text:
Colorado Court of Appeals -- January 17, 2013
2013 COA 4. No. 11CA0241. People v. Corson.
Court of Appeals No. 11CA0241
Larimer County District Court No 02CR1044
Honorable Daniel J. Kaup, Judge
The People of the State of Colorado,
David Will Corson,
Division VI
Opinion by JUDGE LICHTENSTEIN
Gabriel and Márquez*, JJ., concur
Announced January 17, 2013
John W. Suthers, Attorney General, Christine Brady, Assistant Attorney General, Corelle Spettigue, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee
Law Office of Ingrid J. DeFranco, Ingrid J. DeFranco, Brighton, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant
*Sitting by assignment of the Chief Justice under provisions of Colo. Const. art. VI, § 5(3), and § 24-51-1105, C.R.S. 2012.
¶1 Defendant, David Will Corson, appeals the district court's order denying his Crim. P. 35(c) motion for postconviction relief which alleged that the nondisclosure of the complaining witness's juvenile adjudications rendered his plea invalid and his counsel ineffective. We conclude that because juvenile adjudications in a prosecution witness's criminal history are discoverable and must be disclosed as part of the prosecution's discovery obligations, the court must reevaluate Corson's motion. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I. Background
¶2 In 2001, Corson worked as a substance abuse counselor at a juvenile facility. K.B., a seventeen-year-old resident of the facility, alleged that Corson and she had engaged in a sexual relationship while she resided at the facility. Corson was subsequently charged with two counts: sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust – pattern of abuse.
¶3 Corson filed several discovery motions requesting impeachment information relating to K.B.'s criminal history, including juvenile adjudications, and other information that could lead to the discovery of character evidence probative of untruthfulness under CRE 608. The prosecution moved to strike these motions, asserting they requested information automatically discoverable under Crim. P. 16. The response also objected "to any information sought by [Corson] which [was] not explicitly discussed in Rule 16, Parts (a), (b) and (c)."
¶4 Corson also filed a discovery motion that requested K.B.'s medical and treatment records and alerted the prosecution that, "based on information and belief, [K.B.] has a reputation for making untruthful statements as well as having a past criminal history." The prosecution's response stated that "[the prosecution] ha[d] provided all information pertaining to the victim, which [was] in the possession of the Office of the District Attorney" and characterized the request as "nothing more than a fishing expedition." The court never ruled on Corson's discovery motions.
¶5 A few days prior to his scheduled jury trial, Corson pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust in exchange for dismissal of the pattern of abuse count. The court sentenced Corson to an indeterminate sentence of ten years to life of intensive supervised sex offender probation.
¶6 Corson subsequently filed for postconviction relief pursuant to Crim. P. 35(c), initially seeking to withdraw his plea based on newly discovered evidence of K.B.'s recantation of her allegations against Corson.1However, after receiving consent from K.B. to review her file at the juvenile facility, Corson discovered evidence showing K.B. had previously made false allegations of sexual assault and had resulting juvenile adjudications for false reporting that the prosecution had not disclosed to the defense. Corson amended his Crim. P. 35(c) motion to also assert that the prosecution's nondisclosure of this exculpatory evidence and its affirmative misrepresentation that it had disclosed all discoverable information rendered his plea invalid and his counsel ineffective, and violated his rights to due process.
¶7 The district court held a hearing on Corson's motion. As pertinent here, Corson presented documentary evidence of the discovery requests and the prosecution's responses. He also introduced defense counsel's affidavit and testimony that the prosecutor did not disclose K.B.'s criminal history, including false reporting of a sexual assault, and that the prosecutor had affirmatively told him that "there was no related discoverable information." Yet the same prosecutor had secured K.B.'s juvenile adjudication for false reporting.
¶8 A defense expert testified that once the prosecution represented that the requested information did not exist, defense counsel could not have ethically impeached K.B. at trial with such information. Defense counsel testified that he assessed the case without evidence of K.B.'s history of false reporting of sexual assault and resulting juvenile adjudications, and recommended that Corson accept a plea. He also testified that he would not have advised Corson to accept a plea had the prosecution disclosed this evidence, but instead would have recommended that Corson take the case to trial. Corson likewise testified that he would not have entered a plea, but would have insisted on going to trial.
¶9 The prosecution conceded at the hearing that the false reporting adjudication and related police reports were not disclosed to the defense. However, it presented testimony of other witnesses that Corson had access to, and he was aware of, information in K.B.'s file concerning her history of false reporting and juvenile adjudications. The prosecution also asserted that some of the requested information, such as treatment records or unrelated juvenile adjudications, was not discoverable because it was not in its possession or control.
¶10 The court issued a written order denying Corson's Crim. P. 35(c) motion. As pertinent here, in an oral ruling during the hearing, the court found that "as a matter of law juvenile adjudications are not subject to discovery." Perhaps, for this reason, the court's written order did not address whether the prosecution's failed to comply with its discovery obligations, and hence, whether the guilty plea was induced by misrepresentation. With regard to the ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the court concluded that because Corson already knew about K.B.'s history of false reporting, he failed to prove that his attorney's performance fell below the level of reasonably competent assistance, or that he would have insisted on proceeding to trial had his attorney advised him of K.B.'s history. This appeal followed.
II. Discussion
¶11 Corson contends that the district court erred in denying his motion, asserting that his guilty plea was unintelligent and involuntary because (1) the prosecution failed to comply with its discovery obligations under Crim. P. 16 and Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and (2) the prosecution made an affirmative misrepresentation regarding the existence of exculpatory evidence that induced this plea. He also contends that the prosecution's nondisclosure of exculpatory evidence and its affirmative misrepresentation concerning its existence caused defense counsel to erroneously assess the case, rendering counsel ineffective.
¶12 We conclude that, while the district court issued a very detailed and thoughtful written order, it nonetheless mistakenly believed that juvenile adjudications were not discoverable, and perhaps due to this misapprehension, the court did not evaluate whether the prosecution complied with, or misrepresented its compliance with, its disclosure obligations.
¶13 Because each of Corson's contentions on appeal is premised on the alleged noncompliance and misrepresentation concerning discovery, we conclude that additional findings are required on these matters. Consequently, we reverse the order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
A. Standard of Review
¶14 In reviewing the denial of a motion for postconviction relief following a hearing, we defer to the district court's factual findings, so long as they are supported by the record; we review its conclusions of law de novo. People v. Stovall, 2012 COA 7, ¶18 (citing Carmichael v. People, 206 P.3d 800, 807-08 (Colo. 2009)). A challenge to the validity of a guilty plea presents a mixed question of law and fact, see Sanchez-Martinez v. People, 250 P.3d 1248, 1254 (Colo. 2011), as does a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. People v. Valdez, 178 P.3d 1269, 1278 (Colo. App. 2007).
B. Prosecution's Duty to Disclose
¶15 Corson contends that his plea was unintelligent and involuntary and his counsel was rendered ineffective because the prosecution failed to comply with its discovery obligations under Crim. P. 16 and Brady. We conclude that the case must be remanded to permit the district court to address this claim.
¶16 It is well settled that a prosecutor has both a statutory and a constitutional obligation to disclose to the defense any material, exculpatory evidence he or she possesses. See Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(2); Brady, 373 U.S. at 86-88. Exculpatory evidence includes evidence that bears on the credibility of a prosecution witness. People v. Bradley, 25 P.3d 1271, 1276 (Colo. App. 2001) (citing People v. Dist. Court, 793 P.2d 163, 166 (Colo. 1990)).
¶17 In its written ruling, the trial court did not address whether the prosecution was required to disclose the juvenile adjudications or other impeachment evidence, and, hence, whether Corson's guilty plea was induced by the prosecution's affirmative representation regarding the existence of exculpatory evidence. However, in an oral ruling, the court found that "as a matter of law juvenile adjudications are not subject to discovery." This ruling was an incorrect statement of the law.
¶18 Evidence requested by the defense is discoverable, regardless of whether it contains information admissible at trial, as long as its contents are relevant to the conduct of the defense. See People v. District Court, 790 P.2d 332, 338 (Colo. 1990). And a prosecutor has a constitutional obligation to disclose evidence favorable to an accused, even without a request, if that evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 87-88; United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 107 (1976). As relevant here, Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(1)(V) provides that a prosecutor shall disclose to defense counsel the criminal history of "any person the prosecuting attorney intends to call as a witness in the case." While this disclosure provision does not enumerate "juvenile adjudications," Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(2) additionally provides that the prosecuting attorney shall disclose to the defense "any material or information within his or her possession or control which tends to negate the guilt of the accused as to the offense charged or would tend to reduce the punishment therefor."
¶19 A juvenile adjudication is part of a witness's criminal history subject to disclosure because such evidence may tend to negate the guilt of the accused. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 87-88; see also Crim. P. 16(I)(a). It may be used at trial to elicit a witness's bias, prejudice, motivation for testifying, or hope for leniency with respect to pending juvenile proceedings as consideration for testifying. See People v. Cevallos-Acosta, 140 P.3d 116, 127 (Colo. App. 2005) (citing Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 320-21 (1974); People v. Bowman, 669 P.2d 1369, 1375 (Colo. 1983)); see also Thomas v. Commonwealth, 688 S.E.2d 220, 233 n.6 (Va. 2010) ("The Sixth Amendment does not require the trial court to permit impeachment with juvenile adjudications unless they can be used to establish bias, not merely to challenge general credibility." (quoting Tabron v. United States, 410 A.2d 209, 212 (D.C. 1979))).
¶20 Also, a prior juvenile adjudication for false reporting may be used to elicit character for untruthfulness. See CRE 608(b); People v. Gillis, 883 P.2d 554, 561-62 (Colo. App. 1994) (prior specific instances involving false statements may be admissible for impeachment purposes under CRE 608(b)); cf. People v. D'Apice, 735 P.2d 882, 883 (Colo. App. 1986) (a juvenile adjudication may not be used, under § 13-90-101, C.R.S. 2012, to impeach a witness's veracity by the mere fact that the juvenile has an adjudication).
¶21 Although the General Assembly has enacted a statute to protect the anonymity of juvenile offenders by limiting public access to juvenile records, or requiring a court order prior to disclosure of such records, see § 19-1-304, C.R.S. 2012, the State's protection of the confidentiality of a juvenile offender's record must yield to a defendant's constitutional right to the effective cross-examination of an adverse witness with information that tends to negate the guilt of the accused as to the offense charged. Davis, 415 U.S. at 319- 20; see Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(2).
¶22 Thus, contrary to the district court's ruling, juvenile adjudications are subject to discovery. See Cevallos-Acosta, 140 P.3d at 127 (discussing juvenile adjudications as part of a witness's "criminal history" and ruling that the failure to disclose a pending juvenile case violated Crim. P. 16). To the extent that the prosecution may need a court order prior to turning over the adjudication records to the defense, see § 19-1-304, this requirement does not alter the discoverable nature of the adjudication. See People v. Herrera, 2012 COA 13, ¶16, 272 P.3d 1158, 1162 (a prosecutor should request court review of confidential records when he or she reasonably believes they contain evidence that is exculpatory or impeaching).
¶23 It is undisputed that the prosecution did not disclose to Corson evidence regarding K.B.'s juvenile adjudications. However, the Attorney General asserts that nothing in the record suggests the prosecution "had or should have had the materials [Corson] alleges he is entitled to," and, as a result, the prosecution was not obligated to disclose this evidence. We reject this assertion.
¶24 While it is unclear from the record whether the prosecution had access to K.B.'s medical records and the trial court made no findings in that regard, the record indicates that the prosecution had access to K.B.'s juvenile adjudications and arrest and investigatory records. Indeed, the record contains evidence that the same prosecutor who responded to Corson's discovery motions had secured K.B.'s juvenile adjudication for false reporting.
¶25 In addition, constitutional and statutory disclosure obligations encompass evidence known to the prosecution as well as evidence known only to the police. Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(3); Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 437-38 (1995). Thus, the prosecution has a duty to learn of any evidence favorable to the defense which is known to others acting on the government's behalf in the case. Crim. P. 16(I)(b)(4); Kyles, 514 U.S. at 437-38.
¶26 "Upon the defense's request and designation of material or information which would be discoverable if in the possession or control of the prosecuting attorney," the prosecution has an obligation to make "diligent good faith efforts" to make even evidence in the possession of other governmental personnel available to the defense. Crim. P. 16(I)(c)(1). And any evidence "claimed to be nondiscoverable" may be withheld by the prosecution pending a ruling of the court, but "the defense must be notified in writing that information has not been disclosed." Crim. P. 16(I)(b)(1).
¶27 While juvenile records are not generally accessible to the public, and there is no statutory provision specifically allowing for the prosecution in an unrelated case to access a juvenile's records, these records are open to inspection, without a court order, by "[a]ny law enforcement agency or police department in the state of Colorado." § 19-1-304(1)(a)(VII), C.R.S. 2012. Because the district attorney's office is a law enforcement agency and the prosecution's disclosure obligations extend to any evidence held by the police, the prosecution was obligated to turn over this evidence or, at minimum, seek a court ruling, after providing notice to the defense. SeeCrim. P. 16(I)(b)(1).
¶28 The Attorney General, relying on United States v. Ruiz, 536 U.S. 622 (2002), asserts, nonetheless, that the prosecution was not required to disclose this impeachment evidence prior to Corson's entry of his guilty plea. In Ruiz, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not demand preguilty plea disclosure of impeachment evidence. Id. at 633. Thus, the prosecution may, consistent with a defendant's due process rights, refuse disclosure of impeachment evidence during the pendency of plea negotiations. Id.
¶29 However, under the unique circumstances of this case, we do not read Ruiz to relieve the prosecution of its disclosure obligation. In the present case, the prosecution did not merely decline to turn over information, but it made an affirmative representation that it had no discoverable evidence. Nothing in the law requires defendants to "scavenge for hints of undisclosed Brady material when the prosecution represents that all such material has been disclosed." Banks v. Dretke, 540 U.S. 668, 695 (2004). "A rule declaring 'prosecutor may hide, defendant must seek,' is not tenable in a system constitutionally bound to accord defendants due process." Id. at 696.
¶30 And, in Ruiz, the case involved a "fast track" plea bargain, where a defendant, very early in the prosecution, waives indictment, as well as trial and an appeal. Ruiz, at 625. Here, however, Corson entered his guilty plea just a few days before his scheduled jury trial. The prosecution was required to make its disclosures no later than thirty-five days before trial. Crim. P. 16(I)(b)(3). Thus, the record shows that the prosecution was obligated, under the criminal discovery rules, to disclose the evidence before the guilty plea was entered here.
C. Misrepresentation
¶31 Corson contends that in response to his discovery requests, the prosecution made an affirmative misrepresentation as to the existence of K.B.'s history of false reporting and juvenile adjudications that induced his unintelligent and involuntary guilty plea. In its postconviction order, the court did not address Corson's claim that his guilty plea was induced by misrepresentation. Accordingly, we conclude that the case must be remanded to permit the district court to address this claim.
¶32 Because a guilty plea is an extensive waiver of the defendant's constitutional rights, a challenge is usually limited to whether the plea was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent. Sanchez-Martinez, 250 P.3d at 1254. A guilty plea must represent "a voluntary and intelligent choice among the alternative courses of action open to the defendant," and must be the product of "a free and rational choice." North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 31 (1970). A guilty plea that is induced by misrepresentation, fraud, or coercion is not voluntary. People v. Antonio-Antimo, 29 P.3d 298, 301 (Colo. 2000) (citing Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 748 (1970); People v. Kyler, 991 P.2d 810, 816 (Colo. 1999)).
¶33 When evaluating whether there is a misrepresentation as to the existence of discoverable evidence, a court should evaluate whether there is a significant likelihood that the prosecutor's response to the discovery motion misleadingly induced defense counsel to believe that the witness could not be impeached at trial with the requested information. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 683 (1985). In making this determination, "the more specifically the defense requests certain evidence, thus putting the prosecutor on notice of its value, the more reasonable it is for the defense to assume from the nondisclosure that the evidence does not exist, and to make pretrial and trial decisions on the basis of this assumption." Id. at 682-83.
¶34 As noted, the district court made no findings regarding whether the prosecution's responses to Corson's discovery requests constituted a misrepresentation of the existence of K.B.'s history of false reporting and juvenile adjudications. Likewise, it did not address whether the misrepresentation, if any, induced Corson's guilty plea. We must, therefore, remand for further findings on this issue.
D. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
¶35 Corson contends that his defense counsel's assistance was rendered ineffective by the prosecution's nondisclosure and misrepresentation of K.B.'s history of false reporting and juvenile adjudications. He asserts that the prosecution's conduct led defense counsel to (1) erroneously assess whether he could impeach K.B. at trial, and (2) erroneously advise Corson to plead guilty. Corson contends he was prejudiced because had the prosecution disclosed this information, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Because this claim is premised on the prosecution's discovery obligations (including any obligation to disclose juvenile adjudications) and the alleged misrepresentation, on remand the court must make further factual findings and reevaluate the claim under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).
¶36 The requirements of effective counsel under the Sixth Amendment apply to plea negotiations, including the advice counsel provides to his or her client. Lafler v. Cooper, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 132 S.Ct. 1376, 1384 (2012); Carmichael, 206 P.3d at 806. To prevail on an ineffective assistance claim, a defendant must establish (1) that defense counsel's performance was deficient, and (2) that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687; People v. Rodriguez, 914 P.2d 230, 299 (Colo. 1996).
¶37 Strickland sets forth two means by which a defendant may be denied effective assistance of counsel. First, counsel may "deprive a defendant of the right to effective assistance, simply by failing to render 'adequate legal assistance.'" Strickland, 466 U.S. at 686 (quoting Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 344 (1980)). Such claims are sometimes referred to as "actual ineffectiveness" claims. Id. To establish actual ineffectiveness, a defendant must prove that his attorney's performance "fell below an objective standard of reasonableness." Id. at 688.
¶38 Second, a defendant may be denied effective assistance of counsel where the government "interferes in certain ways with the ability of counsel to make independent decisions about how to conduct the defense." Id. at 686 (citing examples).
¶39 In the context of this case, this evaluation turns on whether the prosecution's responses to Corson's discovery requests led defense counsel to assume that the witness could not be confronted at trial with her false reporting history and juvenile adjudications. See Bagley, 473 U.S. at 682-83. If the court concludes that they did, it must then consider whether this conduct affected counsel's ability to make pretrial decisions on the basis of this assumption. Id.
¶40 With regard to the "prejudice" prong, we initially observe that this is not a case in which the defendant has alleged the complete denial of counsel such that prejudice can be presumed. That presumption is limited to cases where counsel was either totally absent or "altogether" prevented from assisting the defendant during a critical stage of the proceeding. See Perry v. Leeke, 488 U.S. 272, 280 (1989) (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 692); United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659 (1984); Rodriguez, 914 P.2d at 299-300; see also Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 528 U.S. 470, 483 (2000) (if a defendant would have chosen a different course of action "but for" his attorney's performance, an inquiry into prejudice is warranted).
¶41 Thus, prejudice is determined by whether there is a reasonable probability that, but for the interference with defense counsel's decision-making ability, the defendant "would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial." Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 59 (1985); see also Carmichael, 206 P.3d at 806-07. This determination will depend on the likelihood that discovery of the evidence would have led counsel to change his recommendation as to the plea. Hill, 474 U.S. at 59. In assessing a defendant's claim that he would have followed counsel's recommendation to reject a plea and insist on going to trial, a court should consider whether this course of action would have been rational under the circumstances. See People v. Finney, 2012 COA 38, ¶¶70-71 (citing Hill, 474 U.S. at 59) (the court should assess, objectively, whether the evidence likely would have changed the outcome of a trial).
¶42 In its postconviction order, the district court applied the "actual ineffectiveness" analysis to conclude that Corson failed to prove that his attorney's performance fell below the level of reasonably competent assistance. Because Corson's ineffective assistance claim is based on the alternative ground under Strickland– which requires an evaluation whether the prosecution's conduct interfered with defense counsel's "ability to make independent decisions about how to conduct the defense," Strickland, 466 U.S. at 686 – we direct the district court on remand to so evaluate the claim.
¶43 In this regard, the district court should also reevaluate the significance of its finding that Corson personally knew of K.B.'s history of false reporting and juvenile adjudications. While this finding has record support, it does not complete the prejudice analysis. The inquiry must also assess whether defense counsel, in advising Corson to plead guilty, reasonably discounted his client's knowledge and instead relied on the prosecution's representation that this evidence did not exist to conclude that the witness could not be confronted with this information. Finally, the court must evaluate whether counsel would have changed his recommendation, had he received discovery of that evidence, confirming his client's knowledge. See Hill, 474 U.S. at 59.
III. Conclusion
¶44 Upon remand, the district court should evaluate whether the prosecution misrepresented its compliance with its discovery obligations and whether the misrepresentation, if any, induced Corson's guilty plea. The court must also reconsider Corson's ineffective assistance claim under the applicable Strickland standard. If the court finds that the prosecution improperly interfered with defense counsel's ability to make independent decisions about how to conduct the defense, then the court must proceed to a reconsideration of the prejudice prong. The court may, in its discretion, allow further evidence on these issues.
¶45 The order is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
JUDGE GABRIEL and JUDGE MÁRQUEZ concur.
1 K.B.'s alleged recantation is not at issue in this appeal.
These opinions are not final. They may be modified, changed or withdrawn in accordance with Rules 40 and 49 of the Colorado Appellate Rules. Changes to or modifications of these opinions resulting from any action taken by the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court are not incorporated here.
Colorado Court of Appeals Opinions || January 17, 2013


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Millersburg woman killed in early morning accident east of Goshen
The victim was driving her moped west on C.R. 38 when a car struck her from behind, resulting in fatal injuries, according to police.
GOSHEN — A Millersburg woman was killed after being hit by a car east of Goshen city limits Friday morning, Aug. 29.
Around 5:35 a.m., Jennifer Myers, 24, was traveling west on her moped on C.R. 38 when she was struck from behind by a car and thrown from the mo-ped, according to a press release from the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department.
The accident happened in the 14000 block of C.R. 38 west of C.R. 35.
An officer and an off-duty firefighter arrived on the scene shortly after the crash and attempted life-saving measures, but they were unsuccessful, according to the release.
Myers was pronounced dead at the scene from injuries. A helmet was found at the scene but so far it's unclear if she was wearing it.
The driver of the car was identified as James D. R. Fugate, 29, of Wawaka, Ind. He was arrested at the scene on an unrelated warrant for criminal conversion and was incarcerated at the Elkhart County Jail.
Police say the Fugate didn't see the moped and couldn't stop in time before hitting Myers. Speed may have been a factor in the crash, according to eyewitness accounts and preliminary evidence.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident. So far, no charges in relation to the crash have been requested.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- GuatemalaFoodFunding via FAPE
Dúo Esmeral...GuatemalaFoodFunding via FAPE
Dúo Gardeni...GuatemalaFoodFunding via FAPE
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- Jan 17, 2014


text:
ON 3 SEPTEMBER 1838 an unknown slave, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, escaped Maryland slavery. The twenty-year-old fugitive fled first to New York City and then to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his last name to Douglass. Three years later, he emerged on the public platform as a Garrisonian abolitionist with an electrifying speech at Nantucket, Massachusetts. For the next fifty-four years he devoted his life to the cause of his people--agitating for an end to slavery before the Civil War, working to define war aims and to enlist black soldiers during the conflict, and continuing the struggle for equal rights after the war was over. From 1841 until his death in 1895, this formerly unknown slave earned a reputation as the most distinguished and celebrated African American leader and orator of the nineteenth century.1
From the beginning of his career as an abolitionist lecturer, Douglass committed himself to using the power of oratory to destroy the institution of slavery. From 1841 through 1845, he campaigned tirelessly through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, and Indiana. He spoke nearly every day--often several times a day--to audiences large and small in public parks, town squares, churches, schoolhouses, abandoned buildings, and lecture halls. He endured all the day-to-day hardships, loneliness, and physical demands faced by an itinerant abolitionist lecturer. He traveled by foot, horseback, railroad, stagecoach, and steamboat in an effort to vitalize local and county antislavery societies. Often braving bricks, rotten eggs, verbal attacks, racist remarks, and threats of physical assault, he at times risked his life speaking against the peculiar institution. Day and night he told listeners about his slave experiences and addressed such issues as the injustice of racial prejudice, the proslavery character of the clergy, the superiority of moral suasion over political action, and the proslavery nature of the U. S. Constitution. Undaunted by hostile and apathetic audiences, he ventured into hamlets where the rhetoric of abolitionism had never been preached.


text:
Staff Report
Published March 5, 2014
Great Business Networking LLC is hosting a free expo on Thursday to help small businesses and individuals learn about health insurance options.
Get Informed 2014 Expo will be held from noon until 6 p.m. at the Omar Shrine Temple, located at 176 Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant. An after-hours mixer is scheduled for 6-9 p.m.
Approximately 50 businesses from the greater Charleston area are expected to attend, including Clifford Ryba Mortgage Lending, Melaleuca, WAY-FM, Water Missions International, InTown, A Snappy Event, Saltbusters, Rooted ID, UR World Marketing, Jeff McDowell Wells Fargo, Any Body's Pilates, In Works, Mary Kay and LegalShield.
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina representatives will also be on hand to provide health insurance evaluations and quotes.
BlueCross agent Stephen Yantek will discuss group insurance during a seminar. Yantek is expected to explain why small businesses, especially startup companies, should offer health insurance as well as how health care reform affects group coverage, options for group plans and the benefits of having a group plan, according to a BlueCross spokeswoman.
Another seminar will be geared toward individuals who are required to purchase health insurance by March 31 or face a tax penalty. The seminar will be led by BlueCross agent Jennifer McCormick.
Schedule for Get Informed 2014 Expo:
- Noon — BlueCross BlueShield Health Care and You in 2014.
- 1:30 p.m. — Corporate Cycle Consulting LLC and American Business Women's Association speak about starting a business in 2014.
- 2:30 p.m. — BlueCross BlueShield group employee benefits and business requirements.
- 3:45 p.m. — Lender matchmaking event for business owners.
- 5:00 p.m. — Guest speaker state Rep. David Mack III.
- 5:20 p.m. — A Mount Pleasant town council member will be a guest speaker.
The expo will include a job fair, silent auction, free giveaways and facials and a $200 cash drawing.
Proceeds from the event — sponsored by Greater Business Networking, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Rooted ID and WAY FM — will go to Water Missions International.


text:
BiPar Buyout Proves VC Model Can Work
Sanofi-Aventis' proposed buyout of BiPar Sciences Inc. is the end result of a deal in which just about everything went right for BiPar's venture backers.
Sanofi-Aventis is buying the cancer-drug maker for an undisclosed amount of cash upfront, plus milestones that could bring the total to $500 million. Specifics about the milestones were not disclosed, but BiPar executives and investors said they are reachable and center largely on the company's Phase II product, BSI-201, a potential treatment for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, and other conditions.
"The deal is not the typical 'bio-bucks' deal that has value that might not ever be realized," said John Schembri, chief financial officer. "We're confident that BiPar shareholders will be able to see most of this value eventually."
Sanofi-Aventis is acquiring all BiPar assets, including its pipeline of earlier-stage products.
Major BiPar backers include Asset Management Co., Canaan Partners, Domain Associates, Polytechnos Venture-Partners, Quantum Technology Partners and Vulcan Capital. Venture investors committed $63 million, though the amount BiPar has called down is undisclosed, Schembri said. BiPar, based in Brisbane, Calif., also raised $10 million in venture debt.
BiPar's lead drug inhibits poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), a DNA-repair enzyme over-expressed in certain cancers. Inhibiting this enzyme reduces tumor cells' ability to repair their DNA, which ultimately kills them. To test this novel strategy, BiPar selected an indication in which PARP is a key player, triple-negative breast cancer, and one in which there are few therapeutic options. Triple-negative breast cancer, in which estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors are not present, cannot be treated with drugs aimed at these receptors.
At the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, BiPar said interim Phase II data indicated that BSI-201 can be safely added to the chemotherapy that triple-negative breast cancer patients receive. With the scrutiny regulators are applying to drugs, strong safety data are especially attractive, said Canaan General Partner Wende Hutton. The potential to apply BSI-201 to ovarian and other cancers also appealed to drug makers. As a result, BiPar found itself with buyout offers from multiple pharmaceutical companies, she said.
"The company executed really, really well," Hutton said. "They really understood the potential and how to develop this drug."
While some observers contend that the biotech venture-capital model is broken, the BiPar deal is evidence that it can work with the right combination of science, management and strategy, said Graham Crooke, a partner of Asset Management Co., an early BiPar investor. The results from preclinical research of BiPar's PARP inhibitors in animal models were unusually strong, Crooke said. The company then proceeded with a thoughtful clinical-development strategy that demonstrated its lead drug's promise in a large patient population, he said.
Sanofi-Aventis, led by new chief executive Chris Viehbacher, said early this year that acquisitions would be a bigger part of its strategy. Last week, the French drug maker said it would acquire Brazilian generic drug company Medley, for example.
"Sanofi showed an aggressiveness and a willingness to move despite the overall economic climate," Hutton said, "which I think is going to serve them well."


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Facebook video ads will start cluttering up your News Feed
Auto-playing 15 second clips assault users
SOCIAL NETWORK Facebook has announced that video adverts will soon start cluttering up its users' News Feeds, following several months of testing.
Facebook first announced that video ads were coming last December, and yesterday it said that after a few months of testing the auto-playing 15 second clips will now begin appearing in users' News Feeds.
It's not all bad news, though, as Facebook said that the adverts will be rolling out to a limited number of people initially. The firm said in a blog post, "In December, we started testing Premium Video Ads as a way for advertisers to drive branding objectives on Facebook. Starting today, we're introducing these ads on Facebook with a select group of advertisers.
"We'll roll out Premium Video Ads slowly and monitor how people interact with them. This limited introduction allows us to concentrate our efforts on a smaller number of advertisers with high-quality campaigns to create the best possible experience on Facebook."
Thankfully, Facebook's auto-playing video adverts won't be unavoidable. The social network was keen to point out that while the ads will start playing automatically, they will be without sound unless a user wants to watch it, and will stop playing if a user scrolls past it.
"Each 15-second video ad will start playing without sound as it appears on screen and stop if people scroll past. If people tap the video, it will expand into a full-screen view and sound will start," Facebook explained.
There's also an option to disable video streaming when you're on a 3G or 4G connection, to ensure that the adverts don't eat into your data allowance. µ
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What you missed in tech last week: Windows 10 borkage, Intel backs USB-C
We round up the top 10 stories from the past seven days
Pimp my desk: Gadgets to make your work life easier
For when you just can't take another long lunch break
Google Updates: Lobbying with Fiat, Android N for Studio and an app no-one wants
Control your Android TV from an iOS device? Um, no
Google Street View car caught speeding by its own camera
Somebody call the irony police


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The 15 Best Braided Hairstyles to Try Right Now
Gorgeous chandelier earrings glammed up the Golden Globes host's side-swept award show style.
Beauty Tips Straight From Beyoncé's Makeup Artist
She was the starlet to be seen at New York Fashion Week. Front row at Carolina Herrera, the actress proved the power of a pony.
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The British pop star has a new album and a new look.
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He shared a few of his best makeup tips and secrets.
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The Freedom Tower Presents "Beyond the Rails" Exhibit
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New World School of Art students collaborated on the "Beyond the Rails" exhibit as a part of a museum studies course offered by MDC and NWSA at the new Wolfsonian-Florida International University site in downtown Miami.
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The exhibit opens on March 27 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the ballroom of the Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd. on the Wolfson Campus.
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Pittsburgh QB Perry Hills talks Terps pledge
The Maryland wrestling coaches looked at Perry Hills in January and saw a 189-pounder with ACC potential. Randy Edsall and the Terps football staff checked out the rising senior from Pittsburgh Central Catholic on Saturday and saw their quarterback of the future.
The 6-foot-3 Hills was in College Park this weekend for Maryland's annual football camp. While the Terps' wrestling staff sold him on the school, Hills hoped to earn his way to campus on the gridiron. At 6 p.m. on Saturday, after camp had ended, Edsall offered Hills a scholarship. One hour later, Hills accepted.
"I let him know Maryland was my No. 1 school. It's been my No. 1 school since January," Hills said Sunday. "He told me we could get this marriage on the road, [and then have] me start recruiting some of my teammates that have been offered by Maryland, too."
Hills, who threw for 1,580 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior, also considered offers from Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami of Ohio and Old Dominion. Pittsburgh, Michigan State and West Virginia were also involved in his recruitment.
A two-year varsity football player and all-state wrestler, Hills quarterbacked coach Terry Totten's Central Catholic squad to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League semifinals last fall.
"He's tough as nails, he's a leader, he's a winner [and] he's tough," Totten said. "His throwing motion, his size and his strength are just going to continue [improving] through the next year, year and a half. … I mean he's had certain games, definitely, where he throws and you said, 'Wow, he's really on the verge of becoming a big-time kid.'"
Totten called Hills "a dropback guy," but the future Terp has demonstrated his ability to run the football on a regular basis. At Pittsburgh's camp a week ago, Hill was clocked at a 4.57 in the 40. At Maryland, he followed that up with a 4.67.
Hills came to Maryland's camp knowing that a scholarship offer wasn't a given. Defensive line coach Greg Gattuso told him he was in their top group of prospects, but he would have to do well in front of the staff for them to pull the trigger. The pressure to perform didn't faze Hills a bit.
"To be a quarterback, you have to deal with pressure," he said. "You learn how to deal with pressure in wrestling [because] everyone's eyes are on you on the mat. That helps me a lot dealing with pressure."
Hills said Edsall joked that he planned to "get some champagne" to celebrate the commitment. The newest Terps pledge, however, had a more low-key celebration that consisted of driving back to Pittsburgh with a feeling of satisfaction.
"It feels great to know that you don't have to worry about the recruiting game anymore, just concentrate on competing at the high school level," Hills said. "I'll be the hardest worker, hopefully become a great quarterback and hopefully win a national title at Maryland."


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Brain Emulation for Manned Interstellar Flight: Feasibility and Design Considerations
posted by Andreas Hein on June 27, 2012
written by Aaron Cardon
Close your eyes and picture that first moment of direct extraterrestrial contact, but add a less familiar twist: imagine that we are the arriving extraterrestrials. Far (or, perhaps, nearer than we think) into our future, with ever-advancing astronomy, unmanned extrasolar probes, and perhaps manned missions to nearby planetary systems, the depths of the vast interstellar ocean finally yield that Holy Grail of astrobiology: dozens of light years away, we spot another planet stamped with an unmistakable signature of intelligent life. After our species-long history of wondering, and with the technology available, are we not compelled to go to them?
If your answer is yes, read on…but prepare yourself for another imaginative leap. I've told you that we have the technology, and asked you to vaguely imagine us, arriving in their solar system, to present ourselves to them in that incredible moment of first contact. But I didn't describe what we would look like descending from the skies; I left your brain to fill in what this interstellar technology looks like. My mind normally goes to a habitation-module lander (think Apollo), cruising to the softest landing possible under intensive thrusters, with the deck then slowly unfolding to reveal a biped silhouette. Others, perhaps, think first of Kirk and crew appearing suddenly, transported from their orbiting ship directly in front of an alien welcoming committee. Did you imagine, however, that when we arrive, perhaps we fall directly to their planet's surface, with no gear except our "selves." We may walk on two legs, or perhaps four, or eight; we might not walk at all. Most noticeably, however, we are a fraction of our current size and weight, almost certainly don't look very hominid at all, and are composed entirely (or at least mostly) of circuit boards, memory sticks and processor chips.
When discussing deep-space exploration, brain emulation – the use of advanced computers to digitally recreate a complete (or essentially complete) human neural network – comes up with increasing frequency. As our computers become progressively faster, more intricate, and compact, it becomes easier and easier to envision such a "digital crew" and the benefits it might offer to mission design. I will introduce here, to stimulate discussion, what is known about the feasibility of whole-brain emulation technology, the advantages it may offer in its application to manned interstellar exploration, and the mission designs implied by those advantages. We may then proceed to discuss the state of the evidence and develop each of these sections in further detail.
Technology-readiness and Feasibility
If emulation turns out to be feasible, it is important to remain clear in distinguishing its many independent research goals and purposes. Most basically, we can conceptualize whole brain emulation as taking three forms: whole brain emulation (WBE) can be defined as a successful digital representation of the general components of a whole brain, operating in real-time (or close to it) in such sufficient detail as to reliably reproduce its most important outputs (i.e. behaviors). The more specific use of brain emulation to model the "standard" output of a human brain (most generally validated as successful by some sort of Turing test), can be labeled mind emulation.. It is at this level, where its use becomes comparable to that of other AI models, that I think most of us begin to envision practical brain emulation and the fantastic uses it could provide. Person emulation, finally, is the digital reproduction of specific minds (i.e. individuals). It is difficult, at our current level of knowledge, to predict the relative difficulty in achieving each of these forms of emulation, although it seems likely that they require increasing levels of technological sophistication. Person emulation, for example, would appear to require the ability to specifically image and capture (either destructively or not) all relevant parameters of a particular brain, while mind emulation could be demonstrated by merely gathering sufficient data, from as many sources as necessary, to construct a model of each of the relevant systems to whole brain function.
Although the feasibility of even basic WBE has yet to be demonstrated, there are good reasons to expect that it may be possible, even in the relative near-term future. Only a few unproven assumptions must be true to accept its theoretical plausibility – most notably, scale separation. Other assumptions or speculations depend on the particular form of emulation being discussed.
Ghost in the shell: Brain emulation is a common topic in science-fiction
The feasibility of any sort of whole brain emulation is dependent on scale separation – the principle that at some sufficiently high level of system function, brain activity can be described, accurately predicted, and reproduced. Brains, as most modern students will remember, are made up of neurons (usually estimated at 100 billion of them), connected to one another by, on average, 1000 synapses (100 trillion synapses, for those keeping count). Neurons communicate with one another across these synapses by chemical stimulation: an action potential is "fired" in a neuron, stimulating the release of neurotransmitters, which float across the synapse and modify the properties of the receiving neuron (usually by increasing or decreasing the receiving neuron's probability of firing). Neurons, like all cells, are incredibly complex individual units whose function relies on tightly-regulated protein interactions. Protein interactions are governed by quantum and classical chemical behaviors which we have yet to completely model. So at which level of this complex system is the information contained?
It has been suggested, though never widely accepted, that information contained either at the quantum molecular level, or within the continuous variables of the analog signals, may be used by the brain to enable "hypercomputation" which will not be amenable to emulation. These two scenarios would essentially compel us to accept that the physical structure of a brain is necessary to produce a mind, or at least make it unlikely that the necessary computation is a tractable problem. These both remain valid hypotheses (they will be best tested by progressively improvements in the neural network models discussed below); fortunately for our future emulators, however, they both contain significant problems to reconcile to current neuroscience.
So returning to our levels of scale, the action potential (the "all-or-none" activations of individual neurons) – or, perhaps, the repeated action potentials in a spike trains – is the fundamental unit of information in contemporary neuroscience. Neurons are, after all, binary on/off units, just like bits. Their information-processing capacity lies in their extensive interconnectedness. Wait, you say, but the connections of neurons are not random or average at all; rather, there are different specialized neuron types which have specific unique functions and connections; in other words, even if we had complete, functional electronic models of 100 billion "typical" neurons with their thousand connections each, we obviously could not simply connect them to each other randomly and expect a mind to emerge (more to the point, we should probably expect an epileptic meltdown). Thus, to emulate the brain, we may "merely" have to digitize the relevant properties of two things: the thresholds and excitability of individual neurons (compartment model) and the map of their connections (the connectome) in the human brain.
Indeed, that combination is very close to the form of most modern neural network models. Individual nodes, representing neurons, act to process their input according to their compartment model, and based on their result, either propagate a signal to the next node or not. Usually, depending upon the application, most models simplify either the compartment model or the connectome, even while focusing on a small population of neurons (often, though not always, modeled off of part of the brain). Even such limited models, however, have been successful in replicating some functions and outputs of neural networks. For example, auto-associative networks modeled from the hippocampus (one of the most extensively studied regions of the brain, known to be important to memory) have been shown to be capable of pattern recognition akin to prompted memory recall: input of a small portion of a previously "learned" pattern will reliably reproduce the pattern. Another group, working on prosthetic replacement of the hippocampus, has developed an integrated circuit that, when used to replace parts of the hippocampus circuit, can reliably replicate the spike timing and output of the network.
Although our models remain limited in size and scope, advanced simulations running on standard computers may still take hours to produce mere seconds worth of real-time output. There are, however, good reasons to believe such limitations are temporary and that whole brain, real-time emulation can still develop from extrapolations of the models above. These reasons are closely related to those which would offer reduced payloads, so we will discuss them together later.
Successes such as those mentioned above indicate that a faithful emulation could emerge from models containing some sufficient detail of compartments and connectedness. At the groundbreaking conference on whole brain emulation, held by Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute in 2008, an informal poll of attendees produced this consensus of an expected range of complexity for mature emulation technology (Sandberg and Bostrom, 14). It is possible (and suggested by a few at that conference), that non-reducible information may be contained at the level of neurotransmitter concentrations, quaternary protein structures, or ephaptic (local electrical fluctuation) effects. While the evidence for such information-processing capacity is preliminary at best, addition of this information could increase the computational and imaging requirements by a few orders of magnitude, but should not generally be considered a major impediment to its development.
So while it is certainly possible that some of the unanswered questions described above could, when answered, demonstrate that digital technology cannot emulate biological brains to a sufficient degree to replace (or equivalently complement) human crew members, the future of whole brain emulation overall looks quite bright. Introducing their summary of the Oxford conference, Sandberg and Bostrom summarize the expert consensus that although "WBE [whole brain emulation] represents a formidable engineering and research problem…[it] could, it would seem, be achieved by extrapolations of current technology." (5). Research is being funded across the globe with the explicit intent of further defining and completing the reverse engineering challenges. When we return to discuss next the advantages of WBE to crew design, we will review the successes of the Blue Brain Project and their goals with the Human Brain Project, as well as HHMI's Janelia Farms projects making strides toward maturing the necessary technologies, to extrapolate from current success to predict the usefulness to future missions.
Design Advantages of Digital Crews
Whereas traditional biological crews require extensive life-support systems, a digital crew would theoretically allow massively reduced payloads; after all, the digital crew can be reduced to simply computer hardware powered directly by electricity, thus achieving the same ends while eliminating those pesky biological nuisances like food, oxygen, and waste disposal? Once we get our minds out of these weary cranial vaults and into their sturdy emulation modules, we may be better pilots without biological fatigue, or require a smaller crew without the need for shifts for sleep, right?
Indeed, I framed my scenario above to contain a pair of essential design challenges which would support such a crew choice: a large distance (at the very edge of our foreseeable feasibility based on other mission design considerations) with a consequently long mission, along with a mission objective requiring a crew (establishing first contact). In comparison, my favorite description of brain emulation in science fiction happens to be from Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Space. In that case, a journey for two human astronauts (and their alien and Neandertal companions) to the center of the Milky Way is enabled by reduction of the entire payload, into a "ship," presumably consisting of a very miniaturized (not to mention durable) supercomputer the weight and size of a relay baton, allowing an exotic propulsion system to accelerate this small payload to near the speed of light. I will avoid any further spoilers to Baxter's plot, but the common elements across most proposals to use digital crews appear to be: reduced payload, stability and self-sufficiency extending beyond the human lifespan, and. So it is reasonable to consider, by doing our best to envision what such a far-off digital crew would look like, what kind of payload reduction we may achieve.
No matter the propulsion system, payload is a costly consideration in discussing mission design. Although we must assume that early brain emulation would occur in very large distributed computing networks, relatively conservative applications of Moore's Law and the relative energy cost of silicon versus carbon-based information-processing predicts that, once demonstrated feasible, brain emulation, particularly with the type of design appropriate for use as crew members, should be reducible to a point of being more cost-effective in payload considerations.
Self-sufficiency and stability of such crew members, unfortunately, remains entirely uncertain. While I am loathe to invoke any "mad-at-the-edge-of-space" stereotypes, one of the first research goals of mind emulation is massive improvements, through availability of model systems for hypothesis testing, in the standard models of psychology, neurology, and particularly cognitive neuroscience. There are few clinical evidences to support speculating that a mature mind emulation may be amenable to "saving and storing," by turning on and off at will. However, even in this simple design question, we do not, and cannot, know that until we find it possible (and, perhaps more importantly, ethical) to do just that. As we move progressively through the steps of "building a mind" with a brain emulator, the questions mount further and faster regarding psychological stability, and by extension, what support structures must be put in place to achieve such stability.
Though certainly still one of the most fanciful propositions for use in deep-space mission design, the promise of digital crews offered by possibilities for brain emulation and brain-like computers remain exciting and alluring. Brain emulation remains, at best, technology-readiness level 1, with active investigation of basic principles and ever-increasing hopes of near-term proof-of-concept experiments. Brain emulation is an exciting possible technology which could offer such significant benefits to a deep-space mission as to become indispensable, even though replacement of biological crews may not turn out to be its primary function. Should it prove feasible, it may well serve better as an adjunct to traditional crews, as an intermediary between a human crew and ship control systems – an integral crew member with particular mission duties, but not a self-sufficient crew entirely separate from its human counterparts.Images:
10 Responses to Brain Emulation for Manned Interstellar Flight: Feasibility and Design Considerations
Digital uploaded brains come with a few philosophical drawbacks.
the biggest one is what the webcomic Schlock Mercenary calls "the continuity flaw" ( http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-03-20 )
is a digital copy, even a supposedly perect digital copy, of me actually me? if i volunteer for to upload into a starprobe, i personally, the fleshy me, will either be dead or stuck here on earth, while the digital me goes to the stars. the copy is not me, it is ultimately a copy. either way, i personally do not get to go to the stars. and my digital copy will understand that, which would likely lead to psychological issue later on down the road.
this continuity flaw is the main problem with such digital immortality concepts. anyone who has an Id strong enough to actually desire immortality or the ability to make long starflights, is going to have a personality that won't accept the idea that they as a digital copy are the same person they were as a flesh and blood person.
especially if the flesh and blood person is still around after the upload.
and if the upload process results in the death of the person being uploaded, you now have a major moral problem on your hands, since you are effectively committing murder. (murder doesn't distinguish between the body and mind.. and you'd have a major political issue regarding whether the uploaded person's mind counts as a person or just software, property..)
Without the context of existential risks, scenarios such as the above might seem like a viable option. But honestly, does whole brain emulation pose no immediate existential threat. When technology reaches that level, could we copy the brains of the smartest people in the planet? Could the very intelligent minds be copied in copious quantities. If they were to collaborate, might they be able to figure out how to improve the intelligence of their brains which would then be able to create yet more intelligent brains in an accelerating manner? If so, would such a singularity pose an existential risk to humanity?
You've got to take these issues into account when thinking about interstellar missions. Reality doesn't have to follow our wishes for the future. To be prudent, we need to take into consideration that the future may close down some of our scenarios against our wishes.
Silicon minds pose a far greater threat to our future than biological brains. We are really not far from being able to produce humans from frozen single cells. Since the 1970s we have been able to do this using mothers. Stem-cell derived artificial uteruses are being researched with considerable success in the rat model.
Now, it is true that life-support for a biological colonist is harder than for a silicon one. But since silicon mind technology poses such a greater threat than biological minds, I figure we don't have a choice. We have to go with the biological model and get it launched before whole brain emulation or more likely IMO seed AI or any other existential threat is developed.
Emulating a human brain means creating a human, albeit in a different body, with all the good and bad things that we have. This also means that we cannot conceive to "enslave" humans into long missions without their consent – even if they are physically speaking, "machines" – and we should also make sure that when they arrive at their destination, they behave better than a Hitler-in-a-can. In such far-reaching developments, ethics, philosophy and morals play a role as great as science and technology. We should pay attention to that.
With a view to the article and comments made above, I would like to propose a short, perhaps possible, evolutionary path and see what questions are raised by the exercise.
I would like to start by raising the point that we do not have to fully understand the brain in order to interface technology with it. For example, by mapping particular though patterns it is possible to control electric wheelchairs with no other human intervention. This is achieved by attaching sensors to a cap worn by the driver (what I will refer to as non-invasive).
It is also possible to control an external robotic arm by sensors implanted into the brain (what I will refer to as invasive).
It would appear that the initial stimulus for developing this technology would be for medical and possibly military applications (i.e. UAVs controlled by thought rather than joysticks, as a crude example).
It would seem likely that some of the non-invasive technology would start to find its way into commercial and leisure activities. i.e. in such areas as information access, computer gaming, general interaction with electronic devices, controlling certain instruments and vehicles. Note at this stage options would be interpreted by our own sensors (i.e. a console presents you with certain options, but the choice is made by mapping thought patterns).
A possible next stage of development would be the introduction of additional electronic sensors. To some extent this is likely to overlap with development stated in the previous paragraph at the basic level. Initially the sensor data is likely to be relayed in a form our own sensors can interpret. However, it may be possible to train the brain to interpret these external sensors directly by stimulating key areas. [***] (To what level we would have to understand the brain in order to achieve this last point is an open question. It may turn out that we may only have to understand the functions of key areas)
I feel, if possible, this stage may represent a turning point between the non-invasive and invasive technologies. How well our brains can interpret these additional sensors will be the key point. It may turn out that it is advantageous to further develop the brain for this purpose (either through circuits implanted into key areas, or perhaps via biological manipulation). (however, it is likely that a sound knowledge of the brain or at least key areas would be required before the above would be possible.)
My key points are:
1)1) It is likely that understanding the brain will be driven by commercial applications in the future.
2)2) If the above is possible before Brain Emulation, or at least certain levels thereof, will the ethical and moral dilemmas alluded to appear quite so large? (we are viewing this issue from our own technological time)
3)3) If the last noted stage of development does occur before Brain Emulation to what extent will our brains differ from those today?
4)4) If it appears advantageous to increase the circuit proportion of the brain of the "biological/circuit hybrid", is turning "machine" just the next stage of evolution.
5)5) The above is just a train of thoughts and has no justification, but I would enjoy feedback. It may be that point [***] cannot be advanced upon without an almost complete brain model. I would also like to apologize for my grammar.
If I understand what you're saying you're basically describing a practical way to achieve the Chinese room argument. Is that correct?
Andy, your suggestion is most interesting. I don't know of it would work but I think it might. I think the question at that point would be if that deciding machine was up to the task at hand. If the required task would be to analyze different planets and choose a destination I think the deciding machine might be adequate. If the task required was to raise children in which there is a lot of subtle interaction I think that would be more difficult to achieve the required goal.
The brain emulation is useless as far as true interstellar manned flight is considered. I cannot fathom why nobody realizes that this propsition equals sending a software program that is in no way different from regular one as far as human existence is considered. Yes, it is much more complicated and appears (appears being key word) to be intelligent, but that's it. It is an equiqualent of sending unmanned probe. There is no true existence or counciousness that experiences interstellar flight and is part of it. And while I think that idea is very good and should be conisdered, it is obvious that this method does not allow to truly travel between stars. Maybe when a real human could be re-created from stored data, then this would somewhat solved this problem, but still this is an equiqualent os sending signal to receiver with inforamtion how to make clone of somebody. It kind of does the trick, but not really.
Sakramentos, I can tell you one thing as an aviator: Flight simulators achieve today such a level of realism that "flying" them is exactly the same as flying a real aircraft. They do not "appear" to be aircraft; they "are". Even legally, they are considered as aircraft in which you can log flight hours, inspectors can write your license off and you can tune them to work exactly as the real thing, down to flight and engineering manual specs. Simulators are used to solve problems or gain training in procedures that are too dangerous to try in "real" aircraft. With this in mind, there is really no reason to assume that emulation of a human being cannot attain full humanity one day. Nothing is impossible.
Interesting article, but needs to be considered in conjunction with an article such as this:
by Athena Andreadis.
Stephen, Oxford, UK
By the way, is this blog article written by Andreas Hein or Aaron Cardon? Both attributions appear under the title.
The simulations will be of parts of the brain for specific purposes or rather tasks not an actual person, more likely from a collection of unknown cadavers ( thankfully the use of criminals for cadavers is no longer common ). There would be Just enough simulation to perform a function difficult for known algorithms to do such as visual perception, walking, etc. These components may be controlled by a traditional program but the neural nets will only be used where they work best.
There will be exceptions to this, I can see someone having their brain digitized after their natural death and leaving a foundation behind to repair the damage from death, perhaps redressing memories with videos, photos and journals and creating a virtual recreation of themselves. Continuity would not be a problem as this is after their natural deaths, they would simply be the best available version of themselves and hence there would be a willingness to accept themselves as they are.
Such more complete emulations of individuals may eventually perform functions perhaps as jobs which brings a serious issue about rights as such simulations could easily be only rewarded virtually or reset into a co-operative state with only promises of compensation.
These more complete emulations and eventually more thorough use of partial emulations may begin to obviate organic humans particularly if they could be simulated at a higher speed than organic humans but only to the cost and operation of the equipment needed. Total obsolescence will depend on how trivial the equipment costs and energy may become and it only needs to undercut the living costs of organic humans to obsolete them. Personal fabricators and liquid fluoride thorium reactors could make the equipment costs and energy costs truly trivial.
The obsolescence of organic humans would occur economically, through the lost of jobs till their support falls to the social system where they may likely be "zooed" in self supporting agrarian communities and encouraged perhaps forcibly to reduce reproduction.
Both the simulated crew and any organic crew that might accompany them on an interstellar trip may, by the single purpose of the trip, be the only versions of our descendants not on such a dystopic path, at least not till they colonize or lose sense of a combined mission.


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Police to close Strongs Avenue today for accident reconstruction teamSTAFF REPORT | April 23,2013Strongs Avenue will be closed between City Hall and Madison Street from 1 to 3 p.m. today as part of the investigation into the death of Mary Jane Outslay. Rutland City Police said a crash reconstruction team is being brought in to work on the scene of the fatal hit-and-run. Motorists are asked to plan to take alternative routes.MORE IN This Just InWHITE RIVER JUNCTION A New Hampshire man is expected to spend nine months in jail in his home... Full StoryA Ludlow woman denied threatening another female driver with a handgun while driving on Route 7... Full StoryA Rutland landlord will pay a $1,000 fine for filing false lead compliance documents. Full Story
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in Fruit & veg
Some of mey garlic is producing bulbs above the soil, is this normal?
Yes, it sounds like it's trying to produce a seed head. You can cut it off though so that the plant concentrates on the bulb rather than making a flower.
Thank you will give it a go, Any oyher tips?
The only other tip I know is to wait until the leaves start to yellow before digging them up. Others might have suggestions though, good luck with your crop.
OK thanks again
also when you harvest, if its dry leave on the ground so they can dry out. This will prevent rotting when you store then.
If the rain continues as it is suggested, then ground drying isn't going to work. If you buy veggies or fruit, or anything else for that matter, in those 'string' bags they come in sometimes, they are very good to hold onions or garlic and you can hang them in a garage, spare room or wherever to dry.
thank you for your suggestions, hopefully we will get some that we can try!


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By Tom Landwehr
Contributing Writer
Hunting and fishing are such a valued part of our Minnesota heritage that they are forever preserved privileges under the state constitution alongside protections for freedom of expression and religious liberty. Our outdoor traditions are a part of our culture. Preserving that culture is critical. Hunters and anglers are the fiercest advocates for fish and wildlife conservation. By way of hunting and license fees, and because of excise taxes on fishing rods and firearms, they also provide the economic base to manage and protect the natural habitat and wildlife we all value. Continue Reading →


text: Circle of unfriends: The six people to delete from Facebook Facebook 09 May 11 by Brendon Walsh This article was taken from the June 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.EL MISTERIOSORelationship to you: Who knows? Unless you forgot meeting a Mr "Buck Fuddy" who looks exactly like Freddy Krueger, their profile is entirely made up. Typical behaviour: Posting cryptic information such as "Religion: beer" and " Relationship status: your mum". Unfriend if:Their friends list is riddled with names like "Sharon Needles" and "Wendy Nailer".THE PASSIVE CRUSADERRelationship to you: Coworker from three jobs ago with whom you once foolishly discussed politics. Typical behaviour: Attempts to save the world by posting news links with sarcastic quips such as "Your taxes put to good work!" Unfriend if: They favour works by Jeffrey Archer and AN Wilson. Or they give politicians endearing nicknames such as "Ed Balls-up"THE PATIENTRelationship to you: You disappointed them once. Everyone does. And they forgive you. Typical behaviour: Reports back to the outside world from within a fortress of self-help books. Posts nauseating inspirational aphorisms, such as: "Today's goal: make friends with the person in the mirror", which inexplicably get liked by dozens of people. Unfriend if: Do it. NowTHE LIKERRelationship to you: A friend of a friend. Typical behaviour: Post a joke about your kids? They "like" it. Cute cat picture? They "like" it. Awful video from office karaoke party? "Like." Announcement about Sunday five-a-side game? "Like." Unfriend if: They "like" a link to a news story about road fatalities increasing around Christmas.BLAST FROM THE PASTRelationship to you: An acquaintance from school -- the sort of person you would've lost touch with in pre-internet days. Typical behaviour: Uploading old pics of you acting like an idiot at a Kajagoogoo gig or wearing a "Frankie Says Relax" T-shirt. Unfriend if: You spend more than ten minutes untagging yourself in their uploadsYOUR MUM Relationship to you: Your mum. Typical behaviour: Nags you for swearing in posts. Fills your wall with jokes she used to forward on email and updates on your cousin's hernia operation. Unfriend if: Unfriending is useless. Cancel your account. Start a new profile using a pseudonym such as "Buck Fuddy". Edited by Alice Vincent Latest on wired.co.uk


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Chicago Fest To Kick Off Two-Week Event with "Human Stain," Tribute To Benton
by Wendy Mitchell
The Chicago International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its 2003 event, to be held October 2-16. Opening the festival will be Robert Benton's "The Human Stain," starring Anthony Hopkins as a college professor accused of racism and Nicole Kidman as a troubled young woman who has an affair with him. Benton ("Bonnie and Clyde," "Kramer Vs. Kramer," "Places in the Heart") will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening night event. Other honorees during the Chicago fest include Taye Diggs and Robert Downey, Jr.
The festival will close just over two weeks later with Billy Ray's "Shattered Glass," about the rise and fall of disgraced journalist Stephen Glass. That film stars Peter Sarsgaard, Hayden Christensen, Hank Azaria, and Chloe Sevigny.
In between those special presentations, the CIFF will screen more than 90 feature-length films from 40 countries and 46 shorts from 38 countries. Among the films in international competition are Samira Makhmalbaf's "At Five in the Afternoon," Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Distant," Claude Miller's "La Petite Lili," Francois Dupeyron's "Monsieur Ibrahim," Dagur Kari's "Noi Albinoi," and Yoji Yamada's "The Twilight Samurai," among others. Films in the new directors section include Richard Jobson's "16 Years of Alcohol," Benedek Fliegauf's "Forest," Sue Brooks' "Japanese Story," Peter Hedges' "Pieces of April," and Sylvain Chomet's "The Triplets of Belleville."
Chicago's documentary competition will feature 12 films, among them Jonathan Demme's "The Agronomist," Ron Mann's "Go Further," Ulrich Seidl's "Jesus, You Know," and Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." In the world cinema section, highlights will include Franco Zeffirelli's "Callas Forever," Hans-Christian Schmid's "Distant Lights," Samson Chiu's "Golden Chicken," Isabel Coixet's "My Life Without Me," Catherine Breillat's "Sex is Comedy," Tom McCarthy's "The Station Agent," Pieter Kramer's "Yes Nurse! No Nurse!," and Lucian Pintilie's "Niki and Flo."
In addition to the opening and closing films, other special presentations include Jim Sheridan's "In America," Lone Scherfig's "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself," Elia Kazan's "Wild River," Yasujiro Ozu's "I Was Born, But...," and Keith Gordon's "The Singing Detective." Notable shorts set to screen include Wong Kar-Wai's "6 Days," Brad Peyton's "Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl," Seith Mann's "five deep breaths," Ted Gesing's "Nutria," and Agnes Varda's "The Volatile Lion."
[For the full line-up, please visit: http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com.]


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Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC recently announced that Mott and Chace Sotheby's International Realty in Charlestown, R.I., is the newest member of its luxury real estate network.
Raymond Mott and Judy Chace serve as brokers and owners, and the firm's office is located at 5280 Post Road in Charlestown.
"With a 30-year history of success, Raymond, Judy and their team have an established record of providing exceptional service," says Philip White, president and chief executive officer, Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. "They have a reputation for representing Rhode Island's finest coastal properties, and we are proud to welcome them to our network."
According to Mott, the Sotheby's International Realty® affiliation will provide his company's clients with a global reach. "The combination of our local market experience and the Sotheby's International Realty brand's access to the world's most far-reaching points truly is a win for our customers," he says.
"Our market has the most beautiful ocean, beach, pond and bay front properties along Rhode Island's south coast including predominately second-home, getaway retreats," adds Chace. "We are proud to be able to showcase these fine homes to a broader range of consumers through our new affiliation with the Sotheby's International Realty brand."
For more information, visit www.sothebysrealty.com.
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Home » Secretary of State John Kerry » Secretary Kerry's Remarks » 2014 Secretary Kerry's Remarks » Remarks by Secretary Kerry: June 2014 » Djiboutian National Day
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I send my best wishes to the people and the Government of Djibouti on your National Day.
Djibouti is an anchor of peace and security in the Horn of Africa. As our partnership deepens, I look forward to working together on energy, workforce development, education, healthcare, and security cooperation in the years to come. A secure, stable, and prosperous Djibouti is essential to the well-being of the entire region.
As you celebrate your independence, the government and people of the United States stand beside you.
The Office of Website Management, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department.
External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.


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Corresponding author: Alejandro Donado, Department of Economics, University of Würzburg, Sandering 2, 97070 Würzburg, Germany, Email: email@example.com.
How trade unions increase welfare*
Article first published online: 9 MAR 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02513.x
© 2012 The Author(s). The Economic Journal © 2012 Royal Economic Society
The Economic Journal
Volume 122, Issue 563, pages 990–1009, September 2012
Additional Information
How to Cite
Donado, A. and Wa¨lde, K. (2012), How trade unions increase welfare. The Economic Journal, 122: 990–1009. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02513.x
We thank numerous seminar (including Louvain-la-Neuve, Heidelberg and Yale) and conference (including conferences of the Royal Economic Society, EEA, EALE and CESifo) participants for lively discussions and comments, especially Raouf Boucekkine, Bill Brainard, Guido Cozzi, Matthias Doepke, Switgard Feuerstein, Michael Kaganovich, Jürgen Meckl, Giuseppe Moscarini, Paul Segerstrom, Hylke Vandenbussche, Fabrizio Zilibotti and an anonymous referee. We are especially indebted to the Co-editor for very constructive comments. This article and the companion article Donado and Wälde (2010a) are extended versions of an earlier version circulated as Donado and Wälde (2008).
Publication History
- Issue published online: 3 SEP 2012
- Article first published online: 9 MAR 2012
- Accepted manuscript online: 16 JAN 2012 10:13AM EST
- Submitted: 9 September 2010 Accepted: 27 September 2011
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Historically, worker movements have played a crucial role in making workplaces safer. Firms traditionally oppose better health standards. According to our interpretation, workplace safety is costly for firms but increases the average health of workers and thereby the aggregate labour supply. A laissez faire approach in which firms set safety standards is suboptimal as workers are not fully informed of health risks associated with jobs. Safety standards set by better informed trade unions are output and welfare increasing.


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Tami is a librarian at the Corte Madera Library.
This is an official blog for the Marin County Free Library.
May is Short Story Month. Check out some collections at your local library. You can find what's available by going to the classic catalog in Marinet and typing in "short stories" as a subject heading. Here are some recommendations.


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The surprise of the day and another loss for Hartford :
"The Executive Committee of the Greater Hartford Arts Council announced today that Chief Executive Officer Kate Bolduc will be leaving the organization in the next year. No timeframe has been set for the transition, and Bolduc will remain in her position for several months, until a successor is named.
"This is entirely a personal decision for me," Bolduc said. "The Arts Council is in great shape and poised for truly exciting growth. I have accomplished what I set out to do, and have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure here. Now I'm looking forward to taking a step back from a very public role for a while."
"Kate has done an amazing job in the two years she has led the Greater Hartford Arts Council," said Board President Shirley Payne of Northeast Utilities. "We will be truly sorry to see her go, and are grateful that she has given us an open-ended commitment to identify a successor."
Under Bolduc's leadership, Payne said, the Greater Hartford Arts Council has significantly improved its financial position, reduced expenses, sold its Hartford Courant Arts Center building, moved its offices, created a five-year strategic plan and met its United Arts Campaign goal for 2011.
Payne added, "With the very strong and experienced team in place at the Arts Council, as well as a highly committed Board of Directors, the organization is in a solid position to continue the strides we have made in the last few years."
Payne said that a Board committee is being formed to define the criteria for the next chief executive officer and to begin the search. That committee will be formed in the next two weeks. The search will begin this summer, with a goal of having a new leader in place within the next 12 months."
Bolduc's decision is Hartford's loss.


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Eugene Atget, Trianon, Versailles, 1923-24
Eugene Atget photographed what he saw. His intention was to earn a living - which he did mainly by selling prints to painters seeking guides to a particular subject or scene - while preserving some record of a Paris that was vanishing before his eyes. In both temperament and intent he was a realist.
Eugene Atget, Fete du Trone, 1904
How might that occur? Is there, perhaps, something in the nature of photography that inclines it to the surreal? Susan Sontag, for one, thought that photography is the only art that is inherently surreal, a quality she located precisely in its capacity for verisimilitude: "Surrealism lies at the heart of the photographic enterprise: in the very creation of a duplicate world, of a reality in the second degree, narrower but more dramatic than the one perceived by natural vision."
Maybe. Certainly dreams inhabit a duplicate world, narrower but more dramatic than waking life. But not all photographs attain that status. Not all photographers would want to. Atget expressed no interest in dreams. Yet there are his pictures, as dreamlike as they could be.


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Credit: © Photoshot / Retna Ltd.
Jennifer Lawrence (Mar 20th, 2012)
Jennifer Lawrence strutted on the red carpet with wispy bangs and loose long curls.
Styling Tip
Step 1: Use a large paddle brush to blow hair straight, focusing on keeping the roots smooth and polished.
Step 2: Use a medium barrel curling iron to coil 1-½ inch locks of hair. Then, finger comb the curls to create undone waves.
Step 3: Flat-iron bangs and run through fingers for piecey look.
Step 4: Set with hairspray.


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JOBLESS AID PLAN HELD TEMPORARY; Administration Still Against Permanent Federal Role in Unemployment Field
By RICHARD E. MOONEYSpecial to The New York Times. ();
March 09, 1958,
, Section , Page 55, Column , words
WASHINGTON, March 8 -President Eisenhower's plan to ask Congress for a temporary Federal program of aid to the unemployed does not alter the Administration's opposition to permanent Federal intervention in this field.
March 09, 1958
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