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DTI: Forgotten History by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!)
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June 14 2012, 05:13 PM
Re: DTI: Forgotten History by C. L. Bennett Review Thread (Spoilers!)
KingDaniel wrote:
Except of course, it renders Nimoy's cameo and the entire time travel aspect of the movie pointless.
Except Nimoy has already played a Spock from an alternate reality, the Mirror Universe. If he can be a Spock from one universe, why not another? And the time travel is just a way to say "everything you know is wrong". It's pushing a reset button while not overwriting what's gone before. (or not. For all we know the old universe was overwritten. We didn't see anything of it after Spock and Nero went through the black hole.)
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© 2002-2015
Encyclopaedia Metallum
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or higher.
Most good albums you don't like the first time you hear them. They take time to grow on you. Occasionally you find a good album you like from the first spin but it loses its spark after a while but still stays by definition, a "good" album. More uncommon is an album that's enjoyable from the first spin and stays good for spins to come. Rarer still, is an album that you love from the first listen and after that with every listen you come to enjoy it even more. Wuthering Heights' "The Shadow Cabinet" is that kind of album.
I have often cursed this Danish band and their ineffable sound that varies from album to album. If you played every Wuthering Heights album to someone who's never heard them before and he'll swear every album is from a different band. If you thought they would continue the bombastic folky progressive power metal you heard on "Far From the Madding Crowd" you'd be dead wrong. Well, it's still bombastic folky progressive power metal but ummm... crap, you get the idea, right?
Actually, The Shadow Cabinet is a bit more straightforward than their other albums but only to the point where you can give a slight idea of what the sound is through words. It's dark and nihilistic power metal. They lose the extremely prominent folk influences from "Far From the Madding Crowd" and instead attain a more symphonic and riff oriented sound but still keep folk influences alive. The heaviness factor that was escalated in the aforementioned album has been increased tenfold. From the moment the album begins you know this isn't any sort of Wuthering Heights album you heard before. Want to know why? This is the first Wuthering Heights album to not start with an intro and instead goes straight into the wicked, neck-snapping opener "Demon Desire," which sounds like a fiendish version of "Hunter in the Dark" from their first album.
The soothing and medieval atmosphere found on the previous two albums has been replaced with complete apathy and merciless coldness. Sure, one would expect Wuthering Heights to release unique sounding albums but this is such a big turn around it's completely depraved. It's so full of deathly emotions and utter misanthropy it's unspeakable. Not to the point of depression, however, instead the malign music somehow initiates feelings of joy. Not the typical joy but the twisted feeling of sick pleasure you get from knowing the world around you is vile and black. Amidst this onslaught of depravity, there's an almost mute voice inspiring you to escape harsh reality and find a path of your own. To quote the album: "...I shall count these the last days of the sun, and seek comfort in darkness 'til my lifethread is spun."
Vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson stays for this album. Wuthering Heights made a smart decision keeping him since there isn't a man whose voice can project these bleak emotions so beautifully. Not all the vocal work on this album is evil and malice. Listen to the first verse to "Carpe Noctem" or the song "Sleep" to see exactly how talented this guy is as a vocalist and the diversity of this album. Speaking of "Carpe Noctem," the vocal interlude "Reason...?" that comes before is just so utterly perfect it's a wonder why it isn't part of the song. Wuthering Heights are one of the few bands with enjoyable interludes and intros and I've never missed out on listening to "Carpe Noctem" without listening to "Reason...?" first. Want to know why? Johansson just unleashes those crushing emotions of hopelessness and desperation so well with that 30-second piece it would be unfathomable to not listen to it before "Carpe Noctem." That's how incredible this guy's vocal work on this album is.
The folk influences on this album are sparse but not altogether gone (see the ending of "Faith – Apathy Divine"). What stays is the perfect production and top-notch instrumental work. The guitar work in songs like "Beatifool" is just astounding and give a listen to "The Raven." Why, it makes you wonder why it took so long for Erik Ravn to write a song called "The Raven" and it makes you wonder if you'll find such flawless bass work anywhere else. Although there isn't a mind blowing instrumental here like on their previous two albums, give a listen to the intro of "Carpe Noctem" if you want jaw-dropping guitar work.
And for four straight albums in a row Erik Ravn has blessed us with great lyrics. So many mind-numbingly catchy choruses and quotable quotes it's utter insanity. Perhaps because the lyrics on this album are a lot more personal than previous albums so they're a lot more involving and inspiring.
Once again I'd like to urge all people to get this album. I recommend it to everyone except dipshits. I don't care what your taste in music is, if you don't like this album you aren't human by any definition. My only quarrel with this album is I don't have the Shadow Of A Gipsy cover bonus track. I will soon, though, money well spent I tell ya!
I've been listening to this album non-stop, so it's time to review what could almost be seen as a very strong continuation of Far From the Maddening Crowd.
This album is really exactly what I wanted from this band: hooks galore, awesome often folky riffs, super tight, punchy drumming, outstanding vocal performances from both singers, a palette of many genres, and a nice helping of complexity to top it all off.
The grand folk infused power metal continues here, with only two discernable differences. Both of which are improvements.
The first difference is heaps of riffs with a touch of impressive and refreshing complexity. Some songs just have an obscene number of riffs, and few of them don't completely kick ass. There is a good bit of complexity as they dance between many different styles, sometimes only giving a tip of the hat in a part here, and only skimming the surface there.
Unless I simply was ignorant of past shining lyrical accomplishments, the second difference is well written and insightful lyrics. I am very rarely impressed with lyrics - be it for high standards on my part or a general apathy, or inability on the part of most metalheads writing lyrics - I am, however, quite smitten with the lyrics here.
Every song has character and charm. I agree with the last reviewer that Sleep is probably the weakest track; starting with a Middle Eastern chant-like a capalla section (very strange), I think the problem with the song is that it's a very drastic turn around from the rest of the album. But otherwise all the songs managed to convey power and show the band's finesse.
Carpe Noctum is a superb closing track. After an awesome neo-classical riff, the song hushes down into a soft, reflective and somber mid tempo progressive part, which builds up seamlessly. After a number of other parts (yes, this album has a great many of them) and the chorus, the band returns to that awesome neo-classical riff. And then into an epic symphonic phase with a choir and endless little solos and parts. The fact that I have such difficulty putting what I'm hearing into words is to the band's credit. It proves that they're not just smearing the lines between genres, they're destroying the foundations of genres altogether.
This is indeed a worthy follow-up to Far From the Maddening Crowd - and that should tell you all you need to know.
Wutheringht Heights is a really unique band. They play Power Metal, but not your typical Power Metal. It's actually Progressive Power Metal. Well, it has some Neoclassic elements. It has also folk elements (celtic ones), and uses some folk instruments on some songs. The ballad of the album even begins with a celtic chant that could comefrom a Chieftain album. So Neoclassic Folk Progressive Power Metal. If that isn't enough, just know that the singer isn't generic, having a unique voice with an amazing range. Good beginning, uh?
Now, if you like that, the only thing left is the songwriting. And it's actually amazing. "Demon Desire" it's an amazing opener, with an amazing use of keyboards, beginning the album with blasting Power Metal. "Envy" it's the most complete and progressive song. With amazing riffs, and at about 2:00, it speeds up, following a solo. Really cool and amazing. "Sleep" it's the only ballad of the album, very celtic oriented. The beginning could be extemely boring if you aren't used to celtic chants, and could be a skip track for most people. But check the extra fast solo. You didn't expect that, eh? Finally, "Carpe Noctum - Seize the Night" (what a cool name) has a solo with a neoclassic feeling.
This album, as the previous, also has a song with a second part. "Faith" and "Snow" are the "Apathy Divine duo". Compared to the "Longing for the Woods trio", this one it's much better. I don't see them so much connected musically, maybe it's just on the lyrics. But that's not bad, as it was quite annoying hearing the same chorus on three songs of the same album. To some people, that could be a bit pesky. "Faith" it's also the longest song on the album, and probably the folkiest one. There is an amazing folky riffing at about 4:05, that's is as good as the one on the "Herne's Prophecy" of the previous album. "Snow", even though it isn't as good, it's another highlight of the album.
This is, with no doubt, the best album of the band. In "Far from the Maddening Crowd" there was the amazing blend of genres, but it was an album that could bore after too many listens. This album still manages to sound fresh after a lot of listens, which if you didn't know, it's a good thing.
The only flaw I see on the album it's that the only ballad, "Sleep", it's inferior to both ballads of the previous album. If there was another "Lament for Lorien" or the like on this album, it could have got the perfect rating. Even though, extremely recommended to any metalhead.

subset: commoncrawl


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FMLY Fest assembles dozens of musicians for DIY weekend
By Emily Eveland
Hollow Boys embrace the dark on third album
By Sarah Stanley-Ayre
10 Thousand Sounds 2014: Behind the bands
By CP Staff
Black Market Brass delivers hip-shaking funk rhythms
By Zach McCormick
For the Love brings hip-hop festivities to Lowertown
By Jack Spencer
Kitty Cat Klub hosts Tourniquet Noise series
By Sarah Stanley-Ayre
Max Gremillion steps into the spotlight
By Rob van Alstyne
The world of Howler's sophomore album
By Zach McCormick
Edith Frost
It's a Game
Drag City
Now that Liz Phair has grown up and embraced her inner Sheryl Crow, some lo-fi lady out there needs to step into Phair's old shoes and continue making records about the challenge of finding love in Guyville. On her fourth full-length, It's a Game, Phair's fellow Chicagoan Edith Frost makes a pretty convincing pitch for the position. "You've been making plans with another woman," she tells some asshole musician in "Emergency," the album's first cut, "I don't know why." Like Phair, Frost is hilariously plainspoken; she doesn't have much use for metaphor. In "What's the Use," she questions an ex about his reasons for leaving: "It wasn't my body, it wasn't my sex, it wasn't my fault--that's what you said." A couple of black crows appear in the lyrics to "My Lover Won't Call," which details the mundane aftereffects of a breakup; you're tempted to ponder what those birds might symbolize until Frost reminds you that she's still gotta remember to "call up the landlord and shut off the phone."
Frost recorded It's a Game with members of Chicago's sprawling indie rock scene (including Azita Youssefi of Scissor Girls, former Coctail Mark Greenberg, and Drag City majordomo Rian Murphy), and the music oozes the cozy, handmade sense of intimacy Phair got on her early stuff, back when she was part of the same scene. The title cut is a loping country shuffle with wistful piano tinkles and a sweet circus organ solo. Halfway through "A Mirage," somebody breaks into a keyboard part that improbably recalls "Que Sera Sera." Not unlike Phair's, Frost's voice is fairly thin for someone who's taken up singing as a profession. But with help from Murphy (who produced), she finds ways to make her vocal limitations work for her, as in "It's a Game," where she dreams of a standup fellow "cuddling me in a Hollywood pavilion." The song is about wanting to give into that sort of fantasy, yet finding plenty of reasons to resist; there's something to Frost's impassive vocal that communicates that struggle. She's sick to death of the old fuck-and-run.
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Professional Tennis Management
Although there is collegiate tennis at the universities that carry the PTM program, if you are unfamiliar with it here is the USPTA page
what do you guys think of it? I was thinking of going to Ferris or Methodist University. I am from NJ and have worked for about 4 years at a tennis, ski, snowboard store, but i focus mainly on the tennis portion of it. I have loved the sport of tennis ever since i picked it up my freshmen year of HS. Although I never played for my high school team, I played my freshmen year of college for a non conference team in a college in NJ. In my opinion I am a high 4.0-low 4.5 in progress of transitioning to complete 4.5 player. I definitely wanna work in the tennis industry and was thinking if any one here had done the program and could provide any import or advice on it.
I do know a few tennis professionals that went through the program at Tyler JC, 3 still work in the business, one does not. They all recommend it for those who what to teach or work in the tennis industry.
Ferris has an excellent PTM program. You are essentially getting a standard BS Business degree with a semesters worth (16 credits) of PTM classes scattered over the 4-years. It prepares you for the retail / marketing side of the industry and also gets you USPTA certified.
If you want more info. on the program or Ferris in general, give me your email address (or turn it on in your profile).
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Industrial Steel Rack with Wood Shelf
by Dovetail Furniture
At A Glance:
With a tough and rugged look, this industrial steel rack with wood shelves creates a robust masculine sense in the home. Ideal in an urban loft or industrial condo, this rack features rounded steel bases that support steel pillars that extend upward and include brackets to support the four wood shelves. The distressed, worked look of the nearly black metal enhances the rustic wood shelves, which are finished in tones of rich brown. Create an artistic display space or show off your favorite books and trinkets in this weathered steel rack with wood shelves.
- Overall Size: 56" h x 66" w x 15" d
- Constructed of metal and wood
- Shelves
Materials & Measurements
Materials: Metal and steel
Measurements: 56" h x 66" w x 15" d


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The Good
It's the final confrontation as Spider-Man and his amazing friends (Spider-Woman, Cloak, Dagger, and Bombshell) face Roxxon and his crew.
This is by far some of the best art in any book this month. Artist David Marquez and colorist Justin Ponsor hit a home run on this issue. Each panel of this issue is a work of art. Pages four and five here are fantastic as Roxxon confronts Miles and tries to get under his skin by bringing up Miles' deceased mother. They layout for the two pages is fantastic. The panels are laid out diagonal, across the page, and it makes the scene feel a bit harsh. The final panel's color work, on Miles is outstanding. Ponsor does some amazing things with shading on Spidey's face. It really emphasizes the reflectiveness of his costume.
Marquez continues to impress throughout, especially during the brief fight scene. He's fantastic at showing motion and making these scenes look natural, even though it's a bunch of super-powered beings going at it.
I've never been a huge fan of 616 Cloak, but writer Brian Michael Bendis makes the Ultimate version pretty dang cool. He's got a bit of a teenage attitude on him, and I like it. Towards the end of the issue, Cloak takes on Sterns in a quick but really cool battle. I love what this creative team is doing with Cloak, especially the way he's drawn, with the black smoke coming off of him.
The Bad
After Spider-Man catches Roxxon, upside-down, he delivers this very "Bond villain" monologue. He lays everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, out on the table that is a bit over-dramatic and a tad cheesy. It does lead to something extremely interesting, like Miles starting to question who his father actually is/was. Three pages, fourteen panels, are dedicated to this scene.
The final fight between Spider-Man (and his Amazing friends) and Roxxon's scientists has to be the quickest and biggest let down, as far as fights go, for this series. This book has really been known for some fantastic fights, and here, it's over and done within three pages.
Everything about the issue feels a bit rushed. This issue really would have been fantastic if it was a double -sized issue or even if they pushed it into a 29th book. The ending zips by and the prologue to the story flies by us.
This book is still a year ahead of the other Ultimate books. Is this ever going to be resolved?
The Verdict
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #28 isn't a bad issue. It also isn't one of my favorites. The issue ties up a bit too quickly and really feels rushed. The final fight is over way too quickly as well. However, the art on this issue is not only my favorite art to come out of Marquez and Ponsor, but it's some of my favorite art this month. Overall, it's an alright read, and if you've been reading this series, you may as well finish it up here. I give this issue a mild recommendation.


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When should I choose one over the other. Are there any pointers that you would recommend for using the right STL containers.
Another difference will be seen when you iterate through the containers.
Edit: The C++11 update to the C++ standard introduced
A hash_set would be implemented by a hash table, which has mostly O(1) operations, whereas a set is implemented by a tree of some sort (AVL, red black, etc.) which have O(log n) operations, but are in sorted order.
Edit: I had written that trees are O(n). That's completely wrong.
The main issue here is that many people use
Another thing to keep in mind is that with hash_set you have to provide the hash function, whereas a set only requires a comparison function ('<') which is easier to define (and predefined for native types).
I don't think anyone has answered the other part of the question yet.
The reason to use hash_set or unordered_set is the usually O(1) lookup time. I say usually because every so often, depending on implementation, a hash may have to be copied to a larger hash array, or a hash bucket may end up containing thousands of entries.
The reason to use a set is if you often need the largest or smallest member of a set. A hash has no order so there is no quick way to find the smallest item. A tree has order, so largest or smallest is very quick. O(log n) for a simple tree, O(1) if it holds pointers to the ends.


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Dear Parent or Guardian:
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the Technical Theatre teacher at Earl Warren High School and give you information concerning plans for the 2013-2014 school year. With the help of our students, we at Warren High School will build a program of excellence, setting standards for future Theatre and Technical Theatre students. Our annual play season will include a variety of shows beginning in early fall and continuing all the way up until the last full month of school. Most shows this season will be class productions that will take place in the theatre arts classroom; however, our main stage production will be the musical Hairspray. We know this show will give many students an opportunity to be involved in one area or another, whether that is backstage or "on the boards." In addition to our "Class Plays," we also produce Warren Improvisation Troupe performances and our enrollment in the University Interscholastic League's One-Act Play Contest. With such a full season, we are looking forward to a productive year with many opportunities for Theatre and Technical Theatre students to experience various areas of production by viewing, supporting, and participating in the arts at Earl Warren and in NISD.
All Technical Theatre I students will construct, paint, rig, costume, and may run a crew on shows produced during the year. Advanced Technical Theatre II-IV students will continue developing their skills for presentation and participation in public performances, and for presentation of workshops at feeder middle and elementary schools. Advanced classes will also present a finished portfolio that displays the work that they have done in the classroom and on the stage.
All Theatre Arts I students will have a series of written notes, quizzes and tests. In addition, Theatre Arts is a performance based class in which students will be required to perform in front of their peers, other students on campus, middle school students and even our general public audience. Other areas of theatre will include: technical theatre, improvisation, character development, memorization, solo scenes, duet scenes and small group scenes.
Please visit our department web site on the Warren High School home page for a copy of this year's production season and many more informative links. We cordially invite you to attend all of our productions for the upcoming school year. Tickets for all shows will be placed on sale prior to the opening of the show; however, tickets may also be purchased at the door for each production. For further details on productions and season tickets, please contact us at (210) 397-4285 or visit our web site.
As you can see, we have abundant opportunities for all students at Earl Warren to experience and delight in live theatre performances. We hope that you too will support our program by attending performances and inviting your family and friends along.
Finally, parent volunteers are always needed to help with many different projects that our department has to offer. From working box office, assisting on trips that are taken during the school year, helping in some set and costume construction, etc. volunteers are always welcome and appreciated. If you are interested in offering some help at some point throughout the school year, please contact me via email at email@example.com or by phone at 210-397-4284. You will be notified by email or a notice will be sent home with your student concerning any organizational meetings that may be conducted during the school year. I will be looking forward to meeting and working with you.
Mr. Cody Eoff
Technical Theatre
Earl Warren High School
1st Period 8:50-9:39 Tech Theatre I A130/Auditorium
2nd Period 9:45-10:36 Tech Theatre I A130/Auditorium
3rd Period 10:42-11:31 Tech Theatre I A130/Auditorium
4th Period 11:37-12:26 Lunch
5th Period 12:32-1:21 Conference
6th Period 1:27-2:16 Theatre Arts I A130/Auditorium
7th Period 2:22-3:11 Tech Theatre I A130/Auditorium
8th Period 3:17-4:05 Tech Theatre I-IV A130/Auditorium


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Priapism (Penis Disorder) Center - Davenport, IA
WebMD Physician Directory
Davenport, Iowa
Priapism (Penis Disorder)
What is the definition of priapism?
Priapism is a prolonged, unwanted erection of the penis. It is usually painful and not related to sexual stimulation or arousal. Most clinicians consider priapism a medical emergency...
Other Related Priapism (Penis Disorder) Articles
Emergency Contact for Davenport
Nearby Davenport Hospitals *
Genesis Medical Center-East
Genesis Medical Center-West
Trinity Bettendorf
Trinity Medical Center
Genesis Medical Ctr - Illini
Trinity Medical Ctr Moline Camp
Genesis Medical Center De Witt
Hammond Henry Hospital
Mercer County Hospital
Trinity Muscatine
Mercy Medical Center Clinton
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HBT's official MLB Fan Cave dweller needs your help
May 23, 2012, 1:18 PM EDT
Back in February we endorsed Lindsay Guentzel as our favorite MLB Fan Cave candidate and asked HBT nation to help vote her in. It worked, as she was selected from 22,000 entrants and 50 finalists.
She's been living in New York all season and stuff like "touch Joe Mauer's hair" has become a daily occurrence, but now the MLB Fan Cave is voting out residents, Survivor-style, and Lindsay needs some more help sticking around.
Click here to cast another vote for Lindsay, if only because that's the most emotion Joe Mauer has shown in a decade and MLB needs more, not fewer, baseball-loving women in its life.
- Stacey - May 23, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Hopefully if she stays they'll have her talk about more than hair and clothes.
- El Bravo - May 23, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Haven't watched this stuff at all. Are those really the topics that the female dwellers deal with?
- Stacey - May 23, 2012 at 1:38 PM
I've seen a couple of things with the female dwellers and yes, hair and fashion were what they were debating. As a fellow female who loves and writes about baseball, it really annoyed me to see that.
Maybe the Fan Cave should have them debate about, oh, I don't know, actual baseball topics perhaps? That's why they're there. They're not there to touch Joe Mauer's hair.
- chadjones27 - May 23, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Hey now, any time you get the opportunity to touch Joe Mauer's hair, you take it
- El Bravo - May 23, 2012 at 1:57 PM
Agreed. That's dumb. I disagree about Mauer though. His hair is very important to America's favorite past time.
- card0109 - May 23, 2012 at 1:40 PM
I'm right there with you. I haven't watched any of these MLB FanCave broadcasts, but there are women out there that can talk intelligently about baseball. I trust that Lindsey is one.
- hansob - May 23, 2012 at 1:46 PM
I hope she was gentle. I don't want to see Mauer on the DL with bi-folical scalp weakness.
- El Bravo - May 23, 2012 at 1:58 PM
- wendell7 - May 23, 2012 at 3:16 PM
Well played, Mauer. Well played…..
- phillyphan83 - May 23, 2012 at 3:20 PM
Have you ever actually gone to an MLB game Aaron??? I know Philly is not the only ballpark that is teeming with smoking hot college chicks at every home game. Wake up and smell the pheromones, there all over the ballpark!
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Got Dan's end the other day. Very generously sized samples!
I've already had the pleasure of trying them all and have to say that I'm quite impressed with the quality of these tobaccos. Definately going to be some new tobaccos added to my next order.
Was particularly impressed with the Bob's Chocolate flake, Fillmore and Hamborger Veermaster.
BCF was very nice VA with the hint of Lakeland perfume. Latakia was tastfully applied and burn quality was excellent.
I need to wrap my head around Fillmore. I'd swear I smell latakia burning! Very interesting flavor combination and the perfect balance of VA to Perique.
HV was the sleeper hit. I guess it shouldn't be since I love Tordenskjold Virginia slices! Very tasty indeed!
Balkan Sasieni was a VERY nice light balkan. Better for me than Nightcap since the perique in that blend is rather strident.
Thanks again.
Now let's get Zack sorted, pronto!


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They did an absolute wonderful job. It was starting to snow pretty heavily and was freezing outside. I had to beg them to come in and warm up to get some coffee. They were just focused on getting their job done.
DaBella and our salesman Jeff did an amazing job for us.
Well what can I say, I've picked out a door that goes with my house perfectly. The guys that came to install the door were a riot and friendly it made for a interesting experience. After that was said and done I now have a beautiful new front door!
Mike Stutzman and Matt did an awesome job. When we are ready to take the next step, we would like those 2 to help finish our house… I can't say thank you enough.
The crew was very professional – good company representatives. I would hire them again.
The final clean-up and removal for our roofing project has just been completed. I want to let you know how truly delighted I am with the results. read more…
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reclaimed wood framesby Margaret Taylor
- the story
Out of the Woods
Reclaimed, artistically distressed lumber finds a new life framing your family snapshots. Artist Margaret Taylor salvaged these antique slats from crumbling buildings and remodeling projects and then transformed them into rustic frames that carry an authentic spirit of Americana. These rescued materials add a rustic touch to your treasured images, creating instant heirlooms of happy family memories. Handmade by artist Margaret Taylor in Georgia.
Sold individually. Because of the reclaimed nature of the materials, colors, and patterns will vary.
- details
- Item ID
- 23259
- Made from
- paint, reclaimed wood
- Measurements
- 12" L x 10" W; Fits 4x6 photos
- Notes
- Comes ready to hang with hanging hardware attached.
Due to the reclaimed nature of the materials, some variance is to be expected
- the maker
Margaret Taylor
Margaret Taylor's business of creating artful picture frames, mirrors, furniture, birdhouses, garden and wall art actually began as a hobby. Taylor gained experience and knowledge helping her father on house projects. She was inspired by the fundamental beauty of paint and texture, and she soon gained the confidence and ability to imagine and create anything. Her business, Dryads Dancing, is now in its eleventh year.
Taylor has recently started working with other artists and designers, such as Simone Wilson. The purpose of the business is to make art that is unique, affordable and available. collection
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Parking and Mass Transit Employee Benefits: NTEU's Kelley Wants Parity
On January 31, 2012, the leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called on Congress to approve the S. 1034 – Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2011, which would permanently establish parity between the parking and mass transit portions of the employee transportation benefit.
Feb 3 2012
Governments and Private Companies Exploring Benefits of XBRL
Congress is beginning to mandate the use of XBRL to track spending and improve transparency in government reports. Bills that contain language calling for the implementation of data standards, such as XBRL, have not yet passed into law, but the requirement could become part of the final payroll tax cut bill.
Jan 31 2012
Workplace Fitness
IRS Gears Up for Health Care Law Appeals
The IRS is bracing itself for the implementation of the massive new health care legislation. A few select provisions in the Affordable Care Act have already taken effect, but the most controversial sections of the new law are not scheduled to kick in until 2014.
Jan 17 2012
NTEU President: IRS Budget Cuts Will Hinder Service to CPAs, Clients
While the threat of a government shutdown has been put to rest, NTEU president is still warning Americans that reduced funding embodied in the signed omnibus spending agreement will place an enormous strain on the ability of government agencies to fulfill their critical missions – particularly the IRS.
Dec 29 2011
Congress Salutes Veterans with New Hiring Tax Credits
Just a week after this year's Veterans Day, President Obama signed new legislation providing a tax credit to employers who hire military veterans. The VOW to Hire Heroes Act is a small piece of a much larger jobs bill that has stalled in Congress.
Nov 21 2011
Education & Careers
Obama's Student Loan Plan: Relief for College Consumers?
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Nov 8 2011
Your Social Security Check Is NOT in the Mail
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Can the Internal Revenue Service go as far back as six years to audit taxpayers, or is it limited to a three-year period?
Oct 6 2011
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Sep 29 2011
Recap of tax winners and losers in new jobs bill
President Obama has proposed a number of significant tax changes in the American Jobs Act of 2011, including payroll tax cuts, tax credits to encourage hiring, extension of the 100 percent bonus depreciation tax break, and several revenue-raisers.
Sep 29 2011
New legislation curbs patents on tax strategies
The new "America Invents Act" – signed by the president on September 16, 2011 – includes the biggest overhaul of the U.S. patent system in almost 60 years.
Sep 16 2011
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Will the payroll tax holiday be extended?
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Aug 16 2011
Ohio Congressman Stivers explains effects of debt ceiling legislation
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Aug 8 2011
Congress raises debt ceiling; extraordinary Special Joint Committee to propose future debt reduction measures
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A comprehensive patent reform bill, the America Invests Act, which includes a provision prohibiting the award of new tax strategy patents, was approved in the House by a vote of 304 to 117 on June 24.
Jun 27 2011
Obama signs repeal of expanded 1099 requirements
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Debit cards rewards may be gone; more changes coming
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Apr 14 2011
Senate repeals 1099 provision; bill goes to President Obama for signature
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Apr 5 2011
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Apr 4 2011
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Gear Review
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I love these things! I have several of them! I use them for just about everything from rock climbing to kayaking to a pulley system to just about anything! They are bombproof, sturdy as can be! i have the screw lock and havent had a problem with the screw getting gunked up or sticky or anything! Love em!
View More Details on Black Diamond Rocklock Carabiner


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I know your tears more than you cause I see them so much
That's what happens when you're here with no trust
Okay, I lied, cheated, you cried
You done worse shit and I'm still here right
And motherfuck your friends, all them hoes hating
from Big Sean – Don't Tell Me You Love Me Lyrics on Genius
Sean is talking to his girl. He cheated on her, and wants to leave. He pleads his case by saying she has done worse and he is still with her. Her friends don't like Sean either, and they want her to leave him.
To help improve the quality of the lyrics, visit Big Sean – Don't Tell Me You Love Me Lyrics and leave a suggestion at the bottom of the page


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Sugar Sweet, Beauty Sleep
by Kesi J. Marcus
This Book is a photomontage of an imaginative world filled with butterflies and bumble bee's.
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Published November 21, 2012
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Larry King
The former editor of the Daily Texan and the Texas Observer was a good ol' boy, a haunted soul, and my greathearted friend. A remembrance.
Larry L. King tells what he liked most about Willie Morris, what kind of editor he was to work for, and the one word he would use to describe him.


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Double Corn Sticks
5 Feb 2011
|Refrigerated corn bread twists
|11 1⁄2 Ounce (1 Package)
|Canned corn
|1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs), drained
|Grated monterey jack cheese
|1⁄2 Cup (8 tbs)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place a piece of Kitchen Parchment on 13-inch Round Baking Stone.
Unroll 8 of the corn bread twists but do not separate.
Place twists on paper and, using Dough and Pizza Roller, roll into a 7-inch square.
Sprinkle corn and cheese over the dough.
Roll remaining twists into a 7-inch square on another piece of Kitchen Parchment.
Lay second piece of dough over the first.
Cut dough into 8 sticks, using Pizza Cutter, but do not separate.
Bake 15 minutes.
Cut between sticks again with Pizza Cutter and separate sticks slightly, leaving about 1/2 inch between each stick.
Return to oven and bake 7 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Summary
Difficulty Level:Medium
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Double Corn Sticks Recipe


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The Funding Conundrum: Why Funding for ICT for Development Needs to ChangePosted: October 9th, 2013 | Author: Erica Hagen | Filed under: citizen feedback, Tanzania | 8 Comments »
On a recent post, I talked about how effective feedback loops are close to being realized in Dar es Salaam.
In this post, I discuss the challenges facing this type of work today – specifically, the serious problems with the current landscape of funding in technology for development, and how we hinder progress in getting from flash-in-the-pan pilots to meaningful change.
In Dar es Salaam, GroundTruth began as a consultant to a pilot initially conceptualized and supported by the World Bank. We've supported it to an extent now independently (and voluntarily) for three years. In spite of having very engaged community members, having met with prominent members of government who have a strong interest in the information, and getting some local notoriety, as well as a good amount of international attention, the ultimate work of creating a strong feedback loop has yet to be done.
What's going on?
Well, here's how funding tends to operate when it comes to technology for development or feedback projects:
Step One:
- A tech pilot concept is developed and funded by a large organization or institution, lasting no more than a couple of months. The concept can be initiated by a smaller partner NGO or by the big organization or institution, or even by a funder.
- OR: a project contest, hackathon or app contest is initiated, sponsored and publicized by a funder or large agency. The contest may come with some funding as a reward.
Step Two:
- The winner of the contest or the implementer of the pilot works on the idea, and if there is enough funding, tries it out in the field. This involves – or should involve – real people, and real communities. It's possible that they get some results, usually in the form of uptake by citizens – there are reports posted to their online reporting tool, SMS sent in, apps tried out, used and maybe even tinkered with based on feedback.
Step Three:
- Blog posts are written about the nascent success, and a conversation is started about what this can potentially contribute to the feedback loop or target social issue. Publicity helps raise awareness of the pilot. Social media lights up, conferences are attended and lightening talks are made.
Step Four:
- That's it! The funding fades and the world moves on to the next new thing. (Here is a humorous take on this published today by ICT Works).
Of course, there are some attempts to provide sustained funding for important ideas – there's the Grand Challenge model, for instance. But more commonly, ideas that are proven to be good languish in a post-hype slump, while backers search for the Next Big Thing (or, Next New Thing). In some ways this is a chronic issue in development funding. But when it comes to technology, it's much worse, simply because the focus tends to be on the technology itself – not on the program design, context or thornier issues in the society which created the problem in the first place. And, as we all know from our own lives, technology is indeed a quick fix and changes almost daily. Suddenly we can communicate instantly with thousands of people or book plane tickets in a few seconds from our phone. Why should it be any different for efficiently solving a social problem? And, shouldn't any project be almost immediately "scaleable" – taken to a huge number of people or places very quickly – just like an iPhone 5 or Pinterest?
But creating actual social impact with the help of a technology is, clearly, a completely different ballgame. While we should know that, many are blinded by the potential for continuous (and cheap) experimentation which continuously boosts the profile of the associated agencies – simply because the news cycle highlights the "new" and "buzzworthy".
The temptation of quick and inexpensive (if superficial) impact and great PR is proving to be too much to resist.
Unfortunately, lost in the storm are not only the potentially transformative projects, but the people who took part in the pilot phase in the first place. Those people are the citizens, the residents, the community members, the real people who hoped they had something to gain from putting effort into association with a promising pilot. Is it really responsible – or ethical – to ditch such an effort before it has time to bear fruit? No – which is why many participants in this funding cycle keep trying to serve their public in spite of such immense resource challenges.
And the final blow is that the same funders continue to serve the cycle of the new, while tending to blame the initial developers and implementers for not creating something that's going to operate on its own sans grant funding. That is, something marketable. Or, that proves its own worth in a matter of months and thereby becomes something the public will pay for, or requires no money because of extensive volunteerism. In my view, this fallacy is akin to saying that public libraries don't deserve public funding because people should pay to access books and information if they truly value them (or they should manage and run their own free-braries). But that's another post.
Many technology interventions can indeed create an attractive output that appears online quickly and relatively easily, whether or not the ground reality has changed at all. This is different from most development areas – health, education – whose challenges resist even the illusion of a quick impact.
Where we need to concentrate resources now is on those organizations and individuals who have gotten past the first three, four, five iterations of a technology intervention and that attractive output – the projects where a constituency of support has already been built up at the grassroots level.
This isn't just us – I've met countless inspiring people often working in their own backyards on real feedback loops and real impact from collective citizen voices amplified by technology. Most of the time, what I hear is this same story – their potential is severely limited because after the initial buzz, there wasn't any more funding. While one might think that a good project will somehow manage to attract the support it needs, that's just not always the case. There are indeed resources out there which are being spent on technology and development, but they are not being directed toward those people already making a real difference, nor are they targeted at the post-pilot phase – which is not the same as the "scaling up" phase. I would call it the "impact phase" – putting in the hard work needed to create a tangible effect and close the loop of feedback, leaving a real mark on society. This might happen in year 2, 3, or 4 of a project, not year one.
We've had the surreal experience of watching a presentation in Washington which happened to show our Dar es Salaam pilot as an example of a great success, while we were chatting online with a project participant and learning that our entire stock of computer equipment had been destroyed in a flood, and therefore any chance of the pilot reaching its potential was nearly eliminated unless we could somehow get them new equipment. We started asking around for donations, and thankfully friends at a small tech company contributed two laptops. The project has now been kept going on just those two laptops for over a year now. This is great – but clearly limited. I think it shows that the nitty gritty of getting any of these ideas to work is ALWAYS much more difficult than it might initially appear. It requires a stronger commitment than anyone anticipates when they first realize that technology could become a game-changer in development.
It's complicated: in our case, there has indeed been interest to push forward from this pilot on the part of those we started out with at the World Bank. But there are often problems with having large institutions involved with small experimental pilots, which require strong adaptability and agility – within the organization as well as externally. For one reason or another and after various attempts, there hasn't yet been a successful channel for taking it forward to the impact phase.
Unfortunately, it's quite common for pilots that have great potential and international fanfare to stall and not go much further than that. I understand the real need for serious thinking and research on how to create that elusive impact – how to complete the loop – and for much, much better evidence and stronger theories of change. But that is the level at which we should be experimenting and piloting by now. And that is where funding needs to be directed. This field is no longer new – there are many, many pilots which need to take the experimental mindset to the next level of closing the loop of impact. Let's give them our support.
GroundTruth in Dar es Salaam: Six Lessons for Effective Feedback LoopsPosted: August 30th, 2013 | Author: Erica Hagen | Filed under: citizen feedback, tandale, Tanzania | 1 Comment »
Closing the Gap with Decision Makers
I was recently in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, examining the potential for a "feedback loop" in some of the regions where GroundTruth has worked, particularly in Tandale, and Keko Machungwa, two informal settlements.
GroundTruth hasn't had a formal program running in Dar, but since our mapping project in 2011 we've supplied the community group with computer equipment and supported a local student participant, Msilikale Msilanga, to help out on a regular basis, resulting in a fantastic community blog. We also provided some technical support to the local chapter of Slumdwellers International to do their own mapping in Keko Machungwa.
The information outcomes in both pilot areas have been quite impressive—they are much more visible now, and community members can work with information in ways that it's usually assumed only experts can manage. But we also knew that the potential for transformation on the ground would require, at a minimum, closing the gap between the community and those who could respond to their needs.
While there, I worked with volunteer Brielle Morgan and Msilikale to provide extra training for the key Tandale bloggers, and to help the group in Keko create their own blog. Then, we discussed the specific goals they wanted to achieve through their information work, their motivations, and how they imagined the information would loop with decision makers and produce the desired ground-level action. I took some of the same questions to meetings with local government officials, NGO leaders, urban experts at the World Bank, and other advisers.
In each community, we came up with a target issue that they wanted to work on through reporting/mapping. In Tandale, it was building a secondary school.
We had an amazing moment where Msilikale showed the group a map of all the local schools, and they were able to demonstrate where their children must travel to attend school—extremely far! This information could well support a push to build a new local school.
Creating a Full-fledged Loop
I'm not sure if you can see the way this project "could" go and become a full-fledged loop, so I'll detail it first:
- Reports/information lead down a media and publicity path—a wider audience is brought to the blog and maps, and therefore to the community, generating a potential interest by mainstream media. Government response follows due to public demand.
- Reports reach to particular target actors in government. Key community members who participated in the reporting make the information known to those key people, along with those of us working at a higher level. The combination of targeting the right person/people, and having high quality information and clear goals, leads to the desired outcome
- Reports influence the community itself to take actions, such as, not throwing trash in the river, or addressing various other public problems.
Six Lessons:
Here are six lessons we can take from the experience of learning how to create an effective information circle that allows local voices to be heard, and increases the impact of the grassroots information activists.
1) Context Matters (maybe more than anything else)
While this sounds more than obvious, I don't think it gets nearly enough prominence in technology and development projects in general. It's a top consideration.
Our Dar example illustrates this well: while it's just next door to Kenya, it's a world apart. So while in Kenya we've looked at how to work closely with community organizations and NGOs to achieve changes, collaboratively assessing information needs, in Tanzania, most people recommend working directly with government officials. Civil society organizations are comparatively few and far between. This is a pretty fundamental difference when it comes to planning the trajectory of your information or advocacy.
In Kibera, it's best to build a coalition of local groups and individuals that have an interest in the topic you're working on, and slowly build toward incorporating government and larger organizations. But in Tandale, meet directly with the local MP and mayor, ward officers, and individuals from the community.
2) Deciphering the political context isn't something most people know much about
If you expect your average participant (or even average organization) in a feedback loop to understand the political system well enough to navigate through it, you'll probably be disappointed. In Dar, the expectation was often that "the right people will listen and do something" if we collect and publicize local information and needs.
Part of working in this space means helping people find out how things actually work, and what they can do to have a stronger impact.
But this doesn't mean you should do the connecting yourself, or determine the pathways independently of the group you're working with. It's about partnering, not leading. This is when teaching the skills needed for investigative journalism can come in handy—why, exactly, isn't there a secondary school yet in Tandale? Who can I talk to and ask?
Once you ask people to begin to scratch the surface of an issue, you realize that people aren't often comfortable asking such questions. Our groups in Dar were not sure whether those important key people would be willing to talk to them at all (and maybe they would not). But this is a good problem to have—it's where things get interesting, especially once people begin to cross these perceived boundaries. Partners that are knowledgeable about advocacy and those with a "convening" ability are fantastic to bring in at this point.
3) Don't assume you know people's motivations for participating
Here are some examples of what people said about their reasons for writing the Tandale and Keko blogs:
"We're expecting someone to see our problems and help us."
"We want Tandale to be known."
"To learn computer skills."
"With the map, instead of someone coming in to tell you, you can see what is needed for yourself. We can use the blog to share this in a story with photos and locations. The community as a whole will see and take action. It will also allow us to interact with all levels of government. We can defend our ideas with information."
As you can see, the last respondent has a much more nuanced idea of what they hope the information can do—thanks to her experience working on community issues in a leadership role. She anticipates playing an active role to get the information where it needs to go—whether out to the wider community, or targeting it to particular members of government.
But the other responses are also important. The desire to be "seen," in particular, is something we often hear, and it gets into deeper issues of social standing and subtle ways of raising the status of people in a community—toward the longer-term goals of increasing their power in society. An invisible or unheard person/community is easily ignored.
4) Feedback is fundamentally a social process—not individual
This reinforces what we've learned elsewhere—there is a group or social aspect to reporting and using information that is different from what we tend to do in the United States. Belonging to a group that is working toward a shared goal, and having physical contact with the group members is critical. Which means . . .
5) Organizations matter
We've learned this over and over again, but it's still left out (or wished out) of the planning process, much of the time. While GroundTruth started working in Tanzania with partners like the World Bank, Twaweza, and Map Kibera, on the ground we had a group that consisted of university students, community members, and members of the Slumdwellers federation.
Would this group coalesce into something that enables the feedback loop to sustain into the future? Not on its own. Institutionally ungrounded pilots are simply not going to succeed. It was a fantasy initially that a large university would play that role. Grounding must come from close to the ground.
We've essentially provided this for the initiative until this point. So during my trip, I revisited the topic of ownership and how to support community members who were so enthusiastic about the potential of the mapping and blogging. I had a great talk with the leader of a civil society organization umbrella group about how to institutionalize a project in a place with few capable non-governmental organizations.
But it often boils down to…
6) Sustained funding matters: pilots and experiments need time to bear fruit
We need to be able to work intensively, over a long enough period of time, until a paradigm shift begins to happen. This requires not one-off pilot funding, but sustained funding over a couple of years.
Then, and only then, you'll start to see real results. We've been at this for three years in Dar es Salaam, and we've seen amazing persistence by the participants, but less than inspiring funding opportunities.
We've seen contests and hackathons and government-led initiatives, but not investment in the very people who are on the cusp of effectively changing the way citizens relate to their government.
You might wonder how a few blogs are going to change the face of participation in development. This probably sounds very piecemeal and unscalable or whatever other impatient adjectives. But the final question remains:
Is building a large, all-encompassing feedback system through government going to be what works in this new frontier of development, or is it going to be the messy process of engagement at the grassroots and people's own experimentation with and ownership of technology that ends up having a chance to finally flip the development paradigm on its head?
I will go into this in more depth in a follow-up blog post coming soon.
Citizen election reporting in Kenya: A breakthrough in online-offline collaborationPosted: May 2nd, 2013 | Author: Erica Hagen | Filed under: citizen feedback, kenya | Tags: elections, kenya, reporting | Leave a comment »
The Kenyan elections were more than a month ago, but a debate continues in the crisis mapping community about whether the various technologies deployed to track and respond to outbreaks of violence were a confused and possibly dangerous mess, or a successful contribution to what was ultimately a peaceful (if disputed) process.
DO WE REALLY NEED ALL OF THOSE PROJECTS??? Do we really need 3 maps, 7 phone numbers, and several web-forms? Is that really such a crazy bad idea to have one coordinated number/web-form that could then have in the back-end multiple responders and organizations working together? – Anahi Ayala (ICT Works blog post)
The criticism goes on to describe this duplication as irresponsible and dangerous, especially supposing that the submitted information has no real response mechanism.
While it's true that having multiple public numbers for submitting information about one election is not ideal, I believe that behind the scenes was a much more encouraging process that has only just begun. Here's why I think that in the balance, technology was part of the solution, not the problem, during Kenya's elections:
1) Unprecedented collaboration among technologists, at least at a pilot level.
Map Kibera took part in elections monitoring by mapping and reporting through SMS, blogs and video throughout the election period on our multimedia sites, Voice of Kibera and Voice of Mathare in two slums. Kepha Ngito, our executive director, offers this extensive writeup of how the process looked behind the scenes, definitely worth a read. Map Kibera already had been working with Ushahidi-based websites and video news for three years in Kibera, and with blogging and video in Mathare for about two years; therefore neither project was created specifically for the election. Given our status as an established community-based group focusing on reporting and local information, we were ready to take on this event without creating any new technology.
As elections neared, more organizations began to set up temporary programming around election reporting. In particular, our team joined events held by Ushahidi around their Uchaguzi platform, and we began to think about how to collaborate: they as a national scope project and ourselves in-depth in two key communities. Ultimately, some members of our team worked throughout the election at the iHub headquarters of Ushahidi to monitor their reports coming in from Kibera and Mathare, and share our more detailed and verified reports with their system. This meant both reports and response could be tightly coordinated.
Would it have made sense to have used only one reporting number, that of Uchaguzi for instance? No, because Uchaguzi is no longer active, while Map Kibera is building up a long term citizen engagement including this SMS number. It made more sense to work on interoperability and coordination.
2) Unprecedented coordination among community-based groups
What was the key to all the information coming in, and the verification process?
At the community level, there was unprecedented coordination among a variety of agencies who normally do not work together. Concerned groups put aside whatever challenges normally keep them operating separately, and pledged support to each other in order to serve the good of the community. This kind of network is a real breakthrough in coordination locally given the challenges that often prevent such teamwork, and it naturally came from desire for security in the slum not any outside impetus. As Kepha writes:
KCODA, Pamoja FM, Map Kibera, Kamukunji Pressure Group, CREAW, the Langata District Peace Committee, Community Policing groups and the office of the District Commissioner joined efforts to create a network called the Kibera Civic Watch Consortium, a body that would respond to and coordinate the community's efforts to maintain peace and provide interventions where possible. (Kepha Ngito, How slum communities came together to help prevent election violence)
3) Response and verification
It was this background offline coordination that would allow for immediate election-day verification and constant liaising with security groups, both official and community led, in case of any problem. The online-offline coordination often involved both SMS into the system, and phone calls to security or other key people to keep tensions down.
…We stationed our trained citizen reporters in each polling station to be relaying SMS news to our verification team to be verified and approved before being posted on our Voice of Kibera and Voice of Mathare websites.The Map Kibera verification team dealt with every information that came in, calling back and forth to establish the facts and figures about every report sent in. Our video teams rushed to scenes, most of which were not known or easily accessed by the mainstream or foreign press to capture instant news which they edited and uploaded on Youtube. Members also took photos and posted them to our blogs and Facebook group. In this verification process, the team succeeded in dismissing several false alarms, wrong information and propaganda for violence. In addition and in response, security organs and emergency service providers enhanced their presence in these areas highly reducing chances of violence. In one instance, when many reports were sent about youth gathering around in groups in one area of Kibera, after several phone calls with the security organs, the Police Commissioner authorized a chopper to fly around conducting a security check, the crowds soon dispersed and calm returned. (Kepha Ngito, How slum communities came together to help prevent election violence)
I heard a number of claims floating around about technology platforms being directly responsible for police or security response. I would advise that these be investigated closely. In the case of both Kibera and Mathare, if anything it was this type of "online" or SMS-based reporting in conjunction with offline personal and official networks, connected often through ordinary phone calls, which activated response, not a pure technical system.
Bringing together the various kinds of technical reporting options with great local networks can create response processes that are effective, but not overly sensitive to false alarm reports.
4) Good citizen election monitoring is not "pure" crowdsourcing. We and others relied on establishing networks and offline meetings and coordination to build participation.
Another misconception is that every SMS number was targeted for the general public. Actually, the Map Kibera SMS line was and is primarily used by our volunteer reporters to send information from prearranged locations like polling stations. For the election, aside from our members, the Kibera Civic Watch Consortium sent in many reports during the election. The numbers are publicized to general residents, but operate mostly through carefully cultivated users.
I think there is a basic misconception that "crowdsourcing" something like election violence will happen with anonymous individuals. In tight-knit communities, this is simply not the case. They may text into a nationally publicized number, but those reports are not always the ones you want or can rely on. Verification is needed, which means local networks are still key. My hunch is that when people report through a local system the information is more likely to be accurate, because they know the faces behind the tech.
Particularly in more marginalized, insecure, or informal communities, people come together based on relationship networks, and being known and trusted as a leader in the community is an earned privilege that does not come easily nor is it taken lightly. People do not often trust something new that is introduced from "outside".
National scale projects targeted to single events like elections should heavily support existing community level initiatives, and community-level initiatives around information need to be long-term investments into the community fabric. This means not just new technology projects which are still rare, but also traditional community media or data-driven local planning groups.
5) We're still working out what works best in the space, so multiple projects are important for narrowing it down. A top-down model won't work for citizen-based technology in emergencies, at least not for a long while.
While coordination and duplication avoidance is good, we are talking about places where the normal emergency response functions need supplementation and should be supplemented. I don't know if a single top-down system for emergencies is ever going to work in Kenya, but it certainly hasn't yet. I've seen way too many everyday crises happen with absolutely no response at all save for neighbors helping neighbors (and literally saving each others' lives on a daily basis). In that sense people need access to options and a variety of ways to draw attention to and publicize an urgent situation. It's also in the spirit of the technology world to keep trying out new ideas and iterating.
On the other hand, it's true that some might irresponsibly publicize reporting channels that seem to promise response they can't deliver, and technology is most certainly something we are now seeing organizations use to make themselves look good even at the expense of the public. We should ask whether there were unnecessary institutional barriers or unethical motivations to any lack of coordination or collaborative spirit, and direct our transparency lens that way. If competition for funding or funder requirements inhibited the social benefit of working together, as it usually does, then these incentive systems should be exposed. Also, the opportunism of pop-up and parachute technology projects just a week or so before the election is a distraction, and there were several of these as well. But what I think we've seen here is a partial triumph of civic collectivism over the usual silos created by the donor marketplace, which is why I'm seeing the glass as half-full. It could stand to be filled up all the way.
But here's the most important trend that gives me hope:
7) A sea-change is underway in terms of how people engage with information in Kenya: they feel it's their right and responsibility to speak out and to protect peace by countering rumor; and they increasingly feel they have tools with which to do so.
This is my hunch, but since 2009, I believe that the positive side of social media has had an impact in Kenya – or at least in Nairobi. I noticed during the election that people expected to be able to counter incorrect news and information sources by using their Facebook account or Twitter or one of the projects referenced here – they have grown used to reporting themselves and no longer rely exclusively on traditional media sources. When they see something happening, they expect someone local – if not themselves, then a neighbor – to be able to take a photo, send a message, somehow communicate.
This means that rumors can be countered more quickly, and leaves room for peace activists (most Kenyans) to organize and amplify accurate and helpful messages and at least contribute to the conversation, creating a more balanced discussion.
During these elections there was a new sense of the importance and responsibility that citizens have for being information collectors, transmitters, publicizers, verifiers, and the inkling that the standard channels of information aren't the only ones that exist anymore – and that citizens have the responsibility to not only voice opinions but keep the rumors down, to participate in peace. Real crisis prevention has much more to do with local leadership, coordination, and behind the scenes response than the information that's necessarily visible online. But that isn't to say that creating visibility, keeping track of the truth and bringing information out of the dark in close to real time isn't extremely valuable – it connects and inspires those who want to keep the peace and provides the opportunity for a local counter narrative to the dominant media.
Don't risk missing the bigger story here: the simple act of residents recording actual ground level events themselves will have a long-term transformative impact on society – nowhere perhaps, as profoundly as in places like informal settlements.
This post originally appeared at Disruptive Witness.
More Riotous Open Data Possibilities of KeralaPosted: February 4th, 2013 | Author: mikel | Filed under: India | 1 Comment »
Theyyam is a religious ceremony of Kerala (from Nila northwards, not in Chalakudy) performed annually and uniquely in hundreds, maybe thousands of temples (see note from Prakash in the comments clarifying..). A kind of possession takes place, the deity inhabits the performer of the Theyyam, through dancing, procession, drumming, fire, psychotropic altered states, elaborate costumes, sometimes sacrifice, all eventually bringing direct blessings, fortune telling, and satisfaction to the place and people in attendance. Superficially, there are similarities in style to other arts of Kerala, like the more refined and somewhat better known art of Kathakali, as well as Mudiyett, recognized by UNESCO as a more ancient source folk practice. We visited the master of Mudiyett, watched his evening instruction of local kids in drumming, and while fascinating, it's hard in that brief exposure to understand how all these folk art forms fit together and relate to each other. So that's just one place where I see open platforms for responsible tourism deepening visitors' experiences by having communities themselves document and share knowledge and draw connections and tell the stories.
Kaleidoscopic Catholic Church in Kerala
Kerala has 75 kinds of bananas, and 75 lakh variations of culture. While we were in Chalakudy, an annual pilgrimage season to a local diety was starting, an intense Hindu bachelor God, which inspired a "temporary temple" in Chalakudy itself (no, I asked, it's not burned like the Temple at Burning Man). People of different faiths are welcome to celebrate each others festivals, and whether Christian, Hindu or Muslim, the folk festivals all have a similar Kerala feel. There's blending and borrowing: baroque cake-like churches lit up in kaleidoscopic fun fair lights (again fitting in right on the Playa); the oldest mosque in India nearby in Kodungallur has a Hindu-like oil lamp in the most inner place of worship. Theyyam sometimes involves very pre-Brahmin seeming animal sacrifice, and tribal peoples perform snake possession ceremonies. I can only wonder what kind of festivals were held at the oldest Synagogue "site" in India, since that community has all left for Israel (based on a gravestone marked 1264, though the entire community traces back at least til 3rd century AD).
Malayalam Calendar. Open Thayam could be just one simple hack of Open Watersheds.
Prakash is a passionate, obsessive collector of Kerala culture. He diligently seeks out the locations of athaani rest blocks, marking the ancient trade routes. He's called on frequently as an expert on Thayam, having collected the location and timing of hundreds of ceremonies. And he's generous with his knowledge. From what is his private word doc, we could potentially iterate and create a simple site openly sharing the location, timing and details of Thayam. Start just with a single site, Leaflet or OpenLayers with a timeline, sharing this data. Iterate to something db-backed to help Prakash and others manage the collection and update the collection into the thousands (complexly, timings vary slightly each year because of the subtly different Malayalam calendar). From culture, to passion, to data, to openness, to open culture.
The Temple 2010 on Burning Man Earth
The vibrancy, the pervasive creative and sacredness of Kerala, where any group of trees can become a sacred grove, reminds me of Burning Man, and I realize the platform for creating, sharing and connecting of Kerala's river basins could look a bit like the structure of Burning Man Earth: there are camps (or places in Kerala context), art, events, and people; and means to connect, communicate, share media, and pivot around all these. One idea that bounced around BME were tools to create your own schedule (pre-selection) and record your own experience (via automatically linking GPS traces to places and art and events). The work of Blue Yonder for tourists is based in part around developing itineraries, and I could eventually see itinerary functions directly in that responsible tourism platform. Before our arrival to Chalakudy we received an ambitious itinerary (exhaustively including every identified responsible tourism site) and having a map and idea of how much road travel the days would entail would have helped us prepare as tourists and sealed the memories. Of course, we were there to actually help create that map…
Participatory Mapping of Indigenous Names in Taiwan
Open Watershed Data, and a methodology of responsible tourism for river basins, provides a context for these media tools to develop. Design workshops, data fellowships, (even, um, yes, maybe) hackathons, could enable technical and design participation in creating amazing tools for cultures, communities, environments. Kerala has a volunteer spirit, and people want to contribute to "the something greater" when they have the chance. Folks described as "literary people" research local place names, recording the stories and meanings embedded in those names. While in Taiwan, I sat in on a session with an elder of an indigenous group, while he browsed his village in Google Earth, he told stories of (and a dozen students dutifully recorded) the names of every place, indicating deep knowledge of the landscape, how to practice agriculture, what to expect from the weather, commerating the efforts of the past. Indigenous people of Taiwan have gained stature in their society, and they are working to see through the right to return to indigenous names in their communities, yet the big challenges of responding to change remain, including increasing interest from Han Chinese tourists. The struggle is to maintain the integrity of the culture, preserve the culture, as money comes in, avoiding division and degeneration as more opportunities open up. One tribe managed to organize into a tourist cooperative, so home stays and the like don't compete but cooperate. Many issues are over the land itself. Do individuals in the tribe have the right to sell land to outsiders for agriculture, even if risking overuse and environmental degredation, as it is their land, or is there a collective responsibility in the notion of tribal rights?
The issues of land rights management, cultural preservation all ring true to Kerala, with overlapping jurisdiction of tribal reserves, forest reserves, water bodies, and individual rights. In Kerala, what to say when the people of the river in some desperation, mine the sand in order to make a little money and survive, yet hasten further destruction of the river they depend on. The last remaining sand bank of Chalakudy was saved due to collective effort, as it was adjacent to a religious site. Hence, culture and value are the greatest strengths to seeing long term benefit vs short term individual gain. Perhaps sharing openly, and inviting the real interest of the wider world, can change the trajectory of damanged rivers and lost ways of life.
There is a tremendous wealth in Chalakudy. The crop of this very place, pepper, drove globalization mellenia ago. Roman coins have been found here. Jewish and Christian communities have been here since the 3 century AD. The first mosque and first synagogue in India are here. Colombus was looking for Chalakudy. The Portugeuse built the first European fort on this river. All of this is smartly being invested in by the Kerala government in the Muziris Heritage project. It's wonderful, and likely to draw many tourists, both international and from India's growing middle class (the India tourist riotous take of a place like the Athirappalli Waterfall is an experience in itself). But what of the every day history still there today. There are growing numbers of people who want to know more, surely typical and niche, but a crucial part of the tourism "industry", or maybe better, "culture". During our last trip to Nila, we impromptly stopped at a matchstick factory. The ruckus of this very basic mechanical operation was transfixing, totally normal to the people working there, who couldn't understand our interest … but have you ever seen matchsticks made by hand? Social media and the internet are connecting unprecedently, changing relentlessly, challenging (I heard young Kerala guys listening to Gangam Style on their phones). We're in that moment where perhaps this force of technology can discover and perserve the extraordinary normal of Kerala.
Scrappy TandalePosted: February 1st, 2013 | Author: mikel | Filed under: tandale, Tanzania | Leave a comment »
Last week, Gary Gale and I chatted about Tandale, Dar es Salaam. I reached out to Gary after he posted about his visit, (also see the Tandale group's blog post about it). I saw that he was really affected by the challenge of life there, but also inspired by the small hopes that mapping has opened up, and the voracious enthusiasm of the Dar tech community. I feel the same; a deep responsibility, especially to the individuals in this community that are truly dedicated to change, and have taken the chance to believe in the vision of openness. Despite it being 1.5 years after the initial Tandale pilot, with no sure follow up in sight, we haven't let go. We support Msilikale Msilanga, former Ardhi student, and he in turn supports the community members to keep up with reporting. We have left sets of equipment on loan there.
I recounted my perspective on the whole odyssey, complementing what he'd heard from Mark. Basically, Tandale started as a successful pilot, with lots of promise and excitement from the community, the students, the local government, and the World Bank. And that excitement continues to this day — Tandale is often highlighted as a symbol of the potential of community mapping. But for whatever systemic and accidental reasons, the elements haven't come together to fully continue the project in the way it deserves, to deepen and expand across Dar. There've been a lot of meetings, several different plans. It's frustrating, but understandable. GroundTruth took it on ourselves to draw up the project details to build up the tech and program, especially connecting the voices of the community to mainstream media, and sought support from the Africa News Innovation Challenge. We got very close, all the way to the finals, but not to the finish line; perhaps we didn't hit all the right phrases on the bingo cards. We still believe the concept is very sound and substantial, rooted in real experience and need, and we are still looking to make it happen. Let's talk if you have ideas.
In the mean time, we all do whatever we can. We're scrappy. All of the original equipment was destroyed in flooding in late 2011, tragic, but typical of the risk of the high water table and unplanned development of Dar es Salaam. Last June, we were able to bring a little more equipment to Tandale. And due to the ongoing, amazing, inspiring dedication of folks like Msilikale and the residents of Tandale, we managed to help start an ongoing blogging group there, as well as to support CCI's expansion of mapping to another settlement, Keko Machungwa.
They results are absolutely impressive. The Tandale Blog fully covers the events and issues of Tandale. It is sustained purely with the motivation of community members and their interest in making known the challenges they face in the hopes that they can be more visible and guide government resources to the area. This keeps me going.
Talking with Gary, he in interested to help out, however he can, as a remote mapping geek. I thought I'd just share publicly the top simple tech tasks. Basically we have the Tandale blog, and an empty and waiting Keko blog. Both of these could use some design attention, and perhaps integration of translation. They're both missing maps; though almost every post is associated with a place in the community. There are lots of ways that could happen. We've set up Ushahidi for Tandale before, but there are technical issues with using it in low bandwidth environments (a strange "Error -1″), and I'm not sure how well coupled it is with the blog. And perhaps, Ushahidi should be set up to cover all of Dar, incorporating numerous feeds, to provide a mapped overview of all the conversations happening Dar-wide.
This could be a great chance for young techies to gain experience in a real practical project. There are enthusiastic young people gathering in places like TanzICT and KINU. Gary could start building mentor relationships with these folks, and that could go far. Mobile phones and ICT of all kinds are mushrooming in Dar, and home-grown spatial applications, especially building on high quality OpenStreetMap data, could open new markets. On the other hand, mentoring takes twice as much time as just doing it yourself, so we'll need to figure out what will really work for Tandale.
If any of this strikes a chord with you, or you have any scrappy or long term ideas for supporting motivated, grassroots communities, please get in touch.