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Charli XCXorcism
Alan • FT • charl xcx/old man/Pop • 7 comments • 571 views
I need to stop listening to this damn album, so I'm writing in this ever expanding box on the internet, the geography of the mind map I find myself in. Just in the hope that I can move on – just a little – to the next grid reference. I feel sorry for poor Little Boots and even Rudimental who only got a couple of weeks before relegation to listening time's opportunity cost.
Every now and then an album digs its many hooks into me and just gloms on and drags me through a cycle of compulsive listening, through a trough of listening and hating-that-I'm-listening-to-it to to the exclusion of all else, and through to the other side to a place where I can consider leaving it, maybe a week, before coming back later with an 'oh, yes this IS still awesome'. During that, listening out of order is hard (such an album rockist), and the point where I'm skipping around is the point where I know I'm on the voyage home to sanity.
This mania happened to me most recently with the Nero album (yeah, what of it?) but not as intensely (I found quite a few tracks on it patchy in the end), and I have to go back to when I lost all perspective over Late of the Pier (2008, 9?).
Which I think was also the last time I went to a gig (thinks again that doesn't sounds right, wait there was that Scooter gig). And I did get to the point with Charli of hovering over a BUY button for an Islington Academy gig a few weeks back now. I had to stop myself, because then it started to feel creepy.
Download This! 2002
1 Jan 2003 101. THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – 'My Elastic Eye': 'It sounds exactly like an elastic eye!' said Fred S. I scoffed, but you know what? – it does! Though maybe more a clockwork one – but the wobbly fuzz-bass still sounds like it's looking, even probing the track for something. Every music-box noise here is luxurious […]
The Magic Mill
23 Apr 2000 My first encounter with the exotic was on the Magic Mill at Thorpe Park, a South-East England theme park which from appearances had originally been based around a cramped zoo or city-farm set-up. At some point in the late 70s it had seemingly panicked, though, and parked itself up in order to survive. With its […]
BRITNEY SPEARS – "…Baby One More Time"
29 Sep 2014 #817, 21st February 1999 How was I supposed to know that something wasn't right? It was a gilded age: the commercial zenith of the music industry at the end of the 20th century. In America, its apex as a money-making force came in 1999 when – adjusted for inflation – $71 per head was spent […]
WHITE TOWN – "Your Woman"
4 Feb 2014 #757, 25th January 1997 In 1997, talking about music on the Internet means USENET, a Gormenghast of diverging and reconnecting fora whose goblin tribes gleefully rampage through each other's chosen lairs: a thread will start on alt.music.prodigy, then careen into alt.music.spice-girls via alt.music.misc, while Discordians and trolls plot to spread it still further. Still, there […]
The Sound Barrier Podcast: 1: The Lost World / The Lost City Of Z
3 Apr 2017 So for a while myself and Pamela Hutchinson, of Silent London fame have been talking about doing a more regular podcast. And while we love talking about silent films, we also like new films too. And so The Sound Barrier was born over a Campari Spritz or four, we take a new release and we […]
Number Ones Of 1975: Which would you have given 6 or more to?
STATUS QUO - "Down Down"
THE TYMES - "Ms Grace"
PILOT - "January"
STEVE HARLEY AND COCKNEY REBEL - "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)"
TELLY SAVALAS - "If"
BAY CITY ROLLERS - "Bye Bye Baby"
MUD - "Oh Boy"
TAMMY WYNETTE - "Stand By Your Man"
WINDSOR DAVIES AND DON ESTELLE - "Whispering Grass"
10CC - "I'm Not In Love"
JOHNNY NASH - "Tears On My Pillow"
BAY CITY ROLLERS - "Give A Little Love"
TYPICALLY TROPICAL - "Barbados"
THE STYLISTICS - "I Can't Give You Anything But My Love"
ROD STEWART - "Sailing"
DAVID ESSEX - "Hold Me Close"
ART GARFUNKEL - "I Only Have Eyes For You"
DAVID BOWIE - "Space Oddity"
BILLY CONNOLLY - "D.I.V.O.R.C.E."
QUEEN - "Bohemian Rhapsody"


Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, Boston : Houghton Mifflin, ©2008.
Cross-Cultural Dialogues on Homelessness : From Pretreatment Strategies to Psychologically Informed Environments.
Publisher: Ann Arbor, MI, USA : Loving Healing Press, Incorporated, 2018.
When behavior disrupts the physician-healer.
Publisher: Minneapolis : Johnson Institute Books, 1987.
Publisher: Seattle, Wash. : Black Heron Press & Health Education Productions, ©1988.


We are social beings who want to belong. Our problems are therefore social problems: problems of relationship and problems of interactions. We want to find our place in a group. Even if we want to ignore the group, we find we are still defining ourselves in terms of the group. Belonging to a group is of primary importance to each of us. It is equally important to have the ability to cooperate and contribute to a group: this is defined a having social interest. A well-adjusted person has social interest: she/he is aware of what is needed by the group and is able to respond positively to these needs. A maladapted person is overly concerned with her/his needs and puts himself, with mistaken goals, before the group. A maladjusted person frequently has a personal feeling of inferiority.
We are all active participants in our lives striving from a felt minus position to a perceived plus position. We all want to feel positively about ourselves and seek a plus position. We are active participants in our lives. We react and we act. We decide what we want to do. We are not victims of circumstances nor of drives. We do not always consciously know why we act the way we do, but we are in charge. Therefore, we can change. If we are powerless to change the situation, we can decide how we will react to it. We are self-determined.
Our behavior is goal-directed or purposive. We are oftentimes unaware of the purpose of our strivings and behaviors, but they do have a purpose. They are goal oriented. Most non-Adlerian efforts to understand behavior are directed towards causes, but causes can only be speculated upon and usually cannot be changed. Different individuals react to causes differently. Of course, different individuals react to different goals differently also, but goals can be changed. Once recognized, the changing of a goal offers a choice. One may change, a fact which is encouraging, or one may remain with the goal, but is aware of it.
We give meaning to life. Reality is as we perceive it."It is not what happened to us, but how we feel about it," according to Dreikurs. There is no absolute truth, but only the meaning and truth that we feel and assign. Therefore, although we cannot change the events of the past, we can change the meanings that we assign to them. We cannot change the present and our situation, but we can change the meaning that we assign to it. We can decide if we are disabled or handicapped in any way. Life is subjective, not absolute. What may be a disability to one person is only a life challenge to another. We decide. We give meaning.
People are holistic. The whole individual is made up of various parts (thoughts, feelings, actions, dreams, memories, physiology). Viewed differently the parts include the personality, the genetics, the environment, and the history. All of these are parts that form the individual. The whole is always more than the sum of its parts. A part can never be understood by itself. To understand the individual, we must look at the whole person, not at each isolated part. We can look for a pattern into which the details of the parts fit. We can look for a theme consistent with the pattern. In this way we can find a theme or a pattern to understand the individual.


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Delaware Court of Chancery retains jurisdiction in dispute over LLC member redemption agreements
Delaware's Court of Chancery is not a court of general jurisdiction, and in a recent case involving an LLC's redemption agreements, the defendant LLC sought dismissal on grounds that Chancery did not have subject matter jurisdiction. Duff v. Innovative Discovery LLC, No. 7599-VCP, 2012 WL 6097660 (Del. Ch. Dec. 7, 2012) (slip op.). Relying on provisions in Delaware's LLC Act, the court retained jurisdiction.
Background. Edward Carp and Bruce Duff were members of Innovative Discovery, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. In February 2012 Carp and Duff entered into two separate but identical Redemption Agreements with Innovative, and the LLC redeemed their member interests. Carp and Duff also caused Delaware Document Imaging, LLC (DDI) to enter into a License Agreement with Innovative. The License Agreement was an exhibit to each of the Redemption Agreements, and was incorporated by reference into the Redemption Agreements. Carp and Duff also entered into separate Consulting Agreements with Innovative.
Later a dispute over the Redemption Agreements arose, and Carp, Duff and DDI filed suit in June 2012 against Innovative in the Delaware Court of Chancery. They asserted claims for breach of the Redemption Agreements, the License Agreement, and the Consulting Agreements. Innovative then filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on grounds that the Court of Chancery lacked subject matter jurisdiction and that venue was improper, and for failure to state a claim.
Court's Analysis. The court began by recognizing that the Court of Chancery is one of limited jurisdiction and that there are only three ways by which it can acquire subject matter jurisdiction over a case: (1) the invocation of an equitable right, (2) a request for an equitable remedy when there is no adequate remedy at law, or (3) a statute has conferred subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at *4. If part of a controversy involves legal as well as equitable claims, the court has discretion to decide the legal portions of the dispute as well as the equitable aspects. Id.
Innovative argued that the plaintiffs' complaint was essentially seeking damages for breaches of the agreements and therefore there was no basis for the court's equity jurisdiction, but the plaintiffs argued that Section 18-111 of the Delaware LLC Act conferred jurisdiction:
Any action to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of a limited liability company agreement, or the duties, obligations or liabilities of a limited liability company to the members or managers of the limited liability company, or the duties, obligations or liabilities among members or managers and of members or managers to the limited liability company, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, the limited liability company, members or managers, or any provision of this chapter, or any other instrument, document, agreement or certificate contemplated by any provision of this chapter, may be brought in the Court of Chancery.
(Emphasis added.) The plaintiffs contended that Section 18-111 provided two bases for Chancery's jurisdiction over their claim. The first was that their claim for breach of the Redemption Agreements was an action to enforce "the duties, obligations or liabilities of a limited liability company to the members."
The plaintiffs' second invocation of Section 18-111 was that their claim for breach of the Redemption Agreements sought to enforce an "instrument, document, agreement or certificate contemplated by any provision of this chapter." They looked to Section 18-702(e) of the LLC Act, which states that unless otherwise provided in the LLC agreement, "a limited liability company may acquire, by purchase, redemption or otherwise, any limited liability company interest or other interest of a member."
Innovative argued for a limited interpretation of § 18-111, contending that the phrase "may be brought" in § 18-111 means that actions of the type described in § 18-111 may only be brought if the claim involved is equitable in nature, and that even if the equity requirement is met, the Court of Chancery has discretion to decline jurisdiction. The court rejected both parts of this argument, holding that there is no requirement for an independent, equitable basis for jurisdiction if § 18-111 is satisfied, and that the court does not have discretion to decline the jurisdiction if § 18-111 is satisfied. The statute's use of the word "may," said the court, means that plaintiffs have a choice of filing in the Court of Chancery or in another forum, not that Chancery has discretion to decline jurisdiction when Section 18-111's requirements are met. Id. at *6.
The court concluded that redemption agreements are explicitly contemplated by § 18-702, and that therefore § 18-111 conferred jurisdiction on the court to hear Carp's and Duff's claims for breach of their Redemption Agreements. Id. The court also asserted jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' remaining claims, under the "cleanup doctrine": "[i]f a controversy contains any equitable feature by means of which a court could acquire cognizance of it, the court may go on to a complete adjudication." Id. at *7. The court found the claims for breach of the Redemption Agreements to be closely intertwined with the plaintiffs' other claims, and that severing those claims would undermine judicial efficiency.
Venue. Innovative argued that the plaintiffs' claims for breach of the License Agreement should be dismissed because that agreement had a venue clause mandating that the sole venue for any litigation was in California. The plaintiffs pointed out that the Redemption Agreements had language incorporating by reference the terms of the License Agreements, and that the Redemption Agreements had a permissive jurisdiction clause that allowed suit to be brought in Delaware.
The court read the contracts together and found the result ambiguous because of the two conflicting venue provisions. Delaware will not interpret a contractual venue provision to be exclusive unless the contractual language is "crystalline," and the court therefore refused to dismiss the claims on the License Agreement for being brought in the wrong venue. Id. at *11-12. The court also rejected the motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Id. at *11.
Comment. Jurisdiction and venue are fundamental legal concepts, and it's a treat to see the court's dissection of them in this case.
Delaware's Court of Chancery is highly respected for its expertise in corporate and LLC law, and is often attractive to business litigators for its expedited procedures and the absence of juries. But it is a specialized court and not a court of general jurisdiction, and this case is a good reminder that there are limits on its jurisdiction.
The good news for LLC lawyers is that most disputes involving the internal governance of LLCs, such as disputes between members, managers, and the LLC, will fall within the LLC Act's grant of jurisdiction to the Court of Chancery at Section 18-111. Chancery's jurisdiction is not exclusive, so a claimant can always choose an alternative forum. Delaware's General Corporation Law provides a similar grant of jurisdiction for corporate disputes at Section 111.
The venue dispute in this case is an example of a scenario I have seen more than once: inconsistent boilerplate provisions in separate written agreements that cover different aspects of a single transaction. Often the differences in the boilerplate provisions (matters such as governing law, venue, attorneys' fees, arbitration, etc.) are not the result of considered analysis but simply reflect the fact that the different agreements were prepared by different attorneys working on the deal but not coordinating closely enough. This case shows the result: ambiguity and unenforceability of the exclusive venue provision in the License Agreement.
Subject-matter jurisdiction
Six questions to ask about your product warranties *
Amendment of operating agreement by less than all members *
Tribal law alert: all Indian tribes can lease tribal land without BIA approval *
An LLC's property is not the members' property *
Delaware LLC agreement's voting rules held not to bar member action by written consent *
Duff v. Innovative Discovery LLC, C.A. No. 7599-vcp (Del. Ch. Dec. 7, 2012) (Parsons, V.C.) *
Chancery Court Enforces LLC Agreement's Forum Selection Clause in Fee Advancement Claim *
CML v, LLC v. Bax, no. 735, 2010 (Del. Sept. 6, 2011) (Steele, C.J.) *
Paul Neary
CIE Group
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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On 11/13/22 around 1:52am, Officers were dispatched to 4611 S. Jackson (Koronazz) to assist another agency with an arrest. It was learned that Criminal Investigator Steven Carnes (53yoa) was working off duty security at this location and was attempting to affect an arrest.
While assisting Carnes, SAPD Officers observed that Carnes appeared to be having a medical emergency. SAPD Officers immediately requested medical assistance and the SAFD arrived on scene to assist.
Carnes was transported to Shannon Medical Center via the SAFD where he was later pronounced deceased.
SAPD's Criminal Investigations Division were requested on scene and a death investigation was conducted. After the investigation was conducted, it was determined that Carnes' death was not criminal in nature.
Carnes served nearly 30 years in Law Enforcement and was currently commissioned as a Criminal Investigator with the District Attorney's Office.
The SAPD offers its deepest condolences to both the Carnes' Family and the District Attorney's office.
No arrests were made during the course of this incident, but charges may be filed at a later point in time for the offenses made prior to Carnes' medical emergency.


"A word that has been spoken is like a stone that has been thrown – it cannot be taken back".
How true. What else has such power to delight or destroy, illuminate or mystify, maim, enrapture or enamour? Oral traditions have spanned centuries, cultures and continents. One such tradition, the 'dying art' of storytelling, is well and truly revived in this latest coalescence of live music and spoken word from the Devil's Violin Company.
'Be prepared to be transported', declares their website. Confidence, indeed, but not misplaced. In the beautifully lit Divinity School of the Bodleian library, Daniel Morden (story), Oliver Wilson-Dickson (violin), Sarah Moody (cello) and Luke Carver Goss (accordion) did indeed transport me to another world. A world in which the words of Shakespeare and Chaucer can play together in Camelot; where truth, honour, justice and – who'd have thought it – gender equality, prevail, and where the enduring power of love cannot be defiled by thwarted desire.
'What do women desire the most?' said Queen Guinevere to the knight. One could describe last night's premiere performance as a trilogy of folk tales, each in two parts, suspended and then revisited, mirroring their content of bitter partings and sweet reunions. Precisely crafted, this combination of prose and music was as strong and rhythmic as a flowing tide, yet as hauntingly ethereal as a flower drizzled in morning dew. Additionally – and refreshingly – in no way were the musicians merely 'accompaniment': whilst the instrumental music was far better than the vocal, without either, frankly, even Daniel Morden's extraordinary stage presence would not have kept me mesmerised, as it did, for the best part of ninety minutes.
Although based on known works, the script and music were almost entirely original. According to an after-show discussion with the crew, they were orchestrated and rehearsed to the level of a breath's pause. One might argue that this moves storytelling away from what was an improvised, informal activity within families and communities (before television and Facebook blunted the art of conversation), to a stylised and commercial 'performance art'. Well, it probably does. But I feel that there is room for both, particularly when the latter is such a joy to watch, and when its simplicity belies the skill required to create it. Even if scripted, to tell a tale for so long without repetition, hesitation or deviation (have they considered auditioning for a certain Radio 4 show?) is no mean feat. To weave words with gentle humour, unmarred by excessive irony, self-consciousness or unnecessary playing to the audience, to engender total, childlike absorption in any story, is to be applauded wholeheartedly.
If you want a memorable and delightful evening – and to understand the meaning of the title – do not miss their next performance at the North Wall Arts Centre on 17th May. But if you want to know what women desire the most, probably best just to ask one.


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Humanities West
All Past Programs
Category: 2008-2009 season
Confronting Napoleon: European Culture at the Crossroads
The institution-shattering forces unleashed by the French Revolution were successfully refocused upon Europe by Napoleon. The French tide swept over the continent, and even across the Mediterranean, leaving the remnants of many ancien regimes refashioned in its wake. The responses to France's reassertion of cultural preeminence varied from uncritical enthusiasm to repugnance, and from nuanced appreciation to the love-hate affair the Russian aristocracy carried on for the next century. Napoleon invaded Egypt yet crafted enlightened policy sympathetic to Islam, resurrected Roman civil law, inspired Beethoven, challenged Goethe and Tolstoy to think again, and bankrolled a return to grandeur in the fine arts. Only the British successfully resisted both his armies and his cultural influence.
Moderator: Roger Hahn, Emeritus Professor, Graduate School, UC Berkeley
8 pm to 10:15 pm
Napoleon — the Grandeur Restored
Keynote Address by Steven Englund (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and American University of Paris [now part of New York University])
Napoleon the man, Napoleon the general, and Napoleon the Emperor; what elements led to the election and rise to power of the 27-year-old minor Italian nobleman? Napoleon provided the promise of glory for the French following the horrors of the revolution, but many additional factors influenced his ability to mesmerize the world.
Napoleon and the Visual Arts
Michael Marrinan (Stanford University)
Napoleon spent lavishly on the arts of all media: from grand-scale projects of architecture to finely-wrought personal objects; from wall-sized paintings to books and prints; from monumental sculptures to porcelains of extreme elegance. Across this broad spectrum of patronage, no single style can be called emblematic of the Empire. How could it? Napoleon emerged from the ruins of the First Republic to erect a government of social and political elites that mirrored the hierarchies of the old monarchy without renouncing completely the achievements of the Great Revolution. Artists were asked for imagery and symbols to legitimate Napoleonic rule as both a break from the past and an extension of it. Thus, the Emperor's coronation invoked Charlemagne as historical pedigree to bypass conveniently the line of kings ousted by the Revolution. Public works of classical allusion figured Paris as the new Rome and center of a new Empire. By contrast, history painters were encouraged to break with the Academy's preference for antiquity by commissioning pictures of contemporary events in modern dress. Sculptors exchanged heroic nudes for military heroes in uniform. Designers of interiors, furnishings, and objects for Napoleon did not eschew the craft and elegance of pre-Revolutionary aristocratic culture, but reshaped them with a functional sobriety in tune with the Emperor's rationalist pragmatism. A survey of the arts under Napoleon will demonstrate that aesthetic productions of the Empire mirror the myriad political contradictions of their patron.
10:00 am-12 noon and 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Napoleon — Napoleonic Code, Administration Highlights
Laurent Mayali (UC Berkeley Law School)
This lecture focuses on the civil law reforms instituted by Napoleon, and the other positive cultural legacies of his short-lived empire.
Tolstoy's Napoleon: A Dethronement
Luba Golburt (UC Berkeley)
Napoleon was an enigmatic leader, possessed of great charisma and strategic insight. This is precisely the image that the iconoclast Leo Tolstoy consistently undermines throughout his monumental War and Peace. This lecture traces some of the stages of Napoleon's dethronement in the novel, examining Napoleon the character's physique, mannerisms, and his mistaken notions of hero-centered adoration.
Ludwig van Beethoven on Napoleon
Pianist Teresa Yu (San Francisco Conservatory)
A performance of Beethoven's virtuosic "Eroica Variations," Op. 35, a set of fifteen variations for solo piano dating from 1802, and based on the same theme Beethoven used in the finale of his "Eroica" Symphony (No. 3), composed the following year and originally dedicated to Napoleon. Typical of the groundbreaking composer, he makes important departures from the standard theme-and-variations form, including a masterful fugue as the finale.
Egyptomania or Orientalism?: Painting Napoleon Bonaparte's Egypt
Juan Cole (University of Michigan)
The painters who, in subsequent decades, took up the themes of Bonaparte's Egyptian conquest contrasted splendor and squalor, courage and barbarism, science and fanaticism, masculine vigor and feminine languor. In their stereotypes of East and West, and in the ways that they referred back to traditions of depicting the Orient, some used the expedition as a canvass on which to imagine a Middle East that Europe could and should dominate. Others explored the barbarity of Bonaparte's own military policies, turning the French expedition into a critique of Western militarism. These differences among the painters reflected European struggles over values of peace versus imperialism as the nineteenth century unfolded.
A discussion with questions from the Audience.
Juan Cole, History, U Michigan
Steven Englund, History, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Luba Golburt, Slavic Studies, UC Berkeley
Roger Hahn, History, UC Berkeley
Laurent Mayali, Law, UC Berkeley
Michael Marrinan, Art History, Stanford
Teresa Yu, Dean, Santa Clara University
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Posted in: 2008-2009 season, Performances
India Rising: Tradition Meets Modernity
India's artists, in pace with their country's rapid modernization, have adopted many contemporary techniques. Yet past traditions remain strong. Familiar themes and modern modes of expression interplay with fruitful creative tension. Abstract and surrealist artists incorporate images of legendary gods and heroes in their work, and musicians create exciting new sounds in collaboration with Western jazz and classical performers. Literature and cinema with rural village scenes compete with others featuring urban landscapes, Indian-American cultural fusion, and the seductive joys of Bollywood. The result: unique new delights for the eye, the ear, and the spirit.
Moderator: Raka Ray (Sarah Kailath Chair in Indian Studies, Chair of the Center for South Asia Studies, and Associate Professor of Sociology and South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley)
Special Pre-program Performance:
Indian Classical Musicians Joanna Mack and Tim Witter
Joanna Mack began her pursuit of Classical North Indian Music in 1997. While studying Neuroscience at UCSD, she attended a Classical Indian Music class with sitar virtuoso Kartik Seshadri, a senior disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar of the Maihar Gharana. She had been involved in Western music since childhood but was immediately drawn to Indian music. She abandoned her plan for medical school and devoted herself to Indian Classical Music. Kartikji recommended her to Pandit Deepak Choudhuri, another senior disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. That year, Joanna traveled to India where she studied under him through 2005. Joanna then returned to the United States, promising Deepakji that she would continue her studies and pass on the values and ideas of the Maihar Gharana. She teaches private and group classes and performs in a variety of venues. She continues her studies with classes under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Musicand is under the guidance of Maestro Kartik Seshadri.
Tim Witter began his tabla training with Ustad Alla Rakha in 1980. He has studied since 1985 with Pandit Swapan Chauduri, the resident tabla teacher at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He has made numerous trips to India for study and performance, and in 1994-1995 completed a research/performance grant awarded to him by the American Institute of Indian Studies. Tim has taught at the Ali Akbar College of Music in Basel, Switzerland and has performed throughout Europe. Currently he is a staff teacher at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California as well as being an active performer and composer in Bay Area Indian classical and contemporary music scenes. In addition to studying tabla, Tim has lived in Madras, India and studied South Indian drumming from T.H. Subash Chandran. Tim was a co-recipient of the 1997 Isadora Duncan Award for Best Original Music for a New Dance Piece for his work in creating the score for "Sacred Text."
India Rising: the Soft Power of an Ancient Land in the 21st century
Keynote Lecture by Shashi Tharoor, Chairman, Afras Ventures
Many thinkers and writers in recent years have spoken of India's geo-strategic advantages, its economic dynamism, political stability, proven military capabilities, its nuclear, space and missile programmes, and the country's growing pool of young and skilled manpower as assuring India "great power" status as a "world leader" in the new century. Dr Shashi Tharoor, author and former UN Under-Secretary-General, argues that it these not these elements that represent India's greatest potential as it seeks to play its role in our globalizing world. Instead, he focuses on the "soft power" of India, its attributes and limitations and the challenges it faces, as he outlines India's true place in Asia and the world and what it could mean for the country's future in the 21st century.
Indian Art: Tradition Meets Modernity
Santhi Kavuri-Bauer (Assistant Professor, Art History, San Francisco State University)
This illustrated lecture will trace the development of modern art in India starting with the adaptation of the academic style by Raja Ravi Varma in the 1880s through the period of creative tension among those seeking to reconcile Western styles with traditional subject matter and practice, including Abindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Amrita Sher Gil. After Independence, artists like M.F. Hussain, Jamini Roy and F.N. Souza began to explore more abstract and personal themes. Professor Kavuri-Bauer concludes by focusing on several contemporary artists, who combine traditional symbols, forms and processes with modern media techniques, such as digital photography, and address the important social issues facing India today.
10 am to noon and 1:30 to 4 pm
Sacred Games: A Reading
Vikram Chandra (Senior Lecturer, UC Berkeley)
One of modern India's greatest novelists will read from and describe his best known work, the epicSacred Games, a Victorian-Indian-gangster-spy-family saga, placing his work into the broad context of Indian literature today.
Indian Music: Traditions and Transitions
Dard Neuman (Kamil and Talat Hasan Endowed Chair in Classical Indian Music, UC Santa Cruz) lectures on Indian music and demonstrates the sitar, with rare recordings.
Special Performance:
Mirrors of Tradition and Modernity:
Cinema of Satyajit Ray, Independent Cinema and Bollywood
Dilip Basu (Founding Director, Archives and Study Center on Satyajit Ray, University of California Santa Cruz, and Associate Professor of History).
This lecture with film clips will argue that the cinema of Satyajit Ray and his cohorts in post-independent India remain quintessentially modern; popular cinema, both past and present, use the modern cinematic medium to the fullest while following the traditional Indian dramaturgy in form and content.
Reality Television and the New India
Raka Ray
The Indian Idol phenomenon, in which the women and the rich men were voted off first in support of upward mobility for the poor Nepalese boy who eventually wins, in a sense causes the upward mobility of his whole community, generating pride within the regionally underserved.
Led by Moderator Raka Ray.
Dilip Basu, , UC Santa Cruz
Vikram Chandra, UC Berkeley
Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, Art History, San Francisco State University
Dard Neuman, Musicology, UC Santa Cruz
Raka Ray, History, UC Berkeley
Shashi Thoroor, diplomacy, New York, India
Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America
How did 13 weak, fragmented, and isolated colonies governed from across the ocean transform themselves into a new kind of society based on pragmatism, optimism, innovation, and cooperation; a society capable not only of defeating a much larger and stronger foe, but also of inventing entirely new forms of self-government that have stood the test of time? Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), during his long and incredibly productive life, epitomized many aspects of the remarkable transformation that eventually led to the establishment of the first modern constitutional state. With his passion for self-improvement and gift for institutional innovation, Franklin constantly reinvented himself: printer's apprentice, successful Philadelphia printer, storekeeper, bookshop owner, journalist, writer of Poor Richard's Almanack and the Autobiography, and social entrepreneur and environmentalist 1731-style. Franklin invented the Franklin stove, swim fins, the glass armonica, and bifocals. He tamed lightning with his kite. He was a politician, diplomat, colonial patriot, ambassador to France, president of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, signer of the Constitution, and author of an anti-slavery treatise. In one person, Benjamin Franklin helped create the American civil society. He was called, by the time of his death at 84, the "harmonious human multitude."
Moderator: Dee Andrews (Chair of History, CSU East Bay)
Benjamin Franklin, Social Revolutionist, in Philadelphia, America's First City
Gary B. Nash (Emeritus, History, UCLA)
Ben Franklin went to Philadelphia at 17, and became an active leader in its social, political, economic, and cultural life for decades. A passion for self-improvement combined with gift for institutional innovation helped lay the foundation for a very successful civil society. He was instrumental in founding a society for sharing knowledge, a community library, a public hospital, a college, a volunteer fire department, and an efficient postal service. These activities, plus his work as a printer, publisher, and author, helped create a civil society that was increasingly self-confident, self-sufficient, and innovative.
GLASS-ICAL MUSICK
Dennis James, Musica Curiosa
A witty survey of the history of the glass music focusing on the development Benjamin Franklin's 1761 musical instrument invention, the glass armonica. Original 18th and 19th century compositions specifically composed for glass instruments by such composers as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig von Beethoven, Joseph Schmittbaur and many others are interspersed throughout. The slide-illustrated presentation balances music, scientific and historical information.
Benjamin Franklin, Scientist
Jessica Riskin (Associate Professor, History, Stanford)
As a scientist and inventor, Franklin always tried to apply knowledge to practical problems and to ensure that society would benefit from the widespread sharing of knowledge. His discoveries related to electricity led to the invention of the lightning rod. His many household inventions improved the quality of life for the masses, while his founding of the American Philosophical Society encouraged collaboration among leading intellectuals. Partly through his efforts, a culture of pragmatism, optimism, and experimentation took deep root in the American colonies. In addition to a brief discussion of the impressive breadth of Franklin's activities as a scientist and inventor, Professor Riskin will discuss Franklin's particular approach to natural science and focus largely on his electrical physics: what he considered to count (or not to count) as a good explanation, what sorts of assumptions he made, and how his natural science was deeply connected with his moral thinking and with the contemporary cultural and political context.
Benjamin Franklin, Democrat and Diplomat
Jack N. Rakove (Professor of History, Stanford University and Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Benjamin Franklin became America's Ambassador to the World. Much of his later life was spent in England and France, defending the interests of the American colonies first from within the structure of the British Empire, and eventually working with Britain's enemies to win full independence. For many European intellectual and political leaders, Franklin came to personify the spirit of Colonial America: open, direct, confident, persistent, practical, and trustworthy.
Musical Performance
London Quartet (Marin)
Movements from Benjamin Franklin's Quartet No. 2 in F major for Three Violins and Cello and from W. A. Mozart's Quartet No.14 In G Major, K.387. Steve Machtinger on viola, Zina Schiff and Oscar Hasbun on violin, and Louella Hasbun on cello.
The Invention of Ben Franklin
Dee Andrews (Professor and Chair, History, CSU East Bay)
This lecture will explore Franklin's conscious manipulation of his own image through writings like the Autobiography and images in the elite and popular media in America and Europe, including souvenirs and artifacts from his years as a renowned scientist and as a diplomat in France. It will also touch on the growth of his reputation in America long after his death.
The moderator will lead a discussion with audience participation welcome.
Dee Andrews, History, Cal State East Bay
Dennis James, glass armonica
London Quartet
Gary Nash, History, UCLA
Jack Rakove, History, Stanford
Jessica Riskin, History, Stanford
Presents its programs at:
110 The Embarcadero
info@humanitieswest.org
@humanitieswest


text:
What Is Fascism?
Why I Believe the Races Should Be Separated
America and the World Food Crisis
Major General J.F.C. Fuller
Jewish Daily Forward: New Jewish Conductor of Berlin Philharmonic Must Be Above Criticism
Power from the People!
Jews Promote Homosexual Marriage in America but Outlaw it in Israel
The Rarity of Independent Thought
Multifaceted Fascism
Chris Rossetti (Editor) · 23 June, 2020
by Organon tou Ontos
FIRST OF all, let me suggest what I think it is that different varieties of fascism, and National Socialism, have in common. Let this also stand for my own personal view of 'fascism' in general:
• Radical communitarianism: Placing the interests of the community over the individual. The community can be a group, hamlet, town, city, province, or nation, so long as it is cohesive and sufficiently bounded (i.e., not arbitrary) to stand as a unit with its own "interests." I don't think this entails lack of privacy, just a legal element that ensures that private activity does not diminish the interests of the community.
• Hierarchical autarkism: Encouraging and actively promoting economic and agro-material self-sufficiency (self-sufficiency, not atomized individualism), at every level: Individual, family, town, nation. This helps to explain fascist 'support' for private property: Private property is not an end in itself, but a means of bettering the community — it entails a more resilient whole, rather than engendering chronic dependency.
• Meritocratic authoritarianism: Tied in with the above, a system that encourages self-sustenance tied to community interests that also encourages authoritarian rule by the most fit and the most capable. I remember a source some time back that mentioned an incident that involved a local NSDAP party functionary. He wanted Berlin to appoint him local leader. They responded by telling him that if he felt that he deserved and warranted it, he should just seize power, locally.
• Public rituals and social aesthetics: Unifying symbolism, mass meetings, etc. to create an atmosphere of theater. Fascism is a way of life, as well as a worldview. Some revisionists want to strip fascism down to just is essential elements of policy, ignoring or rejecting everything else as embarrassing spectacle. But I think fascism recasts human relationships. Making social rituals central diverts us from our selfish selves.
• Institutional opposition to decline: In the social, cultural, and in some cases ethnic and racial sphere, policies calculated to elevate higher elements (biological and cultural) over lower elements.
• Cultural, ethnic, or racial imperialism and irredentism: This is really an extension of autarkism. I mention this with some reservation. See below.
The question was asked: "Do you think there is a difference between the fascism of say, Mosley and Mussolini, or Antonescu and Franco?"
Beyond elements of commonality, there are important differences between various systems, I think. I use the term 'fascism' (f in lower case) to describe the general phenomenon, and, for example, 'Italian Fascism,' to describe a specific instance of it. Many continue to argue that Italian Fascism defines fascism in general, and I disagree.
First of all, Mussolini's state was not the first 'fascist' regime: In terms of name, core ideals, etc., the first fascist regime was D'Annunzio's Regency of Carnaro in Fiume. He led a force of hundreds of dispirited Italian soldiers and forcibly retook the city. D'Annunzio was frustrated with Italy's failure to re-annex the city. When they failed to do so, he seized Fiume on behalf of Italy. When Italy rebuked him, D'Annunzio declared war on Italy. His regime lasted for a year or so. His social policies were far more flexible and pluralistic than even Mussolini's, but many of the core elements I discuss above were central to his brief regime.
Sir Mosley visited Italy, Germany, and absorbed the ideas of other fascist leaders. His core foreign policy aim was to conserve, rather than expand, the British Empire. He wanted to transform it into an instrument for the preservation of the British people. In My Life, written much later, he makes a key claim: "Fascism was an explosion against intolerable conditions by people who felt themselves threatened with decline, and wanted to live, and live greatly." This 'will to life' is central to fascism (I have a quote from Franco on Ur-Fascism, my site, echoing Mosley). Another claim Sir Mosley made in the same book was that fascism, at its core, represent(ed) a sort of fusion of "Caesarism and science": It combines the authoritarian impulse with a sober absorption of facts. He justified fascism in Britain primarily by appeal to the need for a system that truly represented the interests of the British people, who faced not only unemployment, "vile housing," and decline, but the threat of a pointless war with Germany.
Mussolini's regime arose from Mussolini's determination to halt Italy's decline. The abstract justification for fascism in The Doctrine of Fascism is an appeal to the interests and propensities of "the State." But Mussolini did not write the entire Doctrine. It was penned by Giovanni Gentile, who was a trained Hegelian philosopher. Gentile, echoing Hegel, believed that the State represented the end and justification for society. Mussolini only wrote the second part of the Doctrine, and several things are, there, noticeable: He begins by immediately talking about the concrete conditions of the Italian Fascist party's emergence and seizure of power. He does talk about "the State," but he seems more interested in grounding the context of the Fascist regime's emergence and persistence, and in contrasting Italian Fascism with rival doctrines. Mussolini's Italy was interestingly pluralistic and remarkably tolerant, relative to our conceptions of fascism today. Sir Mosley's state would likely have mirrored this.
In contrast to Sir Mosley, Mussolini neither entered power nor endured through it rejecting war with Germany or the prospect of war with such. In fact, during the 1920s, Mussolini detested Hitler, writing "rejected" across an image of himself that Hitler had sent him with a request for an autograph. When Mussolini met Hitler, he thought he was a clown. Later, when Dolfuss, leader of pro-Italy Austria, was murdered by pro-Hitler elements, Mussolini threatened to march on Austria to keep Austria a clerico-fascist state aligned with Italy. It was Hitler that backed away. Mussolini's bond with Hitler was circumstantial, not ideological. Whereas Sir Mosley was concerned that another war with Germany would spell ruin for the British Empire, until 1936 Mussolini never rejected a prospect of conflict with Germany. Even then, Mussolini's shift primarily came about because he was isolated after invading Abyssinia, and being saddled with economic sanctions by Britain, France, and the West. In hindsight, the West's actions were hypocritical and self-righteous. But because Hitler accepted Mussolini's imperialist aims, and had backed away from Austria after 1936, Mussolini shifted permanently into the German orbit.
It was around this time, or a little later, that Mussolini's Fascist Party adopted racial policies. The relationship of race and racial policy to fascism has been one of several points that has caused those sympathetic with Hitlerian National Socialism to reject "fascism." Even Sir Mosley's British Union of Fascists had never adopted racial policies. In Fascism: 10 Questions Asked and Answered, Sir Mosley states that his government would only adopt racial policies if a need for them arose. This implied several things: The racial status quo in Britain, as of c. 1933, was to be preserved, not revolutionarily restructured. It also meant that minority groups in Britain could remain, provided that there was a consistent demonstration of loyalty to the nation over one's native country. This, of course, included Jews. Despite Jewish claims to the contrary, I see no evidence in Sir Mosley's program, not even the seeds of such, that he would have undertaken a policy of relocating British Jews abroad.
However, Sir Mosley does state in Fascism: 10 Questions Asked and Answered that only native White Britons could enter into his future government. This is another point of contrast with Mussolini's Fascist state. Until 1936, there were Jewish members of the National Fascist Party of Italy, including its ruling organs and structures. There is continued debate about the significance and causes of Mussolini's shift after 1936. Germany's geopolitical power was waxing after 1936, following reoccupation of the Rhineland had France occupied a defensive position, and with the economic sanctions against Italy from France and Britain Mussolini's turn toward racial policies might have been a combination of both shifting ideological rapport as well as gratitude. If one is disinclined to believe the latter, it should be remembered that Mussolini was prone to be impulsive. In 1940, when Hitler swiftly took France, Belgium, and Holland, Mussolini — fearing he would be left out of any favorable outcomes — hastily and impulsively declared war on France and Britain. I think this was a bad move (for reasons I won't go into here), but it underlies my point: That Mussolini might have adopted racial policies to gain greater proximity to Hitler's regime is believable.
The corporatist regime of Franco was less overtly fascist in its core policies and aims than Mussolini's regime. Unlike Mussolini and Sir Mosley, Franco was partly reacting to the decline of clerical authority and privilege and wanted to use the instruments of state to extend the status quo. Hitler even purportedly remarked at one point that he felt the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War seemed to be peopled with individuals that reflected a greater concern for the masses. This subtle ideological difference underscores another point of departure among fascist regimes and movements. Personalities, in historical fascism, are to a great degree determinative. Sir Mosley came from the upper classes, although he seems to have been seized with a genuine concern for workers, soldiers, and the British masses in general. Franco did adopt a youth movement and other elements of fascism, but his regime could arguably be classified as reactionary fascism. Hitler's regime, despite Marxist claims to the contrary, was a revolutionary subspecies of fascism. It is difficult to underestimate the truly revolutionary scope (in racial and ethnic terms, and not just for Germany but for the whole of Europe and Eurasia) of Hitler's long term goals.
This distinction may be what is captured by the term 'para-fascism.' It sits alongside a variety of other terms, 'clerico-fascism' being one of them.
It would be a mistake, however, to claim that any fascist movement that had as its aim the extension or elevation of the religious scope of national life was necessarily only 'reactionary.' The briefly ruling Iron Guard in Romania was a diagnosably fascist movement, but it appealed to Romanian Orthodox religious convictions. Codreanu believed that a nation, as a community of physically and spiritually kindred people, was ensouled, just like the individual. Nations are raised to Heaven or condemned to Hell, just like the individual, on the basis of their deeds and actions in life. Codreanu also held the concomitant view that a nation is an historical entity that, in its totality, includes every single member, from the moment of the nation's inception until the moment it expires. In his A Few Remarks on Democracy, he lodges the interesting claim that the bones and tombs of the dead, like the infinite unborn, are as much a part of the nation as those who are currently alive. This seems to have been a literal belief, not a token or metaphorical one, as part of his broader religious conception of the nation. Deeply anti-Semitic, in contrast to Franco (who may even have been partly Jewish himself, and had both a lenient personal and societal view of Jews), Codreanu's regime was arguably revolutionary-conservative in its aims.
Many associate imperialism with fascism, and Mussolini and Hitler both had imperialistic or irredentist aims: The official Italian policy of 'Spazio Vitale' sought a greater cultural expanse of Roman (Italian) influence over the Mediterranean, while the German policy of 'Lebensraum' sought to displace a sizable number of Russians, Belorussians, and Poles in order to realize an aim of German colonial expansion. In the latter sense, the aim was not cultural assimilation but biological displacement. By contrast, Sir Mosley sought to conserve what Britain already had: The British Empire was still at its apex, but imperiled with economic and social signatures of decline that he wanted to stymie, turn inward, and use to insulate the British people. Codreanu did not seek expansion, only insulation from Bolshevik aims (in Bessarabia). Franco and Salazar also sought to conserve their empires. In a rare few cases, some fascist leaders actually sought the absorptive disappearance of their own country: The National-Socialist Movement of the Netherlands, under Mussert, accommodated a goal to gradually absorb Holland into the Third Reich, with the Dutch people's historical breach from the German peoples sealed.
If it is a mistake to view all religiously motivated fascist movements as necessarily reactionary, it would also be a mistake to assume that all religiously driven movements were necessarily Christian. The National Gathering of Norway, under Quisling, sought a resurrection of pre-Christian cultural and social structures. By contrast, the leaders of other fascist movements either adopted a policy of conciliation with existing religious institutions or else they remained muted or quietly hostile. Mussolini was an atheist, but he recognized that the vast majority of Italians were Catholics. He signed a concordat with the Catholic Church, recognizing its sovereignty in its own sphere of life while insisting on the political primacy of Italian Fascism. Sir Mosley did not speak about religious issues very much. In Fascism: 10 Questions Asked and Answered, he makes the explicit point that the British Union of Fascists was strongly supportive of the monarchy. It is likely that he would have allowed the existing status quo in Great Britain of the 1930s to persist. His primary concerns were political and economic, in any event.
Some have said that fascism nearly always arises in opposition to something; either decline or Marxism.
That Jewish lesbian, Rachel Maddow, argued in one of her shows that Sir Mosley's British Union of Fascists was a "corporate fascist movement" and projected that same basic view on fascism in general. So, the idea that fascism is just a reactionary insulation of moneyed interests and big business is alive and well. During the so-called war on terror, Bush's policies were ridiculed as "fascist." When he doled out "noncompetitive contracts" with friends in big business, it supposedly deepened this claim. Protecting big business and making war as an end in itself are both viewed as indicative of fascism.
I remember a textbook required of us in my introductory sociology course. It defined socialism as "community ownership of the means of production" and communism as "totalitarian socialism." It defined capitalism as "private ownership of the means of production" and went on to define fascism as "totalitarian capitalism." Crude and simple, but they reflect how the left views fascism: As "corporate fascism." Anything left of center verges on "fascistic" in the mind's eye of the Marxist. By contrast, the "right" uses fascism to project criticism of any social or cultural phenomenon it does not approve of. Enter "feminazis," "ecofascists," and "liberal fascists." Anything that threatens the right of men to own guns, drink beer, smoke nicotine, become obscenely obese, or run a business, basically.
Every side's bogeyman. Which makes perfect sense, of course, historically. After all, look at the Faustian pact between Anglo-American leaders and the Communist world. They both grasped and responded to a threat to their ways of life: The threat to the USSR was more immediate, while the threat to the USA was abstract and it consisted in showing the world that there were and are viable models as alternatives to economic liberalism. After the war, the remnants of hostility to fascism were trained on either side of these spectrums. This is also why the syncretism of fascism was, in many policies, bifurcated: For example, environmental policy became a 'left wing' aim (despite the fact that there are genuine 'right wing' bases for environmentalism). But the original alliance of convenience still resurfaces from time to time: In the controversy over the political views of the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, right wing fundamentalist opposition to Darwinism fuses with left wing opposition to eugenics to create a hybrid critique of a supposedly proto-Nazi naturalist.
The Other Europe
Maurice Bardèche on Mussolini
José Antonio and the Spanish Falange
Everybody's a Fascist Now!
Notes on the Leadership Principle
Sir Oswald's Remarkable Lady
A Few Remarks on Democracy
The Myth of the Big Business / Nazi Axis
Tags:AuthoritarianismBenito MussoliniFascismHierarchy
Blacks Do Not Own Us
White Female Torn From Vehicle, Stomped in Street by BLM During Riot in York, Pennsylvania
Illiberal Law
On Propaganda in America
Patrick Pappano
23 June, 2020 7:48 am
A nice essay without the normal polemics. However, while the characters of Franco, Mussolini and Hitler differed they also represented quite different challenges. Madrid and Rome had not been turned into fleshpots and their currencies had not experienced the hyperinflation of Germany. And I think might be at play here is greater societal resistance to Jewish initiatives in both Spain and Italy. Spain being, as it is today, very Catholic whereas the Italians were always more devoted to "La dolce vita." Germans, and I dare say Americans, do not seem to have these intrinsic national characteristic of resistance and get taken over by the Jews in the many dimensions of control, entertainment, media, news, publishing, finance, education. So I think one must examine memes of government from the perspective of… Read more »
Reply to Patrick Pappano
25 June, 2020 8:16 pm
I agree, for the most part. If anything, I would say conservative Americans don't trust the government. I know I don't. However, most conservatives will never admit to themselves why our society is failing, because they've been brainwashed with all that holy land nonsense. It's like, they know Hollywood, the MSM, Wall Street, and globalists are a problem, but they willfully stop short of connecting the dots. Those that do are shunned from conservative outlets.
Reply to Janie
The United States is drenched in a pollyanna nationalism that inhibits any questions. I did not use the word prohibit because that would imply external force. Americans are stopped by an internal force, they are programmed to agree with the public narrative, backed up by 'history," fireworks, parades, anthems, and lets not forget movies. America the Beautiful brings a tear to every eye, and hey, how about those men in uniform, "serving" their country, how about them guys? Ain't they beautiful?
15 August, 2020 2:04 pm
I remember writing this piece on Facebook several years back, and you asking me if you could re-post it at some point. I didn't realize you'd done so until now. Much of the content was tossed together incoherently and was assembled to provoke discussion in a private group. I appreciate you sharing it, but the reader should be aware that it was not written as an article or essay. I hope it provokes thought, nonetheless.


OFFERING, noun. An act of offering.
OFFERING, noun. That which has been offered; a sacrifice.
OFFERING, noun. An oblation or presentation made as a religious act.
OFFERING, noun. A contribution given at a religious service.
OFFERING, noun. Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
OFFERING, noun. Something offered (as a proposal or bid); "noteworthy new offerings for investors included several index funds".
OFFERING, noun. Money contributed to a religious organization.
OFFERING, noun. The verbal act of offering; "a generous offer of assistance".
OFFERING, noun. The act of contributing to the funds of a church or charity; "oblations for aid to the poor".


text:
Tag Archives: celebrates
Geneva celebrates John Calvin's 500th birthday
About 500 worshipers yesterday attended the opening convocations for Calvin 500, the international Quincentenary celebration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth (July 10, 1509), at St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town of Geneva, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.
Beginning with a welcome by Mr. Guillaume Taylor from the St. Pierre Parish Council, the opening convocations, featured morning worship from Calvin's time and a sermon on Philippians 3:8-12 by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
The evening services featured Ugandan Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, much psalm singing, and a sermon by Dr. Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
"Calvin is one of the most important thinkers in history," said Calvin500 Executive Director Rev. David Hall, who also is pastor of Midway Presbyterian Church in America located in Powder Springs, GA, according to a media release.
"His ministry and writings left an indelible impression on the modern world, and especially Western culture. It would be hard to find a figure from history more worthy of remembering, if lasting impact for good is the standard," said Hall.
"St. Pierre's Cathedral in Geneva as unusually full for a morning worship service on July 5th, but admittedly a congregation that includes at least one archbishop, six seminary professors, twenty-four seminary professors, approximately 100 Reformed pastors from around the world and the author of over 300 books on Calvinist themes do not make up an ordinary congregation,'" said one attendee on a blog at the celebration website.
The writer stated: "As Dr. Ferguson noted, 'Calvin would be surprised to see us here, and I am not sure he would have approved,' however hopefully he would approved of the text."
Another writer commented: "The evening was brought to a close with a truly wonderful exposition of Ephesians 1:3-6 by Bryan Chapell, a sermon which he called 'In praise of predestination.' With some memorable illustrations from Calvin and elsewhere, he carefully took us through the text urging us to see Paul's commitment in showing us more of God's Fatherhood than his sovereignty. God, he told us, is shouting: 'I've been in love with you longer than the stars have been in sky or the fish have been in the sea.'"
Throughout the coming week, scholars and ministers will present lectures and sermons in these historic environs to celebrate the contributions of the Genevan reformer. The public is invited.
Posted in Georgia, John Calvin, Missouri, Presbyterian, Reformed, South Carolina, Switzerland, USA	| Tagged 500th, anniversary, approved, Archbishop, attended, author, beginning, birth, birthday, Blog, Books, Bryan Chapell, Calvin 500, Calvinist, celebrates, celebration, Columbia, committment, congregation, contributions, convocations, Covenant Theological Seminary, culture, David Hall, Dr, environs, executive director, exposition, Fatherhood, featured, figure, First Presbyterian Church, fish, Geneva, Georgia, God, good, Guillaume Taylor, Henry Luke Orombi, History, hopefully, illustrations, impact, important, impression, indelible, international, invited, John Calvin, lasting, lectures, located, love, media, memorable, Midway Presbyterian Church in America, ministers, ministry, Missouri, modern, morning, old, opening, ordinary, Pastor, Pierre Parish Council, Powder Springs, praise, predestination, present, President, professors, psalm, public, quincentenary, Reformed, reformer, release, remembering, Rev, scholars, sea, seminary, sermon, shouting, Sinclair Ferguson, singing, sky, South Carolina, sovereignty, ST, St. Louis, St. Pierre Cathedral, standard, stars, surprised, text, themes, thinkers, time, town, truly, Ugandan, urging, Website, welcome, western, wonderful, world, worship, worshippers, writings, younger | Leave a comment
MUSEUM IN GENEVA 'REINTRODUCES' JOHN CALVIN TO A NEW GENERATION
Geneva's International Museum of the Reformation this year celebrates the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth with "A Day in the Life of John Calvin" — a temporary exhibition which features contextualized 3-D simulations of the Reformer's life, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.
The year 2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin (1509-2009), one of the founding fathers of the Reformation, and the International Museum of the Reformation (IMR), in Geneva, Switzerland, has announced an exceptional temporary exhibition and series of events in honor of his contributions.
The IMR, which opened in 2005 and was the recipient of the 2007 Council of Europe Museum Prize, will 'reintroduce' John Calvin to visitors from around the world with an exhibition entitled: "A Day in the Life of John Calvin," which will run April 24-Oct. 31, 2009.
A unique 3-D exhibition
Visitors to the museum exhibit will have the opportunity to follow a day in the reformer's life in three dimensions.
This innovative exhibit features virtual representations of Calvin's Reformation-era world. Three-D simulations of Calvin in his familiar surroundings and activities will help foster a better understanding of his life and actions, in the manner of a documentary film.
Surrounded by historically accurate sets, the 3-D animated figure of Calvin 'speaks' directly to visitors using simulation technologies developed by MIRALab laboratory at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Several 16th century engravings, objects and books will also be featured in the exhibition.
The museum's world-class exhibit falls during 2009, the Year of Faith Tourism, designated by the World Religious Travel Association (WRTA) as a year set aside for the promotion of, and participation in, travel by people of faith.
One-third of visitors to the museum are from abroad, chiefly from France and the United States.
Isabelle Graesslé, Director of the International Museum of the Reformation, has been the first female moderator of the Pastors Company, founded in 1541 with John Calvin as its first moderator, in almost 500 years. Since 2005, she has been the Director of the International Museum of the Reformation.
Graessle, who is a leading expert on John Calvin, said she was thrilled to announce this special event.
"John Calvin's influence can still be felt in the world today. During a much harder period, Calvin clearly paved the way to the future democratization of society through education, widening self-consciousness and spreading his new ideas," said Graessle in a media release from Christine Moore at Epiphany Media.
The International Museum of the Reformation: a forum for free speech
The International Museum of the Reformation's goal is to present the history of the Reformation, the religious movement started by Martin Luther in 1517 and pursed by Calvin in Geneva in 1536, in a lively and engaging manner.
It also provides a forum to encourage dialogue among different faiths and Christian traditions: a place in which to discuss the role of religion in the contemporary world from a cultural perspective.
The IMR is located in the heart of Geneva's old town, in a beautiful 18th-century style mansion, the Maison Mallet.
State-of-the-art technology is seamlessly integrated into the classical, grand structure. An underground passage connects the IMR to the archaeological site under Saint-Pierre Cathedral. The "Espace Saint-Pierre," comprising these two museums and the visit of the Cathedral Towers, represents one of Geneva's latest cultural and tourist attractions.
Posted in Church History, France, John Calvin, Martin Luther, reformation, Switzerland, USA	| Tagged 1517, 1541, 16th, 2005, 2007, 2009, 3-D, 500th, A Day in the Life of John Calvin, abroad, accurate, actions, activities, animated, anniversary, announce, announced, archaeological, aside, attractions, beautiful, better, birth, Books, Cathedral Towers, celebrates, century, Christine Moore, classical, clearly, comprisong, connects, contemporary, contextualized, contributions, Council of Europe Museum Prize, cultural, Day, democratization, designated, developed, dialogue, different, dimensions, director, directory, discuss, documentary, education, encourage, engaging, engravings, Epiphany Media, Espace Saint-Pierre, events, exceptional, exhibit, Exhibition, expert, faith, faiths, familiar, fathers, featured, features, felt, female, figure, film, first, follow, forum, foster, founding, founding father, France, free, generation, Geneva, goal, grand, harder, heart, historically, History, honor, ideas, IMR, influence, innovative, integrated, International Museum of the Reformation, Isabelle Graessle, John Calvin, laboratory, leading, life, located, Maison Mallet, manner, mansion, Martin Luther, media release, MIRALab, moderator, movement, museum, museums, new, objects, old, opened, opportunity, participation, passage, Pastors Company, paved, people, period, perspective, present, promotion, recipient, reformation, reformer, reintroduces, religion, religious, representations, role, Saint-Pierre Cathedral, seamlessly, self-consciousness, series, sets, simulations, site, Society, speaks, special, speech, spreading, started, structure, style, surrounded, surroundings, Switzerland, technologies, technology, temporary, three, thrilled, tourist, town, traditions, travel, underground, understanding, unique, United States, University of Geneva, USA, virtual, visitors, widening, world, World Religious Travel Association, WRTA, year, Year of Faith Tourism | Leave a comment
IRAQI BELIEVERS TARGETED FOR REMOVAL BY EXTREMISTS
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends Iraq as a "country of particular concern" (CPC). This comes in light of the abuses of religious freedom and the Iraqi government's toleration of these abuses, particularly against religious minorities, reports MNN.
Since 2004, thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled to Syria, Jordan and to the West for refuge and a new start. Many were forced to leave family behind, which means there is a remnant church in Iraq.
Carl Moeller with Open Doors explains that, sadly, "Christians in Mosul over the last few months have been particularly targeted for extermination by the remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq. This Christmas is one of great stress and difficulty for these believers."
According to Open Doors, Christmas observances traditionally would include a ceremony in the courtyard of the home on Christmas Eve.
One of the children in the family would read the story of the Nativity from the Bible, and the other family members would hold lighted candles. When the story was read, a bonfire would be lit in one of the corners of the courtyard. On Christmas Day a similar bonfire would be built on the church compound.
While the fire burned, the men of the fellowship would sing a hymn, and a procession would take place in which the officials of the church would march behind the bishop who carried an image of baby Jesus. The service would end with the blessing of the people.
Bonfires are not held in Iraq any more since any bonfire attracts suspicious persons; perhaps Muslim terrorists. Fires are now linked with explosions and attacks.
The way the West celebrates Christmas had also affected the Church in Iraq… by copying the traditions of a Christmas tree, presents and songs. At present, it is too dangerous to be open about Christmas in cities like Baghdad and Mosul.
Moeller says, despite difficult circumstances, "It doesn't stop the work that Open Doors is doing. We realize that when faith costs the most, we need to be the ones representing the larger body of Christ, stepping in that gap, and encouraging and strengthening the believers in those situations."
Posted in Al Qaeda, Iraq, Jordan, Open Doors, Syria, USA, War on Terror	| Tagged abuses, affected, Al Qaeda, attacks, attracts, baby, Baghdad, behind, believers, Bible, bishop, blessing, bonfire, burned, candles, Carl Moeller, celebrates, ceremony, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas tree, church, cities, compound, concern, copying, corners, country, courtyard, CPC, dangerous, difficulty, encouraging, explains, explosions, extermination, extremists, family, fellowship, fled, forced, government, hymn, image, include, Iraq, Iraqi, Islam, Jesus, Jordan, light, lighted, linked, march, members, minorities, Mosul, Muslim, muslims, Nativity, new, observances, officials, Open Doors, Particular, people, Persecution, presents, procession, read, recommends, refuge, religious, religious freedom, remnant, remnants, removal, service, sing, songs, start, story, strengthening, stress, suspicious, Syria, targeted, terrorists, toleration, traditionally, traditions, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, West | Leave a comment
SINGING ANIMALS AT CHRISTMAS
I'm not huge on celebrating Christmas – it's not that I'm a scrooge, it's just that I don't see Christmas as a Biblically sanctioned event or celebration in a Christian sense. The Bible does not say that we should be celebrating a festival that was originally called something else and represented something else in order to con people into becoming Christians or make Christianity anymore acceptable to them because we kept their festival – albeit with a different name.
Having said that, I no longer make it a mission of mine to come down hard on anyone who celebrates 'Christmas (not that I probably did that too much anyhow).' I see it in a Christian Liberty context these days, though I refuse to acknowledge 'Christmas' as a biblically required event or festival, and nor do I accept that it is a Christian festival regardless of the fact that most Christians celebrate it.
Anyhow, I came across this YouTube video that I thought some people might like, so here it is – it may give you a little chuckle or two:
Posted in Christian Liberty, Christianity, Christmas, Fun, joke, Special Days, video	| Tagged accept, acceptable, acknowledge, animals, Bible, Biblically, called, celebrates, celebrating, celebration, Christian, Christian Liberty, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, chuckle, con, context, different, event, festival, hard, kept, mission, name, originally, people, refuse, represented, sanctioned, scrooge, singing, youtube | Leave a comment


~ The things that go on.
My new neighbours are settling in and "redesigning" the garden. At the moment, this seems to mean burning rubber items that give off noxious clouds.
I leant over the fence yesterday and mentioned to the mother, Poppy, that the council would not be happy with the sight of her burning rubbish in a built-up area. She paused and appeared to be holding back tears.
"Oh that's a terrible shame," she commiserated. "I hate the thought of anyone feeling sad." And she slung a section of polyester carpet on to the flames.
I've kept the windows closed to keep the gasses out but John, who is staying with me at the moment, is intrigued and wants to report them. If he's serious, I won't hold him back. A 10-year old's lungs are surely sacrosanct.
The new neighbours are very exercised about Brexit, by the way, but I'm not sure how. They've put a poster in their front window simply saying "Brexit".
"What's the point?" asks John.
Now, talking about neighbours, I realise that I haven't mentioned the last two podcasts by Tempest. The most recent one is, in fact, called The Neighbour and makes me think that a bit of carpet-burning is not all that bad. The one before is called Under and Peony tells me she doesn't like to take a bath since listening to it.
For once, it's probably safer not to get out of the boat and onto dry land.
Another scary podcast – I think the scariest – from Tempest Productions. This one is all about an island with nobody on it, only there were people on it, or seem to have been… oh just listen to it.
I was rather pleased with my comic headline for the last podcast I mentioned here – about opening up flies to reveal nasty shocks – but I have to rein it in a bit now, because this one is a much sadder piece, a story about loss, longing and very strange sightings. Bibi Berki is undoubtedly a more serious writer than I am but I know a know a good, involving, unnerving tale when I hear one. Give it a listen.
Well here it is, the first of those podcasts I was talking about.
Who can be arsed to turn a page?
Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote anything here. Four marriage proposals being, I suppose, worth a passing mention – three made to Peony, two by her best friend, Justine, ("at last we can be the nuclear family John craves") and one to me. All were turned down. Laurence is now being comforted by a Russian radiographer.
I really don't mind the radiographer, the only awkwardness in the whole situation being the fact that shortly before we broke up – and in an effort to prevent that disintegration – Laurence somehow wangled me the post of writer in residence at his hospital. I hoped this might prove a sinecure but in fact it's unpaid and I'm obliged to produce two short stories and three poems a year to justify my title.
And it produces an original – a highly original – creation for your negligible efforts. The most enjoyable part for me is perhaps the wonder of the randomly selected titles, no two ever the same, and rarely do they have anything to do with the poem to which they've been attached. My favourites to date have been the gentle nostalgia of Oatcake Britain and the rousing Wash Him!
The short stories I write myself and the process is the same laboured scratching-out exercise it's always been.
As ever I needed time to ruminate. I always dismiss her dismissings of me and then I wish I hadn't been so dismissive.
And so I present to you – very soon – original podcasts, yes podcasts. Like our earliest ancestors who could not be arsed to turn a page, we now listen to tales told by others and the only difference is that we're not sitting around a campfire with jackals circling us just out of sight, but we're pressed up against a whole heap of other jackals in public transport as we head off to work.
"A new cover, you say?" she asked, failing to look at it at all, let alone admire it.
"Oh," and she repeated "Oh" once more just in case I hadn't caught the profound disappointment in it the first time.
We told you how much we wuvved HA Ferdinand's Mrs Tempest's Marriage Bureau. Well here's the new one and it's just as weird and wonderful. It's called The Baron and we caught up with HA herself to learn more about it.
WB: You say your books are comedies of manners. What does that mean?
HA: It means laughing at the stupid things certain people say and do.
HA: Is that a problem?
WB: Give us a summary of the plot.
WB: Hold on, hold on. It doesn't seem that simple.
HA: No, it is really. All my books are.
WB: And they're short. They're all kind of short.
WB: Do you like writing them?
WB: So, the characters in this one are just crazy. They're like upper class commies. Does that happen a lot in the UK? I don't think we get them in the States. Are they based on real people?
HA: Well you know how it is…you read things, you hear things, the next thing you know you've built a new fictional world and peopled it yourself.
WB: That's a yes then.
HA: Can I just ask…you rated the last one "very wuvvly". Does this one get the same rating or a "very, very wuvvly" or indeed a "very, very, very wuvvly"? What is the net worth of a wuvvly?
WB: It's got a "very wuvvly".
HA: Well thanks for that, I suppose.
WB: You really crack us up!
They only went and sacked me.
I had it coming, to be honest. After all I did engineer it that my boss's wife walked in on him and his mistress in mid-session in a conference room.
And I did write every detail of their sordid little office romance in my ebook A Sordid Little Office Romance which – thanks to my colleague, Amanda – managed to work its way around the entire law firm in less than forty seconds.
So much for the precious anonymity of Danby Houghton.
Cortez called me into his office and drew himself up into disciplining mode.
"You know you have to go, my darling," he said.
I was a little taken aback at his tone but I should have known that he would do things his own extraordinary way.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry," I said.
He leant across his desk and dropped his head dramatically on to it.
"Cortez Baignton doesn't do anonymity," he informed me, mumbling into the teak.
I don't know how I had the gall to say something like that, but what did I have to lose? He couldn't sack me twice.
Fortunately he slapped the desk top and gurgled a kind of laugh.
How does he get away with it? A man in his position. He must be really raking it in for his firm for them to turn a blind eye to his extravagant ways.
Laurence came in to help me collect my stuff. I didn't ask him to. There was only a notebook and a plant and those were technically office property anyway but I refused to retreat empty-handed.
But he seemed to be inflating his chest and pushing it in the direction of my baffled boss.
"Oh hello," said Cortez coming over, his curiosity ignited. It was still sexual curiosity at this stage. It always is first thing with him.
"My God but I could lamp you for this," said Laurence totally unexpectedly. I've never heard the like. Not from him.
Cortez raised his eyebrows. He took a swift glimpse of his vast gold watch.
"I've got a meeting," he sighed and left us.
We left the building and I was glad actually that Laurence had come. Glad to be going back in the sealed isolation of a car at any rate.
I think I might miss going out to work. I hadn't wanted to go back at first but once I was in that busy, brain-dead milieu it was a relief. And briefly I was part of the real world again, having some kind of minor impact on my society.
"God but I could have lamped him," Laurence muttered once more as he swung the steering wheel with a degree of flamboyant recklessness.
I put a hand on his knee and understood that this was his moment now, not mine. And I prefer that really. I was never meant to be in the driving seat, will always feel more comfortable looking out through the passenger side window.
Nobody – not least my "friends" – could face another of my farcical book launches. Fortunately Roberta (remember her? The kind-of publisher at The Tempest Press) said she'd tag my new book onto the publicity she was doing for her find of a writer, Bibi Berki.
I soon learned that this other poor sap is about as shy of personal publicity as I am and so between us we didn't present much of an author platform, as they say.
I ask you! Is that any kind of way to get people to read them? Tears and obscenities! I know both books and I can tell you there's an awful lot more to them than that.
Always keep in with the secretary.
JaneyBee is astonished at the turnaround. That can't be bad, can it?
Cortez and Kate came back from their illicit weekend glowing with post-coital pleasure.
"Did a lot of sight-seeing, then?" I asked.
She scowled at me impatiently.
She shrugged as if to say: "What do I care?" and sauntered off to her corner of the office to rest her legs, presumably.
"I need someone new, someone we can believe in," I told my colleague, Amanda, soon afterwards.
She's been reading the instalments of A Sordid Little Office Romance on Chapter by Chapter and we discuss it most of our working day.
I slid instantly into a reverie. It was ridiculous. I couldn't just introduce the wife this far into the plot, could I? Anyway, the slighted missus is always damaged goods, with the suggestion that she had it coming. How could I make her sympathetic enough?
Now this is the bit you won't believe but it was only an hour later that who should come into the office but Mrs Baignton herself. I know! For a moment I had to wonder if Amanda was somehow not only controlling me and my book, but perhaps the entire world.
"Just a moment," I smiled up at our visitor.
I hesitated, bit my lip, sought out her eyes from under their drooping lids for some sign of deeper understanding and I got it. She knew. She bloody well knew.
Read a review of this Persephone Classic in the new recommendations section.
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Gripping, original, unpredictable. Give this a try.
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An interview lays bare one woman's extraordinary past.
The past is a foreign country. Burn your passport now.


text:
Q: Scheduled Mysql query akka http I am new to the hole scala/akka ecosistem.
I have a akka-http route defined like:
object RestServiceApp extends CassandraConnector with Directives with JsonSupport {
  def main(args: Array[String]) {
    val config = ConfigFactory.load()
    implicit val actorSystem = ActorSystem("system", config)
    implicit val actorMaterializer = ActorMaterializer()

    var myFilterList = Seq(3L,32L,55L)

    val route: Route = {
      get {
        path("foo") {
          complete( foo().filter(element => myFilterList.contains(element) )
        }
    }
}

foo() is a function that returns elements
I filter that elements and return the list
I want to:

*

*Update the myFilterList every M minutes

*For doing that I have to make a Mysql query

I don't care about the performance of the query, I care about being able to continue responding to http request while the new myFilterList is being loaded.
How can I achieve this?
Thanks!

A: You could try making a simple cache:
object MyRefreshableList {
  private val updateInterval: Int = 600000 // 600000 millis == 10 minutes; you could use Java 8 Date/Time API or Joda Time methods here
  private var lastUpdateTime: Long = System.currentTimeMillis()
  private var cachedList: List[Long] = getList

  def value: List[Long] = cachedList // You would use that during your filtering

  // You would use that before your filtering
  def tryToRefresh() = {
    val currentTime = System.currentTimeMillis()
    if (currentTime > lastUpdateTime + updateInterval) {
      lastUpdateTime = currentTime
      refresh()
    }
  }

  private def refresh(): Unit = {
    cachedList = getList
  }

  private def getList: List[Long] = ??? // Make an actual SQL query here
}

Usage example with your code:
val route: Route = {
  get {
    path("foo") {
      complete {
        MyRefreshableList.tryToRefresh()
        foo().filter(element => MyRefreshableList.value.contains(element)
      }
    }
  }
}

If you would have many collections which require refreshing, you could extract a Refreshable trait out of that code.

A: I have added some code to the end that every M minutes makes a query to the mysql database and updates de Set
val M = 30
actorSystem.scheduler.schedule(50 milliseconds, M minutes) {
      val myNewFilterList = makeMysqlQuery()
      myFilterList = myNewFilterList
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I was more than happy with your staff. The guys were very polite and helpful and the ladies were lovely. I am already telling everyone about the good service I received from your company. And nothing broke. Very happy customer.


Steven-Charles Jaffe, the writer of Motel Hell and producer of a slew of terrific movies (Near Dark! Time After Time!), stopped by the shop for some graphic novels. He's out and about, promoting Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird a new film he directed that's opening at the IFC Center here in New York today.
Matt D and I are big fans of these flicks but Matt got to take the pics.


text:
Met Police Brexit vote investigation 'being handled by the TV Theft Unit'
Pretty much everyone knows that the 2016 EU referendum was bent as a nine-bob note. But of course, part of living in the home of democracy, justice, cricket etc is a belief in due process. This means that, much as we might like to put Nigel Farage, Arron Banks and their somehow-even-slimier minions in the stocks, we can't do so unless they're found guilty of something. We can't even fling veg at Michael Gove or Boris Johnson, or Gisela Stuart or Kate Hoey. Unbelievably, chaining up David Cameron and George Osborne and then wiping them with ham would also be unlawful, in the absence of a legally watertight ruling that they deliberately bollocksed the country for a dare.
But now, Off The Perch understands there's something of a speed bump on the road towards justice. A 'sleeping policeman', if you will.
The word on the inside
Terry Chestnuts (not his real name) works in the valeting team at the Met's vehicle depot. He told us:
The patrol cars often call in after some drunk's lost his breakfast in the back seat. While I'm hoovering out the footwell, the officers sit in the front shouting about all sorts. Chances are, I've got a better idea of what's going on in the Met than the commissioner has.
Chestnuts explained that London's coppers are all talking about the investigation into Leave.EU and Vote Leave:
So of course this should have been top priority. Get the best brains on it. Fraud squad, that sort of thing. But that lot charge top coin. And with all the cuts, the Met can only afford to use its top people for the most important stuff, like investigating people who investigate the police. So the Leave job has gone down the food chain. It turns out the TV Theft Unit has been sitting on its arse doing nothing for five years. No one nicks tellies anymore cos it's easier to wait for Black Friday and get one for twenty quid. But the unit's a hangover from the days when running down an alley carrying thirty kilos of cathode ray tube was a good way to impress your mates.
Might just work
Ken Chisel from the Institute of Criticism was surprisingly positive about the TV Theft Unit's role in the probe:
Who could be better for the job than a bunch of old Gene Hunt-alikes who are used to dealing with shady back-alley characters who'd happily steal your TV from your back window and then sell it to you at your front door? If anyone's going to get the measure of the Leave mob, it's them. There is, though, a concern that handing the case to such an obsolete and underfunded team could be a way of kicking the thing into the long grass.
– For more satirical news, you can also follow Off The Perch on Facebook and Twitter.
– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.
Featured image via YouTube
A judge just threw the climate and a community under a bus
The Brexit campaign broke the law. Here's the alarming reason the Met Police aren't investigating.


A conference in London explored the next steps for renewables in the U.K. There was widespread agreement solar has been left in the cold by a government unwilling to alter the current market dynamics.
Representatives of the solar sector say the government is not providing them with the support they need, financial or political.
The U.K.'s golden years for solar may have gone but the industry recently tried to foster hopes for a renaissance via two routes: the capacity market – introduced by the government to guarantee supply meets demand in the renewables age – and a subsidy-free pipeline.
However both suggestions have been met with indifference, at least for now, delegates were told at a conference held by the Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum (WEETF) in London.
The prospect of the capacity market permitting renewable energy providers to properly participate has been explored extensively in recent months but Robert Gross, of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at London's Imperial College, told the conference a speech by business secretary Greg Clark late last year had shattered such hopes.
Gross said Clark's speech suggested allowing renewables to compete in the capacity market was a good idea but an unnecessary one, as the U.K. government is looking to reform the contracts for difference (CfD) mechanism for financing renewable projects.
Gross told the conference, although the U.K. has already seen unsubsidized schemes developed, the "corporate long term PPA market is still small for good reasons". For instance, said Gross, a lack of large consumers with an appetite for long-term contracts mediated by a supplier; or the fact "PPAs do not remove or ameliorate wholesale market risks, including price cannibalization".
Although a small number of private PPA projects were announced last year – less than 100 MW worth, according to Gross – there are not enough PPAs in the market to drive impressive solar growth.
Solarcentury founder Jeremy Leggett told the conference the U.K. will see 300-600 MW of new subsidy-free solar this year. However, that message did not signal his satisfaction with government policy, with Leggett urging Westminster to ditch plans for a shale gas industry in favour of PV to demonstrate it was serious on carbon emission reduction.
Jan-Willem Bode, director of energy practice at Navigant, told the conference complex U.K. electricity regulations ensure high transaction costs for commercial projects. By comparison, said Bode, it is much easier to develop such projects in Germany or France.
Bode asked U.K. investors to come up with innovative ways to develop commercial projects adding, although he wanted to stay positive, the outlook for such arrangements will be tough over the next two years.
That is why, Gross told the conference, subsidy-free should not mean policy-free, with the academic adding the U.K. needs "a coherent, investment-literate, subsidy-free proposition to deliver low cost renewables".
The WEETF conference also touched on small-scale solar and community energy.
Speciale added there is still innovation, with some community projects looking to bring in aspects such as battery storage, but other speakers agreed the future for small-scale PV in the U.K. is uncertain, and much will depend on the final policy for export tariffs.
The renewable industry has called on the U.K. government to embrace its expertise to fill the gap left by Hitachi's withdrawal from the plan to invest in two new nuclear power plants, at Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales, and at Oldbury-on-Severn in south Gloucestershire.
Fiona Reilly, non-executive director at the Nuclear Industry Association, said the media had misinterpreted Hitachi's decision and argued the Japanese company is simply taking a step back to consider how the energy market will be after Brexit, and whether the U.K. would be able to support a nuclear program outside the EU.


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text:
Kim Kardashian: 'I Empathize With Meghan Markle!!'
Kim Kardashian has revealed that she "empathizes" with Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, during an interview.
"I think everyone has their own journey," Kim said on an Australian TV show. "I think their [Harry and Meghan's] journey is extremely personal, with, you know, what his mother [Princess Diana] experienced and how her life was so affected by the spotlight and by paparazzi."
Meghan has had a difficult time with the media since she first announced her engagement to Prince Harry.
She continued, "I don't think anyone can really understand what that's like except for them. But I think as I'm older and as I have kids, what I would want for them is just the safest place. I can definitely empathize with their need for having a secure, safe place and taking time for themselves and having privacy when they need it."
Several high profile celebrities have already spoken out in defense of the Royal, including Elton John, Serena Williams, and Naomi Campbell.
meghan marklekim kardashian