Surrounded by three different oceans, boasting a mountain taller than Everest, home to some of the largest and oldest trees on Planet Earth, with one single coastline that spans 6,640 miles or 10,686 km in total. Where in the world is this incredible sounding place?
Would you believe this location of such natural beauty is the very same land also known for Hollywood, Manhattan, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the White House? The United States of America has so much to offer to a wide-eyed traveller, here's why you should be packing your bags to head Stateside.
As the country is made up of 52 states, covering a total area of 9.834 million km², the United States of America spans from tropical beaches to freezing mountain tops, to wildly rushing rivers and arid desert panoramas. You could truly spend years visiting all the National Park reserves and areas of outstanding beauty, and still not be bored with what you're seeing.
Whether you're more comfortable knee deep in snow, or you're a sun worshiper who likes to feel the heat on their skin, the US really has a climate for everyone! For a completely life-changing experience, get out into one of the many dark-sky zones in America to witness the stars at night, the way they should be enjoyed.
The US is a large and beautiful country to explore. Each state is completely different from the other all with their own quirks. Visit New Orleans for some live jazz music, delicious Creole cuisine, and festivities. You can stay outside of New Orleans, like at the Gulf Shore, where there are many accommodation types to suit your budget. Sites like Vacation Renter, allow you to live in luxury or find a rental that's under $100 a night. Perfect!
Other popular states to visit include Texas, New York, California, and Nevada. Go have the time of your life!
If all you feel like doing is putting your feet up and enjoying some downtime, there are few better places in the world than the US.
California, in particular, is world famous for its refined beachside resorts, where you can explore the world of juice cleanses and get bendy in a spirituality class with some prolific American yoga teachers, including Tim Miller, David Miliotis and Annie Carpenter.
If, on the other hand, you had something more entertaining in mind, US cities offer some of the best party atmospheres anywhere in the world; there's a reason Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York City and Miami Beach have the reputation they do!
Of course, remember to party responsibly — the legal drinking age in the US is 21 years old, so you want to avoid anywhere that looks crowded with young college students. Nevertheless, do your research and you will find yourself happily whiling away the hours until early morning.


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Gabe McKinley's THE SOURCE Gets NYC Reading, Discussion This Month via Culture Project
NEW YORK CITY, NY – 5 Jan, 2017 –
Culture Project
presents a creative initiative about the Right to Privacy in our nation.
A reading of
By Gabe McKinley
Directed by Pippin Parker
Followed by a public discussion led by journalist Leonard Jacobs.
January 12th, 2017 @ 6pm
At The Lynn Redgrave Theater
45 Bleecker Street, NYC
Reservations required by emailing rsvp@cultureproject.org
What does a Trump administration mean for our privacy rights and for Edward Snowden?
This reading of The Source and public forum is being held a week before the Presidential inauguration to call to attention the ongoing plight of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in light of President-elect Trump implying he should be executed. In addition, the evening shall be an informal discussion of the expansion of government surveillance, and what our nation faces on the eve of a highly politically aggressive and right-wing administration taking office.
The Source, a new play by Gabe McKinley, is inspired by the whistleblowing of Edward Snowden. Ever-aware of the looming dangers of government surveillance, and the high-wattage news story they are about to break, two journalists wait in a hotel room to meet with The Source, an unnamed man or woman who has promised to provide them with a gold mine of first-hand information. A taut drama that is both thriller and passionate exchange of political ideas, The Source examines the civil and human implications of the loss of privacy. The play will be read by George Demas and Amanda Quaid and directed by Pippin Parker.
Following the reading, journalist Leonard Jacobs will conduct a talkback with the artists and an informal discussion with the audience about the new Presidential administration as it pertains to privacy and other civil rights.
The Source will have its premiere production at the Route 66 Theater Company in Chicago from March 2nd to April 2nd, 2017.
Contributors' Bios:
Culture Project is dedicated to addressing critical human rights issues by creating and supporting artistic work that amplifies marginalized voices. By fostering innovative collaboration between human rights organizations and artists, we aim to inspire and impact public dialogue and policy, encouraging democratic participation in the most urgent matters of our time.
Gabe McKinley's plays have been produced and developed by companies nationally and internationally, including Atlantic Theater Company, Naked Angels, Premiere Stages, The Old Vic, American Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, The LARK, Keen company, Route 66, Williamstown Theater Festival and Red Dog Squadron, among others. His plays include The Kitchen Sink Play, Welcome Home Rock Rogers, Funny, Floodplains, Skopje, The Source and the critically acclaimed Extinction and CQ/CX (John Gassner Outer Critics Award nomination). A graduate of NYU and The New School for Drama, Gabe lives in Brooklyn.
Leonard Jacobs is Founder and Executive Editor of The Clyde Fitch Report, a news site covering arts and politics. Leonard has been an arts journalist and theater critic since Thespis stepped out of the chorus line, and has been an indentured servant in public service, private industry, and academia.
Pippin Parker directed and served as dramaturge of the award-winning production of George Packer's Betrayed at Culture Project (winner of the 2008 Lortel Award for Best Play), which was also presented at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in conjunction with Refugees, International. He also directed the New York premiere of Knickerbocker by Jonathan Marc Sherman at the Public Theater. A founding member and former artistic director of Naked Angels Theater Company in New York City, Pippin helped conceive the company's long-running reading series Tuesdays at 9 and its signature Issues Projects, in which the company collaborated with a range of advocacy organizations including Amnesty International and Project A.L.S..
George Demas performed in the award-winning New York City productions of The Effect and Our Town, both directed by David Cromer, as well as numerous appearances on television and film. At The Culture Project he has appeared in Social Note: An Evening With Dorothy Parker and Maverick, as well as many readings. He also directed New York Times Critic's Picks Krapp, 39 at The Soho Playhouse and Levittown for The Cliplight Theater at The Theater at St. Clement's.
Amanda Quaid Broadway: Equus. Off-Broadway: world premiere of The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons), US premiere of Cock (The Duke), Luck of the Irish (LCT3, Lortel nomination), Pericles (Public Theater, AEA Bayfield Award), world premiere of A Public Reading…Death of Walt Disney (Soho Rep), Galileo (CSC), The Illusion (Signature), Happy Hour (Atlantic), The Seagull (Culture Project), The Witch of Edmonton (Red Bull), three plays at Irish Rep, most recently The Weir. Regional: Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. TV: I'm Dying Up Here, Masters of Sex, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU. Film: Non-Stop, English (actor/director), Toys (animator/director).
Running time of reading: 80 minutes
Discussion: 45-60 minutes
Full News Story: http://pressreleasejet.com/news/gabe-mckinleys-the-source-gets-nyc-reading-discussion-this-month-via-culture-project.html
Company Name: Culture Project
Contact Person: Angela Razzano
Email: press@cultureproject.org
Website: www.cultureproject.org
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Feet-Tapping, Barn-Raising Fun From '7 Brides For 7 Brothers' Is Exactly What You Need
This dance sequence from '7 Brides For 7 Brothers' is a testament to how talented actors and actresses were in the 50s! Actors could do it all back then: act, sing, and dance! This intense dance filled with intricate choreography and gymnastics must have been a grueling number to perform.
The film was known for the unusual choreography by Michael Kidd. He used mundane frontier pursuits, like chopping wood and raising a barn to create dance moves. The number was so technical and grueling that he wanted dancers to portray all six of Adam Pontipee's boisterous brothers. However, MGM Studios wanted actors already under contract to MGM — Jeff Richards and Russ Tamblyn — to be cast as two brothers. The other four brothers were professional dancers — the four seen dancing on the balance beam.
The screenplay was based on the short story, "The Sobbin' Women," by Stephen Vincent Benét. '7 Brides for 7 Brothers', is set in Oregon in 1850. A lovely young cook, Milly (Jane Powell), marries Adam (Howard Keel), a grizzled lumberjack, after a short courtship. The newlyweds return to Adam's farm, where Milly is shocked to meet his six ill-mannered brothers.
She quickly explains to the men how to behave appropriately, including courtship etiquette. However, the brothers kidnap six local girls, the ones they dance with, in this scene! This barn raising sets off the chain of events for the rest of the movie. It is a fantastic film that any musical fan will love.
Cows Were Grazing In The Field. But When They Saw THIS In The Mud, My Heart Stopped! OH NO!
Tim Conway & Harvey Korman Nearly Lost It When They Did This Sketch On The "Carol Burnett Show"
She Lost Her Only Child At Birth, But Decades Later She Hears Voice Say, "I'm Not Dead"
This Baby Sang "Amazing Grace" And Left Her Dad In AWE. But What She Does Next? I'm STUNNED
Baby Sloths Look Into The Camera. But What Happens When They Open Their Mouths? Aww!
Furious Judge Judy Brings The Hammer Down On Spoiled Brat & Foolish Parent
THIS Simple Mix Will Get Rid Of Ants Overnight. HOW To Make It? Wait Till You See THIS! Amazing!
This Raccoon Was Being A Pest. So This Dog Did Something Totally Hilarious!


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Federal Prosecutor John Durham and American Justice. 3 of 10
The next thing that happens to Salemme who had been out of jail a little over a year was that in November 2004 he is charged with obstruction of justice and making false statement to an FBI agent about his involvement in the murder of Steve DiSarro. After DiSarro disappeared on November 2, 1999, Salemme had been interrogated more than six hours by federal prosecutors and state police about that. Obviously the prosecutors knew he was believed to have been involved at the time of Connolly's trial but they apparently did nothing to pursue it and let him claim to be ignorant of it.
On July 16, 2008 Salemme consummated a plea deal with Wyshak. He could have received much more time without the deal and be kept off the street but Wyshak agreed to a deal that sentenced him to five years. Salemme got credit for four years already served in prison. He was to be released in six months' time in January 2009. He would be back out on the street until charge with DiSarro's murder.
It was reported on September 13, 2018, "Longtime federal prosecutor Fred Wyshak at one point choked back tears as he spoke about the crimes of the mobster, after whom Wyshak has been going since the 1990s.This man is ruthless, barbaric and he is an individual who richly deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison," Wyshak said of the 84-year-old gangster. He went on: "It grieves me that it's taken this long to put him away for the rest of his life, because he richly deserves that."
Wyshak had used Salemme and vouched for his veracity of a person who everyone knew was "ruthless and barbaric" when he used him as a witness. If I suggest Durham's partner Wyshak was shedding crocodile tears perhaps I would not be wrong. I say that because he and Durham more than anyone else facilitated Salemme being on the street. They did that because back in 2000 when they decided to have him go to bat for them so that they could get retired FBI Agent John Connolly.
These prosecutors would also arrange the deal for John Martorano that I wrote about; dealt with Steve Flemmi who murdered his girlfriend, step daughter, and countless others who was sentenced to life in federal prison but avoided being confined under the oversight of the Bureau of Prisons; and gave Kevin Weeks who was facing double figures for the crimes he was indicted for, agreed that he could do five years for five murders. They also gave other people accused of murder such as Howie Winter and Pat Nee breaks by keeping their names out of the trial.
Those three men with multiple murders to their credit must smile when they see Trump's pro-life Attorney General Barr pushing for federal executions. He carried out three executions in four days of men who committed far less murders than those who cooperated with Durham. When thinking of him look at the extent of the deals he is willing to make to gain testimony.
There were other thing Salemme lied about but it was sort of incredible in the first place that Prosecutor Durham was using the head of a Mafia family to testify against an FBI agent who had arrested him in New York City in 1972 which caused him to spend the next 16 years in prison.
Connolly was convicted by a jury of a minority of the counts he faced. He was sentenced 121 months in prison which was at the top of the scale of possible sentencing. This was a heavy hit especially considering the jury verdict. Judge Joseph Tauro explained that his main reason for doing this was Connolly's attempt to undermine the case being handled by another judge in his courthouse, Judge Mark Wolf.
← Federal Prosecutor John Durham and American Justice. 2 of 10	Federal Prosecutor John Durham and American Justice. 4 of 10 →
5 thoughts on "Federal Prosecutor John Durham and American Justice. 3 of 10"
Norwood Born says:
Yesterdays Boston Herald had not one but two separate screenshots of Billy Bulger.One was in the article by Howie Carr pertaining to Massachusetts state pensions, the other the same type of article written by somebody else. The topic of Billy Bulger seems to be one that people never tire of. Your point of a mafia family head in court speaking against an FBI agent who helped put him away for 18 years is something that has never happened before I would think.If the whole saga of the court proceedings was fiction who would believe it?
Brian R. Merrick says:
Matt, I'm trying to get your drift here. Are you saying Connolly is innocent? Are you trying to smear Durham with Wyshak's deals to somehow taint what Durham is about to produce? Mueller and an impeachment Inquiry came up empty on Trump Campaign-Russian "collusion." Durham will show the only colluders in 2016-17 were the Clinton Campaign, FusionGPS, Comey, and top people at FBI-DOJ, Counterintelligence, Brennan, Clapper and Rice.
Some facts, to keep the ball rolling: Fred Wyshak came to Boston from NJ in 1989 as Assistant U.S. Attorney. Donald Sterns was U.S. Attorney for the Boston Office from 1993-2001. Indictments came down against Bulger, Flemmi, and Salemme in 1995 . . .Wyshak lead counsel . . . .
You will never see this fact reported: The Boston jury specifically acquitted John Connolly . . .not guilty . . .of leaking information that led to Bulger fleeing. It convicted John Connolly of telling Weeks in a closed refrigerator unit that indictments were coming down. But no nexus was established between Weeks and Whitey , , , ,Whitey was away in New Orleans then New York and was coming back from New York when he first heard on the radio that indictments were coming down . . . .Theresa Stanley testified to this fact . . . .
Moreover, it was no crime for a private citizen to tell someone that they heard through the grapevine an indictment was coming down . . . in 1995 John Connolly was a private citizen, five years retired from the FBI . . .moreover, it was general knowledge in Southie that indictments were coming down as up to 40 different people had been summoned to Worcester to the Grand Jury convened by Wyshak/Sterns . . .
So keep this timeline and these facts in mind: Sterns, Wyshak had long been in the process of cooking up the rogue agent theory, in collusion with Muellar and Comey and other higher ups in the FBI and DOJ in D.C. . . . .they singled out John Connolly while their real target was Alan Dershowitz's nemesis Bill Bulger . . .
innocent men they persecuted and prosecuted
Remember Alan Dershowitz's written words: "Connolly is just a cop . . .squeeze Connolly to get Bill Bulger" . . .it was all a two fold political persecution (absolve the FBI from wrongdoing with the phony rogue agent theory and get Bill Bulger, the brilliant Conservative Irish Catholic politician too.
It was a political persecution just like the political persecution of General Flynn by Comey, Muellar and other anti-Trump Dems inside the FBI and DOJ.
Same modus operandi. And all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do and say nothing, to turn a blind eye to the enormities.
The whole idea of making a crime out of writing a letter to a judge (Wolf) stating a different set of facts is an enormity. Citizens have a free speech right to write letters to whomever they want, to stand outside a courthouse with a bullhorn and disagree with a judge, to write a letter to the editor or write a book presenting a different version of events.
Connolly wrote a letter to Wolf on Boston Police Stationary (to get the judge's attention) presenting a different version of events. Some say the letter was defamatory. Defamation is a civil offense, not a crime.
What Wyshak and his cohorts did in criminalizing this free speech writing was to put a chill on Free Speech throughout America.
In Matt's and Wyshak's America writing a letter to judge is a crime, obstruction of justice.
If Connolly wrote an anonymous letter to a judge saying the Chelsea cops were responsible for strong arming citizens would that be obstruction of justice.
Connolly was acting as honorably as the peaceful protesters in Portland petitioning their government for a redress of grievances, presenting opposing, dissenting views.
2, The obscene deals with the serial killers were all made before Durham was on board. Connolly was indicted in 1999. When Durham left, wanting no part of the Miami double jeopardy defying trial, Wyshak continued to make obscene deals with Flemmi, inducing him to reverse his eight years of asserting, twice under oath, that John Connolly was an honest agent who never said or did anything intending anyone be harmed.
These are the facts as I know them. Sterns, Dershowitz's pal, since in the indictments of 1995 was aiming to get Bill Bulger, Dershowitz's nemesis, by squeezing John Connolly. Wyshak was brought on board to effectuate that . . .and Wyshak, the Jihadi Javert, cut obscene deals with serial killers and other murderers, and Wyshak deputized five State Cops and sicced them both on Whitey and Bill Bulger at the State House, and Colonel Foley in his 2013 Somerville Speech confirmed that.
Dershowitz publicly wrote, in an editorial, "Connolly is just a cop . . .Squeeze Connolly to get Bill Bulgerl"
That is what this entire corrupt prosecution of an entirely innocent man, John Connolly, was all about. And it was cooked up before Durham came up to Boston from Connecticut.
Just sitting back thinking how you might
expand your band of legal brothers to offer fresh
approaches to looking at the case.
Fred Whitehurst practices law in NC. He is
the FBI Lab whistleblower. He is connected to
a team of whistleblowers.
Address: 126 W Washington St, Bethel, NC 27812
https://www.whistleblowers.org/members/dr-frederic-whitehurst/
Does John Connolly qualify as a FBI whistleblower?
https://solitarywatch.org/photo-requests-solitary/
Photo Requests From Solitary
What Would Someone in Solitary Confinement Want to See?
Also see Robert Shetterly's new essay.
I was with him the day he visited Murphy Davis in
Atlanta.
Murphy Davis: Surely Goodness and Mercy
Submitted by robert.shetterly on 02 August 2020 – 02:52pm
Surely Goodness and Mercy: A Journey into Illness and Solidarity, by Murphy Davis
Open Door Community Press, Baltimore , MD, 2020
Murphy has been dancing with the angels for a long time now, but she still has the grace to think about the rest of us, to teach us some of the steps. What a rare and precious gift from a rare and precious person." – Bryan Stevenson
I visited the Open Door Community in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2008 to meet Murphy Davis in order to paint her portrait for Americans Who Tell the Truth. I found her, as anyone might have in the past 25 years, in the midst of recovery from life-threatening illnesses. Her chemotherapy for cancer had been briefly paused while she had had her gallbladder removed. In spite of discomfort and pain she came downstairs wearing a headscarf (the chemo had taken her hair) and pajamas. Her mind and spirit, though, were strong, focused, buoyant, and fully dressed. She says that for years death has stalked her, but did not frighten her because "death was a powerful presence I had met again and again in prisons and execution chambers, on the streets and in the cat holes of the homeless … . To live in solidarity with the poor is to share proximity to death."
In order to understand Murphy Davis, why I wanted to paint her, and the long journey of her life in service to the homeless, the poor, prisoners, and for peace, it's best to first consider that word "solidarity" which is in the title of her newly published memoir. When many of us think of being in or standing in solidarity with some group or cause, we are making a statement of concern and allegiance, but we are not necessarily pledging to take on all the conditions and burdens that define that group, to make walking in their shoes the sine qua non of solidarity, to insist on confronting the causes of the injustice, not merely treating the symptoms. Solidarity is often something we say rather than feel obligated to do.
Murphy, in partnership with her husband, Dr. Eduard Loring – both Pastors in the Presbyterian Church – have made abolition of the death penalty, creation of housing for the homeless, struggles for racial and economic justice, and cessation of war their life work. In 1981, Davis and Loring founded the Open Door Community, a diverse, activist residential Christian community dedicated to changing the economic conditions that create homelessness. Since the center opened in downtown Atlanta, the Loring-Davis family has lived in the community with the homeless, former prisoners, and others who have come to join the struggle to feed the hungry and agitate for justice. They survive economically by donations. They take no salary. They gave up their life savings. They gave up health insurance (an incredible choice for someone who has suffered 8 cancers in 25 years).
About her radical solidarity, Murphy says, "Solidarity means stretching our hearts. It means giving things up – not once, or twice, but continually. It means forgoing privileges and conveniences that make things easier for us while leaving others to fend for themselves … . Solidarity means that we recognize the liberation of the poor as our life's agenda."
Murphy's radical solidarity frames all of her medical tribulations as the condition of her authentic pact with the poor, the most marginalized and punished in our society. It means she operates from the unassailable strength of unconditional love. The freedom of her solidarity affords her immense political leverage because she has, as Janis Joplin sang, "nothing left to lose." And her life has been about using that political leverage. The Open Door Community performs militant advocacy for universal healthcare and insists on a society that considers the dignity of every person necessary in defining the common good.
Considering Murphy's 25 years of medical struggles, struggles as relentless as the afflictions of Job, one might think her title Surely Goodness and Mercy is meant ironically. Not at all. She feels herself blessed to live a life of profound service, to be in the company of many people as dedicated as herself and surrounded by love. Her personal suffering is a parable of the suffering of the poor and homeless, the abused, and the suffering of the earth itself, which is under attack by the same market forces which create poverty. She says, "… in our era of technological frenzy the earth cries out to us, and its pleas most often fall on ears rendered unable to hear by the frantic life of market capitalism and its voracious appetites. The illnesses that afflict our bodies are not apart from the devastation and weeping of the earth itself."
Murphy writes easily and straightforwardly of the work of Open Door and her medical travails. She never asks, "Why me?" Again and again she sees critical illness "… as an opportunity to grow in wisdom and love." And one of the book's surprises is its humor. Amongst all the descriptions of doctors and treatments is a wealth of anecdote and amusing detail.
But this book is really a hero's journey. Murphy would never describe it like that. As she struggles with the vicissitudes of her health and the punishments visited on the poor, the abused, the discriminated against and the imprisoned, she never gives up. At times Murphy is like Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons who continually resurrects himself from bone-crushing, body-splattering mishaps to continue the chase. In Murphy's case the chase is for peace, justice, dignity, and love.
Murphy Davis's life engenders awe for her courageous dedication to justice in the same manner that Dorothy Day did, or Dr. King, or Fannie Lou Hamer. We hear the word "authentic" bandied about all the time these days. In our culture of identity politics and political correctness, many people are challenged about their right to speak authentically for demographics other than their own. With Murphy, all those challenges become irrelevant. Her radical solidarity creates an authenticity beyond question. It models for us all a life lived for goodness and mercy, a life lived for love. A life rooted in the heart of justice. Read her book and discover what a life of militant, loving service can be and do.
Order Surely Goodness and Mercy: A Journey into Illness and Solidarity for a donation of $15 from the Open Door Community Press, PO Box 10980, Baltimore, MD 21234-0980, (404-290-2047), opendoorcomm@bellsouth.net


"A delicious way to add more veggies to your diet! This recipe is very versatile. You can change out the greens with whatever you want. Chia seeds give you added protein and energy. Hemp seeds will give you a boost of omegas!"
Blend spinach, almond milk, peanut butter, chia seeds, and kale together in a blender until smooth. Add banana and blend until smooth.
Try these healthy, hearty spinach and kale balls.
No chia seeds, and I added ice because my banana was not frozen! Delicious!! Kept me full for 4 hours (and I'm 7months pregnant), great accomplishment :) thanks!!!
I used 1 cup frozen kale and on cup frozen spinach, I just thawed it with some warm water. I didn't have any chia seeds, but it still came out really tasty.
I only used a teaspoon of peanut butter, and it was still delicious! Mostly tasted banana and peanut butter, it did a good job of covering up the freshly cut grass taste!


"It's 'the look of the thing' that counts" was the clear and concise statement of priority and intent that opened the first exhibition, Poussin=Abstract which Poussin Gallery mounted back in 2005. Furthermore their declared connection with the great 17th century French Classical painter revealed that Poussin Gallery was deadly serious in their belief that the "look" in visual art is anything but "superficiality". If such is the case - and I am the last to argue with such an observation - then I would contend the work of Fred Pollock, conscientiously and rigorously developed on the principle of the "look" over a long and sustained career, is in complete and harmonious accord with the optical being at the heart of quality abstract art.
That was written over thirty years ago, yet this latest exhibition of Pollock's painting demonstrates again that, despite necessary shifts in mode and technique, his underlying "character" and approach to his artistic practice has remained consistently focussed on the visual power of colour to create pure and unmediated sensations of form and space. Refuting the accusation of formalism, as with all true Modernist artists, Pollock never operates in his studio to a prescribed formula of intention, but openly approaches each work with as receptive a response as possible - one mark linking with the next, one chromatic chord responding to another, one composition formulating into a picture which leads to its pictorial heir and then its successors… Thus the modern artist or poet, in the ringing words of the great Hugh MacDiarmid, who provides the title for this essay, must "dodge the curst conceit o' being right/that damns the vast majority o' men." The only thing that requires to be "right" of course is the look of painting itself, or to use another of Greenberg's critical colloquialisms - "it has to sit right".
Greenberg, of course, after his early flirtation with Marxism, always traced his aesthetic philosophy and analytical method back to the 18th century Enlightenment and was unashamedly Kantian in his disinterested approach to critical judgement. He also held that, despite appearances, there was never "a break with the past" in the history of art. Presumably the same could be said of the history of philosophy and, if that is so, then it might be appropriate to follow Greenberg's Kantian attitudes and ideas a little further back to the major figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Thomas Reid and David Hume, who is reported to have "awakened Kant from his philosophical slumbers." Significantly both of these Scots philosophers had a keen passion for the visual arts and were also on personal acquaintance with the two most eminent painters of their day, Allan Ramsay and Henry Raeburn, and had their portraits painted by them.
Yet despite their shared interest in visual culture Hume and Reid's analytical writings on tactile, aural and visual experience were fundamentally at odds. In a very small nutshell, Hume came out of the Idealist/ Nominalist School of Cartesian thinkers which was deeply sceptical that we could rely on our senses to verify the external world. For Hume, our belief in the world's existence is in fact, ultimately due to the internal ideas which we formulate through experience and memory in the human mind and imagination. On the other hand, as a modern Realist Reid strenuously challenged this notion. In Reid's Common Sense view, if we are fully aware, there is no need of mediating ideas for us to have direct contact with the experience of external reality through the agency of our senses; and it is gratifying from our point of view that Reid chose to use the unique optical skills of the painter to demonstrate his contentions.
Anticipating many of the now accepted concepts of contemporary post-structuralist theory, Reid lamented the nature of our socially conditioned, quotidian attitude to the visual world as being like a veil of conceptually constructed signs - "to us it is a language perfectly familiar; and, therefore, we take no notice of the signs, but attend only to the thing signified by them." Thus, to our great loss, we don't really see the world; rather we immediately fall into our habitual reading of it- "We pass from the sign to the signified, with ease, and by natural impulse; but to go backward from the thing signified to the sign, is a work of labour and difficulty". Such an arduous task is the chosen lot of painters in general, but acutely so for pure abstract artists like Fred Pollock.
In the work of Pollock the central role of seeing/looking is of fundamental and crucial importance. Reid draws our attention to the fact that seeing/looking is not only an experienced act on our part, but also a medium by which we engage with the visual world, and, like the Modernist artist, we all need to be readily aware of its specific characteristics. With great dedication Pollock, through his essential painterly practice, successfully manages to attend to both the sensual and the artistic qualities of his specific medium of expression. On the heavily worked surface of his pictures the intuitive action of seeing and the conceptual process of painting meet and interconnect in the most direct and free encounter. It is only through years of intense observation and painterly experimentation that Pollock has managed "to go backward from the thing signified to the sign." In these richly sensuous paintings of Pollock's, not only is colour revealed to us as the most fundamental feature of our visual world, but the very experience of seeing is re-constructed for us, not in light as with nature, but through the highly articulated artifice of colour placement and arrangement. Thus in a Fred Pollock exhibition we have a very unusual situation. Normally with the presentation of pictures in a painting show we, as viewers, move immediately and unconsciously from our involuntary action of seeing to the conventionally rehearsed act of looking at something that holds our attention for aesthetic and cultural reasons. In marked contrast however, Pollock's intently optical paintings manage to turn the tables on us by making us intensely aware of the physiological process of seeing through the aegis of the constructivist medium of pure painting in tactile colour. Of course, even with Pollock's painting, we will go on to the self-conscious act of looking and recognition, but the original impact of the initial experience of spontaneous seeing should also remain with us.
What might seem to be implied here - a return to a sort of Ruskinian "innocent eye" - would certainly be anathema to everything that is being preached by contemporary theories on post-structuralism. This seeming lapse into essentialist romantic yearning for our mythical original and uncontaminated being is definitely not the case on my part. Not for a moment I am denying that painting, including Pollock's, is a language of semantic communication. Even abstraction is a distinct part of that system and Fred Pollock's pictures should never be regarded as spontaneous outbursts of raw instinctive expression. On the contrary they are carefully considered and constructed entities; thus they are as much conceptual as perceptual in their nature and in their making. These paintings are there not only to be seen and looked at, but also to stimulate an enriching dialogue as well.
As with all sophisticated communication systems the language of painting is multi-layered. Firstly, there is what might be termed the subliminal level of visual language - that which Lacan for instance calls the "real" and Kristeva the "semiotic". This is an innate and pre-symbolic mode of expression and the early abstractionists staked their faith on the transcendental power of this language to inspire spiritual enlightenment. The Formalists also believed that abstract art, operating at this fundamental level of visual communication, could have infinitely greater universal significance than mimetic art, for example. Secondly, although abstract art does appear to operate to a greater degree at a subliminal level than other kinds of painting, it has also developed its own particular conventional systems of communication through its distinctive internal historical progress. Thirdly, the mode of expression that painters develop is also dependant on the artistic company they keep and the influences they fall under in the development of their art. Thus painters are drawn towards particular languages of painting through the traditions they inherit, the influences they seek and the community of fellow practitioners with whom they keep company. Fourthly, the final level is the most particular and subtle to discern. This is the artist's own recognisable manner of visual communication. This is what might be termed the personal rhetorical style of display and delivery which allows us to distinguish and appreciate the crucial differences in means of expression and technique between one painter - in this instance, Fred Pollock - and another. Needless to say the multi-layered structure of painterly language is closely interlinked and any crude attempt at separation through heavy-handed analysis of specific examples can have a detrimental effect on the over-all aesthetic effect - at our own peril "we murder to dissect", as Alexander Pope succinctly put it in his Essay on Criticism.
The ever-perceptive Reid realised much more than most that perceptual seeing and the conceptual language involved in the act of looking were always closely interconnected. They could however, with proper practice, as found in the attentive focus and technical skill of the dedicated painter, remain distinct from each other. Pollock's paintings reveal and exemplify this amazing achievement. They are immediately wondrous, but also go on to encourage and sustain absorbing aesthetic meditation. This is because their unmediated openness operates at the multi-level of visual communication as discussed above. Consequently this causes at least a dual reaction in the attentive and absorbed viewer. Through the initial optical contact with Pollock's pictures we intuitively see their polychromatic brilliance and instantly bask in their sensual delights. The first encounter operates at the subliminal level of visual communication where seeing and painting are at one with each other. Following the involuntary impulse of our initial attraction we then move from the original action of seeing the painting into the act of looking at it. Now our awareness and experience of the different levels of painterly language comes into action. Simple seeing is now taken over by sophisticated looking and informed recognition, but hopefully however, and this must be the case with the totally self-revealing painting of Pollock, never subsumed or eradicated by it. These tangibly real and visually vibrant pictures simultaneously inspire us to realise that seeing is the innate existential pleasure of simply being alive; while, at the same time, they also offer us the freedom to look and critically read the distinctive signs of painting and contemplate their aesthetic significance.
One of Fred Pollock's long-term admirers - the master of English Modernist sculpture, Sir Anthony Caro - got it precisely and concisely right when he commented on the work of this outstanding Scottish Modernist painter - "these paintings don't only look good at first acquaintance; they stay good." They still do, because as Greenberg observed back in 1977, Pollock's paintings not only stay "good", they stay their "own".


Delhi Daredevils sponsor Muthoot Group is leveraging its association with IPL team Delhi Daredevils by launching CSR initiatives for ILP 2013. These include a giant Golden Bat (reflecting the group's roots in finance against gold) and a giant Wishing Ball where people can sign up and help educate a child.
The group has also launched The 'Muthoot Dus ki Toli' initiative which is a platform through which economically challenged children from Delhi will get the opportunity to be on the field retrieving cricket balls for players and officials during the Delhi home matches .
"Batting For Art", an idea conceived by Creatigies Communications, brings together the Delhi Daredevils and Arts4All for fundraising for unrecognised artists. Under this initiative diverse artists around the country, have created 15 specially painted large cricket bats, which were unveiled , this week, by Daredevil team members Eric Simmons, T Sekar, Ashish Nehra, Andre Russel, Naman Ojha, and Hemant Dua. These painted bats will be displayed at spots with high footfalls in Delhi including the T 3 Airport Terminal, Rajiv Chowk Metro station and the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. Funds raised from the sales of the bats, by GMR Sports, at a celebration dinner in May 2013, will be handed over to the Arts For All Residency Programme and its other initiatives.
Photo: Delhi Daredevils players Andre Russel (Left) and Naman Ojha (Right). The bat has been painted by Neeraj Goswami.
It's a measure of the challenges of driving PR in not just a 24X7 media cycle, but a hungry social media universe that constantly demands fresh content literally every hour, that April Fool's Day has now firmly entered the mainstream as a hook to generate a quick buzz.
This week Internet properties Bing, Twitter, Google and Youtube all found reasons to pull a prank.


Former Rep. John Dingell, passed away Feb. 7 at the age of 92. According to media reports he was the longest-serving member of Congress on record, spending nearly six decades in Congress. A resident of Dearborn, Michigan, Dingell, a Democrat, was a tireless advocate for the automotive and auto parts industry.
In 2008, he was presented with the MEMA's Industry Champion award for his advocacy for the supplier industry in the debate over fuel economy. His diligence resulted in provisions in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that assisted the supplier industry in developing technology to meet the new standard. He also was a strong supporter of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership as well as his leadership in passing the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007.


text:
TOP VULNERABILITY THIS WEEK: Cisco Releases Security Advisories for IOS and IOS XE
***************** Sponsored By Trend Micro *****************
Do people trust the security and privacy of IoT devices? Is convenience a good trade-off for their personal information? How much do people want for their personal information? Read the new study from Trend Micro and the Ponemon Institute to learn about how people feel about security and privacy and the IoT
1) In case you missed it on 3/24: Cybersecurity Collaboration: Leveraging a Trusted Partner with Joshua Goldfarb, VP, CTO of FireEye.
Title: Cisco Releases Security Advisories for IOS and IOS XE
Description: Cisco has released their bi-annual IOS Software Security Advisory bundle. In total, 7 advisories were published, addressing vulnerabilities in Autonomic Network Infrastructure (ANI), Common Industrial Protocol (CIP), Multicast Domain Name System (mDNS), TCP, Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF), Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2), and Cisco IOS XE Software. These vulnerabilities, if left unpatched, could allow an attacker to leverage them to perform denial of service attacks.
http://blogs.cisco.com/security/announcing-the-first-cisco-ios-xe-software-security-advisory-bundled-publication
Title: GitHub hit with a Massive DDoS Attack
Description: GitHub has been hit with a large scale DDoS attack that has lasted for five days. While GitHub has experienced some intermittent interruption of service, it has been largely able to stay online throughout the DDoS attack. As of 2015-03-31 11:11 UTC, current mitigations GitHub has in place are holding and the service remains stable.
https://github.com/blog/1981-large-scale-ddos-attack-on-github-com
Telnet Is Dead. Long Live Telnet!
https://blog.shodan.io/telnet-is-dead-long-live-telnet/
Threat Spotlight: Dyre/Dyreza: An Analysis to Discover the DGA
http://sfi.re/1GJA4Pc
Meterpreter Survey 2015: You spoke, we listened, then wrote a bunch of code
https://community.rapid7.com/community/metasploit/blog/2015/03/26/meterpreter-2015-you-spoke-we-listened
Detecting DLL Hijacking on Windows
http://digital-forensics.sans.org/blog/2015/03/25/detecting-dll-hijacking-on-windows
DEA Agent Charged With Acting As A Paid Mole For Silk Road
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/dea-agent-charged-acting-paid-mole-silk-road/
SHA 256: 601822500DF286D0576A0F9245253E9F3A96E03D268A20709A9C2E8A54B425AF
MD5: 12d81541a7d90ff39f6d9763f36a1b3f
https://www.virustotal.com/file/601822500DF286D0576A0F9245253E9F3A96E03D268A20709A9C2E8A54B425AF/analysis/#additional-info
Typical Filename: dsrlte_1.3.24.4_cn.exe
Claimed Product: Keep-My-Search
Detection Name: W32.601822500D-100.SBX.VIOC
SHA 256: BF8068C476819646F589EA9AEADD3B03EF962D26655A1A43794AA34A1348251B
MD5: 192304424cf9fce2583fde72722979bc
https://www.virustotal.com/file/BF8068C476819646F589EA9AEADD3B03EF962D26655A1A43794AA34A1348251B/analysis/#additional-info
Typical Filename: DTUpdate2010.exe
Claimed Product: Search Results
Detection Name: W32.BF8068C476-100.SBX.VIOC


text:
Victoria's mangroves and saltmarshes under threat
Victoria's mangroves and saltmarshes are misunderstood by land managers, under-valued by the public and under threat from rising sea levels and coastal development, a major study has found.
The four-year study by Professor Paul Boon, from Victoria University's Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, shows human impacts and development have destroyed up to 20 per cent of the state's coastal marshes, while the future looks even bleaker.
Professor Boon said predicted sea level rises would push these systems inland, where their retreat would be blocked by seawalls, farmland and housing developments along much of the coast.
"These saltmarshes with nowhere to go will simply drown," he said.
Mangroves and saltmarshes are important breeding ground for birds, fish and other marine and estuarine species, protect against erosion and provided filtration of runoff from the land, Professor Boon said.
Despite this, mangroves and saltmarshes are not referred to specifically under Victorian legislation for protection, he said.
Disturbingly, the knowledge of mangroves and coastal saltmarsh across different management agencies is patchy and the management of these areas is poorly coordinated.
In one example, the Department of Primary Industries was promoting Tall Wheat Grass to rehabilitate salty coastal areas even though it is one of the worst and most invasive weeds of saltmarshes, particularly where they occur next to agricultural lands.
Meanwhile surveys of the public in Torquay and Tooradin found knowledge of the environmental role fulfilled by saltmarshes by the broad public to be almost nonexistent.
"Saltmarshes are largely unknown and therefore 'invisible' to the community," Professor Boon said. "Most people saw saltmarshes as little more than muddy, smelly breeding grounds for mosquitoes."
Mangroves, with their more obvious vegetation and possible links with recreational fishing, had a slightly higher profile than saltmarshes but remained unappreciated by almost everyone, except fishermen who recognised their importance for angling.
Recommendations in the 500 page report Mangroves and coastal saltmarsh of Victoria include the reservation or purchase of environmental land to support the inland retreat of mangroves and saltmarshes, new buffer zones to coastal development and the creation of a single body to coordinate management of the state's mangroves and saltmarshes.
The study included the first fine-scale mapping of all current mangroves and saltmarshes in Victoria, as well as an analysis of the likely coverage before European colonization of Victoria.
It shows how up to half the mangroves and saltmarshes around Port Phillip Bay and Western Port were cleared for housing and port developments, with many mangroves in other areas around South Gippsland burnt to produce ash for soap-making in the 19th century.
Available for interview:
Professor Paul Boon, study coordinator
Institute for Sustainability & Innovation, Victoria University
Michael Quin, communications officer (research)
Marketing & Communications Department, Victoria University
(03) 9919 9491; 0431 815 409; [email protected]


The temple ruins of Banteay Chhmar cover 12 square kilometres of remote western Cambodia, an area larger than the temples in and around Angkor.
The vast complex of Banteay Chhmar was the religious centre of a Khmer settlement. Little is known about its origins but construction seemingly began in the 12th century.
The ruins today are in state of collapse and invaded by the ever-encroaching forest, making exploration a real adventure.
The Global Heritage Fund is leading a major effort to preserve Banteay Chhmar for future generations. The site is among Cambodia's top-listed locations for nomination to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
This unique homestay programme will enable you to explore this great Khmer architectural masterpiece and enjoy the hospitality of the people of Cambodia.
Below is a sample programme that starts and ends in Siem Reap. Banteay Chhmar can also be conveniently visited on a two-day/one night overland trip starting in Bangkok and ending in Siem Reap or vice versa.
Your guide and driver pick you up at your hotel in Siem Reap. Drive to Krolanh where we will turn right and follow the road to Samrong. We pass a beautiful ancient Angkorian bridge, Spean Sreng, along the way. Continue to Banteay Chhmar. After arrival you will enjoy a delicious Cambodian lunch and settle in your homestay. Meet your hosts for the night.
In the afternoon you will explore the temple ruins of Banteay Chhmar on foot.
After this you can make a relaxing oxcart ride and visit a silk weaving centre as well as a vegetable garden. Return to your homestay.
Dinner will be served close to the temple, romantically lit by torches (when the weather permits).
Overnight in a village homestay.
Breakfast in your homestay followed by a walk to the local market. You will get on a Koyun, a local motorized vehicle, and travel to Banteay Top through a typical rural Cambodian landscape with oxcarts, buffaloes and villagers working the fields. Visit the small sanctuary Banteay Top where we will have a picnic lunch. Return to Banteay Chhmar.
Pick up your luggage and drive back to Sisopon and onwards to Siem Reap. Drop off at your hotel in Siem Reap.
Maskeliya's tea pickers are happy to host visitors to their community. We support this responsible tourism initiative that highlights their beautiful plantations and contributes to local service projects. It's a charming place to visit amidst the green tea plantations of central Sri Lanka.
Venture out on our evening scooter tour and discover the huge and dizzying variety of Khmer cuisine that is dished up in the busy rural markets that surround Siem Reap.


Paul Ingraham • Jun 7, 2013 ARCHIVEDMicroblog posts are archived and rarely updated. In contrast, most long-form articles on PainScience.com are updated regularly over the years.
Another new sassy micro article, criticizing another off-the-wall part of alternative medicine: Applied "Kinesiology", which has nothing to do with kinesiology, and often wastes the time and money of patients with chronic pain. They deserve and need much better. As with my therapeutic touch article earlier this week, this is another topic I have little patience for, but it's too common to entirely ignore — so here's my brief position statement. As usual, critics need to know before commenting that I have plenty of direct experience with every scrap of pseudoscience that I now criticize.