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This Just In: War Is Hard
Published on March 1, 2022 March 5, 2022 by thekingsnecktie
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is proving to be far harder than the Kremlin—and indeed, most outside observers—expected. This is above all a tribute to the grit and determination of the Ukrainian people, whom many expected, through no fault of their own, to be little more than speed bumps under the treads of Russian armor barreling toward Kyiv.
They have been anything but.
It is also due in part to skillful diplomacy by the West, and—ironically—a revitalized and freshly unified Western alliance, with Vlad the unintentional agent of that revitalization.
But the mess Russia faces is also an immutable principle of armed conflict.
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy," as the old saying goes. (Attributed to the 19th century Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke, the elder, the literal quote is: "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main enemy force," or "Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus," if you want to be Teutonic about it.)
Or in the words of Mike Tyson: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
Putin has taken several punches in the mouth over the last few days, both on the literal battlefield and the metaphorical one.
To this old soldier, the first sign of trouble was the sight of Russian fighter planes being shot down. Moscow's inability to achieve air supremacy is telling—and I do mean supremacy, and not mere "air superiority," which is to say, total, uncontested control of the skies, as the US had in both its invasions of Iraq. Given the numerical and technological mismatch, the Russian military should have been able to effectively suppress Ukraine's air defenses, and truly needed to do so as a prerequisite for the entirety of the operation to follow. That it has not been able to achieve that is an ominous sign.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Ukrainian resistance, both from the military and from ordinary citizens, has been staunch. Russian armored columns are said to be stalled in their attempt at a blitzkrieg; no major Ukrainian cities have yet fallen; Russian supply lines are already stretched thin; and the expected cyberattacks have not yet emerged (though Anonymous took down a bunch of Russian government websites in a preemptive counterattack).
The strategic weaknesses of an autocracy are showing. At home, many ordinary Russian citizens are said to be even more shocked than Westerners that this invasion would actually happen, and there is significant public protest. It's even been reported—by LTC (Ret.) Alexander Vindman, among others—that some Russian soldiers didn't know what country they were invading when they deployed to Ukraine, or indeed that this was a real world operation at all and not merely a training exercise. That is not a recipe for national resolve when the bodybags start coming home, or Western sanctions kick in.
The Russians also seemed unprepared for the level of defiance from their Ukrainian foe. In a place with the unimprovable name of Snake Island, a small, besieged group of Ukrainian soldiers responded to a Russian warship's demand that they surrender by radioing back: "Go fuck yourself."
And somewhere Tony McAuliffe is smiling.
WHEN INFOWARS AIN'T JUST A CUTE NAME
Russia is also losing the information war in a rout.
There has been near universal global condemnation of the invasion, a kind of scrutiny and opprobrium Putin did not have to deal with when he leveled Grozny, for instance, in the early '00s. (We'll get to his overconfidence in a moment.)
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelenskyy is demonstrating that he is both a bold and brave leader and a savvy communicator. Among his countrymen, his TV and Internet appearances from various wartorn locations are earning him a reputation as a flatout hero. His impassioned speech to the EU heads of state via video evidently convinced that otherwise jaded and recalcitrant bunch to enact historic, punishing sanctions on Moscow, including its eviction from the world's financial network. His memorable and meme-ready way with words is turning him into a rock star in the West as well. ("I need ammunition, not a ride," he apparently told the US when we offered to extract him, a quip since heard round the world.)
We ought not be surprised. Not widely remarked upon, but of special interest to comedy nerds, Zelenskyy is a lawyer by training, but also an actor and comedian who rose to fame playing a fictional President of Ukraine in a TV show called "Servant of the People," before assuming that role for real, as the head of a political party bearing that same name.
Someone please page Armando Iannucci.
(Zelenskyy is also Jewish, making the score Ukraine 1, USA 0 when it comes to Semitic heads of state. That puts us in the same league as Saudi Arabia; Israel still has a commanding lead.)
The faceoff between Zelenskyy and Trump, star of "The Apprentice," thus takes on the cast of the worst crossover episode ever. On the heels of that, and Sean Penn in Ukraine making a documentary, is it such outrageous satire to think Steven Segal—a naturalized Russian citizen—is fighting alongside Russian spetznaz?
As long as it keeps him off the road with his band.
We've even seen statements by prominent Russian athletes who compete in the West, like the tennis pro Andrey Rublev, and to a lesser extent, a cautious statement by the NHL's Alexander Ovechkin (of the Washington Capitals, for you fans of irony), heretofore a longtime pal and supporter of Putin. For many, however, Ovechkin didn't go nearly far enough. Meanwhile, Formula 1 is canceling the Russian Grand Prix, and the Champions League is moving its final—a Super Bowl-level event, you maybe surprised to learn, my fellow Americans—from St. Petersburg to Paris. (So Liverpool supporters: change your tickets and get ready to watch Hendo & Co. hoist the trophy in the Stade de France.)
In short, we shouldn't be surprised that, for all his alleged cunning, a lifelong KGB officer pushing 70 and ensconced for the past two decades in the Kremlin bubble is proving inept at the complex game of modern marketing. The down side is that Putin might decide to say, "Fuck it" and just stick with the part of statecraft he's good at, which is killing people.
AN ARMY OF ONE
By some accounts, Vladimir Putin is the most powerful human being who has ever lived in all of human history. (Sorry Madonna.)
He is the richest man on earth with an estimated wealth of $200 billion, having robbed the Russian nation blind on behalf of himself and his cronies. (Elon Musk is reported to be worth more, but Putin's personal fortune is surely an underestimation, given that the entire treasury of the Russian state is pretty much his own personal ATM.) At the same time he commands a nuclear arsenal second in size and power only to that of the US, capable of eradicating all life on Earth at the touch of a button. The President of the United States is often described as the most powerful person on the planet. But he (or she—it's possible, right?) is constrained by a wide range of democratic checks and balances, from Congress to the courts to the Constitution itself. Vladimir Putin is constrained by nothing but his own sense of decency. Which is to say: not at all.
In military intelligence, we talk about the enemy not in the plural—"they"—but in the first person singular: "he." He has such-and-such capability. We assess that he will do X, Y or Z. His forces are being attritted. He is vulnerable if we hit him here. (With apologies to Andrew Sarris, call it the military auteur theory.)
This is largely just a matter of style and tradition. But with Vladimir Putin, it is pretty much an accurate statement of grammatical fact.
Putin does not depend on the acquiescence of the Duma, nor the voters. He does not even really rely on the strategic advice of his top cabinet ministers or military professionals, whom he likes to keep at the far end of the longest table in all Moscow. He is a despot with virtually unlimited power who not only answers to no one but by all accounts does not even solicit anyone else's advice.
Much remarked upon before the invasion was his cocksure "overconfidence." And why shouldn't he be overconfident? He got away with annexing Crimea, with invading Georgia before that, and Chechnya before that; with poisoning KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko, a British citizen, on British soil; he even got away with ratfucking a US election and installing his own personal puppet as President of the United States. Looks pretty good on his Linked In profile.
Domestically he's gotten away with turning the Russian government into a cult of personality, with shutting down opposition parties and making a mockery of elections, with seizing de facto control of the media, with arresting and jailing his enemies on the flimsiest of provocations or no provocation at all. Litvinenko is the least of it, though still perhaps the most baroque, as Putin has gotten away with blithely imprisoning, murdering, or trying to murder uppity oligarchs, dissident journalists, and all manner of political opponents from Mikhail Khodorkovsky to Anna Politkovskaya to—most recently and dramatically—Alexei Navalny.
So yeah, he's pretty cocky. And we thought he was gonna be reluctant to invade Ukraine?
Even so, there were so many good reasons to think that this invasion would be a colossal disaster for Russia that until it happened many informed observers found it hard to believe that he would go through with it, even as he made it abundantly clear that he intended to do so. To that end, there has been a lot of debate over whether he is a "rational actor" or not.
In some ways it's a matter of semantics, which is another way of saying that the answer is both yes and no.
RISK/REWARD
Putin is a murderous despot, but he's not stupid. He cannily played his hand against the Western powers and carefully prepared the battlefield for this operation with all the usual bullshit about a genocide of ethnic Russians within Ukraine, Orwellian talk of sending in "peacekeepers," pearl-clutching about Russia as the real victim, etc etc etc. All that is supremely "rational"—if evil—in the extreme.
Putin really made it hard to obey Godwin's Law when he was covering all of Adolf's greatest saber-rattling hits: the country I want to invade is historically part of my country, it's not really a country at all, it's the aggressor threatening me and my people, all I really want is a protective zone for my nation's legitimate self-defense, and you know, maybe some room to grow—lebensraum, to coin a phrase. The parallels to 1938 were so blatant as to be ridiculous, right down to the not-coincidental choice of Munich for the last-minute security conference on the crisis.
(The question of the Olympics, to which I alluded last week, is both absurd and emblematic. To think that a man who routinely kills his political opponents cares about the Olympic tradition of suspending hostilities every four years is laughable. Yet the timing of the invasion, on the day after the closing ceremonies, was likely not coincidental, as the Russia Federation, like its Soviet forebear, has aggressively weaponized the Olympic movement for its own ends, with China now following suit.)
But with Biden and the West having credibly informed Putin of the specific ways in which he was going to suffer if he went ahead with the invasion, surely he must be irrational to have still gone through with it. So what was he thinking?
Well, I suspect he was thinking the same thing Saddam Hussein was thinking when staring down the barrel of a US invasion in the spring of 2003, his second in twelve years: that his grip on power was better served by defying the West, even with the lumps he would take, than by allowing threats to that power to continue to metastasize. And in Putin's case, as we discussed last week, the chief threat to his power was and is the rise of democratic nation-states in what was once the Russian sphere of influence, including former parts of the USSR itself.
I do not believe it was a simple matter or having painted himself into a corner. An unchallenged supreme leader who has control of all significant media in his country could, if he wanted to, simply withdraw from his attack positions on three sides of Ukraine (four, if you count the ocean), declare victory, and tell the Russian people, "Mission accomplished!"
But that would not relieve him of the central problem of a democracy next door that might give his own people worrying ideas.
In other words, pre-war debates over how Putin could extricate himself with face intact missed the point. He did not want to extricate himself. His only way out has always been through Kyiv.
Now he must deal with the consequences of that calculation.
NERO ON THE MOSKVA
As far as being a rational actor goes, even before the invasion kicked off, the image of Putin as icy grandmaster took a hit with his address of February 21 to the Russian people, and the world. Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College, offered a tidy review of how unhinged that speech was:
He had the presence not of a confident president, but of a surly adolescent caught in a misadventure, rolling his eyes at the stupid adults who do not understand how cruel the world has been to him. Teenagers, of course, do not have hundreds of thousands of troops and nuclear weapons.
But body language was the least of it. Putin's words were a jaw-dropping greatest hits barrage of Soviet-style paranoia and lies. I thought he might take his shoe off and bang it on the table. The same was true for the televised charade of his meeting with his advisors, which had the feel of dystopian science fiction or a Python sketch, or both.
Yet we keep hearing that it's a mistake to think Putin is simply a madman. OK, point taken—I agree, and I would not underestimate him. (Not sure I would go to Mike Pompeo-level of fanboyism, though.) That said, Vlad continues to behave in ways that belie that presumption of rationality. Former US Ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul tweeted, "I've watched and listened to Putin for over thirty years. He has changed. He sounds completely disconnected from reality. He sounds unhinged."
(For that matter, the same applies to Trump. Look at the old clips of him on Letterman in the '80s. Always a racist megalomaniac and human skidmark, he could at least put together a coherent sentence back in the old days. No more.)
Of course, is entirely possible to believe that Putin was once a ruthless, eminently rational, coldly calculating KGB officer, and at the same time believe that, over twenty years of dictatorial power, surrounded by groveling yes-men and sycophants fearing for their lives, he has, as the clinical term goes, lost his shit.
Over the past ten years, Putin has definitely engaged in some Nero-like behavior. Check out his child's piano recital version of "Blueberry Hill" from 2010, or the 2017 ice hockey game in which he scored six goals (somebody get me two octopi, Red Wings fans), while the professional players in the game somehow forgot how to play defense. (NPR's Scott Simon: "Putin gets the puck. He's blocked, but he sends his opponent to a labor camp. The goal is open. Putin scores. Putin with the puck again. He goes left. He goes right. But wait—the defender's hit by a bathtub falling out of a window. Putin scores!")
(For an instructive comparison, see this scene of President-for-Life Idi Amin in a swimming race, from Barbet Schroeder's 1974 documentary, General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait.)
The less said about his scuba diving, horseback riding, and shirtless beefcake posing on the beaches of the Black Sea the better.
Putin seems suffering from an ailment common to despots, which is the dangerous, mind-clouding isolation of authoritarian rule, with no one able or willing to give him good advice or tough love. Not to put it on a scale with Napoleon's invasion of (yep) Russia, but Vladimir's invasion of Ukraine may prove an own goal of such foreseeable stupidity that future historians will shake their heads in puzzlement at how such a savvy player could make such a big mistake.
I would refer them to neuropsychologist Ian Robertson's book The Winner Effect, about the physiological changes in brain chemistry produced by massive fame and power, for which evolutionary biology has not adequately prepared mere mortals.
INTO THE ARMS OF THE WEST
Perhaps the most ironic part of the backfiring of Russia's invasion is the re-strengthening of NATO and the broader Western alliance, and the re-emergence of the US as a world leader. And all this just a few short years after Trump all but trashed eight decades of delicate and methodical postwar alliance-building. Whoda thunk it?
Surrealism abounds. Biden is hailed as a great statesman and America as the tip of the NATO spear. For the first time in almost 80 years, Germany is setting aside its well-founded fear of its own militarism and sending weaponry to aid a beleaguered foreign nation. (To say nothing of suspending Nord Stream 2.) Even famously neutral Switzerland has joined in global financial sanctions on Moscow. Hell, the last time the Swiss took sides, even covertly, it was to aid the Nazis.
In fact, forget NATO: Zelenskyy has applied for Ukrainian membership in the EU! While the former might have more practical military impact with the collective security implications of Article 5, the latter represents an even more stark break with Moscow and realignment with the West. Precisely the thing Putin feared and that he invaded Ukraine to stop.
Writing in The Atlantic just before the war began, Tom McTague put the Ukraine crisis in the broader context of shifting (let's not hastily say waning) American power, arguing that "Russia's challenge to the West today….is predicated on its belief that American power is retreating, and with it the power of its example. Europe's response, however, has been to reveal how powerful America remains. The truth is that it's possible for both sentiments to be true at the same time."
Warts and all, the Russian invasion demonstrates how the United States remains the indispensable nation to which the rest of the democratic world looks for leadership in a global crisis, whether it's COVID or the climate emergency or Ukraine. We have not always lived up to those expectations, of course, but we saw what happens when the US abdicates that role, or proves unworthy of it, as under Orange Julius. Among many other reasons, that is also precisely why it was so wrenching to see Trump wantonly break the bones of our already imperfect democracy here at home.
Here in the US, some 74% of Americans view the Ukrainian invasion as a travesty, a rare moment of near-unanimity in our polarized nation these days. Beyond that, however, the understanding of the nuances of the situation is not great.
The self-righteousness on the center-left, bordering on jingoism in some cases, leaves me cold. (From the far left we continue to hear only about US imperialism.) All the rah-rah sanctimony about how we can't let Ukraine fight alone is great, but ignores some practical realities. Yes, the US should provide as much support to the Zelenskyy regime as humanly possible: military materiel, technological assistance, intelligence sharing, economic and financial pressure, cyber operations, PSYOPS, some degree of clandestine and covert special operations, and yes, also moral support, which is more important than it sounds.
(Gee, wouldn't it have been great if we hadn't blackmailed them and withheld Javelin anti-tank missiles back in 2019? What might have been.)
But the deployment of conventional US military units in active combat—not even under discussion, except on Facebook—is not on the table and rightly not. It would be madness to risk letting a regional conflict, however noble, spiral into an omnicidal world war between the nuclear powers.
If it is gutting to watch Ukraine fight for its life and not do truly everything we can to help, to include putting our own military might into the fray on Kyiv's behalf, then we must reckon with the very nature of warfare itself, its meaning and purpose and implications. But the American public has never had a very keen grasp on the limits of military power as a tool of national—or international—political objectives.
Meanwhile the actively pro-Russian propaganda from the US right is even more appalling, as I wrote last week. Silver lining, maybe: even if MAGA Nation is never moved by even the most blatant demonstration of their Dear Leader's monstrousness, or that of his supplicant lieutenants from Hawley to Cruz to Cotton, for any sentient observer this crisis ought to expose the despicable nature of GOP's ass-kissing of Vladimir Putin, and its blood-drenched results.
As Amanda Carpenter writes in The Bulwark, "It's worth remembering now, as so many Republicans pin 'Stand with Ukraine' images to their profiles, how little most of them cared when Donald Trump withheld critical military assistance from the country in 2019 as he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to do his political dirty work."
Yet another figure from Impeachment 1.0, Dr. Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia and formerly an advisor on the National Security Council, writes in her recent memoir, There Is Nothing For You Here: "There's no Team America for Trump. Not once did I see him do anything to put America first. Not once. Not for a single second." Asked about the difference between Trump and Biden on national security, Dr. Hill said, "You couldn't get a sharper contrast."
Let's go Brandon indeed.
FIGHTING FAKE NEWS, AT HOME AND ABROAD
To speak of Ukraine as a chance for Biden to regain his foreign policy mojo after the fall of Afghanistan is a kind of uniquely American obscenity. For starters, it overstates this administration's culpability for the ugly end of that forever war. But worse, it reduces this valiant fight by a brave people to mere partisan politics viewed through the most parochial of lenses. Still, there is no denying that Team Biden has handled this crisis well thus far. Thank God Joe and not Don is behind the Resolute Desk at this dark hour.
Russia still has terrifying assets at its disposal and may yet bring the hammer on Ukraine. One thing we know is that Putin is not about to be humiliated, or settle, even if he brought this mess upon himself, which means that things might get very nasty indeed before it's all over. And when it's over it still won't be over, because he will face a grinding insurgency from a people who have already shown their toughness. Right now the US is on an admirable path to helping them. Let's keep it up.
Before hostilities commenced, it was startling to hear Biden boldly predict that Putin would go into Ukraine instead of deploying the usual diplomatic front that "he may or may not, we dunno." The reasons were likely two-fold.
First, it served to announce to Vlad the efficacy of US intelligence collection and analysis, and perhaps put the fear of God into him over what else we might know, and how. In that sense, it flipped the usual intelligence paradigm. Normally the IC prefers not to let anyone know what it knows; ask the good people of Coventry. So this was a bold and clever inversion of that orthodoxy and impulse.
The second aim was to get ahead of Russian fake news, such as the possibility of a false flag pretext, or other fairy tales, which, sure enough, Putin predictably trotted out anyway.
On the eve of the invasion, New Yorker writers Joshua Yaffa and Adam Entous explained this strategy, which also involved rapid sharing of intelligence with allies to create a united front and deny Putin the opportunity to exploit differences of opinion. "In some cases," they write, the White House rapidly declassified intelligence "in order to expose Russian plots and complicate Putin's apparent invasion plans." As one senior US official said, "One of the big lessons learned….is that shining a light on Russia's nefarious activities is the best kind of antidote to their plots." (In that sense the US learned a lot from Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea.)
Yaffa and Entous write that "The current US strategy to quickly declassify and publicly relay intelligence about Russian intentions and deployments may not prevent a war, but it has certainly complicated and raised the costs of one."
Of course, we may never know exactly how these revelations affected events. And none of these moves can forestall an invasion, if Putin has already made up his mind. Still, a shared, coherent, and factual understanding of the roots of any war is necessary to insure a unified response on sanctions and other measures.
At the very least, the US has shown a new willingness to try and outflank Putin's attempts at disinformation. "For years, Russia looked to be one step ahead of everybody, able to create a certain reality and make others react," Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Ukraine's former defense minister, said. But now, at least in part, the roles are flipped: "Russia also has to react. And they look irritated, like they're not used to it, having to explain themselves over and over." Irritated and deterred are, of course, very different things.
Yaffa and Entous go on to say: "The modern Russian information strategy is aimed not so much at making its narrative the dominant or convincing one but at creating such a cacophony that the very prospect of knowability comes into doubt." It is a model that Trump and American right wingers have studied and gleefully embraced.
Here we must go to the Rosetta stone on that subject, Hannah Arendt, who in her 1951 book The Origins of Totalitarianism wrote of the dangers of "an ever-changing, incomprehensible world" in which people reach "the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and nothing was true."
The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
Perhaps there are some lessons here for fighting fake news at home. Preempting Putin's lies didn't stop him from invading Ukraine, any more than calling out Trump's voluminous lies have shaken his millions of followers out of their 3.0 BAT-level Kool-Aid-drunkenness. But it's still something, to plant the flag of truth amid a minefield of lies.
There's a quote widely attributed to Alexander Solzhenitsyn—and he should know—but it turns out it is actually from the Russian émigré writer Elena Gorokhova (not to be confused with the late Russian painter of the same name), from her 2011 novel A Mountain of Crumbs. Whichever Russian said it, it's never been more apropos, for their country and ours:
We know they are lying. They know they are lying. They know we know they are lying. We know they know we know they are lying.
But they are still lying.
Photo: Putin's top military advisors explain that the Ukrainian situation is so dire they are forced to meet around a shuffleboard table.
h/t CDR (Ret.) Mason Weaver, USN for the Solzhenitsyn/Gorokhova quote.
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My first gig was in a weird little West Indian bar called Under De Bridge"I wore a captain's armband like an idiot and had hair like Simon Le Bon (like an idiot).
I was rattling on about how Jim Bowen lives on a train and how he was preparing for some kind of 'Rail-friendly' Noah's Ark-type event, how William Shatner and David Hasselhoff were very similar and how the word 'oats' sounded mysterious but they are actually dull… unless you throw them at the audience. Which I proceeded to do before I left the stage. I say stage, it was, in fact, a door with the handle removed and placed on to four house bricks.
St Patrick's Day at Up The Creek. My first paid spot at my favourite local club. The first act had gotten into a row with a really aggressive, awful man in the audience. During the break I overhead an audience member say that I 'looked like a prick'.
I went on, did well, did the weird bit of material about the hands, got a round of applause, then went on to do another weird bit about constellations and stormed the gig. Afterwards the same guy who said I looked like a prick invited me to do a set at his wedding and offered me some drugs. It was quite a turnaround.
The night after I had done a close runner-up for my best ever gig at a sold-out Corn Exchange in Exeter, I did a gig for the same promoter in Gloucester, with the same set and a pocket full of confidence.
I repeated the line. It got the biggest laugh of my set. I picked up the coins, glanced at my watch. I'd done 17 minutes. I said goodnight and left, got in the car and spent the £2 on a grab bag of Wheat Crunchies and a Chomp at the services. That'll teach him.
As part of the Leicester Comedy Festival, I did a gig called Hotel D'Comedie where the audience go on a tour of the comedians' lodgings, with a routine in every room. I decided it would be fun to do my set in the shower, fully suited and hatted with the shower turned on. Completely ruined the suit and possibly a poor man's loafers. Unfortunately. nobody was brave enough to scrub my back.
I saw Harry Hill in a 30 seater room in Peckham last year. He was doing new material but his energy, presentation and ability to win over a crowd was phenomenal. His attention to detail and the amount of solid punchlines in among the madness was just such an inspiration and a lesson to me.
Such a master of his craft and a really technically brilliant and exciting comic.
• Joey Page: Jowie is on at Gilded Balloon at the Counting House at 14:30.


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Bristol Zoo PhD student battles to save fruit bats from extinction
Posted: 3rd January, 2018
A Bristol Zoo Gardens PhD student is in a race against time to try to save critically endangered Livingstone's fruit bats.
Sarah Richdon is working on research which she hopes will help to prevent this enigmatic species being lost forever.
At present there are fewer than 1,300 Livingstone fruit bats left in the wild. In captivity there are just 71 precious individuals of which 12 are at Bristol Zoo Gardens.
Sarah, who works part-time as a volunteer co-ordinator at Bristol Zoo, wants to produce a genetic family tree of all the bats in captivity by comparing their genetic finger-prints.
She is funding her own studies but needs to raise $10,000 (£7,500) to cover the cost of this specialised genetic research.
Sarah has been given £1,000 from the staff development fund at Bristol Zoo but she has to raise the rest by February 2 when the crowd funding appeal runs out. If she does not reach the target she will receive nothing.
She said: "It's a new and exciting way of funding research that will involve the scientific community and the public.
"We can make a real difference with this project. It is imperative for the survival of this species that we succeed."
Sarah, who studied zoology at Cardiff University and is now working with Bristol University for her PhD, said it was possible to bring back species from low numbers.
Livingstone's fruit bats are found in the wild on the Comoros islands in the Indian Ocean north-west of Madagascar. In recent years, more than 45 per cent of the Comoros islands have been transformed into agricultural land depriving the bats of their natural habitat.
It has also affected the ecosystem as bats are crucial for reforestation because they disperse seeds across the island.
Sarah became fascinated with fruit bats when she was a volunteer at Bristol Zoo for 18 months.
She said: "I knew I wanted to do research. I started to look into the fruit bats, their background and discovered there was very little known about them.
"They are highly social animals that live in large groups and each one has its own personality.
But she added: ""Their situation is critical and has a poor prognosis without help. Only with conservation in the field and in captivity can this species survive."
It will take Sarah two years to complete her genetic research and five to finish her PhD but she intends to publish her findings as she goes along.
"It is important that the information I find is in the public domain so that everyone can benefit," she said.
To donate to Sarah's crowd funding appeal go to:
www.tinyurl.com/batonthebrink
Bristol Zoo Gardens

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Jerusalem Post Israel News Israel Culture
The Arthur Rubinstein Grand Piano competition final begins
The concerts will be live-streamed on arims.org.il as well as on eventim.co.il/Arthur. Tickets are required.
By MAXIM REIDER
'THE ARTHUR Rubinstein Competition will never be the same.'
(photo credit: ALEXIA MOUZA)
The Arthur Rubinstein Grand Piano competition enters its final stage on Thursday, April 29. Over three days – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – six finalists will perform Beethoven's piano concerti, accompanied by the Israeli Camerata Chamber Orchestra, as well as piano quintets. These concerts will take place at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Sunday night, the competition will move to the Charles Bronfman Hall, where the young and aspiring musicians will perform concerti by Rachmaninoff, Brahms and Prokofiev with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.
"This was a most unusual music contest, and the most complicated one, confides newly appointed artistic director of the Arthur Rubinstein Competition Ariel Cohen. For the first time, due to COVID pandemic limitations, the competition's first two stages were conducted over the Internet."
He goes on to explain that the logistics were challenging, to put it mildly.
"For us, it was an endless steeplechase. Thirty-two contestants – all of them excellent young musicians – performed in empty halls in five locations throughout the world. Usually, the logistics are not the major concern for music contests organizers, but not this time. To begin with, bringing the participants to the recording locations was far from simple – vaccinations, permissions, lockdowns, closed airports – you name it. But above all, we needed to equip the halls with top-notch recording and transmission equipment and to provide the participants with two pianos, for their choice.
"To our surprise, the entire enterprise was a sheer success, which has gone far beyond our expectations. The contestants were more than satisfied with the conditions we had offered to them, while several jury members confided that this way of listening of the performances gave them an opportunity of even better concentration and attention to the most subtle aspects of the musical renditions."
Cohen agrees that nothing could be compared to the thrilling experience of a live performance, but contemporary media offers amazing possibilities.
"We have introduced many novelties, but there is an idea, of which I am especially proud," says Cohen. "We call it interpretation analysis. For this, we invited five Israeli pianists, who are also well known music lecturers: Astrit Balzan, Gil Shohat, Irit Rub, Orit Wolf and Tal Samnon. The idea was to explain to the audience how musicians perceive the music. The lecturers listened to the recorded performances of the contestants, and had enough time to analyze them and then on the same day offered the listeners their explanations."
Cohen admits that it is too early to decide what elements of the competition he is going to keep or to change. "But one thing is clear: The Arthur Rubinstein Competition will never be the same."
The final stage program is as follows:
29/4-30/4: Final A, Classical Concerto, with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem. 30/4-1/5: Final B, Chamber Music (both at the Tel Aviv Museum).
2/5-3/5: Final C, Grand Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concerts will be live-streamed on arims.org.il as well as on eventim.co.il/Arthur. Tickets are required. The concerts will also be live-streamed in five conservatories.
Tags music piano competition


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Volodymyr Dmytrovych Talashko  () is a Soviet and Ukrainian actor. Organizer Leonid Bykov Foundation. People's Artist of Ukraine (2002).

Biography
Vladimir  Talashko was born March 6, 1946, in the village of Hrabovo Volyn region, in miner's family. In the Donetsk National Academic Ukrainian Musical and Drama Theatre the future actor was literally off the street, not having special education. At the competition of amateur performances in Moscow, during one of the concerts of the young man, I remarked the director of the theater. The parents were against it, considering the profession of actor frivolous. Nevertheless, from 1963 to 1965 he worked as an actor in the Donetsk theater.

After serving military service in the Soviet army, he went to Kyiv to act in theater school. In 1972, Vladimir Talashko graduated from the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University.

Since 1972, an actor Dovzhenko Film Studios.

In August 2021, he found himself at the center of a scandal after receiving simultaneous accusations of harassment from several women. On August 8, 2021, theater critic and screenwriter Bohdan Pankrukhin published a post on Facebook with the stories of two specific girls. Later, similar accusations were made by other young women. The actor was accused by his students and former students, as well as by a journalist who alleged harassment during an interview. Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said in his commentary that an internal investigation had been launched, and the university's vice-rector for research Halyna Mylenka said that the teacher had been suspended from teaching.

Volodymyr Talashko denies all the accusations: "This is a fake, a release of energy from people who want something. Nothing of the kind happened, nothing of the kind that is being said". Later, Volodymyr Talashko wrote a letter of resignation and stopped teaching at the university. His case became a precedent for an official investigation of harassment in a creative university with a successful resolution.

Selected filmography
 Only Old Men Are Going to Battle (1973) as  Skvortsov
 Captain Nemo (1975) as Ned Land
 The Fairfax Millions (1980) as Malcolm Treddic
 The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe (1983) as Messenger
 The Witches Cave (1991) as Aksel, ethnographer

References

External links

1946 births
Living people
Soviet male film actors
Soviet male stage actors
20th-century Ukrainian male actors
21st-century Ukrainian male actors
Ukrainian male film actors
Ukrainian male stage actors
Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University alumni
Recipients of the title of People's Artists of Ukraine

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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So here's something a lot of people have been wondering even for myself. Has snoring actually been a real "issue" in a relationship? Was there ever a time where a couple gets separated because of this constant dilemma? Well as a matter of fact, it has. I mean imagine having to sleep with someone in a room every night that snores uncontrollably loud. It would really bother you and can affect your sleep. Mood-swings, low energy and problems concentrating are just some of the few things that arise in this constant loop. As innocent as it may seem, snoring can really cause a lot of trouble in the long run. It disrupts sleep and can wreck relationships.
It happens when the walls on your throat and jaws get relaxed and start to vibrate. This causes the loud sound when you breathe while you sleep. Also it's important to take note that sedatives, sleeping pills and alcohol can be a factor for snoring as it makes you more relaxed while you are sleeping which causes the tissues inside your throat to vibrate and cause that loud sound.
A healthy diet and exercise would help you shed some pounds, but ultimately help you get rid of snoring. And for those who are suffering severe cases of snoring or sleep apnea, there are other ways you can avoid this through the process. They can range in price and availability in the area. Some prefer acupuncture while others resort to a more painless solution.
Acupuncture is believed to cure a lot of ailments and this includes snoring. This may just be the answer to your prayers when you're at the brink of divorce due to this problem. But it's not always available in certain areas, and as we know, acupuncture requires years of experience for it to become painless and show fast results.
Other medical-related treatments can be scary and look painful. And that's probably the last thing you would want to happen to put your snoring to a complete stop. And it could cost you a lot of money for the diagnosis and the sessions you need to undergo to have it treated.
Snoring tends to wake you up in the middle of the night while you sleep. And this can happen frequently in 1 night. With this kind of patchy sleeping pattern (both for you and your partner), it can cause daytime sleepiness and irritability. If you're looking for a quick way to stop the snoring, there are a lot of remedies that you can read online. From an herbal cure to a mouth guard that you wear while sleeping, there are a lot you can choose from.
But one of the most famous remedy that isn't hard to get and doesn't require a trip to the doctor's office for a diagnosis is a – brace yourself – a chinstrap. Yes. You read that right. It's called the My Snoring Solution Chinstrap which is a very effective way to immediately stop you from snoring. It's non-invasive, safe and you don't need to ingest anything or have anything placed inside your mouth when you sleep. You simply wear it around your jaw from the outside and this immediately stops you from snoring from the moment you put it on. It's very effective and you can purchase them online or from a store near you!
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text:
Polska służba duszpasterska w wojnie polsko-bolszewickiej – organizacja i działania służby duszpasterskiej Wojska Polskiego w okresie wojny polsko-bolszewickiej.

Służba duszpasterska zapewniała żołnierzom obsługę duszpasterską. W listopadzie 1918 utworzony został w Wojsku Polskim Konsystorz Polowy, a w jego skład weszli szefowie sekcji wyznania katolickiego, greckokatolickiego, protestanckiego, prawosławnego i mojżeszowego. W marcu 1919 w miejsce Konsystorza Polowego powołano Kurię Biskupią jako biskupstwo polowe dla wyznania rzymskokatolickiego, na czele z ks. bp. Stanisławem Gallem, a 1 kwietnia utworzono Sekcję Religijno-Wyznaniową dla Wyznań Niekatolickich. Jesienią 1919 przy Naczelnym Dowództwie Wojska Polskiego utworzono Urząd Duszpasterstwa ND. Był to organ wspólny dla wyznań katolickich i niekatolickich. W lutym 1920 Urząd Duszpasterstwa podporządkowany został Generalnemu Inspektorowi Służb.

Organa naczelne służby duszpasterskiej

W strukturach Departamentu Mobilizacyjno-Organizacyjnego Ministerstwa Spraw Wojskowych, w listopadzie 1918 utworzony został Konsystorz Polowy. Na jego czele stanął ks. dziekan Jan Pajkert. Przyjął on również tytuł tymczasowego Naczelnego Kapelana Wojska Polskiego. W skład Konsystorza Polowego wchodzili szefowie: Sekcji Wyznania Katolickiego, Sekcji Grecko-Katolickiej, Sekcji Wyznania Protestanckiego, Sekcji Wyznania Prawosławnego i Sekcji Wyznania Mojżeszowego. Konsystorz zajmował się sprawami "administracji duchownej" w wojsku. Zaopatrywał kapelanów w paramenty liturgiczno-kościelne, organizował służbę duszpasterską, przeprowadził ewidencję księży pracujących na stanowiskach kapelanów wojskowych. Kwestie związane z czynnościami duszpasterskimi należały do duszpasterzy poszczególnych garnizonów i jednostek wojskowych. 18 stycznia 1919 wydano rozporządzenie Naczelnego Wodza ustalające porządek hierarchiczny duchowieństwa w Wojsku Polskim. Na jego czele stał biskup polowy, któremu podlegali: naczelny kapelan – zastępca biskupa polowego, dziekani Okręgów Generalnych i dziekan Marynarki Wojennej, proboszczowie dywizji, kapelani pułków lub równoznacznych oddziałów wojskowych.

5 lutego 1919 wizytator apostolski mons. Achille Ratti przekazał informację o utworzeniu w Polsce przez papieża Benedykta XV biskupstwa polowego. Na jego czele stanął biskup sufragan warszawski ks. bp Stanisław Gall. W sprawach duchownych był on zależny od Stolicy Apostolskiej, a w sprawach wojskowo-administracyjnych podlegał bezpośrednio ministrowi spraw wojskowych. Zastępcą biskupa polowego został wikariusz generalny ks. Jan Pajkert. Zgodnie z obowiązującymi przepisami prawa kanonicznego Konsystorz Polowy nazwany został Kurią Polową Wojsk Polskich.

W lipcu 1920, czyli w okresie największego zagrożenia utratą niepodległości, w ramach Kurii Biskupiej WP utworzony został specjalny, niezależny od struktur wojskowych, Wydział Oświaty. W ten sposób czyniono próby samodzielnego uczestnictwa kościoła katolickiego w działalności oświatowo-wychowawczej w wojsku. Spotkało się to z krytyczną oceną kierownictwa Wojska Polskiego i jesienią 1920 eksperyment został zakończony.

Dla pozostałych wyznań, w ramach Departamentu Mobilizacyjno-Organizacyjnego, utworzono Sekcję Religijno-Wyznaniową dla Wyznań Niekatolickich kierowaną przez mjr. Bronisława Pierackiego. Składała się ona z referatów wyznania: ewangelickiego, mariawickiego, prawosławnego, mojżeszowego i mahometańskiego oraz Wydziału Metrykalnego.

W sierpniu powstał Główny Urząd Duszpasterski dla wyznania ewangelicko-augsburskiego kierowany przez ks. Ryszarda Paszko, w październiku Wojskowy Urząd Duszpasterski dla wyznania mahometańskiego na czele z naczelnym mułłą Sinatullem Chabibullinem, a w listopadzie Główny Urząd Duszpasterski dla wyznania ewangelicko-reformowanego, na czele z ks. Kazimierzem Szeferem i Główny Urząd Duszpasterski dla wyznania prawosławnego kierowany przez ks. Bazylego Martysza. W grudniu zaczął działać Główny Urząd Wyznaniowy dla wyznania mojżeszowego z dr. Józefem Miesesem.

W lutym 1920 nastąpiła reorganizacja naczelnych władz wojskowych, a Sekcja Religijno-Wyznaniowa dla Wyznań Niekatolickich została przemianowana na Sekcję Wyznań Obcych i podporządkowana bezpośrednio ministrowi spraw wojskowych. Sekcja wkrótce zmieniła nazwę na Sekcję Wyznań Niekatolickich i Opieki nad Grobami Wojennymi.

Działania służby w formacjach frontowych

Jesienią 1919 przy Naczelnym Dowództwie Wojska Polskiego utworzono Urząd Duszpasterstwa Naczelnego Dowództwa WP kierowany przez ks. Piotra Niezgodę. W lutym 1920 Urząd podporządkowany został Generalnemu Inspektorowi Służb gen. Janowi Romerowi. Urząd ten sprawował nadzór nad kapelanami i rabinami wojskowymi. Na szczeblu pułku znajdował się kapelan wojskowy. W październiku 1919 wprowadzono dwutorową podległość kapelanów wojskowych. Pod względem posługi duszpasterskiej podlegali oni Biskupowi Polowemu WP, a podległość służbowa wynikała z przyporządkowania dowódcom formacji, przy których kapelani wojskowi występowali. Przy związkach operacyjnych znajdował się dziekanat duszpasterstwa rzymskokatolickiego, któremu podlegali kapelani. Na czele duszpasterstwa dywizji stał proboszcz. Był on jednocześnie kapelanem jednego z pułków. Kapelani znajdowali się też przy oddziałach zapasowych i szpitalach.

Obok kapelanów zawodowych przewidziano też instytucję kapelanów pomocniczych, którzy powoływani byli w garnizonach liczących co najmniej tysiąc ludzi, w szpitalach wojskowych na minimum dwieście łóżek lub epidemicznych na sto łóżek. Mianował ich biskup polowy w porozumieniu z właściwymi władzami diecezjalnym i lub zakonnymi i ministrem spraw wojskowych. Kapelan pomocniczy nie mógł być wysłany na front. Pracę duszpasterską o charakterze misyjnym prowadzili lotni kapelani. Ich rolą było prowadzenie misji, rekolekcji, organizowanie spowiedzi w jednostkach liniowych. Wykonywali oni zadania specjalne, wyznaczone przez biskupa polowego, związane głównie z podnoszeniem morale i nastrojów patriotycznych wojska.

Oprócz typowej pracy duszpasterskiej, kapelani prowadzili też działalność oświatowo-wychowawczą. Odbywało się to poprzez kazania i indywidualną pracę duszpasterską z żołnierzami. W tym wypadku problematyka wychowawcza była ściśle łączona z problematyką religijną. Regulamin Wewnętrzny MSWojsk. stanowił: Duchowni wojskowi są obowiązani do bezpłatnego świadczenia posług duchownych, ściśle przestrzegając przepisów prawa kanoniczego i cywilnego. Oprócz posług duchownych obowiązani są dbać o podniesienie poziomu estetycznego wojskowych, służyć im przykładem i radą, nieść pociechę, łagodzić spory i rozbudzać uczucia koleżeństwa, zachęcać do sumiennego wykonywania obowiązków i przestrzegać dyscypliny, podnosić ducha w chwilach  zmęczenia i niebezpieczeństwa. Kapelani wojskowi w czasie wojny obowiązani są: obchodzić okopy, w czasie bitwy być w punkcie opatrunkowym swego pułku lub w miejscu wskazanym przez dowódcę pułku.

Podstawową formą działalności oświatowo-wychowawczej były pogadanki prowadzone wśród wojsk przebywających na zapleczu frontu, jak i tych będących na linii frontu. Kapelani wojskowi i rabini mieli przede wszystkim troszczyć się o narodowe i moralne powinności wobec Ojczyzny w świadomości żołnierzy, zapoznawanie ich z etyką życia społecznego, w tym uczenie tolerancji wobec innych wyznań. Elementy wychowawcze zawarte były też w kazaniach głoszonych z okazji świąt państwowych i wojskowych.

Zagadnieniem spornym w pracy duszpasterskiej w wojsku była sprawa błogosławienia małżeństw. Uchwała Konferencji Biskupów Polskich z sierpnia 1919 ustalała, że nie istnieją osobne diecezje wojskowe i parafie wojskowe. Kapelani i proboszczowie garnizonów oraz dywizji nie posiadali zatem w tym zakresie praw proboszczowskich i błogosławienia małżeństw mogą wykonywać tylko o ile ordynariusz miejsca ich do tego upoważni, lub o ile następuje porozumienie między duchowieństwem parafialnym a duchowieństwem wojskowym zatwierdzone przez władzę duchowną.

Władze wojskowe określiły godła dla kapelanów. Godłem dla kapelanów wyznania rzymsko-katolickiego był krzyż chrześcijański, dla wyznań ewangelickich był krzyż zachodni gotycki, dla wyznania prawosławnego – krzyż wschodni potrójny, dla wyznania mariawickiego – monstrancja okolona promieniami, a dla religii mahometańskiej – półksiężyc.
Duchowieństwo na mundurach nosiło "łapkę" barwy kurtki, wypustka fioletowa.

Uwagi

Przypisy

Bibliografia

Służba duszpasterska Wojska Polskiego II Rzeczypospolitej
Wojna polsko-bolszewicka


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text:
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Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet
sierraclub.org - sierra magazine - September/October 2009 - coolschools - environment 1, pollution 0
Cool Schools: The Third Annual List
Environment 1, Pollution 0:
Game-day pollution: going, going, gone!
Say it's game day at your favorite Big 10 football stadium. Your home team is going strong, and the fans have come in droves; 90,000 of them have congregated, many traveling from hundreds of miles away. About 50,000 have driven, a third of those in SUVs. In sum, they've logged more than 6 million miles, burned through about 320,000 gallons of fuel, and booked some 4,000 hotel rooms. Factor in the energy used by the stadium, and that single game day could be pumping out 3,200 tons of carbon dioxide--the equivalent of what almost 300 homes, or close to 600 cars, use in an entire year.
On that same game day, as the 90,000 barbecue in the parking lot or stock up on Styrofoam-shelled nachos at the concession stands, they produce about 45 tons of waste.
Now the good news: Many schools are working to limit the environmental impact of their athletics program. The University of Florida, for instance, has partnered with the nonprofit Earth Givers (earthgivers.org) to create the Neutral Gator initiative in an attempt to counter its game-goers' emissions. The effort includes lightbulb exchanges and reforestation operations throughout the community.
But mostly, says Dedee DeLongpre-Johnston, who directs the school's sustainability office, it's about using sports to educate fans. In that vein, Neutral Gator has set up booths outside the stadium where fans can learn about their game-day footprint and contribute to energy-efficient programs. "If people can come to our games and see what we are doing and take that back home and feel proud about it, then that's a win for me," DeLongpre-Johnston says.
The University of Colorado at Boulder has established a zero-waste program at Folsom Stadium. Vendors dispense only biodegradable utensils, containers, and wrappers, and fans dispose of their waste in recycling or composting receptacles. So far the school has reduced game-day trash by 80 percent.
Unfortunately, many schools are still fumbling.
A recent study found that only 10 percent of Division I sports departments are moving toward sustainability, even at colleges that have publicly pledged to reduce their carbon output. Until sponsors, alumni, and athletes start demanding more environmentally friendly facilities, a strong sustainability department appears to be a university's best shot at having a green sports program. Educating athletes is key, says Alex Kayn Cousins, a University of Colorado soccer player who graduated this year with a degree in environmental science.
"If we start pushing this, maybe other people will pick it up and run with it."—Kathleen Nye Flynn
Illustration by Nate Williams
Environment 1, Pollution 0 - Cool Schools - September/October 2009 - Sierra Magazine - Sierra Club
Cool Schools Features
Honor Roll: Our Top 20
Complete Rankings for All Schools
My School's Greener Than Your School
Extra Credit
Low-Impact Touchdowns
Green Job Market
Three That Failed
Coal Gets Suspended
March for Survival
All Worked Up
A Short History of Bright Ideas
Parks as Arks
Gloryland
Hey Mr. Green
About Sierra


text:
Dolomedes alexandri est une espèce d'araignées aranéomorphes de la famille des Pisauridae.

Distribution
Cette espèce est endémique d'Australie. Elle se rencontre dans le Territoire de la capitale australienne et au Victoria.

Description
Le mâle holotype mesure .

Étymologie
Cette espèce est nommée en l'honneur d'Alexander Roy.

Publication originale
 Raven & Hebron, 2018 : A review of the water spider family Pisauridae in Australia and New Caledonia with descriptions of four new genera and 23 new species. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Nature, ,  (texte intégral).

Liens externes

Notes et références

Pisauridae
Espèce d'araignées (nom scientifique)
Faune endémique d'Australie


text:
Research Coins
[Podcast] Crypto Philanthropy Packs a Punch — Alyse Killeen— Running with Unicorns Ep. 4
|In Crypto
|By Chitra Ragavan
Episode 4 — A conversation with Alyse Killeen, Interim President of BitGive, the first Bitcoin and blockchain non-profit charity, about the rise in crypto philanthropy.
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Trust but verify. That classic journalism adage is being applied with a twist today in the philanthropic space as a growing number of donors are demanding unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability when giving to charitable causes.
This new normal in giving has put non-profit charities under pressure to restore and retain the trust of their funders, a trust that studies show have been deeply eroded due to a number of factors ranging from bureaucracy and inefficiency, inadequate reporting, or in many cases, just plain fraud, theft, and other malfeasance.
This lack of trust is a major hurdle for non-profit foundations today even as their mission has become more complex and their resources scarce.
A 2015 survey by The Chronicle of Philanthropy noted that one in three Americans are skeptical of non-profit charities. And according to the blockchain platform AidCoin, "43% of people don't trust charities."
That's a dismal statistic that many nonprofits are determined to overcome and rebuild trust with the donor community so that they can continue to do good and help those in need.
It's no surprise then that many of these nonprofits are seeking both new sources of funding and new mechanisms of transparency and accountability to woo donors of all stripes. And so, they are turning to cryptocurrency and its underlying immutable digital ledger or blockchain technology to create a track and trace mechanism for charitable contributions worldwide. According to the Forbes article linked to above, last year, non-profit charities raised an estimated $274 million online in the U.S., "up from $180 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2012 when it first began."
A growing number of conventional charities, including the American Red Cross, Save the Children, UNICEF and The Water Project, just to name a few, are accepting crypto contributions.
Another exciting development in crypto philanthropy is that numerous cutting-edge blockchain platforms are springing up to leverage blockchain technology to provide donors with real-time traceability of their contributions so that they can actually see how, when, and where their money is being spent.
Last year, one crypto juggernaut CEO got in the game, inspired by The Gates Foundation in the traditional giving space and other examples of philanthropy in the crypto industry, such as Ripple's pledge of $100 million for philanthropy, and the Pineapple Fund, which has anonymously donated to charity a record 5104 bitcoins (BTC), worth $55 million. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, pledged to raise a billion dollars for charity over the next two years, through Coinbase's non-profit arm, GiveCrypto, starting with a $10 million goal for 2018.
But crypto-philanthropy is by no means a new idea. BitGive, the first Bitcoin and blockchain non-profit charity, is celebrating its fifth year in operation. I invited BitGive's Interim President and Member of the Board of Advisors, Alyse Killeen to our studio in Venice, California, to talk about crypto for good.
As Founding Partner of StillMark, a venture capital group, Alyse has been a pioneer in funding promising blockchain technology projects and is a respected thought leader in the space. And she's bringing all that expertise and credibility to bear in crypto-philanthropy.
We had a wide-ranging conversation about how BitGive and other organizations are giving donors the transparency they have long hungered for so that they can determine the real impact, if any, of their charitable contributions, big or small.
We talked about the complexities and challenges of using digital assets to do good, especially in developing nations. Alyse was candid in addressing what she called the "magic bean problem," arising when charities receiving crypto donations are short-sighted in transferring digital assets to the receiving communities, and as she puts it, "giving for the sake of giving." Alyse says often, these charities lack a clear idea of the mechanisms that are in place on the ground in underdeveloped economies to convert crypto into local fiat to buy products and services that have real world impact, instead of merely grabbing the headlines.
We talked about whether or not charitable organizations have the expertise and resources available to provide secure and successful deployment of crypto funds. And we discussed the importance of rigorous treasury management practices that are a must in order to buffer against volatility and down market periods like the one we're in now.
Clearly, groups such as BitGive are poised to provide tremendous value at a key moment in the history of philanthropy because all indications are that crypto donations are on the upswing.
Case in point: According to a CoinDesk article, last February, Fidelity Charitable announced a ten-fold increase in crypto contributions — from seven million dollars in 2015–2016 to $69 million in 2017 — making it "the fastest-growing asset class accepted by the firm." The article cited Fidelity as saying the contributions came from 169 different donors and grew "140 percent faster than other options, such as real-estate, shares of LLCs and bags of grain."
That's just one example. As cryptocurrency gains wider adoption, global crypto-donations are likely to skyrocket as millions of individuals use the power of fractional currency to do exponential good in the world.
It was an inspiring conversation with Alyse, held during the Season of Giving. So be sure to join us!
And be sure to tune in to our podcast next week, when crypto forensic accountant Jeff Neumeister walks us through the intricacies of crypto taxes. I'm sure that's very much on your mind. How can it not be? It's January and your taxes are looming!
On BitGive's fifth anniversary and why this foundation is a milestone in the philanthropic movement.
How crypto philanthropy works at the ground level
How market movements impact communities' giving practices
What are the trends in crypto philanthropy?
How blockchain and cryptocurrency be used to build trust in the giving process
Do foundations know how to manage this sophisticated digital asset
The importance of treasury management and how it impacts crypto philanthropy
How blockchain powered platform like BitGive's launch of GiveTrack provides real-time tracking of your donations and is a cheaper, faster, more secure way to donate to charity with greater accountability for non-profit charities.
What are some of the challenges of crypto philanthropy — both as the giver and as the receiver?
Any special tax implications?
Are charities embracing this esoteric digital currency as a funding source?
Do nonprofits have the technical expertise to track and report and forward the contributions without theft or loss?
What are some of the other non-profits in space — early adopters?
Frauds or scams? How can charities and donors protect themselves?
How should people get started in crypto philanthropy and what are some of the dos and don'ts.
Top three takeaways
About Your Host, Chitra Ragavan
A little background about me — I'm the Chief Strategy Officer at Gem, a Los Angeles-based crypto portfolio startup. Prior to Gem, I was Senior Counselor to the CEO of Palantir Technologies. Before entering the software startup world as advisor to CEOs, I was a long-time journalist at WTTW/Public Television in Chicago, National Public Radio (NPR) and U.S. News & World Report Magazine (U.S. News).
My goal is to provide independent and thoughtful analysis of the events and news shaping the industry.
By way of full disclosure, I am a crypto investor. If we ever mention a specific cryptocurrency in the context of a discussion, I will fully disclose my investments, if any, in that currency and expect the same from my guests. I'll avoid any and all conflicts of interest in the course of these discussions.
You can learn more about me on LinkedIn, my website, or my Instagram.
Enjoy your crypto journey, unicorns!
Download Gem's crypto portfolio tracker app now.
Blockchain charity crypto Cryptocurrency podcast video
Chitra Ragavan is the Chief Strategy Officer at Gem, a Los Angeles-based crypto portfolio startup. Prior to Gem, she was Senior Counselor to the CEO of Palantir Technologies. Before entering the software startup world as advisor to CEOs, Chitra was a long-time journalist at WTTW/Public Television in Chicago, National Public Radio (NPR) and U.S. News & World Report Magazine (U.S. News).
[Podcast] Crypto Tokenization of Real Estate — Henry Elder— Running with Unicorns Ep. 10
by Chitra Ragavan
[Podcast] Crypto Security Best Practices — Alison Burger and Calley Nye— Running with Unicorns Ep. 9
[Podcast] Crypto Prediction Markets: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly — Matt Smith— Running with Unicorns Ep. 8
Made with ❤ and 🦄 in Venice, CA
©2013-2019 Gem®


text:
Q: Spring-Boot-Maven-Plugin - Command to Copy Resources into WAR Main Directory QUESTION
In a Spring Boot Java application built with Maven using the spring-boot-maven-plugin with WAR packaging through Eclipse IDE with M2 with the goal as clean package, I would like to know if there is a command which would allow me to copy the resource folders (css, images, etc) which currently end up in mywar.war/WEB-INF/classes/static/ into the root directory mywar.war, so that I have mywar.war/images/, etc?
I see that with other plugins, there is something like a targetPath, but I can't find anything like that in the documentation for spring-boot-maven-plugin.
EXAMPLE POM
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.21.RELEASE</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>

    <groupId>com.myapp</groupId>
    <artifactId>MyApp</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
    <name>${project.artifactId}</name>
    <description>My Application</description>

    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
        <maven.test.skip>true</maven.test.skip>
        <tomcat.version>7.0.78</tomcat.version>
        <servlet-api.version>3.0.1</servlet-api.version>
        <thymeleaf.version>3.0.3.RELEASE</thymeleaf.version>
        <thymeleaf-layout-dialect.version>2.2.1</thymeleaf-layout-dialect.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>

            <exclusions>
                <exclusion>
                    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-logging</artifactId>
                </exclusion>
            </exclusions>

        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.session</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-session</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
           <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
           <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
           <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>

         <dependency>
            <groupId>test</groupId>
            <artifactId>x</artifactId>
            <version>1.0</version>
            <scope>system</scope>
            <systemPath>${basedir}/MyJar.jar</systemPath>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-security-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.thymeleaf.extras</groupId>
            <artifactId>thymeleaf-extras-springsecurity5</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.4.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>nz.net.ultraq.thymeleaf</groupId>
            <artifactId>thymeleaf-layout-dialect</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.0</version>
        </dependency>

    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <finalName>${project.artifactId}</finalName>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

A: So, I ended up getting around this by moving all of my resources from the /src/main/resources/static directory into a /src/main/webapp directory. Then everything appeared right under the root of the resulting WAR file, and the Apache HTTP Server picked them up and allowed them through.
Thanks for your insight, everyone!

A: Everything will work as expected. Spring Boot will server your static content.
The urls will be
<host>:<port>/<warname>/css
<host>:<port>/<warname>/images

etc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Die folgenden Personen waren Bischöfe von Sirmium bzw. Bistum Syrmien (Serbien):

 Irenaeus (um 304)
 Domnus oder Dominus (325–335)
 Eutherius (um 335–343)
 Photinus (343–351)
 Germinius (351–376)
 Anemius (um 376–392)
 Comelius (um 392–404)
 Laurentius? (401–417)
 Sebastian (595)
 Metodius (870)
 ...
 Demeter (Dömötör) (1364–1368) (auch Bischof von Siebenbürgen)
 Johann Vitéz (1482–1489) (auch Erzbischof von Wesprim)
 Stephan (ca. 1490)
 Sedisvakanz (1537–1578)
 ...
 Franjo Josip Vernić (* 1675; † 1728) ca. 1720
 Ladislav Szörényi (1733–1752)
 Nicolò Gyvovich (1753– ?)
 Ivan Krstitelj Paxy (1762–1770) (auch Bischof von Zagreb)
 Das Bistum wird mit dem Bistum Bosnien (Đakovo) zum Bistum Đakovo und Syrmien vereinigt.
 Matteo Francesco Kertiza (1773–?)
 Anton Mandic (1806–1815)
 Emeric Karol Raffay (1816–1830)
 Giuseppe de Kukovich (1834–?)
 Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1849–1905)
 Ivan Krapac (1910–1916)
 Antun Akšmović (1920–1942)
 Stjepan Bäuerlein (1959–1973)
 Ćiril Kos (1974–1997)
 Marin Srakić (1997–2008),
 seit 2008 das Bistum Syrmien wieder selbstständig
 Djuro Gašparović (seit 2008)

Einzelnachweise

Sirmium
Križevci


text:
by Caterina Giacchetti
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and has become an iconic symbol of London.The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue colour.
Thanks, Caterina Giacchetti!
More near London
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Caterina Giacchetti


In a delightful twist of ironic events, Konami Europe's top brass has defected over to Hideo Kojima's new Kojima Productions dev team to work on Death Stranding.
Shinji Hirano, the ex-president Konami Europe, has crossed over to join forces with Hideo Kojima, Konami's estranged superstar and beloved creator of Metal Gear Solid series. The update was spotted on Hirano's updated LinkedIn profile. What's even more deliciously ironic is that Hirano now serves as acting president of Kojima Productions--a role he's well-suited for given his past experience spearheading Konami's European branch.
According to the Koalition, Hirano has been serving as KojimaPro's president for the last two months, joining the team in November 2016.
As Kojima Productions's president, Hirano is "responsible for managing extremely talented creative teams as one single entity and providing the leadership to make company successful as one of the greatest creative studios in the world."
Given the circumstances of the savage and tasteless Konami vs Kojima battle--which ignited a storm within the entire games industry, culminating in Konami shipping Metal Gear Solid V unfinished and outright cancelling Silent Hills--and the reports that Konami exploits and imprisons its own employees, we can't say Hirano's departure is surprising.
Kojima Productions is currently working on their new PS4 game Death Stranding, which uses Guerrilla Games' new next-gen Decima engine that's optimized for 4K on Sony's new PlayStation 4 Pro.
Guerrilla Games and Kojima Productions are currently working on a collaborative effort with the Decima Engine, which powers both KojiPro's Death Stranding and Guerrilla Games' new Horizon: Zero Dawn PS4 exclusive.


1. The group funded the new album, Believe, by creating a kick-starter campaign with some pretty exciting and unique rewards for supporters. What have been the pros (and cons) of creating an album this way?
It's been wonderful to fundraise through a platform that really helps us connect with our audience with the chance for them to pick rewards that we ourselves have created. For example, we had a few pledgers come and be backing vocalists on one of the tracks on the album, and a few pledgers chose to request one of the songs on the album, which was a big risk as obviously not every song can necessarily work in our style, but we thankfully had requests which were perfect for us! The Kickstarter also helped raise awareness that the album was going to happen and therefore the amount of encouragement and support we received was astounding. However, there are some difficulties with doing a Kickstarter fundraiser – we actually reached our minimum target after a few weeks, which in one way was great as we could then promote our stretch goal (which was a more accurate minimum amount that we'd need to raise!). However, it did also mean that we still had over a month before we could actually get to work on the album, as the money is only released once the campaign has completely finished. But it was so worthwhile and, if we hadn't done it, then the album wouldn't exist!
2. Ida are working hard to encourage more children to get involved with classical music. What initially inspired you to study classical singing at college and why did it appeal to you more than the contemporary styles?
As a child/teen, I had actually always been more interested in pop and then musical theatre, even though I was always surrounded by classical music growing up. I got lessons in violin and percussion for several years, but although singing was always the main thing for me, I didn't actually get singing lessons until after leaving school at 18. I got classical lessons and it led to auditioning and getting into conservatoire (Leeds College of Music) and I am so grateful for my training and my professional experience in opera, though I do still enjoy the other genres which is why the classical-crossover style of Ida is perfect for me.
3. Do you do anything to keep your voice 'in shape'?
Oh yes, absolutely! I drink litres and litres of water every day, especially when we're travelling, and I've got all the girls onto Apple Cider Vinegar, which is honestly the best thing ever! It's anti-inflammatory and brilliant for your immune system, so it works wonders for a sore throat or if you think you're starting to get a cold. Also, steaming is great, making sure we don't strain our voices when talking in noisy environments, etc, and of course, getting enough sleep and eating well is a constant for us. We have to work hard to keep our voices in shape!
4. The group's members have performed at venues and events all over the world, are there particular cities that you have found provide better opportunities for aspiring opera singers?
I've personally found Leeds to be brilliant for young opera singers. I was lucky enough to work with the late great Jane Anthony, who was the head of vocal studies while I was at LCoM. Not only was she a founder of the renowned Leeds Lieder+ festival, which she always made sure that students and graduates were involved in, but she also started a company with musical director and conductor John Longstaff, just as I graduated college, called Young Opera Venture. It was specifically founded to give new graduates their first professional opportunities in the opera world and it gave me experiences that I really appreciated and learned so much from.
5. What can we expect from Ida in 2019?
We're excited about 2019! We spent a lot of time abroad this year (approximately half the year in total) singing in festivals and cruises, so next year we're looking forward to having a lot more time in London and working on plans for more UK-based concerts; working on expanding our sound with other writers and producers, and maybe even start planning the next album. We're looking forward to seeing what doors may open and what path the group are set to take.
6. What's your favourite song to belt out in the shower?
It has to be either Life of the Party from Wild Party, or Spargi d'amaro pianto from Lucia di Lammermoor. It depends on if I'm in the mood for a classical or belty sing!
7. Ever sent a text message to the wrong person? If so, what happened?
Oh loads of times, but thankfully nothing so bad that anything really cringe-y came of it.
8. What is the most memorable class you have ever taken?
Wow, I can think of a few, for varying reasons! But I'll go with one of my classes at drama school (I did a year at Drama Studio London after opera): our teacher Helen got us to do this method of unleashing all these locked up emotions called 'Starfish' (anyone who's done it will definitely remember what I'm talking about!), where it would basically go to an extreme emotion. By the end of it, most of the class were either ecstatically happy or terrifyingly angry, and then there was my friend Mary and me uncontrollably weeping (I mean, proper ugly crying)… It was just the weirdest experience and has stuck with me ever since.
9. What's been the best concert you've ever seen and why?
It's awful that I can't tell you who the performers were, but it was a concert at Leeds Town Hall while I was training, and it was a performance of one of my favourite pieces, Shostakovich's Piano Concerto Number 2. I'd never seen it performed live and it was so intricate yet detailed and it just blew me away. I was on the front row and was just beaming from start to finish.
10. Night in or night out?
Night in, without a doubt. I love socialising but I'm not a party animal, so having a nice evening in with a cuppa and some good food is right up my street!
Enjoy our Music themed interviews? Explore the rest of our music interviews here.


text:
Hideo Kojima Lists His Favorite Memories Of The Year 2013
The main man behind Metal Gear Solid series, Hideo Kojima, shares some of his most favorite memories from 2013 including Metal Gear Rising and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain.
Kojima took it to twitter to share his favorite memorable events in 2013, beginning with the launch of Rising and concluding with phenomenal Metal Gear Solid V. Check out his favorite memories below.
Memory of the year of the Snake.
Snake made with KoGekko.pic.twitter.com/9yHLexBSMZ"
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) December 31, 2013
RISING event in Paris.pic.twitter.com/sL7b1rLLc0"
Giant mural in England.pic.twitter.com/pBevTHjDV2"
Memory of the year of the Snake. pic.twitter.com/2M3uRJuupr"
Memory of the year of the Snake. pic.twitter.com/S6Ona8PHvK"
Memory of the year of the Snake. pic.twitter.com/8n3qSCVU7y"
This year was particularly special for Kojima. Not only they introduced a new side-story for Raiden this year, they also announced and showcased their next mainline Metal Gear Solid game. Metal Gear Rising was a success for Kojima and sold surprisingly well for a hack and slash based on Raiden. It was developed by Platinum Games and released by Konami. It is currently scheduled for a release on PC on 9th January, 2014.
The other game was Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. This is the first time when we are having two different Metal Gear Solid games released so close to each other. Ground Zeroes will be released next year in March, it is coming to both current generation and next generation consoles while The Phantom Pain will be released at a yet to be revealed date.
So what do you think of the favorite memories of Hideo Kojima? Let us know in the comments below.
Stay tuned to GearNuke for latest news and info on Metal Gear Solid V.
hideo kojima konami Metal Gear Rising Metal Gear Solid V
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CHVRCHES on Death Stranding and Kojima "Some of the sh*t he is doing with the new game is unlike anything I have seen anyone else do"