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Stories Between Two Novellas
Property ( )
Author: Shriver, Lionel
Publication Date: Apr 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Book Format: Hardback
A striking new collection of ten short stories and two novellas that explores the idea of property in every meaning of the word, from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver's first collection explores property in both senses of the word: real estate and stuff. These pieces illustrate how our...
Intermingling settings in America and Britain, Lionel Shriver's first collection explores property in both senses of the word: real estate and stuff. These pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Lionel Shriver's world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.
In the stunning novella "The Standing Chandelier," a woman with a history of attracting other women's antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his fiancée--only to discover that the jealous fiancée wants to cut her out of their lives. In "Domestic Terrorism," a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a millennial cause célèbre. In "The ChapStick," a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In "Vermin," an artistic Brooklyn couple's purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once-passionate relationship. In "The Subletter," two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over a claim to a territory that doesn't belong to either.
Exhibiting a satisfying thematic unity unusual for a collection, this masterful work showcases the biting insight that has made Shriver one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.
Detailed Subjects: Fiction / Short Stories (Single Author)
Physical Dimensions (W X L X H): 6 x 9 x 1.09 Inches
Book Weight: 1.168 Pounds
Shriver, Lionel (Author)
Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina. She changed her first name because of her preference for it. She was educated at Barnard College, and Columbia University (BA, MFA). She has lived in Nairobi, Bangkok and Belfast, and currently lives in London. Shriver wrote seven novels and published six (one novel could not find a publisher) before writing We Need to Talk About Kevin, which she called her "make or break" novel. She won the 2005 Orange Prize for her eighth published novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, a thriller and close study of maternal ambivalence, and the role it might have played in the title character's decision to murder nine people at his high school. The book created a lot of controversy, and achieved success through word of mouth. The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 was published in May 2016.
Maddow, Rachel


You can personalise this pack of 4 Golf Tees with any name up to 8 characters.
These Personalised Golf Tees are for ornamental use only.
This item is an ideal gift for Birthday, Fathers Day and Christmas.


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Stir-crazy? Escape is nearby on these trails and greenways
Ali James
Shopper News
Not everything is closed. Why not let the kids burn off some restless energy and keep the quarantine pounds off by hitting these greenways and trails this spring?
Ride along the Tennessee River to Marine Park
Anyone can take advantage of this relatively flat, 2.2-mile greenway. Located just south of the University of Tennessee, the paved path is the perfect place for a stroll, jog, dog walk or cycle, while taking in the familiar and dear sights of Knoxville. The path down to the flat and spacious greenway was relatively steep, but not too challenging. There's plenty of space to let the kids ride confidently.
Despite the glorious spring and almost summer-like temperatures last week, it was not too crowded.
The route effectively starts at the south end of the Buck Karnes Bridge, where the Knox Blount Greenway meets the pedestrian bridge connector with the Neyland greenway. Follow the river past UT Research Park, the UT practice golf course and head south to Marine Park. You may know it as Cherokee Farm Innovation Campus, but it was recently reimagined as UT Research Park.
The Marine Park is recommended for convenient parking (easily recognized when heading south on I-129 – take the next exit after the UT Medical Center).
The park is popular with local bird watchers. Download a flower or plant identification app before you visit, or just make the most of the wildflowers for an Instagram-worthy backdrop.
Nearly 85 acres is dedicated to an archaeological preserve of Native American settlements dating as early as 12,000 years ago until about AD 1600.
This greenway is just the first phase; eventually, the plan is to provide a pedestrian connection from Knoxville south through Knox and Blount counties to the Great Smoky Mountains.
Explore the Ijams Quarry Trails
Ijams Nature Center and playgrounds have been closed for the time being to keep crowds at a minimum, but continue south of Ijams' more populated trails and follow the railroad track past Mead's Quarry. This is the trailhead for 9.6 miles of quarry trails.
Capture everyone in the family's imagination with the Ross Marble Trail, which also connects to the Burnett Ridge and Turnbuckle trails. There are no water views; instead, there is a dry ravine that runs along the quarry vein and it is lined with cliffs.
A man-made rock bridge was built around 70 years ago to save time moving men and machinery from one side of the pit to the other. Let the children climb among the huge pile blocks and pass through an 8-foot-tall entrance known as the 'Keyhole'.
The trails are made up of shale, soil, rock, and limestone remnants, rated easy to moderate, but can be slightly muddy after a heavy rainfall. The trails wander around the old Mead's and Ross Marble Quarries.
Hike the Will Skelton Greenway
This trail is 3.57 miles, starting from Island Home Park, and winds along the banks of the Tennessee River, through the woods, has the option to take the Discovery Trail and pick up the trail leading to the Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area. It runs along the outside of Ijams Nature Center and ends at the Wildlife Management Area.
Access is recommended via 3003 McClure Lane and 3140 McClure Lane are Island Home Park (don't forget playgrounds are currently closed). "The greenway was very safe, plenty of people, but wide and paved, so ample room for bikers and hikers, as well as proper social distancing," said Melissa Mancini, who explored the greenway for the first time with her family on March 29.
For the less enthusiastic hikers, Mancini said it is possible to opt to pick up the Discovery Trail, cut through the Ijams Nature Center and retrace steps via the overflow parking lot.
South loop trail maps for the Urban Wilderness can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/2WWp402
For an overview of the greenway next to UT Research Park:
https://bit.ly/2UzqCeH
All greenways are listed here: http://knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_departments_offices/parks_and_recreation/greenways_trails.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Switcher paperweight is an object that switches the speed of the world, … poetically. This limited edition of the Switcher was designed by Colönia for the exhibition Remade in Portugal, held at Galeria Fundação EDP, and was built out of the manufacturer's wood waste.
Concept prototype of Speed of the World Switcher, and object that is able to decelerate the speed of the world, designed for In-House Objects, an exhibition about objects produced by design studios, curated by BAERCK for Berlin Design Week.


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Snapchat Will No Longer Promote President Trump's Account
Platform's Discover channel won't allow those who 'incite racial violence'
The post in question involved threatening violence against protesters at the White House. Photo Illustration: Trent Joaquin; Source: Snapchat, Getty Images
By Scott Nover
Key Insights:
Last week, Twitter took the unprecedented step of restricting one of Trump's tweets for "glorifying violence."
Facebook employees have protested and even resigned over CEO Mark Zuckerberg's refusal to take action.
Snapchat will no longer promote President Donald Trump's account on its Discovery channel following statements he made off the platform this weekend, the company said today.
"We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover," a Snapchat spokesperson confirmed to Adweek. "Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society, and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality and justice in America."
According to the spokesperson, the decision was made after Trump tweeted that protesters would be "greeted with the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons, I have ever seen" if they came close to breaching the White House fence. (They did not.)
Snapchat's decision comes on the heels of Twitter restricting one of Trump's tweets Friday for violating the platform's policy on "glorifying violence." During protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn., Trump had tweeted "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump's comments—which he also posted on Facebook—did not violate site rules about inciting violence and has been left up, a decision that sparked public condemnation as well as a virtual walkout and resignations from some on his staff.
While Trump did not post these comments on Snapchat, the company said the president's comments this weekend "have no place in our society." Snapchat's community guidelines say users cannot "threaten to harm a person, a group of people, or someone's property" or encourage violence.
The Snapchat spokesperson confirmed to Adweek that the president's account is still public and unchanged, and Discover—a highly curated space—is not a "town square" open for public discourse. Trump will also remain a Snap Star, a form of verification for politicians and celebrities.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale rebuked Snapchat's decision in a long-winded statement with similar language that was used in his criticism of Twitter.
Snapchat notably has no central news feed, unlike most social media platforms, and has consistently emphasized the role of interpersonal communication over broadcasting.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel sent a lengthy letter to his staff over the weekend about racial justice, in which he called for reparations for Black Americans. In the letter, he teased Wednesday's decision about Trump, writing, "As for Snapchat, we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform."
"Our Discover content platform is a curated platform, where we decide what we promote," Spiegel added. "We may continue to allow divisive people to maintain an account on Snapchat, as long as the content that is published on Snapchat is consistent with our community guidelines, but we will not promote that account or content in any way."
Today, Spiegel took action against the divisive person he was alluding to—the president.
Scott Nover
@ScottNover scott.nover@adweek.com Scott Nover is a platforms reporter at Adweek, covering social media companies and their influence.


On an inauspicious morning at a Dutch library, a librarian makes an unexpected find in the overnight return box - a weather-beaten Baedeker guidebook 123 years overdue. Determined to track down the borrower and give him "the fine of his life," the librarian studies the book for clues on the miscreant and follows the leads on a globe-trottingjourney that takes him from London to China, from Australia to New York. Throughout his trek, he unlocks ancient mysteries and discovers insteresting truths about himself. Funny, touching, and surprising, this compelling adventure by Glen Berger is storytelling at its best.
PlanetVero.com - Review: "Underneath the Lintel" is a don't miss production!
Brevard Culture - Review: "Underneath the Lintel is a thoughtful, philosophical production with resonating themes that will get you thinking."
Vero Beach 32963 - Review: "Underneath the Lintel: A seriously overdue library book"
Jim is pleased to be returning to Riverside Theatre after being away for almost a decade. Previously, he appeared in the Riverside productions of Sylvia, Rounding Third, She Loves Me, and Three Viewings. Now an Associate Professor of Theatre and Head of Acting at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, Jim continues to perform -- having most recently played Rothko in RED at Iowa's Riverside Theatre. A member of Actors' Equity Association, Jim spent three years as a resident actor with the Barter Theatre and has performed throughout the country in such regional theatres as The Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble, The Fulton Opera House , Iowa's Riverside Theatre, Florida Rep, Iowa Summer Rep, The Old Creamery Theatre, The Riverside Shakespeare Festival in the Park, The Connecticut Theatre Festival, and North Carolina's Temple Theatre. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Iowa and an MA in Theatre Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. -- For Brenda and Maysie.


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The Importance of Compatible Use Planning
October 29, 2020 September 22, 2022 / Maryland Department of Planning
Planning in Progress
by Tom Evans, Office of Military and Federal Affairs (OMFA), Maryland Department of Commerce, and Kristen Humphrey, MLA, Local Assistance and Training Planner
What is Compatible Use Planning?
In the most general terms, compatible use planning (also called compatibility planning) refers to working to ensure that both existing and planned land uses and activities are carefully considered to reduce or eliminate adverse effects on (or in the best case scenario, to actually enhance and support) neighboring or nearby land uses.
Some prime examples are: planning that identifies land uses that are tolerant of or less sensitive to noise when planning development near a highway or airport, such as shopping malls, office space, or industrial activity vs. residential neighborhoods, schools, parks or perhaps an ecologically sensitive area.
In July's edition of Planning Practice Monthly, we discussed the topic of compatible use planning specifically as it relates to enhancing collaboration and communication of Maryland's 12 military installations with surrounding communities. Together with the Department of Commerce (Commerce), the Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) is playing an important role in in these efforts.
Aided by funding from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), Commerce and Planning completed the Maryland Statewide Joint Land Use Study Response Implementation Strategy (SJRIS) in 2019. The SJRIS has provided Maryland with a strategic approach, in coordination with local governments, to address compatibility issues at a state level.
In June 2020, Commerce, Planning, and several other state agencies were awarded a second federal grant of $1.12 million to help guide and implement the SJRIS to compatible development of military installations and their surrounding communities.
The new funds will support the development of a State of Maryland Military Communities Compatible Use website; a planning coordination guidebook for local communities; and a Renewable Energy Siting project that will include the creation of publicly available maps that display areas where renewable energy projects may or may not be compatible with the missions of Maryland military installations.
Commerce is leading the Renewable Energy Siting Study, while Planning is overseeing the development of the website and handbook. The goal of these efforts is "to ensure that military activities do not adversely impact the quality of life in their communities and that development in the communities does not encroach on installation activities."
Why is Compatible Use Planning so important – what happens if it is not employed?
Without compatible use planning, considerable amounts of time, energy and other resources may be wasted. A notable example is that of the Great Bay Wind Energy Project which was proposed to be built on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Somerset County, Maryland.
In December 2012, Pioneer Green Energy (PGE)[i] proposed to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that 40 wind turbines be erected in Somerset County. It sounded like a terrific project that would create an impressive amount of clean, green energy. However, the chosen location was directly across the Bay from one of the state's military installations: Naval Air Station Patuxent River (Pax River), located in St. Mary's County. In fact, the proposed site was within the viewshed of the Advanced Dynamic Aircraft Measurement System (ADAMS) at Pax River.
The ADAMS radar system is a sophisticated outdoor laboratory used to obtain measurements used in radar cross section analysis of military jets as they are outfitted with armaments. The radar signatures of jets are measured and known during manufacture and acceptance testing by the DoD.
That signature changes, however, when jets are equipped with various weapons. Our military needs to know what potential enemy forces will see when our planes are approaching. The ADAMS system is used by all branches of the US military and our foreign allies. Truly a national, and international, asset.
The Navy was very accommodating and explored changes to flight paths and profiles so that ADAMS would not be in line with the proposed wind turbines. Nonetheless, the analysis showed that energy reflected from the turbines would still interfere with ADAMS. Making various modifications to ADAMS were investigated, but to no avail.
The Navy, in consultation with the Department of Defense (DoD) Test Resource Management Center (TRMC), determined that an independent analysis should be conducted. Thus the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT/LL) was contracted to develop and perform experiments with modified radar waveforms and digital signal processing to hopefully mitigate the interference.
During the more than two years of effort PGE tried to obtain approval for the project there was interest and involvement at all levels of government, local, state, and federal and the general public. Locally PGE arranged to lease property for the towers, citizens were lining up both for and against the project, and county officials were rewriting regulations and counting on an anticipated $45 million in increased revenue.
At the state level, bills were passed to delay the $200 million project for a year so the studies could be completed that might alleviate the interferences to the ADAMS radar system the wind turbines would cause. Even Governor O'Malley was faced with the difficult decision of choosing between the green energy initiative he promoted and the possibility of losing jobs at Pax River.
As time passed, and energy and tax-payer dollars were being expended, PGE also spent a great deal of its money making numerous design changes, including the number of wind turbines, the height of the turbine towers, and the arrangement of locations of the turbines, to try to save the project.
For PGE, the many unanticipated legislative hurdles put forward by supporters of Naval Air Station Patuxent River during the development of the $200-million Great Bay project amounted to unsurmountable roadblocks. But in the end, the DOD determined the project was simply not an enterprise compatible with a highly valuable preexisting use (and in fact posed an unacceptable risk to national security), and the PAX Adams System was determined to be an essential national asset to be protected.[ii]
There is no formal tally for the amount of energy, man hours, and dollars spent on this effort, but is was sizeable, especially when we consider all involved: PGE; numerous federal agencies including, the U.S. Navy, Secretary of Defense, and the FAA; numerous officials of Somerset and St. Mary's County; citizens, business owners, local farmers of both counties; Maryland U.S. Senators and members of the U.S. Congress (i.e., Maryland's federal delegation); members of the Maryland legislature, Governor Hogan – and all of their many staff dedicated to the issue – not to mention the researchers working on the contract with MIT/LL.
The lesson here is clear: had there been an existing statewide compatible use strategy prior to the proposed project, with a thorough process of engagement among all the parties, the human and financial capital expended could have been preserved.
With the advent of the SJRIS, the goal is to identify potentially incompatible uses in advance, so that unnecessary conflicts between adjacent land uses and activities will be avoided in the future. The SJRIS accomplishes this by creating effective coordination and communication between military and civilian communities before new development begins.
For more information about the Renewable Energy Siting projects, please contact Commerce staff members Jennifer Chiasson, Grants Program Manager, at jennifer.chiasson@maryland.gov or Thomas Evans, Assistant Director, Military and Federal Affairs, at thomas.evans@maryland.gov.
[i] As stated on the company's website, Pioneer Green Energy is a "utility-scale renewable energy development company active in the United States since 2009. [Its] goal is to serve domestic electric markets with the energy necessary to promote a financially and environmentally sustainable future."
[ii] REPORT ON THE DETERMINATION OF UNACCEPTABLE RISK TO NATIONAL SECURITY FROM A PROPOSED COMMERCIAL WIND TURBINE PROJECT IN THE VICINITY OF NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER AND THE ATLANTIC TEST RANGE Pursuant to Section 358(e)(3) of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011 (Public Law 111-383), https://www.acq.osd.mil/dodsc/library/USA006599-14%20TAB%20B%20-%20Great%20Bay%20Wind%20Final.pdf.
Note: Banner photo source: U.S. Navy photo by Liz Goettee
Compatible Use, SJRIS, Statewide Joint Land Use Study
← Six Individuals and Projects Receive 2020 Maryland Sustainable Growth Awards
Remembering Jane Dembner: Consummate Professional Planner and Community Advocate →
2 thoughts on "The Importance of Compatible Use Planning"
Thomas O. Evans
Great description of the perils for not planning for compatible use.
Pingback: Matrix Design Group To Complete Renewable Energy Siting Study | Maryland Planning Blog


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Non-Prog CD Reviews
Charlie Murphy is a Dead Man
Many times the music or the vocal performance or both are the most crucial parts of a release. The set succeeds or fails based on this. Well, in this instance, the key element is the lyrics. The songs here succeed based on those lyrics. These are stories. They represent slices of life. And, they are powerful. Sure, the performances that carry these stories are an important part of the puzzle, but without these classy stories, this would pale.
There have always been jokes and clichés about country music that it's all about everything going wrong. This set really does confirm that stereotype. These are sad songs. Still, they are also real. They are real because most of the time they show that while something might be sad, it's also more complicated than that. Life is messy. There is often an empowering or rewarding side to the sadness. Bennett manages to capture that in these songs. Really, it is that sort of realistic story-telling that captures the heart of the listener. It is the biggest piece of magic here. And, it's great.
Bennett's vocals are not perfect, but they work here. They lend a certain vulnerability to the album. The blemishes bring credibility to the music. That combined with the quality of lyrical content makes this a nearly perfect set. It might very well top some "best of 2013" lists. Overall, Bennett is a story-teller, and these are great stories. It's highly recommended for anyone who likes music that lives or dies by the lyrics, and particularly "slice of life" songs. It doesn't get much better than this.
"Charlie Murphy" opens the set. The musical elements on the tune are very traditional, old school country. The vocals are suitably twangy, too. It's a great way to get things going in style. It's a revenge song, but it isn't really glorifying the violence.
Habits Cries
This is more folk-oriented. While the previous cut was fairly mellow, this is slower even more like a stripped down ballad.
"The Price" seems to live in a land somewhere between traditional folk music and bluegrass.
Uncompromised
This is more of a pure mellow country ballad. The harmonica adds a nice flavor.
She Walked Away
Another that's quite mellow, "She Walked Away" lands more on the folk end of the spectrum. The story is gritty and sad, but also feels very real.
Here is a definite example of a song that's about joy and sadness at the same time. That makes it a real slice of life. Musically it's more of an evocative folk ballad. It is one of two songs here that features some female vocals (provided by Ali McCormick) along with Bennett's. It also has a nice acoustic guitar solo section.
This seems more intimate in terms of musical arrangement. The chorus is quite catchy. The song has more layers added later. Still, like most of the set it's essentially a folk meets country ballad.
Best Day of My Life
This is arguably the most poignant song on the album. It's also one that showcases that dual nature of a sad song with joy in it, too. It's likely to create a lot of damp eyes. It's also quite beautiful.
"Who Am I" has some vocals that are rather raw. Rather than detract, though, they really lend something to the stripped down, vulnerable ballad approach of the song. The number does have a moment that might not be appropriate for kids.
This is more country based than some of the other music here. It also earns a parental advisory.
That's Why I Lie
McCormick returns for the closing song, "That's Why I Lie." The piece (a duet) is about the concept that two people in the same relationship can have completely different ideas about what's going on in that relationship.
More CD Reviews
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It is possible to encompass both the filter and wrapper approaches within a common architecture.
It is possible to encompass both the filter and wrapper approaches within a common architecture. The feature selection process is viewed as consisting of four parts: a measure for evaluating a subset, a search strategy that controls the generation of a new subset of features, a stopping criterion, and a valida- tion procedure. Filter methods and wrapper methods differ only in the way in which they evaluate a subset of features. For a wrapper method, subset evaluation uses the target data mining algorithm, while for a filter approach, the evaluation technique is distinct from the target data mining algorithm. The following discussion provides some details of this approach, which is sum- marized in Figure 2.11.
Conceptually, feature subset selection is a search over all possible subsets of features. Many different types of search strategies can be used, but the search strategy should be computationally inexpensive and should find optimal or near optimal sets of features. It is usually not possible to satisfy both requirements, and thus, tradeoffs are necessary.
An integral part ofthe search is an evaluation step tojudge how the current subset of features compares to others that have been considered. This requires an evaluation measure that attempts to determine the goodness of a subset of attributes with respect to a particular data mining task, such as classification
2 .3
54 Chapter 2 Data
Figure 2,11. Flowchart of a feature subset selection process.
or clustering. For the filter approach, such measures attempt to predict how
well the actual data mining algorithm will perform on a given set of attributes. For the wrapper approach, where evaluation consists of actually running the
target data mining application, the subset evaluation function is simply the
criterion normally used to measure the result of the data mining. Because the number of subsets can be enormous and it is impractical to
examine them all, some sort of stopping criterion is necessary. This strategy is
usualiy based on one or more conditions involving the following: the number
of iterations, whether the value of the subset evaluation measure is optimal or
exceeds a certain threshold, whether a subset of a certain size has been ob-
tained, whether simultaneous size and evaluation criteria have been achieved, and whether any improvement can be achieved by the options available to the
search strategy. Finally, once a subset of features has been selected, the results of the
target data mining algorithm on the selected subset should be validated. A
straightforward evaluation approach is to run the algorithm with the full set
of features and compare the full results to results obtained using the subset of
features. Hopefully, the subset of features will produce results that are better
than or almost as good as those produced when using all features. Another validation approach is to use a number of different feature selection algorithms to obtain subsets of features and then compare the results of running the data
mining algorithm on each subset.
2.3 Data Preprocessing 55
Feature Weighting
Feature weighting is an alternative to keeping or eliminating features. More important features are assigned a higher weight, while less important features are given a lower weight. These weights are sometimes assigned based on do- main knowledge about the relative importance of features. Alternatively, they may be determined automatically. For example, some classification schemes, such as support vector machines (Chapter 5), produce classification models in which each feature is given a weight. Features with larger weights play a more important role in the model. The normalization of objects that takes place when computing the cosine similarity (Section 2.4.5) can also be regarded as a type of feature weighting.
2.3.5 Feature Creation
It is frequently possible to create, from the original attributes, a new set of attributes that captures the important information in a data set much more effectively. Furthermore, the number of new attributes can be smaller than the number of original attributes, allowing us to reap all the previously described benefits of dimensionality reduction. Three related methodologies for creating new attributes are described next: feature extraction, mapping the data to a new space, and feature construction.
Feature Extraction
The creation of a new set of features from the original raw data is known as feature extraction. Consider a set of photographs, where each photograph is to be classified according to whether or not it contains a human face. The raw data is a set of pixels, and as such, is not suitable for many types of classification algorithms. However, if the data is processed to provide higher- level features, such as the presence or absence of certain types of edges and areas that are highly correlated with the presence of human faces, then a much broader set of classification techniques can be applied to this problem.
Unfortunately, in the sense in which it is most commonly used, feature extraction is highly domain-specific. For a particular field, such as image processing, various features and the techniques to extract them have been developed over a period of time, and often these techniques have limited ap- plicability to other fields. Consequently, whenever data mining is applied to a relatively new area, a key task is the development of new features and feature extraction methods.
(a) Two time series. (b) Noisy time series. (c) Power spectrum
Figure 2.12. Application of the Fourier transform to identify the underlying frequencies in time series
Mapping the Data to a New Space
A totally different view of the data can reveal important and interesting fea-
tures. Consider, for example, time series data, which often contains periodic
patterns. If there is only a single periodic pattern and not much noise' then
the pattern is easily detected. If, on the other hand, there are a number of periodic patterns and a significant amount of noise is present, then these pat-
terns are hard to detect. Such patterns can, nonetheless, often be detected
by applying a Fourier transform to the time series in order to change to a
representation in which frequency information is explicit. In the example that
follows, it will not be necessary to know the details of the Fourier transform.
It is enough to know that, for each time series, the Fourier transform produces
a new data object whose attributes are related to frequencies.
Example 2.10 (Fourier Analysis). The time series presented in Figure
2.I2(b) is the sum of three other time series, two of which are shown in Figure
2.12(a) and have frequencies of 7 and 17 cycles per second, respectively. The
third time series is random noise. Figure 2.12(c) shows the power spectrum
that can be computed after applying a Fourier transform to the original time
series. (Informally, the power spectrum is proportional to the square of each
frequency attribute.) In spite ofthe noise, there are two peaks that correspond to the periods of the two original, non-noisy time series. Again, the main point
is that better features can reveal important aspects of the data. I
Many other sorts of transformations are also possible. Besides the Fourier transform, the wavelet transform has also proven very useful for time series and other types of data.
Feature Construction
Sometimes the features in the original data sets have the necessary information, but it is not in a form suitable for the data mining algorithm. In this situation, one or more new features constructed out of the original features can be more useful than the original features.
Example 2.11- (Density). To illustrate this, consider a data set consisting of information about historical artifacts, which, along with other information, contains the volume and mass of each artifact. For simplicity, assume that these artifacts are made of a small number of materials (wood, clay, bronze, gold) and that we want to classify the artifacts with respect to the material of which they are made. In this case, a density feature constructed from the mass and volume features, i.e., density : mass/uolume, would most directly yield an accurate classification. Although there have been some attempts to automatically perform feature construction by exploring simple mathematical combinations of existing attributes, the most common approach is to construct features using domain expertise.
2.3.6 Discretization and Binarization
Some data mining algorithms, especially certain classification algorithms, re- quire that the data be in the form of categorical attributes. Algorithms that find association patterns require that the data be in the form of binary at- tributes. Thus, it is often necessary to transform a continuous attribute into a categorical attribute (discretization), and both continuous and discrete attributes may need to be transformed into one or more binary attributes (binarization). Additionally, if a categorical attribute has a large number of values (categories), or some values occur infrequently, then it may be beneficial for certain data mining tasks to reduce the number of categories by combining some of the values.


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Shadows off the beaten path
Indies, foreigns, docs, videos, revivals and shorts...
On this page: THE RED BARON | TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE
TRICKS | UNMADE BEDS
< < F O R E I G N > >
last update 14.Sep.09
See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL
R E V I E W B Y R I C H C L I N E
The Red Baron
dir-scr Nikolai Muellerschoen
prd Dan Maag, Nikolai Muellerschoen, Roland Pellegrino, Thomas Reisser
with Matthias Schweighöfer, Lena Headey, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes, Volker Bruch, Tino Mewes, Axel Prahl, Ladislav Frej, Steffen Schroeder, Maxim Mehmet, Hanno Koffler, Josef Vinklar
release Ger 10.Apr.08,
UK 4.Sep.09
08/Germany 1h41
This is an ambitious attempt to tell the story of World War I's most notorious fighter pilot. But while the events are truly momentous, with thrillingly rendered aerial combat, the film is let down by lacklustre writing and direction.
By 1916, 23-year-old Baron Manfred von Richthofen (Schweighofer) has become the most feared German pilot. With his lurid red plane, he has no interest in catching the Allied forces by surprise: he wants to scare them. But he's also a gentleman, engaging in sport and refusing to be cruel. He's also a strong leader to his fellow pilots, including best pal Voss (Schweiger) and little brother Lothar (Buch). And even Allied pilots like the Canadian Roy Brown (Fiennes) respect him.
This respectful style of engagement is fascinating from today's perspective, when shock and awe has replaced the fact that real people are dying. This film catches this beautifully, reflecting the WWI experience realistically in both the air and the trenches, including the yawning gulf between the aristocratic officers and everyone else. The story also includes Manfred's frank encounters with Kaiser Wilhelm (Frej), which are much more engaging than the half-baked romance he has with a Belgian nurse (well-played by Headey).
Sadly, this romantic storyline takes over the film and feels increasingly far-fetched, especially when the script strains to create a love triangle with Roy after he's shot down by Manfred and vice versa. And then there's the scene when they both crash and spend a day together in no man's land. Although it could have happened, none of this feels even authentic, partly because everyone speaks English but mostly because the dialog has no life in it.
Much of what these characters say to each other is either a non sequitor or a stirring speech. At one point, you think Headey is going to say, in all earnestness, "Did you ever know that you're my hero?" This kind of corny writing simply flattens any emotion, especially when it's directed like a lifeless TV-dramatisation. So it's a good thing that the real story is so intriguing and the dogfights so exciting to watch. The effects work is truly stunning, and makes wading through the drama worthwhile.
12 themes, violence, some grisliness
17.Aug.09
MUST SEE Amintiri din Epoca de Aur
dir Cristian Mungiu, Ioana Uricaru, Hanno Höfer, Constantin Popescu
scr Cristian Mungiu
prd Cristian Mungiu, Oleg Mutu
with Alexandru Potocean, Teodor Corban, Emanuel Pirvu, Avram Birau, Paul Dunca, Viorel Comanici, Vlad Ivanov, Tania Popa, Liliana Mocanu, Ion Sapdaru, Virginia Mirea, Gabriel Spahiu, Diana Cavallioti, Radu Iacoban, Smaranda Caragea
release Rom May.09 tiff,
UK 30.Oct.09
09/Romania 2h21
CANNES FILM FEST
After the riveting 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, Mungiu is back with five more stories from Romania's "golden age". But these tales replace that earlier film's brilliantly bleak chill with light-hearted irony.
These are five urban legends from communist-era Romania: A group of villagers led by the local party secretary (Potocean) prepares for a Official Visit, but second-guessing the demands of the inspector (Pirvu) isn't easy. The Party Photographer (Birau) and his assistant (Dunca) prepare to cover a state event, but there's a frantic race to make a deadline when the photo needs doctoring. Grigore (Ivanov) is a Chicken Driver for a poultry farm whose roadside innkeeper mistress (Popa) finds a way to make some cash on the side. A Greedy Policeman (Sapdaru) orders a pig on the black market, then has to make a plan when it arrives very much alive. And Crina (Cavallioti) teams up with gentle conman Bughi (Iacoban) to become Air Sellers in a block of flats.
Each of these stories has a strong twist that brilliantly brings together both the political themes and the mythical elements. The filmmakers cleverly use a unified style that captures the settings in all their bleak, anonymous Soviet glory while finding colourful details that keep us utterly glued to the screen. It helps that the characters are full of personality; we become completely involved in their increasingly surreal situations.
These witty, intelligent filmmakers make telling observations without ever being preachy, drawing humour from frustrating situations and constantly surprising us. Memorable moments abound, from a village's desperate attempt to look prosperous ("bring the cow!") to a young couple's nonviolent Bonnie & Clyde-like crime spree. And along the way there are some remarkably emotional scenes as well, most notably in the examination of Grigore's strained, complex marriage.
Mungiu is incredibly skilled at telling deep, resonant stories in an understated way, grabbing our attention and imagination while letting us experience the events along with the characters. This is a film that tells us about a place and time we can't identify with through characters we can't help but understand. And by focussing on real people trying to survive, the film's quiet criticism of a totalitarian regime is that much more forceful.
15 themes, language
MUST SEE Sztuczki
dir-scr-prd Andrzej Jakimowski
with Damian Ul, Ewelina Walendziak, Rafal Guzniczak, Tomasz Sapryk, Iwona Fornalczyk, Joanna Liszowska, Grzegorz Stelmaszewski, Simeone Matarelli, Maciej Stepniak, Andrzej Golejewski, Krzysztof Lawniczak, Roman Baranowicz
release Pol 26.Oct.07,
US Feb.09 piff, UK 4.Sep.09
07/Poland 1h35
VENICE FILM FEST
• TOP 10 FILM
Polish filmmaker Jakimowski taps into his own childhood for this engaging and warmly authentic slice of life drama. Blending comedy and a hint of magical realism, this beautiful little film really gets under the skin.
Stefek (Ul) is a cheeky young boy who has never known his father. He lives with his older sister Elka (Walendziak) and their mother (Fornalczyk), and hangs out with Elka's mechanic boyfriend Jerzy (Guzniczak). Stefek and Elka play games together tempting fate, trying to trick the gods into helping them just a little bit. And Stefek launches an all-out campaign when he spots his father (Sapryk) on a train platform, quietly setting up events that will get Dad back into the family. Meanwhile, Elka's trying to get a better job.
The film has a playful, meandering tone that obscures the carefully structured story. It feels utterly authentic, and the various elements come together so organically that we almost don't notice it happening right before our eyes. In other words, this is astonishingly adept filmmaking that's funny, scruffy and hugely involving. It's never remotely manipulative or manufactured, and yet filmmaker Jakimowski has us right where he wants us.
He also coaxes disarmingly natural performances from his cast members. Everyone feels like a real person, with traits that are subtle but extremely telling. Ul, Walendziak and Guzniczak are especially good in the central roles, and we can't help but fall for all three of them, identifying with their quiet yearnings. Their interaction is sometimes very raw, but it also carries real compassion and affection. And it makes most other movies look completely artificial.
Packed with gorgeous poetic touches, the story gently explores the deep human desire to make life better against all odds. There's a lot of talk about luck--about making the most of what's dealt to us and then having the initiative to give things a little push now and then. The results are surprising in both small and large ways, and as the story comes together in the end, the film becomes powerfully gripping in ways we don't expect. This is skilful filmmaking that feels utterly effortless. And it carries a kick that's both heart-stopping and heart-warming.
12 themes, language, innuendo
3.Sep.09
Unmade Beds
dir-scr Alexis Dos Santos
prd Peter Ettedgui, Soledad Gatti-Pascual
with Fernando Tielve, Déborah François, Michiel Huisman, Iddo Goldberg, Richard Lintern, Katia Winter, Leonardo Brzezicki, Alexis Dos Santos, Lucy Tillet, Al Weaver, Sinead Dosset, Johnny Lambe
release US 2.Sep.09,
UK 11.Dec.09
09/UK 1h33
SUNDANCE FILM FEST
Shot and edited with real skill, this warmly involving film sharply catches the perspective of two young immigrants with very personal journeys. But the script feels too tidy for the loose, relaxed filmmaking style.
Axl (Tielve) is a 20-year-old from Spain in London to find his father (Lintern), who he can't remember at all. Actually, he can't remember much, and after each drunken night out he wakes up in a strange bed. Eventually he finds himself living in a squat with Hannah (Winter) and Mike (Goldberg). Another resident, Vera (Francois), has come to London to forget her ex (Brzezicki) and move on. She meets a charming guy who calls himself X-ray Man (Huisman), but she's reluctant to let him into her life.
As with his first feature GLUE, writer-director Dos Santos uses an intimate cheeky-sexy tone while blurring boundaries and expectations. The cinematography vividly puts us into the minds of both Axl and Vera, who don't actually meet until a climactic moment later on. We see events through their eyes, with journal-style narration in native languages, complete with telling flashbacks and wonderfully imaginative filmmaking. A seaside escape with Vera and X-ray Man is gorgeously assembled and played.
The cast is raw and earthy, giving a strong authenticity to the multicultural setting. Tielve and Francois acutely capture the youthful yearning, hopefulness and fear with the camera often right in their faces. They're always believable, simply because the film lets them create organic characters who are honest and complex. Meanwhile, Huisman and Goldberg provide a nice counterpoint as two young men who are just a little more settled and confident, but still open to new experiences.
The tentative connections between these people is utterly riveting, since the scruffy, edgy approach makes it impossible to predict. But about halfway through, the quirky indie song score hints that this film has a more professional pedigree than it first seemed (the musical approach, while fresh and sparky, seems directly lifted from Juno). And after the improv-style build-up, the story elements coalesce in ways that hint at too much script-polishing. But even if the finale's a little too structured and sentimental, it's still an enjoyable and fiercely inventive film.
15 themes, language, sexuality
14.Sep.09


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Environmentalism Contra Democracy
A smart writer once observed that philosophy is a product of sick times. Healthy generations do not need reminders of what is right, but inherit those inclinations through blood and culture. When culture fragments, or wavers near disaster, philosophers become more than teachers of structured knowledge: they become those who can look through the forest of abstraction to capture a vision of reality.
We are on the verge of environmental crisis. Although the television networks now babble neurotically about global warming, that is one aspect of the problem caused by human growth and technology. The fruit of our oceans is decreasing; we are using too much land to have forests renew the oxygen in our air. So much of our land is covered in concrete and so many of our rivers polluted that fresh water is getting scarcer; land animals and plants are being squeezed out of comfortable habitats and into such small numbers that inbreeding and sickness are wiping them out, thanks to human division and settlement of all open land. We're about to commit ecocide.
Thinking non-selfishly for a minute, we should look at the consequences of natural loss with a poet's eye: we are about to lose an amazing creation of great beauty and inspiration, and thus not only damage our souls, but be responsible for an act of crass destructiveness with no equal in history. The sack of Alexandria, the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide -- these all pale in comparison to reducing our environment to parks, gardens and lawns. Which is what will remain: we will have squirrels and sparrows and lawn plants, but the more complex parts of our ecosystem will not remain. Our political leaders will be able to claim less of a crisis because it isn't all dead, but converting a world of billions of species into an extended, homogenous backyard garden is like trading Beethoven for repetitive techno.
The kind of mean mentality that allows us to create this ...wreckage... is appropriate to an outwardly satisfied but inwardly self-hating time such as our own. We hate our ugly cities, our tedious jobs that produce nothing of practical value, our prima donna spouses, our moronic coworkers and neighbors, the violent inner cities, the numbingly normative suburbs... yet we are sure there is nothing that can be done. How do we explain to the average person that they must give up that new car, house or child because if everyone has those, a distant future disaster awaits? Democracy rewards action on immediate crises, or granting of new "freedoms" or wealths to its population, but it does not reward the kind of leadership that staves off distant apocalypses.
Our politicians are "leaders" only in name, because one might expect a real leader to take care of constituents regardless of that constituency's desires for short-term rewards. Our leaders tell us what we want to hear, and rule by popularity instead of sense. Reality is a distant world. We create our own "reality" because with our technology and our social agreement we can live in illusion and defer consequences. In this kind of system, there can never be a reversal of what makes people wealthy or happy no matter how destructive it is; democracy is the triumph of people preferring illusion to reality.
But we are taught democracy, capitalism and liberal civil/women's rights together comprise "freedom," and that anything but freedom is "bad." So what can we do? We shrug and watch the ongoing travesty, certain we cannot with these hands and these minds do anything to reverse the course toward total destruction. After all, this path to death runs parallel with "progress" and "freedom," which are bringing us an enlightened time, free of wars and want -- or is that too illusion? We wonder, and do nothing. There is nothing we can do ...or is there?
The current problem with environmentalism is environmentalists. For the most part, these are silly people who, rich on a first world lifestyle, want some kind of "cause" to distinguish them from the masses. They want an identity. They want a reason to be right where others are wrong, and they want to use this for social prestige. "I'm really into environmental issues" is conversation, not activism, but conversation is what motivates the environmental "movement."
These are the people after all who are famous for boycotting proposed buildings after the plans have been approved, for coming in to yell at developers of new housing long after such a need was inevitable, for protecting the most rare species while ignoring the receding hairline of forest... they want you to eat bean sprouts, to stop having Christmas trees, to use lights too dim for your eyes, to concentrate on turning off taps and appliances. Environmentalists are useless because they do not focus on the problem as whole: too many people, and too many of them using technology.
Why are they so afraid of this obvious truth? It's political suicide. It makes bad conversation to tell people accustomed to getting what they want that we need to cut back, and therefore that not everyone can have their "freedom" and in fact we need to take it away from a good many people. Even further, this brings the question of how to allocate resources to the forefront. Do we spend money on handicapped retarded orphans or on breeding smarter, healthier people? Oh no: this reeks of fascism, evil empires, Satan, etc.
Thus environmentalists make good conversation and hinder untold millions while ignoring the basic issue. Even worse, since they are "The Environmental Movement," they look to most people like responsible adults in control while simultaneously obstructing others from taking charge of this problem. The environmental movement is like a corrupt politician, damaging both in what he does do and what he does not do while keeping others out of office who might do something. The environmental movement is a clog in the pipe of advancing environmental causes.
Because they cannot address the actual problem and thus find a solution, the environmental movement specializes in crippling non-solutions. They antagonize those trying to earn a living while failing to stop the onset of environmental disaster. They like to think, fond of themselves, that they are "educating" people toward a better future. But after forty years, they have nothing of import to show for this strategy. The loss goes on and environmentalists are busy recycling diapers and going to cocktail parties.
Let the Power Fall
...what appeals to all of us about anarchy is the idea of having space. We would be able to do what we needed to without nosy neighbors or obtrusive governments stopping us. After all, we walk a fine line: we are afraid of strong government, which has a tendency to appoint bureaucrats who destroy our dreams, but we're also afraid of our opportunistic and predatory fellow citizens, who if not restrained by government tend to wreck our dreams as well. Anarchy sounds so simple. We do what we want, and if someone intervenes, ...well, one might suppose we simply shoot them and move on.
Therein is the problem with anarchy. If surrounded by people like ourselves, who want simple healthy things in life and have no intention of disrupting others, we'll be OK. But get one parasite into an anarchy and deeply disturbing situations result, especially if this parasite can defend himself. A simpering clerk who wants to steal is easily dealt with in an anarchy; but what about a predatory criminal group whose goal is to steal? Ah, then we're back to militias and posses shooting it out with the bad guys in the streets of our cities, while little Suzy and young Billy get dropped by ricochets in the midst of their Latin homework. Not quite a solution, either.
What appeals to people about anarchy is not an ultimate state but a transition, a dissolving of the blockhead bureaucracy that constrains us and a freedom from the disapproval of our neighbors and thousands of special interest groups who will hold us back because we do not honor Christ, the Holocaust, Black rights, Women's rights, anti-drug policies, corporate welfare, animal sodomy, etc. Anarchy would be a giant disconnecting, a liberation of ourselves from the gelatinous obligations of society, and we see it rightly as a transitional state.
After all, only an idiot would want to live in anarchy (the inexperienced are idiots by ignorance, not by ability, so we forgive the many young and distracted people who champion anarchy). When people talk fondly of anarchy they are not speaking of the chaotic state of existence where the law of the jungle returns, but in Sex Pistols terms, of tearing down a dysfunctional society and thus escaping it. We know in practice anarchy would work about as well as government by dice-throwing.
Our environmental crisis is brought on by our aversion to unpopular facets of reality. We cannot solve the crisis until we admit that:
There are too many goddamn people.
To cut back, we are going to have to violate some "freedoms."
When we do cut back, we should pick the best among us to breed.
These are common sense plans, when one is freed from the constraints that "freedom" and popularity put on us. After all, if we were marooned on a jungle island of small size, it would not be an insane command to breed the smarter people so that in the future a micro-civilization could exist which would make wise decisions. And before we get into the illusion of equality: no one is so insane as to insist that some are not smarter than others, better looking than others, or nobler in character than others -- if it were so, why would it be that only some become professors and writers and actors? -- we can only delude ourselves into blaming "oppression" for so long, since history is replete with examples of those who rose above adversity to succeed.
These future changes would require violence. A few generations of sterilizing criminals and retards, paying the less intelligent not to breed, legal abortion with tax breaks for those of lower intelligence, some small land wars and an end to third world aid (the area where the population is growing -- Europe and Europeans in the Americas have long stabilized their populations).
Jobs could be re-interpreted to require real brains and real work, filtering out both the low intelligence and the kind of "thin intelligence" that bureaucratic paper-shuffling and marketing reward. No permanent welfare would force the unable to go elsewhere in order to raise their abundant children (statistically, welfare families are more likely to have more than two children, while stable households are more likely to have two or fewer children). These are all peaceful, un-destabilizing methods which could bring about these changes within generations.
Trees or Happy Masses?
Yet we balk. It's not fair... not everyone gets the same chance... the burden falls heaviest on those in the intersection between categories dumb, poor and socially insignificant... it's oppressive... we would prefer anything, even suicide, to such injustice. In fact, that is our choice: we either restrain ourselves now, or we self-destruct into archetypal third-world societies living under environmental duress. A few will rule from air-filtered artificial dwellings, and a mass of 90 IQ lumpenproles of no determinate heritage will labor in the wasteland, dying of cancer at age 35 and breeding with no higher evolutionary purpose in mind. Humanity, the failure. And as it went down, as if out of sheer spite, it tore apart its environment and left a barren planet as if determined that, having suicided, it would prevent any other species from having a chance at the stars.
In modern times, we are ruled by the Crowd. Coarser, simpler minds are always out there to promise unrealistic solutions in exchange for power; they sell illusion and deliver, years distant, disasters that most people cannot conceptualize as they cannot predict anything past their own next pay period. The Crowd does not mean badly, but it destroys nonetheless, and it is the incapability of that nobility of emotion and self-sacrifice that characterizes real leaders, who wish to avoid disaster both in the present and future. The Crowd wants what it wants, which is pleasant illusion and wealth and "freedom," and the cost -- they don't even think that far ahead.
Those of us who are not fully delusional want to change our modern time because we smell disaster on the wind, but we don't know how. If we look at single issues, like abortion or gay marriage or the whit-tufted weeblesparrow becoming extinct, we have no solutions. If we look at the whole of the problem, and see it in the context of history, the task suddenly becomes easier:
1. Wrest power from the Crowd.
2. Cut back our population.
3. Create better people than any that exist now (the overman of Nietzsche).
Overmen should be our goal because only a sick person wants to be the height of all time; we always want to get better, both personally and as a species. We can get better. We can make a humanity that is better than any humanity before. We do not do this by "freedom," but by quality control. The Crowd will never deliver us to higher states, but to lower, by insisting on tangible immediate rewards instead of hard work toward time-distant greater heights. The solution begins with removing the power of the Crowd.
Democracy as Replacement Reality
Why to detest democracy: all governments are best at making themselves the dominant means of control, and democracy is no different. Masses do not study political theory and could not comprehend it if they did; they understand the last thirty years of history in simple terms, but are lost as to the two-thousand year picture. The masses are easily controlled with democracy because they both (a) believe themselves to be free and (b) vote according to what they see through a news media controlled by relatively few people. Whether that news media is public oration, as in ancient Greece, newspapers as in turn of the century America, or televisions and Internet funded by six ultra-wealthy corporations as in the modern time, the masses respond to what they see because it provokes them emotionally.
Thus democracies sway between Evil Villains and Helpless Innocents, but understand no shades of grey. The masses, in "freedom," pick extremes through statistically predictable means. Control is easy because it's invisible, and so while the public show of "government by the people" burbles past our ears, in private groups of wealthy people decide what to fund and through that how people will vote. This isn't conspiracy thinking; these wealthy people desire nothing more than to neutralize society from doing anything that will threaten their wealth, and to guide in profitable directions. They're simply enjoying their freedom, and if the rest of us pay for it, it's only because we're too silly to have a more comprehensive direction than individual material accumulation.
Democracy rewards those with low self-esteem and low selectivity in their personal choices; these are people who find the most reward in social recognition. They like to believe in public image because when they look too closely at reality, they see things they do not like about themselves, in the same way the most vicious anti-smoker is an ex-smoker and the most violent racist is someone unsure of her own parentage. They fear the inner world of meaning, and of significance to life, preferring the tangibles like wealth and comfort because these are beyond debate, beyond dispute. Too much intangibility they equate with the presence of death, something they'd rather (and heck, all of us, but if we're brave we do not give in to this impulse) forget. Democracy is good at rewarding those who run from unpleasant truth, and it feeds them pleasant illusions in exchange for the ability to manipulate them.
Democracy encourages self-centeredness. "What do you want?" replaces "What is best for us all?" Personal preference replaces reality. This has gotten to the point that people have replaced objective reality with personal choices; if you want the inferior logical solution, go ahead, it's your choice. They do not believe objectivity exists. What stands before us are a series of choices, or preferences, they argue, instead of objectively-demonstrable better and worse solutions. You like to eat garbage and coat yourself in feces? Well, fella, whatever makes you happy -- so goes the logic.
Smart people have for centuries puzzled over this, and thanks to a series of mind-bogglingly unproven and incomplete theories ranging from Christian Heaven to quantum physics and its partially articulated doctrine of relativity, have convinced themselves this is possibly true. Maybe we do live in a world where everyone can have a personal reality in which to be a king, and where every preference might work out. It has not occured to them that nature works by the opposite principle to avoid that becalming of reward to better choices known as entropy which is brought about when all choices create exactly equal outcomes. Why choose at all, then? -- which means there are no better choices, hence no evolution or natural selection, hence nothing ever gets better. But does it get worse? Stagnation usually leads to decay, but we cannot say that in public anymore as we'll offend someone.
Although you will not see this fact in textbooks, there are no historically successful examples of democracies: all of them have terminated early, exploding into authoritarian states and then tapering off into third-world countries with "amazing" ruins lost in the jungles and deserts. Democracy brings about pleasant illusion and, having hidden reality, is then surprised by it and overwhelmed by consequences -- every time. The only difference now is that thanks to our technology, we're really playing with fire: nuclear bombs, ecocide, wars so big they boggle the mind. We control the globe and can actually for the first time damage nature. We've put the whole stack on red 13 and we're gambling with our future.
Democracy is excellent for those who fear the world (reality) and fear its natural selection process. They are guaranteed "equality" -- freedom from natural selection -- and "freedom," or the ability to live as weirdly or defectively as possible so long as they make it to their jobs and bring home those checks. For those who fear the world, democracy is a protective measure, but like all protection rackets, it requires prompt payment. You do that by tolerating unrealistic decision-making and eventually a lapse of leadership into happy promises and grim consequences.
This is why all democracies fail at first by sliding into authoritarianism. When reality becomes a distant world, and decay sets in, the few sane ones left begin to see what's really on the plate and start screaming. Because the situation is so far gone controlling it is impossible, they slam into a place a strong reactionary government -- which, alas, is composed of the same defectives who are running the democracy, and thus either lapses into left-wing errors (kill all aristocrats, dissidents, intellectuals and other necessary brains) or right-wing errors (embark on endless war and the building of statues). The society that out of control filled with parasites and useless people responds like a man who suddenly realizes he's on fire, swatting violently and desperately at patches of flame without realizing that the quickest solution is to drop to the ground and roll.
And drop to the ground and roll we must -- roll away from the Crowd, from their protective Democracy, from the big money interests that manipulate us without caring if we self-destruct because enough money means the elites can live in spaceships while earth rots and burns. No one is in charge here as far as leadership toward the future goes. We're all complicit in blithely going along this path to doom. If you care about environmental issues, you will recognize that a transfer of power is needed, and that we need to roll away from Democracy and then stand up and assert reality instead of fantasy -- and only then can we avoid planetary ecocide.


Known in various parts of the world as a markham console bar this one is a replica old style woodwork bench, aged, stained and laquered. It has a good size benchtop with storage underneath for bottles, glasses etc, use it for display, a drinks bar or maybe a side table in the kitchen or hallway. A cool piece of furniture that would enhance many settings. Size shown 1500mm w x 890mm h x 520mm d.


LIVERPOOL could be without two members of their squad for the beginning of next season.
The majority of the first-team group are currently away on international duty and Tiago Ilori and Joao Teixeira have been called up to the Portugal under-23s squad.
The two are hoping to be selected to represent their country at this summer's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Teams in the Olympic football competition are only allowed three players aged 23 or over in their squad but the Liverpool duo, both 23, qualify by having been 22 at the start of the year.
The competition kicks off on August 4 and is scheduled to finish on August 20 which means it will clash with the start of the Premier League season.
The first fixture of Liverpool's season will fall on or around Saturday August 13 meaning Teixeira and Ilori could miss at least two league games as well as a large part of pre-season.
And the pair have already started to miss out on training sessions as they are currently with the Portuguese set-up and not the Liverpool squad who are in Tenerife preparing for a late season surge in both the Premier League and Europa League.


Rvton Team are striving for meeting our sales target of Floating seals, because there is a big praise waiting for us, it's company travelling, we are keen on it for long times.
Where shall we plan to go during 3 days travelling ?
There are too much traveling spots in beautiful China, it's a pity we can go a place at a time.
Where shall we go, perhaps you can give us some advices.


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Home / Film Notes / Alice Adams (1935)
Toronto Film Society presented Alice Adams (1935) on Monday, November 25, 1974 in a double bill with History is Made at Night as part of the Season 27 Monday Evening Film Buff Series, Programme 1.
Production Company: An RKO Radio Picture. Producer: Pandro S. Berman. Director: George Stevens. Screenplay: Dorothy Yost, Mortimer Offner. Based on the Novel by: Booth Tarkington. Adaptation for the Screen: Jane Murfin. Photography: Robert De Grasse. Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase. Editing: Jane Loring. Sound Recording: Denzil A. Cutler. Musical Score: Max Steiner. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Makeup: Mel Burns. Assistant Director: Edward Killy. Song: "I Can't Waltz Alone": Max Steiner, Dorothy Fields.
Cast: Katharine Hepburn (Alice Adams), Fred MacMurray (Arthur Russell), Fred Stone (Mr. Adams), Evelyn Venable (Mildred Palmer), Frank Albertson (Walter Adams), Ann Shoemaker (Mrs. Adams), Charles Grapewin (Mr. Lamb), Grady Sutton (Frank Dowling), Hedda Hopper (Mrs. Palmer), Jonathan Hale (Mr. Palmer), Janet McLeod (Henrietta Lamb), Virginia Howell (Mrs. Dowling), Zeffie Tilbury (Mrs. Dresser), Ella McKenzie (Ella Dowling), Hattie McDaniel (Malena), Harry Bowen (Laborer).
Booth Tarkington's 1921 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was filmed once previously, in 1923, directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Florence Vidor as Alice. Alice Adams was written as a sociologically realistic study of a mildly impoverished, socially ambitious, young girl suffering the anguish, embarrassment and disappointments of growing up in small-town Americana. The 1923 version remained reasonably faithful to the novel's dispirited ending, thereby retaining a measure of Tarkington's realism, whereas tonight's film, no doubt influenced by a strong romantic trend in 1930's American cinema, gave Alice and her family all they ever wished for. Hepburn initially rebelled (she had wanted to do Tarkington's "Seventeen" with William Wyler) at the choice of Stevens, a minor director of but five previous 'B' features, as the director of the film. Alice Adams proved to be a milestone film for both of them. It virtually launched Stevens' career (causing him to be called the youngest important director in Hollywood) and anchored Hepburn's status as a top actress.
Katharine Hepburn's (b. November 9, 1907) remarkable career (forty-two years as a top star) is highlighted by some of the finest '30's films that still stand up favourably to modern criticism, among them: Morning Glory (1933), Little Women (1933), Alice Adams, Mary of Scotland (1936), Quality Street (1937), Stage Door (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). Her amazing élan and driving energy, elfin verve, her sense of being totally in command of herself at all times, her fierce individualism, and her passionate sincerity were all evident from her very first film, A Bill of Divorcement (1932). Hers was not a surface physical beauty, but something incandescent that burned from within and was drawn out simply by the sheer power of the illusion created by her acting. Critics who complained that Hepburn's Alice was over-accented and mannered missed the point of her performance–Hepburn overacted as a pretentious Alice would have overacted to impress people. The happy ending can be justified by the passionate sincerity of Hepburn's acting, rendering it inconceivable that Alice won't do everything she says she's going to do.
George Stevens (b. December 18, 1904) started out as a cameraman in the mid '20's (including several Laurel and Hardy shorts), then directed some shorts, before making his first feature film in 1933. In many cinema histories Stevens is revered for his grand epics, films like Shane (1953), Giant (1956), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959); but his earlier, more intimate, personal films, Aluice Adams, Swing Time (1936), Gunga Din (1939), Penny Serenade (1941), Women of the Year (1942) etc. were the ones that established his reputation as an American Romantic, an intricate craftsman and perfectionist.
Notes by Jaan Salk
Related ItemsAlice Adams (1935)Charles GrapewinEvelyn VenableFred MacMurrayGeorge StevensHattie McDanielKatharine HepburnMonday Buff 27Season 27
←Previous History is Made at Night (1937)
Next → Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Double Indemnity (1944)


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Early Photography: Chasing images
March 21, 2012 at 7:14 pm	(history, news, people, portraits and paintings, research) (agnes cure, berkhamsted, camille silvy, charles cunliffe smith, dacorum, early photography, jane hawker, lady compton, lady seymour, lady smith, lord compton, maria culme seymour, miniatures, national portrait gallery, portraits, sir charles joshua smith, william claridge, william henry fox talbot)
How do you identify an image of a person – one painted or photographed long, long ago?
By what's written on the back! if you're lucky.
This miniature of Maria Smith, aka Lady Culme Seymour, was ID'ed as her; I take it to have been her mainly because the provenance claims a family descent.
It sold, at auction, with her mother-in-law's miniature — Jane, Lady Seymour.
My task lately — and a daunting one it has been — is to ID a couple of photographs. Are they Maria? are they a sister? or (worse thought) have they been mis-identified????
But that brings into the mix, several early photographers. Yes, these were certainly the types of people, with money enough, who would have been interested in having their portraits done. Interested, too, in pursuing photography for themselves, in the end. A photo album connected to the Gosling family resides at a Surrey archive; among portraits are also what can only be described as travel photographs! Imagine what you had to tote around to photograph your adventures away from home back in the 1870s!
One portrait of Maria is by the famed photographer Camille Silvy (1834-1910). The National Portrait Gallery's website about him calls Silvy "a pioneer of early photography and one of the greatest French photographers of the nineteenth century. Maria seems to have been photographed in 1860. (She was born in 1814. You do the math.) Silvy moved to London in 1859. Her nephew, Mary and Charles Smith's son, Charles Cunliffe Smith — along with his wife Agnes, Lady Smith — are represented in Silvy's books, but far later in number. How fascinating to go through these book NPG has and see all the people photographed by Silvy!
But there are other family photos, but other photographers. One that has surfaced is a family group, plus some individual photographs, by William Claridge (1797-1876). He began photographing in the Berkhamsted area in the 1850s.
A third photographer, one with ties — at the very least — with the Comptons and Dickens families, is William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877). The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an online article entitled "William Henry Fox Talbot and the Invention of Phography". I've come across mention of Dickens family pictures, and online have found Fox Talbot's letters, which have him giving several wonderful descriptions of Lord and Lady Compton, while they lived in Italy.
Such valuable resources — in images and words.
Garrow in Essex (1829)
September 18, 2011 at 9:09 am	(diaries, history, research) (andrew buchan, assizes, belinda colebrooke, chelmsford, diaries, english law, essex, garrow's law, glyndebourne, history, lady smith, langham christie, margaret elizabeth gosling, mary gosling, preston deanery, sir charles joshua smith, sir william garrow, suttons)
This past weekend I've given myself a "filler" job – to read through the diaries of Charles and Mary Smith which overlap each other, namely, the years 1829 and 1830.
Charles Joshua Smith began his (extant) diaries July 1826 — on his wedding day to Mary Gosling, although you'd NEVER know it from his matter-of-fact comment about driving Mary to Suttons.
Mary's (extant) diaries begin January 1829, following the birth of her second child, Mary Charlotte (called Mimi). That other diaries exist — or at least existed — I have no doubt. Charles may have destroyed his former diaries; a loss if the case – as they would have contained comments of his Continental and Russian travels (if going back to the early 1820s), his marriage to Belinda Colebrooke, her death, his engagement (about which I'd KILL to know more) to Mary Gosling in the spring of 1826. Mary's diaries surely began far earlier than 1829, and given the "holes" in the series, her diaries must have been dispursed between her children – maybe even were resident at Suttons (sold mid-20th century) until the estate was sold out of the family. A couple mysteries still awaiting solution.
So only two years exist in which husband AND wife comment on their daily lives. A lot of illness — and more to come with the decline of Charles' health (he died in January 1831); some visits to Suttons by Emma and Edward Austen. The marriage of Margaret Elizabeth Gosling, Mary's elder sister, with Langham Christie, and visits to Suttons by the Smiths and Goslings; and visits to 'Town' by Mary, Charles and the children. Charles attends some agricultural courses; obtains new livestock and looks after farm matters; and does his duty at the Law Sessions.
It is March 1829, and Charles writes of travelling to CHELMSFORD (Essex):
"Judges, Chief Baron Alexander & Sir William Garrow; a heavy calendar about 150 Prisoners, not many very heavy offences"
Sir William Garrow (died 1840), now judge at Assizes, would not retire until 1832.
Charles arrived at Chelmsford on 9 March (a Monday); the following day he writes of the Grand Jury being charged and that he "Dined with the Judges who seemed anxious to have another {unreadable} Sessions established".
Wednesday, the 11th, was "all the morning" on the Grand Jury; he noted "A very full attendance". Court was "dismissed" the next day (Thursday, the 12th) at noon.
Garrow first appears in Charles's 1828 diary, when he is one of the Judges at the Chelmsford Assizes in July. Again the session ran Monday through Thursday. One prisoner (whose case Garrow did not preside over), John Williams, was sent for execution.
Garrow appears by name for the last time in December 1829, when Charles notes his Grand Jury work on Wednesday the 10th. By this time, Garrow, born in 1760, would have been 69-years-old.
Can't wait for the third season of Garrow's Law — in December 2011, I heard; will now relish it for yet another different reason: Sir William Garrow and Sir Charles Joshua Smith of Suttons actually met!
Sad Day at Suttons
January 14, 2011 at 11:05 am	(a day in the life, people, research) (1831, 19th century england, death, medicine, romford essex, sir charles joshua smith, suttons)
The year was 1831; Charles was only 30 years old and had endured some horrific medical procedures (never mind the mercury-laiden medicines!). I will post some information about this "last illness" of a vital young man, as well as some of the questions that remain on what precipitated the entire episode, at a later point.
{note on the obituary, which was published in Gentleman's Magazine: Augusta Smith's eldest sister was Maria the dowager Marchioness of Northampton, but Lady Dunsany was actually a paternal AUNT to the four Erle Stoke sisters Maria, Eliza, Augusta, and Emma. Charles' father, Charles Smith of Suttons, pre-deceased his uncle by marriage, Sir Drummond Smith — which is how the title devolved upon Charles Joshua. Charles left three children at his death: Charles Cunliffe Smith, Mary (called Mimi by her mother), and Augusta.}


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A visit to the central teaching hospital of pediatric.
Businesses Informatics Collage arranged a trip to visit the central teaching hospital of pediatric at al-Eskaan on Monday 31 Dec 2018. The visit came as a volunteering activity suggested by the first year students of Business Information Technology department and supervised by the lecturers Zainab Salim, Yasser Mohammed and Raghad Hameed. The visit included giving away presents to the kids for the New Year celebration.


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I have my Master's of Science degree in Child Life and Bachelor's of Science degree in Child & Family Development.
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