One of the great things about “multiculturalism” and globalism is that for the first time, many of us have had the opportunity to experience cultures which are different to the one we were born into. We get to enjoy a variety of cuisine – Italian, Indian, Korean, Thai, Chilean, Ethiopian etc etc, as well as to experience different music, art and traditional folklore amongst other things. There is, however, a difference between sharing and experiencing each others cultural heritages and what is known as “cultural appropriation”.
Cultural appropriation is basically the adoption of some specific forms of a culture – music, dress, dance, language, art, foods, folklore, social behaviour, religious iconography -by a different cultural group with the cultural form assimilated by the later group. This adoption and assimilation is usually done without permission and sees the cultural artefact removed from their original indigenous cultural context, stripped of its history and cultural meaning and often take on a meaning devoid of the original cultural expression. In many cases, the artefact is misrepresented, commodified and even sexualised. As such it becomes an expression of colonialism, Orientalism, racism and “othering”.
Cultural appropriation reflects, in most instances an imbalance of power – often between a colonising and imperialist force and those being colonised and oppressed or exploited. This imbalance of power relations and structures under capitalism is why cultural appropriation matters.
Recently, an Israeli dance company engaged in just such cultural appropriation with their production of “Israeli dabke”. Dabke is a traditional Arab folk dance, which is common in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. The world “dabke” means “stomping the ground” and is said to originate from the communal compacting of dirt floors in traditional Arabic houses.
In the promotional material around his production of “Israeli dabke”, Zvi Gotheiner of ZviDance states:
“As a child and teenager growing up in a Kibbutz in northern Israel, Friday nights were folk dance nights, This tradition continues today. One of the most beloved of these dances is a Debka, albeit an Israeli rendition of the Arab Dabke. The Israeli Debka and the Arab Dabke are linked historically. During the first decades of the 20th Century, Jews migrated from Europe to Palestine in large waves. The leaders and intellectuals of this movement made a deliberate effort to create an authentic Israeli culture that differed from the old world image of European Judaism. No longer the meek, the victim, the wanderer, these Jews were viral, masculine, and rooted to the land. Although forever in territorial conflict with their neighbors, the Israelis borrowed elements from Arabic culture that captured the sound, color, taste and rhythm of the Levant. Dabke is a case in point”.
While Gotheiner’s promotional material accurately reflect the appropriation of Palestinian culture by early Zionists, it also whitewashes the settler-colonial nature of Zionist immigration to Palestine. During the British mandate period, while many Zionist settler-colonialists adopted Palestinian dress, food and dance, they also were active in displacing Palestinians and ethnically cleansing them from their homeland. During the Nakba in 1948, when more than 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and more than 500 Palestinian villages destroyed by Zionist forces, this cultural appropriation and erasing of Palestinian culture took on new dimensions. As hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were being ethnically cleansed from their land, Zionist militias such as the Haganah and later the newly formed Israeli military, either systematically “collected” and/or destroyed tens of thousands of volumes of priceless works of Palestinian literature, including poetry, fiction and works of history. Today, these volumes are designated “absentee property” and held within Israeli libraries and universities.
In the decades since the creation of the Israeli state, Palestinians have witnessed the Zionist cultural appropriation of both their dress, cuisine and folklore. Traditional Palestinian and Arabic food, such as olive oil, falafel and maftoul, have become “Israeli”, with such items being promoted and sold internationally as such. In all such cases Israeli cultural appropriation of Palestinian cultural artefacts has involved the whitewashing of Zionist settler-colonialism, occupation, war crimes and oppression of the Palestinian people.
In response to ZviDances latest cultural appropriation of Dabke, Palestinian dancers in New York have made a video explaining how Gotheiner’s production whitewashes Israeli apartheid and occupation. While recognising that “culture is fluid”, the Palestinian dancers point out that “so long as there is inequality, there can be no cultural exchange” stating:
“While you [ZviDance], and other Israelis have appropriated Dabke for your own purposes, and no one restricts your free cultural expression, Palestinians have been arrested for dancing Dabke by the Israeli military. Their right to free expression is limited by the Israeli military occupation that governs their lives”.
They go onto note: “We all know that under Israeli law, Israelis and Palestinians do not have equal rights. Like it or not, by appropriating dabke, and labeling it Israeli, you further the power imbalance”.


• stupendous •
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Enormous, huge, humongous. 2. Outstanding, marvelous, stunningly wonderful.
Notes: The great 20th century linguist Noam Chomsky often emphasized the importance of allowing oneself to be surprised. Curiosity is critical to everything and today's word is a surprising curiosity, coming from a root that produced words meaning both "idiotic" and "wonderful" (See History for details). Allow it to surprise you, how this came about. The adverb, of course, is stupendously and the noun, stupendousness, though it is passing rare in use.
In Play: The basic meaning of this word is "huge", though "stunning" lurks beneath the surface of both senses, "The Sears building in Chicago remains a stupendous architectural achievement." This doesn't imply anything wonderful, just surprisingly large. And, of course, size is relative: "Esther's southern cousin, Maybelle, has a stupendous beehive hairdo that threatens every ceiling fan she walks under."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Late Latin stupendus "stunning", the gerundive of Latin stupere "to be stunned". Stun is a semantically ambivalent creature in English, so it should come as no surprise that the Latin correlate was, too. Both words refer to a state of senselessness, as to stun fish, but both also allow the cause of the stunning to be something marvelous rather than insidious. Latin stupidus comes from the literal meaning, the mental condition resulting from a blow to the head. Today's Good Word is a result of the figurative meaning.
Come visit our website at <http://www.alphadictionary.com> for more Good Words and other language resources!


I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep your guitar tuned. There a few things in the world more “nails on a chalkboard” cringe than an out of tune guitar. All of those dissonant notes being strummed at the same time, yuck!
It is doubly important if you plan to sing while you play. Having even slightly out of tune strings will make it hard to find the right notes. Even worse, it will train you to sing the wrong notes, a very hard habit to break.
Enough with the why, let’s get to the how.
There are 6 strings on a standard guitar and therefore 6 strings to tune. There are sooooo many different ways to tune a guitar but for the majority of applications, you will be using standard tuning.
From the thickest string down to the thinnest, the notes for standard tuning are
E, A, D, G, B, e.
(Yes, the little e is on purpose, it indicates the higher note)
You can use any number of mnemonic devices to help you remember this. Some examples include:
Try to think of one of your own and let us know in the comments what you came up with.
Now that we know what notes we have to tune to, let’s move onto how to do it.
At one end of the guitar, you have the little windy things that the strings are attached to. These are called machine heads, or aptly named tuners. Spinning them in one direction will increase the tension on the string while going in the other direction will loosen the string. If your guitar is set up correctly hopefully that direction matches for each machine head.
The looser the string is the deeper the note will be conversely tightening the string will raise the pitch of the note that the string plays when plucked.
This is the easiest way to tune any instrument. There will be some sort of indicator that shows how far away from the desired note you are while plucking the string. If you are below the note then increase the tension on the string by winding the machine head and vice-versa. Repeat with every string until all of them are at the desired tuning.
Sometimes while using an electronic tuner you can tune to the correct note but in the wrong octave (the note is too low or high). You can figure this out if a string is much floppier than the others or feels very tight like it’s about to break.
There are many options for electronic tuners. Some can cost close to $1000 but a free app on your phone or a cheap clip-on tuner will do the job for a beginner. It is a good idea to use a tuner that can also play the note so you can hear if it’s right as well to train your ear and avoid the aforementioned problem of tuning to the wrong octave.
Training your ear is one of the most difficult things to learn as a musician and many don’t even bother. It’s unlikely you won’t have your phone on you to use a tuner. However, using your ear to tune a guitar is a great skill and a step in the right direction to improve your overall musicianship.
Provided that your thickest string is already tuned to E you can tune the rest of the guitar to standard. If it isn’t, and you aren’t playing with others, you can still tune the guitar to itself.
Going from the lowest note to the highest the 5th fret on most strings will be the same note as the one below it. The only time this doesn’t apply is between the G and B strings. For this, you use the 4th fret instead of the 5th. As shown in this diagram.
So if the E string is in tune it should play an A Note when fretted at the 5th position. You can then play the A string and see if the notes match. If not you should wind the machine head on the A string until the two notes are the same. If you find this confusing check out the video below.
I recommend using a combination of electronic tuning and tuning by ear. Tuning by ear will be very hard to begin with but you will be surprised how quickly you pick it up if you do it often. If you found this helpful check out our other beginner lessons.
If you're still shopping for your first guitar take a look at our favorite electric guitar starter kits.


Cybera's network connection between Calgary and Edmonton is now 7,000 times faster than average internet speeds in Canada, thanks to a new network link installed between the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. The connection capacity between these two organizations is now 250 Gbps, doubling what was previously achieved. This new infrastructure will make it possible to scale up to speeds of terabits-per-second and beyond, a vital achievement for research into the growing fields of big data and the Internet of Things.
The upgraded connection is through CyberaNet, Alberta’s Research and Education Network. It connects to the national high-speed CANARIE network, which in turn links to over 100 research networks around the world. The new link, which was funded by CANARIE and Cybera, will also help staff and students at post-secondary and K-12 institutions across the province to collaborate more effectively using shared services and computing resources.
"This link is the next step in reaching speeds of terabits-per-second, which is what universities will require in the next 10 years to keep up with growing big data demands," says Jean-Francois Amiot, Network and Operations Director at Cybera.
"CANARIE is excited to support joint projects with our regional network partners, such as Cybera, that enable Canadians to participate in data-intensive national and global research and innovation projects," says Mark Wolff, Chief Technology Officer at CANARIE.
Such projects include the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world’s biggest telescope which, when completed, will transmit 10 times the globe’s total internet traffic every day. The University of Calgary is creating part of the digital infrastructure needed to address the SKA’s data-intensive needs.
Expanding the research network will also be crucial for other research projects at the Universities, such as those focusing on the Internet of Things. This technological revolution is expected to link 50 billion devices to the internet by 2020, which will require a much more capable network infrastructure.
Amiot also notes that, unlike many commercial network providers, Cybera has rules in place to limit the amount of congestion on its network, giving users a reliably fast connection to move big data.
For more information on CyberaNet, visit the company’s network information page.
Cybera is a not-for-profit technology-neutral organization responsible for accelerating technology adoption in Alberta. Its core role is to oversee the development and operations of Alberta’s cyberinfrastructure — the advanced system of networks and computers that keeps government, educational institutions, not-for-profits, business incubators and entrepreneurs at the forefront of technological change.


The U.S.G.S. recently reported that an earthquake struck the Washington, D.C. area with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 (later updated to 5.9). Initial reports of damage are minor however the National Cathedral’s central tower sustained some damage. “It looks like three of the pinnacles have broken off the central tower,” spokesman Richard Weinberg said of the tower, the highest point in Washington, D.C.
Update: The Cathedral has sustained some substantial damage due to the earthquake, and experts are currently assessing the structural and aesthetic damage. For a video of the Cathedral damage, or to help join the efforts of preserving the Cathedral click here.
Update: You can also see the effects of the earthquake on a building in Virginia here.
Felt in Philadelphia, North Carolina, Boston, New York City, Martha’s Vineyard, and even Wheeling, West Virginia, the tremor raises questions of the importance of seismic considerations particularly in New York City.
Although earthquakes are not something a typical New Yorker would have cross their mind in comparison to other parts of the world such as Japan (8.9 magnitude in 2011) and Chile (8.8 magnitude in 2010), the overal size and density of NYC puts it at a high risk for extensive damage.
More photographs of the Washington National Cathedral and discussion regarding seismic considerations following the break.
“The issue with earthquakes in this region is that they tend to be shallow and close to the surface,” explains Leonardo Seeber, a coauthor of a 2008 report by leading seismologists associated with Columbia University regarding earthquakes in NYC area. “That means objects at the surface are closer to the source. And that means even small earthquakes can be damaging.”
The area has seen an increase in discussions about earthquakes that have included the adoption of new codes for the city, along with retrofitting buildings such as the Port Authority, and debates about nearby Indian Point nuclear power plan 30-miles north of the Bronx.
Seismic construction considerations are a must in countries such as Japan and Chile. An ongoing challenge, Japan is continually designing for and sensitive to its earthquake prone location, which is reflected in their earthquake engineering and architecture research can be viewed here. A video was taken from the inside of the Sendai Mediatheque, sharing a first hand experience of Japan’s 8.9 earthquake. The interior was heavily damaged, however the structure appears to hold up quite well. Chile’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake in 2010 provided a look simultaneously at their impressive seismic design code, recognized as one of the best in the world, and some devastatingly bad construction resulting in the collapse of a 15-story residential building.


Industrial design is an important part of the engineering process, as it helps create products that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Industrial designers take a product from concept to reality by balancing form, materials, and technology. They are responsible for creating the look and feel of products, as well as making sure they meet the needs of users.
Industrial design starts with understanding user needs and preferences.
Designers research trends in the industry and use this information to develop innovative ideas for products. They then create sketches or computer models to bring their ideas to life. Once a prototype is created, the designer will test it to make sure it meets the user’s needs. The designer may also suggest improvements or changes to enhance the product’s usability and appearance.
In addition to creating functional products, industrial designers also consider how their products will be used in everyday life. They must think about how people interact with a product and make sure that it is comfortable to use, easy to understand, and aesthetically pleasing. Industrial designers must also consider factors such as ergonomics, sustainability, and safety when designing a product.
Industrial design helps bridge the gap between art and engineering by combining creativity with practicality. It allows designers to create innovative products that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional. Industrial design plays an important role in helping companies develop successful products that meet customer needs.
We need industrial design because it enables us to create innovative products that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional while meeting customer needs at the same time. Industrial design is essential for bridging art with engineering, allowing us to make creative yet practical designs for modern-day products.