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SDG&E Recognized For Outstanding Reliability For The Eighth Straight Year
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was recognized with top honors at the annual PA Consulting Group (PA) ReliabilityOne™ and ServiceOne awards ceremony, winning the ReliabilityOne Award for reliability performance among utilities in the western states and Canada for the eighth year in a row. The ReliabilityOne Award is given annually to the utilities that have achieved outstanding reliability performance and have excelled in delivering reliable electric service to their customers.
"At SDG&E we are committed to deploying new technology that will improve reliability and our customer's experience," said David L. Geier, vice president of electric operations for SDG&E. "From our linemen to our customer care center, SDG&E is customer-focused and continually investing in cost-efficient solutions for furthering reliability."
In the last eight years SDG&E has taken an aggressive approach to improving reliability. A key achievement in 2012 was the completion of the new Outage Management System (OMS), which leverages real-time data from 1.4 million smart meters. The OMS system employs smart grid technology to speed up the detection of power outages, helping SDG&E to respond to an outage faster than ever before.
"A customer-first commitment tends to pervade the company culture of ReliabilityOne Award winners," said Jeff Lewis, PA Consulting Group's ReliabilityOne Program Director. "SDG&E has proven itself an industry leader in reliability that prioritizes the customer over everything else."
All utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America are eligible for consideration for the ReliabilityOne Award. There are a total of five regional awards including Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Plains and West. The selection of provisional recipients is based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients are selected, each company undergoes an on-site certification process, which provides an independent review and confirmation of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company's reliability results.
In addition to the ReliabilityOne Award, SDG&E was recognized with the ServiceOne Balanced Scorecard Achievement Award. The Balanced Scorecard Achievement Award recognizes companies that provide outstanding performance within selected areas of customer service. As a recipient of this award, SDG&E has demonstrated best practices and excellence in operations along the components of cost, service level, and safety particular to an area of customer service.
The awards were presented at the 2013 ReliabilityOne and ServiceOne awards ceremony held on Nov. 20 in New York City.
About PA Consulting Group
PA Consulting Group (PA) is an employee-owned firm of over 2,500 people, operating globally from offices across North America, Europe, the Nordics, the Gulf and Asia Pacific. PA has experts in energy, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, government and public services, defense and security, telecommunications, transport and logistics. PA's deep industry knowledge, together with skills in management consulting, technology and innovation, allows them to challenge conventional thinking and deliver exceptional results with lasting impact. PA has partnered with energy clients for over 25 years to help them understand the challenges they face and define and implement an effective strategic response. PA's ReliabilityOne™ 2013 awards are presented to electric utilities providing their customers with the highest levels of reliability in the industry. PA's ReliabilityOne™ study is based on standard industry reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of electric power outages and has been analyzing electric utility performance since 1987. For more information about PA Consulting Group, visit www.paconsulting.com/energy.


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Fouzia Hameed () is a Pakistani politician who had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, from August 2014 to May 2018.

Political career

She was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a candidate of Muttahida Qaumi Movement on a reserved seat for women from Sindh in 2013 Pakistani general election.

In March 2018, she quit MQM and joined Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP).

References

Living people
Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018
Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNAs
Women members of the National Assembly of Pakistan
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century Pakistani women politicians
21st-century Pakistani politicians

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


There are several incredible Amelia Island nature trails to consider for any serious hiking enthusiast and outdoor adventurer.
In addition to several fascinating Amelia Island parks conveniently located right on the island, the state parks near Fernandina Beach provide a memorable experience to see all that nature has to offer in this beautiful vacation destination while getting some excellent exercise.
How to get there: This one is easy and just a few minutes from Amelia Island. Just head south on Florida A1A S. Cross the George Crady Bridge and you'll find yourself at the park.
This spot is mostly a nature preserve where you will often find people studying the natural habitat, bird watching or taking photos. Several trails provide a great set of hikes ranging in distance and difficulty levels.
The unique Boneyard Beach is famous for salt washed oak and cedar trees that end up on the shore. Take a walk, and you're bound to see shore and marsh birds like terns, brown pelicans, and black skimmers.
There is a scenic and exciting trail within this park called the Big Pine Trail. It is the furthest south trail on Big Talbot Island and will take you on a meandering adventure through a slash pine forest. Red bay, holly, and live oaks create a shady trail—but be careful of the poison ivy that sometimes comes onto the footpath.
A quick 0.8-mile stroll takes you through maritime forests to a sandy bluff sitting above an estuary where you will find a breathtaking view. The area is often breezy and will keep you cool no matter what the weather is. Head down the to the marsh and explore even further.
How to get there: Little Talbot Island State Park is directly south of Big Talbot Island State Park on Florida A1A S.
From Amelia Island, head south on Florida A1A S and cross the George Crady Bridge. Continue on Florida A1A S after leaving the island, drive about a mile past Big Talbot Island State Park, and you'll find yourself at Little Talbot Island State Park.
This park has two trails—one longer and one shorter — that will take you on a journey to see the coastal habitats that make up the island. The longer trail is a 3.5-mile loop that will take you past the beach with the opportunity to see gopher tortoises, unique bird species and other local wildlife.
About halfway into this hike, you'll come out into the dunes capped with palm trees—this is the best spot to see the tortoises. This trail will loop you back around to where you parked.
How to get there: Just under an hour drive from Amelia Island— take any route to FL A1A N/State Rd. 200 and head west out of Amelia Island.
After about 16 miles turn right onto Griffin Road and continue onto Middle Rd./Musslewhite Rd., then turn right onto Sauls Rd.
Drive about 3.5 miles then turn right onto US-1 N/US 301 N. Drive 4.5 more miles north then turn right onto Clint Dr. to reach the forest.
This state park near Fernandina Beach sits right on the state line southeast of Folkston, Georgia. If you're looking for a secluded spot to get away from your busy everyday life with more challenging hikes, this is the place for you. Hikes include a 7.1-mile-long trail and a 9.3-mile-long trail—both are loops.
The waters of St. Mary's River form the state boundary and you'll see some of North Florida's rarest flowers here—including balduina, hartwrightia, and Bartram's ixia. The hikes are of moderate difficulty.


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WIPO Diary (SCCR 36) Day 3: Frustration in the chamber
Publishing industry Copyright
After almost a complete day yesterday with the plenary chamber empty because of 'informals' on the Broadcasting Treaty, there was more action this morning. Chairman Daren Tang recognised yesterday's positive momentum on the Broadcasting Treaty before moving discussions on to exceptions and limitations and the proposed draft action plans (DAPs).
SCCR
WIPO Diary (SCCR 36) Day 2: Keeping things Informals
Day 2 of this 36th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights started with an almost empty plenary room, save a handful of NGOs, as the Members States continued their 'informals' from last night, with the NGOs following the discussions from the plenary room, without being able to relay them to anyone.
3 things to look out for at WIPO SCCR 36
The WIPO SCCR meets twice a year. But what is WIPO? Who is Darren Tang? IPA will be posting daily blogs from the marathon five-day meeting. Acronyms will be flying.
WIPO Diary (SCCR 36) Day 1: Lights. Camera. Action Plans!
The 36th session of World Intellectual Property Organisation's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (check our jargon buster here) kicked off today in Geneva. As well as the 191 Members States who can attend, there are about 60 NGOs registered and participating (including the IPA, STM, IFRRO and others from the Creative Sector Organisations group that IPA coordinates).
Azadeh Parsapour
Words always find a way!
The uncensored book fair of Iranian independent publishers
Every year, early in May, Iranian publishers have the busiest time of the year with the Tehran International Book Fair being held for a period of ten days in the capital. All publishers - except those who have been banned due to previous violations - gather from across the country.
After yesterday's intense high-level discussions about the future of publishing, copyright and freedom to publish, the second day began with a series of panels about the nitty gritty of publishing and finished with an emotional roller coaster and two standing ovations.
Copyright Publishing Industry Congratulations Delhi e-books WIPO SCCR IGC Book Fair children books India IPA Partnership Marrakesh mexico Traditional knowledge
South Africa: closer analysis needed of true potential impacts of 'fair use', especially on education
By André Myburgh*. Ostensible reassurances about the benefits of the introduction of 'fair use' in South African copyright law (Why fears about 'fair use' copyright law are unfounded) need deeper scrutiny.
Copyright Accessibility
This week I was in San José, Costa Rica, for a WIPO workshop on the Marrakesh Treaty (…to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities), and the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), on 13-15 June.
Copyright Accessibility Marrakesh WIPO
Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva spent this week discussing (for the 34th time) how to provide adequate intellectual property protection for the 'traditional knowledge' that is typically part of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.
Copyright IGC WIPO Traditional knowledge
Publishing industry Copyright Accessibility
Occasionally, copyright and the rights of disabled people are framed as somehow incompatible—as though the former may preclude the latter—but to my mind these rights are definitely not mutually exclusive.
Publishing Industry Copyright Accessibility Marrakesh mexico
WIPO Diary (SCCR 34) Day 5 - The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
Fridays at the SCCR are always unpredictable, and Friday 5 May was no exception. Yet whereas the usual drill is the final plenary dragging on late into the evening to enable time for a satisfactory closure, today was a little more mysterious.
For starters, there was more backroom huddling than open plenary debate at times when the sessions were theoretically meant to be live. The chamber stood eerily quiet for much of the day.
This was largely driven by the chairman, Daren Tang, who was anxious that his first SCCR should conclude with a substantive recommendation to the budget-setting WIPO General Assemblies, in October.
In his own words, the goal was to produce something more meaningful than the usual safe recommendation that the SCCR should merely keep strumming away at the incumbent agenda.
However, having resumed the final plenary at around 4pm, Tang then quickly adjourned it again to allow the national groupings to hold decisive in camera talks, and draw a confident line under the week's work.
Today the SCCR talks ticked onwards to the 'and persons of other disabilities' part of the agenda item 'limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions and for persons with other disabilities' (referring to non-visual impairments).
Copyright SCCR
WIPO Diary (SCCR 34) Day 3 - IPA takes centre stage
Committee Chair Daren Tang brought to bear his endearing blend of levitas and gravitas this morning as he started the day's negotiations on 'limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives'. As he did so, Tang reminded the delegates of the burden of responsibility they bear, something that's becoming his signature patter.
He said their decisions 'can make a positive impact on the lives of the millions of citizens out there who are in different countries struggling with different issues', and that copyright 'impacts the lives of every person'.
'I hope that we will be able to move towards something that is constructive, something that is useful not just from the government perspective, but from the human perspective ... the connection of what we do here with the lives of those people will become a lot more apparent than it is now, will become a lot more positive than it is right now, and I believe that's the spirit in which we should work,' he said.
The inference – intended or otherwise – is that the SCCR has a duty to put the greater good before self-interest and other less noble considerations.
Despite this, most of the delegates then stated again that an international instrument is the wrong approach, while pockets of the Global South want it. By the same token, content owners don't see the point, while librarians and archivists vehemently do. It's hard to see a way through this impasse, and indeed the Chair's greatest task now will be to map such a route.
WIPO Diary Day 2 (SCCR 34) - 'Informals' in the chamber of secrets
Today's talks unfolded almost entirely behind closed doors during so-called 'informals', a setting usually employed to unblock a particularly tough impasse, when consensus on the floor of the plenary has proved impossible.
The informals, which take place in a separate chamber on the WIPO campus, are strictly for country delegations only. NGOs are not invited, but we can follow the audio feed from the plenary chamber provided we don't report publicly what is said.
This approach enables the delegates to be freer and franker when wrangling over semantic minutiae that, ultimately, will form the substance of the text.
It was late afternoon before the committee returned to the plenary chamber to report on their talks. Chairman Daren Tang immediately poured cold water on the idea that a diplomatic conference on the broadcasting treaty was around the corner (see previous blog post). However, he did suggest the 'chair's text' be upgraded to a 'committee text'. This is a baby step closer to collective acceptance of the working document under discussion, which until now had only reflected the previous chair's personal attempt to provide a fair text.
Other than that, I have nothing much to write about what happened today ... so let's look at tomorrow, when the IPA, with FEP and Bertlesmann, will stage a side-event with a difference.
WIPO Diary (SCCR 34) Day 1 - Musical chairs, and all that jazz.
SCCR 34 opened this rainy Geneva morning, if not with a bang, at least with the hope that proceedings could 'swing' under the leadership of the committee's upbeat new chairman, onetime jazzman, Daren Tang.
After WIPO Director General Francis Gurry passed him the gavel, Tang, who is CEO of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, promised to do his best to yield results – particularly on the stickier agenda items.
Chief among these is the 'protection of broadcasting organizations', which has basically ping-ponged back and forth across the floor for 20 years, despite WIPO's best efforts to drag it forwards.
Acknowledging the friction, Tang said: "The work has been challenging. Some of the items on the agenda as you know have been around for a long time and I will not deny that they challenge the spirit of openness, transparency and fairness. We hope we'll be able to give this meeting and all the different agenda items in it the best possible airing, the best possible push."
Tang also hoped that his perspectives and experience, coming from Singapore – "a bridge between East and West, North and South, developed and developing" – would help things along.
The 'Focus on Creators' Campaign in Canada, by Hugh Stephens
WHAT DO Alanis Morissette, Margaret Atwood, Bryan Adams, Marie Claire Blais, Michael Bublé, Sharon Pollock, Gordon Lightfoot and William Deverell have in common? Yes, they are all Canadian (eh?)
WIPO Diary (SCCR 33) Day 4 - A way with words
Professor Daniel Seng returned to the chamber briefly this morning to field more questions and comments about his mega-study. A night's sleep had clearly worked wonders on everyone, and the questions came thick and fast from all corners of the room.
Some delegates wanted clarifications; others suggested ways to improve the report. And it seemed that my prayers in Wednesday's post had been answered when the Brazilian delegate spoke. In previous SCCRs Brazil has made a series of utterances indicating a distinctly 'copyleft' bent. But perhaps the wind of change blowing through Brazilian politics has arrived on this side of the Atlantic, as the delegate said: 'In Brazil, this report will provide us with much food for thought in our ongoing internal debates about copyright law reform.'
Once Prof. Seng had departed (probably for a well-earned rest), the discussion moved onto exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives. One of the first interventions of the session was by the Nigerian spokeswoman on behalf of the African Group.
She said: 'We believe it is simply time to determine a functional path forward, for the committee's work in this area. We strongly believe that the absence of a clear result-oriented timeframe for the committee — for the committee's discussion of the limitations and exceptions agenda — is more harmful than helpful to the work programme of the SCCR and the overall objective of the exercise.'
IPA's legal counsel Carlo Scollo Lavizzari, a Swiss polyglot who's well versed in diplo-speak, suggested that this statement could be read in two ways. Either the African Group wants to strike exceptions and limitations from the agenda altogether, since it is acting as a brake, or, more likely, they want to impose a strict timeframe in order to force a more urgent resolution.
WIPO Diary (SCCR 33) Day 2 - The greater good
The morning began with a strategy huddle among the IPA-coordinated Creative Sector Organizations (CSO) group − a coalition of audio-visual, music and publishing industry representatives with a common goal: to protect creators, creations and creativity from attempts to weaken copyright.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Experiencing a pest infestation in your home is rarely easy, and can be distressing. Here at Catch-it Pest Control, we really do appreciate the difficulty of the situation, and are here to help. Any time you find yourself in need of a team of focused specialists for Hackney pest control services, Catch-it is going to be right there to deal with the problem effectively. We offer continuous, 24/7, emergency pest control Hackney and the neighbouring areas.
The most complicated aspect of controlling unwanted pests, is not only eliminating the culprits fully, but preventing any further attack on your property as well. Pest eradication is definitely, in most cases, a job that is best left to the professionals. It takes training in order to recognise, remove and exterminate pests from your household or commercial premises. Our firm was originally set up with one particular mission, which is to keep the homes of Hackney residents pest-free.
We can eradicate many types of unwanted intruders, including moth control and fumigation, mice or mouse control London, ants in the house, wasp pest control, bed bug treatment, getting rid of cockroaches, fox control, pigeon problems, squirrels in loft or attic, fly pests, rat catching, pest control for fleas and others.Some pests, such as squirrels, may become a nuisance in the winter months, while some will enter properties in warmer weather. Others may invade your home while you are away, and live for quite a while without nourishment. No matter what creature has infested your property, you can rely on us to give great value pest control Hackney, and to deal with unwanted invaders at a price to match your pocket. Our main goal is always to provide the most effective Hackney pest control services, and come to be the preferential pest control provider for the whole of Hackney and local area.
When you give us a call, we're going to happily undertake the work, no matter the size or level of challenge. We promise that at the end of the task, you will see solid results. Keeping that in mind, once our professionals have kept the initial appointment, they are going to carry out on average two further visits to guarantee that the unwanted pests are totally dealt with, and will not be making a comeback in the future.
Catch-it assist commercial as well as domestic customers, who want the expertise of one of the better pest control companies in Hackney. A few categories of business, for instance ones handling food products and drinks, are extremely vulnerable, and being occupied by pests can pose a threat to the company's reputation. That's why we're always on hand to offer you highly discreet solutions for commercial pest control Hackney.
Our squad of expert technicians will always do a complete investigation to discern the level of the contamination. As soon as we hear from you, we usually send a team member to your house to speak to you, and also to discuss the problems you have experienced since the pests showed up in your living space. This will be accompanied by a thorough premise inspection to assess the extent of any damage caused by the pests.
Our expert will pay special attention to the reproduction zones of the nuisance creatures, plus their known points of entry. As soon as this comprehensive inspection has been performed, the technician will go through the treatment procedure for you, and provide you with an assessment report. You'll get your own copy of the paperwork. You can then let us know the best time when we might carry out the pest management as well as any treatment method.
If unwanted insects or vermin have invaded your kitchen or bedrooms, you will understandably want them dealt with immediately. We provide emergency pest control in Hackney for this particular type of demanding scenario. It is not as if unwanted pests give you warning of when they're going to arrive! We offer 24 hour Hackney pest control support, as we understand that certain types of pest cannot be left in the house all night and must be dealt with at once.
In the event that you contact our customer services team, they will give you a no cost, no obligation quotation for pest control in Hackney and all of the adjacent areas. Also, if you do not really know what sort of creatures have entered your property, you'll find all the information you need on the website, making it easier for you to recognise that particular unwanted pest.


A decorative work of art for transitional and contemporary rooms. The Circle in the Square mirror transforms a living room or entry hall wall with sculptural form. Circles of antique gold forged iron are joined into a square frame brimming with style.


In this maquette aluminum pipes with modulus 10, 15, 20 cm play the role of the components of the noncontinuous compressive.
To examine the noncontinuous variables among two groups, Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test were performed.
To detect and correct these safety issues in real time, the odorization industry will likely need to cut dependence on human sniff testing because of its labor-intensive nature, noncontinuous data and subjective human error.
5" (3) Noncontinuous CleanSeam[TM] (2) to W x H Seams Continuous Seam for cut-out) (Stainless Steel (Stainless Steel Doors/Dissipative Doors/Dtssipative PVC Windows) PVC Windows) Cat.
A final reason for which we may observe Medicaid beneficiaries with high burden levels could be due to noncontinuous Medicaid coverage during the year.
Jungck: Common fixed points for noncontinuous nonself maps on a nonnumeric space, Far East J.
chi square] was performed for noncontinuous variables * p<.
?Aporta algo anadir farmacos al tratamiento psicologico empiricamente apoyado para los trastornos de ansiedad?
Although in some areas, these interstitial Cajal-like cells were observed to have basal lamina like homogenous and noncontinuous extracellular substance deposition, it was realized that these cells generally do not have a distinct basal lamina similar with the fibroblasts (Fig.
1,8) Topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs; tacrolimus and pimecrolimus) are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the short-term and noncontinuous chronic treatment of AD and are an alternative for ongoing therapy of AD flares.
Jungck, fixed points for noncontinuous nonself maps on nonmetric spaces, Far East J.
The mean free path is "the dimension of the noncontinuous nature of the molecules" (Barhate & Ramakrishna, 2007, p.
The advantage may result because a contiguity weighting scheme would suppress potentially important interactions between noncontinuous states.


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Squirrel Joy
July 4, 2021 July 6, 2021 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment
Grey squirrel munching on a maple seed, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)
Do you believe in serendipity or destiny? That all things are interconnected in a flowing web that responds like a super consciousness?
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called it "meaningful coincidence." Bohm used the term "implicate order"; the Vedas call it "akasha; Goethe gave it the name "the ground of all being"; and Mae-Wan Ho described it as "quantum entanglement": when puzzle pieces cooperatively arrange themselves into a symbiotic pattern of synchronicity to provide meaning.
The universe provides…
I've come to rely on it in my writing: moments when key things of interest reveal themselves to me just when I need them. I call it writing in sync. Time and again, I've serendipitously discovered just what I needed for a plot point or something to complete a backstory: a news event, a conversation with a friend, or an image on the internet. Synchronicity occurs all around us. Birds flying in formation during migration. Electrons synchronizing by the billions and passing through impenetrable barriers. Fireflies flashing in harmony.
Rupert Sheldrake , British botanist and author of The Rebirth of Nature, suggests that "our minds are extended in both space and time with other people's minds, and with the group mind or cultural mind by way of their connection to the collective unconscious." Sheldrake posits that we tune into archetypal fields or patterns and "our minds are much broader than the 'things' inside our brains. He's talking about Jungian archetypal gestalt synchronicity. The notion of consciousness as a global phenomenon that occurs everywhere in the body, not just our brains. "Consciousness, at its most basic, [is] coherent light,"writes science journalist Lynne McTaggart in her book The Field.
young black squirrel lies on the branch of a silver maple tree (photo by Nina Munteanu)
It started when I was lunching with good friend Merridy and we were observing several young black and grey squirrels stretched out, lying down on the grass or a branch of the silver maple. They were obviously litter mates and had just finished a playful romp on the grass with sneak-ups, great leaps in the air, twirls and 'attacks' and rolls. Such fun! Merridy and I agreed that they looked satisfied and happy after their play, stretched out and languishing in the sun. We talked about how playful squirrels were and how science didn't seem to acknowledge this. That led to a discussion on people's perception being largely based on worldview. I shared how we see only what we're prepared to see and we discussed how science, in its preoccupation with objectivity, can take the 'soul' out of life by not observing as much as it could by observing. The concept of anthropomorphism—ascribing exclusively human traits and behaviours to other animals—is based on our own limited definition of what is an exclusively human trait. Who unequivocally proved that only humans are capable of thought or feelings? This recalled a quote of Goethe that I used in the preface of my book Water Is…: "Whatever you cannot calculate, you do not think is real." We are often blinded by our beliefs and hubris.
Young grey squirrel climbs up the silver maple tree, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)
During the 1600s in what is ironically called the "Age of Enlightenment," the highly regarded philosopher René Descartes denied thought to animals; he claimed that animals could not process pain through thought and certainly not through emotions such as joy, sadness, or embarrassment. Only humans were conscious, had souls, and were capable of meaningful communication and language. What he failed to observe—in his own pet dog, even—was that animals other than humans are capable of these thoughts and emotions. One need only pay attention through an unrestricted lens to recognize their expressions and behaviours.
In western exploitive society and religions particularly, this Cartesian view has persisted into the present day with those who still argue that animals are incapable of altruism or empathy, can't reason or calculate, are bound by the "selfish gene", and don't have souls. These persist in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary and ironically serve an economic and social worldview of Nature exploitation.
Then, in a wonderfully serendipitous moment of synchronicity, Merridy announced the next day that she had just read the following passage by David George Haskell in his recent book The Forest Unseen. It was as though he had overheard our conversation about the squirrels:
Four grey squirrels loaf in the bright upper branches of a dead shagbark hickory tree fifty meters down the slope. I watch them for an hour, and mostly they loll in the sun, limbs sprawled. They seem companionable, sporadically nibbling the fur on one another's hind legs or tails. Occasionally one will break from sunbathing and chew the fungus-encrusted dead branches, then return to sit silently with the other squirrels.
This scene of scoured tranquility makes me unaccountably delighted. Perhaps I so often see and hear squabbling among the squirrels that today's ease seems particularly sweet. But something more is behind my delight; I feel freed from some burden carried by my over-trained mind. Wild animals enjoying one another and taking pleasure in their world is so immediate and so real, yet this reality is utterly absent from textbooks and academic papers about animals and ecology.
This insight is not that science is wrong or bad. On the contrary; science, done well, deepens our intimacy with the world. But there is a danger in an exclusively scientific way of thinking. The forest is turned into a diagram; animals become mere mechanism; nature's workings become clever graphs. Today's conviviality of squirrels seems a refutation of such narrowness. Nature is not a machine. These animals feel. They are alive; they are our cousins, with the shared experience that kinship implies.
And they appear to enjoy the sun, a phenomenon that occurs nowhere in the curriculum of modern biology.
Sadly, modern science is too often unable or unwilling to visualize or feel what others experience. Certainly science's "objective" gambit can be helpful in understanding parts of nature and in freeing us from some cultural preconceptions. Our modern scientific taste for dispassion when analyzing animal behaviour formed in reaction to the Victorian naturalists and their predecessors who saw all nature as an allegory confirming their cultural values. But a gambit is just an opening move, not a coherent vision of the whole game. Science's objectivity sheds some assumptions but takes on others that, dressed up in academic rigour, can produce hubris and callousness about the world. The danger comes when we confuse the limited scope of our scientific methods with the true scope of the world. It may be useful or expedient to describe nature as a flow diagram or an animal as a machine, but such utility should not be confused with a confirmation that our liming assumptions reflect the shape of the world.
Not coincidentally, the hubris of narrowly applied science serves the needs of the industrial economy. Machines are bought, sold, and discarded; joyful cousins are not.
David George Haskell, "The Forest Unseen"
Grey squirrel peers at the camera, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)
A sugar maple tree flowers in early spring in Ontario (photo and dry brush rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Smell the Earth and Breathe in the Beauty of this Day
November 4, 2020 November 15, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment
Willows on shore of Otonabee River, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
If COVID-19 has taught us anything I hope it is to live with less and rejoice in it. To be grateful for what we have. To take joy in acts of kindness to others. To live with less is to give more and live lightly and sustainably for this dear planet of ours. Our sustenance. Our friend.
NINA MUNTEANU
Why is it, then, that we have ceased to converse with Her? We no longer communicate with Nature and Gaia. We've isolated ourselves with hubris and greed and the pursuit of wealth and power. And what are these? Do they make us happy? Do they bring joy?
Poplars on a country road in fall, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
We've become unruly self-centred bullies who think somehow that Homo sapiens alone was ordained by God to rule this planet. But there is no ruling Her. Why do we still cling to the ancient human-centred philosophies that have created "the other"? Descartes expounded that no other life or being other than "man" had a soul. Or feelings, for that matter. This preposterous notion has carried on for over six hundred years into today's abhorrent racism, the creation of homo sacer, creation of property, subjugation of women by men, patriarchy, androcracy, cruelty to animals, deforestation and so much more that ails us and the world.
Moss on log in Cedar swamp forest, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
All indigenous peoples on the planet incorporate Nature in their beliefs, philosophies and way of life. They conduct themselves with humility and the utmost respect for the natural world they are part of. They do not separate themselves from the sacredness of creation and the evolving world of matter and energy. All matter is living and has a soul, connected to the "oneness". European settlers dismissed their wisdom as primitive and simple. How wrong the settlers were. How simple the settlers were. This is the wisdom of quantum physics.
White / red pine forest, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
COVID-19 is but one iteration of a conversation Nature is trying to have with us. She is talking to us in words of climate change, storms, disease and pandemic. She is telling us something and we aren't listening. Her message is clear: live in partnership. Live in humility and joy. Live the galanic life of cooperation, respect, and kindness to ALL THINGS in a world with no "others." If we don't start listening, we will find ourselves more than alone…
Poplar forest in northern Ontario in the fall (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
All in Nature is a gift.
In her book "Gathering Moss" Robin Wall Kimmerer shares this wisdom:
"In indigenous ways of knowing…every being is endowed with certain gifts, its own intelligence, its own spirit, its own story. Our stories tell us that the Creator gave us these stories as original instructions. The foundation of education is to discover that gift within us and learn to use it well."
Kimmerer shares that the sage "draws up water to its leaves for the rabbits, to shelter the baby quail…Mosses clothe the rocks, purify the water, and soften the nests of birds." The tree provides a whole ecosystem that shelters, feeds and nurtures so many organisms and its environment. Every part of a tree is involved; trunk, bark and leaf to cambium, xylem and phloem. And this from when a squirrel first embeds into the ground the nut poised to germinate to a fallen tree in full decay and returning to the soil.
Moss-covered Eastern cedar tree grows on decaying prone cedar in swamp forest (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
What is our gift?
Go out into Nature. Touch a tree. Tell it that it is beautiful. Thank it for its shade. Feel its corky bark. Feel the miracle of creation sing through you. Touch a leaf, feel its supple texture and filigree of intricate markings. Imagine the chloroplasts swimming inside, capturing the gift of energy from the sun in the dance of quantum life. Imagine that energy surging through tissue, cell, interstitial water. Then in a deep sigh hear it release its Great Breath of Life in the most beautiful song. Its gift to the world.
Smell the earth and breathe in the beauty of this day.
Ancient red cedar in Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Maple swamp in Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Marsh stream off a country road in fall, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Swamp forest, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Decaying beech and ash leaves, Little Rouge River, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Thompson Creek marsh, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Willows at mouth of Thompson Creek, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu)
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. 2003. "Gathering Moss." Oregon State University Press, Corvalis. 168pp.
Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina's bilingual "La natura dell'acqua / The Way of Water" was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book "Water Is…" by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times 'Year in Reading' and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel "A Diary in the Age of Water" was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
Surfing Schumann's Wave and Catching the Ion Spray: Everything in Life is Vibration
March 17, 2019 March 29, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / 1 Comment
The Wave by Hokusai
Sometime ago, on another writing site that I used to post for, a reader/writer made an interesting comment to my article " Stoking the Scintillation of Inspiration." She said, "I feel energized and challenged to see where my mind takes me in the midst of my mommy days. Often it's when my four young children are home the ideas long to push through the clutter of multiple voices and feverish activity."
It made me think about what it is in those "repetitive tasks" that stoke our muse and how we as writers can benefit from them. Is it simply God's ironic sense of humor (e.g., "You're too busy to do anything about it now, so I will give you a genius moment to ponder….Good luck remembering it!"). Or have we inadvertently caught the universal wave? Einstein once said, "everything in life is vibration."
We are creatures of rhythm: circadian, diurnal, and seasonal. Let's face it; our environment—light especially—affects our behavior, psychologically, physiologically and even socially. For instance, mood-altering chemicals generated in the pineal gland in our brain, are partially affected by the light received from our retina. Our world is composed of energy, light, sound and matter, all expressed at different frequencies. Music—which is all frequency—can heal the body, strengthen the mind and unlock the creative spirit. For instance, music with a pulse of about sixty beats per minute can shift consciousness from the beta wave (ordinary consciousness at 14-20 Hz) toward enhanced alertness and general well-being at the alpha range (heightened awareness at 8-13 Hz, and essentially the standing wave in Schumann's Cavity).
wave patterns (photo by Nina Munteanu)
The study of cymatics, coined in 1967 by Swiss doctor Hans Jenny from the Greek word kyma (wave), explores how sound affects gases, liquids, plasmas and solids and how vibrations, in the broad sense, generate and influence patterns, shapes and moving processes. When sound travels through non-solids it moves in longitudinal waves called compression waves. In matter, the medium is displaced by sound waves, causing it to oscillate at a frequency relative to the sound, and visible patterns emerge.
Using crystal oscillators and a "tonoscope" to set plates and membranes vibrating, Jenny controlled frequency and amplitude/volume to demonstrate that simple frequencies and songs could rearrange the essential molecular structure of water and other materials.
Jenny was convinced that biological evolution resulted from vibrations in a kind of fractal progression, and that their nature determined the ultimate outcome. He speculated that every cell has its own frequency and that a number of cells with the same frequency create a new frequency, which is harmonious with the original, which in its turn possibly forms an organ that also creates a new frequency in harmony with the two preceding ones. Jenny was saying that the key to understanding how we can heal the body with the help of tones lies in our understanding of how different frequencies influence genes, cells and various structures in the body (think of how you feel when you listen to Mozart's Divertimento No. 15 vs. when you're listening to Mick Jagger belt out Ruby Tuesday).
Boldly extending his tonoscope research into voice and language, Jenny discovered that when the vowels of ancient Hebrew and Sanskrit were pronounced, the sand took the shape of the written symbols for these vowels, while modern languages didn't generate the same result. This has led spiritual philosophers to ponder if "sacred languages" (including Tibetan and Egyptian) have the power to influence and transform physical reality, to create things through their inherent power, or through the recitation or singing of sacred texts, to heal a person who has gone "out of tune"?…
This is an exceptional concept…
In a controversial movie called "Water", Rustum Roy, professor at the State University of Pennsylvania and member of the International Academy of Sciences, posited that water has "memory", based on the structure it takes on as a result of electromagnetic fields and various frequencies to which it is exposed.
I'm a practicing aquatic scientist and I'm compelled to note that the human brain is 75% water; it is not surprising that we can be affected by the shape and form of water itself—and, in turn, may shape water with our minds. This is in itself a startling admission and opens up a myriad of controversial topics, which many scientists find hard to reconcile and refuse to investigate, let alone entertain. And, yes, I am edging into the area of metaphysics, "science fiction", and "fanciful thinking". A place populated by heretics who do "questionable science", those rogue mavericks who dare step outside the realm of traditional science to imagine, to dare pursue a truth using unconventional means.
Here's my point: water is important to us in ways science can't even begin to explain. Because science can't yet explain it, should we abandon the potential and its investigation? All good science was once perceived as magic before it was understood.
Let me take it one step further:
Water patterns (photo by Nina Munteanu)
I posit that our entire bodies are sending and receiving vibrations at different frequencies with our environment, other people and other animals around us, inanimate objects, even the seemingly 'empty' space. It has permeated our culture more than you may realize, including the metaphors we have seamlessly adopted in our common language: terms like "bad vibes", "you can feel the tension", and "you could cut the air in here with a knife".
If you think this is all too weird, consider the weirdness of quantum mechanics, which shows us that not only is "solid" matter made up mostly of energy and "empty" space but what makes a solid a chair vs. you sitting on it is the vibration of its energy. Quantum science has demonstrated that light and matter are made of both particles and waves (New Scientist, May 6, 2010) and can exist in two simultaneous states (heard of Schrodinger's Cat?). Let's consider, for instance, "entanglement" (quantum non-local connection), the notion that particles can be linked in such a way that changing the quantum state of one instantaneously affects the other, even if they are light years apart. And what does it mean when solid flows, ghost-like, through itself under certain conditions? Or parallel universes are created by splitting realities? (You'll have to check out my historical fantasy "The Last Summoner" for a unique take on this popular notion).
Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feyman says of the paradoxes presented by quantum mechanics, "the 'paradox' is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality ought to be."
So, what does all of this have to do with "writing", scintillating or otherwise, some of you may be asking… Well, nothing … Everything …
Munteanu, Nina. 2016. "Water Is…The Meaning of Water" Pixl Press, Vancouver, BC. 585pp.
Nina Munteanu's Writing Featured in "Morphology" Art Exhibit
January 20, 2018 May 30, 2019 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment
"We are water, what we do to water, we do to ourselves"—Nina Munteanu
"Story" quote by Nina Munteanu from "Water Is…"
On Sunday January 14, "Morphology", an art/writing exhibit and gala located in the world-class Lakeview Water Treatment Plant celebrated the new Waterfront Connection through the eyes of eleven photographers and writer/limnologist Nina Munteanu.
The show documented the initial stages of the newly created wetlands in Lakeview, Mississauga, on the shores of Lake Ontario. This revitalization project was the realized dream of visionary Ward 1 Councillor Jim Tovey, and was spearheaded by various organizations, including Credit Valley Conservation Foundation, The Region of Peel and the TRCA.
Photo Art by Julie Knox, "Beauty" quote by Nina Munteanu from "Water Is…"
The Lakeview Waterfront Connection reclamation project will extend from the old Lakeview generating station to Marie Curtis Park in Toronto When completed, the 64-acre site will provide 1.5 km of beach, meadow, forest, wetland and islands—providing excellent habitat for migratory birds, fish and other aquatic life. Clean rubble from demolition projects are being used to build new land.
"It is the first ecosystem that's ever been built in Lake Ontario in the GTA—ever," said Councillor Tovey.
Photo Art by Marcelo Pazan
The art of eleven photographers documented the early stages of the wetland construction. "It sort of looks like a Salvador Dali surrealistic sculpture garden…and what an interesting way to really celebrate all of this," said Councillor Tovey to the Mississauga News. Nina Munteanu was invited to provide water-related literature to augment the photography; quotes from Munteanu's "Water Is…" and her upcoming novel "A Diary in the Age of Water" appeared in key locations with the photo art.
Reiterating Jim Tovey's earlier comment on the water treatment plant as its own sculpture-art, Munteanu celebrated the location and the nature of the exhibit: "When technology, art and ecology are celebrated together, you get magic."
Councillor Jim Tovey and The Honourable Elisabeth Dowdeswell tour the exhibit
The Honourable Elisabeth Dowdeswell (Lieutenant Governor of Ontario) was present for the exhibit: "The Great Lakes … face certain challenges," said The Honourable Dowdeswell. "Threats such as increased pollution, habitat destruction and climate change are all having negative effects on much of our natural world." We need strong stewardship, she added.
Councillor Cathie Jamieson with her copy of "Water Is…"
Cathie Jamieson, Councillor of the New Credit First Nation gave a stirring speech. "We are the water carriers and it's in our best interest to respect and take care of our natural surroundings for the next seven generations," she said.
Councillor Jamieson was presented with a copy of "Water Is…" during the exhibit.
The exhibit will be moved and on public display at Mississauga's Great Hall in March 2018. It is a must see!
Featured this year is the photo art by: Gabriella Bank, Sandor Bank, PJ Bell, Darren Clarke, Julie Knox, Lachlan McVie, Marcelo Leonardo Pazán, Martin Pinker, Annette Seip, Stephen Uhraney and Bob Warren; and written quotes by Nina Munteanu from "Water Is…" and upcoming "A Diary in the Age of Water".
Lakeview Water Treatment Plant
Resonating with the Universe
August 24, 2017 April 4, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / 1 Comment
Eramosa River, Guelph (photo by Nina Munteanu)
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? Which came first? Story or reality? Do we dream about our past or of another reality? What is déjà vu…really? What came BEFORE the Big Bang? Did time even exist before we defined it?
The most frequent question asked of writers is "where do you get your ideas?" to which we often bumble some inadequate reply and evoke that indefinable abstruse term MUSE. But what is muse…really? Intuition? Divine inspiration?
In a quote from his autobiographical essay, Philip Pullman says, "It's important to put it like that: not 'I am a writer' but rather 'I write stories'. If you put the emphasis on yourself rather than your work, you're in danger of thinking that you're the most important thing. But you're not. The story is what matters and you're only the servant, and your job is to get it out on time and in good order." But where do they come from, Philip?
In my 2012 historical fantasy "The Last Summoner" (Starfire), the young Baroness Vivianne discovered that she could alter History. Having travelled into the future (e.g., 2010 from 1410 Poland), she used hindsight to recreate a new path for humanity, one devoid of two world wars and the evils consequently unleashed. Vivianne traveled back in time and tried to subvert critical events (time/space nodes) involving Emperor Wilhelm II, Annie Oakley, Nikola Tesla and others. In each case, her interference failed to alter the event in the way she had hoped. In fact, while the details of History differed, the end result remained pretty much the same. For instance, it seemed that no matter what she did to prevent World War I, it happened anyway.
Vivianne discovered that she was unable to alter History the way she'd intended. She found to her dismay that every time she set out to alter a crucial event, quirky consequences ensued and events did not yield to her clever manipulations—as though History had an uncooperative conscience and a predetermined destiny to fulfill.
OK… That's just me being the writer, subverting the protagonist with obstacles played out in ever-twisting plots and subplots. But, what if…
What if… History (as in any realized reality) is predetermined through its harmonic relationship with other realizable realities? Given that all mass and energy is governed and expressed through frequency, and given that in physics (and music) frequencies exist as multiples of some fundamental frequency; then does it not follow that threads of realizable realities, intertwined around a fundamental path (of history), would move inexorably toward a common destiny?
A recent article I ran across on a writer's forum discussed how artists tend to mimic each other's ideas, or come up with the same ideas at the same time. Aside from outright stealing (which happens a lot less than people think), multiple and independent formulation of same ideas is also more common than people think. And it's increasing. Multiple-independent discoveries (and inventions) have increased in society a thousand-fold since the nineteenth century. Some followers of Jungian thought suggest that this is because the fabric of our society is acting more and more like a neural network, learning, interacting and sharing toward the achievement of a common zeitgeist.
What if… the whole of our society behaves like an autopoietic system, self-organized, adaptive, evolving and tapping into—and possibly influencing—a common super consciousness? One related to a fundamental frequency?
Ray Tomes of the Alexandria City Meeting in 1996 suggested that "the pattern of cycles found in every field of study on earth, in astronomy and also in music are all explained by a simple rule that says that a single initial frequency will generate harmonics and each of these will do the same."
Why do galaxies and stars form where they do? Toss a handful of sand on a drum and then beat it (not at the centre); you will find that the sand moves to certain places and congregates into predetermined patterns. These are the nodes of the standing waves in the drum. The standing waves are electromagnetic waves (e.g., radio waves, light and x-rays etc). Consider the "predetermined" beauty of natural phenomena. Consider the Fibonacci numbers and the golden mean in nature. Consider fractals and the Mandelbrot Set, quantum entanglement, and Schumann Resonance. Consider synchronicity, autopoiesis and self-organization…
Einstein tells us that, "everything in life is vibration." Schroedinger's wave function describes us as vibrating waves.
The normal standing wave created in the Schumann Cavity (the cavity formed by the Earth's conducting surface and the ionosphere) occurs at a wavelength equal to the circumference of the Earth, and at a base frequency (and highest intensity) of between 6-8 Hz (7.83 Hz). This is called Schumann Resonance Frequency, after the man who formulated it mathematically in 1954 (after Nikola Tesla described it in the late 1800s). Some call this basic frequency the Earth's "heartbeat" or the "tuning fork" of the planet, suggesting that it generates natural healing properties when living things are entrained to its rhythm. It turns out that all biological systems resonate at this same frequency range. The electrical resonance of the Earth lies between 6-8 Hz. This coincides with alpha rhythms produced by the human brain during meditation, relaxation and creativity.
"Vibrations are dynamic things not unlike living things," John Keely, researcher in harmonics, adds. "They are active and prolific in their dynamics as are their harmonic offspring. These discrete tones of the harmonics interact with each other… They will in a very natural way mix, merge and divide among themselves just like living cells."
In "Outer Diverse", the first book of "The Splintered Universe Trilogy" (Starfire), Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke speaks with Ka, an alien mystic, about music, frequency and harmony. And something called "the music of the spheres". Says Ka:
"…The particular tone of the planet's song is dependent upon the ratio of its orbit, just like the relationship of a keynote to its octave. The cosmic beauty of the octave is that it divides wholeness into two audibly distinguishable parts, yet remains recognizable as the same musical note…We, of course, now know that ratios in frequencies of spectra of elements compare to intervals in a musical chord," Ka went on, leaning forward on his massive feathered arms. "Given that a pitch of sound is analogous to the color of light, both being caused by the frequencies of their waves, we can characterize entire worlds based on these properties," he ended, beak-mouth breaking into a beaming grin that showed his round little teeth. "It was your Kepler—a scientist I believe—who suggested that when planets formed angles equivalent to particular harmonic ratios, a resonance was created both in the archetypal 'Earth soul' and in the souls of individuals born under those configurations…He called it a celestial imprint," Ka continued, now leaning forward with his cup in both hands, "and said that in the vital power of the human being, ignited at birth, that remembered image glows. That geometric-harmonic imprint is the music that impels each listener to dance … from the particle to the cosmic. Your own heart finds its shifting harmony between excessive order and complete randomness, encompassing complex variability—a symphony—in its beating pattern. Sound—vibration—is the language of the mind and the secret to creation."
We are creatures of this planet, co-evolved with Earth's environment through the helix structure of our DNA and the water coursing through us; this is reflected in our behavior, culture, intelligence and beliefs. Our entire bodies resonate with all other life at a similar frequency as the planet Earth. Our brains in their most "divine" state of creativity, prayer or meditation reflect the same frequency. We are a gestalt culmination of light, wave-pulse, matter and motion resonating with this beloved planet Earth. Our minds, bodies and souls "sing" its choral aria. What is muse if not this wonderful "intent"?
So, which came first? Story or reality?
Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of award-nominated speculative novels, short stories and non-fiction. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books.
TVO Interviews Editor and Authors of Canadian Tales of Climate Fiction Anthology
May 19, 2017 May 19, 2017 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment
//players.brightcove.net/18140038001/f31bee77-0591-4478-a007-6b3bbaf5c69f_default/index.html?videoId=5430735908001
Find Your Focus This Christmas–Reprise
December 23, 2016 April 4, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / 4 Comments
How many of you are still running around preparing for the Christmas celebration or secular family festivity? Buying that last minute gift you'd forgotten or were chasing down since a bazillion days ago? Or making last minute changes to your travel plans, house-cleaning for guests, mailing of cards or parcels or meal preparations?
Well, you're reading this blog post … That means you're sitting down and taking a minute to relax and regroup. That's good. Remember to breathe… while I tell you a story…
I'd just finished a three-day drive through snow and rain storms from Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, to Toronto, Ontario, where I was staying for a few days before catching a flight to Vancouver to spend Christmas with my son and good friends on the west coast. Talk about fast living.
I move around a lot these days. It helps me to appreciate some of the most simple things in life and reminds me of what I love most about Christmas: how it focuses my heart and reconnects me. I don't mean just with relatives and friends either, although the season certainly does that. I'm talking about my soul and the universe itself. Before I became an itinerant, Christmas bustled with my responsibilities as primary caregiver, social coordinator and hostess of major parties. After I'd said goodbye to our visiting friends and done the dishes and tidied the house; after my husband and son had gone to bed, I sat in the dark living room lit only with the Christmas Tree lights and the flickering candle, and listened to soft Christmas music, primed to write.
My male cat, smelling fresh from outside, found his rightful place on my lap and settled there, pinning me down with love. And there, as I breathed in the scent of wax and fir and cat I found myself again.
Most of us think of Christmas as a busy time, of getting together (often dutifully) with family and friends, exchanging presents and feasting. Christmas is certainly this, but that is only a shallow view of a far deeper event; and I don't mean only for Christians.
Whether celebrating the holy light of Hannukah or the birth of Jesus, or the winter solstice, this season provides us with the opportunity to meditate on far more than the surficial nature of the symbols we have come to associate with the season: the Christmas tree, presents, turkey dinner, Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas—most of which originate from pagan tradition, by the way.
Says Lama Christie McNally (author of The Tibetan Book of Meditation), "once you dive below the surface, you will discover a beautiful clear place—like a diamond hidden beneath the rubble. It is your own mind, uncovered … Tibetans say we have only just begun the process of awakening—that we still have quite a way to go in our evolutionary process. And it has nothing to do with building spaceships or computers. The next step in our evolution takes place within."
Barn on the road to Wolfville, NS (photo by Nina Munteanu)
Christmas is, more than anything, a time of embracing paradox. It is an opportunity to still oneself amid the bustle; to find joy in duty; to give of one's precious time when others have none, to embrace selflessness when surrounded by promoted selfishness, and to be genuine in a commercial and dishonest world. If one were to look beyond the rhetoric and imposed tradition, the Christmas season represents a time of focus, a time to reflect on one's genuine nature and altruistic destiny. A time to reconnect with the harmony and balance in our lives.
A time to sit with our cat, pinned with love, and write our next novel.
Where Is the Literature of the Anthropocene?
December 13, 2016 April 4, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / 12 Comments
Early on in the recent science fiction movie Interstellar, NASA astronaut Cooper declares that "the world's a treasure, but it's been telling us to leave for a while now. Mankind was born on Earth; it was never meant to die here." After showing Cooper how their last corn crops will eventually fail like the okra and wheat before them, NASA Professor Brand answers Cooper's question of, "So, how do you plan on saving the world?" with: "We're not meant to save the world…We're meant to leave it." Cooper rejoins: "I've got kids." To which Brand answers: "Then go save them."
In a 1976 NBC interview on the significance of the Viking 1 landing on Mars, astronomer Carl Sagan likened our space program to watching a dandelion gone to seed: "I can't help but think of this as an epochal moment in planetary exploration. If you can imagine, a sort of a very patient observer, observing the earth for its four and half billion-year lifetime: for all of that period, lots of things came onto the earth, but nothing left it. And now just in the last 10 years, things are spewing off the earth."
Apartments in Soho, New York City (photo by Nina Munteanu)
The Onset of the Anthropocene & the Great Acceleration
In a Guardian article entitled "The Holocene hangover: it is time for humanity to make fundamental changes", Fredrick Albritton Jonsson examines Amitav Ghosh's interpretation of climate change and considers the need to acknowledge Earth's own powerful and changing identity—particularly through the face of climate change.
Is climate change the planet's way of telling us that we no longer belong—like Cooper was suggesting in the movie Interstellar?
That we've largely orchestrated these changes may be considered ironic—or is it simply inevitable? For me, as an ecologist, this is not a new concept. Ecological succession is the process of ecosystem change and development over time (usually following a disturbance) as an establishing species impacts and alters its environment to eventually make the environment less suited to it and more to another species, which will replace it. Succession only stops when a climax community—which is in equilibrium with a stable environment—establishes. This climax stage can persist indefinitely—until the next environmental disturbance, that is. Succession occurs everywhere in Nature; examples include the recolonization of Mount St. Helen following the volcanic eruption. Natural succession occurs in human society as well. A good example can be found in any city. My landscape architect son described the natural process of "gentrification" in a large city: a process of renovation and revival of deteriorated urban areas through an influx of more affluent residents, resulting in increased property values and a displacement of lower-income families and businesses. Inherent in succession is movement and flow—something Nature is very familiar with and uses well.
"Our planet is changing into a strange and unstable new environment, in a process seemingly outside technological control," writes Jonsson, who laments in a disillusioned patriarchal voice: "The fossil fuels that once promised mastery over nature have turned out to be tools of destruction, disturbing the basic biogeochemical processes that make our world habitable [for us]. Even the recent past is no longer what we thought it was."
Jonsson then unleashes a litany of examples where humanity has imposed global change, including: climate change; reduced biodiversity of ecosystems; acidification of marine life and oceans capacity to absorb carbon dioxide; fresh water scarcity; ozone depletion, which threatens atmospheric stability; and disruption of global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles—to mention a few. "Indeed," says Jonsson, "the planet's biosphere bears so many marks of anthropogenic influence that it is no longer possible to [distinguish] between the realm of wilderness and the world of human habitation."
"Scientists are telling us that the whole territory of modern history, from the end of World War II to the present, forms the threshold to a new geological epoch," adds Jonsson. This epoch succeeded the relatively stable natural variability of the Holocene Epoch that had endured for 11,700 years. Scientists Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer call it the Anthropocene Epoch. Suggestions for its inception vary from the time of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s with the advent of the steam engine and a fossil fuel economy to the time of the Great Acceleration—the economic boom following World War II.
The Great Acceleration describes a kind of tipping point in planetary change and succession resulting from a rising market society.
From the devices we carry to the lives we lead, everything is getting faster, faster. The International Geosphere-Bioshpere Programme writes that "the last 60 years have without doubt seen the most profound transformation of the human relationship with the natural world in the history of humankind." They suggest that the second half of the 20th Century is unique in the history of human existence. "Many key indicators of the functioning of the Earth system are now showing responses that are, at least in part, driven by the changing human imprint on the planet. The human imprint influences all components of the global environment – oceans, coastal zone, atmosphere, and land."
While this notion rings hubristic, there is no question that humanity is now a major driver of planetary change: from tipping the Earth's axis through the creation of massive water reservoirs and diverting a third of Earth's available fresh water to increasing carbon dioxide to a levels found 800,000 years ago—changing global climate.
Geologists and historians discussed how the Anthropocene Epoch would best be identified by observers in a distant future. "Among the plausible candidates proposed are micro-plastics, metal alloys, and artificial isotopes," writes Jonsson. "Such stratigraphic markers must be placed in their historical context. The scientific identification of the Anthropocene with the year 1945 gives us not just a plausible geological end to the Holocene, but also a watershed that fits comfortably with a great body of scholarly work about the historical consequences of World War II."
The Great Acceleration encompasses the notion of "planetary boundaries," thresholds of environmental risks beyond which we can expect nonlinear and irreversible change on a planetary level. A well known one is that of carbon emissions. Emissions above 350 ppm represent unacceptable danger to the welfare of the planet in its current state; and humanity—adapted to this current state. This threshold has already been surpassed during the postwar capitalism period decades ago.
Our Literature in the Anthropocene
In Amitav Ghosh's diagnosis of the condition of literature and culture in the Age of the Anthropocene (The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable), he observes that the literary world has responded to climate change with almost complete silence. "How can we explain the fact that writers of fiction have overwhelmingly failed to grapple with the ongoing planetary crisis in their works?" continues Jonsson, who observes that, "for Ghosh, this silence is part of a broader pattern of indifference and misrepresentation. Contemporary arts and literature are characterized by 'modes of concealment that [prevent] people from recognizing the realities of their plight.'"
"By failing to engage with climate change, artists and writers are contributing to an impoverished sense of the world, right at the moment when art and literature are most needed to galvanize a grassroots movement in favor of climate justice and carbon mitigation."
According to Ghosh, the "great derangement" stemmed from a certain kind of rationality. Plots and characters of bourgeois novelists reflected the regularity of middle-class life and the worldview of the Victorian natural sciences, one that depended on a principle of uniformity. Change in Nature was gradual and never catastrophic. Extraordinary or bizarre happenings were left to marginal genres like the Gothic tale, romance novel, and—of course—science fiction. The strange and unlikely were externalized: hence the failure of modern novels and art to recognize anthropogenic climate change.
Jonsson tells us that bourgeois reason takes many forms, showing affinities with classical political economy, and—I would add—in classical physics and Cartesian philosophy. From Adam Smith's 18th Century economic vision to the conceit of bankers who drove the 2008 American housing bubble, humanity's men have consistently espoused the myth of a constant natural world capable of absorbing infinite abuse without oscillation. When James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis proposed the Gaia Hypothesis in the 1970s, many saw its basis in a homeostatic balance of the natural order as confirmation of Nature's infinite resilience to abuse. They failed to recognize that we are Nature and abuse of Nature is really self-abuse.
Jonsson suggests that these Enlightenment ideas are essentially ideological manifestations of Holocene stability, remnants from 11,000 years of small variability in temperature and carbon dioxide levels, giving rise to deep-seated habits and ideas about the resilience of the natural world. "The commitment to indefinite economic growth espoused by the economics profession in the postwar era is perhaps its most triumphant [and dangerous] expression."
Louise Fabiani of Pacific Standard suggests that novels are still the best way for us to clarify planetary issues and prepare for change—even play a meaningful part in that change. In her article "The Literature of Climate Change" she points to science fiction as helping "us prepare for radical change, just when things may be getting too comfortable." Referring to our overwhelming reliance on technology and outsourced knowledge, Fabiani suggests that "our privileged lives (particularly in consumer-based North America) are built on unconscious trust in the mostly invisible others who make this illusion of domestic independence possible—the faith that they will never stop being there for us. And we have no back-ups in place should they let us down." Which they will—given their short-term thinking.
"To counteract this epidemic of short-term thinking," says Fabiani, "it might be a good idea for more of us to read science fiction, specifically the post-apocalyptic sub-genre: that is, fiction dealing with the aftermath of major societal collapse, whether due to a pandemic, nuclear fallout, or climate change."
In my interview with Mary Woodbury on Eco-Fiction I remind readers that "science fiction is a powerful literature of allegory and metaphor and deeply embedded in culture. By its very nature, SF is a symbolic meditation on history itself and ultimately a literature of great vision. Some of the very best of fiction falls under the category of science fiction, given the great scope of its platform. More and more literary fiction writers are embracing the science fiction genre (e.g., Margaret Atwood, Kuzuo Ishiguro, Michael Chabon, Philip Roth, Iain Banks, David Mitchell); these writers recognize its immense scope and powerful metaphoric possibilities. From science fiction to eco-fiction is a natural process. Exploring large societal and planetary issues is the purview of both."
Let's see more. We need it.
You can find an excellent databank of eco-fiction books on Mary Woodbury's site Eco-Fiction. Mary Woodbury also includes "12 works of climate fiction everyone should read." Midge Raymond of Literary Hub lists "5 important works of eco-fiction you need to read." And then there is the Goodreads Listopia for "Best eco-fiction"
My own works of eco science fiction can be found on my author's website, Nina Muneanu Writer and at a quality bookstore near you.
Why not find a work of eco-fiction and share it with someone you care about this Christmas.
How Art Reveals Truth in Science
August 18, 2015 April 4, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / 3 Comments
Mountain cabin, Switzerland (photo by Nina Munteanu)
It is quite possible … that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology —Naom Chomsky
In the 1920s, physicist Niels Bohr struggled to re-imagine the structure of matter. He rejected the current hegemony of a fractal "solar system" model and sought a new metaphor. "When it comes to atoms," said Bohr, "language can only be used as poetry."
Bohr compared the invisible world of atoms and electrons to cubist art because, according to Jonah Lehrer in an article in SeedMagazine.com, it "revealed the fissures in everything, turning the solidity of matter into a surreal blur." In 1923 deBroglie had determined that electrons could exist as particles or waves. Bohr maintained that the form they took depended on how you looked at them: by simply observing, you determined their nature.
Many of us believe that while art can be profound, it does not solve practical challenges of reality; only scientific knowledge, which progresses on a linear ascent toward greater understanding, resolve the serious challenges of our world and will one day solve everything.
This is, of course a matter of belief. Novelist Vladimir Nabokov once wrote, "the greater one's science, the deeper the sense of mystery." The traditional elements of science have used a reductionist approach to understand the whole, looking at the parts and reconstructing the causal pathways. Take the synapse, for instance. Neuroscientists now know that 100 billion electrical cells occupy a human brain, that every cubic millimeter of the cerebral cortex contains a billion synapses involved in the neurotransmission of electrical impulses in perception and thought. Yet, as Novelist Richard Powers challenged, 'If we knew the world only through synapses, how could we know the synapse?"
"The paradox of neuroscience," said Lehrer, "is that its astonishing progress has exposed the limitations of its paradigm … Neuroscience has yet to capture [the] first-person perspective. Artists … distill the details of real life into prose and plot … They capture a layer of reality that reductionism cannot … and provide science with a glimpse into its blind spots … Sometimes the whole is better understood in terms of the whole … No scientific model of the mind will be complete unless it includes what can't be reduced."
Logical minds will reject art as too incoherent and imprecise to contribute to the knowledge base provided by scientific process. They will maintain that Beauty isn't Truth, that the novel is just a work of fiction, and abstract art the arcane expression of a micro-culture.
But what of paradox? Critic Randall Jarrell contended that, "it is the contradictions of works of art which make them able to represent us — as logical and methodical generalizations cannot — our world and our selves, which are also full of contradictions." The cultural hypotheses of artists can inspire the questions that stimulate important new scientific answers, adds Lehrer.
The irony of modern physics is that it seeks reality in its most fundamental form, and yet we are incapable of comprehending these fundamentals beyond the math we use to represent them. The only way to know the universe is through analogy.
Douglas fir, Vancouver (photo by Nina Munteanu)
Richard Feynman said, "Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there."
While artists rely on imagination, much of modern physics exceeds the imagination: dark matter, quarks and neutrinos, black holes, multiple dimensions and folded space. To venture beyond the regular confines of our "ordinary world" where matter is certain, time flows forward and there are only three dimensions, we must resort to metaphor. "Metaphor in science serves not just as a pedagogical device," wrote physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, "but also as an aid to scientific discovery." Einstein came up with relativity while thinking about moving trains; Arthur Eddington compared the expansion of the universe to an inflated balloon; James Clerk Maxwell visualized magnetic fields as little whirlpools in space. String theory is often imagined as garden hoses.
The greatest physicists of the 20th century thought metaphorically. String theorist Brian Greene wrote that the arts have the ability to "give a vigorous shake to our sense of what's real." Picasso never understood the equations, says Lehrer: "he picked up the non-Euclidian geometry via the zeitgeist." A century later some scientists still use his fragmented images to symbolize their ideas. "Novelists can stimulate the latest theories of consciousness through their fiction … Painters can explore new theories about the visual cortex … Dancers can help untangle the mysterious connection between the body and emotion."
Both science and art benefit from exchange. By inviting art to participate in its conversation, science provides art with the opportunity to add science to its repertoire. And through its interpretation of scientific ideas and theories, art offers science a new lens through which to see itself.
Karl Popper exhorts us to "give up the idea of ultimate sources of knowledge, and admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes."
Window in University College, UofT (photo by Nina Munteanu)


text:
Q: Download and replace Android resource files My application will have some customisation for each company that uses it. Up until now, I have been loading images and strings from resource files. The idea is that the default resources will be distributed with the application and company specific resources will be loaded from our server after they click on a link from an email to launch the initialisation intent. Does anyone know how to replace resource files? I would really like to keep using resource files to avoid rewriting a lot of code/XML.
I would distribute the application from our own server, rather than through the app store, so that we could have one version per company, but unfortunately this will give quite nasty security warnings that would concern our customers.

A: No it is not possible, but here is what you can do instead... Copy your images etc in the Assets folder.. From the assets folder , copy them at runtime in the Application dir.. ie data/data/yourapppackage/yourresourcefolder
Use the images etc from the runtime folder.. Ie In code say,.. imageView.setBackgroundDrawable(data/data/apppackagename/download/themename/resourcename)...
Now when you download your resources from a runtime path , keep an XML file with key names and path for the image as key value pairs.. Have approprite Enums for that in code and store the image paths in HashMap at runtime..

A:
Does anyone know how to replace
  resource files?

It is not possible, except by deploying an updated APK. APKs are digitally signed and cannot be modified at runtime.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A Thanksgiving weekend edition of the Pedalshift Project on which we cover some of the new additions to the site, an update on the Lake Ontario circumnav tour, connections and much more.
Some minor tweaks one day became a whole new look – easier to find the podcasts and easier to find the content. Hope you like it.
Pedalshift is also now on Instagram (@pedalshift) – hoping to use it to show off more of the sights on tours past and present. Would love to share your pictures on tour too!
One more thing… I'm starting an email newsletter – about once per month – filled with the same cool content as the podcast and the site. You can sign up for the Pedalshift newsletter here. Best of all… get a free bike touring pack guide and checklist just for signing up.
Hey, I want to hear from you – like for real: email or The Facebook, or even The Twitter. Stories, tours, ideas, whatever – as we grow, let's share it all.
It's bike tour planning season now that the weather is less favorable in the Northeast US. I've been busily researching the circumnavigation of Lake Ontario for a May 2015 tour. Any interest in meetups in Rochester, Buffalo, Toronto, etc.? Shoot me an email!
Holy sh*t, this water bottle fils while you ride!
Got a ton of great feedback about The Sweater, so we'll do more of them. I'll break those out into a new section of the podcast called Bike Touring Stories. If you have a funny, empowering, emotional or otherwise interesting story to share, I'd love to make that happen… email pedalshiftproject@gmail.com. You tell it, I'll produce it! Episode 010 will include a new story: Louis Bike Touring Experiment #1 of 1. Look for it in a couple of weeks!


text:
Ralph M. Baruch
BACK TO PAST HONOREES
Founder and Former Chairman, Viacom International, 2006 Cable Hall of Fame
Ralph M. Baruch was a founder of Viacom International Inc. He served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 1971 to 1983, as Chairman and a member of the Office of the CEO from 1983 until July 1987, and for many years served as a consultant to the company.
Mr. Baruch began his communications career in radio and joined the DuMont Television Network in 1950. He moved to CBS in 1954, progressing from Account Executive to the position of CBS Group President, prior to the inception of Viacom.
In 1971 Viacom was spun off from CBS and began as a very small organization. During Mr. Baruch's tenure Viacom acquired cable television systems, initiated Showtime, The Cable Health Network (now Lifetime), purchased radio and television broadcast stations and entered television production and distribution. In later years under his tenure, Viacom acquired from Warner Communications (now Time-Warner) MTV, Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, VH-1, and bought back the half of Showtime which had previously been sold to Warner.
Mr. Baruch has served as vice chairman of Carnegie Hall. He is a member of its Executive Committee and serves as a member of various committees of the Board of Trustees of the Hall.
Mr. Baruch is a Trustee of Lenox Hill Hospital and chairs its Development and Public Relations Committee, and was a Trustee of the Museum of Television and Radio, for which organization he served as the Co-Chairman of its New York Campaign for its new Museum building.
Mr. Baruch is a member of the Board of Thirteen-WNET, its Executive Committee, and chairs its Development Committee.
Mr. Baruch is a co-founder, immediate past Chairman and Chairman Emeritus of the National Academy of Cable Programming. He received the Academy's first "Governor's Award," recognizing his contributions to the development of cable programming.
Mr. Baruch is past-President of both the International Radio & Television Society and its Foundation. In 1985 the IRTS honored Mr. Baruch with its Gold Medal -- one of the most prestigious awards in communications -- for his outstanding contributions to the industry.
Ralph Baruch is a founder and a Fellow of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In 1998 Mr. Baruch was elected Chairman of the International Academy Foundation. In 1999 he was awarded an Emmy by the Academy.
A former director and member of the Executive Committee of the National Cable Television Association, (now the National Cable & Telecommunications Association), Mr. Baruch served for seven years as Chairman of an NCTA committee instrumental in the passage by Congress of the Cable Act of 1984. He is a co-founder of C-Span, and has often testified before regulatory agencies and committees of the Senate and House. He has also served as Chairman of the NCTA's Pay Cable Committee, instrumental in removing industry restrictions.
Mr. Baruch has received the cable television industry's highest honor, the Vanguard Award, three of the NCTA's President's Awards, and its Chairman of the Year Award.
Under President Reagan, Mr. Baruch served for seven years as Chairman of the USIA's Television Communications Board of Advisors.
In 1988 Mr. Baruch served as a Senior Fellow of the Freedom Forum at Columbia University.
In 1992 Mr. Baruch was elected to the Broadcasting/Cable Hall of Fame, honoring Excellence in the Fifth Estate.
In 1994 Mr. Baruch was honored with a special award from the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of his outstanding contributions to international television.
Mr. Baruch was appointed in 1994 as a member of the New York City Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
In 1999, Mr. Baruch was awarded an Emmy from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Mr. Baruch was educated in France, is married to the former Jean Ursell de Mountford, has four grown daughters, and resides in New York City and Bedford Hills, New York. He is currently at work on his autobiography.
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Virgin Australia has revealed the most popular food among its passengers in 2018 – and it just cost $5.
While the airline provides a range of food and drink options, the humble cheese and crackers emerged as the top-selling item on-board.
According to Virgin Australia, it sold more than 300,600 cheese and crackers last year, amounting to 12 tonnes of the snack.
"Our guests tell us cheese and crackers are the perfect versatile snack to have on the go," Virgin Australia's head of in-flight services Michael Leckey told news.com.au.
Virgin Australia is offering rectangular cheese with circular biscuits.
Meanwhile, Virgin Australia's competitor Qantas shows a different picture. In December, Qantas revealed that its most popular in-flight meal among economy passengers in 2018 was the Massaman beef curry and pork sausages with Paris mash, gravy and minted peas.
For the International First class passengers, the most favourite meal was steak sandwich with more than 25,000 plates served in the year.
Do you have a favourite food on your flights? Let us know in the comments.


You need to shop for paper items, business technology and storage solutions, so that your business is much stocked and can run easily. Different offices may have contrasting requirements and consequently, the supplies and stationery items may also shift. However, there are important items that are required for almost every office.


Corporate, commercial and industrial campuses have a lot of daily pedestrian activity. As a result, businesses find that radar speed signs placed on high traffic roads around the campus or plant site make the roads safer for employees, pedestrians and drivers. Radarsign's systems provide an effective, traffic calming solution because they alert drivers of their speed.
The Mobile Patrol Stand offers flexibility in re-locating the radar speed sign. Stand can be used with the TC-400 or the TC-600S radar speed sign models.
TC-400 offers the ultimate in portability. With the modular design of the radar speed sign, which weighs only 26 lbs, and the Go Bracket universal mount, one person can easily install or relocate the TC-400 in about a minute.


text:
cd /tmp/volnoti

./prepare.sh
./configure --prefix=/usr

# Fix compilation error. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2215264
cd src
rm value-client-stub.h && make value-client-stub.h
rm value-daemon-stub.h && make value-daemon-stub.h
cd -

make
sudo make install

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub