And Then the Sea Will Talk to You, 2012, performance media/installation at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.
The complex structures of power and control have preoccupied performance artist, writer, and curator Coco Fusco for over 20 years. In A Room of One's Own: Women and Power in the New America (2008), a performance lecture explores the expanding role of American women in the War on Terror. Bare Life Study (2006), a group performance which draws on her training in military interrogation with "Team Delta," sheds light on the subjections in American military prisons. The video, The Empty Plaza (La Plaza Vacia), (2012), narrated by Yoani Sanchez, depicts an empty Plaza de La Revolucion, a stark contrast to an arena that was the platform for all major political events in the past half century. Currently, the artist is at work on a project centered around contemporary Cuban performance art. Through her personal history Fusco walks us through Cuba's past to tell us how the existing conditions on the island have led to a wave of performance and happenings. Moreover, by restaging and performing the character, Dr. Zira, a chimpanzee psychologist from the 1970s iconic movie series, Planet of the Apes, she illuminates the economic violence humans inflict on each other. And speaking of archetypes, we get Fusco's reactions on being dubbed "The Provocateur" in my current project, The Supper Club, a publication/event series that brings together 50 contemporary artists of color through photography and dialogue.
Elia Alba As you know everyone in The Supper Club will have a moniker as way to define each of you within the group. It's also the word I will use to conceptualize a portrait of you. How do you feel about yours being "The Provocateur"? The term itself is a person who provokes trouble or incites dissension, an agitator, if you will. However, in the context of your practice, I would say you definitely provoke or challenge preconceived ideas and structures; in other words you incite us to think.
Coco Fusco I believe there are plenty of people out there who see me as a provocateur because I talk back, and because I work on subjects that irritate some people. But provocateurcan have a negative connotation, it can suggest that I am just an enfant terrible who wants to shock people rather than delve deeply into issues. It can be used as a slight. I don't see myself as someone who is just trying to get attention. I am interested in politics as sculptural material. I look at relationships of force, of power and control.
EA I saw your video interview following your Absolut Art Award win late last year and you briefly talked about your first writing experience, which I thought was really quite interesting and touching. At the same time, I was really not surprised since I believe certain talents appear early on in our lives. So tell me, when did Coco become a writer?
CF It was wonderful to have the Absolut Art Writing Award, to have an opportunity to work on a publication and to be so well supported for it. At the same time, it is a challenge because part of working with a company like Absolut is that I have to think about a very broad audience. So when I was answering those questions I was trying to find a way to connect to people who are not artists. I was asked, "When did you know that you wanted to write?" I was a serious bookworm as a kid. I would get lost in the fantasy world of fiction and most of the questions I had about Americans, as a child of immigrants, I found answers to in the books I read.
When I was about seven, there was a fire in my neighborhood. My parents were both physicians and my father went to try and help. Of course, I was afraid…my father was running into the fire. Although the fire was just three blocks away I could see the smoke coming up into the sky. I ran and got one of my parents' prescription pads, that was the paper that was around the house, and I wrote a little essay about it and now I look at it and there are spelling mistakes, the handwriting of a little kid. On top of the essay I wrote, "The New York Times." My mother kept it for me.
EA You were given the prize to continue your research project on the evolution of Cuban performance. You've written other books on performance—can you elaborate on this project and why it is this important now?
CF I started traveling to Cuba when I was a month old. My Cuban mother was deported from the United States in 1959—she had come to the US five years prior to that to finish her medical studies and then began to work. In order to guarantee her reentry to the US, she became pregnant with me, hid me until she gave birth and then took me with her back to Cuba in July 1960. This happened at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution when thousands of people were trying to emigrate. We spent several months in Cuba, until she was able to get her papers together and return. My father didn't know if he would ever see us again. I didn't go back to Cuba until I was in my twenties. During the 1960s and '70s it was forbidden for exiled families to return. It wasn't until the Carter Administration reopened conversations with the Cuban Government that family reunification visits were permitted. All my life I had heard horror stories about the Cuban Revolution, and then suddenly when it became possible to travel there, one of my aunts went and then my mother went to visit and they came back saying things that were not negative about what had happened to their country.
In 1985, just after I finished graduate school, I met a group of Cuban artists who visited the US and exhibited their work here: José Bedia, Ricardo Brey, and Flavio Garciandia. They were friends of Ana Mendieta's. I felt a real affinity with them: We were about the same age, we were interested in the same art and the same ideas, and we had read many of the same books. Temperamentally I felt really close to them and I wanted to see more and learn more so I started travelling to Cuba. This began a long relationship that I've had with the Cuban visual art scene. The vitality of the place, the energy in the art scene, even the intense politicization of every aspect of life is fascinating to me. Over time, I grew to understand the complexities of negotiating life there as an intellectual or artist and developed a somewhat more skeptical view of life in the land of tropical socialism.
The Empty Plaza (La Plaza Vacia), 2012, Still from single channel video, courtesy of Alexander Grey Associates.
In the 1990s, after the Cold War ended and the former Soviet Union withdrew its financial support for Cuba, the country entered its Special Period of extreme material scarcity on the one hand and the explosion of tourism to offset the loss of foreign aid on the other. A very brutal form of capitalism managed by a military dictatorship was taking shape and this, of course, affected every aspect of life, including culture. Stark living conditions, harsh political repression and increasing exposure to foreigners and returning Cuban exiles led to the Cuban rafter crisis of 1994, a steady brain drain, and a resurgence of prostitution directed at foreign clients. The art scene I walked into in the 1980s was a scene that was trying to build a local audience for art and transform what a radical nationalism culture could be. That scene changed radically in the 1990s; not only artists, but also the cultural bureaucracy became much more focused on getting Cuban art out into the world and bringing foreigners in to consume it.
EA We did start to see a big influx of Cuban artists in the United States.
CF That was the result of two things. The Havana Biennial, which started in the 1980s, and became a really major geographically peripheral biennial in the '90s. Carlos Garaicoa, Kcho, Tania Bruguera, and Los Carpinteros, to name a few, all launched their careers there. Foreign visitors were "wowed" by Cuban art. The Cuban Revolution had established a pretty solid educational system for artists. The talented kids were spotted when they were young and put through rigorous training—not just in art but also in dance, music, theater, sports, and science. I think a lot of people from other parts of the world just didn't expect a country in dire straits to have such a sophisticated group of young artists, who were very well informed, talented, and also very familiar with everything going on in the so-called West.
I spent many years exploring that world but I stepped back at the end of the 1990s because I had too many questions about the direction that the country was going in and many of my artist friends had gone into exile. Then in 2006, Fidel Castro became ill and stepped down from power and his brother Raul took over. Raul has implemented a number of economic reforms since then but has not really changed the political system or addressed human rights issues. One significant reform for the cultural arena was the legalization of cell phone possession in 2008. This enabled independently-produced journalism, music, and art to make itself known with much greater speed.
EA Is it at this point where people like the blogger and journalist Yoani Sanchez rose to prominence?
CF Yes, what I started to see in 2008 was an explosion of media coming from Cuba involving rappers, bloggers, punk musicians, independent filmmakers, and political activists. They all spoke very critically about the need for reform, the repression of political prisoners and the failure of a social contract in Cuba. The content of blogs was often sent via text and many bloggers have also become quite proficient at Twitter. This is a new wave of culture that the state cannot control. I will argue in my book that there are important elements of performance connected with this burgeoning social media sphere. I will be exploring the intersection of public performance on the street, in galleries, and online.
EA The first time I saw or knew of Sanchez was during the 2009 Havana Biennial. I was invited to participate and it was there that Bruguera did the performance Tatlin's Whisper #6, where a man and a woman dressed in military-style clothing flanked the podium and placed a white dove on speaker's shoulder to mimic to the 1959 speech by Castro. The speaker was allowed one minute of free speech apparently without consequence. Yoani, along with others, took to the podium to express their discontent. During my visit, a young black man befriended me and he came with me to see the performance. As it was unfolding, I asked him if he was going to go up to the podium and he said that these things are only possible for specific groups of people. Does race play a part in who can or cannot say what they feel? Also was Bruguera's performance a reflection or was it aligning itself with what was happening already? People were voicing very strong opinions, yet this man felt he couldn't do it.
CF During the Biennial the controls on political speech are loosened within the realm of art for two weeks to help give foreigners the impression that Cuba is an endless party. But dissidents and artists working in unofficial contexts are kept out of that context, and members of marginal subcultures are swept off the streets by police near tourist areas before the Biennial begins.
A Room of One's Own: Women and Power in the New America, (2006–2008), Performance at the 2008 Whitney Biennial, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.
CF That young man appears to have internalized the generalized political repression in Cuba that makes any public expression of dissent potentially punishable. If you are asking if he is more vulnerable because he is black, I would answer yes. However, I would not say that political repression is limited to blacks in Cuba by any means.
I am writing about performance and am interested in performance that involves putting bodies on the line in a literal sense. I've been watching how the blogging phenomenon and digital technology's late arrival to Cuba's cultural scene has allowed images of protests and of cultural events that are not officially sanctioned to become instantly visible to the outside world: bodies that represent abject relations to the state. The artist and activists I write about are not engaging in forms of public display of bodies that historically have been identified with the Revolution. These are not the disciplined bodies, like the uniformed military body, the marching masses in en La Plaza de La Revolucion, children in communist youth outfits saluting, the volunteer brigades working for the Revolution.
Bare Life Study #1, Performance, Premiere: VideoBrasil Festival of Electronic Art and Performance, Sao Paolo, September 2005, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.
There is a history that most non-Cubans outside of Cuba are not aware of—that of negative depiction of the improper body, of improper conduct. From the 1960s onward there were magazines for youth that were full of caricatures of intellectuals, hippies, rock and roll aficionados, and men presumed to be effeminate. These were all very negative terms applied to so-called counter revolutionaries, and the main point of that visual culture was to describe what counter revolutionaries looked like and how they behaved. Is your hair too long? Do you read the wrong books? Do you listen to rock music? Do you go to church and pray? These were all counts against you in Cuba once upon a time.
So that young black man who befriended you knew that if he did speak up during that performance, it wouldn't be art. It could be classified as social dangerousness and he could go to jail.
EA So it appears that these laws are used against artists that are not doing what the state wants or whom the government does not sanction. In what ways does this play into practice of performance?
CF What interests me about social dangerousness, as a legal classification, is that it is about behavior. And performance is also about behavior. Many artists and intellectuals have been arrested using the social dangerousness law but also many artists have developed artworks that specifically contest the social dangerousness laws. I am trying to look at how the codification of improper behavior evolves, how artists have responded to this and how the dissemination of digital cameras in the past decade has made performative interventions—which are forms of improper conduct—more visible and more viable as political protest. Some might say that what I write about is not art, but I want to explore that distinction between art and non-art from a political perspective. On the one hand, many activists are now using theatrical strategies to draw attention to their causes and because in certain situations, speaking and publishing would be more dangerous. Those people don't really care if we think what they do is art, but they perform their protests. On the other hand, there are artists who are not supported by state institutions who create performances that are condemned as socially dangerous rather than treated as art—that distinction serves as the justification for their arrest.
Observations of Predation in Humans: A Lecture by Dr. Zira, 2013, performance at the Studio Museum in Harlem, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates.
EA Which brings me to your most recent performance Observations of Predation in Humans: A Lecture by Dr. Zira. You are using the iconic film Planet of the Apes as well as its main character, Dr. Zira as a way to study different aspects of human behavior through the paradigm of animal behavior. While your book project on Cuban performance via the study of the Cuban penal code looks more at political violence, with this performance your focus is on the economic violence humans impose on each other. Can you talk about how you came about framing this study utilizing Dr. Zira and Dr. Zira's take on predation and excessive accumulation.
CF I wanted to find a way to address economic polarization as a form of violence without being boring. Zira gave me that opportunity. I was a big fan of the original Planet of the Apesfilms (there were five made between 1968 and 1973) when I was a child and adolescent in the 1970s they played them on television often. More recently, I taught a lecture course on Afrofuturism and included a section on two of the films. There is an interesting body of literature about those original films as critiques of American race relations. I don't know if I understood that when I first saw them but reviewing them now, I can see how the films functioned as social critique on many levels. I became interested in Zira's character: she is an animal psychologist who studies the human brain, a pacifist intellectual who constantly points to problematic aspects of human behavior. In the original films the focus on the critique of humans is on their aggressive tendencies—their capacity to kill each other, their use of weapons of mass destruction, etc. I started to think about how I might revive her and have her explore other dimensions of human behavior. To develop her character I had to familiarize myself with the basic language used by animal psychologists, primatologists, and evolutionary biologists. So I interviewed some scientists, watched lots of documentaries videotaped lectures about neurology and read some books. The research process was challenging but fun.
EA One particular thing that stood out for me was how primates, even within their social structures and hierarchies, show empathy to others within the group. Humans, on the other hand, don't seem to empathize within the group at all, inflicting not only physical but psychological harm. Clearly social dangerousness is form of psychological harm. Why is that? And for Dr. Zira, is there any hope for humanity?
CF Actually that would not be accurate. Human beings do express empathy and not all Great Apes are primarily empathic in their relations with others. Some non-human primates are quite aggressive—I use baboons as an extreme example of that behavior in my performance. And human beings cannot survive without forms of social cohesion that are fundamentally empathic, such as the nurturing relations between mothers and children. All I am suggesting in my piece is that the balance in human society has shifted away from empathy toward aggressively individualistic behavior.
Zira worries about the future of humanity because she comes from the future and what she saw there wasn't very good for the human race. In the original Planet of the Apes films, humans managed to destroy just about everything they created through war and bombs. The few humans left in Zira's time were mutants living underground who worshipped the one bomb they had left and were highly combative toward the apes.
Elia Alba is a New York–based multidisciplinary artist. She is currently collaborating with Recess, a nonprofit space in Soho, working on a publication/event series titled The Supper Club. She is also working on another publication with publisher Photology in Milan on Larry Levan and DJ culture. For more updates, follow her on Twitter.
Coco Fusco is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is a recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2013 Absolut Art Writing Award, a 2013 Fulbright Fellowship, a 2012 US Artists Fellowship and a 2003 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts.
Music, the voice, intention, and history.


text:
Compliance, Cyber Fraud, GDPR, Research, Scam Emails, Spoof Emails
Is GDPR encouraging criminal ransoms?
Research has shown that the fear of fines through GDPR is making some firms more likely to pay cyber ransom than report the breach. This is a very scary thought and extremely counterproductive. Why is this happening and what could be done to prevent this?
Serviceteam IT's 2018 Beyond the Cloud research found 52.2% of respondents did have an allocated budget for the increased overheads for GDPR, such as access requests and minor data breaches.
However, a study commissioned by security firm Sophos found almost half of UK IT directors would "definitely" be willing to pay a random fee to hackers. This would be to avoid reporting a data breach and risking a fine under the new EU data protection law (General Data Protection Regulation).
The bad news does not stop there. A further 30% of the respondents mentioned that they would "possibly" consider paying the ransom if it was lower than the possible penalty for a breach under GDPR. Only 18% of respondents completely ruled out the paying off hackers.
If a specific article of the GDPR is breached in terms of an organisations obligations, data protection authorities can pursue a €10m or 2% annual global turnover fine. This is doubled if the breach infringed any individual's privacy rights.
Prior to the 25th May deadline, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure predicted that data breach fines could drive up cyber ransom rates as companies would be more likely to pay ransoms if they are lower than potential GDPR fines and reputational damage of reporting a data breach.
Serviceteam IT's 2018 Beyond the Cloud research found that cyber-security incidents are increasing. In the 2017 research, 34% reported an increase in cyber-security incidents. In 2018, this figure had risen to 50%. Not only this, 38% reported concerns with their company's GDPR compliance. Only 20% of respondents predict that they will have to report more data breaches to the ICO as a result of Brexit. Therefore, cyber-security incidents will not stop now GDPR is in force.
However, the Sophos study revealed that small businesses were least likely to consider the cyber ransom demand, with 54% of IT directors at UK companies with fewer than 250 employees ruling out paying their attackers.
The study also found that UK IT directors are significantly more likely to pay the cyber ransom than their counterparts in Western European countries. It is very concerning, especially during this Brexit period, that IT directors do not understand the seriousness of a data breach.
"Companies that pay a cyber ransom might regain access to their data, but it's far from guaranteed and a false economy if they do it to avoid a penalty," said Adam Bradley, UK managing director at Sophos. "They still need to report the breach to the authorities and would face a significantly larger fine if they don't report it promptly."
Bradley said it was surprising that large companies appear to be those most likely to pay a ransom. "It is a mistake for companies of any size to trust hackers, or to expect that they will simply hand the data back," he said.
"Our advice is not to pay the ransom, to tell the authorities promptly and make sure you take steps to minimise the chances of falling victim again."
To ensure your company is not at risk, please refer to our blogs on Multi-factor authentication and the latest cyber-security news.
With cyber ransom on the rise and concerns with compliance highlighted in our report, these findings are quite shocking. Help ensure your business does not fall into this trap and contact Serviceteam IT today.
13/12/2018 /by Cara Williams
Tags: Beyond the Cloud, Compliance, Consultancy, Continuity, Cyber Fraud, Cyber Ransom, Cyber Security, GDPR, Identity and Access Management, Multi-Factor Authentication, Password Management, Reporting, Research, scam emails, Security, Single Sign-On, Spoof Emails, Unified Threat Management
https://serviceteamit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Is-GDPR-encouraging-criminal-ransoms.jpg 719 1600 Cara Williams https://serviceteamit.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/company-logo-old-white.png Cara Williams2018-12-13 12:07:242019-03-12 15:41:47Is GDPR encouraging criminal ransoms?
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


These are the most basic and universal of questions, and yet we don't usually take much time to think about them.
'In his famous book and TV series, The Naked Chef, it wasn't Jamie Oliver who was naked; it was the food. Jamie Oliver succeeded in stripping down the food to its bare but glorious essentials.
Naked God is an excellent book – very readable, clear, concise, yet well reasoned. It begins by assuming there is no God – and working through the implications for who we are as humans This is really helpful for me as someone who believes in Jesus, because it gives me a wider and deeper framework of conversation with those friends of mine who have no interest in God Having dealt with "what if there is no God", it helpfully then says "let me present you Jesus" – and says why I appreciated the lack of reasoning "why there must be a God" (an argument no one will win). Rather, by setting forth Jesus plainly, the choice is there for us all to make. I can think of a few friends I will seek to give this to, and will certainly ensure it's available in our church so others might be similarly equipped / intrigued.


text:
package org.gobiiproject.gobiidao.filesystem.impl;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiidao.GobiiDaoException;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiidao.filesystem.ExtractorInstructionsDAO;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiimodel.dto.instructions.extractor.GobiiDataSetExtract;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiimodel.dto.instructions.extractor.GobiiExtractorInstruction;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiimodel.types.GobiiFileProcessDir;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiimodel.types.GobiiFileType;
import org.gobiiproject.gobiimodel.types.GobiiJobStatus;

import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * Created by Phil on 4/12/2016.
 * Modified by Angel 12/12/2016
 */
public class ExtractorInstructionsDAOImpl implements ExtractorInstructionsDAO {

    private final String LOADER_FILE_EXT = ".json";

    public void writePlainFile(String fileFqpn, byte[] byteArray) throws GobiiDaoException {

        try {

            File file = new File(fileFqpn);

            BufferedOutputStream stream = new BufferedOutputStream(
                    new FileOutputStream(file));
            stream.write(byteArray);
            stream.close();

        } catch (IOException e) {
            throw new GobiiDaoException("Error wriring file " + fileFqpn + ": " + e.getMessage());
        }

    }

    @Override
    public boolean writeInstructions(String instructionFileFqpn,
                                     List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> instructions) throws GobiiDaoException {
        boolean returnVal = false;
        try {

            File instructionFile = new File(instructionFileFqpn);
            if (!instructionFile.exists()) {

                String filePath = instructionFile.getAbsolutePath().
                        substring(0, instructionFile.getAbsolutePath().lastIndexOf(File.separator));

                File destinationDirectory = new File(filePath);

                if (destinationDirectory.exists()) {

                    if (destinationDirectory.isDirectory()) {

                        ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
                        objectMapper.enable(SerializationFeature.INDENT_OUTPUT);
                        objectMapper.enable(SerializationFeature.WRITE_NULL_MAP_VALUES);
                        String instructionsAsJson = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(instructions);
                        BufferedWriter bufferedWriter = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(instructionFileFqpn));
                        bufferedWriter.write(instructionsAsJson);
                        bufferedWriter.flush();
                        bufferedWriter.close();

                        returnVal = true;
                    } else {
                        throw new GobiiDaoException("Path of specified instruction file name is not a directory: "
                                + destinationDirectory);
                    } // if-else directory is really a directory

                } else {
                    throw new GobiiDaoException("Path of specified instruction file directory does not exist: "
                            + destinationDirectory);

                } // if-else destination directory exists

            } else {

                throw new GobiiDaoException("The specified instruction file already exists: "
                        + instructionFileFqpn);
            } // if-else file does not arleady exist

        } catch (Exception e) {
            String message = e.getMessage() + "; fqpn: " + instructionFileFqpn;
            throw new GobiiDaoException(message);
        }
        return returnVal;
    } // writeInstructions

    @Override
    public boolean doesPathExist(String pathName) throws GobiiDaoException {
        return new File(pathName).exists();
    }

    @Override
    public void verifyDirectoryPermissions(String pathName) throws GobiiDaoException {

        File pathToCreate = new File(pathName);
        if (!pathToCreate.canRead() && !pathToCreate.setReadable(true, false)) {
            throw new GobiiDaoException("Unable to set read permissions on directory " + pathName);
        }

        if (!pathToCreate.canWrite() && !pathToCreate.setWritable(true, false)) {
            throw new GobiiDaoException("Unable to set write permissions on directory " + pathName);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void makeDirectory(String pathName) throws GobiiDaoException {

        if (!doesPathExist(pathName)) {

            File pathToCreate = new File(pathName);

            if (!pathToCreate.mkdirs()) {
                throw new GobiiDaoException("Unable to create directory " + pathName);
            }

            if ((!pathToCreate.canRead()) && !(pathToCreate.setReadable(true, false))) {
                throw new GobiiDaoException("Unable to set read on directory " + pathName);
            }

            if ((!pathToCreate.canWrite()) && !(pathToCreate.setWritable(true, false))) {
                throw new GobiiDaoException("Unable to set write on directory " + pathName);
            }

        } else {
            throw new GobiiDaoException("The specified path already exists: " + pathName);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> setGobiiJobStatus(boolean applyToAll, List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> instructions, GobiiFileProcessDir gobiiFileProcessDir) throws GobiiDaoException{
        List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> returnVal = instructions;

        GobiiJobStatus gobiiJobStatus;

        switch (gobiiFileProcessDir) {

            case EXTRACTOR_INPROGRESS:
                gobiiJobStatus = GobiiJobStatus.IN_PROGRESS;
                break;

            case EXTRACTOR_INSTRUCTIONS:
                gobiiJobStatus = GobiiJobStatus.STARTED;
                break;

            case EXTRACTOR_DONE:
                gobiiJobStatus = GobiiJobStatus.COMPLETED;
                break;

            default:
                gobiiJobStatus = GobiiJobStatus.FAILED;
        }

        if(applyToAll){

            for(GobiiExtractorInstruction instruction : returnVal){

                for(GobiiDataSetExtract dataSetExtract: instruction.getDataSetExtracts()){

                    dataSetExtract.setGobiiJobStatus(gobiiJobStatus);
                }
            }
        }else{ //check if the output file(s) exist in the directory specified by the *extractDestinationDirectory* field of the *DataSetExtract* item in the instruction file;
            GobiiJobStatus statusFailed = GobiiJobStatus.FAILED;

            for(GobiiExtractorInstruction instruction: returnVal){

                for(GobiiDataSetExtract dataSetExtract: instruction.getDataSetExtracts()){

                    String extractDestinationDirectory = dataSetExtract.getExtractDestinationDirectory();

                    List<String> datasetExtractFiles =  new ArrayList<String>();

                    String fileName="DS"+ Integer.toString(dataSetExtract.getDataSet().getId());

                    switch (dataSetExtract.getGobiiFileType()) {
                        case GENERIC:
                            //fileNames.add(fileName+".txt"); to be added
                            break;

                        case HAPMAP:
                            datasetExtractFiles.add(fileName+"hmp.txt");
                            break;

                        case FLAPJACK:
                            datasetExtractFiles.add(fileName+".map");

                            datasetExtractFiles.add(fileName+".genotype");

                            break;

                        case VCF:
                            //fileNames.add(fileName+"hmp.txt"); to be added
                            break;

                        default:
                            throw new GobiiDaoException("Noe extension assigned for GobiiFileType: " + dataSetExtract.getGobiiFileType().toString());
                    }

                        for(String s: datasetExtractFiles){

                            String currentExtractFile = extractDestinationDirectory+s;

                            if(doesPathExist(currentExtractFile))dataSetExtract.setGobiiJobStatus(gobiiJobStatus);

                            else dataSetExtract.setGobiiJobStatus(statusFailed);
                        }
                }
            }
        }
        return returnVal;
    }

    @Override
    public List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> getGobiiExtractorInstructionsFromFile(String instructionFileFqpn) throws GobiiDaoException {

        List<GobiiExtractorInstruction> returnVal = null;

        try {

            GobiiExtractorInstruction[] instructions = null;

            File file = new File(instructionFileFqpn);

            FileInputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(file);

            org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper objectMapper = new org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper();

            instructions = objectMapper.readValue(fileInputStream, GobiiExtractorInstruction[].class);

            returnVal = Arrays.asList(instructions);

        } catch (Exception e) {
            String message = e.getMessage() + "; fqpn: " + instructionFileFqpn;

            throw new GobiiDaoException(message);
        }

        return returnVal;

    }

} // ExtractorInstructionsDAOImpl

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Stranger Things 3: The Game (Xbox One)
BonusXP
4th Jul 2019 (USA)
Sorry, no review of Stranger Things 3: The Game yet.
Stranger Things 3: The Game is the official companion game to Season 3 of the hit original series! Play through familiar events from the series while also uncovering never-before-seen quests, character interactions, and secrets! This adventure game blends a distinctively retro art style with modern gameplay mechanics to deliver nostalgic fun with a fresh new twist.
Just like in the show, teamwork is at the heart of Stranger Things 3: The Game. Fans can team up in two player local co-op to explore the world of Hawkins, solve puzzles, and battle the emerging evils of The Upside Down as one of twelve beloved characters from the show.


"...a beautifully packaged collection I have to say, and full credit to the guys for putting it together - beautifully annotated and there are some superb period photographs - little pictures of Hank Williams and old mission halls, it's just got a really nice old-time feel. Some great playing on it too..."
"...I was thrilled to get this cd because it was set out so beautifully, depicting some great historical posters and photographs and the origin of gospel music as it used to be, which later travelled over to America with the Scotch-Irish up into the Appalachian Mountains where it became American gospel and bluegrass music... gospel music the way it used to be sang in the good old times... it's an album that I very much like..."
"...new standards are being set for traditional music in Ulster... a groundbreaker... the beautifully produced debut CD from the Ards Peninsula's Low Country Boys, with old songs which date back to the 1859 Revival... the Boys' true devotion to their faith as well as their music shines through on Gran Time Comin... should feature alongside any other 'traditional' collections and is important in the Province's musical repertoire..."
"...the first time I played the cd on the programme was brilliant, got a reaction right away... when I listened to this I think I needed an interpreter to see me through because there's some of the wee words in there I wasn't too familiar with!..."
"...the Low Country Boys from Co Down, who often accompany the Ulster-Scots Folk Orchestra at some of their bigger concert venues. Here we have four part harmonies, banjo and mandolin, old-time gospel, hillbilly style - just wonderful!..."
"...Maybe the greatest insight into what some people call 'Ulster Roots Music' was given by four artists from the Ards Peninsula where this Ulster-Scots music was, and still is, heard mainly in mission halls and similar surroundings. Mark Thompson and the other three were most entertaining musically but the story of the origins of their kind of 'old music' is fascinating. The story of how it was exported eventually to America along with the craft of whisky-making is worth the admission charge in itself..."
"...Then came the Low Country Boys, from County Down, who delivered a handful of country gospel songs,with good harmony singing but mediocre playing..."
The late Geoff Hardin, Belfast News Letter, reviewing the same Ulster Hall concert!
"...the headlining act was the highly acclaimed Low Country Boys from the Ards Peninsula. Anyone who, like me, has seen the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? starring George Clooney and wished that the Soggy Bottom Boys hillbilly band from the movie were more than a cinematic fantasy would do well to come and hear this excellent quartet from County Down. Not only do they sing four part harmony, play bass, mandolin, banjo and guitar, but they also have a repertoire that is totally unique.
The Boys have amassed a significant collection of old-time gospel songs from friends, relations and fans which have been penned in Ulster-Scots. Songs such as Fu an Skailin, a version of the Sunday School favourite Running Over in the "Hamely Tongue" not only displayed their musicianship and great harmonies but also enabled enthusiastic audience participation. Highlights for me included the group's rendition of Hank Williams' I Saw the Light and also a local song called The Hallelujah Man, a poem by the grandfather of local concert promoter Colin Agnew, which the guys have put to music. It was also interesting to hear Gran Time Comin, the title track of their current album, as it was penned by one of the key figures of the 1859 revival in the area, namely Jeremiah Meneely. One of the band's trump cards is their frontman. His easygoing manner, poems, jokes and patter between songs helped to further endear the band to the audience.
This is a band preserving a forgotten part of our culture which was once vibrant in mission halls and revival centres across the Province. If Alison Krauss and Union Station ever come to Belfast and need an opening act then they could not go wrong in giving the Low Country Boys a call. If roots music is your thing then I would encourage you to pick up their CD or catch them live. I'm sure you'll have a night like last Thursday - thoroughly entertaining and very memorable.
"...the Low Country Boys have led me to a profound sense of my own heritage and the rich musical culture of this tiny little province. On their long awaited new cd we find more songs of faith and redemption. Songs about ordinary people and their extraordinary lives.... I have always considered the way my children embrace a song to be a good indication of its popularity, a yardstick to measure its potential. I can tell you that they have latched on to this batch of new songs, already singing like they've always known them... these four hillbillies from the Ards Peninsula, singing Ulster-Scots, Scots and Old-Time Gospel music are in effect sharing their faith with us, sure and certain in Whom they believe..."


with reputed senior pathologists of various international hospitals in specifi c fi eld on regular basis. The department has fully automatic, modern and sophisticated equipment manned by highly trained and experienced pathologists and laboratory personnel.
- Pathologists are an integral member of the multidisciplinary NCH&RC tumor board meeting held every week and are playing a vital role in patient management.
- Pathologists and lab personnel in the department are in active participation in various conferences, presentations, cancer awareness programmes.
- Staff in the department are actively involved in teaching and training of students posted from various health institutions.
- Department is actively involved in the Infection control programme of the hospital.
- Various research activities are being conducted in the department in collaboration with other different departments.
The department is in the process of incorporating immunohistochemistry, fl ow cytometry, molecular pathology and biobanking.
At present twenty two staff are involved in providing services in the department of Pathology including one senior consultant pathologist, two consultant pathologist, one pathology registrar, one clinical biochemist, two technologists, one senior technician, nine technicians, one offi ce assistant, two receptionist and two attendants.
We provide emergency services 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Other services for both inpatients and outpatients are provided Sunday through Friday.


One of the leading newspapers and websites about Russia - Russia Beyond the Headlines, recommends Travel All Russia for a tour of the ancient town kingdoms around Moscow. The Golden Ring is one of our customers' favorite extensions for classic Moscow - St. Petersburg packages.
Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH) is a part of Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta that offers "original, on-the-ground coverage of Russia from professional, independent journalists who are passionate and knowledgeable about the country" for the English-speaking audience around the globe.
If you are interested in exploring the enchanting small towns of the Golden Ring our recommended package is Russia's Ancient Kingdoms tour. If you would like to plan a custom program, contact our knowledgeable destination experts.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, USA.
Riedstrasse 7, CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland.


text:
Ha-Solelim (hebr. הסוללים; ang. HaSolelim; pol. Droga Budowniczych) – kibuc położony w Samorządzie Regionu Emek Jizre'el, w Dystrykcie Północnym, w Izraelu. Członek Ruchu Kibuców (Ha-Tenu'a ha-Kibbucit).

Położenie
Kibuc Ha-Solelim jest położony na wysokości około 180 metrów n.p.m. na wzgórzach masywu górskiego Hare Nacerat, w Dolnej Galilei, na północy Izraela. Okoliczne wzgórza są porośnięte dużym kompleksem leśnym Jaar Cippori. Na północny zachód od osady przepływa strumień Jiftachel, który wypływa z położonej na północnym wschodzie Doliny Bejt Netofa. Na południowym wschodzie i południu znajduje się wadi strumienia Cippori. W otoczeniu Ha-Solelim znajdują się miasteczka Bir al-Maksur i Zarzir, kibuc Channaton, moszawy Allon ha-Galil, Cippori i Bet Lechem ha-Gelilit, oraz wioska komunalna Szimszit.

Ha-Solelim jest położony w Samorządzie Regionu Emek Jizre'el, w Poddystrykcie Jezreel, w Dystrykcie Północnym Izraela.

Historia

Grupa założycielska zawiązała się w 1943 roku, i składała się z członków żydowskiej młodzieżowej organizacji syjonistycznej Makabi ha-Cair, którzy wyemigrowali ze Stanów Zjednoczonych. Przez kilka lat mieszkali i pracowali w prowizorycznym obozie założonym niedaleko miasta Ra'ananna. Po I wojnie izraelsko-arabskiej przenieśli się do Galilei, gdzie w lipcu 1949 roku założyli kibuc ha-Solelim. Założono go na strategicznie ważnym wzgórzu oddzielającym Dolinę Bejt Netofa od Doliny Jezreel. Ochronę kibucu zapewniali żołnierze kompanii szturmowych Palmach. Pomimo licznych prób absorpcji nowych imigrantów, kibuc przez kolejne lata znajdował się w stanie stagnacji. W latach 90. XX wieku kibuc przeszedł przez proces prywatyzacji, zachowując kolektywną organizację instytucji kultury, edukacji i ochrony zdrowia. Następnie w 1998 roku południowej części osady rozpoczęto budowę nowego osiedla mieszkaniowego Nof Alonim (hebr. נוף אלונים), które ukończono w 2003 roku (liczy 115 domów).

Nazwa
Nazwa kibucu oznacza na język polski Droga Budowniczych, i symbolizuje wolę założycieli, aby utorować drogę do zakładania nowych żydowskich osiedli rolniczych w Ziemi Izraela.

Demografia
Większość mieszkańców kibucu jest Żydami, jednak nie wszyscy identyfikują się z judaizmem. Tutejsza populacja jest świecka:

Gospodarka i infrastruktura
Gospodarka kibucu opiera się na rolnictwie, sadownictwie oraz hodowli drobiu. Część mieszkańców pracuje poza kibucem, znajdując zatrudnienie w pobliskich strefach przemysłowych. W kibucu jest przychodnia zdrowia, sklep wielobranżowy, pralnia, stacja benzynowa i warsztat mechaniczny.

Transport
Z kibucu wyjeżdża się na wschód na drogę ekspresową nr 79, którą jadąc na południowy wschód dojeżdża się do Nazaretu, lub jadąc na północny zachód dojeżdża się do węzła drogowego z drogą ekspresową nr 77. Lokalna droga prowadzi na południe do wioski Szimszit.

Edukacja i sport
Kibuc utrzymuje przedszkole. Starsze dzieci są dowożone do szkół w pobliskich osadach. W kibucu znajduje się ośrodek kultury z biblioteką, basen kąpielowy, sala sportowa oraz boisko.

Turystyka
Okoliczne wzgórza są terenem popularnych pieszych wędrówek po lesie dębowym, który jest chroniony przez Rezerwat przyrody Ha-Solelim. Przechodzi on w kierunku południowym w Rezerwat przyrody Ja'ar Cippori. Natomiast w małym lesie położonym na północny zachód od kibucu urządzono park z alejkami spacerowymi, ścieżką rowerową i ławkami. Można tutaj odpoczywać w cieniu rozłożystych drzew. Całość prac sfinansował Żydowski Fundusz Narodowy. Na leśnych polanach w okresie wiosny kwitną liczne kwiaty. Na zachód od kibucu w lesie znajduje się jaskinia (15x12 metrów), w której odnaleziono starożytne groby pasterzy. Miejsce to uporządkowano i dostosowano do potrzeb turystyki. Po stronie południowej kibucu są zachowane pozostałości starożytnych tłoczni oliwy z oliwek.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

Samorząd Regionu Emek Jizre'el
Kibuce
Osiedla żydowskie utworzone w 1949

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: How to encapsulate a TCP packet with a UDP header using Scapy? I have been trying to encapsulate a TCP packet inside a custom UDP header using scapy. To create the packet, I use the command:
a = IP(dst = "142.251.33.110") / UDP() / IP(dst = "104.215.148.63") / TCP()

From what I understand, this should create a TCP packet with an outer UDP header (the IPs are of random websites). However, when I use Wireshark to inspect the packets, it shows the protocol as DNS and the protocol is malformed as well (probably because it is expecting a DNS packet and getting a different one).
How do I resolve this issue?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Another Great Book by John Wiltshire
The Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club by John Wiltshire
After a reread and loving it even more, I feel more comfortable sharing in more detail why I like this so much. I don't usually reveal plot in my reviews but will in this case, so beware. Many spoilers ahead.
The book starts off with the luridly, lycra-clad and openly gay school teacher, Rory, seeing a sign inviting people to the inaugural meeting of a gay book club.
Seeing he thought he was the only gay man in a quiet, country village on Dartmoor, he's overjoyed at the opportunity to meet other gay men. Not in a bar, where hooking up for sex is the major preoccupation, but discussing books! Because literature and books are Rory's passion.
It's not until the next chapter that we discover that it is actually a club devoted to reading gay books.
Thus we meet Gertrude who becomes another of John's classic characters, on par with Miles Toogood's grandmother and Babushka from his More Heat than the Sun series. All are fiercely independent elderly ladies who are much loved and respected by the main protagonists and their "adopted" children.
Gert, we discover much later, is single because she didn't know Adam's father, Brian, was himself gay. Back in those days they never mentioned or even envisaged such a thing. Men were "confirmed bachelors".
"Perhaps I wouldn't have wasted the best years of my life chasing you if they had. I'd have realised why you ran so fast."
Brian stared at her for a long time but only replied calmly, "Perhaps I'd have known why I was running."
So when she comes across some steamy gay novels while on holidays, she's fascinated and decides they're just the thing to brighten the lives of the "old dears" back home. From the titles, "Hard Ride" and "Deep Tunnel" we can assume the books are probably erotica or porn of the James Lear variety.
"Was it possible she had discovered something entirely new? Was she the only woman in the world who had read such a book and...Gertrude was thrown, which was a new occurrence for her. She'd been pretty sure of things for most of her eighty years. She wasn't convinced she liked this sensation of standing on the edge of something so tantalising and far beyond her expectations.
Gert and her companion, Ivy, have referred to themselves and their friends as the old dears for over forty years. According to the dedication these characters are inspired by women in a real book club who are friends (and possibly relatives) of the author. Mostly widows or spinsters, the old dears are asset rich, thanks to the growing value of their properties, but dirt poor. We discover later that one cannot afford to keep buying hearing aids and another uses an old push bike for balance instead of a walking frame.
It's through Gert's eyes that we meet the rest of the group: Constance, Jane, Ivy, Mary, Myrtle, Hilary and Thea. Each is a fabulous character in their own right. Whose strengths and weaknesses are well known to Gert as she has known them for so long.
Gert is an integral part of the story. She admits to herself that
she would not have wanted anyone to interfere with her unrequited courtship. Her time on Earth, with all its petty frustrations, had worked out for her as it had been ordained. It was wrong to interfere in other people's affairs. Which was why she and the old dears were treading so carefully with Adam and Rory.
however, she is also very aware of the march of time.
Things seemed to be closing in on her, time running out, and she felt a frustrating imperative about opportunities slipping away. If only these young men, still in their twenties, could see how short life was, how few opportunities anyone had to simply live each day to the full.
Using devious tactics, one borrowed from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" she does what she can to encourage a relationship between the two gay men who unexpectedly join their meeting. Because
Rory and Adam were the embodiment of gay book romance. They had the main necessary ingredient after all:mutual initial apathy
Mind you, this antipathy is not exclusive to gay romances. Think Elizabeth and Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice"!
So, after an unfortunate start, she even sets up a sub group, with just the old dears called the Adam and Rory RPS Club (Real person slash for the uninitiated).
I loved that Adam and Rory were accepted so unequivocally. There was no resentment at these two men turning up. They were welcomed with open arms because, after all, don't gay men have a right to be part of a club that discusses books about them?
Gertrude had not expected her book club to do much more than pass a few winter's evenings for her ladies in pleasant company, sharing a newfound delight in theoretical men and their intriguing love lives. She'd had no idea that two characters would literally walk off the pages and come to her first meeting. Todd and Brad and Danny and Jimmy and all of her favourites mixed up and even prettier, yet solid and in the flesh, and she had literally bumped into them as they'd hovered in the doorway like the helpess creatures they were.
From then on, seating arrangements, cups of tea and biscuits were skilfully brought in to achieve certain results. Because
Oh, what delicate, shy, creations they were, men, when you got beneath the leather and the strut. She'd actually smelt the fear.
What hope did Adam and Rory have?
Rory, "the very pretty one" identifies strongly with Hugh Dancy and Grigg, the character he played in the film The Jane Austen Book Club. Rory loves books with a passion and longs for a bookworthy romance. He wants his Heathcliff (Wuthering Heigts), his Gabriel Oak (Far from the Madding Crowd) "whenever you look up there I shall be—and whenever I look up, there will be you." He knows that life is not like a romance book, but he fervently wishes it was.
For years, he'd dreamed of being a teacher and sharing his love of books with children. However, he is quickly becoming disillusioned with his career.
Teaching English to Year Ten wasn't fun. Not difficult, merely…lacklustre. The Department for Education had apparently decided anything intellectual and actually related to an education in English literature was too fraught with cultural elitism to attempt. The set book this year, consequently, was a gang-related graphic novel. Year Ten enjoyed colouring in the pictures though.
Added to this is his inability to understand or cope with another teacher, Lexi.
While the book is very funny in places, I didn't laugh at Lexi, and I don't think the reader is meant to. I've decided I must still be stuck in the second tier of feminism as described in this article. I also think that you can stand up for your rights without impugning those of others or being downright hostile to the opposite gender. My attitude is always that no one has the right to be rude. Old, young, male, female, fat, skinny, rich or poor. So when Lexi said things like this:
Rory nodded and debated volunteering to carry her heavy book bag for her. Sometimes she accepted these offers gracefully, but sometimes he got a lecture on insidious male benevolent sexism, and she would accuse him of thinking of her as incompetent or needing his protection.
and from her partner, Susan
he was nothing more than a biological accident. When his stunned expression had been mistaken for defiance, Susan had added that in her opinion he was a walking, talking deficiency disease. Lexi had saved him by explaining he was gay.
Yet, knowing he was gay, Lexi still shamed him into handing out pamphlets entitled "Our Culture Perpetuates Violence Against Women" and "Male Violence on the Increase" while during Rape Culture awareness Day at the school he had to stand under a banner proclaiming "Violent-Masculinity and Victim Blaming". Her style of rabid feminism is not shared by all females, as evidenced in this article
Her rudeness extended to belittlement of him for daring to be skinny.
She was particularly vocal about thin privilege (#thinprivilege), which she accused him of daily, citing many examples of how he shamed those who were obviously equally fit and healthy but nevertheless discriminated against in the workplace by virtue of being fortunate enough to be fat.
she commented on his cycling shorts. They were oppressive apparently, and it was thoughtless of him to parade around in them, given they only made such attire for skinny people.
It's interesting comparing her to his treatment of Peyton and Miles in More Heat than the Sun series. Both characters are overweight, but neither use this as an excuse for anything and neither are ever rude.
Lexi, on first meeting Adam, the other MC, immediately launches into an aggressive diatribe on the way women should be able to serve on the front lines in the army regardless of the fact that they do not share a male's physical capabilities. According to her, the rules should be changed to suit them. She doesn't get Adam's sarcasm in wondering whether the rules of engagement will also change to match it.
Ah, Adam. If ever there was an anti hero it's him. He starts out by insulting Rory when they first meet, inadvertantly punches him at the first book club meeting and then, at every opportunity tries to prove to him that getting involved in a relationship with him would be a BAD IDEA. He doesn't do romantic, He isn't nice. He's only interested in sex. And Rory should look elsewhere.
Yet despite all this, we keep seeing signs that this is all surface bluster. Underneath he's yearning for a connection as much as Rory is. Gert sees through his bluster immediately, because she knows about his tragic past. She doesn't know the full extent of the tragedies however and the self blame he is heaping on himself.
Adam left the army because of this tragic incident and is deliberately rejecting all the things that reminds him of his time there. After years of inspection and maintaining rigorous standards, he deliberately doesn't clean the house and takes no care in his appearance. But he's finding it difficult
Step by step, he'd decoupled himself from the army and all it had meant to him. A conscious survival mechanism to turn from something he could no longer have to something he needed to become: squalor in the house, foulness of mood, existing on anger and self-pity.
...But it was so hard to let go, to be so much less than he had once been. To be so diminished.
He likes to think he's a bad ass and then does things like this:
Unwilling to disturb his father by dragging three very reluctant collies back out to the yard, he gave them each a pat and tickle of rebuke then left them to it.
and he takes an instant liking to Charles, the frail husband of one of the old dears whose acting abilities are called into play one day
He lifted the old man, making a small joke about them having to stop meeting like this and tucked him in securely.
and it's not just the males he helps. When he comes across Fat Sam, the pet he had left behind
Adam put his hands on either side of the old dog's face and felt an emotion so overwhelming he thought he might cry. He covered by gently play wrestling the silky ears.
But Rory is incensed that Adam left Fat Sam behind when he left Sandhurst. In fact, he discovers that
Being with Adam was like rolling in barbed wire—extremely uncomfortable yet increasingly entangling. Struggle for your life, or stay still and twist in the wind, either way there seemed no escape.
Because, even though they both know it will probably end in tears (for different reasons) they're drawn to one another. True humor occurs when Gert and the old dears try to help but often end up hindering their inevitable coming together.
But the old dears stick with both the book club and their efforts to get the two together. Rory suggests different books for their reading and they indulge him by agreeing. First off, Brokeback Mountain (which they found too short and wanted a happy ending) then a fictitious series which they loved, starring a librarian, Andrew French, and a homophobic detective called Jack (obviously based on Josh Lanyon's Adrien English!).
Adam, obviously uncomfortable at the similarities between him and Jake had been scathing of the series and after Adam's inexcusable behaviour at Sandhurst, Rory also rejects the series as "silly and unrealistic" and suggests instead they read The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren as the ending was much more realistic.
The (old dears were) willing to take his recommendations, of course, and lovely Andrew and amusing Jack were therefore put to one side.
But death intervened and securing their future became paramount.
How this was achieved was probably more for literary suspense than fulfilling a feminist agenda, but it had the added benefit of leaving them with cash for possible future health issues rather than once again being asset rich and cash poor.
There's no doubt that Adam and Rory wouldn't have got together without the intervention of the old dears, but I loved the way there was no intrusive or insensitive manipulation. If any happened, it was inadvertant and forgiven because Adam and Rory knew they meant well and wanted only the best for them. Everything was done through understanding of what makes people tick. Of seeing what was unsaid as well as what was said. Of treating people with respect for what they did rather than what they demanded. And if Adam or Rory fucked up and acted badly, then they tried to discover why.
The writing is a delight as usual. Sometimes his books need to be read twice to ensure you haven't missed things. This time, although there's a trademark John Wiltshire dog, it's really the old dears who steal the book. Especially as they espouse that great British tradition of self deprecation and the ability to laugh at their problems.
More importantly, the financial security and support of Adam and Rory as a team, has left the old dears in a position to add another type of distraction to fill their days. The Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Murder-Mystery Club
I'm really looking forward to reading that.
Kaleb link
Great read John.
A.B.Gayle
This is a collection of reviews I've posted at Goodreads and
interviews authors have granted me.
Plus from time to time, I'll share my take on writing and marketing. This will be done under the Tyler Knoll banner, because nothing is better for curing the headache these things can be for us.
Alexis Hall
Ash Penn
Barry Lowe
Bev Dentham
Brad Vance
Bryl Tyne
Chainmale
Chaos Magic
C.H. Scarlett
C.J. Cherryh
Damon Suede
Darla Sands
Desert Run
Dirk Vanden
Don Bastien
Don Schecter
Erotic Horizons
Hank Edwards
Heidi Cullinan
Heights Of Passion
Jane Davitt
Jay Lygon
Jeff Mann
John Wiltshire
J.P. Barnaby
Julie Bozza
K.A.Mitchell
Keith Fennell
Kim Dare
Lyn Gala
Margie Church
Marshall Thornton
Morticia Knight
Mr Benson
Patric Michael
Phillip Mackenzie Jr
Redemption Reef
Robert Reynolds
Robert Rodi
Ryan Field
Scott Terry
Syd Mcginley
T.A. Webb
Thom Lane
Trey #3
Tyler Knoll
Vancouver Nights
Wild Raspberries
William Maltese


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Black-and-White Warbler, Dennis W. Donohue/Shutterstock
News and Perspectives on Bird Conservation
For Birds, the Sky Isn't Just Empty Airspace. It's Habitat.
By Jennifer Howard November 13, 2017
Look up. All that empty space over our heads isn't so empty. Many birds, bats, and insects spend a good part of their lives up in the air, foraging, mating, and migrating. Aerial insectivores such as swallows and swifts feed almost exclusively on the wing.
It doesn't look like habitat, but for these animals, the airspace is home. It's where they spend much of their lives. And as researchers are learning, what happens there carries life-or-death consequences.
New research is shaping what we know about airspace as vital habitat for birds. Photo by iiphevgeniy/Shutterstock
Aeroecology, as it's sometimes called, has come into its own as a field of research. This study of airspace as habitat is enabled by new technologies, by a rapidly expanding understanding of the complex ways animals interact with their environments, and by a growing interest in how human activities affect those environments. And it could have important implications for how conservation groups, including American Bird Conservancy (ABC), focus their work in coming years.
Threats in the Airspace
Knowing how birds use the airspace already helps drive ABC's work to minimize the dangers posed by wind turbines and communications towers. Aeroecology can help researchers and conservationists understand what happens to those birds in the air and how easy or safe it is to move from one location to another, an idea sometimes called "habitat connectivity."
"We spend a lot of time studying birds on the ground, but they have to go from one place on the ground to another place on the ground. And the way they do that is, of course, by flying," says Christine Sheppard, Director of ABC's Glass Collisions Program. "It exposes them to so many threats."
Hers is one of several ABC programs that address hazards birds encounter in the airspace, including glass windows, tall buildings, wind turbines, power lines, communications towers, and artificial lighting. The collateral damage of these threats is staggering — and it's growing.
Birds can't see glass unless it it's modified to incorporate specific patterns or designs. Up to a billion birds a year die in the United States when they fly into windows of office buildings and homes. Many fall victim to communications towers and related guywires, which in the U.S. kill an estimated 7 million birds a year. That number should begin to decline as tower operators switch from steady-burning to blinking lights that are less disorienting for birds — a change in Federal Communications Commission guidelines that ABC was closely involved in bringing about.
Wind turbines kill many species of birds and bats that fly within the rotor-swept area. Others die on the power lines and related infrastructure that carry energy from wind energy facilities to power grids.
Wind turbines are one of many hazards birds encounter in the airspace. Photo by TiloG/Shutterstock
"It's tempting to think about habitat as being on the ground or in the water," says Michael Hutchins, Director of ABC's Bird-Smart Wind Energy Campaign. "But for most birds, the sky is key. It's the highway they travel from wintering grounds to breeding grounds, or the place where they find food. It's essential to their survival. And we have to protect it just like we would any other type of habitat."
Forests, Deserts — and Now Airspace
The idea that airspace should be thought of as habitat is relatively new. Many people, including a lot of ecologists and biologists, grew up thinking of habitat as land-based or aquatic environments. Forests, grasslands, and deserts counted. So did lakes, rivers, and marshes. Researchers might study the mechanics of a bird's flight or their nesting ecology, but overlook the conditions and threats that birds encounter on the wing.
In 2013, a research ecologist named Robert H. Diehl published a short but influential paper that helped define aeroecology as a field. Diehl works at the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, and concentrates on studying migratory birds. Titled "The Airspace Is Habitat," Diehl's paper explains why we should think more broadly about what constitutes habitat, and makes the case that airspace counts.
"The core concept of habitat has remained remarkably unchanged for decades," Diehl writes. But airspace, he argues, fits into classic definitions of habitat as a place where an organism lives or goes to find the resources it needs for survival. This is important, because "recognition of airspace as habitat has implications for policy, regulation, and species conservation."
Watch the Skies
Andrew Farnsworth is another scientist who has turned his attention to the sky. A Research Associate in Information Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Farnsworth specializes in migration biology and ecology. His work on migratory birds includes the use of bioacoustics — birds' flight calls and what they tell us, for instance — and the analysis of large amounts of weather radar data that can pick up where birds are moving, and when. Scientists can now use computers to filter out so-called biological events, like the presence of birds and bats, from weather events, and to analyze shifting patterns of movement over time.
Much of Farnsworth's time goes to studying how artificial light affects birds — one big branch of aeroecology research. Light pollution from brightly lit office towers or the glow of cities on the horizon, illuminated oil rigs, or other human-related sources can disrupt migratory birds or species active at night. Sometimes the results are fatal. It's a global problem: In Lima, Peru, for instance, fledgling Ringed Storm-Petrels disoriented by city lights end up grounded on the streets rather than soaring above the open Pacific, where they belong. An ABC-supported project in Lima connects residents who find the seabirds with veterinarians who rehabilitate them.
In one ground-breaking study, Farnsworth and other researchers analyzed the disruptive effects on birds caused by one famous urban light display: the Tribute in Light display in New York City that commemorates the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Farnsworth's team used radar and acoustic sensors along with direct observations to determine how those powerful beams of light changed birds' behavior. In a new journal article, researchers Benjamin Van Doren, Kyle Horton, and Farnsworth explain how they documented "significant behavior alterations": birds aggregated in greater densities, flew more slowly, and vocalized much more frequently when the beams were illuminated. That was true even in good weather, when the birds' visibility wasn't hampered by clouds.
Artificial light can disrupt birds' migratory patterns. Pictured here: birds in the 9/11 Memorial lights in New York City. Photo by jnap/flickr
That doesn't mean cities have to go entirely dark to be more bird-friendly. Turning out lights at strategic times, like periods of peak migration, can reduce the disruption. Such tactics can be considered by local governments and even individual building owners looking to reduce the negative effects of light pollution.
How big a problem is artificial lighting? "You can see lights on the horizon from as far as 224 miles," says Travis Longcore, an Assistant Professor of Architecture, Spatial Sciences, and Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California. That's irksome enough for humans. Birds, he says, are even more sensitive to certain parts of the light spectrum than humans are, relying on natural light cycles and sources to trigger certain behaviors, like when it's time to forage or roost.
'The Final Ecological Frontier'
As human-related activity in the airspace has ramped up, so have technologies that allow Farnsworth, Longcore, and other researchers to get a better handle on the effects those activities have on birds. What these scientists are learning about the skies could have major implications for conservation and environmental policy.
Weather radar, critical to Farnsworth's work, has become a robust tool for analyzing the movements and concentrations of birds as they travel on their annual migrations and interact with human-related obstacles, including artificial light and various structures. At the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, for instance, Emily Cohen and colleagues have been using radar data to understand how birds migrate across the Gulf of Mexico and trace their specific paths — aerial knowledge that can help drive on-the-ground conservation work.
The work got a big boost in 2004 when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made its national weather radar data freely available. That gave researchers years' worth of data to analyze. And they had increasingly powerful computer programs with which to analyze it.
"The radar really opens your eyes to what's happening over a really large region," says Jeffrey J. Buler, an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he runs the Aeroecology Program. Using radar data, he has studied the stopover distributions of migratory birds throughout the Northeast.
For aerial insectivores such as this Barn Swallow, which feed almost exclusively on the wing, the airspace is vital habitat. Photo by Greg Homel/Natural Elements Productions
"We're starting to comprehend more what the effects of lighting might be on migrating birds," Buler says. In a forthcoming paper, for instance, he and several co-authors share their analysis of multi-year radar data showing how brightly lit urban areas attract greater densities of migrating landbirds. Such information could boost municipal efforts to change cities' lighting policies, like the Lights Out and Dark Skies movements in Toronto, Chicago, and other major cities.
Earlier this year, three Canadian researchers — Christina M. Davy, Adam T. Ford, and Kevin C. Fraser — published a much-discussed paper in the journal Conservation Letters that talked about the implications of this growing body of work. Their paper reviews how much more we know now about airspace and the human-caused threats that make this vital habitat such an obstacle course for birds. Airspace, the authors suggest, could be "the final ecological frontier."
Understanding threats to birds in the airspace is an essential complement to what scientists already know about birds on their breeding, feeding, and wintering grounds, says ABC's Sheppard. And it's crucial in ensuring a sustainable future for birds, she adds.
"We can't just look at where the bird is sitting now," Sheppard says. "We have to look at where it's going next and how it's going to get there."
ABC's Glass Collisions and Bird-Smart Wind Energy Campaigns are made possible through the generous support of the Leon Levy Foundation.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of Bird Conservation magazine.
Jennifer Howard is Director of Public Relations at ABC. She was a writer and reporter with The Chronicle of Higher Education for 10 years and before that was a contributing editor and columnist with The Washington Post. Follow Jen on Twitter at @JenHoward.
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Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and one that I believe will be packed with innovation and development for Meadowpark pupils.
I attended the S3-S6 coursing evening on Wednesday and have to say that what I didn't fully understand about learner pathways I certainly do now. The presentations by Knox Academy staff, Caroline Falconer and John Taylor, alongside enthusiastic and meaningful presentations from EL Works, SDS, Edinburgh College, Dunbar Grammar School (as featured in East Lothian Courier this week)and a real life story from a former pupil gave me a full and clear picture and enhanced understanding of pathways available to our young people.
Further information on course choices and presentations are available on the Knox Academy website.