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Android Income Report #7 (October)
January 23, 2012 by David Webb
When I started this blog, I set myself a goal: to make $1000 from Android development in a single month. This seemed a lofty goal – especially starting from scratch – but I thought it would be achievable within a couple of years. Thus it was quite a surprise in July when I got nearly halfway there – $690 in a single month. This was just 4 months after my first income report of less than $4!
Even more surprising – and exciting – is the news that this month, I passed the $1000 mark. Yes, after 7 months of Android development I've actually reached the goal set back in March. This was mainly due to the phenomenal success of my latest app – "Fake iPhone 4S".
Read on for more details, including the full story of how one weekend's work turned into my most successful app yet.
Stirrings In The Apple Camp…
Apple fans & aficionados across the world will remember October very well. Early in the month, Apple announced the new iPhone 4S with iOS 5 (I wrote my thoughts about the announcement here). But sadly, this wasn't the only news from the computer company. Less than 24 hours after the iPhone 4S announcement, Apple informed the world that its founder Steve Jobs had passed away.
Steve has impacted so many people across the world with his products, and the company he built. He will always be remembered as a great visionary in the technology arena. You don't need to be an Apple fan to appreciate what he's contributed to modern computing, especially in the mobile world.
I mention these two events because they are both relevant in many ways to Android developers, and especially my activities during the month of October.
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
When I first saw the details of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S, I was struck by an idea. Since these phones weren't actually available in Australia yet, what if I could make my Android phone look like an iPhone, and trick people into thinking I had the new 4S? It was an intriguing thought, so of course I went to the Market and had a look – simply searching for "iPhone".
There were a couple of existing apps that claimed to imitate the iOS home screen (Springboard). They did the job adequately, but I wasn't really satisfied. All the apps I tried had pretty glaring flaws, and wouldn't convince anyone for very long. Besides, I wanted an iPhone launcher that actually worked – where you could click the buttons, and flip between screens realistically. Surely that wouldn't be too hard to make?
Testing The Market
Before investing a lot of time in this idea, I decided to "test the waters", by releasing a very basic version. This way I could see if there was actually demand for the app – how many people would download a free imitation iPhone app?
I threw together a quick app in Eclipse – basically just a single ImageView with a screenshot of the iPhone 4 home screen. Nothing fancy, just a quick demo I could use to gauge demand for this kind of app.
It turns out the demand was more than I expected. In just two days – with no marketing – I got over 2,000 downloads on the Android Market. And amazingly, nearly all of those were active installs. Less than 200 people uninstalled the app in those first two days. That's an amazing response, far better than I had ever received for my previous apps.
Ramping Things Up A Bit
It looked like I might have a winner on my hands. My proof of concept got a great response. Could I extend that success further by adding more functionality?
During the next couple of weeks I ended up rewriting the app from scratch, with a bunch of new features. Instead of just showing a static image on the screen, I used the wallpaper as a background for the activity. The icons were now rendered as separate Views in a ViewGroup. I used a ViewPager to accomplish iOS-like flipping between screens.
I really enjoyed the exercise of taking an existing design (in this case, the most popular phone on the planet), and basically porting it to a new platform. Of course, my app isn't anywhere near serious enough to be considered a "port" in the proper sense of that word. It's more like a parody app – designed to fool your friends for a short time, but not completely replace all the functions of an iPhone. Nonetheless, it was an interesting experience to build an app conforming to someone else's design, and not my own.
An example of a LeadBolt interstitial
My first release – the proof of concept – was given away for free, with no advertising. This isn't a very sustainable business model, so I had to figure out a way to get some return on investment once the app started taking more of my time. I didn't want to clutter the home screen appearance by flashy banners or promotional text. And I definitely didn't want to use Airpush or other "push notification" ad networks. Interstitials were the only way to go.
Since not all the apps on the iOS home screen have an exact equivalent on every Android phone, I chose a simple advertising method. When the user clicked an icon that couldn't launch a relevant Android app, it would display an ad instead.
About half of the icons worked in the first iteration. So clicking the Camera icon would launch the Android camera. Clicking Photos would display the Android photo gallery (built-in). But since "Notes" doesn't come pre-installed on many Android phones, I set up that icon to launch an interstitial ad.
The Explosion
As a result of these upgrades, my app continued to grow in popularity. By mid October, I had nearly 30,000 total downloads – far more than all of my other apps combined. And it just kept going up.
Fake iPhone - Total & Active Installs for October
The chart above shows total and active installs for the month of October. As you can see, there was a sharp increase in popularity during the later half of the month. In total, during October this app was downloaded nearly 300,000 times. But even more amazing: 225,000 of those downloads occurred in the last 7 days of the month.
That's a quarter of a million downloads in just one week.
So what made this app so popular? Well firstly, it was created at a very opportune time. Every man and his dog were talking about the iPhone 4S in October, and no doubt this contributed greatly to the popularity of this app.
Secondly, the initial boost of downloads was enough to propel this app into AppBrain's "Top 10 Hottest Apps" list. While AppBrain doesn't have as wide a user base as the official Android Market, it's still a valuable place to be featured.
Thirdly, with the combined effects of organic downloads & the AppBrain exposure, this app made it into the Android Market's "Top New Free" category. This brought in heaps of increased exposure, and this exposure in turn kept the app popular enough to continue to rise through the rankings. At one stage Fake iPhone 4S was #3 in the "Top Free Entertainment" apps list for many places in the world. Near the end of October it also appeared in the "Trending" list.
With all those downloads, how much money was I making?
For Fake iPhone 4S, I wrote my own custom code to switch between ad networks dynamically. So every time a full-screen interstitial ad was requested, my code would randomly choose which ad to display. I started off using 3 networks – Inner-Active, LeadBolt and Madvertise.
Here's a chart showing how the income was distributed between ad networks over the course of the month. (Note: This chart includes revenue from all of my apps & the website.)
Looking at this chart, it's clear that Madvertise and Inner-Active were my most productive networks, followed by LeadBolt. These are the three networks that I integrated into Fake iPhone 4S. They all performed very well, and made up about 88% of my revenue for the month.
During October, Fake iPhone 4S generated a total of $1,307.40.
The income from all my other Android apps (using AdMob and Tapjoy) was pretty insignificant by comparison. I didn't release any major changes this month, so this is entirely passive income.
During October, all my other Android apps combined generated a total of $22.01.
My website earnings (including AdSense) were still strong, but made up less than 10% of the total for this month.
During October, my website brought in $151.51.
So in total, that's $1,480.92 for the month. Well over my target of $1,000 – and more than I'd earned in the previous 6 months combined!
All The Juicy Details
Here are the full details from all of my advertising networks, including the bits developers really want to hear – eCPM, Fill Rate and CTR.
AdMob Impressions 52,226
AdMob Earnings $13.80
AdMob eCPM $0.26
AdMob Fill Rate 56.15%
AdMob CTR 0.62%
Tapjoy
Tapjoy Offerwall Views 1,425
Tapjoy Clicks 435
Tapjoy Conversions 43
Tapjoy CTR 30.5%
Tapjoy eCPM $4.35
Tapjoy Revenue $6.20
AdSense Earnings $73.51
LeadBolt Impressions 2,152,211
LeadBolt Clicks 57,954
LeadBolt CTR 2.69%
LeadBolt eCPM $0.14
LeadBolt Revenue $296.46
Madvertise
Madvertise Requests 79,527
Madvertise Impressions 17,728
Madvertise Fill Rate 22%
Madvertise Clicks 948
Madvertise CTR 5.35%
Madvertise eCPM 22.71€ (approx. $28 USD)
Madvertise Revenue 402,73€ (approx. $500 USD)
Inneractive
Inneractive Requests 379,027
Inneractive Impressions 284,932
Inneractive Fill Rate 75.175%
Inneractive Clicks 32,059
Inneractive CTR 11.251%
Inneractive eCPM $1.78
Inneractive Revenue $506.57
Without further ado, here is my traditional monthly summary for October:
Total App Downloads: 319,204 (+312,846)
Total Ad Impressions: 2,664,416 (+2,631,933)
Total Ad Revenue: $1,329.41 (+1,264.90)
Revenue Per 1,000 Impressions: $0.4989 (~$0.50)
Android Market Sales: $2.01 (1 sale) (+0.59)
Total AdSense Revenue: $73.51 (-0.31)
Other Website Advertising: $78.00 (+60.5)
Total Website Revenue: $151.51 (+60.19)
Total Income for October: $1,480.92 (+1,323.17)
Wow – what a month! I was featured in the top trending charts on AppBrain and the Android Market. I passed my income goal less than a year after I first downloaded the Android SDK. And in the process, I discovered two new advertising networks (Inner-Active and Madvertise) which returned a significantly higher eCPM than anything else I've used.
My success this month can be entirely attributed to one app. But I'm beginning to think this "hit" based business model is quite common amongst Android developers. That is – most apps won't be successful. But once you create enough apps, one of them will take off in a way you never expected, and that can fund your development for years to come.
Of course, if you're a development studio with plenty of money to spend on advertising, it would be possible to produce an app and market it to create a guaranteed success. But for an independent developer, the best strategy seems to be "test the waters, and pursue any app that seems popular". Especially now that the "Just In" section is gone from the Android Market, it's much harder to get your app noticed if you don't pick a well-searched title right from the beginning.
It's interesting to note that since the success of Fake iPhone 4S, all of my other apps have seen an uptick in both new downloads and active installs. By placing a simple link to my Android Market developer page, I was able to cross-promote my other apps to interested users. This seems a very effective way to leverage a single successful app to drive traffic to your other releases.
Several people have asked me what my long-term goals are, now that I've passed the initial milestone of $1000/month. Here's what I'll be aiming for:
Sustain the $1000/month target for several consecutive months
In the past, I haven't been able to maintain a prolonged boost in revenues. During the next few months I'll try to improve on my October earnings, but primarily focus on stabilising revenue, so that this isn't a one-off event 🙂
Test several new advertising networks
Now that I'm handling several million ad requests in a single month, I can start looking at other ad networks. Hopefully by comparing several different networks in the same app, I'll be able to determine which services offer the best RPM globally.
Focus on feedback
I've placed a prominent request for feedback – along with an email address – on several of my Android app listings. In the coming few months I'll try to actively respond to users' emails, and follow up by adding features that have been requested.
So, that's all folks! Apologies for the very delayed report, but there was a lot of data to sift through & write up. The coming few months also promise to be a very exciting time, so stay tuned for the follow-up blog posts.
Categories ReportTags AdMob, AdSense, Advertising, Android Market, AppBrain, Fake iPhone, Inner-Active, iOS, LeadBolt, Madvertise, Revenue, Stats, Success
SOPA Blackout Today
Android Developers on Google+


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RBOCs Wait & See on P2P
News Analysis Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading 3/28/2006
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), and Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) don't have hard, fast policies in place to deal with consumer peer-to-peer traffic. Despite the hype about P2P traffic volumes on carrier networks, these phone companies say they're fine to watch and wait for now.
One network operator CTO is even skeptical that P2P really causes as much congestion in networks as has been hyped. (See P2P Fuels Global Bandwidth Binge.)
In separate conversations with leading technology executives from three of the four largest carriers in the U.S., Light Reading has learned that even while the industry is abuzz over P2P traffic, the big boys don't see it as stopping up their networks… yet. They are, however, quick to draw a distinction between their proposed TV services and the other stuff that traverses the open Internet.
"I think the view that we're looking at is: You have managed services and you have unmanaged services," says Chris Rice, AT&T's executive VP of network planning and engineering. "Peer-to-peer services are unmanaged."
AT&T's consumer IPTV service, Rice says, is an example of a managed service, because its content, though IP-based, travels a private IP network down managed links to consumer homes.
"Obviously, unmanaged IP services deal with impairments. Sometimes they have slower response times," Rice says. "Sometimes they have quicker response times. It just depends on the usage and the volume of traffic on the network at any given time. In a managed environment, throughput is the same all the time."
"What we are doing with it at this point is dealing with it on a congestion management basis," says Verizon's CTO, Mark Wegleitner. "At this point we're a little bit reactive rather than proactive, because we don't want to get out there and do something that's going to stifle a viable service offering. But it's something that I think the industry as a whole is going to have to step up to."
Qwest CTO Pieter Poll says it may not even be causing as much traffic as many think. "I'm not convinced that it causes network congestion at this point, but clearly it has the potential to do that," he says.
Poll says he's looked at Qwest's peering points for some idea of how much P2P traffic is on its networks. And, while he admits that it's not an exact measurement of the P2P traffic load, he says the fears of network congestion are a little overblown.
"I… found that the traffic is well under what some in that industry say is happening. I mean, you hear claims of significant double-digit penetration of peer-to-peer traffic, and it was not near there," Poll says.
By contrast, Internet companies are hyping P2P traffic services, problems, and solutions at every turn. AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is using a P2P video delivery system. BitTorrent Inc. is entering the legit movie business. ntl group ltd. (Nasdaq: NTLI) is using BitTorrent's technology to reach its users with content. And Sandvine Inc. , whose technology could be used to block P2P traffic, had a noteworthy debut as a publicly traded firm. (See Sandvine Leaps on London Listing, BitTorrent to Open Video Store, NTL Teams on P2P Trial, and Carrier VOIP Leads Study.)
That's not to say that the RBOCs won't someday offer P2P services themselves. It's just that, for now, they're not terribly worried about unmanaged P2P traffic, especially that from video downloads and the like.
"I don't want to be too negative on peer-to-peer, because I think there's a place for peer-to-peer communications going forward," says Verizon's Wegleitner. "I think what we have to do though is make sure it doesn't ruin the experience of everyone else."
— Phil Harvey, News Editor, Light Reading
DCITDave 12/5/2012 | 3:59:50 AM
re: RBOCs Wait & See on P2P So is anyone else buying this idea that maybe consumer P2P apps aren't as big a network hog as folks have been saying?
OldPOTS 12/5/2012 | 3:59:49 AM
re: RBOCs Wait & See on P2P Not till they add real subscribers and get ARPU!
Mark Sebastyn 12/5/2012 | 3:59:39 AM
re: RBOCs Wait & See on P2P Not surprising, every P2P junkies nightmare is getting stuck with a Qwest connection.
dcb1994 12/5/2012 | 3:58:47 AM
re: RBOCs Wait & See on P2P according to the report of CNCERT/CC, in China, the p2p traffic occupies about 20-30 percent of the total bandwidth, which covers BT, eMule and etc. http://hi2005.wordpress.com
re: RBOCs Wait & See on P2P it the near future, the QoS and billing system might be supporting classification of traffic of P2P and not-P2P, because these two kind of traffic has different service model and information sharing model. http://hi2005.wordpress.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you see something beautiful, you're more likely to think that there is a higher power at work.
What is it about awe?
Scientists recently tested the power of awe and found that people who had recently viewed something spectacular or unexplainable were more likely to attribute its beauty to a non-specified "designer" as Jeffrey Kluger explains.


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Ageist Comment on the Candidacy of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden
NOTE: I supported Bernie Sanders last time around and still like him. Joe Biden is the only candidate I've actually met (although if the Democratic list gets any longer, most Americans may end up having met at least one candidate, just by probabilities) — and I like Biden. Still:
The advice given to Harry Truman has broader use: To get major things done in the USA, one often must "scare the hell out of the American people." One area for fear may turn out to be economic, another is more immediately existential.
The US has a formal doctrine of "First Use" of nuclear weapons. The US has a formidable nuclear arsenal and has placed great trust in the President on how/when to use those weapons. The relevant laws need to be changed, but the launch codes are currently available to an angry old man of limited stability.
Donald Trump's opponent should not make the argument her- or himself — it should be less of an argument than innuendo, and such innuendo is the job of VP candidates and "surrogates" — but the Presidential candidate running against Trump must be clearly different from Trump, including not another old man.
The candidate must be someone who can be relied on not just to take the 3 AM call but to take the midnight visit by the officer with the launch codes — and not a visit the President has invited.
Posted by Richard Erlich at 8:39 PM No comments:
Labels: age, biden, crises, Democratic candidates, economic, First Use, military, nuclear weapons, nukes, Sanders, Trump
"Othering" and iTunes
Note: I've been reading The Mueller Report and have fallen behind on my blogging. Here's a "two-fer":
"OTHER" AS A CONNECTING WORD
It's not just "'I' and 'the Other'" anymore; some places nowadays one can use "other" as a verb or "verbals": "to other" some group, or engage in "othering" them.
Okay, but a more old-fashioned "other" can be used to connect. My favorite since at least 1984 has been "alcohol and *other* drugs": putting ethyl alcohol back among the recreational drugs, reminding recreational drinkers of ethyl alcohol of their community with other drug users (and alcoholics of their community with other addicts), inviting The Straight People to test overly-broad assertions about "drugs" and "drug users" with their own experiences with, say, Chardonnay.
There's also "humans and *other* animals." We may be "the beauty of the world, / The paragon of animals," as asserted by Hamlet and HAIR, but we're still animals: in 20-Question terms of Animal/Vegetable/Mineral or fancier divisions of Earth's life into Archaea, Bacteria, Plants, and Animals <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea>. As animals capable of reason and even, apparently, consciousness, it's good to avoid cockiness and to keep our kin and kinships in mind.
I-TUNES (BY-GOD: *TUNES*)
On the MacBook Pro I use as a very expensive radio, I listened this morning to a recorded episode of NPR's discussion show _The 1A_ in what may technically be podcast format. The topic was the demise of Apple's iTunes and its replacement by three apps: Video (?), Music, Podcasts. At least until the last five minutes of the show, the word "podcast" occurred only once I can recall, and that was when they named the three replacement apps. At no time did they mention audiobooks (a word Spell-Check rejects).
Interesting given that the _1A_ audience skews old and that as recently as one of the Gulf Wars DOONESBURY could have a gag on US enlisted personnel listening to music while a playlist for their older officers was precisely audiobooks.
Do fish know they're in water? Do large numbers of people walking around in bubbles of their own tunes realize that some people who appear to be in similar microcosms are actually in semi-permeable membranes of words? (And will Apple think it worth their effort to include audiobooks in their instructions for "migrating" to the new apps?)
One bit of irony: The audiobook I'm currently listening to again — on my iPhone operating as a very expensive iPod — is Benedict Anderson's IMAGINED COMMUNITIES. I suspect there are ways in which Apple vs. PC and the various music communities have more reality than, say, The United States or The United Kingdom or the other national "imagined communities" that are at the heart of Anderson's book.
Labels: alcohol, animals, audiobooks, drugs, iTunes, language, music, People, taxonomy, usage, wine
"No In-Between in Abortion Debate" — For a Very Dangerous Conflict
A long letter to the editor of, or submission for a short column in, The Ventura County Star, in a continuing debate on abortion:
Re: Noel D'Angelo's May 22 letter (part of a "thread")
By recent definitions of life, a fertilized egg is alive with a specific individual life, as is the ball of cells that it forms and on through the stages of embryological development to a fetus and newborn. However don't say, "All life is sacred" and we can't destroy such life if you're eating a bacon burger or a carrot or just used a hand-sanitizer. Unless you're a very strict Jain* or vegan, you routinely kill various forms of life or have them killed for you (and often eat them); and even the most life-respecting among us usually wants a robust immune response to invading bacteria, which will kill those bacteria.
If you want to go back to old ideas of life, one idea would be whether or not an embryo or fetus is nephesh for the Hebrew word or the Greek equivalents: So is a fetus a "living being" in a Biblical or more generally ancient sense? Well, one answer is that "living beings" have the breath of life — note Adam's story in Genesis — and one interpretation there is that a fetus takes on that sort of life with the first breath.**
Necessarily if perhaps arrogantly, we humans usually declare human life is special, and the question with abortion on one side is when and if a human zygote, embryo, or fetus is or becomes human: a person under the law with rights that can be balanced against those of the fully-human mother.
A consistent, coherent, and logical argument can be made if you go from "life-breath" to soul and have humans special because we are "ensouled" and place the moment of ensoulment early in fetal development or perhaps at the moment of conception. Doing so, you have unborn babies in the womb and, to push the argument, unbaptized unborn babies, possibly damned to hell if not allowed to be born and baptized.*** Q.E.D.
A consistent, coherent, logical, historical, and powerful argument can also be made on how abortion laws have become a fairly recent twist in the millennium-long patriarchal efforts to control and oppress women, and must be opposed if societies are to recognize the full humanity of women. Also Q.E.D.
And people can argue that the United States Constitution sets up a secular Republic and that serious efforts to inflict upon it the rules of a Christian nation is an attack upon that Republic, to be opposed by all who've sworn or affirmed to defend the Constitution and our Republic "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
All of which is why abortion is a highly divisive and dangerous conflict. And it is why we need America to move into the mushy middle and continue to accept the Roe vs. Wade compromise. That position is not logically consistent and elegant and historically informed, but it is tolerable to most Americans.
First trimester of so: We don't feel that there's a person yet.
Approaching the time of birth: Not yet with the rights of a full human if weighed against the mother, but getting there, and not to be killed unless that death is really, really necessary.
In between: Some reasonable regulation, which respects the rights of that fully-human mother.
And meanwhile we need a major campaign for effective contraception so that abortion is legal, safe, and indeed rare.
We are dealing here with definitions of "human being" and the nature of our country. These are issues about which people feel very strongly and over which they have killed one another: killing fully-developed, obviously human, human people, and in large numbers (this is part of what World War II was about, and the US Civil War).
Roe v. Wade isn't intellectually neat and pretty, but it has worked. Most Americans can support it, even against our more logically rigorous fellow citizens. It's something we can live with.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_vegetarianism
** Ward, Roy Bowen. "The Use of the Bible in the Abortion Debate," Saint Louis University Public Law Review 13.1 (1993); 391-408, here III.A.1, "Person" in the Bible, "Nephesh and Breath."
*** https://www.bartleby.com/96/10.html — On those unbaptized babies:
The Day of Doom
By Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705)
Then to the bar, all they drew near
Who died in infancy,
And never had or good or bad 235
Effected personally,
But from the womb unto the tomb
Were straightway carried,
(Or at the last ere they transgress'd)
Who thus began to plead:
[answered at length by "the judge most dread, ending"]
"A crime it is, therefore in bliss
You may not hope to dwell
But unto you I shall allow 355
The easiest room in hell."
Labels: abortion, bible, Christian Nation, church, civil war, embryo, fetus, Life, life-breath, living, nefesh, nephesh, republic, Roe vs. Wade, soul, spirit, state, zygote
Abortion: Long-Range Compromise plus High-Tech Quick Fix
It's now behind a paywall, but long ago — back when Roe vs. Wade was more clearly "settled law" — I had a guest column in The Cincinnati Enquirer suggesting a combination of long-term compromise and technological/sociological quick fix.
The technological parts were (1) the development of effective birth control for both men and women, where the ordinary condition would be sterility until one took active steps to become fertile; and (2) the ability to remove and store a living embryo or early fetus until an appropriate surrogate mother (perhaps a male, although that hadn't occurred to me) could be brought on line, so to speak, or the fetus brought to term "ex utero, in vitro" — artificial wombs as satirically handled in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and a utopian possibility in Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time.
A fetus at X-months would be assigned personhood under the law, with a right to life but no right to development in the uterus of an unwilling woman.
Unwanted pregnancies would need to be rare and would be; and removal, storage, and transplantation of the embryo (ideally) or fetus would be paid for by the State unless the couple had refused contraception (or changed their minds), in which case they'd — both of the genetic parents — would pay for the procedures with community service (as a matter of equity for people without much money).
I freely admitted this was a desperate resolution, but noted that abortion involves definitions of "human being"/"person under the law," and of the nature of the United States, which some of us have sworn to defend as a secular Republic, others value as a Christian Nation, and most just accept the mushiness of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (of all things) that throws together the US as a Republic and a Nation (lately "under God") and claims "liberty and justice for all" when it's obvious a guilty convicted criminal got justice but loses liberty. Clafifying such matters can kill off a lot of people.
I think you can find the Enquirer article here.
Labels: abortion, embryo, ex utero gestation, fetus, Huxley, personhood, Piercy
Politics and the American Language: Clarity and/vs. Squishiness
Part of what makes working political systems work is occasional squishy lack of clarity. In the US, one swears or affirms loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, but the far more frequent patriotic exercise is pledging allegiance to a flag that represents the Republic that is also a Nation and (lately) a Nation under God, claiming liberty and justice for all (even though people justly imprisoned are clearly without much liberty). And neither the Pledge nor our oaths or affirmations mention "the American State," with "statehood" usually applied to the various American states federated into a Union that may or may not be as indivisible as the purported Nation.
We are now engaged in a not-so-great, not-so-civil figurative war, much of which is getting down to what the US is.
Donald Trump and his core followers have claimed the emotionally-compelling romance of "the Nation"; his opponents often talk of "our democracy." I think opponents to Trump should concede that he and his followers have effectively seized the great Myth of the Nation and could attempt to claim a pure People's Democracy, with the Leader embodying and channeling the will of the People ("Folk," "masses"), by-passing the moribund and/or pernicious institutions of "the Deep State."
It's time for opponents of a potential Trumpian mass movement to claim "the Republic" and talk about "crucial democratic institutions in our Republic." That avoids the embarrassing fact that the US is obviously not a direct democracy and only intermittently a participatory democracy and has un- and anti-democratic elements we're still working on (and some of which — like an independent judiciary, some form of a Senate — are good ideas). The Republic can also be a potent idea: a social contract one chooses and re-chooses, not just gets born into; an ideal to strive for, a way of governing and way of life we need to preserve, protect, and defend — as many of us have sworn to do — against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Labels: civil war, democracy, English, nation, orwell, republic, state, Trump
Saving Our Nation's Democracy from Enemies of the People: An Exercise in "Red-Teaming"
The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice
have each of them several different meanings which cannot be
reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy,
not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to
make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally
felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it:
consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy,
and fear that they might have to stop using that word
if it were tied down to any one meaning.
Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. —
George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" (1946)
"Well, Doctor [Franklin], what have we got—
a Republic or a Monarchy?"
"A Republic, if you can keep it." —
Exchange with Benjamin Franklin leaving the
Constitutional Convention of 1787, as reported
There is one and only one official democratically elected by the American Nation: the U.S. President. And that President represents, embodies, and implements the spirit and will of our Nation. The purest democracy, therefore, consists in ensuring the People's will is fulfilled, allowing the majority — the true Nation bathed in the blood of patriots and rooted in native soil — to rule.
The Deep State of bloated bureaucracies and corrupted institutions must not be permitted to thwart the will of the People, the demos in "democracy." These enemies of the People are to be circumvented or pushed aside, and if the Congress or a political party or lying media consistently attack the People embodied in the President, these enemies are to be neutralized.
"Lock them up!" and let them be happy they are no longer taken out and guillotined or shot as a matter of Revolutionary Justice or Racial purification.
Perfect democracy is direct and spiritual: the Rule of the People — the real Nation, purged and purified — not that of law or moribund assemblies.
And that, brothers and sisters, is why I for one repeat the line of 1950s conservative curmudgeons that the US is not a democracy but a republic, and not a nation in the sense that, say, Japan is a nation: pretty much one people with one religious tradition (in two main strains in Japan), one history, one Emperor, one language — which at least so far the US is not. This is why I recommend to the Blue Team stressing our Republic, the rule of law, and a tradition that includes an ideal of majority decision, not majority rule (where you ignore and/or screw minorities), within a "mixed constitution" that includes Federalism and divided governments with a law-making legislative branch, an executive, and a judiciary (in that order).
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer — One Nation (or People), One Empire, One Leader — is Nazi German stuff; Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality is Czarist Russian (now making a comeback). "We are the wretched refuse" as Bill Murray's character says in STRIPES, the mongrels of the Earth; and a good part of our good traditions is rule of law, and the institutions of the Republic.
If we can keep it.
Labels: " "blood and soil", "Politics and the English Language, American Republic, Benjamin Franklin, constitution, nation, nationalism, republic, STRIPES, Trump
Student Essay in the 1960s, Russian Interference in US Election 2016 — And "Misprision of Felony"
I learned the phrase "misprision of felony early in my teaching career when a student in Rhetoric 101 — think 1st semester College Composition — responded to a personal narrative assignment with the story of a young woman who'd joined heR friends in perjury and maybe insurance fraud in a context I've long-ago forgotten.
I sought advice from older colleagues and was told that since the event was in the past and directly harmed at most only a fictive individual — a corporation — and indirectly only their other customers for small sums, my duty to protect the confidentiality of student work outweighed my other social duties, and, if necessary, I should go to prison rather than betray the student/teacher relationship.
"Prison?" I asked.
I was told prosecution was highly unlikely, but it looked like a felony was committed, I had information about said felony, and, if I didn't report it, I might be guilty of "misprision of felony," at that place and time at least, itself a felony.
When the student came in for our "tutorial" conference, I started out with how we should talk a bit about her very nice development of the Persona of the essay, her "I", the protagonist-Narrator of the story who, in the story, committed perjury and what just might look like insurance fraud.
And after a moment for that to sink in, that is what we talked about.
Okay, so much for confession for me. (In my adult life I also advocated draft resistance and apparently violated Federal and possibly Provincial election law in Canada going with a group to have a great time in Toronto and informally advise on the Pierre Trudeau campaign. "But that was in another country, / And besides" — we yanks were with the George McGovern campaign and, as the US election worked out, maybe didn't have much advice to give.) But —
But what about the Family Trump and people representing Russia and the possibility that members of the 2016 Trump campaign new that a foreign entity or two were messing around in a US election. Is there "misprision of election-law violation"? Did they have a legal as well as a civic duty to report what could have been some sort of crime. Is even the non-action of silence a crime far more a crime here as it could have been for me as a writing teacher?
I did say I taught Rhetoric 101; so the question may be rhetorical.
Posted by Richard Erlich at 9:03 AM No comments:
Labels: 2016, ethics, professional ethics, Russian interference, student, teacher, Trump, US Presidential Election
Editing/Ethics (Legal) Issue: Royal Pudding Jingle from Long Ago
"Royal...Pudding...
Rich, rich, rich in flavor!
Smooth, smooth, smooth as silk,
More food energy than fresh, whole milk!"
The folklore, anyway was that Royal Pudding was required by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other regulator to remove their eminently memorable jingle because it was misleading. The two main ingredients in Royal Instant Vanilla, e.g., are "SUGAR [and] FOOD STARCH MODIFIED, " with some cottonseed oil lower on the list, but there, for your desert basics of sugar and fat. So of course mixing Royal Pudding with "fresh, whole milk" yields an enticing dish with "more food energy" per unit weight than even pretty high-caloric "fresh whole milk."
The FTC — or whoever — ruled that the ad was misleading, making Royal Pudding sound downright healthful as opposed to a high-calorie dessert suitable for only occasional eating, unless one wanted to gain weight (a high-calorie pudding helped save the life of one of my cats when he needed to start eating again after a serious jaw injury).
But "food energy" is what is at issue here — the thing in itself — and "calories" just the unit of measurement in colloquial American; so the ad as it stands should be preferred, one might argue, to stating that the prepared pudding has "more calories per unit of weight than whole milk" (ca. 19 kcal per ounce in one on-line chart, vs. 100 per ounce for Jello Chocolate pudding according to another).
Sooo ... folks who edit now and then or for a living — how would you come down here? Exactness of meaning as stated, or what most of an audience will hear? And lawyers out there (or just fans): Should it be illegal to mislead an audience speaking truth to their ignorance or just failure to think through a jingle?
Labels: calories, commercials, editing ethics, honesty, jingle, kilo-calories, law, milk, Royal pudding, word choice
Equality Before the Law: One Idea, and Not Always Dominant
There was a pre-Watergate turning point in US popular culture in a film where Harry Morgan, who'd played straight-arrow Detective Joe Friday's partner, and Peter Lawford, JFK's brother-in-law, were agents of the law facing the problem of getting sensitive (medical? psychiatric?) records. The Harry Morgan character said the only way he knew to do a search was to get a warrant. The Peter Lawford character gave him a look — and quick cut to the two of them with small flashlights going through records in a darkened office. Then the Charles Bronson character in DEATH WISH (1974 f.) and a line of figures responding to the rhetorical question and the misquoted answer, "Rules and regulations — who needs them? / Throw them out the door."
Combine that with the literally ancient idea that laws are for the little people, or, from at least The Code of Hammurabi on, the idea of different laws for different classes and classification — and there's a point many of us need to deal with. Equality before the law is one theory. And sometimes it's "All the people who (fully) count" are equal before the law. There's a line in a play by Aristophanes of a young citizen claiming his rights: "I'm Athenian, male, of age, and free" — democracy was for men and citizens, not resident aliens, women, girls, boys, or slaves.
"No one is above the law" is an ideal, and not one everybody supports all the time.
Labels: demoocracy, equality, isonomia, isonomy, law, Trump
A Few Words on the Anti-Vaccination Movement
At least since people figured out that PLAGUE!!! is contagious, public health issues have been special cases where community safety overrides what are usually individual rights. So long as herd immunity is enough to ensure the health of the group, we should defer to people's:
• (highly justified) suspicions of Big Pharma,
• somewhat less justified dedication to the unsapped power and purity of their precious bodily fluids,
• desires to keep out of their bodies the artificial, "unnatural," and/or toxic or related to the toxic or pathological,
• beliefs in belief and the healing power of faith and/or Nature,
• usually true and useful ideology that their bodies are their own to do with as they will,
• usually true and useful ideology that "Freedom isn't free" and requires taking risks and the occasional literal or figurative blood of patriots and/or the innocent to figuratively water and fertilize the tree of Liberty.
When herd immunity is insufficient, however — uh, no. Then we-all usually understanding and peaceful folk should use social pressure to encourage and if necessary State power to coerce getting the goddamn shots already.
Labels: " Big Pharma, " purity, "our bodies ourselves, "purity and danger, conservatives, freedom, herd immunity, liberalism, liberty, public health, risk, vaccination
Climate Change / Political Changes: The Need for Historical Background
We need more books like Brian Fagan's 2008 The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations: history books, mostly, that help us understand that climate change isn't just about changes in some abstract "the environment," but about great changes in human politics.
This book is about "the Medieval Warm Period," ca. 800-1300 C.E. and its generally positive effects in, e.g., northern Europe and utterly devastating effects elsewhere, e.g., in already warm, dry places such as long-term droughts in what's now the U.S. southwest.
These Medieval data can cut different ways, as a warning to try to reduce the speed of global warming and try to mitigate its effects — or to say that climate change ca. 900 obviously wasn't caused by human industrial activity, so we needn't reduce current economic activity with its benefits and irrelevant, or even beneficial greenhouse gas emissions.
To quote for background one on-line pundit, "Climate scientists now understand that the Medieval Warm Period was caused by an increase in solar radiation and a decrease in volcanic activity, which both promote warming. Other evidence suggests ocean circulation patterns shifted to bring warmer seawater into the North Atlantic." So why should we try to reduce greenhouse gasses?
The question isn't rhetorical. For one thing, the article linked last paragraph notes that there's no evidence for a recent increase of solar radiation, nor, in our times, significant decrease of volcanic activity;, and I'll note that currently there's not a damn thing the human species can do about either. We can reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, which will slow the rate of warming, and we should reduce those emissions anyway to save some easily extractable hydrocarbons for our descendants. They might find safe and efficient ways to use petrochemicals and need some — and be very pissed off at earlier generations who went and burned them.
They may also be pissed off at a re-run, but worse, of, especially, long-term, catastrophic droughts.
In addition to the obvious, some of the effects of climate changes indeed include the geo-political. William Grimes's New York Times review of The Great Warming has an arresting sentence indicating that what was so good for much of Europe may have had negative effects: "Although data remain sketchy, it seems probable that extended droughts dried up pastureland on the Central Asian steppe, propelling the armies of Genghis Khan westward." The career of the Great Khan (1206-1227 C.E.) achieved some impressive empire building that, in Europe, arguably set the stage for what was once called the Renaissance, but unarguably resulted in an extraordinarily high body-count. Matthew White tallies up Genghis Khan's "multicide" score at 40 million, which puts the Mongol invasions just behind World War II (1939-1945) for destruction of human life.
And destruction of the great Muslim civilizations at the center of Eurasia — which in a twisted way brings me to where I started thinking about this post.
I had typed out on Facebook a quotation from Introduction to Medieval Europe: 300-1500 by James Westfall Thompson and Edgar Nathaniel Johnson (New York: Norton: 1937). In an early chapter on "The Empire of the Arabs," Thompson and Johnson give Mohammed and the early leaders of the Umma credit for organizational genius and make the point that medieval Europe was a side-show as civilizations of the time went. They are far from "climatic determinists," with an Index innocent of such references. And they fully recognized the arrogance and stupidity of the remaining Roman Empire and Persia in their continuing wars and machinations. Still, Thompson and Johnson asserted (in 1937!) that "The expansion of the Arabs is best understood in the light of previous movements out of the desert [...]. These were constant phenomena, to be explained by the vicissitudes of climatic conditions, which always drove nomadic peoples outwards. [...] The [Arabian] peninsula itself was experiencing a periodic desiccation, which made life within it ever more unbearable and drove its inhabitants to seek relief elsewhere. It seems, accordingly, highly probably that what occurred would have happened even without Mohammed and Islam" (p. 166).
"What occurred" was the end of Late Antiquity, with the final end of the Roman Empire, and the Persian — and Rome in the East (the Byzantine Empire), reduced to a regional power. T & J and those with similar theories may be wrong, but it's a point to consider, along with the possibility that the following round of "desiccation" in the Medieval Warm Period led to that drying out of parts of the Eurasian steppe leading to the western thrust of the Mongol invasions and, let's say, a figurative arrow from a powerful bow through the figurative heart of "The Empire of the Arabs."
It's possible that two major changes in the course of human history had as one basic cause the long-term droughts — the "desiccation" — brought on by global warming. Mohammed and Genghis Khan count, and their decisions are important. Still, one thing Karl Marx got right was that "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please [...], but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past." And those circumstances include a physical environment that is both beyond human control and influenced by our actions.
Unless we want some really bad circumstances for the next generation, we'd better get right some important decisions — and soon.
Labels: Brian Fagan, climate, desertification, desiccation, drought, Genghis Khan, history, Medieval Warm Period, Mohammed, Mongol Invasions, Muslim conquests
Democratic Authority (Mostly Small-Scale)
"We elected you, and we can diselect you." —
Member of Chicago Grammar School Club to
President of the Club (me, mid-1950s)
"And this took place in the United States, a
culture that educates its children against
blind obedience." — Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
on Milgram obedience experiments, in Ethology:
The Biology of Behavior(1970: p. 448; ch. 18)
Part of the lore of US warfare in Iraq is that the neoCons et al. who devised it didn't plan much for the aftermath in part because they firmly believed that the default setting — the universal ideal — for human government is what we in the US vaguely call "democracy." Get rid of oppressors like Saddam Hussein or the Taliban, and voilà! soon, very soon the society is moving toward becoming Denmark or even the greatness of America. Similarly for the disintegration of the USSR and Warsaw Pact — and, for a while, it indeed did look like a number of countries would "have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people" might actually expand.
That Big Idea didn't hold up well, which did not surprise those who studied the development of actually-existing societies we call, still very loosely, democratic. That's mostly because the range of what we (loosely) call "democracy" does develop and has social and economic and cultural roots, roots that may not go down as deep as we believe — but it needs those roots.
I'm not going to deal much with Big Ideas, though there is an idea here: by age 20 I knew that democracy is far from natural and the general culture does not do a good job teaching it.
Back in high school Civics — and in grammar school before that — back in a time and place where one had to pass an exam on the US and State Constitutions and governments to get a grammar school or high school diploma — in Chicago in the mid-1950s, Mr. James Connelly taught us in Civics that the United States was a federal republic, where sovereignty rested in the People, who established a constitution giving authority to a government of elected and appointed officials, officials who then ran the government but served the People. That was our official ideology, our small "r" republican doctrine, and I believed it and figured most Americans believed ... except —
Except there was that memory from back with my grammar school club and the doctrinally ambiguous challenge to me, personally, "We elected you, and we can diselect you." Okay, "potestas in populo, auctoritas in senatu" in a formula I'd later learn from Hannah Arendt and have driven home in street demonstrations: as Mr. Connelly said, the People always retained sovereign power, from which they conferred authority which they could take back. Except that my grammar-school classmate had questioned my authority precisely because it had been given to me by him and the other members of the club. The very limited authority of club officers was something he understood and figuratively owned and ... therefore, it seemed didn't see it as very binding.
Weird. We were taught and told and, well, indoctrinated that legitimate authority came from the People. The kid back in high school accepted — willingly and perhaps too eagerly — the authority of parents and teachers and others he had no say about, but resisted even highly limited peer authority over himself that he himself had granted.
The old "consent of the governed" bit wasn't working out, and my fellow American youngster preferred authority over him to be built into the system and pretty much based in age and status and other criteria beyond his control. I saw that, felt it a bit as disrespect, and then did what most of us most of the time do when dealing with contradictions and what I much later learned to call cognitive dissonance: I mostly ignored it and moved on.
Mostly, but the experience stuck, and moving on included high school and college fraternities where I served a term as secretary of each and used the office to rewrite portions of our constitutions and make sure the guys debated the matter and voted on it. Get them to "buy in" as we would later say by exercising their power over our organizing documents, acknolwedge the authority and feel the worth of the group by participating in governing the group.
My college fraternity chapter in the 1960s, though, offered additional opportunities. At least back then, and on our campus, pledges lived in the house, which offered ... well, some pretty obvious opportunities. Our pledge-training (sic) policy was laisse-faire through the class of 1965: laisse-faire combined with occasional strong punishments for screwing up ("PT," "sweat sessions"). The class of '65 had problems, and it became clear we, the fraternithy Chapter, were doing things wrong.
So a few of us checked out how parts of the military handled training, and in my course work I was also studying some relevant anthropology. We went over to a system of "little things": rules for minor behaviors, none of which individually worth rebelling against but all of which together were practice in accepting the Chapter's authority.
Usually it worked, and in one case that impressed me, with a guy in the class of '66 I'll call Terry.
Now, a couple of upperclassmen in the chapter were outright geniuses. Terry wasn't, but he was brilliant, going on to Harvard Law after graduation and not long after that doing some pro bono work that established some important law. Me? Well, an eminent Medievalist, after a couple or more gin and tonics once corrected some self-deprecating remark I made with, more or less, "No, Rich; you're bright. Not brilliant, but bright" — and that's about right. I was also a house officer when Terry pledged, and he kind of almost sort of respected my intelligence. He was smarter than I was or am — and as ... let's say as firm in his opinions as I — but I had more experience; and as ambiguous as we arranged for pledges to feel about their status, he could figure out I outranked him. And the one time he screwed up (under the rules we'd set up), I was the one who quietly, privately, but in some detail, clarified for him that he was less clever and generally estimable than he thought. He was furious while being chewed out, but he submitted to it.
We became friends, and one night after he initiated, and we were talking in my room, I said I really had to get to sleep and said good night, and he responded, "Good night, Mr. Erlich" — and then proceeded to pound his fists into the walls, while I said, "We got you! We got into your head!"
As we had: I was a house officer, and when Terry was a pledge he called me to my face "Mr. Erlich" and threw in the occasional "sir." (We hadstudied the military and some ideas on child-rearing of the traditional, though non-abusive, sort.)
Little rules, fairly easy to remember, very easy to obey, none worthy of rebellion — but often just there, frequently, calling for obedience and functioning to instill, figurative drop by figurative drop, some acceptance of the authority of the chapter.
I helped set up the program, but with a condition for my participation, one necessary for my integrity as someone who had issues with authority, even when I was in authority.
Between the end of Informal Initiation ("Hell Week") and formal, ritualistic initiation, the guys undergoing initiation cleaned themselves up and then had this especially liminal period — I saidwe'd looked at some anthropology — marked by time alone in a quiet room, sitting for their Pledge Test. The test covered the usual quasi-useful history of the fraternity and such, but had one and only one question they had to get right, and keep taking the damn test until (sometimes with coaching) they did get. I had insisted that they answer the question, "What is the rationale for the pledge rules such as?", and here some were listed.
To initiate they had to figure out that many of the rules were arbitrary and intentionally so. If they studied during study hours that was in part because we told them to study, but also in part common sense. If they ordinarily used the back door to the house and the back stairs — that was onlybecause we told them to do so.
Part of the goal with a fraternity (beside and along with more serious partying) is to control to a fair extent where we lived: at least being able to paint a room the color we wanted and set rules for behavior. For that we needed pledges to go from being trained to accept authority of those above them in a hierarchy to active brothers — full citizens, so to speak — who would accept consciously the authority of the constituted group as group, and of peers they'd elected. We needed them to sit in a circle of approximate equals as a chapter and accept the authority of rules they'd help make.
And there was nothing inevitable or all that natural about the process, and it didn't always work even for a small fraternity chapter, with well-schooled if not necessarily educated guys, who lived in a Republic with an official policy of popular government and official democratic ideals and vocabulary.
Note the official. About the time Terry was learning to call me "Mr." and throw in the occasional "sir," Stanley Milgram was conducting his problematic experiments on Obedience to Authorityand demonstrating how easy it is to get obedience where there's mystique, in the Milgram case the mystique of "Science" and an authoritarian acceptance of rank. And Milgram et al. did that even "in the United States, a culture" far less than Austrian Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt thought "that educates its children against blind obedience." We are a culture that trainsmany in obedience, to those with real power over us — as in the ability to help or hurt us — but also to those with the right mystique.
Fraternity chapters are short on mystique. And the moral here, if you're still with me, is that one of the obstacles to achieving democratic-republican ideals is that (statistically) normal humans are like that kid in my grammar school club with little respect for authority he understood and had granted — even if all too willing to obey people just there, over him in a hierarchy over which he has no power. N = 1, proves very little, and not more with N = 75 or so for my fraternity chapter over a couple of years; but these small experiences were enough to get me accept the possibility that even Americans really aren't that big on democracy or republicanism but are susceptible to confident fanatics like the Taliban, or "strong-men" like Saddam Hussein or authoritative bullies like Donald Trump, even when those strong-men/bullies have only the most limited charisma.
We need more teaching of Civics and teachers like Mr. Connelly. And we need more parents and teachers and administrators and coachesand other older folk more often stepping back and letting young people function in organizations of the kids, by the kids, and for the kids — even when the kids may seriously mess up. We need to provide training starting very young in choosing which authority and authorities to accept, and to prefer authority based in the ideal of republics with liberal-democratic aspirations.
Labels: authority, charisma, civics, clubs, color revolutions, democracy, fall of USSR, fraternities, indoctrination, iraq, Little League, neocons, obedience, patterns of initiation, populism, republicanism, Second Gulf War
Words of the Day: "Love" and "Life"
The company making and/or distributing old-fashioned Dominica bay rum aftershave has apparently gone out of business, but I was able to buy a couple bottles on e-Bay at an almost-reasonable price. I made the purchase as a "guest," and the confirmation e-mail I just got was (a) misleading — suggesting they were holding my purchase hostage until I signed up — and (b) a temptation to join e-Bay and use their services to buy items I "love."
Okay, at least they didn't insist on an e-Bay "community" or "family," but items I love, like aftershave?! I know we have those hearts on Facebook and that at least one NPR station asks if we love their shows, but I think we've gotten to some serious word-inflation with loving anything short of puppies or kittens that I'm likely to see on e-Bay (and I assume they do not sell live mammals). Now living in California, far from the pollen-attack-plants of south-west Ohio, I still have some minor allergy issues, and I really like lime bay rum as an aftershave that doesn't aggravate those remaining allergies. I'm grateful for bay rum; I like the smell, especially with a touch of lime — but it's just a casual relationship, not love.
"All Lives Matter," a meme I received said, and people have pronounced in my hearing "All Life Is Sacred" — and in that second case I've told them not to assert the sanctity of all life while chomping on a hamburger or even a carrot. Or using your leather shoe to squash a cockroach — and then clean your hands off with a bacteria-killing hand sanitizer. Most life on Earth over Earth's history and at any time by weight and number of individuals is Archaea, Bacteria, or, among us "higher" organisms, plants and insects. The Jains come close to literally respecting the sanctity of all life, but if they're to live healthily even their bodies must kill intruding bacteria and viruses, and kill aging or over-active cells of the body itself.
If people mean "All human life is sacred" (or whatever), they should say that, or argue for a definition of "life" that excludes most creatures your high school life-sciences teachers made you study.
This last point is important.
There's a dangerous arrogance in restricting real life to human beings on religious grounds or some secular theory of human exceptionalism. And even if we arrogantly assume we humans are extra-special special, it's just silly to say that cats and dogs and even ants and worms somehow aren't alive. And it's irresponsible to kill living things and not be conscious of doing so. Personally, I've killed bacteria by the billions, and I won't apologize for that killing — but I will take responsibility, and a heavier responsibility for the laboratory work I did that involved killing dogs, one cat, a rabbit or two, and a lot of rats. I've killed my quota of mammals, I think, which is one of the several reasons I now decline to eat them.
Mammals are kin, and I draw the line there for food. I also draw a line at octopuses, which is a lot easier since I'm not even all that fond of squid.
Octopuses are invertebrates and not in the web of life close to humans and chimps and dogs and birds. But my sister and I were once invited backstage, so to speak, at a major aquarium and got to see an injured octopus in their veterinary section, in an aquarium cage inside a larger aquarium. Anything simpler, and this octopus escaped, picking locks and going around opening other others. As far as the (human) staff could figure out, the octopus got bored, and the locks and cages were a challenge. And I figured any creature smart enough to get bored and pick locks was too smart to kill casually (or have killed and eat if there's a variation of [squid] calamari made with octopus).
Not too far into the 20th century, there was a fair degree of agreement that humans shouldn't cause unnecessary suffering to sentient creatures, with "sentient" not in the sense of "smart and conscious" and "capable of thought" but just, well, sentient to external stimuli, able to perceive enough to suffer. Whether eating hamburgers and spare ribs is necessary is something we can argue about; cruelty to animals for sport isn't something most of us argue: it's just evil, period.
Our treatment of non-human animals will become a more pressing issue as, as the over-stated title to an article in The Atlantic has it, "Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition." The debate on human life will become more pressing as we in the US enter another round of debate on abortion, with a new US Supreme Court. As others and I have stated repeatedly, that conflict over abortion isn't about "When does life begin?" Life doesn't begin; it began. How do I know? The Bible and my biology courses tell me so. Life began and gets passed down. So, yes, indeed, "There's always a death in an abortion." The question is what's being killed and what status should he/she/it/they have ethically considered and under the law? A human fertilized egg — a human zygote — is a potential unique human individual or, on occasion, a set of genetically pretty much identical but still unique individuals. ("Monozygotic siblings" aren't really identical twins or triplets or whatever: They've had slightly different environments in the womb, and individuality is their birthright.) But a zygote is a one-celled creature, and you shouldn't mind killing it if you eat that hamburger or carrot without qualms or stomp that cockroach and thereby kill more "highly" developed life.
To get a human zygote more valuable than a steer and important enough to compete with the rights of its human mother, it's most efficient to have a theory of a human soul and to argue that "ensoulment" occurs at the moment of conception. In an important traditional Roman Catholic view, you can have the zygote and succeeded embryos and fetuses as unborn babies and, perhaps more significant, unbaptized babies, who, if killed would wind up in Limbo (at one time) or Hell. As the thoroughly Puritan Reverend Mr. Michael Wigglesworth had God say to unbaptized dead babies it in "The Day of Doom" (1662 —a truly awful poem):
"You sinners are, and such a share 345
As sinners may expect,
Such you shall have; for I do save
None but my own elect.
Yet to compare your sin with their
Who liv'd a longer time, 350
I do confess yours is much less,
Though every sin's a crime.
And here we get to serious arguments on secular vs. religious ideas on what "life" means in "Choose life" and what we mean by "love" with either a God of Love who'd damn babies on a technicality or in a love one might have for one's fellow human beings viewed realistically and materialistically — and when one becomes human on the way from zygote to embryo to fetus to baby to, well, a conscious, talking, definitely-a-person person.
WORDS MEAN; and if they "mean" in complex ways, that's all the more reason to use them carefully.
Labels: abortion, biology, consciousness, definitions, Life, love, taxonomy, words
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Student Essay in the 1960s, Russian Interference i...
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THIS WEEK @ TNWAC
Dear Members and Friends:
What's up this week?
This week we're returning to in-person programs at the World Affairs Council. The Distinguished Visiting Speaker Program will feature an eminent authority on Russia, Ukraine and the war in Europe. Join us Thursday evening at Belmont University for a unique opportunity to talk with Dr. Roger Kangas of the Defense Department's National Defense University. [Below]
Madam Secretary. Last week the country lost Dr. Madeleine Korbel Albright, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and 64th U.S. Secretary of State, and the first woman to hold the post. We note the passing of this giant on America's diplomatic stage with a tribute from current Secretary of State Antony Blinken. [Below]
We look forward to seeing you Thursday evening at Belmont to talk with Dr. Roger Kangas about Russia and the Ukraine!
Wishes for a safe and prosperous week and, as always, thank you for clicking on the "Donate" button. And please keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts.
MARK THE CALENDAR
Mar 30, Wed, 10 am — Global Dialogue | Why Climate Change is a Business Matter with Gary Garfield in person at Belmont University and via Zoom Webinar [Details/Register]
Mar 31, Thur, 6 pm CT – In Person | Global Town Hall | Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States with Dr. Roger Kangas of the National Defense University | Belmont | [Details/Register]
Apr 13, Tues, 10am CT – Zoom | Amb John Kornblum from Berlin | War in Europe: Understanding the latest developments | Save the date | Registration TBA
May 24-25 Saudi Arabia: Beyond the Headlines | US-Saudi Relations; Commercial Connections; and Saudi Arabia in transition. Day 1 – Tuesday – 11:30-1:30 pm | Day 2 – Wednesday – 11:30-1:00 pm [Details/Sponsor Info]
All Times US Central Time Zone
Additional programs are in development. Stay tuned via the TNWAC newsletter. HERE
IN-PERSON | RUSSIA'S WAR IN UKRAINE THROUGH THE LENS OF U.S. POLICYMAKERS
Join us for a Global Town Hall with Dr. Roger Kangas on Thursday, March 31st at 6:00pm CT at beautiful Belmont University.
Vladimir Putin's likely hoped-for lightning strike into Kyiv to decapitate the Zelensky government and subjugate the country has bogged down amid Russian military incompetence and Ukrainian resolve and heroism. The implications of war in Europe are being felt around the world.
Dr. Kangas, an Academic Dean at the Defense Department's NESA Center at the National Defense University works at the intersection of scholarship and policymaking. He is fresh from a visit of former Soviet republics and will discuss the context of the war in Europe and its implications for United States and European interests. Dr. Thomas A. Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of U.S. foreign policy history at Vanderbilt will join the conversation as moderator.
Don't miss this special opportunity to get inside the Washington approach to the war in Europe. [Register Now]
SPECIAL PROJECT | IMPACT: JAPANESE BUSINESS INVESTMENT IN TENNESSEE
TNWAC is working with the Japan-America Society of Tennessee to produce a series of interviews on the effect of Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economic fortunes of Tennessee. A dozen interviews with transcripts and links to Podcasts are posted to the TNWAC.org web site (scroll down on homepage). We have recently added our conversation with Senator Lamar Alexander, who as Governor of Tennessee was the "chief architect" behind Tennessee's opening the door to Japanese businesses. [Sen. Alexander]
Great Decisions is America's largest discussion program on world affairs. The program model involves reading the Great Decisions Briefing Book, watching the documentary film series and meeting in a Discussion Group to discuss the most critical global issues facing America today. You can get the book and videos at the FPA.org web site and now TNWAC members and friends have been invited to join the eight-part discussion group organized by our friends in Delaware, Ohio. Details and registration HERE.
Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright was a brilliant diplomat, a visionary leader, a courageous trailblazer, a dedicated mentor, and a great and good person who loved the United States deeply and devoted her life to serving it. She was also a wonderful friend to many, including me. I'll miss her very much.
Having arrived here as a refugee at age 11, she never forgot the generosity that America extended to her family when they needed it most. Having seen America at its best, she pushed relentlessly for us to live up to our role as a moral beacon and defender of freedom. And having experienced the horrors of war firsthand – fleeing Czechoslovakia after the Nazis invaded, then hiding in shelters as German bombs fell on London – she believed that the United States must respond forcefully to dictators and tyrants. She created the Community of Democracies, a coalition of countries that defends democratic values around the world. And thanks in no small part to her, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO, and the United States defended ethnic Albanians in Kosovo against Serbian aggression. Today, there's a square and a street in Kosovo named for Madeline, and a statue of her stands in the capital.
When she was nominated to be Secretary of State, some openly questioned whether a woman could go toe-to-toe with world leaders. Madeleine quickly quashed those misguided doubts. There was simply no doubt that, in any room, she was as tough as anyone and often tougher. That said, it wasn't always easy. She described walking into her first meeting of the UN Security Council as the U.S. ambassador: "15 seats and 14 men, all looking at me." But when she saw the plaque at her seat that read THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, her nerves vanished: "I thought, if I do not speak today, the voice of the United States will not be heard. When I finally did speak, it was the first time that I represented the country of my naturalization, the place where I belonged."
Madeleine mentored a generation of diplomats and national security experts. I'm one of many who benefited from her wisdom and encouragement. And in her post-State career, she dedicated herself to teaching, continuing to invest in our future diplomats and leaders.
After leaving the State Department, when asked if she was relieved not to be dealing with crises around the world, she'd say simply, "I miss it every day." She loved this country. She loved this Department. And we loved her back.
To our very first Madam Secretary – thank you.
Source: U.S. State Dept.
TNWAC RECOMMENDS
BELMONT UNIVERSITY ASIAN STUDIES SYMPOSIUM
CLICK FOR APR 4-8 PROGRAM DETAILS
Link to these programs in "Council Highlights" below.
World Affairs Council of Las Vegas hosts Kristen Averyt, Senior Climate Advisor for the State of Nevada and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, for "Climate Chaos Speaker Series Event" (In person)
California-based World Affairs Councils host Richard Haass, President of Council on Foreign Relations, for "U.S. Foreign Policy Amid Global Crisis"
Indiana Council on World Affairs hosts Sameeksha Desai, Director of the Industrial Policy Initiative at Indiana University, for "Great Decisions Program: Industrial Policy"
International Relations Council (Kansas City) hosts Jiakun Jack Zhang, Director of Trade War Lab at the University of Kansas and current Wilson China Fellow at the Wilson Center, for "What's Happening in the South China Sea?"
World Affairs Council of Albuquerque hosts Rachel Rizzo, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Europe Center of the Atlantic Council, for "Germany 2022: New Chancellor, New Horizons? "
World Affairs Council Upstate hosts Derek Baxter, Historian and Writer, for "In Pursuit of Jefferson Talk" (In person)
World Affairs Council of Seattle hosts Amb. (Ret.) Farah Pandith, Author and Foreign Policy Strategist, for "March Fellows Breakfast"
Foreign Policy Association hosts Gina Ortiz Jones, Under Secretary of U.S Air Force, for "Advantage in Defense Strategic Competition: Embracing Diversity" (In person)
World Affairs Council of Seattle hosts Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor, for "COVID-19: Vaccine Equity"
World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth hosts Jonna Mendez, Author and Former Chief of Disguise at CIA, for "International Educator of the Year Luncheon" (In person)
Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall hosts Amb. (Ret.) Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant. Governor of California, for "A Conversation with a Lt. Governor of California"
World Boston hosts Susan Cohen, Member and Founding Chair of Immigration Practice at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., for "Journeys from There to Here: Stories of Immigrant Trials, Triumphs, and Contributions"
World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh presents "2022 Emerging Global Leaders Conference"
World Affairs Council of Rhode Island hosts Kevin DeJesus, Associate Professor at Johnson and Wales University, for "Putin's Ukrainian Onslaught: Geopolitical Implications, Humanitarian Crises, and Prospects for Conflict Resolution"
Tennessee World Affairs Council hosts Gary Garfield, Retired CEO of Bridgestone Americas, for "Why Climate Change is a Business Matter"
World Affairs Council of Seattle hosts Jennifer Spatz, Founder of Global Family Travels, for "Regenerative Travel in Greater Seattle to Explore Diverse Cultures and Equity Issues"
World Affairs Council of Greater Houston presents "Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan Travel Session"
World Affairs Council of Tacoma presents "World Affairs Happy Hour" (In person)
World Affairs Council of Harrisburg hosts Mehdi Noorbaksh, Professor at Harrisburg University, for "Great Decisions: Russia"
Dayton Council on World Affairs hosts Vaughn Shannon, Professor at Wright State University, for "Ukraine: Local Brews, Global Views" (In person)
Tennessee World Affairs Council hosts Roger Kangas, Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, for "Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States" (In person)
Vermont Council on Foreign Affairs hosts Jacob Kurtzer, Senior Fellow of Humanitarian Agenda at CSIS, and Caitlin Welsh, Director of Global Food Security Program at CSIS, for "Timely Topics: Assessing Social Consequences of the War in Ukraine"
World Affairs Council of Austin presents "Austin and Singapore Advanced Manufacturing Roundtable" (In person)
World Affairs Council of Tacoma presents "WAC Tacoma Book Club: March Meeting"
World Affairs Council Upstate presents "Art Walk" (In person)
Friday 4/1
World Affairs Council of Hilton Head hosts Amb. Douglas Silliman, President of the Arab Gulf States Institute, for "Biden and the Changing Landscape of the Middle East" (In person)
World Affairs Council of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky presents "One World Gala & Global Trivia Competition" (In person)
Thank you for your support of global affairs awareness and
education!
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LOS ANGLES (Reuters) – James Harden recorded his sixth consecutive 30-point effort and the Houston Rockets won for the first time without Chris Paul in the lineup, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 108-101 on Saturday at Toyota Center.
Behind a stellar 28-point performance from DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs erased a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit and led 97-96 on consecutive 3-pointers from Derrick White and Rudy Gay, the latter coming with 3:03 to play.
But Harden answered with a 3-pointer 24 seconds later and, after DeRozan countered with a driving layup, Eric Gordon sank a 3 following critical offensive rebounds from Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker.
Harden added a step-back 3 over White and three free throws after drawing the foul from White on the ensuing possession as Houston snapped the Spurs' three-game winning streak.
DeRozan scored 12 points in a scintillating third quarter, a frame in which the Rockets shot 9 of 13 on 3-pointers. LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points for the Spurs while Gay had 13.
Harden paired 39 points with 10 assists. Capela dominated on the interior for the Rockets with 21 points and a season-high 23 rebounds. Gordon scored 18 while Gerald Green added 15 off the bench on 4-of-4 3-point shooting in the third quarter.
Harden made his intentions clear in the first quarter, hoisting 10 shots in an attempt to fill the void left by Paul. The Rockets were particularly assertive from behind the arc, shooting 6 of 14 on 3s to stave off what was another strong tandem performance from Aldridge and DeRozan.
But in the second quarter, the offense fell apart for both teams. The Rockets didn't score until the 6:44 mark when Harden converted a challenging driving layup crossing the paint from right to left. That snapped the Spurs' 10-0 run and cut the deficit to 34-30. Houston managed to shoot a paltry 5 for 21 in the period but the Spurs failed to take advantage, going 7 for 22.
The third quarter featured another swing of the shooting pendulum, with DeRozan offsetting the Rockets' torrid perimeter shooting almost singlehandedly via determined forays to the rim.


text:
Emma Millinda Gillett (1852–1927) fue una abogada y activista por los derechos de las mujeres estadounidense que desempeñó un papel fundamental en el avance de los estudios jurídicos para mujeres. Después de ser negada de las escuelas de derecho locales debido a su género, fue admitida por la Universidad de Howard, una universidad históricamente negra. Sin embargo, la Facultad de Derecho de Washington, que fundó en 1898, no aceptó a personas de color hasta 1950.

Biografía
Gillett nació el 30 de julio de 1852, en Princeton, Wisconsin, como hija de colonos. Fue educada en Girard, Pensilvania, donde su familia se mudó después de la muerte de su padre. En 1870, se graduó de Lake Erie College y enseñó durante los siguientes diez años en el sistema de escuelas públicas de Pensilvania. Durante su tiempo como maestra, se sintió frustrada con los escasos salarios pagados a las maestras solteras.

Después de la muerte de su madre, el papel de Gillett en la solución de su patrimonio despertó su interés en la ley, además de ser una profesión mejor pagada. Animada por la noticia de Belva Lockwood, que se había convertido en la primera estudiante de derecho en la Universidad Nacional de Washington, DC;  se mudó a Washington con la esperanza de seguir los pasos de Lockwood.  Desafortunadamente, descubrió que la Universidad Nacional había cerrado sus puertas a las mujeres. Fue admitida en la Universidad Howard y se graduó en 1882 con un LLB, seguido en 1883 con un LLM. Pasó el examen de la barra en el Distrito de Columbia el mismo año. También se convirtió en la primera en ser nombrada notaria pública por el presidente de los Estados Unidos.

Logros
Ayudó en el establecimiento de un club de mujeres, "The Wimondaughsis", en DC.

Con Ellen Spencer Mussey, su colega y cofundadora de la Facultad de Derecho de Washington, fundó el Colegio de Abogadas del Distrito de Columbia. Respondiendo a la invitación escrita emitida por Mussey, convocando a una reunión inicial de "una asociación de abogadas en el Distrito de Columbia" el 17 de mayo de 1917, otras 29 se unieron a Gillett y Mussey como miembros fundadoras de la Asociación de Abogadas del Distrito de Columbia. En ese momento, solo la ciudad de Nueva York, Chicago y Omaha habían organizado asociaciones similares.

Gillett ocupó muchos cargos adicionales, incluido el de Vicepresidenta para el Distrito de Columbia de la American Bar Association en 1922; Presidenta de la Asociación Estatal de Sufragio del Distrito; Presidenta de la Asociación de abogadas en 1921, y en el momento de su muerte era Decana Emérita del Colegio de Leyes de Washington y Presidenta de la Rama Jurídica del Partido Nacional de la Mujer.

Muerte
Gillett murió el 23 de enero de 1927,  después de contraer neumonía mientras estaba confinada en su cama después de romperse la cadera el octubre anterior.

Referencias

Abogadas de Estados Unidos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
BRIAN BOGERS COMES OUT SWINGING AT 2021 MXGP SEASON FINAL
DUTCH SANDMASTER BRINGS IMPRESSIVE SPEED TO FINAL GP IN ITALY WITH FIFTH IN MOTO TWO FOR SIXTH OVERALL
Brian Bogers - GASGAS Factory Racing
And that's a wrap for the 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship! It's been a wild ride with plenty of podiums, some good crashes, and unfortunately a few unwanted injuries along the way, but at the season-ending GP in Mantova, it was Brian Bogers who dug deep for a solid sixth overall in the MXGP class. For our MX2 young guns Simon Langenfelder and Isak Gifting, Simon delivered yet another consistent result with 10th overall while Isak completed the final round in 15th.
GASGAS completes second season of MXGP racing
Brian Bogers brings the heat to final round of MXGP with sixth
Simon and Isak enjoy positive end to the year in Italy
Brian Bogers: "It's a great feeling to end the season with a fifth-place finish in moto two. I got a great start and it was awesome to be running up front all race in the final moto of the year. I really want to thank the Standing Construct GASGAS team for everything this season. They did such a great job and worked really hard, so it's a shame that I couldn't quite get into the top 10 overall this season. But this winter we will work even harder together and get the good results that the team deserves in 2022."
After returning from illness and placing 10th overall at round 17 just three days ago, Brian Bogers was clearly back to his best at the season finale with the Dutchman securing a solid sixth overall in the MXGP class. Despite missing a couple of rounds this year, Brian placed 12th in the final championship standings.
For Pauls Jonass, after hovering around the top five in the MXGP World Championship standings all season long, a few painful broken ribs from a crash at round 15 ruled him out of the final three Grands Prix, including today's season finale. With his season highlighted by placing third overall at the MXGP of Belgium, the Latvian enjoyed plenty of moto podiums on his way to securing eighth in the series.
Simon Langenfelder once again delivered consistent results to claim 10th overall at the final round of the MX2 World Championship. Battling his way through the pack after two crashes early on in race one to place 11th, the young German secured the same result in moto two after a race-long battle for a spot inside the top 10. Only competing in a handful of GPs prior to the 2021 season, Simon's 10th place finish in the series underlines a solid campaign for the MC 250F racer.
After placing sixth overall in Mantova just three days ago, Isak Gifting couldn't quite replicate the same success at the final round. A few frustrating crashes in race one ruled him out of the points but the super-Swede bounced back for ninth in race two for 15th overall. Completing his first full season in the MX2 World Championship with plenty of strong results in recent weeks, Isak ultimately ended the season in 13th overall.
Simon Langenfelder: "I've been pretty consistent lately and the final round was no different! Two 11th place finishes gave me 10th overall and I ended the season 10th, so I'm really happy with that in my first full season. It's now time to take some rest, recover, and then begin preparing for the new season. I really want to thank the DIGA Procross GASGAS team for the support this year. They gave me such a great bike and it's nice to finish top-10 in the MX2 World Championship for them."
Isak Gifting: "That's the last race of the season done and after a difficult first moto, race two was much better and I finished ninth. It's been my first full season in MX2 and it's a super-tough class. Everyone is fast and it took me a little while to get going but near the end of the season, I turned things around and had a really great week at the Arco triple-header, and then sixth overall last weekend. The team have been amazing and they supported me through the tough weekends so I can't thank them enough for what they have done for me."
With the dust now settled on our second season of competing in the FIM Motocross World Championship, it's safe to say that it's been another rollercoaster of a year! We've had plenty of highlights with holeshots and podium results, mixed in with some tougher times with crashes and injuries. But overall, Standing Construct GASGAS Factory Racing and DIGA Procross GASGAS Factory Racing have both done an incredible job, we're really proud of what they've achieved in 2021.
Download high-res images of our racers in action at the MXGP of Citta di Mantova here.
Results – 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship, Round 18
MXGP – Overall
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 50pts
2. Tim Gajser (Honda) 42
3. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 42
6. Brian Bogers (GASGAS) 27
MXGP - Race 1
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM)
2. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki)
3. Tim Gajser (Honda)
10. Brian Bogers (GASGAS)
5. Brian Bogers (GASGAS)
MX2 - Overall
1. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 47pts
2. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 45
3. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 37
10. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 20
15. Isak Gifting (GASGAS) 12
MX2 - Race 1
1. Jago Geerts (Yamaha)
2. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna)
3. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha)
11. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS)
21. Isak Gifting (GASGAS)
3. Mattia Guadagnini (KTM)
9. Isak Gifting (GASGAS)
Championship Standings – After Round 18
1. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 708pts
2. Romain Febvre (Kawasaki) 703
3. Tim Gajser (Honda) 688
8. Pauls Jonass (GASGAS) 391
12. Brian Bogers (GASGAS) 290
1. Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) 734pts
2. Jago Geerts (Yamaha) 610
3. Tom Vialle (KTM) 570
10. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 336
13. Isak Gifting (GASGAS) 279
Simon Langenfelder - GASGAS Factory Racing
Isak Gifting - GASGAS Factory Racing
Isak Gifting - GASGAS Factory Racing (. jpg )
Small 600 x 400 76 KB


text:
Emilio Victoriano Carral Vilariño
Birth Date: 12th July 1962
Telephone: 982223996 ext.:23123
He took a degree in Biology (University of Santiago, 1985) and a doctor's degree at the same university in 1992. He was granted a scholarship by the County Council of A Coruña (1986-88) and the Xunta de Galicia (1988-89). From 1993 to 1999, he filled different teaching posts at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Since 1999, he has coordinated the Fourth University Cycle for the Campus of Lugo. He has been vice-chancellor of the Polytechnic School (University of Santiago, 2000-2006) and temporary chancellor since June 2006. Since 1996, he has been giving seminars and participated in masters at the University of Santiago and has directed minor theses.
His research lines focus on agro-industrial wastes, pollution, heavy metals, nutrients, environmental control, ecology, endangered species, environmental management and biodiversity. He has participated in nine R&D projects financed in public bids and has published lots of reports and scientific documents. He stayed at foreign centres for some time (Cuba, Lisbon, Rennes, Italy and Holland).
In 1988, he was awarded a prize for research projects applied to business.


text:
Lay Practice
Joseph Hall
A Mission
by Joseph Hall
Kobun Chino Otogawa came to America with a vision which he never fully articulated with words. While Suzuki, who brought him to this country to help establish the first Zen monastery at Tassajara, had a delightful gift for translating zen into quotable English phrases, Kobun is most often described in terms of movement, grace and a sense of presence. Zen is an embodied practice and, in Japan, very little of it is ever explained. Having taught the forms of Zen at Eijeiji, and being a talented calligrapher and kudo archer, Kobun was superbly trained and adept in forms, yet he often appeared to be reluctant to perform and teach them - conscious of the fact that his way might get in the way of your way. Instead he seemed enamored of the vision of what could arise if the seeds of Zen were to take root in new ground.
This is not to say that Kobun did not mean to teach the form of zen. He developed monastic forms at Tassajara and then adapted various sets of form for each place where taught. Kobun composed each teaching with a strong sense of place and the people in the room. In America, Kobun's Zen took on a jazz-like quality, an accomplished musician unfettered, letting go of his schooling and entering into the moment with virtuosity.
So the question arises, how do we follow Kobun's way?
Learning jazz is not a matter of buying a saxophone and doing what feels natural. We need to begin by learning the scales and developing a sense of attunement with others. It helps to know what the instrument was designed to do if we are to be able to fully adapt it to a new age.
Until it's arrival in the West, Buddhism was always an essentially monastic practice. Monks were gathered into monasteries or communities where they tried to create an ideal environment, a place, some thought, where enlightenment was possible. It was possible to bring the world nearly to a stop when it was time to mediate and a set of rules could be effective in eliminating overt conflict, work demands, and the needs of family. Once accepted by the neighboring people living in homes, the wearing of robes gave the monks freedom to maintain customs that kept them mostly separate from the hindrances of the world. The role of 'householders', as the townspeople were called by the monks, was to support the monastics and let their example seep into village or city culture. The monks meditated and the people lived everyday lives.
When Suzuki and Kobun arrived in America in the 1960's, something very different was happening in the midst of a social revolution. The people who arrived at the temple had little interest in merit; they wanted to learn to meditate for themselves. Four decades later, Richard Davis at the University of Wisconsin proved that monastic practitioners were able to rewire their brains and achieve a deepening quality of wellbeing and the mindfulness revolution was born. That revolution, now in it's infancy, still has a ways to grow.
Buddhism, as a monastic practice has always been based on three components: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. These are considered the three legs of the stool upon which we sit and like a stool, all three legs are required to balance our practice.
Buddha is our teacher, and while the words of the ancients can give us direction, the only way to connect with a long passed teacher is to embody him. The practice of the Buddha was to meditate.
Dharma refers to the realization of deeper truths and reminds us that things are not quite what we think they are. It is the idea that the gateways of our journey are actually in plain sight and we don't see yet them. We are invited to investigate the world and see into it's depth and to take up the practice of learning.
Sangha is community. While solitary retreat can unveil a deep sense of meaning, it takes other people to save us from the pitfalls of the self. Specifically, sangha refers to maintaining some sort of intentional ethics that we practice in the presence of others. The particularly ethics are not important, just that we try to do something in new way that requires a clear mind. The crucial aspect of sangha is that we are open to the perspective of others and how our words and actions affect them.
Buddha is actualized when we meditate
Dharma is actualized when we learn what is possible
Sangha is actualized when we do something against our nature and are curious about feedback
So these days I am inspired to see that it seems like meditation instruction is everywhere and most people I meet at least give it a try. And there's definitely more books on Buddhism, practical neuroscience, and eastern thought than a person could ever read, let alone what's on TV and the internet. So it's good that it's almost difficult not to encounter some dharma. But there seems to be something missing and, for a Zen priest, that means something worth doing. People still haven't seemed to figure out how to do sangha in the wild - intentional practice when we get up from the cushion.
When we sit, the neurons loosen their connections and we do get a bit of respite in our day. And discovering new ideas usually brings a feeling of uplift. But the moment we go back to doing the same things that we were doing before, our old habits reconnect, the same stress arises and nothing really changes.
It's time to do something different.
Kobun moved through the world with a sense of grace and stillness which inspired a generation of his students to help him found four temples in the United States and Europe. He inspired people to enter into zen with the full force of their skill and creativity whether they were priests, artists, or technologists. As Kobun's teachings move through a new generation of students we have an opportunity really get to know our instruments, study the basic elements of our practice, and then meet our age with a song in our hearts.
Enacting The Forms