes
If you like this page, please
Risks Quotes
Showing: 1 - 3 Risks Quotes of 3
A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens.
Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare, But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.
Sadi of Shiraz
Does not the history of the world show that there would have been no romance in life if there had been no risks?
Browse Page(s):
If you start by promising what you don't even have yet, you'll lose your desire to work towards getting it.
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
Success Quote
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
Wise Quote
No man is poor who has a Godly mother.
Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?
- Bob Marley
Home Page About Project Link to Us Tell a Friend Contact Us Privacy Policy Copyright Statement
All quotations on this website are the property and copyright of their respective authors. All quotations are provided for educational and informational purposes only.
Copyright © 2011 LifeQuotesLib.com. All Rights Reserved.


text:
"André Hoffmann studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and holds a MBA from INSEAD. In 1983, he became head of administration of the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat in the Camargue, France. In 1985, Mr. Hoffmann joined James Capel and Co., London as an associate on the Continental Desk. Later he became Manager for European Mergers and Acquisitions at James Capel and Co. Corporate Finance Ltd, London.
"In 1991, he joined Nestlé UK, London as a brand manager. In 1994, Mr. Hoffmann established a family office dealing with asset management and board directorships. He is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Roche Holding Ltd. as well as of the Board of Givaudan Ltd., a member of the Board of Brunswick Leasing Ltd, Amazentis SA, MedAssurant Inc. and INSEAD. He is Chairman of Nemadi Advisors Ltd, Living Planet Fund Management Co. and Massellaz S.A.
"Mr Hoffmann serves on the board of Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. and is Vice-President of WWF International. He also serves on the board of Global Footprint Network and other non-profit foundations." [1]
Trustee, Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Director, Global Footprint Network [2]
WWF International: Trustees
Related Sourcewatch articles
↑ Trustees, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, accessed February 7, 2011.
↑ Team, Global Footprint Network, accessed January 8, 2009.
Retrieved from "https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Andre_Hoffmann&oldid=510109"


After 8 years of running a mobile game development company and pivoting it to experiential marketing, I knew how hard it was to build successful products. Having worked over a wide range of programming domains over my career and with a product first mentality, I wanted to help solve real social problems with the skills I had gathered.
I found Sense Health to have the perfect recipe for me to join where I can contribute across all domains of my expertise, learn from amazing people around me and help produce a great social impact alongside it. Working at Sense has been phenomenal as the closely knit team is very open to suggestions and gives you complete freedom to help improve products from any angle you can.
In my free time I love travelling and cycling to nearby cities on a good day to explore the beautiful Dutch flat lands. On a lazy Sunday I would be fiddling with a machine learning experiment or making cool shaders for music visualisations.
Want to have a beer and just talk tech? Drop me a mail or catch me on Twitter!
At Sense I happily occupy myself with researching and developing context prediction algorithms and extending our Sense Android SDK.
I have a background in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence with a specialism in autonomous perceptive systems. Starting at Sense I moved to generic sensor data processing and laid the foundation for our Sensing Platform. I love to transform meaningless sensor data into user context information, which can help our users to gain insights in their personal development.
I enjoy working at Sense because we keep doing innovative research and development with a focus on health, and we're encouraged to keep up to date with the latest soft- and hardware technologies for our professional development.
In my spare time I also like to fiddle around with sensors to sniff and sense whatever's out there. Next to that I like to do sport climbing and I play the guitar.
Would you like to know more about what I do? Contact me.
Originating from Colombia, but working in Italy, I was looking for a next step in my career. My search string of keywords of 'smartphone', 'machine learning', 'activity recognition' and 'jobs' brought me to Sense Health and I haven't had a boring day since. It is an inspiring working environment with an exceptional team of different backgrounds and disciplines. It's work that I truly enjoy.
And yes of course, living in a modern city like Rotterdam has been great! Learning a bit of the Dutch culture, experiencing new lunch habits, sitting at the table and chatting about everyday life makes me feel welcome.
Want to join me during lunch? Send me an email!
While studying software engineering in the Netherlands, I applied for an internship position at Sense. I always wanted to develop software that solves problems in the human context, rather than book keeping software. Sense has exactly these kinds of projects.
Back then, Sense had a lot of pilot projects and was full of sensory hardware and gadgets. I had no idea what they were or what they did, but it made me excited.
It weren't just the gadgets that fascinated me about this small tech company. As a junior developer, there are two very important things that I wish to have at work: Smart colleagues whom I can learn from and interesting projects that I can stay excited about. Fortunately Sense has both of them.
Working at Sense means that you will get a lot of freedom and responsibility. For instance, right after the internship I started as a full time developer and after a few months I already became responsible for the iOS sensing platform. How awesome is that? I believe that this is a great environment to keep developing myself.
Do you have any questions about what I do? Feel free to email me.


"Honesty!Honesty!" A declared, recurrent, shouted watchword.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Metaphor of an honest, immaculate world, which is anthropologically finer than the filthy, nauseating world of all the others.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Moralists in the Halls of power, not respected political figures.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Political strategy, insight into society and the world, sense of belonging in politics.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Waging war against modernity and progress in the name of ethical diversity and cultural supremacy.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Pre-political status that falls outside the aptitude and capabilities of a decent manager.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Political debate reduced to a virtual scrutiny of criminal records.
"Honesty!Honesty!" Critical issue that is a lot more intricate than this watchword may suggest.
unbiased perspective that complicates things.


It was an unexpected love story in a small college town. While attending University of Mount Olive together, Sydney and Jacob met at a college party. Despite busy school schedules and later, living in different states, their bond only grew stronger. Eventually the two love birds moved in together, sharing a home in Florida where Sydney was able to finished her degree. In the summer of 2016, after Sydney's graduation ceremony, the couple walked to the center of the campus to take pictures. It was there that Jacob got down on one knee and asked Sydney to marry him.
For me, this wedding was the perfect way to wrap up 2018. Sydney is as sweet as she is beautiful and to her credit was one of the most laid-back, chill brides I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I have an obsessive love of all things floral, ALL the time and was delighted to see the lovely details Sydney chose for her wedding, like the array of pretty bridesmaids dresses, flower crowns and floral neckties. I have to give the wedding party credit for rocking the rehearsal like seasoned professionals. They also had the most creative & entertaining entrances that I've seen yet. Sydney & Jacob, their families and friends are wonderful, kind, funny people and I didn't want this wedding to end!


text:
Clonaria annulata är en insektsart som först beskrevs av John Obadiah Westwood 1859.  Clonaria annulata ingår i släktet Clonaria och familjen Diapheromeridae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Spökskräckor
annulata


Wondering what to wear on your fishing trip? While it may seem like you can wear whatever you want for a day of fishing, the truth is a poorly chosen outfit can quickly turn a fun day into a miserable one. Exactly what you wear will depend on the weather and the type of fishing you plan to do, but one thing will always be certain: you're going to get wet. Keep this is mind when you're rifling through your closet.
When you're layering your clothes for fishing in the cooler months, it's important to pay attention to the first layer, as it's the one that comes into contact with your skin. The last thing you want is to work up a sweat reeling in the big one and have your clothes retain that moisture for the rest of the day. Choose moisture-wicking inner layers made from wool or synthetic materials like polyester or nylon. Avoid cotton, as it holds moisture and encourages fungal growth like jock itch and athlete's foot. Go for soft textures that feel good on your skin. Comfort is essential. Wool and fleece are good choices for your second and third layers.
Waders are still a good choice if you'll be walking into deep water, but you can get away with less than this if you won't be going too far. For standing in very shallow water, for example, you can wear thick-soled river sandals designed to give you plenty of traction while keeping your feet cool. These are a good idea for surf fishing as well, since you can easily lose a pair of flip flops to the tide.
Things change. A sunny morning can develop into a rainy afternoon. A chilly, blustery morning can ripen into a hot day. A warm day can turn into a cold, wet evening. Play it smart by bringing backup options in case things don't go quite as planned. In summer, bring a lightweight, waterproof wind breaker and an extra pair of shorts. In winter, bring an extra set of warm clothes in case yours get wet. Having everything you need to stay comfortable allows you to focus on what's really important: catching that big fish!


New Scientific Evidence for Amblyopia Treatment…Two Eyes are Better than One!
Those of us who have had the privilege of years in practice, working with children in the optometric specialty of developmental vision, realize that few things surprise parents more than learning that their young child has subnormal vision in one eye. The observation on a mother's face when she learns that her happy-go-lucky 5-year-old little boy or girl has a form of reversible blindness known as Amblyopia (lazy eye) can be unsettling. More specifically, there exists a relatively common form of lazy eye known as Refractive Amblyopia which typically has no observable signs or behaviors. It exists even without an eye crossing eye condition (strabismus) that would alert the parent that something is wrong.
Sometimes a child is first identified by the Pre-Kindergarten School Screening and then referred to the primary care Optometrist. Other times it may be that the parent simply decided to have their child's eyes tested at the time when their child started to recognize their letters. What ever the reason for the child finally ending up in the eye doctor's examination chair, there are simply too many children diagnosed with Amblyopia beyond the age when it could have been prevented if detected in infancy. Even in spite of the good intentions of public health initiatives such as AOA's InfantSEE Project, a free infant vision assessment program offered by participating AOA optometrists designed for early detection and prevention of vision problems in baby's 1-12 months old, the incidence of Amblyopia is still at about 1:50 children.
In terms of Refractive Amblyopia, a child with this condition will have a serious refractive error in one eye compared to the other. For example, if there exists a significant amount of farsightedness and astigmatism in one eye while the other eye has no significant refractive error, then the large difference in focus exists between the two eyes. This in turn triggers an active response to suppress (turn off) the blurred visual signal from the eye with the large refractive error which in turn arrests the natural visual development that is needed in the baby's visual brain.
Therefore the cause of the subnormal vision (amblyopia) is due to a baby's brain shutting off the distorted signal from the "out of focus eye" which leads to the inhibition of neural development in the infant's visual brain. Plain and simple the child grows up and remains unable to see…even when diagnosed and the proper corrective lenses prescribed. Thus, Amblyopia, one of the most common forms of reversible blindness in children, is caused by a problem in binocular vision that happens during infant/toddler development.
Now when this occurs, not only is the mother surprised to hear that her child has a diagnosis of Amblyopia, she is even more surprised when she hears the prescribed treatment; that is when the treatment begins with a regimen of daily patching (occlusion therapy) of the child's good eye. The latest attempts to make the process of occlusion therapy more palatable involve thi ngs like cute looking decorator eye patches. Another approach is to reduce the patching time to only a few hours a day. And another creative approach to "patch without a patch" is with doctor prescribed Atropine eye drops instilled into the "good eye" thus cause blurring of the "good eye" and inducing a temporary form of pharmaceutical patching. Yes even though these are more creative approaches, the thought of having to put a child through the distress of forcing them see with a "bad eye" can be very stressful indeed for both the child and the parent.
After all, occlusion therapy is stressful to the child because, as far as the child is concerned, when they came in to the eye doct or they could see fine. They were a happy-go-lucky normal child. But when they leave the eye doctor, they find themselves forced to deal with the world, "one-eyed" and with blurry vision. This is also very stressful to the parents because they must now do their best, for the sake of their child's visual welfare, use their powers of parental influence to coherse their previously happy-go-lucky child to comply with a regimen of treatment that makes them face the world, "one-eyed" and with blurry vision. And yes, while Occlusion Therapy is evidence based treatment and the standard used by many eye doctors for patients with Amblyopia for nearly 100 years, universally kids hate the treatment and compliance becomes a family battle.
However, now there is good news! We are beginning to see the emergence of a new body of research in visual science that sheds light on an improved way to treat Amblyopia…and it does not rely completely on occlusion therapy. Just like modern science has found new and better methods to treat cataracts, modern science is now helping doctors to understand that it is better to treat the amblyopic patient with binocular vision therapy in conjunction with a more limited amount of occlusion (patching) therapy.
The new scientific evidence is showing for treatment of Amblyopia, two eyes are better than one !
What this means for patient care is that a child who is diagnosed with Amblyopia can still function as a normal "happy-go-lucky" child even with treatment. The new best practice treatment, that involves office-based doctor supervised optometric binocular vision therapy, will not only help the child "see", thus curing the amblyopia, but it gives the child the opportunity to develop normal 3-D vision (depth perception), eye hand coordination and many other visual skills. This leads to a more productive and happy life for the child.
So now, when a parent is faced with the realization that their child has subnormal vision in one eye due to Amblyopia, thanks to the new research and improved treatment options including binocular vision therapy…there is a happy ending!
Eye-Hand Coordination Skills in Children with and without Amblyopia– Dr. Barry Tannen Reviews in The VisionHelp Blog an important research article published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science in March 2011.
A list of 1 05 scientific papers published and accessable in Pub Med.gov, the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, showing the evidence-based research on the topic of binocular vision in the treatment of Amblyopia.
This is really fantastic! I will share your blog with others. My daughter, Jillian, wore a patch about 11 hours a day for 3 years. One of the consequences of this is that she is not now physically fit…OK, I'll say it, she is chubby. But, while all the other little girls were going to gymnastics, soccer, dance, playgrounds, etc., my child was inactive due to her limited sight. I'm glad the treatment is changing. Thank you!
Thank you Robin for sharing your insights and personal experiences of your daughter Jillian. You make an important point of the critical role vision makes on a child's self esteem and that when comprimised it can actually lead to less engagement in outdoor activities and three dimensional play. And thank you for your book too. Jillian's Story is inspirational.
Love it! Oddly, as I started reading this I felt anxious. I always do when reading about amblyopia and other vision research relevant to my little Stella. I guess it's because I'm waiting to find out that I'm going about it all wrong and that there is a better way! But this essentially describes our approach with Stella. I'm thrilled so see more and more validation of what feels like common sense to me. Stella's been patching with tape over her lens–which to us made full compliance less stressful and, well, possible–and for two hours a day. We are definitely in the minority, so it's wonderful to see this post and cited research backing us up. Honestly, I still worry about patching because our goal is for her eyes to work together and patching seems unhelpful in that regard. But Dr. T has assured me that the way we're doing it will not hurt eye teaming, and as patching is just one part of our treatment approach, it's easier to swallow. Stella's now doing gymnastics and has made huge gains in her ability to catch, and throw to a target.
Another thought–I know that esotropia can be very stressful as it can lead to decreased peripheral vision. I imagine that Stella's been "on guard" because of this. Patching seems to exacerbate that a bit. While patching is a necessary part of treatment and we have to do it even though it's hard, I am glad to see that the psychological impact is being respected, rather than dismissed, here.
Thank you Amber for your thoughtful comment. It is so good to hear that you have Dr. T working with Stella. She's the best! I completely agree that we can not dismiss the psychological impact that occlusion therapy can have on children. Which is why, with the new methods involving binocular vision therapy taking the dominant role, the negative impact of patching can be minimized.


The Spring Bonus Freebie includes two slide styles and one transition.
Both Standard (4x3) and Widescreen (16x9) formats are included.
Hi Mona Good morning ..
Thank you very much for the gift from Freebie Spring.
Is very beautiful, like everything you do.
Thanks for the Spring Freebie. As always they are great.
Mona, thanks for the Spring Freebie. It's neat!
Thanks so must for the Spring Freebie. Good job. I am enjoying all the styles that I have gotten from you. When I need a special styles, you come up with it just at the right time.
Thank you guys ! Thank you also for the many emails that I received !
I'm happy that you like the freebie.


text:
Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration
India: Mandate Of A Sole Arbitrator Can Not Be Terminated Solely On The Ground Of Retirement
by Ashmi Mohan and Sunit Mondal
Clasis Law
The Supreme Court in its recent decision in the matter of Laxmi Continental Construction Co. v. State of U.P.1 has clarified that the mandate of a sole arbitrator can not be terminated solely on the ground of their retirement.
FACTS OF THE CASE:
The Appellant entered into a contract with the Respondents whereby various disputes arose amongst the parties during the contract period. An arbitration clause was provided for under the contract, specifying that the disputes between the parties shall be resolved by the officer of the rank of superintending engineer or higher, who were not connected with the work under the contract. As per the provisions of the arbitration clause, a sole arbitrator was appointed who was the Chief Engineer at that point of time and the arbitration process commenced. Significantly, the timeline for completion of the arbitral proceedings and publishing of the arbitral award was extended from time to time on account of delays on the part of the Respondents and eventually, could not be completed within the timeline. During the pendency of the arbitration proceedings, the sole arbitrator retired from the post of Chief Engineer.
The Appellant filed an arbitration suit under Section 28 of the Arbitration Act, 1940 ("Arbitration Act") inter-alia praying for extension of time for conducting the arbitration proceedings and passing of the award. The said proceedings were objected to by the Respondents on the ground that since the Sole Arbitrator had already retired from his services, he should not be permitted to proceed with the arbitration. Subsequently, the Respondents also filed a miscellaneous suit, inter-alia, praying for declaration of the reference sent to the sole arbitrator as inoperative and illegal. The suits filed by the Appellant and the Respondents were heard together by the Civil Judge at Roorkee and disposed of by a common order extending the period of arbitration for 30 days and directing the sole arbitrator to decide the matter within the extended timeline.
Thereafter, the Arbitral Tribunal vide its award directed the Respondents to pay a total sum of Rs. 10,97,024 (Rupees Ten Lakhs Ninety Seven Thousand Twenty Four only) along with interest to the Appellant. Significantly, the Respondents filed their objections to the arbitral award under Section 30 and 33 of the Arbitration Act before Civil Judge, Roorkee. The said objections were dismissed by the Learned Civil Judge, leading to a further challenge by the Respondent before the High Court. Notably, the High Court vide its impugned order set aside the order of the Civil Judge primarily on the ground of retirement of the sole arbitrator from his post. As per the Hon'ble Court since the retired Arbitrator continued the arbitral proceedings even post his retirement, it was held that there was misconduct on his part. The impugned order of the High Court was challenged by the Appellant before the Supreme Court.
QUESTIONS OF LAW:
Whether the mandate of a department officer acting as an arbitrator comes to an end on his retirement?
Whether continuance of the arbitral proceedings by the arbitrator post his retirement could be said to be a misconduct of a sole arbitrator?
DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT:
With respect to the first question of law, the Supreme Court examined the arbitration clause in the Agreement and interpreted that the only qualification for the appointment as a sole arbitrator was that he should be an officer of the rank of a Superintending Engineer or higher. It was further held that once such an officer was appointed as the sole arbitrator, he would continue to be an arbitrator until the proceedings were completed, unless he incurred any disqualification under the provisions of the Arbitration Act. In this regard the Hon'ble Court relied on one of its earlier decision in Himalayan Construction Co. v. Executive Engineer Irrigation Division, J&K and Anr2, wherein the Supreme Court had overruled the objection that a sole arbitrator appointed by designation could not continue arbitral proceedings and pass an award upon his retirement. Accordingly, in the instant case, the Hon'ble Court reiterated that the mandate of the sole arbitrator would not be terminated upon his retirement.
While deciding upon the second question of law, the Supreme Court held that the sole arbitrator passed the arbitral award within the extended period of time granted by the Civil Judge, and therefore, no form of misconduct can be recorded on the part of the Arbitrator. The Hon'ble Court further observed that the parties had nowhere under the arbitration clause specified that the mandate of the sole arbitrator, appointed by designation, would terminate upon his retirement from the department.
The Supreme Court consequently quashed the judgment of the High Court and allowed the instant appeal.
1 2021 SCC OnLine SC 750
2 (2001) 9 SCC 359
Ashmi Mohan
Sunit Mondal
India Employment and HR Retirement, Superannuation & Pensions Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration from India
Indian Arbitration Yearly Roundup: 25 Important Arbitration Judgments Of 2021
Phoenix Legal
In recent years, various Indian courts have delivered decisions that have aimed to reduce the scope of intrusion in the arbitral process and make India an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction.
Can Appointment Of An Arbitrator Be Challenged Post The Passing Of Final Award?
Kachwaha & Partners
Sections 12 – 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 ('the Act') deal with challenge of the composition and jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal.
Articles 226 And 227 Of The Constitution Of India – Their Scope, Powers And Differences
The jurisdiction of 226 and 227 is vast and has to be exercised sparingly.
Indian Courts On Arbitration – 2021
Dua Associates
In 2021, the Supreme Court of India and High Courts rendered decisions on various aspects of arbitration law. In their line of judgment, the courts continued the pro-arbitration and minimal interference trend.
Significant Judgments On Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 - May, 2020 To July, 2020
Argus Partners
This compilation seeks to identify the significant developments in arbitration law by the courts of India after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supreme Court Clarifies That The General Phraseology Of A Contract Cannot Constitute Agreement To Apply Statutory Amendments To The Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996 Retrospectively.
The Supreme Court in its recent judgment in the matter of Ratnam Sudesh Iyer v. Jackie Kakubhai Shroff has held that an amendment made to Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996...
Between The Lines... January 2022 Vaish Associates Advocates
Disputes Newsletter - Quarter [Oct-Dec 2021] Acuity Law
Can Additional Grounds Of Appeal Be Raised In An Appeal Filed Under Section 37 Of The Arbitration And Conciliation Act, 1996? AKS Partners
Continuing Wrong Or Continuing Injury? : Supreme Court's Latest Guidance On The Law Relating To Continuing Cause Of Action RPV Legal
Supreme Court Of India Further Extended The Suspension Of Limitation Period/timelines Under General And Special Laws LexOrbis
Alternative Investment Funds
Aviation Regulation
Arbitration, Litigation and Conciliation
Enforcing Institutional Arbitration Awards In The US-India Corridor
Khaitan & Co
Webinar Mumbai India


text:
Home » Authors » Achyut Yagnik
Achyut Yagnik
Greenpeace Ban: Violation of Rights
Vol. 50, Issue No. 17, 25 Apr, 2015
A Vaidyanathan, Achin Vanaik, Achyut Yagnik, Anand Patwardhan, and many others from different parts of India, Aruna Roy, Ashish Kothari, Bittu Sahgal, Claude Alvares, Gautam Navlakha, Harsh Mander, Justice H Suresh, Madhuri Krishanaswami, Medha Patkar, Meenal Tatpati, Nikhil Dey, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rajeev Dhavan, Ravi Nair, Shabnam Hashmi, Shripad Dharmadhikary, Sudha Bharadhwaj, Tapan Bose
(The following are extracts from an open letter sent to the Minister of Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, protesting against the decision to freeze Greenpeace India's accounts.) The move by the central government to freeze Greenpeace India's bank accounts and block sources of funds, is a blatant...
Read more about Greenpeace Ban: Violation of Rights
Whither Gujarat?
Vol. 37, Issue No. 11, 16 Mar, 2002
Achyut Yagnik, Suchitra Sheth
Large-scale looting, arson and even mass burning are not new for Gujarat. But last fortnight, the violence took unbelievably brutal forms. The collapse of the state was evident - even the symbols of the institutions of the state were under attack . What kind of forces have generated this ugly metamorphosis in Gandhi's Gujarat? Perhaps more than anything else it is the changing self-perceptions of the modernising and rapidly growing middle classes, their search for a new identity and structures of domination and the lack of a significant radical challenge from below.
Read more about Whither Gujarat?
GUJARAT-Holiday from Labour Laws
Achyut Yagnik, Shalini Randeria
GUJARAT Holiday from Labour Laws Shalini Randeria Achyut Yagnik THERE was a time when the feudal lords approached the Pope for Dispensations from the rigours of Canonic Laws. To prop up the Papal System these Dispensations were granted for a price. Fortunately for the powers that be, such medieval practices have not died out in present- day Gujarat, as may be seen from the following report from the Ahmedabad editions of Times of India of August 6:
Read more about GUJARAT-Holiday from Labour Laws
GUJARAT-Paradoxes of Populism
GUJARAT Paradoxes of Populism Achyut Yagnik THE present battle royal between the two bosses of Gujarat Congress (I), Madhavsinh Solanki, the chief minister, and Zinabhai Darji, the Executive Chairman of the 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee, which started in the first week of August 1983 will decide, in the end, not only the political future of these bosses but the future character and culture of Congress (I) in Gujarat The immediate result might be a reshuffle of the cabinet and/or a changing of the guard at GPCC(I), but as Solanki and Darji are both aiming at the next election, the winner will decide the caste-class composition of the Congress (I) candidates and in the process will redefine or readjust the social base of the party. Since 1980, the power struggle in Gujarat Congress (I) has taken dramatic twists and turns with leaders rapidly changing places. During the last general election there were three established bosses in Gujarat Congress (I): Ratubhai Adani from Saurash- tra, Zinabhai Darji from South Gujarat and Madhavsinh Solanki from Central Gujarat. Each of them had been at one time GPCC(I) president and belongs to a common political clan, that of Morarji Desai. They divided amongst themselves not only the respective areas of their operation but also their quota of candidates for the 1980 election. Additionally, there was another small group, that of the ex- PSP members led by Sanat Mehta. the present finance minister and No 2 in the cabinet, the Harijan leader, Nar- sinh Makwana, MP, and Sarvodaya leader Harivallabh Parikh. These three were associated with Darji since 1975 and were close to him within Congress (I).
Read more about GUJARAT-Paradoxes of Populism
Civil Rights Literacy
Achyut Yagnik, Sujata Patel
August 13, 1983 No 402, Washington DC; 231-315.
Read more about Civil Rights Literacy
GUJARAT- Mobilising Rural Dalits
 GUJARAT Mobilising Rural Dalits Shalini Randeria Achyut Yagnik THE anti-reservation movement in Gujarat ended in April 1981, but the social and economic boycott of Dalits in rural areas continues. In a climate of increasing mistrust and widening social distance between upper castes Dalits, the latter are subjected to continual , harassment, being refused work, denied milk and newspapers in the villages, In central Gujarat, in southern parts of Mehasana district and in areas around Ahmedabad, Dalit landless labourers are being replaced by Bhil tribals of Panchmahal With growing awareness among the Dalits, and the demand for statutory minimum agricultural wages (revised from Rs 5.50 to Rs 9 in 1982), the offensive against them has assumed serious proportions. According to official statistics, last year on an average, one Dalit was murdered in Gujarat every fortnight. Any one familiar with rural Gujarat will realise that tin's is a grass underestimate, as most murders of Dalits by high-caste landlords are passed off as 'accidents'. The modus operandi of the rural elite, and the complicity of lower-level bureaucrats and politicians in the atrocities on Dalits, is illustrated by these two incidents in Sabarkantha District which these correspondents visited recently.
Read more about GUJARAT- Mobilising Rural Dalits
GUJARAT-Second Phase in Caste War
 WITH the unconditional withdrawal or the strike by the non-reserved Gujarat Sachivalaya employees on May 23, the second phase of the agitation also seems to have ended. During the second phase, the issue changed from reservation in post-graduate medical education to promotion by roster system in government services; the venue shifted from Ahmeda- bad to Gandhinagar; and the agitators were not medical students but government employees. The target had however remained the same
Read more about GUJARAT-Second Phase in Caste War
GUJARAT-Spectre of Caste War
tolerant and non-violent has been exploded. The anti-reservation stir of the medicos which began in Ahmedabad on December 31, 1980, has now acquired an anti-government thrust, replacing the anti-Harijan thrust that was dominant till about a fortnight ago.
Read more about GUJARAT-Spectre of Caste War


text:
Biskupin je archeologické naleziště, rekonstruovaný model starověkého osídlení a skanzen v Polsku, 8 km na jih od městečka Żnin v Kujavsko-pomořském vojvodství. Jde o za nejvýznamnější archeologické naleziště v Polsku, nejstarší nálezy pocházejí z 8. století před naším letopočtem, tedy z pozdní doby bronzové. Někdy je areál přezdíván "polské Pompeje" nebo "polské Herculaneum", neboť lokalita byla dlouho ztracena pod vodou a nánosy bahna, jež paradoxně konzervovaly dřevo použité ke stavbě. Lokalita se nachází na bažinatém poloostrově u jezera Biskupin, původně šlo patrně o vodní pevnost uprostřed jezera, obehnanou dubovou palisádou. Hradba byla dlouhá více než 450 metrů a dosahovala až šestimetrové výšky a třímetrové šířky. Před ní se nacházely dřevěné vlnolamy. Analýza stáří dřeva určila dobu stavbu na roky 747–722 př. n. l.

Když byla lokalita v roce 1933 objevena, způsobila senzaci a vyvolala mnoho veřejných diskusí, neboť byla považována za raný důkaz západoslovanského osídlení. Tento názor zastával profesor Poznaňské univerzity Józef Kostrzewski, který prováděl první archeologický výzkum. Tento názor začal hrát rychle politickou roli v souboji s nacistickou propagandou hlásající nárok Němců na polské území vzhledem ke starověkému osídlení germánskými kmeny. Roku 1936 badatelé Poznaňské univerzity vytvořili na místě model v původní velikosti, proudily sem davy turistů, politiků i vojáků. Po německé okupaci Polska se profesor Kostrzewski musel skrývat před gestapem a nacističtí archeologové se pokoušeli dokázat germánský původ místa, ale bez úspěchu. Na konci druhé světové války se proto německá armáda pokusila areál zničit zatopením. Po válce byla voda odčerpána a skanzen byl obnoven. Archeologický výzkum, jejž převzal Zdzisław Rajewski, trval do roku 1976, přesto bylo zmapováno jen 75 procent areálu a velká jeho část byla raději zasypána, aby se dřevo zcela nerozpadlo. Většina historiků názor o původně slovanském osídlení postupně opustila, toto osídlení je dnes připisováno etnicky nejasné lužické kultuře, jež nebyla jistě ani germánskou, ani slovanskou.

Skanzen je národní kulturní památkou Polska (pomnik historie). Místo spravuje Národní archeologické muzeum ve Varšavě. V září se zde každý rok pořádá vzdělávací archeologický festival.

Odkazy

Reference

Externí odkazy

Archeologické lokality v Polsku
Skanzeny v Polsku
Muzea v Polsku
Dějiny Polska