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Accepting the Challenge Before Us
Testimony of Dr. Robert Zubrin to the Augustine Committee
On August 5, 2009, New Atlantis contributing editor Robert Zubrin testified before the Committee for Review of U.S. Human Space Flight, chaired by Norm Augustine. His testimony as prepared for delivery appears below.
Mr. Augustine, members of the Committee, I would like to thank you for inviting me to testify here today on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program. Since many of you may be unfamiliar with me, I hope you will forgive me if I take a few seconds to establish my credentials. I am an engineer with a masters degree in aeronautics and astronautics, a doctorate in nuclear engineering, and over two decades of aerospace industry experience. I currently lead my own company, Pioneer Astronautics, which has successfully completed some forty NASA contracts over the past thirteen years. I am the author or co-author of over two hundred papers, nine patents granted or pending, and five books related to the field, and am the head of an international non-profit organization known as the Mars Society which has, among other projects, built and run a human Mars exploration operations research station on Devon Island, nine hundred miles from the North Pole.
My remarks today will address four areas. First, I will discuss why NASA's human spaceflight program has been floundering, and what fundamental change in method of operation needs to be undertaken if the space agency is to be made effective again — and in particular, why an overarching goal must be adopted if that is to occur. Second, I will explain what that goal should be. Third, I will present a plan for a pioneering space program that would allow NASA fulfill its promise and achieve that goal within ten years. Finally, I will make a specific recommendation as to what needs to be done now in order to put the space program on the right track.
1. Why is NASA Failing?
In the recent years, members of Congress have repeatedly decried the fact that the U.S. space program is "stuck in low Earth orbit." This is certainly a serious problem. If it is to be addressed adequately, however, America's political leadership needs to reexamine NASA's fundamental mode of operation.
Over the course of its history, NASA has employed two distinct modes of operation. The first prevailed during the period from 1961-1973, and may therefore be called the Apollo Mode. The second, prevailing since 1974, may usefully be called the Shuttle Era Mode (or Shuttle Mode, for short).
In the Apollo Mode, business is conducted as follows: First, a destination for human spaceflight is chosen. Then a plan is developed to achieve this objective. Following this, technologies and designs are developed to implement that plan. These designs are then built, after which the mission is flown.
The Shuttle Mode operates entirely differently. In this mode, technologies and hardware elements are developed in accord with the wishes of various technical communities. These projects are then justified by arguments that they might prove useful at some time in the future when grand flight projects are initiated.
Contrasting these two approaches, we see that the Apollo Mode is destination–driven, while the Shuttle Mode pretends to be technology-driven but is actually constituency-driven. In the Apollo Mode, technology development is done for mission-directed reasons. In the Shuttle Mode, projects are undertaken on behalf of various internal and external technical community pressure groups and then defended using rationales. In the Apollo Mode, the space agency's efforts are focused and directed. In the Shuttle Mode, NASA's efforts are random and entropic.
As a metaphor, imagine two couples, each planning to build their own house. The first couple decides what kind of house they want, hires an architect to design it in detail, then acquires the appropriate materials to build it. That is the Apollo Mode. The second couple polls their neighbors each month for different spare house-parts they would like to sell, and buys them all, hoping to eventually accumulate enough stuff to build a house. When their relatives inquire as to why they are accumulating so much junk, they hire an architect to compose a house design that employs all the knick-knacks they have purchased. The house is never built, but an adequate excuse is generated to justify each purchase, thereby avoiding embarrassment. That is the Shuttle Mode.
In today's dollars, NASA's average budget from 1961-1973 was about $18 billion per year. That is the same as NASA's current budget. To assess the comparative productivity of the Apollo Mode with the Shuttle Mode, it is therefore useful to compare NASA's accomplishments between 1961-1973 and 1997-2009, as the space agency's total expenditures over these two periods were roughly equal.
Between 1961 and 1973, NASA flew the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Ranger, Surveyor, and Mariner missions, and did all the development for the Pioneer, Viking, and Voyager missions as well. In addition, the space agency developed hydrogen-oxygen rocket engines, multi-staged heavy-lift launch vehicles, nuclear rocket engines, space nuclear reactors, radioisotope power generators, spacesuits, in-space life support systems, orbital rendezvous techniques, soft landing rocket technologies, interplanetary navigation technology, deep space data transmission techniques, reentry technology, and more. In addition, such valuable institutional infrastructure as the Cape Canaveral launch complex, the Deep Space tracking network, Johnson Space Center, and JPL were all created in more or less their current form.
In contrast, during the period from 1997-2009, NASA flew forty-seven Shuttle missions allowing it to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope and partially build the International Space Station. About a dozen interplanetary probes were launched (compared to over thirty lunar and planetary probes between 1961-73). Despite innumerable "technology development" programs, no new technologies of any significance were actually developed, and no major space program operational infrastructure was created.
Comparing these two records, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that NASA's productivity in both missions accomplished and technology development during its Apollo Mode was at least ten times as great as under the current Shuttle Mode.
The Shuttle Mode is the expenditure of large sums of money without direction by strategic purpose. That is why it is hopelessly inefficient. But the blame for this waste cannot be placed on NASA leaders alone, some of whom have attempted to rectify the situation. Rather, the political class must also accept major responsibility for allowing matters to drift without decisive and resolute direction.
The administration needs to take stock and consider what the nation actually wants to accomplish in space. Is our primary aim to keep sending astronauts on rides to low Earth orbit? In that case, extending the Shuttle program might be justified. But if we want to send humans to the Moon or Mars, we need make that decision, and then design and build a hardware set that is appropriate to actually accomplish those goals.
Advocates of the Shuttle Mode claim that by avoiding the selection of a destination they are developing the technologies that will allow us to go anywhere, anytime. That just isn't true. The Shuttle Mode will never get us anywhere at all. The Apollo Mode got us to the Moon, and it can get us back, or take us to Mars. But real leadership is required.
In the beginning, there was the Word.
2. What Should Our Goal Be?
In order to accomplish anything in space we need to set a goal. What should that goal be? In my view, the answer is straightforward: Humans to Mars within a decade.
Why Mars? Because of all the planetary destinations currently within reach, Mars offers the most — both scientifically, socially, and in terms of what it portends for the human future.
In scientific terms, Mars is critical, because it is the Rosetta Stone for letting us understand the position of life in the universe. Images of Mars taken from orbit and the ground show that the planet had liquid water flowing on its surface for a period of a billion years during its early history, a duration five times as long as it took for life to appear on Earth after there was liquid water here. So if the theory is correct that life is a naturally occurring phenomenon, emergent from chemical complexification wherever there is liquid water, a temperate climate, sufficient minerals, and time, then life should have appeared on Mars. If we can go to Mars, and find fossils of past life on its surface, we will have good reason to believe that we are not alone in the universe. If we send human explorers, who can erect drilling rigs which can reach ground water where Martian life may yet persist, we will be able to examine it, and by so doing determine whether life as we know it on Earth is the pattern for all life everywhere — or alternatively, whether we are simply one esoteric example of a far vaster and more interesting tapestry. These things are worth finding out.
In terms of its social value, Mars is the bracing positive challenge that our society needs. Nations, like people, thrive on challenge and decay without it. The challenge of a humans-to Mars program would also be an invitation to adventure to every youth in the country, sending out the powerful clarion call: "Learn your science and you can become part of pioneering a new world." There will be over 100 million kids in our nation's schools over the next ten years. If a Mars program were to inspire just an extra one percent of them to scientific educations, the net result would be 1 million more scientists, engineers, inventors, medical researchers, and doctors, making technological innovations that create new industries, finding new medical cures, strengthening national defense, and generally increasing national income to an extent that utterly dwarfs the expenditures of the Mars program.
This point is so critical that it is worthy of further emphasis. The wealth and the strength of a nation are based first and foremost on its intellectual capital. In this respect, the Apollo program produced a terrific return, as it doubled the number of our science graduates, at every level — high school, college, Ph.D. This paid off massively when those twelve-year-old little boy scientists of the 1960s became the forty-year-old technological entrepreneurs of the 1990s and launched the computer revolution. A humans-to-Mars program today would repay even greater dividends, because in this day and age the science and engineering professions are also open to women in a way that was simply not the case during the 1960s. Thus an Apollo-like challenge today would not only inspire into being legions of little boy scientists, but little girl scientists as well, whose ensuing research and inventions would benefit the nation, and humanity at large, for decades to come.
But the most important reason to go to Mars is the doorway it opens for the future. Uniquely among the extraterrestrial bodies of the inner solar system, Mars is endowed with all the resources needed to support not only life but the development of a technological civilization. In contrast to the comparative desert of the Earth's Moon, Mars possesses oceans of water frozen into its soil as permafrost, as well as vast quantities of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, all in forms readily accessible to those clever enough to use them. These four elements are the basic stuff not only of food and water, but of plastics, wood, paper, clothing — and most importantly, rocket propellant.
In addition, Mars has experienced the same sorts of volcanic and hydrologic processes that produced a multitude of mineral ores on Earth. Virtually every element of significant interest to industry is known to exist on the Red Planet. While no liquid water exists on the surface, below ground is a different matter, and there is every reason to believe that geothermal heat sources could be maintaining hot liquid reservoirs beneath the Martian surface today. Such hydrothermal reservoirs may be refuges in which survivors of ancient Martian life continue to persist; they would also represent oases providing abundant water supplies and geothermal power to future human settlers. With its twenty-four-hour day-night cycle and an atmosphere thick enough to shield its surface against solar flares, Mars is the only extraterrestrial planet that will readily allow large-scale greenhouses lit by natural sunlight.
For the coming age of space exploration, Mars compares to the Moon as North America compared to Greenland in the previous age of maritime exploration. Greenland was closer to Europe, Europeans reached it first — but it ultimately proved too barren an environment for the establishment of a new branch of human civilization. Similarly, in contrast to the Moon, Mars can be settled. For our generation and many that will follow, Mars is the New World. In establishing our first foothold on Mars, we will begin humanity's career as a multi-planet species.
Mars is where the science is, Mars is where the challenge is, and Mars is where the future is. That's why Mars must be our goal.
3. How Do We Get There?
Humans to Mars may seem like a wildly bold goal to proclaim within a compressed time frame, yet such a program is entirely achievable. From the technological point of view, we're ready. Despite the greater distance to Mars, we are much better prepared today to send humans to Mars than we were to launch humans to the Moon in 1961 when John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to achieve that goal — and we were there eight years later. Given the will, we could have our first teams on Mars within a decade.
The key to success come from rejecting the policy of continued stagnation represented by Shuttle Mode thinking, and returning to the destination-driven Apollo Mode method of planned operation that allowed the space agency to perform so brilliantly during its youth. In addition, we must take a lesson from our own pioneer past and adopt a "travel light and live off the land" mission strategy similar to that which has well-served terrestrial explorers for centuries. The plan to explore the Red Planet in this way is known as Mars Direct. Here's how it could be accomplished.
At an early launch opportunity, for example 2016, a single heavy-lift booster with a capability equal to that of the Saturn V used during the Apollo program is launched off Cape Canaveral and uses its upper stage to throw a 40-tonne unmanned payload onto a trajectory to Mars. (NASA's Ares V could serve in such a capacity, as could some of the designs derived from the Direct 3.0 concepts.) Arriving at Mars eight months later, the spacecraft uses friction between its aeroshield and the Martian atmosphere to brake itself into orbit around the planet, and then lands with the help of a parachute. This payload is the Earth Return Vehicle (ERV). It flies out to Mars with its two methane/oxygen-driven rocket propulsion stages unfueled. It also carries six tonnes of liquid hydrogen cargo, a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor mounted in the back of a methane/oxygen driven light truck, a small set of compressors and automated chemical processing unit, and a few small scientific rovers.
As soon as the craft lands successfully, the truck is telerobotically driven a few hundred meters away from the site, and the reactor deployed to provide power to the compressors and chemical processing unit. The hydrogen brought from Earth can be quickly reacted with the Martian atmosphere, which is 95 percent carbon dioxide gas (CO2), to produce methane and water, thus eliminating the need for long-term storage of cryogenic hydrogen on the planet's surface. The methane so produced is liquefied and stored, while the water is electrolyzed to produce oxygen, which is stored, and hydrogen, which is recycled through the methanator. Ultimately, these two reactions (methanation and water electrolysis) produce 24 tonnes of methane and 48 tonnes of oxygen. Since this is not enough oxygen to burn the methane at its optimal mixture ratio, an additional 36 tonnes of oxygen is produced via direct dissociation of Martian CO2. The entire process takes ten months, at the conclusion of which a total of 108 tonnes of methane/oxygen bipropellant will have been generated. This represents a leverage of 18:1 of Martian propellant produced compared to the hydrogen brought from Earth needed to create it. Ninety-six tonnes of the bipropellant will be used to fuel the ERV, while 12 tonnes are available to support the use of high-powered, chemically-fueled long-range ground vehicles. Large additional stockpiles of oxygen can also be produced, both for breathing and for turning into water by combination with hydrogen brought from Earth. Since water is 89 percent oxygen (by weight), and since the larger part of most foodstuffs is water, this greatly reduces the amount of life-support consumables that need to be hauled from Earth.
The propellant production having been successfully completed, in 2018 two more boosters lift off the Cape and throw their 40-tonne payloads towards Mars. One of the payloads is an unmanned fuel-factory/ERV just like the one launched in 2016, the other is a habitation module carrying a crew of four, a mixture of whole food and dehydrated provisions sufficient for three years, and a pressurized methane/oxygen-powered ground rover. On the way out to Mars, artificial gravity can be provided to the crew by extending a tether between the habitat and the burnt out booster upper stage, and spinning the assembly.
Upon arrival, the manned craft drops the tether, aerobrakes, and lands at the 2016 landing site where a fully fueled ERV and fully characterized and beaconed landing site await it. With the help of such navigational aids, the crew should be able to land right on the spot; but if the landing is off course by tens or even hundreds of kilometers, the crew can still achieve the surface rendezvous by driving over in their rover. If they are off by thousands of kilometers, the second ERV provides a backup.
However, assuming the crew lands and rendezvous as planned at site number one, the second ERV will land several hundred kilometers away to start making propellant for the 2020 mission, which in turn will fly out with an additional ERV to open up Mars landing site number three. Thus, every other year, two heavy-lift boosters are launched, one to land a crew, and the other to prepare a site for the next mission, for an average launch rate of just one booster per year to pursue a continuing program of Mars exploration. Compared to a normal year of STS operations during which we were able to launch about six Shuttle stacks, this would only represent about 16 percent of the U.S. heavy-launch capability, and would clearly be affordable. In effect, this "live off the land" approach removes the manned Mars mission from the realm of mega-spacecraft fantasy and reduces it in practice as a task of comparable difficulty to that faced in launching the Apollo missions to the Moon.
The crew will stay on the surface for 1.5 years, taking advantage of the mobility afforded by the high-powered chemically-driven ground vehicles to accomplish a great deal of surface exploration. With a 12-tonne surface fuel stockpile, they have the capability for over 24,000 kilometers worth of traverse before they leave, giving them the kind of mobility necessary to conduct a serious search for evidence of past or present life on Mars — an investigation key to revealing whether life is a phenomenon unique to Earth or general throughout the universe. Since no one has been left in orbit, the entire crew will have available to them the natural gravity and protection against cosmic rays and solar radiation afforded by the Martian environment, and thus there will not be the strong driver for a quick return to Earth that plagues alternative Mars mission plans based upon orbiting mother-ships with small landing parties. At the conclusion of their stay, the crew returns to Earth in a direct flight from the Martian surface in the ERV. As the series of missions progresses, a string of small bases is left behind on the Martian surface, opening up broad stretches of territory to human cognizance.
In essence, by taking advantage of the most obvious local resource available on Mars — its atmosphere — the plan allows us to accomplish a manned Mars mission with what amounts to a lunar-class transportation system. By eliminating any requirement to introduce a new order of technology and complexity of operations beyond those needed for direct-launch-style lunar transportation to accomplish piloted Mars missions, the plan can reduce costs by an order of magnitude and advance the schedule for the human exploration of Mars by a generation. Indeed, since a lunar-class transportation system is adequate to reach Mars using this plan, it is rational to consider a milestone mission, perhaps five years into the program, where a subset of the Mars flight hardware is exercised to send astronauts to the Moon, or more likely to a near-Earth asteroid, as a NEO mission requires no extraneous equipment that is not available in the basic Mars mission hardware set.
Exploring Mars requires no miraculous new technologies, no orbiting spaceports or propellant depots, and no gigantic interplanetary space cruisers. We don't need to spend the next thirty years with a space program mired in impotence, spending large sums of money and taking occasional casualties while the same missions to nowhere are flown over and over again and professional technologists dawdle endlessly in their sandboxes without producing any new flight hardware. We simply need to choose our destination, and with the same combination of vision, practical thinking, and passionate resolve that served us so well during Apollo, do what is required to get there.
We can establish our first small outpost on Mars within a decade. We — and not some future generation — can have the eternal honor of being the first pioneers of this new world for humanity. All that's needed is present-day technology, some nineteenth-century industrial chemistry, a solid dose of common sense, and a little bit of moxie.
4. What Needs to Be Done Now
The U.S. human spaceflight program is presently in a crisis. It is now apparent that the Shuttle Orbiter cannot be used much longer as a system for transporting crews to Earth orbit. Moreover, even if the Orbiter could be flown safely, it is clear that using a launch vehicle with a takeoff thrust matching that of a Saturn V to transport half a dozen people to the Space Station makes about as much sense as using an aircraft carrier to tow water skiers. The Shuttle was designed as a self-launching space station. Absent a permanent space station on-orbit, such a vehicle had some justification. But with the establishment of the ISS, the rationale for using a flying Winnebago as a space taxi is no longer sustainable.
NASA has already begun to respond to this reality by starting the Orion program, which will move the human taxi-to-orbit function from the Shuttle to a capsule that can be launched on top of a medium-lift launch vehicle, such as an Ares 1, or conceivably an Atlas or a Delta. Launched aloft a medium-lift expendable launch vehicle, such a capsule could assume the Shuttle's crew transfer function at less than one-fifth the cost.
The Orion program thus makes a great deal of sense on its own terms, but again, we must ask ourselves: What are our real objectives? Do we simply want to ferry crews up and down to the space station? If so, why? The primary value of activity at the space station is to learn about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans. But without intent to sail to deep space destinations beyond LEO, such research is essentially pointless. Indeed, if conducted as NASA's primary human spaceflight activity, such a program would be comparable to a decision by Henry the Navigator to shun voyages of exploration, in favor of sending his ships on a multi-decade program of long-duration excursions 100 miles offshore, so as to gain data on the effects of stale rations, seasickness, floggings, and scurvy on sailors. The absurdity of such a program speaks for itself. Similarly, we should not go to space in order to endure the hazards and hardships of space. Rather we should endure the hazards and hardships of space in order to sail across space to explore new worlds on the other side of space. If we are to accept the costs and risks of human spaceflight, we must embrace the goal that makes it worthy of such costs and risks.
Mr. Augustine, members of the Committee, we meet here today at a great moment. It is a great moment, because it is a moment in which great things are possible. We have a new administration, which is committed to audacity, and hope, and the fierce urgency of now, and which has the congressional backing to implement great plans should it elect to adopt them. And this administration has appointed you to provide it with advice as to what course it should take with respect to setting its agenda in space. Many options have been placed before you, but really only one fundamental choice: and that is to shun challenge or to embrace it, to choose to do things because they are easy, or because they are hard. Humans to Mars is the challenge that has been staring NASA in the face for the past forty years. It is the challenge that says to us: "Are you still a nation of pioneers? Do you still have the guts, and fortitude, and vision that your predecessors had — those brave men and women who took the risks to get you to where you are today? Are you still a nation whose great deeds will be celebrated in newspapers, or just in museums?"
In point of fact, we have the technology to take on this challenge. And while we could undertake a variety of activities first to nominally better prepare for such a program, there are an infinite number of such precursors that could be inserted into the queue on the basis of such a rationale. Thus, if we choose to adopt such an approach, we will never get to the Red Planet. If we want to go to Mars, we need to go to Mars. Furthermore, if we want to go to Mars, we need to do it within a limited time horizon. You cannot get to Mars in thirty years. You cannot get to Mars in twenty years. If you want to get to Mars you have to do it within a decade or so of program start, or you are more are less guaranteeing that the political conditions that allowed you to launch the program in the first place will not remain in place long enough to carry it out. If God parts the waters, you can't take thirty years to cross the Red Sea. In 1961, John F. Kennedy called on the nation to reach the Moon by the end of the decade, and we did. If instead he had set the goal for the year 2000, the wild ride of subsequent history would have insured that the program was cancelled long before the goal was ever reached. If we want the program to actually achieve its goal, we need to be serious, commit to do it in a finite span, appropriate the required funds, and get to work. Any other approach guarantees failure.
Mr. Augustine, distinguished members of the Committee, humanity today stands at the brink of a liberating development which will be remembered far into future ages, when nearly all the other events of our time are long forgotten. That development is the initiation of the human career as a spacefaring species.
The Earth is not the only world. There are numerous other planetary objects in our own solar system, millions in nearby interstellar space, and hundreds of billions in the galaxy at large. The challenges involved in reaching and settling these new worlds are large, but not beyond humanity's ultimate capacity. Were we to become spacefarers, we would open up a prospect for a human future that is vast in time and space, and rich in experience and potential to an extent that exceeds the imagination of anyone alive today. When we open the space frontier, we will open the door to the creation of innumerable new branches of human civilization, replete with new languages, new cultures, new literatures, new forms of social organization, new knowledge, technological contributions, and epic histories that will add immeasurably to the human story.
We were once a small collection of tribes living in the east African rift valley. Had we stayed in our native habitat, that is all we would be today. Instead, we ventured forth, took on the challenges of the inhospitable ice age environments to the north, and then elsewhere, and in consequence, transformed ourselves into a global civilization. When we go into space, the expansion of our possibilities will be equally dramatic. As a result, the human experience a few thousand years from now will be as rich in comparison to ours, as our global society is in comparison to tribal culture of the Kenyan rift valley at the time of our species' origin.
Therefore, I believe that we here today sitting in this room are gathered not at the end of history, but at the beginning of history. That our nation shall be remembered not so much for the great deeds our predecessors have already done, but for the still greater accomplishments they have prepared us, and those who will follow us, to do. Let us therefore embrace our role as humanity's vanguard, as pioneers of the future. Let us honor the true American tradition by continuing it, and bravely take on the untamed space frontier to open new worlds for our posterity, as our courageous predecessors did for us.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Committee, I ask that you embrace the challenge of Mars, and act forcefully to recommend to the administration that it put NASA on a track that will deliver real results. The American people want and deserve a space program that is actually going somewhere. For that to occur, it needs be given a goal, from that goal to produce a plan, and from that plan, action. It is within your reach to make this happen. It is within your reach to cause a program of exploration to be initiated that will lead in time to the greatest flowering of human potential, knowledge, progress, and freedom that history has ever known.
It is a grand moment. I ask that you stand forth and make it produce a grand result.
The trouble with NASA and the need for space exploration


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Konrad Dorow (* 26. Juni 1913 in Berlin; † unbekannt) war ein deutscher Maurer und Volkskammerabgeordneter für den Freien Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbund (FDGB).

Leben
Dorow stammte aus einer Berliner Arbeiterfamilie. Nach dem Besuch der Schule schlug er von 1927 bis 1930 eine Lehre zum Maurer und Putzer ein. 1924 betätigte er sich an der Arbeitersportbewegung "Fichte". In der DDR wurde er Putzer-Brigadier im VEB Baureparaturen Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg.

1977 wurde er als Baubrigadier von Fritz Dähn porträtiert und dieses Bild auf der Kunstausstellung der DDR gezeigt.

Politik
Er trat 1947 der SED und dem FDGB bei. In den Wahlperioden von 1963 bis 1981 war Dorow Mitglied der FDGB-Fraktion in der Volkskammer der DDR, davon bis 1971 als sogenannter Berliner Vertreter. 1981 trat er aus Altersgründen nicht nochmals zur Wahl an.

Ehrungen
 1974 Karl-Marx-Orden

Literatur
 Die Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Berlin 1972, S. 233.
 Die Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Berlin 1977, S. 205.

Einzelnachweise

Abgeordneter der Volkskammer
SED-Mitglied
Person (Berlin)
Deutscher
DDR-Bürger
Geboren 1913
Gestorben im 20. oder 21. Jahrhundert
Mann
Träger des Karl-Marx-Ordens
FDGB-Funktionär

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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"I do language lessons on my site"


"Dad, remember, we're going to the footy, aren't we?" asked the lad in innocent concern.
"Sure are," replied the elder as he took another bite of toast.
The boy's brow furrowed as he looked curiously at his father. "Ah, nah!" was the genuine reply.
The lad looked at his father with only a modicum of interest, trying his best to stay focused on the conversation.
The boy's eyes seemed to glow at this extra piece of half-relevant information.
"Yep!" replied dad after another bite of toast.
"Sure would," replied the boy with certainty.
A quiet few moments descended between the pair as they both pondered the magnitude of the information before them.
"Huh?" replied the nine-year-old a bit out of his depth.
"Yeah, and I hate it when we lose," replied the boy as his shoulders sagged.
At this, the lad's eyebrows really did join together.
"Yeah, I guess it is," replied the boy.
"What?" replied father with surprise.
The two looked at one another in a compact. As if by osmosis, they knew what time it was as they made their way towards the front door. Then, just as they were about to open the door to leave, the young boy stopped suddenly and turned to his father.
"No, son!" replied the father somewhat bemused by the question.
"I'm spending the day with you," said the nine-year-old with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Boys, are you almost ready to go?" I asked of my three teenage boys in the usual mayhem of an early morning start in preparation to get them to school - knowing full well the time it takes to drive the Kuranda Range to arrive at school on time.
"Nearly, dad," was the reply from one son.
"Have you put the washing on the line yet?" I enquired in the knowledge that they are generally most diligent in completion of their morning chores.
"Not yet, dad," was the response from another.
Attuned to the sense of urgency in my son's voice, I made haste to the lounge room where each of my lads was aligned at the front door.
"Oh, my God, will you look at that?" was my astounded response to what was prancing up and down right in front of our front door.
There he was, as large as life, a rather sizable cassowary, marching up and down in front of our house. We all watched in awe as this magnificent creature of the rainforest paraded himself before us.
"Can we go outside?" intoned one son.
At that same instant, the cassowary decided that he'd had enough of his prancing and stood directly in front of us and started this warbling sound.
"Warble, warble, warble," said the cassowary.
"What's he saying, dad," asked another son.
You know how it is as a father of teenage children – you are supposed to have all the answers to life's important questions.
Anyway, after a few more minutes of listening to the cassowary, our dilemma became apparent. The washing still had not been hung out. But, how to get to the line unscathed while Mr. Cassowary was playing sentry?
Then, our real dilemma became apparent.
"What are going to tell them?" asked one lad.
"Huh?" was my informed reply.
All at once the penny dropped – I understood our predicament with perfect clarity. Schools have heard them all before, haven't they?
'The dog ate my lunch and I had to make another one', or maybe, 'The cat got run over and we had to get another one' is probably another.
Anyway, as all of these possible excuses ran through my head, I thought that maybe we should just tell the truth, but … 'A cassowary wouldn't let us out of the house' just didn't have that ring of credibility to it.
Thankfully though, Mr. Cassowary got bored of prancing and warbling and eventually succumbed to the pleasures of the rainforest, allowing us to put all hands to task and hang out the washing.
As fortune would have it, we managed to make it to school with a few moments to spare. A fact for which I am most grateful, given that I was still in debate about whether to tell the truth (at risk to my reputation), or tell a wee-white lie that did not defy any sense of reason.
To be loved is like the balance in your cheque-book!
Huh? Chong, have you finally lost mind? What on earth are you talking about? 'To be loved is like the balance in your cheque-book'.
Well, the definition of balance is many and varied. A 'balance' is an apparatus for weighing. To be perched on balance is on a knife's edge. To 'be' balanced might be stability of body or mind, or harmony of design and proportion. These diverse meanings are all valid. I however propose a wider perspective of the term 'balance'. One that relates more to something like the 'balance of your cheque-book' … And it has to do with love.
You know, millions of people can't be wrong. I mean to say, it's really nice to be loved, isn't it? Just knowing that someone, somewhere, really loves you – not just a little bit, not just now and again or when they want something, but all of the time. Even when they're mad at you, or you've made a mistake, or even when you've "pissed them off" in some way, they still love you.
It's like a warm fuzzy blanket that surrounds you each and every moment of every day. It's like the taste of Nanna's apple pie 365 days of the year. Now this "love" can come from a whole variety of wonderful places. It might be from your partner or your mother or father. It could be the grizzly-bear hug from your old Grandpa, or the sloppy kiss from your two-year-old child – and, by the way, the more the merrier. It's like, "Give me more, please".
It's a bit like an elixir of life, somewhat akin to the nutrients from the earth that a plant seeks through its roots so that its flowers may bloom. Take away the nutrients and the plant does not flourish, and the flowers do not bloom.
Much, of course, has been written about the sweet elixir of love. It can be read through verse, or discovered in a tome or through the lyrics of a sweet melody, or when you hear the words of a song that touches your heart and makes you cry, not from sadness, but from recognition – recognition that those words, or that tune has touched within you to the core of your being. They have been the key that opened the door to the love that is within. That's not a "desire for", but rather a "recognition of" this love within us.
So, when your old Grandpa gives you a hug, or your two-year-old plants a sloppy one on your cheek, know that what they are doing is touching the well of love that is within you. They act like a key that unlocks the door to let your love shine through.
You know what else is really interesting? It's not just your grandfather or child or mother or father who holds a key. There's another really important person that holds a key to your "love" room. Do you know who that is?
Yes, you! You hold the key to the well of love that's inside. You can turn the key and enter any time you like. Entry is free any time, day or night. You don't need anyone's permission – there's no pass that's required, but simply an acknowledgement that you are worthy, a knowing that, despite your foibles and inconsistencies (like we all have), you are worthy of love.
Go on. Take the key out of your pocket and put it in the keyhole. Open the door and go inside. Ah, there you are – yourself, standing in the room. Give yourself a big smile. Go and give yourself a big hug. Did you notice the sparks of love that shine from your eyes? Go on, now, give yourself a gift of appreciation. Say thank you. Tell yourself that you'll see you later. Then, with a heart full to the bursting, leave the room and go about your daily business, knowing that you can come back to the "love" room any time you like. You'll always be there.
When your "love" room is in balance, it's a bit like having a cheque-book with a never-ending supply of money it, from which you can withdraw whenever you like. Pretty cool, hey!


text:
Historic Notre Dame Cathedral Being Built Back Better As a 'Woke Theme Park'
MP3: Lana Del Rey – Watercolor Eyes
MP3: Ralfy The Plug Ft. Db Boutabag – Uncomfortable
Dj Obza ft Drip Gogo – Ithonga Lathi Ahhhh (Preview)
Viral hawker, Jeremiah Iziogo returns to former hawking spot to share money to ex-colleagues (Watch video)
Islamic Jihad News
My latest in PJ Media:
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed in April 2019 that the 850-year-old Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, one of the most monumental and iconic manifestations of Europe's now largely discarded Christian faith, would be built back better after being destroyed in a devastating fire. "The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our history never stops and we will always have challenges to overcome," Macron declared. "We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before — and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action." As it turns out, by "more beautiful," Macron meant "more woke." The new Notre Dame cathedral, which is slated to open in 2024, will not be a monument to Christianity, but to Europe's new faith of Leftism.
Macron directed in 2020 that the cathedral's magnificent spire, which collapsed in the fire, would be rebuilt exactly as it had been before, after initially saying that it would be replaced with "a contemporary architectural gesture." However, that fidelity to tradition will not go for the rest of the cathedral, and really, what did you expect? How could today's woke France possibly produce a monument to the Christian faith that it no longer holds? And so, according to the UK's Daily Mail, the cathedral is "being turned into a 'woke theme park.'" This will involve the scrapping of confessional boxes, side altars, and sculptures, so as to make room for "trendy art murals, with sound and lighting effects creating 'emotional spaces.'"
The new Notre Dame will also focus on the real threat to humanity: not the inclination to sin that is inside every human soul (that's so twelfth century), but global warming, of course. The new and improved cathedral will feature a chapel dedicated to 'reconciled creation', referring to Pope Francis' Laudato Si encyclical which lamented environmental degradation and global warming."
That's not all. The new cathedral will also celebrate diversity and multiculturalism — how could it not do so? "A 'discovery trail' will lead visitors through various chapels, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia, and scripture will be beamed onto the walls in various languages, including Mandarin.…. Africa and Asia are given prominence, while Europe, the Americas and Oceania are tucked behind the apse or totally absent."
Why the emphasis on Africa and Asia? I guarantee you it's not to celebrate the brotherhood of man (sorry, the siblinghood of humankind). Why not emphasis on Europe itself, where the culture flourished of which Notre Dame was such a brilliant expression? Why, that would be "white supremacist," and possibly even "Islamophobic."
There is more. Read the rest here.
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I Won't Stop Crying Until Davido Flies With Me On His Private Jet To Dubai'- Lady Says (VIDEO)
Fave – S.M.K Mp3 Download

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Is there any way to set limit on Autodesk Forge Credit consumption? I want to make sure that my app do not accidentally consume more credits than I can afford. How can I set such limits of weekly or monthly consumption?

A: Unfortunately billing cap is not yet possible so you will need to calculate your own spending per the pricing info here in combination with your own metering (see some open source projects here).
Will let Engineering know it is good to have the budgeting feature soon as possible and update this answer when it's available.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
>RAND's Summer Reading List for Congress
RAND's Summer Reading List for Congress
Photo by davidevison/Getty Images
After a busy start to this Congress, it's time to recharge and catch up on some of the next issues Congress will be wrestling with this fall. This summer reading list is a resource to help you be ready to hit the ground running this fall — whether you'll be spending time on a beach or traveling through your state or district.
Fit to Serve?
A topic sure to be on constituents' minds is the administration's recent decision to prohibit transgender Americans from serving in the military. RAND recently studied the potential effects of allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the military and found that the number would likely be a small fraction of the total force and have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs.
How Would Changes to the Health Care System Affect Americans?
As policymakers consider the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), RAND research has examined how modifying or replacing the ACA would impact insurance coverage, consumer costs, and federal spending. RAND experts have also considered system-wide policy options that could provide coverage to more Americans.
Responding to North Korea's Continuous Provocations
Prior to the August recess, Congress passed sanctions on North Korea in response to its ongoing missile and nuclear tests. Recently, RAND researcher Bruce Bennett briefed Congressional staff on developments in North Korea, including its recent ICBM test and regional dynamics in Northeast Asia. Bennett also explains why a surgical strike on North Korea's nuclear arsenal simply won't work.
How to Stem the Tide of Opioid Abuse
People who misuse heroin and prescription opioids have mortality rates that are six to 20 times higher than the general population, and opioid-related deaths have increased dramatically during the past two decades. A new RAND report finds that following three recommendations in providing medical care to people with an opioid addiction may reduce deaths among those patients by as much as one-third. Additionally, in a recent Congressional testimony, RAND expert Rosalie Pacula explains that treatment for individuals with an opioid-use disorder will be key in fighting the epidemic.
What's Next in the Fight Against ISIS?
The defeat of ISIS in Mosul was a significant blow to the terrorist organization. Now that the terrorists have been dislodged, the focus of the Iraqi government and international community is shifting from military operations to stabilization efforts. Achieving stability will depend on active leadership and financial and technical support from the United States, other coalition members, the neighboring Gulf States, and the United Nations.
How Vulnerable Is Your Computer?
What if there's a flaw in your operating system, a zero-day vulnerability, that is leaving you vulnerable to hackers? And what should the government do if they know about it? The report Zero Days, Thousands of Nights provides findings from real-world zero-day vulnerability and exploit data and explores factors policymakers should consider in deciding whether to retain these vulnerabilities or disclose them to help better secure networks.
Computer Viruses
Gender Integration in the Military
The Islamic State (Terrorist Organization)
Peacekeeping and Stability Operations
Assessing the Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly
Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Radha Iyengar Plumb, et al.
Alternatives to the ACA
Ingredients for Health Care Reform
Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner
North Korea's Continuous Provocations
A Surgical Strike Against North Korea? Not a Viable Option
Bruce W. Bennett @bwbennett
Association Between Process Measures and Mortality in Individuals with Opioid Use Disorders
Katherine E. Watkins, Susan M. Paddock, et al.
Funding Considerations in the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic: What the Science Tells Us
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula @PaculaRosalie
Making Victory Count After Defeating ISIS: Stabilization Challenges in Mosul and Beyond
Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson, Linda Robinson @RobinsonL100
Moving Beyond Mosul
Linda Robinson @RobinsonL100, Shelly Culbertson @SC_Culbertson
Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits
Lillian Ablon, Andy Bogart
Previous Blog PostWhen It Comes to Climate, Look for Vulnerabilities in Policy, Not ScienceNext Blog PostIs It a Good Idea to Privatize the War in Afghanistan?


text:
Via del Giglio, 13, 50123 Firenze, Italy Florence Tuscany Italy - 50123
**Property Location**.With a stay at Hotel Giotto in Florence (Duomo), you'll be steps from Medici Chapels and 5 minutes by foot from Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. This hotel is 0.3 mi (0.5 km) from Piazza del Duomo and 0.5 mi (0.8 km) from Piazza della Signoria. Distances are displayed to the nearest 0.1 mile and kilometer. .Medici Chapels - 0.1 km / 0.1 mi Via Faenza - 0.1 km / 0.1 mi Via de' Tornabuoni \- 0.2 km / 0.1 mi Basilica of Santa Maria Novella - 0.3 km / 0.2 mi Florence Baptistery - 0.3 km / 0.2 mi Via de' Calzaiuoli - 0.3 km / 0.2 mi Piazza di Santa Maria Novella - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi Florence Design Academy - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi Laurentian Library - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi San Lorenzo Church - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi Loggia del Bigallo - 0.4 km / 0.2 mi Palazzo Medici Riccardi - 0.4 km / 0.3 mi Strozzi Palace - 0.4 km / 0.3 mi Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore - 0.4 km / 0.3 mi Giotto's Campanile - 0.5 km / 0.3 mi .The preferred airport for Hotel Giotto is Peretola Airport (FLR) - 7.7 km / 4.8 mi. **Rooms**.Stay in one of 14 guestrooms featuring flat-screen televisions. Complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected, and satellite programming is available for your entertainment. Private bathrooms with bathtubs or showers feature bidets and hair dryers. Conveniences include phones, as well as safes and desks.**Dining**.Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at the bar/lounge. Buffet breakfasts are available daily from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM for a fee.**Business, Other Amenities**.Featured amenities include complimentary wired Internet access, express check- out, and complimentary newspapers in the lobby. Self parking (subject to charges) is available onsite.


text:
Director of Organizing
Remote with Travel in Maryland
Salary: $$75,000 to $80,000
Progressive Maryland
Director of Organizing Job Description
Location: Remote with travel throughout Maryland
Summary: Progressive Maryland was founded to empower communities to act for social and economic justice by developing leaders and cultivating allies in order to build a grassroots movement with the power to advance economic, racial, and environmental equity. We are made up of over 125,000 individual members and supporters and dozens of affiliated religious, community and labor organizations statewide.
Director of Organizing: The Director of Organizing takes responsibility for building a network of cohesive, effective, and relational member leaders and volunteers for the organization by managing our team of six region-based community organizers. The Director of Organizing oversees recruitment of new supporters and the development of volunteer member leaders who both a) identify with and support the mission of Progressive Maryland, and b) commit to power building for the world as it should be. Under the supervision of our Executive Director, the Director of Organizing develops basebuilding and electoral campaign strategies and leads the planning, execution, and debrief of grassroots outreach plans to further the ideologic and programmatic goals of the organization. The Director of Organizing also manages the execution of periodic grassroots fundraising and membership drives.
● Supervise a team of 6 regional organizers and work with them to grow at least one Progressive Maryland chapter in their turf
● Develop and implement basebuilding and leadership development plans for our local chapters
● In coordination with the Campaigns Director, develop Progressive Maryland's power-building methodology to be of the highest levels of rigor and impact and ensure that each member of your team is fully bought into and able to carry out our methodology
● Ensure organizational base building and grassroots fundraising goals are met and tracked in a consistent and accurate fashion
● Manage our candidate training and development program, the Maryland People's Leadership Institute
● Manage our organizing and leadership development trainings for members and staff
● Strong commitment to building grassroots power by organizing individuals to take collective action
● Experience with managing teams of organizers on a social justice issue and/or progressive electoral campaign
Ability to design and run trainings covering basic community organizing skills
Experience building and implementing issue-based and electoral campaign plans that are driven by grassroots organizing and leadership development
● Basic computer literacy and a willingness to quickly learn and use new digital platforms
● Ability to meet deadlines under pressure while handling multiple projects
● Ability to work independently, as a member of a team, and as a team lead
● The ability to think, reflect, communicate, challenge the conventional wisdom, make judgments in complicated situations, and show flexibility
● Experience with Votebuilder/VAN and other campaign platforms
● Experience with and/or understanding of a broad range of racial, economic, gender, social, and environmental equity issue
● A clear sense of the challenges our communities face, impatience in the face of those wrongs, and a drive to address them
Pluses (but not required)
● Familiarity with Maryland political systems on the city, county, and state level
● Residence in or a desire to move to Maryland or Washington, DC.
Travel: All positions require reliable access to a vehicle and a valid driver's license, laptop, phone, and willingness to travel throughout Maryland (25% of the time).
Salary, Benefits, and Position Details: Salary is commensurate with experience between $75,000-$80,000. Benefits include health, vision, and dental insurance, a 403(b) retirement plan, 2 weeks paid vacation, 6 personal days, and 15 sick days per year, and holidays. Relocation assistance available.
To Apply: Please submit your resume and application on our website. Complete applications will be considered on a rolling basis until a hire is made.
This search is being run by NRG Consulting Group, contact jobs@nrgconsutlinggroup.org with any questions.
Progressive Maryland is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, People of Color, LGBTQ people, Returning Citizens, and Immigrants are strongly encouraged to apply.
About Progressive Maryland
Progressive Maryland was founded to empower communities to act for social and economic justice by developing leaders and cultivating allies in order to build a grassroots movement with the power to advance economic, racial, and environmental equity. We are made up of over 125,000 individual members and supporters and dozens of affiliated religious, community and labor organizations statewide.


Inside Scott Disick And Younes Bendjima's Tense Run-In At Kris Jenner's Christmas Bash!
Although the meeting already seemed unavoidable and we were aware that things wouldn't just be peachy between them, we hoped the Christmas spirit would make them more tolerant of one another. That being said, we have learned that during Kris Jenner's Kardashian Christmas bash, Kourtney's new boyfriend Younes Bendjima and her baby daddy Scott Disick ran into each other and things were really tense!
It was the young model's first Kardashian holiday bash, and one insider revealed that he ended up being introduced to Kourtney's ex. Not a good idea!
'Scott was under strict orders to be on his best behavior at the bash, and not to cause any trouble with Younes—and he managed to walk the line. There was a tension in the air when Kourtney introduced them to each other, but Scott and Younes shook hands and exchanged pretty awkward pleasantries, and that was that,' our source revealed.
Although it may sound pretty civil, Disick was definitely not Okay with seeing his ex locking lips with her boy toy and documenting their night with many selfies.
'Everyone thinks Scott still loves Kourtney, but he is no good for her, and she has moved on—and there is no doubt that Scott is not happy about it. Regardless of how badly he has treated her in the past, Scott always had a fantasy in his head that he could click his fingers and Kourtney would come running,' the same insider explained.
But this time, Kourt really feels like she's found something special and much, much more healthy with Younes so there is no way she is coming back to Scott.
Kourtney, I am so glad that you have came to your senses. Your new man is far more understanding than your kids's father. I hope that you and your new hottie of a real man will be together for a long time. Well,Scott,payback is a bi**h,huh!


text:
Mostly IP History
A Blogging Experiment by Zvi S. Rosen – All views are my own. Those who do not remember IP history are doomed to relitigate it.
Taking Common-Law Copyright for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings Seriously
For those unfamiliar with common-law copyright and sound recordings, it might be helpful to read my post Of Sheep and Goats summarizing the issues as context for this post, although I do go over the basics here as well.
Almost five years ago (how the time flies) I was reading about the then-new cases where Flo & Eddie of the Turtles were suing SiriusXM and Pandora for infringement of their common-law copyrights. I distinctly remember going to bed and then getting up with a bit of a start, such is the drama of my life – I'd seen this before, and I didn't think many others had. In particular, while writing in my 2007 article The Twilight of the Opera Pirates, I remember reading various cases involving the operatic duo of Gilbert & Sullivan, including the Mikado and Iolanthe cases. Both cases involved attempts by the British owners of the work to prevent American theaters from performing their in-house orchestrations of these operas, which had been orchestrated from the published piano reduction of the opera (designed to be performed at home). At the time I'd focused on the success of the strategy, but looking back I realized something else – everyone seemed to agree that if the American theaters had used the unpublished orchestral score directly, they would be infringing the common-law copyright of the composer, even though (a) public performance of music was not infringing until over a decade later, and (b) the composer was British, and foreigners would not get copyright in America until 1891.
I dove deeper into the issue, and last month the Cincinnati Law Review published my article about common-law copyright for sound recordings, called "Common-Law Copyright." I've been talking about this piece for a while now, and this will be the last such post, because it's been published, and the final PDF is online. My initial goal was to find more such examples from older cases, and I believe I demonstrated conclusively that common-law copyright has always included performance rights, and that such performance rights are not dependent on federal statute granting performance rights. However, as I was writing I started to wonder whether performance rights and duration were the only points of difference between statutory and common-law copyright.
And that is why I gave my article the title "Common-Law Copyright," instead of a title more explicitly linking it to sound recordings. Because we've really failed to think through the doctrinal consequences of using common-law copyright to protect older sound recordings, or even really what common-law copyright is. In my article I believe I document pretty clearly just how different common-law copyright is from statutory copyright, and how we've fairly to take it seriously as a doctrine and ended up with a muddle of unpredictability and confusion.
So, what is common-law copyright? In a nutshell, common-law copyright is the perpetual right of control over unpublished works – both pre-publication manuscripts and documents meant to be kept private, like letters and diaries.1 Copyright law both common-law and federal provides that if a work is published then it loses common-law protection In the 1930s through the 1950s, a number of court cases held that sound recordings are not published under state laws, even if publicly sold, and thus could be protected by common-law. In 1972 sound recordings were brought within federal law and state-law protection was rendered largely moot, but this change only applied to sound recordings made on February 15, 1972 or later, leading to the current predicament regarding "pre-72" sound recordings.
In the middle of the 20th century, it wasn't entirely clear if the doctrine was actually common-law copyright or a different sui generis protection – Courts generally didn't use the phrase "common-law copyright," and Nimmer – the major treatise on copyright at the time (and one of the major ones still) said in the 1973 edition that the protection for sound recordings is not common-law copyright. However, in recent years Courts, especially in New York, have settled on the protection for pre-72 sound recordings being under common-law copyright.
Common-law copyright was abolished except for pre-72 sound recordings by the 1976 Copyright Act, meaning that Courts generally only encounter common-law copyright issues in this narrow context now. Courts have thus tended to treat common-law copyright for pre-72 sound recordings as being largely identical to statutory copyright. I believe this is a mistake, and if we're going to use common-law copyright for pre-72 sound recordings, we should take the doctrine seriously and understand that it is substantially broader from statutory copyright.
The article covers a lot of ground, and I hope folks in the various affected fields find it helpful. The Music Modernization Act, if passed, will require payment of royalties for digital audio transmission of pre-72 sound recordings, implicitly but not explicitly recognizing common-law rights in pre-72 sound recordings. Whether we choose to take common-law copyright seriously going forward is up to us.
I try to include something archival with each post, so here's the casefile from Gee v. CBS on appeal to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals from the decision of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on the question of whether common-law copyright in sound recordings made by Bessie Smith is subject to adverse possession. The very short unpublished opinion of the 3rd Circuit is also included.
Earlier Posts, which can also be seen in this blog's Common-Law Copyright tag:
A capsule summary of common-law copyright (also linked to at the top)
The origins of compulsory licensing for sound recordings
Fred Waring and the litigation in the 1930s over playing sound recordings on the radio
A critique of the Florida Supreme Court's decision in the Flo & Eddie v. SiriusXM case there
A discussion of common-law performance rights in San Francisco federal court in the 1880s
A post on the decision by an Illinois federal court that pre-1972 sound recordings may not have common-law protection in that state
A post on the decision by the Central District of California in ABS v. CBS about whether a remastering of a pre-1972 sound recording de facto makes a post-1972 sound recording
A critique of the New York Court of Appeals decision denying that pre-1972 sound recordings have performance rights at New York Common Law
The concept of mailing a document to yourself, sometimes called common-law or "poor man's" copyright, is completely different, not to mention largely ineffectual. ↩
Author: Zvi S. Rosen
Lawyer and sometimes academic. I've written a fair deal about the evolution of intellectual property law into its present form, this blog is a way to share things that don't fit into a full-length article.	View all posts by Zvi S. Rosen
Author Zvi S. RosenPosted on August 8, 2018 Categories Common-Law Copyright
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Fifty-Five Years of Software Copyright
An Archive of Patent Office Rules and Procedures
INS v. AP at 100 – feat. the oral argument
Thomasville v. Kaminstein – Copyright in Furniture
Archival Adventures: Saving ASCAP's Library
Jim Misko on Transcripts of Supreme Court Oral Arguments from Before OT1955 – They Exist!
Joseph Felcone on Tracking Accuracy in Copyright Records – A Case Study
Case Files Scanned from the Archives
Common-Law Copyright
Non-IP
Thorvald Solberg
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text:
namespace gpu {
class GpuMemoryBufferManager;
}

namespace cc {
class AnimationRegistrar;
class BeginFrameSource;
class HeadsUpDisplayLayer;
class Layer;
class LayerTreeHostImpl;
class LayerTreeHostImplClient;
class LayerTreeHostSingleThreadClient;
class PrioritizedResource;
class PrioritizedResourceManager;
class PropertyTrees;
class Region;
class RenderingStatsInstrumentation;
class ResourceProvider;
class ResourceUpdateQueue;
class SharedBitmapManager;
class TaskGraphRunner;
class TopControlsManager;
class UIResourceRequest;
struct PendingPageScaleAnimation;
struct RenderingStats;
struct ScrollAndScaleSet;

class CC_EXPORT LayerTreeHost {
 public:
  // TODO(sad): InitParams should be a movable type so that it can be
  // std::move()d to the Create* functions.
  struct CC_EXPORT InitParams {
    LayerTreeHostClient* client = nullptr;
    SharedBitmapManager* shared_bitmap_manager = nullptr;
    gpu::GpuMemoryBufferManager* gpu_memory_buffer_manager = nullptr;
    TaskGraphRunner* task_graph_runner = nullptr;
    LayerTreeSettings const* settings = nullptr;
    scoped_refptr<base::SingleThreadTaskRunner> main_task_runner;
    scoped_ptr<BeginFrameSource> external_begin_frame_source;

    InitParams();
    ~InitParams();
  };

  // The SharedBitmapManager will be used on the compositor thread.
  static scoped_ptr<LayerTreeHost> CreateThreaded(
      scoped_refptr<base::SingleThreadTaskRunner> impl_task_runner,
      InitParams* params);

  static scoped_ptr<LayerTreeHost> CreateSingleThreaded(
      LayerTreeHostSingleThreadClient* single_thread_client,
      InitParams* params);
  virtual ~LayerTreeHost();

  void SetLayerTreeHostClientReady();

  // LayerTreeHost interface to Proxy.
  void WillBeginMainFrame();
  void DidBeginMainFrame();
  void BeginMainFrame(const BeginFrameArgs& args);
  void BeginMainFrameNotExpectedSoon();
  void AnimateLayers(base::TimeTicks monotonic_frame_begin_time);
  void DidStopFlinging();
  void Layout();
  void BeginCommitOnImplThread(LayerTreeHostImpl* host_impl);
  void FinishCommitOnImplThread(LayerTreeHostImpl* host_impl);
  void WillCommit();
  void CommitComplete();
  void SetOutputSurface(scoped_ptr<OutputSurface> output_surface);
  void RequestNewOutputSurface();
  void DidInitializeOutputSurface();
  void DidFailToInitializeOutputSurface();
  virtual scoped_ptr<LayerTreeHostImpl> CreateLayerTreeHostImpl(
      LayerTreeHostImplClient* client);
  void DidLoseOutputSurface();
  bool output_surface_lost() const { return output_surface_lost_; }
  void DidCommitAndDrawFrame() { client_->DidCommitAndDrawFrame(); }
  void DidCompleteSwapBuffers() { client_->DidCompleteSwapBuffers(); }
  void DeleteContentsTexturesOnImplThread(ResourceProvider* resource_provider);
  bool UpdateLayers(ResourceUpdateQueue* queue);

  // Called when the compositor completed page scale animation.
  void DidCompletePageScaleAnimation();

  LayerTreeHostClient* client() { return client_; }
  const base::WeakPtr<InputHandler>& GetInputHandler() {
    return input_handler_weak_ptr_;
  }

  void NotifyInputThrottledUntilCommit();

  void Composite(base::TimeTicks frame_begin_time);

  void FinishAllRendering();

  void SetDeferCommits(bool defer_commits);

  int source_frame_number() const { return source_frame_number_; }

  void SetNeedsDisplayOnAllLayers();

  void CollectRenderingStats(RenderingStats* stats) const;

  RenderingStatsInstrumentation* rendering_stats_instrumentation() const {
    return rendering_stats_instrumentation_.get();
  }

  const RendererCapabilities& GetRendererCapabilities() const;

  void SetNeedsAnimate();
  virtual void SetNeedsUpdateLayers();
  virtual void SetNeedsCommit();
  virtual void SetNeedsFullTreeSync();
  virtual void SetNeedsMetaInfoRecomputation(
      bool needs_meta_info_recomputation);
  void SetNeedsRedraw();
  void SetNeedsRedrawRect(const gfx::Rect& damage_rect);
  bool CommitRequested() const;
  bool BeginMainFrameRequested() const;

  void SetNextCommitWaitsForActivation();

  void SetNextCommitForcesRedraw();

  void SetAnimationEvents(scoped_ptr<AnimationEventsVector> events);

  void SetRootLayer(scoped_refptr<Layer> root_layer);
  Layer* root_layer() { return root_layer_.get(); }
  const Layer* root_layer() const { return root_layer_.get(); }
  const Layer* overscroll_elasticity_layer() const {
    return overscroll_elasticity_layer_.get();
  }
  const Layer* page_scale_layer() const { return page_scale_layer_.get(); }
  void RegisterViewportLayers(scoped_refptr<Layer> overscroll_elasticity_layer,
                              scoped_refptr<Layer> page_scale_layer,
                              scoped_refptr<Layer> inner_viewport_scroll_layer,
                              scoped_refptr<Layer> outer_viewport_scroll_layer);
  Layer* inner_viewport_scroll_layer() const {
    return inner_viewport_scroll_layer_.get();
  }
  Layer* outer_viewport_scroll_layer() const {
    return outer_viewport_scroll_layer_.get();
  }

  void RegisterSelection(const LayerSelection& selection);

  const LayerTreeSettings& settings() const { return settings_; }

  void SetDebugState(const LayerTreeDebugState& debug_state);
  const LayerTreeDebugState& debug_state() const { return debug_state_; }

  bool has_gpu_rasterization_trigger() const {
    return has_gpu_rasterization_trigger_;
  }
  void SetHasGpuRasterizationTrigger(bool has_trigger);

  void SetViewportSize(const gfx::Size& device_viewport_size);
  void SetTopControlsHeight(float height, bool shrink);
  void SetTopControlsShownRatio(float ratio);

  gfx::Size device_viewport_size() const { return device_viewport_size_; }

  void ApplyPageScaleDeltaFromImplSide(float page_scale_delta);
  void SetPageScaleFactorAndLimits(float page_scale_factor,
                                   float min_page_scale_factor,
                                   float max_page_scale_factor);
  float page_scale_factor() const { return page_scale_factor_; }
  gfx::Vector2dF elastic_overscroll() const { return elastic_overscroll_; }

  SkColor background_color() const { return background_color_; }
  void set_background_color(SkColor color) { background_color_ = color; }

  void set_has_transparent_background(bool transparent) {
    has_transparent_background_ = transparent;
  }

  PrioritizedResourceManager* contents_texture_manager() const {
    return contents_texture_manager_.get();
  }

  void SetVisible(bool visible);
  bool visible() const { return visible_; }

  void SetThrottleFrameProduction(bool throttle);

  void StartPageScaleAnimation(const gfx::Vector2d& target_offset,
                               bool use_anchor,
                               float scale,
                               base::TimeDelta duration);

  void ApplyScrollAndScale(ScrollAndScaleSet* info);
  void SetImplTransform(const gfx::Transform& transform);

  // Virtual for tests.
  virtual void StartRateLimiter();
  virtual void StopRateLimiter();

  void RateLimit();

  bool AlwaysUsePartialTextureUpdates();
  size_t MaxPartialTextureUpdates() const;
  bool RequestPartialTextureUpdate();

  void SetDeviceScaleFactor(float device_scale_factor);
  float device_scale_factor() const { return device_scale_factor_; }

  void UpdateTopControlsState(TopControlsState constraints,
                              TopControlsState current,
                              bool animate);

  HeadsUpDisplayLayer* hud_layer() const { return hud_layer_.get(); }

  Proxy* proxy() const { return proxy_.get(); }

  AnimationRegistrar* animation_registrar() const {
    return animation_registrar_.get();
  }

  bool in_paint_layer_contents() const { return in_paint_layer_contents_; }

  // CreateUIResource creates a resource given a bitmap.  The bitmap is
  // generated via an interface function, which is called when initializing the
  // resource and when the resource has been lost (due to lost context).  The
  // parameter of the interface is a single boolean, which indicates whether the
  // resource has been lost or not.  CreateUIResource returns an Id of the
  // resource, which is always positive.
  virtual UIResourceId CreateUIResource(UIResourceClient* client);
  // Deletes a UI resource.  May safely be called more than once.
  virtual void DeleteUIResource(UIResourceId id);
  // Put the recreation of all UI resources into the resource queue after they
  // were evicted on the impl thread.
  void RecreateUIResources();

  virtual gfx::Size GetUIResourceSize(UIResourceId id) const;

  bool UsingSharedMemoryResources();
  int id() const { return id_; }

  // Returns the id of the benchmark on success, 0 otherwise.
  int ScheduleMicroBenchmark(const std::string& benchmark_name,
                             scoped_ptr<base::Value> value,
                             const MicroBenchmark::DoneCallback& callback);
  // Returns true if the message was successfully delivered and handled.
  bool SendMessageToMicroBenchmark(int id, scoped_ptr<base::Value> value);

  // When a SwapPromiseMonitor is created on the main thread, it calls
  // InsertSwapPromiseMonitor() to register itself with LayerTreeHost.
  // When the monitor is destroyed, it calls RemoveSwapPromiseMonitor()
  // to unregister itself.
  void InsertSwapPromiseMonitor(SwapPromiseMonitor* monitor);
  void RemoveSwapPromiseMonitor(SwapPromiseMonitor* monitor);

  // Call this function when you expect there to be a swap buffer.
  // See swap_promise.h for how to use SwapPromise.
  void QueueSwapPromise(scoped_ptr<SwapPromise> swap_promise);

  void BreakSwapPromises(SwapPromise::DidNotSwapReason reason);

  size_t num_queued_swap_promises() const { return swap_promise_list_.size(); }

  void set_surface_id_namespace(uint32_t id_namespace);
  SurfaceSequence CreateSurfaceSequence();

  void SetChildrenNeedBeginFrames(bool children_need_begin_frames) const;
  void SendBeginFramesToChildren(const BeginFrameArgs& args) const;

  void SetAuthoritativeVSyncInterval(const base::TimeDelta& interval);

  PropertyTrees* property_trees() { return &property_trees_; }
  bool needs_meta_info_recomputation() {
    return needs_meta_info_recomputation_;
  }

  // If this is true, only property trees will be used for main thread CDP.
  // CDP will not be run, and verify_property_trees will be ignored.
  bool using_only_property_trees() const {
    return settings().impl_side_painting;
  }

 protected:
  explicit LayerTreeHost(InitParams* params);
  void InitializeThreaded(
      scoped_refptr<base::SingleThreadTaskRunner> main_task_runner,
      scoped_refptr<base::SingleThreadTaskRunner> impl_task_runner,
      scoped_ptr<BeginFrameSource> external_begin_frame_source);
  void InitializeSingleThreaded(
      LayerTreeHostSingleThreadClient* single_thread_client,
      scoped_refptr<base::SingleThreadTaskRunner> main_task_runner,
      scoped_ptr<BeginFrameSource> external_begin_frame_source);
  void InitializeForTesting(scoped_ptr<Proxy> proxy_for_testing);
  void SetOutputSurfaceLostForTesting(bool is_lost) {
    output_surface_lost_ = is_lost;
  }

  // shared_bitmap_manager(), gpu_memory_buffer_manager(), and
  // task_graph_runner() return valid values only until the LayerTreeHostImpl is
  // created in CreateLayerTreeHostImpl().
  SharedBitmapManager* shared_bitmap_manager() const {
    return shared_bitmap_manager_;
  }
  gpu::GpuMemoryBufferManager* gpu_memory_buffer_manager() const {
    return gpu_memory_buffer_manager_;
  }
  TaskGraphRunner* task_graph_runner() const { return task_graph_runner_; }

  MicroBenchmarkController micro_benchmark_controller_;

 private:
  void InitializeProxy(scoped_ptr<Proxy> proxy);

  void PaintLayerContents(
      const RenderSurfaceLayerList& render_surface_layer_list,
      ResourceUpdateQueue* queue,
      bool* did_paint_content,
      bool* need_more_updates);
  void PaintMasksForRenderSurface(Layer* render_surface_layer,
                                  ResourceUpdateQueue* queue,
                                  bool* did_paint_content,
                                  bool* need_more_updates);
  bool UpdateLayers(Layer* root_layer, ResourceUpdateQueue* queue);
  void UpdateHudLayer();
  void TriggerPrepaint();

  void ReduceMemoryUsage();

  void PrioritizeTextures(
      const RenderSurfaceLayerList& render_surface_layer_list);
  void SetPrioritiesForSurfaces(size_t surface_memory_bytes);
  void SetPrioritiesForLayers(const RenderSurfaceLayerList& update_list);
  size_t CalculateMemoryForRenderSurfaces(
      const RenderSurfaceLayerList& update_list);

  bool AnimateLayersRecursive(Layer* current, base::TimeTicks time);

  struct UIResourceClientData {
    UIResourceClient* client;
    gfx::Size size;
  };

  typedef base::hash_map<UIResourceId, UIResourceClientData>
      UIResourceClientMap;
  UIResourceClientMap ui_resource_client_map_;
  int next_ui_resource_id_;

  typedef std::vector<UIResourceRequest> UIResourceRequestQueue;
  UIResourceRequestQueue ui_resource_request_queue_;

  void RecordGpuRasterizationHistogram();
  void CalculateLCDTextMetricsCallback(Layer* layer);

  void NotifySwapPromiseMonitorsOfSetNeedsCommit();

  bool inside_begin_main_frame_;
  bool needs_full_tree_sync_;
  bool needs_meta_info_recomputation_;

  base::CancelableClosure prepaint_callback_;

  LayerTreeHostClient* client_;
  scoped_ptr<Proxy> proxy_;

  int source_frame_number_;
  scoped_ptr<RenderingStatsInstrumentation> rendering_stats_instrumentation_;

  bool output_surface_lost_;

  scoped_refptr<Layer> root_layer_;
  scoped_refptr<HeadsUpDisplayLayer> hud_layer_;

  scoped_ptr<PrioritizedResourceManager> contents_texture_manager_;
  scoped_ptr<PrioritizedResource> surface_memory_placeholder_;

  base::WeakPtr<InputHandler> input_handler_weak_ptr_;
  base::WeakPtr<TopControlsManager> top_controls_manager_weak_ptr_;

  const LayerTreeSettings settings_;
  LayerTreeDebugState debug_state_;

  gfx::Size device_viewport_size_;
  bool top_controls_shrink_blink_size_;
  float top_controls_height_;
  float top_controls_shown_ratio_;
  float device_scale_factor_;

  bool visible_;

  base::OneShotTimer<LayerTreeHost> rate_limit_timer_;

  float page_scale_factor_;
  float min_page_scale_factor_;
  float max_page_scale_factor_;
  gfx::Vector2dF elastic_overscroll_;
  bool has_gpu_rasterization_trigger_;
  bool content_is_suitable_for_gpu_rasterization_;
  bool gpu_rasterization_histogram_recorded_;

  SkColor background_color_;
  bool has_transparent_background_;

  typedef ScopedPtrVector<PrioritizedResource> TextureList;
  size_t partial_texture_update_requests_;

  scoped_ptr<AnimationRegistrar> animation_registrar_;

  scoped_ptr<PendingPageScaleAnimation> pending_page_scale_animation_;

  // If set, then page scale animation has completed, but the client hasn't been
  // notified about it yet.
  bool did_complete_scale_animation_;

  bool in_paint_layer_contents_;

  int id_;
  bool next_commit_forces_redraw_;

  scoped_refptr<Layer> overscroll_elasticity_layer_;
  scoped_refptr<Layer> page_scale_layer_;
  scoped_refptr<Layer> inner_viewport_scroll_layer_;
  scoped_refptr<Layer> outer_viewport_scroll_layer_;

  LayerSelection selection_;

  SharedBitmapManager* shared_bitmap_manager_;
  gpu::GpuMemoryBufferManager* gpu_memory_buffer_manager_;
  TaskGraphRunner* task_graph_runner_;

  ScopedPtrVector<SwapPromise> swap_promise_list_;
  std::set<SwapPromiseMonitor*> swap_promise_monitor_;

  PropertyTrees property_trees_;

  uint32_t surface_id_namespace_;
  uint32_t next_surface_sequence_;

  DISALLOW_COPY_AND_ASSIGN(LayerTreeHost);
};

}  // namespace cc

#endif  // CC_TREES_LAYER_TREE_HOST_H_

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Royals Farm Report Mid-Season Top 100: 50-41
Hello and welcome. It feels like forever since we did our first ever Top 100 list this winter. We'll be updating our lists throughout the year to include new prospects, but we'll vote on a new top 100 twice a year. One mid-season, one in the offseason. In case you missed our last top 100 segment, here is a link to every write up we did this winter.
This season, our top 100 we'll consist of an aggregate of four of our writers' individual lists. We average the lists out to give you a consensus top 100.
Check out the rest of our list here:
50. Chase Vallot, C
Ht/Wt: 6'0″ 225 llbs
Levels Played, 2018: Rookie (Idaho Falls), High-A (Wilmington)
Acquired: 2014 MLB Draft, 1st Round
ETA: 2021
2018 Stats (Rookie/A+): 45 G, .099/.279/.254, 14 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 0 SB
One of the more polarizing prospects in all of the Royals system, Chase Vallot has taken a big hit in the past couple of rankings for a couple of reasons. First off, he's posting an extremely ugly line of .101/.282/.261. Second off, it seems as if he currently doesn't have a position, as most of his time this year has come at DH.
A first round draft pick by the Royals in 2015, Vallot was drafted at a rather younger age, entering the Royals organization at the age of 17. The Royals were enamored with him enough to send him to Burlington (a thing they rarely do with high schoolers), where Vallot would put up respectable numbers. He entered full-season ball at the age of 18 with Lexington, showing off his combination of contact issues, power, and superb plate discipline. The Royals sent him back to Lexington to repeat the level in 2016 and he dealt with some injuries (notably a baseball to the face), but he hit well enough to earn himself a spot on the Wilmington roster in 2017.
It was in Wilmington last year where Vallot turned in his best season to date, slashing .231/.380/.438 in a tough hitters park. The injuries stuck around though and he was only limited to 89 games.
Given how aggressive the Royals had been with Vallot and a lack of catching depth in Northwest Arkansas, it came as a bit of shock to me that they sent him back to Wilmington. Things have taken a turn for the worst since then, as Vallot has had a disaster of a season at the plate, his still dealt with nagging back injuries, and was even sent back to extended Spring Training earlier in the year.
It seems unlikely that Vallot will ever stick at catcher, which comes as a shame, because the potential for his bat there was great. If DH is where he ends up, he basically becomes a near non-prospect.
49. Grant Gavin, RHP
Ht/Wt: 6'2″ 185 lbs
Levels Played, 2018: High-A (Wilmington), AA (Northwest Arkansas)
Acquired: 2016 MLB Draft, 29th Round
2018 Stats (A+/AA): 24 G, 2.83 ERA, 41.1 IP, 32 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 17 BB, 52 SO
A Kansas City native that pitched out of relief at Central Missouri, the Royals grabbed Grant Gavin in the 29th round of the 2016 draft. In his first three minor league seasons, he has put up very eye-popping numbers, posting a 2.08 ERA in 153 innings, striking out 176 and walking 47.
GIF Courtesy Baseball Census
A polished pitcher that has soared up the ranks, Gavin may not be too far away from a major league bullpen. He throws a fastball that sits closer to the lower-90s but can touch mid-90s. The curveball may end up being his best secondary, but I love what I've seen from his late life changeup out of the Northwest Arkansas bullpen.
48. Yunior Marte, RHP
Levels Played, 2018: AA (Northwest Arkansas)
Acquired: 2012 International Signing
2018 Stats (AA): 28 G, 3.04 ERA, 53.1 IP, 46 H, 20 R, 18 ER, 22 BB, 57 SO
Pitching in his second season as a full-time reliever, Yunior Marte has shown improvement is second go-around at AA. After a dominant first half in Wilmington last year, he got the bump to Northwest Arkansas, where he looked like a mess on the mound (5.75 ERA, 5.51 FIP, 9.5 K/9, 6.7 BB/9). The command with both his fastball and his offspeeds wavered badly, throwing strikes at a terrible 57% clip in the second half last year. While still below-average, he's showing some of the best command of his career this season, only walking batters at a rate of 3.7 per nine.
The fastball sits mid-90s and has seen a decent bump since his time in the lower-minors. The changeup is great, showing some awesome armside fade. He'll need to improve his command on both these pitches though if he wants to make a career in the majors. There's setup man ceiling here.
47. Andres Machado, RHP
Levels Played, 2018: AA (Northwest Arkansas), AAA (Omaha)
2018 Stats (AA/AAA): 19 G, 7.23 ERA, 61 IP, 88 H, 61 R, 49 ER, 34 BB, 50 SO
The development of Andres Machado was one of the storylines I was most excited to pay attention too down on the farm this year, but my excitements have been tampered with a huge step back from a successful 2017 season.
A surprise September call-up last season, Machado pitched well across three levels (A+, AA, AAA) in 2017, striking out 111 batters in 111 innings. The Venezuela native rolled his momentum into big league Spring Training, showing spurts of his ability in 6.1 innings. The Royals sent Machado to start the year in the Omaha rotation, but his struggles there sent him to the Northwest Arkansas starting five, where he continued to struggle. He's now in the Northwest Arkansas bullpen and there has yet to be any visible improvement.
When his fastball/slider combo is working, Machado looks damn near unhittable. The problem is it has been extremely inconsistent this year. The reason I came to love him as a prospect was that he had a 97 MPH fastball that he could locate, but all of his command seems washed this year. Both the slider and changeup have seemed more hittable also.
Machado seems like he has a future in the bullpen, but if he can ever find consistency as a starter, he'll get an extended look there simply due to his larger frame (6'0″ 220 lbs).
46. Eric Cole, OF
B/T: S/R
Levels Played, 2018: N/A
Acquired: 2018 MLB Draft, 4th Round
2018 Stats: N/A
One of the final Royals draft picks to sign, fourth rounder Eric Cole is coming off a big junior season at Arkansas. He showed it all at the plate, posting the best K/BB ratio and the best ISO of his college career.
A switch-hitter with good plate skills and quick hands, if all goes well for Cole, he should be able to climb up the ranks quickly (he was recently just assigned to Burlington). He'll need to hit though, as he probably doesn't have the range to play centerfield.
45. Jonathan Bowlan, RHP
DOB: 12/1/1996
Levels Played, 2018: Rookie (Idaho Falls)
Acquired: 2018 MLB Draft, 2nd Rounf
2018 Stats (Rookie): 4 G, 2.25 ERA, 16 IP, 13 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 11 SO
Jonathan Bowlan had the most strikeouts in a game by any NCAA pitcher this year, punching out 18. That the one game was part of a successful junior season at Memphis (85 IP, 3.71 ERA, 104 SO, 18 BB) that helped push his draft status to the upper-rounds. The Royals grabbed him in the second with their final pick on day one, adding to their draft stash of college arms.
Just by looking at hm, you would guess Bowlan is a football player with his 6'6″ 260 lbs frame. He uses a power-sinker with good command. The best secondary is a hard, sweeping slider that he'll pair with a lesser-changeup. The repertoire screams back-end starter to me, but their could be an interesting profile as a reliever here.
44. DJ Burt, 2B
Levels Played, 2018: High-A (Wilmington)
2018 Stats (A+): 65 G, .302/.394/.396, 71 H, 9 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR, 24 RBI, 22 SB
DJ Burt is your ultimate fringe prospect. His speed holds up any prospect status he has, as he's currently running a .395 BABIP in Wilmington this year. After the hit tool took a step back last year, it seems to be back to full-strength. With his speed that allows him to leg out a handful of extra hits each year and his great plate discipline, he should be a high-OBP guy level-to-level.
Burt has the looks of a solid bench piece. The lack of power will hold him back a bit (he recently just hit his first home run of the season), but with the ability to rack up the stolen bases and some plus-versatility (he's played 2B, SS, 3B, and LF in his career) don't be surprised if ever sticks around on a major league roster.
43. Charlie Neuweiler, RHP
Levels Played, 2018: Rookie (Burlington), Low-A (Lexington)
2018 Stats (Rookie/A): 4 G, 4.50 ERA, 20 IP, 22 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 6 BB, 19 SO
After being selected in the fifth round of last year's draft, Charlie Neuweiler turned some heads with a solid debut season in the AZL at the age of 18. While still only 19 this year, the Royals started him in the Burlington rotation, feeling that they saw enough in two starts to bump him up to Lexington.
Neuweiler throws a fastball that sits lower-90s, a four-seamer and a two-seamer, adding in a changeup and curveball. More velocity down the road isn't out of the question, but he already flashes plus-command and a good feel for his arsenal.
42. Anderson Miller, OF
B/T: L/L
Acquired: 2015 MLB Draft, 3rd Round
2018 Stats (AA): 74 G, .268/.321/.435, 72 H, 12 2B, 3 3B, 9 HR, 33 RBI, 7 SB
It's been a tale of two seasons for the former third round pick Anderson Miller. After continuing his struggles in AA earlier this season, he's been much better.
April: .229/.289/.371, 76 wRC+, 6.6% BB%, 27.6% K%
May/June/July: .281/.332/.457, 110 wRC+, 7.0% BB%, 14.9% K%
It's quite a beauty if Miller can put the right swing on a ball, because he hits some absolute shots with his raw power. He still has a little bit too much downhill action in his swing, preventing him from becoming a consistent power threat.
41. Austin Cox, RHP
Levels Played, 2018: Rookie (Burlington)
2018 Stats (Rookie): 3 G, 0.77 ERA, 11.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 23 SO
Austin Cox was easily one of my more favorite selections in this year's draft. A fifth round pick out of Mercer University in Georgia, Cox was a big strikeout guy coming out of college, striking out 124 batters in 87.2 innings his junior year. He struggled with mostly everything else though, giving up nearly 11 hits and 4.5 walks per nine, contributing to a career 5.71 ERA.
A lanky lefty with a deep repertoire, Cox mixes in two fastballs with a slider and a changeup. Our Drew Osborne grabbed some good insight from Cox's college pitching coach.
As far as pitching goes, Cox throws 4 pitches. He has the fastball combo of 4-seamer and 2-seamer, a slider, a change, and what coach Shade calls a double double plus power curveball. I watched video on the curve and it is good. It has 12-6 action that is late and hard. Some would call it a spike curve. In fact, the velo is low 80s. This is a pitch that he throws to both righties and lefties for strikes and for strikeouts. It is a true swing and miss pitch. The slider is used against LHHs as Cox is a LHP and Mercer's pitching philosophy is to break the ball away from a hitter's bat path. The slider isn't designed to be a swing and miss pitch for Cox but more as a variation to get guys to roll over. The change is an okay pitch that breaks back armside and away from RHHs. The fastball has been up to 96 as recently as his last start but usually works 91 to 93.
Cox has been one of the more impressive draft picks by the Royals early on, allowing only one earned run through his first three starts while striking out 23 batters in 11.2 innings. It's definitely some small sample size, but the command he struggled with in college has looked better over in pro-ball. If he can ever make strides with that while possibly adding on some fastball velocity down the road once he fills out his frame more, we could be looking at a guy that could be one of the higher-ceiling pitchers in the organization. If not, his future is likely in the bullpen.
Photo Credits: Brad Glazier—MiLB.com
July 11, 2018 in Analysis. Tags: Analysis, Anderson Miller, Andres Machado, Austin Cox, Charlie Neuweiler, Chase Vallot, DJ Burt, Eric Cole, Grant Gavin, Jonathan Bowlan, Kansas City Royals, Rankings, Yunior Marte
2017 Royals Prospect Rankings: 20-16
Royals Farm Report 2018 Mid-Season Top 100: 100-91
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