text:
On this page we'll try to collect all information relating to the There Is No Game game. We (die Bande die Bande) are fairly certain that the 'game' can only be 'won' by collaborating, communicating, and by stepping out of the comfort zone of our own laptops.
- 1 Blackboard
- 2 Bunches / Comoonas
- 2.1 Information by DieBande
- 2.2 Information by THERE IS NO NAME
- 2.3 Information by noFS
- 2.4 Information by π=3
- 2.5 Information by C4
- 2.6 TEAM: 33Tea3
- 3 Day3
- 3.2 Queen Storyline/ Alice in Wonderland Storyline
- 3.3 TEAM: ZWEIUNDVIERZIG / Storryline: Kidspace;
- 3.4 TEAM: 33Tea3
- 3.6 Team N0 Nam3
- 3.7 Team B-Team
- 3.8 Team Orange
- 3.9 Team Amateurs 9
- 3.10 Team Not a Name
- 3.11 Team und Struppi
- 3.12 Team egal
- 3.13 Team Mumpitszß
- 4 Day 4
- 5 Media
- 6 Orange Cards
IF YOU HAVE BEEN ON [t4l3.net https://t4l3.net] USE THE URL
- ONLY NEW USERS - [NEW https://t4l3.net/#wss://t4l3.net/ws~shs:GF8UXwmSBvu/qcVrj18SUYPXzya694n7u30RUFajPws=:iT/GxoANpNf07inGegcsSl6Fgmqk+R26YmkxbDMT/BU=]
Bunches / Comoonas
- Die "LAZ0R" Banden CATS - Comoona consisting of: Die Bande and "LAZ0R" CATS.
Information by DieBande
We've started to build a Map of the 'game'. The map is not complete by far, please let us know if you have additional spots.o
There are 40 storylines in total.
The "Welcome-Text"
means: "You´ve been waiting for the big message. For the surprise. The uprising, the rupture. At 33c3 we will break this standstill. To join the action name yourself and select a skill. Form a bunch, with at least 9 Different skills. The key has to be shared to have impact on the system. Come together. Grow together. Move together. There is no need to travel alone."
Apparently each day has its own metaquest. These quests are (more or less) independent of the the storylines followed by the teams.
Day 1: The Elf 'Ceremony'
Overarching Day 1, there was a metaquest that consisted of finding 20 golden rings (golden tubing in the form of rings). At 00:00 the remaining people went to the upper level of the CCH (accompanied by the organisation team) and met with the 'Elf'. We figured out the the Elf, a women in a white dress who speaks only Arabic, wanted 20 golden rings. Since we were only able to acquire 15 rings we had to make 5 more by scrapping/reshaping the existing 15 rings. With the help of a translator we were able to hand the rings to the Elf. She cut the rings in half using a large wire cutter and placed them on a white male dispay dummy / mannequin.
The elf gave us the following keywords: God, Religion, Adam and Eve, Punishment
Day 2: Orange Sign Cards
So far we know that there are various orange colored, plastic sign cards. These are, as stated by the organisation, part of today's (?) metaquest. They said that "each team should be able to get cards".
12 Skills
|Radiate Ease
Skill Assemblies
Apparently there are skill assemblies for each of the 12 skills. At the expected time for Organize-Meeting however (2 A.M. at Day 2) noone except two of us showed up. It is 2 P.M??
Sign System
The 'game' uses its very own (?) sign system. It's fairly simple and our Latin signs are merely replaced 1:1. We have assembled a table.
The game information is provided in British English. When translating, etc. don't mix um s/z, etc.
We believe that there are 12 monoliths (black pillar with a keypad) and 12 corresponding passwords/quizzes:
|Blue Mate
|Care Pillar / Free Software Foundation
|J. R. R. Tolkien / The Chinese Lady
Each of the monoliths has a sign attached to it (foreign sign system) that tells you the corresponding skill. We've found 11 of the (allegedly) 12 monoliths - the communication monolith is missing so far.
-> Communication is at level 4 at the teahouse
At 18:00 there was a Hacker Tours Event for the players of No Game. We were told that we have to invent a new language to express ourselves. Infos regarding that can be found at Github. Feel free to contribute. Everyone can request new words or change old ones. You can upload generic files regarding No Game too.
Information by THERE IS NO NAME
We created a pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/r.c63e17fd018852dd47781787b933fe84
Feel free to move the information over or contact one of us (Mot - 7788) for changes in the pad (write access).
We can also discuss merging teams.
There is a writeable pad: https://pads.ccc-ch.ch/p/thereisnogame (feel free to contribute)
Day2: Puzzlegame
Green / Cyan
Group: There Is No Name: DECT 7788 @paulshandle piece of the puzzle: green with black question mark. Sentence: "... could be poop".
Group ? @b_a_l_d_o
Puzzleteil: Green: ...y: Row
Puzzleteil: Cyan: ... look for the light
Group ? @protux Gold, Sentence: "Turn to gold"
Group ? snowflakes Puzzleteil: wood "...look for a sign where you descend" Do you have the other piece? Call us: DECT/2369
Group ? egal Puzzleteil: like wood, red -> Q: What's your message?
Information by noFS
Information by π=3
There is a monolith labelled "communication" as part of the tea tent on level 4.
Our interpretation of the reverse telephone message is the following: "The language of the elvish queen is arabic. Translate!"
Information by C4
Day 1 storyline ended with the hint "play a game. 42 is an answer." for us.
Day 2 we currently have a winch to wind something or power something and are unsure where to put it.
TEAM: 33Tea3
Find Elymas code which should be able to decode by Drahflow (stop here so wedid not waste more time)
115, 176, 16, 228, 218, 154, 162, 185, 99, 95, 4, 107, 228, 38, 110, 0
This is not correct. They wanted people to use the old trick from 32C3. Luckily we have the developer of Elymas in our team, reversing it to:
CTF Reversing -> "Congratulations you decoded no flag! The flag relavant part of this flag is: the power lies in the structure. organise"
go into the Lounge with another Team to Join ! ! !
Some people use twitter #t4l3
Queen Storyline/ Alice in Wonderland Storyline
Following today's hint we found a coat and now one of us is the Queen. Our goal is to play cards with other groups. It all ends at the fountain in the Lounge. (Die Bande)
some incomplete Notes: Things has to be brought to the right places/persons.
- The Scissor has to go to the tavern
- the bunny (top floor in the corner with the mannequins) celebrates its birthday at 20h, he wants cake.
- the hatmaker is looking for his missing key (presumably located in the yuppie bar at the gaengeviertel)
- the hatmaker now got his missing key back and is going to celebrate his not-birthday at 20:00 at the bar at the top floor. (Team Digitalien)
- Follow the white rabbit (of course ^^)
other possibly related items: A picture of an eyeball and a hand located on the second floor in the area of the clocks between saal 1 and 2
TEAM: ZWEIUNDVIERZIG / Storryline: Kidspace;
initial Password is: WORKS FOR ME (with Blanks)
response: "Bring the golden Cassette to the Kidspace"
hint: there are som strange Objects carried arround (Scissors, Eye-Ball etc. ) They startet @TravelAgency
@donnerruebe DECT 4452
TEAM: 33Tea3
initial Password is: WORKS FOR ME
response: "Bring the scissors to the tavern"
We have a red piece of puzzle called "puzzle" in an envelop saying "... cusps", and comined this with another envelope "a mammail with multiple..." to find the camel
IF YOU WANT TO CONTACT WITH US, CALL DECT 7529 Philip.
Also see Die "LAZ0R" Banden CATS
initial password: WORKS FOR ME
response: "Bring the scissors to the tavern"
There is a person dressed in red carrying a big scissor
The tavern is fourth floor at the chinese area
We have two puzzle pieces:
- Green with glitters and dots in yellow and blue
- Red/brown (terracotta-alike) with glitters
We had the hint: "HARDWARE HACKING HALL 1. SOLDER" We talked with Mitch and got a ATTINY CHIP And a QR code
The flash dump of the chip can be found at Kilobyte22s website
I (Trilader) wrote down the stuff from the dynamite
The code word was found to be "overintellectualization". Ordering the bits gave the bitstring 10011011111111100110101 interpreted as a number it results in 5111605 which was the passcode for the keyhole in the lounge at the DJ booth.
Team N0 Nam3
We fused with team ==not a name== and got qr codes to click. All we found out at the moment is, taht every device, that visits this page generates a new key, so every person has a unique one.
The second menu point is your profile. Change your name and fill in your skill.
On day two a few bugs occured, the travel agency was going to fix them. We don't know if it's done yet.
We've got the pastebin link: click
This is what you find there:
mei travelers
the first step on your self-made path is taken. you have formed a cluster. it is time to describe by which means you will travel: we ask you to express a self-conception, to write it down. this can take any linguistic form and language you prefer, be it a long text, some questions or bullet points. Additionally, please determine a sentence to represent your cluster. Here are some questions to help your process.
what do you share? how do you come to decisions that concern everybody? how do you create movement?
tale your self-conception and sentence in the book of bunches at the travel agency.
there is no need to travel alone to shape our coming journey is our common task
mei reisende
der erste schritt auf dem pfad, den ihr anlegt, ist getan. ihr habt euch zu einer bande zusammengefunden. jetzt gilt es, zu beschreiben, mit welchen mitteln ihr diese gemeinsame reise antretet: um euch gegenseitig erkennen zu können, braucht es ein selbstverständnis. das kann ein langer text sein oder aus fragen oder einzelnen stichpunkten bestehen - in der sprache, in der es euch am einfachsten fällt. zusätzlich formuliert bitte einen satz, der eure bande repräsentiert. hier drei fragen zur orientierung.
was teilt ihr? wie trefft ihr entscheidungen, die alle betreffen? wie erzeugt ihr bewegung?
talt euer selbstverständis im großen bandenbuch beim reisebüro.
there is no need to travel alone.to shape our coming journey is our common task
At the moment (Day 3, 5:05 PM) we are at the stairs in the foyer and think about, what we should write. So come and join us!
We got another pastebin link click The task from this link:
Heute sind im Gebäude 4 Lavabikes angeschlossen.
Nehmt euch eins und versucht von Ganz oben in Section 9 bis ganz unten zur Travel Agency zu fahren. Ohne mit den Füßen den Boden zu berühren. Dafür müsst ihr wahrscheinlich zusammenarbeiten. Der Code für das Fahrradschloss ist 54321. Wenn ihr diesen Spaß hinter euch habt, animiert andere CongressteilnehmerIn es zu versuchen. Solltet ihr das Rad nicht mehr brauchen, stellt es bitte wieder irgendwo ab und schließt es an.
There are 4 locked lavabikes in the building today. Take one of them at the top floor of section 9 and try to ride all the way down to the travel agency – without feet touching the floor. You might have to collaborate.The code for lock is 54321. If you are having fun, invite other congress attendees to attend. If you don't need the bike anymore, find a good and visible place to park it. Please lock it.
For contacting us call Zaphira on DECT 4740.
Team B-Team
Initial password: WORKS FOR ME
Follow Up Quest
Bring the claf to the dessert -> We brought the claf, which was located somewhere on the congress, to the desert, which is located on the 4th floor in front of "Quadrature du net".
We don't know what to do next...
Pairing with other keys
We are paired with the large group
We have 3 puzzle pieces. 1 Red: ...made of silver. 1 Blue with glitter: An Octopus needs to be... 1 Purple: ...have a cup of tea.
You can contact "tjack" in IRC. Or write on my wiki page, I will check frequently.
Team Orange
We started in the late evening of day 2, so basically we just played on day three. We found a binary sign behind the counter of the travel agency. You can translate that paper into a bitmap where "1" means black pixel and "0" is a white pixel. You get a phone number + a strange voice recording. The message behind has not yet been decoded.
We started with initial keyword "WORKS FOR ME". After travel agency fixed broken terminals at the Lounge, we were able to get a pastebin link + the order-"to bring the cassette to Hall 4". The pastebin link instructed us to drive the Lavabike from Level 4 to the Agency. After doing so, the agency told us, the cat has the cassette.
The cat has been found walking around, but had no cassette for us - she said it's been stolen. So we went looking and found some guys carrying the cassette. Their efforts to bring the cassette to different areas of the congress have been without success, so we think the cassette needs to be brought back to the cat. At this point we ran out of time and followed the invitation to the no-party.
Invitation has come from the rabbit which was randomly walking around. Also, there was a queen at the lounge. We played chess against her and were told the password is "WORKS FOR ME".
For contact message Zanooda on IRC or comment here.
Team Amateurs 9
We need to get the cassette to hall 3. We found an orange piece with an infinity sign on it next to coffee nerds.
We are looking for other bunches to join @ the fountain :)
Call Space Hub and ask for Bratwurst.
Team Not a Name
We have puzzle pieces:
- Red with gold
- Blue
- Green with gold
We spoke to a man in Tavern, he let us hear morse code. We transcribed it and this is what we got.
THIS IS THE (word missing) KEY 0000
He fixed our transcription to:
THIS IS THE (word missing) KEY *0000#
Team und Struppi
(only added things which have not been mentioned yet)
- Seems every team has to get the cassette to somewhere else. We have to get it to hall 4.
* Who already got a cassette?
- find what's hidden in the balls
- Password hint (from travel agency): Try to think reversed.
- I heard that there is a secret room which has to be found -> puzzle has to be solved there.
Team egal
rexxnor, DECT 6303
Day 2: Orange Signs
The goal of Day 3 seems to be to collect all signs (total number unknown) by working together and solving the jigsaw puzzles. These 4 signs are needed to then find a secret room and unlocking something. If you find one of the signs, please take it with you, leave a piece of paper to show following groups that you already found it and enter your details in the list on the bottom of the page.
Currently known locations:
- Behind the Tardis in the Hacking Lab ("A galactic Telephonebooth") -> Whereabouts unkown
- At the Dromedar / Camel in the Desert (Tea Room) ("A mammal with multiple cusps") -> Whereabouts unkown
- "A white pillar that is imitating china" (not yet found)
Day 3: Jigsaws, Birthdays and a secret room
The Jigsaw puzzles lead to the orange cards. Additionally, a No-Birthday Party was announced for 8 pm. After the party, a new text was posted on the wall next to the travel agency:
"Die Utopie befindet sich unter der Kistenfabrik in der Lounge. Die Utopie läst sich mit **3*(?) öffnen." (German, Translation below)
Translation: "The utopie is located under the factory for boxes inside the lounge. The utopie can be opened with **3*(?)".
This means, a code is needed to "open" the utopie. From the symbols mentioned in the text, only the third one ("3") is currently known.
The secret room in the lounge has been found. It is behind underneath the platform decorated as space ship bridge. When entering the lounge, follow the way to the left and go all the way to the back wall. You have to get past the barrier tape, then turn left. You'll see a box made out of doors, the combination of the lock is "1234". Inside, there is a guest book with entries that seem to be from previous congresses. The room also contains 2 metal rails, on which an additional orange card was located.
The next goal seems to be to get all orange signs inside the room and placing them into the rails.
The combinations of the jigsaws we found yet, are:
|Left part
|Right part
|Collected by
|behind the welcoming...
|Einhorn Level 1...
|...talk to the unicorn
|find a nest of white balls...
|...and look behind the curtain
|Orange Card not found
|stare in the eye...
|...of magical death
|where parents sit...
|...in front of the geometrical lights
|symbol of monolith ...
|... symbol triangle
|ask the blind guarding man...
|...at the door on your way to the tavern
|it's on a galactic...
|...phone booth
|On Tardis in Hacker Assembly Room
|...call the authorities
|Please don't call 110!!!
|get undressed...
|...and support the ceiling
|a doll used for your...
|...leather and feet-fetish
|the mammal with multiple...
|Camel / Dromedar in Desert (Floor 4 i nFront of Hall 2)
|envelope missing but jigsawpieces both here
|envelope missing but jigsawpieces both here
|...with red tattos
|could be poop...
|... of a cancel
|got to the big number one...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|hinter der Uhr unter "Parkett rechts"...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|take the lift as high as you can...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|backdoor of the C...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|behind the Time...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|What would Aladdin do...
|...if he wanted a drink in the taverne
|Find your eight-legged friend...
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|workout...jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|when the door to time opens ... jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...ask the wizard for the time under the sign of two couples
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...crushing into a pink wall
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...who held the golden rings
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...in Hogwarts
|Orange Card found
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...on your right way to number one
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...to have a snack
|Orange Card found
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...if served in fake china
|Orange Card found
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...with a mustache
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...hiding behind an armour
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...by the retro radio
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...feel the heat
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...courageous in digital times
|Orange Card found
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...by the cosy place
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...at the balls of snow
|Orange Card found
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...made of silver
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...look for a sign where you descend
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|... and elevate what hides the light
|now recieved
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|...on red velvet
|the envelope contained 2 jigsaw pieces
|christmas... jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|when wizards descend...jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
|an octopus needs to be...jigsaw piece missing
|fitting envelope and jigsaw piece missing
The jigsaw pieces are at the Sendezentrum. Ask for Papillon.
Orange Card without sentence
- In Schublabe bei der ExploedBar ohne Puzzel
Overview Pictures
Beginning sentences:
End of sentences:
Team Mumpitszß
Contact: 6486
We found this printout on the lounge space deck: http://imgur.com/a/Bjhmn According to this pad another team had triggered the print while we were there, we ended up sticking it on the wall next to the printer. M. H. probably means Mad Hatter, who ended up finding his key later. 1483023404 is a unix timestamp for 29 Dec 2016 15:56:44 CET (time of printing?)
Above the printer were also these other two printouts: https://imgur.com/a/8rIa0 (You can see our one in the bottom right corner).
Bixolon SRP77011 seems to be the printer: http://www.bixolon.com/html/en/product/product_detail.xhtml?prod_id=50&large_cd=0005, so this is likely debug output.
We also paired with the large group.
We have two puzzle pieces:
- Red with gold
- White
Otherwise we mostly played the Mad Hatter's game, brought the clef to Section9 and attended his non-birthday party.
Day 4
First Step Mission: "4 baby rockets with 4 hints":
- Found Rockets at this places
* muccc -> Rocket mit "pQ" und "w"
- Found a PasteBin: http://pastebin.com/raw/HHc6pQ7S
Secound Step Mission "Radovans Quest":
- Ein Kriegsverbrecher
- New hint: Radovan's Atonement Quest 8:40
- There is a youtube video with this name. At 8:40 the guy says "whisper"
- The Monitor next to the VR workshop now says: "radovans is important. go to sorrowmorne. it is in cch."
Third Step Mission "See the bigger picture":
Lock was Picked:
- ...
- "Sum Well hex hex"
- Open with "A2" the sum of the well ...
- Recieve a key with the message "you revealed the komona key"
- New message after peering the new key into the Well ""
New Printout:
- New Printer output (at SpaceDeck) -> At the End of this Pad
- Stardate is unix epoch for 30.12.2016, 12:58:52 CET
- The printer later printed a whole role of empty pages and this one.
Team thereisnoduck
Aufgabe: "write a text for the song" -> Perhaps the ThereIsNoGame soundtrack? (see below)
This is the official There Is No Game soundtrack: Music folder in Freifunk Hamburg Cloud
Orange Cards
To unlock the secrets, all orange cards need to be found and placed inside the secret room hidden in the lounge. List with all currently found and located signs:
- Unkown Symbol: Team "egal"


text:
Ford Fiesta ST 1.6L EcoBoost Turbo Manifold
The Full-Race Ford Fiesta ST 1.6L Turbo Manifold is a vital component for creating the most responsive high power 1.6L EcoBoost Fiesta ST. Our legendary Turbo Manifold along with a BorgWarner EFR Turbocharger yields rapid spool with strong top end power. For complete turbo kit – click here: Ford Fiesta ST 1.6L EcoBoost Turbo Kit
With the Full-Race EFR 6258 turbo kit, the completely stock 1.6L FIesta ST tuned to a peak boost of 24psi, pumps out 259.64whp and 263.64 lb-ft of torque. This setup is designed to eliminate the undersized turbine restrictions of a factory configuration from Ford, without losing the drivability and spunkiness of this great, lightweight hot hatch. Having a slight trade off of low-end torque, the Fiesta now makes more peak horsepower and torque after 4,250 RPM, all the way to Redline. The flatness is gone and the engine breathes much happier far after the factory configuration falls off of it's efficiency plateau.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Without any doubt, the possibility of getting real-time updates has become ubiquitous in our everyday life. From home-delivery systems that track the step-by-step progress of a order to the intelligence behind some of the biggest e-commerce sites on the planet.
A new question arises: why don´t we see that omnipresence in the industry ecosystem?
Even more: why is not viral across some industries verticals that really on that possibility for portions of their business?
The answer may have various components from technology capabilities to costs constraints and inability to align with corporate goals, or even misconceptions. These factors highlight the need for a strategic partner that enable any company to transform external experience into pragmatic recommendations to deliver automation and agility on top of the best technological solution in the market today.
In a few words, we merge business transformation with practical vision and best-of-breed RFID technology without conditioning one to another in order to automate processes and significantly reduce costs of running asset-intensive industries.
For that reason, we love to welcome Mojix to our portfolio, a truly recognized pioneer in renewing RFID for multiple industry verticals with focus on automation, cost optimization and innovative business models to empower loyalty and improved experiences in our customer´s operations and business health.
With a unique offer that combines a practical set of infrastructure product to cover all possible scenarios of automation on any physical space alongside a software architecture based on best-of-breed topologies used in Industrial Internet-of-Things deployments, our customer business will take customer experiences to new heights.
This two-layer architecture enables to take advantage of progress in sensibility, accuracy, availability and flexibility of any RFID-based asset location deployment reinforced bu the elasticity and agility of application development on public o hybrid cloud environments, which results in a deeper transformation of asset-related processes with more realistic investment and execution time frames that fit the demanding market needs.
Such transformation becomes even more viral not just because of the innovative force behind the technology proposal by itself but because of the cultural change it brings to any industry adopting such model, leverage by three (3) major components.
The first component is automation, from inventory to workflows over large-space businesses, each industry benefits from adopting RFID as its asset location and contact-less data capturing technology from Mojix and Imagunet. Freeing operations and logistics teams from inefficient and tedious routines, while improving the overall customer experience, no matter the industry or transaction type.
The second component in this cycle is digitization, by transforming manual processes that are not cost-efficient into autonomous sources of permanent information. From a simple inventory management solution to the capability of seeing the flow of assets and people in real-time through any floor-plan. By taking this road, our customers are uniquely positioned to discover new ways to optimize their business on every deployment iteration.
The last revolutionary component is velocity, by improving processes and gaining real-time information of what happens in their business, our customers leverage agile development to accelerate response time to incidents; from stock-outs to re-supply and even a predictive approach to sales cycles in their offer. These organizations are transformed into data-driven businesses.
Our alliance between Mojix and Imagunet seeks to transform the way in which businesses in the LatAm market track their assets and optimize their logistics-related processes while boosting a smart sale approach.
Don´t hesitate to reach us for more information.


text:
Two hundred thirty-two undergraduates participated in the Wetterhahn Science Symposium, held Thursday, May 28 in the Life Sciences Center, which for the first time included an award presented for Library Research in the Sciences. Two students, Annie Fagan '15 and Mallory Rutigliano '17, each won an award, which was presented by Dean of Libraries and Librarian of the College Jeff Horrell.
From The Dartmouth:
"This year, the winner of the symposium's inaugural Library Research in the Sciences Award was Annie Fagan '15, whose senior honors thesis was on the tropical dry forest streams across a land-use gradient in Costa Rica. Lora Leligdon, librarian at Kresge Physical Sciences Library and organizer of the award, said that the competition, new this year and judged by a panel of College librarians, was meant to encourage students to reflect on the research and inquiry components of their scientific question.
'We want to hear about the student's reflective learning process,' she said. 'We want to see them connect their library research with scientific research.'"
Winners of the Library Research Award, as well as the winners of the Wetterhahn/Sigma Xi science poster competition, will have their certificates or posters displayed in Kresge Library for the coming year and will also be featured in brief video interviews where they will talk about their research experience.
Congratulations to all who helped make this award happen, most notably Lora Leligdon, with help and support from others in Kresge Library, the Biomedical and Feldberg Libraries, the Library's Education & Outreach program, the Library's administrative office, and the Friends of the Library, who sponsored the cash awards.


text:
FSG is the online agent that helps international brands navigate the vast online German market. We believe the best way to do this is by taking full responsibility for your growth in Germany. That's why we work provision based. We are your brand's sales agent in Germany.
Our agency is rapidly growing. We currently have 25 marketing specialists and customer service representatives working at our office in Berlin. At FSG, we co-create a unique but solid online strategy with our partners. We offer growth across the whole chain. Our core strengths are localized brand building, performance marketing and data insights.


text:
More than 50 Musicians, 13 countries, 1 world anthem: United Nations Populations Fund debuts music video on Facebook
Movement calls for individual actions to be featured on www.7billionactions.org
UNITED NATIONS, New York – UNFPA today released a world anthem today entitled United. Performed by more than 50 musicians from 13 countries, United commemorates United Nations Day and marks the beginning of a week-long countdown to 31 October, when the world population is projected to reach 7 billion. Beginning today, visit http://facebook.com/7billionactions to listen to the song, experience the music video and share with your friends.
"Some say our planet is too crowded. I say we are seven billion strong," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "In our increasingly interconnected world, we all have something to give and something to gain by working together. Let us unite, seven billion strong, in the name of the global common good."
United, the result of a partnership between UNFPA, Playing For Change and the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, is part of 7 Billion Actions, a global campaign to build awareness around the opportunities and challenges of a world of seven billion people.
The initiative calls on citizens and organizations to post their commitments for making a healthier and more sustainable world. With every social issue—from the environment and urbanization to health and youth empowerment—requiring action more urgently than ever before, the 7 billion milestone in human history offers an opportunity to rethink relationships with one another and with the planet.
"The world population is interconnected like never before," commented UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin. "I see the milestone of 7 Billion as a call to action to ensure that everyone can enjoy equal rights and dignity."
UNFPA has enlisted a diverse group of corporations, organizations and individuals to help lead the 7 Billion Actions initiative, and make use of online, mobile and offline actions to tell the story of the people behind the number. With the release of United, individuals around the world are invited to create their own unique versions of the song at www.7billionactions.org/music and have a chance to be included in a Playing For Change mash-up. In this way, the song and the broader 7 Billion Actions campaign hopes to inspire all people and organizations to address the challenges of our time and improve our world of seven billion people and counting.
The musicians featured in the United music video include:
• Jacqueline Fuentes - Santiago, Chile
• Jie Ma - Lanzhou, China
• Andrew Valdez - Palenque, Colombia
• Benicio Torres Reyes - Palenque, Colombia
• Jason Tamba and Mermans Mosengo - Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ahmed Hassan - Cairo, Egypt
• Dina Elwedidi - Cairo, Egypt
• Lákatos Mónica - Budapest, Hungary
• Mazsi - Budapest, Hungary
• Péter Kováts and Ágota Bendik - Budapest, Hungary
• Tamás Pillár and Balint Kövi - Budapest, Hungary
• Avnee Mithaiwala - Mumbai, India
• Ian Langton - Dublin, Ireland
• Mahamadou Diabate - Kirina, Mali
• Mama Kone and Habib Koite - Bamako, Mali
• Mountaga Sissoko - Bamako, Mali
• Tula - Barcelona, Spain
• Passakorn Matura - Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Wootchai Punyamao - Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Daryl Simpson - Omagh, Northern Ireland, UK
• The Omagh Youth Choir - Omagh, Northern Ireland, UK
• Grandpa Elliott - New Orleans, USA
• Greg Ellis - Los Angeles, USA
• Renard Poché - New Orleans, USA
Learn more about 7 Billion Actions and the work that governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and individuals are doing at www.7billionactions.org.
For more information, please contact
Omar Gharzeddine
Tel: +1 212 297 5028
Email: email@example.com
Tyler Spalding
Tel: +1 212 704 4422
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
About UNFPA
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. Visit: www.unfpa.org
For more information about Playing For Change, visit http://playingforchange.com/, and for more information about the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, visit http://www.mdgfund.org/


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The beauty of ocean beaches not denying the calm of the Bassin d'Arcachon, the rental of an apartment in Lège benefits from a paradisiac decoration that includes all the conveniences of daily life. Find your apartment rental in Lège Cap Ferret!
Consult our apartment and flat rental offers in Lège Cap Ferret. My home in Cap Ferret has also selected villas for rent in Lège but also apartments for rent in Cap Ferret.
The villas and apartments matching your criterias are already booked for the dates you are interested in. We invite you to enlarge your research (larger properties are not always more expensive!) and to have a look at the ads listed below. You may also have some flexibility with your travel dates?
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Vacations without any stress during which you and your little family will be spared by all the worries of everyday organization. As a whole in an exotic and natural decoration which will refresh you in readiness of the return from the summer holidays. This haven of peace is located in the village of Lège! Its double exhibition allows a direct double access to the tranquility of the beaches of the Bassin d'Arcachon and also to the famous ocean beaches of Grand Crohot. Between these two strategic points of Cap Ferret, only 8 kilometers! And if you are adept at the joys of cycling, the distances are reduced with each pedal stroke. These immense beaches overlooking the Atlantic Ocean are particularly appreciated by surfers who like to have a bone to pick with rollers and big waves. But it is not necessary to seek to brave the strength of the sea in order to appreciate also these paradisiacal beaches. Enjoy a breath of fresh air, play in the waves, admire the scenery that stretches as far as the eye can see ... or simply build huge sand castles with your favorite pirates! Not forgetting the long walk along the coast, feet tickled by the waves. This is what you spend a busy and emotional day! Back in Lège, starved by the pleasures offered by the ocean, you will just have so many choices. Restaurants with terraces are waiting for you with more mouth-watering menus. Seafood dishes, homemade hamburger, grilled meats, pizzas, traditional restaurants ... Indeed, in Lège, all shops to make your life easier are nearby. The daily market that is held every morning will even make the drudgery of the races a moment of happiness to share with family.


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Free Concert at City Park Thursday April 25th (New Orleans)
I just confirmed thru the 'Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra' web site that today's concert 'Swing in the Oaks' has been moved to tomorrow Thursday April 25th at 6:30 PM by the 'Goldring-Woldenberg Great Lawn' of New Orleans City Park. Bring your chair or blanket and enjoy the outdoors. The best way to get there is thru City Park Ave, then turn on Anseman Ave in front of 'Ralph's On The Park' restaurant, then make a right on the first street (Dreyfous Dr) and you will see the park on your left.
For details of the event you can go to:
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For the map location:
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New Orleans Forum
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If you have ever admired Granny Square afghans and throws, and wanted to learn how to crochet them, then Granny Square Basics: Learn How to Crochet and Join Granny Square Motifs, by Violet Henderson is the book for you. In this informative and easy to understand book Violet guides you through learning the basics of crochet and how to crochet Granny Squares. She also includes a chapter on joining methods and gives you pointers and tips on edging options.
To begin Violet teaches the basics of crochet. She explains and illustrates basic stitches and techniques.
•Chain Stitch
•Single Crochet
•Double Crochet
•Treble Crochet
•Front and Back Post Stitches
•Slip Stitch
•How to Fasten on a New Color
•How to Weave in Tails Securely
If you are new to crochet this chapter gives you all of the skills you need to crochet Granny Squares and many other crochet projects. If you are more advanced, this chapter will still serve you as a reference and refresher of basic skills and techniques.
Next Violet moves onto Granny Square basics. She explains their construction and gives you a step by step tutorial on crocheting your very first Granny Square. Each step includes easy to understand written instructions along with large clear images. Once you have learned how to crochet a traditional Granny Square, Violet guides you through learning the solid Granny. Solid Granny Squares are a great way to add texture and interest to your Granny Square projects.
To complete her lessons Violet then teaches you how to join your squares. She covers the whip stitch join, single crochet join, slip stitch join, and the fun and challenging join as you go method. Each step is explained for the beginner and includes large clear images so you can learn these skills easily. Violet even includes tips on edging your project complete with two edging patterns; the scallop edging and the shell edging.
This book has everything you need to begin crochet and create beautiful and creative Granny Square projects. Don't miss out on this book. It will be sure to be a favorite in your crochet library. Get your copy today!.
Download this Bestselling Book Now!!


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I'm currently putting up a series of six prints Rob Hunter made of various observatories for the Murmuring Landscape exhibition which ran in our gallery from November 2010 until January 2011. Each beautiful four colour screen-print is of a major telescope in its enviroment. They are all an edition of less than 10 and are 20 x 25cm.
Going up today is LBT, Hobby Eberly and Mount Wilson. There will be three more released on Friday. Keep your eyes peeled!


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The library aims to have at least one copy as an e-book or physical book of all the books that appear on a literature list to any of the University's courses. To this we also have one reference copy (physical) which is meant to be used only in the library, and can't be borrowed home.
The articles included in the literature lists you often find via Summon by searching for the title or author (more on this in an upcoming post here on the blog) and will thus access the journals the library subscribes to. You may need to log in with your user credentials which are the same as for example logging on to Ping Pong, same goes for e-books that can be found on your reading list.
How do we know if a book is available as reference copy? We start as usual from Summon which is the library search service. Write the title or author in the search box and you get a list of results that looks something like this:
Here you find all the information you need to know if the book is a reference copy. If you choose to click through from the results list, you get more detailed information on the book:
The swedish word KURSBOK means referencecopy and is the word to look for. Among other info on this page are loanperiods of a certain book and also the possibility to reserve it.
At last it's time to visit the 1st floor of the library where you find a shelf with books labeled Course Reference. To find the book; see the green rings in the pictures above. They indicate where on the shelf the book is. In this case the book is under the letter G for Gattorna, the book's author. But the book can also be on the title so be sure to note the information on the location. If the book is not in place, the most common explanation is that it is used by someone else and it usually comes in place during the day. If you can't find the book several days in a row it's good to contact the information desk on level 2. Also if you find that one of the books on your course list does not have a reference copy please contact the information desk to inform of the book's title and to what course it belongs.
Text & pictures: Lisa Carlson


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It was just a pretty ordinary Monday around here. I have to admit I didn't even take my camera out of my camera bag today. Abby went to school, Micah and I hung out cleaning up the weekend mess, folding and putting away loads of laundry. He's my sweet little helper. I picked up one pile of towels and went to put them away, I came back to Micah picking up a towel and he handed it to me "thereyougo" (it's all one word in Micah language - I've got to get that on video!) Then he proceeded to do the same with the other 5 towels in the pile - complete with the "thereyougo" until I had the whole pile in my arms instead of on the floor. Then when I went to put those towels away, he came behind me with the wash cloths and yet another "thereyougo."
I posted Micah's take on teething on his blog. Do your kids typically get their teeth in normal order or have they gotten them out of order? Micah's not only a late teether - he's also decided to get them in a strange order as he's getting some top ones before bottom ones and molars before incisors. Very odd.
Last week I had fun helping my friend cut out some invitations for her soon to be 3 year old's Mickey Mouse birthday party. I can't wait to see the finished result. I have some more crafty stuff planned to do this week for myself both with the kids and after the little ones get to sleep. I hope Micah goes down as easily as he did tonight for the rest of the week so I can get my projects done. Though I guess tomorrow he can (and probably will) stay up as I've got a fun girl's night out planned as the mentor for my mentoring moms group has invited us all to her house for dinner. I can't wait to spend the evening with sweet friends.
Do you have any fun plans for this week?


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by JACKIE HOLLAND-DECKER
Competitive cheerleading is a sport of highs and lows. One minute or round or competition, the athletes and fans are relishing a best-ever score. The next they are wondering what happened. The sport's subjectivity, like that in figure skating and gymnastics, is often confusing, with fans wondering how a flawless routine can net the same score as another team's mistake-laden performance.
Such was the case in the last two competitions for the Rockford varsity competitive cheer team. On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Rams were riding a high with a best-ever third round routine at the East Kentwood Invitational. On Saturday, Feb. 14, the Rams had some struggles in the same round and finished ninth out of 12 teams at the prestigious PR Cheer Tournament at the Delta Plex. The Rams' 790.54-point total on Thursday was a school record. The Rams' 755.02 Saturday was their lowest since before Christmas.
"A lot of it is the judging and [which teams are] there," said Rockford assistant coach Mary Hurt, who also judges.
Team dynamics and the atmosphere of the venue make a difference, too. "It's hit and miss with the atmosphere," Hurt said. "The girls were so geeked on Thursday, but Saturday they were somber. They felt the warm-up area was too loud. The Delta Plex takes a lot out of you." She added that many of the teams did not perform their best on Saturday.
The East Kentwood meet showcased the Rams' abilities and what they can achieve this coming week with the post-conference meet Wednesday, Feb. 18 at home at 6 p.m. and the district competition at home on Saturday, Feb. 21.
"Thursday we had three fabulous rounds," said Hurt. "It was the most remarkable, beautiful, incredible thing I've ever seen. I expect the girls to do that again. If the girls want it [at the post-conference meet], they can do it. We can be top three. Everyone in our conference has beaten everyone else at least once, and we've beaten everyone except East Kentwood."
At East Kentwood, Rockford scored 225.8 points in round one, 243.64 in round two, and 321.1 in round three to finish second behind the host Falcons (808.17). The Rams' third round looked perfect to the fans, but fell three-tenths of a point behind East Kentwood, who made many mistakes in the round but had some tougher skills.
On Saturday, the same first round netted the Rams 217.3 points, putting them in 10th place out of 12 teams. Only two of the competitors scored more points Saturday in round one than Rockford had scored two days before: early leader West Ottawa (231.3) and eventual winner and top-ranked Rochester (230.7).
"A lot of coaches were unhappy after round one. Scores were low. The judges were being very conservative," explained Hurt.
The Rams' round two score of 242.32 was the sixth best for the competition, but it was seven points below their school record of 249.98 set a week earlier at the Oiler Invitational in Mount Pleasant. The reward Saturday was a move to seventh position with one round to go. Although many stunts went well in the final round, miscues dropped the Rams to ninth.
At the junior varsity level, Rockford finished third at the Delta Plex behind Rochester and West Ottawa. On Thursday, the junior varsity beat out Hudsonville and the Falcons. The freshmen also placed third Saturday, behind Rochester and Grandville.


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Gail Shister, Marisa Guthrie and Howard Kurtz assess what the late night funnyman's summer hiatus from The Daily Show will mean for him and the program.
Jon Stewart getting serious – Reliable Sources – CNN.com Blogs
MBT Chaussures Hommes http://www.mbt-france.com/mbt-chaussures-hommes-c-4.html
Jon Stewart getting serious come on John. We need more humor in our lives not another Piers Morgan and Bill Maher. 🙂
Sadly it seems that the only thing on these days is the news. It's never any better than those terrible sitcoms that keep coming out. For me the Jon Stewart has been a wonderful bright spot in the haze of news. He adds a touch of comedy to an otherwise bleak job. It's easy to pick either of him apart from an ethical stand point as he uses comedy (usually offensive in to one group or another) to deliver the news. The main thing is his disregard for ethics. While some of his sketches may be "politically correct" it is no less offensive. The reason they get away with it is that in their eyes everyone is a target, whites, blacks, democrats, republicans, jews, christians. To him all people are crazy.He doesn't have much of a social contract and it is one of the things i admire most about his show. I have to say I really enjoy watching The Daily Show, because it brings a brighter touch to an otherwise bleak world.


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How to Fight an Algorithm (ep. 7)
It seems like artificial intelligence is everywhere these days — in our homes, in our cars, in our offices, and of course online. Government decisions, too, are being outsourced to computer code. In one Pennsylvania county, for example, welfare services use digital tools to assess the likelihood that a child is at risk of abuse. Los Angeles contracts with the data giant Palantir to engage in predictive policing, in which algorithms identify residents who might commit future crimes. Local police departments are buying Amazon's facial recognition tool, which can automatically identify people as they go about their lives in public.
What does all this mean for our civil liberties? And how can the public exercise oversight of a secret algorithm? AI Now Co-founder Meredith Whittaker discusses this brave new world — and the ways we can keep it in check.
[00:00:05] I'm Lee Rowland. And from the ACLU, this is At Liberty, the show where we discuss today's biggest civil rights and civil liberties topics.
[00:00:23] Today, artificial intelligence. It's everywhere — in our homes, in our cars, our offices, and of course online. So maybe it should come as no surprise that government decisions are also being outsourced to computer code. In one Pennsylvania county, for example, child and family services uses digital tools to assess the likelihood that a child is at risk of abuse. Los Angeles contracts with the data giant Palantir to engage in predictive policing, in which algorithms identify residents who might commit future crimes.
[00:00:57] Local police departments are buying Amazon's facial recognition tool, which can automatically identify people as they go about their lives in public. What does all this mean for our civil liberties and how do we exercise oversight of an algorithm? Here to talk through this brave new world with us is Meredith Whittaker. She is co-founder and executive director of AI Now, a research institute that studies the social implications of artificial intelligence. Meredith is a distinguished research scientist at New York University, the founder of Google's Open Research Group, and an expert on digital privacy and security issues. Meredith, thank you so much for being with us today.
[00:01:36] It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
[00:01:38] Of course. So let's start big. Maybe with just some definitional terms. What do we mean when we talk about AI, artificial intelligence?
[00:01:48] This is a great and fundamental question and I want to put everyone who's asking it at ease by letting you know that even the most technically adept people struggle with this. AI is not a clearly fixed term and it often means slightly different things to different people.This is in part because this is a field that's evolved over many years and because it's also a very hyped marketing term at this point. So the term AI is being used to sell everything, some of which resembles what we might think of as traditional AI, some of which certainly does not.
[00:02:23] So it might be helpful to sort of go back to the history and begin around the beginning. So it was in 1956 a group of men met at Dartmouth. This small group of guys was determined to build intelligent machines over the course of the summer. They thought this was possible and they didn't succeed. That's a spoiler alert there. But they did ignite a field of AI research and this field has developed in fits and starts with, you know, moments of great hope and moments of disappointment over the last 62 years.
[00:02:59] And you know I think it's important to note in the context of some of the current debates going on that this was largely bankrolled and shaped by the U.S. military. So from this common root a lot of different sub-branches all clustered under the umbrella AI emerged. This produced kind of an ecology of AI techniques, ranging from machine vision to natural language processing to machine learning to deep neural nets and well beyond. But they all share a common characteristic that's important in the context of today's conversation. They all learn about the world by being fed large amounts of data. And they all make predictions and determinations based on what's in such data.
[00:03:40] So if you saw the movie Her you might remember that the AI system built a model of the owner's personality by reading his e-mail. That's basically how it works.
[00:03:50] How does AI appear in our daily lives and who's using it?
[00:03:54] So, AI appears in many, many different forms. Right? You may walk through an airport. You may be profiled by a AI risk assessment system at TSA. You may apply for a loan online and there's sort of an AI backend that is running your credit record and some other data determining if you're credit-worthy. You may apply for insurance and A.I. is determining whether you are eligible for a certain plan or not. A.I. is being used in hiring, it's being used to process worker data to detect which workers are potentially dissatisfied and can monitor their performance and on and on and on. It's actually probably much easier to think about areas where AI isn't which I can't think of right now then it would be to name every sector in which A.I. and automated decision system is being deployed.
[00:04:46] Could you give us a specific example that people might have heard of that demonstrates how the government is using AI?
[00:04:53] Well, we have seen in the past the Baltimore Police Department scanning Instagram photos from a Freddie Gray protest, feeding them through facial recognition, using that to identify people with outstanding warrants or tickets. Right? So we do see the will on the part of a lot of these law enforcement officers and agencies to use the technology in ways that would be problematic and oppressive for civil liberties, to say the least.
[00:05:25] Are there particular groups of people who are more vulnerable to this kind of algorithmic decision making?
[00:05:31] Absolutely. I mean I think we go back to how is AI constructed, right. It requires a lot of data. It requires data that, given the nature of space-time, was created in the past. And this data necessarily reflects the patterns of discrimination, of oppression, the patterns of life as it is. The way in which AI systems often not only replicate, but in some senses can amplify and mask existing patterns of oppression and discrimination. So there is a system that has been proposed in Pennsylvania. This is a risk assessment system that will give a score as to whether a defendant is a risk, at risk of reoffending.
[00:06:17] This is a criminal defendant? This is in a criminal context?
[00:06:20] Yeah this is in a criminal context. Now, one of the inputs it uses to make this decision is arrests. Has this person been arrested in the past? But if you look at Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania has the second highest racial disparity in arrests in the U.S.. So one white man is arrested for every nine black men and every three Latino men. So your risk score and with it your chances of being kept behind bars will increase simply because you're a black man. And we should also note that the record of arrests is taken from a state in which stop and frisk has been deployed. So you're looking here at at the sort of methodology of data creation literally being practices of unconstitutional policing that are then fed into these systems which claim to give objective results but are actually replicating these same patterns of arguably unconstitutional discrimination.
[00:07:17] I think I've heard a phrase that describes this when talking to coders. It's "garbage in, garbage out." Is that the right thing to use here?
[00:07:25] That is exactly right. I would say it's garbage in, and often much harder to detect and much harder to contest garbage out. Right? These systems often resist due process.
[00:07:38] There are very few mechanisms for pushing back against an automated decision and in a lot of cases the people who are actually tasked with using the system, the people on the ground, from a beat officer to a social worker who's given an iPad and saying run this algorithm to get a score, have no real understanding of how the system works. And in many cases have no ability to override the determination of the system.
[00:08:05] That's fascinating.
[00:08:05] So garbage in, complicated garbage out.
[00:08:10] And do you get the sense that because it's spit out by a computer, it sometimes comes with a veneer of neutrality or objectivity?
[00:08:19] Absolutely.
[00:08:20] And yet it's a product of a very flawed human system. Right? In an algorithm or code that's been designed with the flaws baked into it.
[00:08:29] Absolutely.
[00:08:30] But people I think have a natural inclination to believe that a computer code result is somehow objective.
[00:08:35] Yeah. And this is so common that it actually has a term. We call it automation bias. And it's just the tendency to be more credulous when a seemingly objective veneer of scientific authority, like a computer, gives you an answer. I think there's also...we need to look at the way our current trust in technical solutions kind of adds to this tendency.
[00:08:58] I think it's telling that a lot of these systems have been created without documenting the data they used and certainly without releasing this data to the public.There are few to no monitoring regimes that actually look at the impact of these systems and it's often very hard to get records around this. So we can look at the way in which a kind of automation bias is baked into the way even the developers are thinking about these systems.
[00:09:23] You know traditionally if you went through a criminal justice case and you went to sentencing or a bail hearing you would have real humans testifying against you. Now you're suggesting that some of those decisions are being replaced by algorithms that the people administering them barely understand. So can you explain to me what happens in a courtroom if somebody says, "Well hey this algorithm is junk because you fit in racially biased arrest statistics and so it spits out that I'm likely to be dangerous because I'm a black guy and that's that's flawed."
[00:09:56] Are there ways for people to make that argument to to challenge the underlying code in these algorithms in the same way that you would, say, traditionally get to confront a human witness against you?
[00:10:07] At this point, not many and this is something we're working on with AI Now, we have developed a policy framework called the Algorithmic Impact Assessment framework that is looking at simply giving people more access to information on where these systems are when they may have made a decision that affected my life, and allowing some form of of pushback to debate that decision. But at this point the ability to contest an automated decision is not part of most criminal trials.
[00:10:38] I think you know an example from Arkansas in the sort of healthcare space not the criminal justice space would help illustrate this. So in 2016, Arkansas implemented a health care algorithm that was being used to allocate health benefits to Medicaid patients. And not only did it make some really fundamental mistakes, it was implemented in a way that left no room for override by the Medicare worker who was in charge of administering it
[00:11:09] And how do we know that this system made mistakes?
[00:11:13] We know that it made mistakes because legal aid in Arkansas took a case from somebody who was impacted by the system whose benefits had been cut. You know we're looking at kind of home care patients, right. These are people who often need help getting out of bed in the morning, need help eating, need help in getting put back into bed. Right.
[00:11:33] You cut your home care benefits from 12 hours a week to something much smaller and you are really endangering that person's ability to live. So this is not trivial. And the reason we know this is that people raise complaints. Legal Aid began getting calls. They decide to take this case. At significant expense and time, they were able to get people to review the algorithm and it was only during the course of litigation that the fundamental flaws in the algorithm and the software implementation of the system were uncovered.
[00:12:04] And that was uncovered only after the system had been in use for a while?
[00:12:09] Yeah. Exactly. And only through a sort of drawn out and expensive litigation process.
[00:12:17] So it's almost certain there are many more systems like this, maybe less egregiously harmful, that are in use that we don't know about because they haven't been disclosed or that some people may know about but that we don't have the resources or the time or the expertise to sort of push on a lawsuit or push for explanations.
[00:12:40] It sounds like it took a lot of resources just to uncover you know how that particular code was flawed. Do you think that in practice local governments have the expertise or the know-how to assess those systems before they're put in place?
[00:12:56] You know I think this will vary. I think we have seen a starvation of social services and government services in the U.S. over many years. I think that's a solvable problem if we look to fund those type of experts. I mean in New York City which is the first local government in the nation to pass legislation that is looking to implement algorithmic transparency and accountability.
[00:13:21] What does that mean? What does algorithmic transparency and accountability mean in practice?
[00:13:26] In this case it means that the algorithms that are used in government would be disclosed to the public, that there would be some form of deliberation around the use of such technologies, and that agencies that were using these technologies would be required to account for their use and hopefully to produce an impact assessment or some other analysis of what the effect of the use of such a system would be on the populations it was being deployed among.
[00:14:03] You know, I caveat all of these. This is not in the law right now. The law as passed constituted a task force that I am a member of that is going to write a report that will be filed with the mayor's office late 2019. This report will then feed into a lawmaking process that will specify what the substance of algorithmic accountability actually looks like in New York.
[00:14:27] So it sounds like these are the early days for a groundswell at least at the local government level. The systems you're describing have immense implications for people's daily lives, their freedom, their families. It sounds like it's hard to really exaggerate the degree to which AI decision-making could affect us all. Is this an inevitable march towards our Minority Report dystopian future, or are there ways that the public can have a meaningful say, can find out about these systems, can object to them before they're controlling our lives?
[00:14:59] I mean, I don't believe in inevitability, because I would just stop working if I did. You know, a couple of years ago when these systems were being put in place, we didn't have this conversation. We now do. I think there is a lot of increased public awareness that has led to things like the New York City bill. It's a start, but it's a start that happened because council member Vacca at the time was getting a lot of calls asking questions about these systems in response to, you know, news articles and awareness-raising generally. And he couldn't answer these questions. And this sort of turned into this process.
[00:15:38] So I think there's a lot of opportunity for people simply to ask, "Hey where are these systems being used? How are they impacting me? Hey, tech companies who are selling these systems, who are you selling them to? What are they doing? Why is it that you know my due process rights may be perturbed by a system that identifies me as like someone else but doesn't actually reflect me as a person, my record, my history?" So these are all questions that don't require a technical degree, that don't require that you're well versed in the latest technical jargon, and they're all really fundamental questions that I think we have to simply be requiring both governments and tech companies to answer clearly.
[00:16:20] I'm so glad you mentioned the tech companies because I definitely want to talk about what we've been seeing in Silicon Valley. There's been some real meaningful pushback lately from tech workers concerned about their company's contracts with the government.
[00:16:34] It started at Google in a protest and I believe you were at least somewhat involved in, you can tell us, where employees organized against a Pentagon contract that would use A.I. to analyze drone footage. Project Marven, I believe it's called. And since then we've now seen similar protests popping up at Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce, also against the use of A.I. in government contracts. So can you tell us more about what's happening in the tech sector right now and why it's happening right now?
[00:17:04] Yeah. Certainly, I was very involved in the Maven protests in my role as the leader of open research at Google, and I'm deeply heartened to see the rising concern and the willingness to kind of act on that across the industry. You know, I think part of what happened is that there was an increasing dissonance between the promise of tech as a great democratizer, and the reality of these kinds of contracts, right.
[00:17:33] There are many people who for many reasons are deeply concerned about the idea of autonomous weapons. There are many people who are watching what's happening with the Trump administration, and watching the human rights abuses on the border, and watching the rise of authoritarianism frankly and recognizing that this is the moment where you make a choice, right. This is the moment where you say, I'm either going to go with the flow or I'm going to answer the question: What would you have done in this situation?
[00:18:03] And one of the things that's heartening to me is that old fashioned worker organizing works. That a lot of people suddenly realize that oh you know what, we don't actually have to align completely with our employer's interests and since we are the people who are building this technology, since our skills are necessary to do this, we should also be able to make a choice in what we're doing and what we're not doing.
[00:18:27] So I think there's a long way to go but frankly if you'd asked me, six months ago, four months ago, if it were even possible for a workers' movement in Silicon Valley, I would have been skeptical. So you know I'm hopeful simply seeing this quick emergence with such clear language and such clear demands, even if there is a long road to go to ensure that the people building the tech actually have a meaningful ethical decision in what they're building and where it gets applied.
[00:18:57] Are engineers our best hope in seeking an ethical framework for the use of A.I?
[00:19:04] I think this is one lever among many. And I think we can't simply count on engineers holding the line against you know these massively powerful interests. We really have to think about what other organizing outside of tech companies would look like, what solidarity there would look like, what legal mechanisms do we have. You know I think this is a coalition effort if there ever were one, simply because this is technology that is not only affecting one group or another, right.
[00:19:33] Engineers certainly need to join the fight, but we need voices from all of the affected communities and beyond, making it clear that they too want a say in how this technology affects their lives, and saying you know it's not inevitable.
[00:19:48] So Meredith what would you say to a member of the public who might be listening who says I want to help make this not inevitable?
[00:19:55] Given the breadth of A.I's reach right now into almost every sector, you know, start at home. Where are you seeing it in your field? Where are you seeing it in your discipline? Where are you seeing it in your neighborhood? Just begin asking those questions and be confident that whoever you are, you don't need a CS degree, you don't need fancy training in A.I. to be able to ask straightforward questions about who is this being used by? Who owns it? Who owns my data? Who made the decision to deploy this?
[00:20:24] Certainly call your local representatives, show up at city council meetings, ask questions if that's something you have time to do. If not, support people who do. And, you know, again given the way that A.I is being deployed, it's not going to be hard to look around you and, if you do some digging, figure out one place that it's probably already operationalised in a way that you weren't aware of.
[00:20:46] Meredith, thank you so much for talking to us today and for helping to make a dystopian future less inevitable.
[00:20:52] Yeah. My pleasure. Thanks for doing this.
[00:20:59] From the ACLU, this has been At Liberty. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.


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We've been cooped up for a while now; time to get some fresh air. Head to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. My little guy was 25 months the first time he hiked all the way up and back down without being carried. If you have a younger kiddo, bring a sling. The trail is not stroller-friendly (unless you wind the road, but that isn't as much fun!).
Growing up in Gwinnett County, our closest mountain was Stone Mountain, which is beautiful and loads of fun, but it is not exactly a lush green oasis from the hustle and bustle of the city. When I moved to Cobb Country, I was lucky enough to work so close to Kennesaw Mountain that I could dash over on my lunch break and take a quick hike or enjoy a picnic.
The fresh air, trees, serenity and meticulously maintained trails helped me to clear my head and was a welcome escape from the florescent lighted cubicle-land of my 9 to 5 grind. The mountain has so much to offer that everyone can find something to love about it. There is a rich history to explore, verdant hiking trails, expansive meadows, fun events and educational opportunities for all ages. Best of all it is easy to access from most places in the metro Atlanta area.
You do not have to drive a couple hours into the Appalachian foothills to find this gem. The mountain is just a few minutes from Interstate 75 in Kennesaw, Georgia, near the shopping district on Barrett Parkway.
Despite being nestled in one of the busiest and most populated areas of booming Cobb County, Kennesaw Mountain has retained a sense of serenity amidst the hubbub. Situated on nearly 3,000 acres, the National Battlefield Park is insulated from the traffic and suburban growth surrounding it.
Trails For Your Little Hikers
Kennesaw Mountain Park is a perfect location to take your little hikers.
Environmental Trail
For the nature lovers, there is the Environmental Trail. This 1.33 mile loop was especially designed for children and will be an easy and engaging hike. Along the trail children will encounter signs identifying the local trees and plant life, all of which are native to the area.
This trail is located across from the Visitors Center, right by the parking lot, and is super convenient for a quick afternoon outing to get some fresh air.
Summit Hike
The Summit hike is also a great option for young hikers in good health. This trail is one mile up an 800 foot ascent and then one mile back down. Kids will love the expansive, breath-taking views from the top of the mountain. From the summit, you can see all the way to Red Top Mountain and on a clear day you will have distant views of the Atlanta skyline.
Drive, Shuttle, or Stroller Hike
If you want to see the summit, but cannot do the hiking trail there is a paved road for driving to the summit or taking your stroller. Just be aware that you will encounter, cars, strollers, skateboarders, etc on this road. On the weekends the road is closed to cars, but you can catch a shuttle up to the summit on this road every 30 minutes for a small fee ($3.00 for ages 12 and older, $1.50 for ages 5-11 and children under 5 years old are free).
Trails For Your Older Kids
For older kids or a longer day hike, there are several other beautiful trails that will take you to various historical locations in the park such as Kolb's Farm, Cheatham Hill and Pigeon Hill. These hikes offer a variety of terrains through the woods and into meadows.
Why This Park is important to Civil War and Georgia
Besides being a beautiful hiking area with breathtaking vistas, Kennesaw Mountain is National Battlefield Park that chronicles a major shift in the direction of the Civil War. The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was fought on June 27, 1864, during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the most significant frontal assault launched by General Sherman. In fact, battles were fought here until July 2, 1864.
Grant sent his Generals Meade, Sherman and Hood with specific instructions to drive as far towards Atlanta as possible while inflicting maximum damage along the way. As with all invading forces traveling far from their home base, the Union army was required to stay near their supply lines, this being the railroad.
Fierce fighting was waged between the Union troops under Generals Mead, Sherman and Hood against the Confederate General Joseph Johnston all the way from Chattanooga to Atlanta. The campaign was a frustrating back and forth of deadly skirmishes where Meade would attack, attempt to flank and then Johnston would withdraw back a bit.
The battles that took place around Kennesaw Mountain marked the turning point in the Union's headlong drive towards Atlanta. While the Confederates sustained substantially fewer causalities than the Union troops during some of the bloodiest fighting of the campaign, General Johnston's inability, or unwillingness, to make a more aggressive push back allowed Generals Meade, Sherman and Hood to advance their troops far enough to gain access to the Chattahoochee River Crossings.
This allowed Union troops to finally successfully outflank the Confederates who immediately pulled back to the fortifications of Atlanta. Once there, the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, exasperated with Johnston's ineffectiveness, replaced him with General Hood.
The damage was done however and Union troops were able to cut the railroad supply lines to Atlanta and lay a very successful siege to the city, ultimately causing its fall. From there, Sherman began his historic March to the Sea ending the Civil War.
Visitors Center
Today visitors can see all the of the locations that were so pivotal to the Kennesaw Mountain battle campaign when they visit the park. It is best to start your visit at the Visitors Center, right by the parking lot. Here you will a find a short informational movie, knowledgeable staff, museum with local artifacts and a bookstore.
The Visitors Center is open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM everyday. From the Visitors Center, it is easy to access all of the trails leading to each point of interest. My favorite is the hiking trail to the top of Kennesaw Mtn.
The Summit Trail is a fairly easy one mile hike up an 800 foot elevation and then one mile back down after a nice rest at the top. From the summit, you have a gorgeous view and can get a better idea of the terrain and distance the Union and Confederate troops were covering during their skirmishes between Chattanooga and Atlanta.
If you have a stroller or need a paved walk, then you can always walk on the road that runs parallel up to the summit. However, be aware when taking the road that you will be encountering roller bladers, skateboarders, strollers, cars on weekdays and the shuttle bus on the weekend.
While at the bottom of the mountain, ask a ranger to show you the Georgia Monument to the fallen Georgia Soldiers. Dedicated in 1963, it was never actually installed where the fighting took place like its sister monument, the Illinois Monument, to the fallen Union soldiers.
National Battlefield
Back down the mountain near the Visitors Center, you will have access to looping trails leading to all of major points of interest for the battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
Cheatham Hill
Cheatham Hill, named for the Confederate General Benjamin Cheatham, still shows the earthworks that the Confederates created to make a protruding angle (or salient) in their lines of defense. These earthworks became known after the fighting as "Dead Angle" and was the sight of the deadliest fighting during the campaign.
Illinois Monument
Visitors can also find the Illinois Monument here commemorating the Union soldiers who died. This is going to be a long hike so just be prepared, but it is well worth the effort. Along this hike, you will also pass by Pigeon Hill where one of Sherman's major attacks was repelled.
Kolb's Farm
Also accessible on this route, you will find Kolb's Farm where Union troops beat back the Confederates to overtake the area and used Kolb House as headquarters for General Joseph Hooker. The house sustain damage during the fighting, but has been restored to its original condition.
Visitors can also see the Kolb family cemetery plot there. A little ways away, Sherman had his headquarters at the Wallis House during the battle for Kolb Farm. From there, he moved to the Sherman Thomas Headquarters to coordinate further attacks.
24-Gun Battery hike
The 24-Gun Battery hike will lead you to an area of earthworks where you can still make out where the Union troops dug in and where the Confederate battery was placed, even locating dips in the earthworks where the cannon barrels rested.
Weekend Ranger Talks
With the kids in tow, you want to be sure to catch the Weekend Ranger Talks. Park rangers will lead groups through a variety of topics covering the mountain's environment, animal species and history. Sometimes you will get an interactive demonstration on cannons or maybe a animal pelt identification class.
Kids will also love the Junior books which are free and available in the Visitors Center or can be downloaded and printed from the website (https://www.nps.gov/kemo/learn/kidsyouth/beajuniorranger.htm).
These booklets are written in both English and Spanish and cover a range of ages with the Junior Rangers books or Wee Ranger (for ages 4 to 6). There is a children's book just about the Civil War history as well. Once your child completes all the activities in the book and has it checked by a park ranger, they will receive a Junior Ranger Badge, certificate and a few other little goodies.
Make sure the kiddos ask a ranger about the trading cards as well so they can start their own collection. To mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the National Parks Service is offering over 500 free trading cards from almost 90 national parks around the country, including at Kennesaw Mountain.
These cards have information about the Civil War and Civil Rights. There are seven cards to collect from Kennesaw Mountain detailing events and individuals associated with the battle and Civil War history.
General Info
Kennesaw Mountain is a day-use only park meaning it is open to the public from dawn until dusk so your access time will vary throughout the year. Be sure to check posted signs for hours or double check with a park ranger. The park is open every day except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
The Visitors Center is open 9:00 to 5:00 every day. Entrance and parking are both free. The only fees associated with the park are for the for the shuttle to the summit on the weekends.
When I first moved to Cobb County, Kennesaw Mountain became a refuge from the loud, bustling city around me. I was able to step away from chaos of the city and wander through the over 22 miles of pristine trails and feel like I was much further away.
Now that I am a mom, Kennesaw Mountain still offers a quick escape into the woods for my family and I. There are great programs my daughter can enjoy, trails to engage her without pushing her too far, picnic tables for us to stop and grab lunch together and a place where we can meet up and play with friends.
Best of all, there are no fees and it is easy to access! This is a park we can enjoy year round and we love to take visiting friends and family for an afternoon getaway. As many times as we go, we are always still discovering new things and learning more about the environment and history of the mountain.
It is also a park that will grow with my daughter as she grows. There are still parts of the trails that are just to far for her to hike right now, but we will be discovering them as she grows up. The park rangers are always offering a wonderful array of programs and the environment changes with the seasons so no two trips are ever the same.
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Dutchman considering quit u-turn.
Guus Hiddink has not ruled out extending his time at Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, despite saying that he would quit at the end of the season, the Dutch coach confirmed in an interview on Monday.
"Yes, I've said indeed that I was set to quit my career at the end of this season, it's true," he was quoted as saying by the Sport Express daily. "But if Anzhi stay ambitious in their aspirations for the future, everything is possible."
The 66-year-old said that at the beginning of his work in Makhachkala, the project of transforming the team from the capital of Russia's Caucasian republic of Dagestan into a serious football club looked uncertain.
But he added: "Now after around a year at the helm, I can say that Anzhi have got the image of a serious club with significant ambitions, not only in Russia but in Europe also.
"People now take us seriously because we've got a serious attitude about what we're doing. And that's what I enjoy most of all in my work with Anzhi"
Hiddink said the club had ambitions to be among Russia's best, alongside the four Moscow clubs and reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg, while the goal for the second half of the season is European success.
Anzhi take on English Premier League side Newcastle United in the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday.
Hiddink said that the club had become more professional, while improvements to facilities, including a new stadium in Makhachkala and the creation of a youth academy to nurture fresh talent, had also helped.
"Step by step Anzhi is becoming a real serious football club and it's very interesting to work here. Currently it's too early to say whether I'll quit or stay at the end of the season," he added.
"But as long as I have enough energy to continue my work I'll of course prefer to stay."
Anzhi – based in the Dagestan capital – are owned by oil and metal tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, who bought the club in 2011 and whose money helped bring in Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o and Brazil veteran Roberto Carlos.
The club is currently second in the Russian Premier League with 41 points from 19 matches, two points behind leaders CSKA Moscow.


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Like you, the decision to walk the vegan path was made in life. It took one day after reading an awesome book called The China Study. The change was for reasons such as spiritual growth, animals, health, and the planet. Imagine asking yourself the feeling you'd have if someone took your freedom and sold you dead or alive to be used for variety of purposes against your will. Personally, I refused to no longer have blood on the hands after that self-realization. Karma is a universal law that one should strive for actions that are positive, rather than negative in life. To participate in animal cruelty is a reflection of your being that speaks volumes.
You may think it'd be easy being vegan in the beginning but all the information mixed with unclearness of what to be aware of, may add more obstacles on your vegan journey. What you wear, use to clean, places you visit and etc. has an impact. This is why coming soon is a Certified Vegan Lifestyle coach from the Vegan Academy (Yes, it exist! When I saw the Scott Pilgrim VS The World film, I told myself would go there if it was real LOL) to help guide you with an on demand vegan lifestyle training platform with extras. What you eat is important, however your lifestyle may change as well from how to handle current or new relationships, dining & traveling to fashion choices, self-care, and more.
The Vegan community is growing as time goes on and people become more compassionate to the collective souls on the globe. Let your Vegan experience have less confusion and more clarity by signing up to our list to be notified when we officially launch :)
Eat plants ;)


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Last week after I dropped a visiting friend off at LAX, I decided to walk around Abbot Kinney for the afternoon. It was a blast just walking around, talking with random people, overhearing audacious conversations. It is particularly dangerous for me to shop without a specific purpose, but nothing jumped out at me in the very trendy, ridiculously overpriced stores I visited. That is, until I stumbled across an open air shop. Read the rest of this entry »
If I have the time to do so, I enjoy getting lost. Immensely. Just taking a drive down a random street and seeing exactly where it will take me. In doing so yesterday, I made the most remarkable discovery about Los Angeles.
It all began in Culver City. I decided it could be worth my while to see where Slauson Ave would take me, if I took it eastward. Turns out, much to my amusement, it leads me to a neighborhood where every home looks like the fictitious Mr. Brady designed it. Wow. But, not surprisingly, that grew really boring, really fast. So I u-turned it and headed north on La Cienega.
What I saw astounded me. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the few perks of being a teacher is getting summers off and I have decided to make the most of it this year, by having the most random adventures fathomable. The most recent of these randomosities is when I decided to see how long it would take me to get from Westwood to downtown Los Angeles if I took the Metro #4. It's practically right outside of my apartment complex and since parking in LA in general and downtown in specific, is such a nightmare, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Read the rest of this entry »
I have been trying to sublet a room in my apartment for a number of months. It is conceivable to believe that finding a flatmate in Los Angeles can be a bit of a bizarre search. There are few things in life that are as intimate as asking someone to live with you. Yet Read the rest of this entry »
Every morning without fail, though grousing about what the day holds may soon chase the it away, when I open my eyes in the morning my first thought is always, Read the rest of this entry »
Living in the second largest city in America, I find it within wisdom's bounds to get lost every once in a while. Not Watts or Compton lost, mind you, just affording myself the freedom to explore the knotted, congested roads of LA, unbound by obligations, with no real destination in mind. Read the rest of this entry »
I like books. Not nooks. Not ipads. Real, physical books. Furthermore, I enjoy supporting local businesses that have to compete with "the big guys," so when my brother was out for a visit this weekend and we were cruising down Santa Monica Blvd, I said, "You know, I really want to buy a book on the history of LA. There's an independent bookstore that I always pass on the way to church that looks great, but I've never stopped in. Can we take a small detour?" Read the rest of this entry »
I am pretentious. It's a fact that I know and try very hard to keep under wraps. Because that word just doesn't have the best connotation, right? There are some things I am openly pretentious about. Espresso. Grammar. Chocolate (clearly all very important). But that's about it. The rest I hide away and try to ignore.
But I stumbled into unsolicited pretension the other day. Read the rest of this entry »
Before I actually found a place to live in LA, I was living as a transient gypsy. Extended stay at a hotel Sunday through Thursday, 3 hours in traffic on my 5-freeway commute back to Murrieta. Then I would drive BACK to LA on Saturday with my parents, searching out available apartments. Then BACK to Murrieta Saturday evening. Sunday morning would come and go so fast and the next thing you know, I'm packing up to trek back to LA for another crazy 50-80 week.
I had been living like that since late August, so by late September it is a massive understatement to say that I felt DESPERATE to find a place to call home. One week, my ever-helpful mother drove out in middle of the week to help me locate some apartments. While I was at work she lined up a couple of places for us to take a look at after work that evening.
As we drove to the first place, it was right around dusk. Probably not the best time to go apartment hunting, but I had no other option. We Sasses are punctual to a fault, so we had a few minutes to look around while we waited for the owner of the complex to arrive and show us around.
The neighborhood didn't bowl me over. It definitely seemed like the kind of place you shouldn't walk outside after, well, dusk! But I was currently staying in a seedy hotel – how much worse could this be? Read the rest of this entry »
In my brief time in LA, I have been perpetually struck by the plethora RIDICULOUS vehicles, driven in such an arrogant, preposterous manner. Since my move here, I have clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, expecting the terrible sound of metal against metal so often that I have entirely lost count.
Yet, that is not what disturbs me most. Read the rest of this entry »


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( St. Bavo's Cathedral )
The greatest mysteries remain mysteries. Best-selling literature such as "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" contains ( and purports to explain ) one such mystery. Regardless of its popularity and the supposed solving of the Christological puzzle ( the Grail is just code for Christ's bloodline ), the mystery still remains. Millions have read "The Da Vinci Code" ( the novel based on the aforementioned book's research ) and have seen its movie adaptation. A mass tourist industry didn't spawn around Rennes-le-Château because the whole Jesus story was unveiled, but precisely because it wasn't. Both belief and disbelief about the story have kept the mystery alive.
The same has happened with other modern mysteries, such as the UFO-phenomenon, Bigfoot or Loch Ness ( also pulling millions of tourists to a still lake, each and every single one of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the fabled creature ). In fact, the whole field of cryptozoology can only exist as long as the creatures remain cryptids, i.e. "hidden". If we stumble upon Bigfoot one day and take him back to the civilized world, he will belong to the field of zoology. And as time moves on, other cryptids will be spotted in the wilderness thereafter.
As such, it's not the number of people who are in the know of the mystery that makes it mysterious, but that our tools to measure and our mappings of reality are (considered) wholly and inherently inadequate and inaccurate. And that when we successfully do measure and map, we push reality's fringes ever further and new undiscovered lands are always beyond our newly set horizons.
The Holy Grail was pretty much known to everyone during the middle ages. It provoked some to actually go in search for it. Grail romances emerged around the time of the Crusades. An adventurous time for those engaged in it. A less gallant time for those on the receiving end of those adventures.
A time in which the Holy Land was taken for more than an easy access to pilgrims. One of these reasons was definitely the search for ancient relics. The grail was never found, but the blood of Christ was… At least, that's what's being claimed.
Last month I visited Bruges again and wandered around the Basilica of the Holy Blood. An annoucement was made through stereo speakers in the tourist packed chapel-turned-basilica: the relic of the "Precious Blood" was now available to be seen up close by the public . A rather short line of interested people formed to catch a glimpse of the blood of the saviour of humanity. Most didn't seem to care much. At first, my disbelief kept me from actually caring about it as well. But after a few minutes my mind made a switch and went into "well, why the hell not?"-mode. I joined the small crowd of devotees and waited my turn. The above pic is what I got to see.
Gazing upon it didn't exactly throw me off my horse. It sure made me wonder about the historicity behind this particular item and the connection Flanders has to the grail and the blood.
Apparantly the splatch of blood in this fancy container was brought to this godforsaken outer corner of the European continent by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, after the Second Crusade ( or by another Flemish nobleman during the Fourth Crusade ). The blood itself was first collected by Joseph of Arimathea, who is said to have done so with what would become the Holy Grail ( a sample of Christ's blood is enough to turn any object upon which it drops into a nexus point of worlds ).
Joseph of Arimathea, who is said to have brought the holy cup from the East to Britain was a wealthy Jew to whose care Christ's body was given to prepare it for the tomb. While preparing the body, some blood flowed from the wounds, which he caught in the cup of Christ that was used during the Last Supper. After the disappearance of the body, Joseph was accused of theft and thrown into jail. Then Christ appears to him in a blaze of light and entrusts the cup to his care. He then instructs Joseph in the mystery of the Mass and, it is said, certain other secrets, before vanishing. After Joseph is released, he goes into exile overseas where he is joined by his sister and her husband Bron. According to some versions, Joseph travels to Glastonbury where he founds the first Christian church, in which the Grail is housed. In the image we see him standing under the shadow of Glastonbury Tor. In other versions, Joseph goes no further than Europe, and the guardianship of the cup passes to Bron, who becomes the rich Fisher. The company settles in a place called Avaron (perhaps Avalon, the Celtic name for the otherworld, also identified with Glastonbury) to await the coming of the third grail keeper, Alain.
– John Matthews: The Grail: Quest for the Eternal
The small town of Glastonbury and the Grail have been connected for centuries. A mystery I have not delved into as much as I like, but I intend to check out Paul Weston's work on it. The Blood and Bruges most definitely are connected. Catholics are convinced of its authenticity, whether or not it came from Jerusalem during the Second Crusade, or Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade.
Art in this small fiefdom was spurred by the relic's mere presence. Flemish piety centered around iconic imagery of the Lamb of God, the Holy Wounds and the Fountain of Life. Most famously, it was the birthplace of the Ghent Altarpiece, where the Mystic Lamb bleeds into a cup in the center of the painting.
Which brings me back to my hometown, Ghent, where stuff like nazi's and the grail do share an actual story. Indiana Jones might not be as fictitious as it sounds. Actual nazi's, given specific orders by the Führer himself, took the Ghent Altarpiece to Germany. This painting would be the closest Hitler and the nazi's would ever get to the grail. One panel is still missing though, the Just Judges. The theft thereof is still aching to be solved.
But in a sense, the Blood did touch the devotees in this small but opulent county in the high middle ages. It created the world's first major oil painting, in fact the most influential painting ever made. It not only depicts the mystery of the Holy Grail and the Holy Blood, as well as forms an A to Z of Catholicism. It is in itself a type of grail which offers a ceaseless source of vitality to all who gaze upon it. Art as the nexus point of worlds.
Me and Lynn wandered around St. Bavo's Cathedral, as if a forest, where the most sought after piece in world history rests again. We didn't pay entry to see the painting with its Holy Grail. In Bruges, Lynn didn't care to see the Holy Blood. Roaming around both cities, we took part in another mystery, another quest for the eternal.