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James adds to thinking on settlers and natives
Dr Wilmot James adds an interesting bit to the ongoing discussion about which group(s) can lay indisputable claim to being South African. It arguably opens up new ways of looking at the issue of settlers and natives, and may lead to new arguments and contestation about indigeneity.
James argues that – as a newspaper headline put it – "we are all settlers". He states that the modern human being in South Africa came here from East Africa. This occurred about 110000 years ago.
"No one group can lay claim to South Africa. Everyone is a settler, and we will show how people came here in waves of migration," says James. "We do not understand our history well enough and the truth has been modified in many stories."
This news will cheer many people up; they will see this as further support for the Freedom Charter notion that SA belongs to all who live/settle/survive in it and that the country will thrive only if shared. Such persons will take it as further encouragement to work for the non-racial and anti-racist, inclusive and democratic society envisioned in our Constitution.
Others, however, will be very cautious as they read James' findings. Already, in some views expressed, people particularly resent the term "we are all settlers" and the leveling it suggests. These people rail against what they might term an ingenious attempt to gloss over the terrible impacts of the colonial period. In this category will also be groups such as Bruin Development that are campaigning for a better status for so-called Coloured people. They will latch on to James' remark that the "Khoi/San moved from East Africa and, up until 2 000 years ago, people living in southern Africa were brown."
Somehow, we must try to live with both truths and perspectives – one that centres on inclusiveness and the other which emphasises restoration and restitution. As I have suggested before, if you want to live on the Southern tip, a capacity to live with ambiguity is a must.
We need to accept the truth that we are all human beings and spring from the same source; at the same time, we must deal with memory, history and past experience. Put another way, we cannot solve the problems of the past in a manner that creates new prejudices; at the same time, we should not myopically try to avoid rectifying past injustices just because we want to be nice or avoid constructive conflict.
This research information drives one to the conclusion that it is possibly incorrect, sloppy and perhaps expedient to use the term "native" in an essentialist way. It is much better to use it in a political sense, and, when doing so, to explain what is meant and who is included in the category.
A subtopic to all of this is the science that underlies all of this: James draws his conclusions from DNA evidence and his studies into human genetics.
The "origins" of human-beings always fascinates, as does the genetics involved, but it all becomes sullied, ridiculous and facile (and sometimes even evil) when various forces try to apply this knowledge to issues such as culture and identity. I say: study our origins, teach it to wide-eyed children by all means, but keep the scientific wonder of our genesis far as possible away from contestation about culture, race, ethnicity and social organization in the world today. Identity, it can be argued, is influenced by culture and by power relations that interfere with selfhood and distort discussion around definitions.
Identity and culture are social constructs; they are also subject to change/ adaptation/ evolution through development processes, policymaking and conscious decisions and actions. In any case, cultures adapt in the light of changes (social, economic, technological, etc.) in the world around them. Let's use the diversity and richness that lie in our differences as human beings to build the society we want here in Mzansi and in the wider world.
Blog readers are invited to share their "take" on the issues involved and on my views by adding a comment.
Labels: culture, ethnicity, natives, settlers
Mantogate: the unraveling of national focus and direction
The current political turmoil, centred on the political leadership of the Health Department, is leading to a major unraveling of the sense of focus and direction in Mzansi.
The current phase of instability was triggered when the President fired one leader (with controversial timing and a peculiar way of handling reactions) and insisted on holding fast to another. Large numbers of people are getting involved in what is a burning hot controversy, lining up to support or denounce the leadership of the President. Colourful language, scathing cartoons and funny but insensitive jokes are the order of the day.
There is an unraveling of, shall we say, a spirit of broad consensus, of working towards the same goal as well as, in national terms, dilution of the sense of direction, pace and due regard for leadership. The project of national advancement is of course much more deeply rooted in policies, institutions and aspirations. The fundamentals are in place. But the erosion is nonetheless worrying. It has a tiring effect, drains hope and among some causes depression.
As particular interests enter the debate, they add to the shrillness. Unthinking interventions can entrench the modes of attack and defend. Many a contribution does not help to draw lessons or lead to institutional and policy changes that will ensure the same mistakes are not made again. In only few instances does the rhetoric progress from the particular case (and the specific personalities) to elaborate on how we might build from here – what practices, behaviours and principles need to be restored and re-emphasized.
Sure, many don't like the Minister and some of us doubt she adds value any more – but what are the underlying values that we want to emphasise, popularize and consolidate? Let's keep spelling that out and perhaps we can still draw something edifying from the sordidness and noise.
At the same time, we should perhaps acknowledge that a good spin-off of the saga is that many ordinary people are yakking about the health of the nation. People care! There is a sharp decline in passivity and a widespread spike of interest regarding the behaviour and performance of politicians. It is positive that many ordinary people airing their views are adamant that their motivation is that they desire something better - for example, a better quality of politics, media and practice around public debate for South Africa.
The current squabble links to the ANC succession debate. Who can deny that either the causes or effects of the saga (and actions of key roleplayers in it) have a bearing on the succession battle? Madlala-Routledge – the fired former Deputy Health Minister – indicated as much when she made reference to the succession struggle within the ANC at her much-cited press conference on 10 August.
Clearly, while the Mantogate saga makes its specific contribution, the succession battle and its protagonists take the prize for having a debilitating effect on key national processes and on processes of policy development and review. In fact, in quite a few rows, conflicts and controversies affecting the tripartite alliance, the rot (and allegations of rot) starts there (in the way the succession battle is being waged).
Not so long ago - around mid-year and just before - the ANC was emphasizing the concept of a developmental state that could play a leadership role through key interventions in society. Of course, the state cannot adequately lead change if those in power are mired in conflict, and others outside stir the pot in specific ways. As I have argued before, the current climate means that agreement on important projects and initiatives are stalled or slowed down. Of course, many initiatives already approved and budgeted for are continuing – such as preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It is new initiatives, as well as precarious projects and campaigns that require a broad unity of purpose among all stakeholders such as the HIV and Aids strategy, that may run aground as a result of divisions in government decision-making structures.
In the rest of this blog post, and in perhaps a less serious vein, I share comments I have heard on the Mantogate affair:
A young women, too young to have been involved in anti-apartheid campaigns, said to me: "You guys were so united during the struggle. Now that you have power there are so many vicious fights."
A progressive theologian and now a businessman, during a conversation on Mantogate, referred to his recent visit to Zimbabwe where he noted the shocking extent of collapse: "Their problem was that they loved their leaders too much. We should not go down the same path.' I argued that our democracy is stronger and our political culture of better quality but the reverend, who is very much an ANC man, cautioned that many people are willing to rally blindly around leaders.
In a casual discussion at lunch with a group one day, I noted that, if it were true that the Minister drank a glass or two beyond the limit, surely it could in some respects be understood: "If I opened the newspaper every day and saw myself lampooned and lambasted, I would say: pour me another one." I reminded the group how a foreign traveler on SAA refused to sit next the Minister, causing the Minister to flare up and starting yet another row. "That must be depressing," I said, only half-seriously and desperately trying to find another angle to what was becoming a repetition of just a few similar viewpoints on the issue. The group of women I was speaking to were totally unmoved: "She brought it on herself," they said.
A consultant working on behaviour-change programmes in the HIV/Aids area told me: "There is a human element, certainly. But I think it is good she (Tshabalala-Msimang) is getting roasted by the Sunday Times. Think of the many lives lost as a result of her approach to HIV and Aids. She deserves what she is getting."
An ANC representative, Hope Papo, was explaining on radio why we should ignore allegations of theft. "Many things happened in exile," he said, and suggested that Tshabalala-Msimang could easily have been set up. (If you have any more information on this, Hope, please elaborate!)
A friend SMSd me to say: "Enough already," adding that the Sunday Times "drunk and a thief" revelations/allegations about the Health Minister were "below the belt". This was a sequel to an earlier message which noted the following "lekker consequence" to the Madlala-Routledge controversy: "the nation is awake and paying attention again".
Labels: Manto, Mantogate, Mbeki, nationbuilding
Tshabalala-Msimang: is this saga dragging us all down or is it good for the country?
There is great deal of noise, and much division around the Tshabala-Misimang saga. In this blog post, I decline the chance to add to the shrillness, stridency (there's enough going around) and name calling and instead set out 18 questions that may help clarify the issues and your own response to them?
- Is this saga dragging us all down or is it good for the country?
- Is it true that - as one friend said to me - that recent developments around Health Minister Tshabala-Msimang and former Deputy Health Minister Madlala-Routledge are good because many more people (who are otherwise passive and quiet) are discussing and debating political issues?
- Among those who think the Health Minister has done are good job, where are the areas of notable achievement and how does this stack up with areas of poor performance, ineffectiveness and mediocrity?
- Can the Minister actually do her work, especially regarding the HIV/Aids pandemic, without widespread societal confidence in her?
- A Cabinet Minister does not have to be a fervent populist, but they need to be responsive; is the Health Minister responsive to key constituencies?
- If the President is wedded to keep the Health Minister as his Cabinet team, has he considered moving her to another portfolio where broader stakeholder enrolment is not as critical?
- Has government investigated why highly-regarded senior managers in the Health Department (two Director-Generals) quit their jobs in recent years?
- Was the timing right/immaterial/poor for the President to fire Madlala-Routledge as Deputy Minister of Health?
- Did the Presidency anticipate the extent and types of reaction to this decision?
- Did the presidency anticipate that the dismissal decision could spark negative reactions in the international media (e.g. the Independent in the UK) and reignite questions about the President's stand on HIV and Aids?
- Did the Presidency anticipate that a leading Sunday newspaper would want revenge – "an eye for an eye?" – and would pull out all stops to try to bring about the sacking of the Minister of Health?
- Does the way the government is handling Public Relations and implementing crisis management on this issue fall short of government's usual competence in media handling?
- What is making the Sunday Times so strident, angry and vehement? And why does it garner support from several/many quarters, even if it is venturing into distasteful reporting and a reporting style that is unusual in South African tradition?
- Do you agree with Sunday Times's probe into the Minister's private life? What do you think the wider media impact will be? Assuming the end is more effective implementation of stated health policy, does the end justify the means?
- Is this issue – surrounding the Health Ministry's political leadership – not an unnecessary distraction for officials such as Themba Maseka who are charged with building broad support for government's Asgisa agenda?
- Has this issue unleashed forces and reactions that are feeding into a broader breakdown of consensus between government and key constituencies?
- Is it worth it for government and the President to cling to Tshabala Msimang as Health Minister, given the impact it is having?
- Is it true that many people here and abroad think Minister Tshabala-Msimang's behavior and performance reflect on President Mbeki, and if so, why should the President, who has scored many remarkable achievements, have his legacy sullied by what looks like an overall poor performer? Why should he let her be a liability to him and adversely affect his leadership standing?
- Earlier this year, the President considered replacing Manto Tshabala-Msimang in the health portfolio with Transport Minister Jeff Radebe, but backed off from the idea; is the thinking and motivation behind that original proposal still valid, and can the impediments to implementation now be overcome?
- Is there a way that the President can relieve Tshabala-Msimang of her Health Minister job without it looking like a climb-down, or does this not matter?
- How can we move the focus back to key policy issues while making sure performance and conduct flaws revealed through this incident are dealt with?
As always, responses to this post are welcome ....
Labels: Health Minister, Madlala-Routledge, Manto, President Mbeki
Beeld last week (15 Aug) covered a fascinating story about a black kid who won a national debating competition in Afrikaans. The girl, Pretoria based Thuli Manunga (10), although her mother tongue is Xhosa, speaks Afrikaans like the best of them and is the winner of the junior division of the ATKV debating contest.
This story is emblematic of how the new South Africa is liberating Afrikaans.
Sure, I know there are those who perpetuate the myth that Afrikaans is under threat in Mzansi. They write to connections and well placed people in countries such as Belgium airing dire warnings that the future of "die taal" is at risk. You can also, for example, read the writings of people like Steve Hofmeyr who seek to feverishly defend Afrikaans culture and language against various forces, including an ANC government. The truth is different: under democracy, Afrikaans can shed its old burdensome associations and face the future with new confidence.
The way to protect your language is not to retreat into the laager, but to step out and take your place, in a vital way, in South African social and cultural life.
The advent of democracy – with its built-in formula of inclusivity and synthesis rather than conquest and retribution – frees Afrikaans of its baggage. We can acknowledge that this language, embroiled in unjust historical processes, was used as a tool to bark some of the meanest and nastiest instructions. We can ruefully reflect on how Afrikaans coined the word bliksem, a reference to cruel punishment meted out in a context of skewed power relations. But we can also simultaneously put that behind us. We can say, taking the present as the vantage point, that Afrikaans is categorically not the language of the oppressor. It is a proud constituent of Mzansi's culture; it is entrenched and constitutionally recognized as one of South Africa's languages. Afrikaans is part of the distinctiveness that we marshall as we seek to engage and advance our interests in a fiercely competitive global context.
It is true that Afrikaans faces a challenge; it is up against the dominance of English in the business arena and in many parts of the academic world. But this is a different problem (to a claim that Afrikaans is being singled out and specifically suppressed); instead, this is a concern facing all other official languages. Afrikaans taal stryders (language activists) should unite with others to examine ways in which to promote the use of the mother tongue in education as well as multiple language usage in policy debates, in the creative arts and as many spheres of life as possible.
Afrikaners can also get some perspective by recognizing how many African black people speak Afrikaans. For millions of people in the country, Afrikaans is the only or primary language second only to their home language. Thus, for example, Matthews Posa writes poetry in Afrikaans and well known figures such as Mosiuoa Lekota, Mannie Dipico and Sandile Dikeni are at ease when engaging with others using the medium of Afrikaans. And tsotsitaal, as its name suggests, is replete with Afrikaans words. Afrikaners should also take proper cognisance of the many South Africans of mixed heritage who speak Afrikaans as a home language, and who argue that coloured black Afrikaners played a key role in the emergence of the language. Leaders in this community have always noted that, in their book, Afrikaans was as much a language of "onderdrukking" (oppression) as a language of "bevryding" (liberation).
I say: it is time to further break down the laager of official ownership of and fearfulness around Afrikaans. Stop circling the wagons! Let the Afrikaans arts festivals increase the pace of opening up to people of different cultural backgrounds and halt the possible slippage into rallying points for conservatism, exclusivity and fearmongering. Let us use these and other platforms to harvest the lessons from the development of Afrikaans so we can assist those practitioners struggling to enhance the status of other marginalized indigenous languages. Afrikaans will be part of the Mzansi landscape for a long time to come, especially if Afrikaners eschew navel-gazing in favour of reaching out to fellow South Africans in a spirit of optimism and togetherness.
And if white Afrikaners do shed their blinkers and reach out, they will find that the Thuli Manungus of the world have long joined the process of sustaining and promoting "die taal".
Labels: Afrikaans, die taal, Language, new South Africa, reconciliation, taalstryd
Madlala-Routledge's firing will deepen political ructions
The firing of Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge from her position as Deputy Minister of Health is causing giant waves in political circles. The full story of the motivations, specific issues and processes related to the dismissal is still emerging. Comment has come from many quarters and many more wise heads will pronounce, I'm sure, but I will still add my tuppence worth:
1. The action to dismiss is at best puzzling and at worse a cardinal error. Given the rifts and ructions in the party, President Thabo Mbeki appears to need friends; it is not a time for further disturbing a hornet's nest. The past year and more has seen a block of opposition build up against him. If one takes the pervious ANC National General Council (held last year) as a marker, he has become something of a rallying point for a variety of sub interest groups and disaffected persons who are united only in their opposition to him, including:
- Some who feel denied their share of the BEE gravy.
- Those who feel bypassed in the appointment of provincial Premiers.
- Those more generally who have their eye on top positions - they believe they can get there if they join some kind of united mobilization for a new leadership order.
- Those bitter and angry because they feel top ANC leaders continuously undermine the Tripartite Alliance.
- Those (including communists in the ANC) who remain angry about the adoption of Gear and the austerity programmes that the country has recently emerged from.
- Supporters of Jacob Zuma who feel he was being victimized through the use of state agencies such as the Scorpions.
- Those from marginalized social groups who feel they have not yet benefited from transformation (e.g. unemployed youth, local ANC activists angry about gaps in local government delivery and ANC members who feel that demarcation decisions mean a much longer wait for delivery).
In this context, the axing of Madlala-Routledge is almost certain to add to Mbeki's problems of political management and maintaining cohesion in the party.
2. The axing may be positive in at least one sense. It would indicate that President Mbeki has broken his moratorium on firing members of Cabinet, even where they perform dismally or fall seriously short of expected leadership behaviour.
3. Madlala-Routledge is a leader to many of us. Her leadership standing is not only related to the role she played in building unity of stakeholders around a clear and strong platform on the issue of HIV/Aids prevention, treatment, care and support. It dates way back to the eighties when she was active in mass democratic movement structures and was a central figure of women's organization in KwaZulu-Natal.
4. The official comment from the Presidency around the axing of Madlala-Routledge is that the President owes no one an explanation. I think the president's spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga, should distinguish between rulership and leadership. Rulership requires the minimum engagement and communication with subjects; under that conception of governing, a leader needs to do the bare minimum required by law. Leadership, on the other hand, entails constantly engaging and enrolling others - the public, stakeholders and interest groups - behind the leader's thinking, what s/she stands for and the direction s/he is taking.
Labels: ANC, ANC rifts, firing, leadership, Madlala-Routledge
Cultural products are a mirror to the ebbs and flows of change
We can learn much from culture about ourselves and our world. My potted dabbling in movies, books and plays - as opposed to more extensive exposure and enjoyment of what is available -signals considerable gaps in my continuing education.
I have not seen many movies lately, although I managed to catch titles such as Queen and Last King of Scotland. The last major South African movie I viewed was Drum, which focused on life in Johannesburg in the 60s. The place featured in the movie (Sophiatown) is like a frontier town – the rough- and readiness, a definite vibrancy, the urban-rural connections, communities in formation and the co-existence of trust and danger. The apartheid state also contributed to the edginess, what with its raids on shebeens and a variety of controls on the movement of the black population. In the end, the bulldozers won the day as the regime sought to make a white spot out of a residential area it viewed as a black spot.
Being and Afro-phile, I went to the movies anticipating the Last King of Scotland to depress me out of my skull. I expected dead bodies piled high and indeed that was so, but Forrest Whittaker gave a performance that lifted the movie. The film also gave insight into the recruitment, selection and formation of (firstly) a dud leader and a dictator. On display was also the Hollywood technique - par for the course in movies about Africa - of having (for commercial reasons) a white person in a major lead role. In Last King of Scotland, a fictional white medical doctor interprets what happened.
Turning to the theatre front, a past blog entry has referred to the play Dream of the Dog directed by Malcolm Purkey which is still running at Market Theatre. Purkey once told me that he believed the challenge in theatre was to lay down the new paths (moving forward from the rich history of protest theatre). This play sits in the transitional space between the new directions and the old forms. The play also nicely symbolizes Mzansi's current position, located as it is in the interregnum which involves grappling with past injustice (insufficient closure on the past) while making advances towards a new and fundamentally different future.
I also recently saw Ntsako Mkhabela's student production Sis Dolly's Place which played at one of the small theatres at Wits University. The play could have done with a stronger story line. On the other hand, this deficiency gave the play a strongly post-modern flavour and featured some exciting juxtapositions. Sid Dollys Place skillfully conveyed the edginess of Johannesburg: the vibrancy, the seduction (always drawing newcomers, it seems) and those ragged and jagged edges. The play had no discernable lead role, but featured various main characters on an almost equal footing. There's the procrastinating writer who is dreaming instead of actually writing, there's a tough cookie of a shebeen owner (Sis Dolly), there's the depressed person with a large suitcase of letters searching vainly for her husband and there's a narrator darting/flying around the room declaring undying love for Johannesburg. With a little reshaping and fine-tuning, this play could easily be taken beyond the student scene.
On the literature front: currently on my bedside table is Zachariah Rapola's The Beginning of Dream. This text fuses instances of magic realism with references to a local world that is all too recognizable. We see the parochial viewpoints of people whose horizons are confined: the petty jealousies, fraught and competitive interactions between women and intergenerational/ interfamily pressures coming into play. But we also see strange things happen and witness the dead engage in dialogue while maneuvering and schlentering - and trying to steer the lives of the living. Happily, "Dream" avoids contrived and the trap of trying to be too clever: Rapola is at ease as he weaves these two worlds together. His is a potent voice.
I am also rereading Oswald Mtshali's Sounds of a Cowhide Drum and the work of Wopko Jensma' Sing for the Execution. I am reading them - apart from my enjoyment of their craft – because I am perturbed that these artists and others who were enormously influential in the early eighties (and the preceding decade) are completely unsung in the new South Africa.
Mtshali wrote powerfully about ordinary life, but often with an ironic twist in the tale. In one of his poems, the central character sees a person collapse after being assaulted, the blood flowing "from his nostrils" into the street. The observer averts his gaze and walks on and into a church. When the self-satisfied and now-blessed observer returns from church, a neighbour asks: "Have you heard? They killed your brother?"
Jensma, for his part, marries texts with images, and his striking black and white woodcuts set off explosions of awareness that invigorate consciousnness and perception.
Proving that there is little thematic connection between the books I read, I have also started on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of course, Harry is no hero or genius; in fact, he is all too frequently helped out of trouble by Hagrid, Dumbledore, Hermione and many guardian spirits. But he is a good soul and takes an implacable stand against the use of magic to harm muggles (us ordinary folk who don't use magic). It seems that not only is it okay for Westerners like JK Rowling and Shakespeare to write of ghostly happenings – they are often feted for it. But stories with similar supernatural happenings penned from an African perspective are not appreciated and are often viewed as reflecting backwardness. But - what the heck! - the Harry Potter books are making the kids read, and that is an eminently good thing!
I exhort you the reader to access relevant plays, books and films as one of way of learning more about other South Africans, and perhaps about yourself.
Labels: change, culture, Jensma, Mtshali, reading
Old Word with New Meanings?
The term 'native' has re-entered the SA political debate. This entry is positive – unlike in the past when 'native' accompanied a long line of terms such as 'Bantu' and 'Plural' that were used as the name of the government department charged with the administration of the majority in the black population.
Firstly, the current use of the term 'native' is interesting. The word 'native' leapt into the public arena through the formation of The Native Club about a year ago.
We all know the meaning of the word as per the Webster's or Oxford dictionary. Used in its political sense, however, the term originates from the context of the colony and colonisation. It conjures up a graphic image of the coloniser (hard, aloof and frequently patronising) and the locals (exploited in many different ways). Today "native" is often used in tandem with the term "settler". Sometimes, however, it is deployed interchangeably as referring to the hardships and oppression that arise from the vestiges of colonialism as well as the evils of human subjugation prevalent during imperialism.
There appears to be some link to debates about who can be regarded, I suppose, as true and genuine South Africans, those with a genuine interest and a more legitimate stake in the future of the country.
I believe that when considering who is a South African, we should steer away from essentialist notions. Such notions get you into all kinds of trouble. When trying to categorise people, terms that at first seem clear, after a while – especially at the margins where categories interface – become murky and nebulous. You would be in danger of becoming entangled in problematic debates about genetics, bloodlines and eugenics.
South Africans include:
a) indigenous people, those who can trace their forbears as far back as possible and still place their footprints and fossils in Southern African soil.
b) groups/individuals that have no home in another place, no place else either geographically (or in their consciousness) where they can run to when things become too much for them in Mzanzi.
c) people or individuals who make a commitment to and identify with Mzanzi and its nestling within the region and continent; such a stand means the exercising of an option and a political commitment to Mzanzi.
These categorizations should not be the building blocks of prejudice and intolerance; rather (more positively) they should indicate the deep reservoirs of human experience, insight, perspectives and ways of living that we can draw on as we define our distinctiveness as South Africans into the future.
However, I must ask: how important is it to draw a distinction between being native and non-native as we dialogue about the future of the country and debate each other's positions?
There is some use or merit to the term being employed in debate. For example, it seems to come into play in the quest to unmask power relations. It is a tool in discussion about how major solidarities develop and sustain themselves. Its use can lead to a deeper discussion and reflection about the motivating forces for change. In this regard, the term can be deployed to indicate persons whose vested interests stand in contrast to those of imperialists. It puts the spotlight on sets of people or organised groups seeking redress against specific cases of historical exploitation.
At another level, the term has little value. Our constitution gives citizenship rights to all South Africans and such rights (which include voting rights) imply that we can all take part in debates about the future of the country. Even the Freedom Charter, which appears to provide the philosophical underpinning for our democracy, states that Mzanzi belongs "to all who live in it".
In terms of these seminal documents, this opening up is much more than a liberal concession; they punt such an inclusive stance as a radical position that is distinct and intentional against a backdrop of historical (in South Africa) and contemporary (many parts of the world) racist exclusivity.
Although the term native has undoubted currency - and appears to be adding spark and vibrancy to political debates - those who use it should bear in mind the following issues:
* The term is weakened to the extent that it overlooks or submerges the class factor. It suggests that persons organized in terms of nationalistic solidarity fundamentally and always share common perspectives. But in today's South Africa, as COSATU frequently points out, people who have a shared heritage, historical experiences and even common national heroes often have significantly diverging interests and priorities. In the trade union federation's view, a huge gulf exists between the "native" capitalist mogul that has benefited from affirmative action and the native unskilled worker.
* The term does not bring to the fore gender differences in a meaningful way, nor does it adequately deal with other differences within, for example, the black community. The danger is that those who then aim to articulate the "native" position run the risk of downplaying the diversity of views, and instead put forward monolithic views that in themselves can be stereotypical.
* We should not become so caught up in the use of jargon (or "in" terms understood by a few) that we neglect to explain what we mean. If a term gets used as shorthand, or as a sociological term with specific meaning, it will be helpful if those using such a term continuously explain what the term means. In this way we would ensure wider participation in debates and ensure that discussion of real issues is not undermined by poor hearing and distorted inferences.
* Categorisations are a problem if they paint us into a corner and limit the possibility of forward movement. Once we have completed the classification of who is a native and who is not, or who is an African and who is not, what then? Where do we go from there? As someone who works in social change and transformation, I am perturbed by rigid categories that suggest no change is possible. Even the original communist thinkers that emphasized the primacy of class categorisations conceded the possibility of "class suicide". Thus, whereas in the context of a nationbuilding, terms such as "native" and "settler" help us to openly discuss the legacies of oppression and exploitation; they also lead us to a dead end if the peddlers of such terms close off possibilities of moving forward, of working together on shared priorities, and forging new solidarities based on some shared grasp of past truths and future possibilities.
What is your view as a reader on this issue? Let's widen participation in the debate.
Labels: citizenship, dialogue, diversity, nationbuilding, native, race
Mantogate: the unraveling of national focus and di...
Tshabalala-Msimang: is this saga dragging us all d...
Madlala-Routledge's firing will deepen political r...
Cultural products are a mirror to the ebbs and flo...


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Follows a group of interconnected singles in Los Angeles brought together by their love of dogs.
Starring: Nina Dobrev, Vanessa Hudgens
Director(s): Ken Marino
Producer(s): Mickey Liddell, Jennifer Monroe, Pete Shilaimon
Screenwriter(s): Elissa Matsueda, Erica Oyama
Distributor: LD Entertainment
Animal Coordinator: Animals For Hollywood, Studio Animal Services
Release Date: Wednesday, August 08, 2018
Featured Animal Action
Throughout the film, the main characters have pet dogs, seen performing such mild action as sitting/standing/lying, being held or petted, and walking/running on or off leash. For all these scenes, trainers used hand signals and verbal commands to cue the mild action, which the trained dogs were accustomed to performing. The barking/growling was also a trained behavior.
In the scene where the dog looks in the window and barks, pawing at the glass, the trainer placed the dog in the hall facing the window. The trainer stood outside the door behind camera where the dog could see him. On action, he used verbal and hand cues to get barks from the dog. Spontaneous actions from the dog included standing on his hind limbs and pawing at the window he was looking out.
In the scene where the actress walks in the house and we see a dog run down the hall with a bra in his mouth, prior to shooting the scene the trainer placed the bra in the dog's mouth and rehearsed the scene. Another trainer stood behind the camera using verbal cues to insure that the dog walked slowly toward camera with the bra.
In the scene where the actress finds a dog in a garbage bin, picks him up and brings him back into the store, this scene was shot in sections. First the actress behaves as if she sees a dog in the bin, they cut camera. Then the trainer placed the dog the bin and handed her to the actor who lifted the dog from the ground as if picking her up from behind the dumpster.
In the scene where the girl brings the dog to the vet's office, where the vet places the dog on the table, the pathway to set was cleared of obstructions and hazards. No hospitalized animals were present in the areas where talent or extra animals were being filmed. Hospital disinfected prior to entry today.
In the scene where the kid loses control of his dog who runs across the street and almost gets hit by a car, the pathway was set free of hazards prior to shooting and obstructions and a stuntman actually drove the car. The trainer brought the dog to the closed off street and positioned the dog to one side of the street. A mark was placed in the center of the road and a picture car was in the roadway about 200 feet back with the stunt coordinator driving. One trainer was positioned across the street from the dog and another stood across the street. On action, the car drove up the street toward the camera and stopped abruptly and simultaneously Mark released the dog who trotted to his mark in the center of the road. Then the trainer cued the dog to stay on his mark. After arriving at the mark, the trainer ran out of the frame and called the dog who followed him. The vehicle never got closer than 50 feet from the dog.
In the scene where the man opens a box and a dog walks out then the dog sticks his face in paper bag the dog was brought to the set by the trainer where a large box was positioned. Prior to action, the trainer placed the dog in the box where the dog could sit upright and closed the lid. The trainer stepped away out of frame and on action the actor opened the lid and the dog was called by the trainer out of frame. In the same scene the trainer placed the dog near camera out of frame and on action sent the dog to the living room where food wrappers with treats were placed. The dog ate some treats and nosed the wrappers. In the next shot the trainer placed a fast food bag that was open at the bottom on dog Tucker's head. Because the bag was open at the bottom the dog could see where he was walking.
In the scenes where the pug walks down the LA streets in different locations, prior to shooting the scenes, the trainers picked up any glass on the streets before the dog walked the perimeter. On action the trainer used a clicker to get the dog to his marker.
When we see the actor washes a dog in a tub, prior to shooting the scene, the trainers wet the dog with warm water and applied some dog shampoo to start a lather, then stepped out of frame nearby. On action the actress gave the dog a bath, lathering and rinsing the dog. Total bathing took 10 minutes.
In the scenes where we see the dogs in a dog rescue standing in individual cages, the cages were inspected and cleaned prior to shooting the scene. The trainers placed plenty of food and water before shooting the scene as well.
In the scene when the woman comes home and sees a dog on the ground with his arms and legs in the air supposed to be sick, the trainer brought the dog to the set. The trainer then told the dog to lay down on the floor with his head down. On action the trainer gets the dog to roll on his back and maintain the position for 15-30 seconds using hand gestures and verbal cues. The same action was used in the back of the actor's van when the dog was being rushed to the vet's office. The van was never moving during this scene.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2011/02/16/theatre-department-considers-restructuring-majors/)
Theatre Department Considers Restructuring Majors
By The Cornell Daily Sun | February 16, 2011
After a steep reduction in funding raised concerns about the future direction of the Theatre, Film and Dance department, an internal Curriculum Committee has outlined five potential broad categories, which it calls "rubrics," to redefine the department's majors and course offerings."Instead of working in the three distinct areas, the new model allows for an integration of performance and media," said Department Chair Prof. Amy Villarejo, theatre, a member of the Curriculum Committee. The new rubrics might replace the current academic structure, which breaks the department into three majors, according to Associate Dean of the Graduate School and chair of the Curriculum Committee Ellen Gainor."We envision that revised departmental major requirements will be in place for students entering Cornell in Fall 2011," Gainor stated in an e-mail.According to the Jan. 28 Curriculum Committee report, obtained by The Sun, the committee will also consider renaming the department."It is likely that the department's name will change," Prof. Bruce Levitt, theatre, said. Some possible labels include the "Department of Performance and Media," he said, but the committee has not yet approved the renaming.If the proposed rubrics are adopted by the department, all classes will have to fulfill one of the five classifications.The classifications outlined by the proposed rubrics are Directing/Choreography, History/Theory/Criticism, Embodied Performance, Design/Digital Technologies and Writing for Media/Performance, according to the report.According to the committee report, "We have also just begun considering the transition to a new major and its requirements.""We're not there yet. It's going to be a long process," Villajero said.While neither the rubrics nor the class roster has been finalized, some professors within the department identified a broader shift in the department away from practical performance and toward more theoretical instruction.Prof. Kent Goetz, theatre, said the department "will move to being more academic and less experiential" in response to anticipated changes in the course roster."The combining of those rubrics … reduces the depth in which students can study any one of those three," Levitt said. The proposed rubric concentrations would have students study a greater variety of performance arts, according to Levitt, yet sacrifice the current major's specific focus.Goetz noted that there will be a general trend toward "more condensed productions and fewer different configuration majors." The change will result in the department "having to offer fewer courses," he said.According to Levitt, "we don't know how [the curriculum revision] is going to turn out except that clearly there will be fewer classes." He added that "certain areas of the departments like dance will be more affected in the reduction of courses because they've taken a larger percentage of reduction in their faculty."The committee has a formal deadline at the beginning of March, when the department will need to submit their updated course roster for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Original Author: Jeff Stein
A Dazed Section
By The Cornell Daily Sun February 17, 2011
Perceptive readers have probably noticed that the Daze section no longer appears weekly in the pages of The Sun. The plot of its demise is not particularly straightforward, and I think it's important for me to examine how The Sun handled the situation.
After National Bankruptcy, Borders Group Closes Ithaca Store
Borders, the bookstore at The Shops at Ithaca Mall, will close by the end of April after the store's parent company, Borders Group Inc., announced on Wednesday that it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to Mary Davis, spokesperson for Borders Group, the Ithaca store is closing under the Chapter 11 reorganization because it is "under-performing" relative to other Borders stores nationwide.


text:
package org.pentaho.di.core.logging;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.pentaho.di.core.Const;
import org.pentaho.di.core.util.Utils;
import org.pentaho.di.core.KettleClientEnvironment;
import org.pentaho.di.core.Result;
import org.pentaho.di.core.RowMetaAndData;
import org.pentaho.di.core.database.DatabaseMeta;
import org.pentaho.di.core.exception.KettleException;
import org.pentaho.di.core.row.RowMeta;
import org.pentaho.di.core.row.RowMetaInterface;
import org.pentaho.di.core.row.ValueMeta;
import org.pentaho.di.core.row.ValueMetaInterface;
import org.pentaho.di.core.variables.VariableSpace;
import org.pentaho.di.core.xml.XMLHandler;
import org.pentaho.di.i18n.BaseMessages;
import org.pentaho.di.repository.RepositoryAttributeInterface;
import org.pentaho.di.trans.HasDatabasesInterface;
import org.pentaho.di.trans.Trans;
import org.pentaho.di.trans.step.StepMeta;
import org.w3c.dom.Node;

/**
 * This class describes a transformation logging table
 *
 * @author matt
 *
 */
public class TransLogTable extends BaseLogTable implements Cloneable, LogTableInterface {

  private static Class<?> PKG = TransLogTable.class; // for i18n purposes, needed by Translator2!!

  public static final String XML_TAG = "trans-log-table";

  /** The client executing the transformation */
  // private String client;

  public enum ID {

    ID_BATCH( "ID_BATCH" ), CHANNEL_ID( "CHANNEL_ID" ), TRANSNAME( "TRANSNAME" ), STATUS( "STATUS" ), LINES_READ(
      "LINES_READ" ), LINES_WRITTEN( "LINES_WRITTEN" ), LINES_UPDATED( "LINES_UPDATED" ), LINES_INPUT(
      "LINES_INPUT" ), LINES_OUTPUT( "LINES_OUTPUT" ), LINES_REJECTED( "LINES_REJECTED" ), ERRORS( "ERRORS" ),
      STARTDATE( "STARTDATE" ), ENDDATE( "ENDDATE" ), LOGDATE( "LOGDATE" ), DEPDATE( "DEPDATE" ), REPLAYDATE(
        "REPLAYDATE" ), LOG_FIELD( "LOG_FIELD" ), EXECUTING_SERVER( "EXECUTING_SERVER" ), EXECUTING_USER(
        "EXECUTING_USER" ), CLIENT( "CLIENT" );

    private String id;

    private ID( String id ) {
      this.id = id;
    }

    public String toString() {
      return id;
    }
  }

  private String logInterval;

  private String logSizeLimit;

  private List<StepMeta> steps;

  public TransLogTable( VariableSpace space, HasDatabasesInterface databasesInterface, List<StepMeta> steps ) {
    super( space, databasesInterface, null, null, null );
    this.steps = steps;
  }

  @Override
  public Object clone() {
    try {
      TransLogTable table = (TransLogTable) super.clone();
      table.fields = new ArrayList<LogTableField>();
      for ( LogTableField field : this.fields ) {
        table.fields.add( (LogTableField) field.clone() );
      }
      return table;
    } catch ( CloneNotSupportedException e ) {
      return null;
    }
  }

  public String getXML() {
    StringBuilder retval = new StringBuilder();

    retval.append( "      " ).append( XMLHandler.openTag( XML_TAG ) ).append( Const.CR );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "connection", connectionName ) );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "schema", schemaName ) );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "table", tableName ) );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "size_limit_lines", logSizeLimit ) );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "interval", logInterval ) );
    retval.append( "        " ).append( XMLHandler.addTagValue( "timeout_days", timeoutInDays ) );
    retval.append( super.getFieldsXML() );
    retval.append( "      " ).append( XMLHandler.closeTag( XML_TAG ) ).append( Const.CR );

    return retval.toString();
  }

  public void loadXML( Node node, List<DatabaseMeta> databases, List<StepMeta> steps ) {
    connectionName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "connection" );
    schemaName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "schema" );
    tableName = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "table" );
    logSizeLimit = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "size_limit_lines" );
    logInterval = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "interval" );
    timeoutInDays = XMLHandler.getTagValue( node, "timeout_days" );

    int nr = XMLHandler.countNodes( node, BaseLogTable.XML_TAG );
    for ( int i = 0; i < nr; i++ ) {
      Node fieldNode = XMLHandler.getSubNodeByNr( node, BaseLogTable.XML_TAG, i );
      String id = XMLHandler.getTagValue( fieldNode, "id" );
      LogTableField field = findField( id );
      if ( field == null ) {
        field = fields.get( i );
      }
      if ( field != null ) {
        field.setFieldName( XMLHandler.getTagValue( fieldNode, "name" ) );
        field.setEnabled( "Y".equalsIgnoreCase( XMLHandler.getTagValue( fieldNode, "enabled" ) ) );
        field.setSubject( StepMeta.findStep( steps, XMLHandler.getTagValue( fieldNode, "subject" ) ) );
      }
    }
  }

  public void saveToRepository( RepositoryAttributeInterface attributeInterface ) throws KettleException {
    super.saveToRepository( attributeInterface );

    // Also save the log interval and log size limit
    //
    attributeInterface.setAttribute( getLogTableCode() + PROP_LOG_TABLE_INTERVAL, logInterval );
    attributeInterface.setAttribute( getLogTableCode() + PROP_LOG_TABLE_SIZE_LIMIT, logSizeLimit );
  }

  public void loadFromRepository( RepositoryAttributeInterface attributeInterface ) throws KettleException {
    super.loadFromRepository( attributeInterface );

    logInterval = attributeInterface.getAttributeString( getLogTableCode() + PROP_LOG_TABLE_INTERVAL );
    logSizeLimit = attributeInterface.getAttributeString( getLogTableCode() + PROP_LOG_TABLE_SIZE_LIMIT );

    for ( int i = 0; i < getFields().size(); i++ ) {
      String id = attributeInterface.getAttributeString( getLogTableCode() + PROP_LOG_TABLE_FIELD_ID + i );
      // Only read further if the ID is available.
      // For backward compatibility, this might not be provided yet!
      //
      if ( id != null ) {
        LogTableField field = findField( id );
        if ( field.isSubjectAllowed() ) {

          // BaseLogTable.loadFromRepository sets subject as a String
          //
          String stepname = (String) field.getSubject();
          if ( !Utils.isEmpty( stepname ) ) {
            field.setSubject( StepMeta.findStep( steps, stepname ) );
          } else {
            field.setSubject( null );
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void replaceMeta( LogTableCoreInterface logTableInterface ) {
    if ( !( logTableInterface instanceof TransLogTable ) ) {
      return;
    }

    TransLogTable logTable = (TransLogTable) logTableInterface;
    super.replaceMeta( logTable );
  }

  //CHECKSTYLE:LineLength:OFF
  public static TransLogTable getDefault( VariableSpace space, HasDatabasesInterface databasesInterface,
    List<StepMeta> steps ) {
    TransLogTable table = new TransLogTable( space, databasesInterface, steps );

    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.ID_BATCH.id, true, false, "ID_BATCH", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.BatchID" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.BatchID" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 8 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.CHANNEL_ID.id, true, false, "CHANNEL_ID", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.ChannelID" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.ChannelID" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 255 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.TRANSNAME.id, true, false, "TRANSNAME", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.TransName" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.TransName" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 255 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.STATUS.id, true, false, "STATUS", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.Status" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.Status" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 15 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_READ.id, true, true, "LINES_READ", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesRead" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesRead" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_WRITTEN.id, true, true, "LINES_WRITTEN", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesWritten" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesWritten" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_UPDATED.id, true, true, "LINES_UPDATED", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesUpdated" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesUpdated" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_INPUT.id, true, true, "LINES_INPUT", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesInput" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesInput" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_OUTPUT.id, true, true, "LINES_OUTPUT", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesOutput" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesOutput" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LINES_REJECTED.id, true, true, "LINES_REJECTED", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LinesRejected" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LinesRejected" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.ERRORS.id, true, false, "ERRORS", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.Errors" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.Errors" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_INTEGER, 18 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.STARTDATE.id, true, false, "STARTDATE", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.StartDateRange" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.StartDateRange" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE, -1 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.ENDDATE.id, true, false, "ENDDATE", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.EndDateRange" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.EndDateRange" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE, -1 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LOGDATE.id, true, false, "LOGDATE", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LogDate" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LogDate" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE, -1 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.DEPDATE.id, true, false, "DEPDATE", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.DepDate" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.DepDate" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE, -1 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.REPLAYDATE.id, true, false, "REPLAYDATE", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.ReplayDate" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.ReplayDate" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_DATE, -1 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.LOG_FIELD.id, true, false, "LOG_FIELD", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.LogField" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.LogField" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, DatabaseMeta.CLOB_LENGTH ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.EXECUTING_SERVER.id, false, false, "EXECUTING_SERVER", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.ExecutingServer" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.ExecutingServer" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 255 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.EXECUTING_USER.id, false, false, "EXECUTING_USER", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.ExecutingUser" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.ExecutingUser" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 255 ) );
    table.fields.add( new LogTableField( ID.CLIENT.id, false, false, "CLIENT", BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldName.Client" ), BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.FieldDescription.Client" ), ValueMetaInterface.TYPE_STRING, 255 ) );

    table.findField( ID.ID_BATCH ).setKey( true );
    table.findField( ID.LOGDATE ).setLogDateField( true );
    table.findField( ID.LOG_FIELD ).setLogField( true );
    table.findField( ID.CHANNEL_ID ).setVisible( false );
    table.findField( ID.TRANSNAME ).setVisible( false );
    table.findField( ID.STATUS ).setStatusField( true );
    table.findField( ID.ERRORS ).setErrorsField( true );
    table.findField( ID.TRANSNAME ).setNameField( true );

    return table;
  }

  public LogTableField findField( ID id ) {
    return super.findField( id.id );
  }

  public Object getSubject( ID id ) {
    return super.getSubject( id.id );
  }

  public String getSubjectString( ID id ) {
    return super.getSubjectString( id.id );
  }

  public void setBatchIdUsed( boolean use ) {
    findField( ID.ID_BATCH ).setEnabled( use );
  }

  public boolean isBatchIdUsed() {
    return findField( ID.ID_BATCH ).isEnabled();
  }

  public void setLogFieldUsed( boolean use ) {
    findField( ID.LOG_FIELD ).setEnabled( use );
  }

  public boolean isLogFieldUsed() {
    return findField( ID.LOG_FIELD ).isEnabled();
  }

  public String getStepnameRead() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_READ );
  }

  public void setStepRead( StepMeta read ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_READ ).setSubject( read );
  }

  public String getStepnameWritten() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_WRITTEN );
  }

  public void setStepWritten( StepMeta written ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_WRITTEN ).setSubject( written );
  }

  public String getStepnameInput() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_INPUT );
  }

  public void setStepInput( StepMeta input ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_INPUT ).setSubject( input );
  }

  public String getStepnameOutput() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_OUTPUT );
  }

  public void setStepOutput( StepMeta output ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_OUTPUT ).setSubject( output );
  }

  public String getStepnameUpdated() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_UPDATED );
  }

  public void setStepUpdate( StepMeta update ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_UPDATED ).setSubject( update );
  }

  public String getStepnameRejected() {
    return getSubjectString( ID.LINES_REJECTED );
  }

  public void setStepRejected( StepMeta rejected ) {
    findField( ID.LINES_REJECTED ).setSubject( rejected );
  }

  /**
   * Sets the logging interval in seconds. Disabled if the logging interval is <=0.
   *
   * @param logInterval
   *          The log interval value. A value higher than 0 means that the log table is updated every 'logInterval'
   *          seconds.
   */
  public void setLogInterval( String logInterval ) {
    this.logInterval = logInterval;
  }

  /**
   * Get the logging interval in seconds. Disabled if the logging interval is <=0. A value higher than 0 means that the
   * log table is updated every 'logInterval' seconds.
   *
   * @param logInterval
   *          The log interval,
   */
  public String getLogInterval() {
    return logInterval;
  }

  /**
   * @return the logSizeLimit
   */
  public String getLogSizeLimit() {
    return logSizeLimit;
  }

  /**
   * @param logSizeLimit
   *          the logSizeLimit to set
   */
  public void setLogSizeLimit( String logSizeLimit ) {
    this.logSizeLimit = logSizeLimit;
  }

  /**
   * This method calculates all the values that are required
   *
   * @param id
   *          the id to use or -1 if no id is needed
   * @param status
   *          the log status to use
   * @param subject
   *          the subject to query, in this case a Trans object
   */
  public RowMetaAndData getLogRecord( LogStatus status, Object subject, Object parent ) {
    if ( subject == null || subject instanceof Trans ) {
      Trans trans = (Trans) subject;
      Result result = null;
      if ( trans != null ) {
        result = trans.getResult();
      }

      RowMetaAndData row = new RowMetaAndData();

      for ( LogTableField field : fields ) {
        if ( field.isEnabled() ) {
          Object value = null;
          if ( trans != null ) {

            switch ( ID.valueOf( field.getId() ) ) {
              case ID_BATCH:
                value = new Long( trans.getBatchId() );
                break;
              case CHANNEL_ID:
                value = trans.getLogChannelId();
                break;
              case TRANSNAME:
                value = trans.getName();
                break;
              case STATUS:
                value = status.getStatus();
                break;
              case LINES_READ:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesRead() );
                break;
              case LINES_WRITTEN:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesWritten() );
                break;
              case LINES_INPUT:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesInput() );
                break;
              case LINES_OUTPUT:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesOutput() );
                break;
              case LINES_UPDATED:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesUpdated() );
                break;
              case LINES_REJECTED:
                value = new Long( result.getNrLinesRejected() );
                break;
              case ERRORS:
                value = new Long( result.getNrErrors() );
                break;
              case STARTDATE:
                value = trans.getStartDate();
                break;
              case LOGDATE:
                value = trans.getLogDate();
                break;
              case ENDDATE:
                value = trans.getEndDate();
                break;
              case DEPDATE:
                value = trans.getDepDate();
                break;
              case REPLAYDATE:
                value = trans.getCurrentDate();
                break;
              case LOG_FIELD:
                value = getLogBuffer( trans, trans.getLogChannelId(), status, logSizeLimit );
                break;
              case EXECUTING_SERVER:
                value = trans.getExecutingServer();
                break;
              case EXECUTING_USER:
                value = trans.getExecutingUser();
                break;
              case CLIENT:
                value =
                  KettleClientEnvironment.getInstance().getClient() != null ? KettleClientEnvironment
                    .getInstance().getClient().toString() : "unknown";
                break;
              default:
                break;
            }
          }

          row.addValue( field.getFieldName(), field.getDataType(), value );
          row.getRowMeta().getValueMeta( row.size() - 1 ).setLength( field.getLength() );
        }
      }

      return row;
    } else {
      return null;
    }
  }

  public String getLogTableCode() {
    return "TRANS";
  }

  public String getLogTableType() {
    return BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "TransLogTable.Type.Description" );
  }

  public String getConnectionNameVariable() {
    return Const.KETTLE_TRANS_LOG_DB;
  }

  public String getSchemaNameVariable() {
    return Const.KETTLE_TRANS_LOG_SCHEMA;
  }

  public String getTableNameVariable() {
    return Const.KETTLE_TRANS_LOG_TABLE;
  }

  public List<RowMetaInterface> getRecommendedIndexes() {
    List<RowMetaInterface> indexes = new ArrayList<RowMetaInterface>();

    // First index : ID_BATCH if any is used.
    //
    if ( isBatchIdUsed() ) {
      RowMetaInterface batchIndex = new RowMeta();
      LogTableField keyField = getKeyField();

      ValueMetaInterface keyMeta = new ValueMeta( keyField.getFieldName(), keyField.getDataType() );
      keyMeta.setLength( keyField.getLength() );
      batchIndex.addValueMeta( keyMeta );

      indexes.add( batchIndex );
    }

    // The next index includes : ERRORS, STATUS, TRANSNAME:

    RowMetaInterface lookupIndex = new RowMeta();
    LogTableField errorsField = findField( ID.ERRORS );
    if ( errorsField != null ) {
      ValueMetaInterface valueMeta = new ValueMeta( errorsField.getFieldName(), errorsField.getDataType() );
      valueMeta.setLength( errorsField.getLength() );
      lookupIndex.addValueMeta( valueMeta );
    }
    LogTableField statusField = findField( ID.STATUS );
    if ( statusField != null ) {
      ValueMetaInterface valueMeta = new ValueMeta( statusField.getFieldName(), statusField.getDataType() );
      valueMeta.setLength( statusField.getLength() );
      lookupIndex.addValueMeta( valueMeta );
    }
    LogTableField transNameField = findField( ID.TRANSNAME );
    if ( transNameField != null ) {
      ValueMetaInterface valueMeta = new ValueMeta( transNameField.getFieldName(), transNameField.getDataType() );
      valueMeta.setLength( transNameField.getLength() );
      lookupIndex.addValueMeta( valueMeta );
    }

    indexes.add( lookupIndex );

    return indexes;
  }

  @Override
  public void setAllGlobalParametersToNull()  {
    boolean clearGlobalVariables = Boolean.valueOf( System.getProperties().getProperty( Const.KETTLE_GLOBAL_LOG_VARIABLES_CLEAR_ON_EXPORT, "false" ) );
    if ( clearGlobalVariables ) {
      super.setAllGlobalParametersToNull();

      logInterval = isGlobalParameter( logInterval ) ? null : logInterval;
      logSizeLimit = isGlobalParameter( logSizeLimit ) ? null : logSizeLimit;
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We all have a problem, we have all disobeyed God. The Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".
It also says, "The wages of sin is death".
We are separated from God and there is nothing a human being can do to save themselves from this predicament. Cut off from God in this life and doomed to hell after death.
But God chose to rescue us from this terrible situation. He provided a Saviour. When the Lord Jesus Christ allowed himself to be crucified he paid the penalty for our sins allowing us to escape God's judgement on us.
God invites us to respond to His love, in providing a Saviour, by accepting and trusting Christ's death as payment for our sin and trusting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour.
The Bible says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son (Jesus). He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life".
The Lord Jesus Christ said of himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me".
Will you, right now, turn from your sin and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour?
Pray this prayer to God.
"Dear Lord, thank you for loving me. I confess I have sinned against you. I believe that your Son Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin, and then came back from the dead. I now put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone to forgive me and save me from the penalty of my sin. I confess Jesus is Lord. I thankfully receive your gift of eternal life. Amen"


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Tag Archives: California Fires
Review: 'A Fire Story: Updated and Expanded Edition'
A Fire Story by Brian Fies
A Fire Story (Updated and Expanded Edition). Brian Fies. Abrams ComicArts. New York. 2021. 186pp, $18.99
As a creative, I'm one of these hybrids, a writer-artist. Many of my longtime followers already know that, right? Sometimes, I will receive a wonderful nugget of wisdom that can make life easier when working with issues of combining words and pictures. One outstanding example was from a conversation I had with cartoonist Brian Fies. He told me that he sort of learned the hard way that often the road to completing a graphic novel can be simplified considerably. He said that he found that the creation of elaborate drawings was not helping him. Often, the best route is to cut out the artfully rendered art and go with simple drawings. That interview was in March of 2019 in connection with the release of his book, A Fire Story. It is a fascinating book. You can read my review of it here and you can read my interview with Brian here. This is the story of the horrific 2017 wildfires through Northern California. Back then, Brian promptly created a quick on-the-spot work of comics reportage that went on to become a webcomic, and then an Emmy Award-winning work of animation–and ultimately, a graphic novel. Now, with two years of perspective, we have the definitive edition of that book.
Some perspective sure can help.
Much can change, and much can drag on, after two years passing. But some perspective sure can help all the same. Life moves on. Life goes on. That is the sort of spirit evoked in this expanded edition that adds a nice coda: a look two years after the events in the original graphic novel.
Upon reflection, more details fall into place.
It's interesting to see what Brian chose to include to round things out. It's a neatly balanced addition of items: a new profile; a few more observations; and, yes, even a few deftly placed artistic touches. All in all, this is the definitive edition to a book that will stand the test of time as an excellent example of crisp and concise visual storytelling. Over the years, Comics Grinder has become an undisputed repository for an assortment of issues related to comics. We do venture off to other subjects but I'm glad I've stuck around and have been able to make my contribution to documenting the progress of the comics medium. And I believe there is so much more to be said and to be explored, specifically the power of comics to communicate, to process information, and to inform.
Just the right details complete the story.
Enough time has passed since the original release of A Fire Story that it has allowed Brian Fies time for wounds to heal and memories to be processed. Of course, certain things can trigger a person and it can feel like it all just happened moments ago. But the reality is that progress has been made. Enough progress to make it easier to contemplate the centuries old Japanese tradition of kintsugi: the art of celebrating something broken by applying gold to rejoin it so as to call attention to all the broken pieces that have somehow found a way to become whole again.
If you are new to Brian Fies and to A Fire Story, and if you're looking for a perfect textbook example of how to tell a story through comics, then seek out this book! For more details, go to Abrams ComicArts.
Filed under Abrams ComicArts, Brian Fies, Comics, Graphic Novel Reviews
Tagged as Abrams ComicArts, Art, Books, Brian Fies, California, California Fires, comics, Comics Reviews, Entertainment, Fire, graphic novels, Media, Natural Disasters, Pop Culture, Publishing
Interview: Brian Fies Talks About A FIRE STORY
Brian Fies
Early in the morning on Monday, October 9, 2017, wildfires burned through Northern California, resulting in 44 fatalities. Brian Fies's book, A Fire Story (Abrams ComicArts), is his honest, unflinching depiction of his personal experiences, including losing his house and every possession he and his wife Karen could not fit into the back of their car. In the days that followed, as the fires continued to burn through the area, he posted an initial version of A Fire Story online and it immediately went viral. The video segment KQED produced about his comic went on to win a Northern California Area Emmy Award. He has expanded his original webcomic into a full length graphic novel that goes deeper into environmental insights and the fire stories of his neighbors and others in his community. A Fire Story is an honest account of the wildfires that left homes destroyed, families broken, and a community determined to rebuild.
A Fire Story Book Tour
I was able to catch up with Brian Fies at his reading at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, part of his book tour. This interview is the result of a subsequent email exchange.
Brian, thanks for doing this interview. You have built a very interesting portfolio of comics and graphic novels. You're searching for answers and you're compelled to express yourself through comics in order to explain big themes whether it's history and technology (Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow) or personal challenges (Mom's Cancer). When you were creating that webcomic about your first impressions of the Northern California fires, did you already intuit the making of your next graphic novel?
Thanks for your gracious thoughts on my work, I appreciate it! I can't claim any grand strategy—as my wife Karen and I fled our house that night, I wasn't thinking, "Ah ha, I've found my next book!"—but I knew I was an eyewitness to an extraordinary event and felt like I had to tell people about it. To bear witness. My first job out of college was as a newspaper reporter, and I felt that journalism gene kick into gear. Even as I walked back into my neighborhood the next morning to see what had happened to my house, before I even knew it was gone, I was taking photos and making mental notes that I knew I'd need later. The next day, I bought shoes and art supplies, and started writing and drawing.
As I worked on the webcomic, I was certainly aware it might become my next graphic novel. I'd been down a similar path with Mom's Cancer: live through something terrible, find something interesting to say about it, put it online because that was fast and cheap, and see if anybody cared enough to read it. If nobody had read either webcomic, that would have been the end of both of them, and I would have been satisfied with that. I got my story out into the world; what the world did with it was out of my hands. In the case of A Fire Story, within a few days it went viral. Around 700,000 people read the webcomic on my blog. News and other media picked it up. San Francisco PBS station KQED made it into an animated short-film that was seen by 3 million people and won an Emmy Award. None of that was guaranteed or planned, but when it happens, the odds are good it'll be a book if you want it to be. I thought about it and decided I was up for it.
Keep in mind, the whole time this was not the most important thing going on in my life! My family lost our home. Our neighborhood of about 200 houses looked like a nuclear bomb had hit it. People died. Thousands in our community were suddenly homeless and jobless, and we had no idea what to do. We had to figure out a lot, fast. My little comic strip, and the hullabaloo that soon came with it, wasn't top priority. We were busy.
Page from A Fire Story
Share with us what sort of person becomes a cartoonist. I think everyone can potentially draw and write but there's a certain personality that remains persistent and follows through with work year after year. I think it's a combination of passions: a desire to report, to draw, and even perform. What do you think of that, and how it ties in with your new book, A FIRE STORY? Heck, I'll also throw in: Did you always want to be a cartoonist and was it just a matter of time?
There may be as many motives for cartooning as there are cartoonists. I loved making comics from childhood. As a teen and early adult I tried very hard to make a living at it—which at the time meant becoming a syndicated newspaper cartoonist or drawing comic books. I got some nibbles but, like most people in most creative arts, I failed. I went on to have a family and a couple of different careers I enjoyed, but always kept cartooning. I sold some freelance work. I illustrated a light bulb catalog once; they come in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. But my real career in comics didn't begin until my mother was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer and I decided the comics medium was the best way to tell our family's story. In that sense, maybe it was just a matter of time. When the opportunity came, I had sufficient skills to do it.
Most cartoonists I know are shy. More introverted than not, though I know some on the other end of the spectrum who are hyper-outgoing. I think one of the attractions of cartooning, certainly for me, is that one person can do it all themselves. It's not collaborative, like animation or filmmaking usually are. I'm the god of the little world I create on the page. Even my handwriting communicates a mood or feeling. For better or worse, and sometimes it goes really wrong, you're getting one person's singular creative vision. It also has incredibly low barriers to entry. For the price of paper and a pen, you too can be a professional cartoonist!
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that cartooning doesn't strictly require being a good artist. I mean, it helps, but making pretty drawings is one of the least important parts of it. Comics are about storytelling. Not making one breathtaking picture, but making a dozen, a hundred, a thousand pictures that move through time and space, and guide a reader through ideas, characters, plot, and emotions. A comic drawn in stick figures could make you weep or cheer if its storytelling were compelling enough. That said, the better an artist you are, the more tools you'll have in your storytelling tool box.
The other thing I've come to believe is super important is authenticity. Readers can tell when you're faking it or jerking them around. If you tell a story from the heart—one that really means something to you, one that only you can tell because your entire life went into making it—somebody will respond. A comic about a routine planet-devouring laser-mounted space dragon, or a group of wizards and goblins who bumble through Lord of the Rings-like adventures, will probably bore me. Anybody could do that. But if your true passion in life is collecting bottle caps, and you can draw a comic about bottle caps that makes me care about them as much as you do, I'll be your fan for life.
There's a wonderful nugget you brought up during your reading about kids from families that survived the fires in Nothern California. You point out that in your webcomic you have children requesting bedtime "fire stories." What a great way to come around to the title of your book. I'm assuming that's where the title comes from. Any story behind it—or was that title a natural fit and you ran with it?
Yeah, that nugget came from some people I know who lost their home, and whose grandchildren insisted on reading A Fire Story every night for weeks because that's how they understood and processed what had happened to Grandma and Grandpa's house. And Grandma would even read the naughty words because, while kids shouldn't say those words, sometimes they're the right words to say.
I gave the title much less thought than you'd expect. Again, Mom's Cancer was instructive for me. It's simple, direct, memorable, tells you what the story's going to be about. Same with A Fire Story: it does what it says on the label.
You have said that this graphic novel has changed you. You've got a different perspective. For now, of course, it's a time of healing and rebuilding. My heart goes out to you. As you did in your reading, I think the best place to end here is with that one page that sums things up so well where it's you and Karen simply wanting to go home. It's also a time to get the word out on A FIRE STORY. That said, this is a long way around to simply asking what do you hope folks will get out of your book?
Thanks so much. As I describe in the book's end notes, I've gotten two kinds of feedback to the webcomic and graphic novel that mean the most to me. People who went through it with us tell me I got it right. And people who didn't go through it tell me it helped them understand what it was like.
I hope A Fire Story stands as a work of respectable, responsible journalism that gives a full picture of what living through a disaster is like for an individual, a family, a community. It doesn't have to be a fire. I think a hurricane survivor and I would have a lot to talk about. In an even larger sense, I think A Fire Story has something to say about any family or community in any type of crisis. These experiences and our reactions to them are nearly universal. We all have more in common than we think. So A Fire Story is my story, but I hope folks might see that it's their story, too.
A Fire Story is a 154-page hardcover, in full color available as of March 5th. For more details and how to purchase, visit Abrams ComicArts.
Filed under Book Tours, Books, Booksellers, Bookstores, Brian Fies, Comics, Elliot Bay Book Company, Interviews
Tagged as Book Tours, Books, Booksellers, Bookstores, Brian Fies, California, California Fires, Comicon, comics, Disaster, Elliott Bay Book Company, Emergency, Entertainment, Fire, graphic novels, Independent Bookstores, Indie Bookstores, Literacy, Media, Publishing, Seattle, Writers


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hw.com
AP Chemistry visits Caltech
By No Author on December 16, 2009
By Lauren Seo
Chris Dartt's AP Chemistry class went to the California Institute of Technology after school on Dec. 4, where they visited several labs, spoke to researchers and met with Nobel Prize winner Robert H. Grubbs.
The main objective of the trip was to use the institute's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machine, which was essential to the molecular spectroscopy lab the students were working on in class. For the lab, students were each given an unknown organic compound and were expected to deduce its chemical make-up and structure by using techniques such as qualitative testing, mass spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy. Harvard-Westlake's NMR machine broke down a year ago, three days before last year's class was scheduled to use it, so Dartt did not have sufficient time to schedule a trip to use a functioning machine. However, this year Dartt had months to plan for the use of the machine, as well as plan several visits to various caltech labs he thought would interest his students.
As they tested their samples in the NMR machine, students learned about the value of the machine from professional scientists.
"I remember one scientist telling us how an NMR analysis makes any lab report legitimate," Jack Petok '11 said.
A high point, Petok said, was meeting Grubbs, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2005 for his work in the field of olefin metathesis. Grubbs research has developed powerful catalysts for organic synthesis reactions, allowing scientists to custom-build molecules with specialized properties. The students visited his lab, where scientists were working on the olefin organomelatics and catalysts.
Dartt knew Grubbs as an adviser at a company he had previously worked for, and was not sure if his busy schedule would allow him to meet the students.
The students also visited the lab where Dartt earned his doctorate.
"It was a very eye-opening experience because it wasn't just chemistry or just physics or just biology we saw," Jennifer Plotkin '11 said. "It was all these different sciences combined, which made it very cool."
"It was definitely a surprise, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from the students," Dartt said.
"I was having thoughts of a career in science, and I feel like now these thoughts are solidified," Petok said.
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Alumni reunite in London
  By Michelle Nosratian A Thanksgiving dinner in London reunited Harvard School alumni with former English foreign exchange students at...


Welcome to the Goons with Spoons Recipe Submission Tutorial!
This page will hopefully help you in the process of submitting your first of many recipes here on the Goons with Spoons wiki.
If no one has used the same name as you for their recipe, typing your recipe's name into the search field will take you to a new screen informing you that the recipe's page has not been found. Next to that warning you will see an option that says you can create this page. Click create this page as shown below.
If this is not what you see, go back one step and make sure you clicked the "Create this page" link.
Many categories exist and you will most likely want to include your recipe in more than one. Some general categories include: Category:Recipes by Author, Category:Main Ingredients, Category:Recipes by Food Type, Category:Recipes by Meal, and by Category:Recipes by Cuisine.
So for example I could associate my recipe with my name (Jpfan01), then its cuisine type (Thai), then by the ingredient (Chicken), and finally the food type (Noodle). As an example, here is the category list I used for my Pad Thai Recipe so that you can see the formatting. Following the categories you will also want to add a "submitted by" entry as in the included example. Simply replace my name with yours.
Pay close attention to spelling, and when creating a new category, please stick to existing naming conventions. For example, as a general rule the recipe categories are all singular; i.e. "Potato" not "Potatoes".
When creating a new subcategory, remember to add its parent category into your entry. (i.e. add [category:Main Ingredients]] into your entry for "Celery".
Before we begin filling in the meat of your recipe I'd like to go over just a few formatting tips and techniques. Most recipes tend not to be composed of one part or stage in their creation. Some, for example, have a core meat component then a separate sauce component. For that we can create separate sections to divide the recipe up. Even nicer is that at the top of the page there will be a nice contents menu so people can skip around. At the top of this guide you can see an example of just that.
''Italicized Text Goes Here'' for italics it's double apostrophes on each side.
'''Bold text Goes here''' for bold print it's triple apostrophes on each side.
Standard HTML tags will also work for any of the above formatting. If you're more familiar with HTML you may find this easier than learning the quirks of Wiki formatting.
Now that the formatting stuff is out of the way lets get into the steps of writing an example recipe. The format we'll use is pretty standard for most recipes.
One of the nicest things about the wiki environment is the ease of interlinking of entries. There's no need to use long URL strings for every little link you want. Just like almost everything else you've seen so far, you can create a link by using square brackets around a word. In addition, by adding a pipe (|) we can specify what word will be linked much as we can with a [url] tag in vbcode.
Personally if I'm talking about the [[:category:Potato|Potato]] category, I prefer to write it like so.
Gives us: Mashed Potatoes leads to a specific recipe, while category:Potato leads to a category... Personally if I'm talking about the Potato category, I prefer to write it like so.
This is where it all starts. Yes, I said starts. All the categorizing and formatting stuff was more a technicality than anything. At this point we are going to begin entering in all the juicy details of your recipe as well as the instructional photos.
Most people tend to have an introduction paragraph of some sort at the beginning of their recipe. This lets you introduce the recipe itself, maybe tell a story of where you learned it. Including a basic description of the food and its taste and style wouldn't hurt either, as it helps people browsing recipes decide if it's something they could eat or not. Sometimes pictures of the food doesn't tell much about the food other than its appearance. What it may not say is that it burns like one of the lower layers of hell, for example. People have different food preferences so the descriptions help them decide if your recipe is right for them.
The first thing most people want to see with any recipe is what's in it, so using the bulleting method from above (Using * at the beginning of a line), you'll want to list the ingredients one by one and the amount of each that will be needed. It's not a bad idea to make the ingredients their own section as well (using the technique from above with the = sign). You can see it done where it says "Ingredients".
... and so on. Make sure to list all of your ingredients here.
In this section we will go over entering the steps involved in making your recipe. For the most part, this section is very straightforward. The hardest part of it is the task of inserting images into the recipe.
List the first step of your recipe like this with a bullet.
List the second step of your recipe. If this step requires an associated picture with it to show what you are doing we can add it underneath.
Please try to make the images an appropriate size; they don't need to be 1600x1200. A standard size here is 640x480 for all instructional images and maybe an 800x600 image for the final product.
Label the images appropriately. If you are making a recipe for devil's food cake, devil01, devil02 or devilmix, devilbatter are far more appropriate than just 01, 02, 03 or image1, image2.
As you can see, we have an area to enter the location of the image you want to use. Below that is an area that shows the destination filename that will be on the Wiki's server. Remember that by default it capitalizes the first letter of the filename even if it was lowercase on your computer. Filenames on the Wiki are case sensitive.
These are the main components of adding a recipe to the Goons with Spoons wiki. Now we will do a short example recipe showing both code and how it looks when saved. This hopefully will aid in visualizing how the final result will look as you type it up.
This is my recipe for Delicious Meal. It was designed by my mom. She learned it from the vikings. It's a very sweet meal with a slight tangy taste to it.
Place Yak Legs into boiling water and slowly check if the meat is becoming tender.
Most the time we don't put our recipes straight onto the wiki, but post them on the Something Awful Forums for everyone to see. In this case it can be a pain to move them to the wiki, but there are a few tricks that can make it go quickly and smoothly. Word, Works, Open Office, or even notepad/wordpad are all your friends.
The first task is going to be to remove all the vbcode from your SA post. Copy the whole post into one of the word processing programs I listed. I'm using Word's replace function for this tutorial. In most programs it will be under edit then replace. In Word 2007 it's on the far right.
After that you need to remove the closing tags, so in the find area type [/img] and in replace type ]].
This will remove all the image vbcode from your SA post. If you used anything like bold or italics, you will need to remove and replace those as well. You should be able to easily accomplish this using the same method as above.
The most time consuming part of the migration process from forums to Wiki is uploading images. Just be sure to keep the images you've uploaded to your image host (WaffleImages or something similar) and re-upload them here as outlined in the "Adding a Photo" section above.
If you didn't save the images, open up your thread on Something Awful and right-click and save as every picture in your post into one folder, then upload them to the Wiki as necessary. Again, please try to keep your pictures at a maximum resolution of 640x480 and under 80kb.
If the format is correct, check the filename. Remember, filenames are case sensitive.
The method I use (Toast) is to write my recipes out for the wiki first. Sometimes I do this directly on the wiki, sometimes I do it in Word. Be careful in programs such as Word though, as sometimes there are apostrophe issues and other other minor character glitches.
and the like with vb formating.
For images, start by naming them something intelligent and placing them in a folder by themselves so that you can easily upload them first to the Wiki then to whatever hosting you're using for the SA forums.
In short, if you plan for it from the start, posting on both sites is easy and quick. This lets people comment and enjoy your recipes in the short term on the forums then go back and find them quick 3 months or 3 years later.
The handy table of contents that you see at the top of the page only appears if you have more than three sections marked with ==. If you want to force the Table of Contents to appear (I usually do, especially for recipes with lots of pictures)simply enter __FORCETOC__ (that's two underscores on either side).
To remove the  boxes next to each section, you can enter __NOEDITSECTION__ again with two underscores on either side.
This page was last modified on 29 October 2009, at 18:15.


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Brand Advisory
Uncategorized / January 14, 2012 / Raintree Media
"A man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow… And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons."
So said a contemporary of Sir Thomas More, about the morally upright Lord Chancellor of England who in the 16th century was sentenced to death for not signing a letter asking the Pope to annul King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This was the issue that made England break from Rome. More chose to give up his post, sink into penury, be jailed and finally, executed rather than go against his principles.
At Arjun Sajnani's production of Robert Bolt's A Man for all Seasons last week, I felt I had never been in an audience that was more engrossed. Take for example, this exchange between the King and More "How is it that you cannot see (that I have to put away the Queen)? Everyone else does."
"Then, why does Your Grace need my poor support?"
"Because you're honest."
Arjun Sajnani
Restaurateur Arjun Sajnani delights people each day at Sunny's where with partner Vivek Ubhyankar, he dishes out delectable fare. Every once in a while though he lays out a treat for theatre-goers with impeccable productions. Just as he is with food, so too in his plays, Arjun is a perfectionist and his plays are as close as we can come to Broadway.
This play which brought together a rare grouping of luminaries of English theatre – Ashok Mandanna, Naval Narielwala, Veena Sajnani, Vivek Madan, Aporup Acharya, Ashish Sen, Anil Abraham and Puja Chodha, also gave ample food for thought.
Arjun has in the past 30 years produced and directed a variety of plays – from musicals to comedies to intense dramas like Girish Karnad's Tughlaq and Fire and the Rain, which he made into the film Agnivarsha. He tells me, "I am drawn to plays that have intellectual content as well as visuals that I can enthrall the audience with. It must have real emotional thrust and must hang together for me as a property in order for me to direct and produce."
A Man for all Seasons is topical with the recent interest in corruption and the roles of the government and the citizens. Arjun had liked it when he saw a college production 35 years ago. His passion for the subject spurred him to action and staged it after long thoughtful discussions with the actors about the script and approach. "I also knew that my older actors were all at the right age to act in this property and score with it…like you said, the world sometimes needs to be reminded of values and morals and conscience and courage."
At the very end, More tells his daughter, "If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes." If only we had a few like him around…
By Sandhya Mendonca (Sandhya Mendonca writes a weekly column for the Herald Goa)
You can also read the column on the Goa Herald, Jan 14.
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