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Oct 10, 2006
Wireless Cam Sensor not available
Maybe I did TOO good of a job on it, because I've been overwhelmed with email requests to purchase the wireless camera seen here.
The Wireless Camera you see here is homebrew. This means I made it myself. There is no KellyEngineeringGroup company (Kelly is my surname and this was meant as a joke). It is not an official LEGO product - it is not available for sale - you cannot buy it from HiTechnic or other vendor. I took a spare (extra) Light sensor and took it apart to obtain the shell needed for the camera. There was no wiring or soldering or any special skills needed other than the abilities to squeeze out superglue and drill a small hole for the antennae.
What I can provide you is a link to buy the camera and receiver here. Thank you ALL for your emails, and I'm sorry that I can't make one for you. But it's not hard. $30US (plus shipping fees) will get you your own camera... consider supergluing a small 3L beam to the bottom of the camera if you don't want to sacrifice a sensor.
I won't be able to respond to any more emails about the camera... sorry.
23 comments:
- Brian Davis said...
Hehe... I'm glad I got mine before you, as I suspect Geek etc may have to order new stock fairly soon. This is the model I've been using for NXTcam and trainCam projets of my own, and it's rather nice (touchy tuning, but reasonable picture for $30)
Brian Davis
- Oct 10, 2006, 5:18:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
I should've contacted geek.com for a commission setup... :)
I do like the image quality... the color is nice, but you have to keep it about 20 feet away from the receiver or the color gets funny. I don't have any trouble with the tuner... once I find the proper setting, I don't touch it and it never seems to waver...
- Oct 10, 2006, 5:22:00 AM
- Guy Ziv said...
Brian: does your camera project requires a PC in-the-loop? I'll be happy to see any $30 camera that can work directly with the NXT...
- Oct 10, 2006, 5:44:00 AM
- Guy Ziv said...
Jim: how much current does the camera needs? Since it works with 9V, you can connect it to the 9V output on the NXT cable.
- Oct 10, 2006, 5:47:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
The end of the camera has a special adapter - you can connect to a 9V power supply or an AC adapter, but I don't think the NXT adapter is compatible.
- Oct 10, 2006, 6:30:00 AM
- Brian Davis said...
This is *not* a $30 camera that can be "watched" by the NXT - it's just a cheap commercial spy-cam, that runs off a 9V battery, and wirelessly transfers color video and sound to a receiver unit (wall-powered) that has two output RCA jacks: standard video and single channel audio. Again, it does not interface to the NXT, either to send the image to the NXT or even powered from it (although the second should very well be possible, I suppose). The camera is essentially a ride-along accessory, transmitting the image back to a TV. Still a lot of fun, however.
Brian Davis
- Oct 10, 2006, 7:50:00 AM
My compliments on the homebrew Jim. It looks great. Although I can't buy it directly, from what you described, maybe I could manage to make one without flubbing it. Do you think it could work with the RCX (through the PC and IR tower)?
- Oct 11, 2006, 4:41:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
It will work fine with an RCX because it doesn't provide any feedback to the brick itself... this is just a camera that my robot "holds" and moves around with... there is no NXT-G code or any other programming related to the camera. A small 9V battery goes along for the ride and sends the signal to a receiver.
- Oct 11, 2006, 5:04:00 AM
What kind of connection is used between the camera and the 9v? Would it be possible to hombrew a connector so that you could hook it up to an NXT motor output?
- Oct 12, 2006, 8:59:00 AM
Yay, I ordered mine today!
How odd, I'm already getting NXT accesories and I don't even have the NXT:-) Oh well, I can set it up with the RCX until that blessed day when I get the NXT.
I'm still curiouse about the piece of cable that attaches to the 9v, I want to make an adaptor so that it can be attached directly to the NXT (or RCX) but I don't know what kind of cable to get...You mentioned that the NXT addaptor probably isn't compatable, so what kind is? I guess I can wait until it comes in the mail...
- Oct 13, 2006, 2:37:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
It's hard to explain, so I guess what I'll do is take a picture for you... I'll try to get that done in the next few days for you.
Obviously, with the right electronics skills, someone could come up with a way to wire the camera's power in... but I'm just guessing. I really don't know what the power requirements of the camera in terms of amperage...
I like the 9V battery solution because it's so portable. I can take the camera and use it elsewhere if I so choose without worrying that I've messed with the cable or power supply.
Hope you get your NXT kit fast... can't wait to see some of your designs.
- Oct 13, 2006, 3:14:00 AM
- Tony Naggs said...
I'm very impressed with the camera price, I think something similar in the UK would be £100 (US $180).
Maniac - be careful with the RCX, the voltage can reverse and I am not sure whether, even at full power, the power is continuous. Certainly at lower speeds the power will switch on and off rapidly.
From Jim's earlier pictures there is certainly a 9v battery clip.
If you know what you are doing you need to treat the RCX output as the AC input to a full bridge rectifier. You will need at least a couple of capascitors (an electrolytic, maybe 100 uF and a ceramic 0.1 uF) on the DC output. If you do not fully understand this stuff it is much better to not risk both your mini camera and RCX!
Best wishes,
- Oct 13, 2006, 6:44:00 AM
I'll have to check the max imput of the camera before I try to make a convertor cable, but if it is powered directly by a 9v it shouldn't get fried by one RCX output. I don't know if the RCX is a constant supply, how about the NXT?
- Oct 13, 2006, 7:40:00 AM
- Christopher R. Smith (Littlehorn) said...
If you're all about feedback (as in eBay feedback)... Geeks is also selling the cameras on eBay at the same price with same shipping. They accept PayPal at both places.
Jim, do you think you can post a screen shot or 2 to detail the camera's resolution? I have a similar camera I haven't used in a long while. I might want grab one of these newer models.
- Oct 14, 2006, 1:46:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
The camera I've seen on eBay appears to be an older model. It'll probably still work, but I think it requires an antennae hookup rather than the white/yellow Sony adapters (is that the right terminology?)...
As for resolution, I'll see what I can do... I don't have video output from my tv to post, but I'll try and figure something out.
- Oct 14, 2006, 3:17:00 AM
I just bought this camera from Geeks.com and along with it they suggested the PTV-370 - ADSTech Notebook CardBus TV Tuner Card w/Video Capture. I went ahead and bought this too, it is on sale for $39.95. The PTV-370 is a cardbus card for a laptop. It allows you to plug the camera's receiver into your laptop and watch the video from the camera on your laptop instead of the TV. If you don't have a laptop, they have internal cards and USB products to do this image grabbing for a PC. Once the video is coming into the PC, then you can even grab images and save them as .bmp images.
I am hoping to get this working so that the images can be fed from the video camera on the NXT into my laptop and fed from the image digitizer on the laptop to ImageJ running on the laptop. ImageJ is a free image processing tool that I can use to 'look' at the images that the NXT is seeing. With ImageJ you can locate objects in the image to tell the NXT to move to, do face recognition, etc. If it works, then we'll have a closed loop from the camera to the PC and then processing the images from the camera and sending commands back to the NXT via Bluetooth to command the NXT to respond to what it is seeing in the images.
- Oct 17, 2006, 4:54:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
- Oct 17, 2006, 5:02:00 AM
I've been haveing some trouble getting anything to show. I tinkered for about a half hour but there was nothing but static, except for a few seconds right in the begining.
I've tried it on only one TV monitor, used both wall power and a 9v battery to power the camera. I've tested it at varying distances from the reciever, starting with touching the reciever, and moveing as far away as 20' with a wall in between.
I checked out geeks.com but the product support didn't help much, I have yet to send them an email though. Maybe if I can't get it working tomorrow.
If anybody knows how to fix it, that would be great.
- Oct 19, 2006, 10:02:00 AM
- Jim Kelly said...
Well, I know I had to dial in the reception very carefully... but you might just have a defective camera... it does happen. Sorry it happened to you, though.
- Oct 19, 2006, 10:22:00 AM
It may be the TV I'm working with, it's pretty old. I'll try it on a computer monitor and if it doesn't work there I can return the camera...it has a warranty.
- Oct 19, 2006, 11:19:00 PM
- Rawan said...
hiiii can we put a web cam to nxt robots by interfacing it in the usb port , and how can we do it ? thanks
- Mar 16, 2008, 6:16:00 AM
- Martin said...
Good Job! :)
- Jun 4, 2008, 3:34:00 AM
I used the same camera as a ride along camera on my 6-wheel Mars explorer RCX robot. I added two tiny clip-on LED lights available at the hardware store in the flashlight section (I guess you normally would clip them on a hat.) Anyway, the lights are super bright and also look pretty cool. Oh, and I used a portable DVD player as my 'monitor' instead of a television.
- Jun 10, 2008, 2:56:00 PM


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Moderators: Tonyblack, Jason, Toothy
Dotsie wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again - the LOTR trilogy was much better as films Yeah, Jan'll get me, but I just found the books a bit dry with too many wierd bits, and an ending that I thought would never happen. The second book in particular was improved.
I'm not saying that the books were bad. I just wouldn't be tempted to read them again.
Jan Van Quirm wrote:No movie can ever really carry over the atmos and spirit of a well-written book - we see this with Twilight, I think although I've not seen any of the movies or read the books and probably never will.
The bit that came immediately after the alleged hilarious remark and put it into full context that some people conveniently omit so they can get a cheap laugh... wrote:They're not good books so people are saying on here, but they can make good movies (if you're the right age and have the required teen hormone levels) that have initial fan impact by good casting and lots of gory-ish action, but will likely fade eventually because the glamour can only last for a certain about of time without good storytelling to back it up
The one bit I can't forgive is axing the Scouring of the Shire - no wonder Christopher Lee blew his top and went all flouncy on Peter Jackson.
DaveC wrote:The one bit I can't forgive is axing the Scouring of the Shire - no wonder Christopher Lee blew his top and went all flouncy on Peter Jackson.
I agree, especially as they teased it in the Galadriel scene in Fellowship.
The rest of the book of the Hobbit also has another big battle and Smaug etc which would of course quite easily make a single but very, very long film.SPOILER wrote:where Gandalf leaves them at the western side of Mirkwood and then follows him down to southern Mirkwood to Dol Guldur for the face off with the 'Necromancer' (really Sauron). There'll be another huge battle scene, possibly featuring wizard fire down there which wasn't covered in the book, as Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel join forces, besiege and then kick the nasssty Necromancer out of the castle. However, because of Saruman giving them duff info, they foul it up and in fact bring total war (as per LotR) closer by doing so, as Sauron promptly heads off to Mordor etc etc...
Jan Van Quirm wrote:this is why Christopher Lee went Librarian-shit because they did film it or planned to and he was looking forward to appearing in the final part of the Trilogy. It's also why they're having to rebuild Hobbiton out in NZ for The Hobbit as they torched parts of it for the scene in Lothlorien that did survive in Fellowship.
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Monday, April 09, 2012
Who Is This "We"?
First, writing specialized articles or monographs for an academic audience is not in and of itself a bad thing. As a whole, all historians generate research and ideas that are used by other historians or people writing about history, including those who write for popular audiences. "Boring" work appear and enhances, synthesized, into other historians' work who may write for a wider audience in a more lively manner.
Also, define "boring." As we know from our students, "boring" can mean "I don't want to put out the effort to learn." "Boring" can mean "I have no interest in this subject at all." "Boring" can mean "I'd rather be doing something else right now." "Boring" can mean "good idea but -- oh, my god, I have to translate it into English;" and "boring" can mean "the prose is ghastly!" Boring seems a rather subjective adjective. In Cronon's case, I think that "boring" means "highly specialized language conveying complicated ideas with linguistic shortcuts for people already familiar with the subject." That's not always boring for everyone, but it might be difficult for a newcomer to the subject to comprehend with an appropriate level of ease.
Second, anyone who has had to teach in an open-admissions school knows that attempting to teach to people who barely graduated from high school at the same time as you are attempting to teach to people who could have gone to a more selective school but for other reasons, knows the perils of losing either end of the spectrum in an attempt to accommodate the needs of the other -- even when you attempt to teach to the middle. The same goes for writing. There is nothing wrong with choosing an audience and learning to write for that audience, be they other academics or the lay reader or people picking up a book-shaped souvenir with lots of images in a gift shop. Everyone cannot write for all readers, nor should they, because each audience requires something different from a writer.
Third, not all historians write for a specialized audience. Many of "us" actually do write for an audience that includes non-historians by synthesizing that "boring" work and breaking down those ideas into language that the newcomer can understand. That is both a skill and a talent that not everyone has, nor cares to develop because their focus and talents lie elsewhere. Lots of good, academic historians can and do write easily accessible articles and monographs; but just because we write does not mean that the work gets to that audience -- we build it but they don't necessarily come.
Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, Cronon leaves the publishing business entirely out of the equation. The nature of their work and their budget constraints limits their ability or desire to publicize books. Historians, with rare exceptions, do not have the enormous built-in audience that journalists or politicians bring to a publisher, so the publishers go with the journalists and politicians, not with the historian. (I refuse to consider journalists or politicians as "historians" when they write history -- they are writing history, but they don't approach the subject with the craft of the historian. They approach it as journalists reporting historians' work or as politicians manipulating information. That's not the work of historians.) Publishers who do reach big audiences also want tried and true topics like the Civil War or World War II or the Founding Fathers.
Those publishers also don't like the sort of things like footnotes and bibliographies and discursive footnotes in which we explain how we arrived at conclusions and who wrote about this subject before us and so on -- the things that demonstrate the craft of history and in which we "show our work." They also don't necessarily have a vetting process so some serious historical sins are committed in some of those books, sins that make people dedicated to good history doubt books that come from those publishers (or maybe that's just me) and not review them in scholarly publications in order to point out those sins.
At the same time, there are many good, accessible historians who write well-researched and grounded history for a wider audience and about a diverse range of topics, including those same subjects near and dear to publishers' hearts; but their work does not appear in museum bookstores, nor is it carried by bookstore chains, and you have to look for it specifically in online bookstores because it does not necessarily show up on the first page of a search for the subject. The publishers who put out these books do not have the marketing department budget to push these books to Oprah Winfrey, or the New York Times, or whatever they have to do to invest the time and money to get these books onto the reading public's radar. A historian might need their own publicist to ensure this, and who of us can really afford that publicist?
Now, don't get me wrong. I respect his work, but when I read things like this, I often feel as if the "we" invoked does not include me. Cronon and those like him were educated and work in a more rarefied environment than the ones in which I was educated and have worked. So I sometimes cringe when people in such a position use "we" because I'm not sure if they are trying to implicate me in these admonitions or if they don't include me in the "we," and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I do know that I want to say such things as "YOU -- a famous and important historian -- JUST figured this out?" Or, "maybe in YOUR world, but that's not the world I have worked in."
After all, what Cronon writes in this piece -- minus the bits about public historians -- was exactly what I heard in1986 when I entered college. I've also heard it since, all the way through grad school, among public historians, and out in the public. Throughout my education, I was a diligent if mediocre student at less than laudatory institutions, so I dealt with professors who were frustrated with where they were in their own careers and what their students were up against in the job market. The worst of those professors just wrung their hands and told us "you will never get a job, why do you bother?" Then, criticized us for wanting to know how to make ourselves competitive because non-academic jobs at specific types of schools were somehow beneath us. The best of those professors embraced conversations about writing, publishing, teaching, and alternate career paths.
Since then, I've worked on editing projects, in museums, in libraries. I've written for an academic audience and for lay readers, and dealt with publishers at both levels. I'm now writing for something in between. I've also taught at community and urban colleges. The "we" amongst whom I have worked, know that the reality is and has been more complicated than historians being too "boring," that to survive we have had to mix a bit of the "boring" with a bit of the "exciting," and that "real" historians live in a lot of different nooks and crannies of the professional world because "we" have been and are there right now.
5 comments:
- Susan said...
Hmm. I resonated with the message - my goal, like yours in your current project, is always to write so its accessible to a non-specialist. What I learned when I was in a non-traditional job was that it always felt marginal. The fact that Tony Grafton and Bill Cronon have both had to make these great speeches about inclusion speaks volumes to what they perceive as standard attitudes among historians, in spite of the many things that historians do.
As for "boring", my take is that Cronon was thinking about works where either the author is not that interested, or fails to tell us why the subject matters. And while I agree about the kind of writing historians do, there is an awful lot of contempt for those who write for the mass audience: I recently saw a comment on a Ph.D. thesis that "you should not cite a popular historian in a dissertation.". on the " boring" is that
- 9:22 AM, April 09, 2012
- Susan said...
Sorry for the wonky last sentence above.. I shouldn't write too much on my iPad.
- 9:24 AM, April 09, 2012
- Feminist Avatar said...
I also feel that it's a tad anti-intellectual. I mean, historians are *creating knowledge*, not only telling stories for entertainment, and sometimes to do that we need to use technical language that can be difficult for the layman to read - but that's ok! And you're right, how many chemists or physicists worry about whether their technical conversations are meaningful outside the field?
- 2:18 PM, April 09, 2012
- Janice said...
I found Cronon's piece quite interesting. I think that some academic writers confuse under-edited prose with profound prose. Almost everyone benefits from a serious round of editing: this goes for me, too! Few scholarly editors have the time and skills to edit for expressive clarity as well as for exactitude.
That said, I don't think that 'boring' was a good word but I'm pleased that leading academic historians are showing interest in clear communication for a popular audience!
- 3:58 PM, April 09, 2012
- Clio Bluestocking said...
See, I think I might have found his piece more interesting until about a decade ago because it was exactly what I was being told -- which is exactly why I don't find it so interesting today. I do appreciate that he attempts to be inclusive, but the very way he constructs and addresses his argument indicates that he thinks exclusively and that he himself doesn't really consider anyone but that strata he addresses as being "real historians" -- or even what a "real historian" is. In other words, he is very much part of the problem that he trys to address. So, as the head of one of the major historial organizations, he ostensibly addresses all historians when he, in fact, actually only addresses a certain strata of those historians and leaves out the very people he wants to include rather than simply including them (since we've already included ourselves by joining said organization among many others).
I still think that he has a blind spot in leaving out publishers or, if we take if further, museum boards of trustees, funding agencies, the demands of documentary film making, and a host of other practical issues that dramatically affect the dissemination of good, well-researched and documented history. Things like publishing practices that make academic historians contemptuous of popular historians, or the reasons museums perpetuate myths that have long since been disproven or have no basis in fact, or the factors that result in appalling historical documentaries about historic UFOs (which would be fascinating if done right) -- all of the things that sacrifice the history for the prospect of a good profit and sensationalism that will bring in a large audience.
In other words, there is more going on beyond a group of historians being "boring" writers. Whereas I like that he is at least aware that there is an elitism and asks to address it, I rather hoped someone in his position would be much further along than he is.
I have to think a bit as to how take his argument forward, and all suggestions are welcome!
- 5:17 AM, April 10, 2012


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Saturday, May 23, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
What Exactly is a Mizzen Rope?
Monday, April 13, 2015
Little Things Add Up
While it seems simple, what you see here is a result of some trial and error. Ruble has to hold this mug firmly in his hand in order to animate it. Originally I twisted a wire around the handle and sculpted the clay hand over that wire. It ended up being flimsy when I tested it on the puppet by plugging it into his wrist-tube.
The other thing that happened was the handle broke off, so I had a twisted wire and clay mess. To make things more secure I drilled a tiny 1/16" hole in the center of the mug and epoxied (and crazy glued) it all in place.
Shimbu the monk was also repaired and I made some special eye balls for Rubles shots where he is shocked to see the beautiful mermaid. A rig was also repaired that I made about 10 years ago and the solder came loose. I'll attach our zombie puppet to it where he will appear behind Ruble. Much of this isn't really worth getting into as these things aren't super entertaining to hear about. But as the title says, it's the "Little Things Add Up".
Monday, January 26, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Resurrecting the Octo Zombie
Technically zombies are resurrected people who have died. I'm not sure what you call a zombie puppet that is dead because he was ruined while making a mold. This zombie is just that! You might recognize him, but in fact the original (seen to his left) was mangled when I made a mold of him.
I call him the "Octo" zombie because he was going to have an octopus arm as part of the original story. For the first episode, he will only be seen peeking over the back of the ship. He won't be seen from the neck down, so adding his octopus arm won't be necessary. It's kind of funny how he was the first zombie I made and will be part of the last shots in the 11 year journey it's taken to complete the project.
Some more things were completed, such as moving the set around for the next three scenes and roughly setting up Ruble and Shimbu the monk. I will need to set things up properly once the camera is in place.The lighting was also reversed since we're filming the other side of the ship....even though the camera is still in the same place in the garage.
Friday, January 23, 2015
One Giant Leap for.....Love?
Ruble has now lept for love that only he can truly feel deep inside his plasticine mind. That means that all shots are completed for the particular camera angle and side of the ship you see below. Just three main shots remain where Ruble looks towards the camera.
I'll need to set up the lighting in reverse and slide the other side of the ship into place. The next shots will be the most expressive shots of Ruble. Facial animations and drinking his fish beer should bring fun challenges that will have to be over-come.
After that I will need to animate flying debris for the crash shots and a main replacement heart scene. The good news is I think I can complete all these shots before the end of this month.
I'll need to set up the lighting in reverse and slide the other side of the ship into place. The next shots will be the most expressive shots of Ruble. Facial animations and drinking his fish beer should bring fun challenges that will have to be over-come.
After that I will need to animate flying debris for the crash shots and a main replacement heart scene. The good news is I think I can complete all these shots before the end of this month.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Ruble Unties the Last Rope
Some of the problems I encountered were that the foam latex which is naturally rubbery wanted to bend the arms into their original positions. If you think of a rubber band stretching, it will always try to go back into shape. And yes - Rubles body is made of rubber and behaves similarly.
That isn't the case usually with foam latex puppets. The issue stemmed from Rubles armature which was epoxied together. The heat from the baking process (for some unknown reason) caused the epoxy to weaken and no longer attach the parts with any strength. The worst area is his left shoulder. Fixing it is not a simple task and I've already cut him opened and added fresh epoxy to several areas already.
The good news is I've got only one more shot left to do with this puppet. Ruble will jump into the air and fly above the zombie and land on her back. I won't need any precise movements to do that shot so the arm won't be too much of an issue.
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In the heart of trendiest Bangkok hotels...Siam @ Siam Design Hotel & Spa Boutique Hotel in BangkokHighly pleasurable and uplifting, not just the most talked about hotels in Bangkok, Siam @ Siam Design Hotel & Spa, welcomes you to the land of smiles! Be the first to experience a new kind of contemporary standard of standard of excellence where art, elegance and practical convenience seamlessly merge.
Bold, restful and sensually moody, full of sophisticated attitude and class, each of the 203 artistically appointed rooms is an individual exhibits within this extraordinary gallery of a Bangkok hotel. Business and pleasure blurs into one with a truly Twenty-First Century Biz Lounge.
Overlooking the city sight, The Lobby Bar & Lounge on the 11th Floor offers a fantastic respite from a busy day in Bangkok! Free Wireless Internet access is available for all who wants to catch the news of the day! With great dining and entertainment in-house, you will find it difficult to find a reason to venture out at all! The Party House is an all-day restaurant and pub offering full international breakfast, lunch and dinner, making your dining in Bangkok experience a memorable one.
Ideally situated in the heart of the city's growing commercial district on Rama 1 Road, this elegant Bangkok hotel is a stylishly-designed hotel & Spa with easy access to the major entertainments and shopping centers and BTS Station at National Stadium.
|Striking, dramatic interior design to the rooms reflect the artistic creativity that brings a new dimension in stylish easy-living, with a lifestyle concept that is the envy of the world. Our accommodation in Bangkok hotel is bold, restful and sensually moody, full of sophisticated attitude and class. Each room is an individual film-set, an artistic exhibit within this extraordinary gallery of a hotel, stimulating the senses and imagination, freeing the spirit of conventional constraints. A truly refreshing approach to the way we see, feel and experience our environment, the very best of creative artistry combined with luxury and the ultimate in comfortable living. 203 artistically appointed chambers, featuring high ceilings, large clear window bays, and all modern amenities.
Leisure Class
Biz Class
Youth's Class
With such great dining and entertainment in-house you may find it
difficult to find a reason to venture out at all! Delicious and tempting
foods for all pallets is on hand twenty-four hours a day making your
wine and dine in Bangkok hotel an unique one. Our Siam@Siam Party house
one is an all-day Restaurant & Pub located on the Ground Level and Mezzanine,
offering full international breakfast, lunch, dinner and nightly party.
Also, there's a Wine and Cigar kiosk featuring well-known vineyard labels
and fine handmade cigars. The Lobby Bar & Lounge, on the 11th floor,
serves beverages and tasty light snacks with live evening music.
Party house one, Bar & Restaurant - music art CUISINE
Concept: music art CUISINE
Location: G. Floor at Siam@Siam Design Hotel & Spa
Ambience: Artsy Cosmopolitan Dining for Buffet Breakfast & Lunch, A la carte dinner & Theme buffet
Facilities: Main dining room with comfortable table seating for 160 guests or 200 guests if cocktail party seating. D.J. facilities, central bar, separate non-smoking areas.
Party house One - Bar & Restaurant
Bar Eleven
Enjoy a beautiful sunset and panoramic view of the twinkling city lights to beguilingly sophisticated piano melodies and scintillating jazz rhythms, share a glass or two of wine choose from our world selection of the finest cocktail.
|Rainbow Roll Sushi
"Rainbow Roll Sushi" is a Japanese brand name restaurant that brings the western styled "contemporary sushi" to Japan. The restaurant has main branch in Tokyo, and a very successful international branches in Taipei, Taiwan. With an "Industrial Chic" design concept, the sushi bar is located on the G floor and at the Skybar on the 25th floor of Siam@Siam Design Hotel & Spa offering freshness of every ingredient especially fish, which is imported directly from the best sources in Japan.
Open hours: everyday from 11.00 hrs. -14.00 hrs. and 06.00 hrs. - 22.00 hrs.
|La Vue
French Mediterranean Restaurant
Open Monday - Saturday from 18.00 - 23.00 hrs.
The Roof Restaurant
Open Monday - Saturday from 18.00 - 23.00 hrs.
|Hotel facilities that exude the confidence and accomplishment
of the architect provide a vibrant and exciting ambience where meeting
friends, dining, partying or soaking up the pleasures of one of the
most physically harmonic Spa's in Thailand becomes a talking point.
This is a place where the in-crowd hangout, where time and sense of
place take on a futuristic glimpse of the way ahead in total comfort
and superlative lifestyle. Prepare to be one of the first to experience
a new kind of contemporary standard of excellence where art, elegance
and practical convenience seamlessly merge. Forget your preconceptions
of a city hotel and indulge in the unmistakable and unique ambience
of Siam@Siam Hotel in Bangkok.
Cool recreation goes with a cool life-style and it doesn't get any cooler than at Siam@Siam Hotel in Bangkok. Soak up the sun beside our sparkling swimming pool, savor an invigorating Jacuzzi session or just read a book and relax in a poolside cabana. A unique ambience that compliments the tropical environment makes this an ideal place to chill-out, re-energies and enjoy a cocktail or two, while the frenetic city that is Bangkok, that is all around, will seem a million miles away. A delightful children's pool will also keep the young ones amused. For the fitness conscious, we have a first class Gym, tone and shape-up playground with state of-the-art equipment, personal trainer and refreshment juice-bar that most Bangkok hotels talked about.
@ Spa Ten
Thailand is justly famed for its unparalleled expertise in spa treatments and creative calming environments that maximize the benefits of the ancient and modern techniques; techniques that have evolved and modified to enhance a healthy state of body and mind, while providing a highly pleasurable and uplifting experience. The Siam @ Siam Hotel in Bangkok combines the talents of the most accomplished interior design team and experienced therapists, making it the premier spa hotel in Bangkok offering 7 private treatment rooms, Thai Massage chambers and a Foot Massage pavilion. Our well-trained staff promise pure treatments of body and mind to enhance your experience at Siam@Siam Spa Hotel in Bangkok. Jump-start your life to a new level of blissful consciousness.


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Established in 1987 and proudly New Zealand owned and family operated, Robertson imports Europe's most innovative bathroom products. Through our collection of brands, we deliver on our promise of breathtaking design and guaranteed quality, backed by industry-leading service and support to help realise your perfect bathroom.
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Tailgate Alley opens for set-up at 1 p.m.
Get on board with one of the tailgate parties below, or organize your own! Tailgate space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For tailgate regulations, call Public Safety at 412-397-2424 or visit the Joe Walton Stadium rules & regulations page.
Last year was great for tailgating memories! Relive 2012 with our photo gallery!
Register for the Homecoming Cookout & Tailgate sponsored by the RMU Alumni Association. Join alumni, friends and family at the Alumni Tent as we fire up the grills.
|Alpha Chi Rho
|Rino Lindsey
|Basketball Alumni
|Dave Richards
|Colonial Lacrosse
|Dane Smith (men) Lori Banky (women)
|Delta Phi Epsilon
|Mallory Mulheren
|Gamma Gamma Gamma/Theta Phi Alpha
|Diane Pearson
|Delta Tau Delta
|John Wilson
|Delta Zeta
|Erin Caligiuri
|Football Alumni
|Brian Cleary
|Phi Beta Sigma
|Chauncey Alexander
|Phi Delta Theta
|David Toole
|Phi Sigma Kappa
|Jon Becht
|Zeta Tau Alpha
|Megan Walsh
|Shannon Petrus Ordakowski
|Pearl Fannin-Walker
View Tailgate Alley in a larger map


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Parallax is an apparent displacement or difference of orientation of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. The term is derived from the Greek παράλλαξις (parallaxis), meaning "alteration".
Nearby objects have a larger parallax than more distant objects when observed from different positions, so parallax can be used to determine distances. In astronomy, parallax is the only direct method by which distances to objects (typically stars) beyond the Solar System can be measured. The Hipparcos satellite has used the technique for over 100,000 nearby stars. This provides the basis for all other distance measurements in astronomy, the cosmic distance ladder. Here, the term "parallax" is the angle or semi-angle of inclination between two sightlines to the star.
Parallax also affects optical instruments such as binoculars, microscopes, and twin-lens reflex cameras which view objects from slightly different angles. Many animals, including humans, have two eyes with overlapping visual fields to use parallax to gain depth perception; this process is known as stereopsis.
On an interstellar scale, parallax created by the different orbital positions of the Earth causes nearby stars to appear to move relative to more distant stars. By observing parallax, measuring angles and using geometry, one can determine the distance to various objects. When the object in question is a star, the effect is known as stellar parallax.
Stellar parallax is most often measured using annual parallax, defined as the difference in position of a star as seen from the Earth and Sun, i. e. the angle subtended at a star by the mean radius of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The parsec (3.26 light-years) is defined as the distance for which the annual parallax is 1 arcsecond. Annual parallax is normally measured by observing the position of a star at different times of the year as the Earth moves through its orbit. Measurement of annual parallax was the first reliable way to determine the distances to the closest stars. The first successful measurements of stellar parallax were made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838 for the star 61 Cygni using a heliometer. Stellar parallax remains the standard for calibrating other measurement methods. Accurate calculations of distance based on stellar parallax require a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Sun, now based on radar reflection off of planets.
The angles involved in these calculations are very small and thus difficult to measure. The nearest star to the Sun (and thus the star with the largest parallax), Proxima Centauri, has a parallax of 0.77233 ± 0.00242 arcsec. This angle is approximately the angle subtended by an object about 2 centimeters in diameter (roughly the size of a U.S. quarter dollar) located about 5.3 kilometers away.
In 1989, the satellite Hipparcos was launched primarily for obtaining parallaxes and proper motions of nearby stars, increasing the reach of the method tenfold. Even so, Hipparcos is only able to measure parallax angles for stars up to about 1,600 light-years away, a little more than one percent of the diameter of our galaxy. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, due to launch in 2011 and come online in 2012, will be able to measure parallax angles to an accuracy of 1 microarcsecond, thus mapping nearby stars (and potentially planets) up to a distance of tens of thousands of light-years from earth.
Distance measurement by parallax is a special case of the principle of triangulation, which states that one can solve for all the sides and angles in a network of triangles if, in addition to all the angles in the network, the length of at least one side has been measured. Thus, the careful measurement of the length of one baseline can fix the scale of an entire triangulation network. In parallax, the triangle is extremely long and narrow, and by measuring both its shortest side (the motion of the observer) and the small top angle (always less than 1 arcsecond, leaving the other two close to 90 degrees), the length of the long sides (in practice considered to be equal) can be determined.
Assuming the angle is small (see derivation below), the distance to an object (measured in parsecs) is the reciprocal of the parallax (measured in arcseconds): For example, the distance to Proxima Centauri is 1/0.772=.
Parallax can also be used to determine the distance to the Moon.
One way to determine the lunar parallax from one location is by using a lunar eclipse. A full shadow of the Earth on the Moon has an apparent radius of curvature equal to the difference between the apparent radii of the Earth and the Sun as seen from the Moon. This radius can be seen to be equal to 0.75 degree, from which (with the solar apparent radius 0.25 degree) we get an Earth apparent radius of 1 degree. This yields for the Earth-Moon distance 60 Earth radii or 384,000 km. This procedure was first used by Aristarchus of Samos and Hipparchus, and later found its way into the work of Ptolemy. The diagram at right shows how daily lunar parallax arises on the geocentric and geostatic planetary model in which the Earth is at the centre of the planetary system and does not rotate. It also illustrates the important point that parallax need not be caused by any motion of the observer, contrary to some definitions of parallax that say it is, but may arise purely from motion of the observed.
Another method is to take two pictures of the Moon at exactly the same time from two locations on Earth and compare the positions of the Moon relative to the stars. Using the orientation of the Earth, those two position measurements, and the distance between the two locations on the Earth, the distance to the Moon can be triangulated:
This is the method referred to by Jules Verne in From the Earth to the Moon:
Up till then, many people had no idea how one could calculate the distance separating the Moon from the Earth. The circumstance was exploited to teach them that this distance was obtained by measuring the parallax of the Moon. If the word parallax appeared to amaze them, they were told that it was the angle subtended by two straight lines running from both ends of the Earth's radius to the Moon. If they had doubts on the perfection of this method, they were immediately shown that not only did this mean distance amount to a whole two hundred thirty-four thousand three hundred and forty-seven miles (94,330 leagues), but also that the astronomers were not in error by more than seventy miles (≈ 30 leagues).
The fact that stellar parallax was so small that it was unobservable at the time was used as the main scientific argument against heliocentrism during the early modern age. It is clear from Euclid's geometry that the effect would be undetectable if the stars were far enough away; but for various reasons such a gigantic size seemed entirely implausible.
After Copernicus proposed his heliocentric system, with the Earth in revolution around the Sun, it was possible to build a model of the whole solar system without scale. To ascertain the scale, it is necessary only to measure one distance within the solar system, e.g., the mean distance from the Earth to the Sun (now called an astronomical unit, or AU). When found by triangulation, this is referred to as the solar parallax, the difference in position of the Sun as seen from the Earth's centre and a point one Earth radius away, i. e., the angle subtended at the Sun by the Earth's mean radius. Knowing the solar parallax and the mean Earth radius allows one to calculate the AU, the first, small step on the long road of establishing the size and expansion age of the visible Universe.
A primitive way to determine the distance to the Sun in terms of the distance to the Moon was already proposed by Aristarchus of Samos in his book On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon. He noted that the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a right triangle (right angle at the Moon) at the moment of first or last quarter moon. He then estimated that the Moon, Earth, Sun angle was 87°. Using correct geometry but inaccurate observational data, Aristarchus concluded that the Sun was slightly less than 20 times farther away than the Moon. The true value of this angle is close to 89° 50', and the Sun is actually about 390 times farther away. He pointed out that the Moon and Sun have nearly equal apparent angular sizes and therefore their diameters must be in proportion to their distances from Earth. He thus concluded that the Sun was around 20 times larger than the Moon; this conclusion, although incorrect, follows logically from his incorrect data. It does suggest that the Sun is clearly larger than the Earth, which could be taken to support the heliocentric model. Although these results were incorrect due to observational errors, they were based on correct geometric principles of parallax, and became the basis for estimates of the size of the solar system for almost 2000 years, until the transit of Venus was correctly observed in 1761 and 1769.
This method was proposed by Edmond Halley in 1716, although he did not live to see the results.
The use of Venus transits was less successful than had been hoped due to the black drop effect, but the resulting estimate, 153 million kilometers, is just 2% above the currently accepted value, 149.6 million kilometers.
Much later, the Solar System was 'scaled' using the parallax of asteroids, some of which, like Eros, pass much closer to Earth than Venus. In a favourable opposition, Eros can approach the Earth to within 22 million kilometres. Both the opposition of 1901 and that of 1930/1931 were used for this purpose, the calculations of the latter determination being completed by Astronomer Royal Sir Harold Spencer Jones.
Also radar reflections, both off Venus (1958) and off asteroids, like Icarus, have been used for solar parallax determination. Today, use of spacecraft telemetry links has solved this old problem.
The open stellar cluster Hyades in Taurus extends over such a large part of the sky, 20 degrees, that the proper motions as derived from astrometry appear to converge with some precision to a perspective point north of Orion. Combining the observed apparent (angular) proper motion in seconds of arc with the also observed true (absolute) receding motion as witnessed by the Doppler redshift of the stellar spectral lines, allows estimation of the distance to the cluster (151 light-years) and its member stars in much the same way as using annual parallax.
Dynamic parallax has sometimes also been used to determine the distance to a supernova, when the optical wave front of the outburst is seen to propagate through the surrounding dust clouds at an apparent angular velocity, while its true propagation velocity is known to be the speed of light.
For a right triangle,
However, an approximation of the distance error can be computed by
Because the eyes of humans and other highly evolved animals are in different positions on the head, they present different views simultaneously. This is the basis of stereopsis, the process by which the brain exploits the parallax due to the different views from the eye to gain depth perception and estimate distances to objects. Animals also use motion parallax, in which the animal (or just the head) moves to gain different viewpoints. For example, pigeons (whose eyes do not have overlapping fields of view and thus cannot use stereopsis) bob their heads up and down to see depth.
Also, in non-optical measurements the thickness of a ruler can create parallax in fine measurements. To avoid parallax error, one should take measurements with one's eye on a line directly perpendicular to the ruler so that the thickness of the ruler does not create error in positioning for fine measurements. A similar error can occur when reading the position of a pointer against a scale in an instrument such as a galvanometer. To help the user avoid this problem, the scale is sometimes printed above a narrow strip of mirror, and the user positions his eye so that the pointer obscures its own reflection. This guarantees that the user's line of sight is perpendicular to the mirror and therefore to the scale.
Parallax can cause a speedometer reading to appear different to a car's passenger than to the driver.
Aerial picture pairs, when viewed through a stereo viewer, offer a pronounced stereo effect of landscape and buildings. High buildings appear to 'keel over' in the direction away from the centre of the photograph. Measurements of this parallax are used to deduce the height of the buildings, provided that flying height and baseline distances are known. This is a key component to the process of photogrammetry.
In many early graphical applications, such as video games, the scene was constructed of independent layers that were scrolled at different speeds when the player/cursor moved. Some hardware had explicit support for such layers, such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This gave some layers the appearance of being farther away than others and was useful for creating an illusion of depth, but only worked when the player was moving. Now, most games are based on much more comprehensive three-dimensional graphic models, although portable game systems (DS, PSP) still often use parallax.
In a philosophic/geometric sense: An apparent change in the direction of an object, caused by a change in observational position that provides a new line of sight. The apparent displacement, or difference of position, of an object, as seen from two different stations, or points of view. In contemporary writing parallax can also be the same story, or a similar story from approximately the same time line, from one book told from a different perspective in another book. The word and concept feature prominently in James Joyce's 1922 novel, Ulysses. Orson Scott Card also used the term when referring to Ender's Shadow as compared to Ender's Game.
The metaphor is also invoked in the magnum opus of Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek in his work The Parallax View. Žižek borrowed the concept of "parallax view" from the Japanese philosopher and literary critic Kojin Karatani. "The philosophical twist to be added (to parallax), of course, is that the observed distance is not simply subjective, since the same object which exists 'out there' is seen from two different stances, or points of view. It is rather that, as Hegel would have put it, subject and object are inherently mediated so that an 'epistemological' shift in the subject's point of view always reflects an ontological shift in the object itself. Or—to put it in Lacanese—the subject's gaze is always-already inscribed into the perceived object itself, in the guise of its 'blind spot,' that which is 'in the object more than object itself', the point from which the object itself returns the gaze. Sure the picture is in my eye, but I am also in the picture.
The word is also used in the title of Alan J. Pakula's 1974 movie The Parallax View, in which a reporter (Warren Beatty) investigates an assassination. The word in this case refers to a fictional corporation portrayed in the film.


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Slim BeltBlack Soft Grain Leather
Worldwide delivery
with free returns
For help with your order, contact us
Cut in a standard jeans width of 30mm, this calf leather belt is a classic choice.
The details
A belt for women.
- Soft gold components
- Leather loop
- Mulberry stud branding
- Nude leather lining
This product's code is ML2058-127A100
Soft Grain
This soft bovine leather has a printed shrunken grain effect. The leather is lightly finished to protect the grain surface but will retain natural characteristics as it ages, making each product unique.
We measure our belts from where the leather meets the buckle to the middle hole of the belt. In general, we would suggest you choose a belt size two inches larger than your standard waist measurement. Sizing relates to the actual length of the belt, rather than your waist or hip measurements. When ordering, think about where you want to wear the belt, for example with jeans on the hips.Size Chart
Caring for this product
Collonil Leather Gel is a solvent-free gentle gel to improve the water resistance of certain leathers. It can help leather to resist dirt and moisture.
Collonil Leather Gel


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Career Services: Everything a current student needs from resume templates to the latest career events
Advising: Academic advisers to help you choose the right classes; career consultants to help you find the right job
Curriculum: Learn about degree requirements, courses and more for the Traditional MPA, Integrated MPA and ECON-MPA approaches.
Study Abroad: Gain a once-in-a-lifetime experience while earning credits toward your MPA degree
Internships: There's no better way to learn a discipline that to perform it
MPA Policies: Learn the rules of the program; from registering for classes to GPA requirements.
Code of Ethics: Familiarize yourself with the foundation the Texas MPA program is based on
Student organizations enhance your experience by offering you the opportunity to develop relationships, improve leadership and professional skills, and broaden understanding. They also provide occasions to unwind and have some fun.
For both Undergraduate and Graduate Students (for more information on these groups, visit the UT Student Organization home page
The traditional MPA is designed for students who will have earned a bachelor's degree from a 4-year accredited college or university prior to enrolling in the MPA program. The integrated MPA is designed for students admitted to the McCombs School of Business who have not earned a bachelor's degree. Through the integrated MPA, students will earn a BBA degree in accounting as well as an MPA degree.
The MPA program ranges from 36 to 42 required semester credit hours, depending on the student's undergraduate coursework. Students with an undergraduate accounting degree often complete a 36-hour program. Students with an undergraduate degree in an area outside of accounting or business typically complete a 42-hour program. A 36-hour program can be completed in one year (fall, spring, and summer). A 42-hour program can be completed in just over one year (summer, fall, spring, and summer).
Summary of degree requirements
Rather than accepting transfer credits, the MPA program will waive up to two core courses and substitute electives for additional courses if the equivalents were completed with grades of 'B' or better prior to enrolling in the MPA degree program. Details are available on our curriculum web page.
The average incoming MPA class is 100 students.
An internship is an optional component to the MPA degree program. The internship program is designed to give students an opportunity to combine their formal academic preparation with an exposure to the accounting profession. This experience is beneficial to students not only upon graduation but also during the remainder of their time in the MPA program. After an internship, students are more confident in expressing their opinions about the profession and related issues. In addition, the students are more aware of the skills needed to be successful in the accounting profession.
The University of Texas at Austin does not offer a part-time, evening, online, or weekend MPA program. Students are expected to enroll full-time (in at least 9 credit hours) in the fall and spring semesters. Classes are generally held at various times within the 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. time frame.
We do not offer a dual MPA/MBA program. A student must complete these degrees separately through each individual program. Information about the McCombs MBA program
The following limitations apply for taking graduate-level accounting classes as a non-degree seeking student:
1. No more than 12 hours of graduate accounting courses may be taken as a non-degree seeking student.
2. Courses completed while enrolled as a non-degree seeking student may not be applied to MPA degree requirements if the candidate is later offered admission to the MPA program.
Course selections will exclude all MBA courses. Individuals who wish to enroll in MBA elective courses will need to follow the procedure outlined by the MBA program. Please visit the MBA website for more information.
Because our graduate-level accounting courses are in high demand by the students in the MPA program, non-MPA students (including graduate students in other UT programs on campus) may not register for these courses until the 5th class day (or 3rd class day in summer) and can only be added to courses in which MPA student demand has been satisfied.
Subject to the limitations above, an individual may apply to take graduate-level accounting courses as a non-degree seeking student provided that the following conditions are met:
1. the individual is admitted to UT-Austin as a non-degree seeking transfer student
2. to apply, please follow the procedure outlined on the Admissions website.
3. to be admitted, an applicant will need to meet all of the transfer admission requirements for the college to which he or she has applied. Historically, the Liberal Arts College transfer admission requirements have tended to be the most flexible.
4. there is space availability in the requested course(s) as of the 5th class day (fall and spring semesters) or as of the 3rd class day (summer)
5. the non-degree seeking student meets the prerequisite(s) for the requested course(s)
6. the non-degree seeking student obtains approval from the MPA Program Office to enroll in the requested course(s)
After being admitted to UT-Austin as a non-degree seeking student, please set up an appointment with Kathy Saqer in the MPA Program Office by calling (512) 471-6559. Please print and complete the request form (with the exception of the instructor and MPA Program Office approval) and bring it to your appointment. Please contact Kathy Saqer directly if you have any questions about the non-degree-seeking policies or procedure.
Recruiters from various industries pursue our students to fill a diverse range of internship and full-time positions. Detailed information about MPA careers and recruiting can be found on the MPA Career Services website. Also, the MPA website provides information on placement and salary statistics and a sample of employers who recruit MPA students.
Students are expected to check their e-mail accounts on a regular basis, as time-sensitive information is distributed from the MPA Program Office via e-mail. In addition, important information is posted regularly in the MPA newsletter and on the flat screen monitor in the MPA Program Office (GSB 4.112C). MPA students also have a mail slot in GSB 4.302.
Kathy Saqer (firstname.lastname@example.com; 512-471-6298) and Jason Tasset (firstname.lastname@example.com; 512-471-2617) are the academic advisors for integrated MPA students and are available to talk with students about long-range academic plans as well as specific course needs. In addition, a faculty member has been designated to provide students with career counseling for each track.
Students generally take their first graduate course during the fall semester of their senior year. By virtue of being a student with the integrated MPA major code, you have access to graduate accounting and business courses.
No. Typically after their first year in the program, integrated MPA students start taking graduate and undergraduate coursework concurrently.
Yes. Graduate School applications must be completed by February 1 for fall admission; applications for spring semester admission must be completed by September 15. In the MPA program, a student must be in the Graduate School for two long semesters. There is no exception to this rule. To apply, a student must have taken the GMAT exam. Historically, students have not had difficulty in gaining admission to the Graduate School. Note: Students start paying graduate tuition on all courses once they have been admitted to the Graduate School. Undergraduate and graduate courses completed while coded as an undergraduate student are charged at the undergraduate tuition rate.
You must have taken the GMAT exam before you make application to the Graduate School of Business. The program recommends that you take it no later than December of your fourth year. The GMAT is now offered weekly, so you have more flexibility in scheduling it. For information on the GMAT, you can visit the GMAT website.
Securing an internship is not guaranteed, although the great majority of qualified students (in excess of 90% in the spring semester) generally have received internships in the past. Internship decisions are based upon academic performance as well as communication and interpersonal skills.
Page last updated: 12/10/2014
By phone: (512) 471-5921
By mail:
1 University Station, B6000
Austin, TX 78712-1178
In person:
2110 Speedway
Austin, TX 78705
©2015 McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin | Technology Resources | Contact Us


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The Cult of MEK
The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) is in the news again. Images of Newt Gingrich bowing to the Iranian dissident group's leader, Maryam Rajavi, after speaking to MEK members at a Paris rally, and Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page's unauthorized, paid speech at the same event have brought renewed attention to the MEK's expensive (and possibly illegal) lobbying operation in Washington.
Gingrich and Page aren't the only high-profile figures the MEK has enlisted in its bid to get off the State Department's foreign terrorist organization list. The group has persuaded a number of onetime officials, including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security Adviser Francis Fragos Townsend, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, to argue its case. These public figures have taken money, in some cases more than $30,000 per speech, to speak on the group's behalf. As a result, the U.S. Treasury Department has begun to look into the fees, because, according to the Supreme Court, "advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization" constitutes the federal crime of "material support of terrorism." The speakers have also failed to register as lobbyists under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, and there is an increasing push for criminal investigations.
As it turns out, however, many of the public figures openly admit that they did not know much about the MEK when they agreed to attend the events. Many were invited by suspected MEK front groups with names such as the Organizing Committee for Convention for Democracy in Iran and the Iranian American Community of North Texas, and they approached the ex-officials through their agents. Former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton, who also spoke in support of the MEK, told The New York Times, "I don't know a lot about the group." Clarence Page told ProPublica that he thought he was giving a talk on promoting democracy and regime change in Iran.
Accidentally or not, though, the speakers were helping to raise the profile and legitimize the aims of a cult group that will not bring democracy to Iran and has no popular support in the country. And while the latest news stories on the MEK highlight its immediate goal of getting off the terrorist list, they miss the group's real aim: to have the United States install the MEK as Iran's new government. That would mean war. The MEK may deny wanting violent regime change, but the only conceivable way it could become the next government in Tehran would be at the head of a U.S. invasion force.
Once upon a time, the MEK did enjoy some measure of popular support in Iran. But after getting shoved aside by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's party after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the MEK spent the next two decades launching terrorist attacks against the new regime and its military, harming bystanders in several instances. The MEK joined sides with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), moving to camps in Iraq in 1986 and fighting against Iranian conscripts. Frustrated that Saddam failed to install it in power in Tehran by the end of the war, the MEK attempted its own invasion of Iran (using more of Saddam Hussein's military munificence), resulting in the death of thousands of its members. These acts destroyed the MEK's credibility among Iranians. Trapped in the Iraqi desert, the group's leaders transformed the MEK into a cult after the failed invasion—engaging in such practices as mandated divorce and celibacy, sleep deprivation, public shaming, separation of families, and information control—and continued its terrorist attacks in Iran.
Now the MEK, through its Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, has ramped up its public-relations campaign to convince the outside world that it is the biggest Iranian opposition group, one dedicated to the values of Western liberal democracy. (It just happens to have a parliament-in-waiting and a president-elect—Rajavi, of course.) To bolster its case, the MEK inflames fears of a nuclear Iran, consistently claiming that the country has an ongoing nuclear-weapons program, notwithstanding the opposite, unanimous opinion of U.S., European, and Israeli officials and the Iranian supreme leader's fatwa against building one.
It remains to be seen if the MEK's costly lobbying campaign will pay off. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has until October 1 to decide whether to keep the MEK on the foreign terrorist organization list; otherwise, a federal court will automatically delist it. That's just a few short weeks before the presidential election. Republican candidate Mitt Romney claimed in December that he had never heard of the MEK. Nevertheless, he is using the question of Iranian nukes—kept in the public eye by the MEK and its shills—in a desperate effort to make President Barack Obama look weak on national-security issues. Romney has also surrounded himself with a hawkish national-security team that includes several MEK supporters, such as Bush administration veterans like former U.N. Representative John Bolton, who believes that engagement with Tehran is "delusional" and that "the only real alternative to a nuclear Iran is pre-emptive military force"—the sooner the better. Bolton's writings suggest that he hopes that the so-called P5+1 talks over Iran's nuclear program will fail. (The next round of negotiations is next week.)
But the MEK's supporters and other hawks who insist on wanting regime change in Iran need to understand that, in this case, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. The MEK is a bad ally. It has been a bad ally in peace, and it would be a bad ally in war and reconstruction. Aligning ourselves with the MEK would undermine any attempt at credibility among Iranians because it would make us look like dupes. The public figures who have spoken in support of the MEK are dangerously mistaken when they describe the group as "a force for good, and the best hope we have" (Rendell) and "a massive worldwide movement for liberty in Iran" (Gingrich). On the contrary, this deceptive foreign cult is pouring millions of dollars into an effort to steer the United States toward war.
Thu, 2012-07-19 13:07
Lee Hamilton cannot credibly claim "I don't know a lot about the group."
When he was Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1994 he received an extensive report on the group, delivered by Wendy R. Sherman, Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs. The unclassified portion of that report was published in the Congressional Record and sufficiently set forth the violent and anti-American nature of the MEK.
Fri, 2012-07-20 21:39
Tue, 2012-09-25 16:53
That part was thrown out by the US court in 2010, UK courts in 2008 and EU courts in 2009 as perverse.
Wendy R. Sherman's report was actually a copy past document form FARS news, other articles and sources that the State Department could not engage for its accuracy or trustworthiness meaning they come from the Iranian regime intelligence service. How they found their way into the hands of the US Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs and then in an official report by the State Department is the real question and the challenge!!.
Thu, 2012-07-19 19:21
The author is saying that because Khamenei issued a fatwa, it does not have a nuclear weapons program; anyone who wants to replace the repressive regime of the Ayatollahs is seeking war; and the main Iranian opposition, the MEK is terrorist because it fought the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. I have a suggestion for Jeremiah: the Ministry of Intelligence and Security of Iran declared yesterday that they have a vacancy for the position of media spokesman, he may want to apply for it, but remember you cannot be hired by two different agencies in Iran.
Thu, 2012-07-19 21:06
This guy was supposed to be an impartial and objective researcher that prepared the RAND Corporation Report on the MEK in July 2009. Now, it becomes clear why the RAND report refers to MEK as a cult 88 times. Almost once every page. And for those who read the RAND report, you can judge that report by the caliber of its author.
As for all the other stuff, Goulka really does not know what he is talking about. A French investigative magistrate concluded after a 10 year investigation that the MEK's operations in Iran (which ceased in 2001) were not acts of terrorism, but resistance against tyranny.
The reference to killing bystanders in Iran is straight out of Iran's Intelligence Ministry misinformation kit, although even the mullahs of Iran are not so impudent to make such a bogus claim.
Ed Rendell, Lee Hamilton, Tom Ridge and the stellar group of distinguished Americans who have spoken out on this issue know a whole lot more about the MEK than this upstart "pundit" whose RAND report would not even qualify for a freshman term paper.
Needless to say, the Iraqis used his recommendations to the letter, attacking and killing 49 residents and wounding more than 1,000, in what Senator Kerry described as a massacre.
The problem with Goulka is that he has joined the gang of MEK detractors a bit late. The court issued its verdict, a damning condemnation of the State Department's "egregious delay."
It is not for the State Department to put up or shut up.
As for Goulka, just as his RAND report was so thoroughly debunked shortly after its publication, his lies and distortions here will not fool anyone.
The only thing that remains is that why American Prospect is publishing this type of trash. Perhaps it should be renamed Mullahs' Prospect.
Rising Storm
Fri, 2012-07-20 13:28
I do know why this guy is so hysterical about the MEK, I don't MEK has done anything to him or may be he is doing this on behalf of somebody else? I do not know and we shall have to wait for some wikileaks type documents to show the behind the scene, otherwise, if Jeremiah Goulka believes in rule of law he should listen to the court rulings around the world including USA. He is following a smear campaign which based on a hollow foundation , that is MEK is terrorist and based on that who ever supports them or talks to them will be anhilated using different tags produced by him. But what is the reality. Mek represents Iranian people's resistance against the tyrannical mullahs ruling Iran. Jeremiah Goulka may find this regime useful for him, but Iranian people hate this regime and are looking for ways of bringing an end to this tyranny and MEK is the most efficient tool to do this. They are democratic and secular and enjoy a vast support base both in Iran and outside. Their last gathering in Paris on 23 June 2012 was attended by 110000 people. Now what is the definition of cult for Jeremiah Goulka . Just a word of advice to you Jeremiah, dictators are bound to go, I hope you take the right side of history
Fri, 2012-07-20 15:43
Alireza Nader of the RAND Corporation supplied much of mis-information on MEK.
JEREMIAH GOULKA took that mis-information and recycled it as research.
Alireza Nader is part of NIAC circle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YP0dOwOjY)
JEREMIAH GOULKA is well connected with the Iranian lobby network and his analysis is nothing but parroting Tehran agenda.
Sat, 2012-07-21 21:20
Sun, 2012-07-22 18:30
"Their last gathering in Paris on 23 June 2012 was attended by 110000 people." !!! Where are the pictures of this event?!
Excellent article which has justifiably enraged The cult!
Just one thing, in saying 'My enemy's enemy is not my friend', why is Iran called an enemy? On what objective grounds?
Sun, 2012-07-22 22:02
The latest word out of the NCRI/MEK is that they are complaining that the Government of Iraq wants to "plunder" "$500Million" worth of Camp Ashraf residents' property. No wonder they don't want to leave. They can't take Saddam's gifts with them. You can buy a lot of rallies and politicians for that kind of loot, not to mention weapons.
Philo Vaihinger
Mon, 2012-07-23 06:56
Wed, 2012-08-15 08:04
During this spring, I met a group on the streets of north London attached to the MEK who were trying to raise awareness of Camp Ashraf and being interested in the Middle East (and yes I have been to some of these countries, usually on my own) and being a supporter of human rights, in my naivety I initially offered to try and help with raising awareness. At no point was there any mention that Camp Ashraf inhabitants were members of the MEK, they were just described as dissidents. I was later asked if I wanted to go to the peace rally in Paris but was warned off by a member of Amnesty International. I started to really research the MEK and all that I find points to the organisation being a cult. Perhaps Albert Davidson (comments) should try and read the Human Rights Watch Report which finds that the MEK coerce their women members into having unnecessary hysterectomies (so much for womens rights) and that they commit other human rights violations on their members. Married members are often persuaded to divorce. This is all about alienating members against each other, friendship is not allowed. I have met with a high ranking ex member of the MEK who was with them for many years and he told me of systematic brain washing and how many members are prevented from leaving the organisation. This is the same for many of those who are in Camp Ashraf. This member had to escape even though he was living out in the community in the UK. This is the kind of mind control Maryam Rajavi and Masoud have. And no I don't believe he is a dis- gruntled ex member.
As for the peace event in Paris, 2012, this was a farce. I was offered support for travel costs to go from London and a hotel in Paris. I later found out that many of those offered places to go had no incline of what the event was really for; some who would ill afford it, just seeing it as a free trip to Paris. I almost wish I had gone now just to film those who were there for the wrong reasons, if albeit innocently. Many speakers (mainly politicans) who were paid fees to attend, dropped out at the last minute once they realised what they had let themselves in for. Do they not have researchers who can seek out information before accepting or is greed to near to hand!
The MEK may have well started as an activist group with the right ideology, their main aim being to topple a terrible regime, but their own personal aims seem to have taken over and they are definitely NOT wanted by the people on the street in Iran.
Whilst researching this organisation, many of the questions I wanted answered nobody seems to be asking - such as where does all their funding come from? This must be extensive seeing as they can afford to organise events the size of the Paris event and why does Masoud Rajavi hide.
As for Jeremiah Goulka I have tried to contact him regarding his Rand Report and the ongoing saga of US politicians taking money, but failed to get a response. Very disappointing as I wanted an supposed unbiased point of view from a non politician, but then maybe I will have to look elsewhere.
Fri, 2012-09-14 20:36
I was born in Iran, spent time in Camp Ashraf with the MEK when I was a little kid, and was fortunate enough to come to the US thereafter. I attended numerous rallies and protests in the US and Europe hosted or sponsored by the MEK or its affiliates. While MEK may have started out with the best intentions, the organization and its leaders have certainly lost sight of their presumable goal -- the freedom and safety of Iran and its people. As someone with first-hand experience with this group and their base in Iraq, I must admit the cult characterizations are frankly SPOT ON.
For the record, I'm not a disgruntled ex-member; I have no personal gripe with the group; and I am in no way supportive of the Iranian government (before MEK folks chime in with the same tired refrain). I would love nothing more than to see the Iranian regime dismantled, imprisoned, and replaced with a democratically elected, secular and non-oppressive government.
But it's surprising and sad that, in the face of any sort of criticism (even constructive ones that could improve the group's function, credibility, and ability to help the Iranian people), MEK members and supporters immediately respond with baseless accusations that anyone who observes some sort of deficiency or problem with the group must be a secret proxy for and supporter of the Mullahs, rather than actually responding to the criticism (either with facts or reform). This is both sad and counterproductive, because it only results in alienating people who are in fact opposed to the Iranian government and would like to support some plan for regime change in that country.
There are many legitimate reasons for the MEK's lack of support by the Iranian population. And no -- government propaganda and misinformation don't even make it to the top 10 reasons (if government propaganda and misinformation were as influential and effective in shaping Iranian people's opinions, how could you explain the Iranian people's support and affection for America and President Obama?). Even if the group is not technically a cult, its ideology and organization largely center on a culture of personality worship / idolization of one person -- Maryam Rajavi. At worst, this is a tell-tale sign of a cult (or one in the making); at best, it's an extreme form of idolization with dangerous consequences. Blindly following any one individual, branding her as infallible, and arming her with unquestionable authority is never a good idea, and often just a few steps away from authoritarianism.
Also, I can attest to the veracity of claims about forced divorces, forced "ideological" marriages, and public shaming for very private and personal things (e.g., what you dreamed about the prior night, any sexual urges or fantasies you may have experienced -- even about your own spouse). Not to mention the forced "uniform" of head coverings for women in adherence to Islamic law (redolent of the same oppressive theocratic government Iranians are currently living under); and the sham "elections" in which Ms. Rajavi is repeatedly elected (always unchallenged, because even the token "challengers," in their own "campaign" speeches, merely admit to Rajavi's superiority and their own inferiority ("I am not worthy!"), profess their undying support for her, and step down from even running in the first place). The group's complete lack of transparency also doesn't help to dispel any of the legitimate concerns Iranians have about them -- concerns and questions that any reasonable and responsible person would have with regard to any group who is advocating for regime change and seeking popular support for their cause. These are but a few reasons for the MEK's lack of popular support in Iran.
As an example, let's say you're a Democrat who voted for Obama in 2008 and generally likes and supports President Obama. This doesn't mean, however, that you consider Obama or his words and actions to be infallible and beyond reproach. And if you criticize the way Obama or his administration handles something, it doesn't mean that you're secretly a Republican operative who's launching bogus criticisms to sabotage Obama's causes or legitimacy. As a responsible citizen, you have a duty to question all of your political leaders and candidates because your primary concern is the best interests of your country and the welfare of the American people -- not the worship of Barack Obama as your infallible leader/demigod. If he makes a misstep that in some way jeopardizes the interests of the country or its people, you have a civic duty and moral imperative to voice your criticism and demand accountability and transparency in hopes of causing the administration to better their policies, even if that means the president has to step down and be replaced -- because your primary concern is with the welfare of your country and fellow countrymen, it is NOT the preservation of Obama's status as a demigod and leader to be perpetually worshiped.
Same with Rajavi and the MEK. Supporters and members should encourage themselves and others to voice any concerns and disagreements with the organization's practices, policies and decisions, especially when they believe those practices or decisions can be detrimental to the Iranian people. Attempting to discredit critics with baseless and irrelevant accusations only hurts the MEK's long-term viability, as well as their claimed goal of bringing democracy to Iran and ending the oppression of the Iranian population. If Rajavi and the MEK are truly concerned with democratizing and liberating Iran from oppression, they must reform themselves and change many of their practices to reflect the very values and ideals they claim to support. Otherwise, they will continue to alienate potential allies and remain a fringe group of questionable credibility.
Building any individual up to the level of an idol or demigod only leads to the entrenchment of power, and makes it harder for that person to ever hand over power to anyone else. Even the saintliest of people can be corrupted by the natural greed and hunger for power that's inherent in all of us. The only way to protect against it is to force the handover of power after a certain amount of time (see, e.g., "term limits"). Otherwise, you end up becoming as reprehensible and oppressive as the Mullahs themselves. Btw, Rajavi's been leading the MEK for about as long as the Mullahs have been in power in Iran.
Tue, 2012-09-25 17:11
Do not worry, the history will show you wrong when the MEK bring anout the democratic change that you "wish to see and dream off".
The irony is that when Mossadeq nationalized the Iranian oil, some western media portrayed him as "idiot", "selfish", "insane", "mad", "psychopath" and so on
Fri, 2012-09-28 19:19
I'm not sure if you're trying to quote me with "wish to see and dream off," especially since: 1) I didn't say that in my comment (please read the *content* of my comment, don't just respond with an irrelevant note and prayer/speculation about the outcome of history that hasn't happened yet); and 2) I know I'd never make such an obvious spelling/grammar mistake (it's dream "of", not "off").
The whole point of my comment is that we can't just sit back, "Do not worry," and blindly hand responsibility and power to some other person or group in the absence of *accountability* and *transparency*. These aren't just words; they represent 2 concepts key to a healthy and vibrant democracy. Consider looking them up. I hear the internet offers free dictionaries you can use.
After you've done your homework, and perhaps fully thought through the implications and consequences of blindly trusting some group to simply choose to do what's in the best interest of an entire country rather than merely looking out for the best interests of the group's leaders, then come back and share your informed, thoughtful, and relevant response. Unlike the MEK and its support base, I, for one, fully welcome and embrace differing opinions and points of view.
Please also note that I know the MEK and Maryam Rajavi; and they, my friend, are no Mossadeq. Any comparisons of the two are simply not well placed, for several reasons, including but not limited to the following: 1) Mossadeq was elected by popular vote of the country he represented. Therefore, he was accountable to the Iranian people for his actions. 2) There was a much greater level of transparency in his government than there has been in the MEK. 3) Mossadeq did not punish, attack or ostracize Iranians for criticizing his actions or choices; he did not consider himself infallible or beyond reproach. He was a democratically elected leader who responded to his people's concerns and criticisms. 4) He wasn't worshipped as a demigod or divinely selected leader. 5) He didn't force his supporters, party members, or "followers" to dress a certain way (hot burgundy head scarves, ladies!!) or order them to divorce their spouse or marry some other random follower. 6) He didn't prohibit what thoughts, dreams or daydreams they could have, and certainly didn't force them to share it publicly and shame them for it. 7) He didn't demand that people swear a daily oath to him or watch daily propaganda under the guise of a "news" program whose absurdity at times rivals that of the "semi-official" Fars new agency.
My criticisms and issues with the MEK and Rajavi didn't result from anything the Western media may have said about them. They started long before and are based on my first-hand experience with the group, as well as the experience of my friends and relatives who managed to leave Camp Ashraf over that past two decades. Furthermore -- and this might be difficult for die-hard MEK supporters to grasp -- my views are independent of the media's. I enjoy thinking for myself. I didn't come to hold these views because I read some article insulting Rajavi with ad hominem attacks. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever read any articles calling Ms. Rajavi names. But even if I did, I don't form my views on the basis of the media's name-calling, but rather on facts, including a group's or person's actions, choices, and words. Sadly, what I've seen coming from the MEK consists of little more than responding to their critics and detractors with pure name-calling ("you lie! you're in bed with the Mullahs! you lie in bed with Mullahs!!") rather than facts or, dare I say, any sort of change/reform in their own management and practices.
The point is -- if you're concerned with the well-being of your country and compatriots, it would be incredibly irresponsible to blindly delegate the country's future to some group and assume that the group will simply do what's best without closely scrutinizing, monitoring, and questioning the group's actions. (After all, the MEK and Rajavi fall rather short of Plato's Philosopher King.) Rather than just sitting back and waiting for "history" to show me that I'm wrong, I'd much rather do my homework (some would call it "civic duty") and be assured that this group, who is actively advocating for power and war as a means to oust the current regime, is actually good for Iran and its people BEFORE entrusting them with this power.
Any time you overthrow a government and install a new group in its place, you're taking a risk -- that group may turn out to be a painful disaster, like Khomeini's regime in 1979, or a blessing like the Continental Congress and American Revolutionary War in the late 18th century. That risk may be easy to assume people like you and me, living comfortably abroad; but not so for those who live in the country and would have to face the consequences on the ground if your political experiment goes sour. It's easy for you to toy with the idea of installing some random group in power and "just wait" to see if your experiment turns out well and history proves you right because your life and future aren't directly at risk if your experiment goes awry. Of course, it's a different story for those actually living in Iran today; they are rightfully reluctant to risk their lives and future on an unaccountable and shadowy group's promises, especially when the majority of group's words and actions seem to directly conflict with those promises.
Yes, the current regime is awful and oppressive, but the MEK is not the only possible option. If I'm living under an Islamic "republic" ruled by one infallible Supreme Leader who requires all women to cover up with chadors or scarves and manteaus, an Islamic-Marxist "democracy" ruled by one infallible Madam President who requires all women to cover up with scarves doesn't sound like much of a choice to me, much less a better alternative.
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Is it waterproof
Is it waterproof - can you shower with it on?
Also what material is it made out of? Plastic?
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It isn't totally waterproof but it is water resistant. You can shower, do the dishes, wear it in the rain, etc without worrying about it but I wouldn't swim with it.
This is what I have heard online.
- Answered by Zachary F from Lubbock
No the band is not WaterPROOF. However, it is water resistant. This means although it is adivsed to not be heavily submerged in water, (swimming, etc.) you CAN shower with it regularly.
The band is made, of my guess silicone? It feels similar to a big LiveStrong bracelet.
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