text:
"The Emerald Tablet of Hermes"
(Newton Translation)
(Newton Translation)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
∞ ✎
In late 2012, I was introduced to Tom Lieber's Infinite Sketchpad (many thanks to Luke Iannini & Mike Rotondo for this!)-- it almost straight-away became one of my very favorite videogames & still is--
Get Infinite Sketchpad (∞✎) for iPad HERE.
Get David Johnston's Infinite Doodle for Windows/XBOX HERE
(very different touch/movement/speed (fast!); mostly same space)
See my drawings HERE.
See my drawings HERE.
The ∞✎ space is a visualized Real Number XY Continuum, or 'blank fractal canvas' (the real-number line is a fractal, too, only one of trivial visual interest until we start to fill it in with content). It is a model of Zeno's Playground, that 'flux/motion-disproving' space famously played by Achilles and the Tortoise in defense of Parmenides' eternal/timeless Sphere. "The Continuum Problem" has historically given rise to some huge moments in the history of maths-- from Leibniz/Newton's Calculus, and when re-problematized, to Cantor's Set Theory, and more recently, building from this, as the assumed 'monstrous grain' of the strange infinitely detailed fractal sets described by Mandelbrot's free-scaling geometry.
But none of this history need come up while playing. As described above, Infinite Sketchpad sounds like an esoteric tool, accessible only to mathematician-initiates, opaque to everyone else-- this isn't right, though. In actuality, it's probably much more suited to please the changing whims of irrationalists, luddites, non-gamers than the structured pursuits of formalists... All the ideas are FELT as wonder, it's all,play-- requiring no systems thinking, little design. Just wandering... It is immediate. You need only to play it yourself to meet this quality, its personality, it doesn't require any theory, it barely requires any gaming 'literacy' (drawing-literacy & ipad zooming being the closest it comes).
For my part, it was basically the only videogame that I touched for almost a year...When I first played, I knew very little about the formal concepts of infinities, etc. that composed its conceptual/functional-material-grain, but it was clear that they were there, and it was easy enough to smell out a Borgesian canon-labyrinth of thought surrounding the mechanics and pictures as gradual intuitive understanding developed. It was exciting not knowing (not being able to formulate) things about the space, but still playing it, and coming to know it in a different sense, a non-explicit (non-propositional) kind of knowing/p-o-v.
I started writing notes for a blog-post on it to share my excitement, and soon it grew out of control...
The form is telling-- in the same way that infinite sketchpad allows us to zoom in and out and pan as much as we'd like, the 'blog-post' balloon-zooms in/out/across accordingly, and the ballooning very soon is too much to handle, especially once I start supplementing the canvas-play with external research (which feels necessary from very early on, given the historical-conceptual contexts of the ideas I.S. touches on)… I am learning to compose pictures within this new sort of space, and am writing at the same time-- the sensory-material potentials of the former process are informing the abstract-structural-linguistic potentials of the latter… There is the 'drawing plane' and the 'reading/writing plane' and the project becomes a a matter of seeking and describing a continuity or consistency between the two planes (and between these & the many other planes which are likewise touched).
But none of this history need come up while playing. As described above, Infinite Sketchpad sounds like an esoteric tool, accessible only to mathematician-initiates, opaque to everyone else-- this isn't right, though. In actuality, it's probably much more suited to please the changing whims of irrationalists, luddites, non-gamers than the structured pursuits of formalists... All the ideas are FELT as wonder, it's all,play-- requiring no systems thinking, little design. Just wandering... It is immediate. You need only to play it yourself to meet this quality, its personality, it doesn't require any theory, it barely requires any gaming 'literacy' (drawing-literacy & ipad zooming being the closest it comes).
For my part, it was basically the only videogame that I touched for almost a year...When I first played, I knew very little about the formal concepts of infinities, etc. that composed its conceptual/functional-material-grain, but it was clear that they were there, and it was easy enough to smell out a Borgesian canon-labyrinth of thought surrounding the mechanics and pictures as gradual intuitive understanding developed. It was exciting not knowing (not being able to formulate) things about the space, but still playing it, and coming to know it in a different sense, a non-explicit (non-propositional) kind of knowing/p-o-v.
I started writing notes for a blog-post on it to share my excitement, and soon it grew out of control...
The form is telling-- in the same way that infinite sketchpad allows us to zoom in and out and pan as much as we'd like, the 'blog-post' balloon-zooms in/out/across accordingly, and the ballooning very soon is too much to handle, especially once I start supplementing the canvas-play with external research (which feels necessary from very early on, given the historical-conceptual contexts of the ideas I.S. touches on)… I am learning to compose pictures within this new sort of space, and am writing at the same time-- the sensory-material potentials of the former process are informing the abstract-structural-linguistic potentials of the latter… There is the 'drawing plane' and the 'reading/writing plane' and the project becomes a a matter of seeking and describing a continuity or consistency between the two planes (and between these & the many other planes which are likewise touched).
Finishing the essay becomes a GOAL. When I set out, all I wanted to do was write a little critique of the game, but I kept finding all of this context that the critique seemed to require if it was to be meaningful in the sense that I had felt it to be during my initial encounter.
This goal is still unmet, incomplete. Every time I go through to edit, I want to add more, and when I add more, it's a mess, and I need to edit. There are 'subtractive' and 'additive' methods of composition, and though I've submitted myself at times during this process to both, the growth in its size is proof enough that the latter was a dominant controlling influence. After all, I never really 'delete' things in an Infinite Sketchpad picture. There's always more room! Games teach us how to play within their own frameworks and we carry these 'ways' over to Other games,books,things,life,etc. Living with Infinite Sketchpad cultivated in me a pathological burrowing aesthetic of sorts. This aesthetic seems to have occupied in feeling & intention many similar spaces to those that the 'pathological curves' (proto-fractals, monsters) of the 19th century occupied in mathematical form.
Needless to say, writing & drawing has felt something like the beginnings of a potentially infinite project, paralleling the structure of the game.. Fully submerging myself in that process for even another month is not something I'm interested in giving myself over to, as the endless tunnel of research has proven to keep me from other interests and work and from the joy of completing small projects. I was not prepared for the gravity what I embarked on, and though I'm very happy with the time I've spent on it, it's time to PAUSE or ESC the game for the time being (hopefully to return to finish the final chapter, at least, but we'll see...).
I've loosely tightened the essay up these last weeks, clipped off (some) rough ends, and have made it available as a first complete draft, which may or may not be a final draft, depending on how I'm feeling in the future:
These essays are personal notes, a year or so of what might have served as Content on this blog, hoarded, cut, and re-composed in a single document instead. I have tried to be as truthful as possible. I have sampled many sources, some uncredited, usually on account of lazy book-keeping. Any of the writing's formal integrity is thanks to the bevy of samples of Pseudo-Hermes Huvanistagg-Ludistagg's work, an old ludic realist-materialist who I've given primary authorial credit to, though the less refined passages throughout are always my own…. Pseudo-Hermes is presumably named after Hermes Trisgmegistus, the first alchemist (with P.H. adopting the medieval scholastic naming convention, a la Pseudo-Dionysus, Pseudo-Aristotle, et al). The essay's historical ambitions, guided by P.H.H.L's alternate 'play canon', plateau at a still massively underdeveloped reevaluation of the epoch which immediately preceded our own 'scientific modernity'-- one in which Galileo, Newton, etc must be revisited & re-considered just as much as practitioners of intuitive magics (alchemy, astrology, qabbalah, etc.), as practitioners of the strict 'rationalism' we know them for today. At this pre-modern moment, the object of scientific inquiry is not separate from the subject of personal inquiry, feeling, affect-- speculative interest.. this is the meaning of magic.. It is my belief that videogames are irreducibly pseudoscientific, being composed of such subject-object dissolves, and that failing to account for their status as such will only serve to cut off those speculative possibilities best prepared to advance the medium. Hermes is a line back to the time and ethos of the protosciences ('pseudoscience' was first used to refer to alchemy)-- the conditions of modern science -- the primordial soup from which the functions and concepts of which we are so proud and confident were given their first breath of life. Modern science, proud as it is, must give due thanks-- it did not birth itself but is rather a child of the magicians.
I can't say any longer that the essay's purpose is simply to celebrate/critique Infinite Sketchpad (though I hope it opens a way of thinking that could be more readily excited by the possibilities that I.S. presents). Instead, while Infinite Sketchpad serves as a materialized (vibrating) model of the spaces discussed throughout, the topic of the essay has rather undergone a massive zoom-out to the point of being concerned with the infinite macrocosmic canvas of Games as a Whole, their playings microcosmically represented by 'paths' walked through infinite sketchpad-- infinitely scalable approaches to the questions of what games are, what they've always been, what they might be… these are the 'boring' questions of last year, 'What are game?' etc, but the battle over the use of these terms is by no means complete.. The relations between gamefulness and artfulness and playfulness are by no means well understood, and the prophetic power of the notgames idea has not at all been exhausted. Notgames have their formal structures, too, and I am interested in exploring them. Why? I often do not enjoy games that present me with an explicit goal. I like to wander with whatever it is I am doing, to shift the goal. I like to lose if this allows me to shift-- I like even to spoil a game for others, to grief, for this same reason (I apologize!). I have on many occasions found looking at a picture to be a better Game than most videogames. For me, games are all about touching, affecting, but the eyes can touch, too.
The essay has become an anti-formalist formalism in a way, an attempt to defend the irrational, the inconsistent as manifest in games-without-goals (which really have many goals rather than none), and in the sensuous/haptic aspects of games, which some are inclined to consider 'less intelligent', but which are rather simply irrational in something very much like the numerical sense, in that these are the games that exist between the members of the infinitesimal series of rational numbers/rational games, which condition our reality at every moment even as we 'hop' from one rational game to the next (as we lose, grief, etc.).… This is to say that it is possible to play even a rational game irrationally (as is the nature of 'non-optimal' play). This capacity of the player is what I am most interested in, which puts me at odds with the conventional computer game-formalisms, from what I understand. I'd been calling Infinite Sketchpad a game, and I still do, but it can be considered as such only if irrational games are allowed to exist. Needless to say, the Pythagoreans were not pleased by Hippasus' discovery of irrational numbers, and despite a handful of exceptions to the contrary, it seems that the mechanisms of Game Culture are not liable to be pleased by an insistence of the material primacy of irrational games, or by the corresponding principles of ludic realism that parallel the pathological realism of the Real number continuum--
That there are indeed infinitely many rational games, but that in between each of these games, there are infinitely MORE games which are irrational. That almost all games are irrational.
That there are indeed infinitely many rational games, but that in between each of these games, there are infinitely MORE games which are irrational. That almost all games are irrational.
Atalanta Fugiens 1 -18
Atalanta Fugiens 1 -18
8 Theses on ∞ ✎
8 Theses on ∞ ✎
Since I realize that very few readers will click through to read more than a few pages of the essay and that fewer still will read the whole, AND since even in its finished state the essay gets carried away with itself and the applications of infinite sketchpad gets lost in the mess of things…-- I'd like to present just a few numbered theses here which are directly related to the game itself, not drifting away from it so much as the essay does, but rather summarizing some of the key ideas that I have arrived at while playing/writing, as a standalone mini-essay and preview of the larger project.
The full essay is a piece of 'game criticism' on Infinite Sketchpad only by an analogical leap/stretch of the imagination-- the below points more clearly so.
1. Properly acknowledging the nature of scaling relations in Infinite Sketchpad drawings warrants a re-evaluation of fractals such that the category is opened to include not only scaling objects generated by algorithms, but also scaling objects generated by a constant stream of finite PLAYED material actualities the sources (players) of which are potentially non-computable. Such an inclusion allows for the completion of Mandelbrot's Naturalistic project
The calculation of Mandelbrot's variable D, the fractal dimension, operates on the assumption that a scaling self-similarity will cascade into further detail infinitely, it supposes a wholly abstract image of space which does not fully correspond with out own. But this has not stopped Mandelbrot from applying this abstract model to concrete-finite actualities in nature, art etc. D is already famously applied to finite-natural pseudo-fractals like the British Coastline, which was not generated by an algorithm, but rather by the MATERIAL PLAY of waves, of tectonic movements, etc. His whole book The Fractal Geometry of Nature, is concerned with other non-algorithmic fractalish things which were played by nature, and then abstracted & modeled algorithmically.
The fractal geometry of nature points the way toward a new class of proudly finite fractals. Natural fractals are all finite. What there is of the infinite is to be found within the finite. And insofar as an artwork can be considered an extension of nature (the player or artist and her environment is the system of waves shaping the shoreline), it only makes sense to apply Mandelbrot's mathematics to pictures such as these. Mandelbrot was already onto this idea, as his paper "Scaling and Scalebound structure: A useful distinction in the visual arts" can attest to. In Infinite Skethpad, we may not have strict self-similarity, depending on what the player chooses to draw, but similarity and difference are BROAD categories, and it ought to be possible to delineate scaling relations between, as it were, pattern and entropy, as regards whatever information we're presented with.
2. Infinite Sketchpad is both the most radical and most intuitive dimension-shifting game that has been made. [a] It is the most radical because it is concerned with surfing a continuum of floating point/irrational dimensions, as opposed to 'snapping' between integer dimensions (as per #2); [b] it is the most intuitive because it manages to shift dimensionality all while remaining a strict 'virtual parallelism' to the 2-dimensional material of the screen itself-
Charles Sirato's 1936 "Dimensionist Manifesto" might provide a fitting generic term for games of wonky shifting dimensionalities-- Fez's move from 2 to 3 to a different 2. Miegakure's move from 2.5(ish) to 4(ish) (ostensibly a movement from 3 to 4). Etc. Braid moving from 2-D space + 1-D time where time is one-directional, to 2-directional 3-D spacetime.
If we follow the logic of the classic dimensionist book Flatland, in which a sphere penetrating the 2-D plane is perceived by locals as a a circle which grows from small (at contact) to large (at sphere mid-slice), then it would suggest that games in which scaling objects are prominent characters could likewise be considered 'dimensionist' games-- for instance, Katamari Damacy, Scale (forthcoming), Within A Star-Filled Sky, Maquette, Gorgoa, Google Earth, etc. Each of these games is a game of N-dimensions penetrated by objects of dimension N+1 projected downward onto the lower plane.
Infinite Sketchpad is quite strange in that the spaces we draw in it are always effectively BETWEEN 2 and 3 dimensions-- but unlike the above-mentioned scaling games, I.S.'s spaces dimensionalities are in constant flux, the value of D is constantly changing-- e.g. 2.1, 2.2, 2.23, 2.8… Detail which doesn't tunnel into further detail is representative of the side of the continuum nearer D=2, while detail which tunnels deeply into further detail is representative of the side of the continuum nearer D=3. The fractal dimension D on this plane is always 2 < D < 3. The zoom characterizes the possibility and actualization of an infinite line on a finite plane such that the (2D) surface is effectively becoming (limit 3D) volume.
3. Following from its capacity to freely navigate the strange dimensional continuum between D=2 and D=3, something very much like Infinite Sketchpad will be an invaluable aid in prototyping any future-videogame ideas of sufficient free-scaling complexity.
If more games (software-spaces in general) are to made where objects contain entire spaces, and where spaces can be fully encapsulated as objects, and where there is to be a potentially infinite cascade of such zooms in and out-- planning & playing in a tool like Infinite Sketchpad will be essential. Such a tool can (and will) be amplified by new Forms of Life, no doubt, but the basic idea of freely composing a Great Chain of parts and wholes irrespective of an algorithmic top-down will prove powerful in the years to come, if the intuitive bottom-up is to be joined with the Universalizing potentials of speculative abstraction.
Infinite Sketchpad allows such abstraction to be explored smoothly. Smooth like pen wandering on paper. Smooth like pressing into butter, or some other 'spreadable' sensitive substance. Smooth like smooth functions. Smoothness is Realistic. Continuity is realistic. This is part of why Half-Life is so beautiful. It is a continuous stream of synthetic consciousness, straight-up. You start on the tram, and everything follows from what precedes it without gaps, there are no substantial 'edges' to take into consideration. Life is continuous (save sleep, hypnosis, and other strange edge-states). To create a smooth scaling space where objects are always spaces and spaces are always objects is merely to take this principle of 3D spacetime realism and amplify it. The capacity for smoothness in a scaling space allows that part/whole object-relations need not be overly simplified-- it is possible to draw cascades of entangled objects in Infinite Sketchpad of the sort that it is difficult to say where one ends and where the other begins. Object-hyper-object-hyperhyperobject-hyjectperobbbb,he etc... The 'count as one' replaced, as often as possible, with the 'count as what?' (inconsistent multiplicity).
4. The depth of scale and the scaling drift required to 'visit' (in time) all of an I.S.-picture complicates the as-yet little interrogated 'edge' between videogames and pictures. Pictures in I.S. are undoubtedly pictures, but they also seem to be little adventure games, too, explorations, as deserving of that title as any other… Videogames and drawings/paintings/images-in-general must be considered as existing together on a continuum with their distinction characterized by a difference of degree, rather than one of kind.
These are drawings, but they are shifting possibility spaces (or games) just the same, in our experience and in their material constitution. Pictures, of course, have always been shifting possibility spaces in our experience, but a new material principle of relativity is introduced here, whereby the whole and parts are more distanced from one another than they have ever been.
Following up on the implications of the picture-game continuum requires stepping outside of Infinite Sketchpad, and revisiting wholly 'static-flat' drawings with the new sense of possibility that I.S. has instilled in us. Now, there is a clear sense of preparing to zoom into, e.g. Kandinsky's free-scaling Compositions. Clumpings of details function as attractors for our attention. Our eye follows details, and enters new (faster) rhythmic spaces in those detail-basins which feature objects more densely packed together. Infinite Sketchpad automates the possibility of tunneling endlessly into such detail basins, allows K's Compositions to unfold. Paul Klee's Notebook's will be a good place to steal game mechanics from, once we are comfortable abandoning representational design in favor of pure concreteness / synthetic-vibrational player-materiality.
5. The shift of scale initiates rhythmic-musical flows as much as it does drifting-ludic flows, and thus infinite sketchpad must exist on a continuum with other music objects as much as it does on that with other picture objects.
There is no sound attached to these rhythms, so we are still dealing with strictly visual music. Rhythm exists even in classical pictures, but now there is a new physical time element (this, despite the 'static' form of the pictures), whereby the density of objects dispersed around a basin of attraction creates relative pulses, where higher density is faster, and lower density is slower. Size itself is rhythm.
There are many scaling aspects in music. The classic example is a pulsing rhythm which, when sped up beyond a certain threshold, we begin to perceive as a tone. 2:1 is octave & boom-chick-boom-chick both. 3:2 is fifth and duple-triple polyrhythm. We can imagine (and maybe it has been done) a space which plays with e.g. duple-triple rhythms using tones that have been generating by speeding up this rhythm itself. And this is to list only the first 2 pitch-rhythm members of the harmonic series of integer relations, which continues scaling up (in frequency), down (in wavelength/time), etc… All of this is ancient-- there are more modern, computational devices, too-- Granular synthesis comes to mind. The shepard tone comes to mind. These & other musical-mechanical devices could be used to produce wildly dynamic soundtracks for new games which use free-scaling mechanics. And to this end, it will be as much a matter of developing a taste for these new sound-worlds as it will be one of actively designing with them.
It is not clear exactly what the relation between scaling musics and scaling pictures might be, but the 'continuum' of musical form outlined in scaling theoretical works such as Adam Harper's Infinite Music, James Tenney's Meta-Hodos, Erik Christiansen's The Musical Timespace, Curtis Roads' Microsounds etc will be of great use in exploring the possibilities...
6. Infinite sketchpad's emergent relations between parts and wholes ties the 'problematic' of drawing/composing in an infinite space to some of the classical problems of metaphysics.
Metaphysics seems to deal with games played collaboratively by a relatively small list of 'conceptual personae', several of which are key 'mechanical personae' in Infinite Sketchpad-- Parts and Wholes, the One and the Many, Process & Object... These concepts are all unavoidable in any attempt to describe what something is, what it is becoming... (etc!). Metaphysics is a 'gateway drug' to mathematics. These Problems more or less all follow from the play of Zeno's paradox, the famous formulation of the "Problem of the Continuum", which is reducibly mathematical-technical in one sense, and irreducibly metaphysical in another. Is there flux-becoming or is the form-being? And what is the relation between such pairs? Leibniz' work on the 'labyrinth of the composition of the continuum' produced the infinitesimal calculus alongside Newton's. The continuum is a labyrinth precisely because no matter how much you divide and divide into infinity, you are still only producing rational numbers. Between each pair of infinitely small rational units, there are infinitely many irrational numbers which have still not been touched. These irrationals are the seat of the proper smoothness or continuity of the continuum. Calculus does not solve Zeno's paradox, it merely asks it again, and makes something useful from the question. Over a century later, Georg Cantor's study of irrational numbers develops into his transfinite theory of infinities (irrationals requiring infinite calculation to describe), which describes the split between countable-digital infinite (rationals) and the uncountable infinite (irrationals and beyond-- approaching--> Absolute/Inconsistent Infinite--God). These studies were also the beginning of his set theory (which is the count of a Many into a One). Meanwhile formal logic (non-electronic videogames) is being stratified by Frege, next Whitehead & Russell will attempt to map maths on logic onto one another and Gödel follows up eventually with his incompleteness theorem, with its discoveries surrounding inconsistency and this is Hofstadter's pet project, the Strange Loop, the tangled hierarchy, the part that contains the whole. This looping form, snake eating its tail, has also been called the Ouroboros by the alchemists.
Inconsistency. Irrationality. Infinity. THESE mathematical qualities which are, at some value-limits, NOT computable-- the problem of the continuum sheds light on them, and Infinite Sketchpad sheds light on the problem of the continuum.
I ran into this little bit from Raph Koster: "It may be that games are all about math. And I think that sucks." But this sort of sentiment is a shame! Why does this suck? The thinking, I imagine, is that if games are all about math, they can't be all about Art, but to hold to this is to think too little of math and art both. Freely allow mathematics to breathe metaphysics. Is it, has it ever been, anything more, or less? Attempting to allow a maximally intensified/living Art to coexist (become One with?) a maximally intensified/living Maths is the most promising project of videogames, as far as I'm concerned. A new kind of Hippasusian-Pythagorean approach is wanting, where we DO NOT think that it sucks for games to be all about math, because math is not regarded as over-rational reductionism but is rather, as it has always been, the formalization of the players of metaphysics itself, the One, the Many, the parts and the wholes, the rationals and irrationals, and their relations and inconsistencies-- the games that they play.
7. Building from #s 3-5, It follows that software structures ought to be thinkable as elements existing on a continuum which likewise contains metaphysical structures, musical structures, pictorial structures, etc. This is maybe something akin to what Deleuze calls the Virtual Continuum.
There exists some sort of vast N-dimensional Real continuum that can count games, pictures, music, and philosophy all together, each freely able to appropriate structural 'tactics' from the next. The way Herman Hesse described his imagined "Glass Bead Game" plays out similarly. And though this continuum counts the supreme consistency of software and its wholly rational numerical composition as part of its ranks, it reaches beyond the computable, too, touching the inconsistent, the irrational, the infinite-- this is no different from the Real number continuum itself! And this is the space (to descend fully into pseudo-science), between each of infinitesimals, which the language of the arts might operate in, such that the meaning of a picture, a game, a piece of music, a concept-- this meaning will both touch (being conditioned by) and be inconsistent with (being unbounded by) the information structures of software itself.
8. Since 'ideas' of some sort (Whitehead's 'eternal objects' reduced to structural consistencies) can exist as structure encoded in the computational material and outer flesh of the software as much as in our nervous system/human brain, and since it is possible to learn from the software as teacher, the relationship between mind, body, and world is immediately complicated, where each seems to be implicated in the next, where Mind can and does exist in the world just as much as in the body.
But this is not so simple as to say that we ARE computers. That thesis is up for grabs... this is rather to say that we live WITH computers. And that we think with and in many ways are what we live with. Tool-Being. Mind is distributed across the environment.
"Radical embodied cognitive science" is probably the discipline these days which is doing the most to shed light on this point of view. It is, as it were, a borderline alchemical mix of eco-psychological behaviorism and cognitive representationalism via Merleau-Ponty body-phenomenology..
This thesis that Mind exists dispersed throughout the whole environment, of course, can be applied across the board to any and all videogames, insofar as we enter the game and the game enters us, but I have found infinite sketchpad to be a particularly good example, partly because of the grandeur of the ideas which it touches on, and partly because I spent so much time following trails it seemed to lay out for me to learn from. I went to school with this Mind..
In Jung's description of alchemy, the individual's Mind is 'projected into the materials' -- Radical embodied theories might allow for an understanding of such 'projections' that they are not ego-centric 'illusions,' but rather Real bonds of relation, World-Mind, connections in aesthetics and causality.
The alchemist's Art of Memory (see Francis Yeates) does not discriminate between matter and memory. Matter outside the body is just descriptive of memory structures (RAM) as is matter inside the body is (Brain), . Memory, and mind in general, permeate the environment, chaos-cosmos. The contemporary obsession with Enlightenment materialism and its metaphysics which is at all times wholly reducible to quantified observation has proven itself powerful. But it did not grow itself. "In order to understand our situation today we must understand that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the educated section of wester Europe inherited the results of about five centuries of intense speculative activity" (Whitehead, The Function of Reason). The question-- do we proceed with this 'objectivity' that seems to have been won from the Game of the proto-sciences which culminated in the proud, modern discoveries and systems of Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, etc? Or do we go back and figure out what games were played for those five centuries that allowed the conditions of such wins to be possible in the first place. As happens again and again, the Problem loops back to the question of whether to prioritize the Object, or the Process. The revisitation of history will be an invaluable tool in reclaiming faith in a self-destabilizing object-Idea of irreducible Process itself.


text:
the bose® sounddock® 10 bluetooth® dock adds bluetooth® wireless technology capability to your sounddock® 10 digital music system. after installing this accessory, you can listen to your stereo bluetooth® music phone with high quality, room-filling sound. to experience the intended performance, your stereo bluetooth® music phone must support the bluetooth® advanced audio distribution profile (a2dp). to install the bluetooth® dock, follow these steps:
Applies to:
Disconnect the SoundDock® 10 system power cable from the AC outlet
Lift up the back edge of the universal dock adapter and remove it from the dock. You may need to insert a thin non-metallic utensil into the slot to provide the required leverage to lift the back edge
Press the dock release button on the right and lift up the right-hand side of the dock to remove it. There is a small indent on the button if you need to use a pen to press the button in far enough to fully release the dock
slide the left end of the bluetooth® dock (sold separately) into the dock opening
Press down on the right-hand side of the dock until it locks into place

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Google's beleaguered streaming media player, the Nexus Q, appears to have disappeared from its online store.
The stylish black orb is no longer on sale on Google Play as of Thursday, according to Ars Technica. The Nexus Q was announced last year at Google's I/O developer conference, a device that would stream media content from the cloud to an enabled television. It ran Android 2.3 and only had one knob that tweaked the sound volume. The $299 device had a 25W amp and was supposed to be made in America.
Last July, Google said it would take the Nexus Q back to the drawing board after bad feedback calling it "cumbersome," but its future seemed cloudy. Then Google put the machine online on Google Play, but now it appears that it's no longer for sale.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
It is possible that Google may be refining the Nexus Q for its I/O developers conference May 15, or that it's planning something entirely new. Either way, this could mean the end of the current Nexus Q.


text:
On February 24, 1991, after 39 days of a devastating air campaign, the U.S. led coalition began to liberate Kuwait and systematically destroy most of Saddam Hussein and Iraq's army, the 4th largest army in the world. 100 hours was all it took. Four days of a stunning display of speed and technology.
On January 17, 1991, U.N. Resolution had expired for Saddam Hussein to leave Kuwait. The next 5 weeks saw an air campaign destroy the capability of Iraqi forces to conduct combat operations that the ground war was almost over before it began. Two other key factors would play a huge role in the ground war: Night Vision and G.P.S.
Night vision allowed the coalition forces to seek and destroy Iraqi Republican guard forces at will. The vision system gave coalition forces the ability to detect Iraqi armor through heat detection. In most cases, Iraqi troops were scrambling to even get in their vehicles before U.S. Forces fired. Night vision enhanced the speed capabilities of Bradley Fighting vehicles and the Abrams tank. In addition, the vision systems also provided the ability of the Abrams tank to fire up to a mile and a half away from its target.
New to the battlefield in 1991, GPS, or global positioning system, gave coalition forces a distinct advantage. In a desert, it is easy to get lost. There are no roads, no signs, nor vegetation to give one a clue as to where one is. GPS did. Coalition forces could maneuver, and out manuever, the enemy at will due to the fact that it knew where it was at all times. The US would be able to send forces into a region of Iraq even the Iraqis refused to enter and thereby gain an advantage in outflanking the enemy.
The operation to now liberate Kuwait (Operation Desert Sabre) began and ended quickly. The biggest fear in America was that Saddam would use chemical weapons against ground troops. As the invasion began, the world held its breath. It did not have to hold it very long. Iraqi forces pummeled in the air campaign were physically and mentally incapable of combat. Several Iraqis surrendered to news agencies. In fact, news agencies made it into Kuwait City before the coalition.
As the coalition moved along a single front, a second force sped north into the open desert to outflank the vaunted Iraqi Republican Guard. Schwarzkopf called this maneuver a left hook. The left hook provided what some call a turkey shoot of retreating Iraqis and what has since come to be known as the "Highway of Death". As Iraqis tried to get back to Iraq with all of Kuwait's treasures, they were met with a barrage of power ending the retreat.
Four days earlier, Americans had been filled with trepidation. After 100 hours of combat, On January 27, 1991, President George H.W. Bush called off the operation as Kuwait had been liberated. It was a controversial move. James Baker, then Secretary of State, commented the fear the US had at the time was of angering the Saudis and other Arab members of the coalition. Many Americans felt the US should have gone on to Baghdad and ousted Saddam Hussein. One person who did not was Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney. Listen to this…
Dick should have listened to himself some nine years later.
In early March of 1991, Iraq agreed to terms of the cease-fire. These included a no fly zone over southern and northern Iraq. Also, inspections of weapons facilities were a part of trying to keep Saddam in check. Two more US presidents would struggle to enforce these terms.
What Desert Storm proved was the US military was back – faster, stronger, and much more technical than ever before. After over 40 years of trying to contain communism, the US military had met with limited and poor results on the battlefield. First in Korea, then in Vietnam, the U.S. was still reeling by the mid 1980s. By the end of 1991, the USSR was no longer a major player on the world stage. The cold war was over. The US was the only major player left, a hyper power in the mold of a Roman Empire. The victory of Desert Storm renewed American enthusiasm at home. The malaise of the 1970s dissipated and the transformation of American optimism was in fashion.
Unfortunately, it would be the highpoint of Bush's single term in office. A tax hike a year later would doom his presidency. The might of US forces in the Middle East would not last. With limited aims as a peacekeeping force in Somalia two years later, the US would struggle as it had in the 1970s.
But the oil did flow after Desert Storm. The Persian Gulf became a major base of operations for US to protect that flow. By 2001, the US had moved its bases from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. These three countries would be the staging grounds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Operation Desert Storm began the hegemonic role of the US in the Persian Gulf.


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An athletic, yet-to-be-drafted rookie could be the Chargers' left tackle in 2013.
Or, perhaps, they'll go the veteran route.
San Diego reached out Wednesday to the representation of Bryant McKinnie, the latest of a "couple general discussions" between the two sides, a source said. The former Ravens left tackle helped key Baltimore's Super Bowl run this past year, starting all four playoff games after working as a reserve in the regular season.
No deal is imminent. No visit to San Diego is planned.
Pursuit of McKinnie, who turns 34 in September, could turn more heated should the team not find a starting left tackle during the April 25-27 draft. The 6-foot-8, 354-pound veteran has started 147 of 164 career games, spending the first nine seasons of his career in Minnesota before two in Baltimore.
McKinnie reportedly battled weight issues in recent years. He is training this offseason in Miami.
San Diego has already signed one left tackle, King Dunlap, in free agency. The 6-foot-9 veteran is versatile, able to play at either tackle spot and shift inside to guard, projecting as a top option off the bench.


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15 December, 2010
Brisbane ThursdayMagnificant! What a hot man you are Bono! LOL I listen and feel every word and felt like I was put into heaven for that time. Taken out of this world and put just where I wanted to be. I saw your very first performance from then on. Every sound and song gave me goosebumps and I sang and danced and cried lol. Some of those songs speak so much about my life and I could scream them. Very therapeutic hehe. Wow it you were all so amazing. I didn't want you all to leave it felt like it was so short to me. I have followed you and to describe you is hard because you would be different things for different people, your songs are like that I think. I LOVE you and who you all are from where I'm standing too. :) Sending you all love and happiness. We won't forget you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12 December, 2010
A treat for BrisVegasA fantastic show, and a brilliant complement to everything on night one! So good to hear New Year's Day! The 360 structure is incredible and proof of how amazing stadium shows can be! Thanks for bringing Jay-Z, and for making the long journey to Brisbane. We won't forget you. Don't forget us.
11 December, 2010
CrazyWent to both shows in Brisbane and they were both great in different ways. Just like you can't say which child is your faviourite I can't say which night was the best - they were both unbelievable. Highlight however was on the Thursday night when Bono stopped right in front of me and sang I'll go crazy if i don't go crazy ...
11 December, 2010
A Different WorldThere are so many great bands and we have been lucky to see so many great concerts. But U2 are STILL so much better than EVERYONE else. It is not even close. Went along sceptical that age was catching up with the lads. Don't you believe it! Worlds greatest band by a million miles. 30 years on, still take you to that other place! In the mosh pit right at the front- Miss Sarajevo and Bad were the highlights for me - unbelievably powerful and mesmeric. Can't tell you how good - just imagine!Elevation and Vertigo still are great craic - full-on sing-a-longs! New Years Day made me think of four horsemen in the snow and With or Without You made my wife cry! Great also earlier to see Bono come out of his hotel and talk to fans and local TV news! Still a man of the people with feet on the ground! Sensational night - 6th concert we've been to over 25 years in Ireland and Australin - BEST YET! Don't miss it....
11 December, 2010
A great night in BrisvegasIt was Larry that was wearing the same shirt since 1976, but not to worry. A massive night in Brisbane, and the epic version of Bad was well worth missing out on Moment of Surrender which had to be dropped due to lack of time. I can't wait to see the lads in Sydney!
10 December, 2010
Edges new vocalist, Pas.Thursday night was increadible, i was in the circle n front of Edge Bono and Larry smashing away behind them, plenty of eye contact and smiles as we were singing our hearts out, Edge was jammin away & i was his vocalist for the night as Bono was away flirting some were else, Bad was Awsome, i will never forget this evening, being so close to the band and rocking, for 28 years i have been in love with there songs and growing up with them, wensday in redzone was fantastic with Adam grooving away with his bass, great to see Adam get down and party. Thanks boys for 28 years of great moments and songs, see u again soon.
10 December, 2010
Best EverThank you for a great night... music and effects out of this world. You guys are the best!!! Please come back again soon!!! PS Loved the message from Desmond Tutu - reminded me of home :)
10 December, 2010
LOVED IT!!!!Absolutely FANTASTIC show! I made my husband come along with me, and he was not looking forward to it, but by the end of the show he was raving about how great it was. You guys are just amazing and put on such a brilliant show. Like one fan said 'we paid for seats and didnt use them' - we also did the same thing!! There was not a bad seat in the house. I will be raving about this for months to come. Also, LOVED the revolving drum kit, so Larry could play to every seat in the house. Wish i was going to see more shows.
09 December, 2010
Not Badalways loved Bad. Last night I finally got to hear it live and a blistering rendition...with a climactic rebuild after it looked like it was spent...followed by a sweet textbook finish. Magic 'condemnation let it go'. amen Bono. Mercy is shaping up to be a really hot track. For me the sound was perfect at this show out of all the aussie shows so far.
09 December, 2010
On a U2 HighSaw both concerts and thought last night (thursday) was incredible, Bono was really hitting his strats and you could tell we were in for a fantastic night. Seemed to played more old stuff last night, ending song with or without you was brillant. Wednesday night was also amazing after waiting 4 years to see them again it's impossible to stay seated as the rush you feel with such songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and Streets. We decided at 4.30 thursday to buy cheap tickets and go again this time taking our two daugthers, eldest loved it, while our 7 year old fell asleep. Thank you for playing Bad and One. U2 always very sad to see you leave Brisbane please come back soon.
Somwhere Sunny
09 December, 2010
Thanks for the ShowThe world needs these guys.......thank you!!!!!! This was the best show I've ever seen, I think they"re getting better, the pasion still remains after all those years and all those shows, they really look like they are enjoying entertaining us. Paid for seats and didn't use them, we didn't want to sit down, how could we?? too much energy. You must see this show!!!! Thanks again!!!
09 December, 2010
Amazing GraceThis show was out of this world. This was my third 360 date, and by far the best. Bad was unbelievable, Bono's voice like an angel, Edge supreme, Adam what can you say and Larry grooving in Crazy Tonight. We had the best view in the front section, great crowd, better than last night. Sound tonight was awesome. You guys take me to another place, in this world but unseen, that place where miracles happen. I'm 37 now and been listening since I was 14, this was a night I will never forget. Enjoy Sydney!!
08 December, 2010
U2 Brisbane Dec 8Unmatched brilliance. Appreciated the old school rock entrance by walking on and off stage. Brilliant set list matched with stage presence and about 4 gazzillion lighting effects. Best best show on earth pulled off by the only 40 plus guys who look hot in leather pants.


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In a previous post today I made the point that the I-Phone's novelty is its marketing blitz. That in itself is allowing the world in on a secret already known to Generation C (Life after the I-Phone)
It is the global awakening of the idea that mobile is not like any previous mass media.
Tomi Ahonen has described this previously in his post Mobile the 7th mass media is to internet as TV is to radio. Read it at that link and you can email Tomi requesting a further thought piece, too.
Now Alan Moore, Tomi's co-author of the blog and the book Communities Dominate Brands has offered his take, building on and elaborating on Tomi's.
Alan's executive summary 'Mobile as the 7th Mass Media, an evolving story' is available by emailing him. You'll find details at the end of this post.
Alan discusses how the arrival of each mass media, from print, to mobile, has led to the emergence of new opportunities, skills and industries. Their impact on the distribution of knowledge leads to profound changes, not least in the way markets and business models work.
Understanding that mobile is a new and very different mass media (and as a reminder, the previous six were print, recording, cinema, radio, TV and latterly, internet) explains why the I-phone - or rather what it represents - is such a big deal.
The mobile internet is NOT a watered-down, content-poor, slow version of the internet. Believing this is a fundamental misunderstanding.
As Alan's paper puts it, mobile is:
- The first personal mass media
- The first always carried media
- The first always-on media
- The first media with a built-in payment mechanism
- The first media always present at the point of creative impulse
- The first media where the audience can be accurately identified.
If you'd like Alan's paper just email him with a request. You'll find details here.


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PlanetBox Rover with Two Sililid Dippers & Free Cars Magnets
Brand PlanetBox
PlanetBox is the smart lunchbox that guides you in packing a well-balanced meal quickly & easily. The Rover is designed for those who prefer to sample a wide variety of foods.
- Holds about 5 cups of food, which happily satisfies most children and adults
- Great for variety and versatility
- Designated place for a little treat
- Each Rover includes 1 Big Dipper and 1 Little Dipper
CuteKidStuff.com PlanetBox DEAL:
This item includes a FREE set of Car Magnets for PlanetBox Rover. You can also buy extra magnets so that you can mix & match according to your mood!
MAKE IT A KIT by adding:
- A PlanetBox Carry Bag, Slim Sleeve or Backpack
- A PlanetBox BottleRocket Bottle
- A PlanetBox ColdKit
Be sure to check out additional PlanetBox Accessories!
- Weight: 1.6lbs / 725.8g
- Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1.5 in / 25 x 19 x 3.8 cm
- Materials: Stainless steel, silicone rubber
- Includes: 1 Rover Lunchbox, 1 Big Dipper, 1 Little Dipper and a set of Dinosaurs Magnets for PlanetBox Rover
Looking for ideas on how to fill your new PlanetBox Rover?
Join our Facebook Group: Bento Lunch Box Ideas - Canada
EASY: PlanetBox will serve as your guide for what and how much to pack: the thinking has been done for you (so that your morning routine becomes that much easier :-)).
- SAFE: They take "non-toxic, non-leaching, safe from BPA, phthalates, and lead" very seriously – in fact, it's why they designed PlanetBox!
- COST EFFECTIVE: Why should you pay this much for a lunchbox? Because it's cheaper to buy food in bulk and pack your own meal. Because your health is worth it. And because it's an investment your family will use every single day for many years to come – over its lifetime, it will pay off in spades.
- GREAT DESIGN: When something actually works well, it makes all the difference. PlanetBox spent years studying and living how people use lunchboxes. Every detail has been thought through so that you and your kids get the joy and ease of using a superbly designed product.
ENJOYABLE: Think packing lunch is a dreaded chore? PlanetBox innovative lunchboxes actually make packing lunch fun and enjoyable – for your kids and yourself!
- ECO-FRIENDLY: PlanetBox lunches create a whole lot less trash, which should help you sleep better knowing you're doing your part to help the planet for future generations.
- BUILT TO LAST: This isn't your childhood flimsy tin lunchbox. The high quality stainless steel is warrantied for 5 years, and has been known to survive getting thrown off the school bus (not that we recommend that).
- HEALTHY: Forget to pack some veggies? The empty compartment will remind you. Concerned about overeating? That won't happen - PlanetBox is designed to hold sensible portions. So eat a rainbow of foods, and enjoy.
- STRESS-FREE CLEANUP: Dishwasher safe? Heck yeah. Peanut butter left for a week? No problem – stainless steel doesn't retain yucky food odours or stains the way plastic containers do.
- CUSTOMIZABLE: Whether you're a rock star, a paleontologist, or a flower child, we've got a magnet set for you. And when you decide to become an astronaut or fairy lover next year, just change your magnets and you've got a fresh new lunchbox to suit your style.


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Changing my mobile phone PIN
Turning caller identification on my mobile phone on or off
Cancelling all diverts on my mobile phone
Choosing network mode for my mobile phone
List of display icons
Want to write and send an SMS? It's easy, but you need to set up your mobile phone for SMS before you can use this function.
Create SMS
Tap the message icon.
Tap the new message icon.
Enter recipient
Key in the first letters of the required contact.
Matching contacts are displayed.
Tap the required contact.
Write the text
See how to write text.
Tap Enter message.
Write the text for your SMS.
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Back in March, 2013 I worked on a project to create lettering for Special K Moments™. This is a beautiful lettering style and it looks great on the package. As with many projects a lot of lettering in various styles was created during the design process. All sent to the amazing designers at Anthem who brought this lettering and package design to the consumer market.
These are some of the Moments variations created at the time.


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Official Event Partners
The 1851 Trust is the affiliate charity of Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing, the British team aiming to bring the America's Cup home and official charity of the America's Cup World Series Portsmouth.
The Trust works to enable, engage and encourage young people from a wide demographic to experience sailing and give them options to continue in the sport, to understand the career choices and wider opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and to consider the environment and act sustainably.
Presenting Partner Wavemaker Volunteers
Gunwharf Quays is home to over 90 premium retail outlet stores offering up to 60% off RRP. If you love to shop then there really is no better place than Gunwharf Quays. When it's time to relax you'll find an array of bars and restaurants to tempt you around the world, from mouth-watering French cuisine at Brasserie Blanc, fresh seafood at Loch Fyne and a host of fine Italian dishes to choose from at Carluccio's. But if you want even more from your visit, there's Vue Cinema, Bowlplex, a nightclub and casino.
Official Suppliers
Mar-Key Group designs, creates and manufactures unique temporary structures for event organisers and commercial clients across the UK. Whether you need a show-stopping marquee or a semi-permanent supermarket, our in-house design team will bring your ideas to life. We combine over 25 years' experience with state of the art technology to deliver temporary spaces which make lasting impressions.
Official Broadcast Partners
Media Partners
Every month, Hampshire Life magazine is your one-stop guide to this beautiful county encompassing food and drink venues, stunning homes and gardens, local artists and events and brilliant ideas for days out with the family. Whether you want to learn more about our stunning towns and villages or are simply looking to spend an hour or so with the county's celebrities, Hampshire Life is the perfect publication to keep you entertained all month.
Heart 96-103 is excited to partner with America's Cup Portsmouth for a second year. Look out for Rich and Zoe on the stage to win some great prizes across the weekend! Tune into Heart for all the latest updates with the America's Cup and follow us on Twitter on @HeartSouth.
Team Locals is a design and media studio using photography, film, social media, and content creation to promote events and businesses in Portsmouth and Southsea, working closely with both our clients and the local community.
Launched in 1947, Yachts & Yachting is recognised the world over as essential reading for anyone with a passion for competitive sailing. Boasting a unique heritage that both inspires and informs its readers, Yachts & Yachting reports directly from the cutting edge of the sport.
Capturing the latest developments, technique advice and technical updates with input from world class sailors and industry experts, Yachts & Yachting delivers unrivalled content that enables readers to enhance their performance, knowledge and enjoyment
Official Charter Partners
Sailing holidays in 25 amazing destinations
We offer 25 sensational sailing destinations around the world. Whether you're interested in a chartered yacht, a social flotilla, taking the boardroom to the water on a corporate event, an exciting regatta or just relaxing while a skipper takes the helm, we have the perfect sailing escape for you. From the Caribbean to Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, get inspired with our worldwide sailing destinations.
Marketing Partners
British Marine is the membership organisation for the leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry. We lead and promote our industry and work with our members to achieve sustainable growth in a competitive global environment, through the provision of world-class goods and services. We support over 1600 members with a range of services and expertise which help their business.
Hampshire Chamber of Commerce is a business support membership organisation which is owned and led by its membership of local business organisations.
The Chamber runs a fantastic programme of events and training, supports local business by lobbying on their behalf plus gives access to international trade documentation. It also allows its members to benefit from a range of products and services and helps promote through the magazine and other advertising opportunities.
There are over 1,700 members of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce but they support even more through their work across the county
As Europes largest marina group, MDL doesn't just provide a secure home for your boat. Their expert team of friendly staff make sure you are looked after round the clock. With over 100 beautiful locations across Europe and the UK, MDL pride themselves on delivering an unrivalled marina experience, no matter where your adventure takes you.
More Than a Tour has been set up by New Forest locals who are incredibly passionate about the New Forest and surrounding areas. Using their expert local knowledge, the team have created a fantastic range of all-inclusive New Forest tours, designed to show you around the area, just as they would a friend. When it comes to the tours and events provided by More Than a Tour, every tiny detail has been carefully considered; allowing you to sit back and leave everything to the experts.
Premier Marinas owns and operates nine award-winning marinas on the South Coast. Premier's marinas include Eastbourne, Brighton, Chichester, Southsea, Port Solent, Gosport, Swanwick, Noss on Dart and Falmouth, plus the Endeavour Quay boatyard in Gosport. With over 5,000 berths combined, Premier Marinas strives to be the finest marina operator in the UK, providing quality boatyard facilities at all its marinas.
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. We provide, on call, a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service around the UK and Ireland, and a seasonal lifeguard service. With our lifeboats, lifeguards, safety advice and flood rescue, we are committed to saving lives.
Southampton Airport is a friendly local airport located only 15 minutes from the centre of Southampton. It offers direct flights to over 40 international destinations as well as worldwide connections through Amsterdam with KLM. Southampton Airport also offers excellent onward travel connects with central London only 66 minutes away by train.
Operational Partners
Southsea Skate Park is one of the oldest surviving skate parks in the world, based on the original roller skating rink dating back to the 1950's. The park responded to the boom in skateboarding in the 70's, then the explosion of BMX and most recently the scooter craze - the park is now a multi-sport venue and is run and maintained by a registered charity.
The skatepark is in an amazing location, sited in an historic park right on the seafront, offering a marshalled arena with first aid facilities, a café, spectator seating and some of the finest ramps and bowls in the south of England.
We are already a centre piece to the Victorious festival and look forward to being part of the America's Cup dry-side events this summer.
Travel Places helps professional teams, sponsors, media and sports organisations with their travel requirements to enable them to reach their destination on time, on budget, every time. In addition to the America's Cup, Travel Places provides travel logistics for all Formula One teams based in the UK, British Paralympic Team, Volvo Ocean Race and many other worldwide sporting organisations.


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BABA CABLES & TOOLS is an Indian, mobile repairing tools and machines wholesale company, established in 2007, by Tarun Malhotra, Delhi. Oca Lamination Machine is the important product in the Other Machinery & Industry Equipment market. SEE MORE
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Phone 09 828 2010
Fax 09 828 2011
Surplus Traders Limited
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Plastic Top Hanger LiteweightWhiteBox of 200355 mmAll items are used unless otherwise stated.All used goods are sold as is where is and are not subject to any refund or return.It is encouraged that all used goods are viewed prior to purchase and/or delivery.
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Historically, to facilitate money laundering criminals opened a legitimate business as a cover, and then used the business account to deposit and legitimize large sums of money. Large deposits into accounts were routinely overlooked by banking institutions and law enforcement alike.
As laws have passed and restrictions to limit money laundering have been put into place the criminals have had to become a little more creative to fly under the radar.
One devious method is to co-mingle ill-gotten gains with existing legitimate accounts ("layering").
Another method is called "smurfing", where over the course of time many smaller transactions are deposited. Thus, no transaction is large enough to gather suspicion.
In addition, the FATF has found that many organizations are now using Alternative Remittance Systems (ARS), especially terrorist financing operations.
This informal funds transfer is also known as "underground" or "parallel banking". ARS institutions generally have far fewer (or zero) restrictions in place and are thus much easier to utilize for the transfer of large amounts of illicit funds.
As Eric Gouvin points out in his Baylor Law Review article entitled Bringing Out the Big Guns: The USA Patriot Act, Money Laundering, and the War on Terrorism, there are two very different purposes and methodologies with typical criminal organizations and terrorist groups.
Gouvin quotes FinCEN director James Sloan as stating that terrorist financing is "almost money laundering in reverse" (Gouvin, 2003).
With criminal money laundering law enforcement can trace events from the crime(s) to the money. However, terrorist methodology uses money to fund an activity which has not yet taken place.
Enforcement efforts are placed on stopping the crime before it occurs. The challenges are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The outcome of money laundering in a criminal case is the apparent legalization (or obfuscation) of criminal funds, whereas the outcome of money laundering in a terrorist case is a planned terrorist activity.
Gouvin points out several key challenges faced by law enforcement and governments with regard to recognizing and stopping money laundering by terrorists. These are outlined in his article as:
A. Terrorist Attacks Are Not Expensive to Fund
B. The Sources of Terrorist Funding Are Hard to Identify
C. Terrorists Move Money Through Hard-to-Regulate Non-Bank Channels
D. Interactions with the Underground Economy
E. Alternative Sources of Wealth (Gouvin, 2003)
Without addressing each of the above challenges in length, one can see that fighting terrorist financing is a completely different ball game than fighting criminal money laundering.
With no crime to follow toward the money, law enforcement personnel are driving in reverse, and it is very difficult to see through the back of your head!
Gouvin argues that our present financial system is simply not equipped well to locate and follow terrorist financial activities.
The compliance programs that are currently in place (BSA, KYC, Patriot Act, elements of Patriot Act II, etc.) are producing mountains of CTR's and SAR's that are backlogging in a system that was never designed to review them.
Criminals and terrorists alike know the kind of patterns and sizes of deposits that are being scrutinized and they either work around the system or in different systems entirely (such as the hard-to-regulate non-bank channels Gouvin mentions).
OFAC lists are easily circumvented (simply don't use your real name if you are on the list). Money laundering is not being effectively discovered or prevented, nor are terrorist financing efforts being thwarted.
As with most illegal activities, I do not believe there is a fool-proof way to completely eliminate criminal money laundering or terrorist financing. However, I do believe we can learn from what is not working.
Hundreds of thousands of backlogged reports are not working. More scrutiny, harsher restrictions, and invasive policies are not working.
Something more basic, creative, technological, automated, and practical is needed to surmount these challenges.
In my career in payment fraud prevention I have seen some very impressive minds create some very remarkable analysis and scoring systems that are geared at establishing a "risk score" for financial transactions.
My recommendation would be to hire private-party software engineers such as these and task them with the creation of a system-wide (and eventually worldwide) financial filtering program.
I would then fund an implementation effort where program interfaces could be disseminated to all financial institutions, in phases.
To remain compliant with government regulations (and escape penalties) each financial institution would have to "tap in" to the system and report their transactions.
The reporting would be automatic, and would be aggregated into a neural network that was programmed to look for known indicators of criminal money laundering and terrorist financing.
The most suspicious activities would be filtered out for a small, highly trained human review team to investigate.
The main weakness in such a program would be its lack of penetration into the unregulated non-banking systems. My only recommendation for that would be to utilize some of the resources and personnel who were now twiddling their thumbs with no reports to review (since the bulk of them would have been eliminated by the finance neural network) to spend their time researching, investigating, and tracking the activities of nontraditional financial institutions, then report findings to appropriate local law enforcement or intelligence agencies.
International cooperation and teamwork would be paramount to not only implement the financial neural network worldwide but also combine forces to keep an eye on the unregulated institutions.
Our greatest challenge would remain the ARS organizations in countries that are already uncooperative or unfriendly with us.
In such cases, I suppose more traditional methods of intelligence would have to continue to be used (e.g., paid informants, cell penetration, covert ops, etc.).
If your day-to-day duties include AML efforts, do you find yourself inundated with compliance protocols? Has your institution been effective, in your view, in discovering and ceasing laundered funds?
If you have any involvement in finding or tracing terrorist financing, what methods in general have been most effective (or would you have to kill us if you told us)?


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WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has broken up a $100 million international software piracy ring and its Chinese leader has pleaded guilty.
Xiang Li of Chengdu, China, pleaded guilty in federal court in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III said. Customs officials said it was one of the largest copyright infringement rings ever uncovered.
Prosecutors said the 36-year-old ran the website www.Crack99.com, which offered thousands of pirated software titles for a fraction of their retail cost. When software is "cracked" its internal licensing code is compromised, allowing it to be duplicated and copied, then resold for pennies on the dollar.
More than one-third of his customers were from the United States, with several high-level defense contractors named by prosecutors as having purchased cracked software to avoid the full expense.
He faces a maximum 25-year prison term, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark May 3.


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To access this service during a mental health crisis, call 902-429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free).
Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK Health Centre provides children and adolescents throughout the province with specialized mental health and addictions services. To learn more about these services visit the IWK Health Centre website.
The Nova Scotia Mental Health Crisis Telephone Line is delivered by the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT). This provincial service provides crisis intervention for children, youth and adults experiencing a mental health crisis or mental distress.
The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to support callers who present with suicidal thoughts, self-harming thoughts or behaviors, overwhelming anxiety, difficulty coping with distress, psychotic or distorted thinking, depression, substance use difficulties or any other self-identified mental health concerns. Crisis is self-defined by the individual calling for support.
The crisis line also supports families, friends, community agencies and others to manage mental health crisis through education, outreach and consultation.
Location, hours and contact information
For support call 902-429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free).
This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
How do I access this service?
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GateHouse News Service National Budget
GateHouse News Service National Budget For 1/30/08 editions Here are the top national stories coming today from GateHouse News Service. Stories are available at http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/. Please submit stories below no later than 6 pm local time, unless you have breaking news that is changing significantly. Contacts: Jean Hodges, (630) 348-3350, (630) 956-8834, firstname.lastname@example.com Michael Toeset, (630) 348-3356, (630) 835-8870, firstname.lastname@example.com NOTES: POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS: GateHouse News Service and the Rockford Register Star have developed a national political contributions database to track what people have contributed to presidential candidates. If you're on Zope, the database is on your web sites. Basically, you can input the name of your town or your ZIP code, and you will find names of everyone in that area, how much they've donated and to whom. http://gov.e-rockford.com/elections/contributions/gns/ WITH: BIG SPENDERS: Where some of the losers' money goes, with historical perspective and records to show examples. Does this change the way you'll think about writing a check? FITZPATRICK Story coming 1.28.08 (coming today) for publication 2.3.08 (before Super Tuesday) For a list of local story ideas: http://ghnewsroom.com/news.php?newsid=1201195266 Lifestyles (Wednesday is Food) FOOD PAGE: Super Bowl special: includes NY, NE recipes, a special Beer Nut column and more. Check news service for lots of Super Bowl food stories, recipes, too. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/homepage/x254754974 FOOD VIDEO: Learn to put a twist on ordinary pizza. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/homepage/x1059368820 FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Weekly food rail, leads with what food presidential candidates refuse to eat. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/homepage/x142937241 KATHRYN REM: Diet soda connoisseur vouches for new Dr Pepper. Springfield. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/food/x254754972 CELEBRATING PIE: It's sweet, it's savory, it's delicious. Canton. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/food/x1925671769 Opinions GRANLUND: A new Super Bowl cartoon (on Arizona's cactus being ready for the big game) has been added to the Super Toons package. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/cartoons/x1151554476 GARY BROWN: Some helpful tips on Super Bowl party etiquette. Canton. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/columnists/x603849202 GARY BROWN: Step right up and ride the stock market. Canton http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/lifestyle/food/x1925671769 DAN HALL: How we became consumers instead of producers. Canandaigua http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/opinions/x142937475 HOLMES COLUMN: "Billary" returns, with a promise to build a bridge back to the 20th century. / evening / Opinions Sports SUPER BOWL: - Advance stories from New England on the Super Bowl will start moving today on GHNS in the Pro Football category. - Canton Repository will be at the Super Bowl. Budget on their offerings will be distributed tomorrow. News PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES BIO BOXES: http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/news/politics/x254754015 BASEBALL CANCELED: Hall of Fame Game canceled after 2008. Photos. Utica. http://www.gatehousenewsservice.com/sports/pro/baseball/x142938058


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Freedom. 15 years. Party!
On October 14, 1996, Matthias Ettrich posted a message to Usenet (comp.os.linux.misc), announcing "Programmers wanted!" for a "New Project: Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)". Now, 15 years later, Matthias's dream of a "GUI for an ENDUSER" has been fully realized. And more. Sometime in the next 2 weeks, Plasma Active One will be released, extending Matthias's plan for a "modern interface" with a "common look & feel" to a range of enduser devices from desktop to mobile. KDE has grown beyond a Linux Desktop GUI to a global community of people. But it still has the same innovative spirit and a commitment to serving users of Free and Open Source Software.
This calls for celebration!
We're having a global 15th birthday party for KDE. And you're invited! The entire KDE community can't get together in person. So we're partying virtually. All day, all around the world, on October 14th.
Help make it a BIG EVENT:
Take a look at where KDE started and the amazing accomplishments since then. Even if you're hardly involved, this is an inspiring milestone in a massive collaborative project that has benefited so many.
October 14th—a global celebration of freedom and achievement!
Great to know
We might try to spark some KDE magic in Cancun. :)
By Anonymous at Thu, 2011/10/06 - 7:14am
Ultimately Fantastic!
I first saw it somewhere about the time of KDE 1.45 with FreeBSD. Initially I was intrigued, played with it a little on and off. By KDE 2.1.x I became hooked! Been using it so long that now when I sit in front a $MS Windows machine I look at it and feel vaguely lost. I have to say it, but now I am ultimately a KDE fanatic. Keep up the great KDE!
By Anonymous at Thu, 2011/10/06 - 8:55am
Happy Anniversary everyone
Happy Anniversary everyone who codes and everyone who uses KDE, you are the Koolest!
By Anonymous at Thu, 2011/10/06 - 6:54pm
You can make the kde-15-years logo in high resolution?
By Alan Teixeira at Mon, 2011/10/10 - 5:47pm
Here's to another awesome 15
Here's to another awesome 15 years!
By Simone Davenport at Tue, 2011/10/11 - 4:55pm
Thanks for the greatest X environment ever done
Thanks for everything :)
By Anonymous at Tue, 2011/10/11 - 11:46pm
Simplemente gracias
Simplemente gracias :)
Greetings from spain.
By Anonymous at Wed, 2011/10/12 - 1:28am
KDE 15 Years:from linuxarrow
Using the KDE 3.5.10 on Pardus Kurumsal2..have old hardware and am amazed how crisp and clear the 3.5 still is...fantastic engineering...built to last. Love the newer KDE too when I had a better machine. KDE is still the best of all. Happy Birthday from Canada. WooHoo!
By Anonymous at Sat, 2011/10/15 - 1:11pm
Hey, how to patch KDE 3 for
Hey, how to patch KDE 3 for FreeBSD?
By Anonymous at Sat, 2011/10/15 - 8:51pm
From Colombia, Thnks
Está reeebuenoooo :D "Very Koooool"
By Anonymous at Sun, 2011/10/16 - 12:03am
May be, "From Kolumbia" ? :)
May be, "From Kolumbia" ? :)
By Anonymous at Sun, 2011/10/30 - 7:00am
How we celebrated - we being Rohan Garg, Supreet Pal Singh, Karan Singh, and Valorie Zimmerman -- we wrote a book for KDE! We'll be blogging and writing more about it in the coming days, and we want collaborators and fellow celebrators!
By Anonymous at Sat, 2011/10/22 - 1:12am


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ARTG-251 Computer Applications in Graphic Design
This introductory course focuses on the use of the computer and specific software applications as they relate to the study of graphic design. Students gain in-depth experience with pertinent graphic design software applications, as well as the basics of hardware usage, color printing and scanning. Emphasis is placed on hands-on experience and presentation of digital output. This is an excellent course for nonmajors interested in graphic design and a prerequisite for all other graphic design courses. 4 SH.


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Just recently, in fact, it was found that olive oil contains a naturally-occurring anti-inflammatory chemical, oleocanthal, that is similar in function to a low dose of ibuprofen and may confer a range of health benefits. There are those who assert, too, that the monounsaturated fat in olive oil assists the body in producing anti-inflammatory substances that help sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. Then there is the antioxidant aspect. Antioxidants are a huge buzzword these days, and olive oils contain quite a variety of them, especially the phenolic antioxidants and squalene. Olive oil devotees speak glowingly of their favorite fat as a protector from certain cancers (especially colon, breast, and skin cancers) and as a great skin healer. Olive oil is said to prevent premature aging due to oxidative stress; believers tout it as an aid in weight loss and the control of diabetes. What most reliable sources will agree on, however, is that olive oil is a heart-healthy fat that influences blood cholesterol by lowering low-density lipoproteins (LDLs or "bad cholesterol"), while protecting or raising the beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
In addition, olive oil contains substantial amounts of vitamin E, a valuable antioxidant. A study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute revealed that eating lots of vegetables and fruits and consuming several servings of olive oil a day appears to lower the risk of developing breast cancer; but more and longer-term studies are required to definitively link olive oil as an anti-carcinogen.
Health benefits aside, olive oils are also popular because they are truly delicious.
An Introduction to the Industry
Taste a spoonful of olive oil next to sunflower, grapeseed, avocado, or nut oils: many people have a strong preference for the flavor of the olive fruit. And the sheer number of olive oil varieties with their different aromas and tastes (and appearances) is staggering. There is much to taste, enjoy and choose from—as Part II of this article will reveal.
I was talking to an olive oil producer in California and asked him what he saw as the biggest consumer misconception about olive oils. He thought for a moment and then replied, "That consumers can believe what they see on the label." He may be right. As of this writing, there are no standards for extra virgin olive oil in the United States, with one exception. Except for producing members of the California Olive Oil Council (COOC), it is permissible to put literally anything into a bottle and label it as "extra virgin olive oil."
What Makes the Olive Oil "Extra Virgin"
There's a simple explanation of what makes an olive oil "extra virgin" and what separates if from "virgin" olive oil:
The new standards under consideration by the USDA keep the current, more restrictive, COOC acidity level. Currently, extra virgin olive oil with the COOC seal has been chemically tested for composition. Tests involving peroxidation and ultra violet absorbency of samples can determine the possibility of olive fermentation in the pre-processing stages or adulteration of the oil. This might include "cutting" extra virgin olive oil with canola oil, refined hazelnut oil, or the like.*
*New USDA standards for olive oil should be published for comment shortly. After a 60 day comment period, the standards will either be finalized or revised. It is expected that these new standards will keep the current COOC maximum acidity level of 0.5%; other standards are expected to be similar to those issued by the IOOC.
On the international front, in addition to chemical testing for acidity levels, oils are subjected to organoleptic (sensory) evaluation of aroma, flavor, and color by trained panelists. This is interesting but not heartening. Certainly, people can be trained to evaluate olive oils and look for particular characteristics, but in the long run all taste is subjective. Chemical testing at least sets objective standards.
Whether extra virgin or virgin, the IOOC defines "virgin" olive oils as "oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, particularly thermal conditions, that do not lead to alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment other than washing, decantation, centrifugation, and filtration."
Reducing the process to a bare-bones description, the olives are harvested, sorted, and cleaned. They are then chopped or crushed and pressed. The resulting olive juice has the water removed from it; other impurities are removed via decanting or filtering.
More Issues For The Educated Consumer
Now you know quite a bit. There are different methods for pressing the olives into a paste and separating the olive oil from the olive water; there are varying schools of thought on decanting versus filtration to remove impurities. But if you really want to keep guests mesmerized at your next dinner party, brush up on these topics:
There are not only different opinions; there's a lot of contradictory information out there on virtually all topics related to olive oil.
The color of olive oil. An olive oil "expert" wrote a book in which he stated that, in general, younger olives give a more green-colored oil, while more mature olives produce a yellower olive oil. In separate talks, I brought up the subject with two producers, both of whom insisted that the color of the oil is determined solely, by the cultivar(s) used in it. A third producer, Pieter Koopman of Hope's Grove in New Zealand, says that both sources are correct. He tells me that, in his experience, olives picked early tend to yield greener-colored oils, while "late harvest olives can lose some color intensity." But it's also true that certain cultivars tend to produce oils of particular colors. He cites the examples of Koroneiki olives, which, he says, produce "emerald green oils" and the Barnea and Manzanilla cultivars, which produce oils that are a "deep yellow." Following subsequent talks with other producers and importers, I believe he's right. But it goes to show how much in the way of conflicting opinions exist in the olive oil realm. And just so we're all on the same page here, the color of an olive oil has nothing to do with the quality of that oil.
Milling. Olives must be milled soon after harvesting (preferably within 12 to 24 hours) or fermentation will begin to occur, and fermentation can yield "off" flavors and worse, increase the acidity level of the oil to an unacceptable level.
Storage. And then there's the subject of storage. The enemies of olive oil are light, heat, oxygen, and time. Ideally, extra virgin olive oil should be stored in a cool, dark place. Because light can seriously diminish the quality of an olive oil, some producers bottle their product in green, cobalt blue, or even black bottles. These can be helpful in filtering out light, and they're beautiful to look at, as well.
Although olive oil is often compared to wine, unlike wine, it does not age especially well. How long can you keep it? That depends on the conditions under which it's been stored; but in a perfect world, you wouldn't keep olive oil longer than a year. Most sources stretch this time frame to at least 18 months, but I've also seen time estimates for keeping extra virgin olive oil that range to as long as two years. You'll see "use by" dates on some bottles, but these are, alas, meaningless, as are the bottling dates you'll see on other containers (most olive oil is allowed to settle and/or is stored after pressing but before bottling, but the time frame for settling/storage varies greatly). What you want is the harvest or pressing date, which very few producers put on their bottles.
Over time, olive oil changes character in the bottle, progressing from more to less pungent. That's not necessarily bad, but as the pungency declines, so does the antioxidant level.
Editor's Note
You never know about price. The current favorite at THE NIBBLE offices is an Australian picual extra virgin olive oil imported by Fairway, a group of specialty food markets in the metropolitan New York area. At $12.99 for a liter, or 33.8 ounces, its price per ounce is comparable to supermarket house brands. But its dimensions of exciting flavor taste like the finest boutique oil. It is one of the Fairway's house brands: partner Steve Jenkins, who has a passion for great olive oils. has created a Fairway line of international extra virgin oils from ten different regions, with a complimentary olive oil tasting bar to introduce customers to the kinds of flavor and intensity differences you will read about in Part II of this article. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by to taste them: it's an eye-opening experience.
Fairway Market
Cooking With Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
What about cooking with extra virgin olive oil? Most people have been told to use a less costly, mass-produced oil for cooking and a pricier one for drizzling and finishing. The reasons generally given are that heat will destroy an oil's characteristic aromas and tastes; and the higher acidity level of less expensive olive oil provides a higher smoke point.
I have cooked with both types; both performed equally well, though there were slight variations in taste in the finished food, as there should have been. Given that olive oils don't last forever, if you have a great olive oil in your house that's been around for some months already, consider cooking with it. You'll almost certainly enjoy the end result, and the oil won't grow old and rancid on the shelf. Incidentally, The IOOC notes that extra virgin olive oil is well-suited for frying. If it isn't overheated, it "undergoes no substantial structural change and keeps its nutritional value better than other oils," due partly to the antioxidants it contains.
In the way that some people have a few letters strung together after their name to indicate a title, some olive oils have letter codes indicative of region of growth and strictly-overseen production. These are not awarded lightly; as of February of this year, only 29 brands of Italian olive oils had been granted the D.O.P. code, which stands for Denominazione d'Origine Protetta, with a further 5 under evaluation. Some other countries in the European Union also use DOP now, including Portugal. The French equivalent is A.O.C., for Appellation d'Origine Controlée; the Spanish use D.O., for Denominación de Origen.
Guarantee of well-defined geographic origin is a nice guard against the practice of rebottling a cheap imported olive oil and selling it as a product of a region noted for "the good stuff," but not all producers of regionally-authentic olive oils apply for these designations. Some don't want to spend the money, while others may not think it worthwhile for their business (apparently, the designations mean far more in some areas of the world than they do in others).
Organic Olive Oil
How about organic olive oil? Well, fine, open a whole other can of worms! This is a confusing subject, as well. There are some olive oils that carry the USDA green-and-white organic seal on their labels. But there are many other oils for which organic farming or production is implied, from which this seal is curiously absent. Are their producers lying, then? Probably not. Many producers already farm using organic methods; in some cases, their families have been doing so for hundreds of years, long before synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, etc., came on the scene. But obtaining USDA certification for your olive oil, which would allow the green-and-white USDA seal on your label, isn't cheap and can take a significant amount of time. Some smaller producers can't afford either investment.
Further, if a good portion of your consumer base lies outside the United States, as is the case with a number of these producers, having the USDA organic seal on your label might not be of paramount importance to you. Olive oils produced in the U.S. can only display the green-and-white USDA organic seal if they've been certified organic by a USDA-approved agency. There are internationally-produced olive oils in this article that claim to be products of organic farming or organically grown and/or are certified organic by agencies in their own countries. Phrases to watch for in non-USDA certified oils are the Italian "Da Agricoltura Biologica," the Spanish "Agricultura Ecologica," and the Portuguese "Produto De Agricultura Biologica," all used by producers of their various countries to describe organic farming and/or organic production of their oil. And because you need more complexity in your life, one oil, the Portuguese CARM, is said to be certified organic according to USDA standards, by a USDA-approved agency, but you will not find the typical green-and-white seal anywhere on it's label.
If you'd like more information on olive oil and its production and are looking for recipes, I can suggest Deborah Krasner's The Flavors of Olive Oil: A Tasting Guide and Cookbook, as well as Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating, by Ari Weinzweig. Both are good general sources of information, although a few of their facts may now be outdated.
|The Flavors of Olive Oil, by Deborah Krasner is a comprehensive guide to tasting, understanding, and cooking with superior extra-virgin olive oil. It profiles of the best oils from top producing countries including Italy, France, Spain, and the U.S., plus pointers on how to read labels. Click here for more information.
|Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating by Ari Weinzweig, which covers favorites from coffee to chocolate, includes a section devoted to olive oil. It discusses production, brand information, and what to look for when you buy. Click here for more information.
Editor's Note. These additional books on olive oil are recommended
by THE NIBBLE™ editors:
|Olive Oil: From Tree to Table, by
Peggy Knickerbocker tells the complete
story of olive oil, from harvesting,
pressing, and grading of the oil to
recipes—all beautifully photographed.
Click here for more information.
|Cooking With Olives and Their Oils,
by Ford Rogers, is a gorgeous volume
with advice about choosing the right oil
for every purpose and occasion. A
perfect gift for a foodie's library.
Click here for more information.
Deciding What To Taste. Given the legions of brands out there, how did I decide which oils to taste? I contacted a large number of organizations and people to explain what I was doing. If anyone was nice enough to send me a sample of their extra virgin olive oil, I tried it. In a handful of instances, I bought olive oils myself when I thought a producing region was greatly under-represented by the number of oils I'd received from it.
I have no sensory training in olive oil as the experts do; but I was able to detect differences between the oils I tasted—and you, too, will be able to easily see the differences if you hold an olive oil tasting party. Click here for our article on tasting olive oil, including a chart of tasting terms.
I wish you had a chance to speak to some of the same people I've been fortunate enough to talk to while researching and writing this piece. The overwhelming majority were amazingly nice and helpful. Even more importantly, they were passionate about olive oil. Their level of dedication and commitment to producing a superior product and bringing it to the consumers' table was exceptionally gratifying. As I've discovered over the past couple of months, there are some remarkable olive oils produced all over the world. I hope you'll try a few of them.
For more information about olive oil, check these websites:
- Australia Olive Oil
- California Olive Oil Council
- International Olive Oil Council (surprisingly, not the best source of information)
- The Olive Oil Source
Click here for Part II: Stephanie Zonis Hunkers Down With More Than 90 Bottles of Olive Oil.
Acknowledgements: I have a list of people to thank that is as long as my arm, but I'll try to keep it brief here. It would have been impossible to write this article without the help of these individuals. To all the producers, distributors, and importers who returned my e-mails, spoke with me, and sent me samples of their product(s), a huge "thank you." Other especially helpful people were Esther Psarakis of Taste of Crete; Gabrielle Taylor; Bruce Golino; Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman's; the International Olive Oil Council; Patty Darragh of the California Olive Oil Council; Katherine Fuller of the French Trade Office; Chuck L'Heureux of the Australian Olive Association; Jeffrey Shaw and Aisha Earle-Smith of Foods from Spain; Jean Gilbert of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise; Alejandro Poffo of the Consulate General of Argentina in New York City; Hanna Kamionski of the Israeli Economic Mission; Alberto Almeida of the Portuguese Trade Commission; Jim Henry of the Texas Olive Oil Council; Joanne Gocel of Oliviers & Company; Beth Goslin of the Australian Trade Commission; and Juliet Cruz of the Italian Trade Commission.
Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their individual owners.


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Ariana Grande Reportedly Slams Fan for Homophobic Comment About Her Brother Frankieby Michelle McGahan | PopCrush
Word to the wise: Don't mess with Ariana Grande!
The 'Problem' singer recently went off on an Instagram user who reportedly commented on a shot of Grande's brother Frankie, referring to him as "that homo."
"'That 'homo' is the fiercest, most incredible, funniest, most intelligent, kind hearted and most LOVED person on the face of the planet!" Grande allegedly responded (quotes via E!).
But her epic defense didn't stop there — she also reportedly went on to talk about the fact that he came clean about being her brother on 'Big Brother'.
"…He also cleaned up his game and told the truth to everybody in the house WHICH by the way, nobody else on the show has done. so i don't give a flying f— if or when he comes home!!! he is incredible and i am SO proud!!!!"
And lastly, she couldn't resist at getting one final dig in there:
"Oh and also 'that homo' gets more ass than you'll ever get in your life. k miss thing?" Grande concluded. Whoa!
Too often people don't realize just how hurtful their comments on the Internet can be, especially to celebrities who fans may assume may not read or respond to their words. But take Ariana Grande as proof that artists not only see the remarks their fans leave, they will publicly shame you if you write something cruel. Bullying is no joke.
Barefaced + Beautiful! See Ariana Grande + More Pop Stars Sans Makeup


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< Back to Theatre
Friday Night Freakshow - Udderbelly
Back for its fifth year running, the cow takes a turn to the dark side with Friday Night Freakshow! The nation's naughtiest comics take to the stage with burlesque beauties and all manner of 'spesh acts', to bring London a late-night feast not for the feint of heart. But don't fret – it's not all nails-in-faces and shock acts here – just the best in the titillating and twisted. Hosted by EastEnd Cabaret's dark and delicious Bernadette Byrne and her own personal freak, Victor Victoria (Winners, 'Best Cabaret' Adelaide Fringe 2012).
Show Information
Friday, 27th June 2014
Friday, 27th June 2014
2 hours
Venue Information
Jubilee Gardens, Belvedere Road
Map | Seating Plan
(5 mins) Take Concert Hall Approach toward the Thames, and turn left at Belvedere Road. Take the first road on your right, and you will see the purple Udderbelly tent.