text:
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Bye, Bye 2009
Posted by FLG at 11:59 PM 0 comments
FLG has never made French Onion Soup, but wants to this weekend. He's debating whether to make this recipe from Alton Brown or one from The Gourmet Cookbook, which is the FLGs' equivalent of The Joy of Cooking even though they own that one too.
Posted by FLG at 2:57 PM 4 comments
Labels: recipes
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Just Getting Around To Some Reading
FLG had this piece by Jim Manzi bookmarked for later reading and is just now getting around to it. Looks very promising so far:
Also on the reading agenda, Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, which was a gracious gift from Miss Self-Important, and The Passions and the Interests, a recommendation from Withywindle that's been sitting on FLG's shelf for months.
Conservatives have correctly viewed the policy agenda of the left as an attempt to undo the economic reforms of the 1980s. They have therefore, as a rhetorical and political strategy, downplayed the problems of cohesion — problems like inequality, wage stagnation, worker displacement, and disparities in educational performance — to emphasize the importance of innovation and growth. Liberals, meanwhile, have correctly identified the problem of cohesion, but have generally proposed antediluvian solutions and downplayed the necessity of innovation in a competitive world. They have noted that America's economy in the immediate wake of World War II was in many ways simultaneously more regulated, more successful, and more equitable than today's economy, but mistakenly assume that by restoring greater regulation we could re-create both the equity and prosperity of that era.
The conservative view fails to acknowledge the social costs of unrestrained economic innovation — costs that have made themselves powerfully apparent in American politics throughout our history. The liberal view, meanwhile, betrays a misunderstanding of the global economic environment.
Also on the reading agenda, Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, which was a gracious gift from Miss Self-Important, and The Passions and the Interests, a recommendation from Withywindle that's been sitting on FLG's shelf for months.
Posted by FLG at 7:58 PM 1 comments
Ah, the 1970s
This video reminded me of the Peperiums playing Gettysburg:
Posted by FLG at 9:07 AM 3 comments
Labels: awesomeness, military affairs
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Quote of the day
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents.
Posted by FLG at 7:54 PM 2 comments
Labels: qotd
So Far This Week
...one of FLG's hard drives died. Then, the backup hard drive failed. Plus, the Christmas tree fell yesterday and several ornaments were obliterated, including a cool Hawaiian one the FLGs bought on their honeymoon. Many of the rest are salvageable with some crazy glue. In case you were wondering, pirate Santa lost his mug o' rum and his hand. FLG went back to the store and bought a new one. He's not having some half-ass pirate Santa on his tree next year.
On a brighter note, as the FLGs were returning from pirate Santa shopping, they stopped at Eamonn's. Best fish & chips FLG has ever had, including across the pond. Check out this video of Anthony Bourdain there.
On a brighter note, as the FLGs were returning from pirate Santa shopping, they stopped at Eamonn's. Best fish & chips FLG has ever had, including across the pond. Check out this video of Anthony Bourdain there.
Posted by FLG at 7:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: pet peeves, pirates
Monday, December 28, 2009
Nobody Puts The Medieval Warm Period In The Corner
Posted by FLG at 8:31 PM 1 comments
Labels: environment
The Hangover
The FLGs watched The Hangover this weekend. FLG must admit that when he originally saw the trailer that he thought it had potential to be amusing (especially the Mike Tyson scene), but that it was a bit of a hackneyed premise. It certainly does have a hackneyed premise. Nevertheless, it far surpassed his expectations and is probably the funniest movie he's seen in years. FLG laughed for about ten minutes straight after they opened the trunk of the car.
Posted by FLG at 7:10 AM 1 comments
Labels: film
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Enemy Can Watch Predator Video Feeds
It may be counterintuitive, but it's really not that big a deal as he explains. It is a simple matter of the risk of the video being intercepted being less than the cost of encrypting the feed.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Iraqi, and possibly also Afghan, militants are using commercial software to eavesdrop on U.S. Predators, other unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, and even piloted planes. The systems weren't "hacked" -- the insurgents can't control them -- but because the downlink is unencrypted, they can watch the same video stream as the coalition troops on the ground.
It may be counterintuitive, but it's really not that big a deal as he explains. It is a simple matter of the risk of the video being intercepted being less than the cost of encrypting the feed.
Posted by FLG at 9:59 AM 1 comments
Labels: military affairs
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Dunkin' On Dat Reindeer
FLG saw this video commerical yesterday and laughed his ass off. His father-in-law not so much.
Posted by FLG at 4:27 PM 0 comments
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve Mass
FLG saw somebody at Christmas Eve Mass that he recognized, but couldn't put a finger on it. As he got in the car, he said, "White House spokesperson or something." Sure as shit, Wikipedia reveals that it was Robert Gibbs.
For those of you who are wondering, he didn't make it to Father M's parish like he'd hoped.
For those of you who are wondering, he didn't make it to Father M's parish like he'd hoped.
Posted by FLG at 10:15 PM 2 comments
Quote of the day
As it is with Ph. D dissertations on Shakespeare, so it is with arrangements of holiday musick . Everything good and intelligent has been done already. The only avenues left for "new" expressions are simply abominable
Posted by FLG at 9:36 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
FLG is currently listening to
Posted by FLG at 1:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: music
FLG is currently listening to
Posted by FLG at 1:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: music
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
What Kind Of Man Wears Armour Hot Dogs?
Chinese police were held in a hour-long stand-off with a suspected suicide bomber only to find the man was armed with sausages.
Posted by FLG at 5:54 PM 2 comments
Mrs. P posted something on Christmas by FLG over at Patum Peperium.
Also, for those of you with little ones, like the FLGs, who are rightly worried about their safety during the inevitable zombie apocalypse, do what FLG is doing for Miss FLG this Christmas-- buy a stroller that's armed to the fucking teeth.
Also, for those of you with little ones, like the FLGs, who are rightly worried about their safety during the inevitable zombie apocalypse, do what FLG is doing for Miss FLG this Christmas-- buy a stroller that's armed to the fucking teeth.
Posted by FLG at 4:46 PM 0 comments
Star Wars Weather
It's like Hoth here in DC.
Posted by FLG at 4:43 PM 0 comments
FLG feels like Alpheus today because when he saw this picture on MSN.com he did a double-take:
Posted by FLG at 7:36 AM 1 comments
Labels: oddities
Monday, December 21, 2009
Calico Birthday
FLG had no idea it was Calico Jack's birthday. Thank you, Robbo.
Posted by FLG at 6:39 PM 0 comments
Labels: pirates
The Dollar
For those of you who don't follow forex markets as closely as FLG, he wants you to know that the dollar has bounced back in a big way.
Although, it's still down overall. Here's the 5 year chart:
Although, it's still down overall. Here's the 5 year chart:
Posted by FLG at 7:51 AM 1 comments
Labels: economics
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Quote of the day
Full Disclosure:
This was immediately retracted, which is good because,as you all know, he is one of FLG's nemeses.
I think Andy Rooney is kind of sexy.
Full Disclosure:
This was immediately retracted, which is good because,as you all know, he is one of FLG's nemeses.
Posted by FLG at 8:59 PM 1 comments
Great Idea, Tom
Tom Friedman:
And if I were China's prime minister, then I'd say:
You want to introduce a hugely distortionary tax all by yourself, with all the dead weight and trade loss entailed, so that much of your industry comes to my country and you chase some dream of green tech. You're right about that moon shot thing. You're a space cadet. Game fucking over.
Today, we need the Earth Race: who can be the first to invent the most clean technologies so men and women can live safely here on Earth.
Maybe the best thing President Obama could have done here in Copenhagen was to make clear that America intends to win that race. All he needed to do in his speech was to look China's prime minister in the eye and say: "I am going to get our Senate to pass an energy bill with a price on carbon so we can clean your clock in clean-tech. This is my moon shot. Game on."
And if I were China's prime minister, then I'd say:
You want to introduce a hugely distortionary tax all by yourself, with all the dead weight and trade loss entailed, so that much of your industry comes to my country and you chase some dream of green tech. You're right about that moon shot thing. You're a space cadet. Game fucking over.
Posted by FLG at 3:50 PM 0 comments
Labels: China, environment
Saturday, December 19, 2009
FLG's Wreath
Careful readers will remember how Mrs. FLG couldn't contain her doubt at the prospect of FLG building a wreath. Well, here it is:
Not too shabby, if he does say so himself.
Not too shabby, if he does say so himself.
Posted by FLG at 3:56 PM 0 comments
Labels: awesomeness
It's Just Snow People
It's snowing here in DC, which due to some sort of geographic abnormality that affects people's mental state, renders everybody fucking insane and with the insatiable desire to buy irrational amounts of bread and rock salt in preparation.
Just so you know, a predicted 20 inches of snow has been dubbed the Snowpocalypse and Snowmagedden. Maybe that messiah in the White House thing isn't so far off.
Just so you know, a predicted 20 inches of snow has been dubbed the Snowpocalypse and Snowmagedden. Maybe that messiah in the White House thing isn't so far off.
Posted by FLG at 11:16 AM 1 comments
Labels: nutjobs
Withywindle asks:
The goal is happiness. However, I'd argue that in Aristotle's mind gaining wisdom and understanding is what brings happiness. He only really addresses leisure explicitly on
three four occasions. I'll post the relevant passages. This is pretty much the total he wrote on it. ( There might be something in the Nicomachean Ethics, but I don't remember it. I found one. It goes to the happiness point, which must be where I got it from in the dark recesses of my mind.)
Updated with:
The Metaphysics, Book I:
In case you are wondering, I tried to address this passage in my paper, because of the usefulness versus non-useful distinction of invention, which helps my case, but I felt my analysis wasn't very helpful and it muddled up the paper.
And twice in The Politics in Books 7 & 8:
Book 8:
Does Aristotelian leisure aim to gain understanding/wisdom?
The goal is happiness. However, I'd argue that in Aristotle's mind gaining wisdom and understanding is what brings happiness. He only really addresses leisure explicitly on
Updated with:
And happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace. Now the activity of the practical virtues is exhibited in political or military affairs, but the actions concerned with these seem to be unleisurely. Warlike actions are completely so (for no one chooses to be at war, or provokes war, for the sake of being at war; any one would seem absolutely murderous if he were to make enemies of his friends in order to bring about battle and slaughter); but the action of the statesman is also unleisurely, and-apart from the political action itself-aims at despotic power and honours, or at all events happiness, for him and his fellow citizens-a happiness different from political action, and evidently sought as being different. So if among virtuous actions political and military actions are distinguished by nobility and greatness, and these are unleisurely and aim at an end and are not desirable for their own sake, but the activity of reason, which is contemplative, seems both to be superior in serious worth and to aim at no end beyond itself, and to have its pleasure proper to itself (and this augments the activity), and the self-sufficiency, leisureliness, unweariedness (so far as this is possible for man), and all the other attributes ascribed to the supremely happy man are evidently those connected with this activity, it follows that this will be the complete happiness of man, if it be allowed a complete term of life (for none of the attributes of happiness is incomplete).
The Metaphysics, Book I:
At first he who invented any art whatever that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions, but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure.
In case you are wondering, I tried to address this passage in my paper, because of the usefulness versus non-useful distinction of invention, which helps my case, but I felt my analysis wasn't very helpful and it muddled up the paper.
And twice in The Politics in Books 7 & 8:
Since the end of individuals and of states is the same, the end of the best man and of the best constitution must also be the same; it is therefore evident that there ought to exist in both of them the virtues of leisure; for peace, as has been often repeated, is the end of war, and leisure of toil. But leisure and cultivation may be promoted, not only by those virtues which are practiced in leisure, but also by some of those which are useful to business. For many necessaries of life have to be supplied before we can have leisure. Therefore a city must be temperate and brave, and able to endure: for truly, as the proverb says, 'There is no leisure for slaves,' and those who cannot face danger like men are the slaves of any invader. Courage and endurance are required for business and philosophy for leisure, temperance and justice for both, and more especially in times of peace and leisure, for war compels men to be just and temperate, whereas the enjoyment of good fortune and the leisure which comes with peace tend to make them insolent. Those then who seem to be the best-off and to be in the possession of every good, have special need of justice and temperance- for example, those (if such there be, as the poets say) who dwell in the Islands of the Blest; they above all will need philosophy and temperance and justice, and all the more the more leisure they have, living in the midst of abundance. There is no difficulty in seeing why the state that would be happy and good ought to have these virtues. If it be disgraceful in men not to be able to use the goods of life, it is peculiarly disgraceful not to be able to use them in time of leisure- to show excellent qualities in action and war, and when they have peace and leisure to be no better than slaves. Wherefore we should not practice virtue after the manner of the Lacedaemonians. For they, while agreeing with other men in their conception of the highest goods, differ from the rest of mankind in thinking that they are to be obtained by the practice of a single virtue. And since they think these goods and the enjoyment of them greater than the enjoyment derived from the virtues ... and that it should be practiced for its own sake, is evident from what has been said; we must now consider how and by what means it is to be attained.
Book 8:
The customary branches of education are in number four; they are- (1) reading and writing, (2) gymnastic exercises, (3) music, to which is sometimes added (4) drawing. Of these, reading and writing and drawing are regarded as useful for the purposes of life in a variety of ways, and gymnastic exercises are thought to infuse courage. concerning music a doubt may be raised- in our own day most men cultivate it for the sake of pleasure, but originally it was included in education, because nature herself, as has been often said, requires that we should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure well; for, as I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure is better than occupation and is its end; and therefore the question must be asked, what ought we to do when at leisure? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, for then amusement would be the end of life. But if this is inconceivable, and amusement is needed more amid serious occupations than at other times (for he who is hard at work has need of relaxation, and amusement gives relaxation, whereas occupation is always accompanied with exertion and effort), we should introduce amusements only at suitable times, and they should be our medicines, for the emotion which they create in the soul is a relaxation, and from the pleasure we obtain rest. But leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which are experienced, not by the busy man, but by those who have leisure. For he who is occupied has in view some end which he has not attained; but happiness is an end, since all men deem it to be accompanied with pleasure and not with pain. This pleasure, however, is regarded differently by different persons, and varies according to the habit of individuals; the pleasure of the best man is the best, and springs from the noblest sources. It is clear then that there are branches of learning and education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas those kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things. And therefore our fathers admitted music into education, not on the ground either of its necessity or utility, for it is not necessary, nor indeed useful in the same manner as reading and writing, which are useful in money-making, in the management of a household, in the acquisition of knowledge and in political life, nor like drawing, useful for a more correct judgment of the works of artists, nor again like gymnastic, which gives health and strength; for neither of these is to be gained from music. There remains, then, the use of music for intellectual enjoyment in leisure; which is in fact evidently the reason of its introduction, this being one of the ways in which it is thought that a freeman should pass his leisure;
Posted by FLG at 10:40 AM 0 comments
Labels: correspondence
Friday, December 18, 2009
Quote of the day
John C. Dvorak:
The primary reason to get [an iPhone] is for random Web browsing (which iPhone owners generally do to show off the fact that they can browse the Web on their handset) or time-wasting. The latter seems to be the main use of cell phones these days. I include phone calls in that category. Honestly, how much time does any one person need to yak on the phone? Nearly every time I overhear a phone conversation, the chit-chat is almost always inane, useless, unnecessary.
Posted by FLG at 4:34 PM 0 comments
Labels: qotd, technology
If You Think You're Going To Make A Plow Jockey Out Of Alpheus
...you've got another thing coming.
This, by the way, only makes sense if you've seen Boys Town (or the trailer):
And even then not much sense.
This, by the way, only makes sense if you've seen Boys Town (or the trailer):
And even then not much sense.
Posted by FLG at 4:06 PM 3 comments
Labels: film
FLG Has Been Far Too Serious Lately
Posted by FLG at 3:43 PM 3 comments
Labels: Comic Relief, pirates
Note To Self
Read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with the intention of writing a blog post all about how it's representative of a pervasive fear that technology, and in particular biotechnology, is eating away at traditional values. Or maybe they just want brains, who knows?
Include something about how the subtitle from Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is now routinely omitted and this means that nobody is even paying attention to the threat of technology with the notable exception of human biotech and crazy Germans worried about engineered tomatoes.
Include something about how the subtitle from Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is now routinely omitted and this means that nobody is even paying attention to the threat of technology with the notable exception of human biotech and crazy Germans worried about engineered tomatoes.
Posted by FLG at 2:43 PM 1 comments
Labels: technology
Leisure Paper Finished
So, FLG has finally finished it. This taught him that he is far better at writing short blog posts with profanity than a long academic piece. The final product is a decent summary of FLG's scatter-shot thoughts on the topic, but he is less happy with the form the argument takes. He feels like he simply repeats himself and the argument is nowhere as tight as he'd like. He goes off on tangents that probably don't belong in an academic paper. He also relies too much on quotation and doesn't offer enough of his own analysis. Furthermore, his prose is, well, shaky. Its success as a political theory paper? FLG has no idea. Probably mediocre. He thinks it would make a good jumping off point for somebody who is smarter than him to write a quality paper on the topic. Lucky for FLG, he is not a political theorist, nor an academic.
Anyway, a few people asked FLG to send it to them. He decided that he'd just post it here. If you don't want to read it, then don't read it. No skin off FLG's back. In fact, he wouldn't read it if he were you. Also, please don't point out any typos or grammatical errors to FLG. He doesn't want to hear them. He is, however, willing to hear complaints about the content.
How Technology Killed Liesure
By FLG
Science and technology have provided numerous conveniences that save time, but the purpose for which that time is saved is unclear. This paper examines the relationship between science & technology and leisure. Once clearly delineated by the ancients, the distinctions between free time and leisure have blurred over time. The philosophical underpinnings of science and the practical application of technology have both contributed to this distortion of leisure. The changing understanding, one might call it a misunderstanding, of how one ought to spend free time has had vast cultural, social, economic, and political consequences. Science and technology offer emancipation from the perils and burdens of the material world, but come with psychic and mental costs that are deleterious to leisure, and have profound implications for politics.
Ancient Leisure
Josef Pieper, in Leisure: The Basis of Culture, argues that leisure is one of the very foundations of Western culture. It is, at the very least, an ancient concern in the Western tradition. Discussions of leisure date back to Aristotle.
It is probably best to begin an explanation of Aristotle's conception of leisure (skhole) with what it is not. First, leisure is not occupation, work, or labor. Second, it is not play or amusement, which Aristotle argues is "for the sake of rest," and if leisure were play, then it "would necessarily be the end of life for us."
Pieper makes three comparisons involving leisure and work. First, he argues, in contrast to work as activity, leisure is a form of calm that is required to apprehend the world in the same way that silence is required to hear sound. Leisure contains"recognition of the mysteriousness of the universe and the recognition of our incapacity to understand it, that comes with deep confidence, so that we are content to let things take their course." Second, in contrast to work as toil, leisure is a form of celebration. "Leisure is only possible, to recall what has already been said, to a man at one with himself, but who is also at one with the world." Third, in contrast to work as social function, leisure is the "power of stepping beyond the workaday world."
A concise definition of leisure is a bit more difficult, but we will proceed under this one: Leisure is time spent engaged in serious reflection, appreciation, participation, or contemplation when free from necessity. For Aristotle, it was the key to human happiness and a meaningful life.
The root of Aristotle's distinction between leisure and work is freedom. Activity done for wages or under the yoke of slavery is unfree; whereas leisure, by definition, is undertaken freely. In The Human Condition, Hannah Ardent illuminates an important consequence of this almost tautological definition that leisure is the opposite of necessity, and its consequence labor. The abhorrence of labor and work by the ancients was not because slaves engaged in these activities, but the reverse. The desire for leisure led to slavery.
Aristotle writes that slavery is "advantageous for the part and the whole and for body and soul, and the slave is a sort of part of the master – a part of his body, as it were, animate yet separate." The master has a better opportunity to flourish because of the leisure provided by transferring necessity onto the slave. This transference creates a life of perfect physical necessity for the slave, and thereby dehumanizes the slave. Ancient leisure had a steep cost.
It was a cost that Aristotle accepted because leisure was invaluable to human flourishing. Indeed, leisure was not only the end of politics but of life. Practical wisdom provided time for leisure. Leisure provided life with meaning and happiness. Therefore, the purpose of education was to prepare for leisure. The liberal arts were enshrined over the useful arts. Needless to say, this is vastly different from the modern conception of leisure.
Modern Leisure
Moderns recognize a labor-leisure dichotomy that makes no distinction between leisure, play, idleness, or even rest. Anything that is not work is leisure. The word leisure is commonly used as a synonym for mere free time. Watching television, playing video games, and even sleeping are included under the rubric of leisure. This is a much broader conception than the ancients recognized. Describing time spent playing Xbox as leisure would likely have rendered Aristotle apoplectic.
Perhaps the most extreme example of the change in the understanding of leisure is the way in which the discipline of economics imposes a binary labor-versus-leisure choice when creating hypothetical consumers. According to a 2006 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of
, "leisure is almost universally defined as time spent away from market work." The study attempts to move beyond this simple dichotomy because the authors understand that not all time spent away from market work is leisure. Unfortunately, none of the proposed definitions adhere to an Aristotelian conception. Nevertheless, Leisure Measure 1, the narrowest definition, which "includes time spent on social, entertainment, and recreational activities," best represents free time with the potential for leisure. The authors of the study found that this free time increased an average of 4.62 hours per week per individual between 1965 and 2003. Boston
The increase in free time is rather unsurprising. Technological advances have removed the need for much drudgery and toil. The dishwasher, for example, permits its owner to engage in other activities during the time that would otherwise be spent washing dishes. These innovations create free time. It would be reasonable to assume that this free time would be used for leisure and that the lives of individuals with access to the latest technology would themselves be leisurely, but that assumption is incorrect. Furthermore, while the less educated have seen large increases in free time over the last four decades, the highest educated and highest paid segments of the population, whom Aristotle would have us believe are best able to make use of leisure, have seen a decrease in theirs. The answer to this seeming paradox lies, at least in part, within the origins and development of the scientific project itself.
The Scientific Project
Sir Francis Bacon was the first person to formally codify the scientific method and to give that method a purpose. His goal is commonly understood as "the relief of man's estate", but it is worthwhile to look at the lines leading up to that famous quotation from The Advancement of Learning, Book I, v, 11:
But the greatest error of all the rest is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or furthest end of knowledge. For men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession; and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.
Bacon was not simply arguing that scientific project ought to conquer Nature to make man's life easier and longer, but perhaps even more profoundly that men wrongly desire knowledge for private, solipsistic, and selfish purposes. In response, he wanted to combine leisure and action into a new, hybrid form that would benefit mankind. Bacon had little use for Aristotle's leisure because, in his view, it benefited only a select few and even those few largely received uniquely individual benefits of personal happiness and fulfillment. Bacon endeavored to spread the fruits of knowledge to all mankind. This meant that knowledge ought to have a practical purpose. Knowledge ought not be for knowledge's sake, but to ameliorate the material conditions of man. Knowledge was not to be a "courtesan" or "bond-woman," but a "spouse" who offered "generation, fruit, and comfort."
David F. Noble argues, in The Religion of Technology, that what is meant by the relief of man's estate is the transformation of man into a new Adam and the world a new
After the creation was finished, it is set down unto us that man was placed in the garden to work therein; which work, so appointed to him, could be no other than work of contemplation; that is, when the end of work is but for exercise and experiment, not for necessity; for there being then no reluctation of the creature, nor sweat of the brow, man's employment must of consequence have been matter of delight in the experiment, and not matter of labour for the use.
This not only supports the theory that the goal of science is a return to
, but also demonstrates how Bacon turns the Aristotelian conception of labor, work, leisure, and contemplation on its head. Contemplation undertaken free from the burdens of necessity for delight was by definition leisure, not work. Bacon needed, however, to redefine these words because the scientific method introduced necessity and work into the world of contemplation. Eden
No longer could a philosopher leisurely contemplate the world and come to conclusions through the power of observation, reason, and logic. The scientific method demanded that the search for knowledge include rigorous empirical verification, which itself required the gathering of data, experiments, and testing. These impositions upon the philosopher created work and rendered contemplation unleisurely. As a result, Aristotle's conception of leisure was fundamentally irreconcilable with Bacon's scientific method.
Bacon's utopia, which he describes in The New Atlantis, depicts the inhabitants of a small, isolated island who gather knowledge and technology from around the world and conduct experiments to improve upon them. He explains in marvelous and reveling detail the plethora of gadgets and inventions the islanders possess, but at no point is anything like contemplation depicted. The ideal for Bacon was not ancient
, where philosophers pondered the world, but one in which people busily and tirelessly gather knowledge and then tinker, experiment, and manipulate this knowledge into new contrivances and insights. Athens
This transformation of leisure existed at the inception of the Baconian project, and only spread as the power of science and its offspring technology grew. Bacon himself noted three technologies that changed the world, the compass, gunpowder, and the most relevant to leisure – printing. As this makes clear, the advent of printing preceded Bacon, but it was the type of technology that he hoped science would develop and expand and so merits our consideration. Indeed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine the Baconian project, with its goal of using knowledge to benefit all of mankind, without the existence of printing. Bacon saw the potential that printing offered for the creation and propagation of knowledge, but it also had an impact on contemplation. Consequently, printing also had an impact on leisure.
Printing affected contemplation quickly and deeply. Before printing, one often had to choose between contemplating one text and becoming a wandering scholar with the inconvenience, cost, and risk that entailed. Printing changed the dynamic. Scholars soon had access to more texts than a wandering scholar a generation or two earlier could have accessed in a lifetime of travel. This, in turn, shifted scholarship from deep and thorough contemplation of and comment on one text to "wide-angled, unfocused scholarship." Contrary to expectation, printing did not usher in a torrent of new theories, but led to wider dissemination and increasing examination of older theories. This may be what prompted Bacon to write in The Great Instauration, "Philosophy and the intellectual sciences, on the contrary, stand like statutes, worshiped and celebrated, but not moved or advanced."
Printing broke down the barriers of time and location to acquiring and sharing existing knowledge. Knowledge could reach more people across greater distances through printing than was possible with illuminated manuscripts or oral speeches. Postman writes, "In the year 1500, fifty years after the printing press was invented, we did not have old
Europe plus the printing press. We had a different Europe." In the intervening centuries, science and technology have created ever more powerful communication technologies.
Communication Technology and Leisure
Developments in transportation expanded the reach and speed of printed materials and hand-written letters. Eventually, the telegraph radically lowered the barriers to communication. Television and radio ushered in an era of mass communication. Contemporary developments utilize the Internet to make ever increasing amounts of human knowledge available instantaneously to the entire globe. It would seem that Bacon's dream of using our knowledge to dominate Nature to improve our lot has been successful, but it is not quite so simple. These technologies shape the message and by consequence the transmission of knowledge in subtle, yet profound ways.
The format and means of printed books lend themselves to the careful crafting of a thoughtful message. At the very least, the author and printer want to be sure that the text is free from as many mistakes as possible before printing numerous copies of an incorrect or error-filled book. Certainly many types of books exist, some of which it may seem odd to consider thoughtful, but any medium that creates numerous, permanent copies of a text that are almost impossible to correct once complete encourages diligence. It is therefore unsurprising that a society dominated by a communication technology that encourages caution would not develop a new technology that altered the "form, volume, or speed of information" for over two centuries.
The invention of the telegraph changed this. It removed the link between transportation and information, and consequently the link between distance and information. News from anywhere in the globe was available without delay. Again, however, the medium influenced the message. The telegraph emphasized speed and small messages. Information was boiled down to facts devoid of context. Relaying information quickly became more important than analyzing it. The telegraph commoditized information into something that "could be bought and sold irrespective of its uses or meaning." Perhaps nothing exemplifies the struggle between thoughtful contemplation and the telegraph as clearly as George Kennan's "Long Telegram." It articulates arguably the most important foreign policy idea of the second half of the 20th century, but in many places possesses all the characteristics of a whale shoved into a sardine can.
Contemporary technology only reinforces what began with the telegraph. The Internet and other modern communication networks transmit messages instantaneously to anywhere on the planet, but the content of those messages is becoming shorter. For example, one of the more popular and recently developed communication technologies, Twitter, limits its users to 140 character messages. Text messages to mobile phones are similarly limited. David Crystal, in txting: The Gr8 Db8, explains that text messages are usually only a single sentence with an average length of six words. He writes in response to this fact that "the routine content of text messages must be pretty limited, concentrating on everyday and largely ephemeral notions of who, what, where, and when (rather than on more profound and long-lasting explorations of how and why)." Andrew Sullivan wrote of blogging, another new communication technology, in the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic:
This form of instant and global self-publishing, made possible by technology widely available only for the past decade or so, allows for no retroactive editing (apart from fixing minor typos or small glitches) and removes from the act of writing any considered or lengthy review. It is the spontaneous expression of instant thought—impermanent beyond even the ephemera of daily journalism. It is accountable in immediate and unavoidable ways to readers and other bloggers, and linked via hypertext to continuously multiplying references and sources. Unlike any single piece of print journalism, its borders are extremely porous and its truth inherently transitory. The consequences of this for the act of writing are still sinking in.
Communication technology has become more powerful, but its increasing power is almost indirectly proportional to its conduciveness to contemplation. Although blogs are not limited technologically to short length, unlike Twitter or text messages, both
and Sullivan use words like 'ephemeral' and 'impermanent' to describe the content distributed via these new communication media. The speed and volume of communication renders each individual message correspondingly less meaningful. The communication provided by these technologies is therefore less conducive to contemplation and leisure than printed books. Indeed, it is comical to think of a scholar putting down his books to retire in contemplation with his cell phone or Twitter account. Crystal
Postman articulates the fundamental problem technology presents:
Technology increases the available supply of information. As the supply is increased, control mechanisms are strained. Additional control mechanisms are needed to cope with new information. When additional control mechanisms are themselves technical, they in turn further increase the supply of information. When the supply of information is no longer controllable, a general breakdown in psychic tranquility and social purpose occurs. Without defenses, people have no way of finding meaning in their experiences, lose their capacity to remember, and have difficult imagining reasonable futures.
Communication technology deluges individuals with information and data. Each technological development increases the amount and speed of data and information, but also provides less context for how that data relates to human beings. Moreover, the flood of information dehumanizes communication. People interact more with a disembodied and seemingly never-ending queue of tasks represented by their email inbox, Blackberry, or voicemail, and with less of a sense that people are sending them those messages.
An important factor in the lack of meaning included with information provided by technology is the cost, whether monetary value or time. Manuscripts, inscribed and illuminated by hand, were expensive and time-consuming to create. This expense dictated that only the most meaningful texts would be reproduced. In contrast, an email or tweet costs only the time it takes to type it. Moreover, since an email can be sent to any number of additional people without cost, this encourages senders to distribute their messages to anybody who may find it even the least bit relevant rather than a carefully selected few. Thus, individuals face ever more information and the percentage of meaningful information decreases. While electronic communication is useful, both aspects of the technologies themselves and the incentives surrounding them are problematic.
Even worse, the ubiquity of mobile communication devices makes retreating from this inundation extremely difficult. If he were alive today, Thoreau's cell phone would probably ring incessantly while he was secluded at
Walden Pond. Given society's expectation of instantaneously global communication merely turning off a cell phone or disconnecting from the Internet is a virtual version of hermitage akin to Thoreau's physical retreat from civilization. It rejects not just the technology, but society itself.
Unable to retreat, people are constantly swimming against the current to keep from drowning in the rushing stream of information. Consequently, people have less time to contemplate how the information is relevant to their lives, and it becomes increasingly difficult to see a future that is meaningful and not simply day after day of processing information.
Information and Leisure
Modern technology provides access to amounts and types of information on a scale and with such speed that people living only a few decades ago would have been astonished and for people who lived centuries ago would likely have been unfathomable or only understood as magic. Yet, we are having increasing difficulty applying this resource to human purposes. Postman writes, "Information has become a form of garbage, not only capable of answering the most fundamental questions but barely useful in providing coherent direction to the solution of even mundane problems." Therefore, it should be of little surprise that one of the fastest growing companies of the previous decade attempted to provide a solution to this problem.
The primary service that Google provides to its users is some form of organization to the colossal amount of data available on the Internet. It does this through a complicated algorithm that analyzes the byzantine web of links between information and attempts to produce results that are relevant to human beings. Its growth implies that it has been more successful in producing relevance than its competitors. Yet, the story is not so simple.
First, Postman's assertion that technological solutions to the problem of too much information only lead to more information holds with the case of Google. The company has constructed a massive network of computers to store and analyze the data that it gathers and generates. Second, there are fears that this technology has a fault resulting from its efficiency, as expressed in a quotation from Sir Bernard Lovell, the founder of Jodrell Bank Observatory in
, "literal-minded, narrowly focused computerized research is proving antithetical to the free exercise of that happy faculty known as serendipity." Sir Lovell's concern predates Google, but remains relevant. Britain
Google endeavors to offer relevant information. This goal adheres one of the primary goals of science and technology, which is to be useful. Indeed, relevance in this context is synonymous with usefulness. But by offering only the most directly useful information Google eliminates the possibility that a distantly related piece of information will spark an idea in a person's mind to combine two dissimilar concepts or pieces of data into a new and creative innovation. As always, the technology affects the interpretation of the information it provides.
Technology increases the amount of and speed with which information is available and in the process creates more data and information. Yet, technology does not help interpret the information in the most important ways, which is how the information is meaningful to human beings. Google is always improving the search results it provides with respect to the relevance or usefulness to people, but usefulness is not the same as meaningful. No technology yet invented has been able to determine the meaning of information. Quite the contrary, technology seems to disconnect information from its context and by extension from its meaning to human beings. Perhaps worst of all it may be deleterious to true creativity.
Technology, Leisure, and Free Time
Given the increasing amount of information and decreasing amount of meaning produced by technology, it would seem that free time created by technology's reduction of drudgery would be used for leisure in the hope that it could create meaning. Science and technology, however, intervene in free time as well.
According to the Census Bureau, Americans are projected to spend an average of 1,562 hours watching television, 984 hours listening to the radio, 203 hours on the Internet, and 96 playing video games. The average American spends 30 hours a week watching television alone. Television provides the viewer with images and sound that require barely more than involuntary sensory processes. If leisure is a calm acceptance and opening up to the world, then television viewing is as far from leisure as one can get without moving into the realm of work and labor. Leisure involves contemplation. Television offers an escape from serious intellectual activity. It is mere idleness.
Entertainment technology has required less intellectual engagement and imagination with each new development. Books demanded not only that the reader physically read the words off the page, but also use their mind to imagine the situation. Silent films required more imagination than talkies. Radio shows provided only the sound but listeners provided the visuals within their own minds. Television eliminated this burden by broadcasting both the images and sound into homes. Modern video games, when combined with a big-screen television and surround sound system, arguably the pinnacle of existing entertainment technology, offer an artificial environment so immersive and at such a speed that the player reacts almost entirely upon instinct and muscle memory.
Technology demands that people process information all day. Therefore, they desire respite not from physical but mental toil. People look to technology to solve the very problem technology created. They endeavor to escape its pressures by yielding to it ever more fully. Thus, technology distracts us from the larger problem by offering temporary refuge, but this refuge also diverts us from leisure into play and idleness. This produces lives awash in information without context and people so mentally taxed by mere processing that they are too weary to engage in an activity that offers the potential for making sense of their lives and providing meaning – leisure.
Technology and Art
Various new technologies, such as digital photography, digital video, and electronic distribution, have revolutionized the creation and dissemination of artistic works. Off-the-shelf computers replaced highly-specialized and expensive equipment and spaces. The computer became the new dark room and video editing room.
These technologies democratize the creative process. While the amateur is not quite on equal footing with a professional he is able to create an end product that is similar. To the extent that the creativity is involved in artistic endeavors one could conclude that electronic technologies enable and encourage leisure. This is incorrect.
Engagement in and appreciation of artistic works is certainly part of leisure. The result of these new technologies is to make the production of the final product easier and faster. Notice the use of the word product. Technology facilitates production. Leisure is not the final product, but the act. The act of artistic expression and appreciation is where leisure lies. Therefore, technology is deleterious to the leisure of the person engage in artistic activity during their free time.
The impact on art appreciation is not as clear. To the extent that technology facilitates the dissemination of art it may have beneficial effects on leisure, but it also creates a situation where art may be commoditized. File sharing programs are a good example of this phenomenon.
File sharing allows individuals with access to the Internet the ability to freely share files, including ones that contain artistic works like music. This unprecedented access to music could theoretically lead to the emergence of a serious music connoisseur, which could be considered leisure, or a music consumer who samples and discards ever more music in pursuit of novelty and distraction.
So, in the world of art technology seems to ease the burdens of production and toil while disconnecting the art from meaning. But the increasing ease of production has certainly not been limited to art. Technology distorted the relationship between labor and leisure as it insinuated itself throughout the culture.
Leisure versus Labor
Ancient slaves labored so that their masters could enjoy the delights of the mind. It produced a clear distinction between work and leisure. Scientific man's mastery of Nature often replaces physical for mental toil. The mind works while the body rests. This gives rise to the idea of an "intellectual worker," a description that encompasses a larger and expanding proportion of the modern workforce. Pieper, writing over a half century ago, defines the intellectual worker more narrowly and writes:
the educated man, the scholar, too, is a worker, in fact an 'intellectual worker', and he , too, is harnessed to the social system and takes his place in the division of labour; he is a functionary in the world of 'total work'; he may be called a specialist, but he is a functionary. And that is what brings out the problem which really lies behind our question, in all its colours.
What had once considered has been considered the end of politics and life itself, contemplation and leisure, has been redefined as merely another task that the division of labor will fulfill. Moreover, this is reflective of a change in the relative value society places on work and labor vis-à-vis leisure. According to Arendt, animal laborans and labor were elevated to the position previously held by animal rationale, and consequently the focus of thought, including Adam Smith and Karl Marx, shifted to the productivity of labor. This inversion from the traditional honoring of leisure over labor to labor enshrined, and the concomitant focus on productivity, has had profound social, economic, cultural and political consequences.
Bill Gates as Example
Bill Gates represents the epitome of the effects of science and technology on the culture. Gates dropped out of Harvard, forgoing a liberal arts education, to found a technology company – Microsoft. Microsoft was widely successful and Gates accumulated a fortune sufficient to provide a life of complete and utter leisure many times over. Yet, Gates continued to work. When he finally retired he did so to guide the charitable foundation he created. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is imbued with the assumptions of the scientific age. It has an almost zealous adherence to empirical measurement of the progress towards its goals. In many ways the Gates Foundation is the final realization of Bacon's dream to utilize the power of science and technology to ameliorate man's material conditions. The foundation's goal of conquering malaria is both its most audacious and the most Baconian.
This view is made explicit in the third of the foundation's fifteen guiding principles, which reads as follows "Science and technology have great potential to improve lives around the world." But one must acknowledge that this great potential is limited to material improvement. As mentioned previously, science and technology have thus far been unable to provide meaning. A longer or easier life that is devoid of meaning may not be a better life, but that question is ignored or dismissed in the zeal to make progress.
What makes Bill Gates such an interesting case study in the discussion of leisure and technology, besides the obvious fact that he personally had a tremendous impact on the spread of information technology, is that he, more than perhaps anyone on the planet, is free to engage in leisure, but never appears to have chosen it.
This may be in part to what Nels Anderson calls "The Do-Something Complex" or "The Protest Against Passivity." No longer must only knowledge and labor have a useful purpose, but also our free time. It must accomplish something and even better if that something is demonstrable and quantifiable. The distinction between leisure and mere idleness is difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate or quantify. Neither has a useful purpose and therefore they are both to be shunned. The ideal for the rich is no longer idleness.
Leisure and Class
Leisure was once the prerogative of aristocrats and ancient citizens who could command others' labor to fulfill their own necessity. Science and technology destroyed this monopoly. They democratized leisure in two ways. First, science changed contemplation so that it was more like work. No longer could the mind simply wander. There was a method that must be followed and knowledge must be useful. Second, technology removed much of the need for physical toil from daily life. This democratization offered hope that the joys of leisure could be spread throughout the entire population.
Arendt argues that Marx's greatest hope was that the increasing productivity made possible by the Baconian project would eventually emancipate the laboring class from necessity and usher in an era of leisure without the need for slaves. This view is partially expressed by Marx thusly in the Economico-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844:
Arendt argues that Marx's greatest hope was that the increasing productivity made possible by the Baconian project would eventually emancipate the laboring class from necessity and usher in an era of leisure without the need for slaves. This view is partially expressed by Marx thusly in the Economico-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844:
First, in the fact that labor is external to the worker, that is, that it does not belong to his essential being; that in his work, therefore, he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel well but unhappy, does not freely develop his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind.
This passage echoes many of the aspects Aristotle ascribed to leisure. Only in freedom can human beings develop their capacities, affirm themselves, and find happiness. One can read Marx as a critique of the Baconian project's failure to deliver leisure to all of humanity. It simply traded one form of coerced labor for another, and in this reading the alienation that Marx describes is a consequence of the lack of Aristotelian leisure.
Arendt notes, however, that the laboring man is entirely unprepared for leisure. A laborer labors or consumes the product of his labor, but never engages in leisure. Pieper also questions whether workers can easily shift from work to leisure. He writes, "A break in one's work, whether for an hour, a day or a week, is still part of the world of work." Free time is used as rejuvenation for more work.
The nature of the free time that technology creates only exacerbates this problem. Most modern conveniences create free time in small portions – a minute or two here and there. The sum of these savings may be substantial, but they are not distributed or apportioned in increments conducive to serious reflection, appreciation, participation, or contemplation.
But Arendt's and Pieper's points are larger than simply the nature of the free time created by technology. The modern, technological economy orients individuals away from leisure. Aristocrats and ancient citizens were prepared for a life of leisure from birth. Their entire education was geared toward this end. Aristotle believed education was to prepare men for leisure. He writes, "That there is a certain sort of education, therefore, in which children are to be educated, not as being useful or necessary but as being liberal and noble, is evident." Education was not intended to prepare people for productivity, but for non-useful leisure.
Modern education, by contrast, is almost always justified by the economic benefits it will bring its recipient and society. As if further proof of this was needed, we return to the point that launched our discussion of the origins of science; namely, that the highest educated members of modern society have the least leisure time.
This application of education toward work instead of leisure may be modern, but it is not recent. Tocqueville writes:
In democracies it is by no means the case that all who cultivate literature have received a literary education, and most of those who have some acquaintance with good writing go into politics or adopt some profession which leaves only short, stolen hours for the pleasures of the mind. They therefore do not make such delights the principal joy of their existence, but think of them as a passing relaxation needed from the serious business of life.
It is important to note that Tocqueville was not referring to ancient democracy, which he regarded as "an aristocratic republic," but to modern, liberal democracy. It was evident to Tocqueville that individuals educated in the liberal arts within a democracy become workers and not leisurers. Therefore, he advocated not that education should be geared toward leisure, but precisely the opposite. Most schools ought to focus on the "scientific, commercial, and industrial" while "a few excellent universities" produce "true scholars" by teaching the classics. For Tocqueville, leisure was inherently aristocratic and could only exist in small pockets in a liberal democracy.
Leisure and Modern Liberal Democracy
Liberal democracy was made possible by the Baconian project in countless ways. For example, the American founding was the first debated and argued in print. Indeed, it is difficult even to imagine how a country could be successfully founded upon abstract philosophical principles without the ability of print to articulate, debate, and disseminate those principles to the population. It is even more difficult to imagine in the absence of print when those philosophical principles are premised on the consent of the governed.
Yuval Levin argues that science and liberal democracy need each other. Science flourishes with personal liberty and free markets, and in return provides ever higher standards of living, greater mastery over the material world, and acts as a liberalizing force in cultures it comes in contact with, all of which ensure the continuing existence of liberal democracy.
Postman wonders, however, if liberal democracy is enough when he writes, "It is an open question whether or not 'liberal democracy' in its present form can provide a thought-world of sufficient moral substance to sustain meaningful lives. Science and technology create material benefits, but come with psychic and social costs. The abstract principles of liberal democracy offer little defense.
and freedom do not offer guidance or meaning in any appreciable way to the information provided by technology. Quite the contrary, liberty and freedom are the opposite of guidance and meaning. It is left to the citizen to determine what is meaningful to himself. Liberty
What the modern, liberal democratic state does have to offer in response to the problems created by technology is bureaucracy, which in turn attempts to apply further technical means to solve them. In the worst instances, these create more problems and more proposed technical solutions in a vicious cycle where the result is a technically created hell rather than a paradise manifested through human ingenuity.
Bacon and Eden
Bacon's desire to make man a new Adam and the Earth a new Eden possessed a flaw from the outset. Earlier, this paper quoted a portion of book I, vi, 6, of The Advancement of Learning. The second half of that section contains the fundamental dilemma of the Baconian scientific and technological project:
Again, the first acts which man performed in
Paradiseconsisted of the two summary parts of knowledge; the view of creatures, and the imposition of names. As for the knowledge which induced the fall, it was, as was touched before, not the natural knowledge of creatures, but the moral knowledge of good and evil; wherein the supposition was, that God's commandments or prohibitions were not the originals of good and evil, but that they had other beginnings, which man aspired to know, to the end to make a total defection from God and to depend wholly upon himself.
Bacon was so focused on justifying the project within the theological framework of his milieu that he missed, or perhaps purposefully ignored, the primary lesson of the Garden of Eden. The concern was never knowledge of Nature. Indeed, as he writes, knowledge of Nature did not cause the fall. It was the knowledge of good and evil, which put another way, is the search for meaning. Dissatisfied with the limits, purpose, and meaning provided by God to Adam and Eve in the garden, they ate the fruit in order to apprehend and recognize meaning for themselves.
Bacon seems to frame the goal of his project as circumscribed within the natural world and therefore don the cloak of piety and prudence while arguably, from an Augustinian prospective, being impious and imprudent. Nevertheless, the lesson from
is that man is not satisfied until he finds meaning. The scientific project was therefore doomed from its inception not only to leave man wanting but to torment him spiritually and mentally even as it emancipated him materially. Eden
Bacon seems to frame the goal of his project as circumscribed within the natural world and therefore don the cloak of piety and prudence while arguably, from an Augustinian prospective, being impious and imprudent. Nevertheless, the lesson from
A more kind reading would be that the extraordinary success of the scientific project led others to want to apply these powerful methods to solve problems in ways that Bacon never intended and would have deemed imprudent. Others later trespassed with science on the knowledge of good and evil. This more generous reading of Bacon is problematic because he explicitly attempted and was successful in overthrowing the reigning Aristotelian framework for understanding the natural world, and as has been shown the ancient conception of leisure with it. To the extent that Aristotle's ideas had been adopted and incorporated into Christianity, by Aquinas among others, it was conceivable that the damage from the attack would spillover. If he had no fear or recognition of the potential that his project would leave man with increased knowledge of and power over the material world but poorer in meaning by undermining religious authority, which seems to be the case from his description of The New Atlantis, he ought have.
What the Ancients Knew
The ancients were not unaware of the problems created by technology. Prometheus' fire came with Pandora's box. Even more insightful may be a passage on writing near the end of Plato's dialogue Phaedrus:
It will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.
The Greeks knew that technology has a cost. Writing communicates facts, but not wisdom. Worse, it makes the appearance of wisdom harder to discern from actual wisdom. Worst of all, technology creates political problems.
The same issues apply today. Substitute Google for writing and the criticisms still hold without a single change to another word. Yet, it must be noted, that writing was a hugely successful invention. Indeed, it is incredibly ironic, and certainly was not lost on Plato, that we have this story about the dangers of writing because of writing. Google may be similar. The danger lies not in technology itself, but in our understanding of it.
Perhaps Not All Is Lost
There are several possible solutions to the dearth of leisure in the liberal democracy caused by the focus on the useful and practical results of technology and labor. Unfortunately, none of them are particularly likely to occur.
First, Pieper concludes Leisure: The Basis of Culture with the hope that divine worship, particularly Christianity, will provide the impetus for people to break out of the toil of total work and reacquaint themselves with leisure. This is always possible, but has not occurred in the roughly half century since the book was published.
Second, Pieper also mentions the deproletarianization of the masses, by which he means their transformation to something other than workers and laborers. This would entail creating meaning within even the most insignificant work or somehow providing education oriented toward leisure while still maintaining enough productivity that allowed free time for all. This seems unlikely.
Third, technology is developed that can transmit meaning along with information and data. So far technology has been unable to accomplish this feat and has actually become worse at transmitting meaning as it becomes better at sending information. Recent technology, like social networking which provides information about friends and family, offers some hope. Nevertheless, the chances are still slim as, just like Google, the focus is on relevance and not meaning.
Lastly, human beings could reject technology, or limit its uses, such that society is more conducive to leisure. This would require a fundamental reorientation not just of society's relationship to technology, but also its attitude toward work, labor, and even society's relationship to itself. Instant, global communication would almost certainly need to be limited. Lives would become far more locally-oriented as a consequence. The scale of the shift involved and the tangible benefits that would have to be given up in exchange for intangible, psychic benefits, like happiness and meaning, seem unlikely to be seriously considered.
It would be foolish and incorrect to blame science alone for all the modern world's ills, including modern man's alienation from Nature and from each other. Countless factors have influenced history and culture. Many, including the Protestant Reformation, Communism, and Capitalism, to name a select few, had profound impact on the way in which we view leisure and work.
Yet, one can discern the roots of many modern problems in the birth of the scientific project. Technology undoubtedly has helped to alleviate the burden of physical toil and drudgery from hundreds of millions of lives and the number is only increasing, but this has come at a cost. Where the ancient philosopher would willingly open himself up to contemplation of the world during leisure, modern communication technology rudely invades a person's consciousness with both the relevant and irrelevant. This creates mindless drudgery of increasing and nearly continuous intellectual effort to receive, process, and interpret the stream of information. Modern human beings act as data processors with little time or opportunity to engage in leisurely contemplation. This leads to lives often devoid of meaning.
Moreover, science is at least partial responsible for vaulting labor to a position of higher importance than leisure through both the demand that knowledge and activity be useful and the intrusion of empirical work into the domain of leisure.. This focus on usefulness and productivity is great for mere living but not living well because it precludes leisure. Or, as Rousseau wrote, "The needs of the body are the foundations of society, those of the mind make it pleasant." In this view, technology provides longer and easier but less pleasant lives.
It may even be that leisure is a necessary causality of liberal democracy. Tocqueville certainly thought so. He viewed leisure as a largely aristocratic notion. If liberal democracy needs science and technology, as Yuval Levin argues, then it seems that even Tocqueville's proposal for small pockets of leisured scholars may even be too optimistic. Our elite universities' almost universal focus on adding value, economic benefits, and return-on-investment lend credence to that conclusion.
We must recognize that technology simultaneously empowers and constrains us. The difficulty in recognition lies with the nature of the empowerment versus the constraint. The conquest of Nature and the benefits of technology are clear and relatively simple to understand. The constraints these impose are more obscure and nuanced. They reveal themselves only after contemplation, which is often made possible only by distancing one's self from technology.
In the final tally, Aristotelian leisure may be dead. To the extent that it necessitated slavery, this is an acceptable cost. Perhaps even the requirement for an aristocratic society may even be too steep to justify the re-emergence of classical leisure. The difficulty facing science, technology, and liberal democracy is how to provide meaning or even happiness, not idleness and distraction, without leisure. The solution does not appear to be forthcoming.
Posted by FLG at 11:52 AM 6 comments
Labels: education, politics, technology
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Share the Word
This program is to help clarify liturgical readings for children in Kindergarten through 4th Grade as part of their liturgical celebrations. It is offered September through May during the 9:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Adult volunteers are always needed to teach during the Masses. If you're interested, please call the Parish Office at 793-1330.

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IÖB International
In focus: Central and Eastern Europe
As an institution with a strong focus on research, it is vitally important that our activities have an international focus. The former planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe form the centrepiece of our international work. We address the challenges of globalisation, economic relations and educational policy through an academic exchange and dialogue with universities, school and other educational institutions in different countries. We currently have on-going mutual relations and projects, particularly with the Russian Federation (from 1990) and with Poland (from 2002).
Staff in our international department devote much of their time and energy in Economic Education to research questions and activities, particularly in
- developing and implementing internet-supported courses leading to qualifications in Economic Education;
- developing and monitoring school pilot projects;
- distributing teaching and learning ideas about Economic Education;
- analyzing the situation of Economic Education in other countries and the impact of resulting project activities; and
- facilitating cooperation and networks in teaching and research.
Would you like further information or do you have any questions or comments?
Our staff will gladly advise you on questions regarding Economic Education. You can find the relevant contact here.


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How to Have a Healthy Fry
by Shari on Jun.08, 2013, under Fruits and Veggies, General Nutrition, Recipes
Who doesn't love to indulge in a big plate of hot, salty French fries?
French fries are among the most popular menu items eaten by millions of people in fast food chains, cafes and bistros. We cant say no to the french fry though we know they are also among the most unhealthiest foods we consume.
These days many people are trying to be more health conscious when it comes to their food choices. The good news is it easy to make a satisfying and healthier fry without sacrificing taste.
There are healthier ways to satisfy your craving like baking instead of deep frying and swapping zucchini, sweet potato, eggplant or green beans for white potatoes.
Start by slicing your veggies. Use a ziplock bag and drizzle olive oil inside . Toss in your favorite seasonings – dont be afraid to experiment with spices and herbs for a variety of favors.
Roast the seasoned veggies at a high heat 425-450 degrees for 15-25 minutes (depending on thickness of cut) Your "fries" will come out crispy and delicious!
Here is one of my favorites:
Parmesan Zucchini Fries
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with olive oil or butter flavored cooking spray.
Coat gallon ziplock with olive oil.
Beat eggs in a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together flour, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese blend and seasonings.
Working in batches, dip sliced vegetables first in eggs, then in breading to coat and place on baking sheet in single layer, without touching.
Sprinkle with additional seasonings if desired. Bake 15-20 minutes or until breadcrumb coating is golden and crisp.
Now… go ahead and indulge ! Guilt Free.
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JB3 brings their sweet brand of original soul jazz, funk, boogaloo and hip hop to your favourite spot and mine - the Rogue and Vagabond.
Best drinks, best food and best music in town.
With Dan Hayles caressing the organ. Shandy Anderson on drums and Jake will round off proceedings on sax.
It'll be one for the ages. I'm expecting good things.


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cherry chutney preserves
Cherry season is here! (mid-June through early-Sept).
I often think of late spring through summer's bounty and into early fall as a parade of one fresh fruit and vegetable after another. Bring on the balloons and floats: throw candy (cherries? raisins?) to the tots, ogle at the festive colors and marching bands (corn stalks?!). The parade is beginning - and the pinnacle is the state fair where farmers showcase their proud gourds and squashes, preserves and pickles, fruit pies and cobblers.
I am lucky to be in Washington State - one of five states that boasts of Northwest sweet cherries (ID, MT, OR, WA, UT)*. Our neck of the woods---I mean our orchards---are boast-worthy and beautiful. Soon road-stands will be lined with boxes of cherries, stores will have flats lined up by the door, food bloggers will be photographing this eye candy and we will no doubt spit pits at our next family gathering.
The cherries are here---summer is here!
And none too soon, as I just emptied my last jar of cherry chutney - one of my favorite cherry preserves from last season's 'parade' (and perfect with meats, game, poultry). This year I will be snatching up even more cherries than ever: for freezing, drying, canning and just plain eating... maybe while I watch a 'real' parade?
Balsamic Cherry Chutneymakes 3-4 half pint jars.
4 cups stemmed, pitted sweet cherries 1 cup small diced onion 1 cup balsamic vinegar 1 cup honey 1 cup raisins (dark or golden) 1/4 cup grated lemon peel 2 T lemon juice 2 tsp salt 1 tsp fresh/coarsely ground pepper 1/2 tsp cardamom 1/8 tsp chili powder
Place all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. I mostly ignore it for 20-30 minutes until it thickens. Place in hot, sterilized jars and leave 1/2 inch headroom. Wipe rims, place on new lids and hot water bath/process for 10 minutes.
*I work with Northwest Cherry Growers / Washington State Fruit Commission; my words, recipes, love of cherries are my own.


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Are you suffering from various types of pains, allergies, digestive problems, anxiety, menstrual disorders and much more?
Austin Therapies Brisbane Acupuncture Clinic provides gentle, effective pain relief treatment.
Our Acupuncture Clinic offers acupuncture healing which enhances mood and energy, aids sleep, reduces stress and alleviates aches by improving the affected functional areas of the body. It is protective and effective and time and again is considered as a remedy option. Traditional Chinese Acupuncture therapy aids in relief when other treatments have had no positive result.
Austin Therapies Brisbane Acupuncture Clinic uses very fine, flexible and rounded needles which are spiky at the tip. They do not pierce like a hypodermic needle. Their design enables acupuncture needles to slither effortlessly through tissues and makes them unlikely to cause blood loss or injure underlying structures.
Benefits of Chinese Acupuncture
Alleviates Pain
Austin Therapies Brisbane Acupuncture Clinic offers Chinese Acupuncture, an eminent therapy to decrease different types of pain. Optimum healing may be restored to those who do not react well to pain medicines, or who do not want to take drugs.
Improves Immune System & Helps Prevent Illness
Acupuncture not only combats ill health but also helps put it off. It is the life saver of the body. Acupuncture healing restores the flow of Qi (energy) and recuperates your condition through easing aches and pains. Acupuncture treatment is also helpful in increasing your immunity, improving digestion and easing stress.
If you are looking for an effective Chinese Acupuncture Clinic in Brisbane, then contact for Austin Therapies Services. They have a professionally qualified, highly skilled acupuncturist who practices this ancient Chinese medicine with excellent results.
Known Side Effects
Most people experience Chinese acupuncture without any sort of side effect during treatment, however some people may experience soreness at the needle site or fatigue. It is a good idea to rest after acupuncture treatment for the best results.


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The National Catholic Reporter informs us that the Order of Friars Minor reelected its current minister general "just months after some of its members were accused of embezzling tens of millions of dollars." The order was "facing bankruptcy following a series of 'questionable financial activities' by friars."
Embezzlement? Franciscan friars?
I'm always hesitant to make judgments about what is in keeping with the "true spirit of St. Francis." But this story tests my resolve.
("World briefs: Franciscans re-elect leader," National Catholic Reporter, June 5-18, 2015, page 4.)


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A 24 year-old drug addict who robbed poppy cans, amongst other crimes, was given a sentence of two years plus a day in the hopes that he might be able to avail of the drug rehabilitation programs offered by Corrections Canada.
Andrew Smith stole nearly a dozen poppy cans from various Tim Horton Coffee Shops St. John'sand Mount Pearl last November. He was also sentenced for a number of other criminal activities ranging from theft to unlawful entry.
Smith waved his right to time served to ensure he recieved federal time.
Three other people were charged with stealing poppy tins in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. The sickening thefts sparked outrage. The Poppy appeal is a very important fundraiser for the Royal Canadian Legion.
He took advantage of the goodwill of the local
community and stole money which was intended to support men and women
who have fought or served for their country. A despicable act, which was considered by Judge Greg Brown when he passed his sentence.
As much as I agree that the act was despicable, the reason for the crime is just as disturbing. The man was stealing to support a drug addiction. The scourge of drug addiction and the desperation that comes with scoring enough money for that next hit was played out in the shame of Smith's crimes.
Newfoundland has one of the highest rates of alcohol and drug addiction than anywhere else in Canada. Crimes motivated by drug addiction have increased over the past two few years.
With only one drug addiction treatment center available provincially it
does not look like the problem will be getting better any time soon.


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Sanders Confectionery
Sanders Chocolates was first opened by Fred Sanders on June 17, 1875. The business grew to more than 57 stores in the Great Lakes Region and elsewhere. Sanders retailers sold candy, fudge toppings, and baked goods, as well as light lunches and an assortment of desserts at fountain counters, including Ice Cream Sodas, Sundaes and Hot Fudge Cream Puffs.
Sanders became a leading purveyor of confections in the region and started selling directly to national supermarket chains, as well as to other retailers in the area.[citation needed] In 2002 Morley Candy Makers purchased the Sanders name and original recipes to add to its own tradition since 1919. [1]
The company was founded by German-born Frederick Sanders Schmidt on June 17, 1875, when he opened a candy store with nothing besides his childhood dreams, a barrel of borrowed sugar and a leased shop on Woodward Avenue at Gratiot in downtown Detroit . Schmidt, who went by his middle name, had originally opened his first shop in Chicago but relocated to Detroit after his Chicago store was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. Ice cream was soon added to the menu, then baked goods and sweet cream sodas. One popular story asserts that on a hot summer day, the store was packed with thirsty customers, and Sanders noticed that the sweet cream used for the sodas had gone sour. So he quickly substituted ice cream, and it became the talk of the town. Sanders is among those who claim to have invented the ice cream soda. Business became so brisk that the store expanded and Sanders hired more employees.
"The Pavilion of Sweets," Sanders' most famed confectionery shop, opened on Woodward in 1891. It had a red and white awning and tower that was similar to a mosque. It was here that the nation's first ice cream soda was supposedly born, though Sanders is not the only man to stake his claim for inventing the drink. One evening during the summer of 1876, Sanders ran out of fresh cream for his cream sodas. In an effort to please the store full of eager customers, he used a scoop of ice-cream instead. His patrons were thrilled with the taste and word of the new beverage spread. The substitution of ice cream for regular cream became a customary offering at soda fountains and stores throughout the nation.
In addition to candy and the ice cream soda, hot fudge became one of Sanders' prime products. Like other Sanders treats, the recipe was passed down through generations. Another especially sought after treat that has delighted "sweet tooths" for years is Sanders' "Bumpy Cake," named for the chocolate ganache that covers thick ridges of buttercream.[2]
Before long, Sanders had cornered the candy market in the Motor City. The company started a chain of stand-alone neighborhood candy stores, some featuring counters that also served light lunches and soda fountain drinks. The chain also expanded into shopping centers and the Detroit Free Press reported "In 1962, when John Sanders, great-grandson of the founder, took over the company from his father, Sanders had 111 stores and more than $20 million a year in sales." However, the real world eventually caught up with the family-owned company, and the 1970s and 1980s saw many ups and downs with the struggling firm. "Trouble began in the mid-1970s," the Detroit Free Press reported, "as Sanders faced increasing competition. The decline became clear when the company closed its flagship downtown store. Sanders ultimately went through several different owners, and at one point was forced to file for bankruptcy.[3]
Sanders closed most of its lunch counters and its headquarters in Highland Park. The company restructured itself by selling its products directly to grocery stores. The company was purchased in 2002 by the Morley Candy Company, another Michigan-based confectionery firm, and under the new ownership, the Sanders retail outlets and products began making a comeback in the Detroit area. As of 2014, there were 9 Metro Detroit Sanders Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops and two additional retail outlets located on Mackinac Island, Michigan.[1]
Sanders had been one of the first businesses in Detroit to be open on Sunday. Although business would be good, Fred Sanders would eventually bow to pressure and close on Sundays.
While the ice cream soda was the first signature menu item, Sanders would also become known for its dessert toppings, including hot fudge and classic caramel - using the original recipes passed down from generation to generation. Other popular menu items include the Hot Fudge Cream Puff, which Sanders still offers in its retails stores, and the Bumpy Cake (1912), a devil's food cake topped with "bumps" of buttercream and cloaked in chocolate ganache.[4] Many consumers who no longer live in Michigan still place online orders for Bumpy Cake today.[5]
Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford worked for Sanders, which was one of the first companies in Detroit to use electric motors to run equipment. As a new source of technology the motors would often break down. To remedy this, Fred Sanders hired Henry Ford, a young mechanic who worked at Edison Illuminating Company before he started Ford Motor Company.
Fred Sanders was a true visionary. In the early 1900s the Sanders family owned one of the first electric automobiles; it provided much amusement for the early skeptics. The "electric " seemed to have a temperamental streak; it would bring the family downtown in grand style, but once parked in front of the Sanders store it would refuse to run except in reverse.
To commemorate the centennial of the company in 1975, Jack Sanders, great-grandson of the founder, invited then-Detroit mayor Coleman Young, the Detroit city council, and other Detroit celebrities to create their favorite ice cream desserts. Sanders also recreated an 1890s horse-drawn wagon that crisscrossed the Detroit area to celebrate the centennial.
The Detroit Historical Society honored Sanders that same year for innovations that included the first carry-out service, the low stools and counters, and the use of dry ice to keep ice cream cold.
Sanders now once again offers its ice cream in retail stores across the United States and provides hand-dipped scoops at its own Sanders Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops in Michigan.[1]
- ^ a b c "Homepage - Sanders". www.sanderscandy.com.
- ^ "Sanders - Detroit Historical Society". detroithistorical.org.
- ^ "Fire At Historic Sanders Bakery « Michigan Now". www.michigannow.org.
- ^ "www.sanderscandy.com".
- ^ "www.sanderscandy.com".
- Of soda fountains and ice cream parlors February 11, 1996 Detroit News
- Sanders Candy website
- [1]


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Cardi B – Bodak Yellow (Remix) Ft. Kodak Black
If you recall, Cardi B and Kodak Black have a unique relationship. When Cardi B originally released her song 'Bodak Yellow' earlier this year, many pointed the similarities between the instrumental to that on Kodak Black's 'No Flockin' song. It was the breakout hit that led to the Florida rapper's signing with Atlantic Records.
So obviously, a remix to 'Bodak Yellow' featuring Kodak Black made perfect sense. After teasing the remix over the past couple of weeks, Cardi has finally released the officially remix and it's exactly what we expected. "Cardi B got the beat, told me re-rock the heat Try me, I'll do the race like I'm Tay-K, There ain't no flockin over here, lil buddy," raps Kodak Black on the song.
Download & share


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I feel the position I have accepted in life is a media specialist & creative. My skill sets are incorporated in all aspects of the media industry. My dream is to one day set up or run a television station, production house, newspaper or a magazine. Recently I have been also wanting to add a consumer goods shop to that list. I would love to own a store like the Virgin mega-store that you see in most big shopping centres these days. Fingers crossed I'll get there. Technology is my world. Work is all I know.
Web Management, Web Communications, Social Media Interaction made easy!see more


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James Ruse Dr, Rosehill NSW 2142
Rosehill Gardens is situated approximately 20km to the west of the Sydney CBD in what is the geographical heart of the city.
Three of the city's major vehicular arteries – Parramatta Road, Victoria Road and the M4 Motorway service Rosehill Gardens, while special race day trains run direct to the racecourse. Patrons can also travel by Ferry from Circular Quay to Parramatta and connect with a free bus service.
The Rosehill train station is located on the T6 Carlingford line.
For the latest public transport information, please visit transportnsw.info


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OFMDFM is committed to providing an accessible website. This statement describes what we have already done to make our website accessible, what we intend to do to improve its accessibility and how we plan to maintain these standards.
This statement refers to the new YourEbrington website launched on 1st April 2016 @ www.yourebrington.com - maintained by web design agency, Creative Metrics. This statement does not apply to any microsites or other miscellaneous sites belonging to or associated with OFMDFM or Ebrington.
We have created the YourEbrington website with accessibility issues in mind. We aim to make it fully accessible to everyone and are committed to continually reassessing and improving the site.
If you have problems or have suggestions to improve the site from an accessibility point of view, please let us know.
We support the use of web accessibility standards. Our approach is to meet the highest standards possible. When working towards requirements we will prioritise those that appear to have the most impact.
We aim to meet all priority 1 requirements of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). Meeting this standard is commonly known as Level A compliance.
We also aim to meet as many priority 2 requirements of the WCAG 2.0 as possible. Meeting this standard is commonly known as Level AA compliance.
We have made every effort to ensure this web site is easily read using 'plain English'. In addition, we have ensured that the design of the website is not an obstacle to its usability and readability. All major navigational structures are structured in plain English (rather than graphics), and all markup is developed semantically, in the latest HTML5 standards. Where visual elements are used, we use approriate 'alt' and 'title' attributes, so that context can be gained for any element.
All our websites use web standard code so that whatever your preferred speech-enabled software is on your computer, it will be able to read the pages.
If you have any questions or feedback about the accessibility of this website, we would like to hear from you. Please get in touch on our Contact Page.


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Students are prepared to become professional multimedia storytellers. They become proficient with the tools of digital media including audio, video, digital photo, text, and a variety of software editing and publishing packages.
Students who graduate with this major can pursue careers in journalism, radio/television/film production, social media management, event planning, sports communication and creative services.
We see media as a vehicle to share human stories that naturally serve to connect us all socially in the 21st century. The abilities to write, research, produce, edit, and disseminate those stories are in growing demand across all industries, and we produce professionals who can do so ethically and with the technical skill employers look for.
Tracks include:
We'd love to get to know you. Tell us a bit about yourself, and we'll be in touch with the scoop about BVU.
You'll find students writing, producing, and creating at The Tack Online, KBVU 97.5 radio, and BVTV getting creative, showcasing their talents, and experimenting with creative ideas linked to BVU curriculum.
The National Society for Collegiate Journalists honor society has a chapter right on campus, supporting student media leaders! SCJ members annually attend and present at the national College Media Association conference.
BVTV puts professional video equipment in your hands, with state-of-the-art cameras, powerful editing software and HD production facilities. Your work will be seen across the street and around the world!
In your first week on campus...
You'll have stepped behind professional video cameras, taken microphones in hand, and headed into the field armed with DSLR cameras. We'll help you build your portfolio as soon as you can.
Our students have creative control, pitch their own story ideas or original programming, then produce it with state-of-the-art technology in our media studios.
Individualized advising and collaboration are our game
Our program boasts a Disney scholar among its faculty and we offer an opportunity for students to go behind the scenes at Disney every January. With students constantly recognized for their experience and achievements, we're always traveling to state, regional, and national competitions to show or original media work. In 2015-16, for example, our students won 59 awards from the Iowa College Media Association, the Society for Collegiate Journalists, the Society for Professional Journalists, and the Iowa Motion Pictures Association.
Students select one focus track and complete three courses.


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A few weeks ago a teacher encouraged us to find the very edge of our balance in tree pose. 'Ir's okay if you fall.' Jokingly, she said we wouldn't be kicked out of class. It's not about the perfection. It's takes practice for me to make mistakes instead of 'getting it right'. Asana, like like isn't the end it's the by product of all of the choices I've made up until that point. So why not get a little risky? Why not find the edge? If if works out, I get to celebrate and if not, I can just try and try again.
Happy Monday!
Namaste y'all.


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Afghanistan women's football team has ended its Central Asian campaign without scoring a single goal in four matches it played.
Afghanistan faced Uzbekistan in their opening game of the five-team tournament and they lost it by a wide margin of 0-20.
They played Iran in their second match and lost it 0-6. Their woes continued losing to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 0-1 and 0-5 respectively.
Hosts Uzbekistan emerged champions of the tournament, while Iran came second. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan secured third and fourth positions respectively.
The misery comes as the capital of the team, Shabnam Mobarez, and several of her teammates were reportedly dropped after they refused to sign new contracts.


text: MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of liberal-leaning groups has filed a lawsuit seeking to void laws passed by Wisconsin Republicans that reduced the powers of the newly elected Democratic governor. The groups filed the lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court on Thursday. It argues that Republican lawmakers illegally convened the session last month to pass bills weakening newly-elected Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. He defeated Republican Gov. Scott Walker in November. Walker signed the legislation before leaving office. Conservative attorney Rick Esenberg says the lawsuit faces long odds because "courts are unlikely to aggressively interpret the law and inject themselves into the legislative process." Those filing the lawsuit are the League of Women Voters, Disability Rights Wisconsin, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities and three Wisconsin voters.


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