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Discover an amazing campus at Pace University, and learn to be independent with the help of our incredible staff. Home to the world-class performing arts center, the Schimmel Center, and a multimillion dollar physical plant, Pace University has a lot to offer.
Our home on campus is 182 Broadway Hall, the brand-new Pace University residence hall located on the border of Tribeca and the Financial District. You will be a part of a dynamic community of students and staff who live together in one residence hall. Live in the same residence and participate in many evening and weekend activities with Summer Discovery Internship's New York students.
Live in a triple room with private bathroom. A limited number of double rooms are also available.
Every air-conditioned room includes a bed, study desk, dresser, and high-speed internet.
Lounges, game rooms, fitness center, kitchen, screening room, free laundry facilities, and the Summer Discovery office are all in our residence hall.
Live a short walk from our academic buildings and Fulton Center, a transit center, and a major retail complex that connects 10 subway lines. Did we mention there is a four-story Urban Outfitters in our building and a Shake Shack across the street?
Enjoy 2 meals daily, 1 on weekends, while on campus. Explore a variety of off campus restaurants, cafés, delis and traditional New York pizzerias using our Downtown Dining Pass. Are you a vegetarian? Do you have food allergies? Special diets are not a problem.
Our RCs are committed to the support and supervision of Summer Discovery students. Daily sign-ins and room checks are mandated for your safety. You are free to walk around the Financial District (our 'home area') in small groups. If you have a question, RCs are on duty to help.
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New York City is a great "walking city." You'll also find that Pace University features extraordinary athletic and recreational facilities, and you have access to them all. Either way, it will be easy to stay fit in New York City this summer.
Do it your way. Organize pick-up games or work out at the gym.
Join a tournament. We coordinate games of basketball, soccer, frisbee, and other sports.
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From Tribeca and the financial district, the entire city is within our reach. New York City is famous for awesome concerts, theater, museums, neighborhoods, and major league sports. Prefer the outdoors? Manhattan is home to tons of great parks and Coney Island beach is just a train ride away. Spend your summer discovering everything that New York City has to offer. It's all included in your tuition.


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Disaster opens doors for missionary
When you're far from home, communication can be everything. For Jonathan McCurley – a General Board of Global Ministries' missionary who serves in disaster-torn northern Japan – staying in touch can be a lifeline for hope and prayer.
McCurley's roots are in Central Florida: He is a candidate for elder's orders in the Florida Conference and a member of the Ocoee Oaks United Methodist Church.
While the series of disasters precipitated by Japan's March 11 earthquake yielded hundreds of hours of media coverage, stories of hope and long-term recovery are few.
Beginning the work day, Jonathan with 3 ARI participants
But McCurley and his wife, Satomi, live such a story of hope. Their work with the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) in Tochigi Prefecture is located in the earthquake region and just 80 miles from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The ARI trains individuals for future leadership in their communities.
Earthquake damage around the ARI campus, and the ongoing repairs, caused the school's services to be relocated for a brief period, McCurley said.
"We temporarily moved the school to Tokyo (on) May 2, because of the renovations and the fallout," McCurley said in an interview with the Florida Conference Connection. "We recently made the decision to return to the Tochigi campus at the end of July."
The decision garnered mixed reactions from students.
"It has a lot to do with radiation, their families, churches, and the sending bodies (such as agencies or sponsors) back home," McCurley said. "But we're doing our own check now, and we're as confident as we can get. We need to be careful, but we can go back."
'God placed me here'
When the tragedy first hit, McCurley's supervisor in New York said the mission agency would support and understand if the couple wanted to return home.
"Our first instinct was to run," he said. "I thought, 'OK, we can be safe.' But then I saw what other missionaries did. God called me and God placed me here. This is where we should be. The witness of the people around me has made it natural."
Fellowship rises in aftermath
McCurley's personal focus with ARI has been community life, and it's an aspect of ministry that has been both challenged and enhanced by the disaster and the ensuing uncertainty.
"People here are being very open about their feelings," he said. "They're sharing things that were hidden before. But at the same time, struggles are going on within people.
"I'm learning it's more urgent to listen. I've realized God gives us opportunities. The way ministry happens is very natural, but I'm learning to recognize the opportunities when they come along."
The young missionary said that having a close-knit community has been hard to avoid in their temporary Tokyo quarters.
"It's definitely a smaller area here," he said. "We're all living together and eating together; there's nowhere to go from each other. But the community we've created in just two months would have taken five before."
The current crop of students represents 15 nationalities, rural leaders being trained for leadership growth, sustainable agriculture, sound ecological practices and community development.
"I knew this coming in," McCurley said. "But now I realize just how much food and prayer and conversation contribute to what koinonia really is. I'm experiencing it."
Residents claim hope
While the ARI suffered significant structural damage from the earthquake, another challenge for local residents came from the threat of radiation.
"Earthquakes happen for a moment, then there's quietness," McCurley said, "It's still again. But you can't see or measure (the) radiation, and you don't know what's going on. People didn't know how to react.
"This area has slowly not so much returned to life as it has began to rethink, 'What is life?' "
Just as the disaster was unprecedented, so has been the opportunity for ministry.
ARI community event, post-tsunami
"Now we're meeting with people we never had the opportunity to reach before," McCurley said. "We have been working with the 'Toride Project.' Toride means, literally, to take back – to claim the hope for this land."
Additional opportunities for sharing the gospel message have emerged with so many people relocated to shelters from the worse-hit areas, McCurley said.
"One non-Christian public school has been singing 'Joy to the World' from the movie, 'Sister Act,' " McCurley said. "They asked our gospel group to sing with them at an evacuation center.
"People who want nothing to do with Christianity, yet (they're) singing gospel songs," he said. "They wanted us there, and we had this chance to share testimony. People are coming to church and getting baptized who hadn't even thought about it before. People have ears that are open now."
Earth, culture feel shifting force
McCurley is conversant with the local culture and said that the March 11 earthquake shook the island nation to its philosophical and spiritual core.
"These are a people who thought they had control," McCurley said. "Extreme safety precautions at the nuclear facility, reinforcements, and then a 10-meter tsunami wall – but they did not work. Japan is a culture of 'do-our-best' – a culture of 'you try hard, try hard.' Now a lot of people can't deal with this.
"But we want them to know there is hope and there is help and that God is there. We have this opportunity to be salt and light in many, many ways. It's really unbelievable that this is happening."
United Methodists can help
The McCurleys rely on the support of covenant churches, and can receive new partners. They also want faith communities to begin thinking ahead for work team opportunities in the New Year. But number one on their wish list is "a lot of prayer," McCurley said.
"Not only that we be sustained, but for the hearts of people to be opened and to hear what we're sharing, the opportunities God has given us. Satomi's heart has been broken for people around her to be able to hear and know the gospel.
"Our real hope is not to see Japan recover so much as to see Japan transformed," McCurley said. "This area has not been open to new things. But this is a time for change; may the gospel be part of that."
Read updates on Jonathan and Satomi McCurley's work at his blog http://proverbs169.wordpress.com. Also, for more about the Asian Rural Institute, visit http://www.ari-edu.org/english/index.html.
Financial support for Jonathan McCurley may be made through GBGM Advance #3021131. Donations for relief efforts can be made to Japan Emergency, United Methodist Committee on Relief Advance #3021317.

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University hiring officers call for civil service changes
The state's civil service statutes should be changed to provide a more diverse applicant pool and greater flexibility in exempting certain positions from civil service classification, university leaders said at a hearing at UIC Friday.
University administrators, faculty and staff spoke in support of five recommendations compiled by human resources directors from all Illinois public universities. The recommendations were presented in November to University Civil Service Merit Board chairman James Montgomery, a University of Illinois trustee.
A subcommittee of Merit Board trustees — chaired by university trustee Karen Hasara — hosted two hearings on the recommendations, one in Urbana March 11 and the other Friday at UIC with a video conference to speakers in Urbana.
The State Universities Civil Service System statutes — written in the 1950s — should be updated, said Maureen Parks, executive director and associate vice president of human resources.
"There are practices and procedures that are not exactly modern for today's environment," Parks said. "The HR directors believe there needs to be some reform to make it more efficient, more productive and more fair, and to offer opportunities for growth."
The recommendations call for changing language approved by the Merit Board in 2009. Since then, audits have found a significant number of job misclassifications, the human resources directors said in their recommendations.
"If the language is not taken out, the state universities will continue to have substantial audit findings for misclassification," they wrote. "It will be virtually impossible for a university to exempt a person from civil service and this will significantly impact the flexibility needed for our campuses to function efficiently."
Their recommendations include:
remove language that requires a position to be designated civil service if its description matches the specifications for a civil service classification, and that assumes all positions are civil service unless exempted by statute
create an audit procedures manual and a three-year audit cycle, rather than two-year cycle
modify scoring criteria to increase the diversity and size of the candidate pool referred for a position
allow out-of-state recruiting for civil service positions
provide flexibility for campus human resources offices to approve "specialty factors" that enhance minimum
qualifications in the classification specifications, which are sometimes outdated.
Urbana Chancellor Phyllis Wise urged the Merit Board to accept the recommendations and meet with human resources directors from public universities to discuss the proposed changes. The Merit Board will consider the recommendations at its May 20 meeting in Urbana.
The changes would improve the civil service hiring process, Wise said, but there's still a need for employees to fill other job classifications.
"These changes do not diminish our need for academic professionals," she said. "Our workforce is complex. That means we need people in many job classifications."
Urbana faculty member Matthew Wheeler said he was "seriously concerned" about the language in the civil service statutes that provides few exemptions.
"It puts severe limitations on our ability to recruit and retain talented individuals," said Wheeler, professor of animal sciences and bioengineering.
Wheeler said he was particularly concerned about the requirement that civil service employees must be Illinois residents. In his research lab, Wheeler hired employees from Brazil and Italy who have specialized knowledge of regeneration — "there only may be a few dozen around the world."
"This may force me to leave an academic research institution that I love," he said.
According to the current "Rule of Three" in the statutes, hiring managers must consider the top three candidates who apply for a civil service position. If the candidates do not meet the requirements the hiring manager seeks, the hiring manager must close the search and start the process again, said Susan Key, director of portfolio human resources in the Urbana Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
"Filling positions is kind of part art and part science," she said. "It takes time and effort, and any restrictions we have, we need to find a way to get rid of those restrictions. It shouldn't be based on luck or hope. It should be based on a strategic plan."
The university needs a long-term solution to provide a more efficient civil service hiring and classification system, said Walter Knorr, university vice president and chief financial officer.
"We must have the ability to define our workforce based on the ever-changing needs of the University of Illinois," he said. "Every university in the state is in the same situation."
Providing a larger applicant pool for civil service positions would support the university's commitment to diversity, said Tyrone Forman, UIC associate chancellor and vice provost for diversity.
"It mirrors our goals of being more accessible and inclusive university and reflecting the demographics of the Chicago metropolitan area," said Forman, professor of African American studies.
The civil service statute and rules are online.
Christy Levy
christyb@uic.edu
Campus, University
careers, civil service, employment


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Posts Tagged ''Our Final Minute''
Scientists Told to Halt Development of War Robots
This week's been an interesting one for robot news. Yesterday, or a few days ago, there was a piece about the creation of a robot that could draw and paint thanks to facial recognition software. The robot's art has been sold commercially. This follows an artistic group in France that has also developed an art robot. I'll see if I can fish that story out, as it sounds like one of the conceits of 2000AD is becoming science fact. The Galaxy's Greatest Comic told its readers that all its strips were the work of robots, so that the credits for the strips read 'Script Robot X', and 'Art Robot Y'. Of course it was all created by humans, just as it really wasn't edited by a green alien from Betelgeuse called Tharg. But it was part of the fun.
Killer robots aren't, however. Despite the fact that they've been in Science Fiction for a very long time, autonomous military machines really are a very ominous threat to humanity. In today's I for 15th February 2019 there was a report by Tom Bawden on page 11 about human rights campaigners telling the scientists at an American symposium on the technology that these machines should be preemptively banned. The article, 'Scientists warned over 'killer robots' in future wars', runs
Killer robots pose a threat to humanity and should be pre-emptively banned under an international treaty, the world's biggest gathering of scientists was told yesterday.
Lethal, autonomous weapons – military robots that can engage and kill targets without human control – do not yet exist.
But rapid advances in autonomy and artificial intelligence mean they are well on their way to becoming a reality, delegates attending the American Association for the Advancement of Science's symposium on the technology were told in Washington DC.
A poll conducted in 26 countries found that 54 per cent of Briton's – and 61 per cent of respondents overall – opposed the development of killer robots that would select and attack targets without human intervention.
"Killer robots should be banned in a similar way to anti-personnel landmines," said Mary Wareham, of the arms division at the campaign group Human Rights Watch, who also co-ordinates the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
"The security of the world and future of humanity hinges on achieving a ban on killer robots," she added. "Public sentiment is hardening against the prospect of fully autonomous weapons. Bold, political leadership is needed for a new treaty to pre-emptively ban these weapons systems".
The article was accompanied by a picture of one of the robots from the film Terminator Genisys, with a caption stating that it was perhaps unsurprising that most Britons oppose the development of such robots, but they wouldn't look quite like those in the film.
I've put up several pieces before about military robots and the threat they pose to humanity, including a piece from the popular science magazine, Focus, published sometime in the 1990s, if I recall. Around about that time one state or company announced that it intended to develop such machines, and was immediately met with condemnation by scientists and campaigners. Their concern is that such machines don't have the human quality of compassion. Once released, they could go on to kill indiscriminately, killing both civilians and soldiers. The scientists were also concerned that if truly intelligent killing machines are developed, then they could have the potential to turn on us and begin wiping us out or enslaving us. This was one of the threats to humanity's future in the book Our Final Minute by the British Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. When I saw him speak at the Cheltenham Festival of Science about his book a few years ago, one of the audience said that perhaps it would be a good thing if humanity was overthrown by the robots, because they could be better for the environment. Well, they could, I suppose, but it's still not something I'd like to see happen.
Kevin Warwick, the robotics professor at the University of Reading, is also very worried about the development of such machines. In his 1990's book, March of the Machines, he describes how, as far back as the 1950s, the Americans developed an autonomous military vehicle, consisting of a jeep adapted with a machine gun. He also discussed how one of the robots currently at the university could also be turned into a lethal killing machine. This is firefighting robot. It has a fire extinguisher, and instruments to detect fire. When it sees one, it rushes towards it and puts it out using the extinguisher. Warwick states, however, that if you replaced the extinguisher with a gun, gave it a neural net and then trained the machine to shoot people with blue eyes, say, then the machine would do just that until it ran out of power.
This comes at the end of the book. But it's introduction is also chilling. It foresees a future, around 2050, when the machines really will have taken over. Those humans that have not been exterminated by the robots are kept as slaves, to work in those parts of the world that are still inaccessible or inhospitable to the robots, and to hunt down and kill the very few surviving humans that remain free. Pretty much like the far future envisioned by the SF writer Gregory Benford in his 'Galactic Centre' series novels.
Warwick was, however, very serious about the threat posed by these robots. I can remember seeing him also speak in Cheltenham, and one of the audience asked whether he still believed that this was a real threat that could occur about that time. He said he did, but that the he'd lowered the time at which it could become a real possibility.
Warwick has also said that one reason why he began to explore cyborgisation – the cybernetic enhancement of humans with robotic technology – was because he was so depressed with the threat robots cast over our future. Augmenting ourselves with high technology was a way we could compete with them, something Benford also explores in his novels through an alien race that has pursued just such a course. This, however, poses its own risks of loss of humanity, as depicted in Star Trek's Borg and Dr. Who's Cybermen.
This article sounds like something from Science Fiction, and I don't think that at the moment robots are anywhere near as sophisticated to pose an existential threat to humanity right now. But killer robots are being developed, and very serious robotic scientists and engineers are very worried about them. Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots are right. This technology needs to be halted now. Before it becomes a reality.
Tags:'I' Newspaper, 'March of the Machines', 'Our Final Minute', 'Terminator Genisys', 2000AD, Aliens, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Armed Forces, Campaign Against Killer Robots, Cheltenham Festival of Science, Cyborgs, Dr Kevin Warwick, Dr. Who, Focus Magazine, Gregory Benford, Human Rights Watch, Martin Rees, Mary Wareham, Robots, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Washington DC
Posted in America, Art, Comics, Education, England, Environment, France, LIterature, Politics, Science, Space, Technology, The Press | 3 Comments »
Science Fiction Becomes Chilling Science Fact: Plans for Autonomous Drones
Last week, the I carried a story reporting the debate over the development of truly autonomous military drones. At the moment these killing machines require a human operator, but there are plans to give them AI and autonomy, so that they can fly and kill independently. I'm afraid I didn't read the article, so can't really tell you much about it, except what leapt out at me.
And what did leap out of me was that this is very dangerous. The I itself reported that there was a controversy over the proposals. Some scientists and other people have argued that it's dangerous to remove humans from war, and leave to it cold, dispassionate machines. This is a valid point. A decade or so ago, one tech company announced it was planning to build war robots to be used in combat. There was immediately a storm of protest as people feared the consequences of sending robots out to kill. The fear is that these machines would continue killing in situations where a humane response is required.
whistleblowers on the American drone programme have also talked about its dehumanising effects. The human operator is miles, perhaps even an entire continent away from the drone itself, and this creates a sense of unreality about the mission. The deaths are only seen on a screen, and so the operator can forget that he is actually killing real human being. After one trainee drone operator continued killing long after he had completed his mission, he was reportedly hauled from his chair by the instructor, who told him sternly, 'This is not a video game'. Similarly soldiers and pilots in combat may also become dehumanised and enjoy killing. One of the volumes I read against the Iraq War included a letter from a veteran American Air Force pilot to his son, entitled 'Don't Lose Your Humanity'. The father was concerned that this would happen to his lad, after seeing it happen to some of the men he'd served with. He wrote of a case where a man continued to shoot at the enemy from his plane, simply because he enjoyed the chaos and carnage he was creating.
Already humans can lose their own moral compass while controlling these machines, but the situation could become much worse if these machines became completely autonomous. They could continue to kill regardless of circumstance or morality, simply through the requirement to obey their programming.
There is also another danger: that the rise of these machines will eventually lead to the extinction and enslavement of the human race. The idea of the robot's revolt has haunted Science Fiction since Mary Shelley first wrote Frankenstein at the beginning of the 19th century. It's one of the clichéd themes of SF, but some scientists fear it the danger is all too real. Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, included it among the dangers to the survival of humanity in his book, Our Final Minute?, in the 1990s. Kevin Warwick, professor of robotics at Reading University and former cyborg, also sees it as a real possibility. His 1990s book, March of the Machines, opens with a chilling description of a world ruled by robots. Humanity has been decimated. The few survivors are enslaved, and used by the machines to hunt down the remaining free humans living wild in places which are inaccessible to the robots. Warwick was deeply troubled by the prospect of the machines eventually taking over and leaving humanity far behind. He turned to cyborgisation as a possible solution to the problem and a way for humanity to retain its superiority and survival against its creations.
These plans for the drones also remind very strongly of an SF story I read way back when I was a teenager, 'Flying Dutchman', by Ward Moore, in Tony Boardman, ed., Science Fiction Stories, illustrated by David Mitchell, Paul Desmond, and Graham Townsend (London: Octopus 1979). In this story, a bomber comes back to base to be refuelled and loaded up once again with bombs, to fly away again on another mission. This is all done automatically. There are no humans whatever in the story. It is implied that humanity has finally killed itself, leaving just its machines continuing to function, flying and bombing in an endless cycle, forever.
Many of the other stories in the volume were first published in the SF pulp magazines. I don't know when Moore's story was written, but the use of bombers, rather than missiles, suggests it was around the time of the Second World War or perhaps the Korean. Not that bombers have been entirely superseded by modern missiles and combat aircraft. The Americans used the old B54s against the Serbs during the war in Yugoslavia. These plans to create autonomous drones brings the world of Moore's story closer to horrifying reality.
SF has often been the literature of warning. Quite often its predictions are hilariously wrong. But this is one instance where we need to pay very serious attention indeed.
Tags:'Flying Dutchman', 'I' Newspaper, 'March of the Machines', 'Our Final Minute', Drones, Frankenstein, Iraq War, Kevin Warwick, Korean War, Marin Rees, Mary Shelley, Pulp Magazines, Reading University, Robots, Science Fiction, Serbs, Video Games, War, War In Yugoslavia, Ward Moore
Posted in America, Astronomy, Education, History, Iraq, LIterature, North Korea, Politics, Science, Technology, The Press, Yugoslavia | Leave a Comment »
Kevin Logan's Pick of Alex Jones Ranting Insanity for 2016
The New Year is a time when the commercial channels look back over the events of the previous year. For example, in sport the Beeb broadcasts the Sports Personality of the Year, ITV has Jimmy Carr fronting the comedy quiz, Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Charlie Brooker casts his jaundiced eye over the years' events in a special edition of Screenwipe. In its prime, News Quiz on Radio 4 did much the same with a special, Christmas edition of the show looking back over the previous year. So it's in this spirit that I'm reblogging Kevin Logan's compilation of his favourite bits of sheer ranting lunacy from Infowars' Alex Jones for 2016.
Jones is a conspiracy theorist, who really does seem to believe that the world is being run by a secret cabal of Satanists determined to destroy everything good and noble, including and especially America. He appeared a few years ago on Jon Ronson's documentary series, Secret Rulers of the World, in which he claimed that the global elite meeting at Bohemian Grove every year had sacrificed a baby in a Devil-worshipping ceremony. He has his own internet show, Infowars. His broadcasting style is completely unrestrained. He'll go off on long, splenetic tirades against the 'globalists' he believes are wrecking the planet and enslaving its citizens. He's also done it on British TV. On Jon Ronson's programme, he went off on a rant about how Americans wouldn't stand for the globalists' Satanic shenanigans as this was the Land of the Free, and they were serfs tugging their forelocks to the landlords, like Europe. Andrew Neil had him on his show over here, in which, sure enough, Jones starting ranting again. This ended with camera cutting away from the infowarrior to show Neil making circular motions with his finger around his head in the internationally recognised sign for 'nutter'. Piers Morgan also had him on his show for an intelligent, informed conversation about the issue of gun rights in America after another mass shooting. Of course, he didn't get any such thing. Instead, Jones took great umbrage at the question, no matter how mildly Morgan tried phrasing and rephrasing it, and ended up, once again, ranting and threatening the former Mirror editor with dire retribution if he turned up on the other side of the Atlantic to try to take the American people's guns away.
This short piece by Kevin Logan, who makes vlogs attacking the Alt Right and the disgusting denizens of the Men's Rights movement, who are frequently part and parcel of the former, contains some fine examples of unbridled lunacy from Jones.
He starts off attacking James Randi, the notorious Skeptic, who specialised in debunking fraudulent mediums and psychics, before going on to claim that the world really is run by Satanists. He also rants about how men are being told that they're redundant, but there will be a spiritual uprising of real men against the machine Satanist overlords. He also rants about how it's now hip to fail and be a slacker, have pus and dead babies all over your face, smoke weed and worship Satan. There's also moments where he mocks liberals, prancing around with exaggeratedly effeminate hand motions, while ranting about how liberals claim their nice and fluffy but really want to kill and enslave everyone. But they look caring and hip while doing so. He also mixes in with his ranting his personal, family history. In his diatribe against Piers Morgan, Jones screams about how patriotic his family has been, as they fought on both sides during the Texas revolution against Mexico. Which as Logan points out, would make Jones a traitor if he personally had done so. He quotes the Japanese WW II admiral, Yamamoto, as saying that they had 'awoken a sleeping giant' with their attack on America. He then claims that Oklahoma, and, by implication, the rest of the US, would have caved in without a shot if the Japanese had turned up in pink uniforms claiming to be 'trannies'. There's also a scene where he shouts at someone to shut up, and calls them an 'authoritarian', which is definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black. He also rants about how he is being maligned as sexist and racist, and that Fox News will run a hit piece about a serial stalker of women. They will then show his face, turning red.
This is all highly amusing, but there is a deeply serious side to these rants. Jones was and is a very vocal supporter of Donald Trump. He had him on his show several times during the presidential election campaign and the nominations for the presidency. He claimed that Trump was just the man to stand against the globalists, and is still doing so, despite the glaringly obvious fact that Trump is stuffing his entire cabinet with them. I don't know how many people take Jones or his show seriously. I suspect a large portion of Jones' ranting is just theatre. He's got an outrageous image, which he deliberately plays up to as he knows this will get the rubes watching. It's the same attitude the great actor and drunk Oliver Reed adopted. Reed was notorious for his drinking, but said in an interview once a few years ago that he presented this persona because this is what the public wanted. They didn't want to see Oliver Reed the actor, he opined. They wanted to see Oliver Reed the hellraiser. And the same's true, I think, for Jones.
And his rants do show, in a grotesquely distorted form, many of the issues that do haunt the American Right, as well as wider society. When he talks about the threat of the machines taking over, he's actually addressing a genuine problem that has been discussed by serious scientists. Kevin Warwick, the professor of robotics at Reading University begins his book, March of the Machines, with a scenario set 33 years from now, in which intelligent machines have taken over and enslaved humanity. He has said in interviews that at one time he was very depressed by this prospect, before he turned to exploring cyborgisation. Way back in the 1990s, the Astronomer Royal, Dr. Martin Rees, also discussed the possibility of robots taking over in a book he wrote, Our Final Minute, on possible threats to the future of humanity. And this is quite apart from the threat of massive job losses – about 2/3 are expected to go – from widespread automation during this century.
Since at least the 1990s, and going back even further to the 1960s, if not long before, there have been conspiracy theories about Satanists running the American government. This became particularly strong with the Gulf War and George Bush senior's comments about a 'new world order'. This conspiracy theory draws partly on older theories, in which America is being secretly run by the Freemasons and the Illuminati, following 19th century reactionaries, who tried to explain the American and French Revolutions as the actions of clandestine groups trying to destroy the monarchical, aristocratic order of the ancien regime. These theories were later revived by the Nazi and Fascist theorists in the 20th century, like Nesta Webster, and then entered the UFO milieu in the 1980s and '90s with the emergence of the Abduction myth. This produced another conspiracy theory that the US government were allowing aliens to abduct and experiment on humans, and even create hybrid human-alien children, in return for technological secrets. Several of the people pushing this myth declared that the aliens' human agents were the 'Illuminati', and tried to support this using passages from the notorious anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Now, I've seen no evidence that Jones is racist or anti-Semitic. It's clear from some of the videos he's posted that he has Black employees on his show. But there is a profoundly racist aspect to the UFO conspiracy theories he espouses.
As for the homophobia, very many people, particularly amongst the older generation in Britain and America are unhappy with gay rights. They're also deeply concerned about feminism and changing attitudes to gender roles. This has left many men feeling emasculated. And this has been an issue in American politics with strongly anti-feminist activists like the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly and Anne Coulter, to name just a few. And while Jones' statement that the new, Satanic order wishes to make men obsolete is farcically grotesque, masculine obsolescence was the stuff of journalistic discussion back in the 1990s. Some of the female journalists in the 1990s did write articles wondering what was the point of men, now that women had shown they could do their jobs, and in vitro fertilisation made them unnecessary for procreation. A number of feminist SF writers published novels about worlds, in which women prospered after the men had all been wiped out by a disease. Now this was an extreme view. Most women, I think, see feminism as being pro-woman, but not anti-man. As for the newspaper articles about men being obsolete, this was a favourite topic of the chattering classes generally. Will Self and J.G. Ballard had the same discussion in one of the literature periodicals at the same time. There is a genuine issue there, but Jones is probably taking far more seriously than many of the hacks, who wrote opinion pieces about it in the '90s. Apart from that, Science Fiction has been exploring the topics of sex and gender roles since it first emerged as a genre in the 19th century. One pioneering American feminist depicted a future feminist utopia in Herland, while Theodore Sturgeon described a secret community of hermaphrodites in Venus Plus X in the '50s or '60s.
There's also a section of American society that equates masculinity with militarism and firearms. Not only has Jones ranted against gun control, he's also spouted weird diatribes about the UN coming to castrate every male. This latter seems to be a skewed misinterpretation of the Indian sterilisation programme of the 1970s. Years ago Magonia, a sceptical UFO magazine, commented on how closely guns and masculinity seemed to be linked in part of the American far Right in an article on the spoof space conspiracy, Alternative 3. This was an April Fool's Day hoax by ITV, in which a fake science programme, Science Report, uncovered the fact that the Earth was dying. In order to preserve the human race, the Russians and Americans were co-operating secretly to colonise Mars. Selected intellectuals were being sent to the Red Planet to serve as the ruling caste. Beneath them were a class of slave 'batch consignments', who were deprived of independent will and 'de-sexed' through surgery. The producers of the programme also brought out a book. In the American version, the 'de-sexing' of the batch consignments was replaced with a statement about them being deprived of the ability to carry weapons. Which seemed to show how at least some in the American conspiracy fringe equated the loss of gun rights with castration.
As for the ranting about liberals wanting to promote failure as being hip, this seems very much to be a product of the Social Darwinist casts of American politics. The 19th century belief that helping the poor through welfare provision was a waste of resources because the poor were clearly biologically unfit, while businessmen deserved their power and status because they had proved their biological superiority in the competitive world of business, comparable to the Darwinian 'survival of the fittest', is clearly very much alive and well. This also found expression in an SF short story. This described the racial deterioration of humanity following the decision of an American president not to follow the dictates of healthy 'winner take all' competitiveness. The result of this was that, millions of years in the future, humanity had degenerated to an unintelligent animal kept as a pet by the new dominant species, a form of Newfoundland dog.
And Jones' hatred of globalism is clearly a product of American exceptionalism, which sees America as far more virtuous than any other country. As a result, America cannot allow itself to be bound by the rules it imposes on other nations. Hence the reluctance of the Americans to sign up to the International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, and the long diatribes by the Republicans and particularly the Neocons against the UN. Again, much of Jones' bizarre ranting seems to be based on conspiracies theories going back to the 1970s which saw the UN as being set up to produce an oppressive 'one world' government. This is a government which the American Christian Right sees as Satanic. This will result in everyone in the world being marked by barcodes at birth, and the institutional persecution of Christians.
Jones' ranting and his bizarre conspiracy theories and political views are grotesquely funny, but they're fears shared by a large number of people in America and beyond. A significant number of people are alienated from a political system that seems intent on ignoring and marginalising them, and to some these malign conspiracy theories provide a convincing explanation for the perceived hostility and indifference of the government, or for the shifts in sexual morality and official attitudes towards gender roles during the past decades. Not only are these fears and the issues that inspire them problems in themselves, they are also partly responsible for the rise of Trump and the Alt Right. In that sense, Jones and his ranting need to be taken very seriously indeed, even if what he says is stupid, farcical nonsense.
Tags:'Big Fat Quiz of the Year, 'Herland', 'Magonia', 'March of the Machines', 'Our Final Minute', 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', 'Screenwipe', 'Secret Rulers of the World', 'Sports Personality of the Year', 'The Mirror', 'Venus Plus X', Abduction Myth, Admiral Yamamoto, Alex Jones, Alt Right, Alternative 3, American Exceptionalism, Anne Coulter, anti-semitism, April Fool's Day, BBC, Bohemian Grove, Charlie Brooker, christmas, Conspiracy Theories, Donald Trump, Feminism, Fox News, Freemasons, Gender Roles, Gun Rights, Illuminati, Infowars, International War Crimes Tribunal, ITV, James Randi, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Carr, Jon Ronson, Kevin Logan, Kevin Warwick, Mars, Martin Rees, Men, Nesta Webster, New Year, Oklahoma, Oliver Reed, Phyllis Schlafly, Piers Morgan, Radio 4, Reading University, Robots, Satanism, Science Fiction, Social Darwinism, Sterilisation, Texas, The Hague, Theodore Sturgeon, UFOs, Women, World War II
Posted in America, Comedy, Environment, Evolutionary Theory, Fascism, History, Judaism, LIterature, Nazis, Persecution, Politics, Poverty, Radio, Slavery, Space, Sport, Technology, Television, The Press, United Nations | 1 Comment »


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Business in Asia / Denmark / Finland / General news / Norway / Philippines / Sustainability / Sweden
Nordic Ambassadors' Luncheon Philippines with Sustainable Development
November 19, 2017 - by Joakim Persson - Leave a Comment
NordCham Philippines organized its annual the Nordic Ambassadors' Luncheon at the Shangri-la at the Fort on October 26, 2017, gathering four Nordic Ambassadors and more than 100 executives from the business community to discuss corporate sustainability, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the private sector, reports Nordcham Philippines.
Back in 2012 at the Rio +20 Earth Summit, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development launched a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. As an outcome of this process, world leaders adopted the 17 SDGs as a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which officially came into force on January 1, 2016. While the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals.
The SDG prompts partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society. NordCham president Bo Lundqvist elaborated on the purpose of the luncheon: "We come together for this luncheon to exchange best practices and share experiences between the private and public sectors from the Nordic countries, EU and the Philippines. Most relevant for us is Goal 17: "Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development", where it is recognized that a successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society."
According to the recently published SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017 conducted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Nordic countries are leading the way when it comes to fulfilling the SDGs: all five Nordic countries rank in the top 15 out of 157, with Sweden ranking 1st, Denmark 2nd, Finland 3rd, Norway 4th and Iceland 14th.
Sharing the experience from the Nordic private sector, SEB Singapore General Manager Jan Stjernström highlighted the UN PRI six principles for responsible investment, as well as SEB's focus areas in sustainability: impact finance, sustainable investments, reducing the footprint, supporting entrepreneurship, responsible and transparent business, and engaged and knowledgeable employees.
From the diplomatic missions, H.E. Jan Top Christensen, Ambassador of Denmark to the Philippines, stressed the importance of partnerships, presenting Danish government's SDG fund which is expected to generate 5 billion USD investments in commercially viable projects in line with SDG, as well as P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals which aims at accelerating and scaling up innovative PPPs in energy, water, land use and sustainable cities.
On his part, H.E. Petri Puhakka, Ambassador of Finland to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, underlined Finland's leadership in clean technologies and sustainability, and commitment to SDGs through the national plan, which is reflected both in domestic and foreign policies.
H.E. Erik Førner, Ambassador of Norway to the Philippines, highlighted state-owned equity investor Norfund's key role as an enabler to job generation through its investments in emerging markets. Furthermore, Ambassador Førner stressed the importance of peace as a prerequisite for sustainable development, and Norway's active role in the Mindanao peace process.
Rounding out the Nordic views, H.E. Harald Fries, Ambassador of Sweden to the Philippines, focused on the Swedish government's thrust towards the SDGs through a National Action Plan, wherein human rights, environment, anti-corruption, working conditions, gender equality are in the core of the Swedish way of sustainability. Ambassador Fries added that high-sustainability companies create more value versus low-sustainability companies, according to a Harvard Business School study.
Adding the European Union perspective to the mix, Mr. Walter van Hattum, Head of Economic and Trade Section at EU Delegation in Manila emphasized that comprehensive sustainable development provisions are now part of all EU free trade agreement negotiations, such as deals recently concluded with Canada and Vietnam. Furthermore, the EU has committed 3 billion PHP to the Philippines to generate electricity from renewable energy, and to increase access to affordable and disaster-resilient energy, especially in remote islands and marginalized communities. Mr. van Hattum also noted that acting on climate change has a positive impact economic growth: carbon emissions in the EU have fallen by 22 percent since 1990, while EU GDP has grown by 50 percent during the same period, paving the way for a climate-resilient and low-carbon future.
From the Philippine perspective, United Nations Global Compact recently recognized Ayala Corporation chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala as one of its Sustainable Development Goals Pioneers. Mr. Zobel is the first SDG Pioneer from the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and he is one of 10 individuals from around the world recognized for "championing sustainability through their own companies and mobilizing the broader business community to take action in pursuit of the 17 SDGs.
Speaking on behalf of Mr. Zobel at the luncheon, Ayala Corporation (AC) CFO and Chief Sustainability Officer TG Limcaoco outlined AC's definition of sustainability as 'creating shared value', while citing examples of AC's focus on SDGs by providing quality and affordable health care and education, contributing to job generation and development of cities and communities, and mitigation of climate change through AC's various businesses.
Joining the discussion as a panellist, United Nations Resident Coordinator Mr. Ola Almgren also took note of the Philippine private sector being 'high up on the curve in relation to SDGs', while yet again stressing the importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Nordic Ambassadors' Luncheon was organized in partnership with the EU- Philippines Business Network and EnergySmart, and together with event partner SEB Singapore and sponsors Salarium and Trends & Concepts.
Source: Joona Selin, Nordcham Philippines
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Upcoming public performances at festivals and historic performance center and theater.
Sat. Oct. 11 Taste of the Catskills Festival, Delhi, NY – Performances of TURTLE ISLAND MEDICINE SHOW at 1 & 3 pm. Rain date- Sun. Oct 12. Our appearance co-sponsored by the Catskill Watershed Corp.
Sat. Dec. 6 Sinterklaas, Rhinebeck, NY – Performances of INTO THE LIGHT at 2, 3, & 4pm A dance/theater collaboration with the Vanaver Caravan.
Sun. Dec. 7 Shadowland Theater, Ellenville, NY – Performances of INTO THE LIGHT at 2 & 5pm A dance/theater collaboration with the Vanaver Caravan. Co-sponsored by the Ellenville Public Library & Museum through a grant from Arts MidHudson.
Check our Calendar of Events for updates and then come out and see a performance. We're always looking for new opportunities to share our work. Contact us about bringing Arm-of-the-Sea Theater to your community.
Lots of exciting news! New Esopus Creek space for Arm Of The Sea Theater, [unedited] Video, Annual Report, Artists-In-Residence, NEW website and our generous sponsors.
Our 2014 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite materialized for several evenings last month. It was brought to life by twenty-five artists and volunteers, enjoyed by hundreds of audience members, and then vanished like a dream. You can, however, view Bart Friedman's complete unedited video of the production and Jim Peppler's photos.
Check out our most recent Annual Report. And consider supporting our work through this secure online DONATION FORM via NY Charities.
CITY THAT DRINKS THE MOUNTAIN SKY (STDTMS), the longest running show in our repertoire, portrays New York City's water supply system in the Catskill Mountains. This fall we'll be bringing CTDTMS to seven Catskill region schools, thanks to a grant from the Catskill Watershed Corporation. Participating schools include Roxbury Central School, Jewett Windham Ashland Central School, Margaretville Central School, Woodstock Primary School, Delhi Central School, Townsend Elementary in Walton, and Bennett Intermediate School in Boiceville.
Hook, Line & Sinker: Fishing the Hudson River – A contemporary chronicle of fishing lore for community waterfront events. This project is part of the Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach Program.
Good Dirt – A puppet extravaganza exploring food, farming and the secret life of the soil.
The Odyssey & Other Classics – A potpourri of famous tales for libraries and small venues.
Our Artist-in-Residence Program will set up shop in three schools this fall: Seymour Smith School in Pine Plains, NY (October), King School in Stamford, CT (November), and Morse School in Poughkeepsie, NY (December). For those of you in the trenches of public education: We have received a multi-year grant from the NYS Council on the Arts that can underwrite up to 50% of the cost of a residency program. Contact us for further details.
Construction is underway on a second floor within a large storage building adjacent to our Esopus Creek studio. This will provide an additional 1200 sq. ft. of clean, dry space for our ever-expanding menagerie of paper-mache' characters. Most significantly, the space is above the reach of future flood waters. The project is made possible through a grant from the Hudson River Improvement Fund.
Check out our new website designed and hosted by David Radovanovic of whatsthebigidea.com. It was compiled and launched over the summer after our former site was overtaken by vandal-bots.
Full Schedule Of Performances – Thanks To Generous Supporters!
Our 2014 performance season and education programs are made possible by the generous support of the Puffin Foundation, Hudson River Improvement Fund, Catskill Watershed Corp., Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation, Macy's, Klock Kingston Foundation, Stewart's Shops, Price Chopper's Golub Foundation and the Hudson Valley Credit Union. And by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.


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Customers rely on Automatics & Machinery's expertise when buying and selling quality used CNC Swiss, CNC Turning, CNC Machining, EDM, Grinders, Fabricating machinery, Inspection and tool room equipment. For over 25 years we have performed above and beyond expectations and hope you will join us as we bring you on board as another customer.
Automatics and Machinery has over 18,000 sq. ft. of climate controlled warehouse. All our machines are cleaned, cycled, video recorded and, when sold, prepared for transport using brackets, wood blocks, strapping, package & stretch wrap materials so your machine arrives at your facility in the best possible condition.
Automatics & Machinery has focused specialists in the areas of CNC Swiss, Haas, Mori-Seiki, Mazak, Okuma, Ganesh, Miyano, Willemin, Doosan/Daewoo, Matsuura, other CNC Turning and CNC Machining Centers, Multi-Axis Lathes and 5-Axis Milling, CNC Tool & Cutter Grinders, and Bar Feed equipment. Contact us today to sell a machine or to find a machine to meet your needs.
Automatics & Machinery sells NEW machinery, too! Our quality brands have been carefully selected to increase productivity ranging from CNC to shop support and other production machinery which will help at your bottom line. Contact us today to see what we can do to maximize your production!
Since 1989, Automatics & Machinery has been your trusted source for new and used CNC, and new and used machine tools. From simplifying auctions & appraisals to connecting buyers & sellers, we help keep America running.
Since 1989, Automatics & Machinery has been a trusted source for used CNC machine tools. We lower your costs by placing high quality machinery in your facility at significant cost savings, which helps keep America manufacturing here in the USA.
Customers rely on Automatics & Machinery's years of experience and in turn we assist them in locating, acquiring, selling, appraising & auctioning quality new and used CNC machine tools. It is important to have us help you as we buy, sell and auction machines from all over the world, including USA, Mexico, South America, Europe, UK, Asia & India.
If new CNC machine tools is what you're looking for we also offer many new machine options including: Ganesh Machinery, Cosen, Dake and DoAll Saws, Plasma & other Flame Cutting equipment in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, & North Dakota. See our entire inventory of new products & options for delivering to your area.
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A&M has an A.E.A. accredited appraiser on staff and works in conjunction with other certified appraisers to develop a true view of equipment values whether it be Fair Market, Fair Market - In-Place, Orderly Liquidation Value or Forced Liquidation Value.


Hello Education world and welcome to Playful By Design's blog. I look forward to sharing ideas with you about fun ways to engage your child in learning. I strongly believe in learning through play and love reading research and studies on the benefits of movement and learning (but there is more of that to come…) Today, I want to share with you a my journey into play-based learning.
I was that child that set up a classroom full of dolls and taught them lessons on reading, math and science. Each doll asked questions and I wrote on that white board like a champ!
I returned home to teach as an inclusion teacher while I earned my master's degree in Behavioral Disorders. That is when my belief in play-based learning really started to flourish. I noticed a strong need for children to learn through play. My background in behavior allowed me to look for trends on children's learning and their need for movement. I try to design all of my lessons around the thought process that children need to move. I have even snuck movement opportunities to many of the worksheets that I have created.
Since then, my love for play-based learning has flourished. I can adapt a board game, come up with a movement or sing a song for about any education standard. It is a blast! I look forward to learning from you and sharing some of my play-based ideas.
I also offer a range of education services, most of which center around executive functioning skills and family involvement.


Author(s): Korte, C.M.; Jacobi, A.M.
Abstract: The effects of condensation on the air-side performance of plate-fin-tube heat exchangers have been experimentally investigated by conducting experiments under dry conditions and then repeating these experiments under condensing conditions. Sensible air-side heat transfer coefficients and friction factors are reported and compared for these cases. Realtime and steady-state measurements of condensate retention are reported for both coated and uncoated heat exchangers with fin spacings of 4, 8, 10 and 12 fpi (fins per inch). An initial model has been developed to predict the quantity of condensate retained on plate-fin-tube heat exchangers with wide fin spacings as a function of the heat exchanger geometry, advancing and receding contact angles, and air-side Reynolds number. This model demonstrates condensate retention modeling techniques and possible improvements to these techniques are discussed. Experiments were conducted in an optically accessible test section and photographs of retained condensate are provided. These photographs identify the modes of condensation and condensate geometries observed during the experiments. Advancing and receding contact angle were measured using a contact angle goniometer for typical heat transfer surfaces. These measurements indicated a significant increase in surface wettability during the first 100 hours of wet-dry cycling.


To learn more about looms, we travel in this edition to northern Europe, England, Sweden, and Latvia, before returning to the states of Massachusetts and Minnesota.
For more than 160 years, the Pilling Loom Company provided looms and other machinery for the cotton textile industry in Lancashire, England. Anthony Pilling tells about his ancestor, John Pilling, who began by improving hand looms, built Dandy Looms, and went on to manufacture the machines that were the tools of the Industrial Revolution.
When Lois Swales bought a band loom from Sweden, it came with a beater knife. She acquired a couple more examples and discusses the characteristics of these tools. Her research includes how these beater knives were used.
Brigita Veidis spends part of the year in her native Saldus, Latvia. When there, she weaves at a government-run weaving studio. She describes the types of looms that the studio has and what the weavers produce.
An early 19th century barn-frame loom at the birthplace of poet John Greenleaf Whittier in Haverhill, MA, caught Terry Anderson's attention. She recruited friends from the NOBO [North of Boston] Handweavers to help her restore it to working condition.
Always on the lookout for old looms, in 2005 Janet Meany visited Chuck and Donna Ripley to see the small museum of looms that they had. She reports on what she found. Sadly, the Ripleys died a few years later.


Today we spent time with the Shining Star kids. Shining Star is a program at our church where families buy gifts for those less fortunate and the church throws a big party with crafts, Santa, face painting, and all. For me the best part of the day was when Ryley led me down the aisle and found Pet Patrol. She was so excited to buy the gift for the little boy it made my heart explode. Then to see her helping other kids with artwork and crafts was a mother's dream. Not sure if giving is all soaking in yet, but Ryley had fun and this put a smile on my face. Plus, it was good to know we had put smiles on lots of other kid's faces.
A great day of living the true meaning behind this season!


Genres I will accept for review: Young Adult, New Adult Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, and Contemporary Fiction.
Genres I won't review: Science Fiction, Horror, and Middle Grade.
I will not review your book if you include it in an email before I've agreed to actually review it.
Review formats I accept: Print copies, finished or ARC. E-book (I have a Kindle), finished or ARC.
My reviews are entirely my own opinion, so I will not guarantee a positive review.
I will post my review to my blog, Goodreads, and Twitter. Amazon by special request only.


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Give our office a call at 847-215-9490 today!
Oak Lawn is located southwest of Chicago, and is known for its medical care facilities and extensive park system. The downtown area has undergone a major revitalization in the last decade.


Using the transition of US firms from annual reporting to semi-annual reporting and then to quarterly reporting over the period 1950-1970, we provide evidence on the effects of increased reporting frequency on firms' investment decisions. Estimates from difference-in-differences specifications indicate that increased reporting frequency is associated with an economically large decline in investments. Additional analyses reveal that the decline in investments is most consistent with frequent financial reporting inducing myopic management behavior. Our evidence informs the recent controversial debate about eliminating quarterly reporting for US corporations.


Orpheus, the famed figure from classical mythology, is regarded by many as the first singer of all time. His voice tamed wild animals; it even appeased the furies and the gods of the underworld. Admittedly, one should not expect such miracles from the lieder recitals in the Elbphilharmonie Recital Hall. But the voices heard there will undoubtedly also touch our innermost feelings with this purist of all vocal art forms.
To guarantee this, great performers with highly contrasting programmes have been invited. For example, soprano Marlis Petersen juxtaposes fragrant French art songs with the rhapsodic lieder of Richard Strauss.
Countertenor Andreas Scholl presents a selection of British music by Purcell, while baritone Matthias Goerne turns Schubert's »Winter Journey« into a live installation, together with South African artist William Kentridge. Soprano Anna Prohaska commemorates the end of World War 1, one hundred years ago, with songs by Schumann, Ives, Eisler and Weill.
In the final concert, Marianne Crebassa presents French songs together with pianist and composer Fazıl Say who also brings along selections of his own music.
The order period for Elbphilharmonie Hamburg subscriptions (promoter: HamburgMusik gGmbH) is now over and no more orders can be taken. All customers who have ordered a subscription will be informed whether they can book their selected subscription by the beginning of June.
If demand exceeds the number of seats available, subscriptions will be allocated at random from all orders submitted.


Safe, clean homestays with experienced families that live close to the school. Recommended for under 18. Students are provided 3 meals a day, a private room and wireless internet. Students will travel by public transportation to the school. A pick-up and drop off service may be purchased.
Dormitory-style living units similar to what students will find in university are available within condos located walking distance from the TEA campus. Recommended for 18+. Meals are not included. A meal plan may be purchased.
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text:
Bąków (czes. Bonkov, niem. Bonkau) – wieś sołecka w Polsce, położona w województwie śląskim, w powiecie cieszyńskim, w gminie Strumień.

W latach 1975–1998 miejscowość położona była w województwie bielskim.

Wieś leży w historycznych granicach regionu Śląska Cieszyńskiego, geograficznie zaś leży w regionie Dolina Górnej Wisły, będącej częścią Kotliny Oświęcimskiej. Powierzchnia sołectwa wynosi 591 ha, a liczba ludności 1477, co daje gęstość zaludnienia równą 249,9 os./km².

Integralne części wsi

Historia
Po raz pierwszy Rychułd wzmiankowano w 1416, zaś Bąków w 1536. W 1552 Bąków został podarowany przez księcia Wacława III Adama Piotrowi Czelo z Czechowic na Małych Kończycach. W posiadaniu tej rodziny zarówno Bąków, jak i Rychułd były jeszcze na początku XVII w., lecz w 1619 przeszły w posiadanie Bludowskich poprzez małżeństwo Fryderyka Bludowskiego z Katarzyną Czelo. Dobra te w 1737 Gottlieba Agnet, ich prawnuczka, sprzedała Christianowi Kalischowi.

W XIX w. Bąków i Rychułd zyskały wspólnego wójta i urząd gminny Bąków – Rychułd, co trwało do 1945.

Według austriackiego spisu ludności z 1900 w 49 budynkach w Bąkowie (w tym 20 w Rychułdzie) na obszarze 523 hektarów mieszkało 403 osób (w tym 180 w Rychułdzie), co dawało gęstość zaludnienia równą 77,1 os./km². z tego 162 (40,2%) mieszkańców było katolikami (115, 51,6% w Bąkowie a 47, 26,1% w Rychułdzie), 235 (58,3%) ewangelikami (108, 48,4% w Bąkowie a 127, 70,6% w Rychułdzie) a 6 (3,3%) wyznawcami judaizmu (wszyscy w Rychułdzie), 379 (94%) było polsko- a 9 (2,2%) niemieckojęzycznymi (w tym 8 w Rychułdzie). Do 1910 liczba mieszkańców wzrosła do 428 (251 w Bąkowie, a 177 w Rychułdzie), z czego 417 zameldowanych było na stałe. Ze względu na używany język potoczny 46 (11%, 40 z nich w Rychułdzie) osób było niemiecko- a 371 (88,97%) polskojęzycznymi. Podział według religii kształtował się następująco: 205 (47,9%, w tym 135 w Bąkowie i 70 w Rychułdzie) katolików, 214 (50%, w tym 116 w Bąkowie i 98 w Rychułdzie) ewangelików i 9 (2,1%, wszyscy w Rychułdzie) wyznawców judaizmu.

Po zakończeniu I wojny światowej tereny, na których leży miejscowość - Śląsk Cieszyński stał się punktem sporu pomiędzy Polską i Czechosłowacją. W 1918 roku na bazie Straży Obywatelskiej miejscowi Polacy utworzyli lokalny oddział Milicji Polskiej Śląska Cieszyńskiego, który podlegał organizacyjnie 13 kompanii w Strumieniu.

Religia
Na terenie wsi działalność duszpasterską prowadzą następujące Kościoły:
 Kościół Ewangelicko-Augsburski (filiał parafii w Drogomyślu);
 Kościół Rzymskokatolicki (parafia Miłosierdzia Bożego).

Edukacja
 Zespół Szkolno-Przedszkolny;
 Przedszkole;
 Szkoła Podstawowa.

Galeria

Przypisy

Bibliografia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Ever since I first saw an advertisement for Whistlefritz I have wanted to give their products a try. I was so excited to see them on our Crew Vendor List this year and could hardly wait to apply for this review. I was so happy when we were selected to give their Educator's Spanish Collection a try!
We were sent the complete Educator's Spanish Collection from Whistlefritz. This package costs $165. It was created to be used with children in the Early Education years.
Whistlefritz is a fun program to use for learning Spanish in the early years. The fun DVD's keep your child entertained as they learn basic Spanish words. The adorably entertaining characters keep your child engaged in the program as they learn. The games also help to keep the child interested and engaged when learning new Spanish words and comprehension of these new words.
Another fun aspect is that the program includes live, native speaking adults and children. This helps children with annunciation of the words they are learning. Plus children love seeing other children using the language they are learning!
It's never too early to introduce your child to a second language. Whistleftitz provides all the things you need to make this happen in your home with ease. This is a complete program that is fun to use.
First we began by watching the DVD videos and following along. My kids love entertaining DVD's that teach them fun things. They were immediately intrigued by the adorable characters teaching them this new language.
Don's grandmother is Spanish so the kids were even more excited to learn a language related to their family. Anything related to their ancestry is exciting to us as a family. So this was another complete bonus for us all.
Jackson, in particular, loved the flashcards. Even though this is a game, he really wouldn't let us use it as such. He's a big card collector so these were added into his stash. Emmalee and I would talk with him and Laycie about the words on the cards. He really enjoys the Fox that is on them in different poses, teaching him the new words.
I liked the Spanish Lesson Plans for Kids workbook. It was easy to use. The lessons are not hard and are easy to adapt as needed. The games are fun and help the kids better understand what they were learning from the videos. I look forward to working with this more throughout the year.
Emma enjoyed the CDs. She likes to listen to learn. Even though she's older, she enjoyed learning the pronunciation of new Spanish words with these CD's. They didn't bore her like other Spanish programs have in the past.
Whistlefritz is available online. They offer the Educator's Spanish Collection and the Educator's French Collection, as well.
To Read More Reviews, Click The Banner Below!


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February 2012 Catalogue
IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971): The Firebird, Greeting Prelude, STRAVINSKY/TCHAIKOVSKY: Pas-de-deux "Bluebird" from Sleeping Beauty, STRAVINSKY/SIBELIUS: Canzonetta, Op. 62a, STRAVINSKY/ CHOPIN: Nocturne in A Flat, Op. 32/1, Grande Valse Brillante, Op. 18.
Catalogue Number: 02N053
Label: BIS
Reference: SACD-1874
Description: Needless to say, this is here for the 23 minutes of Stravinsky arrangements of other composer's music. The two Chopin pieces were commissioned in 1909 by Diaghilev for an expansion of Fokine's ballet Chopiniana. Later called Les Sylphides, these were used to begin and end the ballet but quickly dropped from use and were never published. The Tchaikovsky numbers, originally cut from the ballet's 1890 premiere, were only available in piano score when Diaghilev asked for orchestrations in 1921, while the Sibelius piece was arranged from the string orchestra original in 1963 for four horns, clarinet, bass clarinet, harp and double bass. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Andrew Litton. SACD hybrid
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in your kitchen or in the garden, the Domepod is a true must have.
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text:
« Illegal Aliens Found Working On ICBM Headquarters | Read More Posts On ParaPundit | Uday Hussein Tortures Iraqi Athletes Who Lose »
2003 March 23 Sunday
On The Plight Of The North Koreans
First we look at aid flowing into North Korea and where it is going. Then we look at the North Koreans who, out of desperation and hunger, try to leave North Korea to get food in China and to get to a country where they are less likely to starve to death or to be killed.
In a 2001 article Fiona Terry of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) explains why Médecins Sans Frontières withdrew from North Korea.
Refugee testimonies corroborate this: some report having carried food from military storage to nurseries before a UN visit, and others speak of being mobilised to dig up areas to exacerbate flood damage in preparation for a UN inspection.
MSF began to understand that the North Korean government categorises its population according to perceived loyalty and usefulness to the regime, and those deemed hostile or useless were expendable. In fact, in 1996, Kim Jong-il publicly declared that only 30% of the population needed to survive to reconstruct a victorious society. With no possibility of directing aid to those most in need, MSF withdrew.
A May 14, 2001 Le Monde article by Philippe Pons shows Kim Dae-Jung's Sunshine Policy has done little to help the North Korean people.
Since the visit of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to Pyongyang, it appears that the prisoners are treated better: "In general, if we are caught going to or coming back from China, we are interrogated, beaten with clubs, and robbed of everything we have. But it seems like Kim Jong-il has said that refugees are harmless and that as a consequence should not be beaten anymore," says the wood carrier. Apart from this he sees no change: "When Kim DJ came, we had great hopes. We thought that all would be fixed. And then nothing changed. Today, we expect nothing. We even wonder whether he really came." Does the population accept this situation? "To revolt? It's unthinkable! If you raise your head, it is chopped. You and your family," he says.
All refugees know that their country receives foreign aid. But few among them claim having received any. The wood carrier heard on South Korean radio (which is forbidden) that tons of rice had arrived from South Korea and the US. "I never saw any of it, and I wonder if the South didn't lie about that," he says. In Chongjin, a youth heard that when a ship carrying aid is unloaded under UN watch, the military dresses as civilians and maneuvers to take everything. Another refugee from Onsong says that several times he carried aid bags in 1997 and 1998 from a hangar where the food was stocked "in case of war" to a kindergarten, in anticipation of a UN inspection.
Has food aid to North Korea simply allowed the North Korean regime to spend less money to import food so that it can spend the money on importing arms and supplies for its military? Had there never been any foreign aid at all would there be any fewer people alive in North Korea today?
Suzanne Scholte, President of Defense Forum Foundation, says the aid is going to the North Korean military.
We hear again and again from defectors that they never saw any humanitarian aid. When Colonel Choi testified in the US in 1997, he said that 100% of the aid was being diverted. He said while the NGOs are present, the aid is distributed to the families, but as soon as the NGO trucks drive out of town, the army goes back in and takes all the food back. Furthermore, when I was in Tokyo in 1999 at the International Forum on North Korean Returnees hosted by Professor Haruhisa Ogawa, I stated that all humanitarian aid should be stopped. It was controversial at the time and not many people would join me in this demand. But after my remarks, two Japanese women secretly approached me. They had recently been to North Korea to see their families. They confirmed exactly what Colonel Choi said. Their families were forced to sign papers stating they had received a certain quantity of rice, but the army took the rice as soon as the NGOs left the area. But the paper signed by the family was shown to the NGOs to convince them the aid had been received by the family.
The North Korean refugees are badly treated by the governments of China and North Korea and the South Koreans are for the most part not happy to see them showing up in South Korea.
North Koreans who manage to make it to South Korea have to spend a year under control of the government before being allowed out into society. One of the reasons cited by the South Korean government for this approach is the understandable fear of spies. However, another reasons is to keep out Korean-Chinese.
But a NIS spokesperson said the reason "might be that you can't do a press conference when you don't even know if they are real refugees or not." They could be Korean-Chinese from China trying to sneak into Korea disguised as defectors to work illegally, or they could be spies, he said. Fair enough, except it is hard to see what the security risk is here. And why would any self-respecting North Korean spy pick such a difficult way to get into porous South Korea?
The reference to Korean-Chinese is meant in the same way that one uses hyphenation of ethnicity and nationality in the United States. There are a large number of ethnic Koreans who have long lived in China as Chinese citizens.
The Northeast of China has a 2 million-strong ethnic Korean minority, is home to some of its worst performing State Owned Enterprises, and its cities "boast" near 40 percent unemployment.
Think about this. There are over 20 million North Koreans living a horrible existence. Some starve to death every day. Others are either outright killed by the government or die from the abuse of torture and from being kept in horrible prisons. As a result there are estimates of North Koreans living in Northeast China that run from 100,000 and up as high as 300,000. In the face of this the South Korean government is not making a large concerted effort to help the North Koreans living in China to make it to South Korea. The South Korean government is more concerned with keeping Korean-Chinese out of South Korea.
Those Korean-Chinese are in China in part due to the legacy of Japanese colonial rule over North and Manchuria. Some were also sent there (willingly? Its not clear) during the earlier years of Mao's reign in China. North Korean refugees in China attempt to pretend to be Korean-Chinese in order to blend in.
One can find terrible suffering and injustice in many parts of the world. But in terms of lack of freedom and sheer repressiveness North Korea has no peers. Next door to it is a highly advanced and industrialized society populated by people of the same ethnicity. You might expect South Korea to be eager to help the North Koreans who make it to China. After all, in theory at least all North Koreans are eligible for South Korean citizenship.
South Korea has a long-standing policy of accepting North Korean refugees. However, as the number of North Korean refugees increased, procedures for acceptance became longer and the package offered by South Korea to new refugees was reduced. Recently several court rulings were issued which determined that every North Korean was, according to the South Korean constitution also a South Korean. It is not clear yet how these court rulings will influence asylum procedures. North Korean refugees who have been accepted by South Korea appear to have considerable difficulties adjusting to South Korean society.
One comes across accounts of North Koreans who have made it out of China and into other countries who are waiting in those countries to get visas to travel to South Korea.
The number of North Koreans who have made it all the way to South Korea since 1954 is pitifully small.
The US wants neighboring countries to help allow the escape of North Koreans, hoping that emigration can speed up regime change in North Korea, much as it did in Eastern Europe. South Korea's Constitution provides that North Koreans can become citizens of the South, but only about 2,000 North Korean refugees have been accepted since 1954. China asserts that North Koreans are economic migrants, and has since 1999 refused to allow the UNHCR to interview those in China. The US is expected to pressure the new South Korean government to accept more North Koreans, thus encouraging China to establish refugee camps.
There are people who think that the North Korean regime could be brought down by a massive outflux of refugees. Keep that in mind as you read along here.
The incredibly small number of North Koreans who make it to South Korea are already viewed as a problem in South Korea.
The first gathering of international NGOs to discuss North Korean human rights in October 1999 originally placed this issue on the bilateral agenda between Beijing and Seoul (see "Deepening Intimacy and Increased Economic Exchange," Comparative Connections, Vol. 1, No. 3). Estimates of the number of North Korean refugees illegally staying primarily in Jilin and Liaoning Provinces in the PRC range from official estimates of 10,000-30,000 to unofficial estimates of 100,000-300,000. From the mid-1990s, the flow of North Korean defectors has increased exponentially to over 148 in 1999, over 312 in 2000, and over 583 last year. This year, defections are occurring at a slightly higher rate than in 2001, and the adaptation of North Korean defectors to South Korean society is a social strain that is just beginning to emerge in Seoul.
Put these numbers into perspective. South Korea has a total population of 48 million people. They could easily absorb all the North Koreans currently hiding in China. If the South Korean government really cared it would be trying very hard to help the North Koreans in China to reach South Korea. Instead, the work of helping the North Koreans in China is carried out by private groups with no official support. These groups are being cracked down on by the Chinese government and their effectiveness is decreasing.
While the number of North Koreans who have made it to South Korea has risen dramatically in the last few years the total number of refugees who make it to South Korea is still an incredibly small percentage of the total number of refugees who try to leave North Korea.
Some 538 North Koreans resettled in South Korea in 2001, double the number of resettlers or defectors in 2000; a total of 2,000 North Koreans live in the south. Between January and March 2002, 162 North Koreans have reached South Korea. The numbers are expected to climb as more North Koreans flee the chronic food shortages and extraordinary isolation that make life so difficult at home. However, once in the south, many have a hard time integrating - their unemployment rate is very high, and many live entirely on government assistance.
The number who make it from China to South Korea is well less than 1 percent of the number who make it as far as China.
While I haven't been able to find a figure for the total number of North Korean refugees who made it to South Korea in 2002 the 162 number for the first quarter probably translates into a number that is less than 1,000 for the entire year of 2002. That figure might represent a high point because China is cracking down on the North Koreans living in China.
The humanitarian aid workers who attempt to rescue North Korean refugees face the brutal determination of the Chinese authorities, who deem the assistance of North Korean refugees as a criminal offense... Predictably, in this context, support for North Korean refugees in distress is diminishing and assisting them has become a challenge that increasingly few aid organizations, crushed by this sanction policy, are able to undertake.
In late 2002 China launched a massive effort to hunt down the North Koreans living in China to return them to North Korea.
Within the past three years, China has arrested and forcibly repatriated thousands of North Koreans in flight from their own country in search of asylum and assistance. Since early December 2002, as a way to definitively eliminate the embarrassing question of North Korean refugees, China has launched a new manhunt in collusion with North Korean security services. As of mid-January 2003, 3200 North Korean civilians in China have already been repatriated as a result of this so-called "100 day campaign". 1300 others are awaiting their repatriation in the detention centers of Tumen and Longjing. The systematic and organized dragnet taking place in China leaves North Korean refugees no other alternative than a desperate flight to a third country, at the risk of their very lives.
It is difficult to know how successful this campaign has been. Some sources claim that the number of North Korean refugees in China has dropped by a full order of magnitude. However, without access to secret Chinese and North Korean figures about the rate of deportation of people back into North Korea it's hard to know how credible those estimates are.
South Korea says it can't do much about the refugees but it really doesn't want to anyway.
South Korea feels that it must tread lightly, given the geopolitical realities. Foreign Minister Soon Young Hong took some heat for his cautious attitude.[13] Although some NGOs have called attention to the refugees' plight,[14] The South Korean media have been discouraged from reporting on the problem. In 1999, only 149 North Koreans were accepted as immigrants. True, that was more than double the number of defectors allowed to immigrate to the South during the previous five years. However, the number is small in comparison with how many would like to come. The government is ill-equipped to handle incoming refugees, and there is little support among the South Korean population for a large influx of Northerners.
This "tread lightly" comment is nonsense. The Chinese government wants South Korean investment, know-how and trade. South Korea has levers it could use with China if South Korea really cared about the North Korean refugees.
So let's summarize. China sees North Korean refugees as a nuisance and as competitors for jobs in an economically depressed region. Plus, China doesn't want a large outflux of refugees from North Korea to bring down the North Korean regime because China wants North Korea as a buffer against bad democratic and American influences. Also, China doesn't want its own people to see a nearby regime be overthrown since such an event might give Chinese people ideas.
South Korea wants to keep their poor ethnic distant relatives north of the border. South Korea also wants to do business with China without having the refugees complicating business relations.
Let's be clear about this. The policies of the South Korean and Chinese governments toward the North Korean people are morally reprehensible. The South Koreans (with exception of some Christian South Korean private groups and perhaps some other private groups) only care about themselves in South Korea. The Chinese leaders mainly care about their maintaining their control of their own regime. These folks are not exactly overwhelmed with compassion for their fellow man.
In light of all of this it is not surprising that these countries are similarly not being incredibly helpful in response to US attempts to prevent North Korea from becoming a Nuclear KMart to the world. After all, if they are not going to care about about 20 million people close by who live on the brink of starvation (or who pass over the brink daily) why are they going to care about the fate of people living in distant cities who might get nuked by terrorists who may some day acquire nuclear weapons from the North Korean regime?
Share | By Randall Parker at 2003 March 23 04:28 PM Korea
Michael said at March 23, 2003 7:20 PM:
Then it seems that crafting a balance of power system there is our only real option.No one seems to have any real interest in changing the staus quo.What we can do without substantial support is severly limited.So,slowly(or not so slowly) disengage and let China,SK and Japan deal with it.Our contemplation of leaving SK certainly prompted a quick change in tone there and I suspect that if the choice for China is NK or a nuclear armed Japan,they might suddenly discover that NK isn't that important to them after all.
Randall Parker said at March 23, 2003 9:56 PM:
As I've previously discussed, if Haesook Chae is correct then China may be willing to accept Japan as a nuclear power.
We have a problem: North Korea as a nuclear power is North Korea as Nuclear KMart. Withdrawal from the scene may lead to disaster for our cities.
razib said at March 24, 2003 2:52 AM:
great article randall! the "sunshine policy" will probably seem as moronic in hindsight as ostpolitik. the problem with democracies with a liberal inclination is that they are just too liberal with despotisms in giving them the benefit of the doubt.
as far the north korean regime goes-from all i've read, it seems that they have revived the ancient egyptian god-king polity.
Shelly said at May 20, 2004 1:22 AM:
Reuters reporter that Juliana Liu has a report from Dandong, China on the North Korean refugee situation from the perspective of Chinese people who have close ties with North Koreans on the other side of the border.
She quotes a laid-off Chinese factory worker:
"North Korean women make good wives. They are beautiful and hard-working," he said, echoing an oft-repeated view. "It doesn't cost much to buy a North Korean girl for a wife and just a few thousand kwai (hundreds of dollars) to get them a residency permit."
What a Shame !