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Novie-Funk 3 (Get Next to You) video feature by John M. Ellison IV
Hey folks, I just got this video of Toronto alt/pop singer songwriter Novie. She's recently collaborated with New York animator Gavin C Reed and created an animated music video for her song "Funk 3 (Get Next to You)" The song is featured on her debut EP "Whatcha Doin' Baby." The video fuses Japanese anime, computer animation that compliments the moody, yet poppy feel of "Funk 3 (Get Next to You" by Novie.
Novie's myspace page
Official music page
Bandcamp page
iTunes page
Novie – Funk 3 (Get Next To You) Official Music Video from novietheoneandonly on Vimeo.
In closing, if you enjoy Gorillaz, animated music videos, chill alt/pop music then you'll enjoy this.
Donnie Darko-Faces video
review coming soon
Jay-Z and Kanye West-Otis review by John M. Ellison IV
*Gasp* Kanye West sampled Otis Redding? This is amazing! This is incredible! This is…not the first time that somebody sampled Otis Redding. I mean, "Try a Little Tenderness" alone has been sampled by Masta Killa on D.T.D. and Young Black Teenagers on "Tap the Bottle" For clarification, I have nothing against sample-based music at all. In fact my favorite rappers have used a…how to put this eloquently a "shitload" of samples that where some productions verged upon being considered an urban equivalent of Edgar Varese's "Musique Concrete." I'm just not just seeing the unnecessary "dick hopping" that hip-hop's doing right now over an awkwardly sampled Otis Redding cover.
Yes folks, "Try a Little Tenderness" is a cover of a ballad written in 1932 by "Irving King" (or James Campbell and Reginald Connelly) and Harry M. Woods and performed by the Ray Noble Orchestra with vocals by Val Rosing. Personally, the Otis Redding version is more appealing than the original.
To be fair, I'll point out the good in the track. There were a few amusing lines from Kanye West like "sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive." Aside from that, I didn't see this as anything more than just a studio "outtake." But in comparison to the dreck that passes for rap now and that cover of "Try a Little Tenderness" by Chris Brown I can see how this can be considered re-invigorating.
In closing, if you aren't a fan of Jay-Z or Kanye West…this might make you dislike. If you're a fan, than you'll have this on a constant loop.
Listen here
Life and Times Otis
Atlanta Rock Band the 54 Need a New Lead Singer! by John M. Ellison IV
The 54 Needs a New Lead Singer!
Atlanta based rock band The 54 is looking for a new lead singer. Here are some songs off of their Reverbnation page. If you feel that you're a fit for the band's sound. Why not give it a shot?
Lerix-Audio Arcade review by John M. Ellison IV
I got a copy of "Audio Arcade" by Lerix. This is kind of a "geek chic" album. The best way to describe it is to imagine "Outkast" ghostwriting for nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot and sprinkled catchy hooks throughout the album. The theme is reminiscent of another rapper on the west coast by the name of Task1ne whose similar content wise (ex. "geek" culture references) I enjoyed most of the album but these are the songs that really caught my ear.
"Last Laugh"
"Here's to the renegade/ to the outcast. They used to doubt but now I think they figured out fast 'ha ha' we got the last laugh." The hook pretty much sums up what the song about. I can definitely relate to it.
"I Got This"
Nice violin riff and the Spider-Man reference caught my attention.
"I'm no good"
Lerix laments about the split between him and his girlfriend. The allusions to songs by Jay-Z, Kanye West and Notorious B.I.G. to reiterate his point were a nice touch.
Passion of the Mike
Is he spitting rhymes over Daft Punk's baroque influenced electronic jam" Verdis Quo?" Who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for Daft Punk samples.
In closing, if you're into East Coast rap, Lupe Fiasco and other nerd tinged rap music then I would recommend "Audio Arcade" by Lerix for you.
More than Meets the Eye: My Interview with MVP by John Ellison IV
On June 27th, 2011 I did a three part interview with professional wrestler "MVP." This was the first time I've done an interview in years especially an interview worth publishing it. Originally, it started out as a formal interview with a few short questions…but by the time we got into talking about bands like Bouncing Souls, references to jazz fusion, wrestling etc. I admit I forgot I was doing an interview and it felt like I was talking to an old friend. In fact, we ended up talking for 2 hrs and 20 minutes! The interview topics include less talked about interests that include his love for hardcore/old school punk rock, his love for stand-up comedy, the differences between Japanese pro wrestling and American pro wrestling and other little interests that give you a little more insight into the mind of "MVP."
What's the story behind "Holla to the World?" How'd it come about?
Growing up, I was always a fan of music. My mother was white, my father was black and I lived in Miami. So I was exposed to all types of music. I was born in 1973 so I watched the evolution of rap and hip-hop and I remember it in its infancy when there was no rap music to be found on the radio and even black radio stations played the occasional rap song but there was no rap station. A lot of the rap music I got back then was from my friends from New York when then would come down and bring mixtapes with DJ Red Alert, Hot97, Kiss FM. But I had an appreciation for music of all types. In 6th grade I remember it vividly. I heard Run DMC for the first time. In my 6th Grade class I had some free time I was bored and I wrote my very first rap and at P.E./Recess whatever you call it. I was standing behind the P.E. shed and read it to a few of my friends and Mr. Strong Clarence Strong who's a really good guy he caught me and I was scared because there were a couple of bad words and I thought I was going to get in so much trouble and he read it. But I didn't get in trouble and I was shocked and he actually gave me props for being a 6th grader. I always enjoyed rap music and became a decent little freestyler and as a kid had visions of being a big rap star like how Biggie talks about…
It was all a dream I used to read "Word Up!" magazine?
Yeah that's it! *laughs* I remember those days and I used to dream about the same thing. I wanted to be like Slick Rick and halve all the gold chains and girls going crazy for me and once I made it into the WWE I used to ask Cena about his album and he'd buzz me on certain things. I met Baby Bash of Cyclone through Rey Mysterio Jr. and Bash put me in touch with DJ Ice aka Mickaël Zibi. We collaborated on my entrance music VIP Ballin or whatever WWE named it. He produced it, I wrote it, we recorded it and sold the rights to the WWE and that was to be my entrance music. At this time I bought a bunch of equipment and converted one of the rooms in my house into a demo quality studio and just started recording stuff. I actually wrote "Holla to the World" on a plane to a pay per view. Dwane Sweazie is one of Mickaël's artists and I like his work a lot and asked him if he wanted to drop a verse on this thing and it just took off from there. I finally decided you know what? I want to make a move and start releasing to the public. Because I initially wanted to release stuff for me, I have stuff I had written in prison and a few notebooks that I still saved and always wanted to know what it would sound like if I did a song. I said man "let's run it let's do it. I released it as a free download. Last time I checked it had like 33,000 listens and several thousand downloads. I'm shooting a video for it this week. Heh, here's the life of a" balla." I'm shooting a video Wednesday, Thursday and heading to Japan on Friday. But that's how it came about. I liked the sound of it; it was good enough to put out.
Are people surprised to know that you can rap?
Oh yeah, lots of people. People are actually shocked! It's funny because most people see me as MVP "the professional wrestler." I'm also a pretty good writer and what I've let some of the people read they're like "man, you wrote that?" I'd like to think of myself as a renaissance man. There are a lot of things that I can do that people don't know about but they find out that I have an interest in something and I'm able to do something they're like "man, I thought all you did was wrestle. Well that's what you get for thinking! *laughs*"
Is it true that during your time with WWE that there's an unreleased track featuring you, John Cena and R-Truth or is that just speculation?
The track was never completed. I actually have in my audio vault a few John Cena freestyle that he did here in my studio. We collaborated on a track that my cousin produced. It has this real slide blues guitar on it. It's just a cool ass beat. We called that song "Urban Desperadoes" I let John hear it and John loved it. He did 16 and I did 16 and had this brainstorm that had you, me, and Truth are the only guys that had our own theme music that we perform. What if we had a WWE produced track released and pushed by the company that featured you me and Truth titled "Urban Desperadoes." I played it for (Exec. Producer) Kevin Dunn and he loved it. "Truth" wrote his verse but never recorded his verse but before we actually had an opportunity to finish it and release it I made the decision to leave the company. So, it's just sitting in my vault.
You mentioned that you live in Houston, TX now. Have there been any rappers in Houston that have been trying to reach out for you to get on a track with them?
Working with Mickaël Zibi he's produced Baby Bash, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Z-Ro. It's funny because Z-Ro is probably the most respected underground artist in Houston. Z-Ro's is amazing. I was in the studio recently and he talked about us collaborating on something in the near future. There are a number of Houston area rappers I've rubbed elbows with in Mickael's studio and nothing definitive but a few guys have expressed interest.
Heh, MVP and Bun B would be awesome!
That would be!
A lot of people might not be aware but Busta Rhymes did a song with Fishbone called "Psychologically Overcast." Since you've mentioned that you're a fan of Fishbone, you rap and if the opportunity was given, would you like to get on a song with them?
Are you kidding me! *laughs* you just made me think of that song. I met Dre Gipson awhile back and he and I hit it off and we stayed in touch for quite some time and I had the opportunity to meet Angelo and Norwood and they were all cool. To me these guys are mythical in stature and I feel like I'm not worthy to be a track with those guys but if the opportunity presented itself than I would bend over backwards to something with Fishbone. I read in an interview with John Cusack that his estimation that Fishbone is one of the most underrated bands of all time. I have everything by them and I would jump at the opportunity to do anything with them.
That's another common thread between us I'm more into Bad Brains and 24-7 Spyz, but all and all we pretty much dig the same bands though or are at least aware of them.
Y'know, when I was 14 and really just starting my street life and gang phase. I was working at a drug store at 163rd street Mall in Miami. The manager was a guy named Wes who was a skinhead. At that point, I didn't know the difference between colorblind skins and racist skins. HE was already in his 20s. He would take me with him to shows. At first I was intimidated by the scene these doc marten wearing punks. It kind of threw me off. He took me to a few shows. I'm not gonna lie I was kind of shook. But at first I didn't understand the whole genre just yet. At that time, all I listened to was Public Enemy and Eric B. and Rakim and I was entrenched in hip-hop. I'm on my black power phase. He was telling me about Bad Brains I'm like "Man, black people don't make that garbage, man" but the rule was his car, his music. So I had to listen to Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, Agnostic Front. Initially I hated that stuff but I don't care what kind of music you listen to. If you're forced to listen to it after awhile you find yourself recognizing songs and bobbing your head and going "It's not so bad" and then he turned me on to Bad Brains and he said "these dudes are black dreadlock Rastas" I said "You're pulling my leg he said "No I'm telling you!" He gave me a cassette tape…*witty tone* now for your readers a cassette tape is a piece of plastic that has a magnetic strip inside…wow I'm really dating myself *laughs* But on one side was (Bad Brains) "I Against I" and the other side there was Red Hot Chili Peppers "Uplift Mofo Party Plan" and it did not take me long to be absolutely mesmerized by both sides of the tape. I don't know what happened but I fell in love with Bad Brains. This was before alternative music and alternative sections in record stores. I went and bought everything Bad Brains had at that time. I still have my copy of the "yellow tape" from the ROIR sessions. Then the Quickness album came out and I still have that around vinyl somewhere. My mom sent me to live with my aunt in Texas. There were these guys out there that had a thrash band and they got me into Fishbone. Then from all of a sudden there was this whole genre of music that I feel head over heels over and I guess that looked like me *laughs* that made this music made it intriguing too. 'Cause I was always a Hendrix fan but then it was this new sound and aggression and Fishbone their sounds so eclectic. (Fishbone goes) from punk, ska to metal and Bad Brains from them go seamlessly to Pay to Cum and then I Luv I Jah, it was an audio rollercoaster!
So you got into this around 14. I started playing guitar around 14 and felt like I was the only black guy that digs rock. After Hendrix it wasn't that much heavy guitar based music except for Living Colour once in awhile. A band that restored my faith in rock–
I'm sorry; let me interject something because this is pretty interesting. At the time I got into Bad Brains I would tune into Headbanger's Ball and 120 Minutues because I wanted to see Bad Brains. I wanted to see what they didn't look like but they did play (Bad Brains videos) at that time. But I saw the video for Cult of Personality and I saw Living Colour for the first time and I thought "Is this Bad—oh that's not Bad Brains it's Living Colour…okay cool." That video and that song threw me for a mental loop I wanted and had to have that song. I remember going to Speck's music store for 2 weeks asking "the Living Colour album come yet?" she say "not yet" and one day she saw me she smiled and was just pointing and I went over and picked up that cassette and listened to that cassette nonstop for 2 weeks. Corey Glover's vocals and Vernon Reid's—his style—I never called myself a guitarist and never got very far but I understand the nuances and the differences between guitar playing and what Vernon Reid plays so out of context of what you're standard guitarist do breaks so many rules and I remember looking at tablatures and trying to play and looked at it like "That's impossible! How can you play that? This has got to be a mistake." So Living Colour is another band that opened the door for me and I discovered them looking for Bad Brains and then got into Fishbone and 24-7 Spyz and these groups they're still rotation.
You mentioned that you met Randy Savage backstage at a GWAR and Misfits show in Florida. Noticing you're timeline, we dig a lot of the same bands. Are people surprised by your vast taste in music?
All the time…all the time! Whenever I sit down and talk with people about music people expect me to know about soul, funk hip-hop based on appearance etc. they're like "you should know that" but whenever I talk about my love for jazz and Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus they're like "what do you know about that?" or my love for hardcore or old school punk. People are shocked. C.M. Punk and I talk about music and we're on the same page. One day I was sitting down with Lars (Frederiksen of Rancid) in catering and he goes "Hey! Punk! MVP knows what's up!" C.M. replied "of course that's why he's my homie!" So, people are shocked; I get a kick out of it. I remember being with my best friend "Bert." He's like a big brother to me. When I was about 12 or 13 and he was flipping through the radio but I remember liking the song and wanting to say "Hey leave that!" but I was worried about him criticizing my choice in music because he's somebody I looked up to so I didn't want to make a bad impression. He put it back on there, and I was glad he put it back there I was scared to say something. He said to me "Man, don't you ever let somebody tell you what you can like. Don't let anybody dictate you what's cool." I never forgot that and that allowed me to embrace music. When it was in prison, it was especially tough because I like rock music and I don't allow myself to be relegated to one any one particular genre. There would be times where I would be blasting some rock on my radio and dudes would be like "aw mane you like dat ol' cracka shit, man? You lissen to dat that white boy shit, dawg?" So yeah people are shocked all the time.
I saw where you tweeted about getting kicked out of a Fugazi show for moshing. Would you mind elaborating? Also, did you get the $5 back?
That's what I'm pissed off! If I see fucking Ian Mackaye! He owes me money…
*Shocked* WHAT?!
I know that Ian MacKaye is known for kicking people out of shows and giving their money back. I was at this Fugazi show. My younger brother who shares a similar taste in music…he's actually a big country fan. I don't know how that happened! But…
I think I saw you mention him; he's kinda into Hank Williams III?
No, that's me. I'm not into the mainstream pop country; I'm more into the outlaw country. "Rope in the Wind" is not really for me. My younger brother is bigger than me actually. He's a state champion amateur wrestler, tough kid, good looking and cool as hell. At the time he was also a cop too. I wasn't even moshing that much. I was about pushing 270 and he was 240-250. I was standing around keeping an eye on him and a few skinheads. Then you had the trendy black horn rimmed *whiny voice* "ewww you're touching me you're moshing!" in the crowd. Ian MacKaye said something to the crowd like "watch out" "take care of each other." Then he stopped the show and said I want these guys thrown out. Security surrounds me and my brother. My brother was on that cop shit and indignant and they roughed him up with a bloody nose. We could've fought and took out a bunch of guys. But he's a cop and I've only been out of prison for a couple of years and I didn't want to stir anything up and I was a security guard at a club in South Beach. There were cops outside and my brother identifies myself as a law enforcement officer. But we were in Broward County…my brother was a cop in Dade County. So, we didn't get arrested but the cops weren't very helpful. We didn't go until we saw the head of security. After a while he finally came out and I asked "What did we do to get thrown out?" The security guard said "you guys were fighting" "Well, who were we fighting?" I asked. The guy stared at me looking stupid "tell me who we were fighting?" I was a tank at the time and my brother was no joke. "If we were fighting, you would have to back this ambulance up because there would be somebody out here going for a ride…were we fighting each other? Where's the guy that we were fighting?" Ultimately he said "Ian Mackaye said 'throw those two guys out!'" It infuriated me because we were the only two black guys on the floor. I wasn't even moshing, there were other guys that were moshing but we were the only two that got thrown out. Others were booing as we got thrown out. We got thrown out of the Fugazi show; we didn't get out money back and were assaulted. So FUCK Ian MacKAYE! FUCK FUGAZI! If I see that motherfucker he owes me $10-15 for the concert!
This is kind of twisted irony…you're familiar with Go-Go right?
Of course!
Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye were the only two white guys in the go-go scene, in fact Minor Threat played their final show with Trouble Funk. It's kind of ironic that the only two white guys at a go-go end up throwing two black guys out of his show.
By him!!! I mean it's tough because I want to respect him because of his contributions to the hardcore scene but the way things went down. But they way he behaved I can't forgive him! It would've been a funny story if we got out money back because he's known for throwing people out but we didn't even get our money back. On the other side, I haven't met Henry Rollins but he's somebody I want to meet. He's a huge inspiration. When I was in prison, I used to write a lot of lyrics and a lot of rap and hardcore lyrics because one of my other dreams is to front my own hardcore band.
I used to envision myself onstage with black shorts, sneakers, no shirt and with the microphone cord wrapped around my wrist. I fancied myself being a "black Henry Rollins."
Ice-T tried that! *laughs*
Kind of…I'm a fan of Ice from the "6 in the Morning" days before he blew up with "Colors" and I still have his vinyl and I dig what he did with Body Count.
I understand totally. When I first started writing, some of my biggest inspirations were a hodge podge of guys like Paul Heyman, Henry Rollins, Gil-Scott Heron and George Carlin.
When it comes to comedic deities you have to mention Carlin and Pryor…
Tune into part's 2 and three coming soon! We speak on comedy and pro wrestling next! Also check out his new website http://mvp305.com
MVP feat Dwane Sweaze Holla to the World review by John M. Ellison IV
"MVP? You mean the dude from WWE raps?" Yep and he's good at it too. In fact, music was one of his first loves. Oh yeah, he's in New Japan Pro Wrestling now.
MVP grew up in Miami and grew up in a household where he was exposed to all types of music. He was born in 1973 and watched the evolution of rap and hip-hop. He grew up in a time where there was no rap music to be found on the radio and even though black radio stations played the occasional rap song remember there weren't any stations dedicated to rap and r&b. A lot of the rap music he got was from friends from New York when they would come down and bring mixtapes of DJ Red Alert, Hot 97, KISS FM. In 6th grade, he heard Run DMC for the first time.
During a lull in his 6th Grade class he had some free time I was bored and I wrote my very first rap and later at recess he was standing behind the P.E. shed with a few friends and read it to a few friends and one of the teachers Mr. Strong caught him and I was scared because there were a couple of bad words and he thought I was going to get into trouble. Strong read it. But instead of getting into trouble he actually gave the young MVP props for being a 6th grader and writing that well.
The song "Holla to the World" is a song that came about on a plane ride to a pay per view. Dwane Sweaze is an artist that MVP's work he enjoyed a lot and asked him if he wanted to drop a verse on it. Lyric wise, it's pretty much giving a glimpse into the life of MVP. MVP has a flow that's kind of melodic and combined with a raspy tone that's that complements the composition. Composition wise, the synth pads give it a chill atmosphere that reminds me of Pharrell produced "Excuse Me Miss" by Jay-Z.
In closing, it's a decent effort at be on the lookout for the video to "Holla to the World."
Holla To The World ft. Dwane Sweazie by MVP305
photo courtesy of Black Voices
Rest in Peace to the "Big Man" Clarence Clemons…
I'm not going to wax poetic about how great Clarence Clemons was. "Born to Run" and "Jungleland" encapsulates all the reasons why.
"Born to Run"
photo courtesy of
The Nillaz-"It is What it Is" review by John M. Ellison IV
On 6/15/2011, I got this single by this band called The Nillaz. For those who aren't familiar with the Nillaz, they're a "hip hop" band from Brooklyn, New York. The members are Java and Ill-on on Vocals, Ethos on Guitar, Kevvy Kev on Drums, Chris Strange on Key Boards, and Bass Mon on Bass.
To describe their sound in a nutshell, they kind of sound like how I imagine if the Beastie Boys were fronted by a white Lil' Jon doing an impression of voice actor Jim Cummings.
Anyway, onto their song "It is what it is." Lyrically, I'm going to be blunt…I have no idea what they're talking about. It's kind of like a bunch of random thoughts that go on about him being broke to being dead and then numbing himself through drug use. I guess the concept is the struggles that one goes through I guess? I'm not really sure. Composition wise, it's reminiscent of "Suicide Hotline" by Insane Clown Posse and "Just a Thought" by Gnarls Barkley. It's kind of hard to describe…maybe that's why it's called "It is what it is."
In closing, The Nillaz is something that you're either going to dig or disavow any knowledge of but enjoy in private…well until they breakthrough that is.
Tech N9ne-"He's a Mental Giant" review by John M. Ellison IV
Hey folks, I'm going to share my thoughts on the "He's a Mental Giant" track off of Tech N9ne's new album "All 6's and 7's."
Lyrically, Tech N9ne revisits the theme of intellectual bravado with lyrics referring to him as being like "Shaq on stilts" and also a Robert Klein reference. It's kind of like an updated version of "Einstein" off of the "Anghellic" album. Production wise, you have a solid track from Michael "Seven" Summers. Interesting fact is that the hook for "He's a Mental Giant" is sampled from the 1939 cartoon "Boy Meets Dog" by Walter Lantz. For anybody that has really paid attention to tracks by "Seven", this shouldn't be a surprise that he would sample something like "Boy Meets Dog." For example, on "Welcome to the Midwest" off of the 2006 release "Everready: The Religion", Seven used a sample of "Sway" by Dean Martin to give the song a kind of Mafioso kind of vibe and on "Bout Ta Bubble" he sampled "Beatbox" by Art of Noise.
Another interesting point about this song is that there has been a video made for this and it premiered on MTV2 on May 28th, 2011.
In the video, Tech finds himself walking on a brick road through a forest with talking trees. While on this road, he comes across a more disheveled drunken version of the "Clown", after passing a whorehouse he's accompanied by "King" and the "G" is just standing there looking cool. While running through the fields, he's stalked by the flying logos. Unlike his alter egos, Tech is granted access to "Scarlet City" which is a desolate cave that he runs through. At the end of the tunnel, Tech sees the curtain and pulls it back and sees nothing behind the curtain but a brick wall and backs into a hot air balloon resembling Tech N9ne's "spiky" hair. Tech realizes that he was in control this whole time and leaves Scarlet City and his egos behind. Or in other words, it's pretty much a Strange Music reinterpretation of the "Wizard of Oz."
In closing as a long time Tech N9ne fan, I see the video as a sign of personal growth. Tech N9ne's "All 6's and 7's" is available now at Best Buy, iTunes and Wal Mart.


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Gov. Rick Perry spoke at Google for Entrepreneurs Day, and renewed his call to make the small business tax exemption permanent in the upcoming legislative session. The governor also highlighted his commitment to bolstering Texas' culture of innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation by strengthening the conservative fiscal principles that have helped the state prosper.
"Entrepreneurs know they can pursue and achieve their dreams in Texas because we've created an environment where government stays out of the way, where freedom fuels innovation, and innovation is fueling the next generation of entrepreneur," Gov. Perry said. "By staying committed to the responsible fiscal policies that have made Texas the best place to live, work, raise a family and start a business, we will continue to be the envy of the nation."
Ahead of the 2013 legislative session, Gov. Perry has called on lawmakers to commit to the principles outlined in the Texas Budget Compact, including opposing any new taxes or tax increases and making the small business tax exemption permanent. The compact's sound conservative policies are:
* Practice Truth in Budgeting
* Support a Constitutional limit of spending to the growth of population and inflation
* Oppose any new taxes or tax increases, and make the small business tax exemption permanent
* Preserve a strong Rainy Day Fund
* Cut unnecessary and duplicative government programs and agencies
Google for Entrepreneurs Day was made possible through a partnership between the City of Austin Small Business Development Program and Google. The event included information on connecting with the online community, new tools to reach and engage new audiences and networking opportunities.
For more information about Google for Entrepreneurs Day, please visit: http://www.google.com/entrepreneurs/.
For more information about Texas' economy and jobs market, please visit: http://www.texaswideopenforbusiness.com/resources/files/texas-brags.pdf.
For more information about the Texas Budget Compact, please visit: http://gov.texas.gov/txbudgetcompact.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Featured Illinois Manufacturer:
Berner Food and Beverage, Inc.
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|Dakota, IL
The rolling hills and rural beauty of Northern Illinois are the home of Berner Food and Beverage.The company began as a cheese making operation in 1942 and has grown from a small producer of Swiss cheese to a relatively large supplier of dairy based store brand products and contract manufactured items.
Today Berner Food and Beverage produces store brand cheese sauces, a wide variety of snack condiments, iced lattes and cheese based pasta sauces. Berner also contract manufactures for several Fortune 100 companies. The company has a robust research and development team that was selected by vote of grocery purchasing managers as the best "project team" in the industry. Berner Food and Beverage is proud to hold the highest status possible with a level 3 rating on the Global Food Safety Initiative. Berner Food and Beverage is proud of the fact that some of its employees can count decades of service with the company.
Our top products include:
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We are able to take a client's concept from start to finished products as well as offer retort manufacturing.
From earth moving equipment to automobiles; medical devices to consumer products, Illinois is home to 20,000 manufacturers employing nearly 600,000 people.
IMEC, along with our strategic partners, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and other friends of manufacturing, have launched this on-line resource to showcase the diversity of products made here and celebrate the companies that manufacture them. In towns from Chicago to Carbondale, manufacturing is the engine that powers the Illinois economy.


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Saber Interactive's gravity-twisting shooter Inversion has been popping up at Namco press events since it was first announced in late 2009, but based on the buzz I'm hearing from people on the show floor, it seems E3 2011 will be remembered as its real debut. Now you can take a gander at this fresh batch of screenshots to see for yourself how it's coming along!
- Games: Inversion
- Developers: Saber Interactive
- Publishers: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc


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There are many things we think about in this life, things that even cause us to worry and fret about.
But out of so many things that occupy our mind, how many of which enrich our souls in return?
Think about it today. Feed your heart. Many of the most important things are indeed and still – invisible.


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A rocket funded by a billionaire has taken a solo pilot to the edge of space.
Burt Rutan, an aircraft designer, and his firm Scaled Composites took a giant leap towards becoming the first private company to send a person into space when their rocket soared to an altitude of 40 miles.
The rocket is a contender for the Ansari X Prize, worth $10 million (£7 million), which will go to the first successful private effort to launch a manned craft to an altitude of 62.5 miles twice within a period of two weeks.
There are high hopes that SpaceShipOne may achieve the feat within a month or two.
On Thursday SpaceShipOne, piloted by Mike Melvill, was carried aloft by a plane, White Knight, and released at an altitude of 46,000 ft.
The rocket's motor ignited 10 seconds later and boosted the craft to 150,000 ft and Mach 2.5. The vehicle then coasted to 211,400 ft above California's Mojave Desert, within striking distance of the X Prize altitude of 329,000 ft.
"There was tremendous acceleration. We went very, very fast, and I went straight up for two minutes," said 62-year-old Mr Melvill, who was able to float weightlessly during part of the flight.
When SpaceShipOne glided back to Mojave Airport, touched down and rolled to a stop, Mr Melvill was greeted by about 75 people, mostly employees of Scaled Composites and their families.
"I feel great. It was fabulous. I would pay a million dollars to do that again," he said.
"You just can't imagine what a thrill it was. I had tears in my eyes," Mr Rutan said, after the winged rocket glided back to Earth. He added: "It creates a path for the rest of us to go into space."
Mr Rutan, who is considered a legend in the aerospace industry, has built several pioneering aircraft, notably Voyager, which made the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in 1986.
He is developing the SpaceShipOne rocket and White Knight carrier aircraft in a partnership backed by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft and chief executive officer of Vulcan Inc.
"We continue to make remarkable progress with the SpaceShipOne test flights," Mr Allen said yesterday. "Our attempt to send the first privately-funded astronaut into sub-orbital space will be the next step in that process.
"If successful, it will be a major milestone in private space exploration."
The firm is one of 26 companies from several countries competing for the X Prize, which aims to launch the era of low-cost space travel.


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"We hope this never happens again"
The Seneca project to build a utilities complex in a neighborhood where it is not wanted is on an indefinite hold. In the meantime, a committee representing both the city and the homeowners will try for a resolution or a compromise. Mayor Dan Alexander made the announcement at last night's city council meeting where protesters from Adams subdivision created standing room-only. Several people were left to take in the meeting from the City Hall corridor. For the protesters, it was their first official chance to vent to the mayor and the full city council. Speaker after speaker laid out why the new location for Light and Water and all of its heavy equipment is inappropriate for a quiet, single-family neighborhood with an historic past. Mayor Alexander categorized what they said as having registered with him and the council to give enough pause and knowledge of some things of which he and the council had previously not thought of it. It was then the mayor turned to Councilman Scott Durham whose motion made for the only official action on the matter. Durham suggested a committee of eight people—four from the city and four from the neighborhood. The motion passed unanimously with an amendment by Councilman Al Gaines to expand the committee to 12 people. That deadline for that committee's report is city council's regular January meeting.


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From 1900 to 1940, the classic hexagonal glass cabinet knob was an American favorite. Fifteen fresh colors and period-perfect style make this again our most popular item. This 1 1/4" knob is the standard size for all your kitchen and bath cabinets.Knob measures approximately 1 1/4" across and projects 1 1/4". A nickel plated 2 1/2" bolt is included.
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- Click on a picture for a close-up view -
Table of Contents
Picture Index
1902 Kellogg Corner Vanity
These corner desk sets were used in homes, offices and telephone booths. This particular set was made by American Hardwood Telephone Cabinet Mfg. Co. And is equipped with Kellogg Hardware. It was purchased from a farmer outside the town of Angels Camp in the foothills of the High Sierra mountain range in California.
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|newsletter archive
|A newsletter for research & medical education
|April 2012
Keynote Speakers Announced for Academic Week
For keynote speaker bios, visit the 2012 Academic Week website.
Important Dates for Academic Week 2012
Download detailed schedule (xls).
Collaborative Biomedical Research (CBR) Program
Call for Proposals due April 17, 2012 by 4:30 PM
The Collaborative Biomedical Research Program funds basic research collaborations between Baystate Medical Center clinicians and University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty. Eligible research projects must have two Co-Principal Investigators, one each from UMass Amherst and Baystate Medical Center.
CBR Research Grants are intended to serve as "seed funds" to help the collaborative team develop preliminary data and a track record of collaboration for competitive extramural funding applications.
Winning proposals are awarded in June.
Visit the CBR site for complete proposal guidelines.


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Agency Response Letter GRAS Notice No. GRN 000141
Return to inventory listing: GRAS Notice Inventory
See also Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) and about the GRAS Notice Inventory
CFSAN/Office of Food Additive Safety
April 28, 2004
Mr. David R. Schoneker
Director, Global Regulatory Affairs
415 Moyer Boulevard
P.O. Box 24
West Point, PA 19486
Re: GRAS Notice No. GRN 000141
Dear Mr. Schoneker:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responding to the notice, dated December 11, 2003, submitted by the Law Offices of John B. Hallagan, P.C. on behalf of Colorcon in accordance with the agency's proposed regulation, proposed 21 CFR 170.36 (62 FR 18938; April 17, 1997; Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS); the GRAS proposal). FDA received the notice on December 17, 2003, filed it on December 23, 2003, and designated it as GRAS Notice No. GRN 000141.
The subject of the notice is polyvinyl alcohol. The notice informs FDA of the view of Colorcon that polyvinyl alcohol is GRAS, through scientific procedures, for use in aqueous film coating formulations applied to dietary supplement products (i.e., tablets or capsules), where the coating formulation is up to four percent (by weight) of the tablet or capsule, and polyvinyl alcohol is up to 45 percent (by weight) of the coating formulation.
As part of its notice, Colorcon includes the report of a panel of individuals (Colorcon's GRAS panel) who evaluated the data and information that are the basis for Colorcon's GRAS determination. Colorcon considers the members of its GRAS panel to be qualified by scientific training and experience to evaluate the safety of substances added to food. Colorcon's GRAS panel evaluated estimates of dietary exposure, method of manufacture, product specifications, and published studies conducted with polyvinyl alcohol. Based on this review, Colorcon's GRAS panel concluded that polyvinyl alcohol, meeting food and pharmaceutical grade specifications and manufactured in compliance with current good manufacturing practices, is GRAS, through scientific procedures, for use in aqueous film coating formulations applied to dietary supplement products.
Colorcon describes polyvinyl alcohol as a white, odorless granular powder that is soluble in water and insoluble in aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, esters, ketones, and oils. Polyvinyl alcohol is produced by polymerization of vinyl acetate with subsequent controlled hydrolysis of the resulting polyvinyl acetate. Sodium acetate, methanol, and methyl acetate are the primary expected impurities.
Colorcon provides specifications for polyvinyl alcohol, including limits on the maximum levels of heavy metals, lead, arsenic, residue on ignition, residual methyl acetate and methanol, and degree of hydrolysis. These specifications are in accordance with United States Pharmacopeia/ National Formulary standards and international specifications for pharmaceutical grade polyvinyl alcohol.
Colorcon estimates that the maximum daily intake of polyvinyl alcohol from its intended use in aqueous film coatings applied to dietary supplements would be 180 milligrams per person per day (mg/person/day) and that the maximum daily intake of polyvinyl alcohol from its current use in film coatings applied to pharmaceutical products is 180 mg/person/day, assuming that a person consumes a maximum of ten 1,000 mg dietary supplement tablets or capsules and ten 1,000 mg pharmaceutical tablets or capsules with polyvinyl alcohol film coating formulations per day. Therefore, Colorcon concludes that the total maximum daily intake of polyvinyl alcohol from its intended use in dietary supplements and from its current use in pharmaceutical products would be 360 mg/person/day, equivalent to 6 milligrams per kilogram body weight per day (mg/kg body weight/day) for a 60 kg person.
Colorcon discusses published studies conducted with polyvinyl alcohol in various animal species. Colorcon reports that acute and subchronic oral toxicity studies conducted in animals including rats, mice, and dogs and a two-generation reproductive toxicity study conducted in rats fed polyvinyl alcohol showed no adverse toxicological or reproductive effects. Colorcon also reports that genotoxicity studies conducted in vitro and in vivo with polyvinyl alcohol demonstrated no evidence of mutagenic or clastogenic effects. Colorcon concludes that these studies demonstrate that polyvinyl alcohol is not mutagenic, genotoxic, or carcinogenic by the oral route. In addition, Colorcon concludes that animal toxicology data support a no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) for polyvinyl alcohol of 5,000 mg/kg body weight/day.
Colorcon also reports that polyvinyl alcohol is approved for use as an indirect food additive in products that are in contact with food, as a diluent in color additive mixtures for coloring shell eggs, and for use in several medical applications, including in coatings applied to pharmaceutical tablets. Furthermore, Colorcon reports that the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization's (FAO/WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) assigned an acceptable daily intake (ADI) to polyvinyl alcohol of 50 mg/kg body weight/day at its sixty-first meeting held in June 2003.
Based on the information provided by Colorcon, as well as other information available to FDA, the agency has no questions at this time regarding Colorcon's conclusion that polyvinyl alcohol is GRAS under the intended conditions of use. The agency has not, however, made its own determination regarding the GRAS status of the subject use of polyvinyl alcohol. As always, it is the continuing responsibility of Colorcon to ensure that food ingredients that the firm markets are safe, and are otherwise in compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
In accordance with proposed 21 CFR 170.36(f), a copy of the text of this letter, as well as a copy of the information in your notice that conforms to the information in proposed 21 CFR 170.36(c)(1), is available for public review and copying on the homepage of the Office of Food Additive Safety (on the Internet at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/foodadd.html).
George H. Pauli, Ph.D.
Acting Director
Office of Food Additive Safety
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
cc: John B. Hallagan
The Law Offices of John B. Hallagan, P.C.
1620 I Street, NW
Suite 925
Washington, DC 20006


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This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Sustainability and employment are terms seldom used together. Especially when defining sustainability in the stricter sense of the word, delineating a world where strong sustainability is the norm, it is problematic to deduct which elements may compose sustainable employment. In the relevant discourse, two distinct directions can be identified. Ecological modernization promises "quick fixes" to employment problems while reducing environmentally harmful economic activities without initiating major changes either in our ways of thinking or in our way of living. At the same time, the radical change paradigm disposes of the concepts of the free market society and believes that new "great transformations" are unavoidable, whereby values must change just as much as institutions. Yet, how far have these normative theoretical approaches penetrated our everyday thinking? The paper builds upon the experience of a backcasting project on sustainable employment conducted in Hungary in 2012 and early 2013 and suggests that when people are given the chance to leave the path dependencies of today behind and imagine a sustainable future, their normative visions provide us with invaluable insight as to what may constitute sustainable employment. It also contributes towards our understanding of which policy tools lead us towards a more sustainable world of work in particular and a more sustainable society in general.
In political and policy rhetoric, the term "sustainability" has become commonplace. Existing strategic policy documents on all levels of governance, as well as public speeches are inundated with goals of establishing a transition to a sustainable society, including the objective of "green growth" in employment [
One of the most common arguments against "beyond the mainstream" economic thinking claims that there are no policy measures offered that make an "alternative" path feasible to follow. It is rightly argued that complex socio-ecological systems cannot be controlled or managed and path dependencies and lock-in effects tend to prevail. However, non-action may still cost us too much, particularly to the vulnerable groups of society. This is the reason why one needs tools that can support in conceptualizing the transformation towards a sustainable society. The search for this kind of support in scientific literature has been termed transition management (TM). The TM approach attempts to determine policies that are able to facilitate such transformation under conditions of uncertainty, complexity, and need for continuous learning and adaptation [
As opposed to extrapolation from the present to the future exercised in forecasting, backcasting starts with the establishment of a normative vision of the future and designs its way back to the present [
In this paper the expression of "future vision" will be used in line with Wright's expression of "real utopias". According to Wright it is essential to develop visions as normative ideals against which present social structures can be measured and necessary changes can be initiated. According to him, these "real utopias" should be visions for the future in which all human beings can live flourishing lives while they should also reflect upon the complexities and the multi-faceted nature of modern societies [
Backcasting is one of the most often used methodologies in future studies ([
There are at least four different types of backcasting [
Thematic frameworks are often used in deliberative and participatory methods (such as citizens' juries and consensus conferences) in order to structure deliberation and help participants reaching consensus in a contentious issue. Therefore, we also provided such framework on four foci of the topic of sustainable employment (community, environment, technology and individual capabilities) facilitating the creation of a shared future vision. The participatory nature of our exercise also meant, that unlike in other methods such as the Delphi survey [
Applying the typology described above, our process can be categorized as a pathway-orientated backcasting exploring the possibilities of the future without identifying specific goals to reach in the future. However, involving various stakeholders in the creation of a normative vision of the future of work was another key characteristic of the process from the very beginning. Hence, our methodological approach can also be considered as partly participation-orientated.
Due to the agenda of the National Council for Sustainable Development, an advisory body to the Hungarian Parliament, the opportunity arose to investigate sustainability transitions and apply backcasting in the Hungarian sustainability policy context. A complex policy field of a fundamental significance was to be identified that incorporated technological elements, social patterns, as well as cultural factors and required the deliberation of experts with many different viewpoints. Sustainable employment was chosen—a policy field currently being high on the political agenda in Hungary (debating employment rate, social benefits, public work,
The originally planned Hungarian backcasting project organized one workshop and opted for an expert panel approach. The 16 participants came from varied backgrounds and from different sectors (academic, business, civil, and public) but were all in some ways related to employment issues. Having plenty of experience in their own fields of expertise, it also meant that the average age of the group was 46. After having analyzed the results of this first workshop, the organizers decided to run a second round of workshops with the same methodology but involving participants from a different age group with a different orientation in interests: 14 environmentally conscious Master students of human ecology and environmental economics. This opportunity gave the organizers a greater insight into how two different generations (with the second group's average age dropping to 26 years) with diverse viewpoints to the same topic would envision sustainable employment in Hungary in the year 2050.
After the workshops, the authors performed a qualitative data analysis on the notes and recordings using a combination of meaning-condensation; categorization and meaning-interpretation [
Having a different conceptualization of the role that work plays in people's lives was the central focus by the participants of the backcasting workshops. Participants in both workshops found the redefinition of work crucial in their vision for sustainable employment. They claimed that in Hungary, in 2050 work is not merely a tool for basic subsistence but also a "source of well-being". Work does not consist only of paid jobs and does not only exist in institutionalized forms. As work is no longer just a struggle for survival, people have an internal motivation to do what they enjoy and skilled to do and what enables them to exploit their full personal potential. Everyone can be proud of their jobs and society appreciates all kind of work. Work is meaningful and useful in many different segments of life. Hence, work motivation changes accordingly: prime motivation is no longer subsistence (earning one's own living), as in market societies, but self-actualization, self-development and the feeling of social usefulness. As one of the participants phrased, "work is happy self-actualization in a socially beneficial manner".
This redefinition also prompts changes in our conceptualization of needs. Human needs go beyond the physical/material focus and intellectual/spiritual needs come to the forefront of activities. The satisfaction of needs is "healthy" (both materially and mentally), putting a stop to patterns of overconsumption. Such redefinition also facilitates the appreciation of human skills and labor over material consumption and this leads to "mending things rather than scrapping" as "we do not ditch other people's work". The new approaches to working lives also enable people to take more responsibility for and better care of their own natural and social environment.
According to the participants, such redefinition of work stipulates the broadening of the different employment forms. In Hungary of the 2050s, employment is not purely part of the market economy as people also do work that is "not necessarily monetized", so barter or working in Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS) are highly acknowledged and are no longer considered "shadow economy". Learning is also a recognized form of employment in all age groups and the value of education is fully appreciated as a form of enhancing human capital. Hence, one can engage flexibly in many different work activities, in many different legal forms, doing diverse, meaningful and acclaimed jobs. This enables people to retain more control over their own lives. The discussions on the redefinition of work in the future between the two different groups bore striking resemblance to each other. However, the younger, environmentally-conscious group also contemplated the notions of work-time reductions and initiating changes in production in order to reduce the pace and monotony of labor and increase the value added to the process by the workforce.
Both groups agreed that, in order to facilitate such redefinition of work, the desired policy tools focused on the objective that work done beyond the economic sphere dominated by monetary exchange relations (such as community and household work, and activities for self-development) should get recognition in order to provide people with the choice to work in many different employment forms. This implies that the legal and social system should embrace and encourage employment forms beyond paid labor (such as self-employment, household employment, LETS, barter and all atypical employment forms). In order to achieve these objectives, current administrative obstacles need to be abolished; new legislative and regulatory frameworks should be introduced for those elements that are currently unavailable; and communication campaigns and financial incentives should be initiated to change the attitude towards work. In both groups, the introduction of the guaranteed basic income was also heavily debated as a tool for enabling the transformation of employment circumstances.
In the relevant scientific literature, ecological modernization concepts on linking employment to sustainability advocate the greening of the market economy [
As opposed to the mainstream view of ecological modernization, the radical change paradigm literature disposes of the concepts of the free market society and claims that new "great transformations" are unavoidable [
The dilemma, however, does not just lie with the definition of welfare but also with the notion of spare time. As Røpke [
However, following such a redefinition, even with a fall of average consumption levels well-being and social relationships can be maintained or even enhanced through reducing working time [
Participants in both groups envisage the Hungarian society in 2050 where the role of communities is of rising importance and builds on values of cooperation, trust and solidarity. Community ties of individuals are strong and communal events are frequent. The network of trust is operational and trust itself is treated as a prime social asset. Community plays two different roles in employment. On the one hand, community provides a framework and motivation to work. On the other hand, work serves community purposes. As "people cannot have their work appreciated in larger spaces and large societies", society operates as a network of many smaller communities. Hence, both working in the community and working for the community becomes important. The group of master students also envisioned a wide variety of communal services and spaces like community kitchens, gardens, or laundry facilities. They all suggested speeding up current efforts to build social economy as a policy tool to involve the notion of community within employment.
In both workshops, the issue of "global
This was, however, slightly different in the younger, university student group. Presumably due to their higher level of environmental awareness, they were more critical towards globalization. In their vision, local production and consumption and self-reliance of communities is the key to sustainable employment and the movement of goods are limited to those that require significant know-how (like pharmaceuticals). Hence, the policy suggestions—besides the support of localization by all means available, including the use of local currencies as part of wage payments—also entailed significant renegotiations of global trading agreements in a way that provides all countries an equal chance to rely on their own resources and flourish without the exploitation through foreign trade by the economically more powerful. They also envisioned a world with significantly less mobility in employment.
In current economic literature, concepts consistently revolve around individuals and any behavior that diverts from the self-centered, utility maximizing actions does not only reflect irrationality in theory but is increasingly hard to find in practice, too [
Moreover, the value of community relationships receives little attention as they have no function in the operation of the market. In extreme cases, community considerations disrupt markets as they constrain the mobility of the workforce, and locally organized production and consumption networks distort competition (resulting in inefficiency and loss of welfare). In market economies, community interests are supposed to be safeguarded by institutions that are to adjust the failures of the markets. In this mechanism, the individuals' societal responsibilities decline as they are not required to take personal steps towards preserving community interests. However, the aforementioned concept covers a complicated contradiction. One of the main driving forces behind consumption is status-seeking [
As Beck [
The policy and scientific discussions on the importance of the social economy are also linked to the debate on localism. The report of CIRIEC [
From the above it seems that even though participants may be divided on the extent to which globalization should be allowed to penetrate local economies, they all seem to desire a significant move towards a more locally-organized, community-based society that advocates eco-localism as an essential part of sustainability in general, and sustainable employment in particular.
The participants of the expert panel revealed outstanding technological optimism and technological determinism. "In 2050 technologies will be widely accessible that we have no knowledge of today." They envisioned that even though in 2050 less work is available due to technological advances, this does not imply higher unemployment but rather more opportunities for redefining work. Technology supports flexible working arrangements, improvements in quality of living, substitution of arduous and monotonous jobs, equal access to work and public services and participatory decision-making. The wide-ranging research and development activities do not only cover technological advancement but social innovations as well. While not questioning technological advances at all, much emphasis was also put on the preservation of traditional cultural values, and the safeguarding of those who work with traditional technologies. The backcasted policy measures all aimed at establishing the role of technology in supporting sustainable employment by encouraging targeted technological and social innovations through financial incentives. They included a wide-range of potential applications from the introduction of trust-building, participatory community decision-making; through boosting the creative industry, until facilitating equal access to employment, locations and services. This group of policy instruments also included those that prevent the disappearance of traditional professions.
It is remarkable that, while the younger participants in the backcasting exercise also envisioned a future where technology supports self-reliance and self-development, as opposed to the other group, they were highly critical of technological advancement and phrased their normative vision accordingly. They declared that in their vision "it is technology that serves humans and not humans serving technology". In 2050, society is not afraid of discarding certain technological advances and the purpose of technology is not to replace but to complement human skills, strengths and creativity. It serves to diversify local opportunities to use local resources rather than to create path dependencies. Knowledge behind technology is open-source and accessible to all. The backcasted policy measures they suggested also reflected their critical approach to technology focusing on avoiding planned obsolescence and ensuring that technology serves local self-reliance rather than global injustice.
In the relevant scientific literature, technology plays a crucial but rather controversial role both in the concept of sustainability and in its relationship with employment. Market economies lay significant emphasis on technological advances both in terms of increasing productivity through creative destruction and, over time as the path that leads economic growth to sustainability, through technological fixes. The effect of the Schumpeterian creative destruction [
The issue of technological fixes is highly opportune in the times of sustainability concerns. As Ekins [
The participants of both groups envision the economic actors of 2050 not merely either for-profit or non-profit organizations. For-profit actors are sensitized (or coerced into) being environmentally and socially responsible organizations that build these aspects into their everyday decision-making and serve community values. Management culture embraces empowerment, where employees have certain degrees of self-determination. Bonuses include solutions that facilitate the new, diverse types of employment such as sabbaticals or work-time allowances for volunteering activities. Consultations with workers' associations are based on trust and dialogue, where both parties are present as partners. In case of inevitable downsizing, outplacement services are provided on a wide basis to employees. Different co-ownership schemes for workers are common, cooperatives are rediscovered and many work in the predominantly non-profit social economy.
The expert panel also added to their vision that as in the for-profit sector corporate social responsibility becomes the norm, at the same time corporate governance becomes widespread among non-profit organizations. Hence, non-profit approaches are built into the operations of for-profit companies, while non-profit organizations internalize the essentials of economic operations. Accordingly, the backcasted policy measures focused on supporting non-profit organizations to become an integrated part of the economy. At the same time the suggested interventions were for encouraging for-profit companies to take on board social values, ensuring that people work in an environment that is based on cooperation and trust and embraces real social dialogue.
During discussions, a vision of the Hungarian state in 2050 was also crystallized. The participants in both groups envisage that in 2050 Hungary is a democracy but one that is significantly more decentralized both in terms of decision-making and financial resources than today. Even though participatory or deliberative democracy as a term never occurred during discussions, the topic of a state where individual, community, and state responsibilities are clearly distinguished and decisions are taken on the levels where responsibility lies often appeared. The recommended policy tools revolved around the issue of interventions that could lead to better cooperation and more solidarity on a socio-political level. These are to be achieved through establishing social trust, for example, by introducing trust building elements into public administration like encouraging real participatory social dialogue.
Literature on sustainable business models also include elements similar to those raised by the participants. Stubbs and Coclin [
According to the literature on political participation, the major factor behind the widespread demand for participatory opportunities is connected to the decline of state power and political order. In this respect, participation is a key to reach political order, enhance legitimacy and the quality of decisions. According to Habermas [
There are two key elements in the normative visions of the two groups that shed light on the notion of sustainable employment regarding this topic. Firstly, real participatory social dialogue is needed both in the economic and the political sphere. Secondly, for-profit entities should be transformed back into what they really are: social constructions ultimately serving the public good.
Hawken, Lovins and Lovins in their book, "Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution" [ "At the beginning of the industrial revolution, labour was overworked and relatively scarce (the population was about one-tenth of current totals), while global stocks of natural capital were abundant and unexploited. But today the situation has been reversed: After two centuries of rise in labour productivity, the liquidation of natural resources at their extraction cost rather than their replacement value, and the exploitation of living systems as if they were free, infinite, and in perpetual renewal, it is people who have become abundant resource, while nature is becoming disturbingly scarce.".
"At the beginning of the industrial revolution, labour was overworked and relatively scarce (the population was about one-tenth of current totals), while global stocks of natural capital were abundant and unexploited. But today the situation has been reversed: After two centuries of rise in labour productivity, the liquidation of natural resources at their extraction cost rather than their replacement value, and the exploitation of living systems as if they were free, infinite, and in perpetual renewal, it is people who have become abundant resource, while nature is becoming disturbingly scarce.".
Attempts to find solutions to this problem prompt both political decision-makers and academics to try and combine endeavors in the economic, social and environmental spheres. The ever-growing technological optimism has led to the diffusion of the green economy concept where investments into environmentally sustainable production and consumption would produce a sustainable society without compromising economic growth and, at the same time, employment prospects. It promises a "quick fix" to economic recession and employment problems while reducing carbon emissions and other environmentally harmful economic activities without initiating major changes either in our ways of thinking or in our ways of living.
Environmental sustainability, however, is often defined in two different ways. The so-called weak sustainability signifies the underlying concept that natural and man-made capitals can be substituted with each other and the level of consumption can be maintained as long as a possibly decreasing level of natural capital is compensated for by the increase in man-made and/or human capital. In contrast, strong sustainability does not allow for such a perfect substitution and insists that the stock of natural capital should remain constant in order to have future generations the possibility to enjoy the flows that nature provides [
As opposed to the ecological modernization approach, the radical change paradigm attempts to deal with the limits of the Biosphere's supporting capacities, hence aiming to achieve strong environmental sustainability. In terms of social sustainability, this paradigm aims to address the problems of unequal distribution, the widening social gap, and decreasing social solidarity. While ecological modernization may provide solutions in the short-term, strong environmental and social sustainability is likely to be achieved only by overstepping the theoretical boundaries of current paradigms.
However, "thinking out of the box" requires new approaches and, as Wright [
When two distinct groups were provided with the opportunity to envision "the future we want in the world of work", they constructed surprisingly similar answers. The participants' vision for sustainable employment in Hungary in 2050 contained mixed elements of the ecological modernization and radical change paradigms. Their vision abandoned the ideal of full employment and made way for a life where people are free to work not because they are forced by their subsistence but because work is an activity that serves the well-being of both their community and themselves. Well-being was defined not only in material terms but also in terms of self-development; self-fulfillment; sufficient time for nurturing family and community relationships and access to a healthy environment. This approach would enrich the forms of employment and dispose of the idea that employment generally means a 40-hour paid labor week. Participants truly believed that localized employment through the encouragement of local production and consumption patterns would contribute significantly to sustainable employment.
It is, however, as important to note the differences that the two groups demonstrated as the similarities. Significant differences arose in three main areas: in their acceptance of globalization, their attitude towards technology and in their choices of policy tools. The first two are supposedly due to the fact that the group of graduate students that was rather skeptical of and, in their recommendations, expressed a more radical stance against globalization was also more environmentally conscious. Environmental activism often involves a more critical view on current globalization trends and technological advancement. The third difference is more likely to stem from the age gap and the distinct work experience. The expert panel focused more on awareness-raising tools that were aimed at changing the way people think, while the younger group truly believed in legal tools, such as legislation and regulation. As most of those in the expert panel have been working in jobs where they are creating regulatory change without having experiencing real breakthroughs, they seemed to believe more in the power of people's mind than the power of the law.
In Hungary, the political discourse on employment seems to revolve around three main concepts [
The authors acknowledge that this vision reflects the co-construction of 30 individuals in Hungary. However, this qualitative technique facilitates real participation thorough deliberation and active exchange of ideas between participants resulting in learning and shared understanding. Hence, it provides an in-depth insight that some other decision-support techniques with wider involvement may not generate. The participants' attempt to create a normative vision of the future and suggest a path that may lead us there sheds some light on how people think of sustainable employment and which theoretical approaches are being involved in their desires for a more sustainable society. Moreover, experimental backcasting projects, like the one in Hungary reported here, can contribute to our understanding of what the term sustainable employment may mean. As a result, suggested policy tools that make the mushrooming of different employment forms possible; genuinely encourage the establishment of a social economy; support local production and consumption and facilitate truly participatory and deliberative social dialogue on contentious issues, such as guaranteed basic income or the changing role of the state, may one day actually guide us towards such a sustainable employment.
This research project was financed by the National Council for Sustainable Development, Hungary. We gratefully acknowledge the personal support of Gábor Bartus and the members of the Environmental Social Science Research Group. We wish to thank the participants of the backcasting workshops for devoting their time and sharing their insights with us. The usual caveats apply.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.


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History was made today with the roughly $16 billion dollar IPO of Facebook (FB).
Is it another Apple? Microsoft? Google? Absolutely…..
So, should I buy it today?
I think only the gutsiest of individuals should buy it today, just because there is so much hype in the stock that it may well skyrocket initially and then trend down over the coming weeks. I may be very well wrong (I frequently am). However brilliant Zuckerberg is, he is now at the helm of a publicly traded company; he is going to face shareholders and analysts who will question and criticize his decisions. They can be a tough bunch. Zuckerberg is no longer operating in a black box.
A safer bet would be to buy either a mutual fund, which focuses on social networking, or a broader based technology fund that in all likelihood will buy it. Mutual funds offer the diversification that can absorb more efficiently erratic stock price swings than holding a stock outright.
Remember Enron? MCI Communications? Woe betide to the poor individual who held these stocks outright; their personal wealth would have been more protected if they had held these shares indirectly in a mutual fund.
Don't get me wrong…if anyone can chart the future and shape it, I believe it is Mark Zuckerberg and FB; I just think he will need some time first.
Tags: 1st Mariner Bank, First Mariner Bank, Facebook, Facebook IPO, Diversification, Facebook Public, Facebook Stock, Mark Zuckerberg, Mutual Funds, Social Network
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