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A special concert of sacred music performed two months ago, in the 13th-Century St. Michael's Roman-Catholic Cathedral at Alba-Iulia, Romania, led by Valerie Ciolos-Villeman, wife of Romania's Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, was organized to rally the country's citizens to a national cause, namely, the purchase by the state of a statue carved from limestone, called Cumintenia Pamantului ("The Wisdom of the Earth"), created in 1907 by Romania's most important and celebrated sculptor, Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957).
Temporarily, for convenience of Bucharest citizens, the statue was put on display in the lobby of the National Bank of Romania downtown.
"The truth is that it is an iconic sculpture for Romanians," explained Alexandru Baldea in his interview with The Guardian newspaper. Mr. Baldea is managing partner of the Romanian auction house which has been charged with handling the statue's sale. "It's an iconic image that is present in all the books about our national identity. The state used it a lot in its cultural propaganda and transformed it into an icon of the Romanian soul."
"I am going to donate,"Valerie Ciolos told the concert audience in Alba Iulia. Her husband had already pledged to donate his entire Prime Minister's salary for the month of April to the crowdfunding campaign, which seeks to raise 6-million Euros before the end of September; otherwise, the statue's present owners intend to put it up for auction on the international market.
"Why donate?" Valerie Ciolos-Villemin asked rhetorically. "To me, it is about a symbol, about Brancusi, who is a Romanian, a man who always looked for the essence of things and who was an exceptional person. The statute rightfully belongs to the Romanian people. In fact, to me it is about a symbol, an archetype to which anyone can contribute what they can afford."
The Roman-Catholic cathedral at Alba Iulia was an especially appropriate venue for this fundraising concert on behalf of the Brancusi statue-purchase campaign, as it is steeped in history. The foundations of the building date back tothe 11th-Century, with the current structure being built during the 13th-Century after the original building met destruction during a Mongol invasion, and thus it is the oldest surviving cathedral in the country, looking for most of the past 800 years much as it does in the photograph above. Bishops, warriors and dignitaries from past eras of Romanian history are entombed inside the sanctuary and are visible to visitors.
Among them lies the coffin of John Hunyadi (1406-1456). He was the dominant political and military leader of eastern europe in the 15th Century, and is credited with stopping the Turkish army from a westward march to seize control of the Holy Roman Empire.
Adjacent to St. Michael's Roman-Catholic church sits an Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1922-23 to be the site for the coronation of King Ferdinand, and today known as the "coronation cathedral."
And the city of Alba Iulia itself has special significance for Romanians, being the best preserved of the seven medieval walled citadels of Transylvania, with past customs and ceremonies still being honored.
The National Day of Romania, celebrated annually on December 1, commemorates the "Great Union" of Transylvania with the rest of Romania's provinces, which was proclaimed in 1918 at Alba Iulia.
So now the world is watching to see if Romania's citizens will rise to the challenge of donating an average of less than one-euro-per-person for the retention of a famous artwork representing their acclaimed sculptor Constantin Brancusi.


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mLaw
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Tag Archives: incarceration
MLaw letter to Forbes magazine responding to anti-cannabis hit piece
Dear Mr. Kroll,
It is very nice of you to express to your commenters that you don't understand their comments, or ask for elucidation of the points raised by them, assuming your concern is genuine.
You should be aware as a self-described drug news reporter that people who are distressed about the troubles and inequities caused by the 80 year the war on cannabis are often met with expressions of feigned concern regaring definition of argument terms and the like, as well as knowingly misused appeals to authorities by on-the-take professionals (whether writers or assistant professors) that are in no way intended to foster discussion about legalizing cannabis but are rather often attempts to shut down discussion, so I forgive the frustrations displayed some of the commenters on your opinion piece – I hope that you can also.
I, like other commenters, have assessed that your researcher is peddling calculated half-truths, misinformation, scare tactics and misrepresentations. I, along with some of your readers, find it to be disturbing that your editors would allow to this thinly veiled prohibitionist effort be published by Forbes, even as an opinion piece.
We must remember that while one is entitled to their own opinion – it is dangerous and duplicitous to allow misinformation to be articulated for the purpose of deceiving the readers of your publication – that is called propaganda, not opinion.
This is an intended hit piece that employs some of the most simple to expose but most often deployed fallacies in support of the anti-cannabis agenda, it is not an opinion piece supporting the truth, Mr. Kroll. What the assistant professor is doing in this propaganda piece is re-asserting the same old tired tactics of the ilk that are disseminated by one of our country's most prolific anti-cannabis propagandists, Kevin Sabet and supported by the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Nora Volkow.
Kevin Sabet has made a 30 year career of propagandizing against cannabis – in other words, like your researcher, Taffe; he makes his living supporting the continuation of cannabis prohibition. This is to indicate that Taffe is an interested party, not an objective scientist, as he purports to be for the purposes of your opinion piece. Taffe is paid by NIDA, headed by prohibitionist Nora Volkow, an organization which can only and has only researched the negative effects of cannabis – NIDA is barred by its charter and by its funding sources (the federal government, i.e. our tax dollars) from researching the benefits of cannabis.
Taffe knows that he only looks at the negative effects of a drug about which the the National Cancer Institute has said; "Cannabinoids may inhibit cancer tumor growth by causing cell death and blocking cell growth."
Taffe is aware that cannabis is medicine under our laws. In my state, Illinois, cannabis is a regulated medicine that can be prescribed to physically deteriorated Parkinson's victims and wasting AIDs patients, sick humans with traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer's disease and Multiple Sclerosis, and children who are wracked with debilitating epileptic seizures. Taffe is aware of all of this as he spends his time and energies and our tax dollars exploring the alleged and overblown "addictive effects" of cannabis. As Brigadier General Smedely Butler said about war in general, and it is true about the war on cannabis as well, "war is a racket", and Taffe is cleaning up, to the detriment of sick Americans.
Many citizens now realize that for law enforcers to have decided for us as a society, for our health researchers to have decided for us as a society, to not study the possible health benefits of cannabis, but to instead focus their efforts and our dollars on extending the bigoted and immoral war on cannabis, was quite possibly the most immoral, self-defeating and anti-scientific choice that we made as a country over the course of the last century.
After all of the needless suffering of our sick brethren and the thousands of needless arrests (about 700,000 young Americans arrested for cannabis possession every year over the past 30 years, mainly minority youths – in 2015, a cannabis possession arrest was made every 48 seconds), as these same arguments are employed over and over to frighten those credulous citizens who simply believed the lies that they have been told by anti-cannabis law enforcers for eight decades beginning with the disgraced Henry Anslinger, it is frustrating to the extreme to have to always bat down the tired propaganda memes, and for this reason I understand the frustration of the readers who have commented on your opinion piece.
While it is not difficult to speak to the calculated misrepresentations half-truths, and deceptive omissions employed by the likes of Taffe Sabet and others, it is chiefly tiresome and often useless to correct prohibitionists…but do it we must.
Taffe says Marijuana is addictive:
Our own government and other countries' health researchers say quite clearly and consistently that cannabis is as addictive as caffeine – not addictive in the way that opioids, for example, are addictive. Jaffe knows this – as does every honest doctor in America – but he chooses instead to conflate the generally safe cannabis with dangerous and addictive substances such as heroin. Taffe's choice is to be ambiguous for the intentional purpose of scaring your readers, not informing your readers.
Choosing to tell only a part of the story is termed an omission of materially relevant fact in our laws – an act that is deemed to be fraudulent in most jurisdictions.
Taffe says that 5-6% of high-school seniors use marijuana daily:
Taffe employs an intentional misdirection – and therefore a propaganda tactic. Taffe, and Sabet and Volkow and all prohibitionists know that there is no law currently being proposed or citizens' initiative on any ballot anywhere that calls for allowing any person other than an adult to use recreational cannabis. Taffe knows that cannabis use by teens in Colorado has declined since the legalization of the substance. Taffe includes this for a single and duplicitous reason – to scare parents.
Attempting to frighten readers is scare mongering and scare mongering is not presenting an opinion, Mr. Kroll.
Taffe says Marijuana addiction is as "real" as any other:
See analysis of point one above.
Taffe says that there is no such thing as "psychological" versus "physical" dependence:
See analysis of point one above. Again, I do not stipulate that cannabis is non-addictive, but Jaffe is fully aware of the differences between heroin/alcohol/meth addiction and cannabis/caffeine addiction and to pretend or suggest that there is a similarity is expressing a misleading false equivalency.
Taffe might be a good researcher, but the argument that he presents is intended to deceive not elucidate.
Taffe says marijuana acutely impairs cognitive and other behavioral functions:
Again, Jaffe employs a logical fallacy in service of deception by failing to define how individuals are impaired by cannabis, for example, as in relation to individuals impaired by a legal drug, alcohol. We know, from our own government's reporting, that every 2-hours, three people are killed in alcohol-related highway crashes – is Taffe actually asserting that cannabis impairs users to the socially harmful and dangerous extent that legal alcohol threatens public safety?
The obvious answer is, Taffe's cagy non-definition of impairment has the propagandist's chosen effect of conflating the generally benign substance cannabis with truly dangerous substances that impair users to the point of being dangerous to the public.
Taffe says that behavioral tolerance with chronic exposure is substantial:
Another bit of propagandist demonizing innuendo that suggests that weed smoking demons will forever need more and more of the substance, a conjecture disproven by the facts on the ground in the four states in our union where cannabis is legal for adults to use recreationally.
Taffe says that THC is detectable in the body for a very long time compared with many other drugs of abuse:
Taffe, here, is knowingly perpetrating an act of deception when he makes this statement.
The fact is, and Taffe knows this, that tetrahydrocannabinol is NOT water soluble, unlike cocaine or alcohol or heroin, and for this simple and easily understandable scientific fact cannabis remains detectable in the fat of cannabis users for weeks, up to a month, unlike alcohol or heroin or cocaine. This does not mean that cannabis is active for two to four weeks after ingesting the substance. Taffe knows, and so do all propagandists, that the substance is active and capable of effecting as user for 2 to four hours. To state with no qualifications that "THC is detectable in the body for a very long time compared with many other drugs" is a fraudulent act done in service of frightening your readers.
These two points belie the real truth that Taffe is concealing as a researcher; this is, that law enforcement has determined that no scientist in the US can research the benefits of cannabis – but any researcher who wants to further explore the so-called "dangers" of cannabis can make an entire well paid career out of that.
This fact is the entire point of the DEA ruling earlier this year that determined cannabis will remain a schedule one substance along with heroin. The regulators use the same catch-22 reasoning that they have used to successfully maintain cannabis prohibition for decades; "No scientific study has shown that cannabis is not dangerous or has health benefits, so we must prevent the further study of cannabis because we assert that it is 'dangerous and has no medical value'."
The scheduling prevents further medical study and no medical research prevents legalization – a remarkable bit of regulatory circular reasoning that is also remarkably anti-science and which has the remarkable additional knock-on effect of promoting inequality in our legal system.
Taffe says, trying to make specific predictions about an individual who uses marijuana from general findings (there is always a central tendency or average around which the distribution of data points or individual outcomes varies) is a fools' errand:
This final point is both is an extension of the circular reasoning that I described above, but it also is framed as a scare tactic, a commonly employed scare tactic used by the prohibitionists Sabet, Volkow and here Taffe.
What Taffe, and other self-interested prohibitionists often do is close their self-justifying argument chains with the intentionally threatening conjecture; "well, it may be true that we may have not seen any evidence of all of the scary things that I have just put forth to denigrate cannabis and cannabis users; but, do we really want to take the scary step of legalizing cannabis to find out when its 'too late' that cannabis is really the devil's weed that will harm America in unknown and not provable ways forever?" I would think Mr. Kroll, that you have more respect for your readership than to stand by this self-justifying appeal to the unknown and the irrational.
In America, minority youths are being arrested every 48 seconds for cannabis possession and children are experiencing relief from agonizing seizures by using cannabis medicine. Taffe, a health researcher, apparently has no time for these facts as he self-justifyingly defends his golden goose, the failed, anti-scientific and bigoted war on cannabis. Taffe is an interested party whose personal existence is guaranteed by extending the criminality of cannabis, very much like law enforcers who target minorities with cannabis arrests to justify their own law enforcement budgets.
Opinion pieces are intended to spur thoughtful and valuable dialogue with the goal of uncovering the truth. Taffe has no intention of having a dialogue as he proffers innuendo, misrepresentation and deceptive framing to ensure the closing of discussion and rational thought rather the opening of minds.
Tags drug war, health, incarceration, legalization, medical marijuana, money, prohibition, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on MLaw letter to Forbes magazine responding to anti-cannabis hit piece
A confederacy of immoral narcissists threatens public healthy and public safety in America
October 14, 2016 – 2:40 pm
By Patrick Devlin
– More arrests for cannabis possession than for violent crime in bizarro America
– THC enables human brain cells to heal themselves and fight disease
– All of the memes used by anti-cannabis warriors have been proven false by cannabis legalization
– Oregon police are baffled that legal cannabis has not brought about a mass crime wave
– Former DEA agents call for end of war on cannabis so police can do some real work
– Private prison food provider funds anti-cannabis effort in AZ
– Researchers find cannabis can be deadly, but only if you are arrested by police for cannabis possession
– Congress prohibits veterans from using cannabis medicine
– UK approves cannabis medicine, while Ametican patients suffer
– Archeologists find pre-Christian tomb with man's body shrouded in mature cannabis plants
The headlines tell the despicable and sorry tale:
Prohibitionists who continue to place roadblocks to cannabis legalization are now committing immoral and illegal acts that threaten the public safety.
Elected officials who do not demand and work to establish laws legalizing cannabis are violation their oaths of office, are guilty of misappropriating tax payer monies and are enabling criminal enterprises.
Our political leaders, who do not immediately call for the legalization of cannabis are committing violations of public safety and enabling acts of discrimination.
"Laboratory and animal studies show that cannabinoids may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells" – National Cancer Institute
"law enforcement agencies made 574,641 arrests last year for small quantities of (cannabis) intended for personal use, according to the report, which was released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch. The marijuana arrests were about 13.6 percent more than the 505,681 arrests made for all violent crimes, including murder, rape and serious assaults." – New York Times
As compassionate and patriotic Americans, mLaw asks you Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, President Obama and members of congress, Nora Volkow and Kevin Sabet, why do you allow the death, agony, inequality and racism to continue. What purposes are served, other than narissicistic, selfish and immoral personal aggrandizement and perceived political gain, by your calculated and inhumane inaction?
Hillary, Donald, Barack, Nora and Kevin, America implores you to act out of compassion and for the sake of justice. And we ask, "Why do you hate sick children and young minorities?
Tags abuse of power, bigotry, drug war, dry-doper, fascism, incarceration, medical marijuana, neo-fascism, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on A confederacy of immoral narcissists threatens public healthy and public safety in America
Sushrut Jangi's Sleazy Schemes to Slay Self-created Straw Dogs Are Not Science
Can we please stop using deceptive and discredited propaganda techniques to scare Americans?
When a guy puts on a white doctor's jacket and, having wrapped himself in the patina of medical respectability, begins to breathlessly describe how advocating for regulated medical experimentation and equal justice in our country in the twenty first century will endanger the lives of our nation's precious children, we are obliged to stand up and remind everyone that advancing straw dog arguments in the service of supporting a socially destructive and immoral edifice of laws and brakes on the advancement of science is a shameful act of deceit.
Sushrut Jagi, Propagandist
Dr. Sushrut Jangi has shown in his recent opinion piece (published in the Boston Globe on October 8, 2015) that, while he may be a fine doctor, he has chosen to be a propagandist by deceptively asserting that those Americans who support the recreational use of cannabis or the medical application of the substance to treat sick patients are blasé, neglectful, dismissive or do not care about "the children" as he deploys a self-created straw dog that he can gallantly slay in his self-appointed role as protector of the children from drug craving, child harming cannabis advocates.
Newsflash to the editors of the Boston Globe: No person who advocates for the reclassification of cannabis by the Justice Department, no person who supports legalizing cannabis for medical use or recreational consumption has ever advocated for allowing children to recreationally use cannabis – no one.
The sleazy Sushrut sets forth his thesis early on in the piece establishing quite clearly to an observant reader that he has no intention of speaking as a licensed and trained medical professional:
"(U)nderscoring the incredible momentum to legalize marijuana is the misconception that the drug can't hurt anybody. It can, especially young people",
and instead, intends only to obfuscate, misrepresent and terrify through an act of calculated and intentionally deceptive propaganda.
Dr. Jangi, can you please stop inferring the falsehood that the goal of cannabis activists is to in any way allow or make it easier for minors to use cannabis or to promote the use of cannabis by minors? The predicate of your propagandized rant is false. Your intentional fanning of the fear flames is deceptive, immoral and unethical.
I do not care how much you personally hate cannabis or how much of your professional existence is determined by our government's funding the 45 year horror that has been the 'war on cannabis', your donning a doctor's disguise while peddling faulty logic in the service of broadcasting political propaganda is disgusting, dangerous and deceitful. You may be a doctor, but as an essayist or opinion writer your premise is wholly concocted and your goal is not advancing knowledge but shutting down discussion by promoting bogus and chimerical fears.
It is really revealing when a person who is empowered by his education chooses to mis-use his status to promote patently false theories in support of a hidden agenda. I know that doctors are allegedly guided by the Hippocratic oath (to shorthand for the purpose of this discussion; 'do no harm'). I ask, Sushrut, how can your misrepresentational assertion that cannabis advocates are not concerned for the health of our nation's youth be considered as anything less than a lie and nothing more than an ethical failure. To assert that I do not care about "the children" is counter-factual, disparaging, deceitful, unethical and does great harm.
I would suggest, Doctor, if your desire is to engage in deceptive attacks in the world of public policy – take off the hospital scrubs disguise and seek employment at Fox News.
To be clear, this analysis has nothing to do with the so-called medical facts that Dr. Jangi uses to buttress his manufactured straw dog thesis and we have refuted the so-called evidence that Jangi re-hashes in the Globe opinion piece on many occasions. But rather it is with regard to Jangi's choice to deceptively broadcast his medical credentials to give cover as he proffers a discredited and harmful load of propaganda.
If Jangi wants to be honest for a human second he will have to agree with mLaw that the concerns that he presents in his scare mongering piece will be settled quite easily – not by ending the normalization of legal cannabis in America, which is what he propagandizes in support of, but by re-scheduling cannabis so that we can finally do real scientific experimentation to understand the medical uses of cannabis, as we here at mLaw support.
As it stands, Jangi clearly throws his support behind the medieval and anti-science stance of continuing a knowing and immoral program of shutting down medical research for going on nearly 100 years that is concomitant with a knowing and immoral police policy in our land that has resulted in tens of millions of otherwise law abiding citizens being permanently saddled with an arrest record, if not a conviction record. It is difficult to gauge the cruelty and recklessness of such a stance.
I ask you doctor, have you no concern for the young Americans of color who have been imprisoned unequally and unfairly? Have you no concern for the children who are receiving blessed and unquestionable relief from medical cannabis today?
I ask you Sushrut, have you no human compassion for these, some of our "most vulnerable populations"?
I ask you Sushrut Jangi, have you no sense of decency at long last?
Tags abuse of power, cannabis, drug war, government regulated sales, incarceration, legalization, medical marijuana, prohibition, propaganda | Permalink | Comments Off on Sushrut Jangi's Sleazy Schemes to Slay Self-created Straw Dogs Are Not Science
The Inevitability of Democratic Dry-Doperism
"It would be irresponsible for me as the chief law enforcement officer to take a position based on its popularity without thinking it would actually work" – Kamala Harris, candidate for California Attorney General, 2014
"I am not opposed to the legalization of marijuana, there's a certain inevitability about it." – Kamala Harris, newly re-elected California Attorney General, 2014
"Be the change you want to see" – Gandhi
Well, it was inevitable.
That a sitting Democrat, even one from the avant state of California, would admit the obvious after running away from the obvious as she ran for re-election, and come clean, fess up, speak reality and stop with the timorous mealy-mouthery and calculated misrepresentation on cannabis legalization.
Freshly re-elected California Attorney General Kamala Harris recently told Californians that she made a craven choice to obfuscate as the silly season was unfolding – that she believes (a belief shared by about 99 percent of Americans, including the paid prohibitionist anti-cannabis propagandists Patrick Kennedy and Kevin Sabet) legal cannabis in her state and the country is "inevitable".
What we also know by now, after four states and Washington DC have legalized recreational cannabis consumption, it is inevitable that modern elected Democrats will either hem and haw about their position on legalization or stake an outright (and untenable) prohibitionist stance against cannabis legalization and work to keep the substance illegal – ensuring the arrest of more minority Americans and the pain and suffering of many of their fellow citizens.
And, in this year's California Attorney General's race, Ms. Harris shown as a masterfully scheming dry-doper politician, segueing effortlessly from coy quips and chuckles to strongly worded finger-wagging morality plays (see above), ensuring both to-be-arrested young minority males and scared-as-shit suburban parents that she will not lend a hand to equal justice demanding Californians, claiming the tough law enforcement territory on legalized cannabis. In fact, Harris's republican challenger, the wacky straw-dog candidate Ron Gold, actually took the medically responsible and certainly more rational, law enforcement cost saving and equal justice uplifting pro-cannabis legalization position in the race. It is understood that Gold didn't stand a chance against Harris with his odd-ball Libertarian worldview, but, who can really argue with the statement; "It is common sense, reasonable and rational to change laws that have driven the market for marijuana into the hands of drug cartels and street gangs." The answer…Kamala Harris.
Harris's reaction to questions from the media regarding her challenger's stance on cannabis legalization, (a very Obama like laugh-off when Harris said with a derisive guffaw, "He's entitled to his opinion") angered Californians who are serious about legalizing cannabis, driving some very liberal voters to support the republican from a standpoint of principle – voters who had never voted for a republican in their lives. Harris may have angered some hippies, but she certainly received the support of law enforcement in the 2014 election cycle. And, she didn't have to admit that law enforcement unequally applies the laws prohibiting cannabis or explain to suburban mommies why she is hanging with those dirty hippies.
While Harris's crass self-obsessive posturing, her effort to not anger law enforcement constituencies as she scans the horizon of her political career shooting for the stars (again, in a very Obama like fashion – the state senator who supported both cannabis decriminalization and the creation of a Palestinian state for reasons, looking back, that were purely political) may have made her forget the public that she has promised to serve, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsome (also newly re-elected) chose to insert cannabis legalization as a plank in his 2014 re-election campaign.
As cannabis legalization is forced by the will of the people in state after state and as medical researchers discover the usefulness of the substance after 80 years of the federal government's suppression of medical research, we can expect to see more self-serving Democratic politicians sheepishly come to grips with Legal Cannabis America and reverse course on the subject.
This is not to suggest that these dry-doper Democrats will reverse course out of principle or personal integrity or compassion. This does not mean that these liars will admit that their clinging to cannabis prohibition (that is antithetical to both equal justice and scientific research) so as to be elected over and over again by both stoking and appealing to fears and bigotries in their constituencies that they once saw as a requirement for 'tough on crime' Democrats, was immoral and wrong and served to give tens of millions of young Americans arrest records and limit the quality of life of patients who have terminal diseases. They will admit that cannabis should be legal simply because their future political careers hang in the balance.
That's not bravery and honesty; it is, rather, cowardice and narcissism.
Tags abuse of power, drug war, federal crack downs, incarceration, legalization, local government, paradigm shift, prohibition | Permalink | Comments Off on The Inevitability of Democratic Dry-Doperism
A Holder of Political Ideology, not Justice
If you ask an attorney if torture is OK, if broad based warrantless wiretapping is allowed, if wealthy private corporations can be absolved of felonies just because they are wealthy corporations, if American citizens can be executed with a no charges leveled against them or trial – it really doesn't matter what political party they are affiliated with – a member of the bar will generally agree that none of the above statements make sense, and in fact, these statements actually contravene our laws, our treaties and our constitution.
But, if you are asking these questions of a member of the personal staff of the President of the United States, who happens to be an attorney, you can expect to get answers that turn your concepts of fair treatment under the law, constitutional guarantees and international law into shredded and masticated gloppy pulp.
Over the past decades the nation's top attorneys, using the magic and misleading mumblings and deliberately deceptive diatribes of their clients, presidents of our United States, our Attorneys General have navigated into new territory as they justify clearly unlawful actions for their clients and set precedents, which have gone unchallenged by our elected officials, that will serve to deform the legal landscape in America for decades, generations.
"The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas."
– Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General, Congressional hearing, 01.17.2007
"Due process and judicial process are not one in the same."
– Eric Holder, US Attorney General, Northwestern University Law School, 03.06.2012
The retiring US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has recently claimed, after six years, that he believes that cannabis should be considered for rescheduling, removing the substance from the Department of Justice's list of most dangerous drugs. No useful purpose, susceptible to being abused, a designation that (oddly) also applies to the drug LSD but (oddly) not to the drugs heroin, meth and cocaine.
As is obvious to any sentient being – torture is always wrong and always at the apogee of immoral human behavior, recording and storing forever the private conversations of our citizens with no judicial order violates the Constitution, killing our citizens with no trial, no judge, no jury, no charges, no right to even articulate a defense makes a mockery of the basic principles that are woven into American law as it grew out of fundamental rights recognized by humans since before our country was founded, and cannabis is essentially benign and medically important, the prohibition of which has resulted in life changing arrests for over 600,000 Americans every year that Holder has held his appointed position as US Attorney General – that's over 3 million Americans since Barack Obama became president, 3 million Americans who are overwhelmingly African Americans and Latino Americans.
I wonder, now that he soon will be no longer 'retained' by his former client, if Holder will eventually confide to Katie Couric that, he really, really believes, like all moral humans, that torture is wrong, warrantless surveillance violates our rights, corporations can be charged with crimes and every person deserves a fair trial before being executed.
link to comic courtesy of verbatim&v2
Tags abuse of power, drug war, fascism, incarceration, legalization, medical marijuana, neo-fascism, prohibition | Permalink | Comments Off on A Holder of Political Ideology, not Justice
Coppers Ride the Cannabis Arrest Tide, Allow Criminals to Slide
Statistics compiled by the US Department of Justice reveal that arrests of Americans for simple cannabis possession have increased by over 300 percent nationwide since 1991. Washington Post writer Christopher Ingraham analyzed data provided by the DOJ to find that since 1991 cannabis arrests have tripled even though arrests for all crimes, including violent crimes, have reduced over that same period. Ingraham noted that the figures reported by the DOJ with respect to cannabis possession arrests "are likely even higher," as some states do not report arrest data to the agency.
Ingraham found that 42 percent of all drug arrests in 2012 were arrests for simple possession of cannabis (as opposed to arrests for possession of cannabis with the intent to distribute the substance) and that cannabis possession arrests constituted 5.4 percent of all criminal arrests in 2012. The 2012 statistics as reported by the DOJ exemplify a trend over the course of 23 years reflecting a knowing and considered mindset of local and state police enforcers: cannabis arrests are easy, safe and, in light of failures to combat real crime and violent crime, serve to portray that police forces are doing their jobs promoting public safety. Ingraham also noted that his review of DOJ statistics revealed that, in 2012, 53 percent of all reported violent crimes in the US went unsolved, the perpetrators of these crimes remaining at large.
The government's figures report that over that same 23 year period between approximately 600,000 and 700,000 Americans were arrested each year for simple cannabis possession. As we know from a raft of academic studies, and even from comments made by President Obama, the overwhelming proportion of cannabis possession arrestees during the past two decades have been African Americans and Latino Americans. While Ingraham notes that not all of the individuals who were subject to cannabis possession arrest ended up in prison, all of the arrestees were faced with the burdens of the costs of defending themselves and the on-going personal costs of living with an arrest record that impacts the arrestee's employment opportunities, housing choices, ability to apply for student aid and a myriad of life-long road blocks to becoming full participants in our society and economy.
Ingraham's review of the DOJ data also revealed the widely divergent law enforcement attitudes toward arresting simple cannabis possessors that are reflected in a state-by-state comparison of cannabis arrest rates. Cannabis users in Louisiana and Nebraska are 40 times more at risk for arrest than cannabis possessors in Massachusetts. And, the arrest disparities are even evident between so-called blue states. Ingraham reports that one of every eight arrests in New York is for cannabis possession, while in the bordering state of Massachusetts, cannabis possession arrests number only 1 out of every 1000.
The statistics that our own government provides detail how our citizens have been harmed by a conspiracy between law enforcers who see the value in spending time and resources busting minorities for non-violent victimless crimes and politicians who see the value in promoting the divisive and counterproductive drug war – both seeking to score points with their constituents by looking drug-war tough. But, are the costs to society worth the self-interested grandstanding? The data that Ingraham reviewed shows that the drug war has failed to end cannabis use but has become a perpetual motion machine, serving to promote law enforcement and political careers at the cost of harming the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens every year for decades and thwarting research into the medical possibilities of cannabis.
Alas, in policy considerations there is never a magic bullet…but wait, reclassify, decriminalize, both of which can be done easily. All that is required is a bit of agreement and concerted effort by our law enforcement officials and politicians…but wait –
Tags abuse of power, bigotry, drug war, incarceration, local government, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on Coppers Ride the Cannabis Arrest Tide, Allow Criminals to Slide
Time to Reschedule, President Laughy-boy part 4
Nothing to see here – move along…
When a gang of armed men smashed through the doorway of the 600 square foot home of 29 year old Jason Westcott's partner, 22 year old Israel Reyes, Westcott acting upon directives he received from the Tampa Bay police, grabbed his weapon and was killed in a rain of semi-automatic gunfire.
Westcott had called the Tampa police earlier this year after being threatened by another citizen. As a result of Westcott's complaint to the police; the person who had threatened Westcott was confronted by the police, but no arrests were made, and the police advised Westcott to avail himself of one of modern America's most protected rights, not the right to privacy, not the right to a fair trial, not the right to not have the modern version of Caucasian American Christianity (that Christ himself would find objectionable) shoved into your face – but rather the 'god given' right to blow the crap out of anyone you feel threatened by with your concealed and carried and beloved human killing machine. The exact quote from the police to the frightened Westcott when he reported the threat was, "If anyone breaks into this house, grab your gun and shoot to kill."
Westcott was an armed drug dealer and was treated as such by the Tampa Police. The Tampa police sent a SWAT team to bring down the drug king pin of Seminole Heights – using whatever force they deemed to be required. Westcott's evil drug dealing existence was terminated by Tampa's finest (whose only goal in their action was to protect the community – especially the children, from the evils of cannabis). The police recovered two dollars worth of the dangerous narcotic.
Reyes has not denied in media interviews he has given since Westcott's killing that he and his partner occasionally sold small amounts of cannabis to friends – but he maintains that this was not their sole source of income and, as Reyes framed it, "There weren't people coming in and out of the house every day. It wasn't paying the bills. We were still broke."
The police dispute that characterization, as they described the SWAT Team raid to the media after the shooting.
They first said that the decision to raid the home was prompted due to complaints from neighbors. When reporters were unable to find such complaining neighbors, the Tampa police admitted that the raid was spurred by an investigation where an undercover Tampa police officer made cannabis purchases at the home. A freedom of information request was filed with the department regarding the incident, and the actual truth of the matter is that the inspiration to SWAT raid the Seminole Heights home came instead from an "confidential informant", and in police work this could include a criminal who is trying to broker a deal after being arrested to get a lesser charge or not be prosecuted.
Tampa police spokesperson Laura McElroy told Tampa, when confronted with the cover-up the department orchestrated after the shooting that, "Each time the informant was at this house, he saw pre-packaged marijuana." McElroy also claimed that the "confidential informer" had claimed to have seen a weapon in the home.
The chief of police in Tampa, Jane Kastor, took to the airwaves herself after the community questioned the actions of the department when it became clear that a young Tampa citizen was mowed down by officers over two dollars worth of cannabis, where she spoke a ritualistic incantation as if memorized that all TV news watchers in all American cities have heard and themselves been mesmerized by:
"Mr. Westcott lost his life because he aimed a loaded firearm at police officers…If there is an indication that there is armed trafficking going on – someone selling narcotics while they are armed or have the ability to use a firearm – then the tactical response team will do the initial entry."
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union released its findings after performing a review of the militarization of America's local police forces in a report called War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing. During their research, the ACLU became aware of the hundreds of SWAT team assaults on the homes of private citizens that have been carried out by local coppers over the past few years in cases similar to the narcotics raid that resulted in the death of Jason Westcott. The Union examined over 800 SWAT team assaults carried out by local police offices in the years 2011 and 2012 to discover that 79 percent of the gun brandishing, flash bomb utilizing, smash the door down raids were to serve simple search warrants, and of those SWAT raids carried out to simply serve warrants, 60 percent were warrants to search for drugs.
The Union pointed out in their findings that, "Even though paramilitary policing in the form of SWAT teams was created to deal with emergency scenarios such as hostage or barricade situations, the use of SWAT to execute search warrants in drug investigations has become commonplace… The use of a SWAT team to execute a search warrant essentially amounts to the use of paramilitary tactics to conduct domestic criminal investigations in searches of people's homes."
Furthermore, the Union reports that, "there is typically no single entity at the local, state, or federal level responsible for ensuring that SWAT is appropriately restrained and that policing does not become excessively militarized," creating a situation where untrained local police are making decisions to use SWAT raids as they desire to carry out general run-of-the-mill police functions. As can be predicted, the Union also reports that SWAT team tactics are most often used against the poor and minorities – in their study they found that 42 percent of the homes local police raided with SWAT teams were the homes of African Americans and 12 percent were the homes of Latino Americans.
At the same time that SWAT team tactics are becoming the preferred technique used by militarized local police offices as they prosecute the drug war, American citizens are coming to the realization that treating drug addiction as an act of war by our citizens as opposed to treating drug addiction as a community health matter is both counterproductive and immoral.
As a citizen whose family members include police officers, it is difficult to argue against the mesmerizing mantra of police commanders who claim simply to be protecting their officers (and, by the way, the police involved in the killing of Jason Westcott were found by the Hillsborough County State's Attorney to be justified in their use of deadly force against the decedent). But there is a group of folks who know that cannabis is not a narcotic and is essentially harmless, that communities of color are almost exclusively targeted by local rough and tough militarized small time police chiefs and officers in drug war raids, and that local coppers make boatloads of cash by banging down doors in the middle of the night to lock away cannabis users – both through In Rem forfeiture actions as well as being rewarded by the feds (both Congress and the DOJ) for doing their part to continue the failed, bigoted and immoral war on drugs and on cannabis in particular – these 'folks' are your congresspersons and senators and President Obama.
These diners off of tax payer paid for china dinner plates know full well that their self-interested promotion of the drug war is immoral, anti-science and dis-compassionate, that it is a failure, that it supports cartels and gangs in their violent businesses, and harms otherwise innocent Americans rendering them unable to participate in society – unable to help us lift up our country with their individual talents and energies – but they just don't give a shit. Our leaders cravenly, stubbornly and, quite basically, with malice aforethought, know very clearly that their selfish non-actions with regard to cannabis will without question result in the needless and preventable deaths of other Americans' sons, daughters, partners, patients, relatives, friends, neighbors – they know and do nothing…except spit out an uncomfortable (or perhaps a knowing, but certainly a not caring) laugh when a citizen asks if they "want a hit."
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." – M. L. King
Tags abuse of power, decriminalization, drug war, federal crack downs, incarceration, local government, medical marijuana, paradigm shift, prohibition, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on Time to Reschedule, President Laughy-boy part 4
Time to Reschedule, President Laughy-boy – part 3
The Grand Rapids Press and MLive Media reported Tuesday on the annual meeting of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) where conferees leveled a unified and scathing critique of the national 'war on cannabis' that is driven by self-serving local police, federal level prohibitionist politicians, private prison owners and purveyors of bigoted pseudo medical justifications, which has, according to attendees at this year's NOBLE conference, "ruined the lives" of countless African American youths, stood as a force against medical treatment of addiction, intensified racial inequality and served to burn bridges of understanding and cooperation between law enforcers and the communities in which they serve.
Chief John Dixon III, police chief of Petersburg, VA, speaking at a session at the NOBLE conference titled, "Decriminalizing the Black Community", characterized the continued federal prohibition of cannabis bluntly for conferees, stating, "It's insanity. We know," adding that after 40 years of prohibition's failures, "The results haven't changed."
Dixon said that while police often view marijuana arrests as victories that ostensibly assist the user come to grips with their use of the illegal substance, the stark fact is that, "locking people up for a dime bag, for a joint," and putting them into the criminal justice system "pretty much ruins the rest of their lives." "We, as law enforcement professionals, we need to really take a look at how we can decriminalize marijuana, especially user amounts," Dixon told the gathering, "Sometimes, we've got to say the things that most of law enforcement isn't going to say."
Dixon remarked on the devastating effects that criminalized cannabis has had on communities of African Americans across the US and noted that his real-life experiences had led him to conclude that drug addiction is best spoken to as a community health matter rather than as a law enforcement program.
The director of the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Major Neil Franklin, a 34 year veteran of the Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department, reminded the assembled law enforcement officials of the disturbing statistics associated with America's failed drug war, stating that between 1990 and 2005 the size of the prison population incarcerated for drug offenses grew from 415,000 Americans to over 1.9 million convicts.
Franklin also expressed his concerns that the war on cannabis is driven by private prison owners who are seeking to have their jails filled with non-violent young minority men caught up in the drug war, and supported by law enforcement agencies which have come to rely upon drug forfeiture laws to extract cash and property from arrested drug users to support their departments in a time of reduced funding of public services across the country as politicians refuse to tax the wealthy and businesses to pay their fair share in supporting America's communities. Franklin concluded, "Marijuana is one of the biggest money makers for law enforcement agencies today."
Franklin asked his audience pointedly, "Who do you want to (control the flow of drugs) in your neighborhood? The cartels? The 20,000 gangs we have around the country? Or do we take control of it, regulate it?" Franklin echoed the comments of Chief Dixon when he challenged the audience of law enforcers, "There's no more powerful voice than the people in the trenches."
The 38th annual NOBLE conference, which was open to the public and presented sessions on all aspects of law enforcement and a job fair, took place in Grand Rapids Michigan between July 13 and 17.
Note: this news-opinion piece relies heavily upon the reporting of John Agar of the Grand Rapids Press and MLive and mLaw expresses its sincere appreciation for bringing this important event to our attention.
Tags bigotry, drug war, federal crack downs, incarceration, local government, paradigm shift, prohibition, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on Time to Reschedule, President Laughy-boy – part 3
A team of scientists from Canada, New Zealand, The United Kingdom and the United States has reported that even heavy users of cannabis have no greater chance of contracting lung cancer from their use of the substance than casual cannabis users or, remarkably, even non-cannabis users.
The study, which is to be published in the International Journal of Cancer, analyzed data from six case studies involving more than 5000 participants and found that there is "little evidence for an increased risk of lung cancer among habitual or long-term cannabis smokers."
The review of research echoed previous medical studies, reported in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society in 2013, that revealed that "habitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function…Overall the risks of pulmonary complications of regular use of marijuana appear to be relatively small and far lower than those of tobacco smoking."
The journal actually went further, as another article from 2013 posited that "cannabis smoking does not seem to increase risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or airway cancers. In fact, there is even a suggestion that low doses (of) cannabis may be protective for both conditions."
The findings support the conjecture of many in the medical community that cannabis contains "anti-cancer properties" including the ability to inhibit the growth of lung cancer tumors, but no studies have been performed on human subjects due in part to the embargo against researching the capacities of cannabis' medical benefits as the substance is considered by law enforcement and the White House to be amongst the most dangerous illegal drugs, as dangerous and medically non-useful as LSD and peyote, but less safe less medically useful than methanphetamine, cocaine and synthetic heroin.
Tags abuse of power, bigotry, drug war, incarceration, legalization, medical marijuana, prohibition, propaganda, public safety | Permalink | Comments Off on Time to Reschedule, President Laughy-Boy – part 2
HillBilly on the same prohibitionist page as Choomer-in-Chief
Over the course of the past couple of weeks and culminating recently in an interview on Meet the Press, it appears that the woman who would be king and her first-mate to be, the HillBilly (sm), have laid out their dry-doper vision for speaking to the concerns of both America's dire-medication needers and it's life changing arrest-recorded-pocket-carrying weeders – "Who cares what you think", in a manner of speaking and referencing a quip of the highly quotable GWBush.
What we have heard from the HillBilly is language that they know is crowd tested to seem mildly progressive in tenor and even hopeful (tm – Barack Obama), that cannabis may be medically useful and that the states are "laboratories of democracy".
Thanks HillBilly, but we were already aware that the National Institutes of Health said in 2003 that cannabinoid "compounds have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumour cells in culture and animal models by modulating key cell-signalling pathways," and then went further in 2012 when the NIH stated firmly that the properties of cannabis have "anti-cancer activities." And, that in states such as Illinois where cannabis has been made legal for medicinal purposes, politicians agree with the medical establishment that asserts that cannabis is medicine that helps patients who are suffering from a long list of crippling and permanent medical maladies including these diseases that the HillBilly most assuredly do not have or do not want to contract or become afflicted with:
"Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency, syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, agitation of Alzheimer's disease, cachexia/wasting syndrome, muscular dystrophy, severe fibromyalgia, spinal cord disease, including but not limited to arachnoiditis, Tarlov cysts, hydromyelia, syringomyelia, Rheumatoid arthritis, fibrous dysplasia, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, Arnold-Chiari malformation and Syringomyelia, Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA), Parkinson's, Tourette's, Myoclonus, Dystonia, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, RSD (Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type I), Causalgia, CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type II), Neurofibromatosis, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, Sjogren's syndrome, Lupus, Interstitial Cystitis, Myasthenia Gravis, Hydrocephalus, nail-patella syndrome, residual limb pain," as well as "any other debilitating medical condition" recognized by Illinois Department of Public Health as being treatable with the useful and important medicine called cannabis."
Hooray for the forward march of science.
And, HillBilly (sm), we are also aware that the states can indeed be "laboratories of democracy" – as we have seen over the past decades, where obstructionist politicians who are keenly concerned with pandering to the rubes (so as to keep their jobs) have labored to reduce Americans' access to abortion, enable citizens to carry high powered rifles into restaurants and shopping malls, forestalled equality in marriage and voted over and over to ensure that we do not follow "shria law" in places like Oklahoma and Florida. And we have seen even in the past year, in states that have legalized cannabis usage for medical and recreational purposes, state level prohibitionists and suburban township cultural custodians effectively stymie the will of the people by imposing ridiculous "home rule" restrictions on the sale of cannabis for no other reason than to make it difficult for the citizens who they represent to use the legal substance.
Hooray for small "d" democracy.
When I hear the HillBilly talking like this, it's hard for me to say hopefully that the statements that have come from both of the soon-to-be first couple reflect a growing "evolution" on matters related to cannabis. I think rather the stance is nothing more than self-serving dry-doper kick-the-can cowardly narcissistic bullshittery.
I am certain that the cynical liars HillBilly know full well that the current dry-doper in the White House has used this exact fake-assed framing throughout his tenure (when he wasn't actually publically making fun of those Americans who understand the medical usefulness of cannabis and are cognizant of the bigoted pogrom that is the war on cannabis in America, by using his 'bully pulpit' as a dais from which to be a bully), as in when Obama told a New Yorker writer earlier this year that, "it's important for it to go forward…And the experiment that's going to be taking place in Colorado and Washington is going to be, I think, a challenge."
Hooray for "evolving".
When I hear self-serving asshats talk like this it's difficult for me to think of progress because, since Obama became president and decided to do nothing regarding cannabis for legacy burnishing reasons, more than 4.2 million of our fellow citizens have been arrested for possession of cannabis – the overwhelming majority of these arrests have been for small amounts of the substance (i.e. personal use – not drug trafficking) and the overwhelming majority of these arrestees have been minorities. Seems to me that's a step backwards for our country.
I also think about the "smash and grab raids" that Obama's DOJ has performed on medical cannabis dispensaries since he became president, and the fact that Obama's DEA is currently threatening doctors in Massachusetts (a state that has legalized cannabis for medical use) that, if they prescribe cannabis as medicine, they will lose their license to prescribe any medications. Nice, that hopeful and evolving mindset, eminently reasonable.
I know, I know – why take such a hard stance against the clear and considered, callus and continual foot-dragging of our royal Democratic class members? Those Republicans are so mean and selfish and so much worse that our Democrats…and, by the way, it's only cannabis, I can hear supporters of HillBilly intone patronizingly. Let me advise, I realize that it's "only" cannabis.
So – let's instead consider; banker bailouts, imperial wars, inescapable total surveillance, union busting, propping up the amoral health insurance industry, supporting polluters over our people, killing citizens in extra-judicial executions, funding illegally occupying religious zealots, criminalizing dissent, supporting the oxymoronic concept of "humanitarian war" and rehabilitating torture as US policy – these are the legacies of Bill Clinton and the vision for America that define the motivations of Hillary Clinton to run this nation.
Hooray for oligarchy.
"I recognized at once that we had never understood the meaning of these words, so common and yet so sacred: Justice, equity, liberty; that concerning each of these principles our ideas have been utterly obscure; and, in fact, that this ignorance was the sole cause, both of the poverty that devours us, and of all the calamities that have ever afflicted the human race."
– Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Tags abuse of power, bigotry, drug war, federal crack downs, incarceration, local government, medical marijuana, prohibition, propaganda | Permalink | Comments Off on HillBilly on the same prohibitionist page as Choomer-in-Chief
acme arts collective collaboration is a celebration of the green
Krazy Kansans push propaganda to scare suburbanites
Toronto Police warn Canadians to not do stupid shit in wake of cannabis legalization
#BarbaraYankey Stuns Science with Discovery of Human Hair Heart Stopping Syndrome
The Nation's Drug Cops Prepare for the Worst as Happy and Creative Music Appreciators Threaten Public Safety
abuse of power bigotry cannabis colorado amendment 64 decriminalization drug war dry-doper fascism federal crack downs government regulated sales health incarceration JAMA legalization local government Maine medical marijuana Michigan money Mujica neo-fascism paradigm shift prohibition propaganda public safety washington I-502
thank you &
please help enlarge this site, add to the conversation and help increase understanding - join, add, suggest stories contact mLaw at : mlaw@acmeartscollective.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ok, most of you should know a bit about me by now... Just an redneck working hard and trying to move up.
I've got a presentation to do on Wed at the corporate office. I have learned Power Point, how to do charts via Excel, etc and I am VERY comfortable in my knowledge of my subject, which is Quality Assurance on Dish Network installs. I am in charge of 3-400 techs and 15-20 managers (depending on season), and am having to give a presentation to all the site managers on why the heck they should bother with QUALITY -v- QUANTITY.
I've held plenty of training/motivation meetings with people below me and feel I'm good at that level. This meeting is with the VP, CFO, CEO, etc watching me.
Oh yeah - I'll be driving all day tomorrow (4am to 3pm) so won't be able to check this - keep tips coming even if I don't respond AND I just found out I'm right after lunch when everyone will be sleepy!!!!
Re: help! presentation on Wed!
create your a table with all your data in Excel.
select all data and select the "chart" button on the toll bar and follow the wizard...it is self explanatory once you start working through the wizard.
then if you need to...you can import your chart to your power point presentation.
As long as you are comfortable and know what you are talking about you should be fine. It does not matter if they are VP's or Techs, they are just people. Speak slowly and deliberately. Make eye contact with each person, working your way around the audience throughout the presentation. Ask questions to the audience regarding why quality is important. Keep the words on powerpoint to a minimum, use PPT as a an organizational tool for the presentation. Talk to the audience not to the PPT slides. Do what you are comfortable with.
Consentrate one person and make eye contact. Avoid talking with your hands. One hand in the pocket usually works. Theay told us that when I went through instructor tactics in the military. Good luck, you will do fine.
Lousy quality is advertised broadly and freely by many.
Check out the post here. The negative posts about poor work out weigh the positive posts for a job well done.
Not to mention the time lost returning to redo a poor installation.
Ask them to recall the last service they had and their impression if it was good or bad.
They will remember the bad service longer.
Don't just talk at them, ask questions, their experiences. Relay your experiences with poor or good service.
Inject a little humor. I throw candy to the people that ask questions at the seminars I teach. Put a fishing picture in your power point presentation that you stumble onto. It breaks the tension and keeps them wondering, What's he going to do next.
Well, look at my story about Firestone..
It is the quality of service (rather lack thereof) which will result in my NEVER doing business with them again..
Ironically, another part of the issue with Friestone was due to their quantity too, they weren't able to deliver on time as they promised because they were backed up!
Here's one that ought to hit closer to home for Execs - Ask them what kind of cars they would rather drive - Mercedes & BMW or Chevy & Ford? They might not actually say it, but they will know which one in an instant..
I'm going on my 29th year in quality control/assurance,bottom line is: If everything and everybody was perfect,I wouldn't have a job! Rework means lost time and $$$ ! Teamwork and quality go together. Knowing the resources available strengthens quality and job knowledge in the long run. Identify the areas of most occuring non-conformances and develop a plan to reduce this. Ask your people in the field and the office what opinions they have in this area and go from there. You are going to have a busy Tuesday......Good Luck!
Great stuff. A lot I've already prepped myself for, and some new ideas.
We've all seen what you've posted in the past. You'll do fine just being yourself. Good luck and drive safe.
If nerves may be an issue, visualization of the talk and it going well may be helpful. Another thing that I like to dwell on is that even if some audience members may outrank you, you are the expert there on your topic. I always psych myself up by telling myself prior "You are the professor, they are your students - just teach them".
I assume that the central subject of your talk will not actually be to justify Q.C. as an activity. That's not really a position you want to put yourself in, and if the senior management have any idea at all of why they have signed off on funding 300-400 people (I'm guessing they do), it's not a subject you should have to address anyway. Just my opinion, but I think focusing on that is not helpful. If it were me, I would prefer to focus on what you guys are doing - improvements made in quality, methods for doing so, measures of success, etc, and impacts and anecdotes from customers, etc. More - what kind of great work you guys are doing, and also a sketch of a plan for the (near term) future, rather than why they should even have that department in the first place. You just don't get 300-400 people on the payroll without management having some idea of why that's important. Not saying you can't touch on that, just suggesting you not make it the main thrust. Instead tell them why you and your people are doing a bangup job of it for them.
Just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth and use it for what you can, throw it out if you can't. Good luck!
Quality equals repeat customers. Good repeat customers don't usually ask for much beyond what was promised and delivered. Quantity usually means many fewer repeats so you have to work harder to get new customers to replace the ones that you lose and continue to grow the system. Here at our Chamber of Commerce, we have always felt the best way to grow the Chamber was to retain members, rather than concentrating solely on new members. New membership coordinator only has to work half as hard to grow the membership is fewer people quit.
Quality= Say what your going to do, Then do what you said you are going to do.
A satisfied customer only tell's 3 people but a dissatisfied customer will tell 300.
Quantity= Go straight to the 300 people part .
Joe - I have every confidence that you will present yourself and your presentation just fine.
The above posts are awesome with their advice and just know this - without QUALITY you won't HAVE any quantity... enough said.
Take care and GOOD LUCK!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!
Instead of just titling the slide with somethng like "2006 Projected installs by month"
Make the title say what you want the slide to impart - something like "2006 installs will rise in the 2nd half of 06"
I learned that from a master at presenting - make the slides say what you want them to unsderdatnd from the slide - it's called an "active title"
And , bring the Budweiser girl's .
Best case scenario happened - I was suposed to have an hour; I have a reputation for rambling on; two people before me went long so I was told I had 30 minutes. Took 31. After the initial cotton mouth (not the good kind) all went well.
The CEO had to leave almost first thing to handle a new contract were's working, I was much relieved. Then he showed back 15 minutes before I started. Dammit!
Again - thanks for all the tips. Few days at home with the hot woman that lives here (I believe it's something called "wife") and back to Georgia for a month.
Glad that things went well. We KNEW you could do it!
Great job!!! Glad everything went smooth.
I have to give presentations on a weekly basis. One thing I have learned, is that if you are giving a visual presentation (ie PowerPoint), don't give out the program on paper , or other literature for that matter before you are done. Their attention needs to be on YOU, not the handout. Thats the whole "point" of PowerPoint. Close the presentation by passing out paper forms of your presentation and supporting documents if needed. If you don't , most of them will just read through the literature, and become bored before you are through.
Glad to hear things worked out well - that kind of thing can be nerve-wracking.


text:
Public Domain Movies
Drama & Romance
Image source: Internet Archive (archive.org)
Download Movie [Video Format: MP4]
Movie Source: Internet Archive (archive.org)
"The Curtain Pole" (1909) director D. W. Griffith, cinematographer Billy Bitzer
D.W. Griffith, Billy Bitzer, Mack Sennett, Florence Lawrence, Arthur V. Johnson, Biograph Company, silent film, silent movie stars, free classic film, old movies, silent film streaming, silent era, archive films, rare films, silent comedy, silent classics, classic images, classic comedy movies, classic films on line, classic movies on line, silent films on line, silent movies on line, good silent movies, old movies online, free classic movie, fine old movies
"The Curtain Pole" is a short comedy directed by D.W. Griffith, featuring Florence Lawrence, Arthur Johnson and cinematographer Billy Bitzer, stars of Silent Hall of Fame.
A house party is interrupted when a curtain pole breaks. The lady of the house (Florence Lawrence) wants to take care of the problem but one of the guests (Mack Sennett) volunteers to run to the hardware store and get a replacement. On his way back he causes mayhem on every step of the way. Arthur Johnson plays several small roles, among which are a vegetable vendor and a party guest.
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Cinematography by Billy Bitzer
Starring Mack Sennett, Florence Lawrence, Arthur Johnson
Distributed by Biograph Company
Running time 8 m.
You can see a slideshow of stills from this film and other interesting stuff on our website silent-hall-of-fame.org.
Silent Hall of Fame is the only place where we actively work to bring back from oblivion the names and legacy of formerly illustrious silent movie stars, which have made a major contribution to the industry and the world but do not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
We also fight for your right, the right of the public, to see silent masterpieces that have been kept in hidden vaults for far too long. Our website streams for free one such masterpiece that has not been seen in 85 years and is not available anywhere else.
Please visit our website to watch quality silent films absolutely free and to support the legacy of silent movie stars with your tax deductible contribution.
Silent Hall of Fame has started an online campaign to begin raising funds for the nomination of our first star for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. All contributions are tax deductible. Here is the web page:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-a-silent-movie-star-for-the-w...
Please spread the word about the campaign and Silent Hall of Fame and help your favorite silent star receive belated recognition and glory.
Silent Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization
Preserving the legacy of silent movie stars
http://silent-hall-of-fame.org/
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silent_films
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More Public Domain Movies
When's Your Birthday?
A Night in the Show


text:
Q: Display number of records of a particular query in VB code How do we use VB code to count the number of records for a particular Query or SQL statement ?
I have been working on this and have tried different ways and I haven't gotten it to show the correct record counts. This is my code, mycommand is a sql statement.
Dim mycommand As New SqlCommand("SELECT count(*)
    FROM ziBLE a INNER JOIN meBLE b ON a.ziLD = b.zp5
    WHERE ( b.ae" < "@ae

    mycommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ae", ae_value) '

Dim count As Int16 = Convert.ToInt16(mycommand.ExecuteScalar())
            MsgBox(count.ToString())

or this code according to the below site ? But is giving me an error message that says result can't be an integer. Please advise.  Thank you
Dim result as Integer = ds1.Tables("Count").Rows.Count

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?621729-RESOLVED-Trying-to-get-Row-count-from-SELECT-query

A: You shoul try somthing like this:
     public Int32 name(int @a)
        {
            SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(string);
            try
            {
                con.Open();
string sql = "SELECT count(*)FROM ziBLE a INNER JOIN meBLE b ON a.ziLD = b.zp5 WHERE ( b.ae" < "@ae)"
                SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sql, con);
                cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
                cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@a", a);
                return Convert.ToInt32(cmd.ExecuteScalar());

            }

            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw ex;
            }
            finally
            {
                con.Close();
            }
        }

here it is an example in c# but you could try to converted to vb, I think that this should work fine, I recomend that you could made the query directly to the database and then in youre application call the scalar function you created in the db, but if you dont like the code youre db, try to couple the example to visual basic

A: You could make a scalar function in sql server like these:
Create Function <Function_name> (@a int)
Returns int
as
Begin
 Declare @b int;
 SELECT count(*)
 FROM ziBLE a INNER JOIN meBLE b ON a.ziLD = b.zp5
 WHERE b.ae" < "@ae
 Return @ret;
End

And then in the application you could write something like this:
Public Function Youre_function_name(ByVal @a as integer) as Integer
Dim result as Int32 = 0
Dim sql as string = "Select * From <Function_name> (@a)"
Using conn as SqlConnection(connstring)
Dim cmd as sqlcommand(sql,conn)
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@a", a)
Try
 conn.Open()
 result = Convert.ToInt32(cmd.ExecuteScalar())
 conn.Close()
Catch ex as Exception
 Throw ex
End Try

Return result

End Function

I think its a much cleaner way to execute, and the result will be faster, because the query is executed by the database engine, it uses RAM memory that uses the database engine, remember that it was created for that (query execution), and the scalar result is the only data that will be sended to the application, instead off doing the whole process from the application, and afterwards you could analyze the execution plan to evaluate if you use (*), or instead use the primary key for the table to take advantage off the cluster index... take a look at these code and evaluate...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
SVAF and an-collaboration project
Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum
I am one of the three founder members of The Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum (SVAF) now in it's sixth year.
We meet on the first Thursday of the month in the KCC contemporary gallery, Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, by kind permission of The Kent Visual Arts Officer Duncan Brannan.
Sevenoaks Visual Artists Forum is a group of 60+ professional Kent artists and makers. The group is non selective, friendly and comprises both successful, and emerging artists.
We believe that true artists have open and inquiring minds and that we can learn something from everything and everyone. Our members are drawn from many disciplines including paint, ceramics, print, textiles, sculpture, installation, video, sound and contemporary drawing.
We aim to make the Forum a vehicle for artists to meet, critically engage, share, network and develop their practice. SVAF meetings comprise of speakers, panel discussions, away days, and critiques of member's work. SVAF in association with Duncan Brennan have an annual 'OPEN' exhibition. SVAF formulate interactive community projects in the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery. SVAF actively promote and engage with collaboration projects.
Following an extensive survey with current members, we will be starting in February 2015, a small group, monthly critical appraisal meeting, facilitated by an external tutor/artist practitioner. As a result of the survey this will also be located at The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope gallery.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sevenoaks-Visual-Arts-Forum/410315532381300?ref=br_tf#
'Works on paper:Collaboration' AN Bursary December 2013- December 2014
Final exhibition 'Paper works' Collaboration Project The Hundred Years Gallery Hoxton London E2 March 2015.
'Paper-chain Project One ' 21st- 27th July 2014
I continue to be an invited artist on the next project on the Campbellconnors Paper Works collaboration: Paper Chain,this is a postal exchange of work across the summer, where each work is adjusted by each artist in the chain to uncover the form it finally wishes to take.
I am the first artist on chain 1 and the first object that arrived in the post was:
As requested I photographed the object. I have 1 week to work on the object in whatever way I choose, alter, add too, respond…….I spent five days mulling over the object,
My thoughts were around the object in its function as an aid to human memory.
It is a disposable object with no reverence.
An object that is adhesive in the short term.
It was only when my thoughts evolved to considering the memory encased within the actual block of adhesive paper, the self-memory of paper of being a tree.
How to link -memory-tree-sticky?
A gum tree?
Researching I found Eucalyptus haemastoma (Latin) or common name Scribbly Gum
'The name scribbly gum is inspired by the tunnels left by the scribbly gum moth larvae (Ogmograptis scribula) as they burrow in the bark.'
I spent a further one day working out the logistics and feasibility and one day creating the drawing.I decided to create a graph using all 100 of the sticky notes. The tree drawing would occupy only one third of the paper so that when reassembled as a block the object drawn would be difficult to ascertain and would appear as 'scribbly' marks (replicating the Eucalyptus haemastoma bark marking) Only apparent on some pages, the large scale drawing would revert to being only a memory.
My original intention was to stick all 100 sticky notes to the wall but the product was not adhesive enough and peeled off.
I attached the notes to a table. The natural behaviour of the notes to curl made the drawing a challenge. I drew the 'scribbly' tree of Eucalyptus haemastoma.
The curl meant that the completed drawing was impossible to photograph so I weighted it overnight. All the images were taken standing on the table.
I reconstructed the sticky notes back into the block , then photographed and videoed to show the assembled marks/non marks/blank pages.
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/102454307?utm_source=email&utm_medium=clip-transcode_complete-finished-20120100&utm_campaign=7701&email_id=Y2xpcF90cmFuc2NvZGVkfDAxOGY4MTUxMGI3Mjg0MDc4YjgwYThiNTQyYmE1OTMyMzM4fDI3NDM0ODY5fDE0MDcwNzg0MDd8NzcwMQ%3D%3D[/vimeo]
After 1 week I posted the reassembled object onto Alison the next named collaborator.
'Works on paper:Collaboration' AN Bursary December 2013- November 2014
August 5th – 11th 'Paper-chain Project 2′
The 2nd artist in a weekly paper-chain collaboration project, I received this in the post.
My initial thoughts revolved around rejoining the segments of the box with delicate lines extended across the voids of white mount board. Potentially using thread or fine colour pens to create a linear connection between the solid masses that would reflect the texture and colour, then remove the reconnected box from the board. The strength and volume of glue made it impossible to remove the support.
My thoughts then turned to the box that had been disassembled and rendered in opposition of it's primary function. What if I had a box that was sealed? Working with newspapers on a daily basis I decided to create a sellotaped box that held unknown to it's viewer, the remnants of the news stories represented on its exterior. It would be a time capsule of the week that I spent on the project.
I selected to use extra wide adhesive tape partly to move my experimentation forward and also to engage with many larger scale images in the papers.
The remnants left after the lifting were enclosed inside the box and the week was so overwhelming in the volume of extraordinary world events that I decided to add a brief synopsis of the weeks events from the Sunday Times……. in some ways this detracted from the mystery of the time capsule if it was ever opened.
The week coincided with the commemoration of the start of World War 1. The constant reflections of 100 years of peace in Europe jarred with the actuality of rampant war with Boka haram, Isis, Hamas, Israel and Putin all involved in major war atrocity. Britain had Boris standing for parliament, the potential separation of Scotland with the first television broadcast of Salmon v Darling and the threat of laughing gas as the new substance to abuse. Art this week was represented by Art Angels 'Spectra' and 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' the 800,000 ceramic poppies installation at the Tower of London. Ebola started to spread across neighbouring African boarders. A minority ethnic group called the Yazidis were being decapitated, crucified and buried alive by Isis who had them trapped on a mountain.
The Sellotape drawings shown laid on top of the remnants of source imagery that was enclosed within the box.
The two inch tape drawings were then used to completely encase and seal the box.
It was an explosive week in world news that I could not have predicted and gives the box an essence of Pandora's box. The viewer reading of narrative on the box is distorted; some images that appear to convey sadness and distress are actually miracles of survival. A child presumed lost in the Tsunami ten years ago found thriving; child cancer suffers receiving medals for their courage. There are also truly frightening nightmare scenarios of the Ebola virus and Isis. The box has now been forwarded to the next artist on the chain. I have no knowledge how it will be read or if any artist in the chain will consider the possibility of opening it
Exhibition at Bowerhouse An interim exhibition of the work created so far, at the Bowerhouse in Maidstone. See Curation Unit 2.
September Collaboration with Lindsay Connors and Jo Brown.
We had the problem that Jo lives in Leeds so we had to devise a way of working together other than via Skype.I have been reading 'You'll Never Know Drawing and Random Interference' Jeni Walwin and Henry Krokatsis. I felt an element of chance should be incorporated and was keen to put a pin in the map between Leeds and London, devising an instant artistic collaborative reaction to an unknown destination. A game of chance referencing the randomness in the work of John Cage?
'Chance, to be precise, is a leap, provides a leap out of the reach of one's own grasp of oneself. Once done, forgotten- John Cage
We devised a set of serial strategies and met in an unknown part of London.
On 2 October 2014, Barker, Brown and Connors met at 11 am at SE13 and followed these instructions:
1st left; 2nd right; 1 left; carry on for 2 roads;
turn left and walk for 10 steps; look for an alley……
Document the found space.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/108409990[/vimeo]
http://vimeo.com/108704956[/vimeo]
October Collaboration with Alison Berry
We decided to Continue the theme of acknowledging the debt we owe to paper as a carrier of information and knowledge that Alison had brought from her last collaboration.This resonated with my current work focused on the set of ancient illustrated French Encyclopaedias. We elected to focus on human rights legislation both modern and The Magna Carter. Although in many cases originally written on vellum, the dissemination of information about our British legal rights has primarily and historically been through printed paper copies.
Our collaboration resulted in a series of work that denied homage, as we perversely embroidered mocking graffiti on to paper copies of the Magna Carta and the Human Rights Act 1998. A laborious and oddly affectionate form of defacement, the embroidery demonstrates in a light hearted way the rights we have to freedom of speech and to challenge authority as enshrined in this legislation.
This project has been extended from December 2014, into a final collaboration of groups of four artists working up to the final show at The Hundred Year Gallery Hoxton in March 2015. Sadly I have withdrawn from this unexpected final section, owing to it impinging on my MA Drawing Unit 3. I have however been requested to consider helping with the final curation. I am still aiming to attend the collaboration critiques of the projects progress.
UNIT 1 ________________________________________________________UNIT 1
'Straight' my mind has not achieved this mode of thinking since appraising the word for task 1 of our collaboration project.
Starting point as always head for a definition, as my mind latched on to images of Halloween 2009 in LA and a closed freeway choc a block with exotic transvestites all parading to multiple live bands, I don't know my collaborators so squash the exotic and figurative (Now know it may have been a good move!)
http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/3995522/0/3/desc
Having started an MA in drawing at Wimbledon Center for Drawing, UAL in October I would like a cross fertilisation of my ideas and exploration of methodology between both ventures. I didn't appreciate my initial intense drawings for 'straight' would have to remain in my MA portfolio as it dawned that they would move through the group to be adapted, altered and even erased as part of the collaborative project. One collaborator asked if it was OK to burn work!
'Straighten' Everyone comments on my tidy home while I know I am a hoarder and the cupboards bulge.
I had been reading Tim Ingold 'Lines A Brief history' and his discussion about if a line could ever be straight even when using a ruler had lodged in my memory. My starting point was to extend the lines in a magazine, using a ruler on the left and freehand on the right and yes the ruled lines dipped and wobbled as they left the ruler on the curve of the page. They also blotted and smeared due to my selection of a gel pen, leaving an edge of ruler print.
Klee taking his line for a walk was also in my thoughts and I wanted to see how long a straight line I could draw free hand. Initially this was going to be on a 9-meter roll of paper but the curve of the page made me think a three-dimensional object may be more challenging and I selected a kitchen roll tube. My initial aim was that it should be a continuous line but I failed in the manual dexterity challenge.
I next selected a rectangular box. The process was long and required breaks to prevent cramping and held a surprising number of issues, decisions and intense concentration. I was also reading 'The thinking Hand' Juhani Pallasmaa and was playing with the idea of drawing life sized hands placed on the wall with a straight line joining them across as wide an expanse of wall as possible. Considering what the hands would be holding, it's tensile strength; elasticity, thickness etc led me to scan my own hands on an A3 scanner. I hoped that the initial impression is that they appear to be holding a taught ultra fine line of minuscule proportion, like a hair. In reality on closer inspection the straight line is an illusion. This experimentation was conducted in the same time frame as The National Gallery project and informed my presented work.
Ingold, T. (2007). 'Lines: A Brief History'. Routledge, Oxon, UK
Juhani Pallasmaa (2009) 'The Thinking Hand, Essential and embodied wisdom in architecture' . John Wileyand sons, UK.'
First Collaborative Group Meeting 17th January 2014
Twenty artists now revealed to each other for the first time. Huge agenda for the two hour meeting allowing for only a 2minute presentation by each artist of the ides behind their work and a two minute critique by the group.At the end of the evening a random pairing was established for the next activity. Working together you took the allocated work of two other artists to develop over the next month, looking for relationships, connections by either altering, responding to or deconstructing.
I was allocated Karen Gardiner's 'Get it Straight' Pen on paper
First meeting with Ruth Payne in a coffee shop between our two homes, sadly we live quite a distance from each other.
Karen's work involved fine red lines ending in a template silhouette of the base paper, delicate and beautiful. All my thoughts revolved around RED. I have never actively selected to draw or wear this colour. It has connotations of power : Political: labour and communism, red official wax seals.Education the teachers red correction pen on school work. Religion, the authority of the church of Rome. Implications of passion and sex or love, red roses or a 'red letter day' The passion of anger, 'seeing red'
So apart from the obvious red paint, ink, biro, wax crayon, pastel does it come in a more unusual format? Well yes it does so for my first meeting off I headed with my new red drawing implement and a red biro for each of us. Notes made at the meeting appeared to have significance in their strong red scrawl.
Ruth has Sonia's work which comprised three independent ideas. We both felt drawn to the three dimensional curls of cut unadorned paper. The shadows in the coffee shop were stupendous.
I had felt Karen's piece was crying out for an intervention but felt loath to alter its simplicity and elegance. I had toyed with the idea of printing two exact copies and responding on one with the intention of extending it's beauty and the second in a hideous or jokey way while retaining the original. I feel very responsible for it as an art work and am wondering if she has concerns for it? While being told the 'letting go' is part of the project, I do wonder if the artists will always be able to comply, can we create an artwork knowing it is going to be altered or potentially abused? There is of course also the potential for another artist's improvement or resolution.
After an hour and a half brainstorming we are going to explore an amalgamation of the two works involving: Red media. Scale. Qualities of paper. Silhouettes, templates and shadow. Qualities of mark.
Ten days to independently play before our next collaboration meeting where we plan to organise a full day to jointly create a new work, having selected an idea from our playtime.
Just been told by my MA Drawing Chinese Peers that it is the year of the Horse and Red is very lucky this year!
February 13th 2014 My thoughts have revolved around qualities of paper that will respond independently when cut and therefore alter any preconceived outcomes. I am also interested in amalgamating my current MA investigations into traces, shadows and absence. Red media is the only confirmed aspect of the experiments. I selected to work on baking parchment because of its texture, that it is more cloudy than tracing paper creating a vague obscurity. It has a definite engineered commitment to retain its curl and it comes on a very long roll. I cut the width into three vaguely equal portions. Two intensive days later I have 'Culture Trace' Red biro on baking parchment a continuous 4 metre paper work which has self selected itself to strongly resemble a Chinese parchment roll. The piece is figurative and is a collection of mixed size images partly traced and drawn from two months Sunday Times Culture magazines. The only limitations were that the size of figures fit on my 15cm wide roll and that they were full length figures. This actually limited my selection of imagery and I tried not to compose the parchment but work through each magazine in turn. They cross all cultural and interest boundaries, cartoons, book jackets and paintings feature amidst celebrities and historical imagery. Is the presentation escalated by the addition of cotton binding? Is it's importance magnified by the addition of red wax impressed with my finger print? This is a second drawing and the 4 metre roll has only drawing on the pieces that show, the hidden, enclosed part is devoid of any marks, does this matter? Does the secretiveness of the work offered in this format enhance it's appeal for the viewer? Li Hongbo -Out of Paper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gttdbqX4SWA
In our final collaboration session Ruth and I worked side by side to create a pinhole parchment based on figurative images again taken from the Sunday Times magazines. It was difficult, slow work and I think Ruth would agree that we were both disappointed with 'the front' of the piece. However the back was a beautiful textured raised drawing reminiscent of braille. It invited touching and interaction in its scarred whiteness.
The back of pinholes on parchment roll by Ruth Payne and Rosalind Barker
A totally unexpected result of our technique was the overlaying of disparate pinhole images creating new surprising narratives and interactions for the viewer flipping casually through the magazines.This is the magic this project. It's combination of working with unknown fellow artists and playing, create annoyance when the expected outcome disappoints and yet there is marvel at the happenstance found in the residue. March 2014 My new collaboration partner is Katie Hayward, we are continuing to work with the outcome of my collaboration with Ruth Payne. Having worried about how I would cope with someone taking my work, I am now worried about how easy it will be to abstract and develop it in new directions. The element of peeking attracts us both, lifting, finding elements of the red drawings and found pinhole mark making within the magazine imagery. It's the spontaneity of the act and unplanned outcome but how can you replicate this in experiments? Lifting, revealing, unwrapping and holes seem pertinent for our play. Rejecting the idea of creating narratives by deliberately pin holing images we selected to collage heads onto unusual found cardboard boxes and odd packaging. The idea was to create holes through mouths and then fill the voids with expanding foam. We would video the paths of the foam expansion as it hopefully creates sculptural forms. The saying about never working with kids and dogs should also include expanding foam; thankfully we were outside when we unleashed the mayhem . . The foam transformed them into a conjoined wall piece Cardboard, foam, tissue and biro. Left We explored with carpet role cut to 2'6″. Right Dog with handbag 2"x 4" The foam expanded for 6 hours We decided to draw the results of our experiments on a roll of lining paper Having had two weeks of fun and produced some rather odd cardboard, foam and paper sculptures creating an interesting debate about how we would exhibit them. We then decided to return to our introductory premise and make a film together creating holes. 'Paper savagery' [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idIN-o0LeRA[/youtube] Katie had the technical abilities and we were lucky that the sun aided us with such delicate shadow traces. The film is unadulterated with no editing to the sound or vision, the exception is playing it in reverse. 'Peeking'
April 2014 I am now in a new group of four artists working towards our first collaborative exhibition in June. At the first introductory meeting we reviewed the work that each artist in their separate previous collaborations had found most stimulating, exciting or ripe for further exploration. We decided weekly workshops would benefit the larger group number. We elected to work on Rizla cigarette papers ( ref Tania Scale Drawing lab) as a challenge for our creativity, this would enable us to brainstorm and investigate multiple ideas using a small format. Faces lifted from newspapers using sellotape Referencing Marina Kassianidou 's use of 'chads' ( see Studio practice )I wanted to investigate the fragility of the Rizla papers when using the violence of the hole punch.Removing and reattaching.(Ref Paper savagery) At the first meeting we played with amalgamating our different approaches to the Rizla papers.
Val Bolsolver Dawn Adams
Rizla paper drawings by Ros Barker and Niki Campbell distorted under ripple glass and photographed by Dawn Adams. Assembled into a book 9.5 x 7 cms containing 23 images.
Undistorted images, distorted images and books shown on 3 adjacent plinths at 'Bowerhouse'


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text:
Create Custom Time-To-Convert Segments
brysonliu
When I'm creating a funnel report, I'd like to have more customization for the time-to-convert view. We are trying to compare two groups of users, one who completes the funnel in less than a day, and the other who takes a day or longer to complete the funnel. However, Mixpanel doesn't offer many options for this. The segments are broken up for you already , and there's no way to customize them.
The shortest time-to-convert segment is 0-2 days, and there is no way to make a segment of people who converted in less than a day. Also, there's no way to combine all segments that are longer than 0-2 days let alone 1+ days. Instead, they are broken up incrementally, but I want to see a percentage of users who took a day or longer to convert.
mixpanel recommendations
mbruschi
We have the same issue: we need to analyze the segment that has taken 30 days or more to complete the funnel, but there is no way to do so, except creating a cohort for every default-range the time-to-convert table is splitting things up for (e.g. 30-60 days, 60 - 90 days, 90 - 120 days...) and then create a cohort that groups all of those cohorts, but that's very cumbersome.